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Apple picks up ground on rivals in US smartphone race on strong Christmas quarter iPhone sales

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 16, 2014

Although we won't get to see some cold, hard numbers in terms of the iPhone's market performance until January 27, when Apple is scheduled to deliver its earnings results for the calendar 2013 holiday quarter, it already looks like the "disappointing" dual-iPhone launch has altered the landscape in the United States in Apple's favor.

Research firm NPD on Thursday published its survey of U.S. smartphone ownership, showing the Apple handset growing its share of domestic customers to 42 percent, a notable jump from the 35 percent share in the year-ago quarter...

How to make Cydia purchases the easy way

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

On episode 40 of Let's Talk Jailbreak, Sebastien, Cody and I had a pretty heated debate about Cydia purchases. There seems to be a misconception about Cydia purchases in general, and a lot of mixed information. Some users seem to think that the Cydia purchase process is this arcane and cumbersome gauntlet that makes buying tweaks and apps undesirable.

It's true; Cydia purchases can be more difficult than the average App Store purchase, but they don't necessarily have to be. Inside, I'm going to show you how to use Amazon Payments to make Cydia purchases as easy as pie.

Task-focused email app Mail Pilot hits Mac App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

Available as a free public preview since December 3, 2013, Mindsense on Thursday released its Mail Pilot for public consumption in the Mac App Store, priced at $9.99 a pop. Originally a 2012 Kickstarter project, this email application for the Mac promises to change the game by being task instead of email-oriented. What does that mean?

Well, all your messages in Mail Pilot are action-based. For example, Mark as Unread becomes Complete/Incomplete, a message can have a reminder attached to it so you can get notified when it’s time to deal with it, you can Set Aside messages that you want to come back to later (great for Inbox Zero fanatics) and lots more.

This task-oriented approach allows for a more intuitive email that lets you get stuff done faster and get on with your life...

Check out Google Now integration on your Mac in latest Chrome Canary release

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 16, 2014

CNET reported last summer that Google Now cards were heading to Google’s Chrome browser for the Mac. Six months later, Google releases a brand new Google Canary build with Google Now cards functionality nested right inside the browser's notification center which sits in your Mac's status bar.

Although not all Google Now cards are available in this alpha release of Chrome, the search company has integrated a few of the most popular ones like sports scores, real-time weather updates, and travel information...

Baldurs Gate II: Enhanced Edition arrives on iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 16, 2014

The official sequel to BioWare’s classic role-playing game set in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, Baldur's Gate, has just launched for the iPad and is now available to download from the App Store, priced at $14.99.

Basically a 21st century version of the original 2000 release, Baldurs Gate II: Enhanced Edition includes new party members, a seamless multiplayer mode, a bunch of expansions packs such as the Throne of Bhaal and Shadows of Amn, a new combat mission titled The Black Pits 2: Gladiators of Thay as well as a host of other goodies...

Skype gains push notifications for chats, two-way video calling in HD on A7 devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 27, 2016

Skype for iPhone rolled out the ability to conduct two-way video chatting back in December 2010, but the quality of these video calls left a lot to be desired. Back then, the iPhone 4's back camera could only capture video in 720p and the front-facing camera was good only for VGA-grade video chatting.

Besides, the handset lacked the processing power to make two-way video calling in high-definition a reality.

Today's update to Skype's free iPhone and iPad client brings HD video calling to the iPhone 5s, iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina display, along with an improved chatting experience and more...

CamBlur7 adds blur to Camera app UI on iOS 7

Joe Rossignol ∙ January 16, 2014

While it is not the most groundbreaking jailbreak tweak on Cydia, CamBlur7 is a new package that works in unison with TransparentCameraBar to add a translucent blur effect to the top and bottom bar of the Camera app UI on iOS 7. The tweak has a number of options that are configurable through the Settings app for adjusting the blur level and hiding the blur in filter or video mode…

Speed-read your articles with Outread

Lory Gil ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

In an era when people speak in 140 characters or less, make dinner for four in just a few minutes, and don’t waste any time taking breaks, it is hard to see how any of us have time to read through the millions of articles that are posted to the Internet each day. I know I’m always saving stories to read later because I just can’t get through them all during my morning coffee break.

Outread is an app that teaches you how to speed-read by giving you access to articles you already want to read anyway. Instead of seeing one word at a time, get the entire text and follow the highlighted section to train your eyes to follow along at a faster pace…

Pandora adding personalized station recommendations to its mobile apps

Cody Lee ∙ January 16, 2014

With competition from services like Spotify and Apple's iTunes Radio increasing, and the Beats Music launch on the horizon, Pandora announced this week that it's rolling out a new feature to its mobile apps to help you discover music.

That feature is called 'Personalized Station Recommendations,' and it provides listeners with up to 6 suggested artist stations to listen to at a time. These suggestions are based on your listening habits and like/dislike thumb interactions...

Starbucks admits its iPhone app stores unencrypted passwords, location data

Cody Lee ∙ January 16, 2014

Following a report from security researcher Daniel Wood, Starbucks executives admitted this week that the company's mobile app stores user names and passwords in clear text, with no encryption. It also keeps a record of unsecured geolocation data.

The problem with this, Wood says, is that by connecting your iPhone to a computer, someone could easily retrieve this info from a crash log—no jailbreak or special hardware required. And what's worse is Starbucks isn't doing anything to fix the issue...

Upcoming app to allow streaming of all episodes of The Simpsons

Cody Lee ∙ January 16, 2014

Good news for Simpsons fans this morning. FX Networks CEO John Landgraf announced this week that the group is creating a standalone app for the popular Springfield family, which will allow users to stream all 24 seasons of the TV show to their devices.

Speaking at the Television Critics Association winter press tour yesterday, Landgraf offered up some details about the app. He says it'll feature tons of content including all 500+ episodes of The Simpsons, which will be available for online streaming at all times...

Let’s Talk Jailbreak 40: Jailbreak apps versus jailbreak tweaks

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 15, 2014

After a brief discussion about the concept of jailbreak apps versus jailbreak tweaks, the crew debates about the ongoing struggle with Cydia purchases. Sebastien gives us a tutorial in using Activator to emulate Zephyr functionality, Jeff talks about ClassicSwitcher, and Cody shares his thoughts about the latest WinterBoard update.