App Debuts
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Gboard Adds Support for Multiple Languages→
Nice update to Google’s custom keyboard for iOS released today on the App Store:
Gboard is already available in English across the U.S., Europe, Canada and Australia. Starting today, Gboard is ready to start sending GIFs, searches, emojis and more for our friends who speak French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal) and Spanish (Spain).
Gboard’s emoji search is the best way to search for any emoji I’ve tried on iOS. iOS 10’s predictive emoji suggestions aren’t even close to the Gboard’s emoji features. I was hoping iOS 10 would have proper emoji search – maybe next year.
But I’m surprised that Google hasn’t shipped an actual multilingual keyboard to type in two languages simultaneously. You have to switch between international layouts inside Gboard – just like in Apple’s current keyboard for iOS 9. By contrast, iOS 10’s upcoming multilingual keyboard is downright amazing, and I can’t go back to keyboards without multilingual support now.
Stolen iPhones and Identity Theft→
Joonas Kiminki got his iPhone stolen in Italy last month. After a couple of weeks, he received an email saying that the device had been found. The email turned out to be a well-designed, meticulous phishing attempt:
What strikes me the most is that everything seemed very “right” and professional. The email and the website content looked great, my phone really was an iPhone 6 and they even got the timezone right in the email.
The email raised no alerts on any email client I use, including Google Inbox, mail.google.com and Apple Mail. No web browser, mobile or desktop, show any alarms on the fake site. Google.com knows virtually nothing about the site, the email address or the (probably fake) US phone number the SMS was from. Very well done.
This is exactly what happened to my mother last week. Her iPhone was stolen in Italy in June, and after a month she received an email and SMS (in Italian) telling her that the iPhone had been located. Fortunately, she called me before entering her Apple ID credentials (she was about to).
Clearly, a criminal organization in Italy has set up an entire system to scam owners of stolen iPhones. I’m surprised that both Apple and Google are failing to recognize these email messages as spam.
Ulysses 2.6→
Fantastic update to my iOS text editor of choice, Ulysses, released today on the App Store. Version 2.6 adds native WordPress publishing, support for external Dropbox folders, and typewriter/focus mode in the editor, among other features.
I haven’t had enough time to test the beta of Ulysses 2.6 (I’m busy working on a big project in Scrivener), but I want to point out that I’m not going to be switching to Dropbox sync again. Ulysses’ iCloud sync has been rock-solid – I haven’t run into a single data loss/conflict once – and it has the added benefit of supporting notes and images attached to sheets. Dropbox only works with text sheets, and I’ve been relying to the ability to save images inside my text documents for Club MacStories and other app reviews at MacStories. Having image attachments live alongside sheets is what sets Ulysses apart from text editors I’ve used before, and it’s only possible with iCloud.
I’m also going to consider Ulysses’ WordPress publishing instead of my workflow. I like how Ulysses lets me preview a post with custom CSS, and there’s even a way to create linked posts by setting the title at the top of a sheet to a link (it automatically applies a custom field under the hood). It’s incredibly clever, with just the right amount of options to check before publishing.
Ulysses 2.6 is available on the App Store.
Remaster, Episode 15: The Power of Nostalgia→
How do videogame companies use nostalgia to repackage and remaster games for new audiences? Are established and well-loved characters a strength or weakness? And what are the latest hardware rumors on the Nintendo NX?
If you’ve ever felt like nostalgia makes for good business in videogames, the latest Remaster is for you. You can listen here.
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Connected, Episode 102: Zwidge→
This week: new iPad keyboards, old ways of listening to music and a lot of emoji talk.
You know those new emoji that Apple added to iOS 10 beta 4 yesterday? There are some interesting details about them that we cover in the latest Connected. You can listen here.
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Logitech’s CREATE Keyboard for the 9.7” iPad Pro→
Logitech’s CREATE keyboard case, which I reviewed when the 12.9” iPad Pro launched in November, has received a new version for the 9.7” iPad Pro today. Logitech was able to fit all the features of the larger CREATE in this model – it’s a case that protects the front and back of the iPad, it’s got mechanical scissor keys with a full row of iOS-specific shortcuts, and it’s backlit.
Unlike the first CREATE, the 9.7” edition comes with an Apple Pencil holder that will allow you to carry an iPad Pro and a Pencil together with a physical keyboard in one package.
I wasn’t a fan of the original CREATE when it launched, but I feel like a smaller footprint and Pencil support could make the new version a much better deal for 9.7” iPad Pro users.
The new CREATE keyboard case is available today at $129.99 from Logitech’s website.
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Our thanks to Igloo for sponsoring MacStories this week.