With the Mythro you’ve got a collection of color choices at your hands including gunmetal gray, jet silver, tyrian purple, satin gold, rose pink, and burgundy red. You’ll be picking these little monsters up for a cool $29 USD, which should throw up a red flag for you quality seekers out there – but no worries! These buds are for you!

- DR8 Neodymium drivers (15Hz-20kHz / -10dB@1kHz) in an anodized aluminum casing.
- Integrated microphone with universal button control.
- Hybrid injection silicone earbuds in three sizes for superior noise isolation and comfort.
- A convenient Velcro HandyStrap cable manager.

The strap you get with the buds wrap around the cord real hand-like, keeping everything in order for transport. The color of the different sized buds you get in the package reflect the specific color of the buds you’ve purchased, and you’ve got a unique application available for your experience right out of the box as well. With the unique “Burn In Tool” app available for free from the iTunes App Store you’ll have a curated series of sounds played from your iPhone through your new set of earbuds that’ll break in or “burn in” the phones for a more satisfying experience from the start.

By playing back a curated list of tones/frequencies, the Moshi Audio Burn-In Tool allows the headphone diaphragms to relax and reach their optimal level of sonic performance. Simply install the burn-in tool on any iOS device and select the headphone and desired burn-in period. The burn-in tool is customized for all Moshi Audio headphones, but also includes support for any third-party audio headsets as well.

These little buds will be exactly what you need if you’ve got a twenty dollar bill, a ten dollar bill, and a love of fashionable audio accessories for your smartphone or tablet. Grab them right this minute – and have a peek at the timeline below for more Moshi excellence as well!

According to the document, Apple will be settling a class-action lawsuit that was brought against it over what is said to be failure to honor both its standard (12 month) and 24-month extended warranties, neither repairing nor replacing its devices that fail if the white tape located within the device had turned either pink or red.

3M, which makes the tape, has stated that mere humidity can make it turn pink and possibly red. This covers several of Apple’s devices, including the iPhone/iPhone 3G/iPhone 3GS, as well as the 2nd and 3rd generations of its iPod Touch. Several lawsuits have been filed in California against Apple over the refusal to repair, and now many device owners could be seeing a small payout in the near future.

The legal document that was leaked shows the settlement amount at $53 million, as well as the signature of Apple’s Noreen Krall, chief litigation counsel. As part of the settlement, Apple does not acknowledge that it has done anything wrong. Although the settlement is outlined in the document, it isn’t final yet, assuming it is the real deal – it needs to be filed, and a judge need to sign off on it, otherwise it’s back to the drawing board.

[via Wired]

First off, this new Smarter Stand has a very unique design. It makes for a pretty good headphone wrapper by itself, but it also acts as a stand for your iPhone, allowing you to keep your headphones wrapped up while you have it propping up your smartphone. However, you’ll have to have your headphones plugged into your iPhone in order to use the Smarter Stand as a stand, since it uses the headphone jack as a fulcrum of sorts. The Smarter Stand has a convenient location to slide the headphone plug into, although it seems to only work best with the stock Apple earbuds (or EarPods, as they’re now calling them). The stand isn’t too friendly with other headphone plug designs, as you can see with my own pair of headphones in the gallery toward the bottom, but it at least still works, albeit not as great as using regular Apple earbuds.

However, what I really like about the Smarter Stand is how it allows for room to feed the headphone earpieces through the middle after you wrapped them up. It’s a small design facet, but it’s incredibly genius and really handy. The two forks at either end also make it really easy to wind up your headphones, although you have to be careful not to wind your headphones up too tightly or too loosely — too tightly can result in destroyed headphone cords, while wrapping too loosely can lead to unwanted unraveling.

As a stand itself, the Smarter Stand works pretty well. Again, you have to have your headphones plugged into your iPhone in for the stand to do its thing, but you can still have your headphones wrapped up if you want, and if you want to utilize your external speakers, you can simply unplug your headphones past that first notch to keep them plugged in, but not activated. Sadly, you can’t adjust the angle of the stand, but it sits at a nice 45-degrees (roughly), which we found to be optimal anyway.

In the end, if you need a simple and cheap stand that also doubles as a headphone wrapper, this is probably what you want. You can get one for as low $9 (plus $3 shipping to US), and it’s made out of flexible, but stiff thermoplastic polyurethane, so while it looks like a cheap accessory, it’ll hold up quite well. However, it only works well if you’re using Apple’s own headphones. You can use other brands, but the stand doesn’t quite work as nicely. It’ll at least work either way, but that’s definitely something to be aware of if you’re planning on backing the project.

The Smarter Stand is available for the iPhone 5 and the iPhone 4/4S, as well as all generations of the iPod Touch. As for Android version, the company says that each Android device would require its own exclusive design (which can get expensive), but they’re open to making Smarter Stands for certain Android models if the demand is up.

The jailbreak comes to us from Redsn0w, and it only applies to iOS devices running an A4 processor. It’s also a tethered-only jailbreak, meaning that you’ll have connect your iOS device to your computer each time you want to boot up your device, which can be a pain sometimes. The jailbreak isn’t compatible with any iPad, including the first-generation iPad (although iOS 6 isn’t even available for this iPad anyway).

Of course, it’s still best to remain on iOS 6.1.2 that way you don’t lose your untethered jailbreak. Plus, there could be a few jailbreak tweaks that you use that may not be compatible with iOS 6.1.3, so it’s always best to wait in that case as well. However, if you accidentally updated to the latest version that rolled out today, there’s still hope with this Redsn0w jailbreak.

This specific jailbreak tweak only works on the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and the fourth-generation iPod Touch. You’ll need the Redsn0w software and the iOS 6.0 IPSW file for the jailbreak. From there, it’s just a matter of opening up Redsn0w and installing the various files necessary for the jailbreak. Again, this is a tethered jailbreak, so if you need to reboot, you’ll have to plug in your device to your computer and fire up Redsn0w to get it past the Apple boot-up logo.

[via Redmond Pie]

First you’ll be choosing either Predators or Aliens to control, right out of the gate. It won’t really matter in the end, as you’re controlling both throughout the game, but it’s nice to have the illusion of control. Once you’ve completed one chapter with your Predator, you’ll be switched back to your Alien, and you’ll be evolving step-by-step with both races whether you like it or not. And you’ll like it – you’ll play it all night long, and you’ll like it.

The storyline is almost irrelevant as you take on each of the two races of beings you’re not whenever you’re out in the field. Fighting scientists and colonial marines when you’re either a Predator or an Alien whenever you’re no fighting one or the other bloodthirsty other-worldly race, that’s the joy you get to experience in this app.

