MacRumors

SwiftKey is one of the more popular third-party keyboard choices on iOS, due to its autocorrect and word prediction capabilities that are able to adapt to an individual's usage style over time. Since its debut last September, SwiftKey has been updated several times with features like predictive emoji and typing stats, and as of today, it's getting another major update that will allow for deeper customization: a theme store.

The new SwiftKey theme store allows users to purchase new themes to personalize the look of their keyboards with unique color schemes. There are 12 new themes available for purchase, available in a range of different colors and styles.

Organized into categories, there are five new Nickel themes, six Minimal themes, and one animated theme -- Shooting Stars. Colors range from black and white to pink, blue, and orange. In combination with the three free existing themes SwiftKey offers, there are now a total of 15 themes available. Themes range from $0.99 for basic themes to $1.99 for the animated Shooting Stars theme.

Shooting Stars, which features a beautiful night sky, changes as you move your phone, giving the theme a more realistic and dimensional look and feel by making use of parallax. Parallax is just a fancy word for when an object, or objects, seem to be in a different positions depending on where you're viewing them from.

For $1.99, you can give your keyboard a twinkling background with stars that are dynamically generated each time the keyboard loads. If you look closely you may even see some shooting stars fly across the keyboard...

Today's update also includes performance and stability improvements, along with a fix that cuts down on instances when SwiftKey is unintentionally replaced by the default iOS keyboard. SwiftKey recommends that existing users should restart their iPhones or iPads after installing the update to see the performance improvements.

SwiftKey can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

Update: SwiftKey tells MacRumors it is having some issues with store purchase validation on iOS at the moment, but the team is working on the problem. Users will receive any themes they've purchased once the issue has been resolved.

Update 11:45 AM: A new 1.3.2 version of SwiftKey has been released, fixing the issue with purchase validation. Users having issues with purchased themes should update to the latest version and reselect the purchased theme in the store. They will not need to go through the purchase process again.

News alert app Breaking [Direct Link], which feeds topical news stories via a widget into the Today portion of the Notification Center, has faced a bit of blowback from Apple due to the mention of the term "Android" within a screenshot on the app's store page (via iPhoneHacks).

The app was denied its newest update, version 1.3, due to the Android mishap, which is only mentioned within the screenshots for the app and not anywhere in its actual description. As a few fellow app developers voiced on Twitter, the screenshot in question doesn't overtly promote the rival's brand, either.

While the future of both apps was initially foreboding, both GIF Finder and SeaNav US returned to the App Store, with developer Cheetham documenting in detail his experience with facing Apple's app review board. Today's rejection of Breaking lies in a similar rejection field compared with SeaNav US, both appearing to violate App Store review guideline 3.1, which prohibits the mentioning of competing platforms.

Most developers haven't faced such strict stonewalling on the issue before, which made SeaNav US' rejection - due to the use of "Pebble" - a day before the Apple Watch launch particularly interesting. Today's rejection of Breaking appears to be a bit of a fluke, but no doubt Apple will allow the app's 1.3 update once the particular screenshot in question is removed.

Popular iPhone camera accessory maker Olloclip today announced the launch of the new Active Lens for iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which combines a 2x telephoto lens with a new ultra wide-angle lens. The lens joins Olloclip's other available lenses for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, giving photographers lens additions that are good for capturing landscapes, group selfies, and zoomed in shots.

Like the rest of the lens lineup for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, the Active Lens is compatible with both the front and rear-facing cameras. It includes a 2x telephoto lens on one side, which can be used to get closer to subjects, and a wide-angle lens on the other side, able to capture more of an area in a single shot. The wide-angle lens in particular will work well with the front facing camera, as it can capture a wider field of view for group selfies.

Capture it all. A brand new Ultra-Wide Lens gives the iPhone a wider "action camera" field of view for everything from panoramic landscapes to a group selfie on the front FaceTime camera.

Get in close. Switch quickly and easily to the Telephoto Lens with a 2x optical zoom and get twice as close to the action or achieve stunning portraits with a shallower depth of field.

