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iOS 4.2 Released, AirPlay Fails

Posted on November 23, 2010 by sophieparker

Apple released iOS 4.2 yesterday for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch.

Over 100 new features are brought to the iPad with 4.2. Multi tasking, folder support, unified inbox, game centre and AirPlay/AirPrint. Apple CEO, Steve Jobs said that ?iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season. Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.?

However, just a few hours after 4.2 was released, users have reported that the much hyped AirPlay function is not the smooth media experience it should be.

Said to be an all-in-one WiFi streaming solution for iDevices, Apple?s PR made a point of the ease at which users will be able to stream ?whatever? to an Apple TV: ”So if you feel like watching a movie you have on one of your devices, you don?t need to rent or buy it again. Just tap to start playing content on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, then tap again to instantly stream whatever you?re watching ? or listening to ? directly to Apple TV.”

Blogger Dave Zatz has reported that it?s not quite this easy. iPhone?s and Apple TVs don?t seem to like each other too much and streaming is a fairly hit and miss affair. According to Zatz, streaming video from Apple?s built in apps works, but when using third party apps like Hulu there is little success: ”Although the occasional app can pass along the audio half of the feed ? which is of pretty limited value. It?s unclear if I have all the wrong apps or if this functionality needs to be enabled by developers. Perhaps it?s just not ready for primetime.”

Zatz reported more success when streaming audio, but that it was unclear if an app was really compatible wit AirPlay: ”The music just starts playing ? there?s no real Apple TV visual cues as to what?s going on.”

Similar experiences are being reported an Apple?s support forums, users are reporting intermittent and confusing AirPlay experiences: ”Both my iPhone 4 and iPad are having a very inconsistent experience enabling AirPlay. At first, the iPhone did not see any of my [AirPort] Expresses or AppleTVs (both 2nd gen). This is really buggy…it’s unfortunate that it got released this way.” Slotchsock8

According to user reports streaming video from safari also doesn?t work, only the audio is played. Streaming recorded videos from an iPhone is also unavailable. However, it seem that the cause of many of the bugs may come from third-party developers not updating their Apps to use AirPlay APIs. If that?s the case the situation should eventually improve.

iPhone Can Dual-Boot Android, No PC Needed

Posted on November 11, 2010 by sophieparker

We?ve seen Android on an iPhone before, But it?s never been as easy thanks to bootlance 2.1. If your using a jailbroken iPhone 2G or 3G, it?s now a piece of cake to get Android on your iPhone without the need to tether. However, this is not a fully functional Android ROM, based on Android 2.2.1 it still has allot of bugs that need fixing. The following iOS version are apparently supported:

iPhone 2G:

3.1.2
3.1.3

iPhone 3G:

3.1.2
3.1.3
4.0
4.0.1
4.0.2
4.1

Jailbreaks

PwnageTool
Redsn0w
Blackra1n

Funky Space Monkey has a full guide on how to do this hack. Following this method also allows you to receive iDroid updates as and when they are released. We could see a fully functional version of Android running on iPhone in the not too distant future.

iOS 4.2 Rumoured To Be Released On 12/11/2010

Posted on November 10, 2010 by sophieparker

MacStories has reported that iOS 4.2 is set for global release this Friday at 10am.

The site is apparently getting it?s details from ”an inside source” at AT&T, and claims that iOS 4.2 will me made available with iTunes 10.1, which users will need to install if they want to get the update. Also, Mac OS X 10.6.5 will be released, which is needed in order to use the AirPrint functionality introduced with iOS 4.2.

The report also claims that the OS X 10.6.5 update cleared Apple?s certification process earlier today. iTunes 10.1 was ready for release three weeks ago. iOS 4.2 was scheduled for last Tuesday but a bug in the display of Japanese characters held it up. It?s also been claimed that bug in the 10.6.5 update has been held up by bugs.

If you want to find out more about iOS 4.2 see our earlier blog.

