Google launches YouTube Kids app for iOS; US only for now

As a report had indicated last week, Google has gone ahead and unveiled a YouTube app for kids called YouTube Kids. Its the first product that Google has built from the ground up for kids that is aimed at making it safer and easier for your little ones to browse and watch videos on topics they want. 
The app has been designed keeping kids in mind and comes with large images, bold icons and bigger buttons to allow for easier navigation. Additionally, it features voice control, just in case your child prefers searching for videos by voice commands rather than typing on the search bar

YouTube Kids only provides access to four different categories of videos that are suited for childrens: Shows, Music, Learning and Explore. It will contain content from DreamWorks TV, Jim Henson TV, Talking Tom and Friends and more with contents from more providers coming soon.
The app features handy parental control options like built-in timer to limit the screen on time, sound settings that will allow parents to turn off the background music, the ability to completely turn off search and more.
YouTube Kids app is available for download for free in the United States on the iOS App Store. The app is also available for download on the Google Play Store, and will soon be available on Kurio and nabi kids tablets.
Download: YouTube Kids
[Via YouTube]

Legend turns text into fun animations to spice up your messaging apps

Static chats are already old news. It’s time to throw something fresh in the mix with images featuring animated texts. You poignant posts on WhatsApp should have even more of an effect.

Legend – Animated Text in Video & GIF is a text creator that lets you customize whatever you have to say and turns it into a fun animation that you can share with others through your various messaging apps.

This app was created by Stupiflix, the development team that brought us the video editing apps Replay and Steady Camera.

Users begin by entering text. Ask your friends what their dinner plans are, tell your mom that you are on your way home, or ask your coworker to cover for you while you take a nap.

Then, choose an animation style along with a color and background combination. You can save the animation as a video or GIF. Then, post it to Instagram, Twitter, iMessage, WhatsApp, and more.

You can also add and crop one of your own pictures from your camera roll, or import and trim a video clip to use as the background image. You can enter up to 100 characters and it works with slow motion and time lapse videos as backgrounds. All Legends are six-second videos or GIFs in square format.

The app automatically suggests styles based on time, distance, and percentages. If you don’t like the first one, swipe to the left or right to see a different selection. The app recognizes and highlights things like hashtags and usernames. It displays emoji within the animation and understands colors.

Download the best deals on apps and games for a limited time (Feb 16)

We have some great apps for you today that have gone free for a short duration on the App Store, including Battery Life Magic Pro, Reverser Cam, Battlestations: Midway and more.

Free Games:

• Aliens Abducted HD: This is an extreme geography challenger! Travel with 3 aliens over the world in a life or death game, only your knowledge can save them!$2.99 → Free
• Starbounder: Harkening back to the golden age of PC shareware titles, Starbounder delivers the kind of intensity that only hardcore gamers can handle!$0.99 → Free
• Moto Race: Moto Race – Collect coins and don’t crash, complete the levels as fast as possible to achieve maximum score points.$1.99 → Free
• Royal Defense: Invisible Threat: The castle needs a hero – hordes of trolls are surrounding it! Build towers, save money, learn spells, and keep the enemy away!$0.99 → Free

Free Apps:

• Battery Life Magic Pro: The Battery Saver: Improve battery life by running full cycle charges & following the tips in the app. $0.99 → Free
• Wake Alarm Clock: Meet Wake, the most beautiful and intuitive alarm for iPhone & iPad. $3.99 → Free
• Paper Keyboard – Fast typing and playing with a printed keyboard: Description. $0.99 → Free
• ViewExif: ViewExif is an iOS extension which allows you to view exif metadata of photos. $0.99 → Free
• Reverser Cam – Backward Video Camera: Record hilarious backward videos with Reverser Cam. Get started with just one tap and instantly view your recordings when you’re done. $1.99 → Free
• 7 Minute Workout – Quick Fit: Get in shape with this scientifically proven, full body workout, in only 7 minutes. $1.99 → Free

Game Price Drops:

• Defender City: “Defender City” — is game of a genre of tower defense, and as well as it is necessary to all games of this genre, your task to hold the fort and not to give to the enemy to reach your base. $1.99 → $0.99
• Wings Of Valor for iPad: Based on the gameplay of the famous Wings of Fury. Use your base carrier to reload and repair your plane. Tight dog fight, Torpedo run, Bombing attack… You can play all of them. $1.99 → $0.99
• Wings Of Valor: Based on the gameplay of the famous Wings of Fury. Use your base carrier to reload and repair your plane. Tight dog fight, Torpedo run, Bombing attack… You can play all of them. $1.99 → $0.99
• Mechanic Panic: Work was great, until the day the elevators stopped working.
  A catastrophic explosion has rocked the world’s first Space Elevator. Thankfully you’re on the job! $1.99 → $0.99

