Icloud

Dropbox releases Mailbox App for Android

10 April 2014 9:25 PM
Mailbox on Android

Mailbox on Android © Dropbox, Inc

Dropbox has released its Mailbox email client for Android devices.

The cloud storage company has also announced that a desktop beta version of the service is also in development for Mac OS users.

Already available for iOS devices [link], Mailbox arrives on Android with new features, such as an “auto-swipe” function that lets users automatically archive messages.

The application has also introduced Word, Excel and PowerPoint integration as part of a collaboration with Microsoft dubbed Project Harmony.

Dropbox says that “The desktop version of Mailbox will feature a minimal design and track-pad gesture controls. Users can apply to take part in the beta via the service’s website“.

Cloud storage company Dropbox bought Mailbox last year, shortly after the iOS app launched. The app lets users organize emails with simple swipe motions, chasing the notion of having no unread messages, or “inbox zero.” When Mailbox launched initially, it was only compatible with Gmail on iOS, but CEO Gentry Underwood said he planned to expand to other platforms and email services.

Mailbox previously reported 1 million users within a month of launching and said Wednesday that the number has grown to 275 million.

The company also announced that it’s testing a desktop version of the app, Mailbox for Mac. People who want to try the OS X Mailbox can ask for a beta invite here.

While Mailbox is finally on Android, many of the service’s limitations remain in place. It only works with Gmail and iCloud, so don’t go looking to this app if you rely on Yahoo, Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail) or a corporate email account. It also gives yet another company, in this case Mailbox’s parent Dropbox, access to your Gmail account. The app is still not available on Windows Phone.

Another change is that Mailbox will require a Dropbox login to use the app, on both iOS and Android. So, if you’re a Mailbox user, you will be required to be a Dropbox user as well.

The Android edition is now available from the Google Play store for download [link].

Apple iMessage and FaceTime not working for some users

10 April 2013 12:48 AM

Apple has confirmed that its iMessage and FaceTime services are not currently working for some users. On Apple’s System Status page, both iMessage and FaceTime are listed as having issues with a note underneath each that reads “Some users affected.” All other services are up.

iPhone owners have already been aware that iMessage is down. As “iPhones” and “iMessage” have both been trending on Twitter in relation to the downtime. If you thought it was just your phone, rest assured it’s not. You will still be able to send messages to friends though, they will just send as normal text messages rather than iMessage’s, of course that means you will have to suffer with those ugly green chat bubbles temporarily.

The issues began around 3:15PM eastern time according to Apple. It’s been a little over three hours now. The actual problem itself is unidentified at this point, so there’s unfortunately no way of knowing when Apple will resolve the iMessage and FaceTime woes.

Apple has a history of having issues keeping up its services like iMessage and iCloud. This is far from the first time iMessage has been down and if I was a betting man, I’d say it probably won’t be the last.

UPDATE 1:30 AM Wednesday, April 10, 2013 (BST): It looks like iMessage and FaceTime is working again.

Apple’s iOS6: 5 New Features You Should Know

19 September 2012 8:36 PM

Apple is starting to roll out iOS 6 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The new version of the OS brings lots of new features — including Apple’s brand new Maps app, deep integration with Facebook and enhancements to Siri. As of iOS 5, Apple is making the the update available as an over-the-air (Settings > General > Software Update) download. If you don’t have access to the download now, check again in a few minutes. You will also have the option of upgrading from within iTunes, if you prefer.

1. Apple’s Very Own Maps App (RIP, Google Maps)
Getting around with your iPhone will be an experience by itself now, with spoken directions and turn-by-turn navigation, real-time crowdsourced traffic updates, Quick routes and re-routing options, Yelp-powered details on nearby businesses and more. One of the highlights of this feature would be Flyover, a 3D rendition of buildings and major landmarks for a close-up interactive 3D view of cities around the world.

2. Facebook Integration
It’s easier than ever to share on Facebook with the new iOS6. Share photos and locations straight from your device and get your updates about what’s happening on Facebook in your contact and Calendar. Profile information will be integrated into Calendar so you won’t get to miss a thing, especially since you now get notifications for both Facebook and Twitter updates from the notification centre. The App Store is now Like-friendly.

3. Siri’s Smarter
Siri is now savvy in sports stats, restaurant reviews and rotten tomatoes (imdb movie ratings). You can make reservations with Siri through the OpenTable app, and check out movie schedules and ratings. Have a lot of apps to sift through, look up and launch? Launch it the new way by asking Siri to launch the app for you. With the iOS6, you can even dictate your posts for release on Facebook and Twitter.


4. Photo Stream Over ICloud
Share photos with the people you want to share with via the iCloud on an iOS 6 device or Mountain Lion OS. Photos will sync in real-time via iPhoto or the Photos app and are also available on the Web. Commenting is enabled on the albums and you can share as much as you want with no effect on your iCloud storage.


5. Passbook App
Tickets, boarding passes, movie tickets and store cards are things of the pass. Scan in your details to get on that plane, into that cinema or that concert and keep constant tabs on your store card balance all from your iOS devices.

Updates are in real-time so that when flight details have been changed, you get informed of the latest updates straight on your device. This app can turn your iPhone into a GPS-enabled virtual wallet, keeping your cards, coupons and tickets safe, convenient, handy and fuss-free.

What do you think of iOS 6? Let us know in the comments down below!

Pssst! Don’t forget YouTube is no longer part of iOS remember to download the new YouTube app from the Apple App Store.

YouTube for iOS is Compatible with; iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later.

It’s officially here – the iPhone 5.

12 September 2012 6:37 PM

Apple finally took the wraps of its latest iPhone, and it’s called the iPhone 5.

