There's been a lot of chatter in the dev community over the last few weeks regarding the complexities which iOS developers face in integrating iCloud sync functionality into third-party apps. A lot of big name dev studios have controversially taken the decision to shy away from adding iCloud sync in their apps and games, with the general consensus being that the iCloud APIs are overly complex and are nothing short of black magic. Still, it seems that we can always rely on Cydia to pump out some iCloud based goodness for those iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users who have the luxury of being jailbroken.
iOS 5 brought native Twitter integration to the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and this was followed up nicely with a deal to bring a similar offering to iOS 6 with Facebook. But while this deep affiliation has done wonders for seamless sharing of various content, the Notes app is missing this ability to share a note via Facebook or The Twitters. Thanks to a nifty little tweak called ShareNotes, this restriction needn't stop you sharing your notes with your followers and friends, and although Twitter's 140 character restriction will also apply to your notes as well, at least you won't have to be cutting and pasting anymore.
Google celebrated Gmail's ninth birthday with a nostalgic little infographic yesterday, but, not being one to rest on its laurels, the company is back with a brand new feature pertaining to the Google account in general. From now on, if your little patch of the Big G's vast Web landscape just so happens to fall into a period of inactivity, you can decide exactly how you want your data to be handled from then on, and by whom.
Apple is largely expected to release a Retina-displaying version of its iPad mini this year, along with an incrementally-improved iPhone dubbed the "iPhone 5S". According to a research note from Ming-chi Kuo of KGI Securities, both have hit delays, and with the iPhone 5S release date initially being touted for announcement in June in preparation for a July release, it now appears as though neither will be hitting the market anytime soon.
Amsterdam's Hack in the Box security conference regularly offers us a fascinating insight into what can ensue when modern tech is pushed to the very limit, and today, seasoned security professional Hugo Teso has certainly done that. Drawing upon twelve years as an airline pilot before his transition to the bustling world of tech security, Teso demonstrated just how easy it could be to essentially take control of a plane remotely using little more than an Android smartphone. While infinitely cool, it's also worrying how unsecure some airline software systems currently are, and although Teso only used a virtual Boeing jet to demonstrate his achievements (hijacking planes is, after all, illegal), it's a pretty incredible bit of ingenuity.
The existence of an entry-level iPhone, at least in concept, has been a matter of fierce debate over the past couple of months. It is widely thought Apple could use such a device as bait in a push to increase its presence in developing markets, but with the Cupertino company ever reluctant to sell less-capable devices to meet that low price point, there have been quite a few naysayers. Today, however, the guys over at Japanese blog Macotakara have gotten their hands on a previously-unseen dual-head vibration motor, which, due to its low-end nature, is not the kind of thing you'd expect Apple to be packing into the eventual successor to the iPhone 5.
It's no secret that Samsung likes to entertain the idea of increasingly larger displays, and with the company's Galaxy Note II already being one of the largest-screened smartphones currently available on the market, previous reports have shed light on a couple of colossal 'Galaxy Mega' handsets, which would both offer considerably more real-estate than the flagship phablet. Today, it has emerged that both of these Mega handsets could be releasing contemporaneously next month in Europe, with a 5.8-inch and 6.3-inch model further distorting the line between smartphone and slab.
The photo sharing phenomenon saw much more growth with the advent of smartphones than any other mechanism, especially with platforms like Android and iOS. Even though Facebook is the unofficial king in the photo sharing ring, the immense popularity that Instagram saw made the whole idea much more famous, and when the photo sharing mobile network expanded from being an iPhone exclusive to Android, things definitely took off even further. Today, photo sharing is one of the most popular and religiously observed social networking phenomena that you’ll find all across the internet.
Widgets are one of the features that have made Android the popular platform that it is today, and it is also evident by the fact that the Google Play Store – the official app repository for Android – contains an entirely separate category dedicated to widgets. Some of these useful utilities come packaged with certain OEM firmware, while others are created and sold independently. Even stock Android comes with a small collection of these of its own, irrespective of how useful they are or how much utility they provide. In fact, most of the third-party custom widgets that exist in the Play Store are to improve on the feature set of the stock offering.
The ability to record voice calls would seem a basic feature in comparison to the many options we have as smartphone users nowadays, but it's not an avenue Apple has hitherto explored, so once again, it's down to the jailbreak scene to try and help users work around this limitation. Audio Recorder, a new tweak offered at the ModMyi repo, is the very first tweak to allow the recording of voice calls natively, and if you're the kind of person that likes to keep a record of important business correspondence, Audio Recorder will help you keep them safely stored for your records.
