Apple takes on Dropbox with iCloud Drive
Apple’s slowly improved iCloud since it transitioned from MobileMe, but this year its getting a serious upgrade. On stage at WWDC 2104, Apple’s SVP of Software Craig Federighi introduced us to a better way to manage files with the new iCloud Drive. With Drive, all of your iCloud files are available right inside Finder, letting you access documents and media wherever you are on your Mac. Because they’re on iCloud, they’re automatically auto-synced across devices and are fully searchable and taggable. You will, of course, need OS X Yosemite to take advantage of Finder support, but Apple hopes you’ll ditch Dropbox and Google’s services in favor of Drive’s deep OS support. As expected, iOS 8 will also include iCloud Drive functionality, letting you to work with a single version of a document on all of your devices (which surprisingly includes Windows machines).
In Yosemite and iOS 8, Apple has improved its photo-editing tools while keeping iCloud a central part of it all. In Apple’s new Photos apps you’ll be able to auto-straighten photos, perform color corrections and tweak your media with a press of a button. You can change those settings individually but the app will do them all in concert to make the picture look as good as it can. All of those adjustments are stored in their original formats (and resolution) and then automatically synced between all of your devices over iCloud. The Mac app won’t be available until later this year, but when you’re up and running, the first 5GB of iCloud storage for those shots is free, 20GB will cost a buck a month and 200GB will be available for $4 per month.
Switching to Mail, Apple’s aiming to put things right with the inconsistent app that shipped with Mavericks. In Yosemite, expect to enjoy better syncing, fast message fetching and better file support. With this in mind, Apple’s taken inspiration from Mac apps like Sparrow and Airmail and launched MailDrop, a new feature that addresses a “fundamental problem with email” by letting you send large files (up to 5GB) over email via iCloud. If you’ve sent a large file in the past, you might have encountered a bounce message, Apple’s overcoming that by hosting the file on your behalf — Mac users get the file without clicking, other clients can get to it through the link.
Apple revamps Safari with new UI, power-saving features
Filed under: Apple
OS X Yosemite will be available for free this fall
Apple just announced that its latest desktop operating system, OS X Yosemite, will be available as a free upgrade to Mac users later this fall. Developers, meanwhile, will have access to it starting today. In addition to this, Apple revealed that, through its public beta program, some non-developer folks can start playing with the new version of OS X in the summer. Yosemite brings a completely redesigned user interface and deep integration with iOS, to highlight a couple of things. We’ll likely hear more about Apple’s OS X Yosemite in the days to come; for now, stay tuned to our WWDC liveblog to get more Apple-related coverage.
Filed under: Apple
Apple reveals iOS 8 at WWDC 2014
We all knew it was coming, and now it’s here. Apple CEO Tim Cook just put months of breathless speculation to rest by pulling back the curtain on iOS 8 during the company’s WWDC 2014 keynote address in San Francisco. It doesn’t look like the sort of quantum leap that iOS 7 was, but Apple’s head honcho assures us that it interacts in some fantastic ways with the new version of OS X and that it pairs great end user features with great developer features. Well, we’ll be the judges of that. The big keynote is still underway, but here’s what we know so far.
Interactive Notifications
We’ve all been there — you get a message while you’re doing something else, and you just can’t be bothered to switch apps. With iOS 8, you can pull down from that notification shade and respond from right there. It’s not limited to messages, either — you’ll be able to like/comment on Facebook messages or handle your calendar events.
Improved Mail
Apple has introduced Mailbox-style actions to its stock Mail application, too. You can easily tag or dismiss certain missives without even having to open them up, and all it takes is a quick swipe on the contents of your inbox.
Spotlight
The company made a big to-do about how much better Spotlight is in OS X Yosemite, so it’s only natural the iOS version gets an upgrade as well. Among other things, it’ll let you search for apps you haven’t even installed yet, songs in the iTunes store, movie times and locations and more. Media isn’t the only focus here, though. It’ll also show directions to locations you type in to even news.
QuickType
At long last, iOS is getting an improved on-screen keyboard. In short, we’re looking at an improved recognition service that can more accurately predict what it is you’re trying to say. Hopefully this means an end to all the “ducking” typos going on out there.
iMessage takes on Whatsapp
Facebook just bought Whatsapp for an obscene amount of money, but that hasn’t stopped the folks in Cupertino from replicating some of the app’s most-used features. Among other things, you can send audio and video messages from within the app — in the old days, you’d have to pop out into the camera or Voice Memos to create your content and then send it over. Even better: you can respond to one of those audio messages right from the lock screen if you just raise your iPhone to your face.
