Jony Ive talks design, Steve Jobs, iWatch rumors and more in new interview

Cody Lee ∙ March 17, 2014

The typically quiet Jony Ive participated in a new interview which surfaced online yesterday. The Sunday Times was able to sit down with Apple's world-renowned designer for a lengthy discussion on a wide range of topics as part of its 'Makers of the 21st Century' series.

As usual, we've highlighted a few of our favorite parts from the article, but I'll go ahead and tell you right now, the entire thing is worth reading. It's very well written, covers a wide range of topics, (5 pages worth) from rumors to copycats, and Jony Ive is surprisingly candid...

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How to add quick compose widgets to Control Center

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 16, 2014

Compose—the jailbreak tweak that allows you to add quick compose widgets to iOS—has been updated for iOS 7. In prior versions of the tweak, the quick compose widgets appeared in Notification Center, but with iOS 7, the compose widgets have been relocated to Control Center.

The iOS 7 version of Compose features a bevy of quick compose shortcuts for apps like Tweetbot, BBM, WhatsApp, and more. It's a great tweak for quickly accessing the composition assets for many of your favorite App Store apps. To catch a glimpse of how Compose works on iOS 7, take a look at our video walkthrough past the break.

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How to remove the ‘Near Me’ tab in the App Store app

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 16, 2014

The 'Near Me' tab—which appears at the bottom of the App Store app in iOS 7—allows you to see what apps are most popular around your location. I've found the feature to be quite worthless and generally filled with local news apps that I'd never consider using.

With that in mind, wouldn't it be cool if you could get rid of the Near Me tab altogether? That's the premise behind a new jailbreak tweak entitled NoNearMe; it allows you to hide the Near Me tab using a simple Cydia install. Have a look inside as we show you how the tweak works on video.

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How to add a battery level indicator to the status bar

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 16, 2014

BatteryStatusBar is a recently released tweak that allows you to add a battery indicator to the top of the iPhone's screen. The indicator, which rests in the same location as the status bar, reflects your current battery status using a colored bar.

The color of the BatteryStatusBar changes depending on your battery level. A green bar means you have over 65% of battery life remaining, and the color changes to orange or red as the battery level decreases. BatteryStatusBar isn't perfect, but it's a different take on battery level awareness. Have a look at our full walkthrough inside for more details.

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24me is smarter than your average personal assistant

Lory Gil ∙ March 16, 2014

There are hundreds of getting-things-done (GTD) and organizer apps in the App Store. The problem is finding the right one for you. Everyone manages their time differently. Some work better with very minimalist actions. Others prefer having all the bells and whistles. What about those who sit right in the middle?

24me Smart Personal Assistant is the “Baby Bear” of GTD apps. It is fairly simplistic and easy to use, but has just the right amount of bells and whistles to increase productivity without taking much time to get organized…

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Wallpapers of the week: still life

Jim Gresham ∙ March 16, 2014

We are headed into another round of wallpapers for the Wallpapers of the Week section. The section continues to evolve with input from readers in the comment section, proving there is a changing lifestyle to the wallpapers posted on the site.

Like most weeks, I want to remind everyone, sharing wallpapers is a great way to help project the section and give your own input. I get emails every week with great wallpapers and some of them make the post! The images do not need to be original works of art, but crediting the artist, when known, is always preferred. Take a step past the fold to get your hands on these still life images...

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This week on iDB: don’t break your jailbreak

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Like every Sunday, we bring you the stories that were the most popular on iDB during this past week. Whether it is a news piece, an editorial, a tutorial, a new jailbreak tweak, or an accessory review, we sum it all up in one convenient place.

If you like what you're reading, please make sure to spread the love by sharing our posts on your favorite social network.

We're usually hanging out a lot on Twitter and Facebook, more rarely on Google+.