You’ll be running through environments both diverse and deadly: it’s not only the other organic creatures that are after you, it’s the fire and the explosions and the bullets, too. And just when you think you’re about to reach the end of your ability to massacre the enemy, you gain enough experience to add a new terrifying weapon to your arsenal. Or if you’re an Alien, a new level of evolution to your body.

The Predator begins as a nearly nude blade-wielding ruffian, while the Alien begins, appropriately enough, as a facehugger. You’ll find some strange tingling feeling in your fingertips as you leap at the face of the helpless lab worker in your wake, implanting Alien spawn into his gullet. Once you’re out of his chest and full grown, you’ll also be working with facehugger back-ups to help grow your friendly family.

At the moment this game is entirely offline and you’ll be going through a fairly strict storyline, and if that’s all this game is – it’s still well worth the cash you’ll drop on it. This is a game that makes us understand what our newly quad-core processors are doing, what they’re being used on. Without games like this, all that power could be going to waste – don’t let it!

Have a peek at Alien VS Predator: Evolution on your iOS or Android device this week and let us know how it goes. Also have a peek at the Fox Digital Entertainment game DIE HARD (2013) for a whole new class in mobile gaming – the Endless Shooter!

Designer Martin Hajek was the illustrator of these images while NWE‘s Steve Hemmerstoffer helped with the concept design work. What you’ll find here is a collection of influences, starting with the iPod touch and the iPad mini. With both of these devices we’re seeing a bit of a return to round, and though the concept images here don’t show it, we wouldn’t be surprised if a design like this saw more than just black and white.

The biggest deal with this device is the fact that it’s got more of an “edge to edge” display than we’ve ever seen in the real world. Here with some form of what we understand to be next-to-impossible display casing technology, the iPhone 6 sits in a chassis with no border but the metal that holds the front display’s glass down above and below.

You’ll also notice the lack of a home button – a piece of hardware that’s been a staple in every iPhone and iPad to date. Here these forward-thinking minds have decided that, like the touchpad on your MacBook, you’ll be able to push down the bottom bit of the front of your iPhone 6 to get that same home button functionality. Intrepid iOS 6 users will know that a quick visit to Settings – General – Accessibility – AssistiveTouch will bring you the ability to skip the home button altogether on any iOS device you like. Perhaps it’s a pre-cursor to the absence of the button in the hardware as well?

The designers of this device have actually gone ahead and made another break in the way Apple releases mobile devices – or has over the past several years, anyway. They’ve created the iPhone 6, then for an added boost in space, they’ve created the iPhone Plus as well. Though the display sizes don’t much matter here in this completely unofficial concept stage, you may enjoy knowing that they’ve decidedly placed a 4-inch display (just like the iPhone 5) on the iPhone 6, and the iPhone Plus totes a 4.8-inch display.

That means that the iPhone 6 could potentially be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 5 with the absence of a bezel on the right or the left. The larger model then is set to open up a whole new larger window for Apple with a display that’s large enough to take on the more beastly Android devices on the market – along with the absence of a bezel keeping the device small enough not to look absurd when used as a smartphone.

And it’ll all connect perfectly well with the iWatch – or the iCompanion, as it was suggested earlier today by your humble narrator. Have a peek at the timeline below to see more iPhone 6, iPhone 5S, iWatch, and everything in-between. We’re coming up on a rather strange and exciting season for Apple one way or another – stay tuned!

Pod2g, one of the dev team members of Evad3rs (the team responsible for the iOS 6 jailbreak), tweeted the statistics this morning. Jay Freeman (a.k.a. Saurik, the man behind the Cydia jailbreak store) clarified that the 23 million iOS devices jailbroken are only the devices seen on Cydia within the past month.

These are numbers are astronomical no doubt, but there’s always the chance that iOS jailbreakers may go back to the stock version of iOS, and compared to the number of iOS devices sold during just last quarter (a whopping 75 million), 14 million iOS devices jailbroken isn’t that huge of a percentage, considering that number consists of all iOS devices ever sold.

That 14 million figure may not go up much from here on out, mainly since an upcoming iOS update will patch the Evasi0n jailbreak. iOS 6.1.3 is currently in beta mode, and the Evad3rs dev team has confirmed that the new update patches up some of the exploits used to jailbreak the mobile platform, and the team members aren’t sure if they’ll be able to come up with a fix anytime soon.

The adapters come in a two-pack for $9.99 on olloclip’s website, and the lens system itself also comes with an adapter if you don’t already own the lenses. Users will be able to quickly and easily slip on the adapter, and then attach the olloclip lens system to the iPod Touch like you would on the iPhone.

The olloclip lens system includes a fisheye lens that has a 180-degree view all around, a wide-angle lens that nearly doubles the camera’s perspective, and a macro lens that has roughly a 10x multiplier — all of which are connected together and can easily be changed out amongst one another.

The olloclip lens system costs $70, and there are options available for both the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4/4S. Frankly, we’re not too surprised that the company is adding the iPod Touch to its list of compatible devices since Apple is marketing the iPod Touch as more of a camera device this time around. Mobile photography nuts should be happy.

This is the third minor update to iOS 6.1 alone in just a few weeks, so it seems Apple is getting better at addressing issues in a quicker and more efficient manner. This latest release was just seeded to developers, and it’s actually the same update as iOS 6.1.1 beta 1, but is being rebranded as iOS 6.1.3 with a few more fixes added on, including the lock screen bug.

The update also includes several enhancements to the Apple Maps application for Japan users that we saw earlier this month. There’s no word on when the official iOS 6.1.3 update will roll out to all users, but it should be fairly soon. There’s also no word on whether or not this new update patches up the evasi0n jailbreak, so stay tuned for that.

The lock screen exploit that iOS 6.1.3 will fix allowed people who got a hold of your phone to bypass the lock screen and gain access to your contact list, as well as any photos stored on your iDevice. While the hack itself takes a bit of practice to learn, anybody could easily learn the trick to get a hold of your contacts.

[via 9to5Mac]

The app also has a slightly rearranged player as well, including better placement of the play/pause button, as well as the 10-second rewind button, both of which are on the left side at the bottom. We also want to say that the volume slider and playback slider are a little bigger, but that could just be our imagination playing mean tricks on us.

The zoom control being brought back is certainly an interesting change that Netflix decided to change its mind on. They got rid of the feature in past updates, but brought it back this time around. While personally I never use the zoom button, some viewers enjoy switching between fullscreen mode and widescreen mode.

