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Tag: iPhone

  • Amazon Cloud Player for iPhone Released

    Amazon announced today that the Amazon Cloud Player app is now available for iPhone and iPod touch devices. The app can now be downloaded for free through Apple’s App Store. The app provides streaming music or downloads through customers’ Amazon Cloud Drive. In addition, it functions as a normal audio player for music already on a device.

    “Customers tell us that they want access to all of their music, wherever they are, and on all of the devices they use,” said Steve Boom, vice president of digital music for Amazon. “By bringing Cloud Player to iPhone and iPod touch, we now have the most widely compatible cloud playback solution available, giving our customers the ability to buy once and enjoy their music everywhere.”

    The Amazon Cloud Player has already been available on the web and on Android devices, including Amazon’s Kindle Fire mini-tablet, for some time. The Android version of the app can be downloaded through either the Amazon Appstore or Google Play and is called “Amazon MP3 with cloudplayer.” Since all Amazon customers have 5 GB of free Amazon Cloud Drive storage, Apple fans have been asking Amazon for an iOS version of Cloud Player since the app launched. Storage for Cloud Drive can be increased through yearly subscription options that cost around $1 per GB. Customers who purchase one of these increased storage options will, for a limited time, receive unlimited Cloud Drive storage space for MP3 and AAC music files.

  • Apple Announcement: Passbook Comes to iOS 6

    Among its numerous announcements today, Apple unveiled an app called Passbook for iOS 6 during its keynote at the Worldwide Developers Conference.

    Apple touted it as a way to get all your passes – boarding passes, tickets, store cards, movie tickets, etc. – all in one app. On its new iOS 6 page, Apple describes Passbook:

    Your boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, and more are now all in one place. With Passbook, you can scan your iPhone or iPod touch to check in for a flight, get into a movie, and redeem a coupon. You can also see when your coupons expire, where your concert seats are, and the balance left on that all-important coffee bar card. Wake your iPhone or iPod touch, and passes appear on your Lock screen at the appropriate time and place — like when you reach the airport or walk into the store to redeem your gift card or coupon. And if your gate changes after you’ve checked in for your flight, Passbook will even alert you to make sure you’re not relaxing in the wrong terminal.

    Here are a couple screenshots:

    Passbook

    Passbook

    What do Twitter users think about Passbook?

    iOS 6 ships this fall. I’m sure we’ll get plenty more reaction once people actually get to use it.

  • iOS 6 To Feature Seamless Facebook Integration

    A big talking point about iOS 5.0 was the seamless Twitter integration. This led to the speculation that we would see seamless Facebook integration as well. That time is now here with the introduction of iOS 6.0. This update to the operating system will actually feature more iOS to Facebook integration than even Twitter offers.

    The Facebook love will feature things like full integration for calendar events, birthdays, as well as contact emails and phone numbers inside your Calendar and Contacts apps. When you choose to share stuff your privacy settings will come into play with a sharing window prompt which will let you share with friends, public, and any other lists you have set up within Facebook.

    Also coming is the sweet ability to Tweet or post to your Facebook wall by just pulling down the notification center drop down window. Facebook also has its own API within iOS so developers can integrate Facebook log-in credentials without you having to approve apps each time they ask for permissions which will save us all time and we can avoid having to decrapify our feeds every couple of weeks.

    Also Facebook likes have been integrated into the iTunes and App Store so you can finally see what your friends liked. Look for all of these features to go live once iOS 6 is available to download.

  • Eyes Free Announced Integrating Siri with your Car [WWDC 2012 Coverage]

    Yet another development from Apple revealed at today’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2012) in San Francisco. It’s Siri integration for your car. Say hello to hands free. And it’s not just in English either. Siri has learned Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

    That’s right, Apple has been working with a number of automobile makers to bring to life a true one touch feature that will take your eyes off your device and put them where they belong, on the road. Apparently in the next 12 months, eyes free Siri integration will be available on various models from BMW, GM, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, and Honda. Talk about a safety feature, this is true hands free integration.

    The new technology will be available for iOS so you can integrate your iPhone or iPad right into the steering wheel of your car. One touch and Siri is taking your commands with no need to be distracted from the road. Stay tuned to WebProNews for more developments out of WWDC 2012.

