Apps

Apple has also released, as promised, its brand new iOS app for mailing gorgeous cards, right from the palm of your hand. The Cards app, according to Apple:

The new Cards app from Apple lets you create and mail beautifully crafted cards personalized with your own text and photos — right from your iPhone or iPod touch. Take a quick snapshot and with a few taps and swipes, an elegant letterpress card is on its way to any address in the world. Each card is just $2.99 when sent within the U.S. and $4.99 when sent to or from anywhere else. And that includes postage.

The killer feature? If you mail your card within the United States, Apple will slap their own custom-designed stamp and use the United States Postal Service Intelligent Mail barcode to send you a notification the day the card is due to arrive – so you know when you’re about to make someone’s day. The Cards app is available free of charge from the App Store here. Our international readers may want to wait a bit until the program propagates throughout all regional iTunes Stores. Release notes after the break.

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With the Mac OS X 10.7.2 update released earlier today, Apple has also updated Safari to version 5.1.1. On top of the obvious iCloud support, Apple just posted this support document claiming the new version is 13 percent faster in Javascript performance. Definitely a welcomed performance boost.

Of course version 5.1.1 also includes the a number of fixes and overall stability improvements. You can check out everything included in the update in the support document after the break.

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Apple has just released a new app into the App Store called iTunes Movie Trailers, which allows users to view trailers for upcoming movies and movies in theaters. Along with trailers, the app displays movie release dates and more importantly movie showing times, as you can see below. The Top 25 section of the app lists the top trailers played. And of course, you can favorite your favorite trailers.

Apple filed a patent this summer for purchasing movie tickets inside of an app. While you can’t actually do that in this app, look at the resemblance among the app and the patent drawing. This is certainly a future possibility for Apple, and then add Siri to the mix…

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The update bonanza continues… Apple has just issued an updated iPhoto application to go with your latest iOS 5 firmware and the just released Lion 10.7.2 software update. iPhoto 9.2, which brings compatibility with iCloud and its Photo Stream feature as well as a number of other improvements and fixes. iPhoto 9.2 enables compatibility with iCloud and iOS 5 features, including Photo Stream that automatically imports all photos taken on your iOS 5 devices with the Photo Stream feature turned on. The 376MB download requires OS X Lion. The software is available via Software Update in Mac OS X or via the Mac App Store at this link. Don’t panic if you don’t see it yet, these things take a while to propagate. Full release notes after the break.

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Following both the major iOS 5 release and the Mac OS X Lion 10.7.2 update, Apple has just issued Lion Recovery update. Release notes accompanying the 452MB download only mention “improvements to Lion Recovery and addresses an issue with Find My Mac when using a firmware password.”

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Great news from Cupertino, California: The wait is finally over. After nearly four months of extensive public testing, bug squashing, teeth gnashing and under-the-hood tweaking, Apple today released the final consumer version of iOS 5, a major and most ambitious upgrade to its mobile operating system yet.

Note: iOS 5 may not be available for some users yet as usually these things take a while to propagate thoughout all regional iTunes stores. iOS 5 is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, third- and fourth-generation iPod touch, as well as both iPad 1 and iPad 2. However, some features are resource-intensive and thus only available on recent devices. Note that Siri, an intelligent personal assistant users can converse with, remains exclusive to iPhone 4S for the time being.

Preceding the iOS 5 roll out, Apple earlier this morning posted Find My Friends and AirPort Utility apps, enabled iCloud accounts for everyone, flipped the switch on the Newsstand Store and rolled out music re-downloading service dubbed iTunes in the Cloud in the U.K., Canada, Australia and other international markets. The iOS 5 software is available as a free firmware update in desktop iTunes. Just connect your device to a Mac or PC and follow the onscreen instructions in iTunes.

Due to iOS 5 installation being a major brain transplant, you’re strongly recommended to back up all your devices in iTunes before proceeding. In addition, you should copy your device backups and keep them safe, per instructions after the break. Also worth mentioning, the iTunes Terms and Conditions have been updated this morning, related to iTunes Match terms and collection of certain information from your iTunes library. The iTunes Match service is due for public consumption end of October. It is also rumored to go worldwide should Apple secure necessary licenses from record labels.

Now, onto iOS 5. As you know, iOS 5 has over 200 new features plus a handful of biggies.