Netflix is a free download and the update is available now in the iTunes App Store. Of course, though, you’ll need a Netflix subscription to enjoy the app, which is $7.99 per month. Back in December, the PlayStation 3 was considered the number one device that Netflix users used, but it’s nice to see the streaming service give attention to other platforms as well with updates.

It’s not said whether or not this update fixes the lockscreen vulnerability that was discovered last week, but we’re guessing that Apple may have quietly put in a fix for that as well without mentioning it in the release notes for obvious reasons. The total update size is just a small 12.8 MB (the image above says 910 MB, but that’s simply because that specific device is still on iOS 5 and hasn’t upgraded to iOS 6 yet).

The Microsoft Exchange bug had led to many users reporting decreased battery life, as well as problems with network connectivity, which led to high amounts data and power consumption without a reasonable explanation. However, Apple has ended up fixing the issue today, just a week or so after it was discovered.

The update is available now through the Settings > Software Update section on your iOS device or by plugging it into iTunes and updating through your computer. It’s a targeted update, so it’s nothing too major, but if you’ve been having problems with Microsoft Exchange lately, the update will no doubt be a big one for you.

While it’s odd to see no price different between the two cables with different lengths, it provides users another option if they’re seeking out less cable clutter. This shorter cable is half the length of the regular Lightning cable that ships with newer iOS devices. Of course, while a shorter cable could be handy in some situations, we personally don’t see the problem with just wrapping up your normal Lightning cable in order to make it shorter.

Nevertheless, if you’re after a shorter cable, similar to the Thunderbolt offerings, Apple has you set. Furthermore, the company also updated its in-ear headphones with a redesigned mic switch to make it match the design Apple’s recently-released EarPods. The in-ear headphones will still cost you $79, and there doesn’t seem to be any changes to the headphones themselves.

While Apple is known for holding special events when announcing updates to their product line, it’s also not rare for them to quietly make changes and update their products without telling anyone for the most part. Case in point: the company recently updated its MacBook Pro and Air lineup yesterday, stuffing in faster components and cutting the price down a bit.

[via MacRumors]

Speaking with Forbes, Freeman says that this most recent jailbreak has brought in “insanely more new traffic” for Cydia than the past jailbreak releases, including those for iOS 5. According to Freeman, The breakdown of these seven million iOS devices includes 5.15 million iPhones, 1.35 million iPads, and 400,000 iPod Touches.

Of course, the increase in jailbreak traffic could be due to the fact that there are more iOS devices out in the wild, but Freeman says that Evasi0n’s popularity also stems from the fact that it’s taken a lot longer for a jailbreak to come to iOS 6, further intriguing users to want to jailbreak more so than before.

Case in point: It took hackers 136 days to crack the iPhone 5, while it took just 98 days for the iPhone 4S, 38 days for the iPhone 4, and only 14 days for the iPhone 3GS. Freeman says that hunger for a jailbreak for many iPhone 5 users was intense. Sadly, though, this upward trend of a longer wait in between jailbreaks might keep increasing as Apple spends more time and effort to increase the security of their firmware.

[via Forbes]

Version 1.1 contains the latest round of fixes for issues users have been reporting, including issues with rebooting and the weather app. According to @planetbeing, users may have to clear their Web browser’s cache in order to see the update. Those who have already jailbroken their devices won’t need this release, and can instead find patches for the problem via Cydia.

In addition, in response to requests, traffic data on users downloading the jailbreak have been provided, which you can see in the image above. China comes in at the top with just under 3 million visitors (2,991,211), while the United States comes in second at 2,508,269. The numbers drop off quite significantly from there, with France coming in third at only 860,355.

The jailbreak can be downloaded from its official website evasi0n.com, where it is avaiable for Windows (XP and higher), OS X (10.6 and higher), and Linux. The entire process takes only a few minutes, and requires only a USB data cable. The jailbreak works on the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch running iOS 6.0 to 6.1.

[via pod2g]

This 25 billionth song not only gets the distinction of being that mark-maker, but also has the artist winning a beastly €10,000 iTunes Gift Card. One wonders if they’ll simply purchase thousands of copies of their own music or if they’ll pick up every single song recorded in the last several years. One thing is for certain – even with that amount of iTunes cash, Chase Buch won’t be able to purchase everything the iTunes Store has to offer.

Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services spoke up this week about the masterful mark. Noting the 15,000 songs per minute average sales point as well, Cue spoke up on how “the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists … on a scale we never imagined possible.” It was also made clear once again that the iTunes Store is “the world’s most popular music store” complete with 119 countries on its roster and 26 million songs available for download.

In their most recent release on the iTunes Store, Apple reminded the world that they push songs with “iTunes Plus”. This is Apple’s own brand format for songs which offers DRM-free action with 256 kbps AAC encoding for what Apple describes as “audio virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings.” It’s high-powered!

Developer pod2g posted up some traffic statistics of evasi0n.com, the website hosting the iOS 6 jailbreak, and the numbers are staggering. As of earlier today, the website has seen almost three million unique visitors, with page views exceeding 17.3 million. These figures don’t even include yesterday’s or today’s statistics, which we guarantee are even more staggering.

Of course, after jailbreaking, users pretty much had no where to go since Cydia was slowing down due to the surge of users downloading various tweaks. Many users would get errors in the app and weren’t able to browse or download tweaks. Jay Freeman, the man behind Cydia, says that he saw a peak of 14,000 hits per second, which is definitely unfathomable.

However, it’ll only be a matter of time before order comes to chaos, so if you’re still trying to get into the Cydia store, you’ll have to be patient. Of course, no one knows exactly when things will start to settle down, but we’re guessing that within the next few days when the initial rush dies down, you’ll be able to dive in finally.

There’s a few things you’ll need before you get started. You obviously should have done most of the pre-jailbreak work already, but if not, be sure to read our guide on how to prepare for the jailbreak. You’ll need a computer running at least Windows XP, OS X 10.5, or Linux x86/x86_64. Luckily, the jailbreak will work with both iOS 6.0 and iOS 6.1, so no need to upgrade to iOS 6.1 if you haven’t already.

You’ll also want to disable your passcode lock if you have one, as the dev team has warned that can interfere with the jailbreaking process. Once you’re ready, head on over the Evasi0n website to download the necessary files that you need. The website does a good job directing you to all the files that you need.

Make sure to be patient while the jailbreak process is running. The dev team says it should only take about five minutes, but they insist that you don’t open up iTunes or Xcode while the process is running. The best thing to do is to just not touch your computer at all until the end of the jailbreaking process.

