Top Bananas | Tag Archives: iOS

The March Towards Smart Glasses

Posted on June 16, 2018 by admin Posted in Hardware, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Google tried smart glasses with Google Glass, but Apple may define the market in the future.

When Google released Google Glass, there wasn’t a compelling reason to use it. Beyond the creepy ability to video someone without their knowledge, Google Glass offered little in the way of features that would solve actual problems. That’s why Apple is refining augmented reality first on the iPhone and iPad. Once people find augmented reality useful and get comfortable (and dependent) on it, then they’ll be able to shift people easily into smart glasses.

Think of how Apple introduced the iPad. Rather than develop a tablet and expect everyone to adopt it for no reason (think of Microsoft’s original Surface tablets tuning Windows RT), Apple created the iPhone and got people excited and used to touch screens on a smartphone. Then it was easy to shift people to the larger iPad screen especially because the iPad ran iOS and could run iPhone apps as well. Now that people have embraced both the iPhone and iPad, the iPad is diverging from the iPhone but both products are firmly entrenched in the public’s mind.

Augmented reality is Apple’s way to hesitantly step forward into the future by offering features that gradually get people used to its uses. Beyond playing Pokemon GO, augmented reality will soon offer more interesting features that people will depend on, such as walking or driving directions that display useful sights along the way. Once people get used to directions through augmented reality, it’s a small step to put that augmented reality view in smart glasses that people can use.

Smart glasses will essentially be an iPhone screen visible at all times without forcing you to hold a device in front of your eyes. After people get dependent on augmented reality through an iPhone, smart glasses will be an easy transition.

Augmented reality is the key to the transition form the smartphone to the tablet to smart glasses. Google had to revise their augmented reality framework drastically to catch up to Apple, but Apple is slowly plowing ahead. With augmented reality easy to use on iOS devices, this will be one feature used to attract people to the iOS platform. Eventually Android will be forced to catch up but augmented reality will pave the way towards smart glasses eventually.

Augmented reality is a technology with more potential at this point than actual products, but that will change over time. Augmented reality is the next user interface that will drive the mobile and smart glasses wearable market in the future.

To learn more about Apple’s augmented reality plans, click here.

Porting iOS Apps to macOS

Posted on June 14, 2018 by admin Posted in Programming, Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple will soon release a tool making it easy for iOS apps to run on macOS.

The iOS App Store contains millions of apps so Apple has created a software framework that will allow iOS developers to port their apps to macOS. The goal is to make it easy for iOS developers to sell their apps on iOS and macOS.

These iOS ports aren’t simply duplicating iOS apps on maCOS but to make it easy to create native macOS apps from iOS apps. Apple has done this with their own apps (News and Stocks) but the macOS versions of these apps will offer slightly different features that make them unique to macOS. By doing this, iOS apps won’t just look like boring duplicates of iOS apps that don’t quite feel or look right on a Macintosh.

Developers can quickly port their iOS apps to macOS but then they’ll need to modify their apps for the Macintosh screen, mouse, and keyboard. So if you’re looking to create an app, it would make the most sense to start with iOS and then port to macOS. Not only is iOS a larger and more lucrative market, but porting apps from macOS to iOS may be harder since you have to focus on touch screen interaction. It’s easy to adopt an app to go from a touch screen to a mouse and keyboard. It’s not as easy to go the other way since making a mouse and keyboard interface int o a touch screen can lead to awkward user interface designs. Just look at Windows 8.

Of course, developers can get lazy and simply do a port from iOS to macOS, but then their macOS app won’t look and feel optimized for the Macintosh screen, which will likely result in poor adoption. The bottom line is that this new software framework will help boost the number of useful apps available for the Macintosh.

ARKit 2 and the New Augmented Reality Features

Posted on June 5, 2018 by admin Posted in Programming, Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple announced ARKit 2, the latest version of their augmented reality framework.

After Apple acquired Metaio, a German augmented reality company, Apple has yet to implement all of Metaio’s technology. If you look for old Metaio videos on YouTube, you can see features form back in 2013 that are still unavailable in Apple’s ARKit. Most likely, Apple is slowly integrating Metaio’s technology with their own Swift framework. That means if you want to see the future of augmented reality, just look at the old Metaio videos still available on YouTube.

Apple recently revealed their latest version of ARKit, version 2. What’s surprising is how ARKit now allows multi-player games where multiple people can share a single augmented reality view. LEGO demonstrated an actual LEGO kit surrounded by augmented reality images that two people can manipulate. Apple also demonstrated a two player game that displays virtual blocks on a table where each player uses a slingshot to knock the other player’s blocks down. The big future of ARKit 2 is that it allows one person to place an augmented reality object in the real world and a second person can see that same virtual image as well.

For now, ARKit 2 focuses on games but the ability to place virtual objects in the real world creates the potential for people to place virtual treasures in the real world so other people can view it later. Stores might place discount coupons in their aisles that only someone with an iOS device can find. By making shopping more like a video game, stores can actively engage shoppers and keep them in the store longer. The longer people are in stores, the more likely they’ll buy something.

The real potential of augmented reality likely won’t hit until ARKit finally matches Metaio’s technology from 2013. With augmented reality a key feature of iOS, expect augmented reality to start driving more people to use iOS just to use augmented reality in the same way that people once bought Windows PCs just to run Windows software. Augmented reality is still gaining traction int he real world, but it will arrive faster than you might think.

