Apple-bashing from Samsung is nothing new, particularly given the ongoing court hearings between the two relating to supposed theft of patented technologies, but in a rare treat, the Korean outfit has taken a swipe at Apple, Microsoft and Amazon in one fell swoop with its latest Galaxy Pro Series Ad. The Galaxy Tab Pro and Galaxy Note Pro, which Samsung was heavily pushing at Mobile World last month, offer quite a few features built with the power user in mind, and with the advertising machine in full flow, the company has wasted no time in having a swipe at the Apple iPad, Amazon Kindle Fire and Microsoft Surface for their respective shortcomings.
For the first couple of months of this year and some time prior, Flappy Bird had taken a stronghold on many iOS and Android users looking for a casual game to keep them entertained. Consumed by the tricky physics involved, the title was both challenging and frustrating in equal measure, but with the game seeming to leave players reeling in anger rather than feeling any kind of accomplishment, developer Dong Nguyen took the decision to remove it from the iOS App Store, as well as Google Play. After recently hinting that Flappy Bird might make a dramatic return, though, he has now confirmed that it will be re-entering the fold at some point in the future, although "not soon," according to his Twitter feed.
A new iPad Pro concept cooked up by the folks of German design outfit CURVED Labs demonstrates precisely the kind of product that power users of the Apple slate would probably be seeking. Packing a sumptuous 12.9-inch 4K display of almost 300ppi, the device, which does seem a little idealistic if we're honest, manages to retain the same thinness as the iPad Air, and although we doubt that Apple could possibly stuff such a high-spec IPS panel in this kind of form factor, it's not as though Jony Ive and his hardware design team haven't pulled off similarly improbable feats in the past.
It was back in 2011 that Apple first brought us the iPad 2, and after three years of loyal service, the device has finally been retired. Replacing it as understudy to the iPad Air will be the iPad 4 - arguably the righteous holder of this particular position - and with a Retina display, Lightning connector and a beefy A6X processor, it's a notable improvement on the iPad 2.
When it comes to success stories, they don't come much bigger than Rovio and its Angry Birds franchise. Since its initial release back in 2009, the world has gone Angry Birds crazy, with merchandise ranging from lunch boxes to food and beyond. It's fair to say that Rovio has done OK for itself, and as a result it's found itself confident enough to branch out from the tried and tested formula of flinging birds at pigs. Relatively hot on the heals of Angry Birds Go, a kart racer, Rovio earlier this month teased Angry Birds Epic, and now it's ready for prime time. At least, partly.
A security researcher has discovered major a flaw in the iOS 7 security system, apparently brought about by a botched attempt by Apple to patch an issue specific to iOS 6. The kernel exploit, if anything, has only been aggravated by the Cupertino's intervention, and as such, Azimuth Security researcher Tarjei Mandt believes that iOS 7 is "much worse" than its predecessor with regards security.
As well as offering some big improvements upon existing features, iOS 8 is expected to deliver some significant new implementations of its own, and with fitness and tracking-related devices and applications currently in vogue, it is thought that Apple will hop aboard the bandwagon with a new, native app called Healthbook. As the name implies, the app will be to fitness and wellbeing what Passbook is to vouchers and tickets, presenting the health-conscious with an all-in-one hub for tracking key aspects such as exercise, diet and activity. 9to5Mac first shed light on Healthbook a while back, and is now back with some more in-depth tidbits regarding the forthcoming app.
The final version of iOS 7.1 download links have just been released by Apple for those on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. As well as bringing support for the Cupertino company’s recently-unveiled CarPlay feature, iOS 7.1 brings a host of smaller enhancements, as well as the usual supply of bug fixes and general performance enhancements. Full details and download information, as well as the full change log, can be found after the break.
As well as bringing forth some exciting new changes and features, including the likes of CarPlay and the enhancement of Siri in some markets, iOS 7.1 has also ironed out and refined a few gripes and snags of iOS 7.0.x. Having made some big changes with the seventh version of its mobile OS released back in September, there were always going to be a few issues to work on in the first major update, and with iOS 7 offering many of the UI elements a translucent finish, iOS 7.1 also allows you to reduce the transparency, or depth, of the interface to better suit your tastes.
Tes Mat, developer behind the Vocab Ninja app, has posted a novel list of all 32 sample voices of the iOS 7 text-to-speak feature. Freshly updated with some of the newly-added languages for iOS 7.1 including Mandarin Chinese and UK English, the run-down of samples takes you on something of a journey throughout the world using only utterances included in Apple's text-to-speak, and whether you have an interest in languages or just wish to check out what others get to listen to when using their iOS dictation feature, it's very much worth checking out.
