iPad By Davis: “Apple is looking to expand Siri’s conversational skills and features according to a new job posting” plus 13 more

Apple is looking to expand Siri’s conversational skills and features according to a new job posting
How to create and accept Calendar invitations on your iPhone and iPad
Apple adds new Read Them Here First section to Newsstand
Iterate 38: Aged & Distilled and Napkin
Dolphin browser for iPhone and iPad updated with Evernote integration, Wi-Fi broadcast, and more
Kikstart: A Great iPad User Guide App
Shows concert finder gets new detail view, iPhone 5 and iOS 6 love
Refurbished 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina now available for 15% off from Apple
Rolling Stone Magazine Now Has an iPad Edition
Sponsor: Love your iPad? Show it how much you care, keep it shiny
Kaleidoscope 2 for Mac lets you quickly, powerfully find and merge differences in text, code, and images
TitleFX for iPad Updated – New Fonts & More
Deal of the Day: 40% off BodyGuardz Sentinel Premium Wallet Folio for iPad mini
Amazon MP3 store gets optimized for iPhone, iPod touch

Apple is looking to expand Siri’s conversational skills and features according to a new job posting

Posted: 18 Jan 2013 12:12 AM PST

Apple looking to improve Siri's conversational skills with new job posting Apple is seeking some fresh blood to help improve Siri. A job advertisement appeared on the business orientated social networking site LinkedIn yesterday seeking an individual who can help evolve and enrich Siri, Apple's personal digital assistant.

We're looking for a uniquely creative individual to help us evolve and enrich Siri, our virtual personal assistant. Siri's known for 'her' wit, cultural knowledge, and zeal to explain things in engaging, funny, and practical ways. The ideal candidate is someone who combines a love for language, wordplay, and conversation with demonstrated experience in bringing creative content to life within an intense technical environment.

Siri has been a huge success since its launch alongside the iPhone 4S; however there is still room for a lot of improvements. It is far too common for Siri to not understand what you have said or just not respond at all and that leads to a frustrating user experience. Siri has a huge future, there is no doubt about that but it needs to improve dramatically. It is good to see that Apple is looking for creative people to help steer Siri in the right direction. If you fancy applying for the position you can find all the information at Linkedin.

Source: Linkedin

How to create and accept Calendar invitations on your iPhone and iPad

Posted: 17 Jan 2013 06:55 PM PST

How to create and accept Calendar invitations on your iPhone and iPad

If you've got friends and family that use the default Calendar app on their iPhones and iPads, you can easily collaborate and share events and calendars with each other. This is great for families who want a shared calendar due to having a lot of events in common. If you've got colleagues that you work with often and share the same schedules, inviting them to calendars and events you've already created makes life a lot easier than sending emails that don't need to be sent. They can also do the same and share theirs with you.

Follow along and we'll show you how.

How to share an event on your iPhone and iPad

Launch the Calendar app from the Home screen of your iPhone and iPad
Either create a new event or tap an existing event you'd like to share.
Tap on the Edit button in the upper right hand corner.
Tap on Invitees under the Edit options menu.
Either start typing the name of a contact, or tap on the blue + button in the right of the to field to access your Contacts list.
Tap the contact name and, if they have multiple email addresses, tap the email address you want to send the invitation to.
Repeat the process for each person you'd like to invite.
Tap the Done button in the upper right hand corner when you're finished.

The invitation will now be sent by email to everyone you've added.

How to accept an event invitation on your iPhone and iPad

Launch the Calendar app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on the Inbox button in the lower right hand corner, or tap on the grayed out event that appears outlined in your event list
Tap accept to add the event to your calendar. Tap decline or maybe to refuse the invitation or wait so you can decide later.

How to share a calendar on your iPhone and iPad

Note: Calendar sharing currently only works with iCloud calendars. Both you, and the person you want to share the calendar with, have to be using iCloud.

Launch the Calendar app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on the Calendars button in the upper left hand corner of the main calendar view.
Tap on the blue arrow next to the name of the iCloud calendar you'd like to share.
Tap the Add Person... option under the Shared with... header.
Either start typing the name of a contact, or tap on the blue + button in the right of the to field to access your Contacts list.
Tap the contact name and, if they have multiple email addresses, tap the email address (remember, iCloud only) you want to send the invitation to.
Repeat the process for each person you'd like to invite.
Tap the Done button in the upper right hand corner.

The calendar will now be shared with everyone who's iCloud account you've added.

How to accept a shared calendar invite on your iPhone and iPad

Launch the Calendar app from the Home screen of your iPhone or iPad.
Tap on the Inbox button in the lower right hand corner, or tap on the grayed out event that appears outlined in your event list
Tap on Join Calendar to accept the shared calendar. Tap Decline if you don't want to add the shared calendar.

