Apple

Foxconn reportedly hiring 90,000 workers to help with iPhone 5S production

Cody Lee ∙ July 30, 2013

A new report out of Taiwan this morning claims that Foxconn is going on a major hiring spree to help fill orders for Apple's next generation iPhone, believed to be the iPhone 5S. Production on the handset is said to be ramping up ahead of its fall launch.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Taiwanese publication Focus Taiwan reports that Foxconn is starting to heavily recruit for its Shenzhen plant, and it's looking to add as many as 90,000 people to its workforce as it begins to fulfill major 5S orders...

Showtime Anytime app, now with Live TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 30, 2013

If you watch cable on your iPhone and iPad, you're probably aware of the Showtime Anytime iOS app which gives subscribers on-demand access to every single episode of a dozen exclusive Showtime TV shows, plus championship boxing and 60 Minute Sports.

But Showtime fans have long been yearning for the ability to watch live television programming on their iPhone, iPod and iPad devices and now their prayers have been heard...

Intel’s TV box to include server-side DVR that records everything for at least three days

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated December 22, 2017

We've been hearing for months how Intel's been hard at work developing its own Apple TV contender, which sources claim includes a television service of sorts. Conceivably frustrated enough with “everyone doing a half-assed Google TVs," the world's top chip maker reportedly set on to engineer a set-top box itself "and do it right.”

These rumors may soon prove true: according to a new report, Intel aims to turn the industry upside down by introducing supercharged DVR functionality said to tap a powerful server farm that records and stores every piece of programming for at least three days.

Now, TiVo devices have had a similar patented DVR feature called Trick Play for years. But Trick Play doesn't hold a candle to Intel as it relies on local TiVo storage to record just up to half an hour tops of recently viewed television...

Latest Apple TV beta adds music purchasing and ‘touch to setup’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Yesterday, Apple seeded beta 3 of Apple TV 5.4 software. And looking at the change log, it initially appeared that the update was little more than a maintenance update, as there were no new notable features. But a couple of cool things have since been discovered in the release.

For one, it looks like Apple has re-added the ability to purchase music through iTunes—as it stands, users can only purchase TV shows and Movies through iTunes on their Apple TV, and this appears to change that. And two, a new 'touch to setup' feature has been added...

Apple and Motorola drop 14 patents from upcoming Florida lawsuit

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 30, 2013

In a sign that tech companies have moved beyond the patent litigation stage of throwing everything against the wall to see what sticks, Apple and Google-owned Motorola Mobility Monday dropped more than a dozen patents in preparation for a Florida patent-infringement lawsuit.

The move signals both companies are seeking the strategic upper-hand in a case which has exasperated the presiding judge. In the case scheduled for August of 2014, Google-owned Motorola dismissed eight patents while Apple dropped six yesterday, after previously trimming two patents, according to a joint stipulation filed before the District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami...

iOS 7 Beta 4 offers screenshot detection API

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 29, 2013

iOS 7 Beta 2 brought with it an unintended consequence of messing up apps like Snapchat.

Specifically, as Snapchat requires a finger on the screen to hold the photo open while viewing it, the program would no longer close the photo viewing screen upon taking a screenshot.

Even worse, Snapchat couldn't actually detect that the user took a screenshot of a sent photo, possibly creating a huge privacy concern.

With today's release of iOS 7 Beta 4, Apple has introduced a brand new API to let third-party apps be notified when the user takes a screenshot, in order to respond accordingly...

Apple may post three more iOS 7 betas before Golden Master seed in September

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 29, 2013

Now that Apple's Dev Center is live again after an eight-day outage, the company is getting ready to release the fourth iOS 7 Beta later today, if prominent bloggers and Twitter are to be believed.

In fact, a bunch of inactive download links for iOS 7 Beta 4 seem to be already up ahead of the official release on the Dev Center.

And if you ask BGR, Apple will release just three more betas for developers before the Gold Master version is ready for prime time in early September...

Google posts Zagat iOS restaurant guide app, makes ratings available on the web

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 29, 2013

The streamlining continues on over at Google. Two latest products to fall victim of the company's re-newed focus on stuff that matters: the Shopper and Google+ Local app for the iPhone.

Basically the reincarnation of Google Places, the Google+ Local app will get pulled from the App Store next month because its features have been recently folded into the latest Google Maps update.

Although Places lets you use your voice to search for nearby restaurants and businesses, it became the prime candidate for removal after Google had bought Zagat in September 2011. And just like clockwork, Google on Tuesday issued a standalone Zagat app for iOS and Android devices and for the first time has made those reviews available on the web, free of charge...

Pegatron investigation seemingly confirms plastic iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 29, 2013

The Wall Street Journal yesterday shared a report by New York-based China Labor Watch which had counted 86 labor rights violations in three manufacturing facilities operated by Pegatron, Apple's contract manufacturer which assembles older iPhone 4 and 4S models.

It hasn't escaped the attention of eagle-eyed bloggers that the working conditions report also mentions an alleged less-pricey iPhone through the mouth of one of the interviewed workers tasked with assembling Apple’s rumored device at Pegatron's Shanghai plant.

As you know, the rumor-mill, pundits and big media alike are widely expecting the budget iPhone to feature a less-pricey polycarbonate body...

iTunes 11.1 Beta 1 drops with built-in iTunes Radio

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 29, 2013

Alongside today's release of iOS 7 Beta 4, Apple has also seeded a new version of iTunes to its registered developers. The first beta of the upcoming iTunes 11.1 is now available via Apple's Dev Center (the current iTunes build carries a version number of 11.0.4). The beta software contains the iTunes Radio feature, which on desktop is currently available only in the United States on OS X 10.7 or later Macs...

Gruber: there’s nothing punitive with Bob Mansfield’s role change

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Yesterday, a jarring change was discovered on Apple's executive leadership page: the company's SVP of Technologies Bob Mansfield had been completely removed. Apple later confirmed the news, saying that Bob would no longer be on Apple's executive team.

And despite the fact that Apple said that he would stay on with the company to work on 'special projects,' the news was worrisome, as Mansfield has been crucial to Mac and iOS device success. But a new report claims there's "nothing punitive" about the role change...

Shazam now lets you buy multiple songs at once through iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

The music discovery engine Shazam has been on a roll lately. May brought an exclusive background television-tagging features to Shazam for iPad and last month the company added a new Pulse feature to ease music discovery by analyzing the trending real-time charts. In today's update, your Shazam apps have received another useful feature: multi-track purchase...