In a world in which the iPhone camera is good enough to be most people’s primary camera, the days of low-grade cellphones pics are a thing of the past (for Apple users at least.)
But it’s not simply a matter of megapixels, but about the other “value added” touches that truly make the iPhone a camera worth hanging up your SLR for.
One of those touches is Apple’s neat “tap to focus” functionality, which arrived with the iPhone 3GS in June 2009.
It’s a tale as old as time (and, perhaps, a song as old as rhyme): Apple releases a new version of iOS, hackers immediately get busy finding security vulnerabilities to exploit, eventually claw together a jailbreak, only for Apple to then find out about the flaws and fix them for the new iOS version.
Rinse and repeat.
Having released iOS 7.1, Apple has also released a list crediting the individual researchers and companies who helped spot security issues with the previous version of iOS — including jailbreak specialists Evad3rs, the team behind the iOS 6 and 7 jailbreaks.
We all know that Siri has some fun Easter eggs, but according to some Apple’s virtual assistant also has an entire backstory — unlockable by asking just the right questions.
“We developed a backstory for Siri to make sure everything that it said was consistent, and as part of that, we had to answer questions like, is Siri a man or a woman?” says Adam Cheyer, one of the chief engineers for the project. “Is it human, a machine, an alien? Is it an Apple employee? What is its relationship with respect to Apple?”
Growing up I was a huge fan of the game Asteroids.
But while it’s great seeing these games appear on iOS, too often they’re accompanied by a feeling of disappointment. Although there’s no arguing that the games themselves are still great, too often the controls let them down. Where arcade machines, and even computer keyboards, did four and eight-directional movement well, I have yet to play an iOS game where the virtual buttons felt anything less than passable.
In games where timing is everything, and controls are meant to become so intuitive that you find yourself thinking about them when you’re not actually playing, that’s a massive problem.
Keeping with the times, musician Neil Young is set to launch a storming attack on Apple’s iPhone iPad iWatch iPod with his forthcoming PonoPlayer.
Young is set to exhibit the PonoPlayer, alongside a music download store called PonoMusic, at this year’s SXSW.
Popular (and speedy) Reddit client app AMRC has just received a major update.
Adding a new icon for the app, the update also offers (for a $2.99 in-app purchase) some premium features, including night mode, search, and shortcuts to save subreddits.
iPhone users may be “wall huggers” according to BlackBerry CEO John Chen, but that doesn’t mean that he’s not taking a page or two out of the Apple playbook.
Describing his vision for BlackBerry in a recent interview with the New York Times, Chen compared his present situation to that of Steve Jobs returning to a beleaguered Apple in the late-1990s.
iOS comic book-fans can rest easy with the knowledge that Marvel’s Avengers Alliance app is set to be updated with new missions and content relating to this year’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
The Winter Soldier missions will be available to play later this month, while the Guardians of the Galaxy content will include one-by-one introductions of the film’s characters.
Despite being a world where one-third of new iOS games are Flappy Bird clones, it’s impossible to say that the App Store doesn’t serve up some genuinely original game fare from time to time.
The eccentrically titled Floyd’s Worthwhile Endeavor is one such title. Resembling one of Terry Gilliam’s surreal animated openings to Monty Python’s Flying Circus, this is a 2-D platformer, that borrows its inspiration (and its graphics) from the the 19th century photography of photo-pioneer Eadward Muybridge.
From “no-button” design and multi-touch controls, to wireless technology and laser tracking, Apple mice have seen a lot of changes over the past decade or so.
Although Apple computers have come with mice since the Lisa first shipped in 1983, the company has constantly changed the look and feels of its mice over the intervening years to suit changing tastes — as well as the different ways in which we interact with our machines.
In terms of the biggest changes with Apple mice since 2000, there are few better people to talk to than Abraham Farag, Apple’s former Senior Mechanical Engineer of Product Design.
Today the owner of successful product development consultancy Sparkfactor Design, Faras was part-responsible for many of the big innovations with Apple mice named above — and was able to shed light on how they came about.
Ever since the iPad arrived in 2010, analysts and Apple fans alike have been eagerly awaiting the next “big” Apple product.
With CarPlay, they may have finally found it.
Thanks to a cabal of major car manufacturers opening their doors to Apple, the Cupertino company has the opportunity to revolutionize the way we drive and interact with our cars.
