Timothy Reavis

When not in college, @TimothyReavis devotes most of his time to his iMac, writing and coding. Leftover hours are spent with his iPhone on Twitter or in Cydia. Mealtimes are integrated into one of the above. Timothy began writing for iDownloadBlog in 2014, where he avidly writes about his favorite conversation topic — all things Apple — whilst microblogging on Twitter about technology and jailbreak tweaks.

September 9: the redesigned iPhone 6 and the mysterious iWatch

Ever since the introduction of the iPhone 5s, the Apple community has been looking forward to the iPhone 6 in hopes of receiving two much-wanted features – a larger screen and considerably longer battery life. These expectations, fed by countless rumors of everything from a built-in barometer to an NFC chip, are reaching an all-time high as the iPhone 6 is nearing launch.

For quite a while now, rumors of an Apple-made wearable device – commonly referred to as "iWatch" – have been floating around, stirring excitement among Apple users and urging Android vendors such as Samsung and Motorola to introduce their own smartwatches. While these devices are largely limited to displaying notifications and dealing with minor tasks, Apple's iWatch is rumored to focus heavily on health sensors and tracking.

With Apple making official the predictions of a September 9 event, the world is breathlessly awaiting the unveiling of whatever Apple has been developing over the past few years. This event could very well be the biggest Apple has had since the 2007 introduction of the original iPhone.

New QuickType-like feature found in OS X Yosemite

It's no secret that Apple is merging many iOS and OS X features into one seamless experience across devices, and one of these instances – QuickType, the predictive typing feature found in iOS 8 – has recently surfaced in OS X Yosemite.

By pressing the ESC key, Yosemite users can invoke a drop-down menu containing several suggested words that OS X thinks should be typed next. Pressing SPACE BAR will insert the highlighted word along with a space, so users can continue typing or press ESC again for the next suggestion. Note that this is different from a similar feature that has been present in OS X for a few years.

Apple seeds OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 7

Coming two weeks and a day after its last Developer Preview release, Apple has released the seventh OS X Yosemite beta to developers.

The update, version 7 1.0, is available for download to users currently running DP 6 in the Mac App Store, and to developers in Apple's online developer center. Also available for download is Yosemite Recovery Update 2.0.

Leaked photos of iPhone 6 logic board with NFC chip appear

Sonny Dickson, known for his accurate leaks of iPhone and iPad parts, is back to fluster faces at Apple today with newly released images of the logic board from an iPhone 6, complete with an NFC chip made by NXP, as previously reported. Courtesy of Feld&Volk, the leaked photos show several additional chips on the iPhone 6's logic board besides NFC, including the AVAGO chip and Apple's A8 processor, which is supposed to be 2.0 GHz, quite a bit faster than the 1.3GHz A7 chip.

Hands-on with Mailbox for Mac: a fast, powerful, gestural mail client

We first heard rumors of a Mac version of the popular Mailbox app last year, and it was since confirmed as being in development, with a public beta sign up for those interested in early access. Although it's been a while, users who signed up for the beta are finally getting their invites.

I've had the privilege of getting a pre-public beta copy of Mailbox for Mac, and I've been putting it through its paces ever since. Here are some thoughts on the OS X edition of this incredible mail client.

Download the new OS X Yosemite wallpapers for Mac, iPhone, and iPad

With today's release of OS X Yosemite Developer Preview 6, Apple has included several new wallpapers in the latest beta version of its desktop operating system. Focusing on the beauty of Yosemite National Park – OS X 10.10's namesake – these wallpapers are truly stunning, and owners of Retina displays and 4k monitors are sure to particularly love them.

For those running OS X Mavericks or an older version of Yosemite, we've uploaded these full resolution wallpapers, along with Yosemite's original wallpaper, for your downloading pleasure, compliments of Matthew Miller. There are also links to iPhone and iPad versions of the four new wallpapers, which have been optimized by Jason Zigrino and published on his DeviantArt page...

Apple to Thai government: next phone may not even be called iPhone 6

Soon after a Thai official tweeted that Thailand approved two new iPhone models for use in the country, Apple sent a few executives from South Asia to speak with Takorn Tantasith, the secretary of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), concerning the leak.

Although the Thai government's disclosure contained nothing more than the mention of the model numbers "A1524" and "A1586," as well as "iPhone 6," that apparently was enough to anger Apple into sending executives to reprimand Thai officials for releasing the information...

Apple releases video of Yaoband’s use of iPad in musical experimentation

Following yesterday's release of two new 'Your Verse' stories from Apple, the Cupertino giant has made an accompanying video to one of the stories available on its YouTube channel. The clip showcases Yaoband, a China-based music band that was featured in one of the two recent iPad stories, as they demonstrate ways in which Apple's tablet is used in their music creation process...

SpotFile: navigate iOS filesystem in Spotlight search

The same developer who made the script for switching between Mac partitions into a standalone application is back with a new jailbreak tweak called SpotFile. This tweak brings basic iFile functionality directly to Spotlight search, allowing users to navigate iOS's filesystem from the Home screen.

While it was built for granting quick access to the file directory in iOS, SpotFile's functionality can do quite a bit more than simply browse files and directories, and the developer says there are more features on the way...

StatusDuck moves your Mac dock to the Menu bar

The dock in OS X is one of the most used areas of the operating system, so replacing it with another program isn't an easy task. However, StatusDuck does an excellent job of compacting the dock into a much smaller collection of running applications. Whether the dock takes up too much precious screen real estate or right-clicking to exit programs is growing tedious, StatusDuck can help.

With StatusDuck installed, applications can be launched and terminated, Finder windows and folders can be opened, and active programs can be sorted and managed, all from your Mac's menu bar...

Notifyr app goes free: receive iOS notifications on your Mac

Today seems to be the day for app discounts, as Apple is giving away Rise Alarm Clock, and now the developer of Notifyr, an app for receiving iPhone push notifications on your Mac, is giving his app away for free every other day for a week.

We first wrote about Notifyr on its launch back in May, and it took the tech community somewhat by surprise, as many thought Apple would remove it from the App Store per one of their many regulations. Regardless, it's been available for download at a $3.99 price tag up until today, as Notifyr has gone free for a limited time.

Sprint no longer trying to acquire T-Mobile

The Wall Street Journal just announced that Sprint Corp. is terminating its attempts to purchase T-Mobile US Inc, due to regulatory issues. Over the past several months, we've seen several reports that Sprint was in talks with T-Mobile over a buyout deal, and even that the deal was close to finalizing.

If the buyout had taken place, the results would be a decrease in competition and very likely an increase in cellular plan pricing. According to WSJ...