When Apple introduced the original iPad in 2010, the company also unveiled its iWork and iLife suite of apps for the tablet. The apps were later made available for the iPhone. Apple initially offered the apps has a paid download and then made them free for every new iOS user.
As Apple’s iOS platform gained more and more popularity, it was turning out to be a lost opportunity for Microsoft to not offer its apps on the second most popular mobile platform. It’s clear that Microsoft initially must have struggled and hoped that Widows Mobile gains the same momentum as iOS or Android however, it hasn’t worked out like that as yet.
Under the leadership of Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, the company launched Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint for iOS. The apps when launched required Office 365 subscription to edit and save files but remained free to view Office files. The company later removed the restriction of Office 365 subscription and made editing files a standard feature.
With the latest update to the suite of apps you can now save files to Apple’s iCloud Drive. Microsoft has added support for open, edit, and save work to iCloud in the “Places” section of each iOS app. iCloud Drive upload and save feature has been added in addition to existing cloud services such as DropBox and Microsoft OneDrive.
You can download the apps for free from the App Store: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel and Microsoft PowerPoint.
]]> https://touchreviews.net/microsoft-office-apps-ios-updated-icloud-drive-upload-feature/feed/ 0We recently covered a story where we explained why Apple isn’t afraid of cannibalising its own products and the all-new Photos app is just another example of that. However, this time they have killed two of their powerful applications in favour of simplicity and making Mac apps work better with iOS devices. Earlier today, for the first time Apple made the new Photos app available for download to developers as a part of first beta of OS X 10.10.3.
According to David Pogue, “Photos is fast, slick, and very easy to learn and navigate”. Photos for Mac looks very similar to Photos for iOS. The new app will feature layout just like on an iPhone and iPad. With iCloud for Photos users will be able to store their entire photo library to the cloud and have them available across all Apple devices. Editing features like adjusting light, colour and more work just like on iOS and for the first time your edits will also be synced across iOS devices.
Every year we see Apple reducing the boundaries between OS X and iOS by re-writing existing apps and by enabling new capabilities. With Yosemite Apple introduced Continuity and Handoff that allows the user to switch between devices as if they are same but, just different in form factor.
Photos for OS X Yosemite is expected to be made available for download “this spring”.
]]> https://touchreviews.net/apple-releases-photos-app-mac-beta-download-os-10103/feed/ 0The company unveiled its new mobile operating system during the world wide developers conference earlier this year. This release doesn’t just include a number of user facing features but also opens hundreds of new API’s for third-party developers.
With iOS 8 users will experience a completely new Messages app that borrows a number of features from Whatsapp, new Messages app now includes audio messages, instant photo messages (Snapchat?), mute conversation and more. Typing on the new iOS has also been enhanced as Apple introduces QuickType which intelligently recommends words as you type and overtime it learns and adapts to your writing style. QuickType in iOS 8 doesn’t just learn your writing style but also remembers how you communicate with different people.
Apple has heard the requests of its customers and finally introducing iCloud Drive, a central location to find all your documents from Mac, PC or iOS. Did this make you think of Dropbox? Access any of your file from any device connected to iCloud without having to worry about its version. However, it’s worth noting that it is advisable to not opt in for iCloud Drive when setting up your iOS 8 device until OS X Yosemite is available for download. Files stored in iCloud Drive will only work with iOS 8 devices and OS X Yosemite.
Handoff in iOS 8 allows you to continue working on your choice of device while picking up from where you left off, but this will also require OS X Yosemite.
Third-party apps greatly benefit from this update as Apple has finally allowed developer access to Touch ID, Camera API, PhotoKit, HealthKit, HomeKit and CloudKit.
The update is now available for download over-thir-air for compatible devices.
Have you upgraded your devices already? What do you think about the new update? Let us know your experience in the comments below.
]]> https://touchreviews.net/ios-8-software-update-download/feed/ 0I bought the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro with 512GB SSD, 2.5GHz i7 quad-core processor and 16GB RAM on August 15th, the day it was launched in India. This is my second Mac the first was a 27-inch mid 2010 iMac. I recently published the story behind me switching from an iMac to MacBook Pro, if you’re interested you can find it here.
It’s been almost 10 days since I’ve been using the new Retina MacBook Pro and this review will be focusing on real-world use, general observations and experiences. If you’re looking for a more technical review focusing on speed tests and tech specs, you may want to visit AnandTech for the most comprehensive hardware reviews.
Over the last 10 days my workflow has drastically changed. I was using a windows laptop before I purchased the iMac, and over the last 4 years working on a large 27-inch screen made me feel that going back to a laptop would be a challenge. However, I was prepared for the tradeoff between modern computing speed and screen space.
