Apple

How to set your iPhone to automatically delete audio messages after you have played them

Audio messages in the iPhone Messages app

When I'm in a hurry, I prefer to send my friends short audio recordings by tapping the microphone icon in the Messages app than pecking away on my iPhone's keyboard. Apple calls this Tap to Talk, and it's even better with Messages' walkie-talkie-like Raise to Listen function, which lets me listen to or respond to an audio message by lifting the phone to my ear.

On the downside, audio messages pile up and can waste precious storage space over time. Therefore, in this post, we're going to tell you about a handy switch to prevent the Messages app from automatically keeping every audio message you receive.

Apple has registered Apple.car and other similar domain names

Apple has registered a handful of rather interesting domain names within the last few weeks. As noted by MacRumors, the company purchased three top-level domain names in December including apple.car, apple.cars and apple.auto, through sponsored registrar MarkMonitor.

The acquisitions only posted on Whois this morning, and they aren't active yet, but given the ongoing chatter regarding Apple's secret car project, they do arouse curiosity. There's certainly a precedent of the firm purchasing domain names for rumored projects: iCloud and iPhone 4.

Apple is reportedly building wireless earphones that will fit inside your ear and come with charging case

Apple is reportedly building brand new, completely wireless earphones that will fit inside of a user’s ear, along with a charging case, as per 9to5Mac.

The in-house designed hardware is similar in concept to the Motorola Hint headset and Bragi’s new Dash and said to include a noise-cancelling microphone system. The accessory will be “a premium alternative” to a Lightning-enabled version of the EarPods headset that's also in the works (EarPods are the wired in-ear headphones that came with your  iPhone).

Three days ago, Japanese blog Macotakara first reported on Apple's plans to bundle the iPhone 7 with a wireless headset. The following day, Fast Company said Apple is working with a supplier on a new noise-canceling technology to be used both in the iPhone 7 and the new earphones to help remove background noise in music playback and in phone calls.

IGN names minimalist text-based title A Dark Room its new Free Game of the Month

IGN has named independent developer Amirali Rajan's chart-topping atmospheric adventure title A Dark Room its new Game of the Month, meaning you can download it at no charge for a limited time. The game currently retails in the App Store for 99 cents.

A minimalist text-based game, A Dark Room has some role-playing game elements and invites players to “come light the fire and escape into a world you'll never forget”.

How to quickly email the full text of an article in Safari

Safari on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad allows you to post article links to social media and share them through third-party apps that have implemented support for iOS's multi-purpose Share sheet.

But sharing a link won't cut it were you to send the full text of the article in an email message. Selecting everything on a webpage and pasting into Mail isn't the best of solutions because all of the images and other non-related webpage elements get carried over, resulting in a messy email.

Thankfully, there's a better way to accomplish such a seemingly simple task. In this tutorial, we're going to discuss emailing the full, richly formatted text of an article in Safari, without all the clutter.

How to stop seeing Frequently Visited websites in Safari on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Safari on iPhone and iPad

Safari Start Page, which is the first screen you see when you open Apple's web browser, has a section called Frequently Visited. Under this, you'll see websites you often open on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac. However, for privacy and other reasons, you may want to avoid seeing a list of frequently visited websites every time you open Safari or tap the address field.

In this quick tutorial, we'll show you how to stop frequently visited sites from showing up in Safari.

9 ways 3D Touch can make you more productive in Safari

Safari, one of the most popular stock applications on your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad, has gotten some sweet 3D Touch love in iOS.

If you own an iPhone 7 or later, you can Peek and Pop web links, bookmarks, Shared Links and Reading List items, enter Safari's private-browsing mode or open new tabs right from the Home screen, and then some more.

In this post, we'll take you through the nine ways you can use 3D Touch in Safari to browse the web faster and access popular features with fewer taps than without it.

How to stop Messages from recording audio when you lift iPhone to your ear

Apple's Messages app and iMessage service form one of the most versatile messaging platforms available on mobile devices. With Messages, you can send texts, iMessages, photos and audio/video messages on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

By using a combination of a twisting motion and the proximity sensor, Messages lets you respond to an audio message by lifting the device to your ear, as if you were talking on the phone.

This even works on the Lock screen. Upon playing a soft chime, Messages starts recording your audio response. It's very convenient but sometimes doesn't work as intended. As a result, Messages may randomly start recording audio in certain situations.

Thankfully, you can prevent this from happening by flipping a switch. In this post, you will learn how to disable this feature, which Apple refers to as Raise to Listen.

Apple reportedly buys artificial intelligence startup Emotient

Apple has reportedly purchased Emotient, Inc., a privately held San Diego-based artificial intelligence startup, according to Dow Jones. No price was given for the deal. Emotient, according to its website, is the leader in emotion detection and sentiment analysis.

The company's products are used for gauging emotional response by way of measuring facial expressions, allowing it to basically read people’s emotions from live video.

Check out Pavilion, a high-performance, gorgeously designed wireless speaker

If you're in the market for a great-looking wireless speaker for your desktop that packs some rather advanced audio technology in a sleek frame, look no further than the Pavilion, a new project that recently launched on Kickstarter and has already raised almost $50,000 funding out of the $70,000 target.

The Pavilion is a high-performance wireless speaker that looks gorgeous. It has a unique D-spiral acoustic system and definitely feels luxurious thanks to the clever use of different materials.

Remix OS will bring Android to your Mac

Are you itching to see for yourself what life is like on the “other” mobile platform, Google's Android, but the very thought of switching sends shivers up your spine? Enter Remix OS, a software platform founded by three ex-Google employees that lets you boot straight to Android on your Mac or Windows PC.

Unlike similar solutions that let you run Android apps in a windowed mode, Remix OS has a dedicated desktop user interface, runs a custom engineered version of Android Lollipop with Google Play services, meaning you can download and run just about any Android app no your desktop, including Microsoft Office, YouTube, Google Maps and many more.

Facebook Messenger reaches the milestone of 800 million monthly users

Facebook Messenger has reached a new milestone as the service now claims 800 million monthly users, according to an announcement from Facebook itself on Thursday. “I’m happy to report that we’ve made a good step in that direction, and toward the end of 2015, we crossed the milestone of 800 million people using Messenger each month,” according to David Marcus, Facebook's Vice President of Messaging Products.

The new milestone, according to latest Nielsen data, makes Messenger the fastest growing app of 2015.