Cydia gets updated with better repository and package management, iOS 7-style icon, other fixes.

The well-known jailbreak application Cydia has received a fairly notable update today, bringing the utility to version 1.1.10. The new version of the app makes it much easier to manage sources and packages, and brings a refreshed iOS 7-style icon as well as other fixes. 

Most notably, much of the functionality within the Manage tab has been dispersed to other parts of the app. Previously, there were three sections inside Manage, but the tab has been renamed Installed and simply houses what was previously in the “Packages” section.

The ability to add sources is no longer deeply hidden within the Sources section of Manage, with this update now adding a simple “Edit” button to the top of the new Sources section which allows you to much more easily add new sources. The new Sources section also provides you with an option called “All Sources” which replaces the old Sections tab.

The Simple/Expert toggle that was previously located at the top of the Installed section within the Manage tab has been replaced with an easy selector located at the top of the new Installed section. An additional sorting option has been added, however, which can show you recently installed packages. This could come in handy if you run into a problem after installing a few tweaks and need to nail down which is causing the problem.

The app has also received some visual changes in this update, with the first being the removal of the black “Updating” drop-down. Now, there’s simply a small red circle that shows the app is refreshing your sources. As you can see in the below screenshot, the application also now has a flatter iOS 7-style icon by default.

On top of all these functionality improvements, the update touts limited multitasking which takes advantage of Google’s two-step authentication during checkout or account login, support for international keyboards on every version of iOS, and various other bug fixes.

The next time you start up Cydia, you’ll be prompted with these essential upgrades and you can find the complete changelog at Saurik’s website.

Source: 9to5Mac.

Microsoft updates OneNote for iPhone & Mac w/ top requested features.

Following updates to the Office apps for iPad yesterday that introduced printing support, Microsoft announced today that it’s updating the OneNote apps for iPhone and Mac with the top requested features from users. Included in the new features for iPhone users is the ability to create new notebook and sections, a revamped look that fits in more with iOS 7, and the Office Lens feature that was already available to iPad users. 

We’ve built Office Lens into OneNote for iPhone. Similar to Office Lens on OneNote for iPad, this popular feature turns your iPhone into a pocket scanner so you can use it to take pictures of things like receipts or whiteboard notes. Then, with Office Lens you can trim, enhance and make pictures more readable. Best thing is, images are automatically synced to OneNote, and if your picture includes printed text, OneNote can recognize the text with optical character recognition (OCR) so you can search for words in the image.

The Mac app gets improved printing, drag and drop images from the web, and much more:

1. Print notes: You can now print out your lecture notes, travel itineraries or recipes by simply navigating to the page of your choice and bringing up the standard system print dialog from the menu. In addition, you can save the page as a PDF file through the Print dialog.
2. Drag and drop images: Yes, this is as easy as it sounds! If you are browsing the web for ideas for a remodeling project and find some pictures you want to capture, you can easily drag and drop those into OneNote. If you have an album on your local machine, you can simply drag and drop multiple photos from Finder into OneNote. Additionally, this update also adds image formatting tools so you can restore the size of the picture if it’s been modified from its original state, or rotate pictures as desired.
3. Format Painter: You may recognize this option from other Office applications. Format Painter is a handy tool to quickly apply the same text formatting throughout your notes. For example, if you copy and paste content from different sources with different formats, you can easily apply the same consistent format across all the content in a couple clicks. WARNING: this tool is highly addictive. Once you start using it, you won’t be able to stop.
4. Copy and paste formatted content: When using OneNote for project management, class research or travel planning, capturing content from other places into OneNote is essential. Whether it’s formatted text from a Word document, tables from Excel or webpages, you can easily capture rich content and place it in your notes so it looks the same as it did in Word, Excel or on the webpage.
5. Hyperlinks: Sometimes links can be long, unwieldy and aren’t always self-explanatory. You can now keep your notes organized by adding a display name for links in your notes.

The OneNote for Mac and OneNote for iPhone apps are available on the App Store now.

Source: 9to5Mac.

Microsoft Updates Office for iPad – AirPrint Support, Excel Autofit, More.

 

Microsoft today has released the first update to its Office for iPad apps, adding AirPrint printing support to all three apps, while also adding SmartGuides in PowerPoint, AutoFit in Excel, and the ever popular bug fixes and stability improvements.

Your top request is here! You can now print Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations to an AirPrint printer. In Word for iPad, you can choose to print a document with or without markup. In Excel, print a selected range, a single worksheet or an entire spreadsheet. Of course, you can select the pages or slides you want to print.

SmartGuides in PowerPoint help you align pictures, shapes, and textboxes as you move them around on a slide.

AutoFit in Excel allows you to adjust the width of multiple rows or the height of multiple columns at the same time.