As I started working on the new Retina MacBook Pro I was pleasantly surprised with the fact that I was being more efficient in my workflow and obviously could get the work done much faster than ever before. Before I get into the details about how the MacBook Pro changed my workflow I should talk about how I work.
A typical day would see me browsing through hundreds of webpages, lots of email, working on Pages, creating presentations on Keynote, producing wireframes for apps, web design etc. With the luxury of 27 inch screen I mostly had everything open on a single desktop area. This allowed me to always have a bird’s eye view of everything that was open and gave me a feeling of being in control over everything. I rarely ever used ‘Spaces’ (creating multiple desktop spaces in OS X) as I just liked everything at one space. Even though this allowed me to view more at once, it could easily be too distracting at times.
With the MacBook Pro going from 27-inch to 15.4 inch screen required me to adjust the way I worked. From having lots of windows open at once I instantly switched to a more organised workflow by creating multiple spaces. Also, using full screen apps now made more sense, having mail open full screen on a 27 inch screen is not the same as it being open full screen on 15.4 inch screen. Full screen apps such as Mail, Pages or Safari make more sense on laptop when compared to a desktop. So, even though now I would see less at once but this increased my focus on the task at hand. Over the last 10 days I’ve noticed that having less to view at once actually made more sense and one could be more productive this way. It’s worth mentioning that I do miss the large screen space when it comes to wire framing apps, websites or editing a movie, but retina display surely makes up for that.
The first thing I ever noticed about the new MacBook Pro was its flawless high-resolution screen. The text is crisp, photos look stunning and it’s a complete visual treat. It suddenly makes you wonder why on Earth would you ever work on anything that does not have a retina screen. So, it was love at first sight with the new screen.
Once you come to terms with how excellent the screen is you start noticing that everything is just swift. Thanks to the SSD launching applications, booting-up, waking from sleep, reading & writing data is very fast. I can’t stress enough on how ‘fast’ especially if you’re moving from HDD to SSD for the first time on a computing machine. I would never turn off the iMac as it would take about 3-4 minutes to boot-up and that often felt like a lot. Apple’s iOS devices ‘always on’ usage behaviour has certainly changed the way we expect the way modern computers should work. MacBook Pro takes only a few seconds (less than 15) to boot-up so turning it off when not using it can help you save some energy. Although, there are no major benefits of turning off your computer when not using it, however occasionally it will make it more responsive as it will clear the RAM being hogged by kernel tasks.
The next aspect about the Retina MacBook Pro that I want to highlight is 16GB RAM. For the last four years I had been working with 4GB RAM on my iMac. For the modern-day browsing and general computing activities 4GB just isn’t enough although it does depend on how you use your computer. Since, I love having 15-25 tabs open in Safari when I’m researching on some topic having access to lots of RAM is a huge advantage.
I’ve put the new MacBook Pro under extreme work load by having lots of safari tabs open, playing SimCity, working on a Pages document, importing photos to iPhoto and even working on Final Cut Pro and Aperture, but the MacBook Pro just keeps taking it all and doesn’t lag one bit. I would refer to myself as a “power” user, so working on a portable machine that can take all that load is extremely satisfying.
I was a bit concerned about the battery life of my new Retina MacBook Pro. I had considered holding off my purchase for another year in anticipation of Intel’s Broadwell chips that are expected to be much more power efficient. However, so far the battery life on the MacBook Pro has been very reasonable. Keeping the screen brightness low and keyboard backlight off while not activating the dedicated graphics chip the MacBook Pro has exceeded Apple’s battery guidelines. Switching from iMac to a MacBook Pro also gave me the freedom from being tied to my desk. This freedom to work from anywhere without sacrificing on power or battery is a huge benefit.
The last aspect I want to cover is the overall build quality. Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro is undoubtedly the best looking machine you can buy in the market. The unibody construction feels extremely solid and it doesn’t feel that heavy when compared with the older generation models.
When working for long durations the system does heat up and sometimes it can get a bit uncomfortable. The fans have rarely kicked in at full speed during normal use. In my daily use the fans kicked in at full speed only while playing SimCity as the game requires the use of dedicated graphics card.
The Retina MacBook Pro might be costly but it scores highly in all aspects you can think of. However, it may still not meet everyone’s requirement. If you’re into high-end gaming and love running games at highest graphics settings then this may not be for you. If you prefer having more than 1TB storage then you’d have to look elsewhere. Upgrading the machine after purchasing is not possible; 16GB RAM will always remain 16GB. The device has been rated low in repairability. If you want to play DVD’s you would need to buy a SuperDrive.
