Ios

Apple launches ’12 Days Of Gifts’ app for the 2013 Holiday season

11 December 2013 1:16 AM
Hello!

Apple has launched its annual 12 Days of Gifts app, offering a new free song, app, book or movie every day from Dec. 26 to Jan. 6.

European fans have grown accustomed to Apple’s holiday promotion called 12 Days Of Gifts (previously 12 Days of Christmas) because they can count on a free download every day in a period following Christmas and until early-January. It’s not just apps, Apple usually gives away songs, books and music videos as well.

A dedicated app is crucial to the promotion and today the company has updated the iOS App for the iPhone, iPod and iPad with gifts for the 2013 Christmas holiday season. Download it now to get your free gift starting with December 26, the day after Christmas. Only available in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and other territories (requires iOS7)

Also new this year, the US has finally been invited to Apple’s Christmas party. Rather oddly, Apple had previously excluded its own home country in favour of the UK, Europe, Japan and Canada.

App’s Description pulled from the Apple App Store:
“From December 26 to January 6, you can download a gift each day—songs, apps, books, movies, and more—with the 12 Days of Gifts app. Each day’s gift will only be available for 24 hours, so download the free app to make sure you don’t miss out. Note: Not all content is available in all countries.”

12 Days of Gifts can be downloaded now for free from the App Store on iPhone and iPad, though it won’t offer its first gift for another 15 days. If you’re worried that you’ll forget all about the app’s existence in this period, don’t worry – you can set it to notify you when new deals become available.

Apple notes that not all content will be available in all countries, but you can bet there’ll be a fine selection wherever the app is available.

You can download the app from the UK App Store right here for free Direct Link]. (CA / US)

The app requests permission to send push notifications so it’d be wise to hit the OK button because otherwise you won’t be alerted of daily freebies.

Justin Bieber funds “Shots of Me” app that only lets you take selfies

18 November 2013 4:37 AM
The new selfies-only photo app promises to combat cyber-bullying and create a new and positive experience for its users.

The new selfies-only photo app promises to combat cyber-bullying. Find me: Jordan Couzens / JordanBTH

Partially funded by Justin Bieber and created by RockLive, Shots of Me is a new app for iPhone users that allows you to take and share photos of yourself.

Shots of Me’s profile on iTunes says that it’s “time for something new” – implying that it’s offering something different in comparison to its well-established competitors such as Instagram, SnapChat, and even Twitter.

At first glance, it doesn’t appear to be that different. The features listed by Shots of Me boast being able to “double-tap [a] selfie that you like” and “share a selfie” and “browse the real-time feed” which doesn’t appear to differentiate itself from Instagram in the slightest.

However, Shots of Me is different as it does exactly what it says on the tin: it’s meant be exclusively for selfies. The app only allows you to use your front-facing camera, discouraging shots of people’s food and pets. Plus, there aren’t any filters to magic away bad lighting or to make your face appear more “arty”.
Shots of Me allows users to tag their friends in photos, add hashtags, a caption, and even your location. You can choose to tweet your photo, and there’s currently an Instagram icon with a “coming soon” badge over it, so it appears that you’ll soon be able to push your Shots of Me selfies to your Instagram feed.

Another feature of Shots of Me that sets it apart is that its founders insist the app is meant to be a positive experience for all its users:

“Shots of Me is designed to be a positive experience for everyone. Unlike other social networks, Shots of Me does not have features that create negativity and bullying. Users also have the option of making their accounts private.”

It appears the main way Shots of Me plans to tackle cyber-bullying is to restrict comments, as you can’t leave a public comment on another person’s selfie. You can only “comment” on a photo by sending someone you follow a private message.

Justin Bieber has brought a $1.1 million investment to the app and brings the additional influence of his millions of followers on Twitter – however, at the time of writing, Bieber has still yet to post a selfie.

Find me: Jordan Couzens / JordanBTH

Snapchats of App (iOS 6)

Find me: Jordan Couzens / JordanBTH

Source: buzzfeed

Evernote: Two-Step Verification Now Available to Everyone

5 October 2013 1:22 PM
Evernote / Two-Step Verification

Evernote / Two-Step Verification

Two-factor authentication isn’t an extra or optional layer of protection, it’s a necessary one. Today, all Evernote users—whether paid users or those with free accounts—can turn on this important security feature.

Back in March, after a security breach, Evernote announced it would roll out two-factor authentication. The problem is, when they did, it was only for Premium or Business users.

The company is rolling out optional two-factor authentication today for all user accounts. To turn it on, head to the Security section of your account profile. You’ll also be able to generate one-time codes in case you don’t have access to your phone. (Two-factor authentication often, as in this case, sends a unique code to your mobile device for additional security if you try to log in from an unknown device.)

