iOS 7.1 update released

Apple yesterday released the much anticipated iOS 7.1 update for all devices capable of running iOS 7 so that’s iPhone 4 and later and iPad 2 and later and both iPad mini devices. iOS 7.1 contains some significant features including the addition of CarPlay, formerly known as iOS in the Car. This allows users with a ‘CarPlay’ enabled  vehicle to use features of their iPhone using the cars dashboard touchscreen for features such as sending and receiving texts answering and making calls and interacting with Siri.

The update also fixes the issue whereby the touch ID was not very responsive for the iPhone 5S and brings stability and performance improvements to the aging iPhone 4. Having tested iOS 7.1 on an iPhone 4 I can confirm that this update has significantly improved the experience of iOS 7  and the iPhone 4 runs a lot smoother than it did prior to this update. Many iPhone 4 users have complained about the poor performance of iOS 7 on their iPhone so I would encourage anyone still using an iPhone 4 to update and reap the benefits.

Other users have complained about a ‘White Screen of Death’ since the launch of iOS 7 particularly on the iPhone 5S and 5C and this has also been addressed in the latest update with Apple claiming they fixed a bug that may cause the homescreen to crash.

There were numerous other small updates and tweaks such as those listed below:

  • CarPlay: formerly known as iOS in the Car, which supports iPhone calling, music, maps, and messaging. It also allows users to control certain functions through iOS’ in-built voice-activated assistance Siri;

  • Siri improvements: Including natural-sounding voices for U.K. English, Australian English, Japanese, and Mandarin Chinese. You can also use it in push-to-talk mode by holding the Home button for the duration of your query;

  • Calendar changes: The list view has returned in month view, and the update has also included country-specific holidays added for many locales;

  • iTunes Radio updates: The radio feature, first introduced in iOS 7, has been updated with new features, including the ability to buy albums over-the-air from “Now Playing”;

  • Accessibility additions: The “parallax” motion feature option now includes Weather, Messages, and multi-tasking user interface animations;

  • Camera settings bolstered: Including a setting that allows users to automatically enable HDR mode for iPhone 5s users;

  • Touch ID improved: The software that controls the biometric reader has been improved to make fingerprint recognition better.

To update your device to the latest firmware simply go to the settings app, tap about and then check for updates. As always you can also update to the latest version of iOS by connecting your device to your computer and using iTunes which may be your only solution if you are currently running a Jailbreak on your device. Please be aware that as discussed last week if you update to this firmware you will lose any active jailbreak currently on your device.

Image Courtesy of KĀRLIS DAMBRĀNS (Flickr)

 

Learning to code online

We all use apps as part of our daily lives whether it’s an app on your smartphone to tell people what you’re doing such as Twitter or Facebook apps or it could be an app on your Windows or Mac PC that you use to edit videos. Apps are a huge part of lives and it’s true there is an app for just about everything but like me I’m sure there have been times when an app you love doesn’t do everything you want it too.

Back when I first started using mobile applications I remember being frustrated on many occasions as features I thought were essential to an app were not present and had been left out by the developer. It was as a result of many disappointments with apps not meeting my expectations that I decided to I wanted to create my own.

It can be quite daunting when you first decide that you want to learn how to code and develop your own apps but fortunately the days of reading huge 500 page books are long gone. Thankfully we now have online services that enable us to learn how to program by taking online practical and interactive courses and tutorials. Many people find it easier to learn using a hands-on approach and this is exactly what the services I’m about to share with you offer.

First up is my favorite, Codecademy which is a totally free interactive service that teaches you how to program by giving you real examples of code and allowing you to interact by way of completing courses which become more advanced as you move through them. Codecademy has courses available for Javascript, HTML/CSS, PHP, Python, Ruby and working with API’s and is definitely a great starting point for those new to programming.

Another great service is Treehouse, whilst it’s not free and is more primarily aimed at those with an existing knowledge there is still content suitable for beginners. Treehouse uses video tutorials and interactive courses that you work through in order to learn more about your chosen language. Treehouse has a plethora of content available for you to learn from and for as little as $25 a month you could be developing iPhone and Android apps within a few weeks. Treehouse also have a free trial which lasts for 14 days so you have nothing to lose if you want to try the service and see if you can benefit from the vast array of content they have.

