Thursday 19 December 2013

Android based ioPhone rips off iPhone 5c wholesale

ioPhone (image 001)
You’d be forgiven for mistaking the ioPhone for Apple’s iPhone 5c. This Android-based knock-off handset features the same plastic shell as Apple’s device and is available in the same five bright colors: yellow, red, green, blue and white. Made by Japanese manufacturer Iosys, ioPhone is almost an exact replica of Apple’s handset, down to the curvature, the physical buttons and other detail.
The handset will go on sale in Japan tomorrow and we have the weirdest promotional video ever for your viewing pleasure, right after the break…
Check out the video.
That’s a catchy upbeat tune!
The ioPhone runs Android 4.2 and packs in a rather pedestrian 254ppi 480-by-854 pixel resolution display and a two-megapixel camera. It’s powered by a dual-core Mediatek chip with 512MB of RAM and has 4GB of built-in flash storage, as reported by CNET.
Hey, what did you expect for 15,490 yen (around $150)?
By comparison, the iPhone 5c has a 640-by-1,136 pixel resolution Retina display, an eight-megapixel iSight camera, at least 16GB of onboard storage and runs Apple’s dual-core A6 chip with 1GB of RAM.
ioPhone dimensions: 61.8×9×127.5mm versus 59.2×8.97×124.4 for Apple’s device.
I wasn’t aware Japanese do knock-off products.
It’s probably made in China, anyway…

Apple Updates Logic Pro Audio Apps Alongside Mac Pro Launch

Alongside today's launch of the redesigned Mac Pro and updates to Final Cut Pro X and its associated professional video apps, Apple has also released updated versions of its professional audio apps. Updates include: 

Logic Pro X 10.0.5 [Direct Link]

- Adds 3 new Drummers and 11 new Drum Kit Designer patches 
- Significant enhancements to Channel EQ and Linear Phase EQ plug-ins including redesigned interfaces that are also accessible within the Smart Controls area 
- Solo now works as expected on channel strips using an External I/O plug-in 
- Volume and pan automation is now included in XML interchange with Final Cut Pro X 
- Loops that belong to the same family can be selected and changed using a new control in the region header 
- The waveform size in an audio region now adapts to the value of the region Gain parameter 
- The Link mode button is now available for the Piano Roll editor 
- Includes stability improvements
logic_pro_x_mainstage_remote_icons
MainStage 3.0.2 [Direct Link]

- Compatible with Logic Remote v1.0.3 
- Save & load times are significantly faster 
- Workspace can be hidden to allow a larger area to view Channel Strips 
- Various stability improvements
Apple's Logic Remote 1.0.3 for iPad has also been updated for compatibility with MainStage 3.0.2. [Direct Link]

Smashing Conference



Smashing Conference is now coming to the United States. Will you join us? 

SmashingConf New York.
June 17—18th 2014.
Only 350 available seats.

Monday 16 December 2013

Google's next future tech endeavor is ... smart thermostats?

Google's next future tech endeavor is ... smart thermostats?

Years from now, when we're all peering at each other through Google Glass from the comfort of our self-driving cars, we may be able to rest assured that our homes are running as efficiently as the robots making our gadgets.

The word from two informants of The Information (pay wall) as well as a document the site reviewed is that Google is testing its own internet-connected thermostats, a homely device if there ever was one.

The climate controllers, part of a project reportedly called EnergySense, would help people keep tabs on their energy use and help them make adjustments accordingly. You know, like a thermostat would.

Mountain View may be making use of 
hardware from smart thermostat maker Ecobee, though the company's CEO said it wasn't working with Google.

What a gas:

One of The Information's sources said Google isn't looking to compete with Nest, that other major maker of smart thermostats, though it seems only natural competition would arise if Google decided to get into smart climate control racket.

Still, the Nexus 5-maker is said to have designs on making a more efficient energy grid, not ruling the isles of Home Depot. To that end, Google will reportedly launch a pilot program to generate energy-focused applications and services.

Non-Google employees have supposedly been tapped as "Trusted Testers" of Google smart thermostats in St. Louis, Mo., among other locations, though there's no indication when the EnergySense pilot will officially launch, if ever.

Google Glass competitors: What are they and how do they compare?

Google Glass competitors: What are they and how do they compare?
All eyes are on Google Glass right now, but the search engine giant's expensive and beta-only wearable isn't going to be the last of its kind. In fact, it's not even the first of its kind.
Yes, there are several Google Glass competitors out there with strikingly similar head-mounted technology, all encouraging a more immersive digital lifestyle without the need to constantly look down at a phone's screen.

