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Developer hacks iOS to forward notifications to Google Glass

Rounak Jain — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:45:23 +0000

Cydia developer Adam Bell, maker of Message Box that brings system wide Facebook chat heads, has now developed a new tweak to forward all iOS notification to Google Glass. Glass, in its current form, is very limited when it comes to iOS integration, but by forwarding all notifications Bell’s tweak makes Glass a very useful accessory for people who don’t like checking their phones each time a new notification comes in. Glass doesn’t just display these forwarded notifications, it also stores them so that you can scroll through them later on. So tweets, iMessages, reminder alerts and every other type of notification can now be pulled by Glass. This is obviously jailbreak-only, and Bell says that he’ll be releasing the source code of the tweak on GitHub in a few days, and will follow up with a Cydia release. Glass is still in its pre-alpha/alpha stages with a very limited rollout, and as Google approaches closer to a consumer release support for iPhone will be improved upon. Via: 9to5Mac Continue reading →

Google to add Voice Search to Chrome for iOS soon

iPhoneHacks — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:01:15 +0000

Google has announced plans to add its enhanced Voice Search feature to Chrome for iPhone and iPad. Chrome users will be able access the Voice Search feature in the Chrome app by tapping on the microphone button just above the keyboard as you can see in the screenshot above. Touch the microphone, say your search query aloud and see your results (in some cases spoken back to you), all without typing a single letter. Try these queries with the update (coming soon to the App Store): - “How many miles from San Antonio to Dallas?” - “What’s the weather in Rome?” - “Who stars in The Internship?” Chrome already has a microphone button in the omnibar that allows you to search handsfree with the voice Search feature, but based on the screenshot it looks Google is bringing the voice search interface from the Google Search app. So it should also display the text on the fly, which would be quite cool. Google has also mentioned that the update will also reload web pages faster by using the cache more efficiently. Google is also encouraging developers to give users an option to open links in Chrome in their apps, as the update will come with an option to return back to their app with a tap. Google has said it will adding these features in the next update of Chrome for iOS. However, it hasn’t provided any release date for the update. As always, we’ll let you know as soon as it is released. Via Google Chrome Blog Continue reading →

Scanner Pro: The ultimate document scanning app for iOS [Review]

David Gilson — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:40:27 +0000

You might not realise, but you’ve got a document scanner in your pocket. Remember all those spy films where the hero pulls out a tiny camera to take a copy of the villain’s plans to take over the world? You too can do that because your iPhone’s camera is more than capable enough to take high quality document snaps. While just the built-in camera app alone is fine, it’s always difficult to avoid perspective distortions and have shadows get in the way. Scanner Pro is here to help with all of that, read on to find out how. When you first use Scanner Pro, it’s not at all clear quite how it organises its scans. You actually perform scans in batch loads, and each batch is shown on the top-level of the app. When I started testing it, I didn’t realise I was working within my first group/batch. I eventually learned that these groupings of batches were extremely useful and that you can organise things even more by creating a folder to put batches in – groups of groups! The best thing with the batch system is that once you’ve completed a group of scans, the group can be uploaded to a number of online services as a multipage PDF. When starting to scan, you may take a photo within the app, or import a photo from the camera roll. The latter option is useful if you have a bunch of document photos you took before buying the app – you can still give them the Scanner Pro treatment. The first thing that Scanner Pro does is allow you to draw a quadrilateral around the area you wish to have scanned. This solves the first problem of photo-scanning – perspective. Scanner Pro is actually quite smart as it tries to guess the area you wanted to scan. I found this to be consistently almost accurate – by that I mean that it usually gets the plane of perspective correct, but it usually adds on an extra area that I don’t want to include. The corner controls for setting the shape can be quite fiddly, but Scanner Pro has two tools to help with this. Firstly, a magnifying glass appears to help you get close in. Secondly, if you’re finding that your finger is occluding the area of interest, or you’re bumping into the side of the screen, a two finger gesture can launch a long ‘handle’ so that you can move the corner from a distance. However, I’m still trying to work out exactly what the magic combination of touches is to get the handle on the corner I intended is. Next in the process is tweaking the visual properties. Here, you can set brightness, contrast, rotation, and image size. Also, you can set the document type: photo, greyscale, or document. The latter option (which is default) is perhaps the most useful as it uses software to smooth out all of the uneven shading you’ll always get when you photograph a sheet of paper. Once the scan has been created, there are a large amount of options on what you’ll actually do with it. You can save single scans to your camera roll, and print documents via networked printers. Scanner Pro lets you open in installed apps such as Evernote and Instashare. Even more surprisingly was built-in support for uploading to Google Docs, Dropbox, Evernote, and any WebDAV server. Given the clarity created by Scanner Pro’s algorithms, the built-in support for uploading to your Evernote account makes the two apps a perfect combination. Of course, this is only so for Evernote users. However, Evernote users enjoy the service’s powerful optical character recognition so that both images and image- based PDF files are made searchable by Evernote. Creating an Evernote note within Scanner Pro. Scanner Pro is pretty much the whole package if you happen to use your phone for heavy duty document scanning. Bear in mind that the app is relatively expensive ($6.99). However, you might find that the expense if worthwhile if you regularly need such a tool. There are other apps that can do a similar job when it comes to correcting perspective. However, Scanner Pro’s biggest strength is in its ability to organise scans and share with other apps. ➤ Download link ($6.99) Here’s a source image that we used with Scanner Pro … … and here’s the scan we produced. Continue reading →

