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Real Steel is Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 18, 2014

It's Thursday and Apple's editors have slashed another app to zero bucks in the App Store's weekly Free App of the Week promotion.

Free until next Thursday and replacing last week's Free App of the Week, the addictive puzzler Bicolor, movie tie-in Real Steel by Reliance Big Entertainment has now gone free for a week, until next Thursday.

Representing a $0.99 saving, Real Steel for the iPhone and iPad is based on the 2011 Dreamworks movie starring Hugh Jackman which takes place in a secret world in the not-so-distant future where boxing has gone high-tech.

Instead of human boxers, players control sophisticated boxing robots weighing over 2,000 pounds and reaching up to eight feet tall. Featuring lush graphics, fast-paced action and addictive mechanics, Real Steel is a nice time-killer. And with all-new Tournament and Survival modes, it should keep you busy.

Epic releases Metal-powered ‘Zen Garden’ demo free on App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 13, 2018

Demoed at WWDC back in June to show off the power of Apple's new low-level graphics framework, Metal, Epic Games' Zen Garden is now available to download on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices running iOS 8 and powered by the Apple-deigned A7 or A8 processor.

Built on the recently-unveiled Unreal Engine 4, the first game engine with built-in support for the Metal API, Zen Garden classes as a technological showcase.

The latest iPhone 6, for example, renders the demo in a whopping 1,440-by-1,080 resolution at a smooth thirty frames per second.

CNN app updated with support for iPhone 6 and improved landscape mode

Cody Lee ∙ September 18, 2014

CNN updated its iPhone app this morning, bringing it to version 2.4. You may recall Apple SVP Phil Schiller showing off this app on stage at last week's iPhone event, highlighting the way that it takes advantage of the larger displays of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus.

It looks like today's update brings that support for the two new smartphones, as well as a handful of other enhancements. CNN says that the app has a much improved landscape mode—which looks great on my iPhone 5s—prettier photo galleries and more.

Apple updates Pages and iMovie for iOS 8 [updated]

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Following its release of iOS 8 this morning, Apple has begun updating its mobile apps to support the firmware. It looks like Numbers and iMovie were first on the list, with both apps showing up in the App Store's Updates tab today touting iOS 8 compatibility.

The change log for Numbers is fairly brief, mentioning only support for iOS 8, iCloud Drive compatibility, and stability improvements and bug fixes. iMovie's update, however, is a bit more extensive, bringing about new features like slow motion and video filters.

Update: it looks like Apple has also pushed out iOS 8 updates for Pages and Keynote as well.

Update 2: iMovie was experiencing issue so Apple apparently pulled it from the App Store. It should be fixed and come back quickly.

Update 3: as expected, Apple resolved the issue quickly and iMovie is once again available in the App Store.

PanguTeam confirms it’s working on iOS 8 jailbreak

Cody Lee ∙ September 17, 2014

Good news for those of you missing out on today's iOS 8 festivities in order to save your jailbreak, the PanguTeam says it's on the case. As part of a PSA yesterday to remind users to jailbreak while still possible, the team confirmed it has already begun work on hacking the new firmware.

Now before you go getting your hopes up, note that just because an iOS 8 jailbreak is being worked on, does not mean we will see one anytime soon. This is, however, more intel than we had a few days ago, and it may be pertinent to those deciding on whether or not to update to iOS 8.

Rovio Stars launches iOS 8 Metal-enabled game, Plunder Pirates

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Game industry veterans Midoki and Rovio, the renowned Angry Birds maker hailing from Finland, have joined forces to publish a new game for Apple's platform under the Rovio Stars label.

An addictive combat strategy adventure, Plunder Pirates invites you to build an island in lush three-dimensional graphics and then recruit a pirate crew to set sail for uncharted waters.

The free-to-play download has optional In-App Purchases available, supports Game Center achievements and leaderboards and files as one of the first iOS titles supporting Apple's low-level framework for close-to-the-metal 3D graphics programming, aptly named Metal.