If you're unsure which service is best for you I would recommend you start with Codecademy which as previously mentioned is a free service. However if you have a bit of experience under your belt and are looking to take your programming knowledge to the next level or a particularly looking to develop iOS and Android apps then I would recommend Treehouse.

 

Windows 8.1 Update 1 Leaked to public

Today has not been a great day for Microsoft after the company made Windows 8.1 update 1 available on their servers to allow employees to update to the new version it was leaked to the public too. Microsoft intended to keep the public away from this update by labelling the files with non obvious filenames. Unfortunately for them people were able to access these files with a simple software tweak that fooled Microsoft’s servers into thinking they were internal Microsoft employees.

Microsoft have since patched this vulnerability meaning you can no longer download the files directly from their servers. However the damage has already been done, those who managed to download the files have released them to various file sharing services allowing anybody to download and install the update on their systems.

Windows 8.1 update 1 is not officially supported by Microsoft yet and even though Microsoft released the RTM version on Wednesday which is a good representation of the final product it’s worth noting that some hardware specific drivers and services may not be fully compatible yet. If you do decide to search out the update online you should proceed with utmost caution as with any unsupported software there will likely be issues.

As we mentioned on Tuesday Microsoft will be officially releasing Windows 8.1 update 1 on April 8th, about a week after their Build developer conference. Our advice would be to hold off until then rather than risk installing this released build from unofficial sources. For more information about Windows 8.1 update 1 check out our post from earlier this week.


 

How Much is your Mobile Worth

A lot of people have begun to sell their phones on after they have finished with them. Often, this is via the use of recycling websites such as Envirophone and Mazuma Mobile (there are many more) or even a highstreet store like Albemarle Bond. Now people are also starting to sell their mobiles on to get the value of the small amount of gold that can be used in the phones. Recycling your old phones can be useful in many ways. They can be taken apart and their various bits and pieces used to make other things. It also means you come away with a little extra cash in your pocket while being a lot more economical.

Gold can be used for micro voltages as they are a highly conductive metal – hence their use in a lot of things. One of the best uses of gold is that they don't corrode very easily, meaning the demand for it is a lot higher than you would think. The very small percentage of gold put into each mobile phone seems a minuscule amount, but put all this gold together, and there is a vast amount. Around one billion mobiles are made every year, each of them containing around 50 cents in gold. A lot of these aren't recycled, so it is a waste of the gold (and money) in this respect.  

Gold is one of the most important of metals in the industrial sector, particularly when it comes to electronics. Devices such as our mobile phones use such little currents and voltages and gold is the conductor used to try and carry the currents around your mobile and stop the corrosion from happening. This also means they are a lot more reliable. Devices such as televisions and calculators also have a bit of gold in them. You can also recycle these electronics although there aren't as many services readily available to do so.

References
http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml

Author - Chris Hutchinson

Roku's Streaming Stick takes on Chromecast

The world of online streaming has really hotted up over the last year with services such as Netflix becoming more and more popular all the time. People have even started to cut their cable subscriptions in favor of online streaming services which are cheaper and offer a more on-demand service.

Roku is no stranger to the world of online streaming as they have had several variations of the ‘Roku Box’ which is now on version 3. When compared with other solutions such as the Apple TV, Roku have always been very popular due to the sheer amount of content available with over 450 channels and counting available at the time of writing. Unlike Apple TV which has a very controlled approach to the channels that are available, Roku have always tried to offer as much as possible with services such as Amazon Instant, Netflix, Now TV and more recently YouTube. Whilst some devices like the Chromecast only work with particular services Roku appears to support nearly all of them.

With the launch of the Chromecast Google changed the way we thought about streaming devices, they were no longer clunky boxes that had to be placed on top or beside the television set, you simply plugged in your Chromecast stick into a spare HDMI port and you were away. It seems that Roku also thinks that this is the ways to go as they have just announced their own Streaming Stick which will offer over 1,200 channels when it launches. What sets apart Roku’s offering from the Chromecast is the inclusion of the Roku remote which has been included with all of their previous streaming devices.