Olloclip's new Active Lens, along with the rest of its lenses, is compatible with the company's recently announced Ollocase for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, which will be shipping out to customers in the near future.

The Active Lens can be pre-ordered from the Olloclip website for $99.

Automatic today announced the release of a second-generation Automatic Adapter, which adds dual Bluetooth data streams, built-in GPS, Made for iPhone (MFi) certfication, and an improved connector to its existing feature set.

Like the original Automatic Adapter, the new version plugs into a car's OBD-II port to provide information like distance traveled, gas used, time spent in the car, and more. It's able to provide notifications to advise drivers on when to ease off on the gas and brake pedals to optimize speeds and save gas, and it can deliver information on what's wrong with a car via check engine alerts.

Data collected is aggregated into a weekly driving score, and via Bluetooth, the accompanying app can let you know where your car is parked. A free crash alert service sends assistance whenever a severe collision is detected.

Along with a new Adapter, Automatic also announced an SDK and an App Gallery, which houses third party apps that are able to take advantage of the data that Automatic supplies. There are more than a dozen apps that already offer Automatic integration, like IFTTT, Nest, Yo, and Pebble.

One of the major features that Automatic's new app integration brings is the ability to see a car's raw performance data in real time (with the new Adapter). Automatic now delivers data to DashCommand, Harry's LapTimer, and OBD Fusion, three apps that can read information from a car's OBD-II port sent from the Automatic.

With Automatic's SDK, additional apps may include data from the Automatic Adapter in the future. The SDK offers access to information like mileage, routes, driving events, real-time speed, RPM, and more.

The Automatic Adapter can be purchased from the Automatic website for $99.95.

Did you ever think the day would come when we could call someone right from our wrists? It still seems like the stuff that science fiction is made of, but you can, in fact, make and receive phone calls on Apple Watch. On Apple Watch, calls are routed through the iPhone, but you can answer even with your iPhone in another room or tucked away in a pocket, carrying on an entire conversation right from your watch.

Answering a Call

Answering a phone call is self-explanatory. When the call comes in, all you have to do is tap the green answer button. If you don't want to answer it, you can tap the red decline button and send the call to voicemail instead.

You can also choose to answer the call on your iPhone or send a text message. When the call comes in, turn the Digital Crown or swipe upwards to access these options.

➜ Click here to read more...

Activist investor and billionaire Carl Icahn, during an interview with CNBC today, expressed confusion over The Wall Street Journal's recent report claiming that Apple scrapped its plans for a full television set more than a year ago. Icahn and his investment firm Icahn Enterprises remain confident that Apple will enter the television and automotive spaces, even as analyst Gene Munster admits he was wrong.

"After many years of rumors as part of Apple’s push into television and as we referenced previously, we expect in FY 2016 Apple will sell 55” and 65” ultra high definition television sets," said Icahn in his open letter. "We forecast revenues of $15 billion in FY 2016 and $37.5 billion in FY 2017 on 10 million and 25 million units respectively with average selling prices of $1,500."

The open letter also predicts that the iPhone will experience modest 2.3% revenue growth in the 2016 fiscal year, the iPad will rebound with a strong performance and revenue growth of 27.7% in FY 2016 and the Mac will continue to make gains over the next year. Icahn Enterprises predicts 10 million Apple Watch sales in the second half of 2015 and international expansion of Apple Pay.

Apple shares are currently trading at just over $130 as of publication time, giving the company a market capitalization of over $753 billion. In the past twenty-four hours, Apple surpassed the $750 billion market cap milestone for the first time as AAPL shares have risen following the open letter. Icahn himself has earned about $3.4 billion since announcing his position in the company in August 2013.

Alongside the start of pre-orders for the Apple Watch last month, Mophie announced the Watch Dock, a $60 aluminum stand for the Apple Watch with leather accents and hideaway cable storage. It took a bit longer than the original estimate of April 24 for the Watch Dock to launch, but it's now shipping out to the first batch of pre-order customers and Mophie has provided us with one for testing purposes.

