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Apple confirms iCloud web apps, impending death of iWeb and iDisk
MobileMe's complete disappearance is still a good ways off, but it's safe to say that the transition to iCloud is well underway at Cupertino (and Maiden, North Carolina, for that matter). A brief FAQ has emerged today over at Apple's site, detailing answers to a few burning questions about the future of MobileMe. As stated before, all MobileMe users who had an account prior to June 6, 2011 will see their service extended through June 30, 2012 at no extra cost, but what's new here is the amount of functionality that'll also be available from a website. Starting at an undisclosed time "this fall," icloud.com will allow users to access Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Bookmarks, Find My iPhone and Back to my Mac, relieving fears that iCloud was severing ties with the browser altogether. Unfortunately, iWeb, Gallery and iDisk aren't making the cut, and while it seems that previously stored files will still be accessible, we wouldn't count on being able to add anything new a year from now. Hit the source for the rest of the nitty-gritty.
Does iOS 5 reveal a new iPod touch? (Updated)
UPDATE: It would appear in our haste to check this, and with Erica's technical difficulties with her primary Mac, the 5.0 file was opened twice. A cross check with the 4.3.3 file indicates no such model (iPod4,2). Of course, this still doesn't mean there's a new iPod touch coming, but the evidence we thought we had to show that the supposed 'new' model was actually old is no longer valid. We regret the error. - Ed. Early this AM, our beloved leader Victor Agreda summoned me to the bat phone -- or at least the bat virtual office -- to confirm whether or not today's iFans spotting of "iPod4,2" in 5.0 firmware points to a new device. So, I did what any other exhausted mother-of-three would do while making breakfast for the crew and getting them ready for camp. I cracked open an iPod touch 4.3 firmware to see if this reference predates the 5.0 firmware. It does. Here's the 4.3 version of that file with the same iPod4,2 reference. So, what does this mean? Sorry, but not much. Apple has had unreleased alternative models mentioned in its firmware for a while now. There was an iPod2,2 model for example that never saw the light of day. Will there be an iPod 5 this fall? I haven't a clue. I think Chris and Rich hashed out the question quite thoroughly a short while back, and I leave that discussion to them. As for me? I need to go back and take a nap -- and I would if my hard drive didn't seem to be failing. Oh well, off to try to get that fixed.
iOS 5 legal disclaimer lists new third-party mapping companies
A recent discovery in the legal disclaimer section of iOS 5 suggests Apple may be looking beyond Google Maps in future versions of the mobile OS. The legal section references a variety of mapping companies in its map data section, including CoreLogic, Getchee, Localeze and Urban Mapping. Most of these new services provide local point-of-interest information, demographics and traffic data. One notable company also included on this list is Tom Tom whose name needs no explanation. Despite this discovery, Google Maps is still in the game for the time being. It has a long history with the iPhone and appears front and center in iOS 5. Eric Schmidt also recently confirmed Apple has extended its mapping agreement with the search giant. Apple is still relying on Google Maps, but there is little doubt it is working on its own solution. In the past several years, Apple has bought two mapping companies: Placebase and Poly9. It has also hired engineers with navigation and mapping experience to join its iOS development team. Coupled with earlier rumors, these latest legal disclaimer references suggest a Google Maps companion and perhaps even a replacement is in the works.
76% of iPhone users will adopt iCloud
A survey by RBC Capital Markets states the obvious: a majority of iPhone owners will use Apple's new free iCloud service when it launches this fall. According to the survey, 76% of iPhone owners will use the free iCloud service and another 30% will use the US$25 yearly iTunes Match service. iMessage may be as popular as iCloud with 73% of iPhone users looking forward to using iOS-specific messaging service. This high rate of adoption is not surprising. Who wouldn't use a free service that is bundled into the OS and makes life easier by seamlessly syncing information across devices?