A few are less expensive than Glass and one has already launched, beating Google to the expected 2014 consumer product roll-out of its currently invite-only project.
These smaller companies may not have the name recognition of Google or access to all of your data, but their head-mounted ideas deserve just as much face time.

1. Vuzix Smart Glasses M100:

Price: $999.99 (about £611/AU$1,116)Release Date: Available Now

Claiming to be the "world's first commercially available Smart Glasses," theVuzix Smart Glasses M100 had a staring contest with Google Glass and didn't blink in delivering on time.

Google Glass competition
Ready to be put on the job
The currently available Google Glass rival ironically runs an Android-based operating system and is compatible with thousands of its apps, according to Vuzix.
Furthermore, its monocular display over one eye and five megapixel camera with the ability to record HD video match what Google's Explorer Edition wearable is capable of right now.
There are a bunch of 3-axis sensors on-board too: gyro, accelerometer and a compass, making it suitable for its target audience of "industrial, medical, retail and prosumer applications."


It's also significantly cheaper than the $1,500 (about £917/AU$1,675) Google Glass and new orders, in gray or white, are available to ship within two to four weeks.
Before ordering, you should down the downsides, like the obvious fact that this small Rochester, New York company is going up against the Mountain View, Calif. internet titan.
The M100 also it has an older USB mini B port, a smaller 4GB of flash storage (vs Glass' 16GB) and no fancy touch screen. We don't like that much either, especially in our futuristic tech.

2. Optinvent Ora-S AR:

Price: $949 or £699 (about AU$1,059)Release Date: March 2014The Optinvent Ora-S AR glasses are interesting because they promise full frames shades with "True AR," as the company likes to call it.

Google Glass competition
Like Red Bull, it'll give you wings!
This is achieved by combining augmented reality with a dashboard mode in which images can be centered in a user's line of sight or in their peripheral vision for "info snacking." Sounds tasty.

Not as delicious sounding is the fact that the two settings are changed manually by adjusting the wing-like lever that juts out of the side of these Android-based glasses.
The trade-off is that the bulky Ora-S features a larger 4:3 screen with a 24-degree field of view vs Google Glass' 14 degree FOV. The only spec shortfall is in the camera. Optinvent opted for a less revolutionary VGA snapper.

The developer version of the two-mode Optinvent Ora-S AR eyewear is expected to go on sale in March and be less expensive than what Google Glass Explorers are paying right now.

3. Recon Jet:

Price: $599 (about £368/AU$669)Release Date: Spring 2014

Recon Instruments makes its Recon Jet glasses sound promising because it's fashioning them as sports eyewear - it's not trying to sell the wearable as an awkward, new digital lifestyle.

Google Glass competition
Might even be able to beat a juiced Lance Armstrong
The polarized lenses have an high-resolution display with IR Gaze detection facing your right eye and an HD camera pointing outward.

There's an optical touchpad next to the camera and inside there's a 1GHz dual-core CPU surrounded by antennas and sensors like GPS.

This results in a host of performance metrics: speed/pace, distance, duration and ascent/descent. Optional external antennas can add so that the dashboard gauges one's heart rate, power and cadence.

Best of all, these stats are joined by caller ID and SMS alerts in your periphery, negating the temptation to take your phone out of your biker short shorts every time it beeps or buzzes.
All of this sounds promising for athletes, whether they're cycling or playing volleyball, especially when holding a cell phone isn't part of the game.

The Recon Jet shades can be ordered now in black or white for a bargain $599 (about £368/AU$669) with delivery expected in spring 2014.

4. GlassUp:

Price: Starting at $299 (about £184/AU$334)Release Date: June 2014

The crowd-funded GlassUp finished just shy of its funding goal, but that's okay because the startup went with Indiegogo instead of Kickstarter and still received most of the money it needed.

Google Glass competition
Are you down to wear GlassUp?
The eyeglasses are designed for real-time information, alerting wearers of incoming emails, texts, tweets and Facebook updates.

Interestingly, they're read-only bifocals, with the startup being a little more realistic than some of its ahead-of-their-time competition.

"They are read only," admits GlassUp on its website. "We believe it would be messy to try and manage the messages: to respond to a message you'll have to go back to your mobile, as usual."

