Apple is hoping to have a group lawsuit alleging it collected data from million of customers while they used approved apps thrown out of court after arguing that the plaintiffs have failed to prove their claims. At a hearing in San Jose, California, on Thursday, lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh to give the designate the suit a class action — but Apple says they cannot prove any harm has been done.
The latest App Report from research firm Appthority has found that free apps downloaded onto iOS devices are more likely to collect your personal data than free apps downloaded on Android, with 60% of the top ten App Store downloads sharing data with advertising and analytics networks.
The report suggests that due to the volume of titles in the App Store, iOS developers are more likely to collect your data and pass it on as an alternative revenue stream.
AutoResponder, the popular jailbreak tweak that allows users to set up automatic replies to incoming text messages, has today been updated to introduce support for devices running Apple’s latest iOS 6 firmwares. Now called AutoResponder 2, the tweak also has 50% off for a limited time for those who haven’t yet purchased it.
British carrier O2 has today launched a new VoIP and messaging service called TU Go, which is available to its pay monthly customers with Android and iOS devices. The service allows users to make calls and send texts over the Internet, so even when they have no cell reception, they can connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot and get in touch with friends and family.
We got it wrong last week, when we thought a cryptic Disney teaser was a clue to something we’ve been salivating over for a few months: the arrival of Android and iOS at Disney’s Infinity platform.
Instead, Disney has released a beautiful Toy Story 3D puzzler game for iOS and Android; and even though it’s not exactly what we’ve been waiting for, it still looks really freaking cool.
Apple is working on a 4.5-inch iPhone with a polycarbonate body, according to a new report from Japanese publication Macotakara. The device has reportedly been “postponed” for a 2014 release.
Want to preserve your entire photo, without having to crop it, and save it to Instagram for all your many followers to enjoy and Favorite? Well, you could pull it to your Mac, create a square canvas, add sidebars with an image editing app, and then put it back on your iPhone, ready to send to Instagram, but who wants to do all that?
#NoCrop–the app, not the hashtag–has you covered.
Leap Wireless owns Cricket, a small prepaid carrier in the U.S. that recently started selling the iPhone. In fact, Leap was the first pay-as-you-go carrier in the U.S. to start selling the iPhone at full price. Now other prepaid carriers like Virgin Mobile have also picked up Apple’s handset.
In recent months, Leap hasn’t been very thrilled about how many iPhones it’s selling.
Jefferies analyst Peter Misek is one of our favorite Apple analysts in the entire world. Mostly because his Apple predictions are usually horribly wrong.
After the disastrous Apple TV SDK Event rumor he created earlier in the month, Misek is back with a new note to Apple investors, and it’s not a happy one. According to Misek, Apple is about to face a very rough two-year period, and he might actually be right.
We say “might,” because we haven’t tested it yet; but sandwiched between the hard exterior shell of Incase’s new Chisel case and the iPhone it protects is a second, soft case with a secret ingredient called Poron XRD — a material we’ve found almost unbelievably excellent at absorbing impact energy.
The new year is well underway, and we’ve got a bundle lined up for you here at Cult of Mac Deals that will help you make the most of your Mac over the months to come. And the best part is that you’ll get all 8 of these time-savings apps for free as part of The Mac Freebie Bundle.
Apple’s always looking to miniaturize its gadgets down to the slimmest, smallest form factor possible, which is why the venerable iOS home button is such a conspicuous space waster: although the button grounds users in the iOS operating system, it’s also a fairly big and bulky element of the front of the device.
According to Peter Zigich in his new concepts for the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 mini and iPhone 6 Maxi, Apple should just eliminate it from the front of the device to make way for a nearly bezel-less screen. Bizarrely, though, he thinks it should be shifted to the lower left hand side of the device, in a lower location on each side.
Spotify has released a major update to its iPhone app that introduces a couple of nice user interface changes.
The app now features a sidebar that can be accessed by swiping from left to right, like Facebook’s iOS app. From the new sidebar menu you can quickly access search, new releases, radio, playlists, your inbox, friends list, and settings. You can swipe to reveal the left sidebar anywhere in the app expect when a song is filling the screen.
BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS — Here at MWC in Barcelona, Krussell is showing off its latest lineup of waterproof smartphones cases called Sealabox, which let you take your smartphone swimming to snap pictures of the fishes. Available for almost all common smartphones, the Sealabox is IPX7 certified for water resistance up to one meter, and it’s been carefully designed to allow you to make the most of your smartphone in almost any environment.
It had to happen eventually: Photoshop for your phone. As of today you can buy Photoshop Touch for the iPhone and Android, and it pretty much does everything you can do on the iPad version.
It’s understood that iOS cameras are insanely high-quality given their size. The only real knock about them is the fixed lens. Today’s Cult of Mac Deals offer aims to “fix” that – pun totally intended – with this compact lens kit. It includes 3 versatile options that fit snugly over your iOS lens with a tech-friendly magnet – and you can get this kit for only $25 for a limited time!
(Please note: This offer – which includes free shipping – is only available to customers in the United States and Canada.)
What was once an iPhone-only social network has quickly become one of the world’s largest social behemoths. Instagram’s co-founder, Kevin Systrom, announced today that the photo-sharing network just surpassed the 100 million active users mark.
Compared to its parent company Facebook, 100 million active users doesn’t sound like much. But when you consider that Twitter just hit the 200 million active users mark last year, Instagram’s got something to be proud of because it’s a much younger service.
BlackBerry has been the preferred handheld for many of the U.S. Department of Defence’s employees because it’s got the security clearance to run on the Pentagon’s network. That might all change in 2014 though when Android and iOS join the party.
The U.S. Defense Department said today that it plans to open up its networks by February 2014 and allow 100,000 mobile phones and tablets from Apple and Google to use the network.
Last week a Staples Exec gloated that the office supply chain superstore had struck a deal to sell Apple products very soon. At the time, we didn’t know which Apple products Staples would sell, but for now it looks like they’re just selling accessories.
If you want to buy an Apple TV, Magic Mouse, Smart Cover, EarPods, or any other Apple accessories, you can now purchase them from Staples’ online store for the U.S.
BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – You’re stuck in the dessert. You are thirsty, hot, and – worst of all – your cellphone is dead. You discover that you have a teaspoonful of water that you had previously overlooked. Do you a) Drink it? or b) use it to recharge your phone.
What?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3H2hF0dmEE
Yep, note the date at the end of that trailer above? It’s February 25 right now. And, as such, you can grab yourself a copy of Awesome Games Studio’s latest indie game release, Yet Another Zombie Defense, on the App Store today for a mere $0.99, half off the regular $1.99 price. Don’t wait too long, though, as this remake of the popular XBox Live Indie Game will only be on sale for a week.
Otterbox is known for making really durable iPhone cases that are designed to survive all kinds of calamities. Now Otterbox is taking the next logical step: screen protectors for the iPhone and iPad.
The company has unveiled four different screen protectors, and each one has its own distinct appeal.
It’s only been a few weeks since the first lockscreen hack was discovered on iOS 6.1, but some researchers have already discovered a new way to bypass the iPhone’s lockscreen without entering the security PIN.
The bug was found in iOS 6.1 by Benjamin Kunx Mejri, and it follows some of the steps as the last exploit but has some variation in the steps, and it allows an attacker to access all your data by plugging your device into a computer’s USB port.
If you haven’t heard of App.net yet, it’s a cloud platform that’s kind of like Twitter, except it’s ad-free, so you have to pay a monthly fee to use the social network.
Starting today you can setup your own App.net account for free. It comes with some limitations on what you can do, and the only way to get the free account is via an invite from a paid member, but if you’re curious about the platform, the free account might be a hell of a deal.
BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS — As I was walking around the show floor at MWC today, I noticed a number of smartphones that looked very familiar — yet they were being paraded by Chinese companies I’d never heard of. I saw what looked like a large iPhone 5, an entire range of Samsung Galaxy devices, and a number of high-end HTC handsets.
Except they weren’t really Apple, Samsung, or HTC devices at all; they were actually cheap clones that were trying their best to look like the real thing. They even had fake accessories that were identical to the originals.