iphone
Latest
Supreme Court sides with Samsung over Apple patent penalty
The Supreme Court ruled that Samsung's violation of design patents made by Apple can only involve components, not entire products. This could mean a severely reduced penalty that the Korean company will have to pay... and a rare bit of good news for the troubled company.
Foxconn exec faces 10 years for stealing 5,700 iPhones
A senior manager at Foxconn, the company that makes Apple's iPhone handsets, is facing 10 years incarceration after being charged with the theft of 5,700 iPhones valued at nearly $1.5 million. According to AsiaOne, the Taiwanese testing department manager, identified only by his family name Tsai, coerced eight of his subordinates to smuggle iPhone 5 and 5Ses out of the Foxconn Shenzhen plant between 2013 and 2014.
Yelp wants you to add a 'Yelfie' to your restaurant reviews
After letting its users virtually queue up for restaurants with a previous update, now Yelp wants them to put a face to the person behind each star-rating. With the service's amateur reviews shaping restaurant scenes around the globe, the influential platform's latest update allows its users to attach a selfie, or "Yelfie," as the site is unfortunately calling them, to their reviews.
Maliciously crafted video can freeze your iOS device
If you thought last year's iOS text crash bug was a headache, you'd better brace yourself. EverythingApplePro and other users have confirmed that at least one maliciously crafted video is guaranteed to trigger a memory leak and freeze iOS devices, even if they're running something as ancient as iOS 5. All you have to do is play the linked video file in Safari -- your iPhone, iPad or iPod will lock up within a few seconds, forcing you to hard reboot to regain control of your gear. It's so far useful only for cruel pranks (you should be fine afterward), but these kinds of quirks can occasionally be used as part of security breaches.
Nexar's dashcam app is free, but at the cost of your data
We likely aren't going to get flying cars anytime soon, but we will have self-driving ones. They'll be packed to the gills with sensors to keep us safe and sound as we Snapchat ourselves cruising down the highway, bellowing along to our favorite Urfaust tracks. But those are a ways off, and the phone in your pocket already has a pretty solid set of sensors in it. Plus, using a device you already own is far more economical than buying a new car. That's where Nexar's dashcam app comes in. A $7 mount holds a phone, while the free app uses your gizmo's onboard accelerometer, cameras and microphone do the rest of the work.
Bloomberg: An OLED iPhone is coming next year
OLEDs make for better displays because they draw less power and provide much nicer color reproduction. The only thing stopping them from being on every smartphone in the world is that they're a hassle to make. It's one of the reasons that an OLED iPhone remains as much-rumored as Half-Life 2: Episode Three. Bloomberg, however, believes that we'll see the device hit store shelves in limited quantities by next year. At least, that's what Apple is planning, but like the sapphire crystal display that never was, these things can always change.
Firefox Focus brings easy private browsing to your iPhone
Many modern smartphone web browsers have private modes. They're rarely turned on by default, however, and you may have to wade through settings just to make sure you're a ghost online. Mozilla wants to try something different: it's launching a browser for iOS that revolves around privacy. Firefox Focus isn't very sophisticated (you don't even get multiple tabs), but it blocks ad, analytics and social trackers by default, with simple sliders used to turn tracking on and off. Also, see that conspicuous "erase" button up top? Hit that and it immediately wipes your current browser history -- all the evidence of your gift shopping goes away in a moment.
'Super Mario Run' arrives on iPhone and iPad December 15th
At the iPhone 7 event, Apple and Nintendo revealed that Mario would make his way to iOS devices this December. Well, today Nintendo revealed the exact date: December 15th. That's the day Super Mario Run will be available to play on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The app can be downloaded for free, but you'll only be able to play parts of the game's three modes without handing over additional funds. To unlock the full game, you'll have to pay $10.
Chinese media: Trump's trade war will hurt Apple and Boeing
If the next president starts imposing trade tariffs on China, then he's going to be harming America's own companies. That's the line from China's Global Times, which has published an editorial theorizing potential responses to any future trade war. For instance, should the US follow through on promises on the campaign trail and block sales of Chinese products, the nation will retaliate in kind. For instance, China would ditch Boeing orders in favor of those from Airbus, or ban sales of Apple's iPhone in the country where it's manufactured.
Vudu's upgraded mobile app brings offline rental viewing
Unlike some big streaming video services, Vudu isn't sitting on the fence when it comes to offline playback. The Walmart-owned provider has revamped its Android and iOS apps with several big features, most notably an option to download your rentals -- you can watch that movie in mid-flight even when the in-air WiFi is lousy. You'll also have access to movie extras for supporting titles, and iOS users now get both higher-quality 1080p HDX streaming as well as AirPlay. And if you're still attached to hard copies, you can buy discs inside the app instead of heading to the web. So long as you live in the US and like Vudu's à la carte approach to movies and TV, you can check out the upgrade right now.
