Hasta La Gadget!

This week has been all about Apple in the mobile world with their iPhone 5 and iOS 6. Today Apple finally started rolling out the update for their next generation iOS 6 mobile operating system to the masses, and I’m sure you want to know what it’s all about. While we’ve known plenty about iOS 6 for a while, here’s what to expect from today’s update.

Yup, in case you didn’t notice iOS 6 is available right this minute for all those capable iDevices. If you haven’t ran off to download and install the latest and greatest, you’ll want to do so immediately. Obviously you might want to backup everything first just in case, but that’s only a precautionary measure. To get started you’ll want to take a peek at our lengthy iPhone 5 Review — as that will tell you everything you need to know.

Where do we start? From an all new and improved Siri, Apple’s own Maps service with Flyover, Passbook to leave your wallet behind and go the digital route, shared photo streams, Facetime video chat over cellular and more this is a massive update. Facebook’s been deeply integrated more so than before, you can deny phone calls with an instant text message, there’s tons of things to make your daily life easier — and simpler.

iOS 6 has introduced over 200 new features to the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch and surely you’ll want to know about each and every one of them. The changelog is extremely long — since there’s 200 new features — but we have the entire thing right here for those interested. If you want to get the most from iOS 6 check out the list below.

iOS 6 changelog:

– Maps
– Apple designed vector based maps
– Turn-by-turn navigation with spoken directions on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (2nd and 3rd generation)
– Real-time traffic information
– Flyover for photo-realistic, interactive 3D views of major metro areas on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation), and iPod touch (5th generation)
– Local search results with Yelp photos, ratings, reviews, and available deals
– Siri integration for requesting directions and finding places along a route
– Siri improvements
– Sports: scores, player stats, game schedules, team rosters, and league standings for baseball, basketball, football, soccer and hockey
– Movies: trailers, showtimes, reviews and facts
– Restaurants: reservations, reviews, photos and information
– Send a Tweet
– Post on Facebook
– App launch
– Eyes Free in supported automobiles
– Local search available in Siri supported countries (availability may be limited during initial rollout)
– Additional country and language support for Canada (English and Canadian French), China (Mandarin), Hong Kong (Cantonese), Italy (Italian), Korea (Korean), Mexico (Spanish), Spain (Spanish), Switzerland (Italian, French, German), Taiwan (Mandarin), US (Spanish)
– Supported on iPhone 5, iPhone 4S, iPad (3rd generation) and iPod touch (5th generation)
– Facebook integration
– Single sign-on from Settings
– Post from Photos, Safari, Maps, App Store, iTunes, Game Center, Notification Center and Siri
– Add location and choose audience for any post
– View up-to-date Facebook profile photos and contact information in Contacts
– View Facebook events and birthdays in Calendar
– Like content and see your friends’ Likes in App Store and iTunes Store
– Shared Photo Streams
– Share selected photos with the people you choose
– Friends can view shared photos in Photos app, iPhoto and Apple TV
– Friends can like and make comments on individual photos
– Passbook
– One place for boarding passes, store cards, movie tickets and other passes
– Barcode display for boarding flights, buying coffee, getting into movies and other actions
– Passes displayed on Lock Screen based on time or location
– Passes can be automatically updated
– Supported on iPhone and iPod touch
– FaceTime improvements
– FaceTime over cellular support for iPhone 5, iPhone 4S and iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (3rd generation)
– Receive FaceTime calls, sent to your iPhone number, on your iPad and iPod touch
– Phone improvements
– Do Not Disturb to suppress incoming calls and notifications
– ‘Reply with message’ option when declining a call
– ‘Remind me later’ option based on time or location when declining a call
– Mail improvements
– VIP mailbox to quickly access mail from important people
– Flagged email mailbox
– Insert photos and videos when composing email
– Open password protected Office docs
– Pull down to refresh mailboxes
– Per account signatures
– Safari improvements
– iCloud tabs to see open pages on all your devices
– Offline Reading List
– Photo upload support
– Full screen landscape view on iPhone and iPod touch
– Smart app banners
– JavaScript performance improvements
– App Store and iTunes Store improvements
– Updated store design
– iTunes Preview history
– Complete my season
– Complete my album
– Game Center improvements
– Challenge friends to beat high scores and achievements
– Post high-scores and achievements to Facebook and Twitter
– Friend recommendations based on your Facebook friends
– Accessibility improvements
– Guided Access to limit device to one app or restrict touch input on certain areas of the screen
– VoiceOver integration with Maps, AssistiveTouch and Zoom
– Support for Made for iPhone Hearing Aids for iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S
– Improved privacy controls for Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Photos and data shared over Bluetooth
– Reminders can be reordered in the Reminders app
– Custom vibrations for alerts on iPhone
– Clock app for iPad
– Clock alarm with song
– Search all fields in Contacts
– Automatic movie mode for improved video sound quality
– Definitions of a selected word for Chinese, French, German and Spanish
– New keyboard layouts for French, German, Turkish, Catalan, Arabic and Icelandic
– Keyboard shortcuts shared across devices via iCloud
– Bluetooth MAP support
– Global network proxy for HTTP
– Features for China
– Baidu web search
– Sina Weibo integration
– Share videos to Tudou
– Share videos to Youku
– Improved text input for handwriting and Pinyin
– Bug fixes

