Right on time, Microsoft Office 2016 is now available for Windows, following the Mac release from July. You can either get it as part of an Office 365 subscription, or you can go with a one-time purchase. The latter option has become available for Mac today as well, since up until this point you had to go the Office 365 route. The one-time price is $149.99 regardless of which OS you have.
Otherwise, Office 365 subscriptions start at $69.99 per year, and deliver continuous app updates as well as other integrated services such as Yammer, Delve, and Skype for Business.
Office 2016 comes with support for co-authoring, Skype in-app integration, and Office 365 Groups inside Outlook 2016. Additionally, Outlook 2016 has smart search, automatic removal of low-priority mail, and support for cloud-based attachments. Excel 2016 includes integrated publishing to Power BI, as well as new chart types.
Throughout Office, there’s a most recently used documents list which lets you quickly jump back in.
Apple has now made iOS 8.4 available to everyone for download. If it hasn’t happened already, you should be receiving the relevant update notification on your iOS device in the next few hours.
iOS 8.4’s most notable feature is, as you may know, Apple Music. The company’s new music streaming service is included in this release. So today also marks the official debut of Apple Music.
You will find the new service inside the redesigned Music app for iOS. Along with this, the latest software release also contains some unnamed improvements to iBooks and bug fixes throughout the OS.
Apple Music should be accessible from more than 100 countries across the globe. It offers a three month long free trial, after which you have to pay $9.99 per month. A $14.99 per month family plan is also available, and this works for up to 6 persons.
It has a few different components to it. First off, you can stream any song you want from Apple’s vast collection. But then there’s also Beats 1, a live radio station that will be broadcast 24/7 exclusively on Apple Music, with tracks chosen by real people, not algorithms. The same human touch is employed in the “For You” section which has recommendations of playlists and albums to listen to. And finally, Apple’s service lets artists directly connect with their fans if they want to.
Update: looks like ios 8.4 is jailbreakable with PP jailbreak. Should wait the confirmation from saurik and the jb team.
A jailbreak has been released for iOS 8.3 by the TaiG team. This jailbreak supports iOS 8.1.3 through iOS 8.3 and is Windows only.
The tool, which is dubbed TaiG 2.0. This release is quite interesting, since it was thought that the Pangu team would be the one to release a jailbreak for iOS 8.3 and TaiG would focus on iOS 9. That, obviously, is no longer the case.
Keep in mind that lots of things still need to be updated for iOS 8.3, including Cydia Substrate. Thus, support is limited with regard to jailbreak tweaks and apps.
Step 1: Download and extract TaiG 2.0
Step 2: Disable Find My iPhone and Passcode lock on your device
Step 3: Connect your device to your computer
Step 4: Run the TaiG 2.0 tool and it should detect your device
Step 5: Uncheck the 3K assistant, but keep Cydia checked
Step 6: Click Start
Step 7: Wait until the jailbreak completes. If you see storage full errors, just ignore those
Step 8: Once the jailbreak completes, find the Cydia app on your Home screen and launch it
As it does every year around this time, Apple is getting ready to host its Worldwide Developers Conference. The popular conference will take place between June 8 and June 12, and will give developers a glimpse at the future of iOS and OS X.
To kick off the event, Apple will give a keynote address on the 8th, where it will make all of its most significant announcements. As usual, it’s been fairly quiet about its plans, but there are several things we’re expecting to see come Monday.
OS X
Rumor has it that Apple is using this year’s OS X release (believed to be 10.11) to shore up major features like Handoff and polish the new design introduced in Yosemite. Think Snow Leopard. Apple has been widely criticized for OS X 10.10, which has been riddled with Wi-Fi issued and other bugs since its release. It’s expected to fix a lot these issues in 10.11, as well as introduce a new system-wide font and security features such as Rootless and Trusted Wi-Fi.
iOS
Like OS X, the next version of iOS (likely iOS 9) is expected to be more of a Snow Leopard-like release, with less of the focus on new features and more on refinements. iOS 8, too, has been criticized for bugs and stability issues, and it sounds like Apple means to squash those bugs in iOS 9.
That doesn’t mean we won’t see any new features, though. Rumors indicate that Apple is working on a new Google Now-like feature called Proactive, which will make Siri smarter and more contextually-aware, as well as the ability to run apps side-by-side on iPad, and access to public transit information in its Maps app. We’re also expecting design tweaks, and various other enhancements.
Music
Apple is expected to talk about the overhaul of two major services on Monday: Beats Music and iTunes Radio. Let’s discuss the former first. It’s been reported that Apple is rebranding the streaming music service, which it acquired as part of its $3 billion Beats purchase last year, to simply ‘Apple Music’ and has rebuilt it from the ground up. Rumored features include a $10/month subscription fee, a 3-month free trial to make up for the fact that there’s no free tier offering, exclusive content, and a focus on music curation and discovery.