Other benefits of a MacBook Pro include iCloud, access to some of the best softwares from the Mac App Store, less susceptible to malware, extremely responsive multi-touch trackpad and the best customer support service.
Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro is the gold standard in laptops and OS X Yosemite will only put it further in the lead. If you’ve waited all this while to switch to the MacBook Pro lineup there was never a better time than today.
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During the special keynote event yesterday Apple announced all new versions of their productivity and creativity apps for Mac and iOS. All new versions of iWork and iLife which includes Pages, Keynote, Numbers, iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band are now free with purchase of new Mac or iOS device. These updates are also free for existing users who purchased the older versions.
I own a Mid 2010 27-inch iMac which has been serving me well all these years. OS X Mavericks the tenth major software release for the Mac was also made available for free to iMac models dating back to 2007. After multiple failed attempts to download the software update due to Apple’s sever overload and then finally succeeding I was able to install OS X Mavericks.
After installing the new software update when I launched the Mac App Store to download other software updates I noticed Keynote as one of the app among other apps listed that had available updates. Now, this was interesting to me as I never purchased Keynote app for the Mac.
When I purchased the Mac I downloaded trial version of iWork (Apple did not have Mac App Store back then) and then later purchased only Pages and Numbers app as a digital download. Keynote app was still installed but never worked as the trial had expired.
After installing Mavericks I noticed under the “Purchases” tab it listed Keynote app with a purchase date of today. After the app was updated I launched it and it worked flawlessly.
In the past I’ve got lucky even with iCloud. Just when rumours about Apple announcing a cloud based service reached an all time high I registered for a free trial of MobileMe service. Since the trial was for 60 days and within a weeks time Apple announced iCloud I got extended storage of 25GB for one year without ever paying for the old MobileMe service.
iWork apps are also available on iCloud as web apps and now feature collaboration. The shift in Apple’s pricing strategy by listing its creative and productive suite of apps as free would certainly help in more customers experimenting with these apps and thus increasing its usage worldwide.
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With Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud service in over 115 countries, the Cupertino, California based company is consistently looking to expand. On Wednesday, Apple added movie support to the iTunes in the Cloud service for 11 new European countries.
The new countries include, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Users in these countries who previously downloaded content from the iTunes Store will be able to re-download all of it.
Other updates to the service include the availability of TV shows in France, as reported by French site iGen. TV show availability on iTunes in the Cloud has seen a very limited rollout, with France becoming only the fifth country to have the feature after the U.S, Australia, Canada, and the U.K. Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud service was launched in the United States in June of 2011, followed by the addition of TV shows and movies in March 2012.
Apple has gradually added the availability of movies in a number of countries, bringing it to above 100 countries. Apple’s iTunes in the Cloud is very similar to its other services and even its products, in the sense that it is not open sourced for storing any type of file and that it stays within the Apple ecosystem.
{Via MacRumors}
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After releasing five betas to developers, Apple has finally released iOS 6.1 to the public, adding new LTE carriers for use on the iPhone 5 as well as the ability to purchase movie tickets with Siri through the new Fandango integration. Apple’s SVP of WorldWide Marketing commented on the update:
iOS 6.1 brings LTE support to more markets around the world, so even more users can enjoy ultrafast Safari browsing, FaceTime video calls, iCloud services, and iTunes and App Store downloads.
The update also brings smaller features such as the ability to download individual songs through iTunes Match as opposed to entire albums and a reset button for the Advertising Identifier.
This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:
– LTE support for more carriers (complete list of supported carriers at www.apple.com/iphone/LTE/)
– Purchase movie tickets through Fandango with Siri (USA only)
– iTunes Match subscribers can now download individual songs from iCloud
– New button to reset the Advertising Identifier
The full list of LTE carriers includes the following:
The new LTE carriers are currently supported only by Apple’s latest iOS lineup, which includes the 4th-generation iPad, the iPad mini, and the iPhone 5. They are not supported on the third generation iPad despite the device carrying 4G LTE connectivity. With this update, Apple made sure to thoroughly iron out any bugs, after the company experienced major issues with their iOS Maps application, as well as Siri which led to the ousting of iOS chief Scott Forstall.
Apple is expected to release iOS 7 later this year, likely alongside a refreshed ‘iPhone 5S’ or the rumored cheaper iPhone. The update is available for download via iTunes or as an OTA (Over-The-Air) update through Settings on any iOS device.
{Via MacRumors}
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During this year’s September iPhone and iPod event, Apple also introduced iTunes 11. The Cupertino, Calif. based company released the newest update on Thursday, with a number of new features, such as a redesigned App Store, a mini player, and playback syncing. Other features include:
– Completely Redesigned. iTunes makes it more fun to explore and enjoy your music, movies, and TV shows. You’ll love the beautiful edge-to-edge design, custom designs for each album, movie, or TV show in your library, and getting personal recommendations any time you click in the Store.
