iOS - page 39

Thanks to the popularity of Apple’s iOS devices and the Cupertino company’s knack for product marketing, you don’t have to be a regular Siri user to recognize her voice. Two years ago today, she made her debut alongside the iPhone 4s, and she’s been our virtual personal assistant ever since.

But who is the real Siri? Who provided that voice that we’ve all become so familiar with?

Her name is Susan Bennett, and she’s been a voice actress since she was young. She recorded the Siri voices back in 2005 — six years before Apple unveiled the feature — but she had no idea they would ever end up in the iPhone.

If you’ve ever wanted to code iPhone apps, then join the club. There are plenty of developers already out there delivering content to the App Store every day – and tons of budding developers who are chomping at the bit to do so. If you’re going to compete in this saturated marketplace you’re going to need a solid foundation to build on. And you’re going to need to have it fast.

Cult of Mac Deals has an offer right now that will get you well on your way to building and designing killer apps. For a limited time you can get The iOS Foundations Video Course Bundle for only $69 – a savings of 65% – and this course is geared towards giving you what you need to bring your app ideas to life.

Let’s not beat around the bush; the incognito mode built into Google Chrome for iOS is used for one thing, and that’s browsing websites that you wouldn’t want others to know you were browsing. But you should stop it — right now.

It appears that the latest release added a nasty bug that causes all of those sordid searches you make in incognito mode to be shared with the regular browser window — as well as Google Chrome on your Mac or PC if you have them all set up to sync with each other.

Samsung has today unveiled Shape M7, a $400 wireless speaker that hopes to compete with the Sonos. It connects to your smartphone, tablet, or computer via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or NFC, and there’s a handy companion app that makes setup easy on Android and iOS devices.

Had BlackBerry’s cross-platform BBM launch gone as originally planned, we’d all be BBM-ing each other on Android and iOS by now. Of course, that didn’t happen, and so we’re not. But the Canadian company is still working hard to deliver BBM to its rivals.

Earlier this week BlackBerry promised that it was “100% committed to bringing BBM to Android and iPhone,” and it just resumed beta testing on Android with a brand new release.

The Netflix app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch has been updated to bring high-definition video streaming to devices running iOS 7. The release also adds support for AirPlay, and some improvements and optimizations that make the app more stable under Apple’s latest software.

Apple has today restored push email services on iOS devices in Germany almost two years after it had to be shut down following a legal battle with Motorola. The Cupertino company announced the change in a new support document, which explains how users can restore push services on their iOS devices.

The Hulu Plus apps for Android and iOS have today been updated with support for Google Chromecast. You’ll find a new ‘Cast’ button within the app that will stream your favorite shows to your television with the help of the $35 dongle.

Apple is expected to release another minor iOS 7 update next week to address more bugs and early teething problems. The Cupertino company released iOS 7.0.2 late last week to fix a lock screen security vulnerability, but that introduced new problems of its own that are likely to be addressed with iOS 7.0.3.

It seems a lot of users who upgraded to iOS 7 last month are having issues with iMessage. Apple’s Support Communities forums are full of complaints from disgruntled iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch users who cannot send or receive iMessages anymore, and you’ll find plenty of people voicing their frustrations on Twitter, too.

Initially it seemed Apple’s servers were the problem — as they often are when iMessage has problems — but that’s not the case. Instead, it appears to be a simple bug that can be easily rectified with a quick bit of tinkering. Here’s what you need to do.

Samsung has today announced that its cross-platform ChatON messaging service now boasts over 100 million users across Android, BlackBerry, iOS, and Windows Phone. It’s taken just two years for the service to become more popular than BBM, once one of the biggest names in instant messaging, and it continues to grow at an impressive rate.

Apple doesn’t like to allow emulators into the App Store, so try submitting one for approval and you’ll quickly get a big fat no. But some cunning iOS developers have found a way to sneak emulators through Apple’s App Store approval process by making them look like innocent apps.