  • Apple App Store Now Carries 650,000 Apps with 30 Billion Already Downloaded

    Apple App Store Now Carries 650,000 Apps with 30 Billion Already Downloaded

    Apple CEO Tim Cook just announced an amazing milestone for the company at today’s (June 11th – 15th) Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC 2012) in San Francisco. The news is, the app store now has over 650,000 apps available and there has already been 30 billion downloads. Very impressive!

    Of course, well over 200,000 of those apps are specifically designed for the iPad. The popularity of the App Store has already reach 120 countries and there are 35 more about to be added by the end of June. But lets not forget that all these apps come at a price to Apple as well as consumer.

    Apple has forked over $5 billion to app developers to make these record numbers a reality. I would say that’s a monumental investment. Check back all day for more coverage of the WWDC 2012 events. We’ll be keeping a close eye on the conference all week. Feel free to head to the App Store to drive those numbers higher.

  • WWDC 2012: Live Coverage Of Apple’s Keynote

    WWDC 2012: Live Coverage Of Apple’s Keynote

    UPDATE: And that’s all, folks. Thanks for following our live coverage of Apple’s keynote. Check our WWDC 2012 page for continuing coverage.

    UPDATE: “I hope you have a fantastic week, thank you very much for coming.”

    UPDATE: Talking about how great Apple and their products are and the importance of devs in that process.

    UPDATE: Tim Cook back on stage.

    UPDATE: iOS 6 ships “this fall,” will support iPhone 3GS and later, iPad 2 and new iPad, 4th gen iPod Touch and up. Beta available for devs today.

    UPDATE: Maps app will feature and promote travel apps from the App Store.

    UPDATE: Same features for China that were announced for OS X are coming to iOS 6, too.

    UPDATE: Redesigned the App Store. Fine tuned privacy controls. Improved experience for users with hearing aids. Per-account signatures. Added Lost mode to Find My iPhone: send a phone number to your lost iPhone and allow whoever finds it to call you.

    UPDATE: “And these are only 10 of the over 200 new features in iOS 6.”

    UPDATE: Siri narrates your turns. Get ETA, overview of your trip, etc.

    UPDATE: Includes adaptive, cinematic animations of turns.

    UPDATE: Showing off turn-by-turn navigation.

    UPDATE: Flyover. Hyper-realistic 3D models. Vector based maps respond quickly. Lets you zoom in and out.

    UPDATE: Ask Siri to take you there, and she’ll give you directions. Ask for stops like gas stations, and she’ll find them along your route.

    UPDATE: Monitors traffic, updates your ETA on the fly. Reroutes you around bad traffic. Integrated into Siri, shows on the lock screen of the phone.

    UPDATE: Turn-by-turn navigation built in.

    UPDATE: Integrated with Yelp, traffic service in the works. Includes incident reports using anonymous crowdsourced data from iOS users.

    UPDATE: Brand new mapping solution built from the ground up. Doing all the cartography in-house. A worldwide effort.

    UPDATE: Time for Maps.

    UPDATE: Guided Access allows you to control whether kids can change an app’s settings. Single app mode allows you to lock an app so that they can’t leave the app by hitting the home button.

    UPDATE: Next, Guided Access.

    UPDATE: Cards updated live. If your flight’s gate changes, the app updates your boarding pass automatically.

    UPDATE: Automatically updates balances on store cards.

    UPDATE: Location based features in Passbook. When you get to the movie theater, it pulls up your ticket.

    UPDATE: Passbook. Get all your passes – boarding passes, tickets, store cards, movie tickets, etc. – all in one app.

    UPDATE: Now easier to upload photos/videos straight from the mail app.

    UPDATE: VIPs coming to Mail. Mark a contact as a VIP and get a notification when they send you an email, also a flagged mailbox.

    UPDATE: Photo Stream. Shared photo streams coming in iOS 6.

    UPDATE: Full screen Safari in landscape on iOS.

    UPDATE: Smart app banners lets devs direct users to the App Store for their native apps, or launches the app automatically.

    UPDATE: Safari getting iCloud tabs and photo uploads.

    UPDATE: Apple ID and phone number being unified, so you can receive FaceTime calls and messages to your phone number from your Mac or iPad.

