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IMDb's latest iOS update makes it easier to follow movie stars without getting arrested
Whatever happened to Joe Carnahan after he directed the 2002 cop classic, NARC? And what the heck is Joaquin Phoenix up to these days (aside from deeply inappropriate love affairs)? The redesigned IMDb app for iOS 7 delivers answers to these questions and more, especially now that it supports shareable "People Lists" that allow you to track the careers of actors, directors, cinematographers and pretty much anyone else who tends to work on good movies. It's slightly tricky to figure things out at first: you have to sign in to the app, create a list and then change the list's type from "Title" to "Name" before it'll let you track individuals. The app also seems to lack the ability to trigger notifications when someone in your list starts work on a new film. Nevertheless, it all works smoothly once you get the hang of it and, if we'd had this feature sooner, we might well have paid more attention to the 2010 remake of The A-Team.
How to secretly take photos and videos with your iPhone
Here's a quick and fun tip only available in iOS 7. So if you're one of the few people still hanging on to iOS 6 for dear life, perhaps this will convince you to jump ship. Thanks to iOS 7's affinity for translucency, you can now take photos or videos with your iPhone while no one's the wiser. To do so, open up the Camera app. Oh look, some vibrant flowers just begging for a photo. Next, all you do is swipe downwards to access iOS 7's notification center. The camera app remains active and I can easily take a photo of the flowers with no one being the wiser by pressing the "+" volume button. Note that this trick also works in video mode. What's more, you can pull down the notification center while a video is still recording and the camera will keep on rolling.
Check out this cool (and pointless) iPhone lock screen trick in iOS 7
There are plenty of useful iOS guides out there featuring extensive lists of tips and tricks. But what about iOS tips that are completely pointless? You know, the type of iOS tips will do nothing to increase your productivity or efficiency, but rather exist solely as something to show off to friends if you happen to find yourself bored at a party. Well search no longer, friends. We've got such a tip for you today. Thanks to a Reddit thread which surfaced last week, I stumbled upon a cool, and admittedly useless, iOS trick which at the very least shows off iOS 7's physics engine. Here's how it all works. From the iOS 7 lockscreen, there's a small camera icon located in the bottom right portion of the screen. As you may already know, you can quickly access the camera app by sliding the icon upwards. But if you want to have a bit of fun, slide up the icon about three quarters of the way up and then slam (read: slide) it back down as fast as you can. If you do it right, you'll bounce the screen hard enough that it'll shoot all the way back up and open up the camera app in the process. And knowing is half the battle... via Reddit
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas out now on iOS
Rockstar Games' iOS port of GTA: San Andreas has launched on iTunes. The iOS version of the game features improved graphics and draw distance, plus three different control schemes including support for made-for-iOS controllers on iOS 7. You can even create your own custom playlist on your iDevice and load it into GTA: San Andreas's "Mixtape" radio station. Rockstar is currently working on versions for Windows Phone (coming next week), Android and Kindle Fire. The iOS app, which runs on iPad 2, iPhone 4S and above, is priced at $7.
