WWDC Starts Today

Today June 10 at 10 am Pacific Time, Apple will let the public in on the latest iOS, upcoming iOS 7.

Much more is expected, including a glimpse of the latest operating system for Apple computers, OS X 10.9. Perhaps, they will even reveal which cat the OS will be named after.

Apple may be streaming the event from its website as well. According to Apple, you can “watch streaming video from the special event online or via Apple TV. Live Streaming video requires Safari 4 or later on Mac OS X v10.6 or later; Safari on iOS 4.2 or later. Streaming via Apple TV requires second- or third-generation Apple TV with software 5.0.2 or later.”

If you can’t be there, you can “listen” in at the MacWorld WWDC live blog page.

You can also download the WWDC app from Apple to follow along. Although the video sessions are for Registered Apple Developers only, the rest of the app may provide helpful information about the events taking place during the conference.

There may be a few surprises and product updates announced as well, including a new streaming radio service.

Ignition Remote Access App Updated

Ignition is an app that runs on your iPhone and iPad and works with LogMeIn software on your computers (Mac or PC). Using the app, you can remotely control your computer and accomplish other tasks.

The app was updated to version 3.3.2119.

The Key Features identified by the developer are.
• Remote access to all your computers, files and applications
• File manager for transferring files remotely and saving files to your device
• Wake-On-Lan for waking a sleeping computer remotely
• Print to AirPrint-compatible printers
• Attach files to emails directly from Ignition
• Photo management for transferring photos from/to photo library
• HD video and sound streaming from your remote computer to your mobile device (available for Windows, Mac coming soon)
• My Cloud Bank integration that links Ignition with popular cloud services.

The various fixes and updates include:

- Cubby is now in the app! Go to My Cloud Bank and tap the Cubby logo to access 5 GB of free cloud space. No additional subscription required!
- The login page has a new look
- We now refer to your LogMeIn account email as a LogMeIn ID; you can use it to log in to LogMeIn.com, join.me and cubby.com
- The app now generates less network traffic
- If the computer you are controlling uses a transparent cursor, the app now displays the cursor more accurately
- The app now supports Basic Authorization Proxy and PAC Proxy
- When you restart the app, we remember your previously opened cloud services
- During remote control, you’ll find an on/off switch for Remote Sound under remote control settings (the gear icon)
- Anything typed on your iPhone/iPad keyboard will appear on the host exactly as entered, even if the PC or Mac uses a different keyboard layout than your iPhone/iPad (you may need to update LogMeIn on your PC or Mac).
- For Windows users, we’ve added an optional feature called Focus Tracking that automatically places the most recently opened window in the center of your iPhone/iPad screen
- We made various bug fixes

You can read more about the remote access here or read the User Guide.

If you need to remotely access your computer on the go from your iOS device, this Ignition may be the app for you.

WWDC App Updated

Apple has updated its WWDC app. This iOS universal app can be used to follow along each day of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco beginning Monday June 10.

If you are not an Apple developer, you can still use the app – just tap Cancel when you are prompted to sign in as a developer.

The fixes include:

• Videos now continue to play over AirPlay when the device locks or after interruptions, e.g., a phone call
• When playing videos, the audio ringer switch no longer mutes audio
• Favorites in Events go all the way to 11 PM
• Duplicate section headers in the videos list no longer appear
• The navigation bar in Events no longer disappears
• Blurry text in session details has been corrected
• Version information has been added to augment future bug reports or feedback

To learn more about becoming an App developer, check out Apple’s Developer Support Center.

 

 

Privacy, Protection and PRISM

With some of the latest revelations about alleged government monitoring and privacy concerns heightened, you may want to learn more about privacy settings on your iOS devices.

Location Settings

According to Apple

Location Services allows location-based apps and websites (including Maps, Camera, Safari, and other Apple and third-party apps) to use information from cellular, Wi-Fi, and Global Positioning System (GPS) networks to determine your approximate location.

For example, an app might use your location data and location search query to help you find nearby coffee shops or theaters, or your device may set its time zone automatically based on your current location. To use features such as these, you must enable Location Services on your device and give your permission to each app or website before it can use your location data.

One quick way to determine whether location services is active is to look at the top of your iOS device and see if the little arrow is on. (Seen below in the red box).

Of course, some services or apps you run you may wish to invoke or use location services. These include Find My Friends or your camera so you can automatically geotag an image as to the GPS location where the photo was taken.

Turning Location Services On or Off

Apple explains “You can turn Location Services on or off at Settings > Privacy > Location Services. You can turn Location Services on either during the Setup Assistant process or later through the Location Services setting. You can turn it off if you don’t want to use this feature or to conserve battery life. You can individually control which applications and system services have access to Location Services data.”

Settings > Privacy > Location Services:

You can then toggle the individual app’s ability to use the location services.

There are separate settings for  services used by the system. You can toggle these on or off as well.

Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services:

Privacy Settings

Apple also explains “If you allow third-party apps or websites to use your current location, you are subject to their terms, privacy policies, and practices. You should review the terms, privacy policies, and practices of the apps and websites to understand how they use your location and other information. Information Apple collects will be treated in accordance with Apple’s Privacy Policy, which can be found at www.apple.com/privacy.”

