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Posts tagged with "safari"

Google Launching Cloud Print with iOS Support

With an official post on the Gmail blog, Google has announced that in the next few days they will launch the Google Cloud Print online service with initial support for iOS devices and Windows operating system. Cloud Print allows you to print any kind of document and supported Gmail attachment by configuring a local printer with Google’s remote system. Once a printer is connected to Cloud Print, an iOS device can remotely send a document to the printer from the Gmail webapp in Mobile Safari. Support for Mac OS X and Linux is coming “soon.

To get started, you’ll first need to connect your printer to Google Cloud Print. For now, this step requires a Windows PC but Linux and Mac support are coming soon. Once you’re set up, just go to gmail.com from your iPhone or Android browser and choose “Print” from the dropdown menu in the top right corner. You can also print eligible email attachments (such as .pdf or .doc) by clicking the “Print” link that appears next to them.

It all sounds fairly interesting, especially considering that it happens in the cloud, in the background. Will Google manage to pull off real driver-less, wireless printing?

iTunes To Become Part Of Safari? We Don’t Believe It

According to website Three Guys and a Podcast, Apple has been working on a major redesign of its iTunes software that will see the music manager / app organizer / media hub become part of Safari. The new system is rumored to be announced at Apple’s music event that should take place (as every year) in September and will be the evolution of Apple’s original plans during the lala acquisition.

Apple may be preparing a massive move that will propel Safari from niche browser to market leader. The move to merge Safari and iTunes into one software solution appears long in the works, which may arrive this fall at Apple’s usual iPod special event.

It is believed that Safari will be the only browser able to access iTunes, as iTunes is built into the browser itself. “Moving iTunes organizational side-bar into Safari isn’t a monumental task” claimed a source, adding “Safari would skyrocket in use as a result of integrating the software titles together.

Read more

Browser+ for iPad Aims To Reinvent Safari

I have been trying a lot of alternative browsers for the iPad over the past months. Since my good friend @kenyarmosh suggested me to give a spin to iCab Mobile (for iPhone and iPad), my interest for well-crafted, feature rich and innovative third-party browsers reached a new level. And while I’m still digging into all the features offered by iCab (which is, without a doubt, the most powerful alternative to Apple’s default browser), I have also been testing other simpler, minimal browsers that aim at offering a different take on browsing the Internet on the tablet.

Browser+ HD for iPad, in spite of its not-so-appealing name, is the freshest and simplest browser I have found in the App Store so far. What Browser+ does is simple: it takes standard elements of web browsing such as tabs, address bar and history and completely re-imagines them as if they were built from scratch for the iPad. Pretty much like Flipboard did for web content that has to be consumed on a tablet’s screen. Browser+, sold at $0.99 in the App Store, doesn’t come with all the functionalities found in Apple’s Safari or iCab Mobile, but what’s there has been recreated to fit better on the iPad. Read more

twttr.mediaTypes - A Great Safari Extension For #NewTwitter

A while back I stumbled upon a few Safari extensions by Norio Nomura that embedded extra image service viewing into newtwitter that it didn’t yet support. There was originally one for dribbble and another for Instagram when it was still unsupported. I am a dribbble member and use Instagram so they were no brainers for me. I use the twitter.com website with Safari when I am at work (and sometimes at home), so it’s always open. Last week I visited Nomura’s github page and noticed he had combined the 2 extensions and added even more including post.ly, withings, moby.to and a few more, it’s now called twttr.mediaTypes. I tweeted a few days ago that this extension was my Safari extension of the day and it had a very good response and was retweeted a lot.

After yesterday’s huge Camera+ news / update, I wondered how easy it would be for him to add Camera+’s image hosting service to this already great extension. It took him less than an hour to get back to me with an updated version supporting Camera+, it even interested him enough that he bought the app as well. It works fantastic, just like it did before, placing the image into the details pane of twitter.com’s timeline.

twttr.mediaTypes is not a must-have for everyone but anyone that uses twitter.com as their client of choice with Safari or Chrome (yeah, he has a version for that too) should really check it out. I have also asked him to add img.ly support as well, but no word back yet.

Occipital Showcases Gyroscope Support In MobileSafari

360 Panorama is a neat iPhone app by Occipital which, thanks to some cool augmented reality features such as a real-time on screen grid view, allows you to take panoramic photos on your iPhone. We reviewed the app here, and you can go grab it here.

