MacRumors iPhone and iPad Blog: Apps, News, and Rumors

The Etch A Sketch has been a cultural icon for more than 50 years. These days, the iPad has replaced the red tablet as the cultural icon, but a new Kickstarter project aims to combine the two. The Etcher combines a red iPad case complete with sketching knobs and an app that completes the Etch A Sketch experience. They have even obtained a license from Ohio Art, the company that makes the...

Following a claim earlier this week that Apple had made its first settlement offer to Proview in the ongoing dispute over the "iPad" trademark in China, The Next Web now points to a report from Sina.com [Google translation] claiming that Apple's offer amounted to 100 million yuan, equivalent to $16 million. That marks a substantial increase over the $55,000 purchase price in the original...

Case-Mate has released a new iPhone case made from 100% recycled post-consumer PET bottles -- the plastic in soda and water bottles. Case-Mate says one recycled water bottle equals one iPhone case. “As part of our greater effort to encourage more sustainable practices, we’ve introduced a line of fashionable, functional and environmentally responsible cases,” said Shashi Reddy,...

Among several lawsuits filed by Chinese company Proview alleging that it legally owns the "iPad" trademark in China despite a deal December 2009 between Proview's Taiwanese arm and a dummy corporation set up by Apple for the purposes of acquiring the trademark, one lawsuit has been filed in the United States. In that suit, filed in California in late February, Proview alleged that Apple had...

Apple and Samsung have been suing each other for years, and Apple wants things to move along a little faster in the main U.S. case in California -- Apple wants to start the jury trial on July 30th as scheduled. Samsung believes the case is too large to go to trial, and wants to delay proceedings while the companies hash things out further. Both Samsung and Apple have agreed to narrow their...

Photo sharing service TwitPic has released its first iPhone app, saying in an interview that the company "wanted to provide a better experience for our users." The app, which looks something like Instagram, includes a photo editor with effects, cropping and other photo editing features. It also allows users to see their friends' photos and the most popular pictures across the service. Ven...

Apple today reduced prices on all refurbished models of the original iPad and iPad 2 in its online store, knocking between $20 and $50 off of each model. The price drops include: iPad 2 - 16 GB Wi-Fi: $319, down $30 from $349 - 32 GB Wi-Fi: $399, down $50 from $449 - 64 GB Wi-Fi: $499, down $50 from $449 - 16 GB Wi-Fi+3G: $449, down $30 from $479 - 32 GB Wi-Fi+3G: $529, down $50...

Evernote, the notetaking and archiving service, has acquired notebook app Penultimate for an undisclosed sum, reports The Next Web. Evernote has been on something of a buying spree -- in August of last year, Evernote bought image editing and sharing app Skitch. More that simply bringing the app into the Evernote stable, the deal will see Penultimate (blessed with the accolade of 4th most...

Facebook has updated its standalone mobile messaging app, as it tries to make messaging more modern. The Facebook Messenger app has gained read receipts, which tell senders when their messages have been read, as well as providing the senders location information. According to TechCrunch, Facebook is trying to make mobile conversations "feel more real." Product Manager Peter Deng tells “SMS has ...

Third-party warranty provider SquareTrade has announced that it is expanding its warranty coverage to include jailbroken iPhones, a procedure that voids the standard Apple warranty. The policy change affects new and existing coverage holders, according to a report from CNET. No word yet on if this extends to iPads and iPods, which SquareTrade also covers as part of its warranty service. The...

iDownloadBlog points to a new YouTube concept video showing one user's idea of how Apple could vastly improve the text editing functionality on the iPad and other iOS devices. While the current method of text selection involves tapping and dragging around the screen to select cursor position and highlight text, Daniel Hooper suggests that Apple could make use of gestures in the keyboard area ...

Last November, it was reported that an iPhone 4 had experienced self-combustion onboard an aircraft that had just landed in Sydney, Australia. The incident gained a fair amount of attention for the apparently dangerous situation it caused and existing concerns over occasionally overheating of iPhones and other devices, although those incidents are usually related to charging malfunctions. ZDNe...

With the release of iPhoto for iOS alongside the third-generation iPad back in March, Apple began using mapping data from OpenStreetMap and others rather than Google as it has for its other map-related products thus far. Apple did, however, come under some criticism for failing to acknowledge its use of OpenStreetMap data as required by the foundation overseeing the project. In a Tweet...

Apple today announced that it has added support for ten new languages in iTunes Connect, giving developers new options for localizing app descriptions in the App Store.We have expanded language support in iTunes Connect, so you can localize app metadata, keywords, and screenshots in 10 new languages: Traditional Chinese, Norwegian, Turkish, Finnish, Danish, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese,...

Energizer has introduced a pair of new 5-watt iPhone chargers that aim to keep a handle on charging cables when not in use. The car charger has the wrap-around cable storage, and a nifty "FindMe" light that illuminates the inside of the USB port for easy plugging in a dark car. The wall charger includes flip-down blades as well as a blue light that turns off when the iPhone is fully...

More than a year after a media event launching News Corp's tablet news app The Daily on the iPad, the publication has now expanded to the iPhone [App Store].The Daily took the world by storm in 2011 as the first ever custom daily news app created and designed from scratch for the iPad. By popular demand, it's now available on the go for iPhones. Get the same amazing content as the iPad app,...

EA is telling owners of Rock Band for iPhone that as of May 31, the game will "no longer be playable on your device." Most users probably expect that a game they paid $4.99 for -- and that is still on sale, with no suggestion that the game will be useless in a month -- wouldn't suddenly stop working, especially when Rock Band offers a number of song packs as in-app purchases. At the very least ...

The Pebble wristwatch has tallied up a Kickstarter-record breaking $8 million in pledges and now has a big endorsement with the announcement of its first third-party app integration. Popular fitness app RunKeeper has announced that its users will be able to see in-activity fitness data, start and stop timing and more on the Pebble watch when it launches this fall. Well, when Pebble approached ...