It's been an extremely busy week so far for Apple, with the announcement of the iPad mini, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display, an all-new line-up of iMacs and Mac minis, and the surprising introduction of the fourth-generation iPad. Not wanting to take their foot off the gas, the company has now announced their Q4 earnings of 2012, and once again, it makes extremely pleasant reading for company executives and shareholders.
The success of titles like Words With Friends just goes to show there's a real market for word-based games in mobile space, and while WWF is essentially a remake of the old classic Scrabble, it's by no means the only time-killer available based almost solely on the alphabet. Joining the ranks of the elite word apps today arrives Letterpress, and if you've got a tendency to attach yourself to the turn-based titles, this quirky, fun, addictive offering will almost certainly capture your imagination once again.
Another Apple media event has been and gone, this time bringing multiple product announcements as well as the obligatory update on how existing devices like the iPhone, Mac and iPad are faring in the marketplace. Although, most of the attention will rightly be paid to the new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display and the release of not one, but two new iPads, we mustn't forget that a number of important accessories were also mentioned during the keynote, albeit extremely fleetingly.
Apple CEO, Tim Cook took to the stage and unveiled a brand new version of iBooks for iOS. It’s loaded with tons of new features and options, and we’ve covered them in great detail right after the jump!
The ongoing patent battle between Apple and its bitter rival Samsung has taken yet another turn, this time with a Tokyo court ruling that Apple can continue to sell their industry leading iPhone smartphone in Japan. Samsung Electronics had filed two separate claims in Japan over the last few weeks, both claiming that the iPhone infringed on patents held by the Korean company in the hope that the court would agree with them and ban the sale of the device altogether in Japan. No such luck.
Although Cydia is full of packages that bring exceptional additional functionality to Apple's mobile operating system, it also plays home to multiple tweaks that exist simply to change a small portion of the way iOS works. One aspect of the system that developers love to change and tinker with is Apple's slide to unlock feature that allows users to slide their finger across a banner to gain access to the device. The Pinch to Unlock Cydia package is one such jailbreak tweak that amends that method.
The iPhone 5 may have been out for a number of weeks now, but accessories and peripherals for the new device - at least from Apple - have been at something of a premium. As has been documented numerous times, there's no official dock for the new Lightning-connected device as yet, and perhaps surprisingly, no iPhone 5 cases retailing in any of Apple's Stores. While there's not likely to be a Lightning dock anytime soon, the Cupertino company's official retail stores have begun stocking cases for the brand new smartphone.
As far as photography based apps on the iPhone and iPod touch go, Clone Camera has to be one of the most unique, easy to use and effective apps around. Stepping away from the accepted normality of taking an image and adding a filter or an effect to it, Clone Camera allows a set of photographs to be captured with the device’s camera before allowing the user to highlight, strip out and synthesize a specific part of each captured image to create one final augmented picture.
The world has been talking about going paperless over the last few years in an attempt to reduce the strain that we are placing on the environment with all of our waste. Recycling efforts have helped reduce environmental damage but thanks to the simple but effective Paperless app, iPhone and iPod touch users can now do their bit to help save the planet and reduce personal clutter in the process. Paperless is intended to allow us to scan and save receipts in one central location, which means users don't need to carry wallets full of paper-based proof around with them.
Apple took the opportunity to add a tiny enhancement to the Camera app in iOS 6 with the addition of the native panorama feature, but although iOS panoramas have turned out to be quite successful, they in no way make up for the lack of features that some people still believe the Camera app suffers from. CameraTweak for jailbroken iPhones and iPod touches is an attempt to change that by brining a powerful set of new features to the native Camera app.
