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"Debrickifying" an iPhone 5
I got my share of flak from TUAW readers when I wrote a post three weeks ago bemoaning the fact that my iPhone 5 -- which was running iOS 7 beta -- lost battery power on the first day of a vacation and went into an endless restart loop. Yes, dear readers, I am well aware of the fact that Apple points out that you shouldn't run beta software on a mission critical device, so I deserved what I got -- a nice three-week-long respite from checking my iPhone every few minutes. This post is to let you know that I did manage to get the iPhone in somewhat working order yesterday (my first day back from vacation), and that you can accomplish the same thing should you ever encounter the endless restart loop problem. Let me describe the symptom of the endless restart loop. The iPhone appears to be starting up, displaying the Apple logo and then going to a black screen showing the familiar progress "rotor" -- which doesn't rotate. After a while, the device decides to reboot and go through the process again, ad infinitum, or at least until the battery is completely drained. This was the point on my trip that I A.) wished I had taken my MacBook Pro on vacation with me and B.) put the iPhone 5 into the safe in my cruise ship cabin to act as a paperweight. Fast-forward to yesterday morning. After a good night's sleep to kill the jet lag and taking care of some TUAW business first thing, I decided to see if I could make my iPhone 5 into something other than an attractive and expensive brick. To begin with, I tethered it to my Mac and launched iTunes, which showed a device running iOS 7, but would not let me restore the device. A Google search for "endless restart loop" somehow pointed me to a June 2013 post by iMore editor Allyson Kazmucha talking about how to downgrade an iOS 7 device to iOS 6. In turn, that pointed to an older post by iMore editor-in-chief and all-around nice guy Rene Ritchie on how to put your iPhone into DFU (Device Firmware Update) mode. Between the two of those posts, I was on the road to Debrick City. At this point the iPhone 5 was back into endless restart looping and still tethered to the iMac, so I picked it up and started with putting it in DFU mode. This involves some critical timing: Hold down the Home button and sleep button on the top of the iPhone simultaneously for about ten seconds. I actually used the second hand on a watch (ancient technology) to time this... Ritchie's instructions note that "if you see the Apple logo, you've held them too long and will need to start again." Next, let go of the sleep button and continue holding the Home button for another five seconds. In this situation, Ritchie warns that "...if you see the 'Plug into iTunes' screen then you held it too long and will need to start again." At this point, the screen remained black, meaning that the device was in DFU mode and happily awaiting new firmware. Where to go from here? Well, I had no choice but to go back to iOS 6, since Dev Center is still down and there's no way I can get access to the iOS 7 files again. My next move was to find the latest iOS 6 firmware file for my phone, which happened to be the 6.1.4 version for CDMA (I have a Verizon iPhone 5). With Dev Center down, I was happy to see that iMore has a downloads section available with all recent firmware files, so it was no problem to grab the file. Once the iPhone 5 was in DFU mode, iTunes began displaying a message (above) that said "iTunes has detected an iPhone in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone before it can be used with iTunes." Looking at the device screen for the iPhone 5 in iTunes, there was a button for "Restore iPhone" (image below) Since iOS 7 isn't available (ahem...), I held down the Option key on my keyboard and clicked Restore iPhone, which brought up a dialog where I could select the firmware file. Within a few minutes, the iPhone 5 was humming away happily, although I can't do a restore from iCloud because -- get this -- all of the backups that I can select from were done from an iOS 7 device. At least this gets my device back in my pocket and acting like an iPhone again until I can do a total iOS 7 restore after the Dev Center is back online. Many thanks to iMore for their how-to posts and the screenshots included here.
