3d illusion arts: Walyou

Walyou

Posted: 03 Feb 2016 03:57 PM PST

Enter one of the latest giveaways featured in our store, for a chance to win a 32GB iPad Pro and an Apple Pencil.

Apple’s tablets have witness quite the evolution since 2010, when the first model was launched. The 12.9″ Retina display iPad Pro, even though it can’t hold a candle to Microsoft’s Surface 4 tablets, brings to the table a very elegant design, and promises twice the CPU performance of the iPad Air 2. Moreover, the large display and the Multi-Touch technology are said to improve creativity and productivity. Now you have a chance to win one, along with an Apple Pencil, in our latest giveaway. Worth $898 in total, the two Apple products can really bring out the artist or businessman in you, depending what you intend to use it for.

With a display that large, it’s no wonder that Apple’s iPad Pro is regarded as a canvas for digital artists. The computing power comes into play for such tasks as 4K video editing and presentation design. It’s pretty clear that the Pro in this tablet’s name stands for Professional. While it can run games smoothly, the iPad Pro works best in business environments.

There are plenty of apps pre-installed, but you can also head to the iTunes Store and pick more from the approximately 1.5 million apps available there. The CPU, GPU, and RAM are more than enough for running any app effortlessly, so the only restrictions will be determined by the storage. Unfortunately, you can’t expand the iPad Pro’s memory with a microSD card (if anything, Apple would probably invent a proprietary card rather than adopting a widely used one), so you’re stuck with 32GB of internal memory minus whatever the OS is taking up. Of course, assuming that you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network, you can stream media without having to think about the storage restrictions.

When you’re not sketching or drawing on the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil, you can listen to music or even watch movies on the tablet. This will particularly come in handy if you’re commuting to work. Of course, you’re also free to play games on it, so long as you don’t miss the station.

There’s plenty of time to enter the giveaway, as it will end in 28 days from the time of writing. Make sure you read the official rules found on the giveaway page in our store, Walyou Deals, to see if you’re eligible for both taking part in the sweepstakes and winning the prize. If so, create an account or log into your existing one, and share the page on Facebook, Twitter, or Google+ in order to get a free entry. You can win an additional entry by making it into the leaderboard at any point on any of the Pay What You Want deals from the store.

It should be noted that Apple is in no way associated with this giveaway. The winner will be announced or on around March 2, 2016.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about the lifetime Premium subscription to ZenMate VPN, or Adonit’s Adobe Ink & Slide accessories for the iPad.

Microsoft Buys SwiftKey to Improve Word Flow

Posted: 03 Feb 2016 03:17 PM PST

Redmond has announced today the acquisition of SwiftKey, the maker of one of the most popular keyboard apps on Android and iOS.

It definitely looks like Microsoft is serious about bringing Word Flow to Android and iOS, as I reported a couple of weeks ago. Its own keyboard is already highly functional, fact that won it a Guinness World Record, but it seems that Microsoft plans to make it even better by integrating technologies from the newly acquired SwiftKey. However, this acquisition is about more than just implementing new features into an existing product. Over the past 8 years, SwiftKey has amassed quite a userbase, as there are more than 130,000 VIPs, not to mention the thousands of regular users. In fact, the SwiftKey keyboard and SDK can be found on 300 million iOS and Android devices, and Microsoft definitely wouldn’t mind attracting that many users to its side. Once again, the Redmond company’s strategy is in stark contrast with Apple’s, who prefers to develop apps exclusively for its own ecosystem.

“This acquisition is a great example of Microsoft’s commitment to bringing its software and services to all platforms,” explained Harry Shum, Executive VP, Technology and Research, in a blog post. “We’ll continue to develop SwiftKey’s market-leading keyboard apps for Android and iOS as well as explore scenarios for the integration of the core technology across the breadth of our product and services portfolio. Moreover, SwiftKey’s predictive technology aligns with Microsoft’s investments and ambition to develop intelligent systems that can work more on the user’s behalf and under their control.”

“Our number one focus has always been to build the best possible products for our users. This will not change,” added SwiftKey co-founders Jon Reynolds and Ben Medlock on the company’s blog. “Our apps will continue to be available on Android and iOS, for free. We are as committed as ever to improving them in new and innovative ways.”

“In the coming months, we’ll have more to share about how we’ll integrate SwiftKey technology with our Guinness World Record Word Flow technology for Windows,” concluded Shum. “In the interim, I’m extremely excited about the technology, talent and market position SwiftKey brings to us with this acquisition, and about how this further demonstrates Microsoft's desire to bring key apps and technologies to platforms from Windows to Android to iOS.”

No financial details have been released, nor have the companies disclosed what will happen to SwiftKey’s employees. It remains to be seen what exactly will Microsoft keep, what it will implement in its own keyboard, and what will happen to the SwiftKey app for iOS and Android. I’m particularly interested in SwiftKey Neural Alpha, which made the news back in October for being the world’s first neural network keyboard. That one really took word prediction and correction to a whole new level.

Be social! Follow Walyou on Facebook and Twitter, and read more related stories about Microsoft’s plans of bringing Word Flow to Android and iOS, or how Stephen Hawking’s Intel speech system got a boost from SwiftKey.