Some features may not be available for all countries or all areas. Please visit this website for more details:
http://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

[via Engadget]

What’s new in iOS 6? Here’s the changelog is written by Cory Gunther & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Microsoft brought Office for Mac 2011 up to speed with Mountain Lion this summer, and it’s now back with another update that finally adds support for the MacBook Pro’s Retina display. That comes courtesy of version 14.2.4 of the software suite, and that added sharpness naturally extends across Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. You can find the update waiting for you in the Microsoft AutoUpdate tool if you haven’t been prompted to download it already.

Filed under: Software

Microsoft brings Retina display support to Office for Mac originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If your home is blasted by a nuclear bomb and most everyone you know dies or is at the very least severely mangled, you’re going to need a drink. Honestly, you’ll going to need many drinks. The good news is, no matter how many loved ones are obliterated, your beer is still safe. More »

Over the years, people have tried to sell off many artifacts from the Apollo era of space travel. These objects included things like cameras and gloves and at times even little pieces of Moon rock. NASA considers every chunk of Moon rock returned by Apollo astronauts to be government property and has so far barred any sale or gifting to the public.

But as it happens, one of the largest pieces of Moon rock wasn’t returned by any space probe or astronaut, and has now hit the auction block. The rock is a large lunar meteorite called Dar al Gani 1058.  Scientists don’t know exactly when this piece of rock was dislodged from the moon, but it was discovered in Libya in 1998.

This chunk of Moon rock weighs 4 pounds and is the fourth largest chunk that can be legally owned by the public. The rock is believed to come from the lunar highland breccias on the far side of the moon.

This particular piece of rock has an auction starting price of $170,000 (USD), but the auction house projects that the estimated selling price will land somewhere between $340,000 and $380,000 when the auction closes on October 14. The most likely winner the auction is expected to be a museum, but private bidders are also permitted.

[via Huffington Post]

After debuting them on iPad and Android, DirecTV has finally brought “Everywhere” features to the iPhone. That includes video on demand access to a number of shows and movies no matter where you are, as well as the in-home only live TV streaming feature previously seen on the iPad (but not on Android, yet.) DirecTV has also added its own exclusive Audience Network to the list of streaming channels which should add additional content to watch. The one drawback? Like many other TV provider apps, we’re hearing this one isn’t meant to work on jailbroken devices and after users update it won’t even open, cutting off other features like DVR scheduling. If that’s not a problem, grab version 2.2 at the source link below and input your DirecTV account info to get started.

[Thanks, Brian]

Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, HD, Mobile

DirecTV Everywhere VOD and live TV streaming finally arrives on the iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 14:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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