The Watch Dock is very straightforward, with the box containing only the stand and a quick start guide illustrating how to route your existing Apple Watch charging cable through the stand. A circular cutout at the top of the stand holds the inductive charger, with the cable being fed through a rubber-enclosed channel along the inside of the stand's arm, disappearing into the base and out the back.

The cable management system offers a clean look for the stand and the design makes it easy to mount an Apple Watch with either a looped or a traditional band for charging. The angled design of the stand makes it ideal for placement on a nightstand or desk where an occasional glance might be necessary.

➜ Click here to read more...

Apple updated its Apple Pay participating issuers list today with 35 additional banks, credit unions and financial institutions supporting the contactless payment service in the United States. Apple Pay now has close to 300 participating issuers nationwide, and several hundred more plan to support the NFC-based mobile payment service in the future.

The full list of new Apple Pay participating issuers is reflected below, although it's worth noting that some banks, credit unions and financial institutions listed may have already had support for the contactless payments service and are only now being reflected on Apple's website.

The full list of new Apple Pay participating issuers:

• 1st Financial Federal Credit Union
  

• Affinity Bank
  

• Bank of Springfield
  

• Berkshire Bank
  

• Box Elder Credit Union
  

• C&F Bank
  

• Capitol Federal Savings
  

• Christian Community Credit Union
  

• Community First Credit Union of Florida
  

• Credit Union of Denver
  

• Denver Community Credit Union
  

• Education First Credit Union
  

• Educators Credit Union
  

• Financial Partners Credit Union
  

• First City Credit Union
  

• First Premier Bank
  

• Freedom Credit Union
  

• NASA Federal Credit Union
  

• Numerica Credit Union
  

• PremierOne Credit Union
  

• Purdue Federal Credit Union
  

• Rivermark Community Credit Union
  

• San Francisco Federal Credit Union
  

• Simmons First National Bank
  

• Summit Credit Union
  

• Synchrony Bank
  

• The Citizen Bank of Clovis
  

• UMe Federal Credit Union
  

• University Federal Credit Union
  

• Utah Power Credit Union
  

• Valor Credit Union
  

• Vermont Federal Credit Union
  

• WSECU
  

• WECU (Whatcom Educational Credit Union)

Apple Pay remains available in the United States only, although Apple is committed to an international rollout of the mobile payments service in additional countries such as Canada, China and the United Kingdom. Canada, a well-prepared candidate for Apple Pay, could be the first country to embrace the service outside of the United States as early as November.

Longtime iTunes partner Starbucks today announced a brand new music partnership with music streaming service Spotify. Starbucks members will have access to in-store music within the Starbucks app powered by Spotify, and Spotify users will have opportunities to gain Starbucks rewards points.

“We plan on building one of the most robust digital ecosystems of any retailer in the world. Given the evolution of the music industry and the proliferation of streaming technology, it was natural that we would partner with Spotify in offering our customers a new way to engage with their favorite music,” added Kevin Johnson, president and coo of Starbucks.

The coffee company's 150,000 U.S.-based employees will receive a free Spotify Premium subscription and will be able to use Spotify to influence in-store playlists. Those playlists will then be available to stream within the Starbucks app. Spotify users will also be able to gain rewards points for the Starbucks app and will be able to listen to the in-store playlists within the Spotify apps.

It's unclear whether Starbucks will continue its music partnership with Apple's iTunes. The two companies first established a partnership in 2007, allowing iPod users to figure out what was playing in Starbucks stores. Later, the coffee company began giving away free iTunes songs, which can still be accessed within the Starbucks mobile app. In 2011, Starbucks and Apple extended their partnership to the App Store. More recently, the two companies began teaming up for (Product) Red iTunes / Starbucks gift card combinations.

The new partnership will roll out to the U.S. later this year, with Canada and the United Kingdom to follow thereafter.