– A New Store. The iTunes Store has been completely redesigned and now features a clean look that makes it simpler than ever to see what’s hot and discover new favorites.
– Play purchases from iCloud. Your music, movie, and TV show purchases in iCloud now appear inside your library. Just sign-in with your Apple ID to see them. Double-click to play them directly from iCloud or download a copy you can sync to a device or play while offline.
– Up Next. It’s now simple to see which songs are playing next, all from a single place. Just click the Up Next icon in the center display and they’ll instantly appear. You can even reorder, add, or skip songs whenever you like.
– New MiniPlayer. You can now do a whole lot more with a lot less space. In addition to showing what’s playing, MiniPlayer now includes album art, adds Up Next, and makes it easy to search for something new to play – all from a smaller and more elegant design.
– Improved search. It’s never been easier to find what you’re looking for in iTunes. Just type in the search field and you’ll instantly see results from across your entire library. Select any result and iTunes takes you right to it.
– Playback syncing. iCloud now remembers your place in a movie or TV show for you. Whenever you play the same movie or episode from your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple TV, it will continue right where you left off.
Apple delayed iTunes 11 because of engineering issues, and The Wall Street Journal’s Jessica E. Lessin commented, mentioning that parts of the new iTunes had to be rebuilt.
The new iTunes has been delayed a month by engineering issues that required parts to be rebuilt, according to people who have seen it.
Following the major management shake up at Apple, and the departure of iOS chief Scott Forstall, senior vice president of internet services, Eddy Cue took over all projects related to iCloud alongside his existing projects with iTunes, iTunes Store, and the App Store. Cue also took over Maps and Siri, after both failed to function as advertised and Apple received numerous complaints from customers.
With Cue running all of these services more strictly now, it is no wonder that iTunes 11 is delayed unless it can be guaranteed to operate the way it is expected to. The newest version of iTunes, iTunes 11 is now available for download on the Mac App Store and on the iTunes page as well.
{Via iMore}
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On Wednesday, Apple Inc. (AAPL) acquired HTML5 web app company, Particle. AAPL has acquired other companies in the past in order to develop a key part of one of their projects or create an entirely new one. CNET initially reported that Apple acquired the San Francisco based startup and that they acquired the company for its talents in the industry as opposed to any specific project that they were working on.
The company has done HTML5 work for Google, Motorola, Amazon, Yahoo, Sony, and Apple. The group has also created some “labs” projects including Intervue.me, an asynchronous video interviewing project. […]
The deal went through late last month, though not all its less than a dozen employees stayed on to work at Apple. Those who did are listed as “creative technologists” as well as one “user interface engineer,” according to their public LinkedIn profiles.
The report goes on to mention that Apple’s new employees will be put to work specifically on projects such as Apple’s website, iAd, and iCloud.com. Apple may also utilize the company for other projects, such as bringing more of the iTunes software over to the web, similar to iTunes Preview.
It appears Apple has already brought a few employees from Particle onboard already, with TechCrunch noting that several Particle employees have changed their employees on LinkedIn as early as September.
{Via MacRumors}
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Following the transition from Apple’s paid MobileMe service to the free iCloud service, the Cupertino based company provided users with an additional 20 GB of storage as a thank you for sticking around as a user. These users were expected to be downgraded back to the standard 5 GB of storage after their free complimentary year expired.
Standard users receive 5 GB of free storage, and have the option to purchase additional storage as needed. On Friday, Apple emailed these customers and mentioned that they are once again extending the complimentary storage to September 30, 2013.
When you moved your MobileMe account to iCloud, we provided you with a complimentary storage upgrade beyond the standard 5GB that comes with an iCloud account to help you with the transition. Originally, this storage upgrade was set to expire on September 30, 2012.
As a thank you to our former MobileMe members, we will continue to provide you with this complimentary storage upgrade at no charge, for an additional year, until September 30, 2013. No action is required on your part. For complete details, please read this article.
Thank you again for using iCloud,
iCloud Team
Users will receive storage based on their payment plans under the MobileMe service, causing the complimentary upgrades to range from 10 GB, 20 GB, or 50 GB. Late last week, many users reported that they were experiencing storage boosts up to 25GB, which led to speculation that Apple may be rewarding its users for paying for MobileMe previously. It is likely that the date on these upgrades from last week were a glitch, with an expiration date of the additional storage set to September, 30, 2050.
