Apple

Apple now reportedly adding 500,000 new iTunes accounts per day

Cody Lee ∙ June 14, 2013

Aside from its iPhone sales, and total iOS device sales, another stat Apple likes to tout is its number of iTunes accounts. At the beginning of the company's WWDC keynote earlier this week, Tim Cook announced that there are now more than 575 million registered iTunes users.

Cook claims that iTunes is the largest online service with credit cards connected, which is pretty impressive. But perhaps even more impressive is its staggering growth rate. A new report from expert number-cruncher Horace Dediu claims Apple is adding 500k accounts per day...

Apple said to be working with Logitech and others on MFi gamepads

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

Yesterday we talked a little bit about a new feature (or rather, developer API) in iOS 7 that offers support for MFi (Made for iPhone) certified hardware game controllers. This will be the first time that Apple has officially supported third party gamepads.

Today a few more details have surfaced about Apple's plans regarding these controllers. A new report is out this afternoon claiming that the Cupertino company is working with the likes of Logitech and MOGA to produce a new line of iOS gaming peripherals...

Google+ notifications will soon sync across devices

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

One of the annoyances about notifications in today's multi-platform world is the alert conundrum. We've all been there: an alert comes in, you act on it on one device and yet it doesn't clear on the other. And with apps constantly producing all sorts of notifications, managing these things across our gadgets is tricky, to put it mildly.

Matter of fact, you'd be right to argue that notifications tend to get a little out of hand, up to the point where they turn your daily computing into a nightmare.

Apple feels your pain: that's why it gave iOS 7 a new Notification Sync feature where reading a notification on your iPad automatically marks it as read on your iPhone, and vice versa, courtesy of iCloud. Google isn't standing still either: today, the search monster started rolling Google+ notification sync across the web, Android and iOS...

Apple’s key ‘rubber banding’ patent validated by US Patent Office

Cody Lee ∙ June 13, 2013

Apple's 'rubber banding' patent has been under heavy scrutiny in recent months, invalidated twice by the US Patent Office. It used the patent, which pertains to a software feature that allows content to 'bounce back' during scrolling, in its big $1 billion victory over Samsung.

But good news today for the Cupertino company. The United States Patent and Trademark Office (or USPTO) has said it will issue a re-examination certificate that confirms the formerly invalidated invention, clearing up any doubts of the patent's weight or validity...

Apple makes ‘iWork for iCloud’ beta available to developers

Cody Lee ∙ June 13, 2013

Alongside OS X Mavericks and iOS 7, Apple showed off its new web-based 'iWork for iCloud' software suite during its Monday keynote. The suite, similar to Google Docs and Office 360, allows users to view and edit iWork, and other documents right from their browser. And Apple just activated a beta version of it for registered developers...

New in iOS 7: zooming during video capture

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 13, 2013

As we continue to discover both the big features and smaller nice-to-haves in iOS 7 on an ongoing basis, it has just come to our knowledge that you can access the Camera's zoom controls while shooting video.

Think twice before dismissing this feature because real-time zooming during video capture allows for some interesting possibilities normally associated with camcorders.

I can easily imagine this being even more useful on a 12-megapixel camera with improved night shooting rumored to make its way inside the iPhone 5S...

Prosecutors combine to fight smartphone thefts

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated November 29, 2016

While its no case of Elliot Ness against Chicago's rum runners of Prohibition days, prosecutors in two major U.S. cities are teaming up with local police to fight a wave of violent smartphone thefts. Law enforcers Thursday issued an SOS of sorts, or 'Save Our Smartphones'.

The announcement comes as Apple and other smartphone makers meet with the New York State Attorney General and San Francisco's District Attorney. It's unknown whether Apple's new Activation Lock feature unveiled during Monday's WWDC keynote as part of iOS 7 will be enough to satisfy calls for handset makers to create a kill switch to disable stolen smartphones...

Man of Steel game arrives ahead of tomorrow’s Superman movie premiere

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 12, 2018

As part of the upcoming Superman movie, Warner Bros. today released the official movie tie-in game on the App Store. The Man of Steel companion game supports all form-fator iDevices natively and features great graphics and memorable locations such as Smallville and the Kent Farm.

This being an action-focused arcade title means you'll be fighting foes using a plethora of moves, bone-crunching combos and super powers. I've included the official promo video and more tidbits right after the break...

MTV iOS app gains second-screen features, on-demand streaming

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 13, 2013

MTV's beleaguered iOS app has received a massive update which brings it on par with entertainment apps by other major networks. The software has been rebuilt from the ground up "to bring the ultimate MTV video experience to your iPhone and iPad".

Indeed, among the new features are long overdue second-screen capabilities, free clips and on-demand streams of select MTV shows. Second-screen experience entails interactive features like Facebook chat and relevant Twiter feeds, image galleries, polls and quizzes, various backgrounders, behind-the-scenes facts, MTV charts and so forth...

New in iOS 7: redeem iTunes cards with your iPhone’s iSight camera

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Last November's release of iTunes 11 has brought out a handy new feature which lets you redeem a code found on iTunes Gift Cards by scanning the printed card with your Mac's FaceTime camera. In iOS 7, Apple is taking iTunes card scanning to any compatible iOS device outfitted with a back camera.

Not only that, Apple states that new iOS 7 APIs for developers include barcode scanning as standard...

‘Intensive delivery’ of budget iPhone parts reportedly underway, August availability

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 13, 2013

There's no escaping budget iPhone talk today. Reuters opened the morning discussion with a write-up calling for two large-screen iPhones in 2014 and citing sources insisting that an elusive less-pricey iPhone will get released later this year at a somewhat unbelievable price point of just $99.

Shortly after, the reliable Japanese blog Macotkara learned from its sources that the alleged budget iPhone will come in five colors borrowed from Apple's iPhone 5 bumpers: black, white, pink, orange and blue. A Chinese newspaper now seemingly corroborates the chatter, writing that a bunch of Taiwanese suppliers are now shipping parts ahead of the handset assembly...