Seagate Announces First 8 TB Hard Drive for Enterprise Customers [Mac Blog]

Seagate today announced the world’s first eight terabyte hard drive, designed to provide high capacity storage for private and cloud-based data centers. The single 3.5-inch hard disk drive surpasses the storage capacity of previously available hard drives, including 6 TB HDDs from both Western Digital and Seagate itself.

Unlike similar high-capacity offerings from Western Digital, Seagate does not use helium in either its 6 TB HDD or its new 8 TB offering. While Seagate has not released the details behind the 8 TB drive, it’s likely the HDD uses Seagate’s shingled magnetic recording technology, which, according to the company, adds more than 25 percent capacity growth by maximizing the number of tracks per inch on a single disk.

Seagate says that its new 8 TB HDD also uses fewer components to make it more power efficient, which ultimately lowers power costs for enterprise customers.

A cornerstone for growing capacities in multiple applications, the 8TB hard drive delivers bulk data storage solutions for online content storage providing customers with the highest capacity density needed to address an ever increasing amount of unstructured data in an industry-standard 3.5-inch HDD. Providing up to 8TB in a single drive slot, the drive delivers maximum rack density, within an existing footprint, for the most efficient data center floor space usage possible.

The 8TB hard disk drive increases system capacity using fewer components for increased system and staffing efficiencies while lowering power costs. With its low operating power consumption, the drive reliably conserves energy thereby reducing overall operating costs. Helping customers economically store data, it boasts the best Watts/GB for enterprise bulk data storage in the industry.

Seagate is currently shipping the drives to select numbers with wide scale availability coming next quarter. The company did not release pricing on the drives.

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PayPal Offers 25% Off iTunes Gift Cards in the UK [iOS Blog]

PayPal is currently offering 25 percent off digital iTunes cards in the United Kingdom, allowing users to purchase iTunes codes for the App Store, Mac App Store, iBooks Store, and iTunes Store at a discount.

Under the terms of the deal, an £15 iTunes card drops to £11.25, while a £25 card drops to £18.75. Larger denomination iTunes cards of £50 and £100 are available for £37.50 and £75. Cards are only redeemable in the UK iTunes Store.

The offer lasts until Thursday, August 28 at 11:59 BST, but as with all PayPal iTunes discounts, there are a limited number of codes available and discounts will only be available while supplies last.

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Hands On With QuickBoard, a Quick Text Insertion Keyboard Coming to iOS 8

When iOS 8 is released to the public in the fall, iOS users will be able to take advantage of several new operating system features, including system wide third-party keyboards, which will bring fresh functionality to the default iOS keyboard.

Third-party keyboards are available on Android devices and have been long-desired on iOS, so several popular keyboard developers announced plans to bring their software to iOS shortly after third-party keyboard integration was announced at WWDC. After iOS 8 launches, we’ll be seeing new keyboards from well-known developers like Fleksy, Swype, SwiftKey, and TouchPal.

iOS 8′s third-party keyboard support will also allow new entrants into the customized keyboard arena, with developers bringing us apps that offer all kinds of different functions to improve the way we use our keyboards. One such developer, Kevin Wolkober, has created a quick text insertion keyboard that offers a unique function we haven’t seen with previously previewed keyboards.

While keyboards like Swype and Fleksy focus on improving the typing experience through gestures and predictive text, Wolkober’s QuickBoard is designed to give users a quicker way to enter the snippets of text that they type repeatedly into their iOS devices, including addresses, credit card information, email signatures, and more.

QuickBoard is actually split by function into three separate keyboard elements, including TextBoard, MeBoard, and LocationBoard. Each of these three keyboard functions lets users to tap to insert often-repeated text elements in any app to save time and effort.

TextBoard allows users to store snippets of text, accommodating any text from a one line signature to a lengthy paragraph. MeBoard stores all of a user’s contact info, such as name, email, and home address, and is handy when filling out forms. LocationBoard will automatically determine a user’s current location, allowing them to paste in a Google Maps URL or coordinates, or an approximate address, which is useful when a location needs to be shared outside of Messages.

Like any other customized keyboard, QuickBoard operates through an app that’s installed on the iOS device and set up in iOS 8′s Settings, as described in our hands-on TouchPal installation guide. The personal information and pre-written snippets of text available in the QuickBoard keyboard are created using the installed QuickBoard app.

