Apps

Image credit: Engadget

Apple has just confirmed what we’ve been suspecting all along, that the next upcoming Mac OS X revision dubbed Lion will be sold via the Mac App Store as a digital download price at just $29 and weighing in at a whopping four gigabytes. The software won’t retail as a boxed copy variant. It will be available in July for everyone, with developers receiving a preview build at the show, Apple executives confirmed during the keynote talk that kicked off WWDC 2011 here in San Francisco’s Moscone West. Check out our complete WWDC 2011 coverage and follow us @9to5mac as we update you on the latest.

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Depicted above: Notifications via Cydia tweak MobileNotifier

This is my next’s Joshua Topolsky (a former Engadget editor-in-chief) has some late rumors from a source related to iOS 5. He says iOS 5 will introduce a new notifications bar at the top of the screen which may or may not look like an imaged leaked earlier today. “Messages will appear and then slide back up in a unobtrusive manner, similar to webOS”, the author writes.

Topolsky also describes a dedicated notifications window and – yes, widgets. The lock screen will also provide access to notifications “through a pulldown window which you reach by swiping at the top of the screen downward… just like Android”, Topolsky writes. The notifications screen will also provide access to web widgets such as weather and stocks. As for the BlackBerry-style messaging and widgets…

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Jay Freeman had a few seconds to explain something that had intrigued us since last night.

John Gruber at Daring Fireball has published his thoughts on what’s going down tomorrow with iCloud at WWDC. In short: “Don’t think of iCloud as the new MobileMe; think of iCloud as the new iTunes.” Gruber notes that the iOS syncing process of today requires a user to USB tether their device to their computer in order to sync music, video, apps, etc. iCloud might just be the future of iOS device syncing.

The ideal concept would be that a user can upload all of their media to the cloud, sign into their iOS device, and it will be ready to go.

But in short let’s just think about the ways that iCloud might be a major, dare I say game-changing, step away from USB tethering between iOS devices and iTunes running on your Mac/PC. Consider just the new out-of-box experience. Rather than “Take this out, plug it into your Mac or PC (after first making sure your Mac/PC is running the latest version of iTunes), wait for it to sync before you actually play with it”, you might get something like “Take this out, turn it on, sign into your iTunes account, and start playing with it.”

Gruber also published some interesting thoughts on what he would like to see in iOS 5.

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MacRumors has discovered a new addition to the iTunes App Store update page and that is a new sentence hinting at an upcoming feature called Automatic Download. The greater meaning of Automatic Download is not completely clear at this point but it seems as if Apple will give iOS users the option to have their iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch automatically download and install App Store app updates. The leak also hints at this being an option, so perhaps Apple has an iOS update up its sleeve for an imminent release.

Or if your device has Automatic Download enabled for apps, your updates will download to your device without having to sync.

Right now, users have to open the App Store app and manually pick and choose (or click update all) every time they want to update an app. The new sentence, quoted above, has appeared roughly three months prior to the rumored public release of iOS 5. Either Apple is just testing out some of their new iOS 5 literature, or Apple will be making this Automatic Download feature available to the public as soon as next week. Apple, afterall, will be talking the cloud and iOS on Monday at WWDC.

The phrasing of the new sentence does seem to be hinting at just more than App Store apps. This may be the first hint from Apple at their plans to deliver over-the-air iOS software updates and a new iOS software update solution via a new version of the Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme.

The previous wording can be seen below:

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Money-back guarantee – a promise by a retailer to give you back your money if you are not satisfied with something that you bought – is taken for granted with tangible products and re-packaged intangibles such as the MobileMe box. When it comes to apps, it just seems weird to ask for a refund in the 99-cent economy, many people feel. The Taipei City Government begs to differ, arguing the same rules should apply to digital goods. They are ordering Apple and Google to introduce a seven-day money-back guarantee for sales of iOS and Android apps, Taipei Times reports.

An official said the lack of a return and refund mechanism violated the Consumer Protection Act. In an example of the problem the city government is trying to prevent, Yeh cited a case of software bought on Apple Store on Thursday that did not work, but left the buyer without recourse.

In other words, Taipei imagines a world where you could buy an app and “return” it for a full refund within two weeks if you’re not fully satisfied. When the App Store debuted as this phenomenal virtual bazaar to buy iPhone apps, nobody ever expected someone some day could demand the same consumer protection for digital deliveries. But Taipei’s demands have their merits. After all, the city officials cut a similar refunding deal with online auction web sites. If online sites are OK with it, so should app stores be, right?

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The LATimes reports that iCloud will be a low-priced add on to iTunes costing users just $25/year, perhaps as an add on to MobileMe?