Previously known as iOS in the Car, CarPlay drove most of the media buzz when it debuted at the recent International Geneva Motor Show. Sitting behind the wheel of a Ferrari, a family-friendly FF four-seater with skis in the back, veteran auto journalist Jennifer Clark says that the integration was as smart and seamless as you’d expect from Apple.
Here’s how it works: the iPhone plugs into a jack inside the central armrest, and with the press of a button, the familiar Apple icons appear on the car’s entertainment screen. The driver or passenger can active the phone, messaging, podcasts, music or map icons either my button, by touchscreen or by Siri voice command.
By creating a version of dashboard iOS that allows your iPhone to connect with the existing in-car infotainment systems used by Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and others, Apple can tap into the fast-growing connected car market — predicted to be worth $131.9 billion by 2019.
Much like Apple TV provided a streamlined solution to TV viewers begging for a better interface, so CarPlay represents Apple’s gambit at taking an idea that has been around for years (the in-car infotainment system) and making it better.
There is currently a lot of misinformation about CarPlay — from Apple’s relationship with automakers, to the suggestion that it’s working side-by-side with BlackBerry on the QNX software platform which has been the glue holding various in-car infotainment systems together for years.
CarPlay isn’t a case of Apple licensing a system to manufacturers, but rather an add-on for what is already in your car. It’s not a whole new technology, but a way to better integrate the iPhone into the system currently in place: overriding it only if you have an iPhone, AND this iPhone is plugged in.
“Connectivity to smartphones and other mobile devices is a key strength of QNX Software Systems’ platform for car infotainment systems, and many automakers and tier one automotive suppliers use our platform to implement smartphone/head-unit integration in their vehicles,” a spokesperson for QNX confirmed to Cult of Mac. “We have a long-standing partnership with Apple to ensure high-quality in-car connectivity to their devices, and this partnership extends to compatibility support for Apple CarPlay.”
But while CarPlay could be thought of as a glorified iPhone app, Apple is taking it very seriously indeed.
“Having something in the automobile is very, very important; it’s something that people want and I think that Apple can do this in a unique way better than anyone else,” said Tim Cook during the Q3 earnings call in 2013 — describing it as a “key focus for us.”
Why exactly Apple is so keen is obvious: because as potential users nearly all spend hours in the car in week — valuable hours (both to us and Apple) that we could better use engaging with iOS devices.
The average one-way daily commute for workers across the U.S. is 25.5 minutes, while a 2011 survey carried out by the U.S. Census Bureau claiming that 79.9 percent of workers travel to work alone by car. We’re buying more cars, too — the number of car sales in the U.S. have increased by 1 million vehicles every twelve months.
This isn’t an area that is new to Apple, but one that it has been working toward for at least a decade.
“You have to go back to the iPod,” veteran Apple analyst Horace Dediu of Asymco told Cult of Mac. “By about 2004, its use in the car was very much sought after, because users wanted to get music in their vehicles. We had the standard CD players, but the idea was that if you had a thousand songs in your pocket you should also be able to get them to play in your vehicle. Already by 2003 and 2004 Apple was reaching out to car makers regarding this, and after just a few years, they were making claims that between 70 percent and 90 percent of cars manufactured in the United States had the iPod as a supported product.”
In 2010, while Steve Jobs was still at the helm, Apple launched its iPod Out service with iOS 4.0, which let users pair their iPods with their in-car entertainment systems, and which quickly gained the support of 35 car manufacturers.
Two years later, in 2012, Apple and Mercedes-Benz announced that Siri would be put into the A-Class Mercedes Benz line — giving drivers the ability to use the apps on their iPhones via voice commands. Known as Drive Kit Plus, the program works in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz’s Digital DriveStyle App.
CarPlay was announced during the opening keynote at WWDC last June, under the clunkier moniker iOS in the car, with the idea that it will be coming to a dashboard near you from 2014 onward.
Third-party apps are still lingering question when it comes to how smart your car will become with Apple. So far, the only companies that Apple has provided a private API for include Spotify, Beats Radio, iHeartRadio, and Stitcher. These are all popular streaming music and podcast services, designed to replace old fashioned radio.