The prototypes aren't multimedia-centric either, giving basic text and icon information through its 320 × 240 resolution display.

Its maps app is illustrated using text and arrows for turn-by-turn directions, for example, and a TripAdvisor travel app features up to five review stars when standing in front of a hotel.

GlassUp is a little further off than its competitors with a release date set for June 2014. It's up for pre-order right now and can even be purchased in Bitcoin.

5. Epiphany Eyewear:

Price: Starting at $299 (about £184/AU$334)Release Date: 2014

Epiphany Eyewear describes its Google Glass alternative as "great designer glasses that happen to contain an incredibly powerful social computer."

Google Glass competition
Epiphany looks socially acceptable to wear
These normal-looking shades put style ahead of electronics, hiding an HD camera with a wide-angle field of view in the lenses. It's said to be wider than any smartphone camera out right now.

Epiphany is uniquely social, too. While there's no dramatic visual overlay on these spectacles, they're able to live stream video posts to Facebook through its own YouGen.TV video platform.

The Los Angeles-based company already has a number of beta testers uploading point-of-view videos, from boxing on Muscle Beach to shotgunning a beer at the office.
There's no dramatic visual overlay in this version of the spectacles, but Epiphany's chic frames are compatible with prescription lenses and available for pre-order right now at an equally attractive price.

6. Telepathy One:

Price: UnknownRelease Date: UnknownThe Telepathy One is a trippy little headband that emphasizes its tagline "Wear Your Love."

Google Glass competition
Let others see your present while looking like the future
As you might have guessed, this means the device is designed to broadcast what you see and hear to a close friend or family member who isn't physically close.

In addition to an integrated camera, the Telepathy One includes a micro-projection display on a frame that is worn the opposite way of Google Glass.

Glass runs from ear to to ear with its bridge resting on your nose. Telepathy One runs along the back of your head, opening up your field of view with only the micro-projection in the periphery.

There's no specific release date or pricing attached to this small startup's "intimate" take on wearables, but the team is actively tweaking the user interface to match what Google Glass has achieved in its Explorer program

Through the looking Glass:

The differences between the Google Glass tech specs and the internals of its competitors are subtle. All of them feature hands-free cameras and most have video overlays to augment reality.
But the intentions of these Google Glass alternatives vary; some are meant for sports, others for lifestyle, and a few are destined to enhance social interactions.
There's still time to consider alternate choices from what the search engine leader has to offer but sadly, only so much room on one's face for such a wearable.

iPad Pro release date, news and rumors

With Apple's thinner, lighter iPad Air and Retina display-equipped iPad mini out in the open, what's left for Apple to do?

Rumor has it that the Mac maker is working on an even larger iPad, commonly referred to as the "iPad Pro." We've combed through all of the rumors and scuttlebutt to bring you everything we've heard so far about this alleged iPad Pro.
  • iOS 7 review: Our take on Apple's radical OS redesign
Apple did something interesting with the launch of the latest full-sized iPad (aside from a total hardware revamp): Gave it a new name. The iPad Air alludes to the Cupertino, Calif. company adopting the naming convention of its laptop lines, the MacBook Air and Pro series, for its premiere range of tablets.

Logic would dictate, then, that if Apple were to release an even more sizable iPad, it would be with a professional bent and named the iPad Pro. So, we're looking at 2014 for a newer, bigger iPad entering a product category that has seen little success thus far. Will Apple be the one to legitimize the "professional's tablet?"

Cut to the chase:

What is it? A brand new, larger iPad
When will it release? Either spring or fall 2014, we expect
What will it cost? Likely somewhere between the iPad Air and MacBook Air
iPad Pro release date


The iPad Pro release date will be in 2014, following the iPad Air, which released November 1, 2013. However, there are many rumors regarding the tablet's firm release date.
Unnamed Foxconn sources have told Chinese news site Pad News that Apple plans either a late winter/spring or October 2014 release date. To further confuse things, these sources also claim that Apple is working on two versions of the pro-level slate.

According to Pad News, an iPad Pro with a 2K screen resolution will launch in April 2014, while a 4K iPad Pro will land in October. Korea Times's sources at a "local first-tier display supplier" report that a single version will launch "sometime early next year" with a nearly UHD resolution.

Even more sources reporting to China's United Daily News, point to another iPad Pro manufacturing partner entirely: Quanta Computer. This company currently helps produce Macs and iPods for Apple, but has yet to build tablets. That said, a brand new manufacturing partner for a brand new device would make an October release more likely.