All of the Microsoft Office for iPad apps are available FREE for the iPad in the App Store. [DIRECT LINK]

Apple Releases iOS 7.1 With CarPlay, Touch ID Improvements, Visual Tweaks.

Following a lengthy beta testing period, Apple today released iOS 7.1 to the public, marking the first major update to iOS 7 since its September release. The update includes much-needed improvements to the Touch ID fingerprint recognition system built-in to the iPhone 5s, an update for a home screen crashing issue, and it brings CarPlay support, which was first unveiled by Apple last week. 

Apple has launched a new website page that shows off some of the additions to iOS 7.1. 

The update also includes multiple visual tweaks, such as revamped shift and caps locks keys on the keyboard, refined icons for the Phone, FaceTime, and Messages apps, and a redesign for several aspects of the Phone dialer and shutdown screen. 

Accessibility has been improved with a new “Button Shapes” option that indicates where tappable areas are located, a “Darken Colors” option, and an enhancement to Contrast allowing users to reduce iOS 7’s white point. 

A multitude of minor improvements to enhance the performance of the operating system have also been bundled into the update, such as new bounce animations in Control Center, more prominent buttons in the Music app, and a new event list view within the Calendar app. Full release notes are as follows:

CarPlay 
– iOS experience designed for the car 
– Simply connect your iPhone to a CarPlay enabled vehicle 
– Supports Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, and 3rd-party audio apps 
– Control with Siri and the car’s touchscreen, knobs, and buttons 

Siri 
– Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button while you speak and releasing it when you’re done as an alternative to letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking 
– New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Mandarin Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and Japanese 

iTunes Radio 
– Search field above Featured Stations to easily create stations based on your favorite artist or song 
– Buy albums with the tap of a button from Now Playing 
– Subscribe to iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to enjoy iTunes Radio ad-free 

Calendar 
– Option to display events in month view 
– Country specific holidays automatically added for many countries 

Accessibility 
– Bold font option now includes the keyboard, calculator, and many icon glyphs 
– Reduce Motion option now includes Weather, Messages, and multitasking UI animations 
– New options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point 

Other 
– New Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s 
– iCloud Keychain support in additional countries 
– FaceTime call notifications are automatically cleared when you answer a call on another device 
– Fixes a bug that could occasionally cause a home screen crash 
– Improves Touch ID fingerprint recognition 
– Improved performance for iPhone 4 
– Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000 
– Continued user interface refinements

The update officially disables the evasi0n iOS 7 jailbreak, patching key kernel exploits. 

iOS 7.1 was first seeded to developers back in mid-November, following the launch of iOS 7.0.4. iOS 7.1 saw five developer betas, with the last beta coming on February 4. 

iOS 7.1 can be downloaded via the software update tool in the settings menu on iOS devices. Users on devices upgrading from iOS 7.0.6 are seeing file sizes of approximately 268 MB, while those upgrading from a beta are seeing larger downloads of 1.3-1.4 GB. Users who are still on iOS 7.1 beta 5 should upgrade to the full version of iOS 7.1 as the betas do not include features like the SSL fix released in February and a finalized version of CarPlay. 

Apple has also launched a new update for the Apple TV and Xcode 5.1, with bug fixes, improvements, and new Auto Layout constraint inspector, and Quick Look support in the debugger for custom object types. [Direct Link] 

The following Apple apps have also received minor updates alongside iOS 7: 

– Remote [Direct Link] 
– GarageBand [Direct Link] 
– Logic Remote [Direct Link] 
– Podcasts [Direct Link] 
– Apple Configurator [Direct Link]

 

Source: Mac Rumors.

OS X 10.9.2 Release Imminent – Includes Mail and Safari Fixes, FaceTime Audio, More.

It appears as if the public release of OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 is imminent, as some employees at Apple are reportedly receiving prerelease builds of the update.

Some employees have been provided with a version of OS X 10.9.2 identified as build 13C64, people familiar with the matter told AppleInsider on Monday. The forthcoming update includes the usual security fixes, but also adds a number of new features to Mavericks, most notably the ability to make and receive FaceTime audio calls.

Other features include call waiting support for FaceTime audio and video calls, along with an added ability to block incoming messages from individual senders in the Messages application.

Internal release notes also indicate the update will improve the accuracy of the unread messages count in Mail, and should also resolve an issue that prevents Mail from receiving new messages from certain providers.

Other fixes and changes expected to be included in OS X 10.9.2 are:

• Improved “Autofill” capabilities in Safari
• A fix for an issue that could cause audio distortion
• Improved reliability when connecting to a file server using SMB2
• A fix for an issue that could cause VPN connections to disconnect
• Improved VoiceOver navigation in Mail and Finder

The release notes don’t indicate if the build fixes the recently exposed SSL security flaw that it shared with iOS, which was fixed in a security update last week. Apple has promised the OS X flaw will be fixed “very soon.”

