Sunday, May 10, 2015
User Interface Modifications in iOS 8 Beta 5
Apple has released the fifth beta of iOS 8 to developers, like previous betas, the new update also includes a number of improvements, tweaks, and bug fixes, to make iOS 8 feel faster and more polished.
The first introduced of iOS 8 was on June 2 at the Worldwide Developers Conference. Apple added a range of new features to iOS 8 like the integration with OS X through Continuity, Family Sharing features, and new apps like a Health and a Tips app, as well as nice improvements to some existing apps like Messages, Safari and Photos app.
iOS 8 beta 5 as has been mentioned includes within it several minor interface modifications, the list below shows these changes.
Health: Apples Health app now collects Spirometry data, according to the iOS 8 beta 5 release notes. Spirometry tests measure lung function, tracking the volume and flow of air when inhaling and exhaling. The app has also received several changes in this update, a new option to export Health data, a "Show When Logged" option to display Medical ID on the lock screen, and new Health panel in Privacy settings.
via 9to5Mac
iCloud: iCloud Drive, Backup, and Keychain have new icons in the iCloud section of the Settings app.
Probably less than two months separate us from the public release of iOS 8, but likely well see other bata updates, that bring minor performance boosts and changes.
Source: via MacRumors and others
Read also:
- A Comprehensive List of Changes in iOS 8 Beta 4
- A List of User Interface Changes in iOS 8 Beta 3
- Interesting Features and Changes in Both iOS 8 Beta Updates
- Photos App in iOS 8
- iOS 8 Features
- iOS 8 Brings New Option "Send Last Location" To Find My iPhone or iPad
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Rumor iWatch Facing Some Challenges in Manufacturing
Seemingly the wearable device from Apple "iWatch" that was expected to release in 2014 it will be delayed, that for technical issues outside of the will.
The report from Digitimes claims that one of those issues involves surface finish treatments for the body of the device, with both Apples iWatch and Qualcomms Toq "Android smart watch" searching for ways to improve the look of chassis parts made using metal injection molding (MIM) methods.
Several wearable devices such as Apples iWatch and Qualcomms Toq are reportedly seeing less than 50% yield rates due to difficulties applying surface treatments on their metal injection molded (MIM) chassis, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
[...]
MIM-made components used to be used inside products, but as the components are now becoming part of the external design, surface treatments have become an important process for the look of products.
Since clients have high demand over quality, and also need high volumes of supply, most component makers are having difficulties satisfying both of requirements.In addition to Apple and Qualcomm, Sony, Samsung Electronics, Pebble, Casio, Nike, Adidas, Epson, and LG are also preparing to launch new wearable devices in 2014.
Image source: TC
Friday, May 8, 2015
Improved App Store Search Engine Now Corrects For Users’ “Fat Finger” Mistakes Other Misspellings
A recent change to Apples App Store search engine now leads to improved search results for misspelled queries with small typos, weve learned.
In addition, searchers looking for an app they know by name, but are unsure if it has spaces in the title, are also seeing better results. For example, those looking for the highly ranked “QuizUp” game wouldnt have found it before if they had typed in “Quiz Up” with a space. Now it appears.
Sources familiar with the matter confirm to us that these App Store search engine changes went into effect a few weeks ago.
The improvements could lead to increased app downloads for affected developers, particularly those with hard-to-spell or lengthy titles, as many are only now beginning to realize.
“Thats great news for app publishers and yet another step in Apples efforts to improve app discoverability,” says Craig Palli, Chief Strategy Officer at mobile app marketer Fiksu, who also confirmed these changes following our inquiry.
The improvement is no small matter when it comes to pitting Apples App Store versus competitor Google Play, which has long since offered a spell checking function. For example, earlier this year, App Store SEO firm SearchMan had looked into the differences between the two platforms, and found that a simple misspelling of the word “calendar” (i.e., spelling it “calender”) led to 100 times more results in Google Play. It seems the only iOS apps returned were those who thought to include the misspelling as one of their keywords.
The company had run through a handful of misspellings to further demonstrate this problem (see slide 8 here, and above), which showed how much better Google Play was at correcting for typos and poorly spelled words.
SearchMan CEO Niren Hiro ran these same queries again for the date of November 24th, 2013 and found the results had definitely shifted, though not always for the better. (See chart below).