App Price Drops:

• Printability – print Safari page to PDF: Just make it printability and share pdf anywere! $1.99 → $0.99
• Sid Meier’s Railroads!: All aboard! Build a railroad empire and shape a nation!$2.99 → $1.99
• [OS X; On sale for $4.99, down from $19.99]
• The Movies: Superstar Edition: Behind every box office hit is a Hollywood mogul… in The Movies Superstar Edition, that mogul is you! $19.99 → $4.99
• Battlestations: Midway: Take command of the greatest battles of the War in the Pacific.
  $14.99 → $4.99
• Battlestations: Pacific: Battle your way to victory in the air, on the water, and underwater in this unique combination of action and strategy. $14.99 → $4.99
• BioShock: Welcome to Rapture. A city where opportunity awaits those brave enough to grasp it. A city where the artist need not fear the censor. Where the scientist is not bound by petty morality. Where the great are not held back by the weak. $19.99 → $4.99

If you like any of these apps, make sure you download them right away......!!!!!

PSA: A jailbreak tweak can permanently brick your iPhone or iPad

As jailbreaking iOS devices has gotten easier over the years, the likelihood of bricking them in the process has reduced. But don’t think your device is safe once jailbreaking is complete. One developer has discovered an exploit that can brick iPhones and iPads permanently.

Redditor arcticsn0w has created a proof-of-concept tweak called KilliOS that, once installed, prevents your iOS device from ever booting up again. It’s irreversible, so if it happens to make its way onto your iPhone or iPad, there is no going back.

What’s worrying is that the exploit is based on a recent bootcolor-changing jailbreak tweak from dayt0n that alters a device’s VRAM. While arcticsn0w doesn’t intend to break devices with his code, he has made it available to prove how dangerous it can be.

“It is an empty package which messes with nvram values in the postinst script, and then forces a reboot,” arcticsn0w explains in his original Reddit post. “Installing this package will instantly kill your device.”

KilliOS is supposed to serve as a warning to jailbreakers; it is meant to demonstrate that unknown tweaks from untrusted sources could quite easily render your iPhone or iPad completely unusable. If you don’t always use safe repos, then, this should be an eye-opener for you.

RedmondPie reports that arcticsn0w never intended for KilliOS to be malicious, but rather to prove what malicious code can do. He did make it available to download via his own repo initially, but he quickly pulled it and made the source code available via GitHub instead.

The hope is that other developers will be able to use that source code to create a patch that can prevent KilliOS and similar packages from doing permanent damage to iOS devices. One Redditor has already created a “quick fix” that will prevent certain scripts from bricking your device, but it doesn’t yet block KilliOS.

Jailbreaking doesn’t have to be unsafe; if you stick to trusted repositories — those provided by default in Cydia — you shouldn’t have to worry about malicious code like this. But if you add untrusted repos manually and download unrecognized packages, you’re asking for trouble.

[via RedmondPie]

Apple’s plan to bring Apple Pay to China have stalled

Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is very interested in bringing Apple Pay to China and other markets of the world. In fact, the first iOS 8.3 beta seeded by the company to developers last week had support for China UnionPay in Apple Pay. 

However, it looks like the company’s efforts have hit a roadblock with its talks with UnionPay stalling. In addition, Apple is yet to acknowledge regulators, which has led to a confusion as to whether or not Apple Pay even meets the government’s requirements before the service can be launched to the public.

The central bank official who asked not to be named said regulators have not intervened in negotiations between Apple and UnionPay, which began last year and were reportedly aimed at an agreement by March.

Many regulators who looked into how Apple Pay worked have already raised doubts about its compliance with Chinese regulations and security standards. For access to any NFC system in China, the NFC chip used by Apple in the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus should be compatible with PBOC 3.0, which it is not apparently.

In addition, a central bank employee in China told Caixin that the Chinese government wants Apple to open a data center in mainland China to store the customer-related information of its Apple Pay clients so as to “prevent data leaks.”

Other people from the industry believe that UnionPay does not want Apple Pay to enter the Chinese market as it does not want to lose its prowess over the financial transaction market in China.

