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macOS Sierra preview: Universal Clipboard + Desktop & Documents sync

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2016

Our ongoing macOS Sierra previews continue unabated as Andrew and I take a closer look at two new useful features in Sierra: Universal Clipboard and shared Desktop. You're definitely going to use Universal Clipboard quite a bit: in addition to being a great time-saver, it “just works”.

Universal Clipboard lets you copy and paste items across your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch devices and Mac computers like a boss. Sierra also puts your iCloud storage to good use by keeping any Desktop items along with the files within the Documents folder synchronized across your other devices.

Apple’s free app of the week: Give it Up! 2

Cody Lee ∙ June 23, 2016

Apple on Thursday updated its App of the Week promotion with Give It Up! 2. This means that for the next 7 days, you’ll be able to download the popular rhythm-based platformer for free for both iPhone and iPad, saving yourself a buck.

As the title suggests, this is the sequel to the hit game Give It Up, which garnered more than 10m downloads worldwide. In this installment, you're tasked with helping Bob and his friends navigate a surreal grayscale world full of deadly spikes.

Deal: Alto’s Adventure goes 75 percent off in summer sale

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2016

There's no need to despair in case you missed developer Snowman's two-day sale on Alto's Adventure last month, which discounted this award-winning endless snowboarding title by a cool 66 percent, because another Alto's Adventure sale has just gone into effect.

Purported iPhone 7 pricing leaks: 256GB version across all models, ‘iPhone 7 Pro’ mentioned

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2016

Citing a post on Chinese social network Weibo, PocketNow reported this morning that the flagship 256-gigabyte version of the iPhone 7 Plus could price-match the top-of-the-line 128-gigabyte iPhone 6s Plus model. According to the leaked pricing, the next iPhone lineup would include 32/64/256GB models for the 4.7-inch iPhone 7.

Its bigger brother, the 5.5-inch iPhone 7 Plus, somewhat strangely gets listed with 32/128/256GB storage choices. The Chinese price list also mentions a brand new model for the upcoming iPhone refresh, referred to as 'iPhone 7 Pro'.

Instagram is working on a text translation feature

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2016

Yesterday, Instagram took to its own photo-sharing service to announce that it's working on a text translation for its mobile app. The new feature will begin rolling out in the coming month.

A Translation button will appear on feed stories and profile bios if they're written in languages different from your own. Captions and comments on posts in your feed and the bio on your profile will be translated automatically based on the language they're written in and the language settings of the person viewing it.

Apple explains why iOS 10 kernel is unencrypted

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 23, 2016

Following the discovery by MIT Technology Review that the kernel in iOS 10 beta is unencrypted, Apple has gone on the record to explain why that's the case. Speaking with Dave Mark of The Loop, an Apple spokesperson has officially confirmed that the decision was intentional.

Now, some security experts speculated that leaving the iOS 10 kernel unencrypted would aid anyone, nefarious users included, looking for security weaknesses in the iOS software.

Apple explains why such fears are unfounded.

Rumor: iPhone 7 to feature relocated ambient light sensor, larger earpiece

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 7, 2018

While the iPhone 7 isn't expected to feature any major changes, Mac Otakara reports that there will be some notable differences on the front of the handset. Citing supply chain sources, the outlet says the device will feature an updated proximity sensor, a relocated ambient light sensor and larger earpiece.

WhatsApp is about to get a whole lot better

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 22, 2016

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has some notable improvements in the pipeline, including support for large emoji characters, all-new public groups, the ability to share locally stored tracks and Apple Music songs with friends and family, deeper Facebook integration, profile codes, stickers and multi-account support, to name a few.

But we're just getting started.

Dropbox gains document scanner, secure file sharing and other productivity improvements

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 22, 2016

Dropbox today announced a major update to its mobile and desktop clients across platforms, including the ability to scan documents in the mobile app, create Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel files on the go, share files securely with others using access privileges and much more.

On the downside, Dropbox's existing Camera Sync feature has been removed from the mobile app so you now must manage photos using the desktop client. Dropbox for iOS is available at no charge via the App Store. The Mac client must be downloaded directly from the Dropbox website.

Unicode 9.0 goes official with 72 new emojis

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 22, 2016

The Unicode Consortium, the organization which develops the Unicode standard that specifies the representation of text in all modern software, officially announced Unicode 9.0, the next major revision to the Unicode standard.

The Unicode 9.0 specification is now available to vendors with 7,500 new characters for a total of 128,172 characters, including six new scripts and 72 new emoji characters.

Food for thought: is 3.5mm audio plug the new floppy drive?

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 22, 2016

Responding to Nilay Patel's controversial article on The Verge, titled “Taking the Headphone Jack Off Phones Is User-Hostile and Stupid”, Daring Fireball's John Gruber pulls out the floppy drive analogy.

As you know, the next iPhone is rumored to ditch the industry-standard 3.5mm jack in favor of Bluetooth and Lightning-based headphones.

Gruber goes on to compare Nilay's arguments against removing the century-old analog jack from mobile devices to the similar arguments that had been made in response to Apple's decision to ditch the good ol' floppy drive from the iMac in 1998 for USB.

iOS 10 beta kernel is unencrypted, but why?

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 22, 2016

MIT Technology Review has discovered that the kernel in iOS 10 beta is unencrypted, making it a lot easier for technology-minded users, jailbreak developers and the like to take a peek under iOS's hood and pinpoint any potential vulnerabilities.

For those wondering, kernels in all prior iOS betas used to be encrypted. Is this a bold move meant to help strengthen security in iOS 10 or will this decision actually introduce further security risks and open new attack vectors for hackers to exploit?