DevJuice: Glyphish icon set updated for iOS 7
Glyphish, probably the most popular source for licensed iOS icons, has just been refreshed so you can get ready for iOS 7. Currently bundled at US$75 for Glyphish 3 through 6, this over-the-summer special saves you a cool 25 percent off the normal price. If you're already a Glyphish customer, it's the Glyphish 6 package ($25) you'll be most interested in. Using thin lines and inspired by iOS 7's visual style, these icons were designed using an Ive aesthetic. Here are a few examples that I pulled out of the packages to compare the old and new designs. Today, I was able to sit down with designer Joseph Wain to discuss the process of moving Glyphish to iOS 7, and hear his thoughts about the overall changes in the iOS design language. As you can see with these samples, Wain's evolved the entire look of the icon set. TUAW: So how did Glyphish 6 come about? Wain: I took my best guess about iOS 7 and where it's going. My goal was to support developers both in the near term, with resources for porting apps to iOS 7 and, fingers crossed, the long term as iOS 7 evolves. The launch-and-iterate approach will be the best approach to keep up with Apple's standards and matching their aesthetic over time. TUAW: The community response to iOS 7 has been kind of a mixed bag, hasn't it? Wain: I've heard a lot of short-term negativity and long-term positivity. I'm optimistic for the future of iOS 7 and I think the initial "shock" will wear off quickly. This is a good opportunity for independent developers to help Apple discover what an iOS 7 app will be. There's a lot of opportunity here to innovate both app design and UI design that you might not have had in iOS 6, because as an ecosystem it's so crowded. With iOS 7, independent developers can contribute back to what it means to be a good iOS 7 citizen. TUAW: What are the negatives about iOS 7 design? Wain: In terms of iconography, the iOS 7 look as a whole is very new, and very young. What we've seen so far in demos pretty clearly doesn't have the same polish as what we've seen before. Plus, the shock value is high because there's a big change, and designers like to nitpick -- they hone in on the details (And that's fine! They're naturally perfectionists!) but as somebody making icons, a lot of the iOS 7 icons are not something I would create. Some Apple icon choices look very strange on non-Retina displays. But how long will it be until Apple moves past Retina devices entirely? There are a couple of non-Retina devices right now. If you extrapolate out 18 months, it's not going to be a big problem any more. There's not going to be more non-Retina devices. There's more likely going to be zero. With Glyphish, I'm trying to see the forest through the trees. I'm anticipating Apple understanding that, so many of those issues will resolve. TUAW: What do you love about the iOS 7 aesthetic? Wain: From an icon standpoint, I love where they have successfully simplified the kinds of icons I make. In iOS 6, icons have been all over the map. Apple has followed the Human Interface Guide (HIG) just fine [but it's not consistent]. iOS 7 feels like a movement towards eventual resolution independence. Where things have been simplified successfully, it's been done very well. In terms of overall visuals, a lot of things may change between now and public release. If you want a joke, my joke with a wink is that I'm glad that iOS and Android finally look the same visually. The aesthetic of iOS 7 is more in the Android ballpark than previously. Things are starker and simpler if you subtract the motion and interactivity layer. As a designer, I like that I can see similarities in the visual style. I don't have to think of the rich skeumorphic world of iOS and the stark gray world of Android. TUAW: This all comes down to design languages, yes? Love it or hate it, iOS 7 seems more consistent as a design language. Wain: Not sure if I'd go so far. Everything I've seen in iOS 7 has come from Apple. We still have to wait for the entire app ecosystem to express it. Are Apple's iOS 7 apps consistent? Yes, maybe. We've moved past the rich Corinthian leather. But while the language still isn't consistent, it's certainly identifiable. It's certainly Apple. On other OS's platforms, designers have co-opted Apple's beautiful design language from the last five years. It's a karmic sense that Apple inspired elements are more identifiable as Apple. TUAW: Any changes in how the new icon set be used? For example, the plus sign is really thin. Wain: It will be different. I think in terms of UI components, developers will still use tab bars and tool bars and all, but there will differences. An icon may no longer work in the same role. Developers working now on iOS 7 will lead the way and hold the flag up high, and hold the torch for where this is going. In six months or so, this will all settle down and there will be a bunch of really great iOS 7 apps. TUAW: Thank you so much for your time! Readers interested in picking up a copy of Glyphish, whether the entire bundle or the individual Glyphish 6 update, can do so at the developer's website. The bundle offer is for a limited time.
