Apple is just weeks away from revealing the iOS 7 for its popular iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices. The new version of the highly used operating system is expected to bring some radical changes to the software which has largely remained the same ever since it was announced back in 2007 with the original iPhone. Apple last year replaced its iOS head Scott Forstall with Jony Ive who designs company’s hardware and this change  signifies that iOS 7 will see big visual changes from older versions due to the difference design principle of the two engineers.

The new iOS 7 is expected to feature a flat and largely black and white design according to a report by 9to5Mac. The report suggests that the new version of iOS will replace the heavy textured iOS UI with a simpler and unified scheme with black and white tones. This new design will largely eliminate the use of skemourphism from the apps like Maps, Game Center, Notes and Mail as these stock applications will be redesigned with simpler design than the one found in iOS 6 or older versions.

According to the report the stock applications in iOS 7 will be mostly white but each app will have its own unique color scheme. Jony Ive who is known for his design sense has made his mark on every corner of the operating system though he has made sure that the new iOS 7 does not alienate old users who are accustomed with the old design.

9to5Mac’s report  mentions that Apple will change the look of iconic lock screen of iPhone with the release of iOS 7. The new lock screen would work as the same way as it works now the only difference between the older one and the one debuting with the iOS 7 would be the visual appearence, which has remained mostly the same in the previous years. Notification Center will also get a new design as Apple is expected to replace the linen background of it with the dark grey color along with white text. While most of the things about Notification Center will remain the same Apple is expected to finally add new widgets besides the ones already available for Weather and Stock applications. It would be interesting if Apple allows developers to make their own widgets for the notification center however that seems unlikely at this point.

Apple’s stock apps including Newsstand, Safari, Camera app, and the App Store are also going to get the visual changes.

Perhaps the bigger news about changes coming in iOS 7 revealed in this report is hat the home screen is also going to get a UI refresh in which Apple will add flatter and less glossy app icons then the one found on iOS right now.

iOS 7 is expected to get previewed at the WWDC scheduled for next month after which the beta versions  of the software will be released for the developers. Then in the fall the software update will arrive along with the new generation of iPhone and perhaps other devices at which point the update will be released for existing supported devices too.

[Source]

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The new start metro style start menu is one of the most important things of Windows 8 and a feature that helps users in launching different apps speedily. Microsoft has always wanted to put the start menu even when it was in the old menu form at the center of the Windows experience and it is going in that direction even more intensly.

We all have the start key on our keyboards that we can press to launch the start screen. Now it seems like the future mouse devices will also be equipped with the start key as Microsoft has recently announced the Microsoft Sculpt Mobile Mouse and Sculpt Comfort Mouse. These particular mouse models features a built-in start key located on its left side along with the usual right and left click buttons and wheel for scrolling. On the Sculpt Mobile Mouse it is located right below the scroll wheel.

The start key not only brings the start screen in Windows 8 but it also allows users to return to the desktop.

Microsoft Sculpt Comfort Mouse

The Sculpt Comfort Mouse has one feature that the Sculpt Mobile Mouse lacks. Apart from being bigger then the other model the Comfort Mouse has a capacitive surface using which users can swipe to toggle through opened programs in Windows 8. This helps a lot when you are multitasking. To jump between running applications users can swipe in one way and to open the list of applications that are running in the background they can swipe towards the other direction.

Another feature of the Sculpt Comfort Mouse that differentiates it from the Sculpt Mobile Mouse is that it connects directly with the device’s Bluetooth where as the later requires the users to attach a dongle on their device.

Microsoft plans to release the Sculpt Mobile Mouse later this month and it will go on sale at a price of $30. The Sculpt Comfort Mouse will be available at a price of $40 in the month of June.

[Images: TheVerge]

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We recently wrote about great mail apps for your iPhone available in the App Store and this list included apps that were supported by both iPhone and the iPad. While many apps supported the iPad there was one app called the Mailbox that lacked this feature. It was a major disappointment for iPad owners as Mailbox app offers some really great features that they could have taken advantage of if the app was available for their device.

Today it seems like is a lucky day for those who wanted to use Mailbox on their iPads. As today the updated version of the app has been released in the App Store that brings native support for the iPad. This means that you will be able to enjoy all the Mailbox app features available to iPhone and iPod touch users in the app that would run natively on your tablet, taking full advantage of its large display.

The update only brings bug fixes for the iPhone users but on the iPad the app brings tons of features with native goodness. iPad users thanks to the Mailbox app will now be able to achieve ‘Inbox Zero’ with the productive features of this app. They just like the iPhone version will be able to mark emails as ‘done’. They will also be able to set a reminder on an email that would bring the app back to the surface at the specified time.

Visually the iPad version of the app seems like a mixture of the iPhone UI of the app with the stock iPad mail app though the gesture based actions are still there and work same as they did on the smaller version of the application.