Cult of Mac ended up stumbling upon an old MacRumors forum post that gives a step-by-step guide on how to jailbreak iOS 1.1.1 (back then it was called iPhone OS). In total, there are 74 steps, and each one is more daunting than the last. In short, the guide is chock full of confusing terminal commands, and the shuffling around of .dll files.

This original jailbreak guide comes from PlanetBeing, who is actually a part of the Evad3rs dev team working on the iOS 6.1 jailbreak that’s releasing tomorrow. We’ve certainly come a long way when it comes to jailbreaking, and even if today’s jailbreaking methods are still not for the faint of heart, we’re a lot better off than where we were over five years ago.

The most recent jailbreak for iOS 5.1.1 was fairly straightforward, only involving a few steps that mostly required jailbreakers to tap a few buttons. Even a couple of years ago, a version of JailbreakMe was literally a one-click process. Come tomorrow, we’ll see how easy it is to jailbreak the latest iOS 6.1. From the FAQs and the subtle hints from the dev team, it should be a fairly easy jailbreak for those who have the guts to go for it.

[via Cult of Mac]

First off, make sure your iOS device is compatible with the iOS 6.1 jailbreak before you go any further. By this point, you might already know, but if not, a majority of iOS devices will be compatible. The ones that won’t be supported are the iPhone 2G, iPhone 3G, first- through third-generation iPod Touch, first-generation iPad, and the third-generation Apple TV.

If you’re still running iOS 5.1 and are jailbroken, it’s a good idea to make sure all of your Cydia tweaks are compatible with iOS 6.1 before you upgrade. Open up the Cydia app and start listing out the tweaks that you use, skimming through each tweak’s description to see if it’s compatible with iOS 6.1. Most of the time, the developer will mention some sort of warning if it’s not compatible.

Once you know which tweaks will and won’t work, decide at that point whether or not it’s worth it to upgrade, and be sure to keep in mind if iOS 6’s new features are also worth it. If any of the new features introduced in iOS 6 aren’t personally pleasing to you, it might be a good idea to just stick with iOS 5.1 anyway if you have an older iOS device.

If you’ve made it this far, then we’re assuming you’re ready to upgrade to iOS 6.1 and jailbreak your device. Go ahead and update through iTunes — DO NOT update OTA. One of the dev team members confirmed that the OTA iOS 6.1 update will have some issues with jailbreaking. Once you’re updated, you’ll then want to make sure you have an up-to-date backup using iCloud or iTunes. Not only will this backup save your butt when the jailbreak goes wrong, but it’ll also be useful when you need to restore apps and settings back to your device after you jailbreak. You’ll also want a backup of all your Cydia packages if you’re currently jailbroken, for which OpenBackup is perfect for this. Make sure you backup these Cydia tweaks before you upgrade to iOS 6.1, because you’ll lose your jailbreak once you update.

Once the iOS 6.1 jailbreak hits, you’ll then want to decide whether to do a clean jailbreak install, or jailbreak your device while keeping all your apps and settings intact. A fresh install will be quicker, and it’s a great way to start with a clean slate if you have a ton of clutter, but you can also use those backups to restore apps, settings, and Cydia tweaks. On the other hand, jailbreaking with your apps and settings intact takes longer, but you won’t need to restore any backups if everything goes smoothly. Be sure to decide which route you want to go before you start the process.

The Evad3rs dev team plans to release the iOS 6.1 untethered jailbreak sometime on Sunday. We’re not sure what time exactly the jailbreak will become available, but we’ll make an announcement when the time comes. You can head to the dev team’s website now and read through the FAQ and other notices they have posted. Hopefully, we’ll see the jailbreak earlier in the day before the Super Bowl, that way we can enjoy the game with our brand-new jailbroken devices, but we’ll simply have to wait and see. However, thanks to your preparations, you’ll be ready to go right away.

Per the official website, a Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux version of the jailbreak will be available. Mac OS X must be at least version 10.5, while Windows need to be at least XP. It will be compatible with all iPad/iPad mini, iPod Touch, and iPhone models that are running iOS 6.0 to iOS 6.1. The entire jailbreaking process is said to take about 5 minutes, and the only requirement – aside from the OS – is a USB data cable.

Once the GUI is completed, the next step will be moving the jailbreaking software into a private beta, where it will be tested for issues. This is the result of the collective evad3rs, which is composed of hackers known by the handles pod2g, pimskeks, planetbeing, and musclenerd. They have a Twitter account up now under @evad3rs.

Others who have worked on the project or otherwise have had involvement includes @chronicdevteam and @iphone_dev, which are thanked on the website for providing support, @Surenix who created designs for both evasi0n and evad3rs, and @phoenixdev for providing research. Little else is known at the moment. We’ll be keeping an eye on this and will let you know when it goes live.

[via iDownload Blog]

This fully granted trademark listing includes items such as “oblong table and stools [that are] set below video screens flush mounted on the back wall.” That’s essentially describing the sections many Apple Stores had where people were invited to classes on what their Apple product was capable of and what they could do with it in the future. You won’t see that feature in too many Apple Stores these days as the back is mostly reserved for the Genius Bar or sales counters (where applicable.)

Another feature listed in the trademark is “a clear glass storefront surrounded by a panelled facade.” This joins several other patents and trademarks surrounding the stores interiors that’ve been granted in the past, one of which is a design patent for a floating glass staircase granted back in 2003. You can find the full trademark listing at the USPTO right this minute complete with registration granted date set for January 22nd, 2013.

The original drawing of the store (which you see above) includes a note about what the store is put in place to show: “retail store services featuring computers, computer software, computer peripherals.” This listing goes on to note “mobile phones, consumer electronics, and related accessories, and demonstration of products relating thereto.” This should ring a bell as the patent was first applied for in 2010 and lists mobile phones but not specifically tablet computers – they must simply be included in the overall computer listing in the first place.

Have a peek at the patent and let us know if you find anything else that rings your bells on what Apple now has the rights to. Were you planning on opening your own store soon with an Apple look? Let us know what you plan to do now!

[via Reuters]

Here on Tuesday the 29th of January it would appear that the Vine development team has cut out one entry into the porn problem with a rescinding of hashtags such as #porn, #nude, #sex, and #naked. Searching for these terms now results in a complete lack of results, not because none exist, but because the back end of Vine can be modified to kick out any terms they deem undesirable.