iOS 6 vs iOS 7 icons: A visual comparison
With iOS 7, Apple, under the watchful eye of Jony Ive, completely transformed the aesthetic of iOS. Gone were iOS mainstays like drop shadows, heavy textures and gradients. In their place was a cleaner, simpler interface. Since iOS 7 was first released about three months ago, innumerable iOS designers have updated their app icons to more closely align with iOS 7's new design aesthetic. A Tumblr blog fittingly titled AfteriOS7icon has compiled an exhaustive list comparing how icon designs have changed from iOS 6 to iOS 7. The list is curated by @KeeYenYeo. I think many of the changes have resulted in sleeker and, in some instances, more engaging icons. Not everyone agrees, however, with some iOS users feeling rather strongly that iOS 7 icons represent an unfortunate step backwards in design. What do you guys and gals think? Feel free to chime in in the comments below, but make sure to check out the full Tumblr blog before you craft your final opinion and begin firing away. Here are a few more samples for good measure:
Troubleshooting Apple's fingerprint reader
Owners of Apple's iPhone 5s either seem to love its Touch ID fingerprint reader or hate it with a passion. For some people (like myself), it works the vast majority of the time, while other people have told me they've given up on using Touch ID to unlock their devices. Over at Macworld, blogger Serenity Caldwell has written up a nice guide on how to troubleshoot issues with Touch ID and keep your frustrations to a minimum. To start with, Caldwell suggests that you use a set of good fingerprint scans or if you're having issues, to re-scan your prints. First, adjust your grip on the phone to match what you may do in reality. Many people lay the phone down while doing the scan, and then don't vary the angle at which they are making the initial scans. When they try using Touch ID in real-life conditions, holding the iPhone 5s at an angle, they get bad results. Caldwell then goes on to point out that you should store more than just one fingerprint in the device. You can save up to five -- I've actually scanned both thumbs and both index fingers, and rarely have an issue with Touch ID. Scanning multiple fingers also helps out in cases where you may have a cut on your normal "scanning finger" that may impede with good results. Finally, Caldwell points out that your finger must touch the metal ring surrounding the Touch ID sensor, as it helps the scanner recognize your print. So what should you do when Touch ID isn't working correctly for you? Think about the conditions under which you're using it. If your hands are really cold, Touch ID won't see your finger as being warm and conductive, and won't register a print. Likewise, be sure to dry your fingers well before using Touch ID. Water can interfere with scanning, and even having soaked your hands in water for a while will result in a different-looking fingerprint pattern. Touch ID won't work the first time you try after a restart of your device, if you fail a thumb scan more than five times, if you haven't used it to unlock your phone in more than 48 hours or when you try to change the Touch ID settings. All these are features built into Touch ID to keep thieves from easily hacking your device. Last but not least, Caldwell recommends that you make sure the Touch ID sensor is clean. Just use a clean cloth to rub it clean, and you should be fine.
Pandora Radio 5.1: Wake up to your favorite station
In the face of stiff competition from Apple's iTunes Radio and a variety of other streaming-radio services, Pandora Radio added some new features to its iOS app today. The best new feature? You can set song or artist stations as your alarm clock sound. If you've ever used the iOS Clock app to set an alarm, you know that in addition to a lot of standard alarm sounds, you can also choose a song from your music library as your wakeup cue. Unless you change that song every day, waking up can begin to seem like the movie Groundhog Day. Pandora's station alarm will provide you with a song from your favorite station, so you'll hear either a different song from your favorite artist or something from that same genre every day. Pandora thoughtfully provided a snooze button to the alarm screen as well. The updated app also gained a very iOS 7-like interface. Pandora fans should have the updated app on their iOS devices today.
Apple now using iBeacon technology in its US retail stores
Apple is rolling out iBeacon technology to all its 254 US Stores starting today, December 6, says a report from the Associated Press. The technology will allow customers to receive messages about products, events and discount offers as they walk through a store. It will also alert customers when an order is ready to be picked up. Apple demoed the technology at its Fifth Avenue store in New York City earlier this week. The store has 20 iBeacon transmitters, some of which are iPhones and iPads that utilize this iOS 7-based technology. The iBeacons will connect to your iOS device using Bluetooth, and the connection is optional for the user. You don't have to be pinged about upcoming events if you don't want to. The iBeacons offer a distinct advantage over GPS, which doesn't work well indoors and lacks the sensitivity to detect movement around a store. iBeacon is also being rolled out at Macy's and select Major League Baseball parks in the US. [Via Engadget]
Apple says iOS 7 adoption is at 74%
Apple on Thursday updated its developer website with a chart indicating that iOS 7 adoption as of December 1 is already at 74 percent. The chart additionally reveals that 22 percent of iOS devices are still running iOS 6, while just 4 percent of iOS devices are running even older iterations of iOS. The 74 percent figure is extremely impressive, and further serves to highlight that Apple does a tremendous job of releasing major iOS updates capable of running on older devices. The iPhone 4, for example, was released about three and a half years ago and still supports iOS 7. This stands in stark contrast to Android where only 1.1 percent of devices are currently running Android 4.4, otherwise known as KitKat. What's more, 42 percent of Android devices are currently running various iterations of Android that were first released way back in 2011. This certainly aligns with a chart we highlighted earlier this week illustrating how a number of Android devices, just two years into their life cycles, often fall two major versions behind the most recent update to Android. Earlier this week, Chitika released its own adoption rate data, which pegged iOS 7 adoption on the iPhone and iPad at 74.1 percent and 63.8 percent, respectively. And for all you curious minds out there, Chitika found that iOS 5 adoption on the iPhone currently checks in at 2.6 percent, while the number of iPhones currently running iOS 4 checks in at 0.9 percent.