“Letting Apple Pay enter China will have a profound impact” on the payment market, said a financial sector source. “For UnionPay, cooperating with Apple means opening its settlement system. It would be hard to say who’s in control.

Sources also suggest that Apple has been in talks with eight different banks in China, but talks have stalled because of the profit-sharing ratio. Apple charges 0.15 per cent of the 2 percent fees that is paid by merchants. However, many sources believe that this rate is too high and since support for Apple Pay will not give any bank a significant competitive advantage over others, it is unlikely that anyone will accept this offer from Apple.

[Via Caixin]

VLC for iOS will be back in the App Store shortly; Available for users who had installed it previously

Towards the end of last year, the VideoLAN team revealed that VLC for iOS was all set to return to the App Store as soon as it was approved by Apple. More than 1.5 months later, it looks like the VLC team is finally ready to release their app on the App Store once again. 

While the app listing is yet to go live, many users on Reddit are reporting that they were able to update their existing installation of VLC to the latest version (2.4.1) earlier today.

In case you had installed VLC on your iOS device before it disappeared in the September 2014, you can head over to the Purchased section of the iOS App Store to download the app right away. If not, you will have to wait until the app’s listing goes live on the App Store.

VLC for iOS was first launched in late 2010 and was pulled from the App Store in early 2011 because of licensing issues. The app returned to the App Store more than two years later in 2013, but disappeared once again in September 2014 for unknown reasons.

The latest version (2.4.1) of VLC for iOS is not going to come with any significant new features except for folders support and optimizations for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.

[Via Reddit]

QR Mode turns the stock Camera app into an awesome QR code reader

In some countries, like Japan for example, QR codes are prolific and people user them often. Although that’s not the case in the United States, and probably never will be, it does seem like there has been an uptick in QR code usage in the last few years. A new jailbreak tweak called QR Mode will certainly help its cause, among jailbreakers at least.
QR Mode is by far the best looking and best functioning QR code reader on Cydia, and it’s even better than standalone app offerings found in the App Store. Its feature set is well-rounded, its implementation seriously impressive, and it doesn’t feel overly intrusive. Although it suffers from a few bugs, QR Mode is well worth its $1.99 asking price, especially if these bugs can be stamped out.
The great thing about QR Mode is that it supports a plethora of QR code types, and features data parsing that allows you to perform actions with the data read from these codes. The following QR code types are supported:

• Text
• URL
• vCard
• SMS
• Email Address
• Phone Number
• Location

After installing QR Mode, head over to the Settings app and find the tweak’s preferences. Inside of the preference panel, you’ll find a single kill-switch for enabling the tweak. Once you enable QR Mode, tap the Camera app shortcut in the upper right-hand corner to launch the stock Camera app.
QR Mode adds another mode to the stock Camera app called Scanner. Swipe over to scanner, which resides to the right of the Photo mode. Once you’re in scanner mode, the interface will change to reflect the QR code scanning abilities.
At the top of the screen you’ll find a history button for going back and viewing previous QR codes that you’ve scanned. At the bottom of the interface, you’ll see a message that says Scanning for QR Code as it waits until a code comes into view of the viewfinder.

Scanning a code involves simply placing the camera in front of the code that you want to scan. You don’t actually have to press any buttons to initiate the scan, as that is done automatically. Once a scan is completed, you’ll find contextual information related to the scan at the bottom of the screen. For example, if your scan was a phone number QR code, you’ll see a button to launch the Phone app and dial the number, if you scan a location code, then you’ll find a button to launch Apple Maps with the scanned location.

You’ll may also find buttons to copy a link, perform a google search, open a web page, etc. For links and Google searches, you’ll be able to load up a built-in browser right from the stock Camera app, and it looks about as native as it could possibly be. I did, however, notice a few bugs when using the browser. The main bugs that I encountered caused the Camera app to lock up and require a force close. These crashes were quite annoying, but I’m hoping that the developer of QR Mode will issue a bug fix release in the near future.
No, the QR Code will probably never be as ubiquitous as it is in some other countries, but having a jailbreak tweak like QR Mode is very nice and encourages its use. It surely won’t hurt the way QR Codes are viewed in the states, and it’ll make you think twice the next time you pass one while you’re out with this tweak installed.
What do you think about QR Mode? Are you as impressed as I am? If so, you can try it for $1.99 on the BigBoss repo.