While no official comment on the situation as far as search terms has yet been issued by Vine or Twitter, we do know the results of the app having been “infected” by “Not Safe For Work” content have been dire. The first was the iTunes App Store cutting the app from it’s Editor’s Choice picks: though again, no official word on its disappearance has been made. Another result of the porn issue is the massive amount of press Vine has gotten almost immediately after its initial release.

This begs the question: should Twitter’s Vine team want to kick nudes out of the the mix, or should it simply pretend to be attempting to do so? You can still download the Vine app from the iTunes App Store for your iOS mobile device right this minute (or perhaps just for the time being) and we’ve still got no word on an Android release (or a Windows Phone release for that matter).

Make sure you keep your ear to the wire here on SlashGear for more Vine news as this epic saga continues to unfold! The timeline below should keep you up to date on all the excellence as well – and keep on recording those work safe videos with Vine, too!

For the jailbreak that’s out now, only older pre-A5 iOS devices are supported. This includes the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, and the 4th-generation iPod Touch. To get jailbroken on iOS 6.1, you’ll need ISPW files of both iOS 6.1 and iOS 6, as well as a copy of Redsn0w, which works on OS X and Windows. From there it’s just a matter of importing the ISPW files and jailbreaking. Direct links to these downloads are available on Redmond Pie‘s website linked below.

After you’re jailbroken, you’ll have to be plugged in to your computer if you ever need to restart your iOS device. Redsn0w has a section in its app that allows you to quickly do this. However, keep in mind that an untethered jailbreak is ready, and it will likely be released on February 3, so we’d recommend waiting just a few days to get the complete package.

An untethered jailbreak for iOS 6 has actually been working for awhile, but since developers didn’t want Apple to quickly patch up the exploit in iOS 6.1, the devs waited until the iOS update was out, which is why we’re hearing about an iOS 6.1 jailbreak all of a sudden. Come Sunday, we’ll hopefully see a complete untethered jailbreak for all devices, something we haven’t seen iOS 5.1.

[via Redmond Pie]

The iOS 6.1 software upgrade includes a new button that will allow you to reset your Advertising Identifier and includes a set of bug fixes as well. This update will be coming straight to your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad today (or rather soon) and will be available at the touch of a button. Once you see your upgrade alert, you’ll have only to download the required software (107 MB in all) then hit install. A real simple process is what this is all about.

This software upgrade will be necessary for future apps, though as it has been in the past, it’ll likely be quite a while before any developer requires you use this ultra-newest upgrade to run them with ease. This upgrade is being pushed starting today, January 28th, 2013, and is wholly different from the iOS 6.0.1 update that came across back on the first of November, 2012.

Let us know if you’ve found anything wild and crazy happening when you’ve installed iOS 6.1 to your Apple mobile device once you’ve done it, and head to our massive Apple hub for more information on all your favorite Apple products through the future. Also note that this software update will not be working with device that were not able to work with iOS 6.0, and we’ve not heard any word on trouble with anyone using a device that already had iOS 6.0 onboard thus far. Load it up!

Two points were spoken of more than once in the earnings call this week, one of them the fact that this was a record-breaking quarter for Apple in the amount of mobile devices they sold (running iOS) and the overall revenue they generated. The other was the notion that they’d have sold much, much more if they had the supply chain support they needed, especially in regards to the iMac and the iPad mini. Besides dismissing supply chain rumors, Cook also spoke about how well Apple was doing, and how prolific they are right this minute (and into the future).

“Apple is in one of the most prolific periods of innovation in its history. We rely on the same spirit and drive that brought the original Mac and other revolutionary products like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad into the world.” – Tim Cook

Over the past year, Apple has released two new iPads (one of them the iPad mini), refreshed iMacs, Retina MacBook Pros, and the iPhone 5, not to mention new versions of both of their operating systems (mobile and desktop) as well as their full family of in-house developed apps. Apple continues to sell an increasing number of devices each year, so we must (in a basic way, at least) assume that they’re going to continue to push the envelope using their current blueprint for success.

We may very well see revised versions of everything all over again, with upgrades to the internals of every product that sold monumentally well last year and refreshes of the products that didn’t. The iPhone will likely stay the same size, as will most of the products you see on the shelves today – this year’s boosts will more than likely be included in the casings of 2012. The technology will improve and change in 2013 for Apple, the industrial design may well stay largely the same.

Then if we keep seeing Apple succeed with devices that sell extremely well (like we have for many moons), what’s to stop them from continuing their upward climb? The manufacturers that are responsible for creating the hardware that makes up the products Apple designs and sells. If Apple continues down the path they’re on now, they very well may be set to start diving into their own manufacturing as some of their top competitors do – and it may be the best way for them to continue rocketing forward past 2013. As it stands, the cards are turning as we speak.

This app and the videos it makes are really, really simple. The service appears here at first to be working really swiftly right out of the box and has clearly been tested to work at Twitter-speed. That means right here and now that you’re not going to have to wait around to see the videos as they’re just 6 seconds long – ain’t nobody got time for anything longer than that, shall we say.

Click the image above to visit the Twitter post where the Vine video can be seen – be sure to take the audio off mute, too.

You can connect to your friends on Facebook as well as your friends on Twitter to create your own Vine feed when you open the app up, otherwise you’ll be seeing a feed consisting of videos from the most popular sources in the Vine library. This service is both a standalone environment and a connected environment with Twitter and Facebook – you can use it on its own, you can connect with Twitter and Vine, you can connect with Facebook and Vine, or almost any combination therein.

The only thing you cannot do is send your videos to Twitter or Facebook without them being posted to Vine. To keep everything running as swiftly as possible, Vine is taking the hosting duties from top to bottom. We’ll be discussing the privacy issues and worries that will inevitably come up with regards to this sooner than later, I’m sure – for now though, feel free to enjoy the quickness with which you’re able to work with this app.

Hot Tip: to find this app on the App Store, you’ll need to search for “Vine make a scene”, otherwise it’ll be buried under loads of other apps with the name “vine” in them that came before this beast.

Vine is at the time of this posts’s publishing an iOS-only app. It’s also restricted (sort of) to the iPhone and the iPod touch. You can open it up on your iPad if you wish, but it’s optimized for the smaller displays without a doubt. If you do end up downloading this app, be sure you’re connected with @t_chrisburns on Twitter as well as @SlashGear on twitter (more on the way) so you can keep up to date with us as we head to some of the biggest tech events through the immediate future.

We’ll be bringing Vine with us to Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona in just a few weeks – stick with us all the way!