Take iMessage, Apple’s proprietary messaging protocol for instant messaging with other iOS 5 devices free of charge. iMessage bypasses carrier’s costly text or MMS messages (requires data connection though) and delights with the typing indicator, read receipts and the ability to exchange photos, videos, contacts or locations. For a more in-depth overview, check out 9to5Mac’s exhaustive iMessage guide.

Another big feature is the Notification Center which brings all those annoying notifications from app into a tidy panel accessed with a pull-down gesture. Twitter integration and support for other social accounts make sharing in iOS 5 more secure and uniform across apps. Other noteworthy goodies include wireless device sync with your computer or iCloud, all-new Reminders and Newsstand apps, new Camera features and a whole bunch of other improvements and little tweaks evident throughout the system. If you’re interested in everything iOS 5 has to offer, TiPb has a monster walkthrough.

Now, before you apply that firmware update…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/?v=LLJIef-e-7g]

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A dedicated Store button has begun appearing in the Newsstand app to some iPad owners with iOS 5 GM installed. Clicking the button brings up a new iTunes section listing all digital magazines that have been updated for Newsstand. This is a built-in store in much the same way the iBookstore is integrated right within the app. You can filter the list by Featured or Release Date. The initial selection included about 120 digital publications optimized for Newsstand at press time. Apple yesterday began populating the iOS 5 Newsstand app with first digital magazines.

Newsstand is a special folder on your iOS 5 device sporting a nice-looking wooden shelf that keeps all your digital publications in one place. Note that publishers are required to update their digital publications with Newsstand functionality. Otherwise, “old” digital publications will still populate your home screen and your iPad won’t be able to automatically download new issues for you.

After updating your digital publications using the App Store mobile client or desktop iTunes, your device will automatically move the icons of compatible publications inside the Newsstand folder. There have been some questions about how Newsstand functions, including why can’t one simply drag a publication’s app icon into the Newsstand folder. More info and two iPhone screenshots after the break…

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With a ton of iOS apps inevitably getting updates with iCloud and iOS 5 support today and over the next little while, we also expect to see Mac App Store apps incorporate the cloud functionality. While there doesn’t appear to be many live just yet, we did spot SingleText, which was just released and designed specifically for iCloud.

SingleText is essentially just a simple text box, allowing you to take notes and have them automatically stored in iCloud. The app doesn’t actually have any settings, simply enter your iCloud login and you’re good to go. You can then retrieve any text entered into the SingleText text box through the iOS app companion or any Mac with the app installed.

Both the Mac and iOS apps go for $0.99 each and are available to download now. We expect to see many more iCloud compatible apps popping up shortly.

Apple has just released a new section in the iTunes Store that lets users buy text and alert tones. While the store has always featured ringtones, the alert tones feature is new and requested among many users. You can access this new store by going to Settings > Sounds > Buy More Tones. This was hinted at a few weeks ago.

Ringtones are listed for $1.29 and alert tones for $0.99.

Finding the perfect instant messaging client on the App Store is a pretty big challenge, but a new app called Verbs is pretty close to it. Verbs is available on both the iPhone and iPad and includes support for Google Talk, AIM, MobileMe, and Facebook. With all of these services bundled in one, Verbs becomes the perfect place to chat with friends. Instant messaging is really direct and sleek and the WebOS cards-like feature (seen after the break) makes switching between chats easy. But, Verbs has a lot more to offer.

Other supported services included in Verbs are CloudApp and Droplr for sending images, an iWork and Office document viewer, Instapaper, and the ability to link your AIM and Gtalk buddies with your Address Book.

Verbs Pro in-app update costs a one time fee of $5 and includes Push Notifications (a biggie while chatting) and encryption.

This app blows every other IM app out of the water, because it’s simple, but yet feature packed. Verbs is available on the iTunes App Store for $.99. If it makes you feel better, most of the 9to5 Staff uses this app on a daily basis. Two promo codes are after the break (get them while they last):

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Last week, we detailed the internal docs Apple uses to tell its employees how to sell the iPhone 4S, the new iPods and the new Cards app. Today a tipster added to the trove two more internal docs. iCloud and iOS 5 First looks. These are the cheat sheets that Apple employees use to sell customers these products. Both below:

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Update: It is live, we’ve taken a walkthrough below.

According to The Verge (formerly known as This is my next), the elusive Facebook for iPad app is about to go live “momentarily” on the App Store. The iPhone app will also get updated, the publication has it, with bookmarks to apps, a new Requests dialog that will display app notifications, and support for Facebook Credits for in-app payments. VentureBeat quoted Facebook engineer Leon Dubinsky as describing the software on the Facebook blog, but no such post had gone live at press time. While the social networking giant has yet to formally announce the program, they already have a dedicated URL up and running at facebook.com/mobile/ipad.

