Taking their sweet time about it, Sprint will be following the likes of Verizon Edge, AT&T Next and T-Mobile Jump with an annual update plan all of their own. The plan is called One Up, and it will be available on Sprint the same day the iPhone 5S/5C go on sale: September 20th.
Apple fans are dedicated. Every single year, they brave the elements for sometimes weeks at a time, camping out in front of Apple Stores so that they can be first getting their hands on Cupertino’s latest iDevice.
Even by the standards of most Apple launches, though, the guys hanging out in front of Tokyo’s Ginza Apple Store are dedicated. They are braving a frickin’ typhoon to be first in line for the iPhone 5s.
Attention, all potential iPhone modders, casemakers, obsessives and tinkerers. Apple has just posted detailed schematics of its new iPhone 5s and 5c handsets to the Apple Developer Portal.
It’s hard to argue with the awesomeness of Grove’s Wood Print case, a maple shell for your iPhone 5 with one of your own Instagrams printed on the back. Who wouldn’t want that?
iOS 7 is launching on Wednesday September 18th, and with it will come a whole slew of neat (and sometimes eye-searing) features. But what will there be for us poor bloggers and developers who have (maybe) been running the beta for so long now it doesn’t even seem new anymore? The answer is app updates. Lovely updates to some of our favorite apps to make them play nice with the new, clean OS. And the one of these will be Instapaper.
The M7 Motion Coprocessor (MoCoPro?) in the iPhone 5s is something of a mystery beast. It’s function is clear – it is an always-on low-power chip that processes data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass in your iPhone – but its eventual purpose is still a little unclear. So why don’t we do some speculation?
Photogene has long been one of the top photo-editing apps on iOS, beating out Photoshop Touch in so many ways it’s not funny (not funny for Adobe anyway – it’s still pretty funny for me, and I laugh about it every time I use something by Adobe and am forced to wonder if they hired chimps to write their installers).
Anyhow, now Photogene 4 is out, and it’s a big update. To begin with, it’s now universal (previously there were separate apps for iPhone and iPad), and it works with full-res RAW images.
I absolutely love my Magic Trackpad. It gives me all the functionality of my MacBook’s trackpad, only on a huge panel which can be placed to the left or the right of my keyboard. For a while I was even using two of them, but that deviation is now over (side note: if you want a Trackpad and live near Barcelona then hit me up on Twitter or e-mail). But my happiness with Apple’s glass-n-aluminum slab doesn’t stop me coveting the Touch Slab from Orée, possibly the best-named Mac peripheral ever.
What is it? The Touch Slab is a trackpad carved from solid wood.
Is there any end to the awesomeness of Drafts? The write-once-send-anywhere app for iOS has added a great new sharing feature for those using iOS 7, without developer Greg Pierce having to do anything. If you use AirDrop, you can send a chunk of text to anyone else with an AirDrop-capable device, even if they don’t have Drafts.
Another week has sped by and we’ve had a ton of great offers that have made their way onto the Cult of Mac Deals page. Before we head into another week, we’re going to shine a spotlight on two of the offers that you may have missed.
You can talk speeds and feeds, specs and features, build quality, materials and engineering all you want. The Moto X is far more “human” than any other phone.
It feels like a friend and an ally, a sentient being that’s loyal and thoughtful. And these endearing qualities can actually trigger emotional attachment to the Moto X. Here’s why.
Apple disappointed Wall Street by announcing an iPhone 5C that isn’t cheap. As a result, Apple’s stock price took a hit.
That’s the polite way to say it. Let’s usher all the financial industry people out of the room so I can tell you the blunt truth. Ready?
Wall Street has systemic blind spots and institutional biases that make it incapable of appreciating where Apple is headed. And they demonstrated all that this week by focusing on all the wrong things.
In general, analysts were expecting a $400 iPhone 5C. But Apple announced one starting at $549 — not a budget or low-cost phone by any measure. Apple’s stock price dropped about 5% and stayed there.
Overemphasizing the wrong information — whether or not Apple would compete in the budget smartphone category — speaks volumes about Wall Street’s myopic, misguided and clueless understanding of consumer electronics and Apple’s role in it.