Apple Could Have Had Kinect Technology

Posted on November 9, 2010 by sophieparker

Microsoft may not have been the only company to have been offered the motion controller technology used in their Kinect. PrimeSense technology is the key to Kinect. Apparently Inon Beracha, PrimeSense CEO, had Apple at the top of his wish list of companies to take on the technology.

A Cult Of Mac article revealed that the technology had been offered to Apple a number of times. Beracha felt Apple would be the best company to take it on given their history in "Interface Innovation".

But, due to the NDAs and legal documents PrimeSense would be required to agree to bu Apple, they decided that being so tied down was not what they wanted. Particularly when it would not be certain that the technology would be used.

Two years later and Microsoft’s Kinect with PrimeSense has been released to the public. Beracha also said that Microsoft gave the more freedom and were much easier to work with than expected.

Sony?s sidekick Cenesta has also been bought by Microsoft in the past week. This is the company that worked on the Eyetoy for Sony?s Playstation. It?s widely though that this is a move to refine the Kinect technology but some believe it is a move to block Sony?s access to the technology it previously provided.

Mac App Store Now Accepting Submissions

Posted on November 5, 2010 by sophieparker

Maclife has reported that Apple has started taking submissions for their Mac App Store. Developers can now send their applications in for review, and will be posted when the store officially opens.

An e-mail was sent to all Mac devs to begin submitting apps, giving 90 days till the opening of the Mac App Store. Less than a month later the submission phase is underway.

At ‘Back to the Mac’ last month, Apple announced Mac OS Lion for the summer of 2011. The major new feature fro thus OS X being the Mac App Store. The Mac App Store will be pretty much the same as the App Store for iOS devices.

The Mac App Store will be tested on the OS X Snow Lapord, and will come as a feature on OS X Lion next year. It?s not yet been announced by Apple when the store will open, but beta testing shouldn?t be too far away.

Skyfire For iOS Is Sold Out

Posted on November 4, 2010 by sophieparker

Skyfire, the browser designed to bring Flash content to iOS devices has been selling so well that the dev team behind it, have had to pull it temporarily from the App Store.

The browser became the stores top grossing app within just 5 hours of its release. Not only that, it hit the top spot in the utilities category and became the third most paid for app. Skyfire were obviously not prepared for or expecting such a demand. In a blog post they wrote:

?The user experience was performing well for the first few hours, but as the surge continued, the peak load on our servers and bandwidth caused the video experience to degrade.

Thus we are effectively ?sold out? and will temporarily not accept new purchases from the App Store. We are working really hard to increase capacity and will be accepting new purchases from the App Store as soon as we can support it.?

Skyfire enables the viewing of Flash on iDevices by sending the flash content to the skyfire servers where it is transcoded and streamed back in HTML5. And naturally, the more demand the more the hosting server have to work, making an overload inevitable.

Skyfire is working hard to accommodate the demand from users, but until they do the app is off the shelf. The app wasn?t pulled by Apple but by Skyfire themselves in order to ensure the quality of their product.

Flash Support For iDevices

Posted on November 3, 2010 by sophieparker

One of the major draw backs of iDevices is the lack of support for Flash. Apple had made it very clear in the past that they won?t be supporting Flash on any of their iOS device. However, Apple has now approved a solution found by a startup company that brings flash to any iOS device.

Skyfire has been working with Apple on a brand new browser for mobile devices that will support Flash. Using revolutionary technology that downloads video onto their servers and then converts it from Flash to HTML5 and then streamed to iOS devices.

It?s not known if this conversion will cause a delay, but even so it?s Flash video on your iDevice. However, there are some setbacks to the technology. Flash-based games or non-video content can?t be converted, and of course the Skyfire browser has to be used.

Jeffery Glueck, CEO of Skyfire has said that 2 or 3 websites chosen to opt out of the technology. This is because they charge mobile device user to watch video on their site.