Twitter for Mac update finally brings Notification Center integration

iPhoneHacks — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:04:47 +0000

Twitter has just released an update for its Mac app (v2.2.1), which finally brings Notification Center integration. Even though OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) brought Twitter integration to the Mac, it strangely didn’t come with Notification Center integration. Here’s what’s new in version 2.2.1: Notification Center integration: receive notifications when someone mentions you or when you receive a Direct Message. You can configure this from the app’s Preferences window. This update also includes the following changes: * Fix for Growl notifications not working in Lion and Mountain Lion * Fix for bug that prevented un-favoriting tweets * Fix for missing account switcher in composer * Fix for error message when posting a tweet with a pasted image * Fix for enlarged avatar when dragging a tweet into an email * Fixes for crashes and various other bugs You can download the update via the App Store app or you can download the latest version via this direct App Store link. HT: 9to5Mac Continue reading →

Apple says Samsung Galaxy S4 and Google Now infringes its patents

Rounak Jain — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:27:54 +0000

Last week, we told you that Apple’s adding Samsung’s latest Android flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, in its second patent lawsuit against the Korean company. Today, more details about the suit emerged as Apple filed a formal motion to add Samsung’s Galaxy S4 in the list of infringing devices. Apple claims that after analysing the three Galaxy S4 units it bought from Sprint, Verizon and AT&T, it found the same infringing features that it found on the other phones named in the lawsuit: [The] analysis revealed that the Galaxy S4 infringes five of Apple’s asserted patents in the same ways as Samsung’s already accused products. Apple has determined that the Galaxy S4 infringes one or more of the asserted claims of the ’502, ’647, ’959, ’414, and ’604 patents. Two of those patents are about Siri’s universal search (’604 and ’959), one about asynchronous data sync (’414), another one about performing actions on auto detected patterns in text like phones numbers (’647) and the last one about autofill in text fields based on past inputs (’502). Apple notes that since it asserted the Siri universal search patents against Android’s quick search box, Google also launched Google Now, which replaces the search box on many phones. So it’s accordingly updating the suit. We wonder if Google Now on iOS infringes these universal search patents, and if it does, is it protected by virtue of being on iOS. Via: FOSS Patents Continue reading →

