Apple

Apple launches $99 Smart Battery Case for iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 8, 2015

Apple on Tuesday released its very first battery pack, dubbed the Smart Battery Case and designed for the iPhone 6s and the previous-generation iPhone 6.

The $99 accessory provides device protection and offers even longer battery life: up to 25 hours of talk time, eighteen hours of Internet use on LTE (ten hours without the case) and twenty hours of video playback versus eleven hours provided by the iPhone 6s.

The built-in battery rests on the backside, beneath the credit card-sized protruding bulge. Passthrough and crossover designs permit users to connect Lightning accessories whilst the case is in use and let the case charge itself and the iPhone at the same time.

This accessory joins Apple's existing lineup of $35 Silicone Cases for the iPhone 6s and the recently launched $49 iPhone Lightning Dock and is available starting today from the Apple Online Store and Apple retail stores.

Facebook pulls Slingshot, Riff and Rooms apps from App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 5, 2018

Happy app removal day! After Dropbox announced plans to wind down its ill-fated Mailbox and Carousel apps, Facebook just pulled a Dropbox by confirming it, too, is shutting down a few apps of its own that have failed to gain much traction with users: Slingshot, Riff and Rooms.

In addition, the company will be closing down the Creative Labs shop, an initiative formed in January 2014 with the noble goal of giving its teams creative freedom to conceive and build apps outside the core Facebook experience.

You can now add to-dos to Google’s Calendar app using a new Reminders feature and 3D Touch

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 4, 2017

Google's standalone Calendar app was released in the App Store in March of 2105 and today the software is getting some interesting new features: Reminders, 3D Touch support and a cool Star Wars skin for those who have opted to join either the Dark or Light side of the Force at google.com/starwars. Reminders in Google Calendar make it easier to keep track of your to-dos alongside your events—in one place, no need to juggle between different apps.

Dropbox to nix Mailbox and Carousel apps early next year

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 26, 2019

Cloud storage startup Dropbox made a surprising announcement Monday, saying it will be shutting down Mailbox, the once popular app it acquired in March 2013, as well as Carousel, a photo-management app released in April 2014. Mailbox will be winding down on February 28, 2016 and Carousel is next on the chopping block on March 31, 2016.

This development doesn't surprise me: Mailbox for iOS has been receiving only compatibility updates post-acquisition while Mailbox for Mac hasn't dropped its beta flag since August 2014 debut of the first public beta (its current version number: 0.76).

Samsung reportedly working on Gear S2 smartwatch companion app for iPhone

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2015

Samsung is reportedly working on its very first iOS app, called Gear Manager, that will permit iPhone, iPod touch and iPad owners to use the South Korean firm's latest Gear S2 lineup of smartwatches, SamMobile learned from its sources last week.

While the Gear S2 works with all Android smartphones, not just the ones made by Samsung, it doesn't play well with iOS. Like Apple's own Watch companion app, the Gear Manager is said to include features to set up and customize the device for use.

How to disable password prompts for free iBooks downloads on the Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 7, 2015

Since last year's iOS 8.3 software update iOS devices have had the ability to stop asking for a password when downloading free applications from the App Store. Soon after, that feature found its way into iTunes and iBooks for Mac.

As electronic books are no longer managed through iTunes, disabling password prompts for iBooks Store downloads is now handled in iBooks for Mac. In this post, you will learn how to disable Apple ID password prompts when downloading free electronic books from Apple's iBooks Store, and we'll also show you how you can manage password settings for paid items.

Apple appears to have upped the iTunes Match track limit

Jeff Benjamin ∙ December 5, 2015

According to a report by blogger Kirk McElhearn, Apple has increased iTunes Match and iCloud Music Library track limits above the original 25,000 track threshold. This increase, while yet to be officially acknowledged by Apple, has been in the cards since at least summer.

Although Eddy Cue, who serves as Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, said that the limit would rise to 100,000 around the iOS 9 release, the increase hit an apparent delay, and has just now begun to roll out to users.

OS wars in education: Chromebooks take lead in US classrooms

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 4, 2017

Chromebooks, a family of inexpensive, Internet-dependent notebooks powered by Google's Chrome OS software, have taken the lead in the lucrative education technology market, reports CNBC.

These notebooks accounted for more than half of all classroom devices sold in the third quarter in the US.

According to a Futuresource Consulting survey, that's a huge increase for Chrome OS-driven machines that accounted for just one percent of K-12 sales in 2012.

Apple supplier Sharp about to kick off mass production of energy-saving Super IGZO panels

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 18, 2016

Sharp, the ailing Japanese consumer electronics company, is about to start mass production of its Super IGZO panels for mobile devices that will have a higher resolution and consume up to twenty percent less energy than the company's standard IGZO panels, which already use just a fifth as much power as standard liquid crystal displays.

Super IGZO panels will go into mass production in early 2016, according to a report Friday by Nikkei. The panels will be manufactured at Sharp’s Kameyama Plant No.2 located in Mie Prefecture as the ailing company seeks to replace “some unprofitable television panels” on the conveyor belts.

Apple launches carrier billing in Russia with Beeline

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 4, 2015

As it turns out, Apple has finally begun rolling out a new carrier billing option in emerging markets, starting with Russia. TechCrunch reported yesterday that Beeline, a mobile carrier in Russia, has now turned on the ability to make payments in iTunes through their billing system.

Carrier billing joins existing payment methods accepted on the App Store, iTunes Store and iBooks Store and was designed to allow customers to have app and media purchases and Apple Music subscriptions charged to their monthly mobile phone bill, or deducted from their prepaid amount.

Samsung to pay Apple $548 million settlement, but reserves right to seek reimbursement

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 4, 2015

The long-standing Apple vs. Samsung patent dispute has been dragging on for five years now without any meaningful resolution in sight, despite Samsung announcing a settlement payment of $548 million to the iPhone maker today.

According to patent blog FOSS Patents, even though the Galaxy maker will send the payment to Apple by December 14 it's found a loophole that would give it the right to seek reimbursement of all amounts required to be paid as taxes, and then some more.

Rumor: Apple TV 5 with ‘dramatically improved’ CPU and ‘new functions’ due in early-2016

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 4, 2015

The fourth-generation Apple TV has been available for less than two months and already talk is turning to a next-generation model.

A new report by DigiTimes, a hit-and-miss Taiwanese trade publication, cites unnamed supply chain sources as saying that a fifth-generation Apple TV with a brand new CPU and a heat-dissipation solution is entering into trial production in December and volume production in the first quarter of 2016.