If you have a handful of apps that you want to hide, you could just put them in an “Unused” folder and call it a day, but why not use the Newsstand app anyway in order to kill two birds with one stone? This trick allows you to store any app you want inside Newsstand, and it allows for an infinite number of apps, as opposed to regular folders. Here’s how to do it:

This trick requires near-perfect timing, so if you’re not quick, you may have trouble getting it right. First, move the Newsstand folder/app to the second page of your home screen, and any apps you want in the Newsstand to the third page. Stay on the third page while you do this next step: Press the home button, and then immediately tap and hold an app you want to move.

Continue holding until your iPhone goes back to the home screen. Once that occurs, release your finger and immediately swipe to the second page. Wiggle mode should now be activated if the trick worked. Then, you just tap on the Newsstand folder to open it, and then press the home botton to close it. The app you initially tapped and held on should now be in the Newsstand folder.

Again, it does take a little bit of practice to do it correctly, so it may take a few tries. You don’t need to be extremely fast or anything, but you’ll at least need to be quick on your feet. This trick also applies to creating folders within folders. There are some caveats, though. Rebooting your iOS device will remove all of the apps from the Newsstand folder, and you also can’t remove the apps from the Newsstand folder without rebooting. Try this at their own risk, and make it quick because Apple may do away with the oddity as soon as they realize it’s there.

[via iDownload Blog]

This game takes on the greatest bits of the original Temple Run for mobile and increases its vitality with a whole new adventure with the same never-ending escape flavor. You’ve got the choice of several different characters with which you’ll be able to run, a variety of power-ups and bonuses you can earn or purchase with real cash, and of course a whole new set of levels to run through. The “monkey” that chases you here is more of an ape, crushing the little beasts from the original game with one foul swoop.

You’ll be utilizing left and right swipes across your screen to turn, up and down to jump or duck (and slide), and a bit of the ol’ tilting of your entire device to make sure you’re on the right side of the path (or lack thereof). The graphics on this game are noticeably more complex, everything is just a bit more beautiful, and it’s all ready for whatever iOS device you’ve got on hand, too, optimized for each screen and everything.

There’s an iPhone version (made for your iPod touch as well) and an iPad version, separate downloads, so make sure you get the right one when you hit the market. The only difference is the optimization for screen size – some ever-so-slight re-adjustments for user interface based on your display’s physical proportions. This app is free to play with a collection of in-game purchases you can choose to make or completely disregard – it’s up to you!

Make sure you hit the official Imangi Studios LLC link here to assure yourself you’re getting the right game in the end. The popularity of Temple Run (and now it’s second iteration) are plagued with their own popularity, with fakers coming in from all sides to send up false versions of their app to trick you and yours – stay safe!

ALSO NOTE: The Android version of this app will be released next week – Imangi studios has confirmed this with SlashGear and we must assume it to be true!

This marks the first time ever that iPhone and iPod Touch users can buy music from Amazon’s 22 million song catalog directly on their mobile device. However, Amazon only mentions the built-in Safari web browser as far as support goes, but we tried it on the Chrome browser and it seems to be working just fine.

Amazon says its iOS web store utilizes HTML5 and offers customers quite a bit of features and conveniences, including personalized recommendations, best-seller lists, and customer ratings. Plus, you’ll have access to all the awesome deals that Amazon makes available, including $5 albums and $0.69 songs.

When buying music from your iOS device, purchases are automatically saved to Amazon’s Cloud Player and can then be downloaded or played instantly from your iPhone or iPod Touch, as well as the iPad, Kindle Fire, Roku, Sonos, any Android phone or tablet, or any web browser. So, while the Amazon MP3 web store on iOS isn’t as fluid as the dedicated app that’s currently available on Android, it’s certainly better than nothing.

In fact, there are now over 775,000 titles available, with more than 300,000 of those being iPad-native. The App Store is available in 155 countries, and Apple has paid out over seven billion dollars to developers during its operation. The 40bn download figure excludes re-downloads of Apps, as well as updates.

“It has been an incredible year for the iOS developer community,” Eddy Cue, senior vice president of Internet Software and Services at Apple said of the news today. “Developers have made over seven billion dollars on the App Store, and we continue to invest in providing them with the best ecosystem so they can create the most innovative apps in the world.”

Application availability has quickly become a key metric for smartphone and tablet platform performance, with any shortfall in title range often leaving an OS looking particularly unappealing in the marketplace. Microsoft, for instance, struggled to gain traction with Windows Phone developers, though has improved in more recent months, while Android – although increasingly popular – still suffers from a lack of tablet-specific titles.

Furlan’s hardware falls roughly in line with what we’ve seen other projects piece together in earlier AR attempts. He opted for a MyVu eyepiece – a 0.44-inch microdisplay culled from a cheap Crystal headset, such as used in this UMPC-based wearable back in 2009, and this Beagleboard version in 2010 - hooked up to the composite video output of a 4th-gen iPod touch; that way, he can see a mirror of the iPod’s UI floating in his line of sight.

Meanwhile, a Looxie Bluetooth Video Camera - stripped of its casing and attached to the goggles – streams video to the iPod touch wirelessly. Furlan says he’s cooking up a second-gen version running off a Raspberry Pi, again another approach we’ve seen other wearables experimenters take. That, Furlan says, will allow for more flexibility with the Looxie’s input, as well as greater support for other sensors such as accelerometers.

The interesting part is how Furlan’s experience of the wearable evolved, from initial discomfort and a sense of information overload – the feeling of needing to keep up with every notification, server status, stock price, and message that pops up – to a less conscious consumption of the data flow:

“When I wear my prototype, I am connected to the world in a way that is quintessentially different from how I’m connected with my smartphone and computer. Our brains are eager to incorporate new streams of information into our mental model of the world. Once the initial period of adaptation is over, those augmented streams of information slowly fade into the background of our minds as conscious effort is replaced with subconscious monitoring” Rod Furlan

That fits in line with what we’ve heard from Google itself; Glass project chief Babak Parviz said recently that part of the company’s work on software has been to deliver a pared-back version of the usual gush of information that hits our smartphone and tablet displays. Developers, for instance, will be able to use a set of special cloud APIs to prioritize specific content that gets delivered to the Android-based wearable.

Furlan concludes that the biggest advantage of wearables won’t be overlaying data on top of the real world – what we know as augmented or mediated reality – but being able to persistently record (and recall) all of our experiences. That does differ from Google’s perception, where capturing photos and videos is only seen as a subset of Glass, and the headset is gradually being positioned as a way to access a curated feed of the digital world, whether that be from Google Now prompts or something else.

