Apple

Size comparison: 3D printed 5.5-inch iPhone 6 mockup vs iPhone 5s

Another day, another iPhone 6 dummy. Based on purportedly leaked design drawings published last month, enthusiast Hidenori Satou has used a MakerBot Replicator 2 3D Printer to produce a mockup of Apple's upcoming 5.5-inch handset. The dummy unit is rather crude and as such is used to highlight the size difference between the current four-inch iPhone 5 and the upcoming 5.5-incher...

iPhone 6 resolution pegged at 1,704-by-960 pixels

Virtually all of the rumors pertaining to Apple's next iPhone center on its ultra-thin design and two screen sizes: 4.7 and 5.5 inches. But up until now, we were kept in the dark as to what screen resolution the larger 5.5-incher might have.

According to a new report by an informed blogger, the iPhone 6 will have a screen resolution of 1,704-by-960 pixels, a marked improvement over the current 1,136-by-640 pixels on the iPhone 5/5s/5c...

Apple clueless on iMessage purgatory syndrome

Apple's iMessage platform is great for heavy texters. Integrated deeply into the bowels of the operating system, iMessage simply disappears so normals are completely oblivious to the fact they're actually using the system. When you start typing a recipient's name in the stock Messages app in iOS or OS X, iMessage checks with Apple to see if a person has iMessage enabled.

If so, the chat bubble turns blue to indicate that the message will be sent as an iMessage, thereby bypassing your carrier's SMS service. Problems arise when you switch to another smartphone platform only to discover that your phone number has not been removed from your Apple ID.

As a result, this could turn your phone number into a black hole for text messages...

More evidence of Fall iPhone 6 launch as Apple blocks off employee vacations in September

With all the rumors seemingly pointing to Apple sticking to its Fall release schedule for iPhones, established with the October 2011 introduction of the iPhone 4s, today the company again hinted at an upcoming iPhone 6 release by blocking off employee vacations for September 15–28 at its German outlets.

September is Apple's usual iPhone launch window (new iPads typically come a month later).

What's different this time around is Apple blocking employee vacation dates four months in advance versus a few weeks ahead of a major new product introduction, like before...

Badland update brings 4 player co-operative mode, 120 new missions and more

Following up on last month's release of Doomsday level pack for its atmospheric sidescrolling platformer taking place in a beautifully rendered fairytale forest, developer Frogmind today issued another major update to Badland which enables a co-operative mode for up to four players.

There are also new missions - 120 new ones to be exact - as well as seven new achievements and a couple technical improvements in the latest version of this 2013 App Store iPad Game of the Year and the winner of the 2013 Apple Design Award.

The new version sporting the aforementioned goodies is free for folks who've purchased the game. Badland is otherwise a $3.99 value...

Apple releases iBooks version of its ‘iOS Human Interface Guidelines’

Last night, Apple published an iBooks version of its 'iOS Human Interface Guidelines.' The move is notable because until now you could only access the user interface guidelines for iOS 7 via the developer portal, which required a $99-per-year membership.

For those unfamiliar with the document, the guidelines are essentially Apple's suggestions to developers for designing their iOS applications. The goal is to ensure that all 3rd party apps share similar UI principles, so that they're both cohesive and intuitive...

Tim Cook charity lunch auction sells for over $330K

Last month we told you about Tim Cook's CharityBuzz auction. Folks were given the opportunity to bid on a one hour luncheon with Cook, the CEO of the world's largest company, with proceeds going to benefit the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights.

The lunch, which was donated by Cook himself, will take place at Apple's Cupertino headquarters and had an estimated value of $100,000. But as expected, bidders blew well past that amount. The auction ended this afternoon with a final bid of $330,001...

Castro podcast app gains better audio, continuous play, sleep timer, crisper UI and more

The high-fidelity Castro podcast player for the iPhone and iPod touch debuted last December and today got bumped to version 1.1. Despite the incremental change in version number, developers have added numerous new capabilities and refinements that will improve upon your already top-notch Castro experience.

There's now a new continuous play feature for episodic listening, a sleep timer, vastly improved audio quality of slow-speed playback, rich new options inside in-app settings, a cleaner user interface with nicer typography and much more.

From before, the app supports non-iTunes subscriptions. Today's update is free to existing owners of the software. For newcomers, Castro is a $3.99 download from the App Store...

Sonos revamps iOS app, adds tons of new features

Sonos has introduced a major new version of its app which allows you to control your Sonos hardware using an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

Following the release of a redesigned Android app earlier in the year, Sonos has now refreshed its iOS counterpart with a revamped user interface, while adding dozens of new features, refinements and enhancements.

The all-new Sonos 5.0, in addition to the flattened interface, now supports VoiceOver (on iOS 7 devices only), lets you use the included Universal Search feature to search multiple music services at once (Google Play Music, MLB, Beats Music, Shuffler.fm and others) and more.

The new version is now available in the App Store...

Report: Apple building split-screen multitasking into iOS 8

Soon there may be no need to gnash your teeth at Microsoft whose anti-iPad television commercials always highlight the Surface's split-screen multitasking, a feature iOS currently does not support. But Microsoft will want to rethink those ads as an exclusive report by a reliable blogger claimed Tuesday that Apple is building split-screen multitasking functionality into iOS 8.

If the report is anything to go by, it should be akin to the iPad jailbreak tweak called OS Experience that our own Jeff Benjamin highlighted recently. Details are right after the break so read on for the full reveal...

Rumor: Apple will tap Beats to introduce high-res iTunes music, improve In-Ear Headphones

Apple's purported acquisition of Beats Electronics, LCC has set the tongues wagging as pundits race to offer their armchair analysis of the grand strategy behind Apple's alleged $3.2 billion deal.

The latest in the Apple-Beats saga comes via the rather reliable Japanese blog Macotakara which earlier this morning asserted that Apple will use Beats to introduce support for high-resolution audio files in iTunes and the iOS Music app and also improve sound quality of its pricey pricey $79 In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic...

New report says iPhone 6 likely to feature NFC for future mobile payment service

According to a new report, the incoming iPhone 6 is going to feature support for NFC technology (or near field communications). Citing sources 'close to the matter,' New York news outlet Brightwire says Apple is planning to utilize the wireless tech in a future mobile payment system.

In fact, Brightwire claims that Tim Cook and company have already inked a deal with China UnionPay service. And under that deal, users will be able to make mobile payments on over 3 million China UnionPay 'QuickPass' POS machines in the country using Passbook on their iPhones...