Regardless of whether you have positive or negative connotations regarding Apple as a company, it's very difficult to argue with the level of masterfulness that goes into designing and crafting each and every Apple device. In today's market it's rare to find another company that goes into the same level of design detail that seems to be applied to each and every Apple device, and even rarer to find the same level of expertise applied to third-party accessories, which is why the Spira immediately stands out as an innovative accessory worthy of applaud.
With Apple seeding new builds of iOS 8.1 to developers for testing it was only a matter of time before a clever developer managed to poke around long enough to find some more information about about the big change we're expecting to come as part of the release.
Since day one, Facebook has required users to use their real names when signing up to the site and while that has partly been behind much of its success, the social network has long come in for plenty of criticism due to its refusal to accept sign-ups where users wish to remain anonymous.
The fact that Apple has allowed users to install and use third-party keyboards is still sinking in for many of us, but when iOS 8 did finally land it's probably safe to say that those wanting a new keyboard set off to find Swype keyboard for iOS 8 on the App Store.
The famed Plex media player / center has finally been showcased for the Xbox One, and is immediately free to download for those with Plex Pass memberships. A further release for the Xbox 360 is also on the horizon, although won't be rolled out until later this year.
Earlier on, we told of how Apple's work on patching the 'date trick' loophole will soon prevent fans of SNES and GBA emulators from installing them on iOS devices without a jailbreak, and while it has just been revealed that Popcorn Time for iOS can also be loaded on iPhone and iPad using a similar method, the torrent streamer will also be a jailbreak-only enterprise once iOS 8.1 arrives.
Late last week, it emerged that a working SNES emulator could be installed on iDevices running on the latest iOS 8 software. The idea of a working emulator for iOS is, in itself, nothing particularly new, but ordinarily, one would require the assistance of a jailbreak in order to enjoy a nostalgic dose of the Super Nintendo. The fact that it works without a Cydia tweak is great for those who wish to enjoy the likes of Super Mario, but Apple, as you'd probably expect, is about to spoil the party by plugging the loophole with the impending iOS 8.1 update.
Talk of an enlarged, so-called "iPad Pro" has been rife for about a year now, but with the likes of the Microsoft Surface Pro and Samsung's Galaxy TabPro having rolled out in that time, there's a genuine feeling that Apple is finally poised to counter with a similar effort of its own. The slate, which will apparently include a 12.9-inch display, remains something of an enigma, but a new report cites the usual sources familiar by claiming that it will run a hybrid operating system combining bits of iOS and OS X into one.
Apple's decision to allow third-party keyboards into iOS with its latest release took many by surprise, mainly because after all these years it was generally accepted that Apple simply didn't want to give third parties access to everything its users typed, but that also meant that users of iPhones and iPads were going to miss out on some of the excellent keyboards and keyboard features that have been available to users of other platform devices for years.
Samsung is having something of a bad time right now. Having already announced three consecutive quarterly drop in profits, the South Korean firm has announced that it expects a decline in profit of almost 60% for the third quarter of 2014 after having already warned that the second half of the year would 'remain a challenge.'
















