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iPhone users grabbed 6 million free apps a day in December

Administrator — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:12:32 +0000

iPhone users downloaded more than 6 million of the top free apps each day in December.

(Credit:
Fiksu)

iPhone users were busy in December downloading more than 6 million of Apple ‘s top free apps each day.

For the last month of 2011, the iPhone app store witnessed a record 6.04 million downloads per day, a 7 percent jump over the previous high of 5.45 million daily downloads in November.

Compiled by mobile ad firm Fiksu, the App Store Competitive Index looks at the total number of downloads of the top 200 free iPhone apps in the United States. The downloads have been gaining momentum since September when the average daily number was 3.8 million.

Related storiesiPhone users downloading more than 5 million free apps a dayAndroid, iOS activations hit record on Christmas. Again… [Read more]

Unfriended: Find Out Who Has Removed You as a Friend From Facebook Using This Free App

Administrator — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:43:13 +0000

If you want to find out who has removed you as a friend from Facebook then there is an app for that.
Unfriended iPhone app allows you to keep track of who had removed you as a friend and who has deactivated their Facebook account.
Unfriended will show you exactly who removed you as a friend and who deactivated their account. The rest.. is up to you! But please remember Unfriended can only show you who deactivated or has removed you as a friend AFTER the time which you installed this app. (Getting results BEFORE the time you installed the app is unfortunately NOT possible)
To use the app, simply press the refresh button in the bottom left-hand corner. If any changes in your friend list are found, Unfriended will show you right away!
Unfriended has been recently updated and comes with a cleaner interface, allows you to filter history using Search and is available in 6 different languages.
It won’t be able to magically tell you who has deleted you as a friend on Facebook prior to installing this app. It allows you to keep track of it going forward.
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Jailbreak Tweak For iPhone 4S Finally Makes Siri Hands-Free

Administrator — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 21:23:57 +0000

, but we’re already seeing iOS developers coming up with interesting new ways to extend the functionality of iPhone 4S.
– one of the most popular features of Apple ‘s new iPhone , we’ve been dreaming of the day when we could use Siri without using the Home button. In our opinion, tapping the Home button is one of the most non-intuitive ways to activate such a feature like Siri.
that makes that dream a reality.
Unfortunately, it means that it can end up being a drain of your iPhone ‘s battery life, which is the most likely reason why Apple did not make it an “Always on” feature.
Hands-Free Control provides a continuous listening service on your device to activate voice functions, even while in sleep mode. When you speak the keyword, Siri (on the iPhone 4S or via Spire on other devices) or Voice Control will be activated without pressing any buttons, and then wait for further voice input.
Normally you have to press and hold the home button for several seconds to activate these voice functions, but now with this app these features are completely hands-free! Just speak the keyword! The service also works with headphones and bluetooth headsets.
Hands-Free Control™ will also automatically and continually calibrate to the current ambient noise in your environment to filter out noise from speech. If you have trouble with your iPhone recognizing when you say the keyword you can adjust the sensitivity to the keyword in the settings. If you unintentionally activate Voice Control at any time, simply say “Cancel” and it will quickly exit.
You can change the keyword to activate Siri, change the settings that could have lesser impact of battery life etc via the Settings app.
Hands-Free Control is available on Cydia for jailbroken iPhone 4S for $2.99.
As always, let us know what you think of Hands-Free Control in the comments.

Apple Aims to Reinvent Curriculum With iTunes U App; Now Available For Free in The App Store

Administrator — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 18:24:34 +0000