If you like the Mailbox app and would like to try it on your iPad then feel free to download it from the App Store as it is available for free too. Download Mailbox

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We recently wrote about a high resolution display panel for notebooks created by Samsung. In our post we mentioned that we couldn’t wait to have a notebook with a 3200 x 1800 pixel resolution ourselves. Now it seems like HP is going to fullfill that wish of ours as it has announced a model of Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook that features a display with a resolution of whooping 3200 x 1800 pixels.

HP is going to offer Envy 14 TouchSmart ultrabook in two separate models. One model will have the usual resolution of 1366 x 768, which will be upgradable to 1600 x 900 while the other one will have a higher resolution of 3200 x 1800 pixels. The display with more pixels will obviously cost more than the model with lower resolution. It is important to note that the all upcoming HP Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook will be touch screen equipped.

While the tremendous resolution of the more expensive model has been announced other details about the internal hardware etc are still unknown. Our wild guess would be that HP will add the Intel’s Haswell architecture inside all models of this line up.

HP with its Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook that carriers a resolution of 3200 x 1800 pixels is defintely aiming at the already released Apple Macbook Pro with Retina Display and Google’s Chromebook Pixel that also have high resolution displays. Also one of its biggest rivals Samsung has already announced a display panel of the same resolution and its about time when it comes up with its own line up of high resolution notebooks.

It is a good thing that now different companies are racing to release high resolution notebooks as the notebooks market has been pretty dull when it comes to high resolution displays over the last few years.

For the Envy 14 TouchSmart Ultrabook users will be able to buy the entry level model with default 1366 x 768 for $699. The price for the model with 3200 x 1800 resolution is unknown at this point. HP is expected to officially reveal the new laptops next month at Computex.

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A few months ago we told you about 3Doodler, which is an amazing device that allows users to create 3D objects by drawing the air using a glue gun like pen shaped device. With 3Doodler users could literally draw or write anything in the air and bring their imagination into life – that too in 3D.

Now another 3D printing device has been introduced by Petr Novikov and Saša Joki? called the Mataerial. The Mataerial is not like 3Doodler but it is also very different from traditional 3D printers we have covered here quite extensively for you. The Matearial is a robot hand like device that unlike usual 3D printers does not have a body in which products are made. Instead the Mataerial allows users to create 3D objects without any printing surface. Instead of having its own surface, Mataerial uses any surface as its own and starts producing 3D objects on it.

The surface to draw on does not need to be on the ground as Mataerial is capable of making 3D objects regardless of their surface angle. So users can choose any surface, even a wall as their platform and direct Mataerial to draw on it.

Mataerial uses thick layers for the filaments instead of miniscule 2D layers when it comes to curved surfaces to provide more strength to the object.

Mataerial 3D printer follows a different approach then other 3D printers available in the market. It is more of a assembly line kind of device though it cannot be used on a assembly line just yet. Also Mataerial is a new concept and most people won’t know for what purpose they would need it. Even with that Mataerial is a remarkable device and it is a pleasure to watch it in action. [Dvice]

You can see Mataerial in action in the video embedded below.

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One of the worst things about smartphones of today is that they have terrible battery life and what makes it worst is that it takes around 30 minutes to 1 hour for a smartphone battery to fully recharge. There have been efforts made to decrease the charge time so that the recharge time could be reduced making charging the smartphone less time consuming.

To solve this problem a 18 year old Eesha Khare invented a small sized device which is capable if recharging the battery to cell phones in just 30 seconds. Khare invented the device to win a science award and it is needless to say that she won it. Khare was one of the two winners who got the Young Scientist Awards during the Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair.

The device Eesha Khare invented is a tiny black colored supercapacitor of rectangular shape. The device is 1-inch in length but the biggest feature of this device is not its size but its ability to charge a phone battery in 20 to 30 seconds. According to Khare she created a small supercapacitor that could hold a lot of energy despite its small size. She was then able to transfer this stored energy in the battery of the phones. Khare noted that the same technology used for the cell phone battery can also be utilized in order to charge the automobile batteries faster.

This is a major breakthrough by Eesha Khare that would change the way we charge millions of smartphones every day – multiple times a day. What makes this invention even more special is due to the fact that it was created by a 18 year old girl and it is incredible to know that her research will help millions of users on daily basis. Also it solves the annoying problem of waiting for smartphones to fully charge before we leave our homes.

Now it would be intereting to see when and if this charger comes in markets and becomes available for regular consumers like you and me.

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After a long wait Microsoft has finally announced the successor to its popular gaming console Xbox 360. Contrary to expectations the new Xbox is called ‘Xbox One’. The new Xbox One is radically redesigned and brings a lot of new features that were not part of the previous model. Along with the new console Microsoft has also introduced a new and redesigned controller and Kinect 2.