The new Roku streaming stick is due to launch in April but you can pre-order it from many retailers before to avoid disappointment if they sell-out quickly. It’s important to note that unlike previous Roku boxes the streaming stick is only compatible with HDMI so if you don’t have HDMI capabilities you may want to look at the Roku 1 or 2 which allow connectivity via RCA instead. To learn more about the new Roku Streaming stick head over to Roku’s website.

 

iOS 7.1, iTunes Festival and future of Jailbreaking

If the numerous news sources are correct then Apple will be dropping the iOS 7.1 firmware update any day now. Whilst it was originally thought that this update would be some way off it appears that an early release might be essential for Apple’s iTunes festival. This years iTunes festival which is taking place in Texas is to be live streamed to devices all around the world, and this requires the updates only found in iOS 7.1. Usually by now we have had the iTunes Festival app made available on the app store but so far there is no sign of it so that adds even more weight to the likelihood that Apple are waiting for the iOS 7.1 release.

Apple’s iTunes festival starts on Monday 11th March so an imminent release of the next update to iOS 7 is very likely to be released within the next few days. Whilst we know many of the features that are coming with the final release of iOS 7.1 thanks to developer preview beta’s there is still some features that we could find in iOS 7.1 that we didn’t see in previous beta’s such as the recently announced CarPlay which could quite possibly be included as one of Apple’s biggest features of this update.

If you’re one of the many people that have an active Jailbreak on your iOS 7 device you may be wondering what the latest update to IOS 7 means for you? With previous updates to iOS 7 Apple have been very lapse about patching the Jailbreak and Evad3rs the group behind the iOS 7 Jailbreak merely had to update the Jailbreak to make it compatible with the newly updated firmware. However this has changed with iOS 7.1 which fully patches the vulnerabilities used by the Evad3rs team that allowed them to create a public Jailbreak.

If you are currently running iOS 7.0.6 and have an active Jailbreak that you want to keep you should stay well away from iOS 7.1 as you will lose the Jailbreak. If you are not concerned about losing the Jailbreak then you may update to iOS 7.1 when it’s released. The most important thing to consider is, as soon as Apple have stopped signing iOS 7.0.6 which will not be long after the release of iOS 7.1 you will lose the ability to downgrade to the previous version of iOS whether or not you have saved SHSH blobs. There is no going back, so please think very carefully when deciding whether to upgrade or not.

So what does this mean for the future of Jailbreaking? Upon the release of iOS 7.1 more and more users will update and lose their current jailbreak and even users who may not want to lose the Jailbreak will begin to do so if they ever need to restore their devices as they will have no choice but to upgrade to the latest version of iOS 7 when performing a full restore. It has become increasingly more difficult to obtain a Jailbreak with each new release of iOS firmware and long gone are the days when the Jailbreak team could issue a Jailbreak just hours after a new firmware was released. It’s likely that we will not see another Jailbreak begin to be worked on until the release of iOS 8 and iPhone 6 as it’s just not worth the Evad3rs time to try and fix the patch in 7.1. Only once the new iOS 8 firmware is publically available alongside new hardware such as iPhone 6 and even possibly new iPads will the Evad3rs begin to work on a Jailbreak with any left over exploits that they might have previously held onto or begin to look for new exploits and start poking away at the kernel.

Personally I will be updating to iOS 7.1 and losing my current Jailbreak as I think it’s better to bite the bullet and accept the inevitable. It was nice to have a Jailbreak and have more functionality from my iPhone but I would rather lose my jailbreak now and become accustomed to it rather than wait until I have to restore my device next and are forced to lose it.

 

Windows 8.1 Update 1 coming soon

Yesterday we brought you news about Microsoft’s upcoming Windows Phone 8.1 release including the new digital assistant called Cortana. Today we have just heard news that Microsoft is finalizing Windows 8.1 (update 1) desktop operating system and a release is expected as early as next month. It has been revealed by Russian leaker WZor that Microsoft has recently signed off on a final version of the ‘8.1 update 1 for Windows 8, known internally as RTM (Release to Manufacturing).