Apple email reveals iCloud storage details
An email sent from Apple to a MobileMe member reveals some details about Apple's upcoming storage allocation in iCloud. When users sign up for a free iCloud account, they will receive 5 GB of cloud storage. However, when users near their 5 GB limit, they'll receive an email from Apple like the one this MobileMe member received today, as MacRumors reported. The email reveals what happens if you hit your 5 GB limit. If you max out your data storage, your iOS devices will no longer back up or save new data to iCloud, and any emails sent to your me.com email address will bounce back to the sender. The good news is that media or apps that you purchased through iTunes don't count against your 5 GB iCloud allotment. Still, if you're going to be saving many large files on iCloud, you're probably going to need more than the 5 GB of free storage eventually. The email from Apple states that iCloud users can buy more storage right from their iOS devices or on a Mac or PC; it doesn't, however, state any pricing or in what increments users can buy additional storage. iCloud is expected to fully roll out in the fall with the release of iOS 5, but users with an iTunes account can test out some of its services now by redownloading apps they've already purchased.
Noterize acquired by Nuance, points to more iOS voice savvy
The popular note-taking app Noterize made the short list of apps that D7 Consulting leveraged in its iPad trial; it also made it into Apple's 'Iconic' TV ad in January. It's been absent from the App Store for a bit, though, and now we know why. TUAW has learned that Noterize has been acquired by Nuance, adding to the voice technology company's recent slate of purchases (SVOX, Equitrac). While iOS app acquisitions have happened before, this one is particularly interesting. If all the rumors swirling around the newly enhanced relationship between Apple and Nuance are true, specifically for the integration of voice recognition at the system level in iOS 5, then there will have to be showcase apps ready this fall to take advantage of the new features. It only makes sense that Nuance itself would want to brand such an app, and make it work spectacularly well with voice recognition. Annotation and markup are great use cases for voice recognition and dictation, especially for mobile professionals who might want to quickly turn around their notes on a document or presentation. Tap the relevant spot, dictate your feedback, and moments later the converted text annotation is in place and ready to be emailed (or iCloud-ed) back to your colleague. Let's hope that Nuance makes the most of Noterize's potential.
iOS 5 AirPlay Mirroring demo brings games and more to the big screen
One of the most anticipated features of iOS 5, at least in my book, is AirPlay Mirroring. This feature endows the iPad 2 with the ability to wirelessly mirror all video on the screen of the device to an Apple TV 2. No longer is mirroring just enabled in a few apps here and there -- anything on your iPad 2 can be blasted to the big screen with a few taps. The guys over at Apple'n'Apps have produced an amazing ten-minute video walkthrough of several popular iOS apps being beamed wirelessly to a large screen HDTV from an iPad 2. More than anything, the video shows just how smooth AirPlay Mirroring is. The lack of cables makes it all that much better for game play, as you can shake, rattle, and roll your iPad 2 without worrying that a cable will fall out. Without further ado, here's the video for your viewing pleasure:
Real Racing 2 HD wireless, dual-screen gaming with iOS 5 on iPad 2 hands-on (video)
It's just one week after Nintendo unveiled dual-screen gaming on the Wii U at E3, but Apple's iOS 5 beta is already bringing a very similar experience to the living room -- many months before Nintendo's latest console is expected to ship. We installed iOS 5 on an iPad 2 and Apple TV, and took the latest version of Real Racing 2 HD for a test-drive, which enables dual-screen gameplay over AirPlay without the need for Apple's $39 AV adapter. Other games, like Angry Birds, simply mirror the iPad's display (and aspect ratio) on your HDTV, but Real Racing streams 16:9 HD video. For this game (and we imagine many more to come), you use the iPad as the controller -- both while navigating through menus and in race mode -- while the game appears only on your TV (though the tablet does display some vitals, and a map of the track). There's noticeable lag between the iPad and Apple TV when using AirPlay, which may be an issue for games where timing is important, such as Rock Band, but didn't seem to set us back while playing Firemint's racing game. Overall, AirPlay offered a seamless gaming experience without a single hiccup -- surprising, considering iOS 5 just hit beta last week. It's difficult to do this hands-on justice without a video demo, so jump past the break for an exclusive look at wireless, dual-screen gaming on the iPad and Apple TV.
iPad on iOS 5, the video
The release of iOS 5 is still a few months away, but we're getting a good idea of the feature set of the new mobile operating system from a number of videos that have been put together. The latest video comes from Gizmodo, and shows iOS 5 in use on the iPad. The video (which inexplicably ends abruptly after about 3 minutes) was made by Woody Jang, who shows off everything from undocking and splitting the keyboard to notifications and "Dictionary Everywhere." It's a tasty introduction to iOS 5 running on your favorite tablet, the iPad.
iOS 5 weather app to include hourly forecasts
The weather app in iOS 5 has a new feature that lets you view the hourly forecast of the current day with a simple swipe of your finger. It's a minor improvement that doesn't compare with full-featured apps like Weather HD or Weather Bug Elite. But still, it's a nice touch for those that prefer the simplicity of the built-in app.