Here are the five reasons why Wall Street is wrong about Apple.
With the cooler months approaching (at least here in the Northern hemisphere), many of us turn our attention towards taking on a new hobby or learning something new that can take our work – and even our lives – to new heights. There are more opportunities to generate revenue from hobbies than ever before thanks to technology, and Cult of Mac Deals has an offer that certainly fits this category.
For a limited time you can get The Ultimate Xcode Fundamentals Course, where you’ll learn how to build and launch iOS apps – even if you’ve never looked at Xcode before. This video course is only $79 courtesy of Cult of Mac Deals.
Hot off the Apple event—it’s our iPhone 5s and 5c reactions on our all-new CultCast. We’ll take a look at what’s new in iOS 7 and each new iPhone, and we’ll walk step-by-step through all the powerful new tech Apple unveiled throughout their 60-minute keynote. No stone goes unturned…
Have a few laughs whilst getting caught up on each week’s finest Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the unadulterated audio enjoyment begin. Show notes up next.
In just a few short days, everyone’s iPhone is going to look a hell of a lot different now that Scott Forstall’s felt and wood grain reign is coming to an end. To celebrate rise of Sir Jony Ive’s flat and parallax world, GadgetLove created one of the most incredible iOS 6 vs iOS 7 comparison GIFs we’ve ever seen. The best part is staring at Forstall’s shrinking smile as Jony’s designer scowl quickly morphs in and out.
Source: Gadget Love
When I was a kid, my dad had a book of record covers called “The Album Cover Album.” It was a big, glossy coffee table book of the classic LP covers from the 50s to the 70s.
My brothers and I spent hours copying the trippy Grateful Dead covers by artist Rick Griffin or making paper models of the San Francisco Victorians on Jefferson Airplane’s “After Bathing at Baxter’s.”
Growing up in Britain in the 70s, at the height of Two Tone and punk, everyone was music mad. Music was everywhere. It determined how we dressed (as punks), where we went (punk concerts) and who our friends were (other punks). Culture rotated around music.
These days, culture is defined not by music, but technology. The bull’s-eye logo of The Who has been replaced by the Angry Birds icon. The cover of “London Calling” is the cosmic wallpaper on your iPhone.
Apple’s iOS 7 is a big step forward in that evolution. Gone forever are the vestiges of interfaces of old; the skeuomorphic references to desktops, trashcans, leather and wood. iOS 7 is another step towards interfaces of the future. And with 500 million almost-overnight downloads, it’s going to be everywhere.
For me, one of the most interesting things about iOS 7 will be watching it bleed out into the wider culture. Just as the iPod launched a million gadgets in white plastic, iOS 7 will inspire countless website redesigns and scores of apps with minimalist interfaces. We’ll see lots more of that fashionably slim Helvetica Neue font and transparent tickers on TV shows.
Earlier this year I talked to Professor Andrew Hargadon, a design and innovation professor at University of California at Davis. Hargadon told me that when the iPod came out, it showed everyone what a good MP3 player should look like. Likewise with the iPhone. Everyone hated their cell phones before the iPhone. Not any more.
“Nowadays, we expect many things to have better designs,” he told me. “Because of Apple, we got to compare crappy portable computers versus really nice ones, crappy phones versus really nice ones. We saw a before-and-after effect. Not over a generation, but within a few years. Suddenly 600 million people had a phone that put to shame the phone they used to have. That is a design education at work within our culture.”
I’m hoping that iOS 7 will also be a design education. I’m hoping it’ll inspire new DVR menus and the telemetrics system in my car. I’m hoping it’ll inspire my kids to make paper models of their favorite app icons.
They’re already fans of The Clash.
Leander’s new book about Jony Ive and the Apple design studio is out in November.
“Jony Ive: The Genius Behind Apple’s Greatest Products” is available for pre-order on Amazon.
This is the Cult of Mac’s exclusive column written by an actual Apple retail store genius. Our genius must remain anonymous, but other than “Who are you, anyway?” ask anything you want about what goes on behind that slick store facade.
