Hasta La Gadget!

There’s a folder appearing in the archives of the newest iOS 7 Beta with a title that suggests Apple is ready to bring a fingerprint scanner to the iPhone. This folder goes by the name of BiometricKitUI and brings with it the suggestion that the iPhone – or the iPad and the iPod touch, whichever you’d like to imagine – will be working with the recognition of its user by their unique characteristics or traits.

According to the contents of this folder, a sensor will exist within or under the iPhone’s home button. This code suggests that a “photo of a person holding an iPhone with their left [or right] hand while touching the Home button with their thumb” describes the pose you’ll be striking during your log-in process with the phone. This is the first physical lock created for the iPhone – if it does, indeed, come to fruition.

Also in this code embedded in iOS 7 beta 4 is a bit of a UI description: “a fingerprint that changes colour during the setup process”, complete with a “recognition is %@ complete”, suggesting it’ll take more than a moment. Now we’ll just have to wait to see which device this comes with, be it the iPhone 5S, a rebooted iPhone 5, or the full iPhone range, complete with the budget collection.

And on that note, you’ll want to take a peek at the full iOS 7 beta 4 from top to bottom. There you’ll find mainly bug fixes, but as developer Hamza Soon found and shared first with 9to5Mac, there are some hidden gems like what you’re seeing above! Keep on the search!

iPhone fingerprint sensor tapped in iOS leak is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Apple has released iOS 7 beta 4 to developers, the latest iteration of the pre-launch iPhone and iPad software expected to make its public debut later this year. The new version, which arrives three weeks after Apple released beta 3, can be downloaded either directly to an iPhone or iPad running the existing version, or loaded via your Mac.

Last time around, Apple tweaked several aspects of the iOS 7 experience, including modifying the default font to change the overall feel of the UI across the board. It also improved how Retina iPhone apps were handled on non-Retina iPads in “2x” doubling mode.

Apple’s release notes for this new beta are not yet available, and in fact the company’s developer portal itself continues to show error messages. That’s been a long-standing issue over the past few weeks, however, though it’s likely to become more contentious today as keen coders attempt to get up to speed with beta 4.

However, most likely are performance improvements and the sort of general tweaks a fourth-stage beta might be expected to deliver. What’s apparently unlikely to change is the somewhat contentious interface and color scheme Apple has switched to in iOS 7, which has left some iPhone and iPad users nostalgic for the “skeuomorphic” layout used today.

A full changelog of the new additions and modifications in iOS 7 beta 4 is likely to be fleshed out over the coming hours, as developers get to grips with the software. As for regular users, the timescale for the new platform’s release is still the somewhat nebulous “later in 2013″, though it’s expected to take place alongside the launch of a new iPhone 5S and perhaps a cheaper variant of the smartphone.

Update: The first changes are being reported, including a modification to the lockscreen “slide-to-unlock” control, the ability to swipe between Notification Center panels, the ability to put all music tracks on shuffle, and more.

VIA 9to5Mac

iOS 7 beta 4 download goes live for developers is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.

So it seems that PlayStation 4 owners will have more friends than their Xbox One counterparts — well, you know, in theory, at least. Sony announced this morning, by way of rather chipper Q&A video, that the PS4 will have a Party Chat to call its own, along with friends lists that support up to 2,000 users — that’s double the number that Microsoft announced toward the end of May (though, all said, both numbers are a big improvement over the last gens’ 100-person cap). Good news for social PlayStation gamers, though you might want to start saving up now — that’s a whole lot of extra birthdays gifts next year.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Sony

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Via: Joystiq

Nokia is planning to release a Bluetooth accessory for its Lumia lineup called the “Treasure Tag,” according to various sources. A report from The Verge tallies with a previous mention on Yahoo’s message boards that names the tag, which could be a reason Nokia’s adding Bluetooth 4.0 and LE support to Lumias via the impending Amber update. Apparently, the tag features NFC for easy pairing and can be set up and tracked using a Windows Phone 8 app that’ll incorporate Nokia’s LiveSight AR tech. It’s also said that a button on the Treasure Tag will reveal the location of a misplaced phone using an audible notification, if it’s in range of the accessory. It could look like the above diagram, is allegedly launching in “the coming weeks,” and is thought to be one of several planned accessories that’ll make use of the Bluetooth 4.0 standard.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Software, Mobile, Nokia

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Via: WMPoweruser

Source: The Verge, Yahoo message boards

It could mean nothing, but it could mean everything. As of this morning, Bob Mansfield was still a senior vice president at one of the world’s most iconic technology firms. As of now, his leadership bio is nowhere to be found on Apple’s official web presence. If you’ll recall, Mansfield has had an interesting couple of years at Apple. In June of 2012, he abruptly announced that he was retiring. A couple of weeks later, he publicly addressed mounting criticism regarding Apple’s computers and their relationship with EPEAT, seemingly putting the kibosh on said retirement. A few weeks following that, Mansfield actually got a promotion, with his responsibilities growing once again during the executive shakeup of October 2012. It’s unclear if someone accidentally deleted the profile of one of Apple’s most important figureheads (read: unlikely), or if Mr. Mansfield truly has stepped aside, but we’ll be reaching out to Apple in hopes of clarifying things.

Filed under: Software, Apple

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Via: MacRumors

Source: Apple