Protean: a full-featured Status Bar customization tweak for iOS 7

The Status Bar is a handy area of iOS that lets you take a peek at various information such as time, Wi-Fi, battery level, etc, from anywhere on your device. However, Apple restricts users from customizing it the way they want. A new jailbreak tweak known as Protean has been released to get rid of this restriction.

Developed by Elijah and Andrew, Protean adds many new features to the Status Bar and allows you to organize the items in there by positioning them on any side. The tweak also displays the applications that have a pending notification on the Status Bar and allows you to customize flipswitches such as Airplane mode, Auto Lock, etc, and add icons of connected Bluetooth devices.

The Nightmare Cooperative is a roguelike and puzzle game combined

There is this type of puzzle game that requires players to move characters around on the board in unison in order to get everyone to the correct end point. PAC-MAN Friends uses this type of puzzle movement. It’s fairly complex and interesting, to say the least.

The Nightmare Cooperative is a roguelike game that uses that puzzle movement aspect to keep your party on their toes. You can use your mage to pick up that potion, but watch where your warrior is going or he may fall into the lava pit at the same time. We’ve got a full game review of The Nightmare Cooperative for you today.

Apple won’t open iPhone 6 NFC features to developers for at least a year

The NFC chip found in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus will only work with Apple Pay and won't be opened up to developers who make third-party apps, Apple confirmed on Monday.

The pair of smartphones, due to be released Friday after a record amount of pre-orders, are the first devices from Apple to feature NFC technology. Like Touch ID on the iPhone 5s, Apple is keeping a lock on the technology presumably for security purposes.

Tim Cook talks user privacy in part 2 of Charlie Rose interview

PBS has posted a new clip of Tim Cook's interview with Charlie Rose to YouTube this evening. The two-part interview, of which the first half aired on Friday night and the second half airs tonight, covers a wide range of topics, including Steve Jobs, the Apple Watch and more.

The latest clip sees Cook talking with Rose about user privacy, and how Apple approaches the hot button issue. Cook explains that Apple isn't in the business of collecting user data, and it purposefully designs its services—email, iMessage, etc.—to collect as little of it as possible.

Apple: new U2 album accessed by 33 million users thus far

Apple issued a statement this afternoon from Senior Vice President Eddy Cue regarding its new U2 album promotion. Cue says that over 33 million iTunes account holders have accessed "Songs of Innocence" since the promo launched last week.

Mr. Cue called the number "record-breaking," but didn't elaborate. He did, however, note that the figure includes customers who downloaded the album from their iCloud account, streamed it, or listened to it in iTunes Radio's First Play channel.

Tim Cook already being questioned about Apple Watch and privacy

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen announced this afternoon that he's sent a letter to Tim Cook regarding the new Apple Watch and user privacy. Jepsen wants Cook to explain what data the device will collect, how that data will be stored, and what Apple's policies are on apps that access health information.

Specifically, Jepsen asks whether Apple will allow consumers to store personal/health info on its servers, and if so. how will that information be safeguarded. He also wants to know what kind of data Apple Watch will collect from users, and how it and its developers plan to obtain consent for this collection from users.

Let’s Talk iOS 046: One more thing

Episode 46: An in-depth look at the new iPhones, the Apple Watch, and last Tuesday's Apple event. Plus, we discuss Tim Cook's interview with Charlie Rose, Samsung's questionable marketing tactics, and Jeff talks about what he's been working on for the last couple of months.

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Apple seeds Developer Preview 8, Public Beta 3 of OS X Yosemite

Nearly two weeks after releasing the last beta, Apple has today seeded Developer Preview 8 of OS X Yosemite. The update, version 8 1.0, is available for download to users currently running DP 7 in the Mac App Store, as well as in Apple’s online developer center.

Additionally, Apple has released Public Beta 3 for OS X Yosemite. The Public Beta program began in July, and received its second update late last month. If you're a member of the program, you can find today's release in the 'Updates' tab of the Mac App Store.

iOS 8 Tips app just got updated with 3 more tips

Apple updated the new iOS 8 Tips app with three more tips earlier today. In this over-the-air update, Apple is now explaining future iOS 8 users how to see when a message was sent, how to use Siri to find out what song is currently playing on the radio or elsewhere, and how to use Family Share. This is the second update to the Tips app since it was introduced in iOS 8 beta 4. The first update happened on August 21.

‘AppBuyer’ malware steals Apple IDs and passwords from jailbroken devices

Security research firm Palo Alto Networks reported this weekend about a new iOS malware that's affecting jailbroken devices. It's called 'AppBuyer,' and it's programmed to steal a user's Apple ID and password for the purpose of purchasing apps from the App Store.

It's not clear exactly how AppBuyer is being installed, but the group says it could be done a number of ways including through a malicious Cydia Substrate tweak or PC jailbreaking utility. Those infected complain of random apps periodically popping up on their devices.

Apple creates tool to remove U2’s free album from both your iTunes music library and purchase history

After taking some heat over its decision to force the free U2 album, “Songs of Innocence”, onto users' devices last Tuesday, Apple today published a support document and released a tool which removes the album from users' iTunes music library, as well as from their iCloud purchase history.

The decision to give away the Irish rock band's latest album has backfired because having added it to purchase history has automatically downloaded the album for folks with automatic music downloads enabled in Settings.