BerryC8 allows you to launch your favorite apps from the Lock screen [Jailbreak Tweak]

BerryC8 is amazing new jailbreak tweak by developer Max Katzmann that allows you to launch your favorite apps directly from the Lock screen. What’s so interesting about the tweak is that it has been developed with Touch ID in mind providing a seamless experience to users who own a device that supports Touch ID.
The tweak allows you to add up to 8 applications to the Lock screen and launch it directly from there. Only four applications will be displayed at once on the Lock screen but if you’ve added more than four apps, you can simply swipe from the right or the left edge of the screen to switch between the first and the second page.
In order to launch a specific app from the Lock screen on a Touch ID enabled device, hold your finger on the app icon and drag it downwards to the bottom center of the screen. As you’ve reached the end of the screen, continue to move your finger towards the Touch ID to unlock your device and launch the app simultaneously. Smart isn’t it?
On the other hand, if you own a device that doesn’t support Touch ID or have a passcode lock enabled, you’ll be prompted to enter the passcode before launching the app.
Once you install BerryC8, you can configure it from its preferences pane in the Settings app. The pane features a kill switch toggle to enable or disable the tweak, an ‘App Shortcuts’ option where you can choose the apps to be displayed on the Lock screen and an ‘Auto Lock’ toggle which is mainly for users who own a device that doesn’t support Touch ID. After making the changes, you’ll have to tap on the Respring button for the new settings to take place.
BerryC8 works perfectly and is a great way of launching your favorite apps from the Lock screen especially the wave animation that appears when you’re dragging an app.
The only complain that I’ve got about the tweak, which the developer has also promised to look into, is that the app icons look big and some of them appear blurry but expect to see an update soon that fixes the issue.
If you’re interested to give this tweak a try, head to Cydia and download BerryC8 for free from BigBoss repo. Let us know what you think about this great tweak in the comments section below.

How to watch the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 live on your iPhone or iPad

The 44 days long ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 started on Friday with a match between New Zealand and Sri Lanka. While cricket is not a popular sport in developed countries like USA and Europe, it is still followed by billions of people across the world. 
Since it is the World Cup, broadcasters from around the world will be providing viewers with the ability to view the matches on their PCs, iPhones, iPads and other devices apart from just the idiot box. Depending on your region though, you will have to use the app from the official broadcaster of your region on your iPhone or iPad to view the live stream and might have to subscribe to some packages from them as well.

India

India is one of the largest cricket following nations in the world. With the India vs. Pakistan match scheduled today, the World Cup fever is already going to reach its peak in the country today.
If you won’t be in front of a TV to enjoy all the action though, you can live stream the match on your iPhone or iPad using the official Star Sports Live streaming app. You will need to subscribe to the Live Pro package from Star Sports, which costs a mere $2 and will last throughout the World Cup to view the live stream. If you are not willing to pay for the package though, you can also watch a slightly delayed (~5 mins) live stream for free.
Download: Star Sports Live Stream & Scores

USA

Cricket might not be a popular sport in the United States, but there are still a few million people in the country who follow the sports. The sad part is that if you don’t have access to a TV to watch the matches of the World Cup, you will have to pay a staggering $99 to subscribe to a cricket package from ESPN that will allow you to view the live stream the matches on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or just about any other device.
Download: ESPNInfo Cricket

Australia

If you live in Australia — which is one of the countries hosting the World Cup — you can head over to Cricket Australia Live website to live stream the mach on your Mac or Windows based PC. If you want to view the live stream on your iPhone or iPad, you can use the Foxtel Go app, though you must already be a customer of Foxtel’s Residential or Play package.
Download: Foxtel Go

UK

If you are in the United Kingdom and are already a subscriber of Sky Go, you can view the live stream the match for free on your iOS device by installing the Sky GO app from the App Store. If you are not a Sky customer though, you can subscribe to Sky Sports Day Pass or Weekly Pass for £6.99/£10.99.
Download: Sky GO

New Zealand

Viewers in the New Zealand can watch the live stream of the ICC Cricket World Cup by using the Sky Go iOS app. However, they will need to be a subscriber of Sky’s DTH services to be able to use the app.
Download: Sky GO

If you live in any other region of the world and are interested in viewing the live stream, head over to SuperSport’s website to find the relevant details. If you already know the official broadcaster of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 of your region and are already its subscriber, it is more than likely that you will be able to view the live stream of the matches on your iPhone or iPad using their app.

