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Budget iPhone to feature hybrid plastic/metal design, due later this year

Cody Lee ∙ January 15, 2013

Last week, DigiTimes released a report, claiming that its sources had seen prototypes of a low-cost iPhone floating around Apple's supply chain. Both The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg corroborated the story via their own independent informants.

Today, DigiTimes offers up a few more details about the fabled handset, claiming that Apple is toying with both an all plastic and a hybrid plastic/metal chassis for the cheaper handset, as well as a special 'see-through' design. More details after the fold...

The Daily Recap – Jan 14, 2013 edition

Jeff Benjamin ∙ January 14, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hq4TCj5ah64

Welcome to The Daily Recap for January 14th, 2013. Watch our video for a quick look at some of the top stories from the day in less than two minutes. If you missed out on any of today's big news, this is a great way for you to get caught up fast.

For your convenience, you'll also find links to all of the stories listed in today's recap inside...

Cellular version of new iPad and iPad mini to go on sale in China on January 18

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Back in December, Apple rolled out the Wi-Fi only versions of both the 4th generation iPad and new iPad mini in China. The Cellular version was missing from the launch, however, and there was no word when it would land.

Then last week, Tim Cook confirmed that carrier-flavored versions of the two tablets would be available in the country in late January. And today, Apple delivers on that promise, announcing an official arrival date of January 18...

Write your own jailbreak tweaks on the fly with upcoming ‘Flex’ utility

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

John Coates, the developer behind the MissionBoard Pro jailbreak tweak, has posted a thread on Reddit about an upcoming jailbreak app called Flex. Flex is an exciting new app that allows users to make and share their own runtime patches, not just to iOS itself but to any app you have installed.

What can you do with Flex? From the looks of it, you can modify just about any app's behavior. In the preview screenshots, there are patches for unlimited skips in Pandora, removing the lock screen's camera grabber, nixing the ratings warning when downloading from the the App Store, and even cheating in games like Tiny Tower. Think of it as a Game Genie for iOS...

“Tap to unlock” from the lock screen instead of sliding with ‘tapUnlock’

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

tapUnlock is a new jailbreak tweak from the makers of MapsOpener and BrightVol. The tweak replaces the 'slide to unlock' bar with a 'tap to unlock' button. Personally I'm a fan of the classic slider, as it's part of how Apple introduced a new paradigm of capacitive screens to the mass market, and it's something I will always associate with the iPhone.

Unfortunately 'slide to unlock' isn't for everybody. If you know someone who has difficulty using the 'slide to unlock' gesture on the lock screen, maybe because of arthritis or another fine motor control difficulty, you'll get good mileage out of tapUnlock. Alternatively, you might just want it to have something different...

Why Apple isn’t responding to vague claims of iPhone 5 order cuts

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 14, 2013

So Apple in a heartbeat dispatches its marketing honcho Phil Schiller to talk to a Chinese newspaper and kill the cheap iPhone chatter for fear the rumor might affect sales and yet the company remains completely mum on The Wall Street Journal article claiming iPhone 5 orders were cut in half amid what the author interpreted as a 'weaker than expected' demand.

It just doesn't make sense, no? I mean, the first rumor hasn't even had a chance to materially impact Apple's business while the other sent shares below $500 in pre-market trading this morning. What's going on here? Well, even if it wanted to, Apple couldn't officially respond to the rumor. Blame it on the United States government and its rules of the game...

Macworld takes a look at Apple’s pricing strategy

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 18, 2018

Marco Tabini of Macworld takes an interesting look today at how Apple manages to keep the prices on its products, and subsequently its profits, so much higher than other manufacturers. It turns out, the company uses a unique, two-pronged pricing strategy.

The first part of it has to do with wholesale pricing. Apple, unlike most hardware-makers, doesn't offer resellers much of a discount on products like the iPad or iMac, even if they're buying in bulk. This doesn't give retailers much incentive to carry the products, but with the kind of foot traffic they produce, it doesn't really have to...

Apple won more than a thousand patents in 2012, Samsung 4x as many

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 14, 2013

Ah, the patent mess. Nothing gets faboys and haters more worked up than Apple's inventions (or 'inventions', depending on your point of view). This is especially true for the submissions that cover the most obvious of ideas, like the rectangular iPad design Apple successfully asserted against rivals.

According to data from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and published last Thursday by IFI Claims, Apple has been awarded a total of 1,135 patents in 2012. This ranked the company 21st among all of the observed companies worldwide, a 68 percent increase. In 2011, Apple ranked 39th with 676 patents.

This notable rise probably means Apple's 'lifelong skier' and chief lawyer Bruce Sewell and his team have been submitting patents at a more rapid clip in order to protect Apple's business. Another take: patent offices around the world could have simply granted more Apple patents in 2012 (not all submissions get greenlit) than in 2011...

Robert Broglia releases ‘Snes9x EX+’ SNES emulator to Cydia

Mike Schnier ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

Robert Broglia, the developer behind the free Snes9x EX jailbreak app, and a number of other commercial '.emu' emulators for other consoles, just released Snes9x Ex+. Broglia's latest branch of his popular iOS Super Nintendo emulator is based off of Snes9x version 1.53, which is the most recent available build of the PC software.

The more recent v1.53 codebase should provide near-complete emulation for a number of games, especially those that make heavy use of mode7 scaling or the Super FX co-processor...

The NRA releases controversial Practice Range app, for ages 4 and up

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

The National Rifle Association, a US organization that promotes firearm ownership, safety and self-defense, has released an app for iOS entitled NRA: Practice Range. The app contains several links to different NRA resources, but the focus is obviously on its built-in mini game.

The game itself isn't anything special, it's a shooting range that offers 3 gameplay modes: Indoor Range, Outdoor Range and Skeet Shoot. But what seems to be causing waves in the tech community today are its in-app assault weapons upgrades, and its 'ages 4 and up' App Store rating...

How to get Facebook Messenger working on a jailbroken iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Facebook a week ago issued invites for a major news conference due tomorrow to “come and see what we're building”. One source claims the iPad version of the popular Messenger client will be on tap as the social networking giant's last-minute "one more thing" surprise.

What you may not have known is that the current iPhone build of Messenger already has the iPad interface and code in place. And if you happen to have your device jailbroken (as most readers who frequent iDB do), you may want to unlock Messenger for iPad right now. Just follow this simple guide and Jeff's easy to follow video instructions, embedded right past the break...

IllumiRoom from Microsoft Research gives ‘immersive gaming’ a whole new meaning

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 14, 2013

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re1EatGRV0w#!

Here's a killer concept I'd love to have installed in my living room. Courtesy of Microsoft Research comes this enhanced gaming experience that projects images beyond a television set, basically turning your entire living room into a video game. I know this is just a concept, but keep in mind that the popular Kinect motion sensing input device also started out as an idea in Microsoft's R&D lab.

What you're seeing in this clip is the real deal - no special effects were added in post processing or anything like that. Microsoft isn't saying when (or if, for that matter) the IllumiRoom project might get incorporated into a next-gen Xbox with Kinect. For now, it's just a a proof-of-concept system, but we wouldn't rule out the possibility of having something akin to this implemented on the Xbox console...