Answers will be published first in Cult of Mac’s Magazine on Newsstand. Send your questions to with genius in the subject line.
With iPhone 5 warranties about to expire for early adopters, our Genius runs through the litany of legitimate issues you can use to get your iPhone replaced for free. We also dive into whether it’s better to be upfront about water damage and switching colors when the Genius Bar replaces your device.
1. My iPhone 5 warranty is about to expire. How can I get my device replaced for free so I have a new iPhone from the warranty of the old one?
Like any piece of advanced tech, the iPhone certainly has its faults and manufacturing defects, even if they are somewhat rare.
Hardware defects are the easiest way to go
One of the biggest problems we have to swap iPhones for is the sleep/wake button. That button often gives out or gets jammed and becomes unresponsive. If that happens we swap the device. Same thing for the volume buttons. The home button isn’t as common a replacement. We may be able to do a modular repair to replace the flex assembly that goes to your home button. Often times that fixes it, but if it doesn’t we’ll swap it out.
Essentially, hardware defects are the easiest way to go. Camera defects come up frequently too, with issues like spots or lines on the sensor and shutter fails being the most common issue. We don’t have a camera replacement for the iPhone 5, so if you have any of those issues, definitely bring it in. There have also been issues with the iPhone 5’s metal enclosure getting bent out shape. As long as the screen isn’t cracked and the bend or morphing is noticeable, your warranty covers that as well.
Getting an iPhone replaced under warranty for a software issue is a bit trickier. Most software issues that people see will not lead to an iPhone replacement. Before you come to the Genius Bar you’ll be reminded to try rebooting your iPhone and restore from a backup. Those two quick steps usually do fix most software issues. Some software issues – like maybe your WiFi has gone out – can get you a replacement iPhone as long as the Genius can observe and verify the issue.
The good thing about taking your iPhone 5 in for those issues: it won’t cost you anything and extends your warranty for another 90 days. After two replacements we have to ask a manager for permission to replace an iPhone, even if it’s a legitimate reason. Most of the time managers are cool and will just tell us to go ahead and swap it, but the two-replacement policy is supposed to act as a safeguard from people who try to milk Apple for an infinite number of replacement iPhones.
2. Why won’t the Genius Bar let me change the color of my iPhone when I get it replaced under AppleCare+?
Essentially, we don’t allow it in order to benefit our customers and make sure that inventory flows through the channels in the most efficient way possible.
When you buy a black iPhone, Apple keeps track of how many models it has sold in each color and plans out how many it will need to supply for replacements at the Apple Store. It’s a complicated process to get all the Apple Stores stocked with the right amount of iPhones in the various configurations, even though Apple makes it look easy.
Allowing customers to change colors at random would add an extra element of variation to Apple’s supply chain and could result in supply shortages. And then customers who actually need a device swap in their original color would get screwed over. So, sorry, you’re stuck with your original color choice. Choose wisely.
3. My 30-day-old MacBook Pro had a little accident involving water on the ride home. The screen isn’t working, but it will output video to an external monitor. What’s my best bet when approaching the Genius Bar – pretending I don’t know what happened, or fessing up?
Honesty is the best policy right? The Apple Geniuses are going to find out one way or another that your MacBook is water damaged. It’s better for them to find out from you right away, so fess up to it, but ask them what the best options are.
The Genius Bar is there to fix your computer, but it’s really about fixing your relationship with Apple
Ask them what was damaged and what repairs can be done. Sometimes – especially in your case where you purchased it very recently – they may be able to talk to a manager to help you out, so it’s good start off on the right foot.
The Genius Bar is there to fix your computer, but it’s really about fixing your relationship with Apple. Because the company wants to represent itself well and get great customer satisfaction scores, a manager might give you a break and only make you pay a partial amount of the repair, or even hook you up with a free repair.
We got a glimpse of the incredible graphics and gameplay of Chair’s upcoming Infinity Blade III during the Apple’s keynote on Tueday, but Chair released a cinematic trailer for the new game this morning that dives into the Infinity Blade mythology of the first two games before setting up the narrative of the final chapter of Infinity Blade.
