Joe Rossignol

Joe Rossignol is a former iDB editor.

New report explains how Apple smart home program might work

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

While the Financial Times previously reported that Apple is working on a full-featured home automation software platform, a new report claims that the company actually has much smaller plans for the home. According to sources for Gigaom, Apple is hoping to lessen fragmentation in the home by certifying more connected devices through the official Made for iPhone program.

The company is reportedly not working on software-based automation, however, and instead is focusing its smart home efforts on connecting devices over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for voice control. It might not be the full-out attempt at perfecting the smart home as was anticipated, but this is a good first step for Apple to be taking. Gigaom reporter Stacy Higginbotham elaborates…

Apple acquires Beats for $3 billion

Joe Rossignol ∙ May 28, 2014

After weeks of speculation, Apple confirmed just moments ago that it has reached a deal to acquire Beats Electronics and Beats Music for $3 billion. Beats co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre will be joining Apple, the company announced. Beats is best known for its popular lineup of headphones, speakers and audio software, and in January launched a new streaming music service called Beats Music in partnership with AT&T.

This marks the largest acquisition that Apple has ever made, divided into a purchase price of $2.6 billion and approximately $400 million that will vest over time. But it comes at a pivotal time for Apple, as iTunes music sales decline in light of the rising popularity of streaming music services. Apple will now operate its own streaming music service in Beats Music, going head on against competitors like Spotify and Pandora…

InCaseOf adds emergency info to the Lock screen

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

While we obviously do not wish it upon anyone, you never know when you might find yourself in a medical emergency. You also never know where you might be at the time, or who you will be with. That is why a new jailbreak tweak called InCaseOf is more important than you might think. InCaseOf adds important emergency information to the Lock screen, so that first responders and others can gain a better understanding of your health situation. Take a look at how it works…

VintageKeys lets you switch back to the old iOS 6 keyboard

Joe Rossignol ∙ May 27, 2014

Ryan Petrich is one of the most influential developers within the jailbreaking scene, with his name behind several well-designed and useful jailbreak tweaks for iPhone and iPad. One of his latest releases is VintageKeys, a useful extension that allows you to adjust the keyboard styling on your device. There are four different keyboards to choose from: modern light, modern dark, legacy light and legacy dark…

Some iOS devices hijacked and held hostage in Australia

Joe Rossignol ∙ May 27, 2014

A growing number of iPhone, iPad and Mac users in Australia are turning to the Apple Support Communities and Twitter to report incidents of their device being remotely locked through iCloud. In some cases, a fraudulent message appears through the Find my iPhone service demanding payment between $50 and $100 to someone named Oleg Pliss for the device to be unlocked…

Take Healthbook for a virtual test drive on your iPhone

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated July 19, 2017

Apple is expected to unveil iOS 8 at its upcoming WWDC keynote in just one week. A number of new features and apps are expected to be announced, one of them being Healthbook. The health-focused app is said to provide users with vital information, such as heart rate, hydration, blood pressure, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, blood sugar, weight and more.

An increasing amount of speculation about Healthbook has inspired visual designer Jayaprasad Mohanan to create a live demo of the app that you can try right on your iPhone. The concept is entirely based on what we've heard from bloggers over the past four months, including leaked Healthbook screenshots posted by the well-connected Mark Gurman back in March. Check it out…

Check out these 3 beautiful iOS theme setups

Joe Rossignol ∙ May 26, 2014

A few of our readers have asked us what happened to Theme Thursday, a weekly column that covered the best new Winterboard themes for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The answer is that we decided to discontinue this column in April, primarily because themes started being released on a less frequent basis. Nevertheless, the theming community is still going strong.

Despite the slowdown, there are still a number of quality themes released every now and then that are worth mentioning. As such, we've turned to the /r/iOSthemes community on Reddit and hand picked three iOS theme setups that we think look gorgeous. Where possible, we've included the themes and jailbreak tweaks used to achieve each setup. Take a look ahead…

DefaultSpot makes Spotify the default music player on iPhone

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated April 17, 2023

Spotify is one of the most popular cross-platform streaming music services, with over 40 million active users worldwide. While I am out of luck using the service as a Canadian, our neighbors to the south and elsewhere can benefit from a jailbreak tweak called DefaultSpot. The simple iOS extension sets Spotify as the default music player on iPhone, and also integrates with the Control Center playback controls.

LockScreen Informer is a Cydget that brings useful info to the Lock screen

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

The latest trend of jailbreak tweaks that attempt to enhance the Lock screen experience, such as IntelliScreenX and Helius, continues with the release of a new Cydget called LockScreen Informer. The tweak displays important info directly on the Lock screen, saving you the trouble of opening Notification Center or fully unlocking your device on many occasions. You're probably thinking this is exactly like the LockInfo7 tweak we covered last week, but there are some notable differences…

The best Instagram apps for iPad

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated April 17, 2018

Instagram is one of the most popular social networks for sharing photos and short videos, with official apps available for iPhone, Windows Phone and Android smartphones. But one device that still lacks a native Instagram app is the iPad, as the Facebook-owned company has yet to update the iPhone version to have universal support for the Apple tablet lineup.

As you might expect, a number of iOS developers have taken advantage of this shortcoming by releasing their own third-party Instagram apps for iPad on the App Store. In an effort to save you the trouble of looking through the storefront yourself for these apps, read ahead for a roundup of four of the best Instagram apps for iPad…

Apps of the week: Elevate, Ruzzle Adventure, Uncanny X-Men and more

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

I imagine that in sunny Southern California, our resident app enthusiast Lory is enjoying a well-deserved break at Disneyland over the Memorial Day weekend. In her absence, I have volunteered to take over our weekly apps of the week column. I certainly picked a good time to fill in, because if you've been following my daily App Recap roundup, you'll know that Thursday was an action-packed day with over a half-dozen noteworthy new apps. See which apps top our list this week…

GBA4iOS returns following Nintendo takedown

Joe Rossignol ∙ Updated March 20, 2018

Less than a few weeks after receiving a takedown notice from Nintendo of America, iOS developer Riley Testut has made his popular Gameboy Advance emulator GBA4iOS available for download again. An updated version of the emulator is now available through the official GBA4iOS website, which came back online just moments ago. Testut confirmed the news on Twitter in a recent tweet…