Apple today released an update for Find My iPhone, adding a newly redesigned iOS 7-style icon. The new icon was first introduced on the iCloud.com beta page, which was updated in mid-August with a new set of iOS 7 icons.
It appears that the newest version of Find My iPhone may have been released prematurely, however, as the update gives an error message to anyone who attempts to use it without a registered developer account (paid or free)...
Read the full story here... Source: Mac Rumours
An iPhone application that allows users to record their screens, including screen activity while using third-party apps on your phone, has managed to sneak onto the App Store.
xRec, which was published on Saturday and costs $1.99 on (iTunes), can record screen activity in its entirety. The software requires an active Internet connection to work and, according to tech site Giga (Google Translate), uses code from jailbreak app RecordMyScreen, which offers a similar feature set and user interface.
The app shows a red, pulsing bar at the top of the screen when it's recording, something that cannot be removed. Users also can record audio at various quality levels with the app. You can save the captured data to your camera roll or send it to other installed apps.
Screen recording is not something Apple provides to developers to add to their apps, let alone something that can record activity in other software.
The software, which Apple likely will remove, requires iOS 5. Its developer says it will not work with iOS 7, Apple's upcoming mobile operating system update.
This is not the first screen recording app to hit the App Store, but the capability to record activity from other applications is unique. iOS app UX Recorder also records on-screen activity, but it's limited to the front-facing camera and the Web browser built into the app.
Source: CNET
While it’s not clear just why the app would do this, or what purpose it has for doing so, the Facebook app for Android is taking your phone number the first time you open it up. Without even logging in, the app takes your number and stores it on the Facebook servers. You don’t need a Facebook account, or even initiate an action within the app. Simply having it and opening it will allow the app to take your phone number.
Norton discovered this security flaw during routine testing they perform on apps for their Mobile Insight security app. According to Norton, their testing methods are sound:
Through automatic and proprietary static and dynamic analysis techniques, Mobile Insight is able to automatically discover malicious applications, privacy risks, and potentially intrusive behavior. Further, Mobile Insight will tell you exactly what risky behavior an application will perform and give you specific, relevant, and actionable information.
-norton
Norton then reached out to Facebook, who claimed to be unaware of the issue. They told Norton they“did not use or process the phone numbers and have deleted them from their servers”, and said they had no knowledge of the issue. Norton also notes that Facebook is not the only app doing this, or even the worst offender. They promise more information on other culprits in coming weeks, but we’re still curious why Facebook would take numbers from a device that wasn’t even logged in. If I were to download the app, then open it to see what it looked like out of curiosity, my number would then be uploaded to the Facebook server.
We’re not ready to call Facebook nefarious on this account. Giving them the benefit of the doubt, even in the face of all their other security flaws, we’ll chalk this up to another error on their part. What this does do is bring into focus app permissions, and how important they are. Perhaps more importantly, how they can be abused by the app publisher, and ignored by users as fine-print.
Source: Android Authority
There are a lot of fun games on the Google Play Store, but it's difficult to find a game that isn't overshadowed by a game that has millions of downloads and high ratings. So just like last month, we've gone into the depths of the Google Play Store searching for some of the best underrated games, and we're back to show you what we've found. As usual, if you'd rather watch the video, just head down to the bottom of the article...
Read the full story here. Source: Android Authority
One week ahead of the start of its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco, Apple today launched a new WWDC iOS app to help attendees stay on top of the latest news and events going on at the conference.
New this year is video integration, with all Registered Apple Developers able to watch session videos from the conference as they are posted daily. Apple has been posting session videos increasingly quickly after WWDC, and for the first time the company will this year be making videos available during the conference.
Make the most of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference with the WWDC app. Even if you can’t join us in San Francisco, you can still follow along each day — session videos are just a tap away for all Registered Apple Developers.
- Browse times, locations, and descriptions for sessions, labs, and special events
- Mark schedule items as favorites with a simple double-tap
- Watch session videos, available daily
- Start watching on one iOS device, and pick up where you left off on another
- Keep up with the latest news, get important notifications, and see daily snapshots
- View maps to find your way around Moscone West
- Provide feedback on session content and speakers within the session details view
- Add your attendee information to Passbook for speedier on-site registration
WWDC 2013 kicks off with Apple's traditional keynote at 10:00 AM Pacific Time next Monday, June 10. Apple's WWDC app is available free of charge from the App Store.
Source: Mac Rumours
Social gaming is big business nowadays, even I find myself drawn into playing these addictive iOS based games on a daily basis. Games such as Draw Something are really fun and interactive and I think the reason I love it so much is because I get to play with my friends. This is normally the case for most apps for the iPhone and iPad and I think that is why so many people I know love the social aspect of gaming. The fact that it's so simple and easy makes it much mor enjoyable, all you have to do is pick a word to draw that your friend has to guess in order to collect a certain amount of coins. You can spend your winnings on more colour palettes within the game, which gives a sense or reward and acts as an incentive to play it more and more. Playing this in my spare time is very enjoyable and other apps such as Words with Friends makes social gaming a lot more challenging and dare I say it, educational.
