The American Foundation for the Blind announced Apple among its four honorees to receive a Helen Keller Achievement Award later this June, recognizing the company’s contribution to accessibility with VoiceOver.

Source: Apple Insider

Apple is on the verge of offering in-store pickup for people buying the Apple Watch, although no exact timeframe is being quoted, checks of the Apple Store iOS app revealed on Wednesday.

Source: Apple Insider

Apple’s rapidly-expanding internal search group –?aimed at making Spotlight a legitimate Web search engine –?is being led by the team acquired in 2013 with social search firm Topsy, AppleInsider has learned.

Source: Apple Insider

By Angela Nicholson The camera is one of the iPhone’s most-used features, so any app that promises to improve its already strong output is sure to attract attention. Hydra is interesting because, as well as offering HDR modes to increase highlight and shadow detail in stills and video, it promises to boost image size to up to 32 megapixels — four times the 8 megapixels of the iPhone 6. There’s also a Zoom mode for capturing distant subjects without reducing image size, and a Lo-Light mode designed to reduce the amount of image noise.Just like the iPhone’s standard Camera app, Hydra is very easy to use. The shooting mode is selected by swiping between the options arranged along the bottom of the preview and the mode settings are accessed by tapping the icon in the bottom-right corner. You just tap where you want to focus as usual and then hit the large shutter button to take the shot — but Hydra doesn’t just take one image, it captures up to 60 (depending upon the mode) and combines them into one picture. While this image-combining technology is the magic behind Hydra, it can also be its undoing, because it’s important that neither the camera nor the subject moves while the images are taken, a process that can take up to almost 10 seconds. It does seem to be able to cope with a little camera-shake, but care is required to avoid getting a warning message or producing images with ghosting. A tripod helps, but how many people use one with their iPhone?The bottom line. Impressive detail in its high-res images — if you can keep the iPhone still.Review Synopsis
Product:

Hydra — Amazing Photography

Company:

Creaceed SPRL

Contact:

www.creaceed.com

Price:

$4.99

Requirements:

iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 8.1 or later

Positives:

Really does let you take photos with extraordinary detail. HDR modes. Simple to use.

Negatives:

You have to remain very still for it to work.

Source: Maclife

Adoption of the iPhone was up globally during the March quarter, and in Europe was particularly influenced by people switching from Android devices, according to new smartphone market data published on Wednesday by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

Source: Apple Insider

Former JC Penney CEO and one-time Apple retail head Ron Johnson on Wednesday launched a new company, Enjoy Technology, that will not only sell products like smartphones, drones, notebooks, and tablets, but also offer free personal delivery and setup for orders.

Source: Apple Insider

AppleInsider this week is proud to offer the lowest prices anywhere on Apple’s entire MacBook lineup with AppleCare protection. Separately, today also marks the last call for readers looking to take advantage of a week-long Apple Accessories super sale delivering the lowest prices on everything from SuperDrives and Keyboards to MacBook Power Adapters and AirPort base stations.

Source: Apple Insider

Popular photo editing app Pixelmator, already available on Mac and iPad, will also be coming to Apple’s iPhone in the near future, the company announced on Wednesday.

Source: Apple Insider

Apple on Wednesday notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it is planning yet another bond sale, accruing debt to fund its ongoing quarterly dividend payments and share repurchase program.

Source: Apple Insider

Apple has confirmed the existence of a long-rumored web crawling service — first noticed last November –?and provided some details of its operations in a recently-updated support document.

Source: Apple Insider