Thursday, May 28, 2015

Apple iOS 9 Has Master Plan To Cut Out Google

With over $100BN in the bank right now Apple AAPL -0.4% is doing what it does best: fighting for independence. For years the Cupertino-based company has battled to secure its own exclusive hardware deals, software patents and proactively do away with dependence on key rivals.

Perhaps the most famous instance of this is Apple Maps, which (jokes aside) was designed purely to stop Apple being beholden to Google GOOGL -0.18%. Well now Apple looks set to kick another key Google service to the curb…

Goodbye Google Now

According to 9to5Mac (which has been on a roll), next week Apple will unveil ‘Proactive’ as a key new service built into iOS 9. Proactive will aggregate information across Siri, Contacts, Calendar, Passbook, and third-party apps to create contextually aware information.

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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Over 1,000 iMac aquariums sold: Fish screensavers are still in style

In fond memory of those aquarium screensavers, people have been building aquariums inside old Macs for years. However, you usually have to assemble them yourself. Nebraska resident Jake Harms, on the other hand, sells his creations to people around the globe.

"As far as I know I'm the only weirdo in the world building iMacAquariums for sale," he says on his website. In addition to turning old G3s into fish tanks, Harms repurposes the domelike bases of iMac G4s into lamps and the disc tray covers from eMacs into desk clocks.

He's built over 1,000 aquariums from old iMac G3 computers, according to a story on Omaha.com.

To make an "iMacAquarium," Harms basically guts an old G3 and inserts a custom-made 3.5-gallon acrylic box inside that holds the water and fish. (It's still important to choose a fish that will thrive in a tank this size.) He equips the box with a filter and runs rope lights around it, then places it all back inside the Mac and puts the outer casing back on. He then buffs the outer shell to get it nice and shiny. The result is a home for fish that would make a great gift for any techie.

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iOS 9 preview: Looking ahead to Apple's next operating system for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch

Apple iOS 9 preview
iOS 9, the next version of Apple's software operating system for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, is expected to be unveiled at WWDC 2015 next month. Our iOS 9 preview looks ahead to the announcement and subsequent launch, and considers the ways in which iOS 9 will change the way we interact with our Apple devices.

See also: iOS 9 release date rumours

iOS 9 preview: Visual design & interface
Most of the time, the look of iOS evolves at a glacial pace: there has been just one really radical visual overhaul in the past eight versions. (This was the controversial redesign of iOS 7 that annoyed quite a lot of users, although most of us have grown used to it by now.)

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