A few days ago, a mysterious application surfaced in the App Store. GameStore, which listed Apple as its developer, popped up on December 31st of last year and was available for 3 days before getting pulled.
The odd thing is that the $0.99 app didn't really seem to do anything. Most folks have dismissed the program as an internal in-app purchase testing tool that Apple published by mistake, but there could be more to it.
LockLauncher — not to be confused with, well, LockLauncher — is a jailbreak tweak that allows you to launch up to 9 different apps directly from your lock screen.
Despite its unoriginal name, LockLauncher differs from the previous LockLauncher we reviewed last summer. This version of LockLauncher is both free, and features the ability to launch more apps.
Be sure to check out our video walkthrough to see what it brings to the table...
It seems that someone at Google has been pretty busy. You may remember how we told you about "Siri for Android," an app on Google's Android Market which claimed to be just what the name suggested.
Siri has obviously has not been ported to Android, as the app was discovered to merely be a shortcut with a Siri-like icon that pointed to Google's own built-in voice recognition engine. The app's developer also called itself "Official App," which was clearly designed to confuse people into thinking the app was, well, official.
Google has since taken note, and the offending app is now gone from the Android Market...
The year is almost over, so we thought that it would be a good idea to take a look back at our favorite apps of 2011. The iDB staff has chosen its favorite App Store and jailbreak apps from this year and compiled the picks into a little retrospective.
All of the apps in this list were either released this year or updated with significant changes. Here's our favorite apps and tweaks from 2011...
Those of you who have been holding out for a good reason to jailbreak your Apple TV might have just got your wish. Well-known developer Steven Troughton-Smith has teamed up with another hacker to bring iOS applications to the Apple TV.
But they're not just trying to make it happen, they've done it. Troughton-Smith showed off several photos via his Twitter account tonight of his jailbroken Apple TV running a homegrown version of the iOS springboard and multiple iOS apps...
It seems like Apple has taken its fight with app piracy to a new level. Apptrackr, the web portal known for harboring hundreds of thousands of pirated apps, has published a blog post today about its recent troubles with the folks in Cupertino.
Apple has been serving Apptrackr and its many file hosts a number of takedown notices over the past several months. While the legal action hasn't disrupted Apptrackr's service, it has provoked the site to make a number of costly changes.
We knew the iPad was making its way into governments around the world, but we had no idea to what extent. The Telegraph is reporting that the British Prime Minister is having a customized iPad app built for government use.
No, Apple's tablet isn't going to help David Cameron run his country. But it is going to enable him to stay on top of news and other important information. Think Flipboard, but with a lot more classified information...
Siri has been grabbing a ton of headlines lately. Between the recently released jailbreak app called Spire and the ongoing development of SiriProxy, it seems like folks can't get enough of the digital assistant.
With that in mind, it's not surprising that we've come across another project starring the voice control feature: SiriPrefs. The utility allows you to launch iPhone applications and toggle system settings using Siri.
When Apple launches a new iPhone or iPad, it invariably has an affect on the rest of its business.
The number of downloaded apps is one metric that will always see an increase when Apple brings a shiny new iOS device to market, simply because of all the new customers want to get some apps! Whether they are paid or free apps, Apple benefits in the long run.
The release of the iPhone 4S was no different, with new numbers showing just what a jump it caused in those all-important download figures. The iPhone 4S helped the App Store see an 83% increase in app downloads for November when compared to the same month last year...
In the recently-released Steve Jobs biography, Walter Isaacson notes that the late CEO wanted Apple to re-invent three markets: TV, photography, and text books. Now it looks like the company has added another industry to the list: health.
PatentlyApple is reporting that Apple has just won a patent for a major fitness center app. Judging by the filing, the software is being built for the iPhone, and will allow users to virtually interact with their local gyms and fitness centers...
It's been a big year for the folks at Shazam. On top of receiving $32 million dollars during a mid-summer investment round, the mobile music lookup service just recently re-launched unlimited track-tagging for iOS users.
And it appears that the company is just getting started. Since January of this year, there has been a lot of talk about Shazam venturing into the TV business. How, might you ask? With interactive commercials of course...
Hopefully you've already got most of, if not all of, your Christmas shopping done. Especially since the holiday is now less than 48 hours away.
But if you do happen to still be looking for gifts for the iOS device-toting folks in your life, Walmart has you covered. The retailer is hosting a last-minute iTunes gift card sale...