This is a summary of the most popular articles published on iDB and our sister, ziPadBlog, this past week.
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Top 10 iPhone News You Might Have Missed This Week
Explosion Occurs at iPad Factory, Apple and Foxconn Comment
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like there's been an accident at Apple's manufacturing partner, Foxconn's Chengdu, China factory. At this point details aren't completely clear but it seems the explosion at the factory plant unfortunately caused sixteen injuries and two deaths.
The Chengdu plant opened up last year in an effort to increase production of Apple's iPad tablet. The explosion reportedly occurred at 7pm Chengdu time yesterday. Foxconn states that they are working with security officials to find out exactly what caused the accident. Both Apple and Foxconn have released statements regarding the explosion...
The EFF Calls on Apple to Stand Up Against Patent Trolls
We reported last week on the appalling actions of Lodsys. The patent licensing firm has been sending out letters to iOS developers, threatening legal action if they aren't paid royalties for the use of their invention.
The company's claim that iOS apps with in-app purchasing options are infringing on their patent has been causing an uproar in the developer community. While everyone holds vigilant to see what (if anything) Apple has to say on the matter, the EFF decided to speak up yesterday...
Jailbreak Tweak Claims to Improve iDevice Network Throughput Speeds
Italian iDevice blog, iPhoneItalia, pointed to a new Cydia tweak this morning. After some handy Google Translating work, it appears that TCP optimizer is aimed at improving network throughput speeds.
This would improve performance of YouTube and other applications. Although I don't have any beef with the way YouTube is currently running, any tweak that advertises noticeable speed improvements is worth a shot...
Google Maps Now on Your Mobile Browser
Google is now allowing you to use Google Maps directly from the browser, without having to use an application. Simply point your iPhone to maps.google.com and after allowing the web app to use your current location, Google Maps will locate you and offer various options that are already available through the native app.
The app works pretty well, although it took me a minute or so to really figure out how everything worked, especially how to get directions and switch back and forth with the maps. Maybe that's just me though. It's still early and my brain probably isn't at 100%.
This being said, the conspiracy theorist in me thinks there is a reason why Google is releasing Google Maps for the browser at this time...
Photo Rescue Helps You Save Deleted Photos From iOS Backups
Although we've shown you multiple ways to avoid your iPhone photos getting deleted, what about if your device gets stolen? The Find my iPhone service will allow you to wipe the device of personal data, but can you ever get your pictures back?
If you've ever lost a device, or feel like you've lost photos that were taken with your iPhone, you might want to check out Photo Rescue. The new Mac app will dig through all of your iOS backup files for you, and retrieve the photos you thought were goners...
Apple Working on Privacy Viewing Mode for Mobile Displays?
Apple's research and development team houses some of the most brilliant minds in technology today. Even the inventions that don't make it into consumer products are worth dozens of ohs and ahs.
The latest patent uncovered by the folks at Patently Apple is no different. The filing, submitted back in 2009, describes a method of allowing a user to steer light beams in different directions to effectively produce a new private viewing option...
Crazy Guy Uses Jailbreak App to Threaten His Former Co-Workers
Fridays usually are slow news days so it's the perfect occasion for sharing news pieces that wouldn't normally make it to iDB. This one is pretty interesting, especially because it involves a jailbreak application.
A 22 year-old man from Tampa, FL, used his iPhone and an application called CallerID Faker to make anonymous and threatening phone calls to his ex co-workers at Florida Energy. He faked the caller ID and alter his voice using the application so he wouldn't be recognized...
AT&T Shows off LTE Speeds Expected to Appear in iPhones Next Year
Stacey Higginbotham got a tour of AT&T's Foundry space in Plano, Texas on Wednesday. Not only did the GigaOM author get to rub elbows with the carrier's SVP of application and service infrastructure John Summers, she also got to witness their LTE in action.
LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and has been a popular choice for 4th generation technology among wireless carriers. Verizon deployed their LTE service late last year, and other than a few hiccups, the service has been widely popular. So how will AT&T stack up?
ABBYY Business Card Reader Makes Adding Contact Information a Breeze
Card scanners have been around for quite some time and contrary to popular belief can be very useful. But to be honest, I gave up on card readers a long time ago due to bad experiences with clumsy apps.
If done right, however, card scanning software can make adding contact information and keeping track of business contact data a breeze. So naturally, I jumped at the chance when I was asked to check out ABBYY's Business Card Reader for iOS...
Amazon Wants to Buy Your Old iPhone
You have an old iPhone and don't know what to do with it? Instead of selling it on Craigslist or eBay, you might want to consider trading it in at Amazon. The company's new trade in program allows you to receive an Amazon gift card in exchange of your old iPhone, or any other device for that matter.
The process is pretty simple and straightforward too. Go to Amazon trade in page, select the device you want to trade in, print the label, ship it, and receive a gift card for the pre-determined amount...
Man Pays $1,600 for Four Empty iPhone Boxes
A man in Manhattan saw an ad on Craigslist for 4 iPhone 4 at $400 a piece, for a total of $1,600. Because the seller was in Wichita, the buyer asked a friend of his who live there to go buy the iPhones for him. He sent him a check for $1,600, his friend cashed the check and set up a meeting with the seller.
When they met, the buyer gave the seller $1,600 without even bothering having a look at the iPhones. What a terrible mistake. Of course, the boxes were empty, and when he realized that and yelled at the seller, he was told that he had a gun, and that he should basically shut up and leave...