Chat Heads coming to iOS later today via Facebook 6.0 app update

Chat Heads, the core feature of the new Facebook Home for Android, is coming to iPhone and iPad via an update to Facebook's iOS client, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer and mobile head Cory Ondrejka announced at AllThingsD's D: Dive into Mobile conference today.

Other new features have also been mentioned, including a new layout on iPad which takes into account March changes to Facebook's News Feed.

As for Facebook Home, that application will see its first update on select Android smartphones from HTC and Samsung in "the second week of May". Go past the fold for a nice Facebook 6.0 for iOS hands-on video...

Calmi: toggle vibration with the silent/ringer switch

I rarely use ringtones with my iPhone. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I've heard my ringtone, because my iPhone stays on silent mode 99% of the time.

Sometimes I find that even the motor from the vibration is too much for me, so I quickly tap the volume buttons to completely silence the phone. Calmi is a jailbreak tweak for people like me. It's a tweak that allows you to turn the ringer/vibrate switch into a vibrate/silent switch.

Facebook talking to Apple about bringing Home to iOS (debunked)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArFy91n1FR0

Facebook Home, a brand new and controversial feature from the social networking behemoth, is having a rocky start. At a news conference last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled the new capability that puts users' News Feed right on the Lock screen of select HTC and Samsung smartphones. He then lambasted Apple's walled-garden approach and praised Google’s Android for being open "so we don’t have to work with them." But alas, Android users evidently aren't liking their new Home much.

Reviews on Google's Play Store give it an average score of 2.3 out of five stars, with the most common rating by far being just one star out of five. Perhaps sensing Android people may not be ready to embrace Home as Facebook's co-founder thought they would, Facebook is now toning down rhetoric and is apparently in talks with both Apple and Microsoft over bringing the Home overlay to iOS and Windows Phone...

iPhone 5S could include 12MP camera with improved night shooting

Monday, a report out of Vietnam shed new light on an aspect of the next iPhone that hasn't received much attention yet: the camera subsystem. First piece of the puzzle points to Apple engineers upgrading photo quality by putting a notably higher-resolution camera module inside the iPhone 5S, one that features a thirteen megapixel CMOS sensor instead of "just" eight megapixels on the iPhone 5/4S.

The other tidbit mentions an improved night shooting feature as well as an enhanced HDR mode allowing for even higher intensity levels and more realistic colors when snapping up images in extreme lighting conditions such as direct sunlight or faint starlight...

Abstergo: the perfect tweak for managing notifications

It's been a very long time in the making, but the release of Abstergo is almost upon us. Abstergo, as you may remember, has been talked about and worked on for over a year. It is the concept and creation of Andrew Richardson and Joshua Tucker, and it promises to make managing your notifications better on iOS.

Needless to say, lots and lots of time has been invested into nearly every aspect of the tweak. Tucker, in a candid discussion with him via Twitter, stated that the pair worked hard on one particular portion of the tweak — the ability to add notifications back to the Lock screen — for a couple of weeks.

With its release a mere six days away, Abstergo is shaping up to be a tweak that has been well worth waiting for. I believe it truly will lend a better ability to managing iOS notifications. It's one of those tweaks that's a bit difficult to explain how it can help you without seeing it in action for yourself. For that reason, we've hit the video lab to give you an in-depth hands-on demonstration of the tweak's most intimate functions. Take a look past the break for the full scoop.

Apple offers third-gen Apple TV replacement program over Wi-Fi issues

Is your Apple TV acting up lately? Specifically, is the set-top box exhibiting issues related to Wi-Fi networking? If so, Apple may have a brand new unit for you, free of charge, up to two years after the device’s purchase date.

According to a new report, the iPhone maker has opened a replacement program for owners of the third-generation Apple TVs plagued with problems related to locating or joining Wi-Fi network, dropped connections and more.

Only a small number of units have been affected and Apple has specified which serial number pairs are eligible for the replacement program...

Mailbox gains smarter snoozes, handy UI tweaks

Dropbox-owned Mailbox soon became my go-to email client on iOS because it vastly reduced the overhead of dealing with email messages on iDevices by taking delegating most background stuff to the cloud. What the iPhone or iPod touch in turn becomes is a thin, responsive client.

And that has allowed for some interesting possibilities, such as rearranging the individual messages in your inbox or snoozing them as if they were reminders.

Although developers mostly concentrated on creating an effective user interface to support these unique features, the Mailbox app has a few annoyances that today's maintenance update, its second update post Dropbox acquisition, strives to address.

For example, no longer are you limited to snoozing messages until Later Today, This Evening, Tomorrow, This Weekend, Next Week, In a Month, Someday or a specific date: the app now adds more granular choices allowing for snooze adjustments based on time of day and week...

Fifth-gen iPod touch refurbs hit online Apple Store

Apple regularly puts up slightly used products on sale after it refurbishes them. For example, last month saw the older iPod touches and certain iPad mini refurbs arrive.

Today, the latest iPod touches popped up on the refurbished section of Apple's online store. Discounts start at $30 for the entry-level 4th gen refurbs, going all the way up to $50 for 5th gen variants.

These products are good as new, have only been used lightly, include a brand new battery and come with standard one-year AppleCare warranty. Interestingly enough, these refurbs have landed on the online Apple Store after Apple appears to have shut down its refurbished outlet on eBay...

YouTube app enables iOS live streaming, My Subscriptions, TV queuing and more

I'm loving Google's native YouTube iOS app a lot although it's lacking in some key areas.

Specifically, I've come to appreciate its sleek user interface, especially on the iPad, along with social sharing, the ability to browse my individual subscriptions, AirPlay playback and other capabilities.

Today, the Internet giant pushed another update and it's kind of a big deal.

For the first time, the software is able to access Live Streams and that's huge because I can now watch those live events and news conferences on my iPhone or iPad as they happen. But that's not all. Read on for more...

Customizable iPhone-controlled bionic hand arrives

Here's CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reporting on the latest on prosthetic technology: a pair of bionic hands controlled from an iPhone app. 34-year-old Jason Koger in 2008 had a brush with death when he got jolted with 7,200 volts of electricity.

Doctors had to amputate his both hands and he's been trying out a variety of prosthetic hands ever since. Four years later, UK-based prosthetic developer Touch Bionics comes up with the i-Limb Ultra Revolution, an iPhone controlled bionic hand.

It offers "unparalleled dexterity and control, enabling wearers to more easily perform activities of daily living and thus increase their quality of life." The video is right after the break...

Would you like it if Cydia looked like this?

What would Cydia look like with a fresh coat of paint, ratings, reviews, and no ads? It could look a little something like this: a Cydia alternative design concept, which was dreamed up by Sentry, the designer of the popular Auxo jailbreak tweak.

In its current form, Cydia is okay with me, but there's no denying that having a refresh that looked something like this would be pretty sweet.

Appolicious creates education software discovery tool for kids

In light of Apple's recent ban on discovery apps, a new portal hopes to do an end-run around the whole controversy. Appolicious launched Monday appoLearning, a web site where educational experts recommend iOS apps for K-12. Although it touts use of educational experts to make recommendations on dozens of educational app categories, appoLearning offers a spot for paid endorsements. Still, the founder of Appolicious claims his app recommendation service will be a boon for Apple...