Windows Phone 8.1 will reportedly add notification center, Siri-like rival

Windows Phone 8.1 will reportedly add notification center, Siri-like rival

The forthcoming Windows Phone 8.1 update may prove that 8.1 is Microsoft's lucky number, as it's reportedly adding a notification center and Siri-like personal assistant to its mobile devices.

The Windows Phone 8.1 notification center will be revealed through a swipe-from-the-top gesture, according to unnamed Microsoft sources cited by The Verge.

Quick settings can be accessed with a short swipe down, while the most recent notifications are listed with a longer swipe in the same direction.

This matches how the Android notification center works and it's a combination of Apple's iOS 7 notification center and command center.

'Contra' to band together a Siri clone:


Even faster than changing settings through the new notification center may be asking the Windows 8.1 personal assistant to do it for you. Microsoft has been testing out its "Contra" technology for a number of months, according to the same report, with the intention of launching a rival to Google Now and Apple's Siri.

It's said to be able to anticipate appointments and map out the time it'll take you to get there according to data that it reads in a non-Scroogled way.

Other Windows Phone 8.1 tweaks:

Windows Phone 8.1 is likely to have notification center and Siri-like voice interaction as its main highlights, but there are several other tweaks that should please Windows Phone owners.The volume controls are said to be split into categories. A phone's ringtone volume can be independent of its media playback volume, for example.Bing Smart Search is expected to hit Windows Phone 8.1 just as hard as it did Windows 8.1.

Enterprise users will also benefit from added VPN support, and those who enjoy playing music and video on small devices may be listening to songs and watching videos through Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps taken from Xbox One.

Windows Phone 8.1 at Build 2014:

The notification center, Contra personal assistant and the other minor tweaks to Windows Phone 8.1 are said to be in internal beta testing right now.Moving forward, Microsoft is reportedly working to unveil all of these new features at its Build 2014 developer conference.
That means Windows Phone users will have to wait until April of next year to find out how their smartphones will get retooled and retiled with these much-needed features.

This 27-Year Old Mac Plus Can Surf The Web!

When Jeff Keacher decided that he wanted to try and get his 27-year-old Mac Plus online, he knew the challenge that he had set himself would require a substantial amount of time and effort. Things have advanced a great deal since the antiquated Apple desktop was released, and to try and connect it to the TCP/IP Internet we enjoy today was a pretty ambitious task, to say the least. But with a little perseverance, he managed it, and although the result isn’t quite the Safari / Chrome / Firefox-injected, seamless browsing experience of this Digital Age, it’s still a very commendable achievement.

The Mac Plus had been unused for almost two decades, but like all old gadgets, he couldn’t resist firing it up for the sake of nostalgia. Intriguingly, the tech specs, consisting of an 8 MHz CPU, 4MB RAM, 50MB hard drive, and 512 x 384 pixel monochrome display, wouldn’t even keep a modern-day smartphone ticking over, but since this particular unit still appeared in decent working order, Keacher then proceeded to try and get it up and running on the Web.

9732490257_abd486d33a_z

His to-find list was relatively clear: Keacher needed a Web browser, TCP/IP stack, and a way of hooking the machine up to his network since, surprisingly, the Mac Plus didn’t ship with Ethernet. The Web browser issue was quickly resolved with MacWeb 2.0, and with MacTCP also seeming to play nicely on System 7.0, all he then needed to find was a way to physically hook his Mac Plus up to an Internet connection.

With no SCSI to Ethernet adapters lurking around, Keacher had to jump through hoops by incorporating the hackers’ own Raspberry Pi. As he explains himself:
I set up my Raspberry Pi and ran some Cat-5 to it from the router. Using a level shifter and a variety of old adapters, I managed to get a serial cable working between the Pi and the Mac. That took care of the hardware.

Since MacWeb had problems with HTTP 1.0 support – or a lack thereof – Keacher had to consult a friend to write him a filtering proxy. But this final step proved to be the final major hiccup as once the proxy was complete, he successfully managed to get his Mac Plus online. Check out some of the screenies below for evidence of the makeshift browsing experience in full flow:

macplus_wiki

hackernews



(Source: Keacher)

Some Android Users Are Sending Thousands Of Spam SMS Messages In Return For Cash

Android is already known for its less than rock solid security. In fact, thanks to its open nature and the ability to side-load apps from just about anywhere it’s safe to say that Android can be a veritable minefield when it comes to keeping your device safe and secure.

