4.7-Inch ‘iPhone Air’ Shown Off In New Concept Video [iOS Blog]
The upcoming iPhone 6 has been incorporated into a new concept video by designer Sam Beckett, which was initially posted to The Verge forums. According to the dimensions Beckett provides, his “iPhone Air” concept includes a 4.7-inch display, a 1920 by 1080 resolution and 468 pixels per inch.
Beckett’s concept is 8 percent larger than the iPhone 5s and 9 percent thinner. The slimmer profile is in line with previous iPhone 6 rumors, which have suggested Apple has improved its backlighting technology to allow for thinner devices.
The phone is only 8% larger than the existing iPhone 5S, this increase is to accommodate the larger screen. Some extra space could be potentially utilised by reducing the width of the side bezels and by also slimming down the top and bottom of the phone frame too. The depth of the iPhone Air is 7mm, coming in 0.6mm smaller than it’s predecessor. This modest reduction in the device depth and larger increase in the width and height could help create a bigger space for the battery and other components.
Like several other iPhone 6 concepts, Beckett’s design keeps the same general size and shape of the existing iPhone 5s while doing away with thick side bezels. The design incorporates thinner side bezels with a sapphire crystal display, both features the phone is rumored to include.
Beckett also draws on a number of other rumors for the video, suggesting the iPhone 6 will include a 10-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/1.8 and a faster A8 chip, which is reportedly already in production with TSMC.
As with any concept, it is unclear if these ideas and rumors will make it into the next-generation iPhone, but the video does imagine how a larger iPhone could possibly look. Apple is said to be developing two larger iPhones for release in 2014, one near 4.7 inches and one quite a bit larger at approximately 5.5 inches.
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iOS 7.1 Includes Support for Two Unannounced iPads, Likely Minor Tweaks [iOS Blog]
iOS 7.1, released earlier today, includes support for existing iPad models along with support for two unannounced models, labeled iPad4,3 and iPad4,6. It is possible that these new model numbers represent minor hardware revisions for existing iPads that will be introduced to the market silently, as a more substantial upgrade would push the model numbers higher.
On occasion, Apple has implemented new hardware components for its iOS devices without a public announcement and these minor changes often go unseen by consumers as they tend to introduce very minor improvements in efficiency. For example, an Apple TV update in January of 2013 revealed a new Apple TV, which turned out to be a minor update with a smaller A5 chip. That change was not obvious to Apple TV purchasers, but it did warrant a model number jump to 3,2 from 3,1.
Image courtesy of 9to5Mac
Existing iPad Air models are numbered 4,1 and 4,2, while Retina iPad mini models are numbered 4,4 and 4,5, suggesting one new iPad Air for the 4,3 designation and one new Retina mini for the 4,6 designation.
As noted by 9to5Mac, it is also possible that iPad4,3 and iPad4,6 represent iOS devices that are optimized for networks in other countries.
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Watch us play Titanfall for Xbox One (poorly) right here! (update: and it’s over!)
Xbox One’s first major release officially drops this week: Titanfall, from the folks who made Call of Duty into the 800-lb. gorilla it is today. Well, specifically, it launches tomorrow, but we’ve got it right now and thought you’d like a taste before deciding if it’s your next thousand-hour addiction, so we’re streaming it via Twitch just below the break. Though both Ben Gilbert (that’s me!) and Tim Seppala are on the stream today, you’ll have to settle for just Ben’s audio as we try and figure out how to incorporate more editors into the mix. Technology is hard, folks.
And hey, this is our first stream, so let us know what you think in the comments: love it? hate it? what would you like to see? what don’t you? Your input is appreciated! Now let’s go shoot some robots.
Update: Sorry for the troubles, folks. With the Xbox One Twitch app still in beta, we’re having some issues keeping a stream up and running. Bear with us!
Update 2: Okay folks, we’re out! Again, please let us know how you feel about this concept in the comments/via email/on Twitter/etc.! Head below for the archived video, and thanks very much for joining us!