In the case where a misspelling returned few results, like “newz” which had 9 hits or “camara” which had 862, there was a dramatic improvement. But he spotted something else, too: there appears to be a cap of roughly 2,220 results on the misspelled words right now, which is why you see that misspelled keywords like “shoping” and “pocker” are actually seeing fewer results than before. This is likely the result of the App Store now correcting for the misspelling instead of looking for the exact keyword match.
Though the changes will lead some consumers to apps they may not have otherwise discovered, or at least get them there more quickly if they had made a “fat finger” mistake, they dont really represent a large volume of App Store queries.
In another test, George Lawrence, founder at App Store optimization firm Straply, pulled data for all the misspelled variations of the phrase “angry birds” on the iOS App Store, for example.
The correct spelling drove 98.48% of searches, but no misspelled variation even generated one percent of search volume. “Angery birds” was 0.46% of searches, “angri birds” was 0.37%, “angry blrds” was 0.32% of searches, and so on. There were only five misspelled variations that drove enough search volume to even rank, says Lawrence.
“Misspellings and mistypings are definitely happening in the App Store, but according to our volume estimates, those types of mistakes are still very much in the long tail,” he explains. “Many of the volumes are so low, they round to zero.”
Though misspellings may represent the long tail of App Store searches, correcting for these queries is an important feature for any search engine to offer, whether app search or otherwise. However, its clear that in search, as expected, Google has had the advantage here – its nearly 2014, and only now has Apple made this sort of basic feature live.
Still, the improvements should be positively received by the majority of the iOS developer community, except of course for the App Store equivalent of a domain name squatter, who may have been erroneously benefitting from users typos and mistakes until now.
Data source: via TC (By Sarah Perez)
Thursday, May 7, 2015
Zepp Labs shipping Multi Sport Training System to help athletes improve their skills
Whether youre a dedicated amateur athlete or a professional, Zepp Labs has just started shipping something that can help you get to the top of your game. The companys Zepp Sensor and mount kits, along with dedicated apps for baseball, golf and tennis, are designed to let you focus on your swing while staying out of the way.
The sensor is about one inch square in size, about a half-inch in thickness, and weighs only 6.3 grams. It can be attached to the bottom of a baseball bat or tennis racquet, or attaches easily to the back of a golf glove. Containing an ARM processor, 3D motion sensors, and storage for thousands of swings, the Zepp sensor grabs up to 1,000 data points per second, then transfers the data to the athletes iPhone or iPad.
Zepp Baseball (US$149.99) lets players replay and review swings in 360 degrees from any angle, track bat speed, capture the angles of the bat at impact with the ball, and track progress over time. Zepp Golf ($149.99) also provides swing analysis, measures club speed, swing tempo, and the angle of the club shaft at the top of your backswing. If your iPhone is in your pocket while youre swinging the club, it will measure how much your hips rotate. Each swing is given a SwingScore, measuring the quality of the swing. Your golf swing data can be shared or even compared with a PGA coachs swing.
Finally, tennis players will love Zepp Tennis ($149.99), as it tracks the number of forehands, backhands, serves and smashes hit during a tennis match. The power of each stroke is tracked, along with how many topspin, slice and flat shots are hit.
The sensor packs, along with an appropriate mount, will be in Apple Stores starting November 19 and selected Verizon stores beginning November 21. The company will also sell additional mounts for $9.99 each from the zepp.com website. You can purchase the complete Training System today from the Zepp.com website if you are anxious to get started improving your abilities.
Data source: TUAW (By Steven Sande)
Origine source: Zepp
iPhone Air Concept with Three Different Sizes Mini Air and Pro video
New iPhone concept from Evangelista and Ran Avni under the name of iPhone Air this time unlike the earlier iPhone Air concepts shows iPhone Air in three different sizes:
iPhone Air Mini: 3.5-inch display, A 7 processor, 2GB RAM, 2000 Mah battery, iOS 8, Super IGZO display, three colors: chopper, titanium, slate, and all-new design.
iPhone Air: 4.7-inch, A 8 processor, 3 GB RAM, 2500 Mah battery, and in the rest features like iPhone Air mini.
iPhone Air Pro: 5.5-inch, A 8 processor, 4 GB RAM, 3000 Mah battery, and Improved graphic chip.
- Read also: iPhone Air Concept Promo Video
Source: Behance
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