Images of Apple's Wireless Keyboard with backlit keys and a power button were removed today from the Online Apple Store, suggesting the product has prematurely leaked or isn't ready for prime time yet.
Yesterday, the Online Apple Store in Czech Republic and Hungary got refreshed with new images showing a power button on the $69 keyboard and controls for adjusting the brightness of the backlight.
The Apple Watch will provide users with the full experience even if an iPhone it's paired with is outside Bluetooth range, as long as both the wearable device and the smartphone are connected through Wi-Fi. Tim Cook made a passing note of it during yesterday's “Spring Forward” media event.
Nonetheless, it's a pretty big deal and here's why.
Apple's patent filings are usually more indicative of the company's aspirations in terms of the technologies they seek to protect rather than possible future products.
With that in mind, The United States Patent & Trademark Office on Tuesday granted Apple an interesting patent on advanced automotive control by linking your iPhone to your vehicle through Bluetooth.
Yesterday, Facebook announced a new feature in the hope of fending off threat posed by Foursquare and Yelp, both of which rule the crowd-sourced location discovery market.
Place Tips, as it's called, injects useful information about the place you're right at, including your friends’ recommendations and “fun, useful and relevant info,” right inside your News Feed.
But don't your worry, you can turn it off at anytime!
If you need more proof the Apple Watch is launching in March as recently reported, here it is.
Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac just discovered that installing a fourth beta of the upcoming iOS 8.2, which was seeded to Apple's developers earlier today, enables Bluetooth connectivity with the upcoming wrist-worn device.
In addition, iOS 8.2 Beta 4 (build 12D5461b) makes it clear that the Cupertino firm is working on a dedicated app for setting up the Apple Watch and controlling it.
The market is crowded with Bluetooth speakers. Every time you turn around, there is someone selling another Bluetooth speaker. They are an excellent iOS device accessory and I recommend having at least one. Of course, they run the full range of prices and I have had my hands on cheap and expensive several hundred dollar models.
When choosing a speaker, it is important to decide what is most important to you. Do you need one small enough to throw in your bag or do you prefer a home theater style option that can shake the walls with crisp and booming sound? Divoom is on the lower end of the Bluetooth spectrum. Providing small packaged, portable Bluetooth speakers with a rugged edge is the niche market for the Texas based company, which sent them over for review.
Since Apple announced MFi controller support for iOS games, fewer options appeared than originally anticipated. The reason for a slow response is a bit surprising. However, my point of view is slightly skewed as an iOS accessory hardware reviewer. Still, I cannot imagine why app developers would not want to build in the support. Even more shocking is the small list of hardware options.
At CES 2014, it seemed like controllers would be the new thing. Unfortunately, several companies I chatted with never released their controller. We have come a long way since January 2014 and a full year plus another six months since the MFi controller support protocol released at WWDC.
SteelSeries was one of the first companies to-market with their SteelSeries Stratus. The Stratus was an extremely small MFi controller, but perfect for on-the-go gamers. Recently, they released the Stratus XL, a full sized battle tested design, similar to a true console handheld. After settling down with the XL, it changed the way I look at iOS as a gaming platform.
No one in my home has a green thumb. Sure, like any normal family we have some decorative blooms around the house, but nothing to get too crazy over. Mostly because we are a family on the go, plants suffer in both the summer and winter, when the weather is most extreme. If plants could talk, right?
Well, Parrot developed a way to get the data you need about plants, simply by walking by. While we may be too busy to notice a plant while rushing past, what if you could receive a shout of desperation. A plant begging you for water through a push notification is hard to ignore.
Apple only produces a small wireless keyboard, which is frustrating for users that require the benefits of a full sized option. Using an Apple wireless keyboard for home use is usually manageable. However, using a reduced keyboard in the office is more of a struggle. The lack of a number pad is extremely complicated when entering digit data and the like.
Why Apple is yet to produce a full size, Bluetooth keyboard is beyond understanding. Third party companies are starting to enter the space with designs that compliment Macs. For several years, Logitech and other companies offered wireless keyboards, but they are bulky and clash with Apple's aesthetic. Satechi's Wireless Smart Keyboard is filling the gap.
Where do I even begin talking about selfies? Everyone loves a good selfie. They are wildly popular across the world, even causing South Korea to ban "unregulated" selfie stick sales. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, SnapChat, and other forms of popular social media channels are completely filled with selfies. What caused our self obsession will never be explained, but the selfie is here to stay.
The selfie stick was one of the first hardware selfie assistants. I saw them around touristy places when I traveled, but didn't think much of them about a year ago. Now, they are increasingly popular and being utilized in everyday places. Several iterations of selfie-inspired accessories cropped up and iLuv is capitalizing on the fad. Launching "selfy," iLuv guarantees you will always have a quick way to snap a selfie and includes a laundry list of add-ons to assist.
Following an extensive pilot program of a new SPG Keyless service at select Manhattan and Silicon Valley locations since January 2014, Starwood Hotels & Resorts has now begun rolling out virtual room keys that do away with key cards altogether to let guests enter their rooms using smartphones.
Beginning this Wednesday, ten Starwood properties around the world under the Starwood's Aloft, Element and W brands will allow guests to walk past the check-in desk and enter their rooms by using an iPhone as a room key.
This includes hotels in Beijing, Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles and Doha, the company said in a media release Monday. The service is set to become available on 30,000 doors in 150 hotels around the globe by early 2015.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey's mobile payments startup, Square, on Tuesday issued a nice update to its free Cash for iPhone software which now allows you to transfer money via short-range Bluetooth networking using a new “Nearby Payments” feature.
This is in addition to the ability to send money via text message, email or mobile phone numbers (for free), a feature the startup added to the Cash app in late-August 2014. This release of Cash also features the ability to quickly approve or decline money requests with actionable push notifications and contains other improvements and bug fixes.
Square Cash is a free download from the App Store.