Tuesday, May 26, 2015
U S Carriers and FCC Come to Agreement Over Consumer Unlocking of Mobile Devices
The terms agreed to include [PDF]:
- Disclosure: Each carrier will post on its website its clear, concise, and readily accessible policy on postpaid and prepaid mobile wireless device unlocking.
- Postpaid Unlocking Policy: Carriers, upon request, will unlock mobile wireless devices or provide the necessary information to unlock their devices for their customers and former customers in good standing and individual owners of eligible devices after the fulfillment of the applicable postpaid service contract, device financing plan or payment of an applicable early termination fee.
- Prepaid Unlocking Policy: Carriers, upon request, will unlock prepaid mobile wireless devices no later than one year after initial activation, consistent with reasonable time, payment or usage requirements.
- Notice: Carriers that lock devices will clearly notify customers that their devices are eligible for unlocking at the time when their devices are eligible for unlocking or automatically unlock devices remotely when devices are eligible for unlocking, without additional fee. Carriers reserve the right to charge non-customers/non-former customers a reasonable fee for unlocking requests. Notice to prepaid customers may occur at point of sale, at the time of eligibility, or through a clear and concise statement of the policy on the carriers website.
- Response Time: Within two business days after receiving a request, carriers will unlock eligible mobile wireless devices or initiate a request to the OEM to unlock the eligible device, or provide an explanation of why the device does not qualify for unlocking, or why the carrier reasonably needs additional time to process the request.
- Deployed Personnel Unlocking Policy: Carriers will unlock mobile wireless devices for deployed military personnel who are customers in good standing upon provision of deployment papers.
Carriers reserve the right to decline an unlock request if they have a reasonable basis to believe the request is fraudulent or the device is stolen.
In a statement issued after the agreement was announced, the CTIA noted that "unlocking devices may not necessarily mean full interoperability since devices that work on one provider’s network may not be technologically compatible with another wireless provider’s network" and that unlocking a device may enable some functionality but not necessarily all.
Early this year, the Library of Congress ruled that it was illegal for certain mobile phone owners to unlock their phones unless specifically authorized by their carrier. This past September, the Obama administration filed a petition with the FCC, asking that carriers be required to unlock mobile devices. This voluntary agreement between the FCC and carriers would appear to forestall the need for legal action by either Congress or the FCC.
Data source: via MacRumors (By Jordan Golson)
Monday, May 25, 2015
Facebook enables auto playing News Feed videos in iOS app
The new feature is something that could easily annoy many users. However, Facebook was smart enough to mute audio in the auto-playing videos by default. In order to hear the audio the user must still tap on the playing video. It also makes it more likely that people might actually stop and watch that video clip of your dancing dog instead of scrolling right past it.
The auto-playing feature comes at a time when other social networks are seeing a lot of people upload video clips to share with their friends (or the world, in the case of Twitters Vine) and this move by Facebook is in no doubt part of a plan to engage more users with videos on their site. It also opens the door for auto-playing video ads, however.
For those worried about using up their precious cellular data, Facebook was nice enough to add an "Auto-play on WiFi only" setting in the Settings app in iOS. This way, videos in your News Feed wont auto-play while you are on 3G or 4G.
To review and download FaceBook on the App Store click here.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Free Apps
Category: Social Networking
Updated: Dec 11, 2013
Version: 6.8
Size: 52.7 MB
Data source: via TUAW (By Michael Grothaus)
Sunday, May 24, 2015
Snachat Update Brings Two New features Chat and Here Live Video Calls
This week the ephemeral photo sharing service Snapchat saw a major update for its iOS app, which brought a new text messaging feature called “Chat,” and live video chat feature called "Here."
The new Chat feature in the app allows you to swipe right on a friend’s name in your Snapchat inbox to start text messaging, as messages in the chat screen are cleared upon leaving the window. In the conversation, you can start the live vedio chat by tapping and holding on the blue photo button. You can also switch between the front facing and rear facing camera using swipe up/down gesture respectively.
Snapchat’s last update was issued in October 2013 which brought a new "Snapchat Stories" news feed feature, and in late 2013 the company reportedly turned down a $4 billion acquisition offer from Google and a $3 billion offer from Facebook. The app in the past few months was know a security breach last December compromised the user names and phone numbers of more than 4.6 million customers.
To review and download Snapchat on the App Store click here.
Compatibility: Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad 2 Wi-Fi, iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G, iPad Wi-Fi (3rd generation), iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (3rd generation), iPad Wi-Fi (4th generation), iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (4th generation), iPad mini Wi-Fi, iPad mini Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air, iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini with Retina display, iPad mini with Retina display Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPod touch (4th generation), and iPod touch (5th generation)
Free Apps
Category: Photo & Video
Updated: May 01, 2014
Version: 7.0.0
Size: 19.8 MB
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Saturday, May 23, 2015
Apple Releases iOS 7 1 for iPhone iPad and iPod touch with Bug Fixes and Visual Tweaks
According to the release notes, iOS 7.1 includes a number of improvements and bug fixes. among them much-needed improvements to the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system built-in to the iPhone 5s, an update for a home screen crashing issue, and iPhone 4 users will enjoy improved responsiveness and performance.
Apple has launched a new website page that shows off some of the additions to iOS 7.1., with a focus on CarPlay feature, which was first unveiled by Apple last week.
In addition to bug fixes the update includes multiple visual tweaks, such as Messages apps, Reduce Motion, iCloud Keychain, revamped shift and caps locks keys on the keyboard, face Time, and a redesign for several aspects of the Phone dialer and shutdown screen.
