Apple

Review: CiderTV doubles as gesture-rich Apple TV remote and volume control for your television

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 17, 2019

I was researching software remotes for the Apple TV the other day and stumbled upon CiderTV by Aivee Apps. But wait, doesn't Apple's own Remote app for the iPhone and iPad get the job done?

Er, not quite. It's buggy, slow and just a pain in the you-know-what. I want a solution that goes beyond Remote's basic functionality, with features like richer gestures and DLNA volume control for compatible TV sets.

That way, I wouldn't have to constantly juggle between the tiny Apple TV remote and another one for my TV. CiderTV does just that—and then some more—and is available at no charge.

Logitech enters home security market with ‘Logi Circle’ portable monitoring camera

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2015

Accessory maker Logitech is entering the home security and automation market with a new portable camera designed for home monitoring. They're calling it the Logi Circle and it's both portable and rechargeable.

But don't let its friendly appearance and small footprint fool you, the Circle is no toy. This device packs in advanced features such as 2-way audio and real-time streaming of high-definition video via a companion smartphone app, Smart Filtering technology that automatically marks events you might want to take a closer look at, a 30-second video review of the past 24 hours and more.

Apple bans iFixit from App Store over tearing apart unreleased 4th generation Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2015

Those prolific electronics wizards over at iFixit have found out the hard way that breaking Apple's NDA has consequences. The site fell out of favor with Apple after posting a teardown analysis of an unreleased 4th generation Apple TV with Siri Remote.

According to iFixit itself, not only has Apple yanked their iPhone app from the App Store but also banned their developer account. iFixit's Apple TV unit was obtained as part of development kits provided to some developers who were selected to take part in Apple's early access program.

iOS 9.0.2 fixed vulnerability that allowed Lock screen access to photos and contacts

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2015

iOS 9.0.2 has patched a potentially disturbing vulnerability which allowed malicious users who have access to your device to use Siri from the Lock screen in order to browse your photos and contacts.

According to Apple' official iOS 9.0.2 release notes, the software has fixed the issue which allowed access to photos and contacts on a locked device by “restricting options offered on a locked device.”

The vulnerability was left unpatched in iOS 9.0 and iOS 9.0.1 and affected the iPhone 4s and later, fifth-generation iPod touch and later and iPad 2 and later.

Former Boeing CFO joins Apple’s Board of Directors

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2015

Apple just announced that former Boeing Chief Financial Officer and Corporate President, James A. Bell, is joining its Board of Directors. James brings “a wealth of global, financial and industrial experience from his successful career at Boeing as corporate president and CFO,” said CEO Tim Cook.

“I am thrilled to welcome him to Apple’s board of directors and I look forward to working with him,” said Cook.

Skype’s iPad and Mac apps now support new multitasking features in iOS 9 and El Capitan

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2015

Microsoft-owned Skype for iPad was refreshed in the App Store earlier this morning with support for new multitasking features provided by iOS 9. It's now easier to chat with friends on Skype while surfing the web, reading your email or running other apps in side-by-side Split View multitasking mode (requires iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 4).

In addition to Split View, Skype for iPad also supports Slide Over mode. Both instant messaging and voice calling are supported in Split View and Slide Over.

El Capitan’s Boot Camp has USB drive-less Windows setup, but not all Macs are supported

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2015

Boot Camp, the Mac's built-in software for dual-booting between OS X and Windows has been given some love in the new El Capitan software update and now features a slicker Windows setup that no longer requires a USB thumb drive, as discovered by Twocanoes.

Previously, Boot Camp required that the Windows installer be provided in the form of a USB drive or CD/DVD installation media. Now you can just point to an .ISO file, which significantly shortens the entire procedure for those who have purchased Windows as a digital download.

Quick roundup of major El Capitan features

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

El Capitan is here and with it arrive tons of under-the-hood improvements that will make your Mac run faster and your daily computing smoother than before. Even though El Capitan is a Snow Leopard-style release focused on speed and core OS improvements, it nonetheless packs a pretty punch when it comes to user-facing features.

From a more streamlined Mission Control and a smarter Spotlight Search to more efficient multitasking in Split View mode and an all-new Notes to perfected stock apps and iOS-style gestures in Mail, El Capitan is about refinements to the already great Mac user experience and little things that are worth getting excited about.

Here's a short overview of major new features in El Capitan.

Apple brings some El Capitan features to Yosemite and Mavericks users with Safari 9.0 update

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

In addition to releasing the major OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update for the Mac, Apple has also posted a Safari update for Yosemite and Mavericks users. In addition to improving your privacy, compatibility and security, the Safari 9.0 update for Yosemite and Mavericks systems includes some controls found in the El Capitan edition of Apple's web browser.

These mainly include the ability to mute audio in tabs and additional viewing options in Safari Reader, but not the new Pinned Sites feature.

OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update is now available for your Mac, get downloading

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 29, 2024

Keeping true to its promise, Apple today launched the OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update for the Mac. El Capitan has the same system requirements as Yosemite, meaning it should run on any Mac introduced in 2009 and later, and some models introduced in 2007 and 2008.

The software update offers several new headline features while packing in a bunch of under-the-hood refinements designed to make your Mac run faster and more efficiently than before.

If you don't see the update in the Mac App Store's Updates tab yet, give it a while as these things take time to propagate through the Interwebs. By the way, you can manually run a search for 'El Capitan' in the Mac App Store and install it from there.

OneDrive for iOS gains new command gestures and cool ways to work with PDF files

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 30, 2015

Microsoft today updated OneDrive for the iPhone and iPad, its cloud-storage client app, with several new features such as a simpler way to share things with an all-new radial contextual menu and cool new ways to work with and annotate PDF files.

For starters, you can now draw smiley faces or whatever your like on PDF files, sign documents and more. And thanks to OneDrive's newly gained Outlook integration, you can share OneDrive files as email attachments through Outlook, if it's installed.

OneDrive's Document Picker extension on devices with iOS 8 or later permits you to open your cloud files in third-party apps like Keynote and Pages. Oh, and you can now see folders shared with you, alongside your own OneDrive folders, and sync them on your computer.

Apple seeds iOS 9.1 beta 3 to developers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated June 12, 2018

Apple on Wednesday seeded the third beta version of iOS 9.1 to developers. The software is available to registered developers either over-the-air, for those running the latest iOS 9.1 beta, or via Apple’s developer website.

Today's release comes one week after beta 2 was made available to developers, and 3 weeks after iOS 9.1 was first introduced to the public during Apple's iPhone 6s event at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.