Dubbed iCloud, the service initially will be offered for a free period to people who buy music from Apple’s iTunes digital download store, allowing users to upload their music to Apple’s computers where they can then play from a Web browser or Internet-connected Apple device.

The company plans to eventually charge a subscription fee, about $25 a year, for the service. Apple would also sell advertising around its iCloud service.

Earlier CNet reported that Apple had sewn up the last major record label, Universal, to sell its products in the iCloud.  The deal had reportedly been finalized late last week (plenty of time!).

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Apple has just updated GarageBand for iPad and iMovie for iPhone/iPad with bug fixes, AirPlay compatibility and other new features. Free updates are now available on the App Store. GarageBand for iPad version 1.0.1 is a 369MB download while iMovie for iOS (supports iPad 2, iPhone 4 and fourth-generation iPod touch) version 1.2.1 weighs in at 69.2MB, priced at five bucks each. Don’t panic if those updates don’t show in iTunes or the App Store app yet, propagating changess across all regional stores can take anywhere between a few minutes to a couple hours. Here’s the official list of enhancements from iTunes release notes.

GarageBand for iPad version 1.0.1

• support for audio output over AirPlay, Bluetooth devices and HDMI with the Apple Digital AV Adapter
• import of AIFF, WAV, CAF audio files and Apple Loops (16 bit, 44.1 kHz)
• allows copy and paste of audio from supported apps into GarageBand
• addresses occurrences of GarageBand freezing while playing Smart Instruments
• improves overall stability and addresses a number of minor issues

iMovie for iOS version 1.2.1

• audio plays from your HDTV when using the Apple Digital AV Adapter
• video plays full screen from Marquee to your HDTV when using the Apple Digital AV Adapter
• resolves some cases of missing media in projects
• provides more accurate clip grouping by date in Video browser
• fixes an issue where a project’s background music would not fade in or out
• additional performance and reliability improvements

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We’ve been talking about the rumors of iWork hitting the iPhone for quite some time.  Today, Apple confirmed those rumors to be true.  Keynote, Pages and Numbers will now be universal apps that run on iPad and iPad 2, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, and iPod touch (3rd & 4th generation).

“Now you can use Keynote, Pages and Numbers on iPhone and iPod touch to create amazing presentations, documents and spreadsheets right in the palm of your hand,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The incredible Retina display, revolutionary Multi-Touch interface and our powerful software make it easy to create, edit, organize and share all of your documents from iPhone 4 or iPod touch.”

Know what is awesome about this?  Apple didn’t have enough time for this at WWDC and that’s why we are getting this a week early.  Holy.

Download the now Universal Apps: Pages, Numbers, Keynote

Full release and more images below:
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Some people are beginning to see a revamped Google search site on their iOS devices. Both iSpazio and phoneArena have noticed the changes, pointing out that big new icons have replaced the smaller top links. The new icons are visible upon running a search query on an iOS device. They essentially function the same as the smaller textual links, taking you to the search silos such as Images, Places and News. Clicking the More link pulls even more big icons for quick access to YouTube, Gmail, Maps and other popular Google services.

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Sean Kovack’s “original” Google Voice app, GV Mobile+ has now been ported to the iPad which will allow you to make calls using VoIP applications like Skype on the device or originate calls that will end up on landlines or cell phones.

The app  ($2.99 app store) also fixes some bugs on the iPhone version but isn’t quite polished yet on the iPad as you can see in the screenshot below:
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Maps+ is a universal app for your iPhone and iPad that combines common mapping features, courtesy of the Google Maps back-end, with advanced location and tracking capabilities usually found in standalone GPS tracking apps. The app can record and edit your GPS tracks and tweet your location, for starters.

But that’s so last century. How about pinning location-based alarms on the map? This is when things get interesting. For example, a location alarm lets you remind yourself to get off at a train station. Maps+ will also do route directions with alternatives, transit points and bike routes, but only if you are located in the United States. Here are two nice iPad screenies and more info…

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Just a quick hit here: For those on Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Verizon FiOS TV, you can now WatchESPN on your iPad in full glory.   WatchESPN was launched for iPod and iPhone last month.

This includes channels like ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3.com. You need to be subscribed to ESPN’s linear programming via Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks or Verizon FiOS TV to use the app. Once you type in your cable subscriber credentials, you can stream live feeds to your device from anywhere. Who needs television, anyway?

Get it free here, iPad screenshots below.  Van Gundy!  (via SAI)
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From 9to5Toys.com:

Today only, MacUpdate has FX Studio Pro for $19.99.  That’s half off of retail and the lowest price we’ve ever seen for this powerful post-processing photo editor for both professional photographers and amateurs.