Today the Occipital developers are launching a brand new version of their panoramic browser for pictures shared online. The new browser, when used on MobileSafari for iPhone running on iOS 4.2, takes advantage of Apple’s gyroscope to let you move panoramas around by just holding your device upright. Once you load a link like this one, Occipital’s browser will detect the device running iOS 4.2 and will ask you to hold your iPhone upright if you want to use gyroscope. Otherwise, you’ll just be able to swipe to view the entire panorama.

Gyroscope support enables you to move the iPhone around to view the entire content of a webpage, and it works really well. When iOS 4.2 came out in November, developers noted that MobileSafari received new features such as improved HTML5 support and “accelerometer integration”. The benefits of augmented reality apps using the gyroscope instead of a compass were also showcased in July.

Google Docs Desktop Editing Comes To The iPad

Great news for Google Docs users and iPad owners this evening: Google has announced that they have extended compatibility of the Docs desktop editor to include support for iPad. If you’re running an iPad, you can now switch from the mobile version to the desktop one with just a tap.

The desktop editor is the Google Docs you know and love, allowing you to modify fonts and alignments, paragraphs and font styles. It’s the usual Google Docs, running on a tablet.

As simple as it sounds, Google just made a great move towards ensuring millions of iPad users out there a desktop-class Docs experience without the need of a dedicated mobile client. Google announced a Docs Viewer in June, and released a mobile version for iOS and Android users with editing enabled a few weeks ago.

Once again, Mobile Safari wins.

Watch Flash Videos On iPhone & iPad, No Jailbreak or Apps Required

Most of web video has been optimized to display just fine on iOS devices, but it’s still annoying to open an article from your favorite blog and find out that the author didn’t use Vimeo’s updated embed code compatible with the iPhone and iPad. Vimeo offers a new embed technology to support iOS devices, but it’s not turned on by default. Just like Vimeo, other services such as Flickr, Megavideo and Dailymotion sometimes struggle in offering video embeds capable of being displayed on Apple’s mobile devices.

The Skyfire browser has been making the rounds recently: an iPhone app that can take any Flash video from any web page, and convert it in seconds to an HTML5-based video you can watch on the iPhone. The app is paid though, and perhaps many users don’t need all of its functionalities. Then, some developers even released tweaks and hacks in Cydia to activate Flash on iOS – with very disappointing results, I have to say. Put simply: either you jailbreak your device to sorta gain access to some Flash content on the web, or you buy Skyfire to convert Flash videos. But there’s no easy way built in Mobile Safari to play that Vimeo embed on the iPhone.

This is changing today, thanks to this neat bookmarklet called iOSFlashVideo I found on iSpazio (Italian) and installed on my iPhone and iPad a few minutes ago. With just the tap on the bookmarks bar, you’ll be able to instantly watch videos from Dailymotion, Flickr Video, MegaVideo and Vimeo through the iOS standard media viewer. It’s very simple to install. Read more

Pure Reader: Amazing Google Reader Mod

A lot of people started using RSS once again when Reeder for Mac (public beta) came out last week. It is a beautiful app that brings the power of Google Reader to the desktop with a lot of additional functionalities such as support for sharing on multiple social networks and background loading of webpages. But many users are still tied to Google Reader in the browser, that pinned tab that they just can’t close.

If so, take a look at Pure Reader, a browser extension by designer Na Wong. Read more

Steve Jobs Confirms AirPlay Video Streaming For 3rd Party Apps Coming in 2011

Finally, our questions have been answered by Steve Jobs himself. We love AirPlay, but we can’t stand the fact that the current version that ships with iOS 4.2 comes with many limitations, especially when it’s about video streaming to the Apple TV.

You can’t stream video through AirPlay from Safari or any 3rd party app. This lead me to think that the AirPlay we’re playing around with now is just a teaser of better things to come in the future.

Now, a Steve Jobs email posted by MacRumors confirms that Apple is planning to add the feature in 2011:

Hi, I recently updated both my iPhone 4 and iPad to 4.2. I think my favourite feature is airplay. This is seriously amazing and makes sharing content seamless. I just purchased Apple TV and was wondering are you ever going to make airplay video work for videos in safari and 3rd party apps? I hope to get a response.

SJ: Yep, hope to add these features to Airplay in 2011.

A number of hacks and tweaks to enable AirPlay for video have surfaced recently, including packages jailbreak users can download from Cydia and install on their devices. We also detailed that it’s possible to turn any iOS device into an AirPlay speaker.

Here’s to hoping 2011 will bring the AirPlay we’ve always wanted.