As for iTunes Radio, it hasn’t really made the splash that Apple had hoped for in its short tenure, so it’s expected to get refreshed next week as well. Rumored features for the radio service have been more scarce, but we have heard that Apple has been hiring up ‘celebrity DJs’ like Drake, Pharrell and French DJ David Guetta.
Apple Watch
We know of at least one major Apple Watch-related announcement coming next week—Apple itself confirmed it already. The company plans to give developers a preview of its new SDK at WWDC, which will allow them to develop native apps for the wearable. Since its launch in April, Apple Watch has been criticized for its slow and clunky third-party app experience, and the new SDK is expected to remedy that.
Other potential Apple Watch announcements include new security features like Find My Watch, and talk of third-party bands as part of the newly-launched ‘Made for Apple Watch’ initiative. We also expect Apple to talk about how well the Watch has been selling over the last 2 months, and the upcoming expansion to 7 more countries.
Apple TV
For months, reports have been pointing to a new Apple TV set-top box and possibly a new streaming TV service making appearances at WWDC, but sadly, that talk has been put to rest. Within the last week, multiple credible outlets have claimed that Apple has decided to delay the announcement of its new TV hardware because it’s “not quite ready for prime time.” Like-wise, we’ve heard the same thing about the TV service.
Prior to the news, we were expecting Apple to show off a slimmer, more powerful set-top box at WWDC, with a much improved remote control and an operating system that would support native apps (it’s possible Apple could still announce an Apple TV SDK). For the service, reports suggested that Apple was putting together a cheap, web-based alternative to cable with a slimmer channel lineup and unique mix of live and on-demand content. Learn more about Apple’s TV plans below.
Apple Pay
There hasn’t been much talk about Apple Pay in the run-up to WWDC, outside of one New York Times report that claims the mobile payment service is likely getting a rewards program soon. The program, reportedly, will allow retailers to offer customers coupons, store cash and other promotions for making purchases using Apple Pay.
HomeKit
There has been lot of talk about HomeKit in recent weeks, as multiple companies have announced products that will support the smart home platform. Announced at last year’s WWDC, HomeKit acts as a unifying bridge and dashboard for various accessories. The goal is to allow users to control products made from different manufacturers with touch and voice controls, and rumor has it that there is an app coming in iOS 9 called Home that will help achieve that objective.
And that should just about cover all of our expectations. Of course, while it seems like we know a lot about what’s going to be announced on Monday, it’s possible this is all way off. Apple is known for secrecy and misdirection, so you have to expect surprises.
Apple’s WWDC keynote begins at 10am Pacific Time on Monday, and a live stream will be available on the Apple TV, and iOS and Mac devices via Safari. We will be covering the event live on iDB, as well as subsequent announcements throughout the day.
Google I/O 2015 is just getting started and Google kicked off the conference with an announcement about its highly anticipated Android M. As expected, Google has added new app permissions controls for Android so users have more control over what data they share with developers. The biggest change here is that Android apps will ask for permissions whenever you use specific features within the app instead of before you install the app.
Google also took the wraps off Android Pay for the first time, which is Google’s attempt to breathe new life into its old Google Wallet mobile payments platform. Google says Android Pay will work at over 700,000 stores that accept contactless payments in the United States. Like with Google Wallet and Apple Pay, Android Pay will be based on NFC technology, which has become the standard tech for mobile payments.
Another important new feature is native support for fingerprint scanners, which will go hand-in-hand with Android Pay to help users securely authorize payments with their phones. Although many Android OEMs have released phones with fingerprint sensors before, this is the first time it will become a part of the Android platform itself.
Google is also going to address users’ battery power concerns with a new feature called Doze that will turn off all your device’s background activity when it detects it’s not being used. Google says this feature doubles the standby time on Android devices.
Like Apple, Google is also embracing USB Type-C ports for its devices that offer faster charging and that can be used for multiple functions. Google has already started using USB Type-C ports on its Chromebook laptops and Apple unveiled its first USB Type-C-equipped laptop earlier this year with its new 2015 MacBook.
Android M will be available as a developer preview today and Google’s goal is to have the final version released in the third quarter this year.
Project Brillo
Google isn’t just putting its software on phones anymore. The company on Thursday unveiled a new platform called Project Brillo that will be its operating system for the so-called “Internet of things,” which is an industry buzzword for having several different household devices that are connected to the Internet and can communicate with one another.
“We hope we can connect devices in a seamless and intuitive way to make them work better for users,” Google Android boss Sundar Pichai said of Project Brillo’s mission.
