iCloud

Apple has announced that iOS 7 will be available tomorrow, September 18th. Before installing the update, it is recommended that you have a backup of your data. This how-to is going to walk you through backing up your iOS 6 device and transitioning it over to iOS 7:

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Touch ID is far, far more important than most people have realised – the core message behind a Quora post by the CEO of a card payment service. We can expect to learn far more “in the next few months, and that’s likely to eventually include both Touch ID Macs and use of the fingerprint system for mobile payments.

In the torrent of the billions of words already written about Touch ID very, very few people have really understood just how revolutionary this really is.  Apple not only has developed one of the most accurate mass produced biometric security devices, they have also solved critical problems with how the data from this device will be encrypted, stored and secured.

Brian Roemmele, CEO of 1st American Card Service, said that Apple’s attempt to solve the problem of how to develop a truly secure access system goes all the way back to a patent application in 2008, but it was only through the A7 chip – specifically created by ARM with mobile payment security in mind – that the company finally had a gold-standard solution. And its applications will go far beyond iPhone unlock and iTunes purchases … 
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Today at Apple’s iPhone event today in Cupertino, CEO Tim Cook kicked things off with the usual company updates since last checking in. After talking briefly about its iTunes festival and its latest expansion to the Stanford, CA retail store, Cook mentioned that Apple will hit 700 million iOS devices sold by next month. That’s up 100 million devices in just a few months since Apple announced back in June that it hit the 600 million device mark.

Cook also provided some numbers on the iTunes festival noting that the event is now in its seventh year and reaches 100+ countries  with live streams. He also said that around 20M people applied for tickets.

It seems that Apple’s beta release of iWork for iCloud has proven popular as some users are being denied access with a message stating that Apple has had an ‘overwhelming response’ to the service … 
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Before Dropbox became popular, there was iDisk, which was Apple’s cloud storage system. iDisk allowed you to store documents, pictures, QuickTime files, and PDFs in one cloud-based “drive.” This was accessible on all of your Apple products as well as at me.com on a PC. It was practically like having your most important files in Finder on your computer – but everywhere.

Then iCloud came out. iCloud dropped support of iDisk, which meant there was no longer a way to access all of your files in a Finder-like cloud system. This paved the way for third party apps like Dropbox to become even more popular.

Dropbox is free. Dropbox works on any platform: Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, and Blackberry. Dropbox gives you 2GB of storage space for free and they offer incentives to increase your allocated amount of free storage space.

There are two different ways to set up Dropbox:

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Update: Apple confirmed on its iCloud status page that Find my iPhone is back to normal:

The Find my iPhone iOS app has been updated with a new iOS 7-style icon while the rest of the UI remains the same. This icon is the same as the one found on the updated beta.icloud.com website:

However, many are noting that you cannot log in to the new Find my iPhone app without having a developer account:
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Apple’s system status page is showing that iMessage and four iCloud services – Photostream, Documents in the Cloud, Backup and iPhoto Journals – have been down for some users for more than six hours … 
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Apple just released the 6th release of iOS 7 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. The small 13.5MB update is available via Software Update and contains the usual bugfixes and improvements.

The update comes a week after the previous update and just hours after a report pegged the Beta 6 update for next week. The focus of the small update appears to be on an emergency issue with iTunes in the Cloud which requires a workaround.

This update addresses an issue with iTunes in the Cloud, where some purchases may download or play unexpected items. If you have any devices running previous versions of iOS 7 beta, you must:
1. Install iOS 7 beta 6
2. Install the ResetMusicAndVideosLibraries configuration profile
3. From Settings > Music, tap the Reset Media Library button
4. Restart the device

Notice something else new? Head down south to the comments.
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With the rumored September 10th Apple keynote just weeks away, the rumor mill is in high gear and, as per usual, expectations will be soaring higher than ever as the date nears. For some products, a refresh or introduction is all but confirmed. For others, there only exists speculation or mere wishful thinking for even a mention at the keynote. Below you’ll find the opinions of some 9to5Mac staffers.
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Apple gives iCloud users 5 GB of iCloud storage space.  At first, 5 GB does not seem like a lot of storage space, however it is. For a majority of users it is plenty. For others, it isn’t. This storage space is for backups, documents and data, and email only if you are using a @mac.com, @me.com, or @icloud.com address…

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This is the first entry in our new, weekly how-to’s column. Check back every Saturday for a new how-to:

First off, before we begin and actually discuss how to safely delete an iCloud account, we should discuss the different scenarios as to why you might need to delete your iCloud account off of your devices.