iBeacons will deliver location-based access to Newsstand publications
Here's another brilliant use of the iBeacons technology that arrived with iOS 7: making Newsstand publications available for free when a user is within a specific area. London-based Exact Editions, a digital publishing startup, is using iBeacons as part of its ByPlace program, which allows publishers to specify locations where magazines can appear without the need for a subscription fee. TechCrunch's Darrell Etherington points out how this could be useful to businesses. A coffee shop "could subscribe and enable access to full magazines to patrons who come in." I'd personally like my dentist to use the service to provide access to magazines other than ancient issues of People and Highlights for Kids... Exact Editions' Daniel Hodgkin says that the first showcase for iBeacons will be Bar Kick in Shoreditch, London. Patrons of the bar can pick up a soccer magazine -- When Saturday Comes -- and fashion and culture magazine Dazed and Confused. For publishers, the benefits are that they sell subscriptions to businesses that then expose the publication to customers. Some of those customers might then subscribe to the publication themselves. For those businesses, offering the publication is a way to add value and provide an incentive for customers to walk in the door. This use of iBeacons demonstrates one more way that the technology will be used to benefit both businesses and consumers.
Daily Update for December 4, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
iOS 7 hits 70% adoption rate in North America
After only two months of availability, iOS 7 is now running on 70 percent of iOS devices in North America, according to online ad network Chitika. Considering it took iOS 6 six months to hit an 83 percent adoption rate, this signals very good news for Apple as iOS 7 will likely surpass that number in half the time -- and could be well on its way to that mark now as Chitika's current data is already two weeks old. To get iOS 7's adoption rate, Chitika examined 300 million US and Canadian ad impressions on its network from October 25 to November 18. Beside an overall adoption rate of just above 70 percent on all iOS devices, the company found iOS 7 has a slightly higher adoption rate on iPhones (75 percent) than on iPads (64 percent). As for other iOS versions, iOS 6 is still running on 22 percent of iPhones; while iOS 5 is on 2.6 percent; iOS 4 is on just less than 1 percent; and iOS 3 is on 0.1 percent.
Google+ for iOS gets full-res photo backups, lets you share your location
After nearly a month, Google is delivering on its promise of bringing full-size photo and video backups to Google+ on iOS. The app's version 4.6 update now lets iOS 7 users upload imagery at its original resolution as long as there's enough available cloud storage. Photographers aren't the only ones who benefit from the new software, though. It also introduces the location-sharing option from the Android release, translates posts in-line and unifies search. Socialites eager for more detail in their pictures (or their whereabouts) just need to visit the App Store for an upgrade.
