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Many prayers were answered on Monday, when Apple announced that iOS 8 would support third party keyboards. That means you folks complaining that Swype doesn’t work on iPhone, don’t need to complain anymore. This, in addition to the new native keyboard functionality means that typing on iOS device just got a lot better. It is…
Instead of jumping head first into the smart home market by allowing iOS users to (finally) control all of their connected appliances and devices from a single app, Apple has instead decided to tip-toe through the connected home’s front door with a new API feature called HomeKit that ensures everything can be securely connected wirelessly,…
Apple has finally made its Notification Center functional. Now, you can include info- and function-packed widgets right in your Notifications screen. The new widget functions are part of iOS’s new, overall extensibility, but here, your apps have been molded into Notification Center-friendly form. For instance, if you have the eBay app, you’ll be able to…
Until now, Apple has had very stringent rules about how apps can run in iOS. Apps have always run in “sandboxes” so they can’t talk to each other. Apple is finally loosening this restriction so that apps can work together. In short, Apple is expanding its support of extensibility, so that apps will be able…
According to the German newspaper Bild, this plane nearly landed short on a beachside runway in Heligoland—an island in northern Germany—passing just a few inches over a guy who was sunbathing. The video is pretty damn impressive. Lucky guy. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook
Choosing the right bike can be a difficult process, but now there’s an obvious choice for those with more money than sense: this frankly insane gold-plated Salsa Mukluk, which weighs in at a startling $1,000,000. Created by the House of Solid Gold, the so-called Beverly Hills Edition of the Mukluk is embellished and encrusted with…
As rumored, Siri will be getting Shazam song recognition in Apple iOS 8, so that figuring out what you’re listening to is as easy as holding down your home button. This is faster, increasing the likelihood that the song won’t end before you figure out what it is.
An amateur filmmaker rode a motorcycle from Moscow to newly-Russian Crimea for the Victory Day parade. How has the peninsula changed since the surprisingly bloodless annexation? Here’s his perspective. While perusing Reddit the other day, I found a link to this video. Could someone really have ridden through Crimea so soon following the controversial annexation…
Group chats are the worst, but Apple is making them a little less bad in iOS 8, by giving you the ability to leave them. Thank god!
One of our biggest frustrations with iOS devices has been the less-than-stellar stock keyboard. iOS 8 fixes that with Quicktype, a predictive, content-sensitive keyboard with multiple layouts that learns the phrases you use most and fills them in. It’s about ducking time. Update: Thanks to Extensions, iOS 8 also supports third-party keyboard apps (like Swype)…
The new Apple iOS 8 presented at WWDC 2014 is a lot more than Healthkit—Apple’s new vital statistics monitoring system—and a few adjustments to the interface introduced last year. Here you will find the complete catalog of new features along with live commentary on all of them. Healthkit Apple has created a new API called…
Apple’s new desktop operating systemOS X 10.10 Yosemite will be available as a public beta this summer, and just like Mavericks before it, it will be free.
The Panasonic Vortex nose and facial hair trimmer is one of our favorite pieces of shaving gear, not to mention one of the most popular items we’ve ever listed. Today, you can get one for a mere $9 after clipping the $3 coupon, which is easily the best price we’ve ever seen. [Panasonic Vortex, $9…
At today’s WWDC conference, Apple made a string of announcement that essentially turns all your devices into one, synchronized, Apple-fueled monster. The most notable of these is the fact that, in OS X Yosemite, Apple is more or less literally turning you computer into a second phone, allowing you to receive both calls and texts…
Apple just announced on stage at WWDC iCloud Drive, its cloud storage syncing system that sounds sneakily similar to Dropbox. iCloud Drive syncs your stuff across all your devices, and across all platforms—even Windows. Documents are now accessible from the Finder and syncing is automatic. Which means, iCloud is better. And that’s a good thing.…
Apple’s follow up to OS X 10.9 Mavericks, will be OS X Yosemite, following with the theme of naming OS versions after impressive California landmarks. Last year’s WWDC was all about giving iOS an overhaul. This year’s star will be Apple’s desktop operating system. Here’s what you need to know. As we suspected, the new…
They’re not going to turn you into a Doctor Octopus-like super villain, but the next time you’re trying to open a door with your arms full, you’ll see the value in this extra set of shoulder-worn robot arms being developed at MIT. Just don’t get your hopes up about flipping away speeding cars that are…
The idea of truly flexible displays never gets boring, and now Plastic Logic is taking us one step closer. Its latest flexible OLED is the world’s first to be made using fully organic transistors—and it’s surprisingly pleasing display could wrap around your entire wrist. The bendable screen, which features 256 grey levels and full 30fps…
In 2008 someone broke into Rob Norman’s house. He had speculated about this situation since he was a kid and thought of different heroic ways of repealing an attack. When it actually happened, he realized that he wasn’t Bruce Willis in Die Hard. He was weak and instantly submissive—like most of us would be if…
The answer probably depends on who you ask, but Fox’s Animation Domination High Def nails what looks like a pretty perfect day on the net. It’s got all the social media, Internet culture, and gaming most of us live with, but everything is great. Getting up-votes on Reddit, kills streaks online, and nothing bad happening…