Trunk: A versatile Lightning cable for your iPhone 5

iPhoneHacks — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:27:09 +0000

If you’re frustrated with tangled cables of your iPhone’s Lightning to USB connector, then Gizmodo points us to a cool new accessory called Trunk by iLoveHandles. Trunk is a short, posable Lightning charging cable for your iPhone 5, which can be bent and used as a stand for the device. It’s also ultra-protable. It’s so small that you can straigten it out and put it in your pocket. Trunk’s reinforced core can actually support your iPhone 5 in almost any position, letting you more easily use it as a navigation device in your car, or just keeping it off the floor while it’s charging from an outlet. Just make sure you’re ok with only four or five inches of slack. It reminds me of Twig, the ultra-portable cable for the iPhone, which comes with a bendable wire skeleton and three legs that allowed you to use it as a tripod stand for the iPhone. It also could be used to wrapper for your EarPods’ cord. Trunk is available on iLoveHandles website for $19.95. HT: Gizmodo Continue reading →

Apple rolls out revamped Online Store

iPhoneHacks — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:51:57 +0000

Apple has quietly revamped its Online store with a cleaner and more modern user interface. Here’s a list of the design changes we’ve noticed so far: The most obvious change is the three column layout has been replaced with a more image centric UI featuring large tiles of products and services. Apple’s Online Store – homepage (old) Apple’s Online Store – homepage (new) The left hand sidebar that gave you quick access to accessories pages, gift cards, the refurbished and clearance store has been removed. You now have to navigate to a particular product to access the accessories link in the horizontal navigation bar. The link to the refurbished & clearance store has been moved to the bottom of the page. The Store services and promotions that were previously in the right hand sidebar are now featured along the products. For example: the main page of the Online store is currently promoting products such as the iPad and the iPad mini for Father’s Day celebrations. The accessory pages have also been revamped. The main accessory page for a particular product features large titles of the accessories. The right hand sidebar provides quick access to accessory categories. iPhone accessories page (old) iPhone accessories page (new) The revamped Online store seems to have been rolled out across all countries. Overall, the revamped Online store looks a lot more modern. Let us know what you think in the comments. Continue reading →

The iPhone is still the best mobile phone in America, but survey says it’s starting to slip

Stefan Constantinescu — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:21 +0000

The annual American Customer Satisfaction Index for mobile phones has just come out, and of course Apple is on top, but they’ve fallen from 2012′s score of 83% of customers being satisfied with their products. This year they’re “just” 81%. How do the others compare? Samsung is at 76%, as is Nokia, and Motorola of all companies is at 77%. Both HTC and LG have slipped, down to 72% and 71% respectively. What should this data tell you? People are expecting more and more out of their mobile phones. Let’s be a little honest, as much as the iPhone rocks, it’s due for a face lift, and hopefully we’ll see that next month at WWDC. Considering how fast the Android ecosystem is moving, Apple is starting to seem a bit slow, which shows with these new numbers. You should also take into account that this data focuses on phones, an area of the market that is growing, no one denies that, but it’s not growing nearly as fast as the market for tablets. There it’s iPad or … there is nothing else. Just the iPad. Continue reading →

Apple is (again) the world’s most powerful and valuable brand this year

Stefan Constantinescu — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:00:39 +0000

The annual BrandZ list is out, and it looks like Apple is, for the third year in a row, the world’s most valuable brand at $185.1 billion. Google comes in second place with a brand value of $113.7 billion. Samsung, which wasn’t even in the top 50 last year, is now the world’s 30th most valued brand. What you really want to know is are these numbers meaningful to ordinary consumers? The answer is no. Similar to how marketing people give each other awards for the best marketing campaigns every year, BrandZ telling people which brands have the most value doesn’t really signify anything meaningful. If you were to buy your food based on this list, you’d be eating a lot of McDonald’s, for example. Still, it’s nice to see that Apple holds such a powerful position, namely due to their high quality products. Samsung may be outselling Apple in terms of number of devices sold, but really, how are you going to compare a budget $149 Galaxy sold on a street corner with a $649 Apple iPhone 5? You just can’t. Continue reading →