Read this before upgrading your iPhone 4s to iOS 8

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2014

Think twice before updating your rusty old iPhone 4s to the just-released iOS 8 because Apple's feature-packed upgrade makes its handset run most tasks about two times (or more) slower.

iOS 8 will slow down common tasks on the handset, including approximately two times slower launching of stock apps, almost three seconds longer booting and more, ArsTechnica reported Wednesday.

In addition to the performance hit, the three-year-old handset is incompatible with certain hardware-dependent iOS 8 features such as Handoff, AirDrop, the OpenGL ES 3.0 and Metal graphics run-time and more.

1Password 5 launches with Touch ID support, App Extensions, goes freemium

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2014

AgileBits, the maker of the popular password-keeping utility, 1Password, has issued a major new version of the app following Apple's release of the iOS 8 software update earlier this morning.

1Password 5 for iOS 8 now takes full advantage of Touch ID fingerprint scanning to unlock your vault and comes with a brand new iOS 8 App Extension in Safari and other apps that also uses Touch ID.

The Safari extension is available right in the Share sheet and permits you to fill Logins directly into web pages. Taking advantage of AgileBits' own proprietary extensions for integrating third-party apps with 1Password, supported apps can now log you in with just a tap. And as you update passwords in these apps, 1Password updates the corresponding item in its database.

As for the price, the new 1Password 5 is a free update to existing users and a freemium download for everyone else, with a one-time In-App Purchase to unlock features like folders, tags, custom fields, Multiple Vaults, as well as the full range of items including Bank Accounts, Email Accounts, Memberships, Passports, Reward Programs, Wireless Routers, Software Licenses and many more.

How to setup a new iPhone from an iTunes backup

IDB Staff ∙ Updated April 14, 2017

We previously wrote a guide on how to setup a new iPhone from an iCloud backup, but that is limited by the fact that Apple only gives you 5 GB of free storage. If you have more than 5 GB of music, apps and other data, and you do not wish to pay for additional iCloud storage, you will have to resort to an iTunes backup. Read ahead for step-by-step instructions on how to setup a new iPhone from an iTunes backup.

How to setup a new iPhone from an iCloud backup

IDB Staff ∙ Updated April 14, 2017

I know quite a few iPhone users that upgrade their smartphone once every few years, often coinciding with the two-year contract they locked into with AT&T or other carriers. For some reason, a lot of these people seem to think that transferring all of their content over to the new iPhone is a daunting task. In reality, the process is actually fairly simple. Read ahead for step-by-step instructions on how to restore an iCloud backup on a new iPhone.

Despite its highest daily output ever, Foxconn still struggling to boost iPhone 6 production

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 17, 2014

Despite huge investment it's made in production lines, workers, sophisticated machinery and tooling equipment, Foxconn, the world's largest contract fabricator, is having issues keeping up with massive iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus demand, The Wall Street Journal's Digits blog reported Wednesday.

“For iPhone 6 Plus, we are still ramping up the production line,” sources tell WSJ. ”Another reason for the limited supply is the shortage of 5.5-inch displays”.

Another person at a display component supplier told the paper that Foxconn is scrapping almost half of the 5.5-inch panels due to quality control issues. The output rate of the 4.7-inch display is reportedly better at 85 percent.

Manufacturing woes stem from the in-cell display technology which allows for a thinner and lighter screen assembly by integrating touch sensors into the liquid crystal display.

Initial iPhone 6 and 6 Plus reviews rave about displays, battery life

Cody Lee ∙ Updated June 7, 2024

Right after its big iPhone event last Tuesday, Apple gave a select group of journalists early access to its two new handsets: the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. Both devices feature larger displays than their predecessor, and both launch this Friday.

The move is a familiar one for the company, who typically gives out products to [favorable] writers for analysis ahead of launch. And as usual, we've put together a roundup of excerpts from these reviews to give you an idea of the general consensus.