Google Sync adds mail server search, appointment confirmation to native iOS apps
Google Sync has pushed Gmail messages, calendar updates, and contacts to iOS since its launch in 2009, but this half-baked solution previously lacked some key functionality. Beginning today, users can finally perform mail server searches and confirm appointment requests from their iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. This means that you'll be able to search for messages in your entire mailbox, not just for emails stored on your device -- a feature that first appeared with iPhone OS 3, but without Google Sync support. You can also respond to calendar invites from within the Calendar app. Fancy that! A third update brings support for sending messages from other addresses listed in your Gmail account, though only the first two features worked when we took Sync for a spin this afternoon. (Curiously, Google omitted a "Send Mail as" screenshot on its blog, so this last update may not actually be available yet.) This latest trio of updates is available for both gratis and Google Apps accounts, so head to the source link for set up instructions and the full feature rundown.
iOS 5 jailbreak offers third-party Notification Center widgets
Jailbreakers have already cracked iOS 5's Notification Center widgets, according to 9to5Mac. Notification screen widgets are little apps -- or widgets -- that run in the new Notifications Center in iOS 5. iOS 5 will ship with two widgets, stocks and weather. However, as usual, the jailbreak community wants to push things forward faster than Apple does, and they've already come out with a host of third-party widgets. MacStories has an excellent roundup of some of those custom Notification Center widgets but, as always, if you want to use them you'll need to jailbreak your iPhone. One of my favorites is SpringPrefs (shown at right), which shows you details about your iOS system information, including the amount of free RAM, your Wi-Fi and Data IP addresses, and your firmware number.
More iOS 5 features get their moment in the beta testing sun
Steve Jobs and co. showed off all kinds of cool new features during the debut of iOS 5 at WWDC earlier this month. We had the chance to take a few of them for a spin, when we tested the beta build of the mobile operating system, and now that more and more folks have tried their hand at iOS 5, more and more features are getting their turn to shine. Here's a list of some of the cooler ones we've seen in the last few weeks. Apple has added the ability to make FaceTime calls over 3G -- though rumor has it that this may be a beta-only feature, which carriers can choose to disable, over obvious data usage concerns. AirPlay Mirroring has been shown off. The feature lets users display video from an iPad 2 on an HDTV, by way of Apple TV, for those times when you just can't keep your tablet content to yourself. (Read) The new software also offers up the ability to sync 1080p video to iOS 5 devices, opening the door to speculation that future iPads and iPhones may be able to play back content at full 1080p. (Read) Like to play your iTunes over your car stereo? Good news, iOS 5 will transfer audio information like album, track, and artist names over Bluetooth. (Read) [Thanks to everyone who sent in tips]
Dragon Remote Mic lets your iPhone dictate to your PC
Nuance's Dragon Remote Mic is now available in the App Store. It turns your iPhone into a Wi-Fi connected microphone for dictation, but buyer beware: it is compatible with Dragon Naturally Speaking for the PC, not the Dragon Dictate Mac product. Chances are, we'll see compatibility with the Mac app in an upcoming release. While there are plenty of rumors swirling around Nuance's presumptive major role in iOS 5, this app is not part of that mix. It's designed to work only as a microphone for the desktop apps. The purported settings screenshots from iOS 5 that surfaced this weekend imply that on-device dictation powered by Nuance's code will be available as a system-level service on iOS devices, and that wouldn't require that users run a separate Nuance front-end app. Even though Nuance's absence was notable during WWDC last week, Nuance voices were found in the developer's preview of Lion and references to speech technology were discovered in iOS 5's internal preferences.