Oh Siri, you tease: the iBooks plug edition
So what happens when you ask Siri to find you a bookstore? You may get some awesome snark ("Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.") Or, Siri might "suggest" another way for you to grab a book to read. Yes, Apple is now pushing iBooks as one of its canned answers for finding bookstores -- a fact we found amusing enough that we thought we'd share. The targeted marketing hints, surprisingly, did not seem to spread to requests for "Where can I buy music?" and "Where can I rent TV shows?" It may be only an iBooks thing at this time. In a related matter, Siri seems to handle book-specific queries in a new manner. When you ask "Where can I go to read a book?" Siri used to give you library and bookstore locations. Now you must ask something along the lines of "Where can I go to buy a book?" or "Where can I find a bookstore?" That's because the old question now responds with "I'm afraid I can't do that" or "Oh, that would be cheating" -- exactly the same responses as when you ask Siri "Can you read me a book out loud?" or "Can you read me a book?" It's always cool to see how Siri's processing evolves over time. Have you discovered some changed or intriguing behavior with Siri? Drop a note in the comments and share.
Weather Underground iPhone app gets crowdsourced weather, iOS 7 style
Weather Underground, now part of the Weather Company that also encompasses the Weather Channel, has just delivered an update to its free iPhone app. Not only does the update provide compatibility with iOS 7 and a new look to boot, but it also adds something completely different -- crowdsourced weather reports. Weather Underground currently uses a network of about 19,000 personal weather stations across the USA and 11,000 elsewhere on the planet to provide accurate local forecasts. Now the service will ask users to report and verify weather events through a simple interface, and other users can view conditions that were observed within 10 miles of their location. The Weather Underground weather map -- aka "WunderMap" -- has always featured a number of layers that can be turned on or off, including precipitation, temperature, wind, radar, cloud cover and more. The crowdsourced information now appears on a separate layer. The app also adds a landscape mode, more interactive graphs showing data trends, history and forecasts, more webcams and access to weather-related videos. As before, the Weather Underground app is available for free from the App Store.
iOS 7.1 beta released to developers
Apple has released the beta of iOS 7.1 to developers. iOS 7.1 beta, build 11D5099e, has the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements that come from such a build. But, as 9to5Mac points out, noticeable improvements include the ability to upload burst-mode photos to Photo Stream and a dark keyboard option that can be accessed through the Accessibilities settings. Other tweaks include an auto-HDR mode for the Camera and tweaked text in Notification Center. The betas are available through the iOS Developer Center.
How to set up Comcast IMAP email on iOS 7, OS X Mavericks
For years, POP (Post Office Protocol) email has been a thorn in my side. Apple's email service uses the IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) protocol for email, as do many other email services. What's the big difference between POP and IMAP? Well, if you're connected to a POP account and delete emails that have come into your Mac, when you get onto your iOS devices you'll find that those deleted emails are still there and you have to delete them again! With IMAP, delete once, and an email is deleted from all inboxes. There are some other benefits to IMAP, but for most people, the constant need to make multiple deletions if they have more than one device is the main reason they detest POP3 email servers. The only POP3 account that I still had as of last week was one from my ISP, Comcast. For some reason, Comcast seems to be stuck in the 1990s and wants to retain those stupid POP3 accounts. Well, I found out that they've been providing IMAP accounts on a ask-and-ye-shall-receive basis, so I quickly signed up for one. After receiving notification that my IMAP account was live, I tried setting it up, only to run into issues. What I found is that you need to fool the Apple email clients for OS X and iOS 7 into believing that you're NOT connecting to a Comcast server initially, because if you tell those clients you have a Comcast account, they decide to set your email client up with -- you guessed it -- a POP3 account. Here are some instructions on what you other Comcastic customers can do to sign up for IMAP and set up your OS X and iOS devices (note that images and instructions below are written for OS X Mavericks and iOS 7). Request a Comcast IMAP account By default, you're still stuck with a Comcast POP3 account if you sign up for their service. Should they decide sometime in the 21st