Unlike Infinity Blade: Dungeons – which was eventually canned after fans were left waiting over a year for the release – Infinity Blade III is ready to go and will launch in the App Store on September 18th for $6.99. The game features seven huge new worlds, fire-breathing dragons, and enough swordplay to keep you entertained for weeks.
Take a look:
Earlier today, we told you about a new video from Microsoft that attempted to bash Apple’s latest iPhones. It was poorly done, not funny, and just genuinely awful. The clip was actually part of a seven-part group of videos that made fun of Apple employees(?) of some kind making ridiculous, cliche pitches for different features, like the 5s’s fingerprint reader, in a generic boardroom. Each video was posted under Microsoft’s official Windows Phone YouTube channel.
It only took a few short hours for Microsoft to realize that these videos were total duds, and they’ve all been taken down.
Why did these videos exist in the first place? We’ll probably never know. Someone at Microsoft thought they were a good idea, but a quick scan of the YouTube comments while the videos were live proved otherwise. The videos weren’t really put together like TV ads, so maybe Microsoft hoped they’d go viral? Better luck next time.
Source: YouTube
Evan loved it, which made us want to try it. And try The Room we did, finding it to be a gorgeous, brain-engaging, Myst-like exploration of the puzzle genre, with some amazing 3D mind-benders to solve.
Here’s our video showing us solving the third chapter; we’ve condensed it a bit so that you’ll still have to do your own puzzle solving, though.
It’s hard to exaggerate the effect that stereo has on sound. Sure, it gives you different sounds from the left and right speakers, positioning the musical instruments or the on-screen action in 3-D space, but it also opens up the sound and makes it seem a lot bigger… Even when used with tiny speakers.
And while candy-bar all-in-one speakers like the Jambox pack in stereo speakers and stretch the soundstage using electronic trickery, it turns out that old-fashioned physical separation still works great. Which is why the otherwise average Earshots speakers are worth a listen.
There are a bunch of video games out on iOS for kids, from educational games to adventure games and more. Sure, you can get reviews of these games by adults, sometimes even from parents of kids who use them.
We thought it’d be fun, though, to ask the kids themselves.
Welcome to Kid APProved, a series of videos in which we ask our own children what they think of video games on the App Store that they’re playing.
This week, it’s endless faller, Daddy Was A Thief, from indie dev Cezary Rajkowski. It’s available in the App Store for $1.99 now.
The iPhone 5c pre-orders went off this morning without a hitch and supply for days, but Apple has decided not to offer pre-orders on the high-end iPhone 5s. Customers looking to grab Apple’s newest smartphone as quickly as possible will be pleased to know that you can wake up at 12:01AM PDT next Friday, buy your iPhone 5s, and get back to bed without suffering through the Apple Store launch lines.
Apple sent customers an email this morning announcing the iPhone 5s will be available to order from the Apple Online Store starting at 12:01AM PDT on September 20th. The lack of pre-orders probably means everyone’s going to slam Apple’s servers at midnight, and who knows how long initial supply will last. But if you miss out, you can always go to your nearby Apple Retail Store which will open a couple hours early at 8AM on the 20th to take your money.
iOS 7 is Apple’s most revolutionary operating system to date, and even in beta, it features some killer tips and tricks that will improve pretty much every iPhone or iPad lover’s life. Here are some of our favorites.
A promising feature of the upcoming iOS 7 is the automatic updating feature for apps. As Senator John McCain knows, manually updating ever sigle app on your iOS device–especially as you start to collect a bunch–can be a real time sink.
Fortunately, iOS 7 beta has the ability to just let all your apps update in the background, automagically, with nary a trip to the App Store Updates tab to waste your time. However, if you want to be able to pick and choose which apps to update, you’ll need to make a trip to the Settings app.
Launch Settings with a tap, and then scroll down to the iTunes & App Stores button. Tap it to go to that specificic preference screen, and then scroll down to the Automatic Downloads area. You’ll see the already in place Music, Apps, and Books auto-update toggles, and then you’ll see a new one: Updates. This is set to ON by default.
To turn off automatic updating for your apps, tap the toggle to OFF, which will change the toggle from a bright green to a pure white. There you go; no more automatic updates.
