Apple

Force Touch on Apple Watch changes emoji color

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

American model and activist Christy Turlington-Burns has posted her third blog entry about on Apple’s website, revealing a few previously unknown tidbits about the Apple Watch.

The finding that caught my attention deals with Force Touch, a technology involving pressure-sensitive electrodes around the display that can distinguish between a touch and a press to show hidden options.

Among other things, it's possible to use Force Touch to easily change the color of animated emoji in instant messages.

Drexel University launches iPad vending machine for students

Jake Smith ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Drexel University has formed a partnership with the Free Library of Philadelphia to provide an iPad vending machine to the University's students and local residents, to make a dozen iPads available for further learning.

Samsung reportedly chosen by Apple to make chips for next iPhone

Jake Smith ∙ Updated September 17, 2017

Bloomberg reports Samsung has been chosen by Apple to make chips for the next iPhone, taking the business from Taiwan Semiconductor.

Samsung has reclaimed its spot as Apple's supplier. TSMC made the chips for the iPhone 6, however before that, Samsung's chips were king for iPhones.

Dreamy sleepwalker adventure Back to Bed named Apple’s new Free App of the Week

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Back to Bed by Bedtime Digital Games has been named the App Store's new Free App of the Week in Apple's ongoing weekly promotion. This awesomely done three-dimensional indie puzzler has never gone free since its August 2014 debut on the App Store and normally retails for $3.99 a pop.

Do yourself a favor and grab the game right now before you forget about it and the price goes back up next Thursday. This one's unlike many other freebies on the App Store, in that it does not contain advertising nor In-App Purchases to spoil the fun.

Tweetbot for Mac adds support for Twitter-hosted GIF and video image previews

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

To make the wait until a massive (and way overdue) Yosemite overhaul of Tweetbot, the most purchased Twitter alternative on the Apple platform, developer Tapbots on Thursday pushed a small yet important update to Tweetbot for Mac.

This new version at last added official support for Twitter-hosted animated GIFs and video image previews. In addition to these enhancements, this edition of Tweetbot saw improvements in storage and memory usage.

So now when someone attaches an animated GIF to their tweet or records a video in Twitter's native video format, you'll see the video thumbnail inline. Previously, it wouldn't show any thumbnail at all, leaving you with clickable URLs that opened in a browser.

Noted analyst says Apple may call next line of handsets ‘iPhone 7’, with major changes

Jake Smith ∙ April 2, 2015

Noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities claims Apple may call the next line of its iPhone the "iPhone 7", instead of the "iPhone 6s" like previously thought. The name change will be because of significant changes to the iOS user interface, including Force Touch technology for better interaction, the analyst says.

New iPhones help Apple capture record smartphone share in China

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Apple's been making some impressive strides in China, its second-biggest market by revenue and home to a population of 1.33 billion people.

On the weight of strong sales of the 4.7-inch iPhone 6 and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 Plus, the Cupertino firm has now hit an all-time high share, with iOS accounting for a record 27.6 percent volume share of the Chinese smartphone market versus 17.9 percent a year ago.

Kantar data for the three months ending in February proves the iPhone 6 has remained the country's top-selling smartphone in the period. It's grown from 9.5 percent of sales recorded in the previous period ending in January to 10.2 percent ending in February. Xiaomi's iPhone 6 Plus lookalike, the RedMI Note, took the second spot, followed by Apple's 5.5-inch phablet-class iPhone 6 Plus, which grabbed the third place.

Force Touch could be exclusive to iPhone 6s Plus

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated April 5, 2017

If a new report out of Taiwan is an indication, Apple's pressure sensitive Force Touch technology should make an appearance later this year on an iPhone, but exclusively on a bigger 'iPhone 6s Plus'. Prior rumors have called for pressure-sensitive screen on both 'iPhone 6' and 'iPhone 6 Plus' this fall.

Pressure sensing marketed as Force Touch was first announced on the Apple Watch last fall, making its way later into the trackpad of the newly rolled out twelve-inch MacBook and updated MacBook Pro notebook. On the Watch, the feature taps tiny electrodes positioned around the screen which distinguish between a tap and a press.

Skype adding 12 new languages to iPhone app, Skype Qik gains 8 new video effects

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 30, 2018

Microsoft today announced a pair of updates to its Skype for iPhone and Skype Qik for iPhone apps. Skype 5.12 for the iPhone will introduce a dozen new localizations over the coming week while Skype's Qik app has added eight fancy video effects.

“Within the coming week” Skype users on the iPhone will be able to take advantage of additional country support with Croatian, Slovak, Catalan, Vietnamese, Thai, Hindi, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Turkish and Estonian languages.

Twitterrific 5.1 gains drafts, better muffling & muting and much more

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 9, 2018

Twitterrific, a slick Twitter client from The Iconfactory available for the iPhone, iPad and Mac, has been refreshed in the App Store on Thursday.

At last, the iPhone and iPad client lets you save unfinished messages so you can work on them later. A major update, Twitterrific 5.1 also includes the ability to view and manage your list of muffled usernames, URLs and hashtags.

You can now add keywords to the terms that can be filtered or turn any muffled term into a full mute: just swipe left on the item in the list and select the Mute option.

Microsoft releases Office Lens scanning app for iPhone on App Store

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Microsoft on Thursday launched a brand new scanning application for the iPhone, called Office Lens. Available free of charge in the App Store after first launching on Windows Phone a year ago, Office Lens is a handy capture app that turns your smartphone into a pocket scanner.

The app lets you crop, straighten, enhance and makes pictures of whiteboards and documents readable.

Scans of your docs are automatically saved to OneNote and are editable on any device, though you can save them into OneDrive or your preferred cloud storage service.

Apple’s slick process for dealing with Watch purchases and walk-ins detailed

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 2, 2015

Contradicting a recent 9to5Mac report which said only try-on appointments will be possible come April 10, sources told The Mac Observer that the appointment-only process will reportedly accommodate walk-in purchases, using a system similar to one recently instituted at Genius Bars in Apple's real stores worldwide.

The Genius Bar will handle walk-ins by taking your phone number, allowing customers to run their errands and go about their business until they receive timely updates from the Genius Bar related to waiting times via SMS. Apple's already using this system to handle purchases and is reportedly intending to tap it for the Watch as well.