As it turns out though, while some people worry about inadvertently downloading an app that takes control of their smartphone, or racks up huge bills by making calls or sending SMS messages without their knowledge, some people are actually installing these apps by choice. In fact, according to one report some Android phone owners are installing apps the promise to pay them for sending out thousands of SMS messages using their unlimited plans.

Adaptive Mobile researcher Cahal McDaid told the BBC that there is a huge market that revolves around paying smartphone owners for permission to send SMS messages in the thousands, often internationally. There’s no mention on how much these apps are paying smartphone owners, but no matter how much it is we can’t help but think that following such a route wouldn’t be the best idea in the world.

While carriers do indeed offer plans to customers that include unlimited SMS messages, those plans will likely not include such activities as being paid to abuse that plan by sending messages en-masse in this way. It’s entirely possible that overage charges could be applied to any contract found to be doing such things, potentially leaving the bill payer with a large fee that they could no doubt do without!

Androidtoy

As McDaid points out, the other issue at play here is that those involved in such practices have no idea what these messages contain, though they will obviously be responsible for them in the long run.
Aside from the potential issues with your operator, you are allowing people to send messages from your mobile number, without having any control or visibility of what those messages are.

So yeah, might be worth giving this particular money making scheme a miss folks. There are tons of better ways to earn. Let’s start by getting a college degree and start hunting for a real job, what do you say? I’m pretty sure most of you would agree with us.

(Source: BBC)

Download OS X Mavericks 10.9.1 Final Update

Apple has been seeding various builds of OS X Mavericks 10.9.1 to beta testers and AppleCare employees for a few weeks now, and today the final shipping version has been made available as a free update for all Macs running the latest version of Apple’s operating system, OS X Mavericks.

Offering bug fixes that should go some way to addressing some of the bigger complaints leveled against Mavericks, the update offers little in the way of new features with Apple deciding to work on what it already has available rather than risk introducing new bugs along the way.

According to the official change-log that accompanies the update, this is what you’re going to get:
  • Improved support for Gmail in OS X Mail, and fixes for users with custom Gmail settings
  • Improves the reliability of Smart Mailboxes and search in Mail
  • Fixes an issue that prevented contact groups from working properly in Mail
  • Resolves an issue that prevented VoiceOver from speaking sentences that contain emoji
  • Updates Shared Links periodically when open in the Safari Sidebar

Perhaps the most eagerly anticipated work that has gone into 10.9.1 is the effort made to improve Mail’s compatibility with Gmail, something that was sorely lacking in the original point-o release. Those with custom Gmail settings should also see an improvement with Mavericks 10.9.1, which will hopefully go some way to making the app more useful to those already ties to Google’s email service. There are other Mail-related fixes involving smart mailboxes, too.

OS X Mavericks display

Fans of Emoji will be pleased to hear that a bug has been squashed that was previously causing VoiceOver to be unable to read sentences including the loveable little icons. It’s not an issue we ran into ourselves, but we’re sure someone somewhere will be doing a little happy dance right now.

OS X 10.9.1 is the first major update to be released for Apple’s Mavericks operating system, and will surely be the first of many. It’s available to download for free form the Mac App Store right now, so even if you’re not a Gmail user or don’t use Mail to access it, we suggest you head on over to get the update downloaded and installed ASAP. Apple tends to not include all fixes in its change logs, so it’s always worth getting the latest and greatest version for your Mac.

Windows Phone 8.1 Finally Getting iOS And Android Like Voice Assistant And Notification Center

When talking about Windows Phone’s shortcomings, most commentators and analysts regularly refer to the obvious lack of popular apps over at the Windows Phone Store – despite the recent introduction of Instagram and Vine to the WP scene. But while getting devs on board remains an issue, the OS itself is still missing some key features. Intuitive it may be; alternative – certainly; but with no real notification center to speak of, it’s still going to take longer to get things done on a Windows Phone. This could, however, be about to change with Windows Phone 8.1, for as well as a completely new system through which a user can digest notifications, there will also be a Siri-like voice assistant feature.

iOS and Android are way out in front of the rest of the chasing pack in the battle of the mobile operating systems, but with Microsoft’s heavy investment in both Nokia and the continued development of its fledgling smartphone and tablet OS, Windows Phone looks the likeliest of the current also-rans to step forth and make an imprint any time soon.

