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Six 'links' stories July 2013 - June 2015

Changing the conversation: How Apple could modernize iMessage to be more powerful and easy to use

Michael Steeber Jun 23 2015 - 7:06 am PT

At this year’s WWDC, Apple devoted a lot of onstage attention to a revamp of the Notes app in both iOS 9 and OS X El Capitan. One of my favorite additions is inline web link previews. Just paste a URL, and Notes will turn the link into a preview bubble with a thumbnail for the page, as well as a title and description.

This got me thinking about the possibility of applying the same functionality to other apps. The most obvious place to start, in my opinion, is Messages. I’m constantly sending and receiving links through iMessage throughout the day, whether it’s to a web page, an image, or even just a tweet. Having to flip back and forth between Safari and Messages just to see what the link I’ve been sent is removes me from the conversation and slows down my workflow.

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Skype 7.7 for Mac adds web link previews, fixes

Jordan Kahn Apr 15 2015 - 10:02 am PT

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Skype today released version 7.7 of its Mac app and with it is rolling out a new web link preview feature that will automatically provide snippets of web content in chats when sharing links.

With web link previews, you no longer need to type the: “check out this funny cat video” alongside the actual link to the cat video. When you send the link in chat, a rich visual preview of the web page is automatically displayed, making it much easier to see what’s been shared. Finding a link in your chat history also becomes quicker, saving precious time to let you focus on the conversation.

The previews will only show up if a link is the only thing in the message, so it won’t break up long blocks of text that happen to include a URL (an annoyance with similar web previews in other chat apps). Skype also notes that it puts “extra focus on optimizing for video and image content, so we encourage you to try links to video, image or even gifs first.”

The update also includes a couple bug fixes:

Fixed an issue where some users cannot start Skype due to a corrupted index
Fixed an issue preventing some users from disabling “User XYZ went offline” notification

You can access the feature by downloading the latest version of Skype for Mac, version 7.7, here.

iTunes 11.1.2 update incoming with improved Mavericks support, more languages

Mark Gurman Oct 22 2013 - 12:07 pm PT

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Apple has provided employees with iTunes 11.1.2, a bug fix update with improved OS X Mavericks compatibility, support for Hebrew and Arabic and improved performance. It should be rolling out for customers imminently.

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Direct download links for iOS 7 & 7.0.1

Jordan Kahn Sep 18 2013 - 12:39 pm PT

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iOS-7-091

Following Apple’s release of iOS 7 earlier today as an almost 1GB OTA update, direct download links have now made their way online. iOS 7.0 (build 11A465) is available now for your iPhone 4, 4S, 5, and iPad 2 and up, but Apple also has iOS 7.0.1 (build 11A470a) available for the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C as we noted earlier today. If you are having trouble with the over the air update, or just want to do a completely fresh install, you’ll be able to use the direct download links above to do so.

If you are going that route, you’ll want to make sure you are updated to the latest iTunes 11.1 released earlier today with iTunes Radio, Genius Shuffle, Podcast Stations, and, of course, support for iOS 7 devices.

iPad:

iPad2(wifi) (iPad2,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2(at&t) (iPad2,2) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2(vz) (iPad2,3) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2,4 (iPad2,4) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2,5 (iPad2,5) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2,6 (iPad2,6) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad2,7 (iPad2,7) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,1 (iPad3,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,2 (iPad3,2) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,3 (iPad3,3) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,4 (iPad3,4) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,5 (iPad3,5) 7.0 (11A465)

iPad3,6 (iPad3,6) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone:

iPhone4 (iPhone3,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone3,2 (iPhone3,2) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone4(vz) (iPhone3,3) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone4S (iPhone4,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone5,1 (iPhone5,1) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone5,2 (iPhone5,2) 7.0 (11A465)

iPhone5,3 (iPhone5,3) 7.0.1 (11A470a)

iPhone5,4 (iPhone5,4) 7.0.1 (11A470a)

iPhone6,1 (iPhone6,1) 7.0.1 (11A470a)

iPhone6,2 (iPhone6,2) 7.0.1 (11A470a)

iPod touch:

iPodTouch(5G) (iPod5,1) 7.0 (11A465)

DOJ proposes settlement in Apple ebook price fixing case: end current agreements, link to other stores

Jordan Kahn Aug 2 2013 - 6:58 am PT

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steve-jobs-ibooks

After reaching settlements with just about every publisher involved in the long-running Apple/Amazon e-book price fixing case, The United States Department of Justice today published its proposal to end the case with Apple after finding the company guilty of conspiring to fix ebook prices during trial earlier this month:

“The court found that Apple’s illegal conduct deprived consumers of the benefits of e-book price competition and forced them to pay substantially higher prices,” said Bill Baer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division. “Under the department’s proposed order, Apple’s illegal conduct will cease and Apple and its senior executives will be prevented from conspiring to thwart competition in the future.”

Among the key points in the proposal:
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Google Drive for iOS adds option to open links in Chrome & Safari

Jordan Kahn Jul 24 2013 - 8:11 am PT

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Google has just updated its Google Drive app for iOS with a couple new features and performance enhancements. After adding support for opening links in native Google apps from the Chrome iOS app last week, it has now updated the Drive app with an option to open links within files in Chrome and Safari.

Also new in version 1.5.0 of Google Drive for iOS is support for inserting rows and columns via the “+” button within Google Sheets, as well as stabilization and other bug fixes:

What’s New in Version 1.5.0

Clicking on links from within files gives you the option to open in Chrome and Safari
Insert rows and columns using the “+” button in Google Sheets
Stabilization & bug fixes