Another very addictive game that links in with sharing via Facebook is the Bejeweled series. Senior franchise director of the app Bejeweled says that a good social game needs to engage players over a period of time. He has also said in the past that "This is obtained either through compelling core gameplay that’s endlessly repeatable — a feat achieved by a small minority of games and possible only in certain genres — or by constantly adding content to the game, which requires a very disciplined release schedule, and requires the developer to be able to produce content as fast, or faster, than the most active players are consuming it." (Erica Swallow, Forbes)
We can therefore conclude from this that a sucessful app would need variety and have ongoing content that would attract our attention. There is also a growing trend toward apps both on our iOS devices & the internet, that allow you to try various Casino Games online such as bingo, horse racing, Black Jack, roulette and so many more. These offer up a social aspect too, whilst at the same time allow us to possibly win a little extra cash too.
Apple has posted a new contest on the App Store offering a $10,000 gift card to whomever downloads the fifty billionth app from the App Store, similar to previous promotions. Apple said during its most recent earnings call that the company has surpassed 45 billion app downloads.
Apple's most recent contest was for 25 billion downloads back in February 2012. This time around, Apple is also giving $500 gift cards to the next fifty people to download apps after the fifty billionth.
The download count currently stands at just over 49.2 billion.
Source: Mac Rumours
The popular Twitter client Tweetbot has been updated to version 2.8, bringing the addition of a new "media timeline" and image viewer for the iPhone and iPad apps. Media view allows users to see photos and images that have been tweeted directly in their feeds, with the text of the Tweets neatly located above the media.
The app's image viewer has also been updated to be faster and features a redesign. In addition, tweet details such as the number of favorites and retweets have been changed to update in real time, Instagram previews have been fixed, along with the standard bug fixes that come with every update.
To locate the new media view, scroll to the top of your timeline and tap the square next to the search button. The update is live now.
[Source: TUAW]
Apple just announced its fiscal second quarter 2013 earnings and, on the earnings call, revealed some information on its iTunes App Store. Apple said it now offers more than 850,000 iOS applications and that 350,000 of those applications are specifically designed for the iPad. The company also recognized $2.4 billion in revenue from iTunes, up 28 percent from the same quarter last year.
The growth is not necessarily a surprise considering Apple’s iTunes range. Apple offers 35 million songs in 119 countries, 50,000 movies in 109 countries and 1.7 million iBooks. The app store is also available in 155 countries, which Apple says covers more than 90 percent of the world’s population.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
Tumblr released an official Windows Phone application on Tuesday, which is great news for those of us who have been trying to find a decent alternative. The application allows you to “post anything from anywhere,” including quotes, links, photos, text, chats and videos. You can also use the app to browse other Tumblr sites that you follow.
The company said that you’ll be able to find new content, share your own, switch between dashboard mode and Explore mode with a swipe across the screen, view GIFs right in your news feed and more. New images from your dashboard will show up on a live tile and can be set to appear on your lockscreen as well.
Tumblr for Windows Phone is free and is available now.
[Source: TechnoBuffalo]
Many see Apple and Volkswagen as two peas in a pod given their similar marketing, even if previous talk of collaborations amounted to little more than speculation. That purported dream team will soon become real through the iBeetle, an adaptation of the modern VW Bug designed with a little help from Apple. Don't get your hopes up for a tie-in on the level of VW's iPad-friendly Bulli concept, however. The integration mostly amounts to an iPhone dock as well as a car-optimized iOS app that can play music, read messages aloud, take photos and augment the instrument cluster. It's a solid idea, especially when a large number of us already use our smartphones this way, but it isn't very adventurous -- the iPhone won't coordinate extensively with the center stack, unlike smartphone-aware infotainment platforms such as GM's MyLink or Ford Sync. We'd still take a close look at the iBeetle when coupe and convertible models reach US dealerships in early 2014, but it may be best for those already bent on getting somefahrvergnügen from their next ride.
[Source: Engadget]
Twitter has been warning for weeks that it would shut down TweetDeck's AIR and mobile apps sometime in early May, but it didn't say exactly when loyalists would finally have to move on. The company now has a firm date: May 7th. In just over two weeks, Twitter will both pull the apps from their respective stores and stop existing installs from working as the service's version 1.0 API rides into the sunset. While the persisting native and web-based desktop apps will lessen some of the sting, we'd suggest that you pay your last respects if you have fond memories of TweetDeck's early apps.
[Source: Engadget]