According to a report over at The Verge, “sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans” have divulged that Windows Phone 8.1 is in the process of being beta tested internally, and will include not only a notification center and Cortanta voice assistant, but also an easily accessible “quick settings” pane.
Apparently, quick settings will be found by swiping a short way down from the top, while a longer swipe will bring about the full notification suite. This is very much how things work with iOS and Android, and with this tried-and-tested mechanism having drawn few complaints from either side, it’s a wise move on the Redmond company to follow suit.

As for the voice assistant, “Cortana,” we’ve been hearing about it for the best part of a year, and according to The Verge report, it will replace Bing Search and will accommodate both voice and typed search queries, a la Google Now and Siri. The name is borrowed from the Master Chief’s voice assistant in Microsoft’s very own Halo, and it will be interesting to see, with both Google Now and Siri having been around for a while now, whether Cortana can establish it / herself once again, and help WP’s continued growth.

There will be some other implementations aside from the aforementioned, including separate volume controls for ringer sounds and media playback, and I’m sure as we near closer toBUILD 2014, which Microsoft already conceded will commence from April 2nd, we’ll hear of even more new and exciting features to be added to the fray.

(Source: TheVerge)

Facebook Even Logs The Status Updates And Messages You Don’t Write

Facebook, as we know, is the world’s foremost social network, with well over one billion active users gracing its service via mobile, Web, and other such mediums. With so many logging in at any one time, Facebook plays host to billions of messages and status updates every month, and although we can readily delete them from public view should we so wish, it’s common knowledge that what is removed doesn’t necessarily disappear for good. But what of the utterances we write, but don’t necessarily publish to the world – are they stored in Facebook’s vast cauldron of personal information? Well yes – yes they are.

Just like in your favorite email app, when you half-write a message, lose your page but can still recover the text through the drafts folder, Facebook utilizes a similar technique to store much of what you write, but for whatever reason, don’t opt to publish.


With most people’s Timelines littered with opinion, it’s often tempting to chime in with a few of our own, but often, after a little careful consideration prior to hitting that Post button, we change our minds. You may have presumed, naturally, that your comments would never be seen again, and the chances are, the entire notion of writing said message will probably have disappeared from your mind after a while. This makes it even more disconcerting, perhaps, that Facebook probably still has it written down somewhere under your name.

This collection of information has been discovered by Sauvik Das, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon and summer software engineer intern at the Menlo Park social network, and Facebook Data Scientist Adam Kramer. The study, which looks at this "self censorship" behavior whereby users often change their minds on what their planning to say, looked at 5 million English-speaking Facebook users.

facebook status

As it transpires, it is a code in your browser, not anything specifically in Facebook’s end, which allows the social company to grab all of this data from you. Nevertheless, it’s still rather unnerving to learn that what you do, and what you don’t post to Facebook is still being logged, and that our self-moderation of content we opt not to share could still be lurking in cyberspace.

(Source: Slate)

Philips Hue App Receives iOS 7-inspired Makeover, Sidebar Navigation And More

The Philips Hue app for iOS has been offered a handsome update today that not only brings that modern, flat aesthetic to the fold, but adds a plethora of other new features besides. We’ve got all of the details in one place for you below.

For those uninitiated, Philips’ range of Hue bulbs allow a user to control various aspects including color and brightness, and although they are expensive for what is essentially a luxury product, they have proven rather popular among many iOS users.

Philips Hue iOS

The Hue bulbs are somewhat smart in that you can control so much thanks to the companion Hue app, and today, said app has been updated with iOS 7 support. If you’re a Hue user and have been waiting for the app’s appearance to become more in-keeping with the Cupertino company’s newish mobile OS, then the wait is finally over, and rather than just flattening out the interface, Philips has also thrown in one or two other goodies.

screen568x568

For a start, v1.2 brings a useful set-up demonstration, allowing you to quickly and easily familiarize yourself with Philips Hue if you’re just getting started.

My personal favorite addition to the fold with the new update, however, is the fact that you can now save a status of your lights as a preset, so if you wish to to revert at any point in the future, you can do so via light control.

screen480x480

Finally, allied to everything else, there’s a handy new sidebar menu, which makes navigation just that little bit easier. Version 1.2 also offers sidebar notifications to boot, so in actuality, this is perhaps the biggest update we’ve seen to the Philips Hue app since the product was first introduced.
Although Hue, and products like them, are not necessarily revolutionary (or even necessary, for that matter), they do provide great examples of what can now be achieved using smartphones and apps. With this in mind, if you do ever get the opportunity to try out Philips Hue, it’s definitely worth it.
We highly recommend updating to the latest version, and for your convenience we’ve linked to the app below.

