News

Queen guitarist Brian May: “Apple’s become an entirely selfish monster”

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 22, 2018

Brian May, the lead guitarist of the British rock band Queen that was fronted by late singer Freddie Mercury, has expressed his disdain for Apple's choice of the USB-C standard over the previous connectors. In his rant, May complained about the USB-C connectors bending too easily. He wrote that we’re now “forced into using these damn USB-C connectors for everything” in yesterday's Instagram post accompanied by a picture of a bent USB-C cable.

Review: Apple’s new Smart Folio covers for 2018 iPad Pro—slim but pricey

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 22, 2018

Older iPads had Smart Covers, but they don't fit the new iPad Pro models introduced in 2018 so Apple has decided to come up with all-new slim covers for the pro tablet, called Smart Folios.

Adjust each of your iPhone’s various volume levels independently with SmartVolumeMixer

Anthony Bouchard ∙ November 22, 2018

At first glance, it might seem like your iPhone has just one volume control that you can change with the volume buttons at the side of the handset, but there are actually nine different volume controls present on your handset.

It can be challenging to discern which volume control you’re adjusting when you press your device’s volume buttons, and so iOS developer midkin just launched a new jailbreak tweak called SmartVolumeMixer to make life a bit easier in this department.

XEdgeProtect prevents the iPhone X’s Home Bar from conflicting with apps and jailbreak tweaks

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

Starting with last year’s iPhone X, Apple nixed the Home Button from its entire lineup of smartphones and replaced it with the software-based Home Bar. The Home Bar resides at the bottom of your display, quietly waiting for upward swipe gestures for unlocking the handset or closing foregrounded apps.

The Home Bar compliments the iOS experience like bread and butter, and it also empowered Apple to achieve the signature edge-to-edge OLED display that many of us know and love, but it’s not without its quirks. Fortunately, a new free jailbreak tweak called XEdgeProtect by iOS developer smokin1337 addresses some of these issues.

Review: Willgoo case keeps your Apple Pencil charged and its accessories within easy reach

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 21, 2018

I'm always forgetting to charge my Apple Pencil in a timely fashion, which can be annoying when I'm out and about without any dongles or cables. And because of its design, I refrain from stowing the Apple stylus in my bag or backpack out of fear it might break without any protection. Apple's leather case and others I've tried weren't very helpful. But Willgoo's handy stylus carrying box with a built-in battery has solved my Pencil woes in one fell swoop.

Hackers demonstrate 0-day exploit on iOS 12.1 at recent Tokyo-based Pwn2Own contest

Anthony Bouchard ∙ November 21, 2018

Despite the absurd amounts of time and money that Apple pours into security efforts to make iOS one of the most secure mobile operating systems available today, it seems that even iOS 12.1, the latest publicly-available firmware version on the iPhone and iPad, isn’t entirely hack-proof.

At the recent Pwn2Own contest in Tokyo, Richard Zhu and Amat Cama, a duo of white hat hackers, reportedly harnessed the power of a powerful Safari-based 0-day exploit to recover a photograph that was recently deleted from an iPhone X’s native Photos app.

Editing an entire video on iPad Pro

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 27, 2020

YouTuber Jonathan Morrison has taken it upon himself to edit an entire video on his new iPad Pro. He went in skeptical but came pleasantly surprised by the powerful combination of the unreal A12X Bionic processor and the excellent LumaFusion app.

Windowed lets you upload and view Instagram posts on your Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 21, 2018

The free, open sourced Windowed app is a handy browser that lets you upload content to Instagram, view posts and manage your accounts, all from your Mac or Windows PC desktop.

RomanLockscreenTime converts the Lock screen’s time to Roman numerals

Anthony Bouchard ∙ November 21, 2018

Looking to spice up your iPhone’s Lock screen a bit? If so, then you might take an interest in a new free jailbreak tweak called RomanLockscreenTime by iOS developer Cole Cabral.

As you may have gathered already from the tweak’s name, RomanLockscreenTime replaces the standard numeric time display on your Lock screen with Roman numerals, as shown above.

Google Assistant now supports Siri Shortcuts

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 21, 2018

The Internet giant Google yesterday refreshed its Assistant app for iPhone and iPad with support for Apple's new Siri Shortcuts feature which made its debut in iOS 12.

Apple snaps up Silk Labs which makes lightweight AI for smart cameras and speakers

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 21, 2018

Apple has quietly acquired an artificial intelligence (AI) startup called Silk Labs, The Information reported yesterday citing sources familiar with the plans.

This tweak removes ads from Facebook Stories, in-app videos, and more

Anthony Bouchard ∙ November 21, 2018

If you use the Facebook app on your iPhone or iPad, then you probably noticed that the social platform has started injecting advertisements in everything you do, from watching videos to perusing Stories, etc.

Advertisements are a necessary evil because they help drive revenue, but too many in one place tend to become a nuisance for the end user. With that in mind, iOS developer Rishanan created a new jailbreak tweak called FacebookAdBlocker that aims to revitalize your Facebook experience.