Now you’ll be able to hit the Updates tab in the App Store App to choose which apps to update, just like you do not in iOS 6.
Let’s be honest–sometimes it gets a little tricky to see the stuff on those tiny little iPhone screens, especially as we all get a little (ahem) older. While the accessibility feature to set large text has been around for a while, there’s a new feature in iOS 7 beta that holds promise, and isn’t actually in the accessibility section.
Dynamic Type will let any application that supports the feature adjust the font size in the app to better match what works best for your vision.
Here’s how to access and change the settings for Dynamic Type in iOS 7 beta.
Tap into your settings app and then tap on General. A bit down the page, you’ll see Siri, Spotlight Search, and then Text Size. Tap there.
There’ll be a slider at the bottom to let you increase (or decrease, you eagle-eye) the size of your preferred text. Any apps that support Dynamic Type will “adjust to your preferred reading size below,” says the screen.
Now,when you’re using apps like Mail, iBooks, or others that support Dynamic type, the font will be large enough (or small enough) to fit your own personal preferences. Neat!
iOS 7 beta brings with it a host of surprising features, one of which is the new way in which the mobile operating system handles multitasking. In iOS 6, a double click on the Home button on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch brings up a multitasking bar along the bottom of the screen. On iPhone and iPod touch, it only works in Portrait mode. On the iPad, it works in both Portrait and Landscape screen orientations.
That’s the same in iOS 7, but the visual look of the multitasking system is quite different. Instead of a small bar sliding up from the bottom, you get full previews of each app in the multitasking list. You can swipe left and right to move between apps at will. Also different in iOS 7 beta is the way you force quit apps, to start them anew or prevent certain ones from running in the background.
In iOS 7 beta, double click the Home key as per usual to engage the multitasking system. You’ll see an icon for the app and an app screen preview across your iOS device.
Previously, you’d tap and hold on a multitasking bar app icon and get the app wiggle. You’d then tap the X button to remove it from the multitasking bar, letting it start from a clean state next time you started it up, or keeping it from running in the background.
In iOS 7 beta, all you need to do is swipe the app preview up toward the top of your screen, and it will be taken out of the list, essentially doing the same thing: letting it start from a clean state as well as keeping it from running in the background, if the app supports that.
In Apple’s Maps app, which debuted in iOS 6, you have always been able to set the volume of the voiced directions, choose whether you want to use mile or kilometer units, and set your Map Labels to Always English or not.
In iOS 7 beta, however, you’re now able to set your preferred direction type. Here’s how.
Launch your Settings app with a tap, and scroll down to the Maps icon. Tap that, and then you’ll see the preferences for the Maps app in the right hand column if you’re on an iPad, or on the preferences screen if you’re on an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 7 beta.
Scroll to the bottom, just under the Map Labels section, and tap on your preferred directions type: Driving or Walking. Now, when you type an address into the Maps app, you’ll automatically get the type of directions you want. So, if you’re a walker by nature, you’ll always get the best walking route. If, on the other hand, you live in a place where driving is the only option, then you’ll get the best driving directions.
No options for Transit yet, so we have yet to figure out how that will work once iOS 7 is out of beta this fall. So far, the Transit button in Maps itself does the same thing it did in iOS 6: it lets you choose from apps that support transit directions from the App Store or your own iOS device.
File this one under super cool! In previous incarnations of iOS, you’ve always been able to set a photo from your camera roll as the image that shows up on your iPhone or iPad screen. You can place one image on your lock screen, and one as your wallpaper, or the same image on both screens.
Now, however, in iOS 7 beta, you can actually set panoramas as your lock screen image, or as your wallpaper image. Or both! When you do so, the iPhone or iPad will show your panoramic image in full size, which lets you move the device around in a circle and see the whole image dynamically move across your screen.
Here’s how to make this happen.
First up, tap into your Settings app in iOS 7 beta, and select Brightness & Wallpaper. Tap on the Choose Wallpaper area and then scroll down to where your Photos are. Tap on My Panoramas, and select one with another tap. You’ll get a quick preview, so see how it works. Hold the iOS device up in front of you and pan around as if you were taking a panoramic shot. See how it moves? So cool!
