If we can ask you to ignore this year's WWDC for just a moment, and kindly request that you cast your minds back to last year's event, you may remember that one of the least celebrated additions that iOS 7 was touted to bring was iBeacon. Technology that would allow iOS devices to essentially sense their surroundings, iBeacon has since been adopted by retail outlets and Major League Baseball alike.
It's the weekend again, and arguably, the best time of the week to settle down and look for some great new apps and games. Of course, there are definitely more enjoyable things in life than downloading ordinarily paid apps for free - but not many - so join us after the break where we'll be running you through a cluster of great Android and iOS apps that have just hit that magical zero-dollar price tag.
HealthKit, as has already been established, will serve as a major component in the iOS 8 update, and we're also already aware that it will integrate with various third-party accessories for a better all-round experience. Now, it has been discovered that since HealthKit will offer the ability to hook up with accessories natively via Bluetooth, those behind said add-ons will not need to build and publish companion apps.
Apple just announced and released the Developer Preview of OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and although the forthcoming Mac software update offers a little more than a few cosmetic changes, it is indeed those aesthetic tweaks that are most noticeable about this particular version. Here, we take a look at Yosemite's UI elements versus the corresponding design of the preceding OS X 10.9 Mavericks, and although it doesn't, on the whole, feel as dramatic a departure from tradition as iOS 7 did back in September of last year, the breakdown really hits home how much work Apple's design team has put in.
Apple recently took the decision to bring the manufacturing of some of its Mac line-up back to the United States, and given how popular a move it was, it is no surprise that the company has seized upon almost every available opportunity to mention and showcase the American arm of its manufacturing landscape. Tim Cook, being the head of the organization and all, was only too keen to tweet images of his encounters with Mac Pro production line workers at the Austin plant, but in a bit of a PR gaffe, showed that staff are being prompted by iMacs running on Microsoft's Windows.
When releasing apps, developers are obligated to be transparent regarding what personal, geographical and device-based information is accessible to said app. It also helps that developers are made to explain why these apps must perpetually check our location, for instance. With iOS 8, Apple has given the user an even better insight into what goes on behind the various UI elements, and soon, apps will need permission to continue using your location data in the background.
As we are continuing to learn following the release of the very first beta, iOS 8 is full of weird and wonderful surprises, and now it has emerged that the camera of an iPhone running the upcoming software can be used to scan in credit card details.
Of the big announcements to come out of the WWDC opening keynote, Apple's decision to bring third-party keyboards to iOS was probably the most unexpected and yet, one of the most wished-for additions to a platform that has stubbornly stuck to the one keyboard for its entire life. Being able to install completely new keyboards can quite literally change the way we work.
If you've been getting stuck into some of iOS 8 beta’s new features and quirks, there are undoubtedly some that you may have missed. Apple pushed some significant changes with this new release, but there remains an abundance of lesser-known alterations and additions to the latest version. Here, we run through some of them.
With Apple having announced iOS 8 and subsequently rolled out the first beta over the past couple of days, it's no surprise to see that users have flocked to download and checkout some of the new features. But, being in beta and all, it's still far from finished, and having had a little taster of what's to come, it's quite likely that you'll want to revert back to the more familiar, stable environment that is iOS 7.1.x. If you have tried the beta and wish to step back to the latest public release, we've got the steps for you below.