The shared calendar will now appear in your list of calendars and filter into your Calendar app.

Apple adds new Read Them Here First section to Newsstand

Posted: 17 Jan 2013 06:20 PM PST

Apple adds new Read Them Here First section to Newsstand

Apple has added a new section to iTunes that features magazines with issues that are published ahead of the print edition or other digital editions. Called Read Them Here First, the section currently features twenty magazines from Hearst publishing, including Cosmopolitan, Popular Mechanics, and Car and Driver. TechCrunch's Darrell Etherington reports that the exclusivity window for new issues will vary by publication:

The exclusive arrangement varies by individual publication in terms of how far in advance you'll be able to get the various Hearst titles compared to in print and from other online storefronts like Amazon's Kindle marketplace, but each will be available at least a few days in advance, I'm told. Existing subscribers will get early access, as well as those signing up for the first time.

Hearst seems to have had a good deal of success with Newsstand for them to be willing to make this deal. With this arrangement, Apple gains a competitive advantage over rivals like Amazon, while also gaining an established position from which they can negotiate other such deals with publishers in the future should they decide to give this a try. Hearst is undoubtedly only the first publisher to make this sort of deal with Apple. Newsstand has been a boon for many publications, and it wouldn't be surprising if more publications made deals like this one sooner rather than later.

Source: iTunes, TechCrunch

Iterate 38: Aged & Distilled and Napkin

Posted: 17 Jan 2013 06:02 PM PST

Iterate 38: Aged & Distilled and Napkin

Marc, Seth, and Rene talk to Guy English, Chris Parrish, and Thomas Unterberger about Aged & Distilled's new image annotation app, Napkin, it's origins, the choices they made, and how they got it shipped.

Show notes

Napkin

Guests

Guy English (@gte) of Kicking Bear
Chris Parrish (@twenty3)
Thomas Unterberger (@ottokajetan)

Hosts

Marc Edwards (@marcedwards) of Bjango
Seth Clifford (@sethclifford) of Nickelfish
Rene Ritchie (@reneritchie) of iMore.com

Feedback

Yell at us on Twitter via the above accounts. Loudly.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Dolphin browser for iPhone and iPad updated with Evernote integration, Wi-Fi broadcast, and more

Posted: 17 Jan 2013 02:38 PM PST

Dolphin browser for iPhone and iPad updated with Evernote integration, Wi-Fi broadcast, and more

Dolphin, a popular alternative browser for iPhone and iPad has been updated with a slew of new features including Evernote integration that allows you to send web content directly from your clipboard straight to Evernote. Other new features include WiFi Broadcast, Dolphin Connect, easier sharing features, and more.

The two largest features in the Dolphin update are WiFi Broadcast and Dolphin Connect. The first, Wi-Fi Broadcast, allows you to easily send web pages to friends wirelessly and over-the-air as long as you're both connected to the same network. If you've found a page that you'd like to share, you can choose WiFi Broadcast from the menu. Your pages will then show up in the shared pool to anyone on the same network. They can then jump on through Dolphin Browser and pull the page you shared by just tapping on it.

Dolphin Connect, the next large feature, allows you to sync all your Dolphin content wirelessly through your browsers. Things such as pages and bookmarks can now be accessed from any device running Dolphin Browser or that has an extension for it installed. Popular web browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, and Safari already have active plugins and will work out of the gate.

Aside from WiFi Broadcast and Dolphin Connect, updates have been made that allow you to share your content to your social networks quicker and easier than before. If you'd like to send some web content to Evernote, you can now do that by just copying it to the clipboard and sending it straight to Evernote. The feature is still labeled as beta but seems to work rather well.

If you're tired of Safari or don't find it powerful enough for you, Dolphin is a great alterative, and at the price of free, there's nothing to lose. Hit the link below to download it for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

Free - Download Now

Kikstart: A Great iPad User Guide App

Posted: 17 Jan 2013 01:59 PM PST

Kikstart is a learning app for anyone who is brand new to the iPad and wants to get to know it better, and for those who have been using the iPad for some time but would like to learn to use it more effectively and get more out of it. It's published by BCS, [...]

Kaleidoscope 2 from Black Pixel lets you take code, text, images, and even folders and quickly, clearly see the differences between multiple versions. While that sounds simple in theory, it's not. Making differential data make sense, doing it in a way that's useful and actionable, and packaging it in an app built for people who build apps, well, that requires some serious kung-fu.

Sofa created the first version of Kaleidoscope and later, after they were acquired by Facebook, they sold it to Black Pixel. With a long history of contract work, making some of the best apps you'll never know they made, Black Pixel wanted to start shipping software of their own. Kaleidoscope 2 is their first.

