I only really use Facebook for its messaging features; the last time I actually updated my status was February 2012. But the company is testing an annoying new feature which could persuade users like me to turn their back on it altogether. It wants to send you a push notification on your iOS devices that bugs you to post a new status update if you haven’t done so in a while.

The iOS lock screen is a boring place. It displays the time, any notifications you’ve received since you last unlocked your device, and a shortcut to the Camera app. But that’s it. When you compare it to Android’s lock screen, which now has support for all kinds of cool widgets, it’s clear there’s room for improvement.

One way Apple could start improving it for iOS 7 is with this awesome concept from Jean-Marc Denis.

Using banners for your notifications — rather than full-blown alerts we had to suffer prior to iOS 5 — is a great way to ensure incoming alerts stay out of your way while you’re busy sending tweets, chopping fruit, or writing emails. However, it would be nice if those banners could be even slimmer — maybe the same size of the status bar.

Thanks to DietBulletin, they can be.

The Notification Center that ships with iOS 5 is nice, and by default it displays a stock ticker, weather, mail, and calendar entries. It all looks great and the eye candy it provides actually conceal some very useful tricks you can use to reach some of its hidden secrets. Today we’ll take a look at the stock ticker.

We’re all excited about Notification Center, Twitter integration, iMessage, and all the other wonderful features that will come with iOS 5 later this year. But for Japanese users there’s one feature that may be far more useful than tweeting a picture of your cat directly from your camera roll: quake alert warnings.