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft
Source: Twitch
Apple releases iOS 7.1 with CarPlay support
After pushing out several betas, Apple‘s finally ready to roll out its latest firmware update to the masses. iOS 7.1 is now available as a free download, and as expected, it adds a few new features to the mix. The new update should be heading your direction if you own an iPhone 4 or newer, iPad 2 or newer, either iPad mini or a fifth-generation iPod touch. Among the usual smattering of tweaks to the iOS UI and bug fixes, the most notable feature improvement is the inclusion of CarPlay support and fixes for the random reboot problem many iOS 7 users have been experiencing.
The biggest change to iOS with the new update is support for Apple’s CarPlay feature, which brings iOS integration to your in-dash stereo and provides you with the ability to interact with Siri, access your music library and third-party audio apps, navigate routes using Maps, answer calls and send texts hands-free. Previously known as “iOS in the Car,” the feature will be offered on select new Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Ferrari models, while plenty of other manufacturers are working on CarPlay options of their own.
Speaking of Siri, 7.1 adds a clever bit of functionality to the virtual assistant. Now, when you press and hold down the home button, Siri will wait until you’ve released the button before it processes your input. This is a handy trick if you need extra time to speak to Siri, since the program previously thought pauses meant you were finished dictating or making your request.
Additionally, iOS 7.1 comes with a rather lengthy list of other bug fixes and UI tweaks. For instance, there’s a new setting in the camera to automatically enable HDR on the iPhone 5s; you’ll also get new functionality in iTunes Radio and Calendar, as well as improved Touch ID fingerprint recognition, optimized performance for older devices and — most importantly — a fix for that pesky bug that has caused random reboots on more than a handful of iOS devices.
You should be able to download and install iOS 7.1 directly on your device, but at 1.4GB for iPhone and 1.5GB for iPad, the latest update to iOS is a rather bulky one. If you’re not near a WiFi hotspot, there’s always the option to download and install the file through iTunes on your computer at your convenience. Check out the full change log below to see what you’re getting.
- CarPlay
- iOS experience designed for the car
- Simply connect your iPhone to a CarPlay enabled vehicle
- Supports Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, and 3rd-party audio apps
- Control with Siri and the car’s touchscreen, knobs, and buttons
- Siri
- Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button while you speak and releasing it when you’re done as an alternative to letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking
- New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Mandarin Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and Japanese
- iTunes Radio
- Search field above Featured Stations to easily create stations based on your favorite artist or song
- Buy albums with the tap of a button from Now Playing
- Subscribe to iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to enjoy iTunes Radio ad-free
- Calendar
- Option to display events in month view
- Country specific holidays automatically added for many countries
- Accessibility
- Bold font option now includes the keyboard, calculator, and many icon glyphs
- Reduce Motion option now includes Weather, Messages, and multitasking UI animations
- New options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point
- New Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s
- iCloud Keychain support in additional countries
- FaceTime call notifications are automatically cleared when you answer a call on another device
- Fixes a bug that could occasionally cause a home screen crash
- Improves Touch ID fingerprint recognition
- Improved performance for iPhone 4
- Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000
- Continued user interface refinements
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple
Source: Apple
Snowden says encryption and oversight are key to protecting the public from surveillance
Speaking to a packed exhibit hall through a Google Hangout, which was passed through seven proxies, Edward Snowden said the keys to protecting the public from government surveillance is encryption and civilian oversight. The world’s most famous whistleblower has said it before, but reiterated it for the SXSW crowd, that end-to-end encryption would go a long way towards protecting user data from both spying and attackers. Many current communications systems, like the aforementioned Hangout, encrypt data at either end, but companies often decrypt your information in between because it needs to harvest data in order to serve up ads. If communications are encrypted the entire time, mass surveillance of the sort that the NSA has engaged in becomes extremely difficult and prohibitively expensive. Of course, if you’re a target of the NSA, encryption won’t be able to protect you. However, breaking through those protections would require a much more targeted attack, rather than a broad collection of data.
Of course, encryption tools also need to be easier to use. Popular tools like PGP (pretty good privacy) and Tor are incredibly difficult to install and use for the less technically inclined. The ACLU’s Ben Wizner, who was moderating the conversation, said that when Tor is the best choice for the “average user” to protect themselves “we’ve failed.”
The second essential ingredient is public oversight of our spy agencies and government. He singled out Michael Hayden and Keith Alexander as having weakened America’s cyber defenses during their tenure at the NSA by shifting the agency’s priority to “offensive” operations. The focus on data collection meant has meant leaving open backdoors and spreading vulnerabilities. Networks and services have been designed with surveillance in mind under their watch, which makes these platforms vulnerable to hackers and criminals, as well as governments.
