Just when you thought the patent litigation saga between Apple and Samsung was beginning to dwindle into obscurity it has returned with a vengeance. The discontent between the two companies may not have been hitting public headlines as much in recent months, but it has still been simmering away nicely in the background with legal teams from both entities doing their best to represent their sides. In a ruling that has been passed down today, the United States Court of Appeals has ruled that Apple can have yet another stab at trying to get certain offending Samsung smartphones banned from sale.
This is just in. iOS 7.1 beta 1 download links have just gone live for iPhone 5, 5s, 5c, 4s, 4, iPod touch 5, and iPad 2 and up on the iOS Dev Center. A new beta for Apple TV 2nd and 3rd gen has also been released.
Launching the native Music app in iOS provides users with a default "out-of-the-box" setup that involves a tab bar containing a number of easily accessible options such as Radio (depending on your location), Genius, Artists and Songs. The ability to change those options has always been present as part of the Music app, but has always been hidden away through the More section, with only a limited number of users actually taking advantage of the functionality. Carry on reading to find out how to customize the Music app tab bar to suit your own needs.
As part of their continued efforts to improve the overall functionality and stability of Mavericks, Apple has today distributed the first seed of OS X 10.9.1 to registered developers. The same 10.9.1 seed that has been released into the developer portal has also previously been distributed amongst specific Apple internal employees with the hope of ensuring that everything runs as smoothly as possible before it gets installed onto the machines of end-users.
Apple has just made available iOS 7.0.4 download links for compatible iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. Apple's new iOS 7 mobile operating system seems to have gone down well so far with users, and after a couple of minor updates amending a couple of early teething issues and security holes, the Cupertino has today delivered yet another update. You can catch the full change log, as well as the download details, right after the break.
The lack of significant inventory for Apple's latest flagship products should be a familiar story by now. Over the last few years, we have seen multiple iPhone and iPad launches that have ended in disappointment due to stock related issues for those looking to get in on the action on day one. A large percentage of consumers who tried to get their hands on the gold iPhone 5s on launch day ended up extremely disappointed, and it looks like the same situation is occurring for those wanting to purchase the new iPad mini 2 with Retina display. To make sure we don't make a trip to the Apple Store only to be left disappointed, there is now the option of an unofficial tracking solution that shows in-store pickup stock of the new iPad mini 2 with Retina display.
Retina Display iPad mini 2, iPad mini 1 and iPad Air's complete size, weight, browser speed and gaming performance test demonstrated in the video embedded below.
Apple's decision to revamp and revitalize the rather disheveled iChat app was undoubtedly a decision that was needed to be made, but the execution of that decision has left more than a lot to be desired. OS X users have been more than happy to let Apple know that the Messages app on their platform isn't up to scratch, but while we wait for the Cupertino overlords to do something about it let's take a look at a new Messages concept that totally overhauls the app with the aim of actually appealing to those who use the service.
While we, as smartphone users, perhaps spend a lot more time than we'd like monitoring our battery usage, watching how much data we're using is perhaps the most important aspect of owning a mobile device. After all, many cellular packages are still rather stingy on how much data one can utilize in a given month, and if we should wind up downloading a lot more data than our package allows, those nasty surprise bills will inevitably follow. Like battery preservation, everybody has their own way of keeping abreast of how much data they're getting through, and one particularly neat feature within the Settings app of iOS 7 allows you to readily deactivate cellular data within certain apps.
With the announcement of the iPhone 5s last month, the feature many were talking about was the new gold color configuration on offer. Naturally, some held out hope that the iPad range would follow suit, but while both the Retina iPad mini and iPad Air both got such niceties as the A7 processor and M7 motion coprocessor, the lovely goldness seems to have been reserved for the company's flagship smartphone at this point in time.