{via MacRumors}
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It appears that Apple is being very generous or mistakenly applied a perks plan for its employees to thousands of its iOS users, upgrading them to the $40/year iCloud storage plan, which provides users with 25GB of storage. What’s interesting about this is that the plan is set to expire in the year 2050, leading users to believe that this is likely a glitch and not a promotion of any kinds.
iMore notes that free 25GB MobileMe accounts of paid users are set to expire very soon, which may point to a mistake by Apple in managing these specific accounts. The 25GB upgrade is only being seen on some iOS devices while many remain at the standard 5GB of free storage.
Apple has not yet corrected the assumed issue and has not commented on the nature of the upgrade. It is likely an error, so enjoy it while you can.
Do you see the upgrade? Do you pay for iCloud already? If so, are you noticing a difference?
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Apple offers its employees a number of perks, for keeping the company’s retail stores operating smoothly on a daily basis. The latest perk Apple is offering is slightly odd, to say the least. The Cupertino company is offering their retail employees an upgrade to 50GB of free iCloud storage as opposed to the 5GB offered on a standard account.
The free storage is reportedly $100/a month value and is similar to the free MobileMe subscription employees received until it was scrapped for iCloud. According to MacRumors, Apple employees were given a $500 discount on any Mac except the Mini and $250 off of an iPad.
Apple continues to offer its retail employees free services and discounts on products, likely to keep morale high and keep the employees up to date. Some who don’t use the products, aside from the required training may not know as much about the product as an employee who use it regularly.
{via MacRumors}
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On Friday, AllThingsD reported on new statistics about the widespread use of Apple’s newest OS X update, Mountain Lion. The report mentioned that roughly 48 hours after the public release of OS X Mountain Lion, about 3% of total web traffic is coming from the latest Mac software.
Analytics firm Chitika conducted the research to come to this conclusion, estimating that Mountain Lion’s web traffic percentage increased from 0.25% before the public launch. This was likely the developer previews of Mountain Lion running prior to the release.
Moreover, based on Apple’s June 2012 announcement that there are currently 66 million Mac users in the wild, we can infer that 2.11 million Mac users downloaded OS X Mountain Lion in the past 48 hours,” Chitika said. “Using this figure, if we assume that 90 percent of these users paid to upgrade, OS X Mountain Lion generated $38 million in revenue for Apple in the past 48 hours.
It is unclear exactly how this compares to last years installation figures, which brought in one million downloads of OS X Lion on the first day of release.
With Retina Macbook Pro sales still increasing steadily and the company’s Up to Date program running, many users are either buying the MacBooks with Mountain Lion preinstalled or getting the update for free. OS X Mountain Lion brings key features to the desktop platform and blurs the lines between its mobile counterpart, iOS. Features such as Notes, Reminders, Notification Center, iCloud, and Dictation make OS X very similar to iOS.
{via MacRumors}
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Apple’s next version of OS X, Mountain Lion came out early Wednesday, adding over 200 new user features including Messages, Notification Center, Notes, and iCloud. Alongside some of the iOS like features introduced in the update, Apple also released a new feature via a firmware update in OS X 10.8 called Power Nap. PowerNap was previously announced at Apple’s WWDC 2012 and allows any Mac running the feature to receive email, update software, and syncing the calendar while the computer is sleeping.
Apple released a support document, highlighting the full abilities of OS X Mountain Lion. Full features of the update include: Syncing Mail, Calendar, Contact and Reminders as well as downloading software updates and Time Capsule backups. The Power Nap feature is currently only available on Mid-2011 Macbook Air and beyond as well as the new 2012 Retina MacBook Pro, both of which operate on SSDs (Solid State Drive).
Flash storage is a requirement for the feature as it can operate faster and more efficiently, using less power. The update was brought to 2011 MacBook Air via a firmware update and is expected to appear on the Retina MacBook Pro, likely through another firmware update.
{via MacRumors}
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Apple’s next version of OS X, 10.8 was released on Wednesday, adding over 200 new user features and bridging the gap between iOS and OS X. OS X Mountain Lion brought in a number of new features, but some of the more interesting and useful ones to note includes Messages, Notification Center, Notes, and iCloud. Some of the main features include:
With staple features such as Notes, Reminders, and Notification Center making their debut on the Mac, it is clear that Apple is continuing their “Back to the Mac” philosophy and learning a few tips and tricks about the preferences of users. It is clear that iOS devices have a much more widespread following and are easier to learn and navigate, and as a result, it makes sense for Apple to make OS X similar to the mobile software.
Apple’s OS X Mountain Lion is currently available only through the Mac App Store for $19.99 USD, the lowest price ever introduced for OS X software updates. OS X Lion has been enitrely removed from the Mac App Store and replaced with this new update.