SF's district attorney: iOS 7's Activation Lock offers 'clear improvements' in anti-theft tech
Smartphone thefts have been on the rise over the last several years, particularly in big cities such as New York, London and San Francisco. Last week, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced that they were going to test new anti-theft smart phone measures unveiled by Apple at WWDC. Called "Activation Lock," the feature will allow devices running iOS 7 to prevent thieves from turning off the Find My iPhone feature or wiping the device clear without first entering the user's iCloud password. The San Francisco Examiner has followed up on the district attorneys' testing and reports that Gascón said that Activation Lock has made "clear improvements" in anti-theft smartphone measures. "I'm very optimistic that they came and were willing to share their technology with us," Gascón told the SF Examiner, after testing iOS 7's Activation Lock in addition to Samsung's Lojack for Android. Though pleased with both, he noted that Microsoft and Google have yet to offer their own solutions. Gascón also said he will keep pressing the issue until all major smartphone manufacturers release similar technology. Activation Lock will ship as part of iOS 7 this fall.
iOS 7 Beta 3 gets benchmarked on iPhone 4 and 5
As we inch our way towards the public release of iOS 7, we are treated to a rather interesting benchmarking video courtesy of YouTube user adrianisen. The clip showcases two different benchmark tools running on iOS 7 Beta 3 on both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5. It's not clear why the tester chose the standard iPhone 4 as opposed to the more powerful 4S, but it certainly makes the performance difference between the two handsets remarkably apparent. An interesting note: Using Geekbench 2, the iPhone 5 used in the test scores a 1,672 with iOS 7 Beta 3, while my own iPhone 5 running iOS 6.1.4 tops out at 1,664 consistently. It's a small increase, sure, but a promising result regardless. The iPhone 4, on the other hand, doesn't even break the 400-point barrier.
How willing are you to re-purchase apps for iOS 7?
Gedeon Maheux, a graphic designer and co-founder of the Iconfactory, has written an interesting post on his blog about how the introduction of iOS 7 will impact developers and users. There's no doubt the introduction of iOS 7 will be a huge opportunity for developers to get their apps in front of new users. And current users will expect their favorite apps to be updated in-line with the dramatically different, new OS, or else apps will quickly be deleted. This means developers will need to put time, energy and money into updating their apps for iOS 7. Since Apple does not support paid upgrades on the iOS App Store, and redesigning apps for a new OS costs money, Maheux suggests that developers are faced with the opportunity to charge users once more for their albeit redesigned, ready-for-iOS 7 apps, instead of offering them as free updates. However, the question then arises: are users willing to re-purchase apps for iOS 7? Maheu's post is well worth reading as he delves into the implications of the matter, but we thought it would be pertinent to ask our readers the above question. Before you answer the poll below, take a moment to scroll through your apps and consider how many paid apps you use and rely on on a daily basis. %Poll-83564%
Developers realize iOS 7 means they'll have to update, or lose customers
There's a great short post on the Tapadoo site called "iOS 7. Move now, or be an insta-delete." As a dev shop with outside clients, they see more clearly than most that iOS 7 is a seismic shift for Apple's mobile platform. This will be more emphatic than the rapid turnover we saw with apps being updated for the iPhone 5 screen's new aspect ratio; apps that don't get refreshed for iOS 7 will seem antiquated to a majority of Apple's mobile customers come this fall. Those customers update quickly, even if the flashiest new features might not make it all the way down through the installed base. iOS 7 sets the stage for the next several years. Even the corner radius on app icons is slightly different in 7 than 6 -- so older apps will be slightly, but noticeably out-of-date just sitting there on the home screen. As I said after WWDC, iOS 7 has a ton of great features. Developers, many wary at first (the rumor mill had fanned the flames of fear by calling the new OS "polarizing"), have come to embrace the changes. I have yet to see a developer give up on Apple because of the new aspects in iOS 7. In fact, I have seen fears allayed, and much excitement over the new OS. As Tapadoo points out, "If you have [apps] in the store, we'd highly recommend looking at modernising them pretty quick." I concur.
