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Samsung widens lead over Apple, sells 50M smartphones in June quarter

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Samsung, the maker of Galaxy smartphones and tablets, has widened its lead over Apple in the second quarter of this year, according to a non-scientific poll conducted by Reuters. It is estimated that Samsung sold 50 million smartphones in the June quarter while Apple is seeing selling 30.5 million iPhones.

Of course, the South Korean conglomerate recently launched the Galaxy S III smartphone, its flagship product backed with an aggressive advertising campaign, while Apple is left to fight with the nine-months-old iPhone 4S as the new iPhone won't arrive until September or October...

Apple seeds iOS 6 Beta 3 to registered developers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Apple has just issued a third beta build of iOS 6 to developers. The new software has not yet appeared on Apple’s iOS Developer Center though devices running iOS 6 Beta 2 can update over-the-air (go to Settings > General > Software Update). The update prompt mentions only "bug fixes and improvements" so we're doing some digging as we speak and will update when we find out more...

Jobs’ advice to Yelp CEO: don’t go Google

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2012

It was one of those classic Jobs moments Yelp CEO Jeremy Stoppelman will never forget. He was in a middle of a conference call with venture capitalists as Steve Jobs called in to offer a word of advice regarding a takeover bid from Google. In hindsight, Jobs wanted Yelp to stay independent as Apple had big plans with iOS 6 Maps and Siri that included Yelp...

HomeCourts brings banner shortcuts to jailbroken devices

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

No, it has nothing to do with having an advantage in a game of basketball. HomeCourts is a jailbreak tweak that lets you access a series of banners on the Home screen that serve as shortcuts. I still don't quite get the name, but I think it has something to do with shortcuts being on the Home screen? That's my best guess anyway.

HomeCourts features pairs of configurable shortcuts. There are two shortcuts for making a phone call, two for sending a message, two for launching websites, etc. All of these shortcuts can be assigned and configured in the Settings app. Needless to say, HomeCourts is about as cumbersome as it gets for a jailbreak tweak.

Poll: is Microsoft launching Office for iPad today?

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 22, 2018

Microsoft is unveiling something today, but the company would uncharacteristically release no agenda for today's presser, which begins at noon Pacific time. A media release only mentions that Microsoft will be making an announcement today and teases "news live from San Francisco via webcast".

It's gotta be some kind of a biggie as Steve Ballmer, the CEO, "will share the news", per the release. But what exactly is it? Office for iPad, anyone? It's a simple YES/NO poll so cast your vote now...

BioLite CampStove lets you charge your iOS device by burning stuff

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2012

Say what you will, but all day long performance is a pipe dream with today's power-hungry iOS devices. Because these are mini computers, iOS devices require lots of juice to run. Unfortunately, space constraints and today's battery technology just can't keep up with the realities of mobile computing (yet).

Folks tackle the problem with battery packs, but that's just another item to lug around while out and about. And guess what, a battery pack is one item that routinely gets forgotten in my camping preparations. But I never forget a camp stove.

Enter BioLite's CampStove, an awesome new 'accessory', basically a special camp stove which lets you burn stuff - be it wood and pine or twigs and leaves or other bio mass - to convert heat to energy via its built-in thermoelectric generator, so you can charge your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. The campfire will never be the same. A cool promo video follows right below...

How to make your iPhone speak the current time and date

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

Sometimes you just don't have time to look at the time. Or maybe you're in a dark room, and don't want the iPhone's light to blind you as if you were staring directly into the sun. In either of these scenarios, using TimeSpeak would be appropriate.

TimeSpeak is a jailbreak tweak that will speak the current time and date out loud when invoked via an Activator action. The tweak contains numerous options for speaking certain parts of time like day, month, hours, minutes, seconds, etc. Take a look inside for a full video demo...

MultiBoot is a quick boot toggle for jailbroken iPhones

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

MultiBoot is a tweak that allows you to quickly respring, reboot, safe mode, or power off your iPhone using a Home screen app icon. This same concept has been accomplished time and time again on the Cydia store, so MultiBoot doesn't exactly have originality on its side.

That being said, MultiBoot is a solid tweak that performs its functions reliably. Check out our full video walkthrough for the full details on how it works...

Google in a state of IP denial over Android, warns patent expert

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2012

Dispelling a notion that rivals are taking Google to court out of frustration over their inability to slow down the Android freight train, patent expert Florian Müeller makes a point in a post over at his FOSS Patents blog that a collective market capitalization of the various corporations suing Google is approximately $1.06 trillion versus Google's $188 billion market cap.

More important than that, he says, "the companies who claim that Google's Android infringes on their intellectual property are too diverse to believe in a conspiracy". Müeller also notes that the Japanese giant Fujifilm, which mostly played defensive role in litigation, has also sued Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility for Android's alleged infringement of four of its patents...

Apple starts blocking Russian servers that authenticate in-app content for free

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 16, 2012

Making good on its promise, Apple has started to block Russian servers which authenticate paid in-app content for free, The Next Web reports. The company is blocking IP addresses that host the rogue in-appstore.com domain by issuing takedown notices to hosting companies. PayPal has also intervened to block a private account through which donations had been collected, citing violation of its terms of service.

Despite this, hacker Alexey V. Borodin, the brains behind this controversial method, has already moved the servers to another country in an attempt to evade Apple’s legal requests...

3 reasons to get excited about this year’s iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ July 16, 2012

It's October 4th, 2011, and Apple is hosting its highly anticipated iPhone event. SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller is on stage, and after about 5 minutes of discussing changes to the iPod line, he utters the words that everyone has been waiting to hear: "Next, iPhone."

A sense of disappointment spread throughout the tech world as Schiller went on to unveil a familiar-looking iPhone 4S. Where was this teardrop-shaped iPhone 5 that we had been hearing so much about? With the bigger screen, and LTE? What about all of those leaked cases?

Of course, the 4S would go on to be a huge hit for Apple. But the whole experience has left a lot of consumers with low expectations for this year's iPhone release. Well it's time to raise them. There are actually a few reasons why you should be excited about Apple's next handset...

Sprint officially launches its LTE network

Cody Lee ∙ July 16, 2012

Great news Sprint customers, your carrier has just officially joined the LTE party. As expected, the company flipped the switch on its next-generation network in 5 markets this weekend.

Believe it or not, this is actually Sprint's second attempt at launching a 4G network. Back in 2008, the carrier took a gamble on WiMAX technology. But obviously, that didn't quite work out...