Ad Tracking

Apple uses an identifier for advertisers that assigns a unique and anonymous number to act like a cookie, keeping track of your app and web habits to target advertisements for each device. To opt out, you have to turn on Limit Ad Tracking.

This is accomplished by going to Settings > General > About > Advertising and sliding on. Additionally, to the extent your device has been tracked, you can tap on Reset Advertising Identifier to get a new identifier.

 

Conclusion

There are multiple ways that the tracking services used by your iOS device can assist you. Part of that assistance comes at the price of lack of anonymity. Learning more about the privacy settings of your device and apps can help you limit the access others have to your interests and activities.

Lexis Advance HD updated

For those who use Lexis to perform legal research, this Lexis Advance HD allows you to do your work on your iPad on the go.

You need to have a Lexis Advance subscription and valid ID to use this app. If you do not subscribe to this service and find yourself in need of access to a library of information, you should consider the subscription.

Version 3.8 repairs or fixes the following:

• Fixed email crash issue and other bug fixes
• Discontinued support for iOS 4.3, requires iOS 5.0 or above
• Browse through content of a statute or treatise
• Select multiple documents to email or save to folder
• Print a document directly to an iPad-compatible wireless printer
• Persist user’s delivery options from Lexis Advance when emailing documents
• Option to save offline while saving a document to folder
• Display offline document size information

Some of the nice features of this app is the ability to highlight cases or statutes, save those to a particular client folder and access them later. You can also share your work.

You can view more about the product here.

Outline+ Update

Outline+, an app that lets you read and write OneNote files on your iPad, has been updated to version 2.5.

The new update integrates Skydrive syncing, support of external keyboards and other improvements and fixes.

According to the developer, the steps to get your SkyDrive notebooks on your iPad are as follows:

Just select SkyDrive in the “Import From” menu.

The app will ask you for your credentials. Once you enter your user name and password, the app will encrypt them and store securely on your device. You can delete them anytime later by ‘unlinking’ your SkyDrive account.

Now you should see all your notebooks in SkyDrive. See those blue dudes icon on the right side? It shows that your notebook is shared with someone. Opened notebook indicates that you already have that notebook in Outline.

Once you select your notebook your synchronization will start and you will see all your notes as they were on PC or your iPad! Initial sync can take some time, especially for the large notebooks, so please be patient.

And that is not all. Now if you make any changes to the large section on PC, onlyrecent changes will be downloaded to your iPad. This makes the continuous work on the frequently edited notebook easy and fast. If Outline meets conflicting changes (changes you make on the same page on iPad and on PC) it will merge them.

SkyDrive, just like DropBox, keeps deleted files, so if you accidentally removed some section, you will be able to restore it on the SkyDrive web site. Click on ‘Recycle Bin’ link in the bottom left corner to see your recently deleted file.

As always we urge you to configure backups in OneNote if you did not do that yet. Here is the good guide how to do that: 
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/onenote-help/backup-and-restore-notes-HA102809377.aspx
.

There are two version of the Outline app, a free Outline app and a + version. The + version of the app allows you to sync with OneNote via USB, Wi-Fi and Dropbox. The price of the + app is $14.99.

The free version of Outline has limitations on the number of pages you can create (30) and you are only able to sync with OneNote via USB.

If you have questions about using the app, check out their FAQ help page.

UX Write iPad Word Processor FREE (Limited Time) [Update - Free promotion appears over]

In an interesting twist, UX Write iPad Word Processor, an app that normally costs about $24 is downloadable for free until June 10.

[UPDATE: Although the developer had the promotion running at the original time of this post, it appears that the developer has since removed the free promotion. The concern expressed about the "scam" that caused the app to be free is still addressed on the developer's blog here.]

The developer states: “*** Special offer: Since there are multiple “developers” currently selling pirated copies of UX Write on the app store, we’ve decided to undercut them and run a five-day special where you can get the app for free. Normally $24.99, you can now get the *genuine* version of UX Write for even less than the bootleg copies! Offer ends 10th June. ***” You can read more about the developer’s frustration with what he calls pirated copies here.

Watch a quick video of some of the amazing features of this full fledged word processor.

The developer lists some of the features included in this word processing app as follows:

► IMPORT/EXPORT
• Read & write Microsoft Word (.docx only, *NOT* .doc)
• Read & write HTML5
• Write Adobe PDF
• Print directly from your iPhone/iPad with Apple AirPrint
• Email documents in Word, HTML5, and PDF formats
• Secure, fully automatic Dropbox and WebDAV synchronization

► MAJOR FEATURES
• Work seamlessly between UX Write and Microsoft Word with the *best* .docx support on the iPad
• Reflowable text (like e-books and web pages) that automatically adapts to your screen size & orientation
• View text comfortably at your preferred size, without changing document formatting
• Works perfectly offline – no internet connection required
• *Bluetooth keyboard* support, including all shortcuts
• Enhanced on-screen keyboard and “virtual trackpad” for convenient editing
• Enhanced auto-correct takes the headache out of typos
• Preview and restore old versions of documents stored on Dropbox!
• Styles for quick, consistent formatting across your documents
• Headings, lists, tables, and figures
• Outline view and editing for quickly navigating and restructuring large documents
• Automatic numbering, cross-references, table of contents, list of figures & tables

If you were looking for a word processing app that performs incredibly well and want a bargain price, check out UX Write – iPad Word Processor.