Continuity
We’ve touched on this elsewhere, but the newly announced Continuity between iOS and OS X is a very, very welcome shift for Apple. You’ll be able to pick up and initiate phone from within OS X, even when your iPhone is across the house. Is someone calling you? You’ll get a caller ID notification, and a quick touch lets you use your Mac as a speakerphone. And if one of your non-Apple pals shoots you a plain ol’ text message, your iPhone will relay it to all your other iDevices.
HealthKit and the Health app
Think of HealthKit as a one-stop shop for all the health data that gets collected from all the tracking apps on your phone. Apple’s teaming up with a few key partners to use that data — Nike can provide access to your fitness and activity data, and the Mayo Clinic hopes to get actual, real-time health information from patients through HealthKit. And for you, the end user? You’ll be able to keep tabs on the measurements that matter most to you by way of a (startlingly pretty) new Health app.
Family Sharing
Apple is being embraced by businesses all over the place, but that’s not the only organization the company is concerned with winning over. With its new Family Sharing push, those even smaller groups (up to 6 people, if you were curious) can share a single calendar and app and content purchases. If you’re a parent and your lil’ whippersnapper has an affinity for buying things from iTunes with your credit, well, never fear. Once connected, those young ones will be told to seek your permission and you’ll get a notification on your phone to that effect.
A Slightly Smarter Siri
Craig Federighi just glossed through a spate of Siri modifications, none of which were as interesting as what we were hoping for. She’s still in solid shape, though: You can invoke her presence in the car by saying “Hey, Siri,” and the virtual assistant can listen to music and identify it (thanks to a little help from Shazam). In case you happen upon something you like, you’ll be able to download that track right from Siri’s results page.
This is a developing story, please refresh for updates (or check our liveblog!)
Filed under: Mobile
OS X Yosemite will let you answer calls to your iPhone from your Mac
As part of OS X Yosemite’s focus on creating a more seamless experience between your Mac and iOS devices, Apple’s updating iMessage to keep conversations going. Now it’s not just instant messages from other Apple devices that show up on the desktop app, but texts and multimedia that’ve been sent from other platforms, too (texts from your friends’ Android devices, for example). Oh, and you can now make and take regular phone calls from your Mac when your iPhone is in range. Part of the new “hand-off feature” that means your computer and iDevice know exactly what the other is doing, if someone calls your phone, you’ll see a pop-up asking if you want to answer right from your computer. It works the other way, as well, so you can make calls without touching your phone. And, what better way to show off the new feature than to call Dre live on stage. Show-offs.
Messaging has received some TLC in the upcoming iOS 8 update, too. Word predictions across iMessage, Mail, etc. will take the person you’re talking to into account — expecting your vocabulary will be more formal with your boss than with your buddies. All the data that goes along with smart predictions will be stored locally, by the way. Group threads are a bit more malleable, allowing you to add or remove people from the conversation, yourself included. You can also share your current location to a message group. A spirited back and forth annoying you while you’re trying to work? Well, turning Do Not Disturb on for that individual thread means you can stop notifications from that conversation, but allow everything else to get through.
Probably the most important new feature is the addition of voice and video messaging. And, to respond to a voice message with one of your own, you simply raise the iPhone to your ear and start talking. To stop threads full of audio and video hogging all your internal memory, these kind of messages will self-destruct, Snapchat-style. Unless you specifically choose to save them, that is.
Filed under: Cellphones, Desktops, Laptops, Mobile, Apple
Apple’s Health app for iOS 8 collects your vitals from Nike and more
Apple’s iPhone is going from part-time health stat monitor to full-time mobile monitoring unit. HealthKit is a new service coming to the iPhone that tracks, records and analyzes your fitness level across a variety of metrics (sleep, movement, etc.). The way you use it on iOS 8 is through a new app called, simply, “Health.” The initiative works with companies like Nike to bring all your health information into one place, under the Health app in the next update to iOS. It looks a lot like Passbook, using cards to identify various stats. Thusly, it enables customization of the stats you want tracked and how you want it presented.