Century to actually move everyone to IMAP, I'd be shocked. So to get on their "beta" IMAP service -- which apparently has been around for a while -- you need to ask for it. Fortunately, there's no need to call Comcast; you can make your request at https://xcsignup.comcast.net/onboardingapps/imap (see image below). You will need to know your current account credentials, those being your account user name and password. For some odd reason, probably for provisioning of the IMAP server, they also ask you what state you're in (maybe it's just for validation that you are indeed who you say you are...). Please note that Comcast has not, to this point, made this ability to get an IMAP account widely known. One of two things will happen at this point: You'll either get a message that says that your account will be migrated to an IMAP server within 72 hours, or if you're a secondary email user on an account that's already asked to move to IMAP, you'll get a message saying that your account has been migrated. In either case, wait until you know for sure that your account is ready for IMAP love. Setting up a Comcast IMAP account in iOS 7 Since iOS 7 devices have an incredible level of popularity right now, let's first talk about what you need to do to set up a Comcast IMAP account for Mail.app. Realize that if you just go into Settings and try to set up a new Comcast email account, it's going to assume that you are trying to connect to a POP3 server. So we'll need to confuse Mail and iOS 7 temporarily to get this account set up. Start by launching Settings, finding and tapping "Mail, Contacts, Calendars", and then tapping the Add New Account link. When you're asked what kind of account to create (choices include iCloud, Exchange, Google, Yahoo!, AOL, Outlook.com and Other), select Other. Once you're into that, select "Add Mail Account." A screen similar to that seen below appears. Type in the name you want mail recipients to receive, and then type in a totally bogus email account name. Remember, we're trying to fool iOS into NOT automatically setting up a Comcast POP3 account. I ended up using some random letters for the domain name -- in this case lkjklkj.net instead of comcast.net. Once you've entered your name, the fake email account, your password and an account name (I used Comcast IMAP for the account name), and then tap Next, you'll see the New Account screen. The first thing you want to do is make sure that this is showing IMAP as the account type, and the second is to go in and replace your fake domain name with comcast.net. Next, type in the incoming mail server host name -- imap.comcast.net -- and your user name (the first part of your comcast.net email address). For outgoing mail server, type in smtp.comcast.net as your host name, and type in both your user name and password again. Tap Next, and Mail will attempt to verify your account. Once it has, you get the opportunity to select which accounts you wish to sync with comcast.net -- my iOS devices suggested Mail and Notes. I turned off Notes and just synced Mail, then tapped Save. Now you'll see the Comcast IMAP account in your list of email accounts, but we're not done yet. We need to make sure that our settings are correct for the servers. Tap on the Comcast IMAP account you just created while you're in the Mail, Contacts, Calendar page, then tap on the IMAP account listing on the next screen to bring up account details. Tap on the smtp.comcast.net under Outgoing Mail Server, tap on it again under Primary Server on the next screen, and then make sure that the settings look something like this with Use SSL turned on, password authentication turned on, and Server Port 465 entered in. Once that's saved, go back a few screens and tap Advanced on the account data screen. Here we also want to make sure that Use SSL is turned on, that password authentication is enabled, and that Server Port 993 is entered. At this point everything should be set up properly and you can try a few tests, like sending and receiving email from that account. I had to set this account up on three different iOS 7 devices (iPad Air, iPad mini and iPhone 5s) separately, but it's fun to know that it works! I can finally read transcribed voice mail from my home phone (Comcast, naturally), delete those messages, and know that they're deleted from every device. Setting up a Comcast IMAP account in OS X Mavericks Now let's do the same thing in OS X Mavericks. Once again, we need to fake out Mail so that it doesn't try to set up a Comcast POP3 account. To begin with, launch Mail and then select Mail > Preferences. Click the account tab. See that plus sign (circled) below the list of accounts? Click on it. You'll be asked what mail account to add -- select "Add Other Mail Account," then click Continue. You'll be asked for your full name, the email address, and your password. As before, enter in a fake email address but your proper full name and password. Click the Create button, and the