Microsoft today refreshed Bing for iPhone, adding more than half a dozen useful new features and enhancements, beginning with the Private Search Mode which will not remember your search history and sites you have visited.
Other new features include better management of your search history settings, the ability to launch native iPhone applications right from the search results page, inline previews of clips in Video search and more.
In a bid to get new Watch customers up to speed and help them learn how to use their Apple wearable device, select brick-and-mortar stores are now offering a brand new workshop called 'Apple Watch Basics,' MacRumors discovered earlier today.
The program can be booked now and is showing up as a Concierge option on Apple's website, with first in-store workshops slated to begin on April 24. According to Apple's website, select stores both in the United States and in other countries are offering workshops as of today, including locations like Xidan Joy City in China.
Apple added Steve Dowling to its online Executive Profile page on Thursday, officially naming him Vice President of Communications. Dowling had been serving as interim public relations chief since October of last year, while Apple analyzed candidates for the permanent gig.
The position opened up last summer, when longtime PR chief Katie Cotton announced her retirement. Cotton was a polarizing figure in the tech world, and well known for her aggressive protection of Apple and tight control over information during her nearly 20-year tenure.
Apple on Thursday announced that it has expanded CarPlay availability to 5 new countries, including Russia, New Zealand, Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands. This brings the total amount of CarPlay countries to 25.
Folks in these countries now have the ability to use Apple's hands-free display-streaming feature with compatible vehicle models and head units, as long as they have an iPhone 5 or newer, running iOS 7.1 or later firmware.
Those wondering what former iOS chief Scott Forstall has been up to since leaving Apple in 2013 may be interested to know that he has been helping out Snapchat. According to leaked emails from Snapchat board member Michael Lynton, Forstall has been a paid advisor for the messaging startup since January 2014.
In fact, he's very well paid. Lynton's email indicates that Snapchat set aside .11% of fully-diluted stock for the ex-Apple exec, with options vesting over 24 months. And given that the company was recently valued at $15 billion, that would make Forstall's stake worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $16.5 million.
It's Thursday and you know what that means, no? That's right, another previously paid app has gone free for a week as part of Apple's ongoing Free App of the Week promotion.
This time around, it's Pursuit of Light, a cool action adventure game set in a mystery world created by developer Lemon Jam Studio and released by publisher Zhipeng Wang.
Regularly a 99-cent download, Pursuit of Light features intuitive touch controls, eighty challenging dreams, beautiful music and design, Game Center support and other perks. The game has you playing as a little girl who strives desperately to find the light and get out of the endless dream she's found herself in.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) told Apple on Wednesday that it will not spend another dollar on the Pearson software installed on its iPads, reports local public radio station KPCC. Additionally, the school district is seeking a multimillion-dollar refund from the Cupertino giant for its failed technology initiative to put a tablet in the hands of each of its 650,000 students.
Thursday, Apple seeded the first beta of the upcoming OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 software update to its Mac developers, as first reported by MacRumors. Registered Mac developers can grab the installer manually through Apple's portal for developers, or automatically, using the OS X Software Update Seed Configuration Utility.
We'll be reporting on any interesting new features, changes and enhancements in OS X Yosemite 10.10.4 beta 1 as we encounter them.
Tim Cook added to his long list of accolades on Thursday, by making TIME's annual '100 Most Influential People' list. The Apple CEO joins other pioneers, leaders and cultural icons such as rap artist Kanye West, Pope Francis, and Xiaomi founder Lei Jun.
Civil rights leader and Georgia Congressman John Lewis calls Cook a 'courageous innovator' in his TIME piece on the executive, praising him for both the work he has done at Apple, and his unwavering commitment to the fight for equality and human rights.
Google on Thursday issued an update to its Chrome browser for the iPhone and iPad. Available free of charge on the App Store, Chrome now lets you start using the app faster by providing a nifty little Today widget in the Notification Center with handy shortcuts to quickly access the voice search feature and tab creation functionality.
Moreover, the browser now plays nice with iOS 8's App Extensions, starting with support for 1Password and LastPass extensions so you can use your previously stored passwords on websites.
Thursday, Microsoft Studios unleashed a pair of new triple-A games for the iPhone and iPad unto the App Store. Both Halo: Spartan Strike and Halo: Spartan Assault pit you against an insurmountable Covenant force and are now available at $5.99 each.
Spartan Strike files as a top-down shooter which makes you a Spartan supersoldier tasked with battling evil forces.
Spartan Assault is the original Halo top-down shooter that plays through the historic first missions of the Spartan Ops program featured in Halo 4 as Commander Palmer.
Windows maker Microsoft today announced that Bing for iPhone and Android now makes it easy to find images faster than before, without typing or by typing less.
The new search experience is now live on iPhone and Android devices in mobile browsers and lets you search images with “no typing required to discover more”.