Google Snatches Up Motorola Mobility for $12.5 Billion

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2011

In a crazy turn of events, several media outlets are reporting this morning that Google has just sealed the deal on the acquisition of Motorola Mobility. The company is essentially Motorola's Mobile Device Division, which became its own entity earlier this year.

Google now owns that entity, along with over 12,000 cellphone-related patents. If nothing else, the move beefs up the company's struggling IP (Intellectual Property) portfolio, and will allow them to control all aspects of future Motorola products...

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Apple Plans to Fight Fingerprints With a New Screen Coating

Cody Lee ∙ August 15, 2011

A new patent application surfaced last week that points to Apple's extensive research regarding oleophobic coating. The ingredient is used to fight off skin oils, which cause fingerprints and smudges on touchscreen displays.

Apple originally introduced the coating back in 2009 on the iPhone 3GS, but this application describes a more efficient method for applying the material. Mix in the fact that the patent was just filed in February, and we could see Apple use this on their upcoming smartphone...

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Double At: Insert Your Email Adress by Double Tapping the “@” Key

Cody Lee ∙ August 14, 2011

And the onslaught of jailbreak utilities continues, with this new release from iSam. The package will allow you to automatically insert your email address into a text field upon double tapping the "@" key.

While you could accomplish this with an app like Xpandr, Double At is much more simple. This utility is for power users who are constantly sending out their email address from their iDevice...

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IconCommands: Make Your Icon Tapping More Productive

Cody Lee ∙ August 14, 2011

We've seen a flurry of jailbreak tweaks surface over the last few days, and it doesn't look like it's slowing down. Multiple packages turned up in Cydia today, but the one we're going to cover in this post is IconCommands.

The utility allows you to set customized actions for when you tap on an app icon. For example, you can set applications to launch on a single tap, hide once double tapped, and delete after 3 taps. I know it sounds similar to Apptivator, but it's actually very different...

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Copic: Add Contact Photos to your Call Lists, Contact Lists, and Text Messages

Cody Lee ∙ August 14, 2011

I love jailbreak utilities that add contact photos to stock iOS apps. It makes your contacts seem more like real people, rather than pieces of data.

Cydia provides a couple of options to pull this off. SMSEnhancer adds contact photos to the Messages app, and IPicMyContacts does the same for your contact list. And then there's Copic, which actually does what the other two tweaks do, and more....

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Clearing Up iPhone 5 Rumor Confusion

Alex Heath ∙ August 14, 2011

As Apple's next media event draws near, rumors are flying left and right about when the event will take place, what will be announced, etc. When it gets this close to showtime, the rumor mill goes into full throttle. Various news sites and tech pundits share their knowledge of Apple's secret plans through unknown, "reliable sources" that always seem to be "familiar with the matter."

You probably already know this, but Apple is going to release a new iPhone soon. Some even think that Apple will release two iPhones soon. Most think that Apple's next announcement will be iPhone-centric, and the event is definitely going to take place before the holidays.

But honestly, that's all anyone knows right now. Still, let's try to clear up some of the confusion...

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SleepDepriver: Prevents Your iDevice from Going to Sleep

Cody Lee ∙ August 14, 2011

As an iDB writer, I spend a lot of time downloading and installing Cydia packages on my iPhone. The problem is that I don't want my device locking in the middle of my work, and toggling off the autolock feature is a 5 step process.

Naturally, I turned to Cydia for a utility to solve my problem. There were a couple of good options available, but I really liked SleepDepriver. Unlike the other jailbreak tweaks, SleepDepriver disables your screen from dimming...

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Retrofy Your iDevice with VinylLove Pocket

Guest Author ∙ Updated February 18, 2018

Out of all the media types that have come and gone, vinyl is the only one that I've truly missed.

Now,  in the days of MP3s and digital content, who would ever want to hear the crackle of the needle or have to flip an oversized disc every 6 or so songs? Well, it's not as small a group as you would think, and vinyl records are starting to make a comeback.

Thanks to a new app by developer Color Monkey, we can have all the perks and fun of playing a record without any of the work.

VinylLove is a fun app to play your music. It transforms your iPod library into a collection of vinyls...

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In-Depth Look at iCloud for Windows Beta 4

Guest Author ∙ August 14, 2011

iCloud for Windows Beta 4 was released alongside iOS 5 Beta 5 and iTunes 10.5 Beta 5 last week. Here’s a quick look at some of the features.

The installation process is pretty straight forward and standard for Apple. I installed iCloud on two of my PCs running Windows 7. One thing I found awkward about this process was that one of my computers needed restarting before using iCloud, while the other was set to go right away...

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NoSearchCorrect: Disable Autocorrect in Safari Search Field [Updated]

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 17, 2017

The autocorrect feature in iOS is pretty annoying. Where is it the most annoying? The Safari search bar. Everyone knows the search field is much better at predicting what you're typing than Apple's autocorrect.

And for that reason, Filippo Bigarella created NoSearchCorrect. This simple utility disables the frustrating feature when performing searches in mobile Safari...

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Screenshot Customizer: Add Colors and Patterns to Your Screenshot Flash

Cody Lee ∙ August 13, 2011

Jailbreaking your iDevice gives you the ability to customize it beyond your wildest dreams. Not only are there themes and icon packages that can change the look and feel of iOS, there are also tweaks available.

And if you really have an appetite for customizing, this next utility might just make your day. Now you can personalize something I'm willing to bet you would have never thought of, your screenshots...

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