iWork for iCloud Beta Apps Now Accessible Without an Apple Device
Apple on Thursday made Pages, Numbers and Keynote accessible to users without an Apple device through iCloud Beta. Starting last night, anyone can sign up for an Apple ID to access the trio of iWork for iCloud beta apps for free. Each account comes with 1GB of complimentary iCloud storage for use with the productivity software.
While the offer is currently limited to the iCloud Beta website, it is likely that Apple will rollout the feature to the regular version in the future. To create a free Apple ID account, navigate to iCloud Beta and click on the get started link in the top banner to begin the signup process.
Apple introduced iWork for iCloud at WWDC 2013, bringing Pages, Numbers and Keynote to the web. After receiving “overwhelming response,” Apple eventually opened the service to all users a few months later. iWork for iCloud has been steadily improved since then with interactive charts, an updated design, expanded language support and more.
Camera360 Sight gets updated with minor improvements
When apps are updated with major new functionality and additional features, things can sometimes go wrong in the form of bugs. The developer of Camera360 Sight has today released a minor update to address some bugs and improve performance. If you recently updated to version 1.1, you’ll want to check out this latest release.
The impressive Calculator in Windows 10 for phones will convert all the things
One of the less glamorous, yet still essential, new apps in the Windows 10 Preview for phones is the Calculator. It’s one of those apps we just assume will be there when we need it, but with Windows 10 it’s becoming immensely more useful. Gone is the simplistic Calculator of old from Windows Phone 8.1, and in comes a new, feature packed version with scientific calculators and convertions galore.
Read on for a quick look at what it can do for you.
Google Maps adds lane guidance for 15 new European countries
It was only just last year that Google introduced lane guidance to their turn-by-turn navigation in Google Maps, adding much needed assistance to finding your way on a new and unknown route. The feature is now rolling out to users in fifteen more European countries, so that they too can find their way.
This latest batch of additions to the lane guidance list more than doubles the available countries supported by Google Maps. With a new total of 23 supported countries, the newest addition of 15 includes the following:
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This is exciting news not only for those that live in these areas (that still want navigation in their own towns) but also for the millions that travel to these countries every year. Whether looking for the world’s best chocolate, skiing, old world castles or just out for a monstrous drive across Europe, Google Maps will now help you always be in the correct lane as you try to get there.
Any globe trotters excited for lane guidance in Google Maps navigation for these additional European countries?
Virgin Media’s investing £3 billion to bring broadband to 4 million more homes
While Virgin Media has consistently beat BT’s broadband speeds, the cable supplier’s growth has been hampered by availability. BT’s copper and fibre networks blanket most of the UK, whereas Virgin Media’s coverage remains limited to specific towns and cities. In August, it said it would connect 100,000 more London homes as part of its biggest ever expansion, but it appears that was just the start. Today, with help from its parent company Liberty Global, Virgin Media announced that it will invest £3 billion to bring its services to 4 million more British homes and businesses.
It’s all part of “Project Lightning,” a new initiative that aims to bring Virgin Media’s 152MB broadband to customers for the first time. It’ll boost the company’s footprint by roughly a third, ensuring almost 17 million Brits can choose to install its services by 2020. For those who have already subscribed, Liberty Global also intends to begin trialling DOCSIS 3.1, the next-generation of cable networking, across Europe later this year, meaning that speeds could reach 10Gb in the future. With Sky, BT and TalkTalk all investing heavily in quad-play packages, which include broadband, phone, TV and mobile, Virgin Media can’t afford to be left behind by its competition. Today’s announcement shows it’s ready to spend big to grow its customer base, using technology that none of its rivals can piggyback on.
Filed under: Household, Internet
Source: Virgin Media
A closer look at the keyboard on Windows 10 Preview for phones
We’ve been busy playing with Windows 10 preview for phone in the past few hours. Only a few devices are currently supported, so many eager fans still have to wait. One of the new things in the preview that I wanted to check out was the keyboard. It includes a precision pointing stick, voice dictation, and a new shortcut to emoticons. Want to see the new keyboard in action? Watch our hands-on video.
Instant for Android lets you track your smartphone addiction levels
Instant for Android is an all-in-one tracking app that monitors your daily device usage, as well as fitness data and device unlock count. Want to know how many minutes you’ve spent on Facebook? Instant’s app usage tab gives you an overview of time spent on each app.
Olympus’ new lens camera can be (incredibly) upgraded
This is no DSLR. It’s not even a bridge camera. This is actually Olympus’ recently announced Air lens camera, tricked out to a (some would say excessive) degree. While the accessories on show here were only for internal testing, we admit we’d like to do some external testing with it. Alongside the DSLR-esque handle and controls (the Air camera handles any micro four-thirds lens), what you see on top is Olympus’ eagle-eye viewfinder that projects a laser bullseye on your long-range target of choice. That also explains the telephoto lens which is attached to what was, originally, a petite camera upgrade for your smartphone. Naturally some extra framework is necessary simply to support all that attached glass. Check its ridiculous backside — where your smartphone would sit — right after the break.
Filed under: Cameras
Some popular third-party BlackBerry 10 apps need to improve their security
As BlackBerry users, we’ve become accustomed to a certain level of comfort when it comes to installing apps and not worrying about what’s going on behind the scenes security wise. The BlackBerry 10 OS allows us to adjust permissions on native apps on the fly, and if we see something happening we don’t like, we can usually shut it down or disable it.
But at the same time, that comfort in security can often have bad results, as well as we’re likely to think just a little bit less about what’s going on deep within some of the apps we install. A new report coming from Lloyd Summers over at File Archive Haven is a stark reminder to not forget about these things.
File Archive Haven has put together a test of 12 applications in an effort to dig deeper into web security for those apps and while some popular apps came out unscathed, some weren’t so lucky and showed plenty of room for improvement in the security area.
The Battle of Waterloo: An outsiders view of BlackBerry’s hometown
Over the years, there has been several articles that have taken a look at Waterloo from many different angles and almost all of them include BlackBerry in some way. They kind of have to, given the company’s history in the area and over at Fusion they’ve posted up a new article dubbed ‘The life, death, and rebirth of BlackBerry’s hometown’.
It’s an interesting look at Waterloo with the writer, Kevin Roose, setting out to find out ‘what the decline of BlackBerry has done to the community surrounding it’ only to find out the Kitchener-Waterloo region is thriving and not the ghost town some outsiders think it might be.
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