Job listings on Apple’s website reveal it is currently seeking developers to help fix its newly-released Maps app, which has received widespread criticism since making its debut in iOS 6 on Wednesday. The company is calling for software engineers who will be tasked with “road rendering,” and “creating new and innovative features.”
A lot has been written over the last day or so about the crappy maps in iOS 6, and the fact that Apple’s new data engine doesn’t live up to its pretty new map tiles and spectacular flyover feature.
I thought exactly the same thing when I first installed a beta of iOS 6 on my iPad a month or two back. But while Apple’s maps are definitely a step back in many ways, it’s not all as bad as it seems. Not quite anyway.
But guess what? If you’re willing to use a couple extra apps until Apple fixes things, you can get everything back that you’re missing.
Back in August, we told you about a serious SMS security flaw with the iPhone that opened the door to text message spoofing. At the time, Apple told users they could protect themselves by using its iMessage service rather that traditional SMS messages, but the Cupertino company appears to have rectified the issue in iOS 6.
After being introduced in iOS 5, keyboard shortcuts is a feature I could no longer live without on my iOS device. I use it for all kinds of things, including email addresses and usernames, so that I never have to type out the full thing 30 times a day. There is one thing the feature has been lacking, though, and that’s the ability to sync your keyboard shortcuts across all your iOS devices.
That is until now; the feature was finally added to iOS 6, which was released to the public yesterday.
After updating iPhoto for iOS on Wednesday to add iOS 6 support and a whole host of new features, Apple has shown a little love to iPhoto for Mac. Version 9.4 is available to download from the Mac App Store now, and it comes with support for the Shared Photo Streams introduced in iOS 6, Facebook comments, and more.
Following the public release of iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.2 earlier today, Apple has pushed a host of notable updates for many of its additional iOS apps in the App Store. Apps like Podcasts got iCloud sync and iOS 6 support, while smaller updates have been seeded to bring simple iOS 6 compatibility. Other popular apps from the iLife and iWork iOS suites received updates today too.
Here’s a list of all the iOS app updates Apple released today:
Along with iOS 6, and a Mountain Lion update, Apple has just pushed out an update for their new Podcast app for iOS. The update allows users to keep subscription up to date between iOS devices using iCloud. iOS 6 support has also been added to the app, along with a few other improvements.
Here are the full details for what’s new in Podcasts version 1.1:
https://youtu.be/40mHk8lTmPE
Street Fighter and Tekken are ready to go head-to-head on iOS in this “never-before-dreamed-of-crossover battle,” Street Fighter X Tekken. Now available to download from the App Store, the game brings online multiplayer brawling to iOS with 3D visuals optimized for your Retina display.
Evernote has updated Skitch, its wonderful image editing tool, to make it a universal app, and to introduce a stack of new features. The app was previously exclusive to the iPad, but now you can use it to annotate pictures of your cat on your iPhone, too. What’s more, the update also brings full Evernote integration, cross-platform syncing, and more.
With iOS 6 making its public debut today, I’m sure some of you are sitting in front of iTunes with your iOS device plugged into your computer, mashing that ‘Update’ button as much as humanly possible in the hope that any time now, Apple will open the gate. Well, you may want to give your fingers a rest, because it could be a few hours yet before iOS 6 drops.
We first told you about Rayman Jungle Run a couple weeks ago, when Ubisoft unveiled its first trailer, and we’ve been looking forward to it since. The title was scheduled to hit the App Store tomorrow, but fortunately for you, it just turned up a day early.
I can’t remember the last time I really used Spotlight on iOS. I guess it’s cool. It brings up some pertinent stuff that you search for, but it’s not really a precise tool you can use with pinpoint accuracy, so most of the time it just gets neglected on most iPhones.
My fingers haven’t really been aching for a iOS Spotlight overhaul, but after watching this concept video by Cody Sanfilippo, I’m starting to believe there are a lot of great possibilities Apple needs to explore by heavily integrating apps into Spotlight. Just watch the concept video below to see all the cool things Apple could do to make Spotlight in iOS 7 truly amazing.
OmniFocus for iPad just got a big old update, and it adds two huge features, along with the usual tweaks (and in this case, iOS 6 compatibility).
Now, iPad users can enter tasks using Siri, and everyone can take advantage of TextExpander Touch support.
