Face Detection Technology And APIs Make Their Way Into iOS 5

By Graham Spencer

After doing some digging in iOS 5, 9to5 Mac today reported that Apple is planning to open up face detection APIs to developers. It appears from what they found that Apple will bring similar face detection techniques that Photo Booth on Lion currently employs to iOS and allow developers to build different apps that utilize the APIs.

These claims come after 9to5 Mac found the ‘CIFaceFeature’ and ‘CIDetector’ APIs within a recent beta build of iOS 5, which they say are “very advanced” APIs. The first of the two can be used by developers to locate where a person’s mouth and eyes are, whilst the latter is used when processing those images for face detection. Apple’s Developer Library online also already has some notes on the new APIs for developers to take advantage of.

Obviously at this point there is only speculation as to what these purported APIs could be used for – an obvious stretch is that the iPad version of Photo Booth may add the new effects added to the Lion version that take advantage of the information of where a person’s facial features are. It is also claimed that Polar Rose, a company that specialized in facial recognition software and was purchased by Apple last year, played a role in the development of these technologies within iOS and Lion.

[Via 9to5 Mac]

All You Need To Know About Quick Look In Lion, Plus Some Handy Tips And Tricks

By Graham Spencer

We briefly touched upon the improvements to Quick Look in our Lion review last week, speaking of the improvements made to it in broad strokes. But we felt as though it was worth a second look because there have been quite a few improvements, including many that are subtle but really nice touches.

New Look
The biggest change is of course the refreshed look, which Cody described in the review as “painted in a new white lacquer compared to the smokey previews in Leopard and Snow Leopard”. The reaction to this change has been both positive and negative, but broadly speaking we think it’s a good change, it feels cleaner and more refined – gone is that thick and wasteful bar at the bottom of the Quick Look window.

Nuance Releases Dragon Dictate 2.5, Adds Word 2011 And iPhone As Microphone Support

By Graham Spencer

Nuance has today released an upgrade to their Mac-based dictation software, Dragon Dictation 2.5. The new version focuses on refining features and adding minor features that will make dictation tasks simpler. A big feature addition is support for dictation in Microsoft Word 2011, which also allows users to seamlessly mix typing and dictation. Also new is the ability to use the iPhone as an input microphone for Dragon Dictate using the Dragon Remote Microphone app that was recently released for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Also new are Facebook and Twitter commands which will allow users to easily post tweets or create a status update in Facebook by saying “Tweet [speak text]” and “Post to Facebook [speak] text” or a similar command. As Peter Mahoney of Nuance explains, they heard requests for “more flexibility” and responded with more formatting controls which allow users to have more control over how data such as dates are formatted and how abbreviations are used. Users can also delete entries from the Dragon dictionary if it conflicts with other words and there is now a dedicated numbers mode which only dictates numbers and commands – helpful for database entry.

The Dragon Dictate 2.5 update is free for all users of the Dragon Dictate 2.0 version, whilst new users can purchase the new version now for $179.99. Jump the break for Nuance’s full press release.

Facebook Has A Working iPad App Hidden In The iPhone Version

By Graham Spencer

As revealed by TechCrunch, it appears the official Facebook app for iPad may become available in the App Store relatively soon, as the iPad app is actually hidden away, inside the iPhone app and actually executable! It is unclear when and how Facebook will announce the availability of Facebook for iPad, however as MG Siegler explains, it is a completely re-imagined Facebook experience for the tablet that takes advantage of the iPad’s screen to lay out a different view for your photo albums, friends, profile, and more. The app does seem to use an iPad optimized web view in the main Facebook interface (just like on the iPhone), but several other UI elements are native to iOS and built specifically for the iPad.

