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Apple launches online retail store in Russia

Cody Lee ∙ June 26, 2013

It's been nearly a year since we heard of Apple's plans to begin direct sales in Russia, and this week it's finally putting that plan into action. The company has opened a web store in the country, allowing consumers to order iPhones, iPads and more.

Believe it or not, this is actually the first time that folks in Russia will be able to order products directly from Apple. Previously, the company's devices were only available via third-party retailers, as it doesn't have any physical stores in the country...

Dropbox for iOS updated with new swipe actions and enhanced sharing

Cody Lee ∙ June 26, 2013

Since Dropbox gave its iOS app a huge makeover in December, the team has seeded a number of updates for the cloud-based client that enhances its abilities to manage and share user photos, videos and other content.

And today it builds on that with version 2.3. The update, which started rolling out last night, features several useful enhancements, including new swipe-based actions and the ability to select and share multiple photos...

Apple enables direct Google Contacts sync in iOS 7

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2013

Google last September killed native sync for Contacts and Calendars on iOS devices. The announcement was part of Google's phasing out of Microsoft’s Exchange ActiveSync protocol in favor of CardDAV and CalDAV, which represent HTTP-based WebDAV client/server protocols for contact and calendar items, respectively.

Now, Apple actually adopted CalDAV and CardDAV with the release of iOS 4 nearly three years ago, but setting up Google Contacts sync on iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices via CardDAV was anything but hassle-free.

With iOS 7, Apple appears to have implemented native Google Contacts sync. I'm guessing the feature works behind-the-scenes via CardDAV because it requires no setup and acts as a true two-way sync. It works like a charm, really, let me show you how...

iOS 7 allows developers to detect blinking and smiling in photos

Cody Lee ∙ June 25, 2013

As the tech community continues to dig through the iOS 7 betas, a new feature has been discovered. Apple's next-generation mobile operating system contains new APIs that allow developers to detect blinking and smiling in photos.

Now, iOS has had basic facial recognition for a couple of years now (since version 5). But according to a new report, Apple has added new image detectors in iOS 7 that are capable of identifying certain facial expressions in photographs...

Designed by Apple in California, ripped off wholesale by Samsung in South Korea

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2013

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So if Samsung created Apple's awesome 'Intention' video (part of the new 'Designed by Apple' ad campaign), the results would no doubt look something like this...

HipChat iOS app revamped as Mac client exits beta

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2013

Atlassian's cross-platform group messaging HipChat app launched in January 2010 following a one-month beta period. The Mac app, originally developed using Adobe AIR and in beta since Valentine's Day, is now finally ready for prime time.

If you hate AIR as much as I do, you'll be delighted that the team has now dropped Adobe's sluggish technology (good riddance) in favor of the native OS X experience.

And in addition to the rebuilt HipChat 2.0 for Mac, the company has also given its iOS client some much-needed love, pushing a major 2.0 update that's leaner, faster and includes many new features. Here's what's new in both HipChat for Mac and iOS...

Let’s Talk Jailbreak 16: The show must go on

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 2, 2023

Welcome to the sixteenth episode of Let's Talk Jailbreak. This week, Sebastien discusses his conversation with pod2g regarding iOS 7, the latest iOS 7 beta 2 running on the iPad, OS X Mavericks beta 2, and a whole host of new jailbreak tweaks. The tweaks for the week include NCEnough, Vox, The Quick Brown Fox, NativeQR, and more. We also discuss Sebastien's upcoming trip to France, and the possibility of a special guest host.

P0sixninja hints at upcoming release: ‘think bigger than jailbreak’

Cody Lee ∙ June 25, 2013

This is kind of interesting. Joshua Hill, better known as the iOS hacker p0sixninja, sent out a bit of a cryptic message from his Twitter account last night saying that he has a lot of amazing things coming to 'us all' soon.

Hill, who has helped build a number of jailbreaks including Greenpois0n and Absinthe, has been fairly quiet lately. But he did say back in March that he had independently discovered enough exploits to build a new hack...

Google updates Currents with new features ahead of Reader shutdown

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated August 24, 2016

Google's Flipboard-like Currents app thus far has failed to catch on with the general public, despite bringing magazine-like reading experience to mobile devices.

The problem is, Google's been updating Currents at a snail's pace. So, in an effort to pick up some of the lost steam, the Internet giant today pushed an update to the Currents iOS app which brings it on par with the recently-updated Android counterpart.

In addition to the same audio experience from the Android build that makes listening to audio clips more convenient, the iOS app is now a little bit prettier and comes with a few handy tweaks, like the way overdue pinch-to-zoom for photos and the useful vertical pagination reading mode...

Is the party over for high-end smartphones?

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 28, 2017

Every company loves maximum profits. For years, Apple and Samsung have sold high-priced smartphones loaded with features that were eagerly snapped up by consumers in mature economies in North America and Europe. Now the two largest smartphone makers face a changing consumer profile where basic is best and inexpensive is in vogue.

Just days ago, research giant Gartner noted low-cost devices comprise the bulk of both firm's device sales, making questions of whether to sell 'cheap' handsets only a distant - and irrelevant - memory. Now comes fear from Wall Street that the salad days of smartphones are over for Apple and Samsung...

iTunes U finally adopts pull-to-refresh thing

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2013

Although optimized for the iPhone 5, iTunes U - Apple's free download from the App Store - is still skeuomorphic, just like Find My iPhone, AirPort Utility and other Apple downloads not included as part of the stock iOS 7 experience. Though today's iTunes U 1.3.1 update doesn't get rid of the wooden bookshelf, the new versions does add several noteworthy features. Among them: the popular pull-to-refresh gesture to checks for course updates in the notepad...