iOS

New in iOS 7: smart ‘send from’ in Mail

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 25, 2013

Just a quick note regarding a nice little feature discovery in Apple's stock Mail app in iOS 7 that I haven't seen reported on thus far.

Prior to iOS 7, creating a new message in the stock Mail app would normally default to your 'send from' email address specified in the Settings app. iOS 7 has changed this behavior, for the better.

You see, Mail in iOS 7 is smart enough to over time learn who you're emailing and changes the 'send from' value accordingly to match the recipient's domain. I've included screenshots and the full description right after the break...

Classic zombie board game Chainsaw Warrior coming to iOS soon

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

Chainsaw Warrior, a one-player zombie board game published way back in 1987 by Games Workshop (best known in the US for the Warhammer 40,000 and Blood Bowl franchises), will be making the leap to iOS later this year, the British publisher announced.

Created by Auroch Digital, an indie development studio based in UK's Bristol Games Hub, the game is set in the near future: the year is 2032 and you must defend the mankind from a zombie apocalypse which has ensued after a dimensional rift opened up in a New York slum...

Beat Jony Ive at his own game using this interactive iOS 7 design tool

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 22, 2013

After June's iOS 7 announcement us bloggers have gotten to become premium design experts. So much ink has been spilt on the new look of Apple's mobile operating system, with observations of armchair analyst, resident critics, the quotidian and alike touching on such topics as Apple's golden ratio, the icons, the flatness, the colors and just about every aspect of the software overhaul one could think of.

And that's perfectly okay. And now, those who insist they could do a better job at revamping iOS 7 can take a crack at it. An amusing tool by Usvsth3m lets you create your own iOS 7 design masterpiece by customizing the iOS 7 icons, wallpapers, fonts (good-bye Helvetica Neue, no?), color scheme, corners, shadows - and even put in their own slogan. Will you give it a go and let your inner designer shine through?

VLC media player makes a comeback, following a 2-year App Store hiatus

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 18, 2013

Following a range of issues with copyright holders that had forced the team to pull it from the App Store some two years ago, the popular video player VLC has returned to Apple's platform as a brand new iPhone and iPad app.

Re-written from the ground up to take advantage of modern technologies, the new VLC brings with it a refined user interface that's reminiscent of the original release and features such as subtitles and support for multi-core decoding and a bunch of iOS-unfriendly media formats, including .mkv files.

Jump past the fold for the full reveal...

Apple-Samsung smartphone duopoly to continue into 2014

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 17, 2013

The smart device duopoly of Apple and Samsung is set to continue into 2014, new research finds. Although growth is slowing amid lack of 'wow' factor, smartphones will account for three-quarters of the 2.5 billion devices expected to sell next year.

In other words, smartphones will comprise an astounding 1.9 billion handsets sold next year.

Google's Android mobile software will have 42 percent of the market with Apple's iOS garnering fourteen percent in 2014. Microsoft is predicted to become the #2 platform with a fifteen percent share of next year's market, according to Gartner...

iOS 7 smooths out iPhone apps on non-Retina iPads

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 9, 2013

With each passing day we learn more about the subtleties and under-the-hood tweaks that have made their way into the third beta of iOS 7. Today, I want to talk about the iPad's 2x compatibility mode. Hasn't it always bothered you how iPhone apps run pixel-doubled on your iPad mini and other non-Retina iPad devices, resulting in jagged corners and edges and just all-around pixelated appearance?

You can tick that issue off as iOS 7 Beta 3 added a new feature that makes every iPhone app look very clear running on an iPad 2 or iPad mini, in a manner reminiscent of a tweak for jailbroken devices by Ryan Petrich, called RetinaPad...

More proof that Apple’s premium iWork/iLife iOS suite could go free

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 9, 2013

Apple for years offered iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand iOS apps as a $4.99 download each.

On the Mac, those apps which comprise the iLife suite come bundled with new Mac purchases and Apple's been very actively advertising them as one of the reasons people switch to the Mac.

As for the iWork productivity suite - comprised of the Pages word processor, Numbers spreadsheet maker and Keynote presentation creator - users are expected to pay $19.99 each on the Mac side and $9.99 each on the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad.

Some watchers think the advent of the free iWork for iCloud web apps with full editing capabilities (currently in beta) may signal Apple's intention to make the entire iWork suite a free affair, giving people one less reason to consider rival platforms. Today, a German blog has discovered an interesting change in the first-run App Store screen in the latest iOS 7 Beta 3 that surprisingly adds individual iWork/iLife apps as free downloads...

Apple caught testing offline Dictation for iOS 7

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 6, 2013

Among the headline new Mac features set to debut when OS X Mavericks gets released this Fall is a little but important enhancement to Dictation.

Hawk-eyed readers will recall that Dictation was brought to the Mac as part of OS X Mountain Lion last summer. Based on Siri's speech-to-text component, Dictation on the Mac requires a broadband Internet connection.

In Mavericks, Apple will let you optionally download a nearly 1GB package to power offline Dictation.

But Apple's engineers aren't stopping here and are reportedly privately testing offline Dictation for iOS 7. More details right after the break...

iOS apparently grabbed nearly 75 percent of mobile ad market in May

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated May 3, 2017

As we've noted in the past, Apple has the unique ability to have products outnumbered by Android, yet excel in areas which count - like advertising. The latest case in point is a study finding nearly 75 percent of mobile ads are served to Apple's iDevices.

By contrast, Android's share of the mobile ad market is decreasing with Samsung's Galaxy S smartphones delivering barely any ad impressions, according to figures released by a mobile ad company...

BlackBerry death watch begins ticking after touch screen fiasco

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 1, 2013

I'm not sure which is worse, BlackBerry described as the smartphone equivalent of MySpace or the Canadian company being verbally parted-out like a 1991 Yugo. Both followed Friday's 28 percent slide in BlackBerry stock prices after the company missed Wall Street expectations for sales of the Z10 handset.

Introduced in January, the touch-screen device was supposed to get BlackBerry into a game so far dominated by the iPhone and Android. Instead, the BlackBerry deathwatch began ticking as Wall Street investors slash expectations, the company itself stops talking about declining subscribers, and former Apple CEO John Scully suggests the smartphone maker stop making phones...

Apple enforcing iOS 7 beta gag-order on retail employees

Ed Sutherland ∙ July 1, 2013

As we told you last week, Apple is now seeking feedback on iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks from its retail employees. The program apparently has gotten off to a great start, but now the firm seems to be tightening access to iOS 7 betas and warning store employees they could get fired if a customer is shown the updated mobile operating system before its official unveiling this Fall.

Employees at Apple's retail locations using the beta are being contacted by Human Resources to ensure the test version was obtained through the iPhone maker's official developer's program, not from a third-party, according to a Monday report...

Apple remains #1 smartphone maker in U.S.

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

If anyone needed confirmation, the U.S. smartphone market can be summed up in two words: Apple and Samsung. Those are the findings by measurement firm comScore, with Apple increasing its lead as the nation's top smartphone brand. The iPhone maker had 39.2 percent of the domestic market at the end of May, growing its share 0.3 points.

Samsung also improved on its February second-place showing, growing 1.7 percentage points to capture 23 percent of the American market. Meanwhile, Google's Android remains the No. 1 smartphone platform in the U.S., although Apple's iOS inched up during the three-month period which ended in May...