Weekend rumor roundup: Apple Retail event, new MacBook Airs, unlocked iPhones, more
Several rumors with varying degrees of credibility came up over the weekend. According to AppleInsider, Twitter user @chronicwire (reportedly a source of past Apple leaks) reports that Apple's retail stores are setting up to launch Apple's annual Back to School promotion on Wednesday. The same source initially reported that the Back to School promo will coincide with the launch of new MacBook Airs, but he has since retracted that claim. Instead, Chronic claims the part numbers he initially thought represented new MacBook Airs indicate that Apple will start selling versions of the GSM iPhone 4 that are not carrier-locked to AT&T. Although the MacBook Air is widely expected to have a refresh soon, this is the first we've heard of unlocked iPhones being offered for sale in the U.S., and it's something we'll file under "We'll believe it when we see it." The iPhone is already sold free and clear of carrier locks in several markets, but GSM model iPhones sold in the U.S. remain carrier-locked to AT&T unless you jailbreak. Chronic has also released screenshots that supposedly come from an "internal build" of iOS 5. These screenshots show that Nuance voice recognition, expected to be integrated in iOS 5 but not discussed at WWDC, is still in development. Other sources have claimed these voice recognition features weren't ready to be shown off at WWDC but should be good to go by the time iOS 5 launches this fall. Finally, a reader has informed us that New Zealand's online Apple Store is now showing shipping times of 5-7 business days for the 1 TB Time Capsule and 1-2 weeks for the 2 TB model. These extended shipping times are also showing up in Apple's Australian and UK stores, and the Canadian Apple Store is showing a 1-2 week delay for the 1 TB Time Capsule. The U.S. store and most international stores are not showing the same delay, but they're further indicative of the Time Capsule supply constraints we reported last week, which may mean a product refresh is imminent. We'll be keeping a very close eye on Apple's online store on the Tuesday overnight shift, and we'll let you know if anything new comes up.
How iTunes Match solves my obscure downsampling problem
I have a longstanding audio quality problem with iTunes -- but iTunes Match will finally resolve it for me. Hurray! Hopefully this post will help others in the same situation. It all starts with the sad fact that I'm a perfectionist idiot about audio quality, so I still buy CDs and rip them myself using Apple's lossless codec -- I can't quite bring myself to (usually) pay more on iTunes for a lower quality file. The lossless codec achieves about 50% compression, yielding files about three times larger than the iTunes Plus 256-kbps AAC setting that most people rip in and the iTunes Store uses. It is, however, a complete bit-for-bit copy of the original CD. Note that its not so much that I can hear the difference; more that I don't drive myself mad wondering if I can. I have occasionally, but admittedly not often, picked up the odd rough-sounding cymbal splash in iTunes Plus files when listening on decent headphones; but I am by no means one of those audiophiles who believes in spending thousands on speaker cables and $2000 on a power cord that defies the laws of physics. Still, though, by using only Apple lossless audio codec (ALAC), I know that I can avoid even thinking about sound quality issues. That's the appeal for me. Even if you're unconvinced by my reasoning here (and I admit it has more to do with my own eccentricities than strict logic), there's another reason to prefer ALAC format ripping -- down the road, if I have to change to alternative music formats, I won't need to rip the CDs again. I can turn the ALAC files back into pure WAV format and then transform them into any other format without any further loss of quality. I do this occasionally when I want to put more music on the USB stick that I keep plugged into my car radio, which will play mp3 and WMA files but not AAC. In contrast, running a lossy encoded format file like AAC through the encoding process to another one like mp3 results in a really muddy, horrible sounding file. However, whilst ALAC is fine for use on my Mac where disk space is cheap and for streaming around my house's Ethernet network where bandwidth is plentiful, it's not really much use for syncing to my iPhone, because it's too darn big. I'd prefer to compromise quality a little on the iPhone in order to fit a decent amount music in and because I mostly listen to the iPhone when walking the dogs or in my noisy day-job office, neither of which demand the highest fidelity. Sadly, iTunes really doesn't want to work with me. It has the "convert higher bitrates" option, which is teasingly close to what I want, but it's irritatingly locked to only output 128 kbit/sec AAC. That really is too low -- I can definitely hear annoying compression artifacts. So, for a long time, I've been maintaining two iTunes libraries. One is full of ALAC and I use it for playback in the house; the other is full of AAC and I use it to sync my iPhone with. Hence, when I rip a CD, I have to rip it twice (or do a second pass of conversion from the ALAC files to AAC), and if any track names, album art, or other metadata need adjusting, I need to adjust it twice. This is tedious and annoying. Enter iTunes Match, which might just solve this problem for me at a stroke. I'm hoping it will allow me to rip once as an ALAC file, and upload that converted file to iCloud. Apple says that: [A]ll the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality -- even if your original copy was of lower quality. which implies to me that even ALAC files going in come out at the lower quality 256 kbit/sec setting. I wouldn't even need to cable my iPhone to iTunes to get new music any more, let alone rip CDs twice or juggle multiple iTunes libraries. For $25 a year, I'm in, although it seems that we'll be waiting until 2012 to get iTunes Match in the UK. Although this problem is fairly obscure, I have seen others people post about this problem from time to time (one, two, and many of the comments below). I hope this post will reach those folk and prompt them to look at this little side-effect of iTunes Match more closely.
