Flickr gains background auto-uploading on iOS 7

Yahoo yesterday issued a major revamp of its Mail service across the web and mobile platforms and today the Internet company pushed a new version of Flickr for iPhone.

In addition to a slightly refined user interface for iOS 7, folks who've upgrade their iDevices to iOS 7 can take advantage of a new Auto Upload feature that will “seamlessly upload and save your photos in full resolution." Other tidbits include fixes for Google sign-in issues and a brand new Auto Straighten feature...

Facebook testing iPhone client with Graph Search, revamps Messenger for iOS 7 style

The social networking giant Facebook used to irk fans with its sluggish mobile clients that used to be second-class citizens on smartphones and tablets. Blame it on Zuck & Co. for taking the easy route by wrapping the mobile-optimized HTML code into "native" apps. That changed last year after Facebook hired a few former Apple engineers like Greg Novick and tasked them with rewriting these apps from the ground up to be snappier and more responsive than the web app disguised as a native one.

Although Novick has now reportedly departed Facebook and will return to Apple, the company has been busy developing major new updates to mobile Facebook and Messenger clients on iOS and Android. Both applications are now apparently dogfooded to company employees for testing purposes. Here's what's in store for the revamped Facebook and Messenger...

iPhones and iPads remain the top pick among US teenagers

Despite Samsung's attempt to label the iPhone as past its prime, Apple remains the top pick among US teenagers. More than half of American teens own an iPhone with nearly three quarter of young people choosing an iPad when it comes to tablets.

When it comes to purchasing decisions, popularity of cheaper Android devices have barely moved the needle, if at all. The figures from Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster bode well for Apple and its continued growth among the key consumer demographic now driving technology purchases...

Apple announces major iPhone 5s/5c expansion

Apple initially launched its new iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c handsets on September 20 in the United States and an additional ten major international markets. Today, the company announced a major expansion that will see both handsets hit more than 25 new markets around the world beginning October 25, with more than a dozen additional countries receiving both handsets on November 1.

The full breakdown is right after the break...

DisplaySearch: Retina iPad mini, larger iPhone in the pipeline

Highly-regarded NPD DisplaySearch issued a new research note late last night, offering up several bold predictions for Apple's future product plans. It believes the company is preparing to revamp the displays across nearly all of its devices.

Among the forecasts, the marketing research firm says it agrees with the rumors that the new iPad mini Apple is expected to unveil later this month will have a Retina display. And it also concurs with the ongoing 'larger iPhone screen' chatter...

Kik Messenger app updated for iOS 7 with new design, stickers and more

Adding to our growing list of iOS 7 updates, the Kik Messenger client for iPhone received a refresh last night, bringing it to version 6.7. The update brings the app's design more in line with the all-new firmware.

Kik's entire UI has been given the usual iOS 7 treatment, with fewer borders, flatter graphics and text, and empty white spaces. And the developers also gave it a new sticker package and stability improvements...

Attach your iPad to your laptop screen with SideCar

Whether you're a professional graphics designer, or a self-proclaimed YouTube expert, running dual displays can make doing your thing on the computer much easier. It allows you to see more content at once, and multitask more efficiently.

Now with this in mind, what if I told you there was a product that would allow you to run this kind of setup while on the go, using nothing but your existing iPad and laptop? Well it just so happens that there is, and it's called the SideCar...

Qualcomm backtracks on ’64-bit A7 is a marketing gimmick’ claims

Last week, Qualcomm's CMO Anand Chandrasekher made headlines for comments he made during an interview regarding Apple's new A7 processor. He called the chip a 'marketing gimmick,' and said 64-bit holds no real benefit for users.

But pundits were quick to challenge Chandrasekher, pointing to apps and games with A7 support as proof that the 64-bit architecture holds value. And Qualcomm must agree, because it has issued a statement backtracking on the claims...

Let’s Talk Jailbreak 31: Set it and forget it

In this week's episode of Let's Talk Jailbreak, we discuss all things jailbreak first, including the iOS 7 jailbreak, the iOS 6.1.4 jailbreak, and three awesome new jailbreak tweaks that you must see. We also share our thoughts about Samsung's new Galaxy Gear smart watch, the prospects of a larger iPhone, and we have an insightful discussion about the future of gaming.

‘Simple Mode’ puts an interesting spin on the Lock screen launcher

I know what you're thinking. "But Jeff, we don't need any more walkthroughs of Lock screen launchers, we've already been inundated with them."

To be honest, I thought the same thing.

We went through a period where it seemed like there was Lock screen launcher, after Lock screen launcher, after Lock screen launcher. And it's not that any of the releases were bad, the niche just got a little too crowded.

Well, you'll be happy to know that Simple Mode, although it falls firmly within the genre, adds an original flavor to the typical Lock screen launcher. Simple Mode will actually learn your app usage patterns, and adjust the apps available on your Lock screen automatically.

‘Arco’ is a great tweak for a greater cause

Arco is a recently release jailbreak collaboration between Jack Willis and Sentry. The release, which falls under the A3tweaks umbrella, places a visual music timeline indicator in your device's status bar.

The design of Arco is very much akin to the download animation that happens in the App Store in iOS 7. In iOS 7 there's a round circle indicator that wraps around a button, which is indicative of the download progress. In the case of Arco, the "progress" is in relation to a currently playing song.

Although it's a solid tweak, the best thing about Arco isn't about design or functionality. The great thing about Arco is where the money goes when you purchase a copy. A3tweaks has generously decided to forward all proceeds to Kyle Matthews' Because of Ezra charity, which helps to fund research for neuroblastoma, a terrible form of pediatric cancer.

Some iPhone 5s owners plagued with blue screen of death

In the past week or so, we have been inundated with numerous tips about an apparent issue with Apple's iWork productivity suite running on the iPhone 5s.

Folks have been emailing us about their top-end iPhone abruptly restarting each time they'd fired up Apple's Pages, Numbers or Keynote app.

Digging deeper, the problem raises its ugly head not just with iWork but some third-party apps as well. I'm just scatter-shooting here, but this could be due to the iPhone 5s's A7 chip and the transition to 64-bit computing.

Sure enough, a quick hop over to Apple's support forums revealed a thread with similar complaints where the iPhone 5s goes into a blue screen prior to respringing - hence the Blue Screen of Death moniker.

As this issue continues to persists, I though you should know about how it manifests itself and tell you about a band-aid solution. Apple of course is cleverly keeping mum on the matter and is yet to respond with a software fix for the glitch. Read on...