Are you still using the official Twitter app on your iDevice nstead of Tapbots’ superior Tweetbot client? Well, bully for you, then, because Twitter has just updated their universal iOS app with some new tweaks to the iPad UI, new profiles with header photos, and more.
When iOS 6 rolls out tomorrow, you be able to download all five of Apple’s free iOS apps — including iBooks, iTunes U, Podcasts, Find My Friends, and Find My iPhone — with just one tap from the new App Store. The Cupertino company has introduced a new ‘Apple Apps’ page that greets first-time App Store users, and it features a button that will install all five apps at once.
Reports have hit the web today that Apple’s iMessage service is experiencing a widespread outage. The problem seems to be affecting all sorts of different iOS users, even though Apple’s iCloud status page shows no problems. The outage seems to be carrier independent as a number of users have reported problems on both AT&T and Verizon.
Rather than build their own photo editing and sharing app from the ground up, Google has decided to play catch-up with Facebook and Instagram by acquiring Nik Software, the developer behind the popular iOS photography app Snapseed.
Ticket to Ride Pocket is one of those games whose very existence seems absurd. It’s an iPhone version of an iPad version of an online game that originally gained popularity — massive popularity — as a board game. But the talented people over at Days of Wonder (who publish the entire series) managed, inconceivably, to make a triumph of TTR Pocket through careful execution and attention to detail. And today is your last chance to own it for free, before it heads back up to $2 at midnight.
With iOS 6 right around the corner, Google’s official YouTube app for iPhone couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s a great app — much better than Apple’s built-in YouTube app — and it’s headlining this week’s must-have apps roundup. It’s accompanied by Poster, a great new blogging app; Journal for Evernote, and Google Drive.
Fieldrunners 2 is finally available in HD on the iPad, and it’s headlining this week’s must-have games roundup. It’s accompanied by a terrific new platformer called Apocalypse Mac, Miniclip’s answer to Temple Run, and a wonderful adventure golf game that I can’t put down.
Sword of Fargoal 2, an upcoming game for Mac OS X, iOS, PC, and Linux, just launched a fund raising project on Kickstarter. This will be a sequel to the iOS and Mac OS X game that was itself a re-imagining of the original Commodore 64 game from 1980.
The team is high-end, as it includes original developer Kevin McCord, developer Paul Pridham (Saucelifter, Punch Quest), Emmy award-winning animator Charlie Canfield, and British composer Daniel “LittleBigPlanet” Pemberton–all of whom contributed to the highly-reviewed iOS/Mac port from a couple years ago, published by Chillingo/EA.
The Kickstarter campaign was launched to help take the sequel, Sword of Fargoal 2, from 80 percent done to fully done. The extra funding will help the team add new music, animations, and graphics to the game, as well as polish up the game engine itself to ensure fluid movement and controls.
With the 30-pin dock connector on the brink of extinction, you’re probably wandering how you’re going to hook your iOS devices up to your TV without the help of an Apple TV. Your old HDMI and VGA adapters won’t work, and Apple didn’t announce any new ones at its iPhone 5 event. So does that mean AirPlay is the only option?
Thankfully, it does not. Apple has confirmed that Lightning-compatible HDMI and VGA adapters will be arriving for your new iOS devices “in the coming months.”
Today, IK Multimedia announced new, lower prices for all of its professional-level Mac music software and plug-in software. The prices have been lowered on Amplitube, T-Racks, and Sample Tank, as well as updates and price drops on Total Workstation and Total Studio bundles.
The company also updated Amplitube, its popular iOS guitar app, adding new effects models to coincide with the release of its new compatible guitar pedal, the iRig Stomp.
Apple’s clearly very proud of Siri, and so despite its shortcomings, it’s unlikely you’ll see it disappearing anytime soon. In fact, it’s more likely that you’ll be seeing Siri a lot more in future. It seems inevitable that the voice-controlled assistant will one day come to the Mac, and when it does, there’s a chance you’ll be able to control iTunes using only your voice.
At least that’s what Apple’s latest patent filing suggests.
As expected, the 8GB iPhone 4 replaced the iPhone 3GS as the most affordable iPhone following the announcement of the iPhone 5 yesterday. So what’s going to happen to the iPhone 3GS now? Well, as you may have guessed, it’s going to be killed off. Apple has reportedly confirmed that when existing stock runs out, the its third-generation smartphone will be no more.