Richard Padilla

Launch Center Pro developer Contrast today launched Group Text+ and Email+, two apps for quickly creating messages and emails by using shortcuts for adding contacts, groups, images, and more. Both apps work similarly to Launch Center Pro, with Contrast touting a "simplified" and "refined" interface for easily composing messages with shortcuts. For example, a Group Text+ user can quickly send ...

Electronic Arts today launched SimCity BuildIt for iOS devices, which is a new mobile iteration of its popular city-building franchise. The game features a variety of fully-detailed buildings found in the PC iterations of SimCity with touch-optimized controls for pinching, zooming, and rotating, as the game works online and offline. Like the PC version, gameplay is centered around keeping...

Google today released its "Year in Search" feature, highlighting popular and trending searches for 2014 in a number of categories. Unsurprisingly, a number of Apple-related search terms ranked highly among the most trending searches in the Consumer Electronics category, with "iPhone 6" taking #1, "Apple Watch" taking #8, and "iPad Air" taking #10. Other popular search terms in the Consumer...

Point-of-sale manufacturer ShopKeep today updated its official iPad app with support for Apple Pay, now allowing customers to pay with their iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. Merchants can accept Apple Pay payments if they have a ShopKeep terminal and an Ingenico iCMP Bluetooth Credit Card reader, which sells for $249 and also supports mangetic swipe and contactless payments. The reader will also be...

Apple and supply partner Quanta Computer have apparently solved its yield issues with various Apple Watch components as the wearable device is now gearing up to enter mass production in January, reports Taiwan's United Daily News (Google Translate, via GforGames). Previously, other sources projected that the Apple Watch would enter mass production at the end of February. The report notes...

Photo sharing app Snapchat has been updated to version 8.1.0, bringing full support for the larger screens of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. The update also includes improved captions with the ability to change the colors of special text, and the ability to stack filters by holding a photo in place with one finger and swiping it to add another filter. What's new iPhone 6 and 6+ layouts!...

Following a two month absence, Apple has restarted sales of Bose products in its online store. The reinstated products include the Bose QuietComfort 20i, the Bose SoundLink Mini Bluetooth Speaker, and the Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Speaker III, but notably do not include the company's over-the-ear headphone offerings. The move follows a report yesterday which noted that some French Apple retail...

Apple today released the 2014 version of its iTunes Store awards, which highlights the best music, movies, TV shows, apps, books and podcasts of the year. Here are some of the top-level winners for 2014: Apps: iPhone App of the Year: Elevate - Brain Training iPhone Game of the Year: Threes! iPad App of the Year: Pixelmator iPad Game of the Year: Monument Valley Music: Best...

Apple today debuted a new ad for the iPad Air 2 named "Change" which showcases the new tablet being used in a wide variety of professions and situations. The ad shows the tablet being used by artists, motorcycle enthusiasts, photographers, and schoolteachers as its full-screen visuals shrink to resemble the form of the device itself. Apple has also posted a new "Change" section on its website...

Apple will expand its retail operations in India with 500 new stores that see the company's reseller network moving into smaller towns and cities, according to a new report from The Times of India (via iPhone Hacks). The new locations will be done in collaboration with longtime distribution partners Redington and Ingram, and the stores themselves are said to be "smaller in size" and could range...

Starbucks today launched its "Mobile Order & Pay" feature in Portland, Oregon, which allows customers to place an order on their iPhones with the Starbucks app and schedule it for a pick up, reports WIRED. The feature requires that users accept a one-time Location Services prompt in order to identify the nearest location accepting Mobile Order & Pay, and uses a customer's connected Starbucks card ...

Sales of the iPhone 6 Plus made up 41% of all sales for handsets with a display size of 5.5-inches or greater, according to a new report by Kantar Worldpanel. The data in the report represents the three month period ending in October 14, and also notes that sales of larger phones now represent 10% of overall smartphone sales, up from 2% for the same period in 2013. Aside from Apple's iPhone 6...

Clear and Ember developer Realmac Software today launched Typed, a new Markdown writing app for the Mac that emphasizes a minimal, responsive UI with multiple export features and customizable typefaces. When a user is writing inside of Typed, the app's interface automatically scales text to fit the current window size and contains a live character and word count functionality. Content...

Apple today announced on its website (via ifoAppleStore) that it will be opening a new store in Toledo, Ohio this Saturday, December 6. The store will be located at the Franklin Park Mall, which is home to a number of high-end and casual retailers. ifoAppleStore notes that this newest Apple Store carries a roll-out number of 266, which indicates that the store has been planned for years. Newer...

Last week, Japanese magazine Mac Fan published possible schematics depicting the design of a 12.2-inch "iPad Pro" or "iPad Air Plus". The schematics suggested that the larger-screened tablet would carry dimensions of 305.31mm x 220.8mm x 7mm, or 12 inches x 8.7 inches x 0.28 inches, which is in line with previous rumors about the device. Now, YouTube user Canoopsy (via Nowhereelse.fr) has created ...

Apple's iPad has lost its lead over Google's line of Chromebook laptops in the U.S. education market as Google shipped more devices to schools last quarter, according to figures released by IDC (via the Financial Times). In Q3 2014, IDC notes that Google shipped 715,500 Chromebooks to U.S. schools while Apple shipped 702,000 iPads. Analysts note that this advantage for Google's Chromebooks can be ...

As it has done for the past three years, Apple is once again recognizing December 1 as World AIDS Day at its retail locations by coloring their Apple logos red for the occasion. Several Apple Stores in the United States and the United Kingdom are expected to change the color of their logos, with images from Twitter showing that the company's store in Sydney, Australia has already adjusted its...

Earlier this year, U.S. Senators Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) introduced the E-Label Act, which would allow for companies to meet the FCC's demands for certification labels by placing digital stamps on a device's software as opposed to etching information on hardware. The senators argued that the changes would allow manufacturers to save money and pass savings onto...

Apple will discontinue the iPhone 5c next year, according to Taiwan's Industrial and Commercial Times. Production of the handset is said to be stopping in the middle of the year, as Apple suppliers Wistron and Foxconn will look to wind down production of the device. The news follows a report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo earlier this week which noted that production of the iPhone 5c...

Shipments of Apple's iPhone are expected to surge to 71.5 million units in Q4 2014 before the company decreases shipments to an estimated 49.4 million units in Q1 2015, according to a new report from KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. The analyst estimates that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will account for nearly 57 million of the fourth-quarter number and that the iPhone 5c and iPhone 4S will...