The page invites users to download the free Facebook for iPad app here. That URL actually leads to the existing iPhone app, which indicates that both the new iPad app and the existing iPhone client have been merged into a universal binary. The official list of features doesn’t disappoint: You can chat on the iPad’s beautiful 9.7-inch canvas, browse and flip through your friends’ photos, as well as play games and watch high-definition movies in full screen mode.

What’s best, it supports AirPlay technology so you can easily and wirelessly beam your videos and snaps to that big telly in your living room through the Apple TV set-top box, which is also up for an update with 1080p video output via the A5 chip. At post time, the US App Store still had the iPhone app hosted at the URL, but it shouldn’t take too long before changes propagate throughout regional App Stores. Go past the break for release notes, more screenies and a hands on video.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/?v=bPF135X0mes]

The App Store has no shortage of music-creation apps that let you play virtual instruments, beginning with Apple’s excellent GarageBand for iPad which supports Mac projects and AirPlay technology. But if you really want to impress your friends, here’s a $2 download that taps iPad 2’s built-in FaceTime camera and clever programming to actually track the movement of your hands and reproduce guitar sounds as if you were playing the strings for real.

You can pick among several guitars, use effect pedals and even fret chords with your left hand. It’s the closest thing to the air guitar gimmickry – heck, it’s even better than the real thing. We’ve seen creative uses of iPad 2’s front-facing camera before, but nothing like the GhostGuitar app. Here’s to the hoping that developers will focus more on developing Kinect-like apps for Apple’s tablet.

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The store button in the Audible app (left) and the new version acknowledging the removal of the button to comply with Apple’s rules (right).

UPDATE: [Monday, October 10, 2011 at 12:40am ET]: Well, that sure was quick. A new version of the Audible app has just gone live on the App Store, without the link to Audible’s Mobile Store from the app. The development actually means someone at Apple’s App Store team messed up. We’re still bewildered how anyone could have missed the big orange button.

Back this summer, Apple instituted a change to the App Store rules which prohibited in-app links leading to external content stores. The controversial move forced the makers of programs such as WSJ, Kobo and Google Books to remove the offending store links, which essentially meant demanding users needed to find out about web stores on their own. People had been especially concerned about Amazon, even after the online retailer released an elegant workaround solution, a web-based application entitled Kindle Cloud Reader. And now, ZDNet discovers an interesting anomaly in the App Store: the updated Audible app proudly sports a button which yanks you out of the app right to their store on the web.

It could be a slip up by the App Store review team, but how could that be possible with such a large and prominently placed button? Oddly enough, release notes fail to acknowledge the addition of the button, but surely Apple’s testers actually run and test apps rather than approve them based on their iTunes description. What’s interesting about this is that Audible is an Amazon property. Perhaps this signals a store-wide change to the App Store rules. And if so, could this change be due to Amazon’s $199 seven-inch Kindle Fire tablet?

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Android apps running on your iPad? Alien Dalvik makes it possible.

In case you’re not familiar with Alien Dalvik, it’s a port of the Dalvik virtual machine, which is the software layer in Google’s Android operating system responsible for executing Android apps. According to SlashGear, the Myriad Group (the brains behind the Alien Dalvik project) announced support for Apple’s iPad in Alien Dalvik version 2.0.

As a result, the unimaginable (even unholy) becomes possible: You’ll be able to download, install and run Android software on your Apple-branded tablet. Alien Dalvik wraps each Android app file in its own virtual machine so it kinda feels as if you were running a native iPad app. The Myriad Group explains:

From a user perspective, Alien Dalvik 2.0 is completely transparent and installed without user disruption. Users simply enjoy the same rich Android ecosystem they have become accustomed to via mobile on other key screens, such as playing Angry Birds on HDTV. This all while gaining faster access to a wider range of apps, thus encouraging a higher frequency of downloads and increased ARPU.

We assume performance isn’t comparable to the experience of running native iOS apps on an iPad 2 and we’re surely expecting some hiccups and likely compatibility issues. With that in mind, this development begs the question: Why would you want to run Android apps on your iPad?

