Some iOS devices hijacked and held hostage in Australia

A growing number of iPhone, iPad and Mac users in Australia are turning to the Apple Support Communities and Twitter to report incidents of their device being remotely locked through iCloud. In some cases, a fraudulent message appears through the Find my iPhone service demanding payment between $50 and $100 to someone named Oleg Pliss for the device to be unlocked… 

iPhone 6 models could launch sooner than expected

Apple is expected to launch larger-format iPhones this year and the current crop of rumors are confidently pointing towards the 4.7-incher being released around September, with the bigger 5.5-inch model reportedly delayed until year-end or into early-2015 over component issues.

A new report by DigiTimes, a hit-and-miss Taiwanese trade publication, alleges that the launches of the new handsets could be closer than expected after all. Specifically, it seems Apple has commissioned its manufacturing partners to start churning out the bigger model within a month into the manufacture of the 4.7-inch variant...

Synaptics beats Apple to the punch on Renesas SP Drivers acquisition

Apple has failed to follow through with its rumored acquisition of the chipmaker Renesas Electronics' mobile display chip division, Renesas SP Drivers. Reuters reported Tuesday that the iPhone maker has definitely lost its bid to acquire Renesas to Synaptics, a company that builds touchpads and touchscreens for an array of mobile and desktop devices.

The development is especially newsworthy given that Synaptics was once an Apple supplier (the company is not listed on Apple's list of 2014 suppliers). Basically, this means that the powerful consumer electronics powerhouse has gotten outbid by one of its former suppliers...

Let’s Talk iOS 030: Big things brewing

Episode 30: With WWDC 2014 less than a week away, Cody and Sebastien break down the latest Apple rumblings, discuss their most anticipated products, and drop knowledge on everything from Bitcoin to knock-knock jokes.

Subscribe on iTunes

Random strangers react to iPhone 6 dummy

You've seen kids react to such ancient technology as the Apple II, but how about your average Joe's reaction after being shown a mockup of a piece of future technology? That's exactly what led the guys over at UrAvgConsumer to take to the streets of New York City and ask normals to share their impressions on a dummy unit of the rumored 4.7-inch iPhone 6.

Reactions vary from 'beautiful, I like it' to a complete disbelief. The video is right after the break so give it a watch and meet us in comments...

Reeder 2 gains iOS 7 Background App Refresh, refinements, bug fixes and more

Reeder, a popular RSS client for iOS and OS X by Italian developer Silvio Rizzi, has been bumped up to version 2.2 today.

The $4.99 iPhone and iPad application has notably picked up support for Background App Refresh, an iOS 7 technology which delivers new app content automatically and in the background, so the app is always up-to-date whenever you fire it up.

Reeder 2.2 also includes visual tweaks such as a new loading progress indicator for the in-app browser and refinements like a new setting to disable favicons for subscriptions and article lists. The full list of changes is right after the break...

German carrier leaks likely iPhone 6 release date: September 19

German wireless carrier Deutsche Telekom has apparently instructed its call center representatives to nudge wavering customers toward staying with them.

Support staff was reportedly told to drop hints that customers' loyalty could be well rewarded as the company gets to carry the anticipated iPhone 6 in mid-September - more specifically, on September 19.

That's the gist of a new report by Apfelpage.de. The date is likely more than an educated guesstimate.

Remember, Deutsche Telekom is one of the largest carriers in the world and they own T-Mobile. That being said, we're filing this away into our mental drawer under the 'Very Likely' category...

Noted analyst says Apple bringing Touch ID to 2014 iPhone and iPad models

Back in April, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo gave us a roadmap of all the products Apple has in the pipeline for 2014 and now he's back with an analysis of Apple's plans for the Touch ID sensor.

His conjecture is that every new iPhone and iPad model shipping in 2014 will be outfitted with an improved Touch ID fingerprint reader.

Kuo has become one of the most reputable Apple analyst analysts out there who churns out some of the most reliable predictions about Apple's future product plans so it's worth paying attention to what he has to say...

Take Healthbook for a virtual test drive on your iPhone

Apple is expected to unveil iOS 8 at its upcoming WWDC keynote in just one week. A number of new features and apps are expected to be announced, one of them being Healthbook. The health-focused app is said to provide users with vital information, such as heart rate, hydration, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, blood sugar, weight and more.

An increasing amount of speculation about Healthbook has inspired visual designer Jayaprasad Mohanan to create a live demo of the app that you can try right on your iPhone. The concept is entirely based on what we've heard from bloggers over the past four months, including leaked Healthbook screenshots posted by the well-connected Mark Gurman back in March. Check it out… 

Check out these 3 beautiful iOS theme setups

A few of our readers have asked us what happened to Theme Thursday, a weekly column that covered the best new Winterboard themes for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The answer is that we decided to discontinue this column in April, primarily because themes started being released on a less frequent basis. Nevertheless, the theming community is still going strong.

Despite the slowdown, there are still a number of quality themes released every now and then that are worth mentioning. As such, we've turned to the /r/iOSthemes community on Reddit and hand picked three iOS theme setups that we think look gorgeous. Where possible, we've included the themes and jailbreak tweaks used to achieve each setup. Take a look ahead…

DefaultSpot makes Spotify the default music player on iPhone

Spotify is one of the most popular cross-platform streaming music services, with over 40 million active users worldwide. While I am out of luck using the service as a Canadian, our neighbors to the south and elsewhere can benefit from a jailbreak tweak called DefaultSpot. The simple iOS extension sets Spotify as the default music player on iPhone, and also integrates with the Control Center playback controls.

LockScreen Informer is a Cydget that brings useful info to the Lock screen

The latest trend of jailbreak tweaks that attempt to enhance the Lock screen experience, such as IntelliScreenX and Helius, continues with the release of a new Cydget called LockScreen Informer. The tweak displays important info directly on the Lock screen, saving you the trouble of opening Notification Center or fully unlocking your device on many occasions. You're probably thinking this is exactly like the LockInfo7 tweak we covered last week, but there are some notable differences…