The update was originally announced at MWC (Mobile World Congress) whereby Microsoft referred to it as a ‘Spring update’ for Windows 8.1. It’s not yet known how Microsoft intends to brand the latest update but Windows 8.1 update 1 does sound like a bit of a mouthful so maybe we will see something like WIndows 8.1.1 or 8.2?

The majority of the features for this release are aimed at keyboard and mouse users and will bring with it features such as:

  • Windows 8 Apps will show on desktop Taskbar
  • New Title bar on top of Windows 8 Apps (minimize, close and snap)
  • Adding Shut down button to Start Adding Shutdown button to Start Screen (non touch-screen devices only)
  • Automatically boot to desktop (non touch-screen devices only)

Microsoft have also lowered the specifications required for running Windows 8.1 Update 1 which will allow manufacturers to build 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage which should help in bringing lower price points to Windows 8.1 devices. Microsoft will be releasing Windows 8.1 update 1 on April 8th not long after the companies Build developer conference which is taking place April 2 - 4.

Windows Phone 8.1 to introduce Cortana digital assistant

Microsoft's next version of it’s Windows Phone Operating system (Windows Phone 8.1) will come with an assistant much like what has been available on iPhone in the form of Siri or on Google Android handsets as Google Now. Microsoft have been working on Cortana the name for the new digital assistant for over a year now and are planning to reveal the feature at the company's upcoming ‘Build’ conference along with a developer preview of Windows 8.1.

Cortana will replace the current built-in Bing search functionality currently found on Windows Phone Operating systems. Whilst the name Cortana comes from a female fictional artificial intelligence character from Halo, it is thought that Cortana will be represented by a circle rather than adopting a female like appearance. Upon interacting with Cortana the circle icon will animate based on whether it’s thinking or speaking.

Although Microsoft have been using the name Cortana internally during the development it is unclear whether it plans to keep the name Cortana or use some other moniker upon launch. Much in the same way that Siri allows you to customize how you want to be addressed you will be able to set how you wish to be addressed by Cortana, and whether by name or a nickname. Cortana will use a notebook feature that allows it to save and store data and access such things as location, personal information, reminders and much more. It has also been announced that Cortana will have some Google Now like features including the ability to track flights.

The Cortana service will be backed by services such as Bing and Foursquare which will enable it to have some of the contextual power similar to that found in Google Now. How it performs in relation to Siri and Google Now remains to be seen but it’s definitely a step in the right direction for the struggling Windows Phone OS.

The Internet is changing - Here’s what you need to know

You may have heard over the last few months that the internet is changing but do you know what it’s all about? If like many the answer is no then hopefully by the time you’ve finished reading this you will have a better understanding of the changes that have already started rolling out.

For the most part we are used to accessing websites via domains such as .com .net .org and so on, although there’s many other country variants available too. In 2011 the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced it was going to be opening up the domain system to new gTLDs (generic top level domains). In practice this means domains such as .food .tech .guru and .pizza will become available for private and business customers to register.

These new gTLDs will be rolled out gradually over the next few years and some have already been rolled out and are available to register now. Initially when a new gTLD is released it’s not initially available to the public as it has to be made available to trademark holders first so they can register their trademark domains. After a period of time the domains and then made available for pre-purchase and then finally available to all for public registration. If you are interested in registering one of these new domains there are already some available such as .photography, .clothing, .bike and .graphics to name just a few.

One of the many benefits to the new gTLDs implemented by ICANN is the amount of new possibilities it opens for new registrations. The domain choices that we previously had were becoming very saturated and it was getting harder and harder to find a domain that wasn’t already taken. Now the possibilities and choices for registering a domain are much broader and should allow you to be able to get the domain you want rather than settling for what was left.

The changes are likely to cause some confusion to begin with particularly with the sheer amount of new domains that are being released which is somewhere in the region of 1000 gTLDs. However as ICANN has chosen to roll these out gradually just a few at a time it should make it a bit easier to familiarise yourself with the new domains as and when they become available.