Microsoft Unveils Xbox One, an All-In-One Entertainment System

iPhoneHacks — Wed, 22 May 2013 07:42:33 +0000

Earlier today, after several months of speculations Microsoft launched its much awaited next generation gaming console, the Xbox One at a media event at its headquarters in Redmond. Microsoft is calling it the ultimate all-in-one gaming and entertainment system. During the presentation, Microsoft focused more on the new console as a living room device than as a gaming console. Hardware On the hardware side, Xbox One is powered by a single custom 40-nanometer system-on-chip made by AMD with an 8-core CPU and GPU, 8GB of RAM and comes with 500GB HDD designed in-house, Blue-ray drive, USB 3.0 and support for 802.11n Wi-Fi. It also features a HDMI pass-through in which the cable box, satellite box, or similar device connects directly to the Xbox One, which then passes the mediated signal to the television via an HDMI-out port. The hardware comes packed in a shiny black rectangular box with side loading Blue-ray drive. If you were hoping for a swanky new design then you will be disappointed. However, Microsoft insists “It’s what’s on the inside that counts.” Xbox One comes with a new Kinect sensor that includes a 1080p wide-angle sensor, which Microsoft says is more precise, more responsive and more intuitive. The controller has also been refreshed with “more than 40 technical and design innovations” such as an updated directional pad, new thumbsticks, and an integrated battery compartment. The weird bulge for the battery pack is no longer visible. It also comes with vibrating impulse triggers that will provide vibration feedback. Features According to Microsoft, a combination of three operating systems are running the One with the kernel of Windows. Not surprisingly, the new Xbox’s user interface seems to be inspired by Windows 8, but at the same time seems more of an evolution of Xbox 360. Xbox One includes the following features: TV on Xbox One: Navigate and watch live TV from your cable, telco or satellite set-top box through your Xbox One. Microsoft is committed to bringing live TV through various solutions to all the markets where Xbox One will be available. Home: Turn on your entertainment system with two powerful words, “Xbox On,” and a custom-tailored Home dashboard welcomes you with your favorite games, TV and entertainment. Snap: Do two things at once on the biggest screen in your home. Use Snap to jump into a multiplayer battle while watching your favorite movie, talk with friends on Skype while watching live TV, or track your fantasy team on TV as you watch the big game and more. Skype for Xbox One: Specially designed for Xbox One, talk with friends on your TV in stunning HD, or for the first time ever, hold group Skype calls on your TV. Trending: Stay on top of what is hot on TV by discovering the entertainment that is popular among your friends, and see what is trending within the Xbox community. OneGuide: Find your favorite entertainment easily, searching by network or name, all with the sound of your voice and presented in a tailored program guide. Kinect: The Kinect’s 1080p wide-angle sensor enlarges the field by 60%, so you will be able to play with the device in a much smaller room or open area. The camera can also capture video at 60 frames per second for services like Skype’s video calling feature. However, the most impressive aspect of the new Kinect as The Verge explains is its ability to “tell if you’re moving your thumb, and which way your thumb is facing. It can tell which muscles you’re engaging at any given time, and how much — it knows the difference between a jab and an uppercut, and registers them differently. If you’re playing with a friend, it can tell when the two of you switch places, or even when the two of you switch controllers. Kinect knows if you’re smiling or frowning, or if you’re talking or not. It knows if you’re looking at the screen or not, and will only register your commands if you’re looking. It knows, by either remarkable science or sorcery, your heart rate just by looking at your face.” Games: Microsoft also unveiled the following titles for Xbox One that will be available at the launch along with a brief demo: Forza Motorsport 5 from Turn 10 Studios is the latest edition of the highest-rated racing franchise of the past 10 years. Built from the ground up to take advantage of Xbox One and the infinite power of the cloud, no game better delivers the sensation of being behind the wheel. “Forza Motorsport 5” sets a new bar for racing games and will be available exclusively for Xbox One at launch. http://youtu.be/r46D1lRpO1k Call of Duty: Ghosts is the next generation of “Call of