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

Nuance, the company behind the speech recognition technology in the Siri and Dictation features on the iPhone, iPad and OS X, has released a new Siri-like API called Nina. Developers will be able to integrate Nina into their apps allowing the use of voice commands like Siri allows.CNET has more information on the launch:In order to differentiate their applications from others, developers will...

Though Apple has had some difficulties with its iAd mobile advertising network, the company just published a new case study (via TechCrunch) and video promoting the success Land Rover had advertising with iAd on the iPhone.Among the other more interesting tidbits on Apple's 'Brands' page are some statistics on iOS usage including that users spend 73 minutes per day on average using apps, and...

Apple.pro points [Google translation] to several images posted to Chinese microblogging site Sina Weibo showing what is claimed to be the rear shell of the "iPad mini". We certainly can not speak definitively to the authenticity of the images, and anything posted randomly to a microblogging site is clearly suspect until additional supporting evidence is discovered, but we have elected to share...

Firemonkeys, the new combined studio from EA combining the IronMonkey and Firemint gaming studios, has announced the development of Real Racing 3 for iPhone and iPad. Real Racing and Real Racing 2 have been widely viewed as some of the most cutting edge iOS games available.Real Racing 2 was one of the first games to support 1080p output on the iPad 2 and the first game to take advantage of the ...

Apple has updated its Apple Store iOS app with unnamed 'performance enhancements' and the option to preload iWork onto Macs purchased via the app.Apple used to offer iWork preloaded on Macs and included the install DVD inside the box, however once iWork became available only via the App Store, the company removed that option. Yesterday, the preloading ability was returned to the standard Online ...

AMD today announced the return of Jim Keller, who has spent the past four years as a director in the platform architecture group at Apple after joining the company as part of the 2008 acquisition of P.A. Semi. Keller, who previously was a key contributor to AMD's Athlon 64 and Opteron 64 projects before moving on to positions at other companies, will be returning to the company as corporate...

News Corp.'s celebrated tablet newspaper The Daily will lay off 50 of its 170 employees and slash costs by creating all digital pages in the newspaper in vertical format only, rather than designing pages in both vertical and horizontal formats, among other things, reports All Things Digital:Employees who produce the paper’s editorial page and sports coverage will be heavily hit by the layoffs, ...

Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that consumer organizations in the country are taking a closer look at Apple's warranty repairs, criticizing the company over a number of policies including the use of reconditioned parts rather than new ones.According to the company's after-sale clauses, customers have to agree that Apple repairers utilize used or reconditioned parts to replace damaged parts on ...

Last week, a UK judge ruled that Apple must post public notices in newspapers and on its website acknowledging that Samsung did not copy the design of the iPad with its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. That announcement came a little over a week after the same judge had ruled against Apple in its infringement claim against Samsung, opining that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is simply "not as cool" as the iPad. ...

Last month, Google attempted to siphon some interest from Apple by holding a press conference introducing "the next dimension of Google Maps" just days before Apple's preview of iOS 6 and its own mapping solution at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Among the announcements from Google were new 3D features for the company's Google Earth platform, features the company reported would be coming ...

Following Verizon and AT&T, Sprint today became the last of the three major U.S. iPhone carriers to report results for the second quarter of 2012, revealing that it sold 1.5 million iPhones during the period. That matches the previous quarter's performance even as Verizon and AT&T experienced declines of roughly 15% quarter-over-quarter. In addition to its steady second quarter iPhone...

Apple has released updated versions of the Keynote, Pages and Numbers iOS apps, adding support for iCloud's Documents in the Cloud feature. iCloud now backs up documents automatically and syncs versions between the iWork apps on iOS and the Mac.OS X Mountain Lion is required to sync documents between the Mac and iOS versions of Keynote, Numbers and Pages.What's newKeynote/Numbers/Pages...

Along with the release of OS X Mountain Lion, Apple today also released an updated version of its iTunes U learning app for iPhone and iPad. iTunes U was originally released this past January as part of an increased education push for the company.The new iTunes U adds a note-taking component and a much improved search function, as well as a mechanism for sharing courses via Twitter, Mail or...

CNET reports on the discovery of Windows malware embedded within an iPhone application available through the App Store. But rather than a directed attack at Windows users, the malware appears to have been accidentally included from an infected developer's system. The malware is also relatively old and easily detected by most antivirus software for Windows once the App Store package has been...

Radio Shack has begun offering "refreshed" and "remanufactured" iPhone 4 and 4S models for a significant discount. The iPhone 4S is available from Radio Shack on AT&T and Verizon starting for $99.99 with a two-year contract, and the iPhone 4 on the same carriers for free.According to Radio Shack:Refreshed phones are models that have been restored and repackaged internally (no full warranty),...

FOSS Patents reports that Apple has been granted an expanded sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 over design infringement, with a German court issuing a preliminary injunction ruling that Samsung may not sell the device anywhere in the European Union. A sales ban in Germany has been in effect for a number of months now under a decision related to its larger sibling, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, but...

Apple will streamline the App Store purchasing experience when iOS 6 arrives this fall, as noticed by Reddit submitter Varmanj. In two significant changes, Apple will no longer require that users enter passwords to download free apps, nor when users download an update to an existing purchased app, whether paid or free.In iOS 5, users must enter their password whenever they wish to download an...

As noted by Engadget, Chinese company Proview has been sued by its own lawyers responsible for handling its trademark lawsuits against Apple that yielded a $60 million settlement earlier this month. The law firm claims that it is owed $2.4 million for its role in the case, but Proview has yet to make the promised payment.While acknowledging their contractual arrangement (wherein the law firm...