iOS 7 beta 3 now available for developers to download
Apple released iOS 7 beta 3 today to developers, hopefully bringing some new features and bug fixes to the next version of Apple's mobile OS. Apple is on a two week schedule thus far, with beta 2 arriving two weeks after iOS 7 first became available to developers and beta 3 arriving two weeks after beta 2. The latest version is available over-the-air via Settings > General > Software Update on devices running the current iOS 7 beta. Hat tip to F. Rizzo for the email
iOS 7 installs reach all-time high for beta software
Touch publishing company Onswipe has released web analytics of devices visiting its site that are running the beta version of iOS 7. Onswipe has found that the iOS 7 beta is by far the most popular beta yet. As noted by TechCrunch: The startup found that by July 1, 2013, 0.28 percent of all iPad visits to its mobile-optimized sites were from devices running iOS 7, and as of June 17, 0.77 percent of all iPhones making Onswipe visits were also on the new beta OS. Compared to iOS 6, those numbers, while small, have increased considerably. 0.19 percent of all iPad visits were on last year's beta software as of June 25, and only 0.38 percent, or under half of iPhones ran the pre-release mobile OS. All together, iOS 7 accounts for 0.46 percent of total traffic to Onswipe sites as of this writing, while iOS 6 was responsible for just 0.25 percent of all visits at the same time last year. What this number shows is there is approximately twice the excitement surrounding iOS 7 than iOS 6. As iOS 7 sees the most radical redesign since iOS launched six years ago, that is to be expected to some degree, but still these latest numbers bode well for Apple as it signifies high developer interest. Of course, however, not only developers are running the iOS 7 beta. But once again, we at TUAW would like to remind non-developers that they shouldn't be toying with iOS betas. iOS 7 will be released to the public later this fall.
A tech geek's trip from hell
I'm on a trip right now out of the country, and so far it's been a tech geek's trip from hell. The first day, I ran my iPhone 5 (running iOS 7 beta 2) out of juice -- not surprising, since the beta OS is somewhat power-hungry at this point. Guess what? The iPhone 5 has decided to refuse to start up normally. It has gone into a continuing loop of trying to start up, then rebooting, ad infinitum. Sad, really -- I was planning on shooting a ton of panoramas with the iPhone 5, and I took some wonderful photos from the airplane on the way over. My only choice with this device is to wait until I get back home and then reload the device with a fresh image of iOS 7. Sigh. At least I have my wife's iPhone as a backup for shooting those panoramas. Day two, spouse and I -- both avid photographers -- spent most of the day shooting images of the beautiful Icelandic countryside. Our usual nighttime habit while we're on our trip is to back up the day's photos onto two iPads so that we have the originals on each camera plus two backups. So, while sitting in the lounge at the hotel tonight, I started doing the backups only to find that the Camera Connection Kit wouldn't read either of the 64 GB SDXC cards. After cussing loudly (don't worry, the lounge was empty except for my wife and me), I did a Google search to find that the Camera Connection Kit won't read SDXC cards unless they're formatted in the time-honored and ancient FAT format. Of course, I assumed that formatting the cards in the camera like I've always done would mean they'd be readable by Apple's Camera Connection Kit. Wrong! So, the 64 GB cards are now back in my bag full of camera goodies, and a pair of 16 GB cards -- SDHC -- have been drafted into service for the rest of the trip.The photos we took today will have to wait until we get back home to be moved to some sort of backup media. In addition, I discovered today that although I brought a variety of charging cables on the trip with me, as well as a device or two to allow me to plug multiple devices into one outlet, I had neglected to grab my European to North American plug