(Download: Philips Hue for iPhone on App Store)

How To Check If Your Email ID And Password Has Been Compromised In A Cyber Attack

The modern day Internet world faces its biggest challenge right now, and users are affected with it – the data security nightmare. Every now and then, successful hackers manage to break through the security measures of a renowned database, exposing along the way the online identities of hundreds of thousands of users of these services. While the targeted companies manage to recover from these attacks over the course of time, users aren’t always so lucky, where most of them are often left wondering whether their critical info was a part of the leak or not. This is where Australian software architect Troy Hunt’s new project comes in.

haveibeenpwned.com is a new Web service that allows you to check if your email address was a part of a security leak. As of now, Hunt’s website contains leaked user data from the breaches at Adobe Systems in 2013, the Yahoo! Leak in 2012, Sony’s infamous disaster from 2011, Start for from the same year, and the Gawker security breach in 2010. Hunt plans on adding more data to the list should they happen in the future (something we all wish wouldn’t happen).

To take advantage of the effort being haveibeenpwned.com, all you need to do is feed in your email address at the website, which will then run it against the data from the aforementioned security breaches and let you know if your supplied email address was a part of the list. There are other areas to explore as well, including an FAQs section as well as API support, but the primary functionality revolves around providing a central repository of leaked data and checking supplied email addresses against that. To that extent, the service works perfectly.

pwned

This is not the first website of its kind – security researches have come up with similar solutions after any such disaster in the past as well – but Hunt’s project aims at centralizing records to provide assurance against not one particular incident, but all of them, even in the future.

He does go on to discourage breaching a system just to contribute to the project, but something like this is bound to happen in the future as well. Hence, we find this portal useful now and again.

Philips Hue updated for iOS 7, adds new features

Philips Hue 1.2 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 001)Philips Hue 1.2 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 002)
Philips Hue, the pricey iPhone-controlled personal wireless lighting system, has captured Jeff’s imagination with its ability to control lighting when away from the house, turn on lights when pulling into the driveway, set timers to adjust lighting at certain periods during the day, etc.
The companion Hue app, a free download from the App Store, allows you to easily control your Hue lighting through your iPhone with just a few setup steps.
The software was originally designed around a non-standard interface and today got refreshed for the iOS 7 look and feel while adding sidebar navigation, introduction demo and a few other nice-to-haves…
Version 1.2 finally brings the app in line with the overall iOS 7 aesthetics.
Philips Hue 1.2 lets you save the current status of lights as a scene from light control, reorder lights from in-app settings and navigate using the new sidebar menu with support for sidebar notifications.
There’s also built-in introductory demo.
Philips Hue 1.2 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 004)Philips Hue 1.2 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 003)
Here’s Hue 1.2 changelog:
• new iOS 7 style design
• added sidebar navigation to make functionality easier to find
• added introduction demo
• lights can now be reordered from the app settings
• save current status of lights as a scene from light control
• added sidebar notifications
Since releasing Hue in October 2012, Philips has opened up the smart light bulb to third-party app makers via an API (IFTTT supports it, for example) and has expanded the family with the two-meter LightStrips and Bloom, a portable lamp with a 120 lumen LED bulb.
They also announced the tweaked BR30 variant which fits into recessed sockets to create the effect of light shining from a hole in the ceiling.
The 27.2MB download runs natively on iPhone/iPod touch devices with iOS 6 or later.

    Yahoo Weather App Is Now iPad Native, Takes Full Advantage Of Larger Display With Brilliant Imagery

    Yahoo’s Weather app came as a bit of a surprise when it first hit the App Store back in April. The surprise wasn’t so much in the fact that the app had arrived, as we’d been expecting it for a good while beforehand, but what we weren’t anticipating, was how gorgeous and refined these weather apps would be. For many iOS users, Yahoo Weather has become their go-to utility for checking precipitation, temperature, wind speed and whatnot, and now, the company has pushed out a significant update that brings support for the Apple iPad.

    Now that the app has become universal, the aesthetic perks of Yahoo Weather can be enjoyed on the larger display, and with the iPad mini having just been presented with a Retina Dispaly, the app should look great on both the smaller and larger of Apple’s two new slates.

