Following last week’s announcement of a significant update that would bring iOS 7’s Notification Center alerts to the Pebble Smart Watch, Apple has approved Pebble’s app update, enabling the new functionality for Pebble owners.
Version 1.3.0 of the Pebble Smartwatch app supports Apple’s iOS 7 notification system for the iPhone 4s and higher, allowing all Notification Center alerts to be displayed on the watch face. Previously, notification alerts were limited to calls and text messages, but now the Pebble Smart Watch is able to display notifications from apps like Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Calendar, Instagram, and more.
Along with the new notification functionality, Pebble has also launched its 2.0 SDK, adding APIs for Javascript, Accelerometer, Data Logging, and Persistent Storage to allow developers to create apps that interface directly with the web.
Popular fitness tracking app Runkeeper has been updated today with several new featurestaking advantage of some of the software and hardware improvements released by Apple with iOS 7 and the iPhone 5s.
As with several other fitness apps such as Nike+ Move, RunKeeper is now able to tap into the M7 motion coprocessor included on the iPhone 5s. The M7 automatically tracks movement in the background, and RunKeeper can use that data to add certain activity sessions to your workout list retroactively.
If you’ve ever been walking around a lot and wished you had tracked it with RunKeeper, regret no more! Our new Pocket Track feature tracks walks of at least 15 minutes automatically and gives you the option to add those to your activity list. Just be sure to opt in to background activity tracking when you install this update, and also open up RunKeeper at the end of each day so you can find those walks that were tracked.
The new version of RunKeeper also includes support for the AirDrop feature of iOS 7, allowing users to easily transfer friend requests and workout information to other RunKeeper users.
Google today released a major update to its Google Searchapp for iOS, implementing a multitude of new features to Google Now, its built-in personal assistant often compared to Apple’s Siri.
With the update, Google Now has gained Notifications, Reminders, new cards that include tickets and boarding passes, and handsfree voice activation on the iPhone 4s and later. Voice searches and commands can be activated with the phrase “OK Google,” which implements a search.
With notifications, Google Now can provide information on appointments and meetings. Reminders is a robust feature that works with standard reminders, such as “Remind me to buy coffee beans at Starbucks,” and with requests that allow users to be notified when a favorite TV show has a new episode or a musician releases a new album.
In addition to the new Google Now capabilities, Google Search has also gained a simplified homepage, new zoom gestures, one touch sign in with other Google apps, and improved voiceover accessibility.
iOS engineering vice president Henri Lamiraux has retired from Apple after 23 years with the company. His retirement last month is mentioned on his LinkedIn profile and wasconfirmed by Lamiraux himself to 9to5Mac.
He says that he retired from Apple a “couple of weeks” ago, following the release of iOS 7.0.3. Lamiraux decided a “little while ago” that iOS 7 would be his last release.
Sources within Apple’s iOS division say Lamiraux is respected and he was in charge of developing the applications that come with iOS. The executive also led feature-implementation across the operating system, and he managed both bug-fixing processes and feature distribution to consumers. He also managed the frameworks within the operating system that power features and allow developers to build applications.
Lamiraux joined Apple in 1990, spending ten years as a Mac OS and later OS X software engineer before being promoted into more senior positions. He moved over to iOS in late 2005, more than a year before the original iPhone was shown to the public, and served in several managerial roles, culminating with his being named Vice President of Software Engineering for iOS Apps and Frameworks in September 2009.
Apple quietly added Burst Mode improvements to the iPhone 5s with its iOS 7.0.2 update, reports GottaBeMobile. First debuted in late September, iOS 7.0.2 was introduced to fix lock screen passcode vulnerabilities.
Burst Mode, an iPhone 5s feature, is designed to capture 10 photos per second while the camera capture button is held down, which is useful for getting shots of moving targets but uses up quite a bit of storage space.
Before iOS 7.0.2, Burst Mode asked users to save favorite shots but did not delete the whole roll of photos, while after iOS 7.0.2, users are prompted to choose to save just their favorites and given the option to delete the rest of the photos by tapping a button. This is a useful addition that saves Burst Mode users from having to manually delete multiple photos, a time consuming process.
While iOS now offers to delete photos not saved to favorites after a Burst Mode capture, users can also elect to save the entire line of shots. iPhone 5s users should already have iOS 7.0.2 as it was released in September via an over-the-air update. Apple has also released iOS 7.0.3, which includes iCloud Keychain, new motion reduction options, and a fix for an accelerometer issue.
New photography app dubble has launched for iOS, allowing users to randomly mix and produce double exposure photos with each other. The app allows users to either take a photo with the built-in camera or select a picture from the camera roll and upload it to the service, which then combines the user’s photo with a random photo from another user to create a multiple exposure image that can be saved and shared through user profiles.