Currently CarPlay is very much like current Apple TV, or the iPhone in its early years — offering a select few apps from a smaller number of big companies, but no larger app ecosystem. It is not yet clear whether Apple will pursue this route.
“As a third-party developer we don’t currently have access to CarPlay,” says Michael O’Shea, CEO of Abalta Technologies, and 22 years of experience in the car infotainment field. “But clearly the door has already been opened to some — which suggests that it might be opened a bit wider over time.”
Opening CarPlay to third-party developers could trigger a driving app revolution, just as happened for mobile devices when Steve Jobs opened the App Store to iPhone developers in July 2008.
But it could also create problems: just how much “play” — and the consequences of distracted driving — will be allowed in the system?
For now, CarPlay features Siri-guided apps that don’t require the user to keep looking away from the road at the in-car screen. How would Apple ensure that low distraction factor for all third-party apps? Unlike an iOS app designed to be as attention-grabbing as possible, what obligation does Apple have to ensure the safety of drivers using the system?
“Technically and operationally, Apple has the ability to create a certification process that ensures that apps conform to certain guidelines, but along with that comes potential liability,” O’Shea says.
“I’m not sure this is going to be as open as [current iOS devices] where you can have any app you want on your home screen,” says analyst Horace Dediu. “Apple may want to restrict the type of functionality to maybe just music or navigation. The app opportunity is exciting, but cars are also hazardous environments that can kill you if you don’t do the right thing. I don’t think it’s going to be opened up as much for developers to take real estate on the screen. I think Apple will take a more cautious approach.”
Currently CarPlay is a car accessory. But what happens if Apple is able to switch this around so that the system plays a far more central role in the driving experience — making cars truly smart?
The quantified car could be used not just for navigating, answering messages, and accessing music — but also controlling the extra features in your car and analyzing your driving habits, improving fuel mileage and nudging you to get the brakes checked. These “nudges” are already incorporated in some car systems, like the Toyota Prius.
It’s already possible to make CarPlay a tool for accessing some of the information that is currently reserved for car mechanics — relating to diagnostic info from your engine about metrics like fuel consumption or potential faults you may be experiencing. This is already the functionality of a tool like smart driving assistant Automatic, which plugs into your car’s standard OSB-II data port, and connects your car to your iPhone via Bluetooth.
This would also present Apple a valuable tool for gathering user data.
“The way that we drive can tell companies a lot about us,” says Michael O’Shea. ”Where do you go? What do you do while you’re traveling there? What do purchase along the way, and at what time? All of these are questions that can be invaluable from an analytics perspective. It’s an enticing area for companies for that very reason.” Although this might be more the remit of Google — who have continually exhibited their enthusiasm for gathering and monetizing user data — Apple could use these behavioral insights to help push engagement with the Apple ecosystem and beyond.
Apple isn’t the only A-list tech company working in the in-car infotainment space. Microsoft has been pushing its Windows Embedded Automotive 7 system, designed as a platform for automakers and suppliers to deliver a Microsoft in-car experience aimed at drivers. Google is also a new entrant into this field, but it made a big announcement at this year’s CES regarding the Open Automotive Alliance, which is a partnership with Audi, General Motors, Honda, and Hyundai to put an Android OS in cars this year. This alliance would result in automakers having access to an open ecosystem that would allow programmers to easily create new apps designed specifically tailored to in-car use.
CarPlay also faces competition from companies already working in the infotainment field, such as satellite-radio broadcaster Sirius XM — which has made a number of recent acquisitions showing their determination not to lose their competitive edge. In August 2013, the company acquired connected-vehicle services business Agero Inc. for $530 million, allowing Sirius to provide in-car Web-connected services related to security and real-time navigation.
Apple has the name, reputation, and (from what we’ve seen so far) the goods, to make a major dent in the in-car infotainment area.
Questions about how much control car companies are willing to cede will have to play out, but CarPlay certainly looks a whole lot better than some of the dismal offerings already out there.
This could be the year of CarPlay.
Remember the recent bizarre Steve Jobs statue, depicting what looked to be the decapitated head of Apple’s late CEO?
Well, a new Steve Jobs sculpture may have it beaten in the weirdness stakes.
Urban explorer Darmon Richter found the above hexagonal blue sculpture — depicting Jobs’ profile against the iconic Apple logo — during a recent trip to Ordos City, China.