iOS 5 contacts app has fields for Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn and Myspace info
One of the more interesting iOS 5 features revealed this week during the Monday keynote was seamless integration with Twitter. Now a report published by All Things D shows that fields for other social networking sites also appear in the iOS 5 contacts app, including Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, and Myspace. While the operating system's integration with Twitter is fairly widespread -- single sign-on for multiple apps, ability to send photos directly from the Camera, YouTube, Safari, and Maps apps, and auto-fill from Contacts -- it appears that at this time the other social sites aren't as tightly bound to iOS 5. Users can begin by populating handles for each of the sites on an address book page for a contact, although developers speaking to All Things D reported that even that capability was a bit buggy at this time. As blogger Liz Gannes notes, "The inclusion of the feature shows Apple's acknowledgement of the importance of Web presences and contact information." At this point, manually entering friends' handles could be onerous for those who have hundreds or thousands of "friends" on each social networking site. Apple could offer Twitter-like authentication for the other services, which would make matching contacts and social network handles somewhat more automatic. With at least three or four months remaining before iOS 5 becomes available to users, we're sure to hear much more about social network integration in the new mobile OS.
Redsn0w 0.9.8b1 released for Mac, brings tethered jailbreak to iOS 5
Your patience has paid off. The planet's first openly accessible jailbreak is now available for those who've taken the plunge with iOS 5 (beta), and if you just can't go another day without access to Cydia, well... you don't have to. Redsn0w 0.9.8b1 has been released for Mac users, but given that it's a tethered solution, you'll have to plug 'er back into your machine each time you need to reboot. We'd encourage you to wait for the inevitable untethered alternative, but those who aren't having any of that "listening to your elders" hoopla can hop on down to the source link.
redsn0w tethered jailbreak available for iOS 5 Beta 1
The iPhone dev released a new version of redsn0w that jailbreaks iOS 5 beta. The release is meant for developers to test their jailbroken apps with Apple's latest mobile operating system. The dev team warns people that this jailbreak will not bypass iOS 5 beta activation. You still need a developers account and a registered UDID to activate iOS 5 on your handset. The jailbreak is tethered only and compatible with the iPod touch 3G/4G, iPad 1, iPhone 3GS and the iPhone 4 (GSM/CDMA).
Wi-Fi Sync developer says he was 'fairly shocked' by Apple's similar Wi-Fi Sync feature
Wirelessly syncing a smartphone is hardly a new idea, but the developer of the Wi-Fi Sync app for iOS devices apparently thinks Apple's similar new feature in iOS 5 -- also called Wi-Fi Sync --is just a little too close to his for comfort. As you may recall, Greg Hughes submitted his "Wi-Fi Sync" app to Apple for App Store approval back in May of 2010 and was ultimately rejected, although not before he says he was told that Apple's engineers were "impressed" by his effort -- he then made the app available in the Cydia store, where it's been downloaded more than 50,000 times at $10 a pop. That was apparently working out just fine for him until this week, when he says he was "fairly shocked" to see Apple announce a Wi-Fi Sync feature of its own in iOS 5, complete with a familiar looking icon. Hughes went on to tell The Register that he was "surprised" by the similarities, but he hasn't offered any indication that he plans to push the issue any further. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