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Apple recently released iOS 6 beta 3 and alongside it also introduced iCloud.com email addresses for accounts currently using iCloud. Currently any users who have a email account with Apple under iCloud still have the me.com suffix on their email address.
Apple discontinued MobileMe, the cloud service prior to iCloud and integrated in the emails as well as contacts and photos. Now, with iOS 6 beta 3, Apple appears to be transitioning users from me.com email address to iCloud.com.
icloud.com email addresses are now available for iCloud mail users. Users signing up for new Apple IDs, or enabling Mail on their iCloud account for the first time, will automatically receive an @icloud.com email address instead of a me.com email address. iCloud users with @me.com addresses that have been used with iOS 6 beta 3 will receive an @icloud.com email address that matches their @me.com address.
Although Apple discontinued MobileMe on June 30, users still have a limited time to access their data. This latest change may not affect users a great deal, although emails would now have to be sent to iCloud.com as opposed to a me.com address. Apple’s final version of iOS 6 is expected for release alongside the next generation iPhone 5 during the month of October, when all iCloud user accounts will be forced to make this change.
{via MacRumors}
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AT&T is reportedly planning to launch a blocking service that will allow users to report stolen phones and tablets, a service which of course, includes the iPhone as well. On Friday, The Verge reported based on a source that AT&T is in fact, looking to launch this blocking service on Tuesday, July 10th.
According to our source, AT&T “will have no directory of blocked phones,” but it is not yet clear what this means in practice. AT&T’s guidance states that “only the person who originated a block may request block removal,” a rule which suggests that the company will keep a central list of blocked phones matched to customers.
Apple already offers Find my iPhone for its users to help track iPhones, iPads, and Macs and allows them to remote wipe all of the data, including a tracking service via iCloud that pinpoints the location of the phone on a map. The blocking service by AT&T does something similar, but also blocks the voice, data, and messaging plans.
Perhaps, AT&T’s plan with this new service would block all services, and would shut off the SIM card, as opposed to a customer reporting it themselves. U.S Carriers already have a directory of lost and stolen cellphones, but this new service will likely allow the users to control when and how their data would be protected by using the new service.
According to the report, the same user who initiates the block can only request a block removal. It is unclear exactly how AT&T plans to incorporate the service into their current plans and already existing technology, but will likely explain in a press release on the assumed launch date of July 10th.
{via iMore — Image Credit: The Verge}
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Over the past year, Apple added a number of new applications to its App Store and ported over some of its existing Mac applications over to the iOS platform, such as iPhoto, GarageBand, and iMovie. Late Tuesday, Apple posted updates for all of the following apps: iPhoto, GarageBand, iMovie, and Cards.
iPhoto received a minor update for bug fixes and enhancements, as well as a minor UI tweak, adding a button to allow users to send out journals uploaded to iCloud. This would allow users to share the journal with one click. Cards, a rather simple Apple app, allows users to amake and send physical cards, straight from the app and integrates into Apple’s iOS ecosystem with the use of iTunes gift cards and such.
Any noticeable changes for the Cards app is currently unknown. iMovie received a minor fix allowing users to add their own personal movie soundtracks to a project, as well as minor stability improvements. GarageBand received the most stability improvements, fixing a bug that crashed the app when users tried to upload songs to iCloud or attempted to connect to SoundCloud.
These stability and UI improvements will likely continue over the course of several months, and as iPad and iPhone generations pass, until the mobile app operates very similar to that of the desktop.
{via CNET}
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Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) has been leading the market for quite some time with web based services, including search, email and documents. On Tuesday, Google Inc. released a more streamlined cloud experience for its users, the long-awaited Google Drive. The service provides users with 5GB of free storage, which is also integrated with Google Docs and many of Google’s other online services.
This initial 5GB offering is similar to Apple’s iCloud which also gives users a free 5GB of storage. Following the initial 5GB, users can then upgrade to a higher tier of storage, and for GOOG, that means up to as much as 16TB of storage which is far more than the amount of storage on any computer hard drive.
Today, we’re introducing Google Drive—a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff. Whether you’re working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiancé or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.
The storage can be accessed directly through Google Docs, or through clients on PC, Mac, Android and very soon, iOS devices. Google promised that the iOS app would be available “very soon”, with it being very likely that the search giant is still waiting for approval from Apple. Google Drive operates very differently than other cloud solutions, including a feature that allows users to open up as many as 30 different file types directly in the browser.
This allows users of the service to open up and view files such as images and documents, regardless of its format. Google Drive has the potential to be one of the next reliable cloud solutions available online. With its availability on numerous platforms, including iOS, it brings into question, whether this service will compete with iCloud.