From Mashable.com:
“The iPhone 5 has a larger screen than previous versions, at 4 inches, with a resolution of 1,136 x 640 or 326 pixels per inch — which is still a “retina” display, as Apple defines it. The larger screen has a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio and has lengthened the phone overall, but it also allows for a total of six rows of apps on the screen — five rows on the “pages” along with the permanent single row along the bottom.

Apps designed for previous iPhones won’t scale to the new screen — they’ll appear with black bars on the two ends of the screen.

The phone, which is said to be made entirely of glass and aluminum, is also thinner overall. It’s just 7.6 mm thin, 18% thinner than the iPhone 4S. It also weighs 112 grams, 20% lighter than the 4S.”

Camera & Sound;
Front facing camera is now full HD, FaceTime over cellular, a panoramic shot with the iPhone 5 will be 28-megapixels, one mic on the front, one on the bottom, one on the back, earpiece has more noise cancellation.


Apple has also shrunk the dock connector of the iPhone, replacing the aging 30-pin connector with a much smaller jack, which it dubs the “Lightning” connector. – you will also be able to buy an adapter to convert it to a 30-pin to charge older devices. (not included when you buy the iPhone 5)

iOS 6 will be released on 19th September however expect slow speeds and high levels of downloads as many will be using the iTunes service to be first to update to iOS6 which will work on all phones and tablets back to the 3GS iPhone.

Cost – 16GB @ $199, 32GB @ $299 or 64GB at $399
When – Pre order on Friday (14th). Ship one week later, Sept 21.
Where? US, UK, Canada, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, all on the 21st.

“Today we’re announcing some exciting changes with iPod and iTunes.” Eddie Cue is up to demonstrate a brand new version of iTunes – dramatically simpler, with the cloud build in for PC & Mac The new iTunes looks nearly identical to the music player on the iPad and will be available in late October.

iPod Touch;

the Retina display is now in the iPod Touch and the headphone jack on the bottom same height as the new iPhone 5 iPod Touch gets the cool Panorama feature too. And the shared photo streams with 40 hours of music playback, 8 hours of video on the new iPod Touch battery iSight camera is going to be built into the Touch for the first time. It’s 5 megapixel, with autofocus, flash and Sapphire lens 1080p and even able to do videoing editing.

iPod Nano;

the new Nano is $149, the old Touch is $199 for 16GB, 32GB for 32GB ships with the new EarPods colors? black, white, blue, yellow, red.


EarPods; “we’ve spent 3 years designing an entirely new headphone … EarPods.”
EarPods headphones with little speakers on the side, basically. “We scanned hundreds of ears, looking for a commonality …” – says Jony Ive they are designed to intentionally direct sound, right into the ear “and of course, we want to make them available as soon as possible … today.” get your EarPods at the Apple Store now and of course, they’ll ship with the new Touch and the iPhone 5.

That’s it from us on the iPhone 5 Live, for a full recap of the iPhone 5 announcement including the full new line-up check out Mashable or watch the re-cap by TysiPhoneHelp / TysiHelp (Ty Moss) or SoldierKnowsBest (SKB) Apple will likely post the event on Apple Events page shortly.

Links:
Apple Shows Off More of iOS 6 at iPhone 5 Event – Mashable
Apple Adds Facebook Integration Into iTunes, Effectively Kills Ping – Mashable
Apple Announces Thinner iPod Nano – Mashable
Lightning: Apple’s New iPhone Dock Connector is 80% Smaller – Mashable
Apple Unveils New iTunes, Coming in October – Mashable
Meet EarPods, Your New Apple Earphones – Mashable
Apple Kills iPhone 3GS, Makes iPhone 4 Free – Mashable
iPhone 5 Compared With Competitors – Mashable
Apple iPhone 5 Event Coverage (Recorded) – YouTube, SoldierKnowsBest
iPhone 5, iPod touch 5G & New 2012 iPod nano 7G! – YouTube, duncan33303
Recap: Apple iPhone 5 Event – YouTube, SoldierKnowsBest
New iPhone 5, iPod touch 5G and iPod Nano 7G! – YouTube, tysiphonehelp
iPhone 5: Should you upgrade? – YouTube, tysiphonehelp
iOS 6 Panorama Mode – YouTube, SoldierKnowsBest

iTunes 10.5 – Now available for download

11 October 2011 7:01 PM

Summary: Full of iCloud goodness.

Ahead of tomorrow’s release of iOS 5 and iCloud, Apple has released an update for iTunes.

iTunes in the Cloud
iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost.

Automatic Downloads
Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices.

Download Previous Purchases
Download your past music, TV, app, and book purchases again, at no additional cost. (Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store)

Sync More
Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5.

Wi-Fi Syncing
Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they’re both on the same Wi-Fi network.

iTunes 10.5 brings with it compatibility with iOS 5 and iCloud, and adds support for the iTunes Match part of the iCloud service.

iTunes Match is a $24.99/year subscription service that allows users to have their entire music library synced with Apple’s database of over 20 million tracks, making those songs available for use on any iCloud-enabled device. If a particular track isn’t available on iTunes, don’t worry, it can be uploaded so it too is available to all your devices.

If you’re going to be upgrading to iOS 5 tomorrow then you will need this update, so get it now rather than having to fight it out tomorrow.

Updated (07:01PM) with information on Windows-specific elements of iTunes 10.5
ITunes 10.5 requires Mac OS X 10.5 or later. On the Windows side, iTunes patches a slew of vulnerabilities, including several that could allow a remote attacker to execute malicious code. iTunes 10.5 also marks the first time an iTunes installation on Windows doesn’t include (or require) QuickTime.