iOS 8 : Release Date, Features and Rumours

Earlier this week, Apple announced the newest version of their mobile operating system iOS 8, at their annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The new iOS version is aimed at extensively integrating the use of Apple devices into daily life activities. Therefore many new exciting features and upgrades have been added. The new improvements are as follows:

Touch ID

Application developers will be able to use fingerprint authentication to protect apps, especially those that involve handling sensitive information.

Siri

Users will be able to activate Siri hands-free with the phrase “hey, Siri”. It supports 22 new dictation languages and has streaming voice recognition to show users results as they speak. There’s also integration with Shazam for song recognition.

Keyboard

Apple has now added support for third party keyboard apps such as Swype. A new feature called QuickType also adds predictive suggestions based on users’ habits.  

iMessage

Apple has singled out iMessage to be its most used app and has added some pretty interesting improvements. You will be able to add message threads and remove people from them. Audio and video messages, and location sharing within the app are notably interesting additions; with the ability to reply audio messages by putting the phone to your ear, and the message automatically sending when you lower the phone.

Healthkit

This is a new app which will enable access and retrieval of health data and also integration with other health apps. The app is also expected to enable healthcare institutions exchange health data remotely with their patients.

Notification Center

This improvement interests me the most; users can now have basic access to applications from the notification center without having to launch the app. For example: reply messages or like posts on Facebook. All this can be done without having to close an app that you are already using. I’m looking forward to seeing how this will look.

Extensibility

This feature will enable apps to extend their features with other apps. For example: being able to edit a photo with a third party photo editing app, within the native photo app. Widgets have also been introduced.

Family Sharing

A family or group of people of up to six will be able to share reminders, photos, calendar events etc. A particularly cool thing is that music and app purchases can also be shared so long as the family uses the same credit card. Therefore parents will be notified about purchases their children make and can approve or disapprove them.

Release Date

The exact release date has not been announced yet but it should be somewhere around autumn. I will however keep you updated. Unfortunately, iphone 4 users will be left out of this upgrade; here is the list of devices that will support iOS 8:

• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 5
• iPhone 5C
• iPhone 5S
• iPod Touch 5th generation
• iPad 2
• iPad with Retina Display
• iPad Air
• iPad Mini
• iPad Mini with Retina Display

How to Download Files With BitTorrent (with pictures)

If you haven't read my post : "What is Bittorent Networking?", please click here to read it. So you can have a better understanding of what this post is about.

Note that My use of the word "BitTorent" in this post is not to be mistaken with the client software - BitTorent®  but is rather in reference to the networking protocol. The torrent files showing in the images have the vuze logo (the frog) because it's my default bitTorrent client program.
I will be giving all tutorials using Vuze and uTorrent on windows 7.

BitTorrent is a very convenient way to download all sorts of files from the internet. There are many, many ways to download all the files that we need. However, bitTorrent presents users with stability, pause/resume capability and even more control over the download process. For the sake of my readers who are new to this, this tutorial is going to be quite detailed but simple. Follow the steps and you’ll be just fine.

Getting a BitTorrent client Program  

(don’t know what a BitTorrent client Program is? Click here)

To download using bittorent, you first need a Bittorent client software. Vuze and uTorrent are free client programs but paid versions with more features are available as well. Vuze can be downloaded from the official website - http://www.vuze.com/  . Here's the website for utorrent  - http://www.utorrent.com/ 

After you have downloaded and installed either of the clients, the next thing is to search for and download torrent files.

Finding torrent files  
(don’t know what a torrent file is? Click here)

Torrent files can be found on file sharing sites and BitTorrent search engines like torrentz, kickass, thepiratebay . These sites host torrent files for games, movies, music, e-books, etc. You could also just google the name of the file you want to download and add the word “torrent”; you’re most likely to find a direct link to its torrent file among the search results. You can get all the cool stuff you want for free, however be wary of the fact that some of these files may be copyrighted.

When you find the torrent file that you want to download, click the download button and the file will be saved on your computer. Be sure to download a torrent file with a high seed to peer ratio (ie. More seeds than peers). This will let you know that the torrent actually represents what content it says it does. Remember the torrent file is not what you actually want to download. Its just a small file that contains information about what you want. It has the extension “.torrent” just like some songs have extension “.mp3” and some images have extension ".jpg".

Downloading your content

Now that you have both the torrent file and the BitTorent client program, you can proceed with downloading your content. I will be demonstrating the process with both Vuze and utorrent like I earlier stated,with an e-book titled ; "Learning PHP, MySQL, JavaScript, CSS & HTML5 Step-by-Step".

Using Vuze

Launch vuze and follow the steps in the images below. The blue arrow is there to guide you.

The first thing to do is to open the torrent file you downloaded, click "add files" and trace its location and select it, and click "open". In the next two dialog boxes, click "ok". The content download starts a few seconds or minutes later depending on your internet connection.

Using uTorrent

Launch uTorrent, and click the "+" button to add a torrent file. trace its location and select it, and click "open". In the next dialog box, click "ok". there the download screen appears and the content begins downloading after a few seconds or minutes later depending on your internet connection. 

 

Comments are very much welcome. Subscribe and share this post. 

What is BitTorent Networking?

the purpose of this post is to give readers a simple understanding of how bitTorent downloading works.

  

BitTorrent networking is a proper representation of the file sharing concept and has become extremely popular among internet users over the years. It is based on peer to peer (p2p) networking. For heavy downloaders like myself, this is the ultimate tool to have stable downloads that you can actually control, not just monitor.