Apple ‘s held the special media event earlier today with the aim to reinvent two things. #1 – Textbooks and #2 – Curriculum.
Apple released iBooks 2 and iBooks 2 to reinvent textbooks and unveiled iTunes U App to reinvent Curriculum. The iTunes U app is now available in the App Store.
The iTunes U app gives you access to complete courses from leading universities and other schools — plus the world’s largest digital catalog of free education content — right on your iPad, iPhone , or iPod touch. Whether you’re majoring in molecular biology at a university, taking Spanish in high school, or just interested in European history, you now have a valuable tool to help you learn anytime, anywhere.
See all assignments and updates from the instructor in one place, and check off assignments as you complete them
Access course materials, including audio, video, books, documents & presentations, apps, and new iBooks textbooks for iPad
Choose from more than 500,000 free lectures, videos, books, and other resources on thousands of subjects from Algebra to Zoology
Browse collections from education and cultural institutions in 26 countries — including Stanford, Yale, MIT, Oxford, UC Berkeley, MoMA, the New York Public Library, and the Library of Congress
• iPhone , iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5 or later
• iTunes 10.5.3 or later is required to sync with a computer
• The selection of courses, collections, and availability of content linked from within a course may vary by country
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Fly, be free! Jailbreak for iPhone 4S, iPad 2 released

Administrator — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:59:48 +0000

This iPhone 4S broke out of jail without having to crawl through the sewer.

(Credit:
Screenshot by Eric Mack/CNET)

Looks like the iPhone 4S is getting its “Shawshank Redemption” moment today. A jailbreak for the new iPhone and its A5-based cousin, the iPad 2, has been spotted.

The “corona untether” jailbreak for A4 devices running iOS5 was released in December, and since then a “dream team” of iOS hackers including the iPhone Dev Team, Chronic Dev Team and pod2G have been working to liberate iOS devices built around the more powerful A5 processor.

The site hosting the jailbreak has been very difficult to access this morning, but some people seem to be getting through, if you believe all the chatter on Twitter. For now, the jailbreak’s only available for Mac OS X, with a Windows version available soon, according to a couple of the hackers.

In case you’re not in the know, jailbreaking your iOS devices allows you to customize your gadget and to access Apple -unauthorized apps not found in the App St… [Read more]

Apple Switching to Environmentally Friendly Halogen-Free Cables

Administrator — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 03:36:48 +0000

Volex, maker of Apple ‘s USB and charging cables, is taking a hit of $6 million. The money will be spent to rework cable production so that they will be halogen-free and more environmentally friendly.
Apple has pushed its cable manufacturer, Volex, to make its cables more environmentally friendly. The London Evening Standard reports:
Apple is the biggest customer of Volex, 23%-owned by billionaire financier Nat Rothschild, which makes the power cables and USB leads used in everything from laptops to iPhones and iPads.
But the US firm is on a drive to move its products towards halogen-free power cables, which are less harmful to the environment when disposed of.
The start-up costs in designing and making the new cables will cost it up to $6 million in the current financial year, Volex said today, although, stripping out these one-off costs, profits will be in line with market expectation.
Volex is a pretty big player in power cables, and they also make fiber optic cables for telecom companies. Halogen-based plastics are typically used as flame retardants as well as in other applications. Halogens are toxic as gas vapors and can condense into caustic acids after coming into contact with water, making them very hazardous to the environment and difficult to dispose off properly.
While Apple has received major criticism in the past regarding its environmental practices, they’ve been working hard over the past few years. In 2009, they launched a section of their website concerning their
, shortly after launching their redesigned, “greener” unibody aluminum MacBooks.
, which featured a major increase in auditing for adherence to environmental policies among other things.

Apple and Facebook have not teamed up to give away free iPads

Administrator — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 11:08:55 +0000

The promise is seductive. Two of the biggest technology companies on the planet are combining forces to give their adoring fans free iPads and iPhones? Yes! And all you have to do is give up all your personal information for that chance.

That’s what spam scammers are hoping you will do once you see the quasi-personal letter from everyone’s favorite friend networker, Mark Zuckerberg. The e-mail will come off as somewhat legit, singling you out as a randomly selected winner of a one-time only promotional event sponsored by Facebook and Apple .

So, you’ve already won a free iPad or iPhone , but there’s a catch. Mark Zuckerberg just needs your e-mail address, phone number, and other account information to confirm. And of course, the site that Zuckerberg chooses to use to acquire that information is not Facebook, but a random promotional company.

Now, if the user is to click the link to claim their prize, they will be taken to a Web site that explains how they may be a potential winner, despite the fact that Zuckerberg’s e-mail claimed they had already won. But don’t worry, if you can answer a simple question, you’ll be in the running to get that iPhone or iPad.