Apple says Health will work with more than just Nike, though other big players weren’t given the same shoutout. Beyond exercise applications, HealthKit is working with healthcare providers to provide up-to-date information on patient vitals in real-time.
The Mayo Clinic, a Minnesota non-profit, is already working with Apple on making the software work best for both doctors and patients. In the examples shown today at Apple’s WWDC event in San Francisco, Health advised patients of wellness plans set by their doctors and enabled a futuristic approach to healthcare.
Health assuredly works with Apple’s M7 chip, first introduced in the iPhone 5S, which tracks motion stats and enables collection of much of the metrics HealthKit aims to collect. It also sounds like the software bedrock for the long-rumored iWatch concept — a smartwatch/wearable of some form directly from Apple — though we’re yet to hear anything official on that.
Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Household, Software, Apple
Family Sharing on iOS spreads photos, purchases and more amongst relatives
With the arrival of iOS 8, sharing amongst the family is about to get a lot easier. Once you set up all the members of your household (up to six total), you can automatically share photos, calendars, reminders and more. But that’s not all. You know that catchy tune your son bought last week? Well, you’ll be able spin it on your iPhone too. Sharing books, movies, apps and songs is also thrown in, and it can all be tied to a single credit card. Don’t worry parents: you’ll get a notification when your kids want to make a purchase.
Filed under: Portable Audio/Video, Software, Apple
Corsair Announces the Voyager Air 2; 1TB of Wireless Storage Wonder
Corsair has announced a new wireless storage solution, the Corsair Voyager Air 2 wireless drive. The Voyager Air 2 brings users a full terabyte of wireless storage for their mobile life. That is not a typo, 1TB of wireless storage. The Air 2 is also USB 3.0 which allows for you to transfer those large media files from your PC to the drive quickly. After all, filling 1TB takes a lot of work, it shouldn’t take a lot of time.
Along with the release of the new drive is a new app. It is the same app that the original Corsair Voyager Air used, it has just been updated to a new version. Unlike some of the other wireless drives I have seen and used, this one is apparently smarter as it will also sync with your Dropbox and Google Drive accounts.
In addition to the revamped app, and the ridiculous amount of wireless storage, the Voyager Air 2 also allows up to 5 device to connect and stream simultaneously. It also will act as a Wi-Fi hotspot and allows for wireless passthorugh.
The Voyager Air 2 is set to release this month for $179.99.
Full press release and images below.
Corsair Announces Voyager Air 2 Wireless Drive
Stream movies, photos, and music at home or on the go, whatever your device
COMPUTEX 2014 — TAIPEI, Taiwan — June 2, 2014 — Corsair®, a worldwide leader in high-performance components to the PC hardware market, today announced the Voyager Air 2, a palm-sized, wireless hard drive that adds 1TB of storage to your iPad, iPhone, Android device, PC, or Mac®. The rechargeable battery-powered storage drive serves up your entire movie and music library at home or on the go, all without need for wires or internet access.
The latest second-gen drive uses new Voyager Air 2.0 software, which adds new features to the Voyager Air product family, including: simplified media browsing, cloud synchronization with Dropbox and Google Drive, and Airplay streaming to Apple TV.
Wirelessly add 1TB of storage to iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac OS X devices
The Voyager Air 2 adds 1TB of storage to Apple and Android tablets and phones without a tangle of wires. The spacious drive can store up to 800 full-length HD movies or 380,000 MP3s with extra room for photos and office documents. This frees users from obsessing over managing precious space on their mobile devices, and leaves plenty of space for future needs.
Wireless mobile storage for media streaming on the go
With Voyager Air 2, multiple people can enjoy their stored movies, TV shows, music and photos at the office, on a road trip, or while on vacation. The drive is a self-contained streaming media server with a wireless hub built-in, so it can wirelessly stream digital content to other playback devices directly with no Internet connection required. Media can be played with the free Voyager Air app for Android, Apple iOS, and Amazon Kindle Fire devices, or through a web browser. Voyager Air 2 provides solid, fast, and secure 802.11n/b/g Wi-Fi connections for multiple users at ranges up to 90 feet, and can stream 720p high-definition video to up to five devices at once. For ultimate mobility, the high-capacity rechargeable lithium-ion battery provides up to seven hours of video streaming between recharges.