 

ASDA trials 3D Printing in stores

3D printers are all the rage at the moment even if they are still largely out of reach for most consumers due to the high prices of the printers. Whilst they are coming down in price with devices such as the ultimaker 2, for the majority of us a decent 3D printer will be a few years off yet. For those who want to take advantage of 3D printing without having to invest in a printer there are various online services allowing you to submit your designs to be printed and then mailed to you when completed. It seems that supermarkets have also seen the potential and benefits of offering a 3D printing service too.

Asda began trialling a 3D printing service before Christmas after completing a year and a half worth of testing. The service has now gone on tour and is now working its way around stores in Great Britain. Sadly you can't actually book a slot but you can see a schedule for where the printing service will be on a particular date by visiting Asda’s Photo Site. The service is reasonably quick and simple much like the existing photo booths currently available in most stores.

Currently the only service offered is a 3D figurine of yourself or a friend or family member. The process involves one of Asda trained employees walking around you with a handheld scanner in order to generate and stitch together the data for the 3D model. Whilst this is a reasonably quick process you do need to remain reasonably still so this may not be suitable for young children at the moment. After the images have been captured and digitally stitched together to create just one single image file it is then ready to be printed. Currently the printing and painting process is not done in store however you don't have to wait too long as the figurines are ready and delivered within a week.

The service currently starts at a cost of £60 and can be scaled up in size for a higher price, and when compared to the cost of other similar services it's very reasonable though you do have to wonder at the benefits of a 3D printed figurine of yourself. It will be interesting to see how this service progresses and whether it's rolled out across all stores. Considering its a first for a supermarket to offer such a service Asda have done a great job and the months of research have obviously paid off.

 

Blackphone puts you in control of your privacy

Since Edward Snowden released details of the activities of the NSA people have been increasingly concerned with privacy and how their private data is used. The new Blackphone is a device that runs on Android which isn't particularly secure but the developers have made many changes to Android both visible and under the hood and re-labeled it PrivatOS.

Visually the Blackphone looks like a fairly standard Android Handset featuring a 4.7-inch HD screen, 2GHz quad-core processor, 16GB onboard storage and an 8-Megapixel camera. The device is produced by Silent Circle, a company that is renowned for it's portfolio of security and encryption software along with a Spanish hardware startup called Geeksphone.

Blackphone claims to be a pioneer in placing 'privacy' and 'control' in the hands of it's users. This is achieved using a combination of secure applications and modifications to the underlying Android operating systems that gives users a clear insight and control over what third-party applications are requesting to do with their data.

The Blackphone consists of a suite of apps developed by Silent Circle such as Silent Phone which features peer-to-peer encrypted VoIP calls, Silent Text which also uses the same level of encryption and Silent Contacts which replaces the stock contacts app usually found in Android which safeguards your contact list from apps that might try to gain access to your contacts list for nefarious reasons. If you have an iPhone you can already take advantage of these apps by way of a subscription services and the Blackphone comes with two years of service included in the price of the handset.

Whilst the Blackphone is great for those worried about their privacy and security there is a bit of work to be done as the device is only secure when using peer-to-peer encryption and for this to work you need to be calling someone else with a Blackphone in order for this to work. It seems that Silent Circle are aware that this might be a deal breaker for some so they have taken some steps in order to make it a little bit easier. Everyone that purchases a Blackphone will also receive an extra three one-year subscriptions in addition to their own to allow users to hand one to friends, family and colleagues. Once the free subscription runs out you can either pay $10 a month for continued service or purchase a Blackphone.

It's clear that Silent Circle is hoping that free subscriptions for friends and family will convert to paying customers at the end of the free period but I feel that it's going to take some convincing for users to get their friends to signup for yet another monthly subscription. The Blackphone is an interesting device and it will be interesting to see how this takes off. It is however important to remember that there is no such thing as a NSA proof smartphone and no matter what security you have in place there will also be someone smart enough to crack it. That being said I feel the Blackphone is definitely a step in the right direction when it comes to tightening the security of our smartphones. I will certainly be watching this with great interest.

 Images courtesty of PressPack from BlackPhone.ch