Apple

Spark Camera is Apple’s Free App Of The Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

Today is Friday and you know what that means, no? That's right, every Friday a new app goes free in the App Store in Apple's ongoing Free App of the Week promo.

Hopefully, you haven't forgotten about downloading PAC-MAN, last week's Free App of the Week. Those who missed it needn't despair as Apple's new freebie is definitely worth getting excited about.

Spark Camera, a cool iPhone photography app from Ideo (the design shop that created Apple’s first mouse) arrived last October. The program got Lory and the rest of the iDownloadBlog team drooling over its sharp, easy to use interface and great features aimed at creating gorgeous mini montages by stitching together your snippets of a moment in time.

Spark Camera is normally priced at $1.99, but you can now grab it free of charge until next Thursday, courtesy of Apple's Free App of the Week...

T-Mobile to expand ETF offer to switchers from U.S. Cellular and regional carriers

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated June 5, 2017

The nation's Un-carrier, T-Mobile, is just getting started. After its swearing CEO John Legere said at CES that his company will eliminate another customer pain point by paying off switchers' early termination fees, now comes word that the initiative will expand to U.S. Cellular and some regional carriers in the United States.

This means that subscribers flocking to T-Mobile from U.S. Cellular and a dozen other small regional carriers that lock subscribers into long-term contracts will also receive the same ETF treatment as defectors from AT&T, Verizon and Sprint currently enjoy...

Google readying iOS remote desktop app unofficially named Chromoting

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 16, 2018

Google officially started work on Chromoting, a remote access technology for its Chrome OS, some four years ago.

Later rechristened to Chrome Remote Desktop, the VNC technology resembles Microsoft's Remote Desktop Connection software and is designed to allow folks to access virtual desktops.

An Android Chromoting app has been in the works since last year and now a blogger has discovered evidence in the form of support documentation on the Chromium issue tracker website which indicates that an iOS version is also under development.

Why should you care? Read on...

Rumor: Apple seemingly targeting Fall launch for 12.9-inch iPad Pro

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 17, 2014

According to Taiwan-based supply chain makers, Apple is accelerating development of a rumored large-screen iPad, the iPad Pro, and is gearing up to launch the device by the end of the third quarter, indicating a Fall launch alongside the expected refresh to the existing iPad lineup.

As the unnamed sources asseverated, Apple has also asked its component suppliers and manufacturing partners to prepare for new models of 7.9 and 9.7-inch iPads...

Apple Stores to start repairing iPhone 5c screens next week

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Apple will begin conducting in-store screen repairs for the iPhone 5c next week, according to a report from 9to5Mac. The site says that under the new practice, the company will be able to repair most displays 'within the hour.'

This means that Apple Stores will no longer have to replace an entire device due to a cracked screen. And the initiative will not only help Apple save money on repairs, but it'll also save users from having to setup new devices…

Tim Cook signs iPhones at China Mobile launch, says ‘great things’ coming

Cody Lee ∙ January 17, 2014

China Mobile's highly anticipated iPhone launch is now in full swing over in Beijing. After years of failed negotiations, Apple finally inked a deal with the carrier last month, giving it access to the worlds-largest subscriber base of 750+ million people.

We've been talking about the importance of this partnership for months now, but for those that needed a reminder, Tim Cook showed up in person at this morning's launch. The CEO took photos, signed autographs and even answered a few questions...

Chrome 32 for Mac: noisy tab indicators, supervised users, stronger malware protection

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 16, 2014

If you prefer Google's Chrome over Apple's Safari on your Mac desktops and notebooks, good news: the search monster yesterday updated the browser with a few new features that help restrict kids' use of the Internet while boosting their parents' protection from malware.

I was instantly sold on the incredibly useful noisy tab indicators that make it easier to figure out which tab sound is coming from.

Now, why didn't I think of that? Chrome 32 for Mac, Windows and Linux is now available for download and there's a detailed description of the new features right below...

Jawbone soups up Era headset with HD Voice, Siri and Google Now integration and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

If you thought Bluetooth headsets were dead, think again. Jawbone makes some of the finest portable audio devices and wireless headsets and was among the first to release a Bluetooth headset for Apple's iPhone. On Thursday, the San Francisco-based company has streamlined its headset offering by announcing a second-generation Era.

It's 42 percent smaller, comes with its own charging case and looks good enough to be worn in public while offering interesting new voice features aimed at Apple's Siri and Google's Google Now voice assistants. Read on for more info and some nice press shots...

Apple seeds second OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 beta to developers

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Apple has seeded the second OS X 10.9.2 beta to registered Mac developers this afternoon. The release comes nearly a month after the first beta, which was posted on December 19.

The new build is available to registered developers through the Software Update tab in the Mac App Store, or as a full download via the Mac section of Apple’s online developer portal…

How to use a Safari bookmarklet to send websites to 1Password for iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

Despite Apple's pretty handy password-saving and syncing feature in iOS Safari, I myself continue to prefer AgileBits' 1Password for iOS and OS X (our own Jeff is a recent convert, too). The reason is simple: 1Password allows me to save and sync just about any piece of information rather than just passwords and credit cards.

There's just one slight annoyance: to take advantage of 1Password's auto-fill feature for usernames and passwords, I must open a website in its built-in browser.

I generally tend to avoid the embedded web view in third-party apps and instead spend most of my mobile web browsing time in Safari. From now on, whenever you want to visit a website that requires a login, you can use this handy Safari bookmarklet to send the current tab to 1Password.

Though far from perfect, this removes some of the friction when visiting websites that require logins and auto-fill information kept in 1Password...

Gist 2.0: full Pocket integration, new summary view, Dynamic Text support and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 24, 2018

Up until recently, it used to be that news junkies like yours trulls diligently put every conceivable news app on their Home screens in order to make sure they kept tabs on the latest news as it happened. As an unintended consequence (or was it?), this has led to information overload which in turn gave birth to apps like Yahoo's excellent News Digest (free in the App Store) and Gist by Michael Mamiye.

Both of these intelligently summarize news articles so you can consume key takeaways in the shortest amount of time.

Gist for iPhone, $1.99 in the App Store, is especially interesting due to its gorgeous and sharp user interface and a clever algorithm that can summarize most articles into approximately five bullet points - that's why the iDownloadBlog team put it on the list of 10 Best News Apps of 2013.

Following up on its mid-December debut, the developer this morning issued a major 2.0 update bringing out a host of goodies, such as a more robust implementation of the summarization technology, rich Pocket support and lots more...

Shopkick expands iBeacon testing to 100 American Eagle locations

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Shopkick announced today that it is expanding its iBeacon trial to a number of American Eagle retail stores. The shopping app has been testing Apple's new geolocation tech in a handful of Macy's outlets since December of last year.

Once the pilot goes live next month, Shopkick's iBeacon tech will be available in 100 AE locations, making it the largest trial of the technology in the country. And it'll essentially turn your iPhone into a personal shopping assistant...