ios

Intuit wants to give its customers a glimpse of the future of mobile payments through an adaptation of its GoPayment service that eliminates the need for credit cards.

Tapping into the growing field of NFC (near-field communication) technology, Intuit's reimagined GoPayment service would let consumers wirelessly pay for items on the go through just a touch of an NFC-enabled cell phone.

With the necessary NFC hardware and credit card information stored on a mobile phone, consumers could leave their money and credit cards at home and use their phones to buy items and services at stores, restaurants, and other … Read more

Will Verizon iPhone users finally be able to update their devices wirelessly without the need for iTunes?

Multiple sources have told Apple news site 9to5Mac that Apple and Verizon Wireless will soon offer over-the-air updates to the iPhone following this fall's expected release of iOS 5. Although iOS 5 itself won't be available wirelessly, 9to5Mac reports that any future updates to the OS will come over the air. With such a change, people would no longer need a PC and iTunes to act as the middlemen to keep their smartphones current.

If the reports are true, Apple would join rival Google, which already offers Android users the ability to update their devices sans computer. Apple reportedly also has the technology to update its devices over the air already, but the company has apparently been cautious about opening it up everywhere. However, Apple has been chatting with Verizon about unleashing this technology since early this year, said 9to5Mac.

The sources didn't say whether wireless updates would also be available on AT&T or international carriers of the iPhone. No specific mention was made to the iPad or iPod Touch, but the same technology logically should extend to all of Apple's iOS devices.

Though over-the-air updates would provide a convenient, mobile way to keep the iPhone updated, there are a couple of potential pitfalls.… Read more

Beyond Ynth is an innovative and idiosyncratic puzzle-platformer game, a fun follow-up to Ynth, and now also available in striking HD on the iPad.

You play as a fragile little bug named Kribl, who traverses a series of worlds of various types (forest, desert, volcano, and snow), scurrying through mazelike boxes. You push and rotate these boxes to create a safe, interconnected pathway from one end of the level to the other, and along the way (depending on the type of world you're in), you have to watch out for deadly sunbeams, freezing air, falling acorns, and the like. … Read more

iOS notifications concept from Andreas on Vimeo.

On our list of iPhone 5 most wanted features, at No. 13 we have "improved home screen" with a better notifications system. A lot of people have been hoping Apple would come up with a more modular home screen that's more Android-like and has something akin to customizable widgets.

We suspect we'll get something like this when Apple rolls out iOS 5 next month at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), but in the meantime, take a look at this concept for a redesigned notifications system/home screen that the folks at 9to5 Mac have highlighted. It's pretty slick.

… Read more

Apple today released, as promised, an iOS update addressing location-tracking behavior, and the security of that information on its portable devices.

iOS 4.3.3, which is a free update delivered through Apple's iTunes software, reduces the size of the "crowdsourced" location cache, no longer backs up the cache to iTunes in the form of a device recovery image, and deletes the cache when a user turns Location Services off.

Two of those issues--the size of the database, and the failure to delete the cache from the device--Apple had called "bugs" when addressing the issue … Read more

According to one developer's findings, Apple is rumored to be already testing iOS 5. A crash report received by developer FutureTap showed that the mobile operating system of note was iOS 5 when the crash took place.

FutureTap posted a short tweet to let its followers know of the development.

Taking into account recent location tracking drama, FutureTap also noted an "interesting" file called MKUserLocationBreadCrumb in the report. It is unknown whether this file is related to the consolidated.db file currently under investigation by several European countries and South Korea, as well as by Congress. Steve … Read more

Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP is a stylistically unusual and engrossing action and adventure game that focuses on artistic audio and visuals. Immediately upon starting the game, you'll notice it has a very distinctive style and you'll get onscreen cues that teach you how to control your character. As the story unfolds, you'll travel across a mythic realm and solve puzzles as you go.

Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery offers a unique experience and an interesting control scheme that sets it apart from other side-scrolling games. As you travel the world, you'll run across impassable areas that … Read more

Doodle Buddy is a free, no-frills, ad-supported drawing and doodling app with playful stamps and backgrounds that will appeal to kids.

Doodle Buddy's "finger-painting" interface lets you draw with swipes and taps. A row of tappable icons on the bottom of the screen lets you undo your last action (multiple times), erase your current drawing (you can also shake your device to erase), and choose from several different tools: a drawing tool (brush, chalk, glitter, smudge, or eraser, all with adjustable sizes), a stamp (with dozens of built-in stamps, from animals to smileys to speech balloons, each … Read more

"Hey, Buzz Crew ..." Google seems to be building out a version of Chrome OS for tablets, which we're calling their "double rainbow" strategy: it breaks your brain. Plus, what Epsilon knew about their social phishing vulnerabilities, and when they knew it. Samsung cuts tablet pricing again, why we're never using Pandora again until we get an email from Tim Westergren, and a seriously old-school hacker story. --Molly