    UPDATE: FaceTime now works over 3G.

    UPDATE: Do Not Disturb allows you to turn off notifications temporarily. Includes fine control. Also set to allow repeated calls in case of emergencies.

    UPDATE: Reply to phone calls with messages, or set reminders to call them later.

    UPDATE: Phone app getting enhancements.

    UPDATE: Facebook friends’ contact info will appear in their entries in the Contacts app. Facebook events (including birthdays) now appear in Calendar.

    UPDATE: Post to Facebook and Twitter from Notification Center. Use Siri to post to either Facebook or Twitter. Also made Facebook integration a public API, meaning devs can integrate it into their apps easily.

    UPDATE: Facebook integration. Sign into Facebook from the Settings app. Post to Facebook from Photos, Safari, Maps, the App Store, the iTunes Store, Game Center, and more.

    UPDATE: Siri coming to the new iPad.

    UPDATE: Local search going around the world.

    UPDATE: Several new languages, including Spanish, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

    UPDATE: Working with a number of car manufacturers to bring Eyes Free Siri integration within the next twelve months. Use buttons on your steering wheel to activate Siri.

    UPDATE: “Eyes Free.”

    UPDATE: Now Siri can launch apps. E.g., “Play Temple Run.”

    UPDATE: Can ask about directors, actors, etc.

    UPDATE: Siri has become a movie buff. Ask what movies are playing nearby. Rotten Tomatoes integration. Watch trailers from within Siri. Showing a trailer for The Avengers.

    UPDATE: Much more information about restaurants. Partnered with Yelp and OpenTable for reviews and more information.

    UPDATE: Ask about team scores, individual player stats, standings, and more. Even ask whether LeBron is taller than Kobe.

    UPDATE: Sports scores now integrated. Shows final score of yesterday’s Giants-Rangers game.

    UPDATE: Siri demo.

    UPDATE: More than 200 new features, starting with significant enhancements to Siri.

    UPDATE: Over 75% of users are very satisfied with iOS.

    UPDATE: Going over some of the features added in iOS 5. 1.5 trillion notifications since launch. 140 million iMessage users, over 150 billion messages sent, over a billion sent every day.

    UPDATE: 365 million iOS devices sold as of March. Over 80% of them are running iOS 5 (compared to a huge number of Android devices using Gingerbread instead of Ice Cream Sandwich).

    UPDATE: Now time for iOS 6.

    UPDATE: Mountain Lion ships next month. Devs get near-final preview today.

    UPDATE: Upgrades from both Snow Leopard and Lion. Buy once, upgrade all your Macs.

    UPDATE: Upgrade to Mountain Lion is $19.99. Yes, really.

    UPDATE: 1700 APIs for developers.

    UPDATE: New features for China. New Chinese dictionary. Updates for pinyin input. Baidu search for Safari.

    UPDATE: Many more features. Including VIPs in Mail, search in LaunchPad, Gatekeeper, Offline Reading List.

    UPDATE: Showing off CSR Racing head-to-head using AirPlay mirroring.

    UPDATE: Use Game Center and AirPlay to send your game to your big screen.

    UPDATE: Supports turn-based and head-to-head gaming, both Mac-to-Mac and Mac-to-iOS.

    UPDATE: “Finally, Game Center.” There’s been “a renaissance of gaming on the Mac” thanks to the App Store.

    UPDATE: AirPlay mirroring. “Absolutely the easiest way to get whatever’s on your Mac onto a nearby projector or television.” Connects to Apple TV and sends 1080p video.

    UPDATE: “Power Nap.” Keeps your Mac up to date while it sleeps. Fetches mail, calendars, photos, reminders, etc, even when asleep. Downloads App Store and system updates while charging.

    UPDATE: Tweet directly from Notification Center. Notification Center also supports web services.

    UPDATE: Notification Center helpful for when you use full-screen apps. Supports multitouch gestures: swipe down with two fingers on the trackpad to bring it down.

    UPDATE: Tab View: use gestures to physically navigate across tabs.

    UPDATE: iCloud tabs. Shows you all the tabs you’ve got open across all your iOS/OS X devices. Pick up on your Mac where you left off on your iPhone.

    UPDATE: Unified search/URL bar.

    UPDATE: The new Safari. Fastest Javascript engine of any browser on the planet.