Read on to know what Microsoft announced and all the other things that might be bothering you about the new console because we have got answers to all your questions.

Design and Hardware

Design of the Xbox One is very different from the previous model. It looks like a classic console and something that has arrived from the past. Although it features a classic design but Microsoft has still managed to add class to it and it gives a delicate overall look. Unlike Xbox 360, which was designed to stand vertically as well as sit horizontally the new Xbox One has a PlayStaion like design that is more suited to be placed horizontally. On the top it features two different designs one. 50 percent of the top side is flat while the other 50 percent has net type opening to let the heat go out.

On the front the new Xbox One does not appear to have a light on the power button although in pictures it seems like the ‘X’ might have a small LED light beneath it. Also unlike the older model the new Xbox does not have the ring around the power button that signalled if there was a problem with the device or how many controllers have been connected to the system.

As far as hardware goes the new Xbox One is a big improvement over the Xbox 360. It features a single custom 40-nanometer chip that conists an 8-core CPU and GPU. The device features 8GB of RAM, 500GB storage designed by Microsoft itself, Blue-ray drive, USB 3.0, 802.11n WiFi and more.

Features

Microsoft has focused on TV and capability of the new console to run apps. The new “Xbox on” feature allows the console to power up instantly which enables the Xbox One to turn itself on way faster than 360. Microsoft has added a new ‘Home Dashboard’ which is similar in looks to the UI of Windows 8.

Microsoft has now added voice commands to Xbox that allow users to navigate to different parts of the console as well as control the TV – this also works for content so if you say “watch HBO” then it will take you to the relevant content. Multitasking has also been added to Xbox for the first time and users will be able to switch between running applications as well as TV streams instantly. So you won’t have to quit your game if you want to watch the TV for while. You can pause and switch to TV instantly. Another cool feature is called the Snap Mode, which enables users to run more then one apps alongside one another – a feature similar to Windows 8. So now users will be able to browse the web on one side of the screen while the movie runs on the other.

The new Xbox One allows users to navigate around the dashboard and close applications using Kinect gestures. Skype has also been added to Xbox One using which users will be able to make group video calls with their friends. With Game DVR feature users will be able to record gameplay and share the videos over the web and on Xbox Live, which is pretty sweet.

Pricing and availability

While Microsoft announced most of the things about the Xbox One it kept some tidbits secret. The company said that more details will be revealed at the E3 event scheduled for June. Microsoft says details about pricing, availability and more info about games will be announced at E3.

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We have extensively covered breakthroughs made in 3D printing over the last few months. In recent months we have seen 3D printed implants among other very interesting things related to this technology. Now we have something completely mind blowing from the world of 3D printing. It is reported that NASA is backing a project that aims to take the 3D printing phenomena to a completely new level by printing food using a especially designed 3D printer.

Anjan Contractor was given a $125,000 grant by NASA to build the prototype of the 3D printer that could print food. While NASA is interested in this project because a food printing 3D printer would be extremely useful in space, the whole thing becomes more significant if we see its implications on life on earth as well. 3D printing could make the process of cooking faster and produce results without professional help. Of course this wouldn’t be the case in the beginning but if Anjan Contractor is able to successfully achieve that they are working on than it would be a game changer for the food industry.

The contractor who received the 6 month grant from NASA specializes in 3D printing and owns the Systems & Materials Research Corporation. He believes that a 3D printing food machine would be part of every household in the future and users will be able to create food by loading cartridges which will consist of materials required for making food such as oils and carbohydrate powders instead of ink or plastic used in traditional 3D printers. These cartridges will be available in the markets.

The contractor notes that because the cartridges will have the amount of materials as required for recipe, it would result in reducing the waste of food and these ingredients could also be used to create different meals. Initially the contractor will began to work on a 3D printer prototype that would be capable of creating 3D printed pizza.

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One of the most anticipated and interesting  new industries is the wearable gadgets industry. The industry that wasn’t considered very important until the announcement of devices like Google Glass and others has suddenly received interests of developers, manufacturers and media. The only logical assumption for the wearables industry at this point is that it is going to see a massive growth in the coming years.

But how big is going to be this industry and how much time will it take to become a major one. Well according to prediction by Credit Suisse the wearables industry will see a massive growth in next three years and will be worth as much as $50 billion in the coming years. This growth according to Credit Suisse will be aided by smartphones as these wearable gadgets will also be used as add-ons to smartphones.

Credit Suisse says that the wearables market, which has yet to see its rise is already worth 3 to 5 billion dollars. This number is expected to increase tenfold in next three years.

This is not the first time any firm has given such ambitious numbers for the expected growth of the wearables industry as another firm named Juniper Research also anticipated that wearables industry will grow to 70 million units sold in 2017.