system responds with a message that the account must be manually configured. Click Next. Enter imap.comcast.net as your mail server, your user name (first part of your comcast.net email address) and your password, then click Next. For the outgoing server, enter smtp.comcast.net as your server, your user name, and your password, then click Create. This places the Comcast IMAP server into the list of accounts for Mail. We're not done yet, though -- we need to make sure the correct server ports are set up, and we still have that fake email address to contend with. The first thing to do on the screen above is to put in my real Comcast email address in the Email Address field, the name I want to use as Full Name, and put Comcast IMAP as the description for the account. Now I need to set up the incoming server. Click the Advanced tab on this window, make sure that Use SSL is checked, and put 993 in the port field. Next, click on the Account Information tab again, and click on the Outgoing Mail Server (SMTP) field. Select Edit SMTP Server List. Select your Comcast.net server name, type 465 next to Use custom port, make sure the Use SSL box is checked, and enter your user name and password in the appropriate spots before clicking OK. Now there's only one thing left to do -- save all of the settings. Click on any other account or tab in the Account screen, and you'll be asked to save the changes to the IMAP account. Click Save, and you should be up and running with your Comcast IMAP account. Conclusion Sure, it's a lot of little steps to take, but you'll be quite happy with the results. Note that if you run into any issues with setting up these accounts, it's probably that you're using the wrong ports. Just remember that you need to have SSL enabled for both incoming and outgoing email, that the port for outgoing mail is 465 and for incoming mail is 993, and that the server names are imap.comcast.net for the incoming email, smtp.comcast.net for the outgoing email.
Apple fixes FaceTime issues with iOS 7.0.4 rollout
The updates have been coming pretty regularly since the debut of iOS 7 and today sees the rollout of 7.0.4. The update is rather small and, according to the notes from Apple, addresses an issue with FaceTime that was giving some users a headache. The file weighs in at just under 38 MB and should be available via an over-the-air update on your iOS 7 device now.
Apple pushes out iOS 7.0.4 update alongside redesigned iBooks and iTunes U apps
Apple may not have had all of its own apps overhauled in time for iOS 7's launch, but it's slowly but surely bringing them up to speed. The latest to get a complete redesign are iBooks and iTunes U, which expectedly now look a fair bit like Apple's Newsstand app and the App Store itself. What's more, the company's also pushed out the latest minor update to iOS 7, which now stands at 7.0.4 -- it promises a fix to the FaceTime issue that has been plaguing some users, along with the usual range of other "bug fixes and improvements." Not to be left out, iPod touch users unable to upgrade to iOS 7 can also download an update to iOS 6 that promises to remedy the same FaceTime problem.
The physics of iOS 7
As soon as iOS 7 made it into the hands of millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users, we began to hear scattered reports of people becoming physically sick when watching the parallax view and zoom in/out animations. Apple quickly responded with a way to turn off the animations to help those who were getting motion sickness, but the fact remains that the animation was very real to some people. John Herman and Jake Levy at BuzzFeed FWD decided to look into how fast those icons and apps appear to be moving towards or away from you, and their results are quite fascinating. Levy notes that items further away from you appear smaller and calculated that an icon before a zoom appears to be about 5.33 feet away. Timing how long it takes an icon to zoom into a full screen app and vice-versa (0.8 second), Levy was able to calculate that the icon appears to move towards you or away at 6.6 feet per second or about 4.5 mph -- about the speed of a slow jog. Next, Levy looked at icons placed in folders, and determined that they appear to be 24.62 feet away. That means that they "move" about 19.29 virtual feet in the same 0.8 second, or are zooming in or out at a virtual 16.4 miles per hour. iOS developer and brony Steve Streza responded via Twitter to the BuzzFeed post, and noted that, "Those animations are based on spring physics. So it's like you stretched a spring from you to the folder and then let go... Animations pre-iOS 7 were based on sine wave curves. iOS 7 animations have a more gradual decay." With all of this animated movement, it's no wonder that some people seriously want to hurl while they're using their iOS 7-equipped devices. Be sure to take a gander at the BuzzFeed animations that demonstrate exactly what they're talking about. [via The Verge]
