News

iOS 9 adoption is stalling amid slowing iPhone sales

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 12, 2016

Last time we checked, iOS adoption rates stood at 84 percent of iPhone, iPod touch and iPad devices that were detected as running iOS 9. Moreover, eleven percent of hardware was on iOS 8 and the remaining five percent of devices used iOS 7 or older editions of Apple's mobile operating system.

These stats were valid as of a little more than two weeks ago. The new numbers Apple just posted to its App Store dashboard for developers, however, paint a not-so-rosy picture for iOS 9 adoption.

According to App Store device logs, the latest set of figures has not changed the slightest bit, or has not changed enough to move the needle versus two weeks ago.

App Store review times shortened to 2 days

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Apple's oft-criticized review process for app submissions, which normally takes about a week or more, now takes as little as two days, according to developers who reported seeing dramatically faster App Store review times on submissions.

AppReviewTimes.com, a website that tracks average App Store review times using crowdsourced data, has confirmed that Apple's review process now takes an average of two days to approve an app, based on 332 reviews in the last 14 days.

Periscope for iPhone now lets you search videos and broadcast live from DJI drones

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 12, 2016

Periscope, a Twitter-owned app that lets anyone start a live video broadcast from their iPhone, today received a pretty substantial update on the App Store. Bumped to version 1.4, Periscope for iPhone now lets you search videos and broadcast live to the service from a compatible DJI drone.

In addition, the team shared a preview of their full beyond 24 hours approach that will be available in the coming weeks.

Google Translate app gains offline mode, instant camera translation from Chinese and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 12, 2016

Google's native Translate application for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad received a major update yesterday in the App Store, bringing version number to 5.0 and introducing some rather interesting advances. For starters, Google Translate now works without an Internet connection, allowing you to translate words, phrases and sentences in 52 of the 103 supported languages when there is no cellular or Wi-Fi connection available.

The instant camera translation feature, called Word Lens, now works with Chinese: it reads both to and from English, both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. This feature is ideal for traveling: you just point your camera at, say, a restaurant sign in a foreign language and witness the appropriate translation appear like magic in live video feed.

Taylor Swift dances to “The Darkness” like no one’s watching in latest Apple Music ad

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated September 17, 2017

We've already seen pop singer Taylor Swift wipe out on the treadmill and drop a mic like a pro in a pair of amusing television commercials for Apple's $9.99 per month subscription music service. This morning, she tweeted out another short video created to promote Apple Music. “Dance like no one's watching,” reads the tweet. In the new video, Swift dances around her living room to The Darkness' song “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”.

Here’s how the new Instagram icon came to be

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 12, 2016

Instagram's drastic revamp which said good-bye to skeuomorphism with an all-white monochromatic interface and a rainbow-colored icon—not only for the main app, but also for Layout, Boomerang and Hyperlapse—has expectedly polarized fans and watchers alike.

A lot of people took to blogs and social media to vent their frustration with the new art direction for the beloved app they obsessively check multiple times a day.

But after all is said and done, this may not necessarily be such a bad move for Instagram. So, how did the new Instagram icon came to be and what was the reasoning behind its redesign?

KGI: Apple to produce one iPhone 7 Plus model with dual lens and 3GB RAM

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 11, 2016

In somewhat surprising news, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo—arguably the most reliable Apple analyst out there—says there'll be one, not two iPhone 7 Plus models. Previous rumors have pointed to three different configurations: a regular 4.7-inch 'iPhone 7', a larger-screened 5.5-inch 'iPhone 7 Plus' and a so-called 'iPhone 7 Pro' with premium hardware features.

According to Kuo's note to clients, a copy of which was obtained by MacRumors, Apple plans to produce a single iPhone 7 Plus model. That 'Plus' edition should be the 'Pro' iPhone you've been waiting for: it'll come outfitted with a dual-lens camera system and have three gigabytes of RAM versus two gigabytes of RAM on the iPhone 6s generation.

Instagram revamps app with new icon and monochromatic interface

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 11, 2016

Facebook-owned Instagram today announced a major new version of its iPhone app with an overhauled user interface with bigger photos and an updated Home screen app icon.

“Inspired by the previous app icon, the new one represents a simpler camera and the rainbow lives on in gradient form,” explains the company. In addition, they've updated app icons for Layout, Boomerang and Hyperlapse, too.

Instagram is available free of charge on the App Store.

Review: freeing up your Mac’s storage with Gemini 2, a smart duplicate file finder

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 10, 2016

Ukrainian developer MacPaw, the makers of the versatile and powerful CleanMyMac and CleanMyDrive apps, today pushed a major new update for Gemini as a brand new app. For those unfamiliar with it, Gemini is an intelligent duplicate file finder that can help recover tons of storage space on your Mac wasted to duplicate files.

Aside from identifying identical duplicates, Gemini 2 uses a proprietary algorithm to spot similar files that are not 100 percent identical, but can be considered redundant due to little difference between them.

It scans your iTunes and Photos libraries in search of retakes of the same picture or different formats of the same song, and becomes smarter and more precise in automatic selection of duplicates the more you use it.

VoIP-Pal slaps Apple with $2.8 billion lawsuit over patent used in FaceTime and iMessage

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 23, 2017

Voice over IP (VoIP), a technology for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over the Internet, is at the heart of an unbelievable $2.8 billion patent infringement lawsuit that VoIP-Pal, a Bellevue-based company, filed this morning against the iPhone maker.

“We are confident the current good will on both sides will result in a favorable outcome for all parties involved,” said VoIP-Pal CEO Emil Malak in a prepared statement.

Amazon launches new Video Direct service aimed at content makers

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 10, 2016

Amazon this morning announced a brand new self-service aimed at content producers and storytellers: Video Direct. With it, content makers can upload their videos to the Amazon cloud and decide if they wish to optionally make them available to buy or rent.

Content owners can choose to receive royalties depending on how popular their content is on Amazon based on hours streamed, which will limit their work to Prime members or Instant Video subscribers, or opt to monetize their content with advertising, in which case their videos will be available to all Amazon customers.

Apple airs new iPhone 6s ad, ‘Thank You Speech,’ highlighting tetherless Siri mode

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 9, 2016

Apple on Monday aired a new television commercial for the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, titled 'Thank You Speech' and starring “How I Met Your Mother” star Patrick Neil Harris (he had a cameo on Apple's recent 'Onions' ad).

The 30-second clip shows off a tetherless Siri feature that users can optionally enable on their iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus in order to converse with the personal digital assistant using the 'Hey Siri' keyword even when their device is not connected to power.