After months of rumors and speculation, Apple revealed the long-awaited iCloud last week. The free service replaces MobileMe for $99/year, and, considering of all the new features, it's expected to be quite popular.
iCloud is available to all Apple account holders, which Apple estimates to be in the 200 million range. So how can iCloud withstand all that traffic? Aside from their massive NC data center and 12 petabyte digital locker, Apple appears to be using rival cloud services...
It's been about 24 hours since the release of RedSn0w 0.9.8b1, a tethered jailbreak for iOS 5 beta 1, and we've already had confirmation that it's possible to add widgets to the Notification Center of Apple's latest mobile OS. Not only we have the confirmation, but we now have the proof as the jailbreak community has already come up with a tweak for it.
The tweak is called UISettings, and could be described as a SBSettings widget for the Notification Center.
Once installed, UISettings will appear in your Notification Center along with the Stocks and Weather widgets, or "tickers", as Apple likes to call them. Just like SBSettings, it gives you quick access to turn On and Off some important features of your device, such as wifi, Airplane Mode, Bluetooth, etc...
When Lodsys originally filed their complaints last month, everyone looked at Apple for answers. Though the Cupertino company has been relatively quiet concerning the Lodsys litigation, their legal department is finally starting to make some noise.
iOS developers have been holding vigilant to see if Apple would step up and help them defend against the threats from the patent licensing firm. After a cease and desist letter failed to stop the lawsuits, Apple has decided to get legally involved...
As if the iPhone 4 needed any more publicity, the device is about to get some intergalactic marketing. Cult of Mac is reporting that a pair of iPhone 4s running research software are headed for the International Space Station next month.
The 2 devices are set to launch into the stratosphere on July 8, and will be running SpaceLab software. The iOS app will help the ISS crew determine their relative position in space as well as aid in several experiments. Want to get hands on with the app?
When the iOS 5 Notification Center was unveiled by Scott Forstall at WWDC, the possibility of third party widgets was also teased to developers. Although no public SDK for widgets was announced by Apple, the first, non-Apple widget has been successfully added to Notification Center, thanks to the RedSn0w tethered jailbreak that recently got updated for iOS 5.
Developer WillFour20 was able to dig into a jailbroken version of the iOS 5 SDK. He uncovered the ability to add his own widget, and he demonstrated it with the above: "Hello World." Thanks to this discovery, developers with jailbroken iDevices will be able to start developing and testing widgets for iOS 5...
One of Apple's big announcements at WWDC 2011's keynote was the iCloud music service. Offering cross-device syncing as well as iTunes Match for checking your non-iTunes bought music and adding it to the cloud, iTunes in the Cloud is just one aspect of the very exciting iCloud. While users in the United States can expect the service to go live in the Fall when iOS 5 ships, those living outside the US could be waiting until at least early 2012, according to business insiders.
A spokesman for the Performing Right Society, a group responsible for ensuring musicians and other creative types of the music world get paid, told The Telegraph that negotiations with Apple over the situation are at a very early stage on the international level...
Just about a week after Apple unveiled iCloud, it's already being sued by a company called iCloud Communications over the iCloud trademark. iCloud Communications claims that the use of iCloud in Apple's marketing could be damaging to their business.
And they're serious about it too, requiring Apple to “deliver for destruction all [iCloud] labels, signs, prints, insignia, letterhead, brochures, business cards, invoices and any other written or recorded material.”
You know in iTunes how you can rename your iPhone or iPad while it's plugged in? With iOS 5, you can now do that directly from your iPhone. This is definitely not a groundbreaking feature but I'm sure some of you will appreciate it.
In order to change your device name, you will have to navigate to Settings > General > About > Name...
Earlier we reported that iOS 5 will give users the ability to playback video in full 1080p HD. The new feature is a welcome addition in iOS, which previously only allowed 720p media playback.
It now appears that iOS 5 will not only let you playback video in full HD, but also export it. 9to5Mac is reporting that a tipster sent them in code from the SDK showing a new 1080p video export option...
A new feature in iOS 5 allows you to print maps direction directly from your iPhone, assuming your have a Wi-Fi-friendly printer of course. I didn't pay much attention to this feature until I actually tried it.
In order to print directions, tap the little icon at the bottom right of the Maps app. You will then be given several options, the "Print" one included...
Following the news that RedSn0w will jailbreak iOS 5, an unlock solution for the iPhone 4 on iOS 5 has also been uncovered. The Gevey SIM is a TurboSIM-like piggy back SIM card that will unlock iPhone 4 basebands.
On iOS 5, it appears that the Gevey SIM will still unlock the iPhone 4. Be warned: the Gevey SIM is technically illegal, so we do not recommend this method for unlocking the iPhone 4 on iOS 5.
Here is a feature that had slipped under my radar but I just found out out about it on AllThingsD, even though I still had to dig around to figure out how to get it to work since the article didn't mention how to get there.
We already know from the WWDC keynote that iOS 5 is bringing deep Twitter integration. One of the many new features in iOS 5 is that you can add a Twitter handle to any contact. What Apple didn't mention is that you can also add Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, and Myspace info to any contact...