iPhone - page 303

At this point, despite Tim Cook’s claim that Apple is “doubling down on secrecy”, we’ve seen pretty much everything there is to see when it comes to the new iPhone. If we Apple fans were peeping toms, the iPhone 5 would be like spying on a girl we have a date with Friday night and, instead of seeing her merely undress, witnessing her actually take off her skin and dance around her bedroom as a skeleton.

There’s not much more to see, but the boys over at Nowhereelse.fr — who have just been on fire this year when it comes to iPhone 5 parts — have posted some more shots of the next iPhone, including some very good comparison shots putting into perspective just how frickin’ thin this phone is compared to what came before. It’s a wafer!

It’s a battle royal on our shiny new CultCast! Don’t miss our Apple Vs. Samsung trial breakdown, where Cult of Mac reporter Jose Fermoso tells us what it was like to be in the tension-filled courtroom, what the verdict means for consumers, and where Apple and Samsung go from here.

Then, a topic you suggested, dear CultCast listeners! We talk AppleCare, Apple’s extended warranty program, and tell you when it makes sense, when it doesn’t, and which gadgets you should always keep covered.

Subscribe to The CultCast now on iTunes, or easily stream new episodes right on your iPhone or iPad with Apple’s newly updated and freshly debugged Podcasts App.

Read on for the show notes!

When the Sparrow team announced that it had been acquired by Google back in July, the future of its popular email clients for Mac and iOS became unclear. We still don’t really know what will become of Sparrow, but its creators promised it would continue support its customers.

Staying true to that promise, the team has updated Sparrow for iPhone for the first time since its Google acquisition, adding support for Google Chrome, better IMAP compatibility, and more.

We all have that contact or three that just can’t seem to take a hint. They keep calling and calling, and we really just need to get our work done. If you use the audible ringer on your iPhone, there’s a way to ignore that caller (along with any other folks you’d like to selectively mute) with a silent ringtone.

Josh Begley had a great idea on how to get people talking about the U.S. Military’s controversial use of attack drones. He created an iOS app called Drones+ that sends users a push notification every time a US drone strikes a target.

All those notification will probably get you thinking about whether drones are good or bad. The aim of Drones+ was to create a conversation using barebones information. It doesn’t contain nasty images of corpses, or a death toll meter. All the data comes from publicly available sources. It’s family friendly. But for some reason, Apple really doesn’t want iPhone owners to use it, so they’ve rejected it three times.

Samsung is still fuming that they got their trash handed to them in court last week. The legal beat down they received in court was just raw and powerful and awesome, and they totally deserved it.

Samsung is understandably mad, and probably a little embarrassed and majorly vindictive, so they went out this morning and declared that if Apple even thinks about releasing an iPhone 5 with LTE they will sue them immediately, and they may have the patents to win. Maybe.

You guys carry some odd things aro und in your gadget bags. Like, rubiks cubes, otoscopes, or electronic dog tags? Hey, whatever works for you, that’s fine. Who are we to judge. Even though the Cult of Mac Show Us What’s In Your Gadget Bag sweepstakes is over, we couldn’t get over how fascinating a lot of the gadget bags were. Each told a unique story about that individual, which was really interesting to see. So to celebrate you guys, we compiled this gallery of the 10 most interesting gadget bags we saw last week.

The success of the iPhone hasn’t been a huge money maker for just Apple. Component manufacturers make a killing off it as well because it means they’re able to sell millions of units for each iPhone launch as Apple gogbles up all available supply.

While Apple’s relationship with Samsung as a components supplier has become strained, other companies are ready to join the fight and invest some serious moolah to help Apple and secure better contracts themselves. Sharp, seeing a big opportunity, says they may invest $1 Billion into their plant to boost capacity for Apple’s iPhone displays.

Aleratec’s Charge-Glo dock cable has a very simple yet very neat gimmick: like the MagSafe charger you have for your MacBook, it sports an LED in the plug, and this LED changes color to show charging status. No more tapping at your iPhone’s home button to see if it has done charging.

I’ve lost count of the number of iPhone 5 parts that have leaked out of Apple’s Chinese factories. But one thing that’s been notably absent from those leaks is the device’s new processor. We’ve questioned whether it will use the same A5X chip that features in the new iPad, or whether it will get an all-new A6 processor.

Thanks to the latest leak, that has become a little clearer.

Apple’s strict approach to iOS software means that spyware very rarely makes its way onto our iPhones or iPads. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t at risk. A piece of mobile spyware called FinFisher, developed by U.K.-based Gamma Group, is capable of making its way onto your iPhone and recording your every move without you knowing it.

The software can secretly turn on your handset’s microphone to listen to your conversations, it can track your location, and even monitor your emails, text messages, and calls.

Capcom announced today the upcoming release of three of its wacky courtroom games to the iPhone and iPad. Originally released on Nintendo’s dual screened handhelds, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD will include all three of the Phoenix Wright games, with Ace Attorney, Justice for All, and Trials and Tribulations stepping up to the courtroom bar.

Looxcie today launched their own Facebook channel, along with an update to their free live-streaming app — called LooxcieLive that turns any Android or iOS device into a video broadcast camera that streams video straight to your Facebook feed.