Earlier this week Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Tim Cook for a lunch as part of his tour of the United States.
In the aftermath of the Wednesday meeting, the Prime Minister uploaded a short video clip to his YouTube channel, offering a brief inside glimpse of the Apple headquarters in Cupertino.
New retro-styled JRPG puzzle game Block Legend made it to the App Store today — and it’s accompanied by the most entertaining game trailer we’ve seen in ages.
Inviting players to travel through a range of different lands fighting monsters and completing quests, Block Legend combines tile-breaking gameplay with a massive world populated by different characters.
According to a new report, iPhone users are 46% less likely than other smartphone owners to need a replacement device due to accidental damage — but 65% more likely to have their device stolen or lost.
The insight comes from third-party insurance company ProtectCell, who based their findings on 2 million policies with various mobile device owners.
Award-winning Reuters photojournalism app The Wider Image has just been updated to version 3.0.
Originally arriving on iOS platforms in October 2012, The Wider Image lets users explore the world through captivating visual stories from award-winning Reuters photojournalists.
In addition to images, each story provides additional interactive content in the form of expanded facts and quotes, along with audio materials, and more.
Twitter’s video sharing social network Vine will no longer tolerate porn.
In a new blog post, the company claimed that it has no problem with explicit sexual content on the Internet — they just prefer not to be the source of it.
“As we’ve watched the community and your creativity grow and evolve, we’ve found that there’s a very small percentage of videos that are not a good fit for our community,” Vine wrote.
A new patent, published Thursday, describes a method for carrying out wireless pairing and communication between Apple devices using biometric data.
The patent was filed August 31, 2012, and features several possible implementations of the technology, designed to increase security on Apple products.
It’s only been available for a couple of weeks, but iOS 7.0.6 already represents just over half of all iOS traffic.
The data was provided by Onswipe, a mobile publishing and monetization platform, and reveals that as of March 3, iOS 7.0.6 makes up 50.06% of traffic on all iOS platforms.
Former Apple CEO John Sculley is one of the principal investors behind a new smartphone brand set to launch in India.
The as-yet-unnamed brand is being funded by the investment and acquisition company, Inflexionpoint, for which Sculley serves as a founding partner.
The brand is set to be led by Ajay Sharma, who was previously head of HTC’s India operation. The company will launch a series of smartphones, which will debut in April this year.
Apple has been accused of shifting close to $8.1 billion in untaxed profits from its Australian operations to Ireland over the past ten years.
An investigation by the Australian Financial Review got hold of a decade’s worth of financial accounts for the Irish-based “Apple Sales International” — which supposedly show how Apple shifted untaxed profits from Australia to Ireland, where the company pays just 0.7% tax on its turnover.
Any technology maker — let alone one the size of Apple — is going to have various moral predicaments to deal with.
Recently Apple was accused of showing an “utter lack of understanding and discretion” after refusing to unlock a dead woman’s iPad for her two grieving sons.
We drooled over Dutch designer Joseph Farahi’s iPhone Air concept last month, and now Farahi is back with a beautiful concept for Apple’s next generation iPhone 6c.
According to Farahi’s concept, the next iteration of Apple’s “affordable” iPhone model would come with a 4.7 inch Retina Display, and be just 7.1mm thick, while weighing only 116g.
In addition, he notes that he would opt to include an 8 mega-pixel camera with “True Tone Flash” able to record 120fps video, and Apple’s Touch ID fingerprint sensor: both innovations currently reserved for Apple’s flagship 5s model.
We’ve seen a number of classic patents published recently, referring to iconic Apple inventions, and this week is no different.
The recently published “Multi-Button Mouse” patent refers to Apple’s first steps away from the single-button mouse that Steve Jobs had insisted on ever since the days of the Lisa computer in the early 1980s.
The patent describes what would eventually become the Apple Mighty Mouse, which shipped with iMacs from 2005, before being replaced in 2009 by the multi-touch Magic Mouse currently used.
An investigative magistrate in Belgium reportedly considered forcing Internet service providers to block Apple’s website, after claims that the company is misleading customers over warranty options.
Apple has been involved with a long-running dispute with the European legal system over its one-year limited warranty, which it offers as standard to consumers around the world — but which is in conflict with European regulations that allows buyers a minimum of two years’ free protection.