You can watch the entire conversation below.
Filed under: Internet
Vimeo On Demand celebrates first birthday, gives filmmakers money, viewers a fresh interface
Web video’s growing up before our eyes, folks. A year ago, Vimeo On Demand made its debut to help content makers get paid by content consumers (that’s you) directly, and, presumably, to help folks think of Vimeo as a purveyor of online video that’s more Netflix and less YouTube. In celebration of its first 12 months of existence, Vimeo’s making some improvements to the on demand portal’s interface and announcing plans to help fund digital filmmakers.
First off, joining the standard comedy, documentary, animation, etc. content categories, the site now has curated collections of videos that share common themes to help users discover new videos. And, there’s a new UI, inspired by brick-and-mortar stores with “well-designed shelves,” that really just makes Vimeo On Demand look more like Netflix on the web — users get rows of content categories that each scroll horizontally to show more videos within them. Vimeo’s also rolling out a My Library feature for users that keeps track of all the videos you watch, rent and buy in one place, too.
As for the folks actually making all those videos on demand? Vimeo needs them shooting quality movies, which is why its new Audience Development Program was created to distribute $10 million to digital auteurs with “distribution-ready titles.” In plain english, that means you must’ve raised more than $10,000 for your project on Kickstarter, Indiegogo or Seed & Spark, or have premiered it at a select list of film festivals in 2014 — they aren’t giving the cash away to just anybody, folks. Additionally, should your film qualify, you can look forward to marketing and promotional support from Vimeo, too. Think your next project could benefit from Vimeo’s generosity? You can apply right here.
Source: Vimeo staff blog
Akai’s Rhythm Wolf has analog drum machine and bass synth chops for $200
If you’re a fan of drum machines and synthesizers, 2014 is off to a great start, and now Akai has added a device of its own to the fray. The pro audio outfit has announced the Rhythm Wolf, an analog drum machine and bass synth module designed with classic sound machines in mind. There’s a built-in 32-step sequencer and six MPC pads to wrangle “highly tweakable” drum sounds and the bass synthesizer’s selectable oscillator and classic filter design. A “Howl” knob (because, of course) adds a custom distortion circuit and the gate trigger allows use with other gear. As you might expect, USB MIDI and MIDI input/output are built in and there are separate audio outputs for the drum machine and bass synth modules. Ready to commit? You’ll need to part with $200 when the Rhythm Wolf arrives this summer.
Filed under: Misc
Neil Young to Debut ‘PonoPlayer’ High-Definition iPod Competitor This Week
Musician Neil Young, who has also dabbled in songwriting and directing, has been working on a competitor to Apple’s iPod for several years now, which is now close to seeing a release date.
The PonoPlayer is a $399 digital music player that is designed to offer high quality sound, beating out Apple’s iPod. The sound is described as “master-quality digital music at the highest audio fidelity possible,” which allows listeners to feel the true emotion and detail of the music, “the way the artist recorded it.”
Young initially unveiled plans for the higher-quality digital music in 2012, after he revealed in an interview with AllThingsD that he had discussed high definition music formats with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs ahead of his death. Young has been in favor of higher definition music formats for several years, but such formants require larger files, which may have held Apple back from jumping on board.
When asked if Young had approached Apple about the idea, Young said that he had, in fact, met with Jobs and was “working on it,” but that “not much” ended up happening to the pursuit.
Of note, Young made mention that Jobs was a vinyl fan, despite having helmed the company that would spearhead the way people listened to and purchased digital music.
Apple offers iTunes music in an AAC format at a quality of 256 kbps and while the company does support a lossless audio format, the files take up more space than AAC files and are not sold on the iTunes Store.
Young’s PonoPlayer works in conjunction with the yet-to-be-released PonoMusic service, which pledges to “significantly improve the way you get to hear and feel your favorite music.” The PonoPlayer itself will ship with 128GB of memory, storing from 100 to 500 high resolution albums.
