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Google Working On Siri Clone Codenamed “Majel”

Alex Heath ∙ Updated February 6, 2016

Google is reportedly working on its own version of Siri for upcoming Android devices. The project has been given the internal codename of "Majel" (a reference to Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the Federation Computer from Star Trek) and is meant to be an evolution of the current voice recognition technology in Android, Voice Actions.

Siri is by far the iPhone 4S's hottest feature, and Apple has used marketing to put itself in the lead once again with the rest of the industry now forced to play catch-up. Will Google's upcoming assistant be the competition that Siri needs?

A Visual History of iOS

Alex Heath ∙ December 14, 2011

Dieter Bohn of The Verge has an amazing walkthrough of how iOS has evolved since its release in 2007. The post takes a detailed look at the key iOS features and releases that Apple introduced throughout the years.

During the original iPhone announcement, Apple touted that it ran on the same Unix core as Mac OS X and that it used many of the same tools. However, it was clear even then that while there may be some shared elements between OS X and this new phone OS, it was a different-enough beast to warrant its own branding. When the original iPhone launched, the OS was called "iPhone OS" and it kept that name for four years, only changing to iOS with the release of iOS 4 in June of 2010. For the sake of simplicity (and because it's a much-less awkward phrase), I'm going to indulge in a little revisionist history here and refer to all versions of the operating system as "iOS" in this piece.

Head on over to The Verge to read about the history of iOS. It's amazing to see how far the platform has come.

Stay Away from This Fake MineCraft App, It’s a Scam

Cody Lee ∙ December 14, 2011

Although Apple has done a great job keeping malicious software out of the App Store, it hasn't quite figured out how to keep the scammers at bay. It seems like we've seen several misleading apps surface in the App Store over the past few months.

What happens is, Apple will approve an application that doesn't appear to be harmful. But for some reason, they fail to notice that the app's description doesn't have anything to do with what it actually does. And we've just come across another one...

American Airlines Pilots Given the Go-Ahead to Use iPads In the Cockpit

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated February 19, 2018

As of this friday, your favorite American Airlines pilot might be playing with a shiny iPad 2 while navigating through the air at 30,000 feet. That is because the airline is the first to receive the go-ahead from the FAA to use Apple's tablet as a replacement for paper-based flight documents, beginning Friday 16th of December.

The move will help American Airlines lose weight thanks to the removal of massive books and other flight documents from each flight, and if you've ever been over your allowed luggage weight on a flight, you will be acutely aware that weight equals money when in the air.

iOS 5.0.1 Untethered Jailbreak Done For All A4 Devices

Cody Lee ∙ Updated October 10, 2018

The entire jailbreak community has its eyes on pod2g right now. The Chronic Dev Team-affiliated iOS hacker has shown a lot of progress over the last few weeks in his efforts to create an untethered iOS 5 jailbreak.

Pod2g has demonstrated a working untethered jailbreak on a third-generation iPod touch running the latest iOS software, and recently confirmed it to work on the iPhone 4. Now he's added several more devices to the list.

Halo Waypoint iOS App Released for Master Chief Fans

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

Someone at Microsoft just can't stop pushing out new iOS apps and games, with yet another release coming from Redmond showing up in the App Store.

Just hours after Microsoft's Kinectimals found its way onto iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches, another game-related app has landed, and this time it had help from Master Chief. Halo Waypoint ties right into all your Halo stats, letting players keep up to date with the competition as well as their own progress while away from their beloved Xbox 360.

Trak, a Mobile Credit Card Reader for iOS [Sponsored]

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

I don't know if you've noticed, but we're big fans of Kickstarter here at iDB. And it seems that Kickstarter project creators like us, too. Apparently, thanks to iDB, a few thousand dollars have been raised for various Kickstarter projects, and we're pretty proud of that.

Today, we sit down with Keith White and talk to him about Trak, a mobile credit card reader for iPhone and iPad he intends to launch with a little help from Kickstarter.

O2 Launches New iPhone 4S Rental Program

Cody Lee ∙ December 13, 2011

Not everyone needs everything for an extended amount of time. That's why you can rent pretty much anything these days. Cars, houses, washing machines, furniture and the like can all be leased for short amounts of time and then returned.

Now the European-based operator O2 is looking to bring this business model to the smartphone market as it has just announced its new rental program: O2 Lease. With the service, customers will now be able to rent the iPhone 4S instead of purchasing it...

Siri’s Speak Selection Feature Reads Text Out Loud

Alex Heath ∙ December 13, 2011

Here's a nice little tip for Siri fanatics. Did you know that you can have Siri speak any selection of text out loud anywhere in iOS 5 on the iPhone 4S?

By enabling a nifty feature in Settings, a simple "Speak" option can be shown any time you select a chunk of text. Siri can then read that text out loud through your iPhone's speaker at a pre-programmed speed.

Microsoft Releases Its First Game in the App Store

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated February 21, 2018

Microsoft is on something of a roll right now, with iOS apps rolling out of Redmond faster than you can say "Steve Ballmer." We've already had My Xbox LIVE and SkyDrive come from the mobile developers at Microsoft over the last few days, and now we've been treated to a new game.

Fans of the Xbox Kinect will know all about Kinectimals, a game that gives gamers a way to interact with virtual pets using the Kinect hands-free gaming accessory. If you are already a Kinectimals player on your Xbox 360, the new iOS app will unlock some more cubs for you to play with. You know, if that's your thing.

Invoke iOS 5’s Native Twitter By Means of an App Icon Shortcut

Jeff Benjamin ∙ December 13, 2011

As if there weren't already plenty of options to invoke iOS 5's native Twitter integration. This time, the method is by means of a handy app icon conveniently placed on your iOS device's Home screen.

We already have standalone shortcuts, Activator options, and now Twicon — a standalone app icon that acts a shortcut directly to iOS 5's Twitter popup panel...

TubeCenter: Add YouTube to Notification Center

Jeff Benjamin ∙ December 13, 2011

TubeCenter — as its name might allude to — is a tweak that allows you to place a YouTube widget in iOS 5's Notification Center.

The only problem with this tweak, is that it lacked any keyboard support — at least it did during my initial testing.

Once it's updated with the proper keyboard support, fans of YouTube could find this tweak useful. Check out our synopsis inside...