Skyfire launches on Thursday at 9am from the App Store, and is priced at ?2.99.

iOS 4.2 On The iPhone 4

Posted on November 2, 2010 by sophieparker

It?s been reported today that developers have been given a near to final Golden Master build of iOS 4.2. The general release is expected to hit soon.

It?s unlikely that the build will change much before the general release. However, this did happen with iOS 4.0. The GM build featured the Game Centre app but the public release didn?t.

As suspected, iOS 4.2 has been built with the iPad in mind. The aim being to bring it up to speed, in terms of features, with the iPhone and iPod touch. The features to be added include multitasking, printing and content streaming.

Having said that, this doesn?t mean that other iDevices don?t get any benefit.

AirPrint

iPad user have been gagging to get the ability to print from their devices since it was released. iOS 4.2 will bring this ability, and not just for iPad users. With the exeption of the iPhone 3G, iPhones will now be able to print to a shared printer. Safari and the Photos app will have this option but Notes won?t. This new feature uses a simple pop-over menu.

Once iOS 4.2 has been installed, iTunes prompts to enable it. According to Apple using Air Print will not require any configuration, drivers or additional software.

Lock Screen Bug

The infamous security bug that gave an easy way to bypass the security code applied to an iPhone, has been fixed.

MobileMe

Mobile me logins and Apple IDs seem to have been integrated. When MobileMe is set up on iDevices now an Apple ID is requested.

In-Page Text search

The ability to search fro words and phrases within Safari has now been enabled, utilizing the existing search box.

Font Changes In Notes

It?s now possible to choose between the default marker felt fonts, Chalkboard and Helvetica in the Notes app. But changing the font affects all existing and new notes and only one font can be used at a time.

DST Bug

Apple has informed developers that it may begin using an updated version of the iOS SDK for building and submitting iOS 4.2 apps for review.

Voulume Bar

The multi tasking menu also has a new volume bar on capable iDevices. It?s access by swiping to the right past the iPod controls.

The release of iOS 4.2 will be the first time the same version of iOS has run on all iDevices. And as with all major iOS updates it will require an update For iTunes. But just a small jump to 10.1 from 10.0.1.

Apple Combats “Sexting”

Posted on October 18, 2010 by sophieparker

Apple have patented a design to stop people from ?sexting?, sending sexually explicit text messages. Not only will the technology have the ability to filter such messages, but can be used with the aim of improving the language and grammar level of users.

Don?t panic, it?s not going to be installed by default on every iPhone. It?s been designed for parents to use on their child’s phones. CNN has reported that not only could it prevent children from ?sexting? but can work to improve their language skills not only in their native tongues but languages they are learning. For example, a Spanish student could have the filter set so that they have to send a certain number of texts in Spanish before they can send in other languages.

The filter also works in a new and different way than usual. Instead of creating a simple block list of words and phrases, the filter will evaluate the over all message based on the child’s age and grade level. The focus of the filter is on the content rather than limiting to a preset number of e-mails. Using the child?s age and grade offers a more adaptive kind of filtering that can be customised and carefully planned compared to other methods.

Exactly how Apple are going to implement this is unclear, but it appears that it would be built into the main messaging app in iOS when it is. The patent is for a text based filter only, there is not support for explicit images.

Back To The Mac Press event On Oct 20th

Posted on October 14, 2010 by sophieparker

Apple has le the press know that it will be holding an event on the 20th of October. The event will be focusing on Macs, hence it?s tag line being ?back to the Mac?.

It?s advert doesn’t give much away, so we can only assume there will be some sort of new hardware or product refresh. The lion in the image may be a hint that they will be revealing the next version on OS X. It doesn?t seem so long ago that Snow Leopard was released, but Apple have habit of updating an OS about every 18-24 months. And then announcing it a year before it goes on sale. Perhaps we will see a much needed update to the MacBook Air devices.

Whatever it is that Steve Jobs and Apple have planned, it looks like it will remain a mystery until next week.

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