[via] 9to5Mac]

When it comes to analysis like the one we’re about to quote, we’ve always got to warn you, the reader, to get the salt shaker out. Analysis in this vein can be spot-on in some cases, but when it comes to relatively large sweeping changes like the following for a company like Apple, one that essentially always makes incremental changes to their products, we must lower our brows. The first suggestion comes in the way of a number of different casing colors for the iPhone 5S – this is the more believable of the two tips:

“Our checks indicate that the next iPhone will have more choices for customers. This entails an expansion in both the color patterns and screen sizes with the next iPhone (i.e., likely called the iPhone 5S) that we currently believe will be launched in May/June with certain supply production starting in March/April.” – White

This certainly would make sense given the relatively well-received set of color combinations that the iPhone 5 has been released in. Though they may seem standard to some, a combination of White/Silver and Black/Gray was likely seen as a leap from the Black and White of the iPhone 4S to Apple designers. Because of that fact though, it may just be that Apple pushes more “Official” cases for their smartphones with the next-generation iPhone.

“Although Apple offers a 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5 and a 3.5-inch screen on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 4, the Company has never offered multiple screen sizes for a single model. We believe this is about to change with the next iPhone offering different screen sizes that we believe will allow Apple to better bifurcate the market and expand its reach. This eventually opens up the possibility for a lower-priced iPhone (i.e., iPhone mini) with a smaller screen size that could allow Apple to further penetrate markets such as China and open up opportunities in India. At the same time, Apple could unveil a larger screen size compared to the recently updated 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5.” – White

As far as screen sizes go, you should be rather skeptical about Apple releasing another new display resolution so soon after the 4-inches of the iPhone 5. It was a leap for many designers to think about another display size with the iPhone 5 – such is the general atmosphere in the iTunes App Store universe. If Apple released another new display size and resolution in less than a full year after the iPhone 5, there’s be some certain unrest.

[via MacRumors]

With the Zikmu Solo, as it was with the original Zikmu, you’ve got what’s first a monstrous iPhone dock, then set of connections that’s ready to rock for the future. This device is built for the 30-pin generations of iOS devices including everything from the iPhone 3Gs to the iPhone 4S, iPod nano (every generation between 2 and 6,) iPod classic, and iPod touch 4th, 5th, and 6th generation.

You also have Bluetooth connectivity for basically every modern smart device as well as instant connectivity with NFC. The folks at Parrot assure us that every NFC-carrying Android device using Android 4.1 and above will be able to connect instantly with the NFC sensor placed at the top of the Zikmu Solo – instant splendor! You can also connect to the unit with Wi-fi synchronization with WPS – this way you’ll be able to access and play music from one computer with another computer blasted out of your Zikmu, no sweat! This speaker also works with UPnP, DLNA, and Samba – there’s basically no modern wireless speaker connectivity technology that doesn’t work here, when it comes down to it.

Under the hood then you’ll find that you’ve got 2 x 20W side HARP (high aspect ratio panel) drivers between 350Hz and 20KHz, a center speaker that got a 1 x 20W BMR (balanced modal radiator) driver between 350Hz and 20KHz, and under the bottom of the beast you’ve got a 40W Woofer. That woofer, for those of you interested in the wee specifics, is a 6-inch 40W neodymium unit working between 50Hz and 350Hz, and audio restitution hits between 30Hz and 20kHz on the regular.

Audio power for this beast on the whole is 100W RMS output with a Class D amplifier for digital sound – “pure” digital sound, of course. And that it is – pure as the driven snow working with AAC, MP3, LPCM and WMA file types natively with software updates coming in via wi-fi and ethernet. The ethernet port that makes this update magic (and the web-based audio connectivity magic) happen sits on the bottom side of the unit as well.

Down at the bottom end you’ve also got a combined input socket that works with analog line-in as well as digital optical – 24 bit sound for your ears to explode by. Your analog line-in action will be used mainly for hi-fi channels and your everyday average television sound-out connections. In the box you get the speaker itself, a remote control, an AC power cord, one optical Toslink adapter / 3.5-inch jack, and a few “universal” dock adapters that work for the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3GS.

There’s also a unique Parrot Audio Suite app that works with iOS devices at the moment (with Android coming soon) that allows you to change the Room Size and Position for automatic settings based on both – this speaker is smart! This app also has an equalizer that works as directly with the speaker’s sound settings as possible and has a set of pre-set modes. You can of course change the source volume from this app, work with Bluetooth and wider volume management, and name your speaker – a must!

This unit is a masterpiece of iPhone dock greatness, that’s for certain. If you’re not an iPhone or iPod owner working with a unit thats got a 30-pin connector under the bottom, you might want to wait for a Parrot Zikmu either devoid of a dock at the top or one that also has the ability to cradle any smartphone, not just one made by Apple. That said, if you’re not worried about the tiny element that is the look of the top of the speaker, this speaker is a great, great unit.

The Parrot Zikmu Solo is set for a MSRP 999 USD pricetag and will be out immediately if now soon – have a peek and see where you can grab it! And be sure to be aware that you can get it in black or white – or get one of each!

Tracks stored on the iPhone or iPad can be added to a Spotify playlist, along with content from multiple other sources. However, there’s no way to pipe audio from other iOS apps through a Sonos system; that means you can listen to music on YouTube through Sonos from your phone, nor have game soundtracks play back via your bigger speakers.

Sonos is yet to add the functionality to its Android client, either, though that was given a mild update today with no new features. The company’s Mac and PC clients also lack the streaming support, though we’d be surprised if all of these were left out in the cold for long. It’s worth noting that the iPhone app is still to be updated for the iPhone 5′s 4-inch display.

Apple’s AirPlay system has similar features to Sonos, and works with third-party speakers such as Libratone’s Zipp. What’s been missing so far has been a way to pipe AirPlay into a Sonos system; so far, the advice has been to plug an AirPort Express into the aux-in input found on a PLAY:5 speaker.

You’ll need iOS 6 in order to use the new Sonos functionality, and of course a Sonos system and an iOS device. You can find the updated iPhone/iPod touch app here [iTunes link] and the updated iPad app here.

The team at Rockstar is proud to present Vice City for the following Apple devices: iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, and iPod touch 4th and 5th gen. At the moment they’ve not got the iPad mini listed, but it’d be quite the stretch to think that the iPad 2 were supported but the iPad mini weren’t. Those of you working with Android might want to check the specific list here before dropping some cash.

