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Infuse 4.2 update for iOS + tvOS adds Library View on Apple TV, Spotlight search, and more

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We’ve covered Infuse a few times — a slick media player for iOS devices and as of late last year the new Apple TV. Today the apps are getting updates to version 4.2, bringing a handful of notable features to both the iOS and tvOS apps.

The highlights include a new Library View with Smart Filters on Apple TV and Spotlight search on iPhones and iPads, but there is a long list of other new features and improvements for both.


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How-To: Disable iOS SpringBoard animations and make your Home screen feel faster [Video]

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Disable iOS 9 SpringBoard Animations

One of the things that makes iOS special is its SpringBoard animations. The animations help orient the user around iOS using 3D space.

But not everyone is a fan of iOS’ animations — some for purely aesthetic reasons and others for health reasons. With this in mind, Apple has provided a way to reduce the animations using the Reduce Motion switch found in the Accessibility settings. Even with that option available, some wish to take the reduction of animations even further and disable them altogether.

Up until now, many of the available options for disabling animations relied on jailbreaking. But a new iOS glitch found by a redditor makes it possible to completely get rid of SpringBoard animations until you reboot your iPhone. Watch our step-by-step video walkthrough inside to see how.
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Pinterest updated for iOS 9 w/ Spotlight search, 3D Touch on iPhone 6s, more

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Pinterest just announced an updated iOS app that introduces a number of new features just in time for Apple’s release of iOS 9 today. The app gets support for iOS 9 features, starting with the ability to search for Pins, Pinners, and boards you’ve viewed from within iOS’s new Spotlight search:

As you view Pins, Pinners and boards, you’ll be able to search for them later right from your iPhone or iPad’s search screen. If you’re planning a Halloween costume and know you’ve seen good ideas on Pinterest, search “costume” and we’ll show you search results right on your phone. The more Pins you view on Pinterest, the more you can search for them from your phone.

In addition, the updated app makes use of the iPhone 6s 3D Touch feature by allowing quick access to the most used features with a press and hold of the Pinterest app icon from the home screen:

If you have a new iPhone with 3D Touch, you can press and hold the Pinterest app icon from your iPhone’s home screen to quickly search for Pins, create a board or see what’s popular on Pinterest… Once you’re in the app, you can press any Pin to get a bigger preview and quickly Pin, like or send. Press the board name to get a preview of the board it came from.

And lastly, the new app supports “universal links,” which means you’ll now be taken directly to the app when clicking a Pinterest link from anywhere on your iPhone, instead of being redirected from Safari first.

The updated Pinterest app is available on the App Store now.

Read our full walkthrough of new features in iOS 9 here.

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How-to: Use Spotlight and Smart Folders to search for anything on your Mac

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In OS X, Spotlight is an effective way to search your entire hard drive for a file or folder, email, or any other file. There are many other things Spotlight can do, and searching for files is just one of them. Spotlight is also capable of looking up dictionary definitions, launching apps, performing calculations, previewing audio, video, documents, and other files. This article will outline some of the benefits of using Spotlight and how to use Smart Folders, which allow you to search for a file even if you don’t know its name.


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Hands-on with Spotlight Suggestions in iOS 8 (Video)

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Spotlight Search will gain some useful features in iOS 8 thanks to Spotlight Suggestions. Normally, I’d dismiss a something related to Spotlight Search, but after a bit of testing it seems that this new iOS 8 feature could be very handy.

Spotlight Suggestions will provide you with predictive search results that are pulled from the web. In order to use this feature, all you’ll need to do is pull down from the home screen to access Spotlight Search and begin typing. As you would expect, search results related to items on your iOS device appear, but that’s not where the fun ends…


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