ITC drops Motorola’s complaint against Apple over proximity sensor patent

Apple's patent troubles with the struggling handset maker has largely been viewed as a proxy fight with Google, which acquired Motorola Mobility along with its vast patent portfolio in August 2011 for $12.5 billion. Two and a half years ago Motorola asserted its proximity sensor patent against Apple. Monday, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) threw Motorola's complaint out of the window, invalidating Motorola's patent because it's too obvious. That's good news for Apple as Google was hoping to leverage that patent to seek an import ban against iPhones...

Are Apple earnings a candle in the wind?

Apple, which for years has acted as an engine for much of the tech industry, may report slowing profits for the first time in a decade. Talk of a slowdown comes as the consumer tech giant deals with the triple-threat of slimmer profit margins, falling iPhone demand and heightened competition. Ahead of Tuesday's second-quarter earnings report, Wall Street has entered a "show-me mode" as investors look for reassurance the firm can promise a rosier future...

Fight the good fight with your team of RAD Soldiers [review]

Nothing settles you in for the night more than a good old-fashioned turn-based strategy game. It is even better when you can compete against your self-righteous brother who thinks he is better at war games than you. OK, maybe I’m projecting a bit here. However, RAD Soldiers is an easy pick-up-and-play game with funny quips and cartoon graphics.

RAD Soldiers is a turn-based strategy game that puts you in charge of a team of fighters. Send them to the front line, or direct them to the shadows. Which ever you decide, remember that you have a limited number of actions before your opponent moves in. So, be sure to plan your strategy wisely...

iPhone 4 owners begin receiving ‘antennagate’ settlement checks

Ah, who could forget the infamous iPhone 4 'Antennagate' debacle? It had barely been a month since Apple had introduced its newly-redesigned handset, when users began to complain of severe signal attenuation when holding the device a certain way.

Steve Jobs and company held a press conference to defend their product, but it wasn't enough to keep the lawsuits at bay. Apple was forced to offer free bumpers, or $15 in cash, to iPhone 4 owners. And now, 3 years later, the checks are finally on their way...

Netflix announces new $12 per month family plan

Following the version 4.0 release of its iPhone and iPad app yesterday, Netflix announced that it was going to be rolling out a host of new "family friendly" features over the next few months. And it looks like the first is going to be a new family plan.

Traditionally, folks pay $8 per month for Netflix's service, which allows for unlimited streaming of its content to up to 5 devices—2 devices simultaneously. But with the new family plan, families can stream to up to 4 devices at the same time...

ZodTTD seeds public beta of new gpSPhone GBA emulator

Fans of legacy console video game systems rejoice! The well-known iOS emulator developer ZodTTD is back in action. Zod has been absent from the jailbreak scene for a while, but there's been plenty of talk of him coming back to update N64iOS and other popular ports.

That speculation materialized last night, as the developer announced that he had created a Cydia repo where he would be posting public betas of his updated emulators. And he's already seeded his first beta: gpSPhone v8.0.0, an emulator for Game Boy Advance ROMS...

Twitterrific updated with notification badges, Favstar support and more

Following last month's monstrous 5.2 release that brought about push notifications and other changes, Iconfactory has released another major update for its popular Twitter client, Twitterrific. Today's update brings the app to version 5.2.1, and again adds several new features.

Perhaps the most significant part of the update is the addition of notification badges, which tells you your number of unread notifications for the app at a glance. It also brings support for Favstar and Twitter's trending topics, and a number of other bug fixes and improvements...

Match-Up! and enter to win an Apple TV

It's been a while since we ran a nice giveaway for our awesome readers, so when the folks at Big Fish Games got in touch with us and said they wanted to run a contest on iDB, we jumped on the occasion.

Today, we team up with Big Fish Games to give away an Apple TV to one lucky winner. The best part is, you must have fun to enter to win. Read on for the details...

Apple adds new ‘Later’ download option for iTunes media purchases

Good news iTunes users. It's been discovered today that Apple has added a new download option for folks purchasing a variety of iTunes content including movies, TV shows (episodes, Season Passes, and complete seasons) and boxed music sets.

Now, when purchasing any of the above items using iTunes 11 or a device running iOS 6+, you’re presented with 'Later' and 'Download' buttons. This gives you the option to either download your purchase immediately, or delay it to a later date...

Fruit Ninja developer releases new iPhone game, Fish Out of Water

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2MXTIBhETI

Halfbrick Studios, as any avid gamer could tell you, is the brains behind the popular mobile franchises like Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride. Not content with resting on its laurels, the Queensland, Australia-headquartered developer has released its brand new iOS game, Fish Out of Water, which wants to become your new favorite time-killer. The premise in Fish Out of Water couldn't be simpler.

Billed as "an adventure across the sun, sand and surf," the game, as the name suggests, plays a bit like Tiny Wings in that you're controlling a fish which wants to get airborne and soar above the ocean for as long as possible...

Apple donates $8 million to earthquake victims in China

This weekend, folks in Sichuan, China were rocked by a devastating earthquake that leveled much of the area. The quake, which the country's earthquake administration rated a 7.0 (US Geo Survey says 6.6), destroyed countless houses and buildings.

Apple has since began facilitating donations for relief efforts in the area, and has pledged to provide new equipment for schools in the affected cities. And we've just received word that it's upped its commitment by offering up $8 million to the victims...

How to enable Chat Heads and Stickers in the Facebook app

Last week, Facebook released version 6.0 of its app for the iPhone and iPad. The update included two highly anticipated new features, Chat Heads and stickers, which the social network showed off at its 'Home' media event earlier this month.

Unfortunately, the two features are on a staggered rollout that Facebook said should be done "over the next few weeks," so not everyone has them yet. But never fear. As usual, the jailbreak community has come up with an easy way around this...