Apple Acquires Israeli Camera Tech Company LinX Imaging→

LinX Imaging is the latest in Apple acquisitions, as reported by MacRumors:

Apple has purchased Israeli camera technology company LinX Imaging for approximately $20 million, reports The Wall Street Journal. LinX specializes in creating multi-aperture camera equipment for mobile devices and it’s possible that Apple will use the company’s technology in upcoming iOS devices.

Reading through what LinX Imaging had developed, there’s lots of interesting possibilities for the future of iPhone cameras.

The simple truth is that Apple thinks portable cameras can still aspire to higher degrees of quality and convenience, edging towards SLR-like photos without the complexity, cost, and additional hardware of SLR cameras. The iPhone’s camera is one of the features that is improved every year, and it sounds like we’re going to see notable breakthroughs over the next iPhone iterations.

Permalink

1Password for Apple Watch Released→

With an update to their iOS app released today, AgileBits has officially introduced 1Password for Apple Watch, which users will be able to install once the Watch launches this month.

On the Watch, 1Password will enable the creation of “bookmarks” to pin important information to the Watch app, where it’ll be easily accessible. From their blog post, an example:

After a couple months of diligently attending the gym, you’ve earned a coveted private locker. Of course, remembering your locker combination is probably not a priority when you’re counting reps. But if you store that combination in 1Password, it only takes a couple of taps for you to see the combination in 1Password for Apple Watch when you’re back at your locker.

Also interesting: AgileBits made the Apple Watch app a Pro feature, which can be unlocked through 1Password’s $9.99 In-App Purchase. I wonder if more developers will follow this route and try to monetize Watch apps as extra features of iPhone apps with IAPs.

Permalink

Apple Releases ResearchKit to Medical Researchers→

A few ResearchKit apps were launch partners when Apple first announced the framework, but starting today it is being released to all medical researchers who want to make use of it.

From Apple’s press release:

The first research apps developed using ResearchKit study asthma, breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease, and have enrolled over 60,000 iPhone users in just the first few weeks of being available on the App Store. Starting today, medical researchers all over the world will be able to use ResearchKit to develop their own apps and developers can also contribute new research modules to the open source framework.

As noted above, Apple is releasing ResearchKit as an open source framework, and they’ve actually uploaded the entire framework to GitHub, so anyone can see, use, and contribute to the project.

You can find our complete overview of ResearchKit here, or check out Federico’s assessment of the framework’s possible impact in his Thoughts on Apple’s March 9th Event.

Permalink

Flashlight Adds 160+ Features to Spotlight

First drafts aren’t meant to be good, they’re meant to be a starting point.[1] Sometimes we see “first drafts” released into the wild and we think “Wow, that’s a terrible idea.” Sometimes we see them and think “That could be great.” Flashlight is an example of the latter. Late last year, it was released as a beta[2] which even its developer described as a “terrible hack.” But the idea was great, and I remember thinking: “Imagine if Spotlight could do all of these things.”

Today, Flashlight is being released as a 1.0, with much more polish, and much less of that first-draft smell. It’s also free and open source. It extends Spotlight to do a bunch of different things (there’s a list below) but even more importantly it offers an API for others who want to hook into Flashlight’s power to do new and different things. Its plugin system also means that you can disable features that you don’t want or won’t use.

Read more

iPhone 6 Plus Review

I was wrong about the iPhone 6 Plus.

For years, I thought that big Android phones were meant to address a market segment made of people with abnormally voluminous hands. I had never tried one, but preconceptions are easier (and cheaper) to subscribe to than facts. When Apple released the iPhone 6 family in two sizes last year, I assumed that, among the People Who Have Big Hands And Like Big Smartphones, there could be a few millions who happened to want a 6 Plus.

I also am one of those people.

For the past two months, I’ve been carrying a 128 GB iPhone 6 Plus (white model) that Apple loaned to me for review purposes. I was curious to see if a larger iPhone could fit in my daily iOS usage, and, if so, how it would impact my iPad habits. The iPad is my primary computer; would an iPhone 6 Plus replace some of its advantages, or would the bigger size simply make some iPhone tasks better?

I’ve used the iPhone 6 Plus intensively, and I’ll have to return it to Apple. But I really wish I didn’t have to go back to my iPhone 6.

Read more

Apple Announces WWDC 2015: Kicks Off June 8

Apple has announced the official dates for WWDC 2015. This year’s WWDC will start in San Francisco on June 8 and runs through June 12.

Like last year, Apple will be awarding tickets to attendees through a random selection system (effectively, a lottery). Developers will be able to apply today through Friday, April 17 at 10 AM PDT, and they will know their status by Monday, April 20 at 5 PM PDT. There are also 350 WWDC Scholarships available, giving students and members of participating STEM organizations a chance to get a free ticket.

“The App Store ignited an app ecosystem that is simply amazing, forever changing the lives of customers and creating millions of jobs worldwide,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “We’ve got incredible new technologies for iOS and OS X to share with developers at WWDC and around the world, and can’t wait to see the next generation of apps they create.”

As with every annual WWDC, the conference will host “more than 100 technical sessions, over 1,000 Apple engineers, hands-on labs to help developers integrate new technologies and fine tune their apps”. In the press release posted this morning, Apple doesn’t mention an inaugural keynote, but confirmed there will be Apple Design Awards and news about the future of iOS and OS X.

Similar to last year, some WWDC sessions will be live streamed via the WWDC website to give “developers around the world access to the latest information in real time”. Apple also notes that videos from all technical sessions will be available at the end of every day.

Apple Releases First iOS 8.4 Beta with Revamped Music App→

Juli Clover, reporting for MacRumors:

Apple today seeded the first beta of iOS 8.4 to registered developers for testing purposes, just five days after releasing iOS 8.3 to the public. The beta, build 12H4074d, is available for download from the iOS Developer Center, alongside the Xcode 6.4 beta.

The new Music app in the first iOS 8.4 beta doesn’t appear to be including any music streaming functionality powered by Beats, but the service is expected to be folded into the app later this year. New features detailed by Apple in the beta such as global search and Up Next would make sense in combination with an on-demand streaming service.

Apple is, in many ways, late to music streaming. And this is why I’m curious to see what they’re planning – the company has a chance to reinvent how the Music app (pre-installed on hundreds of millions of devices) works, and I believe they chose the right service to do so.

Over the past year, I’ve been trying all of the existing music services again – Spotify, Rdio, Beats Music, and, lately, even Google Play Music. There’s something unique to each one of them, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Apple will differentiate Music.

Permalink

curbi: Amazing Parental Controls for Your Child’s iPhone, iPad or iPod touch [Sponsor]

curbi is a breakthrough in parental controls for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

For the first time, parents have a way to effectively manage their child’s mobile online experience. Using a combination of remote management and content filtering, curbi provides parents with an easy way to implement their household’s device usage rules on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

All a parent has to do is enroll the child’s device with curbi then everything happens from the parent’s management app on the iPhone, iPad or on the Web.

Rules can be set (Bedtime is a favorite) and Restrictions applied, all from the parent’s curbi app. curbi also provides the parent with a weekly summary of what’s happening on each managed device.

curbi is just $6.99 per month to cover all the Apple mobile devices in your household. Please try the 14 day Free Trial and see for yourself what curbi can bring to your household.

If you choose to become a curbi customer, please use the code MACSTORIES for a 20% discount for the entire first year of your subscription.

Our thanks to curbi for sponsoring MacStories this week.