Duty” and a stunning leap forward for the franchise. It delivers an all-new world, an all-new cast of characters and an all-new story, built on a new, next-generation engine. The next-generation technical innovations built to support the incredible gameplay advancements make this the most beautiful and immersive “Call of Duty” experience yet. Activision and Microsoft also announced the renewal of their close partnership that will see both the return of the “Call of Duty® Championship,” presented by Xbox, as well as all-new downloadable content debuting first and exclusively on the Xbox platform. http://youtu.be/_IK0j8E-c4s FIFA 14, Madden NFL 25, NBA LIVE 14, and EA SPORTS UFC from EA SPORTS will change the way consumers experience and play sports games. Driven by the new EA SPORTS Ignite engine, these new EA SPORTS games will deliver massive innovations in human intelligence, true player motion and living worlds. Adding to its commitment to Xbox One, EA SPORTS also announced the promise of exclusive content to be revealed in the coming months. http://youtu.be/QS6IlceFF9g Quantum Break from Remedy Entertainment is a revolutionary entertainment experience from the creators of “Max Payne” and “Alan Wake” that blurs the line between gaming and TV by integrating drama and gameplay into one seamless, uniquely immersive experience. How you play the game impacts the show, and the show informs how you play the game. http://youtu.be/_64IZNgxPKs Content: In addition to the games, Microsoft also announced the following content partnerships for Xbox One: Halo television series: Award-winning filmmaker, director and producer, Steven Spielberg will executive-produce an original “Halo” live-action television series with exclusive interactive Xbox One content, created in partnership with 343 Industries and Xbox Entertainment Studios. National Football League: A multiyear, landmark partnership will deliver the ultimate interactive NFL television experiences for the next-generation Xbox One and leverage Microsoft devices and services to evolve both in-game and on the sideline. The NFL on Xbox will redefine broadcast experiences through innovations around Skype, Xbox SmartGlass and player-worn technology; add an all-new fantasy football solution for the biggest screen in the house; and create a personalized NFL destination only available on Xbox One. Xbox Live Xbox Live also comes with number of new features and improvements such as: Smart Match: A new Smart Match matchmaking system virtually eliminates waiting in lobbies by estimating wait times and finding people you want to play with while you are enjoying other activities — reputation fundamentally matters and helps find best matches. Game DVR: A dedicated Game DVR captures and accesses your magic moments, all saved to the cloud. Along with sharing tools, you will have the most amazing bragging rights with Xbox Live. Living Games: Dynamic, living worlds evolve and improve the more you play, and advanced artificial intelligence can learn to play like you, so friends can play against your shadow. Expanded achievements: A new and expanded achievements system captures video of your epic moments, continues to grow a game’s achievements over time and rewards you in new ways, and your Gamerscore carries over from Xbox 360. Xbox SmartGlass: Xbox SmartGlass is natively part of the Xbox One platform, built in from the beginning with the ability to quickly render content directly onto your device, and now more devices can connect at one time for multiplayer and shared entertainment. Microsoft says that the native support for Xbox SmartGlass would mean that you will be able to seamlessly connect to the Xbox One with your iPhone and iPad with the second-screen companion app. It will also be able to screen scrape video, encode it to H.264 and send it over to your second screen. Microsoft also promises to bring exclusive experiences for NFL and Skype via the SmartGlass app, however, we’ll have to wait to find out more about it. Release date and pricing: Microsoft didn’t reveal the pricing and the release date, though it has said that Xbox One will launch around the world later this year. We expect Microsoft to provide more details at E3, the annual video game conference and show in June. There have been a number of rumors and speculations that Apple will launch its own television set later this year. So should Apple be worried? While we see a number of Apple blogs saying that it has nothing to worry, we think it is too premature to comment on it, as Apple may have a completely different vision for it. Xbox One Unveil Video Xbox Executives Discuss Xbox One Behind the Scenes at Xbox Via: Microsoft Continue reading →