Inserting text into the QuickBoard app
Chunks of text can be entered into TextBoard section of the app, for example, while the MeBoard pulls in information like name, address, and phone number. Though MeBoard is currently limited to information pulled from the Contacts app, custom information will be added before the app’s official launch. Location data isn’t inserted in the app itself, since it is pulled from the phone’s current location whenever it’s used.

The text elements saved in the QuickBoard app can be used in any other app, including Mail, Safari, Messages, Notes, iWork, and more. Inserting saved text into one of these apps is as simple as tapping on the globe icon on the keyboard to activate QuickBoard and then tapping on the relevant block of text.

Personal information, such as name and address, can be inserted by tapping on the person icon, and the arrow will determine a user’s approximate location, allowing it to be quickly inserted into a text message, email, or other app. Location information is especially useful, as it cuts out several steps that would normally be necessary when sharing a location an email or other app.

QuickBoard demonstrated in the Notes app
QuickBoard includes access to a space bar, return key, and delete key for formatting purposes, but the rest of the typing is left to another keyboard app or iOS 8′s default predictive text function. QuickBoard works seamlessly with any other keyboards installed, and switching between them is as simple as tapping on the globe icon.

Though simpler than most of the other keyboards we’ve seen before, QuickBoard hints at some of the innovative ways developers will take advantage of third-party keyboard integration in iOS 8. At the current time, QuickBoard is still in the beta testing phases, but Wolkober tells MacRumors that the app will be ready for download shortly after iOS 8 officially launches in the fall, with pricing yet to be determined.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook: Drop in iPad Sales Just a ‘Speed Bump’

Just before news of Apple’s upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro was reported by Bloomberg, Re/Code‘s Walt Mossberg shared a snippet of an interview with Apple CEO Tim Cook commenting on the recent state of the tablet market, which has been on the decline. According to Cook, the dip in iPad sales over the past two quarters is just a “speed bump” for Apple.

In a brief interview about tablets I had this week with Apple CEO Tim Cook, he said, “We couldn’t be happier with how we’ve done with the first four years of the iPad,” and added that, “I’d call what’s going on recently a speed bump, and I’ve seen that in every category.”

The sentiment echoes comments that Cook made during the company’s third quarter earnings call, where Apple announced iPad sales of just 13.3 million, down from 14.6 million in the year-ago quarter. The drop followed a Q2 sales dip that saw sales of 16.35 million iPads, down from 19.5 in Q2 2013.

During the call, Cook pointed to overall sales of more than 225 million iPads over the course of the last four years and suggested the tablet market itself was still “in its infancy.” The CEO said that “significant innovation can be brought to the iPad,” and pointed towards plans to bring improvements to Apple’s tablet lineup.

Part of those plans includes the introduction of a larger 12.9-inch iPad Pro, which will launch in early 2015. Rumors have suggested the larger tablet will include an ultra high-definition display and that it will be marketed towards Apple’s enterprise customers.

12.9-inch iPad mockup (left) with fourth-generation iPad (right) and iPad mini (bottom)
While Apple has seen a serious drop in iPad sales over the past two quarters, the company continues to be the world’s leading tablet vendor, holding 26.9 percent of the total tablet market. The company’s iPad Air and iPad mini have hit 98% and 100% customer satisfaction rankings, respectively, and the iPad holds an 85 percent share of the U.S education market.

Apple is not the only company experiencing a drop in tablet sales, as noted by Mossberg. Microsoft and Samsung have also seen slumping sales, possibly due to the fact that people see less of a need to upgrade their tablets on a regular basis, as suggested by Samsung, or the tablet’s position as a want rather than a need.

In addition to kickstarting iPad sales with the introduction of a larger iPad, Apple may see a jump in iPad sales during the last few months of the year, as the company is said to be introducing both a new iPad Air and a new Retina iPad mini with improved processors and a Touch ID fingerprint sensor. Touch ID proved to be a major draw for the iPhone, and its inclusion in the iPad may entice both new buyers and upgraders.

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Verizon Preparing to Launch Voice Over LTE Network in September

Verizon today announced that it is preparing to launch its voice over LTE (VoLTE) service sometime in September, reports CNET. The new service will be available nationwide on supported phones that are connected to the carrier’s LTE network.