We reviewed FX Studio Pro for Mac here last week.  It is on the Mac App Store for $40.
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You know you’re in trouble when people write an app with sole purpose of pinging your content network to tell users whether or not it’s up. Touche. Clearly Sony should have released such an app as part of their damage control process. It’s surprising that the idea for the PSN Status app took so long to dislodge. Image iTunes were busted and went down for a month…

I assure you that Apple fans and haters would fall over each other creating a similar app within the first 24 hours of the incident. Not a PlayStation 3 owner? How about i360Emu, a free app for your iPhone and iPod touch (depicted below) that emulates the famous Red Ring of Death which appears when your XBox 360 fails? I know, it’s been a slow news day.

via Touch Arcade

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Citrix, Online, a division of Citrix Systems Inc. which provides remote-connectivity and online collaboration solutions, is jumping on the iPad bandwagon with the news that it will soon release a free iPad app which they claim will be the “first iPad application designed for real-time, remote support.” Dubbed GoToManage, the program will enable support for single location or multiple sites. Why’s that a big deal?

Well, if you’re an IT administrator, you will have the luxury to work anywhere at any time and thereby assist dispersed workforce of your company even while away. That will no doubt come in handy when you lazy on a Sunday afternoon, sunbath on the beach or enjoy cocktails on your summer holiday. GoToManage for the iPad will be the first iPad application designed for real-time, remote support. Those eager to find out more can register their interest and Citrix will notify them when the program becomes available for download.

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Apple has updated its Logic Pro and Logic Express software with the ability to import GarageBand for iPad projects. The welcome enhancement lets you continue perfecting tablet projects on your Mac to edit audio tracks, loops and so forth. The updated Logic Pro 9.1.4 and Logic Express 9.1.4 installers are available for download from Apple’s site.

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A new iTunes version? Close. This is Miro 4, a new feature-packed media player for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux.

Do you feel constrained by the limited media player choices for your Mac? Here’s something completely different. The non-profit Participatory Culture Foundation has just released a brand new cross-platform media player dubbed Miro 4 that “lets you break free”, as the tagline says. The long list of features is pretty impressive. Miro 4 works with your existing media libraries without any copying involved. Just point the application to your music and video folders (including the iTunes music library) and voila – your media automagically appears.

It comes with the Amazon MP3 store and a bittorrent client built-in. Desktop and mobile devices running Miro can share and transfer music and video files to each other effortlessly over the wireless network. They are also working on versions for iPad and other tablets. What else could you ask for? How about this…

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For all the talk of HTML5, web developers nowadays are still doomed to hard-coding pretty HTML5 websites. Deciding enough is enough, two engineers left Apple to found Tumult, a Y Combinator-funded startup. Their goal: Address a chronic shortage of decent HTML5 authoring tools. What, you didn’t think Adobe’s Creative Suite is the be all end all of web development?

The result of their undertaking is Hype, a brand new Mac application taking the pain out of creating eye-catching animations on the web that don’t require the Flash plug-in. Jonathan Deutsch, one of the co-founders and former engineering manager for the Mail.app backend, explains in an interview with Paul Hontz’s The Startup Foundry:

At one point after a trip to Europe, I wanted to make a photo website that would be as nice as a beautifully bound photo album, and use lots of effects. Coding this with HTML5 would have been a nightmare. There had to be a better way, and that’s how the idea for Hype was born.

The $30 download (limited introductory pricing) is already the top-grossing program on the Mac App Store. Deutsch also shared interesting anecdotes about the perks of working at Apple…

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Opera Software has updated the Opera Mini web browser with iPad support this morning. Having spent some time with the app, MacStories praised visual tabs allowing you to switch between multiple pages by tapping their previews, smooth UI animations, background loading of tabs and a handy menu with rich bookmarks, history, settings and sharing options with Facebook and Twitter social integration and My Opera support.

The updated browser also includes the souped up interface with the iPhone 4 Retina Display support. Grab it now, Opera Mini is a universal binary available free on the App Store. When Opera Mini debuted on the iPhone last March, it came down in history as the first major iOS browser from a third-party, following a change of heart from Apple’s previous policy of prohibiting any web browser on the handset other than its own.

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Apple in the past received its share of criticism over the lack of data protection prior to iOS 4. It was a big issue for businesses who couldn’t even fathom losing unprotected sensitive information from stolen devices. The iPhone 3GS introduced a chip for hardware-based encryption and iOS 4 brought out the Data Protection feature that secures your data with a 256-bit encryption.

ElcomSoft, a team of Russian forensic experts behind security software used by law enforcement and certain three-letter agencies, has managed to crack both the on-device data protection and backup file encryption. Bright side of news interviewed Elcomsoft’s Vladimir Katalov who explained how the GPU-accelerated Phone Password Breaker tool unlocks Apple and BlackBerry backups. The program might also come in handy should you ever forget your backup file password, but there are some caveats.

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