Sweet!

But wait. There’s something else. Something at the bottom of the screen. It’s in really, really small print. What’s that say? Oh, by participating you are authorizing a small charge to be added to your phone bill on a weekly basis. And that iPhone you already won… [Read more]

TeleNav Brings Scout – a Free Personalized Navigation Service to iPhone

Administrator — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 18:11:11 +0000

TeleNav has just unveiled their new navigation service called Scout at CES 2012, which can be accessed via an
, a web app on Scout.me and in-car systems.
Scout is different from other navigation and discovery services because it provides a single, easy-to-use experience for daily information that is important and customized for each driver’s personal journey. Using Scout, drivers can easily and efficiently navigate their commutes, run errands, and explore places around them.
Scout for Ford SYNC AppLink will offer multiple benefits to drivers. By adding voice control, Scout allows drivers to access and control a full range of functions while keeping their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. Directions will be channeled through the car’s speakers and visible turn-by-turn navigation cues will be shown on the car’s radio display. Additionally, Scout for Ford SYNC AppLink will give drivers access to the entire Scout service, so when they discover and save their favorite events and locations at www.scout.me, they can seamlessly access these preferences through AppLink while in the car.
My Routes – never get lost with award-winning Telenav® turn-by-turn directions, used to drive more than 10 billion miles every year
My Places – discover great, new places wherever you are or going to be
My Devices – use Scout on your computer, on your phone, and soon in your car (with equipped cars)
and let us know what you think of the iPhone app in the comments.

CloudOn App Briefly Brought Microsoft Office Functionality to iPad For Free

Administrator — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:10:14 +0000

While we wait for Microsoft to release Office apps for iPad and iPhone , CloudOn – Silicon Valley based startup has released an free app in the App Store that brings Microsoft Office functionality to the iPad.
The app is no longer available in the App Store.
CloudOn for iPad allows you to create, view, and edit files directly in Microsoft Word, Excel & PowerPoint in your workspace using Dropbox account.
Use Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint on your iPad to create or edit documents.
Rename, delete and manage documents with your Dropbox account
Display, edit or create charts, change formatting, spell check, insert comments, into any Word, Excel or PowerPoint files
Based on initial reports, the app works exactly as advertised. However, it is not clear how CloudOn has managed to pull this off and if Microsoft will demand it to be pulled from the App Store when it finds out.
. Grab it while it is still available in the App Store.
It looks like the app is currently available only in the U.S. App Store.
Guess it was too good to be true, the app is no longer available in the U.S. App Store. We’re not sure if the app was voluntarily removed by CloudOn due to the surge in traffic it might have received due to the media buzz around the app or Microsoft sent a take down notice to Apple . We won’t be surprised if it is the latter. Thanks Jacob for the tip!
As always, let us know what you think of the CloudOn app in the comments.

Get a free iPhone 4S–in China

Administrator — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:35:17 +0000

(Credit:
Apple )

The second largest wireless carrier–and only official iPhone carrier–in China is offering the iPhone 4S for free when customers sign up for a multiyear contract.

According to a report by Bloomberg, China United Network Communications Group (China Unicom) is offering monthly rates for as low as $45 USD in an attempt to get customers locked in to a three-year service commitment.

Of course, adding iPhone users is no walk in the park; recall the issues experienced by AT&T after the release of the original iPhone stymied its network on a regular basis.

China Unicom found that adding iPhone users has quadrupled 3G subsidy costs since the first half of 2011.

While the promise of increased users looks good in the press, China Unicom’s stock took a 1.3 percent hit, most likely reacting to the huge subsidy costs and associated costs with maintaining a network carrying the iPhone .

Given the current mobile climate, it doesn’t seem as though we can expect anything close to this kind of deal here in the U.S., though I’m sure it would be more than welcome. As wireless carriers continue to build next-generation networks, their costs continue rising.

If anything, I’d expect data rates to hold or rise in the next few years. Would you commit for three years at a rate o… [Read more]