VoLTE will provide high-definition quality voice and video calls that will significantly improve the overall calling experience. Not only will customers notice an enhancement in voice call quality, they also will be able to initiate a FaceTime-like video call right from the dialer app.

Once you experience the HD quality voice, you don’t want to go back,” Greg Dial, executive director of mobile services for Verizon, said in a pre-briefing and demonstration of the new service with reporters. “The tight integration of the video calling feature is also significant. You can launch it right from the dialer. There’s no opening a separate app.”

These new HD VoLTE calls will be considered voice calls and will count against a customer’s available minutes. Video calls will be counted as data and will subtract from the customer’s data allotment. There will be no extra charges for using this service, and it will be optional for customers.

Verizon has not specified which phones will be updated to support its new calling service, but the iPhone may be included on this list. The current generation iPhone chipset supports this feature, and it can be enabled with a software update. Rumors have suggested that Apple has plans to support VoLTE with the launch of iOS 8 and the iPhone 6. Along with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile have announced plans to add VoLTE to their networks in the near future.

iOS 8 will also bring a WiFi calling feature, allowing customers to place higher-quality voice calls over WiFi instead of using a cellular network. T-Mobile is the first carrier to <a href="confirm that it will support Apple’s WiFi calling feature when it launches this fall along with iOS 8.

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Instagram Launches Time Lapse ‘Hyperlapse’ Video App [iOS Blog]

Instagram today launched a new standalone video app called Hyperlapse, which is designed to allow users to capture high-quality time lapse videos enhanced with built-in stabilization features. According to the app’s description, the image stabilization allows users to create “polished” time lapse videos that would normally only be possible with the use of a tripod.

In an interview with Wired, Instagram reveals that its image stabilization feature uses the iPhone’s gyroscope to measure the camera’s movement, which allows video to be stabilized with a simple algorithm.

Hyperlapse mimics the time lapse feature introduced with iOS 8, but it includes customization features not found in Apple’s own time lapse capabilities. Along with image stabilization, the app also lets users choose a playback speed, from 1X to 12X, and it can capture short bursts of video or shoot all day long.

When you shoot a time lapse video with Hyperlapse, your footage will be instantly stabilized to smooth out the bumps from the road and give it a cinematic feeling. Capture an entire sunrise in 10 seconds–even from the back of a moving motorcycle. Walk through the crowds at an all-day music festival, then distill it into a 30 second spot. Capture your bumpy trail run and share your 5k in 5 seconds.

Though created by Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, Hyperlapse does not require an account to log in and it features a simple interface with one-tap video capturing capabilities. It also includes sharing tools to let users share time lapse videos to both Instagram and Facebook, but videos can also be saved to the camera roll.

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Beats Music Launches Promotional iTunes Festival Contest

In an attempt to garner new users from parent company Apple, Beats Music has launched a contest to coincide with the upcoming London iTunes Festival. Beats Music’s #GoWithMe contest is offering 25 Beats Music users in the United States a chance to win two tickets to see one of several musical acts during the festival, with the prize package including airfare to London and hotel accommodation.

Users do not need to pay for Beats Music to enter the contest, but a Beats Music account is required. After signing up for an account, Beats listeners can enter to win tickets to one of five performances by navigating to the artist’s page on the Beats Music site: Kiesza, Calvin Harris, Pharrell Williams + Jungle, Maroon 5 + Matthew Koma, and Ed Sheeran + Foy Vance.

Tickets to the London iTunes Festival traditionally are available for free, but are distributed through iTunes via a lottery system due to extremely high demand. Beats Music will announce the winners of the contest on August 28.

Announced last month, Apple’s London iTunes Festival will begin on September 1 and run for 30 nights, with a different musical act performing each night. Announced performers include deadmau5, Pharrell Williams, Maroon 5, Lenny Kravitz, Mary J. Blige, and more. While most performances have been revealed over the last couple of weeks, two performers remain unknown.

Apple has been heavily promoting Beats Music in recent weeks, adding Beats Music to the list of “Apps Made by Apple,” encouraging new iOS users to download the app, and sending out emails about Beats Music. The promotions have been somewhat successful, temporarily skyrocketing the Beats Music app to the top 10 free apps chart in the App Store. Beats Music wasn’t able to retain its position on the charts, however, and has dropped back down to number 30.

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