iOS How To's: October 2014

Sunday, October 19, 2014

OS X Yosemite: How to activate 'Dark Mode'

How to enable Dark Mode on OS X Yosemite:

Go to System Preferences
Go to General
Check Use Dark Menu Bar and Dock

Mac OS X Yosemite should now be running in Dark Mode. The Menu Bar and Dock background change to a darker color, and black Menu Bar text inverts to white. The Dock the pale translucent background becomes much darker.

You can also use the General Settings to change other parts of Mac OS X from Blue to Graphite. This removes much of the colour from the Mac OS X Interface and we think it sits well with Yosemite.

Friday, October 17, 2014

How to find out if your Mac is compatible with Handoff OS X Yosemite

There are a lots of cool features in iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite. One of the most anticipated is Handoff, which enables you to pick up where you left off in an email, a document and other work between iOS and OS X devices. Handoff is relying on short-range Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity If your Mac is equipped with Bluetooth 4.0, LMP Version will say 0x6.

To determine your Mac's Bluetooth version

Go to Apple menu
Click About This Mac
Click on the System Report
Select Bluetooth
Find "LMP Version."

LMP Version should say 0x6. Anything lower than that is an older version of Bluetooth.

You can also access this information with a terminal command.

Open up a terminal and type:

system_profiler SPBluetoothDataType | grep LMP

The Bluetooth 4.0 requirement would make the following Mac models Handoff-compatible: the mid-2011 MacBook Air, mid-2012 MacBook Pro, late-2012 iMac, mid-2011 Mac mini and late-2013 Mac Pro and above.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

How to Setup Handoff / Continuity on OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Your Mac device had updated to OS X Yosemite. Also your iDevice runs iOS 8. All devices should support Bluetooth 4.0 (LE).

Setting up Handoff on OS X Yosemite:

Go to System Preferences
Be sure you login the same iCloud account.
Go to General
Enable - Allow Handoff Between this Mac and iCloud devices.
Turn on Bluetooth and Wifi

Setting up Handoff on iOS 8:

Go to Settings
Check iCloud account if the same as on Mac
Go to General > Handoff & Suggested Apps
Enable - Handoff
Turn on Bluetooth and Wifi

Done. You've setup the devices for Handoff.

OS X 10.10 Yosemite is now available to download

Apple's next-generation OS X Yosemite Mac operating system is now available for download through the Mac App Store. It's a free update, It presents a whole host changes, most notably a revamped visual style that's a lot more colorful OS X. The enhanced look includes transparencies, minimized skeuomorphic assets and reduced shadowing.

Apple also points out Continuity features that let users place and receive phone calls, send and receive SMS texts and create instant hotspots with a connected iPhone.

Download OS X Yosemite for free through the Mac App Store. The update comes in at 5.16GB and is compatible with OS X 10.6.8 or later.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

iPhone 6 Plus vs Nexus 6

How does the Apple iPhone 6 compare to Google's current Nexus 6?

Credits to : Phone Arena

Here's the spec sheet of each device side-by-side:

Component	Nexus 6 Specs	iPhone 6 Plus Specs
Screen size	5.96 inches	5.5 inches
Screen type	OLED	IPS LCD
Resolution	2560 x 1440	1920 x 1080
Pixel density	493 ppi	401 ppi
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon 805	Apple A8
Type	Quad-core	64-bit
Speed	2.7 GHz	Not given
GPU	Adreno 420	Not given
RAM	3GB	1GB
Storage	32GB or 64GB	16/64/128GB
Expansion	No	No
Camera	13MP optical stabilized	8-megapixel iSight with 1.5µ pixels and optical stabilization
Flash	Dual LED	True Tone flash
Front-facer	2MP with 1.4 um pixels	1.2-megapixel FaceTime
Battery	3220mAh	14hr talk time/10 day standby
OS	Android 5.0 Lollipop	iOS 8
Bands	Varies by country/carrier	Varies – includes UMTS/HSPA+ DC-HSDPA LTE and CDMA EV-DO
SIM type	Nano-SIM	Nano-SIM
Bluetooth	Bluetooth 4.1	4.0
WiFi	802.11ac 2×2 (MIMO)	802.11a/b/g/n/ac
NFC	Present	Present
Infrared	No	No
Sensors	Accelerometer / gyro / magnetometer / prox / ambient light / haptics / Hall effect / barometer	Fingerprint barometer gyroscope accelerometer proximity ambient light
Build	Anodized aluminum	Anodized aluminum
Size	82.98 x 159.26 x 10.06mm / 184g	158.1mm x 77.8mm x 7.1mm / 172g

