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Fleksy will let developers bake its keyboard into iOS apps
At long last, the default iOS keyboard is no longer your only option when it comes to text input on an iOS device. That is, if the app you're using has signed on to a new SDK released today by Syntellia's Fleksy, a predictive touch keyboard that exited its Android beta just last week. Fleksy actually debuted a standalone iOS app over a year ago as an option for those with visual impairments, which was recently updated to 2.0 to play nicer with iOS 7. Its new SDK, however, lets developers incorporate Fleksy as an alternate keyboard in any app, a first in iOS history. So far the only programs that have confirmed Fleksy as a keyboard option are Wordbox, GV Connect, Launch Center Pro and Blindsquare. Unfortunately, users are unable to install Fleksy on a deeper OS level, so you'll have to be on the lookout to see if any of your favorite apps get on the Fleksy bandwagon. While we wait for that to happen, iOS users can go on and try any of those aforementioned apps to finally get a feel for a freedom Android users have had for awhile now.
My top 3 apps: Rod Roddenberry
Just a couple of weeks ago we saw the final Space Shuttle launch and all episodes of Star Trek the original series, Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise become available via streaming on Netflix. Earlier today our daily Mac app was Time, a clock which simulates the LCARS interface on your Mac. Oh, and last week we saw CBS Interactive introduce a PADD Trek database app. Continuing this Star Trek theme, here are Rod Roddenberry's top 3 iOS apps. Rod is the son of Star Trek's creator, Gene Roddenberry. We ran into Rod at Macworld Expo and discovered he's new to the Apple side of the force, so it's cool to hear what apps he uses. The last one, Heytell reminds me of the communicator from Star Trek if you had to account for the delay from messages sent long distances via subspace. And we all know how bad AT&T's coverage is near Rigel IV. Rod's top 3 apps are: iTeleport (iPad) GV Connect Heytell
The best iOS apps I used in 2010
After looking back over Mac and Mac/iOS hybrid apps, it's time to look at the best iOS apps of 2010. As before, this list comes from my particular experience over the past year with these apps. 1) iCab Mobile (US$1.99, universal) is a replacement for mobile Safari. While it is hindered by the fact that iOS doesn't have anywhere to set a "default browser," and therefore most URLs that you open from the Springboard or email/Twitter/etc... will open in Safari, iCab offers plenty of features that make it worth the effort. It is the first app on my dock, and I much prefer it over Safari. Although it uses the same rendering engine as Safari, it comes with a host of features that Safari doesn't have. iCab Mobile will let you download files, which you can either offload to your computer later or upload to Dropbox from right within the app. Tap and hold an image, and you can save it right to your Dropbox. iCab on the iPad also does "real" tabs, with a visible tab present (it will auto-hide when not needed, if you want). You can set it to open links in new tabs, or open only links to different domains in new tabs. It has content filtering built-in, as well as module support for things like Instapaper, viewing HTML source or even downloading videos from YouTube. It also has a forms manager and a kiosk mode, and as Mike pointed out in November it supports VGA mirroring for presentation use. Web browsing is one of the primary uses of my iPad, and iCab Mobile is well worth the minimal asking price. Find out more at iCab Mobile's website. See the rest of my choices below.
Google Voice apps returning to iPhone app store (update: they're here!)
(function() { var s = document.createElement('SCRIPT'), s1 = document.getElementsByTagName('SCRIPT')[0]; s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.async = true; s.src = 'http://widgets.digg.com/buttons.js'; s1.parentNode.insertBefore(s, s1); })(); Digg It's been a long time coming -- now native Google Voice apps have finally returned to the iTunes App Store. This, after a fourteen month hiatus in which we saw an FCC investigation into the matter that culminated in a loosening of App Store restrictions. So far, we're only seeing the $3 GV Connect app in the store with GV Mobile + coming sometime Saturday morning according to its developer, Sean Kovacs. No word on when the official Google Voice iPhone app will make its appearance, but surely it can't be long -- Phil must have had a chance to study the app he personally rejected didn't approve by now, right? Update: We'd been checking our iPhones all day long to no avail, but it's finally here. As of 1:30AM ET, GV Mobile + has been formally approved and is now available for $2.99 on the iTunes App Store.
