News

Oceanhorn 2 confirmed to use Unreal 4 engine, first screenshots look stunning

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 30, 2017

Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas by Cornfox & Bros. is among the best-looking, Zelda-like action adventure games I've ever played on mobile. As we recently reported, the team is now hard at work on a sequel, titled Oceanhorn 2: Knights of the Lost Realm, which will use the praised Unreal 4 graphics engine to make porting to other platforms a lot easier.

The proprietary graphics engine from the original didn't give the team enough flexibility nor has it allowed them to more quickly add new features so they've switched to arguably the most powerful game engine in the industry, developers explained.

iPhone 7 Plus accounted for an estimated 40% of all iPhone 7 sales in the holiday quarter

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 30, 2017

People are way more interested in Apple's $769 iPhone 7 Plus than they were in the $649 iPhone 6s Plus, Cowen & Co. analysts told The Wall Street Journal. In other words, many buyers don't mind paying more for features like dual cameras and other extra hardware not available in standard iPhone 7.

Cowen estimated that iPhone 7 Plus accounted for about 40 percent of an estimated 58.5 million iPhone 7 devices Apple sold globally during the December quarter. Contrast that with iPhone 6s Plus, which accounted for an estimated 23 percent of all iPhone 6s sales during the same quarter the previous year.

New yalu102 betas released with support for iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and more

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ January 29, 2017

Following on from the initial release of yalu102 a few days ago, today saw two more betas posted to Luca Todesco's webpage. And for those who have been patiently for support for their device, this is welcome news.

Apple earns Louis Braille Award for advances in device accessibility

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2019

Apple has long been praised for its efforts in device accessibility. Back in 2015, for example, they received the American Foundation for the Blind's Helen Keller Achievement Award for the VoiceOver screen reader technology. The various Accessibility features available on iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS have now earned Apple the Louis Braille Award from the Associated Services for the Blind and Visually Impaired (ASB).

How to downgrade (or update) to iOS 10.2

Joaquim Barbosa ∙ Updated April 25, 2019

We recently covered the release of Luca Todesco's first build of yalu102. This tool will eventually allow all 64-bit devices to jailbreak iOS 10. iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus will be able to use it on iOS 10.0-10.1.1, all other 64-bit devices will be able to use it on iOS 10.0-10.2.

As the signing window for iOS 10.2 could close at any time, the pressure is on to downgrade to iOS 10.2 if you are currently on a higher firmware. Some people on a lower firmware should also upgrade to iOS 10.2, but not everyone. In this guide, we'll talk you through how to upgrade/downgrade to iOS 10.2 from a lower/higher firmware, if you are one of the people who should be there.

Chrome 56 for Mac released with lower power consumption, performance boost & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 27, 2017

Google on Friday released Chrome 56 for Mac, Windows and Linux following a period of beta testing which began about a month and a half ago. In addition to various security enhancements, Chrome 56 offers nearly up to one-third faster webpage reloading times with 60 percent less validation requests. Google's desktop browser will now warn you when a website requests confidential information over an insecure connection. It also blocks Flash content, supports Web Bluetooth API and more. Chrome 56 for iOS should follow soon.

Apple officially joins non-profit AI research group as one of the founding members

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 17, 2018

Apple has officially joined the non-profit organization Partnership on AI as a founding member alongside other technology giants like Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM and Microsoft. Apple has been involved and collaborating with the Partnership on AI since before it was first announced last year and is “thrilled” to formalize its membership, the organization said Friday.

According to Bloomberg, joining the non-profit is the latest sign that Apple is opening up more and becoming less secretive when it comes to artificial intelligence.

HomeKit has about 100 certified devices more than two years since inception

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 27, 2017

HomeKit, Apple's software framework for communicating with and controlling connected accessories in a user's home, currently works with about a hundred certified devices, Reuters said Friday.

By contrast, there are currently about 250 devices that are certified to work with Alexa, thanks to Amazon's open-systems approach and even financial incentives for some partners.

But HomeKit, which debuted alongside iOS 8 in September 2014, now has an agile competitor in Amazon's Alexa voice-controlled digital assistant which can also control smart accessories in the home with a few spoken words. The Reuters report outlines some of the requirements Apple imposes on device makers who wish to become HomeKit-certified.

HBO GO picks up support for Single sign-on and Apple’s new TV app

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2017

Apple today put HBO GO on the list of video apps supported in its new TV app via the Single-sign on feature that recently launched in iOS 10 and tvOS 10.

This lets HBO GO users sign in with their cable or satellite credentials on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple TV to enjoy instant access to HBO shows, not only in Apple's own TV app but in other supported video apps that their pay TV subscription includes.

macOS 10.12.4 properly displays icons for Windows executable files in Finder

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2017

Yesterday's beta release of what would become the fourth major software update to macOS Sierra doesn't just bring iOS's Night Shift mode to your Mac. Aside from that feature and things like an updated PDF API, expanded Dictation support or the ability for Siri to look up cricket scores and rosters, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 includes better handling of Windows executable files in the Finder.

As discovered by Microsoft's Mac product designer Vaclav Vancura, rather than use a generic icon to represent Windows executables like before, macOS Sierra 10.12.4 now actually parses .EXE files for native Windows resources such as icons.

iOS 10.3 has hidden support for one-handed floating iPad keyboard

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2017

Another hidden keyboard has been uncovered in iOS, according to developer Steve Troughton-Smith who last night tweeted about his discovery of a one-handed floating iPad keyboard in iOS 10.3 beta code.

While not exposed to users just yet, Steve was able to activate this new keyboard by hacking Apple's iOS Simulator app that developers use to test work-in-progress code on their Mac.

Apple releases iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 4 for public beta testing

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 26, 2017

Following yesterday's release of developer-only previews of the upcoming iOS 10.3 and macOS Sierra 10.12.4 software updates, Apple today made the new betas available to public beta testers who are enrolled in Apple Beta Software Program.

iOS 10.3 public beta can be installed via the Software Update mechanism on iOS devices with an appropriate configuration profile installed. macOS Sierra 10.12.4 public beta can be downloaded on your Mac through Mac App Store's Updates tab.