Apple

Facebook launches sports section

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2016

Yesterday, Facebook announced a brand new section on the service dedicated to sports fans and it gets its first big test during this weekend’s NFL playoffs.

The Facebook Sports Stadium, as they're calling it because Facebook is “the world’s largest stadium,” is basically a dedicated place to experience sports in real-time with your friends and the world.

It brings all your game-related content on Facebook in one place, sorted chronologically and updated in real-time, including posts from your friends and their comments on plays, play-by-play information like where to find the game on TV, curated posts and commentary from experts, such as teams, leagues and journalists, and much more.

Apple fine tunes patent that outlines a possible future iPhone with a wraparound display

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2016

Samsung has popularized and mainstreamed so-called phablets, then Apple followed suit by making its iPhones bigger. And with last year's release of the Galaxy S6 with a curved screen, legitimate questions arose as to whether Apple should engineer an iPhone with a wraparound display.

Before you jump straight to the comments, consider Apple's patent applications for an “Electronic device with wrapped display,” which surfaced Thursday in the United States Patent and Trademark Office's database.

Bring iOS 9.3’s new Night Shift mode to your computer with f.lux for Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 10, 2023

Yesterday, Anthony blogged about a cool app that lets you dim your Mac's display brightness even further and beyond the minimum allowed by OS X.

Today, we discuss an app for adjusting the brightness and colors of your Mac's display, called f.lux, which essentially replicates functionality provided by Apple's new Night Shift mode on iOS 9.3.

Like Night Shift mode, f.lux helps prevent eyestrain when using your Mac at night (it's also available on jailbroken and non-jailbroken iOS devices)

Did this video just show us Apple’s upcoming four-inch iPhone refresh?

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2016

M.I.C. Gadget, which in the past supplied genuine pictures and clips of unreleased Apple devices, today published a video which they claim shows off Apple's forthcoming four-inch iPhone obtained from a source at Foxconn.

The clip could be an elaborate hoax, of course, but it looks genuine if you consider that the device appears to resemble a four-inch iPhone with an iPhone 6s-style design, as the rumor-mill's predicted.

Apple Pay’s China launch could be imminent

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2016

In December 2015, Apple officially confirmed plans to roll out its mobile payment service in China in co-operation with UnionPay, as soon as early-2016. Well, here we are in 2016 and a pair of videos discovered by MacRumors gives us a good indication that Apple Pay might be on the verge of launching in the 1.33 billion people market.

The videos show a customer choosing a UnionPay card in Apple Pay and completing a purchase at McDonald's by holding their iPhone near a QuickPass-enabled Verifone payment terminal.

Apple rumored to open R&D facility in Canada

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 6, 2017

Citing several sources, Ottawa Business Journal reported yesterday that Apple has leased office space in the G. Best Building located at a business complex in Kanata, Ontario, which is a suburb of the Canadian capital Ottawa and also home to BlackBerry’s automotive division, QNX Software Systems.

The 22,100-square-foot suite at 411 Legget Dr. in the Kanata Research Park will be reportedly devoted to research and development, marking Apple's first such facility in Canada.

Apple opening iOS App Development Center in Italy

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 21, 2016

Apple on Thursday announced it is opening Europe's first iOS App Development Center in Italy. Located at a partner institution in Naples, it will support teachers and provide a specialized curriculum to give students practical skills and training on developing iPhone, iPod touch and iPad apps. This new program should expand to other countries around the world.

Across Europe, iOS developers have earned over €10.2 billion thus far, or about $11.11 billion, with the App Store having helped create more than 75,000 new jobs in Italy alone.

How to download Facebook photos and videos

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 28, 2019

If you've been on Facebook for a few years now, chances are you've shared a bunch of photos and videos with your friends and family thus far, many of which might no longer be stored on your iOS device or Mac.

Unfortunately, Facebook doesn't make things any easier by not providing a straightforward way to download the photos and videos users have uploaded to the service.

But worry not, our loyal fans, the iDownloadBlog tutorial series comes to the rescue. In this detailed tutorial, you will learn about five different techniques that will help you download Facebook photos and videos onto your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or Mac without too much hassle.

Tip: send app crash reports to your Mac’s Notification Center

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 2, 2019

I don't know about you, but I'm annoyed every time an app crashes on my Mac and the macOS Crash Reporter interrupts my work with a pop up warning in the middle of the screen. Wouldn't it be great if those crash reports were displayed as banner notifications?

As explained by LifeHacker, a simple Terminal command will override the default system behavior and send those app crash reports straight to the macOS Notification Center, so they don't interrupt your workflow.

In this tutorial you will learn about a Terminal command which will route crash reports through your Mac's Notification Center rather than display them windowed in the middle of your screen.

Apple releases Music Memos for iPhone, an app that lets musicians capture songs ideas

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 20, 2016

Apple today announced the release of a brand new iPhone and iPod touch application aimed at musicians and songwriters: Music Memos. As its name suggests, Music Memos was designed to “make it easy for people to tap into their musical potential and create incredible music no matter where they are.”

With Music Memos, musicians and songwriters can capture, organize and develop their musical ideas on their iPhone.

Tip: use half-star ratings in iTunes

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 12, 2017

If you like to rate songs on Apple Music, including those you have purchased on the iTunes Store, chances are you will at some point want to submit your star-based ratings. Now, iTunes for Mac and Windows PCs used to support half-star ratings out of the box, but recent updates have changed this behavior to using full stars only.

Fortunately, as noted by The Loop's Dave Mark, this can be quite easily reverted back to half-star ratings with a quick Terminal command.

In this post, you will learn how to enable half-star ratings in desktop iTunes and rate music more accurately than before.

U.S. Netflix customers on grandfathered plans will get slapped with a price increase

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Did you sign up for Netflix's $7.99 per month plan with high-definition streaming before new pricing tiers were unveiled?

If so, the company will reward your loyalty by slapping you with a price increase later this year, according to Netflix's letter to shareholders issued yesterday as part of the company's quarterly earnings release.

Grandfathered Netflix customers in the United States will have two choices: continue using their $7.99 per month plan, but only in standard definition, or choose to pay $9.99 per month to continue watching in high definition.