Apple

Skype for iPhone updated with location sharing

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 27, 2016

Skype for iPhone has picked up the ability to share a location with others in its latest update in the App Store.

The Microsoft-owned VoIP program was bumped to version 5.14 Monday to make it trivial to share your current geographical location, or your favorite place, with friends and family using the paperclip icon in the chat window. Moreover, this edition of Skype introduces unspecified improvements.

The new version of Skype arrived hot on the heels of a recent update which brought out handy web link previews in the chat window and replying with dictation on Apple Watch.

iPhone 6s is 0.2mm thicker than iPhone 6, leaked industrial design diagram indicates

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 6, 2015

Apple's next-generation iPhone 6s should measure 7.1mm deep, a 0.2 millimeter increase versus the current-generation iPhone 6, which measures 6.9mm deep. If true, the 4.7-inch iPhone 6s will have the exact same thickness as the 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, according to a purported schematic leaked Monday to Engadget Japan by a reliable source in the Chinese supply chain.

KGI Securities' analyst Ming-Chi Kuo previously said that an imperceptible increase in thickness was necessary to accommodate Apple's implementation of force sensing on the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus's screen.

Pegatron goes on a hiring spree ahead of next-generation iPhone production

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 6, 2015

With a little more than two months before its assumed September release, contract manufacturer Pegatron is reportedly in the process of hiring as many as 40,000 workers as it makes preparations to kick off assembly work on Apple's iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s refresh, according to a DigiTimes report this weekend.

Protek, a Pegatron subsidiary in eastern China, reportedly began recruiting workers at the end of June and will continue to do so until October, one month after the expected launch of the new iPhones.

Protek is planning to hire 40,000 workers in total, said the Taiwanese trade publication.

First look at upcoming Minecraft: Story Mode

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 4, 2016

A brand new international reveal trailer posted during the July 4 weekend offers a tantalizing glimpse into Minecraft: Story Mode, an upcoming narrative-driven adventure game created by Minecraft developer Mojang in collaboration with Telltale Games, the makers of the Game of Thrones cinematic video game series.

Following its announcement back in December 2014, the official teaser trailer for Story Mode has now premiered at the Minecon show in London. The video depicts a game set in the world of Minecraft with its own original story that will be driven by player decision. The game will consist of five episodes, with the inaugural episode set for release in 2015.

How to master Apple Music liking system to influence ‘For You’ recommendations

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 3, 2015

Apple Music offers a section called For You which provides a personalized selection of music based on your listening habits. On the surface, it sounds great until a song you can't stand listening to anymore or an artist you really aren't a big fan of gets injected into the For You feed.

Wouldn't it be great if you could teach Apple's algorithm exactly what music you like and, more importantly, what you dislike? Thankfully there is, but it takes a bit of a learning curve to master the Apple Music recommendation system.

Here's what you need to know regarding fine-tuning For You recommendations and customizing your listening experience on Apple Music.

Apple’s ‘El Capitan’ European trademark filing confusingly includes tablets

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 3, 2015

Is Apple really readying an iPad that could run both iOS and OS X? The toaster-refrigerator dilemma has been occupying the collective mind of fans who have been keeping their fingers crossed for the convergence of the Mac and iPad ever since the original iPad debuted more than five years ago.

Apple's European trademark filing for ‘El Capitan’ is certainly intriguing, to say the least, as it mentions tablets as one of the devices targeted by the desktop operating system, as revealed yesterday by Patently Apple.

Analysis of ‘iPhone 6s’ logic board suggests improved NFC, 16GB base model and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 3, 2015

A leaked logic board has already offered a valuable insight into some of the many hardware enhancements in Apple's upcoming 'iPhone 6s' and 'iPhone 6s Plus' refreshes. Thus far, we have learned about Qualcomm's new baseband modem which doubles LTE download speeds, a slightly thicker enclosure to accommodate Force Touch sensors and possibly a higher-resolution Retina screen.

9to5Mac has teamed up with semiconductor experts at Chipworks in an effort to identify other chips and components based on images of an alleged iPhone 6s motherboard.

Here are their findings.

SoundCloud for iOS gains shuffling, related tracks, sharing improvements and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2015

SoundCloud, a Swedish online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, today issued a refresh to its gorgeous iPhone and iPad application, in time for the summer.

SoundCloud 3.10.0 for iOS now lets you play related tracks, shuffle liked tracks and audio files in your playlists, add or remove tracks directly from your playlists, plus share directly from the search screen and your list of liked tracks.

Tweetbot’s iOS app gains alerts for Quoted Tweets, support for longer Direct Messages and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 1, 2018

About ten days since Tweetbot for OS X brought these new features to the Mac, now Tweetbot for iPhone and iPod touch has picked up support for notifications related to Twitter’s new embedded quoting feature while laying groundwork for longer Direct Messages, a feature Twitter announced almost a month weeks ago but has yet to enable on its end.

Also, Tweetbot 3.6.2 for Mac now produces crisper video thanks to improved video upload quality.

Stargazing app Star Walk 2 goes free as Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2015

Star Walk 2 by Vito Technology Inc. is one of the best—if not the best—stargazing apps in the App Store. Thursday, Star Walk 2 got slashed to zero bucks as part of Apple's Free App of the Week promotion in the App Store.

Winner of Apple Design Award, the app taps your iPhone's sensors and the GPS to determine the exact position of stars, planets, constellations, comets, ISS, satellites, star clusters, nebulae and meteor showers in the night sky.

The app features crisp Retina graphics with augmented-reality style HUD that renders the sky over live camera feed, responding precisely to the movement of your device without requiring Internet connection.

Download the original Infinity Blade blockbuster at no charge this July 4 weekend

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

Infinity Blade, an elegiac iOS-exclusive masterpiece, is temporarily available free of charge in the App Store this weekend, as part of developer Chair's July 4 celebration.

The first chapter in the epic trilogy, Infinity Blade debuted in November 2012 filing as the very first iPhone and iPad game driven by the remarkable Unreal Engine with a little help from Apple's powerful 64-bit “A7” mobile processor.

The original blockbuster went free only twice since its release so grab it now before the price goes back up again and instantly save $5.99.

Find out if Apple Music, Apple Music Radio, Beats 1 and iTunes Match are available in your country

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2015

Apple's new music package, available across 115 countries around the world, packs in Apple Music Radio, Beats 1 Radio, iTunes Match and Apple Music on-demand streaming. But not all of these services are available in each and every country.

For example, people in Romania can only enjoy iTunes Match. Beats 1 Radio is currently off-limits in nearly two dozen countries. In addition, eight countries currently lack access to Apple Music, Apple Music Radio and Beats 1 Radio.

This article helps you find out in which countries you can join Apple Music, listen to Apple Music Radio (formerly iTunes Radio) and Beats 1 Radio or subscribe to iTunes Match.