New Apple TV ad tugs at heartstrings to promote new iOS messaging features

Apple has long since mastered the art of creating an emotionally powerful ad. Its latest ad isn’t an exception. Promoting the new messaging features in iOS 10, the new video shows a solitary bright red balloon flying from a farmhouse window, over mountains and seas, to fly into the window in the city (where it’s already joined by many balloons) to a girl celebrating her birthday.

What Apple is trying to convey with the ad is there are a lot of new ways to send messages that carry more emotions in them. These include being able to change sizes of the text and make them animated, have color backgrounds, and even swap in emojis for words.

Source: Fast Company

Skype on iOS now lets you make calls using Siri

Taking further advantage of iOS 10, Microsoft updated its consumer version of Skype for the iPhone and the iPad. The apps get deeper integration with Siri and now lets you place Skype calls using Apple’s voice assistant without needing to launch Skype first. Incoming Skype calls will also now appear on your screen with an interface that looks almost identical to regular phone calls. The latest iOS version also lets you store Skype details for your contacts on the service right into the contacts app of the operating system. For those using Skype for Business, Microsoft plans to bring the feature in next month.

Source: The Verge

Review: iOS 10

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

iOS 10 is the next best thing to a complete redesign of iOS because it relies on our familiarity with the OS but also pushes various critical functions forward in order to save time and make using our devices more efficient.

On the surface iOS 10, which was made available online as a free update to existing and eligible iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices, doesn't seem like a very huge visual upgrade.

The most venerable and really, oldest, modern mobile operating system, still retains much of the look and feel we've been used to for going on 10 years now. iOS 7 brought the biggest visual update and we've since seen refinements and locking down of the user interface for more precise and interoperable features.

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Apple’s been moderating search terms for GIFs on iMessage after porn showed up

Apple uses Bing to power its new GIF search on iOS 10 and trouble showed up in the most unusual way. Searching for even a supposedly harmless term like “huge” uncovered things like someone’s private parts or someone engaging in sexual acts. Apple has since started to moderate the search terms for both words with obvious sexual connotations but this will be a tricky line to tread as even seemingly harmless words like “bounce” show up images of women’s breasts.

Source: Engadget + Gizmodo