Two-step verification, also known as two-factor authentication, adds an additional layer of security to the login process, requiring you to enter a special code from your phone, in addition to your regular username and password. The goal of this extra step is to combine something you know (your password) with something only you would have access (your phone).

Setting up two-step verification is straightforward. Just follow the steps in the Security section of Evernote Web. Free users will be required to install an authenticator app on their phones. We recommend Google Authenticator. Premium users can choose to have the code delivered as a text message.

One very important thing to note. As part of the set up process, you will be given a set of one-time codes to use in the event that you are unable to access your phone. Don’t keep these codes in Evernote since you’ll need them when you don’t have access to your Evernote account.

Full Guide: Set up Two-Step Verification »

Apple releases Chrome and Firefox extensions for Windows for iCloud bookmark syncing

19 September 2013 7:07 PM
iCloud Bookmarks - Firefox

iCloud Bookmarks – Firefox

Apple has quietly released extensions for the Chrome and Firefox desktop browsers for Windows. The extensions allow Windows users to sync their Safari iOS bookmarks across the two browsers. Prior to the Firefox and Chrome extension release, iOS Safari bookmark syncing was limited to Windows Explorer via the iCloud Control Panel (v2.1.2) for Windows app.

Users can download the Chrome extension from Google’s Chrome web store. According to its release notes:

Keep your Chrome bookmarks up to date with the Safari bookmarks on your iPhone, iPad and Mac.

iCloud stores your website bookmarks, so they are everywhere you go — on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac and PC. So when it comes to your devices, you can switch things up without mixing things up.

Note: iCloud Bookmarks extension for Chrome is for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Similarly, users can download the Firefox extension from Mozilla’s Add-Ons site. Its release notes read:

Keep your Firefox bookmarks on Windows up to date with your Safari bookmarks on iPhone, iPad and Mac with the iCloud Bookmarks extension for Firefox.

Unfortunately, it looks like these extensions are Windows-only for the moment and will not work on Chrome or Firefox for the Mac.

Story: tuaw / aol

Apple Reveals iPhone 5S

10 September 2013 7:10 PM
iPhone 5S

iPhone 5S

Apple unveiled the next-generation iPhone at its headquarters in Cupertino, Calif. on Tuesday. The iPhone 5S — revealed alongside a low-cost iPhone model, the iPhone 5C — keeps the same overall physical design as the previous-generation iPhone 5, but it also has a number of upgrades.

Calling it the most “forward-looking” iPhone it’s ever launched, Apple equipped the iPhone 5S to run 64-bit apps (all previous models ran at 32 bits) thanks to a new processor: the Apple A7. It packs more than 1 billion transistors into a 102mm chip. Apple has re-engineered all the built-in apps — such as the Email, Calendar and iPod — for 64-bit architectures.

Apple says the new chip makes the iPhone 5S five times faster than the iPhone 5 and 56 times than the original iPhone. The A7 chip supports OpenGL 3.0/ES Version 3.0 for console-level 64-bit graphics. The coming game Infinity Blade 3 will be one of the first games to take advantage of the upgrade to deliver improved graphics.

The iPhone 5S introduces a CoreMotion API for developers, consolidating sensor data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass. Apple says it’s “optimized for contextual awareness,” such as when the user is in a moving vehicle. Apple says the system will empower a new generation of health and fitness apps.

Major Camera Improvements
The iPhone’s camera is also improved with new sensors that have 15% more area. The Apple-designed lens has five elements with an f/2.2 aperture. The larger sensor translates into bigger pixels, and they’re backed by upgraded image-processing software that automatically sets white balance and exposure level in a dynamic, local tone map of the image.

As predicted, the camera is equipped with a dual-LED flash. The two LEDs have different color temperatures, illuminating a scene with warm and cold light to draw out more natural color. The iPhone’s camera also now includes a burst mode that snaps 10 still pictures in one second, panorama photos go up to 28 megapixels, and there’s automatic image stabilization.

Finally, the iPhone 4S camera is capable of capturing HD video at 120 frames per second (fps). The video camera also has a slow-motion mode.

Gold!
Battery life is rated as follows: 10 hours 3G talk, 8 hours 3G browsing, 10 hours LTE or Wi-Fi browsing, 10 hours video playback, 40 hours music playback and 250 hours standby.

Apple is injecting a little more color into its flagship phone as well: The iPhone 5S will be available in white, black and now champagne gold as well. That marks a change from previous generations, which were available only in white and black.

Rumors have been swirling around the iPhone 5S for the past year. Although competition in the smartphone space has heated up considerably in that time, Apple kept to its annual schedule of releasing the new iPhone in the fall. The big question is: Will consumers still buy Apple’s signature product like they used to?

This story is developing…

Source: Mashable