As for Apple’s line of iPods, several of the devices, including the nano, the shuffle, and the classic, have gone more than three years without an update. Apple did introduce a minor color change for some of the devices, but it appears the company may be planning to phase out several models. The exception may be the iPod Touch, which was updated with a new design in 2012.
During a recent conference call, Tim Cook called the iPod a declining category for the company, which has been overtaken by more popular offerings such as the iPhone and the iPad. “All of us have known for some time that the iPod is a declining business,” he said.
The $399 PonoPlayer will be introduced to the public via a Kickstarter project that is set to go live later this week.
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Apple Releases iOS 7.1 With CarPlay, Touch ID Improvements, Visual Tweaks
Following a lengthy beta testing period, Apple today released iOS 7.1 to the public, marking the first major update to iOS 7 since its September release. The update includes much-needed improvements to the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system built-in to the iPhone 5s, an update for a home screen crashing issue, and it brings CarPlay support, which was first unveiled by Apple last week.
Apple has launched a new website page that shows off some of the additions to iOS 7.1.
The update also includes multiple visual tweaks, such as revamped shift and caps locks keys on the keyboard, refined icons for the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps, and a redesign for several aspects of the Phone dialer and shutdown screen.
Accessibility has been improved with a new “Button Shapes” option that indicates where tappable areas are located, a “Darken Colors” option, and an enhancement to Contrast allowing users to reduce iOS 7’s white point.
A multitude of minor improvements to enhance the performance of the operating system have also been bundled into the update, such as new bounce animations in Control Center, more prominent buttons in the Music app, and a new event list view within the Calendar app. Full release notes are as follows:
CarPlay
– iOS experience designed for the car
– Simply connect your iPhone to a CarPlay enabled vehicle
– Supports Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, and 3rd-party audio apps
– Control with Siri and the car’s touchscreen, knobs, and buttonsSiri
– Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button while you speak and releasing it when you’re done as an alternative to letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking
– New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Mandarin Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and JapaneseiTunes Radio
– Search field above Featured Stations to easily create stations based on your favorite artist or song
– Buy albums with the tap of a button from Now Playing
– Subscribe to iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to enjoy iTunes Radio ad-freeCalendar
– Option to display events in month view
– Country specific holidays automatically added for many countriesAccessibility
– Bold font option now includes the keyboard, calculator, and many icon glyphs
– Reduce Motion option now includes Weather, Messages, and multitasking UI animations
– New options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white pointOther
– New Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s
– iCloud Keychain support in additional countries
– FaceTime call notifications are automatically cleared when you answer a call on another device
– Fixes a bug that could occasionally cause a home screen crash
– Improves Touch ID fingerprint recognition
– Improved performance for iPhone 4
– Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000
– Continued user interface refinements
The update officially disables the evasi0n iOS 7 jailbreak, patching key kernel exploits.
iOS 7.1 was first seeded to developers back in mid-November, following the launch of iOS 7.0.4. iOS 7.1 saw five developer betas, with the last beta coming on February 4.
iOS 7.1 can be downloaded via the software update tool in the settings menu on iOS devices. Users on devices upgrading from iOS 7.0.6 are seeing file sizes of approximately 268 MB, while those upgrading from a beta are seeing larger downloads of 1.3-1.4 GB.
Apple has also launched a new update for the Apple TV.
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Apple TV 6.1 Software Update Makes Hiding Channels Easier [iOS Blog]
Alongside the launch of iOS 7.1, Apple today updated its Apple TV software to version 6.1, adding a much-requested feature that allows users to hide unwanted channel icons from the main screen without needing to access the Parental Controls menu. The hiding feature joins an already existing rearranging feature, letting users further customize their Apple TV home screens as the number of channels has grown significantly in recent months.
Arranging or hiding icons can be initiated by selecting an item in the main menu and then pressing and holding on the Select button of the remote control until the icon jiggles, much as how icon rearranging functions within iOS. Icons can be moved using directional buttons, with Play/Pause available for more options.
The Apple TV software was last updated to version 6.0.1 in October, following the release of the 6.0 software in September, which brought several new features including iTunes Radio and AirPlay from iCloud. Earlier this week, the Apple TV gained a new iTunes Festival channel ahead of SXSW.
Users can download the Apple TV 6.1 software through the Apple TV’s over-the-air update mechanism found in Settings –> General –-> Software Update.
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