iCloud.com Photos App Gains New Zoom, Email Features

Apple's iCloud.com Photos app was quietly updated over the weekend, adding a new zoom option to the toolbar that lets users zoom in on photos that have been uploaded to iCloud Photo Library.





As noted by German site iFun.de , Apple's web-based Photos app has also gained a new feature that allows users to send photos via email directly from the website, making sharing photos easier than ever before.





The addition of new zoom and email features follows a major November update to the iCloud.com Photos app, which began allowing users to upload photos to iCloud for the first time. Before the addition of the uploading tool, the standard iCloud.com site only allowed users to view, download, and delete iCloud Photo Library images.



With the uploading tool and new sharing features, iCloud is slowly becoming a viable and useful storage option for users who wish to upload and manage entire photo libraries. Still in beta, iCloud Photo Library was initially introduced alongside iOS 8.1, letting users sync and access all of their photos on all of their iOS devices and Macs via the web.



Apple is working on a Photos app for the Mac, which will work alongside both the Photos app on iOS and the iCloud.com Photos app on the web. Photos, which will replace both Apple's iPhoto app and Aperture, is supposed to be launching in the early months of 2015. There's been little word on its development since its initial June introduction, however.

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Posted in 2015 at 08:25PM, January 26

'Bowling Central' Expands Wii-Style Gaming on Apple TV [iOS Blog]

Back in 2013, Rolocule debuted Motion Tennis , an iPhone game that brought Wii-style gaming to the Apple TV via AirPlay. Using AirPlay Mirroring, users could display the game on an Apple TV while using an iPhone as a tennis racket. The setup drew natural comparisons to Nintendo's Wii Sports, with the iPhone playing the role of the Wii Remote.



Motion Tennis wasn't perfect, as it did suffer from minor lag and there were naturally concerns about users accidentally throwing their iPhones across the room or into their televisions, but it did serve as an interesting glimpse of both the potential of AirPlay and the possibilities for Apple TV gaming.



Rolocule is now back with an addition to its sports-themed Apple TV games, earlier this month debuting Bowling Central . The game itself is fairly simple, allowing users to bowl a classic game of 3, 6, or 10 frames, or take on a challenge mode that currently offers 30 stages with various stationary and/or moving blockers in the way of the pins.



Bowling Central is by no means the first bowling game for iOS, nor even necessarily the best or most realistic, but once again the selling point is Apple TV compatibility via AirPlay. When in AirPlay mode, the user can wave his or her iPhone side to side to set the release point and then swing the device to bowl the ball, even imparting spin depending on the trajectory of the swing.






In our testing, we found very little lag when playing via Apple TV, an important factor considering the need to accurately time throws in challenge mode. Throws also felt natural with the iPhone after a bit of practice that involved getting used to keeping a thumb on the screen during the throw rather than releasing as on Wii Sports. Rolocule co-founder Anuj Tandon notes the controls were specifically designed to keep the thumb in place during throws in order to maintain better control of the device and minimize the chances of accidentally throwing it.



We did experience some crashing problems when AirPlaying to a second-generation Apple TV, although these appear to be due more to AirPlay issues on the older set-top box than an app problem. No such issues were seen with a third-generation Apple TV.



Overall, Bowling Central is a fairly straightforward bowling game with limited gameplay options so far. For example, there is no live multiplayer option and the 30 challenge levels can be completed rather quickly, although it can take a bit longer to achieve "three-pin" ratings on each.



More challenge levels appear to be in the works, however, and the Apple TV compatibility is what makes Bowling Central an interesting concept as party entertainment. With Apple yet to allow games or any sort of App Store for the Apple TV, Rolocule's AirPlay implementation gives a nice impression of the potential for the set-top box should Apple ultimately decide to open it up to third-party developers.



Bowling Central is available now in the App Store for $2.99. [Direct Link]

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Posted in 2015 at 08:08PM, January 26

The mystery deepens around one of the Galaxy S6’s key specs

When the Galaxy S6 launches later this year, just what chipset will it be packing? Although it's been widely expected that Samsung's next flagship phone would come with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 processor, we've read reports saying that Qualcomm may be having trouble manufacturing enough Snapdragon 810s to meet high demand for the chipset. And now Phone Probe directs our attention to a new benchmark that only deepens this mystery.

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Posted in 2015 at 08:10PM, January 26

Watch 15 minutes of live gameplay from The Witcher 3, the most anticipated RPG of 2015

There aren't many upcoming games that have RPG fans more excited than The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt . The new-gen entry to one of the most critically acclaimed series in recent history has been getting a ton of press ever since the developers first began showing of the game's vast open world, and now the team is back to give us another peek inside the world of The Witcher.

