Apple

HTC: Apple ripped off our unibody phone design and antenna bands, not the other way round

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

Two days ago, HTC unveiled a new flagship phone, the $399 One A9, with most of the headlines calling the device an iPhone lookalike due to its two-tone design, the antenna bands and a protruding camera lens on the back. The device indeed bears a striking resemblance to Apple’s iPhone 6 and iPhone 6s smartphone series.

In an effort to set the record straight and maybe get a little more free press, the Taiwanese handset maker said that “it's Apple that copied” its antenna design and unibody construction as HTC first released a smartphone with these features about three years ago.

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Instagram releases Boomerang, a Live Photos-like iPhone app for creating looping clips

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 22, 2015

Facebook-owned Instagram is taking on Live Photos, one of Apple's headline iPhone 6s features, with a brand new 1-second video loop app called Boomerang. Available free of charge in the App Store, Boomerang aims to turn everyday moments into “something fun and unexpected.”

The app couldn't be simpler. You just point your iPhone's front or rear camera and press a button to take a burst of ten photos.

Boomerang then stitches the individual images together into a one-second sped-up video that plays forward and backward in a looping manner, similar in appearance and function to Apple's Live Photos feature.

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Brain-racking puzzler ‘Please, Don’t Touch Anything’ makes its App Store debut

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

UK-based iPhone developer and publisher BulkyPix today released a perplexing new game in the App Store, created in partnership with Four Quarters. Please, Don't Touch Anything, as it's aptly named, is a cryptic, brain-racking puzzler about bathroom breaks, screwdrivers and nuclear explosions. Yup, you read that right.

Featuring more than two dozen levels, retro pixel art, atmospheric chip tune soundtrack, touch-optimized gameplay with pinch-to-zoom and support for older devices like the iPhone 4, the iOS edition of the game brings nine exclusive new endings that cannot be found in the Steam version, which released earlier this year.

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Fleksy keyboard introduces custom theme photo builder in new update

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 22, 2015

Fleksy Keyboard, one of the most popular software keyboards in the App Store, has received a major update this morning. The update to the freemium app strives to solve the problem of users constantly demanding that developers add an ever-growing collection of new UI themes to the app, so they've added a new custom theme photo builder feature to Fleksy Keyboard 7.0.

The ability to personalize the keyboard has been one of the top requests from users, Fleksy says, and has prompted the company to come up with a system for users to build exactly the keyboard that suits their liking, and even share their creations with friends and other Fleksy users.

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Find my Friends web app launches on iCloud.com

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 21, 2015

In addition to today's major releases of iOS 9.1, OS X El Capitan 10.11.1 and watchOS 2.0.1 software updates, it appears that iCloud has gained a brand new web app: Find My Friends.

With both Find My iPhone and Find My Friends now preloaded on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices with iOS 9.0 or later, it does make sense to add Find My Friends to Apple's stable of web apps given iCloud's long had the web version of the Find My iPhone app.

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As Mac app will be revamped soon, Twitter starts rolling out polls in tweets

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 21, 2015

Twitter today said that it'll be rolling out the ability to embed custom polls in tweets to all users over the next few days.

Originally tested with a small subset of its user base, polls in tweets will permit everyone to interact with their followers and get the public's opinion on just about anything by embedding customized polls in tweets.

In addition, Twitter's Mac app will be getting a thorough revamp soon with a new dark mode alongside a bunch of new features borrowed from the mobile edition of the software, including in-line Vine and video playback, photos in Direct Messages and in-line replies and much more.

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How to share Reminders lists

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 10, 2024

Although not apparently obvious, Apple's Reminders app on iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac and iCloud.com lets you share to-dos and checklists with friends and family.

Sharing a reminder list with, say, your girlfriend (or wife) is particularly convenient as you’ll both be able to add, delete and check off items as completed, and all changes will instantly appearing on everyone's devices thanks to seamless iCloud syncing.

This isn't just great for grocery lists, shared to-dos and interactive lists among family members, but for business, too. For example, you could share a to-do list with team members to keep everyone apprised of what needs to be done on any particular day.

In this post, we're going to show how easy it is to create a list in Reminders and invite others to participate across iOS, macOS, and the web.

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iOS 9 now powering 61 percent of devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 21, 2015

Apple's latest iOS 9 mobile operating system is now powering a total of 61 percent of active iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices in the wild, according to Apple's official numbers published on its portal for developers.

By comparison iOS 9 was found on 57 percent of devices just two short weeks ago. The latest data point was calculated by monitoring  App Store access on October 19, 2015.

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Misfit Shine 2 unveiled with improved activity and sleep tracking, longer Bluetooth range and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 18, 2016

Misfit, the maker of sleek wearable devices, yesterday unveiled a second-generation Shine activity and fitness tracker and sleep monitor.

The Shine 2, as it's called, improves upon the original Misfit, which debuted more than two years ago, with more accurate fitness and sleep tracking capabilities.

The accessory sports enhanced touch responsiveness with capacitive sensing technology, longer Bluetooth range, inactivity alerts, multicolor LEDs built into the face of the device and much more.

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Apple opposes proposed Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 19, 2018

Apple on Tuesday provided a statement to The Washington Post, voicing its opposition to the proposed CISA bill. The legislation, which spelled out reads the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, is expected to be voted on by the Senate within the next few days.

"We don't support the current CISA proposal," Apple told The Post, reiterating its position on the privacy and trust of iOS and Mac users. "The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don't believe security should come at the expense of their privacy."

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