Apple

Apple updates Find My Friends for iOS 7

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Apple has finally posted the iOS 7 update for its Find My Friends application this afternoon. The app, which allows iOS users to locate friends and family members, was the last notable mobile Apple title utilizing the old skeuomorphic design language.

In today's update, the app's leather stitching and paper-like textures have been replaced with open spaces and sharp text—the usual changes we've seen in iOS 7-flavored updates. And the UI now lines up with Apple's other iPhone and iPad offerings...

Fifty-Three launches Pencil stylus for iPad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Steve Jobs once said, "If you see a stylus, they blew it" in regard to tablets which depend on the stylus as their primary means of input. That hasn't stopped the accessory industry from engineering dozens upon dozens differently shaped and sized styluses for use with popular tablet brands, Apple's iPad included.

Fifty-Three, the people who brought you the popular Paper drawing app, Apple's 2012 iPad App of the Year Editor's Choice, have been hard at work developing its upcoming Pencil stylus for quite some time. Last month, the gizmo surfaced in an FCC filing. Starting today, the $60 Bluetooth-enabled Pencil goes on sale...

Yahoo Screen and PBS channels added to Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

Yahoo in September released its Screen iOS app. Billed as a remote control for web video with true AirPlay multitasking, the iPhone and iPad application acts as a one-stop shop for a bunch of web video sources, including licensed programming from Viacom and other Yahoo partners.

Today, Yahoo announced the arrival of Yahoo Screen for Apple TV. Provided as a new channel on your set-top box's main menu, Yahoo Screen lets Apple TV owners watch live news and events, stream such premium third-party shows as Saturday Night Live, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and content from MLB, UFC, The Onion, Martha Stewart, as well as enjoy Yahoo's original programming, all from the comfort of their couch...

Rumor: 12.9-inch iPad screen in production by ‘first tier display supplier’

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 19, 2013

We've heard some rumblings about a 12.9-inch iPad before and now The Korea Times reports Apple is moving to release a bigger iPad some time in 2014 as a "first tier display supplier" has reportedly kicked off mass manufacture of the panels. Apple will introduce a 12.9-inch iPad "early next year," the report claims.

Conventional wisdom teaches us that Apple may be interested to meet growing demand for larger form-factor mobile devices, especially with PC sales continuously shrinking and phablets by Samsung and others now moving millions of units. An iPad Maxi, anyone?

Google agrees to pay $17 million to 37 U.S. states in Safari tracking settlement

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Google's nefarious overriding of both desktop and iOS Safari users' privacy settings in order to better track their web browsing activity backfired after the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in April 2012 took a long, hard look at the practice and decided to fine the search giant.

Google has previously agreed to pay $22.5 million fine to the government, with a judge approving the record-setting penalty. And now, the Internet giant will pay 37 U.S. states a cool $17 million to settle the Safari probe case...

Yahoo Mail updated with message swiping

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Yahoo Mail has been making some serious moves lately with a major redesign across the web and mobile apps. On the iOS side, the iPhone and iPad Yahoo Mail app recently saw a major revamp and feature additions, including folder management, multiple account support, native iPad interface and more.

I've been increasingly liking the 16-year-old web-based email service, especially now that every account comes with one terabyte of free storage. The app has been updated yesterday to version 2.0.3 with quite useful message swiping functionality and a few other tweaks...

Apple relaxing water damage restrictions for iPhone trade-ins this week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Do you have an old iPhone that has suffered light water damage, but still works just fine? Looking to trade it in towards the purchase of a newer model? Well up until now, you couldn't do that at an Apple Store. But that might be changing soon.

According to a new report from 9to5Mac, Apple will be relaxing its water damage restrictions for iPhone trade-ins this week. The site says that the trade-in value for handsets will no longer be affected by the device's Liquid Contact Indicators...

Report offers closer look at Apple’s renewable energy plant in North Carolina

Cody Lee ∙ November 19, 2013

Apple is one of the of the largest [non-utility] clean energy generating companies in the country. According to a report from March of this year, it's achieved 100% renewable energy in all of its data centers, and 75% in corporate buildings.

Of course, its crown jewels are the solar panel and biogas fuel cell farms that run its Maiden, North Carolina data center—two of the largest of their kind in the US. And a recent report from GigaOM takes a closer look at these NC facilities...

Apple releases iOS 7.1 beta to developers: here is what’s new

Cody Lee ∙ November 18, 2013

Apple has released the first beta of iOS 7.1 to registered developers this afternoon. The update, which carries the build number 11D5099e, can be downloaded via Apple's developer center.

Today's release comes just one week after Apple issued iOS 7.0.4 to the public, which included a fix for FaceTime, and marks the beginning of developer testing for the next major iOS update...

Carl Icahn: not fighting Apple leadership, won’t walk away from his investment

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Some people question Carl Icahn's motives and wonder what if the billionaire activist investor will stop at nothing in order to push Apple into burying itself in debt, just to fund his massive $150 billion stock buyback proposal so he could put a nice little profit into his pocket.

I'm not afraid of Icahn, but understand why some watchers are. And rightfully so, as Icahn is notorious for pushing for CEO and board room changes to have his way, often with little regard for a company's well being afterwards. So, what's the size of Icahn's investment in Apple, does he have a leverage over Tim Cook and what exactly is he up to?

OS X Mavericks 10.9.1 to fix remaining Mail bugs and refine graphics performance

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 18, 2013

Apple released its OS X 10.9 Mavericks as a free Mac App Store upgrade on October 22.

As is the norm with new OS releases, while these things tend to address complaints and issues from the previous version they frequently introduce new ones as well.

For example, immediately after Mavericks went live a bunch of people started complaining about a new and annoying Gmail issue in the stock Mail app.

This past Friday, the company supplied its registered Mac developers with the first beta release of what would become the OS X 10.9.1 software update. The software focuses on graphics enhancements and is said to squash the remaining Mail bugs...