Android Phones: Motorola Razr, Razr Maxx, Razr Maxx HD, Motorola Atrix, Motorola Photon, Motorola Droid Bionic, HTC Rezound, HTC One X, HTC One S, HTC Evo 3D, HTC Sensation, HTC Droid Incredible 2, Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Samsung Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy Note 1 & 2, Samsung S2, Samsung Galaxy R, Sony Xperia Play, Sony Xperia S, P, T & TL, Sony Walkman Z Series Media Player, Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy S3, Google Nexus 4
 
Android Tablets: Acer Iconia, Asus Eee Pad Transformer, Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, LG Optimus Pad, Medion Lifetab, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 / 10.1, Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, Sony Tablet S, Sony Tablet P, Toshiba Thrive, HTC Flyer, Google Nexus 7, Google Nexus 10

This list is comprehensive to a point – these are just the devices that the development team behind the game has tested and confirmed. If you’ve got a hot device looking to work with the game, I’m sure they’ll be happy to hear that you’ve tested it out for yourself and made it work fine.

This version of the game will have native-resolution graphics and enhancements unique to the mobile universe, specifically tuned to Android and iOS. Updated character models will be busting out with lighting effects updated throughout the game, while firing your pistol has become more precise and your control layout is completely customizable by you. RockStar Games also plans on boosting their warehouse with a collection of 10th anniversary collectables just in time for the holiday season as well – grab em!

[via RockStar]

The JLB OnBeat Micro starts at $99 USD and will be bringing on the smaller of the two dock sizes. This device is made to be small enough to fit into your purse or backpack and works with both an (included) AC adapter and batteries for wireless action. This dock charges any of the smaller Apple mobile devices on the market while they’re docked, but anything from the iPad mini and up is going to have a tough time as the shape does not allow. This device also has a built-in USB connector for powering and playing other portable devices as well.

The JBL OnBeat Venue LT works with a “hidden” lightning dock behind the JBL logo at its base. This unit is made to work with all of the Apple mobile devices in the newest range and has been described as “ideal” for the iPad mini and iPad 4th gen by Harman. This device works with Harman TrueStream Bluetooth wireless streaming technology, too – this means it’s able to connect with up to eight devices – like magic! This larger of the two devices will cost you $199 USD straight from the online JBL store.

Both devices are available immediately if not soon from your favorite JBL retailer and would be fabulous for that iPhone 5 owner friend of yours this holiday season. Keep that in mind, too, folks: we’re ramping up on the holiday season for 2012, this meaning we’ll be inundated with products left and right from here until the end of the year. Exciting times for all those who love gadgets galore!

We had a brief chat with the folks that developed this app, Tokyo Otaku Mode Inc., and have been given a full list of the sayings that appear on the photo covers as well. Just so you’re not worried that they’re blowing up your best friends with swear words, we’ve made sure you’re safe. Of course if you understand Japanese, you already know what’s going on – but just in case you don’t, know this: they’re all essentially representations of sounds, rather than words. No worries!

This app works perfectly well on the legacy generations as well as the current generation of Apple mobile devices. It works particularly well with the iPhone 5, that being where the sample images you see above and below are coming from. Also note – and fun fact – the Kanye West image you see rocking out with a power wave comes from the Kanye West concert that Samsung put on near the end of this October – fun stuff!

You can download the official Otaku Camera app from the iTunes App Store right this minute for your Apple iDevice for free! The way these developers make their cash is with a few advertisements – and they don’t get in the way of the action, so no worries there either! Let us know how you like the app and be sure to send in your examples!

Also be sure to check out our ever-expanding archive of iOS App Reviews to see what’s awesome for your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch – all night long.

“Due to their release dates, these products were not included in the previous lawsuit that concluded with a Jury verdict on November 6, 2012″ VirnetX said in a statement today, explaining its double-dip legal strategy. The company is hoping for damages and injunctive relief; last time around, it sought around $700m, though the judge granted roughly half of that.

Four US patents – Nos. 6,502,135, 7,418,504, 7,921,211 and 7,490,151 – are at the heart of VirnetX’s complaint, referring to how VPN connections are established for secure point-to-point communications between devices. In general that technology is used for businesses to share files securely with remote workers, but VirnetX successfully argued that Apple uses the same, patented technology when it establishes FaceTime video calls.

Apple, unsurprisingly, argued that the smaller company is chasing cash for something that it didn’t create. “VirnetX is not entitled to money for things they did not invent” Williams, Morgan & Amerson lawyer Danny Williams said as part of his final closing statement at the last trial. “The VirnetX technology, if used, is a small part of very large, complex products.”

No trial date for the new case has been confirmed, and Apple is yet to comment on the extended allegations.

New features include, primarily, the completely new dashboard, which makes it easier for users to get into the task at hand without hassle. Photos are bigger, while overall loading speed is faster and the app is more responsive. There are new notification previews, which offer more detailed information, as well as “new blog screens with blog portraits and descriptions.”

Flipping your way through menus and items is easier now with new gestures. Users can swipe their finger right across the screen to return to the previous item, as well as long tap links, headers, photos, and tags to pull up a menu of more options. Finally, GIFs now play automatically in the dashboard, with a frame-by-frame view option by swiping your finger across the image.

Users can grab the newest app via iTunes or their mobile device. It supports iPhone 3GS/4/4S/5, 3rd/4th/5th generation iPod Touch, and the iPad, and requires iOS 5 or later. In addition, it has been fully optimized to run on the iPhone 5, so you won’t have any niggling issues over the new iPhone’s larger screen size.

[via Venture Beat]

FloJack is a small dongle that plugs into the 3.5mm headphone jack of your iOS device, and Richard Grundy, founder of Flomio and who has over 12 years of experience working with embedded systems, says that the company is “extremely excited to invite iOS customers to the NFC party” and “since Apple didn’t include NFC in its latest iPhone version—that’s where we [Flomio] come in. The possibilities are endless.”

Flomio has already raised a little over $16,000 from 241 backers with 18 days to go. Their goal is $80,000. The FloJack is compatible with most newer iOS devices. This includes the iPhone 4, 4S, and 5, the iPod Touch 4th gen and 5th gen, and all iPad models except for the 1st gen.

Currently, $49 will get you a FloJack NFC dongle and five “Zapps”, which Flomio is naming their NFC tags. If Flomio reaches their goal, it’s expected they’ll start shipping the product in March of 2013. We’re not sure how well a separate NFC dongle for iOS will catch on, but it makes us wonder why there isn’t an iPhone case with embedded NFC, which would be far more popular on our books.