Following on from our discussion of Mac OS X Yosemite last month, at the July meeting we talked about iOS 8. Discussion covered the major new features discussed at Apple’s press conference as well as a number of smaller improvements which beta testers have found. A list of these features is being compiled on the Mac Rumors forums here:
Web Icons
DavidK gave a short demonstration of how to create a dock icon for easy access to a web site or web-based application. By default web links are all given the same icon so David explained how to make a new custom icon for the link so it’s easily recognisable.
DuckDuckGo
Robert described his (mostly positive) experiences in using DuckDuckGo as his regular search engine for the last month or so. Support for DDG was announced by Apple for Yosemite and iOS 8. Robert explained that DDG doesn’t record user’s visits or search history and doesn’t give customised search results, all features that some people may prefer. DDG can be added as a search option in Firefox and a Safari extension is available until support is added in Yosemite/iOS 8.
News
In the news section we discussed:
- Apples patents regarding using location and wearable sensors to adjust device settings, notifications and security.
- The ending of Aperture development and what features the new Photos application might have.
- Apple’s introduction of a new lower cost iMac model.
- Microsoft offering a discount on their Surface 3 if you trade in a Mac Book Air!