Today, Apple announced iOS 8, at the WWDC 2014, its upcoming major update to its mobile operating system, iOS 8 has similar UI as the iOS 7 but with many new features and tons of enhancements on board.

Tim Cook describes iOS 8 as "a huge release" that actually has two stories: one with a ton of new features for end users and the other rich on new capabilities for developers. Starting with the user side of things, you can now respond to incoming messages directly from the notification drop-down, and you no longer need to exit the app you're already in.

 

 

Notifications can now be actioned directly on the lock screen as well. Craig Federighi demonstrated accepting a calendar invite without having to unlock his phone. Moreover, third-party apps will be supported, with the demo including a Facebook tag that Craig liked with an affirmative tap of the notification.

 

 

Double-tapping the home button brings up the familiar task switcher, but it now also includes recent contacts. Spotlight search has also been updated, allowing you to search for apps both on your device and for those you don't already have. Searching through movies, news, Wikipedia entries, and a variety of other sources is included too. Significantly, Spotlight suggestions go straight to Wikipedia, skipping the usual Google search conduit.

 

 

Emulating Google Now, Siri in iOS 8 will be accessible with just a voice command of "Hey Siri." The upgraded voice assistant will also integrate Shazam song recognition, allow you to make iTunes purchases, and include 22 new dictation languages. On the iOS App Store, Apple is adding the option to preview apps or to purchase them in discounted bundles. TestFlight is another new feature being touted for developers, allowing them to recruit iOS users as beta testers before an app's final release.

 

Apple said that the iOS 8 BETA will be available for download to developers starting from today, and the final release to users iOS devices will be this Fall.

 

 

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This isn't the first time that a designer has tried to come up with an Appley way to add widget-like functionality to iOS 8, and it likely won't be the last time either. But, when it comes to concepts, we always prefer when a designer really puts quality thought into how a company would approach an issue, rather than just building an unrealistic concept based on desire. Jay Machalani has done exactly that with his "Blocks" concept.

 

 

The idea is simple: Android has widgets, Windows Phone has live tiles, so what would Apple's solution be? The idea is actually quite a bit like the iOS widget concept that we saw from Jan-Michael Cart back in 2011.

 

Blocks are basically a hybrid of live tiles and widgets, where you would be able to pinch-and-zoom on any app icon to display more info, or leave the larger Block active to allow for live updating of info or easy access to media controls.

 

 

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Apple iPhone 6 is expected this year, but when exactly ? A Giant carrier in Germany "Deutsche Telekom" has been telling customers that the Apple iPhone 6 will be in its stores on Friday, September 19th.

 

Obviously, we suggest that you take this with a grain of salt. The mobile operator could have simply figured out that the last few iPhone launches occurred on a Friday in the 9th month of the year.

 

 

The last pair of Apple iPhone launches have taken place on the 20th or 21st of September. Last year, a poorly kept secret, the Apple iPhone 5c, was released together with the Apple iPhone 5s. This year, there has been quite a bit of speculation about Apple launching both a 4.7 inch model and a 5.5 iPhone phablet. The latest report we have is that the 4.7 inch model will be called the Apple iPhone 6 Air while the 5.5 inch version will be dubbed the Apple iPhone 6 Pro. Let's wait and see...

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It's now Official. Apple has purchased Beats Audio for $3 billion. $400 million of that amount will vest over time. It is the largest purchase ever made by Apple, and represents a small amount of the company's $160 billion cash hoard. Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Beats Audio's co-founders, Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre, will be spending more time in Silicon Valley, working for Apple. Cook also said that the Beats brand will remain intact.

The purchase is an admission by Apple that its pay-per-tune payment plan for iTunes is not working. Apple wants to have a service that charges users monthly for access to content, and Beats Music fits the bill. Dr. Dre dialed down the celebration after an initial self-congratulatory video selfie made Apple brass a bit worried about the deal. Today, Dre said, "Financially I'm in a place I never dreamed of. Now I'm just ready to get started with the work."

 

Funny Comic Photo below started to spread around the web about this News.

 

 

An Apple iPhone 6 dummy unit leaked today in a full Hands-on video, giving us a close look at the footprint, design, screen size and resolution. We've already seen similar dummies leak dark gray and gold flavors too.

Anyway, in case those live pictures weren't enough for you and you want to see a proper iPhone 6 hands-in treatment now you can have it. The dummy gets compared in this video to an iPhone 5s, the 4.7" Moto X and the 5" HTC One M8.

The Moto X comparison shows that Apple might not have done quite as well as we hoped with the bezels as the iPhone 6 appears much bigger despite the same screen size.

 

 

Watch Video [YouTube]