Apple

iPhone jailbreaking pioneer George Hotz is building a self-driving car of his own

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

George Hotz aka ”Geohot”, one of the pioneers of the early jailbreak scene, is building a self-driving car of its own, according to a lengthy profile published today by Bloomberg Businessweek.

If you frequent this website, you're probably aware that Hotz is credited with becoming the first person to carrier-unlock an iPhone, which allowed users to use their handset with other carriers.

Much like he'd hacked the original iPhone, he's now done the same with his ordinary 2016 Acura ILX sedan. Working in his garage, he's managed to turn the Acura into a self-driving vehicle in about a month, by putting a laser-based radar on the roof, mounting a camera near the rearview mirror and attaching a 21.5-inch screen and a joystick to the dashboard.

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Lightroom for iOS gains iPad Pro & 3D Touch support, camera with real-time presets and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

Adobe today unleashed a major update to its Lightroom photography application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad in the App Store.

Both Lightroom for iPhone and Lightroom for iPad apps now feature full support for the iPad Pro's high-resolution screen and iOS 9'2 Split View and Slide Over multitasking modes, in addition to an all-new built-in Adobe camera with shoot-through presets.

You also get split-tone adjustments, a Notification Center widget to launch the Adobe camera, full support for 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus and much more.

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Asphalt 8: Airborne receives 3D Touch controls, Lamborghini Egoista, Area 51 track and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

Gameloft's super-popular arcade racing title, Asphalt 8: Airborne, has received a major holiday-themed update in the App Store today, bringing out tons of new content. For the first time ever, the Lamborghini Egoista makes an appearance, not just in Asphalt but in any video game for that matter. You can unlock this amazing car, as well as the exclusive McLaren 570, Mercedes SLK 5 and more, in the new racing events starting December 18.

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iOS 9 now installed on 71 percent of devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

According to fresh new stats from Apple's App Store dashboard for developers, iOS 9 is now powering 71 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in active use, a one-percentage point gain versus the 70 percent milestone recorded two weeks ago.

iOS 8 continues declining as a result, dropping from 22 percent two weeks ago to 21 percent of iOS hardware as of yesterday, indicating that much of iOS 9's growth in the 14-day period came from users upgrading to iOS 8 and new iPhone buyers.

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How to purge iPhone memory without rebooting

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 14, 2017

As you use apps on your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, iOS dynamically manages system memory (don't confuse RAM with storage), allocating chunks of RAM to foreground and background tasks and suspending memory usage for apps that are not actively running in the background.

For the most part, iOS manages RAM efficiently to ensure that your frequently-used applications are ready for action as soon as you switch to them. But as so-called garbage collection is not available in iOS, a poorly written application might keep large portions of memory to itself and refuse to release it at iOS's request, resulting in slower performance.

You can get around this by rebooting your device, but there's a more elegant way to purge the memory taken up by apps without rebooting, as explained in this tutorial.

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KGI: 3D Touch-less iPad Air 3 due in H1 2016

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 15, 2015

KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo shared some interesting predictions for 2016 iPhones and iPads in a note sent to clients this morning, a copy of which was obtained by MacRumors.

For starters, Kuo is adamant that the third-generation iPad Air will be arriving in the first half of next year. The tablet won't be outfitted with a pressure-sensing screen due to alleged production issues related to building a 9.7-inch 3D Touch sensor array.

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Apple Music integration with Sonos now available as public beta

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 15, 2015

As promised, Apple Music is available on Sonos wireless speakers from today, marking the first official third-party integration of Apple's subscription-based music service.

Available as a public beta, the feature lets you access select Apple Music features on wireless speakers by Sonos, including custom playlists through the For You and New features and Beats 1 radio. Of course, you can also play any song from your Apple Music catalogue through your Sonos speakers.

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Procreate Pocket gains pressure painting with 3D Touch, native Apple Watch app and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 15, 2015

Procreate Pocket, an iPhone and iPod touch edition of the drawing and illustration app that started out as an iPad-exclusive, was updated this morning with a bunch of 3D Touch goodies and other enhancements.

Procreate Pocket 1.6 includes support for pressure-sensitive painting with 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. The refreshed app claims double the frame rate across all supported devices and includes an all-new native Apple Watch app on watchOS 2 that improves the battery life and responsiveness.

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Report: Apple working on advanced screen display tech that’s thinner, brighter, and lighter

Jeff Benjamin ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

A late evening report from Bloomberg's Tim Culpan has shed a bit of light on Apple's plans regarding the future of its display technology for iPhones, iPads, and other devices. Culpan's report shows that Apple has opened a secret lab within a Taiwanese science park, and has no less than 50 engineers working on advanced versions of LCD and OLED display technology.

Apple's goal, according to the report, is to create screens that are thinner, lighter, brighter, and more energy-efficient than the screen technology used in current production iPhones and iPads. The report emphasized Apple's keen interest in OLED technology in particular, since it requires no backlight, a fact that can help meet the improvements in energy efficiency and thinness that the Cupertino firm is seeking.

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Facebook killing photo sync in mobile apps, you’ll have to use Moments instead

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 14, 2015

According to TechCrunch on Monday, Facebook is in the process of removing photo syncing capability in its mobile applications and is asking users to download a dedicated Moments app to retain that functionality.

Photo sync, an opt-in feature in the mobile Facebook app, uploaded photos from the user's Camera roll to a private photo album on Facebook, where they could later be edited, shared or deleted.

Moments, a private-photo sharing app, debuted this summer for iOS and Android and then rolled out to everyone nearly four months ago.

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How to keep your free OneDrive space before Microsoft’s storage reductions take place

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 7, 2018

Has Microsoft's unilateral decision to reduce free OneDrive accounts from fifteen to just five gigabytes of cloud storage left you totally flabbergasted? If so, you're not alone. An online petition at the OneDrive feedback website has received more than 70,000 votes already. Feeling the heat, the Windows maker today announced an opt-in offer that will permit all affected OneDrive customers to keep their fifteen gigabytes of free storage space, as well as their fifteen-gigabyte camera roll bonus.

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