Update: AppleInsider reports that a person with access to the prerelease build has confirmed to them that the latest version of OS X 10.9.2 does indeed patch the so-called “goto fail” SSL security flaw.

Source: MacTrast.

iBooks loses its wooden shelf in iOS 7 design refresh.

Apple has updated iBook’s design to match iOS 7’s clean new style, finally removing the app’s much-criticized wooden bookshelf layout. While iBooks’ new main screen still displays book covers as though they were sitting on a physical shelf, the shelf is now just an off-white background — not unlike the new Newsstand design. Buttons and fonts across the app have been changed to match up with iOS 7’s style as well, but otherwise there aren’t big feature changes to speak of.

Not everything about iBooks has been changed, however: books still animate open as though they were real novels, and pages still curl as you turn them. Even so, the change finally brings iBooks — one of Apple’s more prominent apps — onto the same page as the rest of iOS 7, whereas it stuck out badly until today. Apple still doesn’t have every single one of its apps updated, but with iBooks out of the way, everything major now features the same style.

Source: The Verge

Illegal, trial, and disc versions of iWork and iLife are updating for free, but it’s no glitch.

Apple is taking its commitment to free upgrades seriously. Following the announcement that OS X Mavericks and updates for iWorks and iLife would be provided free to current owners and new Mac customers, something interesting happened. Even users who were using trial, disc, or illegally downloaded versions of the software were receiving free updates. The programs includes the whole iWork and iLife suite and Aperture.

But despite some reports, it isn’t a glitch. J. Glenn Künzler at MacTrast experienced the free upgrade on his copy of Aperture, and then tested it again on a DVD version of iLife ’09. He then reached out to a contact at Apple to find out where they official stance on the updates was. Their response was surprising.

It’s no coincidence that Apple’s support site doesn’t have downloads for the new Aperture, iWork, and iLife updates. They aren’t in our Software Update system either – and there’s a good reason for that. With Mavericks, we have changed the way we distribute updates for legacy versions of our apps

Rather than maintain separate updates for these in addition to the Mac App Store versions of each app, Apple has decided to eliminate their legacy software update system for apps entirely. Instead, when Mavericks discovers legacy apps installed on your Mac, it provisions them as a Mac App Store purchase using your Apple ID. It saves us a lot of time, effort, and bandwidth. After the provision is complete, it will appear in your Mac App Store history as though you have purchased the Mac App Store version of the app.

While we are aware that this enables piracy of our apps for unethical users, Apple has never taken a strong stance or action against piracy in the past. We like to believe that our users are honest, even if that belief is in vain.

This is a refreshing stand point for a company like Apple to take. While this is a source and not an official release the reality of the updates goes a long way towards confirming it. So if you’re on the fence about updating because of the possibly nefarious ways you acquired your copy of iWork don’t sweat it. Apple thinks the best of you, regardless of whether or not you’ve earned it.

Source: TUAW.

NBC’s Today Show iPad App Updated, Redesigned.

NBC’s Today Show iPad app has been updated today, with a major redesign and a few notable new features.

The headline new addition is a ‘Multi-Tasker’ split screen feature that lets users watch video and browse articles at the same time. Other features that have been added or enhanced include:

– Ability to save stories and videos for later, and to upload personal photos with a single tap.

– More customization

– Improved sharing and sharing of favorite stories via Facebook, Twitter, PInterest, and more

I’m not a morning TV watcher, but I know the Today Show has a huge fan base who will likely enjoy seeing this app update. If you’re a fan of the show let us know what you think of the revamped app in the comments. Oh, and is ‘KLG’ really a thing? I’m clearly way behind the times on what goes on on TV in the AM.

Here’s an App Store link for the Today Show app; it’s a free app and a universal app designed for both iPad and iPhone.

Source: iPad Insight.

Apple pushes bug fix updates to AirPort Utility on iOS, OS X & Mavericks Recovery mode.

Apple has issued a minor bug fix update to both AirPort Utility on OS X and on iOS. The OS X Update is available via Software Update on the Mac App Store, while the iOS version is in the App Store on iOS and iTunes. 

The update, on both platforms, is to squash a bug for AirPort Base Stations not begin recognized by the app. Apple, last month, pushed out AirPort Utility updates to add compatibility for the new 802.11ac AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsules.

Source: 9to5Mac.

Apple releases AirPort Utility 6.3 for Mac | – The Unofficial Apple Weblog

Apple has released an update to its AirPort Utility app for the Mac, bringing it up to version 6.3. It adds the ability to extend a guest Wi-Fi network across multiple AirPort base stations, support for WPS-capable printers, and improved international support. It’s a free download, as always.

The 6.3 update requires an Intel-based Mac running 10.7.5 or later. You can grab it right now through Software Update, or head on over to Apple’s update site.

Source: TUAW.