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Apple opens official store on major Chinese e-commerce site Tmall

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

According to a new report this morning, Apple has opened an official store on popular Chinese e-commerce site Tmall. The move serves as the company's latest play in an ongoing effort to boost its device sales and overall presence in the country.

For those unfamiliar with Tmall, it's a major online marketplace run by the Alibaba Group. It's sort of like an online mall, with high profile brands like Nike and Levi's paying the required deposit to create a digital forefront and peddle their wares...

OtterBox shows off new Symmetry Series case for iPhone 5, 5s and 5c

Cody Lee ∙ January 8, 2014

Yesterday afternoon, OtterBox showed off a brand new series of iPhone cases it's calling 'Symmetry.' The new cases are surprisingly minimal, compared to the accessory-maker's other offerings, and consists of just one solid piece.

OtterBox says that the new case is the culmination of over a year of design, testing and innovation. It's one of the slimmest, most protective cases in its class, and will be available in a number of different colors and graphic designs...

Free iPhone and iPad streaming goes live for everyone in latest Spotify update

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 27, 2016

Spotify, the popular Swedish startup, has upped the ante in the music space when it said recently it would enable free streaming on smartphones and tablets.

Desktop users have been able to stream ad-supported music free of charge since Spotify's inception, but mobile streaming has always required a $9.99 Spotify Premium subscription. This ad-supported free desktop tier has now migrated to mobile.

Now available on the App Store, the new Spotify version 0.9.2 fixes many bugs and flips the switch on free mobile streaming for everyone (they've been rolling this out gradually), here are your caveats...

Apple’s iWatch project reportedly plagued by screen, battery problems

Cody Lee ∙ Updated February 27, 2018

A new report is out this afternoon claiming that Apple is experiencing multiple problems with its long-rumored 'iWatch' project. The company is said to be troubled by challenges related to the device's screen technology, battery life, and manufacturing.

The device, believed to be a smartwatch of sorts, is expected to be Apple's first big entry into the budding wearables space. It's said to feature a display of up to 2-inches, and run a version of iOS capable of communicating with both iPhones and iPads...

YouTube for iOS finally gains iOS 7 keyboard support, improved search and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 7, 2014

Google's YouTube app for the iPhone and iPad has been lacking in many requests and could definitely use a little help from the user interface design standpoint.

For instance, why do I have to tap the magnifier icon in order to search whereas there should be a tappable search bar instead, which is more or less the norm in iOS app design these days?

A new update, now available in the App Store, leaves those questions unanswered.

On the other hand, the release improves upon other lacking areas. For starters, it's finally gained the stock iOS 7 keyboard (what took so long?), immediately bringing YouTube more up to date with iOS 7 aesthetics. Search capabilities have been improved upon and there are also other improvements concerning captions and subtitles...

Unofficial modified version of Evasi0n7 can jailbreak iOS 7.1 beta 3

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

A modified version of the Evasi0n7 jailbreak tool began making its rounds around the internet this afternoon. This unofficial version of Evasi0n7 was created in order to jailbreak the just released iOS 7.1 beta 3.

One of the first things I tried when iOS 7.1 beta 3 dropped was run the latest official version of Evasi0n7. I was quickly (and unsurprisingly I might add) met with an error message stating: Sorry, the version of iOS (11D5127c) of the attached device is not supported.

You can probably tell where this post is going. Indeed, I decided to take the plunge and see if the "unofficial" version of Evasi0n7 could legitimately jailbreak iOS 7.1 beta 3. After about 15 minutes of testing, I can state that the answer to that question is yes.

Although we definitely can't, and frankly don't recommend that anyone use an unofficial version of the Evasi0n jailbreak tool, we aren't naive, and we know that many are going to simply do it anyway. For that reason, we felt it might be beneficial to verify whether or not the tool works. Have a look inside for the proof.

CES 2014: Signal unveils ‘RP One’ wireless gaming controller for iOS 7

Cody Lee ∙ January 7, 2014

We were hoping that this year's CES would see the introduction of new iOS 7 gaming controllers, given how dismal the options are right now, and so far it hasn't disappointed. Yesterday, SteelSeries introduced its new Stratus controller, and today we're adding another option to the list.

What you see above is the 'RP One,' a Bluetooth gamepad with a traditional console-style layout made by Signal. As you can see, the controller is wireless—meaning you'll be able to use it with your iPad and any other compatible iOS devices—and it looks a lot like the popular Xbox controller...

Yahoo launches News Digest iOS app, new Food and Tech website hubs for normals

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

Today at its CES 2014 keynote in Las Vegas, the Internet giant Yahoo announced new Tech and Food hubs and introduced a new iOS application, News Digest. The free iPhone and iPad download utilizes a technology from Yahoo's March 2013 acquisition of mobile news startup Summly that distills information down to small gists.

The company has since rolled out Summly to some of its existing iOS apps, but this is the first time Yahoo's iPhone app tapped the summarization tech to the full extent to "get you in the know in no time".

It's quite ingenious - all of the hallmarks of great iOS 7 design are present: it's clean, elegant, self explanatory and updates you cleverly on the biggest news stories twice a day, once in the morning at 8am and once in the evening at 6pm EST.

Does the world need another news app? Existing App Store offerings more often than not overwhelm with information you may not necessarily care about. If all you need are key headlines of the day and quick gists presented in a finite and visual manner, then by all means give News Digest a whirl, you won't regret it...

iOS 7.1 beta 3 doesn’t patch evasi0n7 jailbreak

Sébastien Page ∙ January 7, 2014

With today's release of iOS 7.1 beta 3, many people feared that exploits used in the evasi0n7 jailbreak would be patched. As it appears, and even though evasi0n7 cannot jailbreak iOS 7.1 beta 3 as is, Apple didn't patch evasi0n7.

Although official members of the evad3rs still have to talk about it, the news has been confirmed by hacker iH8sn0w in a recent tweet...

Mophie introduces new ‘Space Pack’ iPhone case with built-in battery and storage

Cody Lee ∙ January 7, 2014

Mophie added a new edition to its family of popular Juice Pack iPhone cases today. It's called the Space Pack, and just like Mophie's other cases, it features a built-in battery that can essentially double your iPhone's battery life.

But what really stands out about this new accessory is that it also features built-in storage. That's right, the Space Pack supports a number of different file types and can increase the capacity of your iPhone 5/5s by 16 or 32 GB...

CES 2014: Samsung preempts rumored iPad Pro with new 12-inch Galaxy tablets

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 1, 2018

It's day two of Consumer Electronics Show and we're expecting a flurry of new Apple-related product announcements throughout the day. Our continually updated CES 2014 coverage does not include yesterday's Samsung press event, but it's not too late to rectify the omission and tell you about some new tablets Apple's fierce competitor announced at the show: one new Galaxy NotePro and three new Galaxy TabPro devices (it pays to keep tabs on competition).

Available in up to 12.2-inch variants (here's why), all four tablets sport a new Windows 8-style home screen called Magazine UI and some nice multitasking improvements such as the ability to run up to four apps concurrently and resize their "windows".

And as an amusing ide-note, I'm also going to tell you about film director Michael Bay's disaster at Samsung's press event (bonus: video).

All that goodness is right after the jump...

Apple seeds iOS 7.1 beta 3 to developers: here is what’s new

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Apple has released the third beta of iOS 7.1 to registered developers this morning. The update, which carries the build number 11d5127c, can be downloaded via Apple’s developer center.

Today’s release comes just under a month after the second beta, which brought about only a handful of changes like bringing the Touch ID and Passcode menu to the front of the Settings app...