WhatsApp delays voice calling into early-2015

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2016

Five days after Facebook announced its $16 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in February of this year, the world's most popular messaging platform announced plans to enable voice calling in the first half of this year.

The summer came and went and here we are well into the third quarter of 2014 and now WhatsApp is saying that the planned release has been pushed back.

Citing a series of technical challenges, WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum said during his presentation at the Code/Mobile conference this week that the VoIP calling service will make its debut in WhatsApp mobile apps in the first quarter of 2015.

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Google offering first minute free on international Hangouts calls

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 29, 2014

Yesterday, the Internet giant Google announced a newsworthy promotion giving its users the first minute free when placing outgoing calls through Hangouts to phone numbers in more than two dozen countries.

“The first 60 seconds is on us,” the company said in a post over at Google+. “What you say is up to you”. You can place Hangouts using Gmail and Google+ on desktop, using the Hangouts extension for Chrome, or via Google's mobile Hangouts app for iOS and Android.

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eBay taking 20% off iTunes Gift Cards

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 29, 2014

If you've been on the lookout for the latest deals on iTunes Gift Cards, head over to PayPal’s Digital Gifts eBay store as it's currently offering 20 percent off iTunes Gift Cards in several denominations. The $25, $50 and $100 cards are now available with a twenty percent discount so you'll end up paying $20, $40 and $80, respectively.

That's a nice 20 percent saving right off the bat on anything you purchase on Apple's content stores. iTunes Gift Cards can be used to buy Mac and iOS apps, electronic books, movies, TV shows, music and other digital items carried on Apple's content stores.

You can also apply your iTunes credit toward the purchase of iCloud storage upgrades and use it to buy stuff in apps via In-App Purchases.

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PrefDelete: delete tweaks directly from the Settings app without opening Cydia

Alihassan Mahdi ∙ October 29, 2014

Normally, when you want to delete a jailbreak tweak installed on your device, you'll have to remove it from Cydia. If you ever wished to remove a tweak with just the tap of a button without opening Cydia, you should probably check out a brand new jailbreak tweak known as PrefDelete.

Developed by Brave Heart, PrefDelete allows you to delete tweaks that come with a preference pane directly from the stock Settings app. This can be done by tapping and holding on a tweak's preference button in the Settings app to remove it immediately on the spot, though a confirmation message appears before deletion ensuring that you don't remove a tweak by mistake.

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ForceGoodFit: make older apps fit on your larger iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus screen

Alihassan Mahdi ∙ October 29, 2014

Although the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus boast a larger screen and come with a Retina HD display, some of the apps on the App Store have not yet been updated to support the larger screen, therefore causing the apps to zoom in and appear blurred. If you've got a favorite app that hasn't been updated for the larger iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus yet, you should probably check out a new jailbreak tweak known as ForceGoodFit.

Just as the name implies, the tweak forces old apps to stretch to the iPhone 6's larger screen and allow you to view the app in full screen mode instead of having them zoomed in. From the two screenshots above, the left one is taken without the tweak install while the right one is with ForceGoodFit enabled. The tweak is quite similar to FullForce which was developed by Ryan Petrich to optimize apps for the larger iPhone 5.

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Let’s Talk Jailbreak 79: Pangu lives!

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Episode 79: We discuss the Pangu jailbreak for iOS 8, including the current state of the jailbreak and Cydia. We also talk about the newest tweaks to be released, such as the Apple Watch UI concept, Reachability tweaks, and other releases we'd like to see for iOS 8. Also, Sebastien talks about his cool life saving experience at the beach. Don't miss the fun.

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Taco Bell’s new iOS app makes fast food… faster

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Many social media users were intrigued when Taco Bell's social media accounts went dark on Tuesday, fearing the worst. Luckily, it was just Taco Bell announcing a major overhaul to its iOS app that allows customers to order and pay for food on their smartphones before even setting foot in the fast food chain.

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New ‘WatchSpring’ tweak brings a real working Apple Watch inspired UI replacement to the iPhone

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

It started as a concept, it grew to a mockup, and now it's somewhat of a reality. Earlier today, WatchSpring, a tweak that brings an Apple Watch inspired user interface to the iPhone, was released to the public.

WatchSpring, brought to life by developer Kigg, more or less completely replaces the stock SpringBoard in favor of the radical looking Apple Watch-like interface. This tweak allows you to actually use the interface to launch the apps installed on your phone, along with perusing the Home screen. It's a real working tweak, and we have a hands-on video demonstrating it inside.

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iOS 8 reaches half of all active iOS devices

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple's iOS 8 has been rolled out 52 percent of all active iOS devices, indicating a slower rollout than versions of Apple's mobile software in the past. Apple updated its Developer Center with the data on Tuesday, indicating that some of iOS 8's early flaws may have slowed down its rollout over the last five and a half weeks.

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ReachAll brings Reachability-inspired functionality to the iPhone 5s and older devices

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

ReachAll is a recently released jailbreak tweak that brings one of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus' flagship features—Reachability—to older devices. Reachability, as you're likely aware of, allows you to shift down the contents of the iPhone's interface via a double-tap on the iPhone's Touch ID sensor. For large devices like the iPhone 6, this feature was added with one-handed usage in mind.

Obviously, a smaller device like the iPhone 5s lacks the need for such a feature out of the box, but don't tell that to jailbreak developers. ReachAll not only brings Reachability to the most likely candidate, (the iPhone 5s is the only Touch ID enabled iPhone without Reachability) but it also works, thanks to a special "Tap Box" option, on older devices like the iPhone 5.

Want to see how ReachAll functions in action? Step inside and watch the full video walkthrough.

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Apps like Pocket is why Handoff is my top new feature in iOS 8 and Yosemite

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 28, 2014

Pocket, a read-later service, with a recent Mac app update has completed its support for Apple's refreshed mobile and desktop operating systems.

According to developers last week, Pocket for Mac now includes Handoff and can send stuff to other apps that use the Mac's new multi-purpose Share menu. It's Pocket's largest Mac update in over a year.

The iOS edition of Pocket has had Handoff support in place for weeks. And with Handoff now live in the Mac edition of Pocket, I'm not sure how I've managed to do without such a useful feature. I'm a huge, huge Pocket fan and use it every day to bookmark and save dozens of articles that I find during the day for later reading.

With Handoff implemented in both Pocket editions, I now am able to seamlessly continue reading an article right where I left off on any of my Apple devices (Bluetooth must be enabled).

It's awesome and I couldn't imagine my daily computing without Handoff. It's the one feature I use the most, all the time. As I constantly move between my mobile and desktop devices, Handoff removes the friction completely without the mental burden of having to remember where I left off.

Handoff is tremendously convenient. It's fun, easy to use, a time-saver and bridges the gap between desktop and mobile like no other technology before it. And it's only getting started.

Pocket for Mac is available free of charge in the Mac App Store.

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