Facebook for iPad uses a concept not too dissimilar from Twitter’s iPad app – rather than displaying all content vertically, the app heavily relies on horizontal navigation to access various Facebook sections, the news feed, chats, liked posts, and so forth. For instance, a sidebar on the left contains tabs below your main profile to open your News Feed, Messages, Events, Places, Friends, and Photos. In the same sidebar, there are links to jump to the groups you’re subscribed to – it almost appears as Facebook wants to put the focus on Groups as much as Google gave Circles, its friend-organization tool, a huge role in Google+. There are two top bars in the middle panel: one has buttons to upload photos from your iPad’s camera and library, the other two are associated with a regular status update and check-ins. In the blue toolbar, the app has a series of additional icons to open the friend requests panel, messages, and notifications – this looks very similar to Facebook on the desktop, and the design is very distant from Facebook’s implementation on the iPhone. There is also a search function in the app, though it’s been placed at the top of the sidebar, rather than the toolbar. As for the stream, judging from the screenshots it seems to be a web view optimized for the iPad’s new app UI.

Facebook for iPad includes a Chat sidebar on the right and a full interface for Messages, which look very similar to Apple’s own iMessage model – at least as far as the design goes – with recipients listed on the left and the actual message inside a larger panel on the right.

UPDATE: TechCrunch has posted an album-full of screenshots of the app here. We’ve embedded a sample of these below the break, but here’s one:

[Via TechCrunch]

Wall Street Journal And Kobo Fall Into Line, Will Remove Purchase Links To Content Outside The App Store

By Graham Spencer

It appears that Apple has finally decided to start forcing apps to abide by its new in-app purchase and subscription rules that became enforceable at the start of this month. It appears that the first big casualties will be the Wall Street Journal and Kobo apps. The Wall Street Journal has reported that their apps will soon remove all purchasing options from their apps and Kobo, the Canadian e-Book retailer, has already done something similar. Both apps had been linking users to their website to purchase subscription content which had been forbidden in Apple’s new rules, as detailed below.

Apps that link to external mechanisms for purchasing content to be used in the app, such as a “buy” button that goes to a web site to purchase a digital book, will be rejected.

Neither app has or had been rejected, instead Apple seems to have opted to talk directly with Kobo and News Corporation, as both have or will soon be updating their apps to remove the offending links. Curiously both apps will not be using Apple’s own in-app purchasing system to allow users to purchase content or subscriptions. Both firms still feel as though the terms are too onerous, despite Apple relaxing the restrictions in June to allow content to be sold through the in-app purchasing at a different price. Previously the rules were going to require all subscription content to be available for purchase through the in-app system and at the same or lower price (despite Apple’s required 30% cut).

Kobo’s Mr. Serbinis said to the Wall Street Journal that roughly 50% of their iOS app users already bought content through their website, but that this change “will inconvenience those customers accustomed to buying their books directly from our apps on Apple devices”. Similarly, a News Corp spokeswoman said “We remain concerned that Apple’s own subscription [rules] would create a poor experience for our readers, who would not be able to directly manage their WSJ account or to easily access our content across multiple platforms”. Both companies seem reluctant to offer in-app purchases and cede 30% of revenues to Apple, despite even being allowed to charge customers more if purchasing in this method. It follows other publishers such as The New York Times and various Conde Naste magazines, which have embraced Apple’s in-app subscriptions and purchases.

[Via The Wall Street Journal]

Apple Keyboards Receive (Very) Minor Detail Changes

By Graham Spencer

With the release of OS X Lion and new MacBook Airs, Apple has made slight tweaks to the custom f-keys on their keyboard. The main change is that the Dashboard key (located on the F4) has now been replaced with a Launchpad key. The other change is that the Exposé button (located on the F3) key that is now used for Mission Control in Lion has seen a minor change to the icon.

Noticed by iSpazio the change has also propagated to Apple’s wired keyboards and one would presume it will soon make its way to the Apple wireless keyboard. Bundled keyboards with purchased iMac’s and Mac Pros should also soon ship with these slightly tweaked keyboards. Unfortunately these minor signage tweaks are about the extent of the changes to the Apple keyboards – no backlit keys or significant design changes.