There are many minor improvements to enhance the performance of the operating system have also been bundled into the update such as Accessibility included new options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point, new Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s, a new event list view within the Calendar app, new bounce animations in Control Center, and more prominent buttons in the Music app. Full release notes are as follows:
If the iOS 7.1 is not available over the air, you can update your device manually, via the software update tool in the settings menu on iOS devices. Users on devices upgrading from iOS 7.0.6 are seeing file sizes of approximately 268 MB, while those upgrading from a beta are seeing larger downloads of 1.3-1.4 GB.
Here are the direct download links for iOS 7.1:
iPad:
-iPad Air (Model A1474)
-iPad Air (Model A1475)
-iPad mini (Model A1489)
-iPad mini (Model A1490)
-iPad (4th generation Model A1458)
-iPad (4th generation Model A1459)
-iPad (4th generation Model A1460)
-iPad mini (Model A1432)
-iPad mini (Model A1454)
-iPad mini (Model A1455)
-iPad Wi-Fi 3rd generation
-iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for ATT)
-iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for Verizon)
-iPad 2 Wi-Fi
-iPad 2 Wi-Fi (Rev A)
-iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (GSM)
-iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (CDMA)
iPhone:
-iPhone 5s (Model A1453, A1533)
-iPhone 5s (Model A1457, A1518, A1528, A1530)
-iPhone 5c (Model A1456, A1532)
-iPhone 5c (Model A1507, A1516, A1526, A1529)
-iPhone 5 (Model A1428)
-iPhone 5 (Model A1429)
-iPhone 4s
-iPhone 4 (GSM)
-iPhone 4 (GSM Rev A)
-iPhone 4 (CDMA)
iPod touch:
-iPod touch (5th generation)
Apple has launched a new website page that shows off some of the additions to iOS 7.1., with a focus on CarPlay feature, which was first unveiled by Apple last week.
There are many minor improvements to enhance the performance of the operating system have also been bundled into the update such as Accessibility included new options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point, new Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s, a new event list view within the Calendar app, new bounce animations in Control Center, and more prominent buttons in the Music app. Full release notes are as follows:
CarPlayiOS 7.1 officially disables the evasi0n iOS 7 jailbreak, patching key kernel exploits.
- iOS experience designed for the car
- Simply connect your iPhone to a CarPlay enabled vehicle
- Supports Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, and 3rd-party audio apps
- Control with Siri and the cars touchscreen, knobs, and buttons
Siri
- Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button while you speak and releasing it when youre done as an alternative to letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking
- New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Mandarin Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and Japanese
iTunes Radio
- Search field above Featured Stations to easily create stations based on your favorite artist or song
- Buy albums with the tap of a button from Now Playing
- Subscribe to iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to enjoy iTunes Radio ad-free
Calendar
- Option to display events in month view
- Country specific holidays automatically added for many countries
Accessibility
- Bold font option now includes the keyboard, calculator, and many icon glyphs
- Reduce Motion option now includes Weather, Messages, and multitasking UI animations
- New options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point
Other
- New Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s
- iCloud Keychain support in additional countries
- FaceTime call notifications are automatically cleared when you answer a call on another device
- Fixes a bug that could occasionally cause a home screen crash
- Improves Touch ID fingerprint recognition
- Improved performance for iPhone 4
- Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000
- Continued user interface refinements
Here are the direct download links for iOS 7.1:
iPad:
-iPad Air (Model A1474)
-iPad Air (Model A1475)
-iPad mini (Model A1489)
-iPad mini (Model A1490)
-iPad (4th generation Model A1458)
-iPad (4th generation Model A1459)
-iPad (4th generation Model A1460)
-iPad mini (Model A1432)
-iPad mini (Model A1454)
-iPad mini (Model A1455)
-iPad Wi-Fi 3rd generation
-iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for ATT)
-iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for Verizon)
-iPad 2 Wi-Fi
-iPad 2 Wi-Fi (Rev A)
-iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (GSM)
-iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (CDMA)
iPhone:
-iPhone 5s (Model A1453, A1533)
-iPhone 5s (Model A1457, A1518, A1528, A1530)
-iPhone 5c (Model A1456, A1532)
-iPhone 5c (Model A1507, A1516, A1526, A1529)
-iPhone 5 (Model A1428)
-iPhone 5 (Model A1429)
-iPhone 4s
-iPhone 4 (GSM)
-iPhone 4 (GSM Rev A)
-iPhone 4 (CDMA)
iPod touch:
-iPod touch (5th generation)
Source: Apple via MacRumors
Friday, May 22, 2015
iOS 7 0 4 Activity Ramping Up at Apple Ahead of Next Minor Software Update
Apple unsurprisingly appears to be ramping up activity on iOS 7.0.4 as the next version of iOS to see a release to the public, with MacRumors seeing increasing numbers of devices running iOS 7.0.4 from Apples networks showing up in web logs.
Visitors to MacRumors.com via Apples networks from devices running iOS 7.0.4
The first signs of iOS 7.0.4 appeared on October 22, the same day iOS 7.0.3 was released to the public. Activity has been ramping up over the past two weeks, but there is no word yet on when the update might be released to the public. Apple has also not seeded registered developers with any builds of iOS 7.0.4, but the company does not always do so for its minor iOS updates.
Visitors to MacRumors.com via Apples networks from devices running iOS 7.1
As we previously noted, iOS 7.1 devices from Apples network began showing up in our logs in late August, and while visits from those devices increased during October, they have declined somewhat during the first week of November. iOS 7.1 would be expected to bring a more substantial number of updates, but it appears that a public launch may yet be some time off with Apple working on a smaller iOS 7.0.4 release.
iOS 8 continues to show very low levels of activity in our logs, with the next major version of Apples iOS software undoubtedly still in the very early stages of development and a public release roughly a year in the future.
Data source: via MacRumors (By Eric Slivka)
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