Android Pay
It’s that time of year, folks. Google I/O is upon us and the search giant, per usual, has a number of big announcements on hand. Just a few moments ago, Google announced a new payment platform dubbed Android Pay that will be coming to Android M.
As one would expect, Android Pay will seemingly operate much like Apple Pay, with fingerprint authentication as well if desired. As for how it works, it’s rather simple. Simply unlock any NFC enabled Android device and hold it in front of a NFC terminal. Notably, your actual credit card number will not be shared with any store.
Notably, Android Pay will reportedly work with devices running KitKat as well.
In keeping with Google’s bread and butter, Android Pay is slated to be an open platform, which is to say that users will be able to add and activate their credit card into Android Pay either via Google’s built-in method or via each individual bank’s own application.
What’s more, Android Pay will also allow app developers to integrate such payment functionality into their own apps. For instance, apps like Lyft will now include an Android Pay payment option that will save users from having to tediously enter in their credit card information.
Android Wear
Google has already added support for GPS, Wi-Fi, wrist gestures to Android Wear, the company revealed, but also support for other interesting features such as always-on apps, screen lock and a new launcher. Android Wear devices will even be able to recognize emojis, the company revealed.
Android Wear will offer users an always on screen to show the time – unlike Apple’s Watch which doesn’t have such a feature – and will feature always on apps that’ll let users enjoy various interesting new features. The company said it currently has more than 4,000 apps built specifically for Apple Wear watches, with some apps ready to bring even more features to its smartwatch platform, including Uber, Foursquare and CityMapper.
However, Google did not announce any new Android Wear device during the event, but hinted that more devices are launching later this year. “Ultimately, Android Wear is about choice,” Google said, insisting on the wide variety of Android Wear models already available to buyers. “By the end of the year, there will be many more Android Wear watches.”
Now on Tap
Google a few moments ago introduced that amazing new changes are coming to Google Now with a new software feature Google is calling ‘Now on Tap’. Now on Tap brings Google Now functionality to the next level by leveraging context awareness to bring you even more information super quickly.
Meet Google Photos, a brand new home for all your digital memories
The new photos application isn’t necessarily a surprise, considering that a recent leak from Android Police offered a sneak preview to Google’s new photo management solution.
Just as Google explained on stage, the new app photos app will be smart enough to organize your photos automatically and privately, to give you easier control on photo collections and albums. The Photos app also backs up automatically all your pictures, from a variety of devices, making them all available in a single place.
The app uses machine learning to automatically organize photos by people, things and places, which should definitely come in handy when looking for specific memories. Interestingly, the app is able to recognize the same person regardless of age, which is definitely a handy feature.
Obviously, users will be able to organize photos in their own albums and collections if they so desire.
At the same time, the Photos app also lets you easily share with friends and family (via Twitter) and save photos.
Available TODAY for iOS, Android and Web with FREE UNLIMITED Storage with HD Photos and Videos Storage!
Google Maps OFFLINE Mode is coming with Turn by Turn Navigation:
Google Maps for Android has had some sort of offline support for years now, but it’s definitely not good enough for most use cases, in the current iteration at least. At its I/O conference Google has announced that it’s working on bringing better offline support to Maps sometime before the end of this year.
So in the future you’ll be able to start navigating to places while offline. Currently navigation works offline, but you need to be online when you start it. Additionally, Google Maps will allow offline searches for places and points of interest (with autocomplete no less), something which you can’t do right now.
Reviews and important info such as opening hours show up too. You will still need to initially save the desired maps to your phone, of course. Turn-by-turn voice directions will be available offline too.
Unfortunately the short presentation about this topic was very light on details, so we don’t yet know how much space the saved offline maps will occupy on your device. That may be an issue, as you’d imagine. It’s also unclear whether these new features will become available globally from the get-go, or if we’ll see a more limited rollout first.
New Google Cardboard viewer supports devices up to 6″, iPhones too
Google Cardboard was introduced at last year’s I/O, this year it’s getting a refresh though not as big as you might have hoped. Still, the viewer was redesigned and it now supports devices with up to 6″ screens.
They are also easier to assemble, taking just three steps instead of twelve.
Part of that is that the magnet button was replaced by a cardboard one. I’m not 100% sure how it works, but Google promises it will work with more devices than the magnet button did.
On the software front, the Unity SDK used with Cardboard now supports iOS so iPhones can join in too.
Google is trying to push its VR viewer as an educational too, offering packs of viewers, phones and a tablet to schools. The tablet lets the teacher control the presentation, while kids experience Expeditions – crafted VR experiences with educational value.
By the way, Cardboard has been doing well for itself – it boasts 1 million users that have access to 500 apps.
Elie Chahine 