Peer to peer networks are networks where the nodes (called peers in this case) supply and consume resources to/from one another.

How it works

Using bitTorent for downloads is a two-way process; anytime you're downloading a file using  a torrent client, you are actually receiving bits of that same file from different people who have already downloaded it. A peer is a downloader who has not completed a download. When the download is 100% complete, that person (peer) becomes a seed. Seeding simply means uploading parts of your complete downloads for other peers to download. This is why i earlier said BitTorent networking embodies the file sharing concept. The term leech means two things; 

1. A downloader (one who hasn't completed a download).

2. A peer who drastically reduces their upload speed, or turns off their internet to prevent seeding when their download is done.

To download files using bitTorent networking, you need:

a. A bitTorent client

A bitTorent client is a program that enables you to download files using the bitTorent protocol. There are a lot of clients available for download (eg, mediaGet, utorrent, Vuze, BitTorent, qbitTorent).Any tweaks or tips i post will however be based on either Vuze or utorrent, or both, since they are the most popular clients.

b. A torrent file

This is basically a file that gives the client information about a particular file to download. You can find a torrent file for almost anything you want to download on file sharing websites and torrent search engines such as torrentz, isohunt, kickass torrents.

Will do a follow-up post to how to download files using a bitTorrent client. 

'Flappy Bird' is Gone!

To all lovers of the recently popular mobile game, 'Flappy Bird', it is no longer available for download (on Playstore and iTunes App Store) as of today, February 9. The developer of the retro-style game , Dong Nguyen announced this via twitter saying :
"I am sorry 'Flappy Bird' users, 22 hours from now, I will take 'Flappy Bird' down. I cannot take this anymore". (@dongatory)
He went on to say in later tweets that his decision was not related to legal issues and that he still makes games. This action comes as a big surprise since the game soared to popularity over the past few weeks with over 50 million downloads. Interestingly, 'Flappy Bird' Developer Dong Nguyen earned $50,000 daily in ad revenue. Whatever the case, this gentleman is walking away with a fat bank account.

Smartphone Operating System and Shipment Statistics for first quarter of 2013 (Units in millions)

				1Q13										1Q12
				Shipment					1Q13 Market					Shipment					1Q12 Market					Year over Year
Operating System				Volume					Share					Volume					Share					Change
Android				162	.1				75	.0%				90	.3				59	.1%				79	.5%
iOS				37	.4				17	.3%				35	.1				23	.0%				6	.6%
Windows Phone				7	.0				3	.2%				3	.0				2	.0%				133	.3%
BlackBerry OS				6	.3				2	.9%				9	.7				6	.4%				-35	.1%
Linux				2	.1				1	.0%				3	.6				2	.4%				-41	.7%
Symbian				1	.2				0	.6%				10	.4				6	.8%				-88	.5%
Others				0	.1				0	.0%				0	.6				0	.4%				-83	.3%
Total				216	.2				100	.0%				152	.7				100	.0%				41	.6%

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, May 2013
Note: Information is preliminary and is subject to change.

Its not much of a surprise that Android and IOS continue to have a greater share of the smartphone market.  Its however quite interesting to note that Windows phone shipments have surpassed Blackberry despite the release of the BB10 earlier this year. Nokia has been a major contributing factor to this effect.

Blackberry Messenger coming to Android and IOS this summer.

On Tuesday May 14, Blackberry CEO, Thorsten Heins announced at Blackberry Live that BBM will be available on Android and IOS soon. All Android and IOS users who have wanted to experience BBM without having to purchase a blackberry handset can now breathe a sigh of relief. This is both a good and bad move on the side of Blackberry.
 Here's why :

1. Of course, There will be more subscribers hence more returns.
2. I know for a fact that there are many Blackberry users who would love to use some Android and IOS exclusive apps like Instagram on their device. If I were a blackberry user, I would consider getting an Android or IOS device. That way, I could have it all! This could mean a further decline in Blackberry purchases.

The Blackberry Messenger application will be compatible with all versions of IOS and any android devices running version 4.0 and above.

Trends : Three cool alternatives to Whatsapp

Whatsapp messenger is the most widely used cross-platform instant messaging application which has been free for users in some countries. Like me, a lot of people love free stuff but here's the catch, Whatsapp messenger is not going to be free forever, even though the free service period has been extended a couple of times.(To find out your service expiry date, open Whatsapp, select settings, then account, then payment info)
 In view of that, I've tried out some similar apps and read about others as well. Here's the shortlist of what i found out:


XMS (formerly ebuddy XMS)
Platforms supported - Android, blackberry, IOS, Symbian(nokia), Windows.
Features - Text, media sharing(pictures, videos, sounds), location, Group chat

I've tried this one out on the android, IOS and Symbian platforms and I'd say the interface is just okay. There's also this cool "nearby" feature i mentioned above, which gives you a list of XMS users within a maximum of 10km. The users are displayed on a map to give you an idea of where exactly and how far they are from you. You could also add new contacts using a pin like with Blackberry Messenger.

screenshot on android

LiveProfile

Platforms supported - Android, Blackberry, IOS.

Features - Text, media sharing, Group chat.

I used this one as well and in my opinion, the most impressive thing about it is the interface. Each user also has a unique pin for adding contacts.

screenshot on android

Kik Messenger

Platforms supported - Android, Blackberry, IOS, Symbian, Blackberry, Windows.

Features - Text, media sharing, Group chat.

From the reading i did, Kik messenger is the most widely used among the three apps I've listed, with over 50 million users worldwide.

screenshot on android

Personally I'm torn between XMS and Kik Messenger

Choice is yours now!