{via MacRumors}
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Growing up I would frequently send and receive greeting cards that used the poems and character of Purple Ronnie, a stick figure, funny guy who always brought a smile to my face, and in Fancy Pants for iPhone and iPad I was taken back to that time as the lead character in this game reminded me of him.
However, most of you will know Fancy Pants from the web version of the game that’s been around for a while now and the port over to iOS is a pretty accurate representation of the stick figured platformer although the opportunity to take advantage of the iOS unique control functions of a touch screen and accelerometer was one that should have been taken advantage of. Instead the controls are simply via 4 virtual buttons.
All that aside Fancy Pants {App Store} is still a lot of fun, it’s fast, smooth and addictive and has loads of content that will keep you coming back for more again and again.
The back story consists of the everyday story of rescuing your sister from a bunch of pirates who have kidnapped her, the story is fun, entertaining but following the story is not required and doesn’t take anything away from the game play.
After a brief tutorial you’ll soon find yourself running, leaping, climbing and crawling through large sprawling levels which are full of obstacles but also various challenges and things to collect. You don’t have to complete everything to move through the store mode, in fact having something to go back to the earlier levels to do is all part of the fun.
The artistic style of the whole game is one of simple line drawings but they spring to life as Fancy Pants charges through the 11 levels and multiple arcade challenges that you can unlock as you play through the levels. These arcade games can then be played separately and you can track your success across all of this via the Crystal social gaming network.
If you decide not to complete all of the side challenges then the game can be literally run through pretty quickly, the question is though, why would you!
Despite not taking advantage of any iOS unique control options the controls do work well and Fancy Pants moves around so fluidly that even when he’s not swimming under water it can seem like he is, and that’s no bad thing!
If you like platform games but want something that is a step up from the normal jump up, jump over, stomp, repeat, repeat then Fancy Pants is for you. Fancy Pants is only 99c at the moment and is a universal game so can be played on both your iPhone and iPad, however there is no iCloud support so you’ll need to complete the game on both separately.
[rating: 4/5]What to know:
Apple Inc. (AAPL) recently launched a new TV ad called “Harmony” which in 30 seconds highlights iCloud service for iOS and OS X. AAPL has been posting a series of iPhone 4S ads which show the all-new voice assistant Siri and the much improved camera and now with the latest ad the focus has turned to iCloud.
iCloud automatically stores music, photos, apps, calendars, contacts, documents and keeps all your iCloud enabled devices in sync. When Apple introduced iOS 5 during WWDC 2011 Steve Jobs took to the stage to talk about iCloud and repeatedly said, “it just works”. The new TV ad in a similar theme conveys that iCloud is “Automatic. Everywhere.”
The ad begins with the all-new welcome screen in iOS 5 which gives you an option to use iCloud and then goes on to show an album being purchased on iPhone 4S which then shows up on iPad 2 and MacBook Air. Then photos, calendar, app purchases, contacts update and iBooks are all shown to sync between different devices.
With the introduction of iCloud users can not only keep their iOS devices in sync but can also backup to the cloud, set up the device without connecting to iTunes and with iTunes Match they can upload their entire music library to the cloud.
iCloud is a free service available on devices running iOS 5 or higher however, if you need to add more space for backup then you could purchase additional storage right from your device.
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Comic strips have never gone out of fashion and with today’s technology is easier than ever to create you own. If you have an iPhone, iPad or both then you can try your hand at creating your own by using the photo’s on your camera roll with the universal app Strip Designer.
The functionality on both the iPhone and the iPad are the same although the iPad obviously benefits from the additional real estate but the iPhone version can still produce great results.
The first task in building your strip is to select a template category which controls the style and the number/position of the pictures. If you want to get really granular you can even create your own and while this is a little more complex it’s unlikely that you’ll ever need to delve this deep as the pre-built templates provide a great range of options.
With your layout selected you can then start adding graphics that not only include pictures from your photo album, camera and Facebook but also maps and drawings the latter of which lets you get very artistic with a range of brushes, effects, layers and filters.
Not being that artistic though I focused on using pictures for my strips and adding those are just a couple of taps away and once you’ve added it you can pinch to zoom and rotate the picture to get your desired result.
With your pictures added this is where the fun begins as you begin to add your text that brings your strips to life. Just like the rest of Strip Designer there are a plethora of options to delve into and everything can be tweaked and changed as much and as little as you can like.
The depth of options, tweaks and functionality could put some users off as it may be too complex for them but it shouldn’t, you can get great results without delving in too deep but for those that want to go a little bit further.
With your strip created you can easily share it via email, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and more which makes it easy to get your work seen by potentially millions of people! Strip Designer also takes advantage of the iCloud which means that you can start work on one of your devices and carry on your work on your other device.
