iDownloadBlog.com

iTV said to come with pay-TV service

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2013

The Apple television saga continues with a new report by Quartz today offering a fresh insight behind the curtain of Apple's ongoing negotiations with content owners. The crux: while the talks have stalled as Apple's faced significant hurdles, the company is cunningly hoping to get at least a few content providers on board for a rumored iTV launch.

Afterwards, Apple is hoping to get cable companies to play along, the report notes. Apple's ultimate goal is to have the rumored standalone television set launch with a pay TV service that would see Apple “essentially becoming a cable company itself”...

Reuters profiles Apple’s Cook as ‘methodical’ and unafraid of tough decisions

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 22, 2013

Apple CEO Tim Cook, often compared to the iPhone maker's mercurial co-founder Steve Jobs, is pictured in a new profile as a nuts-and-bolts technocrat able to balance a softer corporate image with the ability to make hard choices. After two years at the helm of the consumer electronics giant that is Apple, Cook is being described as a "methodical" and "no-nonsense" guy not afraid to make tough decisions.

Ahead of launching a new version of the flagship iPhone, Reuters speaks with Cook's co-workers and colleagues, showing the Apple CEO is "as different as could be from that of his predecessor"...

Former Hulu exec Pete Distad is now Apple’s VP of Product Marketing

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Bloomberg last mont asserted Apple had poached Hulu executive Pete Distad to help push forward its stalling negotiations with media moguls and cable companies. According to a new report out today, the executive has now started work at Apple in marketing capacity: Hulu has killed Distad's bio page and the executive's LinkedIn profile now lists him as Apple's Vice President of Product Marketing.

Distad was Hulu's Senior Vice President in charge of marketing and distribution so he clearly knows a thing or two about the complex web of licensing deals, though it remains unclear if his product marketing role entails dealing with content owners at all...

Star Wars: Force Collection hitting App Store on September 4

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Konami yesterday announced it will be releasing Star Wars: Force Collection on iOS and Android on September 4.

It's going to be the first Star Wars digital card battle game, Konami said. Star Wars: Force Collection will challenge players to collect over over 230 character cards and discover special vehicle blueprints to create the ultimate Battle Formation comprised of the famous aircrafts like X-Wings, AT-ATs and Tie Fighters.

Once your deck is fully built, you'll be set to challenge rivals in strategic battles, solve quests, participate in massive in-game events, level up among the Jedi or Sith Orders and more. Go past the fold for the full reveal...

Multiple iCloud services are down, all over again

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2013

In what's quickly becoming a worrisome pattern for Apple, a number of iCloud services are down as of this morning. The iMessage system is acting up (all over again), as are Photo Streams, Documents in the Cloud, Backup services and iPhoto Journals, according to Apple's iCloud Status Page.

The downtime started at around 12:30am Eastern / 9:30pm Pacific. None of the services have been restored as of post time.

As things stand now, the affected users have been unable to access the aforementioned services for more than ten straight hours. Fortunately, only a small percentage of users appear to have been affected by Apple's ongoing cloud woes...

Documents by Readdle gains drag-and-drop, Starred files and Photo Library integration

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2013

Documents by Readdle, along with the excellent Files app from German developer Sonico Mobile, are my go-to apps for managing files and documents on iOS devices in one central place. And while the latter has been lacking in terms of frequent updates, Readdle has today issued an update to its Documents software bringing three useful features to the party: drag-and-drop support, the ability to star files and integration with the iOS Photo Library...

First Steve Jobs Schools open in Netherlands with iPad focus

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 22, 2013

A month after the educational concept of schools based on the iPad was first unveiled, the first seven 'Steve JobsSchools' have opened in the Netherlands. The Apple iPad is central to the groundbreaking educational effort, creating a "virtual school" with standard iOS apps tailored to meet the needs of students, parents and teachers.

While two of the schools expect to see the iPad replace text books, school schedules and traditional courses for all grades, the majority will initially start with early learners, according to the foundation promoting the effort...

New ‘VideoPane’ updates adds bug fixes, redesigned preferences, and more

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Ryan Petrich's uber popular VideoPane tweak has been updated with a load of features since we initially talked about it. In usual fashion, Petrich has provided a barrage of new features, bug fixes, and optimizations for the tweak.

If you haven't had the chance to check out our original review of the tweak, then I highly suggest you do so now. Otherwise, if you're already familiar with VideoPane's inner-workings, you'll enjoy the long list of improvements.

Gameloft unleashes Asphalt 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 22, 2013

Is it the speed? The acceleration and pure velocity? Nah, it's got to be going Airborne, says the clever blurb for Gameloft's highly-anticipated eighth installment in the Asphalt mobile racing franchise. We previewed the game back in June and although it got delayed a bit as the team needed more time to perfect the little things, it's out now and available now for your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad for just 99 cents a pop. I've included action-packed screenies, additional info and a launch trailer so jump past the fold for more awesomeness...

M.A.C.E. brings a traditional vertical shoot ’em up to an iOS device near you

Lory Gil ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

If you are a fan of the classic shoot ‘em up (shmup) arcade games of the mid 1980s, you’ll be happy to know that Entwickler-X has recently launced a game that looks a lot like Raiden, but takes place in outer space instead of earth.

M.A.C.E. is a classic vertical shooter game that is actually played in landscape mode. Its design was fashioned after Amiga games with 2D hand drawn graphics and rapid fire shooting, you’ll be blowing away bad guys by the truckload…

China Telecom thanks iPhone for second-straight quarterly profit gain

Cody Lee ∙ August 22, 2013

It's believed that with strong competition from Samsung and other handset makers, the iPhone isn't as big of a draw for consumers as it once was. Some carriers have even stopped offering the phone, figuring it's no longer worth the hassle.

But ask providers like T-Mobile or China Telecom, and it's a completely different story. T-Mobile just posted its strongest consumer growth in 4 years last quarter on the back of its iPhone launch, and China Telecom is seeing similar results...

Studio Design: a design app for everyone, with a social twist

Lory Gil ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Design is an important part of our lives. There are people out there who have spent their whole life learning about the importance of lines, fonts, and placement of objects in images. These people have put all of their knowledge into designing practically everything we look at.

Studio Design is an app that lets you play at designing and also lets you share your ideas with others and get feedback from the community…