Apple’s Swift Programming Language Makes Surprise Debut
Apple made a surprise announcement this past Monday at the company’s annual Worldwide Development Conference by unveiling Swift, a new programming language which is expected to supplant Objective-C, the current standard. The company also confirmed that Swift and Objective-C will share LLVM complier and runtime, allowing them to operate simultaneously within the same piece of […]
Apple Launches the Connected Home with HomeKit for iOS 8
With the age of the “smart home” close at hand, Apple unveiled its new HomeKit tool suite at this year’s Worldwide Developer Conference. HomeKit is designed to help manufacturers of smart home products integrate their technologies into OS-powered Apple devices more easily. From an end user standpoint, HomeKit will afford expanded access to smart home […]
Apple’s Announces its New HealthKit Suite
Software developers working in the health and fitness vertical will want to pay close attention to HealthKit, a new suite of tools unveiled by Apple at the company’s 2014 Worldwide Developer Conference. HealthKit is designed to allow programmers to create apps which integrate various types of health and fitness data into a single piece […]
Apple and Samsung Looking to Settle Patent Disputes
Earlier this month, tech giants Apple and Samsung were handed a mixed verdict by an eight-person jury in a high-profile patent infringement case. In the verdict, the jury found that both companies were guilty of violating each other’s patents. Apple had been suing Samsung for infringement on five patents. The jury found Samsung guilty in […]
FAA Opens First Drone Test Site
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has opened the first of six planned testing facilities for unmanned aircraft. The first test site is located in North Dakota, and became operational a full two months ahead of the previously announced schedule. Officially, the North Dakota site will be used to allow drones to conduct soil […]
Future of Internet Technology Created by Mesh Networks
In its early years, the Internet was a completely decentralized and unregulated virtual space — and that was its intended purpose. However, with digital communications entering the mainstream in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Internet eventually evolved away from that model, becoming centralized, monitored and controlled. What’s next? The answer, according to many […]
3D Printing Market Set to Explode in the Coming Years
When 3D printing first became a reality, some insiders dismissed it as a fad that would soon disappear. Current market trends seem to indicate that they’re wrong. At the end of 2013, the global market value of the 3D printing industry was approximately $2.5 billion, $700 million of which was generated by actual printers. An additional […]
iBeacon Becomes a Fixture in MLB Ballparks
Baseball season has arrived, and Major League Baseball parks are abuzz with delighted fans celebrating the return of the grand old game. However, in 20 of the 30 MLB stadiums, there’s something beyond peanuts and Cracker Jacks enhancing the fan experience: iBeacon positioning technology. iBeacon is a new device developed by Apple to enhance the […]
New Smartphone Case Is Capable of Functioning as a Health Monitor
Azoi, an India-based consumer electronics manufacturer, announced the arrival of Wello, a new smartphone case, in a press release dated March 6. The Wello case offers a unique, never-before-seen functionality: the ability to monitor your vital signs and other key health indicators. The Wello case is designed to accommodate several iPhone models, including the 4S, […]
Attack Detection Mode: Your iPhone to the Rescue?
The United States Patent and Trademark Office recently revealed details of a patent filed by Apple for a mobile device feature capable of automatically summoning emergency assistance. Apple calls the feature a “mobile emergency attack and fail-safe detection” system, and it is comprised of software and hardware additions to smartphones. According to the patent filing, […]