Apple accidentally leaks iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 on Official iPad User Guide

An official iPad user guide for iOS 8 in the iTunes Store accidentally reveals the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3, both featuring a Touch ID fingerprint sensing home button. Aside from the addition of Touch ID, it seems these latest iPads will look nearly identical to their predecessors.

Further information within the guide suggests the iPad Air 2 camera will gain a new burst mode for taking pictures with the rear iSight camera.

Apple will introduce the next-generation iPad Air and Retina iPad mini tomorrow, at an event held on its Cupertino campus. Along with Touch ID, the iPad Air is said to be gaining an A8X processor, a new anti-reflective display, and a gold color option.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

iPad Air 2 Part Leaks Point to A8X Chip, 2GB RAM & Touch ID

Dummy leaks by Vietnamese blog Tinhte.vn

Ahead of next Thursday’s Apple event, a newly leaked logic board claimed to be from a 2014 iPad Air purports to show an A8X processor, as well as an Elpida RAM module with 2 gigabytes of memory and Touch ID.

The new image published by Apple.club.tw seems to point towards 2GB of RAM for the device. Though the image of the RAM on the logic board is low resolution and fuzzy, enhancing the contrast and the brightness reveals a bit of information about the numbers on the chip.

Long rumored for the 2014 iPad update, these new images seem to confirm that Touch ID will be making its way to Apple’s tablet line for the first time. Above, you can see an image of the iPad’s Home button with the stainless steel detection ring.

Apple is planning to introduce a second-generation iPad Air in October, at a media event that will be held on October 16.

Monday, October 13, 2014

How to Update to iOS 8 Without Deleting Anything

iOS 8, Apple's newest software operating system for iPhone, iPad, iPad mini and iPod touch, launched on the evening of 17 September, bringing a plethora of great new features.

In order to install iOS 8 on your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch, you’ll need free space up to 5.8 gigabytes depending on the phone model.

Instead of installing Over-the-Air, iPhone and iPad users with limited storage space will need to install via iTunes. iTunes doesn’t require users to have free space to download. Installing iOS 8 over iTunes is far less convenient but it’s the only way you’re going to be able to install iOS 8 without deleting apps, music, and other files.

To install the iOS 8 with iTunes, plug the iPhone or iPad into the proper computer and sync. Users will be prompted to make a backup, something that is key before installing a large update like iOS 8, and users will also be required to enter the passcode if one is active. Once those are taken care of, the installation process will begin.

Dropbox Hacked? Over 7 Million Accounts

An unnamed hacker group is claiming that it has accessed 6,937,081 Dropbox accounts. Hackers posted the accounts with plain text passwords onto Pastebin.com, in what appear to be working logins according to a significant number of social media reports and Reddit users confirming working logins.

The Pastebin message at the top of one of the leaks is as follows:

“Here is another batch of Hacked Dropbox accounts from the massive hack of 7,000,000 accounts
To see plenty more, just search on pastebin for the term Dropbox hack. More to come, keep showing your support”

Martin Hajek has asked the question “What if the new iPad’s were to borrow the design language from the iPhone6/6+?” on his site.

You can view samples of Hajek’s design concept below.

Grayscale mode is a new accessibility feature available in iOS 8. It's a useful option for anyone who is color blind. If you enable grayscale it will replace all colors with a range of gray shades from white to black.

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