News - page 1635

Apple has been historically fickle about how it lets marketers and developers track iOS users through apps downloaded from the App Store. After all of the privacy concerns were raised about the UDID device identifier back in 2011, a better solution never presented itself.

Apple eventually introduced its own Advertising Identifier for iOS device tracking purposes, but marketers still favored the unique, permanent nature of the UDID. The UDID worked so well because it was a device-specific identifier that could never be changed. Athough developers were technically banned from using the UDID to track iOS devices more than a year ago, many, many apps still use the deprecated method today.

Apple is reportedly starting to reject apps that use web cookies to track user activity in iOS. Could this mean a reinvigorated push towards the Advertising Identifier again?

The popular method for listening to music online has shifted from $0.99 paid downloads to subscription services like Spotify and Rdio. Bigger tech companies like Samsung have tried to claim their piece of the music subscription pie, and Apple is rumored to be entering the space with some sort of ‘iRadio’ product.

That’s why it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Google is working on its own music streaming service too.

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.

Apple doesn’t like jailbreaks. Never has, never will… which is why it’s odd that the evasi0n jailbreak, first unleashed to the world with iOS 6.1, has seen two small bug fix releases of iOS come and go — iOS 6.1.1 and iOS 6.1.2 — that don’t fix the exploit.

Better get your jailbreak in while you can, though, because word is that Apple is now beta testing a new version of iOS 6.1.3 that closes the exploit for good.

The success of the iPhone and iPad was supposed to do great things for Sharp. As Apple’s profits have gone up, Sharp has seen an increased amount of orders from Cupertino as Apple tries to distance itself from buying supplies from Samsung.

Even though Sharp supplies Apple with displays for the iPad and iPhone, their stock price has been falling lately, and its investment deal with Foxconn might be in jeopardy.

Sony’s NEX line has given birth to some of the best mirrorless cameras we’ve ever seen. They’re small, lightweight, and boast some pretty awesome image quality for their size.

Sony just upped the bar again this week by announcing the NEX-3N. It’s the world’s lightest interchangeable lens camera with an APS-C sensor, making it a contender for one of the best value mirrorless cameras you can find.

Over the last few years, we’ve seen a ton of really stupid and really expensive iPhone cases. The worst part about the expensive ones is that they’re not that great at protecting your iPhone, and this latest case for the 1% is no different.

Meet the Haven case by Brikk. It’s not even a case really. It’s more like the bumpers Apple made for the iPhone 4. Except the Haven is made out of solid gold or platinum and will only cost you $11,610 for the cheapest model.

It’s not every day that a Mac accessory comes along and promises to give you superpowers, but that’s just what Thalmic Labs is promising with their innovative new armband today. Called the MYO, it’s a Bluetooth-enabled device that allows you to control your Mac, just by flexing your muscles.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Would you believe me if I told you I’m writing this post from underwater? No? Well, you win, you clever thing you, because I’m totally not. Instead, I’m perched on an ass-numbing stool in the Mobile World Congress press lounge.

But my iPad mini could totally be underwater right now, and it wouldn’t even know. Why? Because it’s sealed inside a watertight gadget bag from LokSak.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Unless you love the cramped, sweaty quarters of a netbook keyboard, I’d advise you to stay away from the Logitech Ultra Thin keyboard case for the iPad mini. It looks great, and as a keyboard, it makes and excellent case.

But as soon as you try to type on it you’ll wish you’d saved your $100.

For his girlfriend’s birthday, Alex and some of her friends all chipped in to get her a new MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

The finishing touch, though? The piece de resistance, as it were? A brilliant custom birthday card that apes the style of an official Apple product announcement.

That’s a hell of a gift, with a hell of a personal touch. Alex’s girlfriend better marry that guy.

Via: Reddit

Jake Marsh is the designer of the stunning, minimalist iOS weather app, Conditions, which costs just $0.99 on the App Store. But because some people are so lame that they would rather go through the trouble of pirating a good app that they like than give the developer a buck for it, Jake decided to program a special ‘Pirate Mode’ into Conditions, in which users who pirate the app always get a weather report of 666 degrees in which fire and brimstone literally hails down upon them.

The prevailing conditions? “ARRRmageddon.” Absolute genius.

Via: Twitter

In an attempt to go head-to-head with the likes of iMessage and BBM in emerging markets, social network Facebook has just announced that it will be allowing users of its Messenger app to send messages at free or heavily discounted data rates.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – The iPad mini weighs just 308 grams. The NEC Medias Tab weighs even less: 249 grams (forgive me for not converting to ounces, but this is 2013).

And yet despite this relatively big difference, the Tab doesn’t really feel much lighter.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Good news for iPod touch-owning photography fans. Well, apart from the great camera Apple finally put in your 5G device. Now you can also get in on the add-on lens action iPhoneographers have been enjoying for so long. Behold: the Olloclip for the iPod Touch.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS -Mobile World Congress 2013 is now underway here in Barcelona, and there’s one device we couldn’t wait to get our hands on: the Galaxy Note 8.0 — Samsung’s answer to the iPad mini. In addition to its 8-inch display, the device boasts a 1.6GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and of course, the Note’s trademark S Pen.

But can it give the iPad mini a run for its money?

As the company is known to do during high profile TV events, Apple aired a new ad during tonight’s Academy Awards. The ad was appropriately themed for filmmakers. Various iPad apps were shown off with the taglines “lights,” “camera,” and “action.”

This ad is very similar to the two iPad TV spots Apple aired last week, “Alive” and “Together.”

Source: YouTube

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Pssst… don’t tell anyone, but I just saw Mophie’s new Juicepack Air for the iPhone 5. After months of abusive complaints in forum and comment threads the world over, the Air is now finally… almost… available for the slim new iPhone.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – Zagg, who you surely know better for its excellent iPad keyboards, also makes a speaker. Or two speakers, to be precise. This is the Zagg Origin, and it consists of a pocket-sized Bluetooth speaker which docks into a desktop mothership.

BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS – There mightn’t be anything more telling of the iPhone’s world takeover than this shot of the new Aving mobile video setup.

Anyone who has visited any tech trade-show will have seen the Korean guys in Aving vests hefting huge, shoulder-mounted video rigs and shooting anything and everything (this year at CES Aving put out 1,000 videos).

Now, those rigs have been replaced by the iPhone setup you see above.

Apple accessory manufacturer MiniSuit thinks they know what the iPad 5 is going to look like. After getting the specifications of the new iPad’s design from what it believes to be a reliable source, the manufacturer has already created a case for the unannounced product.

This afternoon MiniSuit sent out images of their iPad 5 case to show the differences between the size of the iPad 5 and iPad 4. According to their case models, the design of the iPad 5 will be more akin to the iPad mini, with a narrower bezel and slimmer profile.

Google announced its first computer yesterday, the ChromeBook Pixel. Yes, they’ve had ChromeBooks for a few years now, but this is the first computer product that was made solely by Google.

Over the past few years we’ve seen service and software oriented companies like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon venture into hardware development. It’s left many people scratching their heads, as we wonder why these companies want to shift their focus to hardware when they’ve dominated by just offering great services? Asymco’s Horace Dediu is pretty sure he knows the answer, and it all comes down to money.

Facebook has pushed out a pretty big update to its iOS app that brings a notable new feature: free voice calling for users in the U.S. and Canada. The same feature was brought to the Facebook Messenger app last month.

Other additions to the app include redesigned buttons for liking, commenting, and sharing posts in the News Feed.