Of course, Looxcie’s isn’t the first app to do this; Utsream did the same thing just a week or so ago with their own app, Broadcast for Friends (with the gag-me-cute acronym of BFF). The difference here is that Looxcie’s Facebook channel can also serve up live broadcasts from Looxcie’s own hardware — which may make first-person-perspective shooting easier than, say, duct-taping your smartphone to your forehead (snicker all you want, we’re sure it’s been done). And, of course, Looxcie is first out the gate — and the only  Ustream to the punch with an Android app.

iOS is the gaming platform of the future. Just ask Nintendo, who this year posted its first annual loss (nearly half a billion dollars). And while Game Boy-esque portable playing is good enough most of the time, you only need to add a few accessories to turn the iPhone into a full-on be-buttoned handheld, and the iPad into the center of a big-screen home gaming system. Read on to find out our picks for the best iOS gaming accessories.

The cellhelmet case for iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S is a one of a kind. It’s the only case that comes with a 12-month accidental damage warranty that covers the device itself. Drop your iPhone while it’s in a Cellhelmet and if it breaks, makers cellpig will have it repaired or replaced for free — all you have to pay is a $50 handling fee.

There’s no monthly fee — you just pay the $44.99 for the case and you’re covered for a year, negating the need for a dedicated insurance plan.

Facebook’s on a roll lately. Just a week after they released their hyper fast speed update to the native Facebook app, the world’s biggest social network has also given some improvements to the lesser-used Facebook Camera, adding notifications, likes, improved photo management, comments and other UI improvements. It’s actually a pretty usable app now!

Ahead of the launch of Parallels Desktop 8, Parallels has launched a crowdsourced “Apple In The Workplace Barometer” that allows businesses or individual employees to see how their workplace ranks in terms of BYOD readiness for Macs, iOS devices, and other technologies. The site offers a quick and simple questionnaire that asks workers (or managers) about their work computing tasks, resources, and company-provided options. At the end of the survey, their company is plotted on a grid that measures active adoption of Apple technologies and active IT support for Macs, iPhones, and iPads.

After months of delays, Isis has announced the debut of its mobile payment system. A joint venture by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon, Isis made news earlier this year at the Mobile World Congress in March, but has been pretty quiet since then. During that quiet period a number of other players in the mobile payment market have stolen the spotlight and announced major deals.

Apple is expected to eventually unveil its own mobile payment system, one that will most likely be based around the iTunes Store payment system, but hasn’t made announcements beyond iOS 6’s Passbook feature. Apple has also kept quiet about whether it will include NFC chips used in some mobile payment systems in the upcoming iPhone 5, which some analysts and pundits consider a barrier to entry into the mobile payment market.

Imagine if your took the ultimate hippy artifact (apart from the roach clip, I guess), and combined it with the ultimate must-have hi-tech accessory. That’s right: the beanbag chair meets the microfiber cloth.

Now, further imagine that you shrunk the result, and added some fabric designs that would be more at home on a corporate robot’s necktie than on a filthy 60s dropout’s cheap furniture.

Now, behold the result of your crazed imagination: the Toddy Wedge, (not to be confused with the “Todd Wedgie, which was an unfortunate schoolyard event that led directly to the laugh-a-minute movies Welcome to the Dollhouse and Happiness)

The Genius Bar is a great way to get help and support for the problems you’re having with your Mac and iOS devices. The problem is, with only 375 Apple stores worldwide, you usually need to live close to a big city to be close to a Genius Bar. But that’s no longer the case, because you can now speak to am Apple specialist from the comfort of your own home, via the company’s online store.

For a company that’s wanting to “sell against the iPhone,” T-Mobile still wants whatever business it can get from unlocked iPhone owners. Earlier today we told you about T-Mobile’s new microSIM kits that will easily unlock an iPhone 4/4S to run on its GSM network.

It appears that T-Mobile is also readying flyers that say “Bring Your iPhone to T-Mobile for BIG SAVINGS!” But can T-Mobile’s network really support iPhone users on 3G and eventually 4G speeds?

These days, most of us are caught in an odd transition from paper to digital documents. Most of us create documents on our Macs, but also need to deal with a ton of actual dead-tree paperwork on a daily basis.

There are a bunch of optical character recognition (OCR) apps out there for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad of varying quality and interface design. Quick Reader is one of the less expensive ones, at $0.99, so might be worth a try if your budget is tight.

While Samsung has been battling with Apple in the U.S., Motorola has been trying to win a few court cases of their own against Apple over in Germany. The two sides have mostly been arguing over some standard-essential patents that Apple needs for the iPhone to work.

Until now, Motorola has refused to license the patents to Apple at a fair price, but a recent court filing shows that Motorola has declared a ceasefire and will now license some, if not all, of their standard-essential patents to Apple.

What does it take to become an Apple Genius? You’d think the biggest requirement would be a lot of technical knowledge, but really it’s empathy and knowing how to talk to people. Geniuses are the face of the company when customers are the most pissed off at Apple, so great customer service skills are key.

Gizmodo just unearthed Apple’s official Genius Training Student Workbook and it’s oozing with secrets, like words a Genius can’t use to describe a problem.

It isn’t too difficult to understand why the jury involved in the Apple versus Samsung case made the verdict it did last Friday, awarding Apple a landslide victory and more than $1 billion in damages. But what isn’t clear is how the jury came to its decision. Thanks to Jury Foreman Vel Hogan, we now have a fascinating insight into what it was like to be part of that panel.

In his first TV appearance since the billion dollar patent trial came to an end, Hogan reveals how he made up his own mind, how the jury decided on the damages Samsung must pay Apple, whether feelings and emotions influenced the jury’s decision, and more.