New version 2.0 software adds simplified media browsing, Airplay, DLNA, and cloud syncing
Voyager Air 2’s onboard media server automatically organizes media files, making it easy to browse your whole media library. Browse TV shows by name, season, and episode or music by song title, artist, album, and genre. The drive can also be connected wirelessly to a home network for easy access to media from DLNA-compatible smart TVs, Blu-ray players, game consoles, DVRs, and streaming media boxes. Plus full Airplay compatibility allows convenient streaming to big screen TVs via an Apple TV.
Voyager Air 2 is also cloud friendly. The drive synchronizes with your Dropbox or Google Drive folders, making the content available offline anywhere you go. Once reconnected to the internet, Voyager Air 2 will automatically re-sync to ensure all changes are saved in both the cloud and the drive.
Portable USB 3.0 drive, up to 2x faster
Voyager Air 2 also functions as a super-fast USB 3.0 drive. Copy a two-hour HD movie in under 30 seconds or 1000 iPhone photos in under 45 seconds. It’s compatible with USB 2.0 connections as well.
Voyager Air 2 comes ready to use in Windows format (NTFS), but Mac users can easily reformat to HFS+ for Time Machine® compatibility. The Voyager Air 2 drive may be partitioned for easier organization of media and user files.
Mobile wireless hub for sharing Internet access
Everyone gets online at the same time. Use the Voyager Air 2 as a wireless hub to share Internet access by connecting Voyager Air 2 to a Wi-Fi hotspot and enabling wireless passthrough.
Pricing, Availability, and Warranty
Voyager Air 2 will be available beginning in June from Corsair’s worldwide network of resellers and distributors. Suggested retail pricing is $179.99 USD.
For more information on Voyager Air 2, please visit:
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/external-storage
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AT&T Galaxy Note 3 Update Rolling Out, Brings Download Booster
Seems like to day is not only an amazing day for new announcements, but also for a number of updates to hit various devices. The line of Nexus devices on T-Mobile are all getting Android 4.4.3 updates, or so says the T-Mobile support pages. Now we see another update has begun its long update roll out process. AT&T is pushing out an update for he Galaxy Note 3.
The update brings in the loved Download Booster that many on the Galaxy S5 have enjoyed so much. The Download Booster allows users to download files quicker by utilizing Wi-Fi and 3G/4G simultaneously. The update also adds in a new Kids Mode as well. It offers up a more kid friendly UI that only offers up kid friendly information, games and apps. However, Kids Mode will only support one profile, but does have its own little kids friendly store.
Any AT&T Galaxy Note 3 owners out there seeing this update hit your device?
Source: AndroidPIT
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Google Chromebooks Headed to Nine More Countries
Google’s Chrome blog posted up a cleverly worded poem today to announce that the beloved Chromebooks would be making their way to 9 more countries soon. Without all the c;ever rhymes, the locales are as follows:
- New Zealand
- Philippines
- Norway
- Denmark
- Mexico
- Chile
- Belgium
- Spain
- Italy
In the poem, it is below, Google states that Chile, Denmark, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway and the Philippines are available starting today. With Belgium, Italy and Spain said to becoming available in coming weeks. As of posting this we haven’t seen any Chromebooks become available in the Play Store for other locales. We imagine that they will poop up shortly after the buzz gets around.
Any of our overseas readers in those locales ready to pull the trigger on a Chromebook?
Source: Chrome Blog
Poem –
Chromebooks are coming to nine more nations
to improve computing for all generations.
So we’d like to say our Hellos
to our new global Chromebook fellows:
Kia ora to our New Zealand mates,
where getting on-line will have shorter waits.
Kumusta to new friends in the Philippines,
a better way of computing is what this means.
Hallo to all the folks in Norway
Speed, simplicity and security are coming your way.
Hej Hej to the people in Denmark
Built-in virus protection will be your new computing benchmark.
To Mexico and Chile, Hola we say
Tons of apps and free automatic updates are starting today.
And in the coming weeks — very soon, you’ll see –
Chromebooks will be in Belgium, Spain and Italy.
Chromebooks are easy to share, manage and use,
With lots of shapes, colors and sizes to choose.
Stay safe with your data stored in the cloud,
A smart pick like Chromebook will make your mom proud.
When Chromebooks in these countries alight,
We hope our new global friends find some computing delight.
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