Microsoft’s Outlook second update for iOS brings IMAP support and more

Less than three weeks after it was initially launched on the App Store, Microsoft has started rolling out the second update for its Outlook app for iOS. 
The update bumps the version number to 1.0.4 and adds the much requested IMAP support to the app, which makes it compatible with a wider number of email service providers. Additionally, the update also adds support for PIN enforcement policies set by server administrators and improves accessibility.
It was only last week that Microsoft had rolled out the first update for its Outlook app that added support for advanced account settings and the ability to disable emails being grouped as conversation.
While not a major update, the support for IMAP based email accounts in itself will allow more people to switch to Outlook as their primary email app on their iPhone or iPad.
I have already switched over to the Outlook app as my default email client on my iPhone and iPad because of its integration with calendars and cloud-storage services like Dropbox. Have you switched over to Outlook as the default mail client on your iPhone or are you still using the stock Mail client of iOS?
➤ Download: Outlook

How to auto hide the dock and remove its delay on the Mac

The idea of auto hiding the dock has always seemed appealing, because it give back the real estate normally lost by an always-present dock. The downside to auto hide, however, is the slight delay that occurs whenever the dock shows and hides. For me, the delay totally kills the idea of using auto hide. But what if you could remove the delay?
In this tutorial, I will show you how to have the best of both worlds: a dock that is hidden, yet at the same time immediately accessible due to the omission of the annoying delay.
Step 1: Open Terminal
Step 2: Copy and paste the following command into a Terminal window:
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool true && defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-delay -float 0 && defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0 && killall Dock
To remove all of these changes, and bring back your dock, simply paste the following command into a  Terminal window:
defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide && defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-delay && defaults delete com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier && killall Dock
If you prefer to have your dock hidden, there is no better way to go about it in my opinion. What do you think? Would you consider nixing the delay that comes along with an auto hiding dock?

Aoraki: Jailbreak tweak provides system-wide access to shortcuts in iOS 8

There are a bunch of tweaks in Cydia that allow you to quickly compose a Whatsapp message, tweet a post, share a song and more. Aoraki is an all-in-one jailbreak tweak that provides system-wide access to such shortcuts in iOS 8.
The tweak adds a green floating button to the screen which can be accessed from anywhere within iOS. Tapping on the button opens a new interface providing the following shortcuts:

• Quick compose for Whatsapp, Mail, iMessage, Twitter and Facebook
• Share files using iOS’s filesystem
• Share songs and photos on your device
• Quickly enable or disable various settings toggles
• Open the camera
• Search the App Store, Amazon store, Instagram, Twitter and various other sources
• Respring, reboot or shutdown your device
• Put your device into safemode
• Clean the user interface cache

The tweak also allows you to re-position the floating button on the screen by long holding on it and dragging it around the screen.
Once you install the tweak, a new preferences pane will be added to the Settings app dedicated to Aoraki. From there, you can enable or disable it on demand, customize the color of the shortcut interface, adjust the size of the tweak’s button as well as the shortcut icons and customize the look of the preferences pane.

Aoraki works perfectly as advertised and provides shortcuts that you’ll find useful but it still has space for more improvements before it can reach perfection. I’m not a big fan of its interface. The big shortcut buttons make the screen look cluttered and not very convenient to scroll up and down and some of them don’t even have an icon.
If you’re interested to take this tweak for a ride, Aoraki is available for $1.99 in Cydia’s BigBoss repository.

iOS 9 said to focus on ‘huge’ stability improvements and overall optimization

Every year since 2007, Apple has released a brand new version of its mobile operating system, iOS, for its mobile devices. Some of those updates are huge, and others focus on other things.
This year, when Apple unveils the newest version of iOS, which is expected to be called iOS 9, it’s believed that Apple will be focusing on more under-the-hood tweaks and fixes, making sure that the overall user experience continues to get refined and improved across the board. This suggestion is again postulated by a new report published by 9to5Mac, which states that Apple’s iOS 9 will have “huge” stability and optimization focus.
Apple has been busy adding new features into iOS over the last several years, including many marquee standout options like Touch ID, the general overhaul to the aesthetic of iOS with iOS 7, and iOS 8’s laying the groundwork for the upcoming Apple Watch. Add to the mix support for Apple Pay, Notification Center, Control Center and more, and iOS has certainly become a feature-rich mobile OS option. However, the speed in which Apple releases these updates has led many iOS users to complain about the general usability of the software.
As a result, this year is said to be a year for optimizations.
According to the report, iOS developers within Apple are focusing almost entirely on optimizations under-the-hood, fixing bugs, boosting the overall performance of the platform and making sure to maintain the stability that users expect from Apple’s software. Apple is said to also be focusing on making sure that the upcoming slate of new software is manageable, and aim to keep the updates smaller in size so they can be installed on more devices — especially those with 16GB options.
This is not that big of a surprise, considering the several years prior where Apple has focused almost entirely on stuffing new features into the mobile OS. Having a year to focus on optimizations and performance only makes sense.
[via 9to5Mac]

