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Report: Apple to finally phase out iPad 2 ‘in the near future’

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 13, 2014

Nearly three years following its March 2011 debut, Apple is finally set to discontinue its second-generation iPad. The iPad 2 was arguably the most important iPad refresh in history, bringing a major redesign from the original iPad, VGA front-facing and 720p rear-facing cameras designed for FaceTime video calling and image capture, magnetic Smart Covers and substantial speed increases courtesy of the Apple-designed dual-core A5 processor.

According to a new report, customers are “resoundingly” buying more of the iPad Air and iPad mini, prompting Apple's leadership to decrease iPad 2 production going forward...

Rovio announces new Angry Birds Stella game debuting this Fall

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

After teasing its brand new Angry Birds "adventure" game on Twitter, Finnish games maker Rovio today formally announced that a new game named Angry Birds Stella is arriving this Fall. The game has been named after its protagonist, the pink, female Stella thing described as a "fierce and a feisty character with a great group of friends".

Angry Birds Stella will open a door to a part of the Angry Birds universe "you’ve never seen before," the blurb promises. If a media release is an indication, Angry Birds Stella will indeed combine the familiar bird-slinging action with some new adventure elements. I've included some additional information below the fold...

BlackBerry rolls out BBM 2.0 with voice calling, Channels, location sharing and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 13, 2014

Following a minor refresh recently which brought out a handy new Find Friends feature, Canada's struggling smartphone maker BlackBerry is today rolling out a new BBM version 2.0. The release contains a few new features such as free voice calling, BBM Channels, Dropbox integration, location sharing and more.

The free update is rolling out today so keep an eye on the App Store and don't panic if it's not live yet as these things take time to propagate.

The full breakdown is right below the fold...

How to look up dictionary definitions via Control Center

Jeff Benjamin ∙ February 13, 2014

Define for iOS 7 is a jailbreak tweak that allows users to look up definitions from the convenience of iOS 7's Control Center overlay panel. The tweak, which is available right now on Cydia's BigBoss repo for $0.99, was created by well-known developer ravirajm.

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to search for dictionary definitions or Wikipedia entries, it doesn't get much simpler than Define for iOS 7. Have a look at our full video walkthrough inside for all of the details.

Apple’s ops-chief emails troops on supplier responsibility

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Apple's Senior Vice President of Operations, Jeff Williams, has issued an internal memo to Apple employees following the company's newly published 2014 Supplier Responsibility Report. Williams was promoted to the position as Tim Cook's long-time right hand man. Before being named CEO, Tim Cook used to run Apple's vast network of suppliers and manufacturer for years.

This is the first time Williams penned an internal memo to troops regarding Apple's environmental strides. The full contents of the memo can be read after the break...

Pandora app updated with Sleep Timer for iPad, push notifications and more

Cody Lee ∙ February 13, 2014

Pandora Radio users will be happy to hear that the streaming music service has just posted an update for its iOS client, bringing the app to version 5.2. The update brings about several enhancements, including two new features for the iPhone and iPad.

On the iPad front, Pandora has made its Sleep Timer feature universal. So tablet users can now fall asleep to their favorite tunes without worrying about all-night data usage. And for all devices, it has added new a personalized push notification feature...

Rovio teases new Angry Birds ‘adventure’ game

Cody Lee ∙ February 13, 2014

Rovio has started teasing a new Angry Birds game, tweeting the above image out from its official Twitter account yesterday. Along with the photo, the game-maker says that a "big adventure with new birds" is coming soon and added the hashtag #NewAngryBirds.

The consensus here is that Rovio is finally going to introduce new characters to its franchise, after using the same birds and pigs in many of its popular Angry Birds titles. The 'big adventure' comment also suggests that this isn't going to be its typical bird-slinger...

Apple publishes 2014 Supplier Responsibility Report

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Apple this morning published its annual Supplier Responsibility Report to its website. The report details the company's Supplier Code of Conduct and the lengths it has gone through in the past year to ensure its suppliers and their materials are on the up-and-up.

One of the more notable items from the report is that Apple says that all active, identified tantalum smelters in its supply chain were validated as conflict-free by third-party auditors. This means that all of Apple's suppliers are using only verified tantalum sources...

Apple said to be moving forward with ‘less ambitious’ TV plans

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

Following a report by Bloomberg, which reiterated Apple's move to revamp its set top box, comes a scoop from The Wall Street Journal regarding the company's TV plans. The outlet says Apple has abandoned efforts to disrupt cable TV in favor of a less ambitious strategy.

According to the story, the Cupertino firm was at one time approaching media companies directly to obtain content rights for an a-la-carte TV service. But due to failed licensing negotiations and other issues, it's said to now be working on hardware for existing cable service ...

Weasel: a system-wide search and shortcut utility for iOS

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

One of my favorite OS X utilities is Alfred. Alfred is a search utility, launcher, and workflow executer rolled into a simple interface that's accessible from anywhere via a keyboard shortcut. It's a tool that has saved me countless hours of time, and it's among the first apps that I install on my Mac whenever I do a system restore.

Weasel is sort of like Alfred for iOS. Obviously, it's doesn't feature as wide of a scope as Alfred, but it does its best to mimic some of the features that makes Alfred, or any launcher utility, so nice to have. Have a look at our walkthrough inside for more details.

Cylinder: a promising Barrel clone that makes your icons dance

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

I've always thought of Barrel as one of the flagship jailbreak tweaks that define why jailbreaking is so cool. I was vindicated in my reasoning when Saurik admitted to using Barrel on his own device.

Barrel, as you know, is the jailbreak tweak that allows you to have crazy app icon animations on your Home screen whenever you swipe between pages. It's a legendary tweak, and it's been updated for iOS 7.

In my opinion, no jailbreak tweak has ever really come close to challenging Barrel's feature-set and ease of use, and that remains the case to this day. But there is one interesting jailbreak tweak from developer Reed Weichler that you should definitely keep your eye on. The tweak is called Cylinder, and while it doesn't (yet) have all of the animations contained in Barrel, it does a good job at allowing for similar effects.

500px iOS app updated to finally allow you to upload photos

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 16, 2018

500px users will be happy to hear that the photo-sharing service has updated its iOS client today, bringing the app to version 2.5. The update only includes one feature, but it's a huge one: you can now use the mobile app to upload photos.

Up until now, you could only upload photos to 500px via the web—a major gripe with current users and big barrier-to-entry for potential users in an Instagram-era where most people take, edit and upload photos on their mobile devices...