Since iOS 10’s first beta hit last week, testers have been seeing signs of Apple’s Search Ads in the App Store. Officially announced a week earlier, Search Ads were marketed as being a way to help customers “discover or reengage” with an application. Something I wondered immediately after the original announcement was how Apple would regulate the Search Ads in a highly competitive market. After having used iOS 10 for over a week now, I’m not any less concerned.
Each since it was released, Apple has made noticeable strides to improve the built-in Health app. It launched on iOS 8 where we saw Apple promote HealthKit enabled apps, then with iOS 9 we saw the expansion to new health data points. iOS 10 takes Health a step further by now allowing users to store their health records directly in the app using the Health Level 7 Continuity of Care Document (HL7 CCD) standard. No longer having to track paperwork or use CDs, these health records will be tracked directly in-app with the ability to be imported from Mail, Safari, and other applications.
Parallels, the virtualization software famous for being able to run Windows on the Mac, is celebrating its 10 years of innovation this week. Parallels has seen a cornucopia of changes since its initial launch in 2006 and it shows no signs of slowing down. Today marks the 10th anniversary since Parallels’ launch and they’ve decided to spend the next week highlighting the decade of features that made its way onto the Mac. To infamfurther show their appreciation towards previous, current, and future customers, Parallels is offering 25% off Parallels Desktop software. This includes Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac, Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition, and Parallels Desktop Business Edition. We’ve decided to take a deep dive with the Parallels team into showcasing their trajectory from where they came, and where they might go in the years to come.
During Apple’s State of the Union and 15th annual Apple Design Awards, Apple explained that the App Store Review Guidelines would be receiving new updates this year. Currently on Apple’s own App Store Review Guidelines page there are two different guidelines listed, pre- and post- June 13,2016. Apple has decided to take these changes one step further into a partnership with Madefire. At the end of the Apple Design Award ceremony this year, Apple announced a collaboration with Madefire to make reading the newly updated guidelines easier. By releasing it as a comic book.
Apple has just wrapped up its exciting WWDC 2016 keynote announcing macOS Sierra, iOS 10, watchOS 3, and the latest installment of tvOS. The event was mostly focused on what Apple would be releasing at the end of this year, but Apple also likes to put the attention back on the amazing developers in the community. Every year Apple celebrates developers and the work they’ve accomplished across the various software platforms at its Apple Design Awards. This year’s 2016 Apple Design Awards showcased apps for iOS, OS X, watchOS, and tvOS. The award ceremony made sure to highlight apps that were localized in multiple languages, and had been built with accessibility in mind.
Developer previews of watchOS 3 are now live and we’re starting to go hands-on with the next big release. Below are some of the tidbits we’re collecting of changes we’ve discovered on watchOS 3 on the Apple Watch.
After years of considering removing Game Center from iOS, it appears Apple has decided to officially pull it as evidenced with today’s first iOS 10 beta. As this is a first beta, there is a possibility we could see the application’s return before this fall when iOS 10 is officially released to the public.
As stock apps have hit the App Store, and users can now delete most of them on iOS 10, it’s entirely possible Apple falls back to allowing Game Center as an App Store download. Personally, it will be nice to have one less app I no longer use on my home screen.
After today’s jam-packed event, Apple has published the full keynote video from this year’s WWDC. Apple has also released the promo videos used during the keynote showing off iOS 10’s newest features and a video dedicated to developers. On the same page with the full keynote page, Apple lists the preview pages showcasing what we’ll be seeing in the official software releases later this fall.
Apple’s WWDC 2016 keynote has just wrapped up, and developer downloads are starting to hit Apple’s Developer site. One of those is the first beta of Apple’s new Remote app with built-in Siri. Apple has put a heavy focus on making sure the new Remote app can replicate and do everything the Siri Remote can, without having to switch away from your iOS device.
With WWDC 2016 just an hour away, developers in the area have begun noticing that Apple has created custom Snapchat geofilters for the event. Embellished with this year’s WWDC 16 banner designs, the filters we’ve seen continue to play on the pseudo-code Apple has been showing off on the official developer site. At the end of February this year, Snapchat had introduced the ability for anyone to create custom geofilters at a cost. These On-Demand Geofilters could be designed by users, and then geofenced into an area on a map. The filters could then be purchased and would remain live for a set amount of time.
Snapchat’s latest update brings some new and more easily understandable iconography to the app alongside changes to the Stories and Discover view. The update today puts a heavy focus on the Discover view within Snapchat, making ignoring it nigh near impossible. The Discover feed is now directly below a user’s personal stories and above their friend’s stories in a small card carousel view.
Following the success of Taylor Swift’sownads, Apple Music has gotten the latest Snapchat sensation DJ Khaled on for two new ads featuring his famous catch phrases. In the first, he stars alongside supermodel Naomi Campbell driving down the highway playing his latest track. In the second, he breaks down Apple Music to Ray Liotta as they get a manicure and pedicure at a nail salon…
In the latest installment of their Uncarrier initiatives, T-Mobile today announced their new #GetThanked campaign. The campaign puts a focus on “thanking” T-Mobile customers for their loyalty to the company and brand by giving away free T-Mobile’s stock, gifts and promotions ever Tuesday, and inflight Wi-Fi for domestic fliers with Gogo.
