Apple releases iOS 7.1.1 with improvements to Touch ID, keyboard

pple on Tuesday released iOS 7.1.1, a minor update for its mobile operating system that's intended to address a few bugs, including an issue that could affect keyboard responsiveness, while also further improving the performance of the iPhone 5s Touch ID fingerprint sensor.

iOS 7.1.1 is now available through Software Update in the Settings application on an iPhone or iPad. Documentation accompanying the update says it contains "improvements, bug fixes and security updates." 

Apple has said that iPhone 5s owners will also see further improvements to Touch ID fingerprint recognition after installing the update — something the company has continuously done since the launch of the handset last year. The update is also said to fix an issue that could arise when using Bluetooth keyboards while VoiceOver is enabled.

The latest iOS update follows March's release of iOS 7.1, a significant upgrade that addressed a number of issues that had lingered since last fall's debut of iOS 7. In particular, iOS 7.1 fixed a number of crash-related issues that iPhone and iPad users were experiencing while using the multitasking view and browsing the web in Safari.

iOS 7.1 also brought improvements for Siri and Touch ID, and also set the stage for the launch of CarPlay in supported vehicles and aftermarket install kits later this year.

As for the next major update to iOS, Apple is expected to introduce its eight-generation mobile operating system at the company's annual Worldwide Developers Conference. The conference will kick off on June 2, likely with a keynote presentation to formally unveil iOS 8, along with any other products the company may have in the works.

Source:
appleinsider.com

Posted by Editorial Team on 11:29 AM in aftermarket, Apple releases, improvements, iPhone 5s, keyboard, next major, Software Update, Touch ID, VoiceOver, Worldwide Developers

Beats Music update lets you subscribe from inside the iOS app

Odds are that you weren't riveted by Beats Music when it first arrived, but the streaming service has just delivered a pair of big updates that may give you a good excuse to tune in. For the iOS app, the biggest improvement is visible when you're signing up -- you can now subscribe from within the software rather than heading to the web. The move makes it that much easier to keep the music flowing after your trial is over, and may just help Beats grow its fledgling customer base.

Not that Beats is neglecting its Android app by any means; you get a "brand spanking new widget" for your home screen if you're running Google's mobile platform. Both the Android and iOS releases also share some common improvements, including the ability to find Facebook friends who use Beats, better social network linking and thousands of new tracks in the Sentence playlist generator. There's no guarantee that either refresh will have you rethinking that Rdio or Spotify subscription, but it's hard to knock upgrades that make it easy to start listening.

Source:
www.engadget.com

Posted by Editorial Team on 10:11 PM in Beats Music, big updates, fledgling, Google's, help Beats, improvements, playlist generator, software, subscribe, upgrades

110799 Facebook takes aim at News Feed spam Facebook is pushing down like-baiting, reposted and spammy content

Facebook is on a mission to clean up your News Feed. First it got rid of memes, now you can say goodbye to spam.

The company announced on Thursday that it would be improving the experience by targeting spammy posts that beg for likes and link to spam websites.

"The goal of News Feed is to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time so they don’t miss the stories that are important and relevant to them," Erich Owens, Software Engineer, and Chris Turitzin, Product Manager, wrote in a blog post.

"Today we are announcing a series of improvements to News Feed to reduce stories that people frequently tell us are spammy and that they don’t want to see."

The first type of post that is getting the boots are those that engaged in "like-baiting," a.k.a. "when a post explicitly asks News Feed readers to like, comment or share the post in order to get additional distribution beyond what the post would normally receive."

Because people actually respond to these posts (really? they do?) they move up on the News Feed because that’s what happens when a post gets more action. Now, Facebook will make sure that those posts don't wind up at the top of user feeds anymore.

Second on the list is content that is reshared over and over, which, as you might expect, can get really annoying after a while.

"We are improving News Feed to de-emphasize these Pages, and our early testing shows that this change causes people to hide 10% fewer stories from Pages overall," said Owens and Turitzin.

Last come "spammy links," which is exactly what it sounds like: you think you're clicking on a link to an article or album, but instead you get redirected to a page full of ads and spam. 

The company says it can detect these links by measuring how frequently people on Facebook who visit a link choose to like the original post or share that post with their friends."

Some publishers may grumble about some of these restrictions, especially the link-baiting one, which does walk a fine line. Honestly, though, I'm happy that Facebook is taking some action here.

This is just the latest move made by Facebook to improve the News Feed experience.

In December, the company announced that it would be highlighting "high quality content" over other types, including memes.

Then, last month, Facebook finally got around to updating the visual look of the Feed, making images larger, and changing the color of the right and left hand columns to gray, in order to highlight the actually feed of content in the middle.

(Image source: newsroom.fb.com)

Posted by Editorial Team on 1:21 AM in 110799 Facebook, Chris Turitzin, company announced, improvements, News Feed, Owens, pushing down, reshared, Software Engineer, spammy content