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Analyst: iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor limited to user authentication, secure payments due in 2014

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 13, 2013

The upcoming iPhone 5S revision, likely slated for an announcement at Apple's upcoming September 10 media event, is widely expected to include the fingerprint scanning feature based on Apple's 2012 acquisition of smart sensor experts AuthenTec.

Now, there's been a lot of uncertainty as to what software features the smart sensor might support.

According to a research note issued late yesterday to clients, an analyst predicted the feature would be initially used to authenticate users in place of the iOS slide-to-unlock feature because rumored secure payments which are dependent on the smart sensor won't be ready in time for the iPhone 5S introduction...

New Audi app uses augmented reality to help you find stuff on your car

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Audi has recently launched a new iOS app that could offer a glimpse into the future of vehicle manuals. It's called eKurzinfo, and it uses the camera of an iOS device, along with some augmented reality tech, to help users identify parts and features on their car.

Built for the popular A3 hatchback, the app covers over 300 elements of the car from windshield wipers to the oil cap. Engine overheating? No problem, simply launch the app and pan the camera across the A3's engine bay to find where to put your coolant...

Bloomberg weighs in on upcoming iPads and iPhones

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2013

With less than a month until Apple's September 10 iPhone event, Bloomberg has scanned the blogs and talked to its unnamed sources in an effort to dig up some previously unknown "facts" about Apple's upcoming iPhone and iPad refreshes.

Now, stop me if you've heard this before, but much of Bloomberg's reporting centers around a thinner and lighter iPad 5 with iPad mini style design.

Where it gets interesting, however, is a claim that Apple also plans to introduce a Retina iPad mini this year rather than in 2014...

Facebook acquires speech recognition firm Mobile Technologies

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 23, 2018

Facebook has announced this afternoon that it has acquired Mobile Technologies, a private company that develops speech recognition and machine translation technology. The move reiterates the social network's commitment to its mobile strategy.

Honestly, I hadn't heard of the company before today. But some quick digging shows that Mobile Technologies is behind the popular Jibbigo translation app, which the developers claim is the "world’s first" online/offline speech-to-speech translator...

Photos of alleged ‘iPhone 5C’ volume buttons hit the web

Cody Lee ∙ August 12, 2013

Though we're fairly confident that Apple will be holding an event on Tuesday, September 10 to unveil a new iPhone, we're still not exactly sure what it will present. Safe money is on a new iPhone model, the iPhone 5S, but what else?

It's starting to seem more and more likely that the 5S will share the stage with a lower cost, plastic handset next month. We've seen dozens of leaked parts corroborating the theory over the summer, and today, we're adding a few more...

Apple software engineer on how the iPhone’s Tri-tone text tone came to be

Cody Lee ∙ August 12, 2013

The iPhone is such an iconic handset that a number of its features are instantly recognizable. The app-laden Home screen, the single Home button below the touch screen. Heck, even the sounds—how many of you check your phone when you hear the Tri-tone alert?

Well as it turns out, there's actually an interesting story behind that chime, which dates all the way back to 1998. It actually started as the sound to alert a user when a CD burning session was complete in an app called SoundJam, which was later acquired by Apple...

Sony said to ready iPhone lens accessories with full-fledged camera features

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2013

Sony already supplies the main eight-megapixel iSight camera module on the back of your iPhone 5 and is likely to provide a thirteen-megapixel camera upgrade for the upcoming iPhone 5S, the rumor has it. There's a very good reason why Apple shops for iOS device cameras from Sony: the Japanese giant produces arguably the best CMOS sensors out there.

Case in point: a rumored lens camera accessories reportedly being worked on by Sony's engineers. These things will latch onto your iPhone or Android smartphone and provide your smartphone with a standalone sensor featuring Carl Zeiss optics, the same used by the Nikon 1 system...

Apple’s USB charger trade-in program coming to UK, Canada, Australia, France and Germany

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2013

Earlier this month Apple launched Takeback Program, a trade-in initiative encouraging buyers to dispose of third-party (especially knock-off) USB power adapters and buy Apple's chargers at a discount.

The sudden and unexpected offer is in response to relentless reporting by China's state-run media describing a fatality involving Chinese stewardess who electrocuted herself after using a knockoff charger to power her iPhone.

Takeback Program started on August 9 in China and will roll out to United States this coming Friday, August 16. While it was initially thought the offer was US and China only, a reliable blogger has learned that's not the case as Apple is gearing up to launch the trade-in program in its other key markets, including Canada, France, Germany and United Kingdom...

Facebook app updated with hashtag support, restaurant reservations and more

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 4, 2013

Facebook just posted a significant update for its iOS client, bringing the app to version 6.4. The update brings about a number of new features and improvements, including support for the social network's new hashtag feature.

Version 6.4 also includes a new feature that allows users to make restaurant reservations from within the Facebook app. So if you see a place you'd like to try in the local business Pages, you can set that up with a single click...

BlackBerry considers selling itself to stay alive

Ed Sutherland ∙ August 12, 2013

It seems we may be nearing the end of a long and tortuous death march by Canadian smartphone maker BlackBerry. After attempting to beat Apple and its own game, then talking about doing a Dell and going private, BlackBerry is now putting out the "For Sale" sign.

Underlining its latest move, BlackBerry's biggest investor resigned from the company's board. However, with a market share hovering near 0 percent, will the smartphone maker attract a buyer?...

Low fingerprint sensor yields may cause iPhone 5S availability issues

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2013

With Apple's September 10 media event now all but confirmed and the iPhone 5S fingerprint sensor rumors reaching fever pitch, the somewhat reliable Taiwanese trade publication DigiTimes warns the handset could be initially in scarce supply due to low yield rates of a brand new delicate component, the fingerprint sensor.

The report mentions that the world's largest independent semiconductor foundry Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is building these tiny sensors Apple secured after buying the leader in this field, Israeli-based AuthenTec, a year ago. Due to the fingerprint sensor manufacturing challenges, Apple could only put 3-4 million iPhone 5S units on sale in the third quarter versus the original ten million units target...

Alleged iPhone 5S glass wedge part with dual-LED flash hole surfaces

Christian Zibreg ∙ August 12, 2013

Apple's upcoming iPhone 5 refresh, the iPhone 5S, is expected to further appease to iPhone photographers by increasing the back iSight camera resolution from eight megapixels on the current model all the way up to twelve megapixels.

Pixel count matters but there's more to photography than megapixels (hint: more powerful LED flash).

Apple is thought to be giving the iPhone 5S a dual-LED flash module, a first for the iPhone. The technology should allow for improved low-light shooting and more natural looking photographs, especially those taken under artificial light.

The French blog NowhereElse.fr on Monday published a photo showing what looks like a back iPhone part - the top glass strip to be precise, with a taller LED flash hole next to the iSight camera hole...