At just $2.99 Strip Designer is a great way to get started in comic strips for old and new a like.
What we like:
What to know:
On Thursday, Apple announced the newest version of the Mac operating system, OS X 10.8. The newest version is being called ‘OS X Mountain Lion’, up from the current OS X Lion running on Mac computers. Apple has made a preview version of OS X 10.8 available to registered developers and will release the final version, with over 100 new features later this summer.
The release will likely be in late August, as usual, and will begin to ship with MacBooks and iMacs during the initial education sales and beginning of the school year, when Mac sales typically increase. SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller commented on the release, saying:
The Mac is on a roll, growing faster than the PC for 23 straight quarters, and with Mountain Lion things get even better. The developer preview of Mountain Lion comes just seven months after the incredibly successful release of Lion and sets a rapid pace of development for the world’s most advanced personal computer operating system.
Apple launched OS X 10.7 Lion during their “Back to the Mac” event, bringing a number of iOS features back to the Mac in order to blur the lines between the two devices. With OS X Mountain Lion, Apple is pushing iOS integration to a whole new level, integrating a number of apps, including Messages (replacing iChat), Reminders, Notes as well as Game Center and Twitter integration.
Apple has also incorporated Notification Center from iOS 5, allowing the Mac to keep track of all notifications in one place. Prior to this integration, users would have to rely on third-party software like Growl for notifications. The Cupertino-based company has even brought over AirPlay mirroring, allowing users to mirror their Mac screen on their HDTV through the Apple TV.
The developer preview of Mountain Lion features the all new Messages app which replaces iChat® and allows you to send unlimited messages, high-quality photos and videos directly from your Mac to another Mac or iOS device. Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. Starting today Lion users can download a beta of Messages from www.apple.com, and the final version will be available with Mountain Lion. Reminders and Notes help you create and track your to-dos across all your devices. Game Center lets you personalize your Mac gaming experience, find new games and challenge friends to play live multiplayer games, whether they’re on a Mac, iPhone®, iPad or iPod touch®.
It is very likely that if Apple were to release a television set, the mirror system would be more integrated between iOS and Mac devices. Apple has even went as far as to rename Mac OS X to just OS X, like they did from iPhone OS to iOS.
By integrating iCloud deeper into the Mac platform Apple is blurring the difference between iOS and OS X. The company is challenging the very basic traditional ways of computing and embarking on a new territory of true Cloud computing.
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Apple has been experiencing heavy sales with the iPhone 4S, the company sold more than 4 million devices during the launch weekend. With the success of the iPhone 4S, Apple has been consistently releasing TV ads to get the word out about Siri personal assistant and other features.
On Thursday to follow up a number of other successful ads, Apple released two new ads, one called “Rock God”. The ad shows a teenager, one the target audience of Apple’s iOS products, using an iPhone to search a number of things from buying a guitar to searching music notes.
At the end of the ad, after playing guitar with a band, the teenager then tells Siri, “Call me Rock God” and Siri follows up with, “From now on, I’ll call you ‘Rock God’. OK?”.
Apple also released another TV ad called ‘Road Trip’ which shows a couple asking Siri for directions for a number of cities and restaurants, and driving to these locations, followed by another search on Siri.
Apple appears to be releasing ads targeting varied audiences and advertises Siri in almost all of its ads, except for the first string of ads released following the announcement of the iPhone 4S which highlighted the better 8 MP camera and Apple’s iCloud service.
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On Tuesday, Apple launched iTunes Store, the popular music, movies, and app download service introduced by Apple over 5-6 years ago, in a number of Latin American counties. The Latin American countries receiving Apple’s iTunes Store include Brazil as well as Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.
iTunes in the Cloud is available today for free in Brazil and Latin America and iTunes Match is available today for a $24.99 annual fee in Brazil.
The iTunes Store in Brazil offers over a thousand movies to rent or purchase, with many in stunning HD, from major studios including 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Universal Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures. The iTunes Store in Brazil now joins the revolutionary App Store™, which offers more than 500,000 apps to consumers in 123 countries, reaching hundreds of millions of iPad, iPhone and iPod touch® users around the world. Customers have downloaded more than 18 billion apps to date.
Apple also introduced the iTunes Match service to Brazil, giving customers the opportunity to take advantage of Apple’s music matching and cloud services. Apple is expanding its reach with many of its products, rolling out in international countries.
Recently, Apple announced that the iPhone 4S would be launching in Saudi Arabia as well as a number of other countries. With Apple improving its cloud services and iTunes products each year, Apple is gaining more revenue not only the US but a large chunk from international markets too.
{via TiPb}
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