FocusTwist: boost your iPhone photography with refocusable photos

There is no such thing as too many photography apps. Being an avid iPhone photography fan, I've found that every single photography app I downloaded from the App Store - and boy did I download ton of these - serves a slightly different purpose, letting me go the extra mile adding something unique to my photos.

Enter FocusTwist, a new iPhone application from Arqball which gives you ability to capture your snaps now and focus later. The software achieves refocusable photography by taking several images rapidly, each at a different focus setting.

The clever software then combines those snaps into a single image that can be posted online for your friends to interactively refocus later...

Companies still deploying iOS first as Android remains MIA online

You would think, given Android's raw numerical advantage, that app developers would first build for the larger market. However, Apple's iOS appears to offer companies other, more valuable qualities. Indeed, one need only look to last Friday, when Twitter unveiled its #music service - available initially only to iOS users. Another iOS exclusive, Twitter's Vine, has yet to hit the Android platform.

Key to why companies are still developing apps first for iOS are findings that Apple's mobile software is both used more often and the users are more loyal to the apps they download. What is Android's response: change how such things are measured....

Are Samsung drones trolling Apple?

We don't usually go in for conspiracy theories, but one is drawing quiet a bit of attention - and factual basis. Has corporate giant Samsung, stung by its more than $1 billion patent lawsuit loss to Apple in 2012, waging war on the iPhone maker? A number of signs point to the affirmative, including an apparent tactic to swamp any critics with pro-Samsung comments.

Along with blatant examples of the business press spinning news against Apple and for Samsung, there has been reports of fake Samsung product reviews. Additionally, we've seen up-close attempts by pro-Samsung 'trolls' to dominate comments...

Concept video shows what iOS 7 could look like without skeuomorphism

In October of 2012, Apple’s senior vice president of iOS software, Scott Forstall, was relieved of his duties. Some have speculated that, under the watchful eye of  lead designer Jonathan Ive, iOS will lose the skeuomorphic design that both former CEO Steve Jobs and Forstall championed. Instead, Apple’s mobile operating system might take on a sleeker, minimalistic theme as Ive asserts his industrial design aesthetic.

Today, Brazillian fellow Rafael Justino published a trailer for the concept design he believes iOS 7 could adopt at the hands of Ive. Check out his entire concept video below...

Mailbox app security fail exposes your contacts, attachments and email messages

Orchestra's Mailbox has quickly become my default iPhone email application. As you know, Mailbox offloads backend email management to the cloud so the thin client running on your device can let you zip through your inbox at a rapid pace while rethinking the workflow with abilities such as snoozing individual messages as if they were reminders and more. So is there anything not to like about Mailbox?

Apparently there is. According to one app developer, a database Mailbox maintains on your device is unsecured, potentially exposing your contacts, attachments and message contents to anyone who has physical access to your device, using just a simple file transfer tool like iExplorer or DiskAid...

Employees give Apple’s Cook approval rating just shy of Jobs

Wall Street has often questioned whether Apple CEO Tim Cook could ever fill the managerial shoes left by co-founder Steve Jobs. What's more, some anti-Apple analysts like Rob Enderle in an article titled "The impossible task of fixing Apple" opines the board should fire Cook over the recent stock slide.

Despite those doubts, employees of the iPhone maker give Cook an approval rating just shy of Jobs, according to a new survey.

Cook - who oversaw one of Apple's rockiest financial periods - gets a 93 percent approval rating from company employees, Glassdoor announced. The web site is similar to Yelp, but posts anonymous ratings of corporate management rather than businesses...

Tumblr iOS app updated with read later and social sharing features

Tumblr is the home to over a hundred million blogs that have published nearly 50 billion posts. In between blogging for a living here on iDB, checking out new gadgets and just leading an ordinary life, I have little time to maintain a personal blog. But if I did, I'd definitely consider Tumblr as my blogging platform of choice. If you run a Tumblr blog, updating your posts on the go has just become a tad easier as a new version of the official Tumblr iOS app has been released on the App Store with a couple noteworthy additions...

Apple publishes ‘A Decade Of iTunes’ interactive anniversary timeline

Hot on the heels of announcing its quarterly earnings yesterday and promising this morning to show off the next major versions of iOS and OS X at WWDC 2013, Apple has posted a new web page in celebration of ten years of the iTunes Store.

What started out twelve years ago as a jukebox application eventually evolved into the Internet's biggest content store responsible for the vast majority of a record $4.1 billion in Apple's first quarter revenue from its software and services division. The interactive web page titled "A Decade Of iTunes" features ten tabs, each corresponding to a particular iTunes milestone...

Apple announces WWDC 2013 for June 10-14, confirms iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 previews

Having posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings yesterday, Apple this morning officially announced that its annual developers conference will take place at Moscone West in San Francisco from Monday, June 10 until Friday, June 14. I know what you must be wondering: will the five-day conference serve as a launchpad for a next major revision to Apple's iOS and OS X operating systems, right?

According to Apple's marketing honcho Phil Schiller, that's in fact in the cards. “Our developers have had the most prolific and profitable year ever, and we’re excited to show them the latest advances in software technologies and developer tools to help them create innovative new apps," he was quoted as saying in a press release...

AppShopper Social brings networking to the app discovery service [review]

When I first heard that AppShopper was pulled from the App Store for clause 2.25, my emotion could best be described as “outraged.” How it is that Apple thinks their app aggregate service is “similar to or confusing with” the App Store is beyond me. Of course, AppShopper remained on both of my devices and is used on a daily basis to find new apps, discover sales, and find out what is trending.

Yesterday, when I heard that AppShopper was back in business in the App Store, I was overjoyed, to say the least. While there have been some changes made and some of my favorite features are still not available, I’m getting used to the new social aspect.

AppShopper Social is an app aggregation service from AppShopper.com. It automatically updates you with the newest apps, the most popular lists, and all price drops. Instead of simply being a port of the website, this app features a social networking aspect that allows you to follow what your friends are discovering, too...

Sprint activates 1.5M iPhones in Q1, 43 percent to new customers

Sprint Nextel, the nation's third-largest wireless carrier, Wednesday posted its fiscal 2013 first quarter earnings. The telco saw strong smartphone sales of five million units, with iPhone sales exceeding 1.5 million with 43 percent to new customers.

A whooping 86 percent of quarterly Sprint platform postpaid handset sales were smartphones. Sprint described the 43 percent of iPhone sales that were to new customers as a rate "that continues to outperform larger competitors"...

The best note-taking apps for iPad

The iPad can be a workhorse for your productivity needs if you know how to use it. Whether you are building a business network, making your way through college, or just trying to run a brick-and-mortar record shop, the iPad can be one of your greatest allies.

The iPad is the perfect sized tablet for taking notes. If you are in a meeting, listening to a lecture, or coming up with ideas for your next masterpiece, you can find an app that will accommodate your needs. We’ve got a list of the best note-taking apps for iPad that we think rise to the top. Feel free to add your own favorites in the comments section.