adapters. Last night was fine, as I had a fully-charged external battery pack that I used to charge up one iPad and also had one North American standard outlet that I could use to charge up another. Tonight? All of the devices will be hungry for electrons. At least the airline we're flying, Icelandair, has USB chargers built into the seats so we'll be able to charge the devices on the next leg of our trip. Knowing my luck so far, they won't be working. I was happy to see that the hotel had a publi- use iMac near the lobby; my smile turned to a frown when I discovered that they were running Windows 7 under Boot Camp on the machine. After finding that I couldn't access the iMac's SD card reader from Windows 7 (I was going to upload the photos to Dropbox), I reached around to the back of the machine, powered it down, and rebooted in the hope that I could get it to boot into OS X. No such luck; the hotel IT people had set up the machine with a password. My revenge was leaving the iMac unusable to any of the other guests. Mua-haha! Your takeaways from this post? Never assume that your technology is going to work perfectly for you when you need it the most. Read the fine print about the Apple (and third-party) hardware you'll be using, and using the jargon used by my wife in the aerospace business, "test like you fly." In other words, test all of the component parts exactly the way you expect to use them before you actually leave home -- that way you'll be able to avoid issues like the one I ran into with the Camera Connection Kit. I just assumed that because I had formatted SD cards in my camera before and used them successfully with the CCK, that everything would be OK. That was a stupid assumption. Also, create a packing checklist and use it. I would have remembered the plug adapters if I had put them on a list. I fully intended to grab them, but got caught up in the typical last-minute packing rush and spaced them out. Finally, if you're not a tech blogger / writer by trade, consider leaving as much of your tech at home as you can. You'll certainly be immune from stupid annoyances like I've run into if you don't have a lot of technology accompanying you on a trip. And isn't a vacation supposed to be a relaxing time away from the normal hassles of life? I'm going on a three-day long weekend trip at the end of the summer, and I think I may just go with nothing but a good paperback book.
iOS 7 jailbreak apparently already exists
Update: We've received info that says this is from Ryan's iOS Simulator and is unrelated to jailbreaks. Bummer. The cat-and-mouse-game between Apple and jailbreakers continues, with the latest victory happening before the public battle has even technically begun. Based on screen shots that have been shared via Twitter, it appears a jailbreak has already been created for iOS 7. iOS jailbreak community member Ryan Petrich, known for a wide range of jailbreak tools, uploaded the screen shot you see to the right on June 30. While Petrich hasn't released any official information, the screen shot in question shows his unofficial Activator app in use in iOS 7. With iOS 7 still in development and not publicly released yet, don't expect the secret to his jailbreaking to be released any time soon. That would just make it easier for Apple to fix the holes in the system before it hit stores, something the jailbreaking community would like to keep from happening for as long as possible.
Tumblr site imagines popular apps after redesigns for iOS7
Before WWDC, it was fun to imagine what changes iOS 7 had in store for us. That cat is now out of the bag, which leaves us wondering about our favorite apps and how they will look when they get a first coat of iOS 7 paint. For a sneak peek, check out this Tumblr blog that has mockups of several popular apps with an iOS 7-inspired design. Keep in mind that these are concepts and not official product designs. The final versions of these apps may be radically different from what is posted there. Let's hope not, though, as some of these mockups are pretty good. Check out these iOS 7 redesigns and let us know what you think in the comments.