To learn more about ARKit 2’s latest features, click here.

Group FaceTime Chats

Posted on June 4, 2018 by admin Posted in Software, User Interface Leave a comment

What it is: Apple announced FaceTime will allow upon to 32 people to chat at once.

FaceTime gives people a chance to talk through audio and video, much like the futuristic telephone calling that phone companies have been predicting for decades. In the past, FaceTime only let two people talk to each other, but now in the new iOS 12 coming soon, FaceTime will allow up to 32 people to chat in a single FaceTime conversati0n. Not only can multiple people talk, but as soon as one person starts talking, that person’s image automatically comes to the front in a larger size so you can see the person actually speaking.

FaceTime group conversations will allow business people to share ideas without forcing everyone to meet in a single place. Unlike a meeting, you can be anywhere you want without wasting time traveling to a location and being stuck in a room. Now you can hide in the comfort of your home.

What’s even more remarkable is that iOS 12 will run on any iPhone or iPad that can also run iOS 11. Besides speeding up your iOS device, older iOS devices can run advanced features like FaceTime. This will allow more people to use FaceTime as well.

FaceTime will give people a chance to create impromptu chats as easily as making a phone call. While people may have made group chats in the past using special software, FaceTime lets people create chats without any special software at all so there’s no learning curve.

Group FaceTime chats may not be the main reason to upgrade to iOS 12 but since iOS 12 is free and speeds up your iOS devices, and runs on any iOS device that can run iOS 11, you might as well upgrade to iOS 12 and get FaceTime group chats if you want. By upgrading to iOS 12, you’ll get new features, faster performance, and (hopefully) fewer bugs. iOS 12 is basically a no-brainer upgrade so there’s no reason not to upgrade as soon as iOS 12 is available later this year.

Advanced ARKit Features Coming to WWDC

Posted on May 30, 2018 by admin Posted in Software Leave a comment

What it is: More advanced features of ARKit are rumored to appear at Apple’s upcoming WWDC in June.

When Apple introduced ARKit to create augmented reality apps, the demos were interesting but nothing impressive. What makes Apple’s ARKit seem so timid is that it’s based largely on Metaio’s technology, which is a German company that Apple acquired in 2015. Yet if you search for Metaio’s videos on YouTube, you can find an interesting augmented reality app called Time Traveler.

The goal behind Time Traveler is that if you stand in a certain location and aim your iOS device at a certain image, you can see a historical video playing. This lets you point an iPhone or iPad at a boarded up window along the Berlin Wall and see an old black and video of people climbing out of the window to jump to freedom in West Berlin. This type of augmented reality is still not yet available in ARKit three years later after Metaio clearly demonstrated these features back in 2013.

What this means is that if you want to get a glimpse of future features in ARKit, you just need to look at Metaio’s past videos on YouTube. Apple likely created ARKit to provide the foundation for augmented reality development. Now they’ll need to beef up its capabilities to match the features Metaio demonstrated yard ago.

Apple is simply transitioning Metaio’s technology to Swift and Objective-C as a software framework that they can develop further in the future. So while ARKit is still behind Metaio’s old 2013 technology, it points to what’s coming in ARKit. Once ARKit matches the features in Metaio’s old technology, it will only continue growing from there.

To see the future of ARKit, just look at the past with Metaio’s videos. The future is right in front of everyone’s eyes to see. It’s just a matter of time before people will recognize it.

To see what Metaio had planned for augmented reality years ago that included interactive manuals and educational apps, click here.

Beware of Pre-Installed Android Malware

Posted on May 24, 2018 by admin Posted in Software Leave a comment

What it is: Anti-virus company Avast has found malware is pre-installed on many cheap Android phones.

Originally Android was designed as a Blackberry clone because Blackberries were the most popular smartphones available. When Apple introduced the iPhone, Google quickly rewrote Android to become an iOS clone. While Android and iOS continue to copy each other, the bottom line is that Android wouldn’t exist in its current incarnation if Google didn’t deliberately redesign it to mimic iOS on the iPhone.

As an operating system, Android is decent and there are many features of Android not found in iOS (and vice versa). The huge difference between Android and iOS lies in security. Because Apple curates apps on its App Store, the chances of malware getting displayed on the App Store is minimal although it has happened several times. On the other hand, Android allows anyone to install apps with no curation at all, which means users can often be tricked into installing malware.

While many people can avoid malware by simply avoiding visiting suspicious sites, Avast Threat Labs recently discovered that many cheap Android phone makers are pre-isntalling malware on the phones before anyone even buys or uses it. Thus you can buy an infected Android phone and not even know it.

The problem isn’t Google’s fault but the fault of dishonest Android phone makers. If you’re going to buy a smartphone running Android, make sure your smartphone is certified by Google. Failing that, make sure you run anti-virus software to keep your Android phone clean. For even less hassle, just buy and use an iPhone.

Malware is the main reason why Android’s open source policy isn’t always a benefit. The main idea behind open source is that users are free to install any apps they wish from any place they wish. The drawback is that users must also watch out for malware.

The iPhone isn’t immune to malware but because of its walled garden approach to apps, it’s far less likely to get infected by malware. No device is immune but given a choice between minimal risk or maximum risk, why would anyone want to choose maximum risk?