1. If you are using the same Apple ID as a family member for iCloud, several different outcomes could result from this.  Odds are that your content got merged, and all of your personal information is mixed together. You are both getting frustrated that your contacts are disappearing because you each delete and re-add them and iCloud pushes the changes to both of you. You also might be getting each other’s iMessages and FaceTime calls. Or one of you is using and enjoying the features and benefits of iCloud whereas the other isn’t and is missing out on features like Backup to iCloud and Find my Device.
2. The email address associated with the Apple ID you are using for iCloud is no longer a valid, active email address. In that case, you’ll need to change the email address associated with your Apple ID, which I will be discussing in next week’s article.
   

On an iOS Device, go into the Settings app and scroll down until you see iCloud. To delete the iCloud account from the device, just press the big red “Delete Account” button. To do this on a Mac, go into System Preferences and choose iCloud, the press the “Sign Out” button…

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We reported previously on the possibility of Apple making its iWork suite, and possibly its other premium content creation apps, available for free alongside iOS 7 and the launch of new iWork for iCloud web apps. It would make a lot of sense given it’s hard to imagine Apple allowing users to create documents for free on iCloud but not seamlessly transfer from iOS to Mac without having to throw down $30 for the three iOS apps. Today we get a little hint from the latest iOS 7 beta that Apple might actually be considering making the apps free this fall (via @nielskorte & iFun).

The screenshot above shows the screen that Apple presents most users with when launching the App Store on their iOS device for the first time. Curiously, on iOS 7 beta 3, the recommended free apps screen includes Apple’s iWork suite in addition to other paid apps such as Garageband, iMovie, and iPhoto. In the past, Apple has only included free apps in the pop up such as iBooks, iTunes U, and Podcasts. This could signal Apple has plans to offer its premium apps for free in the future…

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Apple presents itself as a company that ships hardware, software, and services that integrate together elegantly. While Apple makes the majority of its money from its hardware, Apple makes use of its free, popular internet services and software to sell their hardware. For example, the iLife suite of Mac apps that are included for free with new Mac purchases is a common reason that people choose to buy a Mac. On the iOS side, Apple offers free services like iCloud, iBooks, iMessage, Game Center, and later this year, iTunes Radio.

But on both the Mac and iOS Device side, one particular Apple service has stuck out as being a paid offering: Apple’s iWork suite that includes the Pages word processor, Numbers spreadsheet maker, and Keynote presentation creator. For years, Apple has sold iWork for Mac as a bundled suite, but with the Mac App Store, the company split the three programs into separate $19.99 downloads. On the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch side, the three apps are distinct $9.99 downloads. Apple, thus far, has kept iWork as a premium priced suite, but this fall, the company will introduce a free tier: iWork for iCloud…

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Today at Apple’s WWDC keynote, Apple took some time to announce some improvements to Notifications, as we expected. The majority of the improvements that Apple has demoed so far include new features for Notifications on the Mac coming in the just announced OS X Mavericks, such as quick replies, the ability to receive iOS push notifications, and lock screen access.

Apple showed off a new quick reply feature for Notifications on the Mac that will allow users to mouse over a notification and quickly reply from a dialog that pops depending on the app. Not only can you reply to messages to respond to FaceTime calls, for example, you will also be able to perform other actions with the quick reply Notifications such as quickly deleting emails.

Another feature that we saw today during Apple’s keynote is the ability to receive iOS push notifications right on your Mac for apps installed on your iPhone and iPad. These are a few of the updates we were expecting from Apple today, but we’ll have to wait to see if they fixed the other half of the problem during its iOS 7 portion of today’s presentation but Apple also showed off a redesigned Notification center for iOS including lock screen access and new tabs (pictured below).

Additionally, Apple showed off the ability to view Notifications directly from the lock screen in OS X Mavericks.

Update:  As we expected, Apple also announced that Notification Sync will be coming in iOS 7, but didn’t show off any specifics.

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Live on stage at Apple’s WWDC keynote presentation this morning, CEO Tim Cook has opened things up with the usual updates on some of the company’s core businesses and accomplishments over the past year. Sharing numbers on how its products have been selling and outpacing the competition has become somewhat of a tradition for Apple keynote addresses. Below you’ll find a roundup of the stats that Cook shared today including info on retail stores, iPhones and more:

-6 Million registered developers, 1.5M in last year

-WWDC sold out in 71 seconds

-1m daily visitors at Apple retail

-Millions of customers come for personal training

-407 stores in 14 countries

-50 billion apps

-900,000 apps (93% downloaded each month)

-375k iPad apps

-575,000,000 store accounts (more accounts with credit cards than any store online)

-paid developers 10 billion (3 times more than all other mobile platforms combined)
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We’ve got a pretty good idea of what Apple intends to give us at WWDC. Even the things we’re not so sure about seem on the radar.

But what does Apple need to do long term to tighten up the ecosystem and bring some excitement back into its hardware, software and services? I’ve got a few things…

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