It is important to note here that although gadgets of the spectacles category such as Google Glass come in our minds first – the wearable gadgets go beyond than this category and also includes digital wrist watches also known as smartwatch. Apple is expected to release its smartwatch and other companies are working on theirs as well. This will give a major boost to the smartwatch industry and eventually raise the worth of wearables industry as a whole. Also other mainstream companies such as Apple and Samsung are also expected to release their competitors to Google Glass – which would also be a game changing even for the whole werables industry in the future giving it a major boost.

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One of the most useful features of a smartphone, which includes the iPhone is that you can check and reply to emails on the go no matter wherever you are. Email on mobile devices has evolved a lot in the past few years and has become so simple to use that it can easily be compared with the experience available on the desktop. Mail on smartphones is in no way inferior to desktop.
The best way to access email on a smartphone or an iPhone to be specific is through apps. There are many iOS apps for Mail available in the App Store and most of them offer a great experience. Also the stock Mail app of the iPhone is superb too and it offers a great experience to the users.

So here in this post we have listed top iOS mail apps for iPhone users. Read the post and decide which ones suits you the best from the following lot.

Mailbox

First in the list of top iOS mail apps is Mailbox. Launched a few months ago Mailbox for iPhone was an instant hit. The app after a few weeks of launch was downloaded by millions of iPhone users and become so popular that it was acquired by Dropbox for a big amount. Mailbox brings a new approarch for mail in iOS as it completely redesigns how we use email on our mobile devices. Mailbox is aimed at getting you to inbox zero – meaning it wants you to read and get rid of all unread emails in your inbox. It features a clean UI that is mostly based on gestures. Users can mark an email as read by swiping towards right side or make the app disappear an email for later by swiping towards left. The conversation mode of the Mailbox app is superb too. Mailbox is Gmail only for now but the company has promised to add new services soon.

Overall Mailbox is a great way to email on iOS and is a must have for someone looking for an alternative to the stock app of the operating system. It is available for free here.

Sparrow

Sparrow was one of the first iOS mail apps for iPhone that became extremely popular. The app was later acquired by Google and since then we haven’t seen much updates. Although the app isn’t going to receive any new feature as the team behind Sparrow is working on other projects at Google, the app is pretty amazing as it is and highly recommended for iPhone users who use email a lot. Unlike Mailbox, Sparrow supports all email services. Here are some of its features

• Unified Inbox
• Full IMAP and POP support:
• Gmail for iPhone
• Attachments
• Conversations
• Message swipe
• Send and Archive
• Built-in web browser
• and more…

Sparrow for iPhone is available in the App Store for $2.99 here.

Mail Pilot

Another great addition to the list of top iOS mail apps is Mail Pilot. The app is similar to Mailbox in many ways as it too allows users to turn their inbox into to-do list. Users can mark messages as complete, make the app show them later, assign to a due date as well as organize in other ways. Mail Pilot follows a different approach in which it marks all new messages as incomplete and users can mark them as complete at which point the app puts those emails in archive folder. Its worth mentioning here that the Mail Pilot is not compatible with the POP or Exchange. It does not supports push notifications either though these features might be added in the coming updates.

Here are some features of the Mail Pilot app for iPhone.

• Ability for users to mark emails as complete or incomplete
• Review emails by date
• Lists
• Intuitive gesture controls
• and more…

Mail Pilot for iPhone and iPad is available in the App Store for $14.99 here.

Gmail for iPhone

Gmail for iPhone is the official iOS app for Gmail by Google. It isn’t the perfect email experience but it does the job. If you solely use Gmail for all your email needs then Gmail for iPhone is a perfect solution to all your problems. It provides real-time notifications, support for more than one accounts and ability to search across the inbox.

• Switch between up to 5 accounts
• Push notifications and support for notification center
• Search through all your mail quickly – now with predictions as you type
• See profile pictures as part of the conversation
• Read your mail with threaded conversations
• Auto-complete contact names as you type from your Google contacts or your phone
• Respond to Google Calendar invites right from the app
• Read and respond to interactive Google+ posts right from the app
• Organize your mail by archiving, labeling, starring, deleting and reporting spam
• Send and receive attachments
• Customize emails with custom scribbles

Gmail for iPhone is available in the App Store for free here. It is a great app for Gmail users and certainly among the top iOS mail apps for iPhone.

iOS Stock Mail.app

Last but certainly not the least and my personal favorite is iOS’s stock mail app. It is a complete package and provides a powerful email experience to the users of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. It may be less fancy looking than the ones mentioned above but it does what it is supposed to do pretty nicely. Users can add multiple accounts and have a unified inbox.

There you go folks. These are the top iOS mail apps for iPhone users. Go ahead and give them a try and let us know what you think.

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