iOS 8 : Custom Keyboards

When Apple announced at WWDC that iOS 8 would support custom keyboards I was somewhat underwhelmed. At the time I couldn't see any real benefit and some very real downsides, like the potential for a malicious app to monitor everything you type and send it to a foreign server for nefarious purposes. I was quite certain that I would never consider using any keyboard except Apple's.

And then I found a blog about Smile's new version of TextExpander touch, which includes a keyboard and allows you to use TE in native applications like Mail and Safari and third-party apps like Evernote even when those apps don't support TE's API. Smile say:

TextExpander touch 3, coming on the heels of iOS 8 this fall, includes a TextExpander keyboard which can expand snippets in any app on the iPhone or iPad, including built-in apps such as Mail and Safari.

Prior to iOS 8, only apps which implemented the TextExpander touch SDK could expand snippets directly.

Under iOS 8, the TextExpander keyboard will work system-wide and reliably share snippets with the TextExpander app. The keyboard will also include full VoiceOver accessibility support.

I don't use TextExpander at the moment because it doesn't work with the applications I use in iOS. I'm not yet certain that I would use it in iOS 8 (although it probably makes sense as part of my wider quest to improve my workflow and move away from Windows) but I'm thinking about it. TextExpander Touch is the first keyboard app I've seen that delivers enough benefit for me to consider a switch.

It'll be interesting to see what other developers bring to the party when Apple releases iOS 8 to the masses.

Police want right to see medical records without consent

No. Just no.

Police want new and expanded rights to access medical records and other confidential data without an individual's consent, a senior police chief has told the Guardian. Sir Peter Fahy, the Greater Manchester chief constable, said the extra access to sensitive data was needed to help police cope with growing numbers of vulnerable people.

The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/aug/10/police-right-to-see-medical-records

Westboro Baptist Church Protesting SF Tech Workers

TechCrunch report:

> The Westboro Baptist Church, the group known for its hate-filled picketing outside the funerals of soldiers and those who died of AIDS, has found a new target – the tech industry. The group plans to picket pretty much every major tech company in Silicon Valley from Facebook to Reddit this afternoon.


Public exhibitions of religious belief often seem a bit weird to outsiders but the activities of Westboro Baptists Church are seriously bizarre (and distinctly unpleasant). Their deliberate misunderstanding of life must make it difficult to function in the modern world; I feel quite sorry for them.

TechCrunch: http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/12/westboro-baptist-church-protesting-tech-workers-this-afternoon/?ncid=rss