Gestures

Proton is another take on a system-wide mini music player [jailbreak]

The jailbreak community is one place where we can almost always count on developers to create new ways to interact with music throughout the system-wide iOS experience. New tweaks are released all the time that let you control your music without even being in the Music app itself, and each tries to be better than the last.

A relatively new tweak release, Proton, is available in Cydia and offers some unique functionality of its own. We'll show you what it's all about inside this review.

‘Edge’ brings a Galaxy S7-inspired feature to jailbroken devices

For those lurking the Changes tab in Cydia, you may have noticed an interesting new jailbreak tweak called Edge, which claims to bring a feature to iPhones that is typically found on a competing handset – the Samsung Galaxy S7.

Available in Cydia for $1.99, Edge lets you access a useful new menu from anywhere in iOS with a special slide gesture. The menu provides access to apps, tasks, contacts, and more, and in this review, we'll be showing you all about how the tweak works!

Using BetterTouchTool to cycle through Safari tabs

BetterTouchTool is a free Mac utility that allows you to supercharge your Mac's trackpad gestures. There are literally hundreds of uses for an app like this, but I'd like to share with you one particular use case scenario that I find extremely useful.

I've set up BetterTouchTool to allow my MacBook's trackpad to quickly cycle through all of my open tabs in Safari using a simple two-finger gesture. Have a look at our full demonstration video and tutorial for all of the details.

Apple patents hybrid ‘Fusion’ keyboard with gestures, forceful pressure and more

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on Tuesday awarded Apple a patent for a hybrid multitouch keyboard that would incorporate touch-sensitive mechanical keys with two-position mechanical switches for activating tasks at different levels of pressure.

Titled ‘Fusion keyboard’, the U.S. Patent No. 9,041,652 explores a touch sensitive mechanical keyboard for detecting touch events and key depressions.

Review: Logitech MX Master – a good choice for OS X users?

The Logitech MX Master Wireless Mouse has been at the top of my must-try list ever since it came out. Debuting to glowing reviews, and statements of increased productivity, I had to try this mouse out to see if it would help my workflow on OS X. Does it live up to my high expectations? Check out our review for more details.

ControlAir: control your Mac media apps with simple gestures

Gone are the days when we had to painfully reach for the mouse, drag the cursor around the screen, and click to pause, play, or skip a song in iTunes. All sarcasm aside, there are times when it's just not that practical to either reach for the keyboard or the mouse to control the music playing on your Mac, and this is an experience ControlAir is trying to improve.

ControlAir is a new Mac app that gives users touch-free control over their media and entertainment apps. Using ControlAir, users can just lean back and control music and video applications using air gestures, without ever having to touch the keyboard or the mouse.

Microsoft Research demos mechanical keyboard that can interpret motion gestures

Microsoft's research and development arm has shown off a novel mechanical keyboard prototype which incorporates elements of natural user interaction such as touch and low-effort motion gestures. The goal is to enhance user interfaces on desktop by allowing for smooth transitions between text entry and gestures.

The system uses an array of proximity sensors embedded in the keyboard itself and is coupled to a software that uses the motion signature technique which utilizes pairs of motion history images and a random forest classifier to robustly recognize a large set of motion gestures.

It works like magic and we have an impressive video right after the break to prove it...

How to add swipe gestures to video playback

VideoGestures is a recently released tweak that allows you to perform gestures while playing video to adjust volume and playhead position. The tweak features several settings to adjust the velocity of swipe gestures, along with a setting to invert the gestures for natural scrolling.

If you're looking for an intuitive way to control video playback on iOS, then look no further. Check out our full video walkthrough after the break.

Apple ‘iRing’ concept brought to life by Kickstarter project

Around this time last year, Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White made headlines for a note he sent to investors regarding the 'iRing.' White said that Apple was working on a television set that could read motion gestures from a user who was wearing a ring-shaped device on their finger.

Well, we have yet to see the product materialize, but a company called Logbar is looking to change that with their new Kickstarter project. It's called 'Ring: shortcut to everything,' and once connected to your mobile device, it allows you to send texts, control your home appliances, and more...

How to quickly launch apps using gestures

Gestr is a brand new jailbreak tweak that allows users to assign gestures to a specific app and launch the app using the assigned gesture. The tweak, which is available for $0.99 on Cydia's BigBoss repo, uses an Activator action to engage the screen used for inputing gestures.

In the end, Gestr probably isn't a tweak that will significantly speed up app launches on iOS, but it's undoubtedly a cool way to do so. Have a look inside for our video walkthrough, which showcases how it works.

How to get Zephyr-like gestures on iOS 7

MultitaskingGestures is a just released jailbreak tweak that brings Zephyr-like functionality to iPhones running iOS 7. Since it doesn't look like we will see an iOS 7 updated version of Zephyr, developer Hamza Sood has taken the initiative to bring us something similar.

To be clear, MultitaskingGestures is not a 1:1 copy of Zephyr; it brings its own ideas and features to the table, but it's a flattering impersonation of Chpwn's groundbreaking tweak of old. Have a look at our video walkthrough inside to see MultitaskingGestures in action.

Apple patent taps gesture input for multi-user iOS Lock screen access

Many iOS devices, particularly the iPad, are often shared among family and friends. For example, wouldn't it be great if you could unlock just your Games folders for the kids, but give yourself and your spouse access to more applications?

Apple may have heard your thoughts, because a new patent outlines ways to offer limited access to select sets of iOS apps, straight from the Lock screen. The technology could supplant the one-size-fits-all nature of a passcode, with proposed 'access inputs' featuring gestures ranging from letters, shapes and more...