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Posted in 2015 at 06:55PM, January 26

Apple’s slimmest MacBook Air yet launching by the end of March

In addition to posting mind-blowing iPhone sales expectations for the Christmas quarter, KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in a note to investors seen by Apple Insider that Apple’s redesigned MacBook Air, a 12-inch device that should to be even slimmer and lighter than any of its predecessors, is supposed to be launched by the end of March.

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Posted in 2015 at 06:05PM, January 26

Apple to Shut Down Old TestFlight Beta Testing Website in February [iOS Blog]

Apple today began notifying developers about the upcoming closure of the old TestFlight beta testing service accessible through TestFlightApp.com, reports The Next Web . The impending February 26 shutdown of the standalone website arrives nearly one year after Apple's acquisition of TestFlight through its purchase of Burstly and subsequent integration of the service into iTunes Connect.





TestFlight on iTunes Connect and the legacy website were operated as independent services over the past year, enabling developers to test significant changes to their apps. Apple now encourages TestFlightApp users to export current testers so that they can be imported to the iTunes Connect version, and has posted a help document to help developers transition between the services. The new version of TestFlight is available for iOS 8 and later.

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Posted in 2015 at 05:35PM, January 26

Point-of-Sale Suppliers See Massive Increase in Retailer Interest Following Apple Pay Launch [iOS Blog]

A new report by The Wall Street Journal looks at the early performance of Apple's new electronic payments service, Apple Pay, finding strong signs of momentum behind the service. One of the key signs of interest in mobile payments comes from point-of-sales system suppliers seeing drastic increases in retailer interest following the launch of Apple Pay last October.





Harbortouch has offered free wireless readers to its retailer clients since 2012, and in the month following the Apple Pay launch 68 percent of client orders asked for the readers supporting wireless payments. As of August of 2013, only 22 percent of its clients had installed such readers in their stores.

“It’s like night and day,” said Brendan Lauber, Harbortouch’s chief technology officer. “Now, merchants are actively coming to us and asking how to support this.”

The Wall Street Journal piece also covers the general surge in public acceptance for the service, remarking on recent stories that Apple Pay now supports cards representing about 90 percent of the credit card purchase volume in the United States, and that Apple's upcoming financial reports for the latest quarter may provide more details.

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Posted in 2015 at 05:26PM, January 26

OS X 10.10.2 Includes Fix for 'Thunderstrike' Hardware Exploit Affecting Macs

Apple is readying a fix in OS X 10.10.2 for the so-called "Thunderstrike" hardware exploit targeting Macs equipped with Thunderbolt ports, iMore has learned. According to the report, Apple patched the vulnerability by making code changes in the upcoming software update that prevent a Mac's bootrom from being replaced or rolled back to a previous state in which it could be attacked.

To secure against Thunderstrike, Apple had to change the code to not only prevent the Mac's boot ROM from being replaced, but also to prevent it from being rolled back to a state where the attack would be possible again. According to people with access to the latest beta of OS X 10.10.2 who are familiar with Thunderstrike and how it works, that's exactly the deep, layered process that's been completed.

Thunderstrike is a serious vulnerability discovered earlier this year by security researcher Trammell Hudson, enabling an attacker to replace a Mac's bootrom with malicious code without a user knowing. Since the malicious code is stored in a low level inaccessible to the user, the problem would remain even if the bootrom was replaced.





The proof-of-concept attack is limited in scope, however, as an attacker would require physical access to the Mac or savvy social engineering skills in order to trick a user into attacking his or her Mac themselves. Apple has already addressed the issue in its latest hardware, including the iMac with Retina 5K Display and new Mac mini.



OS X 10.10.2 has been in pre-release testing for over two months and should be made available to the public in the coming days. The most recent OS X 10.10.2 beta was seeded to developers for testing last Wednesday. In addition to the Thunderstrike fix, the upcoming software update addresses security vulnerabilities exposed by Google's Project Zero security team last week.



According to 9to5Mac , the latest OS X Yosemite release will also add iCloud Drive in Time Machine and resolve issues related to Wi-Fi, VoiceOver and security. In particular, a recently identified glitch causing Spotlight on OS X to expose system information to spammers through remote content loading will reportedly be patched. Safari will also gain improved performance and security.



No public instances of Thunderstrike attacks have yet to be reported.

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Posted in 2015 at 04:47PM, January 26