The world’s first app for people to create images together! Shoot or upload a photo from your camera roll and wait for it to randomly mix with someone else’s image. Then you’re connected!
– Shoot with the dubble camera or upload any photo from your camera roll
– Your photo will randomly mix with another photo from anyone in the world
– Download or share your dubble image and view other profiles
– Redubble your images to create a series of dubbles from the same single photo
dubble is a completely new photographic experience. For the first time you can really interact with another person photographically. Anyone can join and start mixing photos right away creating stunning multiple exposure images.
Foursquare’s new automatic recommendation service, initially introduced on Android in August, is rolling out to iPhone users. The company has released a new version of its iOS app today, which introduces a redesign and will give a “few thousand” users access to the feature.
With the new recommendation system, Foursquare runs continually in the background, monitoring location to provide recommendations on nearby restaurants and other venues. It will also offer information on popular food and beverage choices following a check in, pulling data from comments that users have left about each venue.
Today we’re excited to start rolling out this smarter Foursquare. Here’s how it will work: when you sit down to dinner, we might ping you with the can’t-miss dish on the menu (like the screenshot from a sushi bar below). Or when you arrive in a new neighborhood or city, we’ll suggest a few places that your friends love (like below, after you’ve wandered into a new neighborhood). It’s like having a ton of local friends stuffed in your pocket wherever you go.
Because it’s powered by billions of check-ins, it’s also smart: we’re going to ping you when you sit down at a new place where your friend left a tip, not when you’re on your daily walk to work. And using this feature doesn’t check you in; this isn’t for sharing, just for making sure you don’t miss great things.
While only a few thousand iPhone users will get access to the feature today, the company plans to continue rolling out the service to additional users as it did on the Android platform.
Along with the rollout of the recommendation system, Foursquare’s newest update introduces a simplified design that shows only the most recent check-in for each friend. Additional check-ins are now accessed via profile pages, and a newly introduced “nearby” button displays friends that are located in the vicinity.
Berlin-based Security Research Labs has detailed various exploits within the iPhone 5s’ Touch ID security feature and iOS 7 that allow would-be criminals to bypass the device’s security features, reports Reuters.
The method for bypassing the Touch ID security feature found on the iPhone 5s is very similar to the one used by the Chaos Computer Club, which also claimed to hack Touch ID earlier this month. A video posted on the group’s website shows how Touch ID can be bypassed using information gathered from fingerprints left on the victim’s phone display, demonstrating that a photo taken with the iPhone 4s can be used for developing a mold.
Another video by the group outlines a scenario in which a knowledgeable criminal could steal an iPhone 5s running iOS 7, use Control Center on the lock screen (enabled by default) to turn on Airplane Mode and disable the device’s connectivity, then using a fingerprint mold to bypass the lock screen and disable other various security features. Ultimately, the group shows how an attacker could conceivably gain complete control of a victim’s device, Apple ID, and even other services such as Google accounts.
The group ends the video by suggesting Apple do the following to increase security efficiency in iOS 7:
1. Make Airplane Mode inaccessible from the lock screen by default and require PIN after setting Airplane Mode or removing SIM Card
2. Warn users not to store password-reset email accounts on iDevices
3. When device is lost for good, advise users to revoke its privileges
4. Do not inform potential attackers how the device is protected
5. Upon reconnecting to the Internet, iOS should not allow email retrieval before the device’s wipe- or don’t-wipe status can be retrieved
Aside from any future changes Apple may make to increase security, users can already prevent the simple bypass of the Remote Wipe feature by turning off access to Control Center from the lock screen.
iOS 7 has recently been the subject of much praise by security officials, including the New York Police Department, which passed out flyers in New York City recommending users to update to iOS 7, along with government officials who have praised iOS 7’s Activation Lock. Meanwhile, Touch ID has been the subject of much scrutiny since its release, with U.S. Senator Al Franken sending a letter to Tim Cook asking a number of questions about the security of the system and the exact fingerprint storage process. Apple has also published an extensive knowledge base article about the benefits of the Touch ID system to alleviate some consumer concerns.
Evernote has updated its Skitch marking and annotation app for iOS, with the new version notably only compatible with devices running iOS 7. The app contains new features such the ability to send marked up snapshots via AirDrop as well as email or SMS, new gesture-based features to quickly take, mark, and send photos, additional annotation symbols with full freehand pencil annotations, and the ability to display annotations on larger screens with AirPlay.
Redesigned to take advantage of iOS 7 features.
Skitch lets you communicate important ideas in an instant. Snap a photo, mark it up, and send it on. Make your message clear with arrows, stamps, text, shapes, and more. Getting your point across has never been easier.
Acquired by Evernote in 2011, Skitch is a part of the Evernote suite of apps and also features full integration with the popular note-taking app. Skitch is a free download for the iPhone and iPad and is available on the App Store.
