Hasta La Gadget!

We’ve long been fans of Syntellia’s Fleksy for its astonishingly accurate predictive touch keyboard, and were excited to see an Android version finally come out to play at CES 2013. Well now there’s news that’ll please fans on the iOS side: the company has announced the full version of the app, formerly $4.99, is now available for the unbeatable price of free. This isn’t just a special weekend offer either; CEO Kostas Eleftheriou told us in an email that it’ll be free forever. Eleftheriou said that this is in the interest of a “more open keyboard space, so that more innovations can happen in the area,” but also as a service to the blind community, which was Fleksy’s original target audience.

Interestingly, the updated app even includes a direct button to email Apple’s CEO Tim Cook so that users can advocate for a more native OS-level integration of Fleksy. It’s an audacious goal, but as Eleftheriou stated in the blog post, it’s also one that many users have demanded. While we’re not sure if such a grass roots campaign will work with Cook and co., you can certainly download the new fully gratis version of Fleksy at the App Store source to give it a go yourself.

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile

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Source: Fleksy Blog, Fleksy (App Store)

The CBBC’s Blue Peter program is the world’s longest running television program made specifically for children, run after 54 years as a magazine / entertainment show for learning and engaging with kids. This show has this week prepared an award for none other than Apple‘s Sir Johnathan Ive, here sending the designer off with the show’s “highest accolade.” Though those of you outside the UK may never have heard of this show (thumbs down to you), this award has stricken Ive (born in Chingford, London) as “absolutely incredible.”

The gold Blue Peter badge, as it’s called, is a rarity in the history of the show – so to speak – having only been given out to the most honorable of guests over the program’s many years on the air. Right around 1,000 badges have been given out, according to the BBC, others having been handed to the likes of JK Rowling, Damian Hirst, and The Queen (of England, of course).

Acting Editor of Blue Peter Ewan Vinnicombe spoke up on the event, saying that Ive “is an inspiration to children around the world.” The award was given on an episode of the show that will be broadcast on CBBC Saturday the 16th of February at 10AM GMT. In the episode, Ive conducts miniature reviews of product designs sent in to the show by Blue Peter audience members. He gives advice to the children who designed said products, and lets them know what they can do to make great products in the future as well.

Also during the show you’ll see Ive being interviewed by presenter Barney Harwood, who has Ive recalling the influence the program had on him when he was as child. Speaking about how “vividly” he remembers watching the show in his early years, Ive speaks about how he enjoyed the way the creators of the show “reused products that you though were no longer useful.” Fun stuff!

BONUS: Having been given a tip that he’d be getting a gold Blue Peter badge before going on the show, Ive came prepared. Having been handed an official badge, Ive gave Barney a giant aluminum (aka aluminium) badge in return – one that took 10 hours to craft!

Be sure to catch the program as you eat your cereal in your footie pajamas in the fabulous England morning and let us know how it goes! For those of you in the USA that’ll be asleep at that point, just bust out your typing fingers and have a search for it – the CBBC will certainly post it up sooner than later. Can’t wait!

Apple’s Jony Ive nabs legendary gold Blue Peter badge is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple announced yesterday they plan on fixing the passcode bypass exploit found in iOS 6.1 soon, but how soon is “soon?”

According to a report from iFun, it looks as though Apple’s version of soon means early next week as Apple has confirmed with the site not only would the passcode exploit be addressed in iOS 6.1.2, but also the Microsoft Exchange bug that reportedly doesn’t allow users to retrieve their emails properly. iFun is predicting iOS 6.1.2 would be made available prior to February 21 as they’ve confirmed the timeline with its carriers.

It seems Apple has been running into more issues with its improvements to iOS than it would like to admit as they ran into Wi-Fi issues, broke its Do Not Disturb feature, and other bugs have popped up through the life of iOS 6. We’re not sure what’s up with Apple’s QA team, but judging by how many bugs have been found in iOS 6, maybe the best option for iOS 6 users is to just jailbreak their device.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Apple Plans To Fix iOS 6.1 Passcode Lock Bypass Exploit, Scosche Lightning Connector Cables Now Available,

The latest iOS update has certainly seen its fair share of bugs and vulnerabilities. First, there were problems with users connecting to and syncing with Microsoft Exchange servers, and now there’s the lockscreen exploit that allows people to dig into your contacts and photos. However, it’s rumored that an update to fix these issues will come as early as next week.

According to German website iPhone-Ticker, Apple is preparing to release iOS 6.1.2 sometime early next week to address the bugs and other issues that they said they would be fixing, but the German site is claiming that the update will land sometime before February 21, according to the information it has received from various carriers.

While we’re taking this with a grain of salt, it certainly makes sense that Apple is planning to push out a quick update soon, and iPhone-Ticker even ended up accurately predicting the launch of iOS 6.1.1 through its same sources earlier this month. So if the same holds true, we should be seeing yet another small update head our way next week.

Perhaps the bug that got the most attention was the lockscreen vulnerability that, with a few clever tap moves, allows breachers access to the owner’s contacts and any personal information that the owner has for each contact. Plus, by editing a contact and changing the contact’s picture, you can access all of the owner’s photos in their library.

[via 9to5Mac]

iOS 6.1.2 rumored for next week to fix lockscreen and Exchange bugs is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Facebook and Vine were just the beginning — you should have known that. Especially once the biggest social network in the world started dipping its toes in the VoIP pool. Skype isn’t about to let others encroach on its hard won territory without a fight. The Microsoft-owned messaging platform has started testing what amounts to a video voicemail feature on OS X, Android and iOS, something that had already been hinted at in its updated TOS. Why those operating systems at first, without any word about Windows or Windows Phone, we’re unsure. But it’s a safe bet Redmond’s own platforms will get the feature sooner rather than later. Currently users in the US and UK should be seeing the option, just dig a bit as it might be hidden behind a more actions or overflow icon, as it is on Android. Customers are getting 20 free video messages to start, though we weren’t able to wrangle any further details out of the company regarding pricing.

(Update: While we still have some unanswered questions regarding pricing, Skype did say that unlimited voice messaging will be included as part of a premium subscription.)

(Update 2: A Skype spokesperson reached out to us with the following statement about availability:

“Users in these markets across all Windows desktop and mobile platforms can receive messages, too. We will have send capability in Windows by end of April. In the meantime, we continue to test this new feature in its early release.”

April isn’t ideal, but it’s better than nothing.)

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Microsoft

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