Apple has entered into the "Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment" with HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and others, to curb the smartphone theft epidemic that has been plaguing many city streets.
Under the voluntary agreement, the manufacturers are planning to add several new security features to their smartphones going on sale after July 2015, to make for an industry standard.
Under the Commitment, manufacturers' smartphones must:
The fingerprint scanner on Samsung's flagship Galaxy S5 is suffering from the same security flaw as the fingerprint scanner on the iPhone 5s, creating a bit of a risk for owners.
Germany-based security blog H Security found that using a wood glue mold from the fingerprint already set on the Galaxy S5, someone else could gain unauthorized access to your phone. Given Samsung's fingerprint scanner tie-ins with the PayPal app, this means not only contacts and photos are up for grabs, but mobile payments, as well.
Google this afternoon launched an iPhone client for its growing learning and tutorial service called Helpouts. The app gives users the ability to find and schedule Helpouts, start their own free Helpout, read reviews and listing details, and send other users messages.
For those unfamiliar with Google's 'Helpouts' service, it's a website that connects you to experts from various fields including cooking, health and Art & Music. These experts hold video classes teaching you how to do everything from playing the guitar, to editing photos...
App Store downloads and sales have risen vastly in China, following the deal between Apple and China Mobile to launch the iPhone on the world's-largest carrier during the first quarter of 2014.
Research website App Annie found in a report released Tuesday morning that China was the key market for iOS App Store growth during the first quarter of 2014, boosting revenue on the China App Store up around 70 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2013.
Fans of Edovia's 'Screens' application will be happy to hear that the studio has updated the popular VNC client for Mac to version 3.0. The release follows a major update to the iOS app in December, and brings an all-new design, several new features and various other improvements.
For those who haven't used Screens VNC before, it enables you to connect to your Windows, Mac or Linux computer from virtually anywhere in the world. The remote connection is secure, and provides access to your files, applications, media, text documents and much more...
More signs are pointing to an imminent iTunes Radio launch in the United Kingdom. The company recently banned London-based music streaming service Bloom.fm from advertising on its iAd platform citing competitive reasons and now Apple's iAd director is meeting with the country's ad agencies, seemingly in preparation for iTunes Radio roll-out in the 63 million people market of United Kingdom...
A little over a year ago, A&E Networks updated its iOS clients with on-demand programming. It was a fairly big move, as it allowed users to watch their favorite episodes of TV shows like Duck Dynasty and Storage Wars while on the go.
Today, A&E issued another major update for its mobile clients, this time adding live TV streaming to both A&E and History Channel iOS apps. So now you can watch live programming from each of the channels on your iPhone or iPad...
Tempo Smart Calendar by Tempo AI, Inc. is one of the best calendar apps for the iPhone. Best of all, Tempo is totally free (unlike some other premium calendar apps on the iOS platform). Today, the app got bumped to version 1.3, offering a new conference calling feature with up to five participants, free of charge and without ever leaving your calendar.
There's also a new custom alert sound and an option to add the current date to the Home screen app icon. The update is now live in the App Store...
As we told you this past weekend, The Wall Street Journal has it on good authority that the online retail giant Amazon is gearing up to launch its rumored smartphone with a 3D screen around September, after entering the crowded living room market with its own $99 set-top box, the Fire TV.
TechCrunch is now chiming in with new details regarding the handset's head-tracking capabilities that are thought to offer up some "limited 3D effects" via a few built-in gestures. Also, a scoop from BGR claims to show a prototype Amazon smartphone device that may or may not have entered in production...
Microsoft last month released its native and rather nicely done Word, PowerPoint and Excel iPad apps as free downloads from the App Store. You're limited to using these apps to view Microsoft Office documents on your tablet as editing and creating new ones requires one of the many Office 365 subscriptions available.
The iPad apps launched with Microsoft's entry-level Office 365 Home subscription plan costing $9.99 per month. If you don't want to pay ten bucks per month just to edit Office documents, Microsoft now offers a more affordable Personal plan for $6.99 per month...
A Pioneer customer service representative yesterday said the company's been looking into the possibility of implementing CarPlay compatibility with both its existing and future products.
Sure enough, the maker of in-car electronic systems today announced five CarPlay aftermarket options.
Chances are you're not rich enough to buy a brand new Ferrari, Mercedes or Volvo just to enjoy CarPlay so these kits will be Godsent to those looking to put CarPlay into older vehicles that officially don't support Apple's in-car system...
Another day, another iPhone 6 leak. Two separate reports Tuesday claim to show what seem to be iPhone 6 components in a production setting. The first set shows off a genuine looking front panel part, depicting the size difference between the current four-inch form factor and the upcoming iPhone 6, said to come in 4.7 and 5.5-inch flavors.
The other purported leak depicts some sort of batteries on a production tray that appear to share more than a passing resemblance to other iPhone batteries.
I've included the photographs below the fold so give them a look and tell us what you think in the comments...