The latest hit the App Store today. It’s called Earthquake 7 and its App Store description promises “the latest earthquake news.” But enter a secret phrase into its search bar and you have an emulator that plays all of your favorite Game Boy and Game Boy Advance titles.

Google is already serving you Gmail ads on your desktop, and soon you’ll see them on your mobile, too. Although they aren’t active just yet, there is evidence for them in the latest Gmail for Android release, which was made available to download via Google Play last week.

Readdle has updated its popular Printer Pro app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch to introduce a new user interface that better fits iOS 7, as well as a number of new features. The app now promises “desktop class printing options,” such as the ability to print multiple pages on a single sheet of paper.

Apple released iOS 7.0.2 on Thursday, and in its release notes, the company said it had fixed “bugs that could allow someone to bypass the lock screen passcode.” Unfortunately, it seems it didn’t fix all of them, because the update added another lock screen vulnerability of its own, which you can see in the video below.

Skitch, Evernote’s nifty image editing tool, has this week been given a new design and new features for iOS 7. In addition to a completely redesigned interface, the app now offers announcements for tips and information, new toolbars, and more.

Facebook announced this afternoon that Android and web users will now be able to edit status updates after they have been posted, meaning you can finally cleanse your status update masterpieces of careless typos without losing your cherished likes, comments and shares.

The new feature should be live on the web and Android versions of Facebook later this afternoon, but iOS users will have to wait a short while before it hits iPhones.

Apple just released a new patch for iOS 7 that fixes a bug that allowed anyone to bypass the lock screen in the new iOS 7. The exploit involved swiping up on the lock screen to access Control Center, then opening the alarm clock. Holding the iPhone’s sleep/wake button brings up the power off option, and you could hit cancel, double click the home button, and have access to the multitasking screen. This would give anyone access to your photos, camera, email, Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr account.

Today’s update to iOS 7.0.2 purports to fix that, and reintroduces a Greek keyboard option for passcode entry.

Source: Apple

BlackBerry failed miserably in its attempt to bring BBM to Android and iOS last week, but the Canadian company hasn’t given up on making its popular messaging service available to all. In fact, it isn’t just targeting other mobile platforms, but it’s also planning to bring BBM to your desktop, too.

Apple has moved to trademark the “Advertising Re-Imagined” slogan used to promote its iAd mobile advertising platform. The Cupertino company filed for the trademark on Wednesday, September 25, more than three years after it launched the iAd business.

AppleCare+ subscribers can now get repairs and replacements for their iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches while they’re abroad following recent changes to the service. Subscribers were previously required to contact Apple in their home country, but now they can pop into any Apple retail store in territories where AppleCare+ is sold.

Wunderlist, the hugely popular cross-platform productivity app that now boasts over 5.3 million users worldwide, got a new feature called Comments this week, which brings the conversation to your to-do list. If you use Wunderlist in a professional environment, you can now discuss tasks and projects with your team within individual to-dos.

What’s more, you can now try Comments — as well as Files and Assigning — for free for a limited time, without signing up to Wunderlist Pro.

Two of the versions are on sale till the end of the week: The most basic version, DataMan Next, is free (from a buck); and DataMan Pro is on sale at $5, which is half off its regular $10 price. The Pro version also now reports hourly data usage by app, which pretty much makes it the most detailed data-tracking app out there.

Apple’s iMessage service is pretty terrific, but it has one big limitation, and that is that it’s only available on Macs and iOS devices. At least officially. But there is an unofficial app that brings iMessage to your Android-powered smartphone. It works just as advertised, but we strongly advise you not to use it.

BBM’s cross-platform launch failed miserably this weekend. The app made its way to the iPhone in a small few countries, but the rollout was halted before it could reach the United States — or Google Play.

BlackBerry’s excuse for the catastrophic failure was that a leaked BBM APK for Android was causing some server troubles, and now the Canadian company has told fans that it will “take some time” to fix the problem, and that we should not expect to see the app this week.