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Microsoft Office iOS apps add Outlook integration, improved sharing, protected documents, & more

Microsoft is rolling out an update to some its Office iOS apps today that includes a handful of new features for the Word, PowerPoint, and Excel iPhone and iPad apps.

Among the new features, all three apps get support for viewing protected documents and Outlook integration. For Outlook, users now have the ability to “send a document as an attachment in Outlook. Or directly edit a document attached to or linked from an Outlook email message.”

In addition, all three apps get support for bi-directional and script languages, including Thai, Hebrew, and Arabic.

The updated apps will also now let users invite others to edit a document and configure permissions for those collaborators.

The updated Microsoft Office apps (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) are available on the App Store now.

Periscope for iPhone now lets you find streams by location

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Twitter’s live video streaming app Periscope is out with a big update today adding a key promised feature. Periscope for iPhone version 1.1 now lets you find live streams around the world based on location using a new map view from the global tab. This lets you jump into streams going on around you or watch something interesting happening on the other side of the world. In addition to adding the new maps view, Periscope has been localized in 29 more languages:
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Apple releases first Apple Watch update with Watch OS 1.0.1, adding new Emoji & languages, app improvements, more

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Apple has released the first software update for Apple Watch today with the release of Watch OS 1.0.1. The update is available through the Apple Watch app on iPhone.
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1Password for iOS adds one-time password tool for two factor auth, new login creator, more

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The popular secure password management app 1Password is out with a big update today adding new features on both iOS and Mac. Arriving in version 5.2 of 1Password for iOS is a new login creator tool, a one-time password tool for use with two factor auth, new entry fields for pro users, and more. On the Mac side, 1Password version 5.1 was released adding a number of improvements to sync. This includes the ability to sync secondary vaults to iOS over WiFi. More on the major new features below:


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Swype iOS 8 keyboard now available in 20+ languages, adds new layouts & auto Emoji suggestions

Nuance announced an update for its Swype keyboard for iOS 8 today that introduces support for a long list of new languages in addition to new layouts and features for both iPhone and iPad.

New languages include: Czech, Danish, Dutch, UK English, Finnish, Greek, Hinglish, Hungarian, Irish, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Swedish, and Turkish. The app now supports over 20 languages including the previously supported languages– English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.

The keyboard also now includes QWERTY, QWERTZ and AZERTY layouts for both iPhone and iPad as well as access to all Swype themes on iPad. In addition, the update brings an auto-space feature, a “sound on Keypress” option, and auto suggestions for Emoji:

  • Intuitive Emoji Input: Stoked about the upcoming game this weekend? When you message your friends about your excitement, Swype will now automatically suggest the right emoji. Swype will predict emojis based on the words you enter – so if you’re feeling happy, confused, tenacious or satisfied, Swype’s got just the right emoji for you.

The updated Swype keyboard for iOS 8 is available from the App Store for $1.

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SwiftKey for iOS updated with support for Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Dutch

The SwiftKey iOS keyboard has been updated today to include support for several new languages. This will be a welcome update for many users, as the developers say that support for new languages has been one of their most requested changes. The new languages included in this update are:

  • Swedish
  • Danish
  • Norwegian
  • Dutch

The addition of these four languages brings the total to seventeen. SwiftKey is available on the iOS App Store for free.

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Add Russian, Brazilian Portuguese, & Thai to the list of Siri languages Apple is working on

Back in 2012 we noted that Apple was hiring engineerssiri3 to help localize Siri into a number of languages the feature does not yet support. Those included Arabic, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, and Danish, and recently Apple has added job listings for three more languages: Russian, Brazilian Portuguese and Thai. Apple also posted more recent job listings for the languages it first started hiring for back in 2012.

While Apple didn’t announce any new languages for Siri coming in iOS 8 when it previewed the new operating system earlier this month, it’s always a possibility languages could be added in time for its release this fall.

Apple is yet to add support for the languages mentioned above that it started hiring for a couple years back. Currently, Apple lists the following languages and localizations as supported by Siri: 
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Here are all 24 new dictation languages arriving in iOS 8 & OS X Yosemite

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Dictation-OS-X-Yosemite

During its unveiling of iOS 8 and OS X 10.10 Yosemite yesterday, Apple mentioned that it’s adding 24 new dictation languages, but it didn’t specify what those languages would be. Dictation, a feature available on both iOS and OS X, uses speech-to-text technology powered by Nuance to let users input text using only their voice rather than a keyboard or touchscreen.

Apple has gone from just 8 languages (with a few variations for some) to over 30 in Yosemite. In case you’re curious if your language will make the cut by the time the new operating systems are released this fall, below we’ve included a full list of new supported languages and variations by country:


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Coming in iOS 8: WiFi calling, Tips app, FaceTime call waiting, iBooks preinstalled, much more

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iOS-8-features

There’s a lot of new features coming in iOS 8 that you might have missed during Apple’s presentation today. Apple briefly flashed the slide pictured above and in it listed a bunch of new features that it didn’t talk about in length or at all during its keynote. Some of them include a “Tips app”, panorama on iPad, WiFi calling, FaceTime call waiting, rich text editing in Notes, iBooks preinstalled, and accessibility improvements like multi-device support for MFi hearing aids and the ability to exit Guided Access mode using TouchID.
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Apple announces new Xcode, ‘Swift’ programming language

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iOS Simulator Screen shot 2 Jun 2014 19.46.26

Apple has introduced a brand new programming language alongside a brand new version of Xcode.

Swift is a big deal for developers. The language includes loads of features third-party developers have been asking for. It sits alongside Objective-C and C, meaning developers can interchange between languages in the same project.


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Apple job description outlines goal to evolve Siri as a distinct, recognizable character

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Siri answers (will you marry me)Apple hinted in November at its plans to add more features to Siri in the near future with a job listing that sought individuals to translate Siri into a handful of new languages. Today, we came across another interesting job listing posted by Apple. This one looks for a creative writer skilled in character-driven dialog to “help the Siri team evolve Siri as a distinct, recognizable character.” Not only will the person help “refresh and refine” existing Siri content, Apple is also looking for someone to “develop and write original dialog to support new Siri capabilities.”

Apple clearly thinks Siri’s personality and lifelike AI is just as important as her functionality, noting in the job ad that “Siri’s known for ‘her’ wit, cultural knowledge, and zeal to explain things in engaging, funny, and practical ways.” It looks like Siri’s witty responses will be something that Apple continues to focus on to differentiate Siri from the competition.

We’re looking for a uniquely creative individual to help us evolve and enrich Siri, our virtual personal assistant. Siri’s known for ‘her’ wit, cultural knowledge, and zeal to explain things in engaging, funny, and practical ways. The ideal candidate is someone who combines a love for language, wordplay, and conversation with demonstrated experience in bringing creative content to life within an intense technical environment.


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Apple’s iCloud built using the SproutCore framework

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Apple’s new iCloud Web apps are built using the same SproutCore Javascript engine that was used throughout MobileMe.  If the favicon above doesn’t prove it, looking at the underlying code below seems to offer undeniable evidence.

SproutCore describes itself as an open-source framework for building blazingly fast, innovative user experiences on the web.

Here’s a nice interview with Charles Jolley, one of the founders of SproutCore and previous MobileMe Javascript Frameworks Manager.  He left Apple about a year ago to start Strobe – a device agnostic Web publishing engine based on…you guessed it, SproutCore.

Interestingly, SproutCore lists Strobe Inc. as its parent company.


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