The ultimate Notification Center guide iOS 7.1 is out with CarPlay support, Siri and Touch ID improvements and more Jailbreakers should stay away from iOS 7.1 Apple credits iOS 7.1 security changes to evad3rs and other jailbreak community members Two new iPad models discovered in iOS 7.1 Hidden AirPlay feature discovered in Apple TV 6.1 Apps of the week: Brushstroke, Sliver, Faif and more Themes of the week: Newport for iOS 7, Trima HD and Lucid Wallpapers of last week: city vs nature Hands-on with the Hipjot keyboard beta for Cydia – try it now ProWidgets: a groundbreaking widget suite with multitasking features Asphaleia now available on Cydia Polus is now available on Cydia SoundCloud Downloader lets you… download music from SoundCloud directly to your iPhone How to get the iOS 7.1 calendar event list view on iOS 7.0 How to view iPhone photos metadata How to send group text messages on iPhone Suspected iOS 8 screenies show Preview, TextEdit and Healthbook app icons iOS 8: better inter-app sharing, improvements to Messages, Notification Center, CarPlay and more

Don't forget to listen to the latest episode of our new podcast, Let's Talk iOS:

And of course, make sure to catch up with the new episode of Let's Talk Jailbreak:

We’re social! Find iDB on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, App.net, YouTube, and in your RSS reader. Also make sure to subscribe to our new podcast!

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Geohot wins $150,000 for exposing ChromeOS exploits

Cody Lee ∙ March 15, 2014

Google held its Pwnium 4 security competition last week at CanSecWest in Vancouver, Canada. The day-long event ended with hundreds of thousands of dollars being awarded to hackers who demonstrated exploits in Google Chrome. And believe it or not, $150,000 of that went to Geohot.

For those not familiar with the name, Geohot has picked up a number of headlines over the past 7 years. After hacking the iPhone he took his talents to the PS3, where he caused enough chaos to get sued by Sony. And he's since been spotted at Facebook, iOSDevCamp and various other places...

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How to add custom text to Spotlight search

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 15, 2014

Every now and then we are blessed with big-named tweaks and apps like Auxo or ProWidgets or biteSMS. While having releases like those are nice, we realize that they're more the exception than the norm. Far more often, we find ourselves reviewing smaller tweaks like CustomSpotlightText—a new release that makes it possible to change the default text found in the text box after invoking Spotlight.

But that's okay, because these are the type of tweaks that sustain the community and keep it fresh until the next big release. These are the type of tweaks that make jailbroken devices so varied and diverse. With that in mind, step inside, as we walkthrough CustomSpotlightText on video.

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How to tone down the Phone app’s neon green in-call status bar

Jeff Benjamin ∙ March 15, 2014

When you make a phone call with the stock Phone app on iOS, you'll notice a green status bar appear at the top of the interface when you exit the app. This status bar serves as a quick shortcut to get back to the stock Phone app, and it also lets you know how long the Phone call has lasted.

If you have sensitive eyes, then you may find the neon green color used on the status bar to be annoying, or at least visually unappealing. Thankfully, there is a simple and easy way to rid the status bar of its neon properties, and it comes in the form of a jailbreak tweak called CalmCall. Have a look at our full video walkthrough after the break to see what I mean.

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iOS 7: The ultimate Notification Center guide

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Notification Center first appeared in iOS 5 as a way of receiving and accessing notifications from anywhere. It consists of an overlay slide down menu interface, banner notifications, and other types of alerts. Prior to iOS 5, notifications were extremely intrusive and clunky. Notification Center solved many of the issues stemming from receiving notifications on iOS.

Over the past two iOS iterations, Notification Center has been streamlined and improved. iOS 7 brought about several new changes to Notification Center, including the new Today View, which provides users with an overview of the pertinent appointments, stock prices, and even driving alerts.

Needless to day, Notification Center has evolved into a significant feature in iOS with many moving parts. To assist you, we’ve created this ultimate Notification Center guide in order to help you understand how to benefit most from this handy feature.

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