Earlier today Apple announced the start of their annual Back to School promotion for 2016. This year eligible purchases of a Mac, iPad, or iPhone will come bundled with a pair of wireless Beats headphones. This is reminiscent of last year’s Back to School promotion, save for the fact that during this year’s promotion for the wireless headphone is the default and doesn’t require an extra $100 expense. The small, but obvious connectivity choice signals a new direction in which Apple wants its customer to think.
Apple’s programing language Swift saw its first preview release branch for 3.0 hit yesterday as the programming language moves closer to a finalized 3.0 release due later this year. Though nowhere near a final release of Swift 3.0, this marks the beginning of the major Swift revisions that developers will see coming later this year.
When Siri originally launched on the iPhone a little over four years ago, we postulated that it would be a world-changing event. A personal assistant in our pockets that could handle real-world requests felt like the future. When it launched onto the Apple Watch, it was described as potentially being the quickest and most fun way to interact with the wearable. Then when it came to the Apple TV, it became the fastest way to disseminate the content you want to watch across multiple apps.
Earlier this week a new report surfaced claiming Apple’s long-awaited Siri SDK could appear at this year’s WWDC, adding that Apple has been working on a dedicated Siri speaker similar to Amazon Echo or Google Home. Today VentureBeat reports that a source has indicated that a new version of the Apple TV actually may be Apple’s Amazon Echo and Google Home competitor.
I’m not a major believer that Apple’s iOS devices can quite fully replace the PC and Mac in most scenarios, at least not for me, and not quite yet. I’m a keyboard fiend, using shortcuts on the keyboard almost more often than I use my mouse. These doubts were ready to be tested when I saw the progress that iOS 9 brought for third-party developers within the iOS ecosystem. With the new SDK, developers were getting the chance to integrate keyboard shortcuts into their iOS apps just like a Mac app. It was then that I knew it was time to start looking for a portable keyboard to take around with me.
This presented a new problem for me. There’s a vast amount of Bluetooth keyboards out there, and I didn’t want to just carry Apple’s bulky Bluetooth Keyboard around. I needed something with a full keyboard size, good battery life, and durability. After a few months of searching, and reluctance on spending money on what I considered an unknown, I gave up my hunt.
I nearly forgot about my keyboard journey until a few months when iClever reached out to me asking if I wanted to take a look at their iOS compatible Bluetooth accessories. I gladly accepted the offer, and began by taking a look at their Tri-Folding Bluetooth Keyboard. Everything I read online from the listing on Amazon made it seem like it could fit neatly into everything I had been previously searching for, so I was excited to get my hands on it.
Two weeks ago, Tweetbot for iOS received an update introducing Topics to the Twitter client. Topics allows users to link tweets together, with an optional hashtag, making following a tweet conversation or tweet storm significantly easier. Today, Tweetbot for Mac receives its 2.4 update bringing Topics to the desktop, alongside a multitude of bug fixes.
Daily design curation and inspiration app Design Hunt has seen a 2.1 version upgrade today focusing on improving overall performance and introducing 3D Touch features to the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. Today’s update also introduces Design Hunt on the web so users can continue their discoveries on the desktop. Curating content from multiple sources like Designer News, Dribbble, Pinterest, and Fast Co, Design Hunt helps surface some of the best design content and ideas everyday.
Apple has released the fourth update to Safari Technology Preview today with fixes in connecting to the 1Password extension and watching videos on Netflix. The update primarily focuses on general bug fixes including networking, media, JavaScript, CSS, web APIs, Web Inspector, rendering, and accessibility. Safari Technology Preview is available as a download through the Apple Developer Center and subsequent updates will be received through the Mac App Store.
Maintaining a high level of consumer security on iOS is a huge cornerstone to what makes Apple the company it is. Tim Cook believes that we’re at the ‘golden age of surveillance’, and that Apple’s level of encryption impacts the wellbeing of U.S. citizens. It’s no surprise that users who care about security want to be up to date on the latest practices and methods that guarantee that. That may just be one of the reasons Stefan Esser’s timely app, System and Security Info, is climbing the iOS App Store’s Top Charts (all the way to the top of the paid apps chart in the US).
One of the most frustrating parts about keeping a large photo collection (75,000 and growing), is that I often end up with duplicates over years of maintenance. I’ve spent my fair share cleaning and sorting my library, but it always seems like an album sneaks in with duplicate photos. I’ve been an active user of MacPaw’s Gemini software since its inception, and Gemini 2’s release today has made me fall in love with it all over again. In just the initial scan, Gemini 2 found more files and more places where I could intelligently clear and save space on my Mac.