Apple Pay now supported by the White House with federal payment cards

As Apple Pay continues to gain support from banks and credit unions, some high-profile names have yet to jump on board. That changes today with one major entity proclaiming support for Apple’s mobile payments system.
On Friday, February 13, the White House officially pronounced support for Apple Pay via its federal payment cards. With this newly announced support, individuals that receive veterans or Social Security benefits via a debit card will be able to use Apple Pay to use those cards on their iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus.

“The deal includes the Direct Express payment network and government cards issued through GSA SmartPay, which handles more than 87.4 million transaction worth $26.4 billion each year, according to the General Services Administration.“

The support of the government, especially in terms of specifics benefits payments, shows the security that Apple Pay boasts and should go a long way to propel Apple Pay even further.
[via Bloomberg]

AT&T launching a $75 7GB Mobile Share Value plan on February 15

Verizon Wireless just did some tweaking of its own when it comes to its More Everything data plans, and not to be outdone, AT&T is making some announcements of its own.
Starting Sunday, February 15, AT&T will activate a brand new, “limited time” 7GB data tier for its Mobile Share Value plans. As is par for the course with AT&T’s Mobile Share Value plans, this new 7GB per month plan includes unlimited talk and text, and that data allotment will be shared with any other lines on the account. It will also include AT&T’s brand new Rollover Data feature, which will see any unused data roll over to the next month for usage.
As far as pricing goes, the new plan will run $75 per month, and AT&T also includes a monthly access charge for a smartphone on the line, too. Normally, with a two-year agreement, this access charge runs $40 per month. However, AT&T will save that access charge down to $15 per month if a customer picks up a new smartphone on AT&T’s Next plan, the carrier’s monthly installment plan.
This new plan goes live on Sunday, and AT&T says it will be around only for a limited time, but there isn’t an expiration date printed anywhere just yet.
[via AT&T]

You can now run the Windows 10 Technical Preview on your Mac with Parallels Desktop

Want a taste of what’s to come for those who use Windows? With the latest version of Parallels Desktop 10, you can run Microsoft’s latest Windows 10 Technical Preview on your Mac without even leaving Yosemite.
That means you can test out Windows’ new Start menu, Cortana integration, the new Windows Store, and lots more ahead of its consumer debut this fall. You can also run all of your favorite Windows apps, including the new Office Preview for Windows 10.
It should be noted, however, that Windows 10 support in Parallels Desktop is “experimental,” which means you may run into some bugs and other instabilities that still need to be ironed out.
“Parallels Desktop enjoys very strong support among software developers and IT pros,” said Parallels president Jack Zubarev. “We are happy to deliver all the tools they need to quickly and safely test or run the latest OS and applications, now including the Windows 10 Technical Preview.”
If you don’t already own Parallels Desktop 10, you can buy it for $79.99 from the Parallels online store, or $39.99 if you’re a student. If you own Parallels Desktop 8 or 9, you can upgrade to the latest release for just $49.99.
Before you buy, however, take advantage of the two-week free trial to see if Parallels is right for you.
[via MacRumors]

How to free up space on your iPhone or iPad quickly and easily with PhoneExpander

I’ve some good news. If you’re grappling with the storage space issue on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch now, then there is a much easier and faster way to free up space on your device, thanks to a new Mac app called PhoneExpander by Nice Mohawk. It makes the process lot more easier and user friendly.
In this guide, I am going to show you how to use the tools offered by the app to remove temporary files, delete unwanted apps, and also take a backup and delete photos and videos from your iPhone in just a few minutes.

How to use PhoneExpander to free up space

PhoneExpander is currently available only for Mac. The developer plans to develop a Windows version in the future, but they’re currently focussing on the Mac version. PhoneExpander officially supports iOS 7 or later, though the developer has tested it successfully on older iOS versions as well (iOS 5.1.1 or later).

• Download PhoneExpander using this direct link on your Mac.

• Unzip the zip file, copy the app to the Applications folder, and launch the app.

• Connect your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your Mac. PhoneExpander will give you a “iPhone connected” confirmation message. It should also tell you how full your device is, and give you options to the following tools: Clear Temporary files, Remove Apps and Clear Photos.

