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

OpenFeint, one of the first iOS leaderboard platforms, will be shutting down in one month according to the company that owns it. The problem, at least for gamers, is that older games may crash upon launch depending on how they are coded.Developers have until December 14th to migrate away from OpenFeint, at which point it'll be offline forever. Even under normal circumstances this sort of...

IDG News Service reports on comments from research firm IDC indicating that Apple's iPad shipments to China have risen 80% quarter-over-quarter, with the significant increase said to be related to increased distribution enabled by a settlement of a dispute with Proview Technology over the "iPad" trademark.Shipments of the tablet in the third quarter reached 2.07 million units, up from 1.15...

Twelve South's popular BookBook iPhone case has been updated for the iPhone 5 and will launch on Monday November 19th, MacRumors has learned. We don't have any details about pricing, but the new BookBook should begin shipping on Monday as well. Interested users can sign up for a notification list to learn when the BookBook for iPhone 5 launches. The current BookBook for the iPhone 4 and 4S...

Algoriddim today launched vjay for iPhone, the smaller brother of vjay for iPad which launched earlier this year.The software allows creative types to remix music videos in real time, similar to what djay does for music. djay for iPad won an Apple Design Award in 2011.Mix and scratch your favorite music videos from iTunes or combine songs from your music library with personal video footage...

The New York Post reports that thieves managed to steal $1.5 million worth of iPad minis from a warehouse at Kennedy Airport in New York City on Monday night. The heist, which appears to have been an inside job, netted the criminals two pallets containing 3,600 iPad minis.The crooks arrived at Building 261 around 11 p.m. in a white tractor trailer marked with the name CEVA on the side, according ...

Elevation Lab has released a $15 adapter that allows its popular Kickstarter project, the Elevation Dock, to be used with the iPhone 5. The company is also selling an $89 redesigned dock that is specifically designed for the iPhone 5.With either solution, users need to provide their own Lightning to USB Cable. ...

Last year, Bluetooth headset and speaker manufacturer released the UP wristband to much critical acclaim, only to pull it off the market a month later because of a defective design and numerous unhappy customers. The situation was so bad, Jawbone offered a "no questions asked guarantee", refunded all UP purchasers the full price paid, and allowed them to keep the device.Today, Jawbone released ...

Apple has begun selling the iOS-enabled Fender Squier Strat guitar on its Online Store, adding to its collection of app-enabled accessories.The $199.95 guitar has USB and iOS connectivity built-in, designed to allow recording directly into GarageBand on the Mac, iPhone and iPad. The USB output on the guitar is a USB Mini-B and a USB-mini to 30-pin adapter is included in the box, meaning users...

Fresh off of a $368 million patent lawsuit victory over Apple regarding virtual private networking (VPN) connectivity used in Apple's FaceTime video calling feature, VirnetX has filed a new lawsuit targeting all of Apple's latest iOS devices and Macs, which were not included in the original lawsuit. The new lawsuit was unearthed by Patently Apple earlier this week, but VirnetX did not announce...

As noted by MacStories, Apple has sent an email to developers informing them that the iTunes Connect portal for the App Store will be shut down over the Christmas holiday, as it has the past several years. This year's shutdown will extend from December 21st through December 28th.As in past years, Apple suggests developers not schedule price changes or new releases during the shutdown period....

After weeks of teasers and hints, Rovio has finally released Angry Birds Star Wars. Don't expect anything revolutionary, however. The game is exactly what one would expect: Angry Birds, but with a Star Wars theme.Our sister-site TouchArcade has a walkthrough video of some gameplay and some background about how the game actually works.In fact it's drenched with Star Wars stuff. Every level,...

Microsoft has released an upgrade to its Xbox Live app, changing the name to Xbox SmartGlass and dramatically expanding its functionality. Microsoft announced SmartGlass earlier this year, aiming to turn a mobile phone or tablet into a second screen to compliment Xbox content.It allows Xbox owners to remotely control their media, navigate through the Xbox dashboard, and more -- including the...

The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has sold through its initial stocks of the iPhone 5 in India following the device's launch there on Friday, but the company was said to have delivered only 10,000-15,000 units for the first wave of sales.“We were sold out within 24 hours of launch. It’s all gone,” said Himanshu Chakrawarti, chief executive of The MobileStore Ltd., a retailer that...

Apple has begun selling its Lightning to Micro USB in the United States for the first time. The adapter, originally released to European customers because of EU requirements, allows users to charge their iPhones using commonplace micro USB adapters.With the adapter, iPhone 5, iPad mini and 4th-generation iPad users will be able to charge their devices with some of their existing cables....

Just hours after the iPad mini went on sale, car audio specialists are already installing it in the dashboards of cars. This example, first noticed by 9to5Mac, was installed in a 2012 Toyota Corolla by Soundwaves of Tampa.The install uses the iPad mini to play Pandora and iHeartRadio through a previously installed audio system. However, because the iPad mini with LTE isn't yet available, the...

iPhone5mod is continuing its rapid pace of development on unauthorized Lightning-compatible accessories today, introducing a new direct plug 30-pin dock connector adapter and a Lightning to micro-USB adapter. Both of these products are substitutes for official Apple products, with iPhone5mod's 30-pin adapter available in both black and white and priced at $15.90, compared to Apple's official ...

AT&T has launched a free online storage service for iOS that allows users to automatically upload and backup images and video. AT&T Locker, which competes with Dropbox and other online backup services, includes 5GB of free storage with upgrades to 30 or 100GB available.AT&T Locker provides users the ability to upload images and video to secure online storage and quickly share on Facebook,...

According to Apple's iCloud System Status page, 8% of iCloud users cannot currently use any iCloud service except mail or iChat. The site gives no suggestion of a cause for the outage, nor a timetable for fixing it -- other than to say services will be restored as soon as possible. On Tuesday, iCloud experienced a widespread FaceTime, iMessage and Game Center outage that lasted nearly two...