Hasta La Gadget!

I’ve seen a handful of third party iOS charge and sync cables, but they were all practical and designed to add functionality. On the other hand, this cable is just determined to stand out. Although it will at times stand out as rubbish or a piece of rope.

This isn’t some electrically conducting magical rope. If you look closely, you’ll see that the actual cord is entwined with the other fiber cords. If you look even more closely, you’ll notice the pixels on your monitor.

You can order the cable from Etsy seller cdadamo for $20 (USD).

If you’re in China and use a free chat app called Weixin on Android or iOS, you’re about to get no-charge VoIP as well thanks to an imminent update. The company is set to join the likes of Skype, Viber and Korea’s Kakao Talk in providing free cellphone calls to the nation and ought to make a huge splash given the massive 100 million user install base. The Tencent-owned service is also adding Bluetooth support, a matching VoIP web service and a complete redesign of its site, according to TechNode. There’s no release date yet or word on whether the English version WeChat will get it, but if so, it might make those pricey cellphone calls to friends and family overseas a lot freer.

100 million smartphone owners in China getting free VoIP through messaging app Weixin originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week there was a bit of chatter on the fact that a “small number of users” as Apple put it were affected by an issue in the iTunes app store – today Apple has a fix. This issue included several apps crashing intermittently after they’d been updated, but today’s update straight from Apple’s iTunes representatives notes that all is well once more and that every app that’s been crashing should simply be able to be updated or re-downloaded from iTunes for a fully operational version, no worries included.

This update comes from an Apple spokesperson speaking with Rosa Golijan at msNBC and includes an extremely simplified statement on the situation with not a whole lot of unnecessary meat involved. Have a peek at the statement here:

“We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded. It affected a small number of users. The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again. Users who experienced an issue launching an app caused by this server bug can delete the affected app and re-download it.” – Apple

A system on the fritz that’s normally charged with making sure you’ve got the key to opening all of your apps. Now that system is fixed and all is well in the world of iOS apps. Were you affected? Are you able to re-download the apps in question with great success? Let us know!

iOS app DRM error rectified by Apple is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A large number of apps were affected by an upgrade crash bug on the iOS and OS X App Stores, a problem first spotted by Marco Arment, the developer of Instapaper. The story quickly gained traction, with Arment updating his blog highlighting all the apps that were stricken with the issue. Apple commented that it was looking into the problem last night, and has now confirmed that it has been fixed.

Speaking to AllThingsD, Apple outlined the cause of the problem: “We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded. The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again.”

The issue seemed to step from the FairPlay DRM system, but everything has been resolved now. Any new updates pushed to the App Store shouldn’t be affected by the issue anymore, but if you still have the crashing issue then you’ll need to delete and reinstall your app.

Apple: corrupt app update bug has been fixed is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

At some point in the year 2012, Apple is getting set to release a brand new iPhone, or that’s what the rumor mill would have you believe, this time packed with a massive quad-core A6 chip. This time of year is always going to see its fair share of iPhone rumors, or it certainly will if DigiTimes, the source for this current tip, has anything to say about it. With leaks of information that are sometimes right on the money as far as Apple factory parts news goes, it’s always interesting to hear what this often China-based news source has to say.

What this particular update includes is a new bit of processor architecture which would represent a next generation of chips for the Apple smartphone (and perhaps iPad) device line. The iPhone 4S was the last smartphone to get a big chip upgrade with the Apple A5, that being a dual-core 800Mhz processor with immense power for games, graphics, and photo and video processing. The iPad 3rd generation release had a slightly upgraded chip as well, the dual-core A5X with improvements for the Retina quality display the newest iPad came with standard.

It’s not out of the question that Apple would amp up the power of their architecture under the hood to four cores, but there is a question of necessity. While the quad-core craze was started by NVIDIA with their Tegra 3 processor for mobile devices, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core chip has been more than just a sideline competitor for the game-ready Tegra gear.

As far as brand power goes, Apple has been more than ready to turn a dual-core processor into a quad-core with a simple twisting of words – you’ll find the advertising for the A5X chip to be focusing on the graphics processing units instead of the CPU components, while the Tegra 3′s quad-core refers to the fact that there are four CPU cores, not GPUs.

So stay tuned, folks, as the next iPhone – perhaps the iPhone 5 – gets closer and closer to reality. Check the timeline below for further leaks, tips, and rumors galore!

[iPhone 5 concept render by Fusechicken]

iPhone 5 set for quad-core A6 chip is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.