Clear Temporary Files

Temporary files are cache files that are stored locally by the apps to launch the app faster, which tends to take up quite a bit of storage space over time. The good news is, it is quite safe to delete the temporary files. PhoneExpander gives you a very easy way to clear temporary files. It is important to note here that it does not delete login information, your settings etc.

• Click on the Clear Temporary Files button.

• PhoneExpander will display the list of apps along with the amount of storage space taken up by temporary files by each app. It will also show you how much storage space can be freed up if temporary files are deleted from all the apps.

• By default PhoneExpander will select all the apps. You can deselect the check box next to the ones you don’t want to clear. To be on the safe side, I deselected apps like Google Authenticator etc.

• Then click on the Clear button to delete the temporary files. After it has finished deleting the files, it will you give you a message informing you how much storage space has been freed up. The process doesn’t take too long, but would depend on how much storage space you’re trying to clear. PhoneExpander took just 2-3 minutes to free up 2GB storage space on my iPhone 6 Plus.

Remove Apps

One of the easiest ways to free up storage space is to remove unused apps especially games. PhoneExpander makes it extremely easy to delete unwanted apps from your iOS device. Please note that all the app related data such as game data that is not stored in iCloud will also be deleted when you delete the app.
Here’s how to remove apps:

• Click on the Remove Apps button.

• Then click on the check box next to the app you want to delete, and click on the Remove button.

I was able to free up 3 GB by removing 23 unwanted apps from my iPhone 6 Plus. You can delete the apps manually on the device itself, but it is a lot more convenient to do it using PhoneExpander as you don’t have to keep tapping on the confirmation dialogue boxes for each app. You just need to click on the delete button, and it will delete all the unwanted apps.

Take Backup and Clear Photos & Videos

Photos and videos probably end up taking the most storage on my device. PhoneExpander offers a nifty option where you can take a backup of all the photos and videos on your device that are older than a few weeks, months or years, and delete them from your device to free up storage space.

• Click on the Clear Photos button.

• You can choose to backup and remove photos or videos or both by selecting the appropriate option. You can also select the folder where you want the photos and videos to be backed up on your Mac.

• You can then drag the slider to remove files older than a few days, weeks, months or year. PhoneExpander will tell you how much storage space will be freed on the Backup & Remove button depending on the duration you select.

• Click on the Backup & Remove Files button. PhoneExpander will create a folder on your desktop or whichever folder you had selected, backup the photos and videos, and then delete it from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

PhoneExpander is currently in beta, and the developer plans to add the ability to also clear Music files from your device in the future. PhoneExpander is free, but it will cost money when you it comes out of beta. So don’t miss the opportunity to download it now and give it a try, it is an extremely handy app.

ESPN app goes universal, refreshed UI and more in new update

ESPN, one of the leading names when it comes to sports, has updated its iOS app to better fit on larger displays, and do so with a nice new aesthetic.
On Thursday, February 12, ESPN officially updated its iOS app to make it a universal option, as well as picking up support for the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Now, when downloading ESPN for an iPhone, the app will also be fully supported on the iPad as well, which should help those who like to keep up on sports scores and news keep up-to-date no matter which iOS device they’re using (as long as it’s running iOS 8 or later).
The latest update brings ESPN up to version 4.2, and comes with other great new additions as well, including ESPN Now, which will let users swipe to the right and access a livestream of newly added news stories, photos, videos and more. The app now also supports news and updates from the Cricket World Cup.
The traditional bug fixes and performance enhancements all went on behind the scenes as well.
The refreshed app is available now, through the download link below.
Download link
ESPN App — Free

Report: Apple is gearing up to launch refreshed MacBook Air as inventory tightens

Posted by Rajesh Pandey on Feb 11, 2015 | 0 Comments
According to sources of Apple Insider, Apple has stopped sending out fresh shipments of certain MacBook Air models before their rumored refresh with Intel’s Broadwell processors later this month.
The company has also given retailers the green signal to sell certain 11″ and 13″ MacBook Air variants at a reduced price to get rid of the inventory. The company has not made any official statements to its retailers and distributors in the United States and Europe, but its actions clearly hint at the launch of a refreshed MacBook Air sometime soon.
Rumors have indicated that Apple plans on releasing the refreshed MacBook Air on February 24th with Intel’s latest Broadwell processor that feature a powerful inbuilt GPU and offer an even better power-to-performance ratio. The Cupertino company is also expected to unveil a 12-inch MacBook Air with an edge-to-edge display in the first quarter of 2015, but it is unlikely that it will a major new device without holding a press event.
If you don’t care about Intel’s Broadwell processors or buying an up-to-date model, now will be the perfect time to grab the existing 11″ and 13″ MacBook Air(s) being sold by Apple as it is offering them at discounts of anywhere between $100-$250.
[Via Apple Insider]