On the iPhone, tap the Set button to get a choice to set the panorama as your Lock Screen, Home Screen, or Both. On an iPad, once in the preview mode, you will see a Set Lock Screen button, a Set Home Screen button, and a Set Both button. Tap the one you want, and your iPad will set up with it.
Now, whenever you look at your Lock screen or home screen icons, you’ll get this slick motion effect. Even when you have Lock Screen notifications, the panorama will move around in the background, even though it’s blurred out under the notifications. Bonus tip: on an iPad, the panoramic effect will work in Landscape orientation as well.
iOS 6 gave us the Compass, which, honestly, I’ve never really used that much.
The new iOS 7 beta, however, has given me some functionality I’m much more likely to need and use. Heck, I even have a third-party app to make sure my handyman projects around the house aren’t crooked.
I’m talking about a level, and there’s a new one built right into iOS 7 beta, within the Compass app on the iPhone. I haven’t found a comparable app on my iPad running iOS 7 beta, but maybe in the future?
Either way, here’s how to find and use the compass and level app.
Launch the Compass app with a quick tap. If this is the first time, you’ll need to gyrate the iPhone around a bit to completely calibrate it. Now, just hold the iPhone out from your body, like you would reading a text message. Try to keep the iPhone parallel with the ground, and simply point in the direction you want to go. The app will figure out which way you’re facing and give you a pleasant little readout.
The level function in the Compass app is, to me, much more useful. I’d love to see the whole thing renamed as a Level app with a compass functionality. Or add the Compass into the Maps app. But I digress.
Once in the Compass app, swipe to the left to get a surprisingly art-deco styled level. To measure the level-ness of any object, place the edge of the iPhone on the surface of the object, either in portrait or landscape orientation. There will be two white circles on a field of black while the object is out of true, but the display will go green when the angle is at 0˚.
In OS X, you can create a mailbox with a bunch of filtering rules to help you gather together jus the email you’re interested in into one place.
iOS 7 beta doesn’t let you create your own smart mailbox, though. Rather, it has four or five new “mailboxes” that filter your incoming email into new categories, like Flagged email, email with attachments, or others. Here’s where to find, and ultimately enable, these new mailboxes in iOS 7 beta.
Tap into the new iOS 7 Mail app, and you’ll see a familiar list of All Inboxes, Inboxes for each email account you add to your iPhone, and a VIP mailbox, the “smart” mailbox that was introduced in iOS 6.
To find the newly added smart mailboxes, simply tap on the Edit button (more of a word) in the upper right corner. The mailboxes section will expand, letting you tap the Flagged, Unread, To or CC, Attachments, All Drafts, All Sent, and All Trash smart mailboxes.
Tap each of the ones you want to enable, and then hit the Done button in the upper right corner. Now, when you look at your Mailbox view, you’ll see these new ones ready for you to use. Tap on any of them, and you’ll see just the email that fits that smart mailbox.
Just see Unread email? Sign me up.
Next, let’s check out Mail, the built-in app for checking and sending your email from Apple. One of the biggest things I’ve always wished for in the previous app is a way to mark all the messages in my inbox as read in one fell swoop.
It looks like, in iOS 7 beta, anyway, that you can do just that. Here’s how.
Once you’ve launched Mail on your iPhone, tap into one of your email accounts, or the All Mail account. Once in that Inbox or All Inboxes, tap the Edit button in the upper right corner of the newly redesigned screen. Large circles will appear to the left of your messages, which will slide out to the right themselves. You can tap the circles to then Mark, Move or Trash the individual messages.
If you want to mark all the email messages at once, though, tap the Edit button, then the Mark All button in the lower right of the screen. When you do that, you’ll then be able to tap the Flag or Mark as Read button below, to do either one to all the messages in that Inbox or list.
One of the most exciting features in the upcoming iOS 7, and it’s in the beta as well, is AirDrop, Apple’s configuration-free file sharing protocol that has been on OS X for a while. It’s making its way to iOS 7, and here’s how to use it in the beta, as well as how to set the privacy settings for the protocol.