Listen to Black Pixel's Michael Jurewitz (Jury) talk about Kaleidoscope 2, and the challenges of making and selling developer tools, in episode 3 of the Debug podcast.

Getting started with Kaleidoscope 2 is lightning fast. You can open, save, and close files, sure. But you can also drag bits of text and images directly into the app, or onto the Dock icon, or simply paste from the clipboard and just get right to work.

I'll admit right now, Kaleidoscope 2 is a tough app for me to review. It's above my weight class. If you've ever played around in iMovie or GarageBand and then launched Final Cut Pro or Logic, or if you've ever been dropped into the middle of Halo or Call of Duty for the first time, you'll know what I mean. I'm not a developer, but Kaleidoscope 2 makes me wish I was. There's so much there that I can only poke around at, glimpse the edges of, and hit up my developer and designer friends about. However, there's also more than enough for a relative lightweight like me.

I write a lot of reviews in BBEdit, and sometimes, especially for the big device reviews, I accrue multiple versions. Sometimes I like parts of one and parts of another, or multiple others. Sometimes just a turn of phrase. Sometimes just the structure of a paragraph or section. Trying to manually integrate that stuff is a pain in the ass. Trying to do it in something like Word is a pain in the soul. Doing it in Kaleidoscope 2 is breeze. I wish I'd had something like Kaleidoscope when I wrote my first novel, and I'll be counting on it when I finally get around to writing the next one.

For text, you get support for TXT and HTML, and can extract text from RTF and DOC. There's two-way and three-way merge, and you can see added, deleted, and changed text in block, fluid, or unified layout, and quickly step through changes.

I don't get to do a lot of design anymore, but we have a design department here at Mobile Nations and we have a few big projects going on at the moment. We also have our daily content, and the photography and image work that goes with it. The ability to quickly, visually compare everything from differences between wireframes and renders from the design department -- yes, busted, you did change that! -- to how a hero shot looks with proper white balance and tonal range -- yes, dagnabit, I did have to fix it! -- is triumphantly satisfying.

For images, you get support for JPG, PNG, TIF, PNG, and most other common formats, in RGB, CMYK, and LAB, with alpha, in one-up, two-up, split, and difference layouts.

For folders, you get support for any number, with filters, safe bulk copying, and auto-refresh so what you're looking at always reflects what's actually there.

And it's not just about the deltas. Kaleidoscope supports code reviews as well. Doug Russell wrote about the KSReview feature on the Black Pixel blog:

KSReview compares all of the work done on a feature branch since it diverged from master (or from another branch you specify) while filtering out any other activity from that branch that might otherwise get in your way. We use this ourselves every day and we think it is a fantastic way to do code reviews.

Again, I won't pretend to grok all the fancy stuff you can do from there, like integration with Subversion, Git, Mercurial, Bazaar, and Perforce, so your source isn't only controlled, but clean and sane, or the complex conflict resolutions and levels of folder comparison ninjary you can get into, but it looks beyond useful.

Developer tools, even comparison tools in general, are for a highly select, often very difficult to impress audience. The first comparison they want to make is between the new tool and whatever they're currently, comfortably doing (or not doing, as the case may be.) They're a hard sell. However, for this same audience, time is absolutely worth more than money. Anything that smooths a workflow and shaves precious seconds off a process, or simply gets a project out of the weeds just a little bit faster, is invaluable. Even if it's not needed every day, it can be a life-saver when it is.

That's why I think Black Pixel's first app will also be their first hit.

Kaleidoscope 2 requires OS X 10.7.3 and is available both on the Mac App Store and directly from Black Pixel on the web. If you buy the MAS version and later decide you'd really prefer the non-Sandboxed, slightly more developer-centric version from Black Pixel, you can download and unlock it simply by running it on the same machine on which you've previously run the MAS version. That's a fantastic, and extremely customer-friendly feature from Black Pixel, and one that I hope other developers steal immediately.

If you've been looking for a tool like this, or if you've used Kaleidoscope in its previous incarnation, Kaleidoscope 2 is currently available at 50% off -- $34.99 until January 30. There's a lot more information available on their website, and also a 15-day trial available so you can make sure like it before you buy it.

$34.99 on sale - Mac App Store - Download now
$34.99 on sale - Web - Download now

TitleFX for iPad Updated – New Fonts & More

Posted: 17 Jan 2013 08:45 AM PST

TitleFx, an excellent iPad app for adding great looking titles and text to your images, has been updated this week – to Version 1.1.0. The focus of this update is a 'huge overhaul' of the font selection and a series of additions and enhancements to typography and general effects. Here's the full change list: This [...]