New leaks further indicate that Samsung Galaxy S6 may look a lot like the iPhone 6

If the sketches and renderings of the Galaxy S6 made by Korean website UnderKG are to be believed, Samsung’s upcoming flagship is going to look a look like the iPhone 6. The sketches and renders are based on the actual dimensions and design cues of the Galaxy S6, which the website received from its sources. 
The website claims that the Galaxy S6 would have a dimension of 143.3mm x 70.8mm x 6.9mm, which makes it slightly taller and wider than the iPhone 6. The difference in dimensions makes sense when you consider the fact that the Galaxy S6 is rumored to come with a 5.1-inch display, while the iPhone 6 features a 4.7-inch display.

The website has also made some renders of the Galaxy S6 based on the leaks and rumors, which shows the handset having metallic edges that look strikingly similar to the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
It is always possible that these renders and sketches are incorrect, and I have a strong feeling they are. Samsung’s smartphone division has been rapidly losing its market share and the last thing they will want to do is launch an iPhone 6 lookalike.
Irrespective of these images being correct or not, it is more than confirmed that the Galaxy S6 will feature a metal-unibody design and will be available in two variants, with the display extending to both edges on one of the variant.
[Source: UnderKG; Via: Business Insider]

Jailbreakers: You can no longer downgrade from iOS 8.1.3 to iOS 8.1.2

Even though Apple released iOS 8.1.3 on January 27th, which killed the TaiG and PP jailbreak, it was still possible to downgrade from iOS 8.1.3 back to iOS 8.1.2 as Apple did not stop signing the iOS 8.1.2 firmware file.
This was useful for jailbreakers, as one could downgrade back to iOS 8.1.2, and re-jailbreak your device using the TaiG jailbreak for Windows and PP Jailbreak for Mac.
Unfortunately it will be no longer possible to downgrade to iOS 8.1.2 from iOS 8.1.3 as Apple has just stopped signing iOS 8.1.2 file. This was confirmed by Callum Jones, who runs the ipsw.me site, that provides real-time signing status for iOS firmware files.
This doesn’t come as a surprise as over the last few years, Apple has used this strategy to keep jailbreakers at bay. It not only releases new software updates, that fixes the vulnerabilities used by the jailbreaks, it also stops signing the older iOS firmware file, which prevents users from downgrading back to the older iOS version that can be jailbroken.
So given the current situation, jailbreakers should be very careful while installing jailbreak tweaks as a bad tweak could easily force you to restore your device, which would mean that you will lose the jailbreak and all the tweaks installed on your device.
There hasn’t been any updates on the jailbreak for iOS 8.1.3, but the Chinese jailbreakers like the TaiG team have been quite quick in releasing a jailbreak, so we’ll keep you posted.

iPhone 6 Plus users consume twice as much data as iPhone 6 owners

Choosing an iPhone 6 Plus over an iPhone 6 could have a big impact on your data consumption, new research has found. Owners of Apple’s larger device tend to use it more like a tablet — watching more video and playing more games — which means they’re eating up their data allowance much faster.
Almost every iPhone 6 Plus owner I know has told me that they’ve hardly picked up their iPad since adopting their new smartphone. Its 5.5-inch display makes it ideal for watching movies and TV shows on the go and browsing the web, and it’s the perfect size for mobile gaming.
As a result, it’s leading to an increase in data usage, according to a new report from Citrix. On average, 6 Plus users consume twice as much data as those with the smaller iPhone 6 — which means it’s not only more expensive to buy, but also more expensive to keep long-term.
The iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s consume around half as much data as the iPhone 6, while the iPhone 4 consumes little over a quarter. The iPhone 3GS, which is apparently still in use almost six years on, consumes only a tenth of the data used by the iPhone 6 Plus.
Citrix also found that thanks to today’s speedy data networks, HD videos load 50 percent faster, webpages load 35 percent faster, and files download 18 percent faster. In turn, that means users can watch more, browse more, and download more in an hour of use than they ever could before.
Have you noticed you’re using more data since getting the iPhone 6 Plus?
[via Business Insider]

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