A designer responds to iOS 7
As has been said many times by many people, including Tim Cook, iOS 7 is the biggest change to iOS since the original iPhone launched way back in 2007. With iOS 7, Apple has re-calibrated much of what we've grown accustomed to seeing in previous versions of iOS. iOS 7 introduces a vastly revamped UI and, of course, let's not forget about those curiously designed icons. Not wanting to haphazardly throw his hat into the firestorm of opinion that first surrounded the debut of iOS 7, Jeremy Olson of Tapity decided to use iOS 7 as his main OS for at least a week before jumping to any conclusions. With over a week gone by, Olson's take away is that iOS 7 rather nice, albeit with some areas that are in need of refinement and improvement. Despite my initial fears, I actually really enjoy using iOS 7 on a daily basis. I still have some complaints about several visual design choices but you have to remember, Apple has only been working on this for a matter of months. That's pretty insane. I mean, it takes us at least a year to put out a single app, let alone an entire operating system! So give them a break. I talked to a number of folks at Apple. They understand that this thing isn't finished yet and they want our feedback... It's only going to get better. Olson also talked to some folks who work with Apple, along with "leaders in the app community" to coalesce a few thoughts, one of which is that apps that embrace Apple's new design aesthetic "will have an edge over apps that don't." Indeed, this is a sentiment echoed by Marco Arment who wrote the following the day after iOS 7 was introduced: Apple has set fire to iOS. Everything's in flux. Those with the least to lose have the most to gain, because this fall, hundreds of millions of people will start demanding apps for a platform with thousands of old, stale players and not many new, nimble alternatives. If you want to enter a category that's crowded on iOS 6, and you're one of the few that exclusively targets iOS 7, your app can look better, work better, and be faster and cheaper to develop than most competing apps. Apple has indeed set fire to iOS, and in a post that's worth checking out in its entirety, Olson discusses many of the challenges and opportunities for app developers looking to get their hands dirty with iOS 7.
Apple highlights iOS 7 and education, business
The final shipping version of iOS 7 may be months away, but that's not keeping Apple from revving up the marketing engines. The company has published two new pages on its website to tout the advantages of the new OS in both education and business. On both the education and business pages, Apple's emphasis is on mobile device management (MDM) and single sign on. In education, the top bullet point notes how the upcoming App Store Volume Purchase Program will give institutions the ability to keep ownership and control over app licenses, and how MDM will make it possible to assign apps to students, faculty and staff instantly. Apple also touts single sign on as a benefit to both education and business users. The new iOS 7 feature allows user credentials to be used across apps, allowing access to enterprise or institutional resources without needing to enter a password multiple times. For businesses, Apple's also making sure that potential volume purchasers are also aware of the new and improved Mail app, which will bring smart mailboxes, PDF annotations and a better search to business users. iOS 7's collaboration capabilities with both AirDrop and enhanced Apple TV configuration control are seen as a big plus to educational IT departments. What's your market? Do you think that some of the new iOS 7 features are going to improve usability and efficiency in your workplace? Let us know in the comments.
The Daily Roundup for 06.24.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Dear Apple: Please reconsider button borders
Dear Apple, I'm somewhat disturbed about the interface changes you shared with us during the keynote and on your website. Specifically, I'm not especially happy about all those borderless buttons. Without affordances, those visual UI elements that suggest or reinforce areas of interaction, buttons have lost a critical user engagement piece. I'm certainly not the only developer who feels this way. You may assume that users are now long-since "trained" on iOS, that they will feel comfortable guessing where UI components are, and will "instinctively know" how to interact with them. I believe the borderless-button has gone one step too far. I don't believe that changing the color, as you would in an email message, is enough of a visual cue for many users -- especially those with borderline visual impairments who do not yet need assisted UIs. Please allow clear differentiation between buttons and labels to support discoverability, clarity and user deference, regardless of user training and background. To conclude, let me offer the following quote from the New York Times write-up of "The Guts of a New Machine": "Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it's this veneer -- that the designers are handed this box and told, 'Make it look good!' That's not what we think design is. It's not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works." - Steve Jobs Thank you for considering my bug report. Hat tip to Michael Heilemann.