[iSpazio via 9to5 Mac]

PopCap Teams Up With A Boy Suffering From Leukaemia, Grants His Wish Of Creating A Game

By Graham Spencer

Owain Weinert, a 9-year-old boy that has been battling with Acute Lymphocytic Leukaemia recently reached out to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to see if he could have his dream of making an iOS game realised. Make-A-Wish inquired and managed to get in contact with the Seattle developer 4th & Battery, which you could classify as a ‘spin-off’ of PopCap (makers of Peggle and Plants vs. Zombies) that focuses on creating more experimental, indie or a “little flawed” games.

They granted Owain’s wish and helped him create Allied Star Police. Owain said he wanted to make something that was fun so that he would want to play the game. The result is a game that features a “combination of tower defense and real-time strategy gameplay” in which there is a “good vs. evil” story set in a “futuristic fictional world”.

Speaking of Owain, Mathew Lee Johnston, a senior producer at 4^th and Battery, says that he “was like every other designer and developer I’ve worked with”. “The minute he walked in the door he handed us a fully realized game design, figured out to the last detail”. What does Owain think, now that the game is available?

My brother can’t stop playing it, my dad can’t stop playing it, and neither can I. This started off as a dream of mine and now my friends and people all over the world can play my creation.

Allied Star Police is available in the App Store for the iPhone and iPad for free. I’ve given it a quick play with two rounds and its certainly a fun game that offers a twist on the classic tower defense mechanic – it is most definitely worth the download. If you want to read more about the story of Owain and PopCap jump over to the Owain’s Wish page.

[Via Cult of Mac]

AT&T Continues On Without iPhone Exclusivity, Sells 3.6 Million iPhones in Q2

By Graham Spencer

US carrier AT&T today reported its second-quarter financial results, which broadly speaking has seen some strong growth. The company’s consolidated revenues were up $680 million (2.2%) to $31.5 billion year-over-year and AT&T added a total of 1.1 million new subscribers during the quarter.

AT&T also saw its best ever second quarter for smartphone sales, which were up 43% year-over-year with a total of 5.6 million smartphones sold. The loss of iPhone exclusivity doesn’t seem to have affected AT&T too much because 3.6 million (or 64%) of all smartphones sold were iPhones, which is identical to last quarter in which AT&T sold 3.6 million. To give that figure some perspective, of all iPhones sold in the last quarter (globally), AT&T sold 17% of them. Also interesting is that a quarter of the iPhones sold by AT&T were to new subscribers.

Jump the break for AT&T’s full press release on their earnings.

[Via Boy Genius Report, Asymco]

Apple Leases New Office Campus To Handle Employee Growth

By Graham Spencer

Early last month Steve Jobs unveiled the new “spaceship” campus that Apple hopes to build in Cupertino by 2015. The main reason for it, as Jobs noted in his presentation to the city council, is because “Apple is going through remarkable growth”. That growth has already started so as a result Apple has felt the need to lease out some other buildings in Cupertino for the period between now and when the new campus is complete. A report today in The San Jose Mercury News claims that Apple has struck a deal to lease a big office campus in Cupertino, located near the De Anza College.

The office campus they have leased is the old Measurex campus, which is now known as the Results Way Corporate Center and occupies roughly 373,000 square feet. Based on parking ratios supplied by the City of Cupertino, Mercury News believes up to 1,300 people could work in the new temporary Apple campus.

The campus consists of nine buildings and has been marketed by a commercial brokerage firm. Mercury News got the confirmation that Apple has leased the buildings from Kelly Kline the City of Cupertino’s economic development manager. She said to Mercury News that “this is all good news for the city, Apple is the premier corporation in Cupertino”. Kline also noted that she expected Apple to do some renovation work before they move in to the temporary campus.

[Via Mercury News, Image by MacRumors]