Month: March 2015

Apple building futuristic looking technology center in Yokohama, Japan

Apple is building a futuristic looking, large-scale technology development center in Yokohama, Japan, home to nearly four million people, reports the NHK News website. The city of Yokohama held a press conference today to announce the project.

City officials have even provided renderings depicting the scope of the project and Apple's unusual design for a massive, environment friendly R&D building.

AKMessages can make using the stock Messages app faster

Wouldn’t it be nice if the keyboard interface opened automatically when tapping on a conversation thread in the stock Messages app? The developer of AKMessages must have thought so, because that’s the exact premise behind his new jailbreak tweak.

Like TypeTab, another tweak that we recently reviewed, AKMessages reduces the amount of friction in your day-to-day app activities. Have a look at our video walkthrough to see how it eliminates the need for you to perform a tap before you start typing within the Messages app.

Review: Fantastical 2 for Mac

The sequel to the popular language-parsing calendar utility for the Mac has arrived and it's everything you've been hoping for! Much more than a major new update, Fantastical 2 for Mac is a whole new app that feels instantly familiar while offering productivity-boosting improvements.

In addition to the revamped appearance optimized for OS X Yosemite's look and feel, Fantastical 2 is now a proper replacement for Apple's stock Calendar and Reminders apps.

Fantastical 2 has its own full-blown window and gorgeous full-screen mode while its menu bar thing can now be detached and dragged anywhere on the screen. The software is packed to the gills with a bevy of new features like iCloud Reminders and time zone support, light/dark theme, birthday reminders, a more powerful and friendlier natural language parser and more.

As a whole, the app feels tighter and more streamlined. Developer Flexibits was kind enough to put me on its limited list of beta testers, this is what I was able to gather from my weeklong hands-on time with the software.

TinyUmbrella can now save local SHSH blobs from device, and that includes iOS 8.1.2

Semaphore has been on a roll lately, as shown by the release of yet another TinyUmbrella beta build, and this version contains a significant new feature. You now have the ability to save SHSH blobs directly from a local device. This means that if you're on a jailbreakable firmware like iOS 8.1.2, you can save the 8.1.2 blobs even though Apple is no longer signing that firmware version.

Let’s Talk iOS 074: Not made for humans

Episode 74 lends a deeper discussion about the Apple Watch, including understanding its position within our lives. How the new Apple TV could potentially change the way we watch television. Jeff explains why you should consider using a mechanical keyboard.

Subscribe on iTunes

Support Let's Talk iOS:

Automatic – Get 20% of your Automatic car adapter by going to automatic.com/ios

DigitalTreasures.com – your one-stop source for mobile innovations. Use promo code ‘TurtleCell’ when ordering to get 30% off your TurtleCell purchase and free shipping.

Transition: new unlock animations for the Lock screen

Transition is an upcoming jailbreak tweak that adds a ton of new Lock screen-to-Home screen animated transitions to iOS. In all, there are over two-dozen animated transitions, and that doesn't include the random option that will allow you to enjoy a different transition with every unlock of your device. If you're looking to add some spice to the unlock animation on your iPhone, then Transition may be just what you need.

Apple acquires database company FoundationDB to bolster web services

As it looks to build out its web services, Apple has acquired FoundationDB, a company that specializes in speedy, durable NoSQL databases, Apple essentially confirmed to iDownloadBlog after TechCrunch first reported the news.

“Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans,” the company said in a boiler plate statement it gives when it acquires smaller companies. 

How to simulate the Apple Watch with augmented reality

Still baffled about how the Apple Watch will actually look on your wrist? There's a new app that provides what is arguably the best look yet (outside of trying on a real Apple Watch). The app, called ARWatch, uses augmented reality to simulate the presence of an Apple Watch on your wrist.

Kickstarter project brings MagSafe inspired functionality to standard 3.5mm audio jack

It's too early to tell whether or not Apple's latest one-port Mac notebook spells doom for MagSafe, Apple's proprietary magnetically attached power connectors. Be that as it may, a duo of entrepreneurial engineers is taking a page from Apple's book to implement magnets on the types of connectors we use the most.

Magzet, a new Kickstarter project by Jon Hallsten and Jeff Russell, is aiming to do for standard 3.5mm audio jacks what MagSafe has done for Apple notebooks.

New video streaming service ‘Vessel’ out now, includes one year free subscription

Former Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has been hard at world building a new service dedicated to helping the world keep track of their favorite popular YouTube artists and channels, as well as other web shows. Wishing you could watch the next FunnyOrDie release before all of your friends do? Well, now you can.

Vessel is a video streaming service that gathers up some of the more popular web series channels and displays them in a news feed way so you can watch new content. With a subscription to Vessel, you can even see new episodes before the rest of the world does.