iDownloadBlog.com

NFC seen coming to the next iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

When a high-ranked Apple executive says Apple won't do something, expect quite the opposite. So when Apple's worldwide marketing chief Phil Schiller told the Wall Street Journal that Passbook, a new app in iOS 6, won't be a direct payment product, there was more to his words than met the eye.

We've also heard countless rumors involving an Near Field Communication NFC chip coming to the next iPhone to provide a hardware basis for secure contactless payments on the go. Apparently, recent code dumps that broke the taller iPhone news also indicate that NFC controllers are directly connected to the power management unit of the next iPhone...

File sharing just turned professional with Agora Briefcase

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

Sharing files is nothing new. In fact, it has been around since the birth of the internet and has even managed to change the course of an entire industry in the case of the music business. Sharing files across multiple devices and people is an important part of our lives, and the iPad is now part of that.

While Dropbox is undoubtedly extremely useful for most of us, Mighty Mack decided that keeping sharing important files and documents amongst professionals needed to offer something a little different, and that's when Agora Briefcase was born.

Made specifically with professional use cases in mind, Agora Briefcase helps people who just don't quite fit into the Dropbox way of doing things...

Apple Maps could feature Yelp check-ins in iOS 6

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 25, 2012

Bloomberg reports that iOS 6 will have Yelp check-ins integrated with Apple's in-house mapping solution, allowing people to use built-in Maps app to let friends know about their location.

This capability has apparently been discovered in materials Apple distributed to software developers...

Deck HD released on Cydia

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated February 25, 2013

[tube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwWTDyg_saY[/tube]

Deck HD - the iPad version of the popular Deck tweak for the iPhone - has finally made its way to Cydia for download.

A while back we posted a full walkthrough showcasing Deck HD in action. What we found was a tweak that worked just as well as the iPhone version, and in fact felt even better to use due to the extra screen real estate, and exclusive iPad customizations.

Deck HD can be downloaded from Cydia's ModMyi repo for $1.99. If you decide to try it, be sure to share your experience in the comments section.

Apple’s anti-Big Brother patent could help with de-Googlification of iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 24, 2012

It's virtually impossible to find a business that doesn't mine data on its users, be it your local grocery store or an online-only outlet which carries digital warez. And it doesn't matter whether you're a prospective buyer browsing a collection of books on Amazon or a repeat customer using your credit card to purchase intangibles.

One way or another, you're getting profiled. It's happening all the time and all around us, insofar as we don't even pay notice though we should. Even searching the web leaves valuable data in server logs that can and is being traced to your anonymized profile. What you're getting in return is a more personalized experience and certain businesses like social networks (Facebook, Google+ and so forth) literally depend on this idea.

Apple begs to differ. Suggesting the practice is getting out of hand, the company scored a huge patent win for techniques that could make data profiling more difficult and the iOS ecosystem a place devoid of aggressive advertising...

Facebook app updated with new ‘Find Friends Nearby’ feature

Cody Lee ∙ Updated November 20, 2017

Facebook's iOS team has been extremely busy over the past couple of months. They've created two standalone applications, App Center and then there's that whole iOS 6 integration thing.

This weekend, the team launched a new feature for the social network's mobile app called Find Friends Nearby. The addition allows you to automatically add nearby people, as friends...

The top 10 iOS news of the week

Sébastien Page ∙ June 24, 2012

A new week is coming, but that doesn't mean you have to miss out on what happened last week. If you think you may have missed a few of the top stories from last week, don't sweat it, we've got you covered.

We've gathered the top 10+ most popular stories from iDB last week for you to check out. As always, make sure that you're friends with us on Facebook, Google+, and that you are following us on Twitter...

Fake Activator app pops up in the App Store

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

There appears to be a new trend developing in the App Store: create a crappy application, name it after a popular jailbreak app, and hope folks mistakenly buy it for $0.99.

Last week we saw a fake Cydia app make its way into Apple's digital download hub. And now we've come across a similar Activator impostor...

Is Apple tweaking App Store search algorithm?

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2012

According to TechCrunch, citing several developers, Apple is possibly tweaking the search algorithm in the App Store which could affect visibility of apps. The move is meant to make it harder for apps that only count on well-chosen names to surface while giving greater relevancy to software that may have not been visible before due to awkwardly-chosen names, but is otherwise popular and well-reviewed...

The New York Times profiles Apple’s retail business

Cody Lee ∙ June 23, 2012

The New York Times published a lengthy report today regarding Apple's retail operations. The article covers a few aspects of the business, but most of it focuses on the employees.

Following the tone of its previous piece on Apple's supply chain, The Times paints a bleak picture of Apple's retail employees, describing them as overworked and underpaid...

Judge dismisses entire Apple vs. Motorola case

Cody Lee ∙ June 23, 2012

Apple and Motorola have been in and out of courtrooms around the globe for the past two years. Motorola's one of the many Android device partners that Apple is in an ongoing legal dispute with.

Here in the US, the two companies were squaring off in a federal court over claims that Motorola was illegally using 4 of Apple's patents. I say "were" because, the entire case has just been dismissed...

Let the iOS maps war begin

Cody Lee ∙ June 23, 2012

One of the headlining stories of iOS 6 is the fact that Apple has taken over the Maps application. Not only did it rebuild the app from the ground up, but it also stopped using Google's mapping data.

From what we've heard, this was a long time coming. According to an ex-Google employee, the two companies have been battling for years over what Apple wanted to do with the Maps application.

So now that Apple has total control of it, the Maps war is over, right?