Apple’s iOS software boss Scott Forstall said at Monday’s iPhone 4S introduction that about 140,000 out of the 500,000 apps available on the App Store have been specifically created with iPad in mind. Android apps also aren’t as pretty or delightful as their iOS counterparts. But the fact that most are either free or ad-supported should mean something so we expect some folks will give Alien Dalvik a try. Stay tuned as the team promised to show off Alien Dalvik 2.0 running third-party Android apps on iPad 2 at CTIA 2011 next week.

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Siri, an intelligent virtual personal assistant, is being advertised as the iPhone 4S’s killer feature. A live demonstration that Apple’s iOS software chief Scott Forstall gave yesterday (video after the break) wowed the crowd of tech journalists who’ve seen it all. Rightfully, though – Siri is nothing short of breathtaking. Siri can be seen in Apple’s onstage demo accomplishing a wide variety of complex tasks with incredible ease. It delights with conversational responses to inputs: You can tell Siri to move your appointments around, read aloud a text message from Dad and reply with spoken content turned into text, ask it about afternoon weather conditions and latest stock quotes, have it remind you to call Mom when you arrive at Starbucks and much, much more.

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Remember how Samsung threatened to ban sales of Apple’s next iPhone the second it becomes official? They are keeping good on that promise by filing two separate motions for preliminary injunctions in Paris and Milano in an attempt to bar sales of the iPhone 4S in France and Italy. From Samsung’s corporate blog:

Samsung Electronics will file separate preliminary injunction motions in Paris, France and Milano, Italy on October 5 local time requesting the courts block the sale of Apple’s iPhone 4S in the respective markets.

Samsung’s preliminary injunction requests in France and Italy will each cite two patent infringements related to wireless telecommunications technology, specifically Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) standards for 3G mobile handsets.

The infringed technology is essential to the reliable functioning of telecom networks and devices and Samsung believes that Apple’s violation as being too severe and that the iPhone 4S should be barred from sales.

Apple has continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free ride on our technology. We believe it is now necessary to take legal action to protect our innovation.

Samsung plans to file preliminary injunctions in other countries after further review.

Cross-posted on 9to5Google.com.

Table courtesy of The Verge. Go past the fold for the full version.

Our friends over at The Verge have beaten everyone to the comparison punch by creating this fine table offering an at-the-glance overview of the key hardware features of the newly introduced iPhone 4S and the eighteen months old iPhone 4. Hope you don’t mind that the new iPhone 4S is a tad heavier than its predecessor, full three grams to be precise. We take it you’ll also appreciate Siri, an iPhone 4S exclusive personal assistant based on software which “helps you get things done just by asking”. It’s also our belief you’ll appreciate an hour longer talk time on the iPhone 4S and the new 64GB model costing $399. The full table is right below the fold.

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Despite Phil Shiller’s remark that it may not be such a good idea to demo Siri, iOS chief Scott Forstall took the stage to demo the feature previously known as Assistant, which 9to5Mac exclusively revealed (here and here). “Siri is your intelligent assistant that helps you get things done just by asking”, says the official tagline. It’s activated just by holding down the home button briefly and understands natural-language queries in English, German and French, with more languages possibly following at later time.

For starters, you can, say, tell Siri to set an alarm clock just by saying “wake me up at 6 AM”. Or, you could ask Siri something like “What time is it in Paris?” and it will speak aloud “The time in Paris, France is 8:16 PM” How nice is that?

How about asking Siri “Do I need a raincoat today”? Sure, you can do that and it’ll respond “It sure looks like rain today”. That’s the power of the DARPA-funded military project striving to create an artificial intelligence-backed personal assistant that learns.

Siri is omni-present throughout the entire operating system so you can issue complex voice commands that include core functionalities. Siri can text messages for you, set calendar appointments, compose and dictate email, look up contacts, create notes, search the web, create geolocation-based reminders such as “remind me to call my wife when I leave work” and lots, lots more.

If there ever was such a thing as a software-based killer feature on a mobile phone, this is it. Also worth noting, the amount of user interface work Apple’s done around Siri is just mind-blowing, as you can see on the included screenshots. It’s not a pretty interface, great speech recognition/synthesis and clever artificial intelligence: Siri taps the power of the web to deliver mash ups that will blow your mind. More examples below the fold:

Images via Engadget

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Update: It is hard to tell. While it looks like Facebook, it could also be Chatter, a Salesforce App.

Thanks Lorenzo, Austin and Daniel!

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Update: Photoshop Touch is now available for the iPad

I am hands on here at Adobe Max where they are demo-ing Photoshop touch.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_-2oFbt4e4]

They said the Android version was further along(!!).  Adobe Collage Touch and others below:
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