    Photo Dec 16, 7 26 43 PM

    As we saw, Apple itself borrowed much of its iOS 7 Weather app’s design from the Yahoo Weather, and although this would, at least in theory, deem the Yahoo effort to be obsolete, we’d still suggest that the third-party alternative looks and runs slightly better than the stock Cupertino offering.

    Photo Dec 16, 7 26 47 PM

    With the larger display, images look simply superb, and naturally, with more space for general information, it’s a lot easier to find the info you’re looking for when you’re not opening the app to simply gawk at the visuals.
    At this point in time, for some reason unbeknown to the rest of us, Apple doesn’t feel the necessity to kit the iPad out with a stock weather app. But perhaps, having apparently based the iPhone weather app upon Yahoo’s, Tim Cook’s team was simply waiting for its rival to deliver the tablet version, for more inspiration on what a good weather app should look like.

    The Yahoo Weather app is free to download, and can be sourced via the direct iOS App Store provided below. And if you have an iPad with you, we can’t recommend the app enough, and serves as the purpose of checking out the weather a breeze.

    Keep Your Cards and Cash Snug with the Vaultskin Lexx Wallet

    VaultWallet
    Keeping your wallet and your iPhone in your pockets can make for a crowded pair of pants, and that’s not an enjoyable experience for anyone. It’s important to make the most of that space to keep your possessions snug but not cramped and provide yourself with flexibillity and comfort. The Vaultskin Lexx Wallet is perfect for you, and it’s on sale now in the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub.
    The Vaultskin Lexx Wallet hugs tight to your iPhone 5 or 5S and keeps your cash, cards, and valuables right with your equally as valuable iPhone. The wallet can hold 8 cards with cash comfortably and keeps your pocket from feeling crowded. Made of top-grain leather, it looks great and keeps your money secure and won’t encroach upon your iPhone use.
    You can get the Vaultskin Lexx Wallet on sale for just $35.99 from the iPhone Hacks Deals Hub. That’s a 42% savings off the retail price. It’s a great deal for this fashionable and convenient wallet, so grab this offer while you can.

    Apple may have fixed exploits used for iOS 7 Jailbreak in iOS 7.1

    Over the weekend, pod2g, a key member of the evad3rs dismissed rumors that the iOS 7 jailbreak was stolen.
    As for the progress on the iOS 7 jailbreak, pod2g said that “the jailbreak stuff is moving on, but slowly.”
    However, if you’re waiting for the iOS 7.x jailbreak then you may want to avoid upgrading to iOS 7.1.
    iH8sn0w, developer of popular jailbreak tools such as Sn0wbreeze has tweeted that the iOS 7.1 beta patches “the mobilebackup2 exploit to write to /var via the MediaDomain symlink” when he was asked if it was safe to upgrade to iOS 7.1. 
    We’re not sure if this is a major setback for jailbreakers. reddit user phonenixdev explains:
    Mobilebackup2 is the system used to generate your user backups, as well as place them back on the phone. But it’s designed for only particular folders in the user directory.
    It has been used in years past via path walking (prepending ..’s to walk up the directory tree) to let us put files in other places in the /var partition. I’m guessing that they found they could do something similar by creating symlinks to other places on the /var partition.
    Actually, I’m not guessing. I know you could do that because a failbreak I once made used that. :P
    P.S. root partition = where the OS is installed; mounted at the base of the filesystem ( / ). /var partition = where the user data is; mounted at /var. When you update your phone, the root partition is overwritten while the var partition stays around. When you restore your phone, both partitions are wiped.
    Stefan Esser, aka i0n1c, believes that Apple has fixed some vulnerabilities that was being used for the iOS 7 jailbreak.
    But that is just speculation at this stage as it is not clear if the exploit was being used by evad3rs to develop the iOS 7 jailbreak, so we will have to wait for them to confirm it.
    But if you have been waiting for a jailbreak for iOS 7.x, then you should avoid upgrading to iOS 7.1 when it is released or even iOS 7.1 betas that has been released to developers.
    If Apple has indeed fixed the vulnerabilities that was used in the in-progress iOS 7 jailbreak then it would mean that evad3rs will first have to release a jailbreak for iOS 7 to iOS 7.0.4. We thought that evad3rs may hold off releasing the jailbreak until iOS 7.1 is released, but if it does fix the vulnerabilities that is ruled out, unless they find another exploit to jailbreak iOS 7.1.

     

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