Microsoft's iOS app augments hues for color-blind folks
Color Binoculars landed on the App Store today, promising to infuse the real world with color for anyone with the three most common forms of color blindness. This isn't the first app designed to help color-blind folks see a broader spectrum of colors, but it comes from two Microsoft software engineers (one of whom is color blind), and its straightforward filter method is simple to use.
Apple starts selling refurb iPhones through its online store
If you've ever wanted to buy an iPhone straight from Apple but thought that brand new unlocked models were out of your reach, you're in luck. Apple has started selling refurbished iPhones in its US online store, with hefty discounts depending on what you want to buy. An unlocked 16GB iPhone 6s is selling for $449, or $80 off the usual price; splurge on a 64GB iPhone 6s Plus and you'll shell out $589, or $110 less than usual. The iPhone SE and iPhone 7 are absent, but that's not surprising given that owners have only had them for several months at best.
India wants the tech used to unlock the San Bernardino iPhone
Israeli forensics company Cellebrite helped the FBI access the contents of a suspect's iPhone 5c following the shooting in San Bernardino last year. Now India is in talks to buy the company's tech that will allow it to unlock phones and other devices. The Economic Times reports that India's Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) is purchasing the tool and should have it in hand within a month. What's more, the FSL says India will be "a global hub for cases where law enforcement is unable to break into phones." In other words, the India government will lend a hand to other countries that need to crack encrypted devices.
Vine co-creators unveil their own take on live streaming
Vine may be on the way out, but two of its original architects are determined to carry the torch for mobile video apps. Co-creators Colin Kroll and Rus Yusupov have launched a livestreaming app, Hype, that aims to do more than just broadcast raw footage. You can slip music, photos and videos into your stream, and customize the layout to suit your presentation. It doesn't just have to be about whatever you capture on-camera, to put it another way -- you can take a back seat. There's also more two-way interaction than you get with the likes of Periscope or Facebook Live, as the audience has direct ways of asking and answering questions, casting votes or getting their comments featured.
Talkshow shuts down its chat-in-public app on December 1st
If you tried Talkshow's public-facing chatrooms but left wondering why they were necessary, you're not alone. The startup is shutting down its service after determining that it won't be "big enough" to have its intended effect. As of November 1st, Talkshow's iOS app is no longer available in the App Store. You can participate in conversations until November 8th, when everything will revert to a read-only mode. You'll have the option of exporting your chats after that, but you'll have to act quickly -- everything will turn off on December 1st.
iOS update fixes your iPhone's missing Health data
The iOS 10.1 update addressed a lot of initial gripes with Apple's latest mobile operating system. However, it also introduced a glaring bug for some users: the Health app might not show your data, which is more than a little troublesome if you're a fitness maven or need those stats for medical reasons. Don't fret, though. Apple has released an iOS 10.1.1 update for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch that makes sure you can see Health info. This is a relatively tiny update (the over-the-air fix is well under 100MB for many iPhone users), but it'll matter a lot if you're tracking step counts or calories with your Apple gear.
You'll need a new cable to connect the MacBook Pro and iPhone 7
Today, Apple unveiled brand new MacBook Pros with a dynamic Touch Bar and a quick (albeit forced) migration to USB-3 (AKA Thunderbolt). Of course, it's Apple's prerogative to continue to push its customers toward better standards. It did it with USB back in the '90s and removed the headphone jack on its phones because it wants everyone to go wireless. But while it's evolving its ports, it also just made every iPhone owner who wants one of these computers buy a new dongle.
The Morning After: Tuesday October 25th 2016
While you were sleeping, we found out where you can still buy a Galaxy Note 7 (don't), Apple added Portrait mode to its flagship iPhone 7 Plus, and we're thinking about what Microsoft has planned for later this week.
There's an inactive one-handed keyboard hidden inside iOS code
In these days of big iPhones, smaller-handed individuals have trouble typing up a storm on their iOS devices. However, since iOS 8 (at least), Apple has toyed with an edge-swipe activated one-hand keyboard. To keep characters closer to your thumb, it squishes character keys and expands copy and paste buttons, keeping the word prediction rail above the keys. Alas, it still remains unfinished and inaccessible, hidden away in the iPhone's Xcode.
AT&T's insurance plan will soon repair busted phone screens
If you have insurance on your phone and smash the ever-loving tar out of the screen, you normally have to file a claim, pay a deductible and wait for a replacement device. Bleh. AT&T and its insurance provider Asurion, however, are trying something a little different. As of November 15, people paying to insure their phones can shell out $89 to -- schedule permitting -- have a technician repair that display that very day.
