News

Cable network Starz launches $9 per month streaming package for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2016

Starz, a premium cable and satellite television network, today announced a brand new video service which permits owners of the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV to stream shows for a low monthly fee of just $8.99 per month.

A companion iOS app lets subscribers download full episodes to watch offline but does not offer live streaming. On the fourth-generation Apple TV, it supports universal search so you can ask Siri for shows to watch, including original ones like “Outlander”, “Power” and the upcoming “American Gods”.

Twitter will live-stream Thursday Night Football broadcasts worldwide in the next season

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2016

Twitter has managed to sign an important deal with the National Football League giving it rights to exclusively live-stream as many as ten Thursday Night Football broadcasts worldwide in the next season, the companies said today.

According to Variety, Twitter will carry the games broadcast by NBC and CBS, to be simulcast on the NFL Network, too.

Free live-streams will leverage Twitter-owned Periscope.

In addition to the live games, Twitter will also stream in-game highlights from TNF and pre-game live broadcasts from players and teams before, during and after games.

Apple Music posts anniversary playlist with 40 songs from Apple ads

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2016

On April 1, 2016, Apple turned 40. The company's music streaming service, Apple Music, is celebrating the milestone with a special playlist, titled 'Apple 40', that includes forty songs from various Apple ads to “celebrate 40 years of ideas, innovation and culture.”

Some of the songs included in the playlist come from Steve Jobs's favorite artists—Bob Dylan and The Beatles—in addition to other artists such as Coldplay, Gorillaz and more.

T-Mobile adds 16 new services to Binge On and Music Freedom

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2016

In another expansion, wireless carrier T-Mobile this morning added an additional sixteen services to its unlimited video streaming services, Binge On, and unlimited music streaming service, Music Freedom.

Starting today, Amazon Music, ESPN Radio and more music services stream free for T-Mobile customers.

On the video side, such services as Dailymotion, EPIX, Nickelodeon, Spike, TV Land and more are joining the list of providers streaming free to T-Mobile customers on qualifying plans with Binge On. Qualifying Simple Choice customers can stream audio and 480p video through Binge On and Music Freedom at no additional charge, without eating into their cellular data plan or worrying about overages.

Real Racing 3 gains three new cars, adds fresh new events and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2016

Electronics Arts and Firemonkeys today pushed a brand new content update to Real Racing 3, their popular racing game for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV.

Bumped to version 4.2, the game has introduced three new powerful cars: the Hennessey Venom GT—the fastest accelerating production car in the world according to Guinness—along with the 2015 BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage R and 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL.

In addition, players can now take on the all-new Front Runner special event for their chance to win the aforesaid Hennessey Venom GT and participate in other events to bring home that classic 1975 BMW 3.0 CSL or the new 2015 BMW 3.0 CSL Hommage R.

Easy to fix iOS bug bypasses Lock screen on iPhone 6s, giving access to Contacts and Photos

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 5, 2016

First spotted by Jose Rodriguez, who last September found a similar flaw in iOS, and highlighted by The Daily Dot, Apple's mobile operating system contains a vulnerability that lets others access your Contacts and Photos using Siri on the Lock screen of your iPhone 6s, bypassing your passcode.

Fortunately, there's an easy fix for this which involves revoking Siri access to Twitter and Photos and disabling Lock screen access to the personal digital assistant. Apple has not commented on the bug, which will likely be squashed in an upcoming software update.

Infuse 4.1 brings dark mode from iOS version to Apple TV, 24-bit HD audio, watched icons & more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 4, 2018

Infuse, arguably the most versatile media player app for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Apple TV by aTV Flash Black developer FireCore, has just unloaded a ton of goodies in its most recent update on the iOS and tvOS App Stores.

Available now, Infuse 4.1 brings an optional dark mode from the iOS edition of the app to its Apple TV counterpart, and it's a beauty! Next, you can finally delete videos from remote SMB and FTP/SFTP shares.

iOS users, I'm sure, will appreciate Infuse's background metadata fetching for Favorites whenever they open the app. And my favorite: Infuse now finally renders DIVX files without any hiccup.

1Password for Mac gains new import options, automatic login naming and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated October 16, 2018

Developer AgileBits today pushed a brand new 'Tricks Edition' update for 1Password for OS X, its popular password-management that's available across iOS, OS X, Android and Windows platforms.

Available in the Mac App Store at no charge for existing users, this particular update sports some interesting new options for 1Password's data importer and includes a much improved browser extension that can now automatically name the login it creates, among other enhancements.

1Password is $64.99 in the Mac App Store.

New 4K video reveals the incredible complexity of Apple’s upcoming iSpaceship headquarters

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

A new ultra high-definition drone video of Apple's upcoming Campus 2 facility, posted Monday by YouTuber Duncan Sinfield, gives a nice overview of just how far along the project has progressed over the past twelve months.

The video, available in crisp 4K resolution, shows the incredibly complexity of the 2.8 million square foot structure, Steve Jobs's last project, that should become home to approximately 12,000 Apple employees in January 2017.

Samsung and others want to stop Apple from selling refurbished iPhones in India

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2016

A month after Apple sought permission from the Indian government to sell used iPhones in the country, the move has ignited backlash from competitors like Samsung and local phone vendors who are now opposing Apple's move on environmental grounds, reports Bloomberg.

The newly formed Mobile and Communications Council has issued the letter to the government vehemently opposing Apple’s application. That group’s members include the largest Indian phone brands: Micromax, Intex and Samsung.

Siri is now a baseball savant

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2016

Siri is now a baseball savant: Apple's personal digital assistant's been refreshed in the cloud with official data on thousands of Major League Baseball players and historic baseball statistics. “Siri also knows the history and stats of 27 other pro, minor and international leagues,” writes CNET.

The update is likely the result of Apple's new tie-up with the Major League Baseball which provides every team with iPad Pros while permitting sports announcers to finally call tablets “iPads”.

iFixit: 9.7-inch iPad Pro uses ‘gobs of adhesive’, making repair ‘miserable’

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 4, 2016

Repair wizards over at iFixit have torn apart Apple's new 9.7-inch iPad Pro (model A1673) only to discover that the device is extremely difficult to repair due to “gobs of adhesive” used to keep the components secured in place.

In addition to copious adhesive, the device's smaller form factor, the addition of four speakers and some “weird cabling choices” have earned the new 9.7-inch iPad Pro a sad 2 out of 10 repairability score, same as the original iPad Air and a point less than the first iPad Pro. “We think this is the most glue we’ve seen in an iPad to date, making repair miserable,” concluded iFixit.