Daily Update for June 24, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Siri can learn how to pronounce your name in iOS 7
I've become a big Siri fan lately. After not quite getting the service when I first bought my iPhone, I've started using it to send a text without typing, grab quick driving directions and check the weather forecast. I just wish Siri loved me as much as I love her: Whenever she says my name, she always tells me, "Mike, scram!" My name is actually pronounced as "Sh-," like "Shramm," but Siri's never asked otherwise. Fortunately, in iOS 7, that won't be the case. The latest version of Siri, currently in beta and arriving with the rest of the new iOS this fall, will allow you to tell Siri when she's mispronouncing something, and even correct her pronunciation, or choose from a few different options. A 9to5Mac reader spotted the feature in the beta, and you can see the interface above. It's currently possible to correct Siri's pronunciation with phonetic spelling, but this way seems much, much easier. It'll be nice to have Siri call me by my name in the right way. This is just one of the new tricks she's picked up in iOS 7, too: Apple has also promised a clearer voice (that can be male if you so choose), more sources for content and new functions like returning calls for you, controlling the new iTunes Radio service and more. We can't wait to see and hear it.
Flipside controller tries again, thanks to iOS 7
The Flipside iPhone game controller was a Kickstarter project that began last year with an ambitious goal of US$135,000, raising only about $10k of that before getting canceled due to lack of interest. Things have changed since the project was shut down in January, however. Apple has announced iOS 7, and with it, a set of official SDK hooks for game controller support, which means we're going to see a resurgence in third-party controllers like this one. Now the Flipside is back, restarting its campaign on Indiegogo for a more reasonable $40,000. For $60, you can pick up an early founder's deal on the controller, which is set to be ready for use sometime next year. So far, the Flipside isn't exactly raking in the dough (it's earned about $300 as of this writing), but maybe the second time will be the charm. This definitely won't be the last we see of third-party controllers getting a big boost out of Apple's iOS 7 game controller hooks. Once the operating system is ready and out in the public's hands, we'll see many more of these units become available. Who knows -- maybe if Apple sees a market for controllers like this, we'll eventually see an official controller designed in Cupertino. It would certainly be a great way to kick off the market for apps on the Apple TV.
iOS 7 beta 2 available for developer download (Updated)
The second beta of iOS 7 has just made it to the Apple Dev Center, hopefully bringing some new features and bug fixes to the iPhones of developers worldwide. This release goes out two weeks to the day after iOS 7 first became available to developers. The beta is available by going to Settings > General > Software Update on devices running the current iOS 7 beta. According to developers who have reached out to TUAW with information about the new beta, it contains the usual "bug fixes and improvements." A document outlining the changes is available to developers at http://developer.apple.com/ios7/release-notes/, although several devs reported that the page is currently offline. Update: Developers are also noting that the update is available for iPad now, marking the first time that iOS 7 will appear on Apple's tablet. Update 2: We're now hearing that the Voice Memo app has reappeared in iOS 7 with a new icon and completely redesigned user interface.
Play around with iOS 7 in your browser (Updated)
OK, so you're not an iOS developer and you're not particularly interested in possibly borking your one and only iPhone, but you'd still like to try out some of the features of iOS 7. Well, the folks at Recombu have created an "Interactive iOS 7 Demo" that you can play with and fantasize about that day later this year when your iPhone will be running the new OS. As our very own Dave Caolo noted, "It's extremely limited. Essentially a bunch of static photos. But still, you can poke around." At least it gives muggles (non-developers, in this case) a facsimile to play with without causing a potential disaster. Those static images show what some of the new built-in apps look like as well, even to the point of letting you use the built-in FaceTime HD camera on your Mac to play with the revised Camera app. The parallax view that's visible and so enthralling in the real iOS 7 beta isn't possible with the interactive demo, so that's one item you'll just have to wait for. [via 9to5Mac] Update: Well, apparently someone at Apple wasn't too happy with Recombu's nifty iOS 7 simulator, as it has been shut down. There's a nice video from the Recombu folks explaining why it's not up and running, as well as a link to Apple's iOS 7 preview page.