When you’re browsing a photo in the Photos app in iOS 7 beta, tap the new share icon, which now looks like a proper rectangle with an arrow pointing straight up and out of it. When browsing all your photos, tap Select in the upper right, then Share in the lower left. You’ll get the same effect.
All you need to do from here is tap the AirDrop icon, and it will do a little subtle pulse, letting you know you’re offering these files to be shared over AirDrop. AirDrop can handle pretty much any file type, including Passbook passes, as you can see in the screenshot above. The person you’re sharing the files with will be notified on their iPhone, and then the files will zip over. Hooray!
Now, if you want to fine-tune the security of AirDrop, you have three options: Off, Contacts Only, or Everyone. Slide your finger up from the bottom of the iOS 7 beta screen on your iPhone to bring up the Control Center, and then tap the AirDrop section on the left. Tap the option you prefer (I chose Contact Only for now), and then slide the Control Center down again.
It’s exciting to be able to share files ad-hoc like this, and I look forward to the unique ways developers will add this pretty amazing tech into their apps and games.
Another of the most exciting new features coming to iOS 7 is call blocking, in my opinion. To be able to keep folks from texting or calling has got to be one of the more requested features on the iPhone, since the beginning.
iOS 7 beta has two places to block numbers. Here’s where they are, and how to add numbers to your blocked list.
First up, tap into your Settings app, and then tap Messages. Scroll to the bottom and tap on Blocked. Once there, tap Add New… and then all your Contacts will slide up from the bottom, letting you choose folks in your contact list to block.
Tapping back out to the main Settings app, and then tap on Phone. Near the bottom, you’ll see the place to tap, called Blocked. Tap there, and then choose a number from your Contacts, as above with Messages.
It seems a bit counter-intuitive to block Contacts rather than recent calls or Messages, as most of the numbers I want to block aren’t folks I’ve added to my Contacts. It would be nice to have a way to do this from the Messages or Phone app, as well. Let’s hope that gets added to the beta in time.
The iPhone’s built-in navigation system has profoundly changed my life. No longer do I need to plan extra time to get to a meeting so I can deal with my ability to get lost on even the most benign route in my own hometown, since I can use turn by turn spoken directions to get me to my destination.
When walking however, I’m the guy who’s usually staring down at his iPhone, waving it around in some weird figure eight pattern to resolve interference, and generally bumping into things along the way.
No longer, though, as iOS 7 beta has turn by turn walking directions. Here’s how to use them.
Launch Maps in iOS 7 beta with a tap, and then get a destination the normal way, either with Siri or via the search field. Tap on the destination pop up box and then tap, Get Directions To Here. You’ll get a walking route possible if you’re nearby, and you can tap the little waking person icon to set it. Then tap the arrow button in the upper left to start the route. Otherwise, when you hit Route, you’ll see the standard choices across the top: car, walking, public transportation. Tap on the walking person icon here, then hit Route.
Now, you’ll see the overview of your walking route. Tap on Start, and begin to follow the spoken directions. Pop in a set of headphones and put your iPhone in your pocket – you’re walking without having to look at your screen. Slick, right?
When you’re done, or want to stop the turn by turn directions, tap End in the upper left corner.
I’m planning on using this in the next unfamiliar city I visit, and see how well it steers me.
Update: Microsoft got the message that the video sucks, and it has been pulled.
The Apple parody video fad has been a bit played out the past couple years, but Microsoft thinks its got the comedic chops to take on the iPhone 5c and convince you to switch over to its struggling line of Windows Phones. The company’s WindowsPhone channel on YouTube just released a parody video depicting two stumped iPhone designers who just sit around a conference room table tossing out different color ideas to a pensive Tim Cook.
You would think a multi-billion dollar company like Microsoft could afford some better video production, or at least have the cash to hire a decent writer, but instead we’re left with leprechaun jokes and a plastic fork.
Want an iPhone 5c parody video that’s actually funny? Our pal John Elerick and his crew of Apple bashers are back this year with two banned iPhone promo videos for the iPhone 5c and 5s. Get your laughs in after the jump: