As promised, the Internet giant Google today pushed an update to its Photos for iPhone and iPad app in the App Store. Bumped to version 1.4, the software has gained some of the features Google promised to enable before the end of this year. For starters, you can now label people in photos and merge face groups so they're easier to search.
The wireless industry has been plagued with a bunch of illogical business practices, most of which were conceived to take advantage of consumers, really. On the other hand, carriers like T-Mobile have successfully exploited the sad state of the U.S. wireless industry to fix some of the most glaring customer pain points.
Apple, too, appears to have vested interest in wrestling power away from the carriers. According to Apple's Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue in the British publication The Evening Standard, the Cupertino firm is now “trying to fix” one of the wireless industry's dirtiest tactics: exorbitant roaming charges.
I was researching software remotes for the Apple TV the other day and stumbled upon CiderTV by Aivee Apps. But wait, doesn't Apple's own Remote app for the iPhone and iPad get the job done?
Er, not quite. It's buggy, slow and just a pain in the you-know-what. I want a solution that goes beyond Remote's basic functionality, with features like richer gestures and DLNA volume control for compatible TV sets.
That way, I wouldn't have to constantly juggle between the tiny Apple TV remote and another one for my TV. CiderTV does just that—and then some more—and is available at no charge.
Accessory maker Logitech is entering the home security and automation market with a new portable camera designed for home monitoring. They're calling it the Logi Circle and it's both portable and rechargeable.
But don't let its friendly appearance and small footprint fool you, the Circle is no toy. This device packs in advanced features such as 2-way audio and real-time streaming of high-definition video via a companion smartphone app, Smart Filtering technology that automatically marks events you might want to take a closer look at, a 30-second video review of the past 24 hours and more.
Those prolific electronics wizards over at iFixit have found out the hard way that breaking Apple's NDA has consequences. The site fell out of favor with Apple after posting a teardown analysis of an unreleased 4th generation Apple TV with Siri Remote.
According to iFixit itself, not only has Apple yanked their iPhone app from the App Store but also banned their developer account. iFixit's Apple TV unit was obtained as part of development kits provided to some developers who were selected to take part in Apple's early access program.
iOS 9.0.2 has patched a potentially disturbing vulnerability which allowed malicious users who have access to your device to use Siri from the Lock screen in order to browse your photos and contacts.
According to Apple' official iOS 9.0.2 release notes, the software has fixed the issue which allowed access to photos and contacts on a locked device by “restricting options offered on a locked device.”
The vulnerability was left unpatched in iOS 9.0 and iOS 9.0.1 and affected the iPhone 4s and later, fifth-generation iPod touch and later and iPad 2 and later.
Apple just announced that former Boeing Chief Financial Officer and Corporate President, James A. Bell, is joining its Board of Directors. James brings “a wealth of global, financial and industrial experience from his successful career at Boeing as corporate president and CFO,” said CEO Tim Cook.
“I am thrilled to welcome him to Apple’s board of directors and I look forward to working with him,” said Cook.
Microsoft-owned Skype for iPad was refreshed in the App Store earlier this morning with support for new multitasking features provided by iOS 9. It's now easier to chat with friends on Skype while surfing the web, reading your email or running other apps in side-by-side Split View multitasking mode (requires iPad Air 2 or iPad mini 4).
In addition to Split View, Skype for iPad also supports Slide Over mode. Both instant messaging and voice calling are supported in Split View and Slide Over.
Boot Camp, the Mac's built-in software for dual-booting between OS X and Windows has been given some love in the new El Capitan software update and now features a slicker Windows setup that no longer requires a USB thumb drive, as discovered by Twocanoes.
Previously, Boot Camp required that the Windows installer be provided in the form of a USB drive or CD/DVD installation media. Now you can just point to an .ISO file, which significantly shortens the entire procedure for those who have purchased Windows as a digital download.
El Capitan is here and with it arrive tons of under-the-hood improvements that will make your Mac run faster and your daily computing smoother than before. Even though El Capitan is a Snow Leopard-style release focused on speed and core OS improvements, it nonetheless packs a pretty punch when it comes to user-facing features.
From a more streamlined Mission Control and a smarter Spotlight Search to more efficient multitasking in Split View mode and an all-new Notes to perfected stock apps and iOS-style gestures in Mail, El Capitan is about refinements to the already great Mac user experience and little things that are worth getting excited about.
Here's a short overview of major new features in El Capitan.
In addition to releasing the major OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update for the Mac, Apple has also posted a Safari update for Yosemite and Mavericks users. In addition to improving your privacy, compatibility and security, the Safari 9.0 update for Yosemite and Mavericks systems includes some controls found in the El Capitan edition of Apple's web browser.
These mainly include the ability to mute audio in tabs and additional viewing options in Safari Reader, but not the new Pinned Sites feature.
Keeping true to its promise, Apple today launched the OS X 10.11 El Capitan software update for the Mac. El Capitan has the same system requirements as Yosemite, meaning it should run on any Mac introduced in 2009 and later, and some models introduced in 2007 and 2008.
The software update offers several new headline features while packing in a bunch of under-the-hood refinements designed to make your Mac run faster and more efficiently than before.
If you don't see the update in the Mac App Store's Updates tab yet, give it a while as these things take time to propagate through the Interwebs. By the way, you can manually run a search for 'El Capitan' in the Mac App Store and install it from there.