News

Another report has surfaced indicating Apple plans to launch its next iPhone with a built-in fingerprint sensor. This time KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo explains that a new home button design will be convex instead of the current concave design, to accommodate the fingerprint sensor. The sapphire component will prevent scratches, much like the sapphire camera lens cover currently found on the iPhone 5.

As MacRumors notes, Kuo has a decent track record offering information on upcoming Apple products. Kuo speculates that the iPhone home button provides the perfect place to use fingerprint sensor technology, and that Apple's use of AuthenTec technology would be advantageous. While many fingerprint sensors use optical recognition, this method can be affected by dust and other contaminants.

The new iOS app MixBit is ready to take on Vine and Instagram in the rapidly growing world of social video sharing. MixBit allows users to capture 16 second "bits" (1 second longer than Instagram), and edit them together to create longer videos. Users can use their own bits, or any publicly shared video content from other MixBit contributors to create their own remixes.

MixBit creators Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who are also the founders of YouTube, say remixing other people's videos is the principal goal of the new service.

“The whole purpose of MixBit is to reuse the content within the system,” explained Hurley. “I really want to focus on great stories that people can tell.”

Hurley and Chen believe younger users will prefer MixBit to Vine and Instagram because of its video editing tools. Vine offers zero editing options, while Instagram only features a few basic choices. One thing MitBix does not offer is the ability to create individual profiles. Instead, users must upload their content anonymously to a communal pool of clips. MitBix also doesn't allow its users to comment on other people's work. However, Hurley did say they're working on adding these options in the future.

That didn't take long. 9to5Mac has already discovered eight changes Apple has made to iOS 7, however it's nothing too notable. Apple released the fifth beta to developers earlier this afternoon. According to 9to5Mac, iOS 7 beta 5 users will notice redesigned icons in the Settings app, a redesigned Twitter icon and a white reboot screen for white devices. The iPhone's mute, keypad and other buttons now feature white circles around the icons, and there is a new bar for grabbing banner notifications. Other changes include the ability to disable Control Center while using apps, and a possible bug that eliminates the Slide to unlock sound on the iPhone.

This is supposedly the final beta release before Apple makes iOS 7 public, so huge changes were were not expected. Apple released iOS beta 4 last week after its developer portal was compromised then fixed. The fourth beta also delivered some much needed interface and performance tweaks, plus a few bug fixes.

Apple has rolled out its second iOS 7 beta after giving its developer center a major overhaul last week. iOS 7 beta 5 is now available as an OTA update for registered developers. The last release brought several bug fixes plus interface and performance tweaks to the OS. Notable changes included more proof that Apple could be adding an iPhone fingerprint scanner, and the addition of a less confusing Lock screen. This is also believed to be the last beta Apple will release before they launch the final version in September.

iOS 7 will not only add a host of new features like iTunes Radio, but it will also completely change the look and feel of all supported iOS devices. Apple's all-new design promises to deliver a whole new experience for iOS users. It will be interesting to see the general public's reaction when it's released later this year.

Selecting a new wallpaper image can keep iOS looking fresh. Even better is creating a completely unique wallpaper image with the jailbreak tweak Sodium. Once installed, Sodium provides access to 27 blend modes and 16 colors, along with a variety of other options. Alpha and intensity can be adjusted to create the perfect iOS background in combination with other mods.

Users of image editing software such as Photoshop will recognize the blend modes, including Multiply, Negative, Darken, Lighten, Color Burn, Color Dodge, Soft Light, Hard Light, and many more. In fact, many of the modifications that Sodium brings to the iOS background image of your choice can be accomplished on a computer. The advantage of Sodium is that all of these options can be customized directly on a mobile device.