    UPDATE: Sharing (via Twitter, Messages, Flickr, etc.) integrated deeply into the OS. Log into Twitter using System Preferences.

    UPDATE: Mountain Lion gets Dictation. Anywhere you can type, you can talk. Including third-party apps like MS Word.

    UPDATE: Notifications can be turned off temporarily. Shuts itself down if you connect a projector.

    UPDATE: Notification Center brings “consistent and elegant” notifications to Mac, replacing all the various and distracting ways apps got your attention.

    UPDATE: Changes to a document made on your iPhone are automatically synced to your Mac.

    UPDATE: You can drag files into iCloud to upload.

    UPDATE: Attachments up to 100MB in size, including HD videos via iMessage.

    UPDATE: Messages brings iMessage to the Mac. Allows you to respond to messages from your iPhone via your Mac. Keeps all your conversations synced across devices.

    UPDATE: Location-based reminders on the Mac for the first time.

    UPDATE: Three new iCloud apps for Mountain Lion: Message, Reminders, and Notes. Documents in the Cloud another new feature. Allows you to store your apps in iCloud. Comes with a developer SDK so devs can build Documents In The Cloud support into their apps.

    UPDATE: iCloud has 125 million users.

    UPDATE: 200 new features in Mountain Lion, just 8 focused on today.

    UPDATE: 26 million copies of Lion shipped. 40% of OS X users are on Lion 9 months after release. It took Windows 7 27 months to get to the same point.

    UPDATE: 66 million Mac users now, three times the number of a few years ago.

    UPDATE: Notebooks done, on to OS X.

    UPDATE: Starts at $2,199. Ships today.

    UPDATE: Video over, Schiller back on stage.

    UPDATE: Completely redesigned internal cooling system. Designed to be imperceptible to the user. Asymmetrically placed fan blades spread the sound over a variety of frequencies.

    UPDATE: “One of the most significant challenges was completely redesigning our approach to designing the display.” The display is built directly into the unibody.

    UPDATE: Three million more pixels than an HDTV.

    UPDATE: Video showing off the new MacBook Pro’s features. Jony Ive: “Without a doubt the very best computer we’ve ever built.”

    UPDATE: FaceTime HD camera, dual microphones, best stereo speakers ever on a desktop or notebook.

    UPDATE: SD card slot, updated MagSafe power port, two thunderbolt ports, two USB 2/3 ports, and an HDMI port.

    UPDATE: A 2.7GHz quad-core i& processor, up to 16GB of RAM, a GeForce GT 650 graphics processor, up to 768 GB of flash storage. 7 hours of battery life, 30 days standby.

    UPDATE: Completely redesigned internals, including a huge battery.

    UPDATE: New display will be great for gaming.

    UPDATE: Updates to Photoshop and Autodesk also in the works.

    UPDATE: All major Apple apps take advantage of the new retina display. Including iMovie, iPhoto, Mail, Safari, etc. Major updates to Aperture and Final Cut Pro. Individual apps will have to update, otherwise they get pixel-doubled (think iPhone apps on the iPad).

    UPDATE: 15.4-inches diagonally, 2880×1800 resolution. 220 ppi, 5,184,000 pixels total. Most hi-res notebook ever. Reduced glare by 75%

    UPDATE: Retina display!

    UPDATE: Less than three quarters of an inch thick: 0.71 inches. Thin as the MacBook Air, weighs 4.46 pounds. Thinner and lighter than the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

    UPDATE: Very thin, very light, enormous display. Schiller says “It’s thinner than my finger!”

    UPDATE: The Next Generation MacBook Pro. “Killer new display,” thinner, lighter, no optical drive or wired networking.

    UPDATE: Brand new MacBook.

    UPDATE: MacBook Pro to come in 13-inch and 15-inch models. 13-inch to be $1199 and $1499, 15-inch at $1799 and $2199. Ships today. No retina display so far.

    UPDATE: MacBook Pro: up to 2.7GHz quad-core i7 processor, up to 8GB of memory, 60% faster graphics.

    UPDATE: New prices: all models get a $100 price cut, all ship today (Apple Store still down).

    UPDATE: 11 and 13-inch models, 1366×768 display, 720p FaceTime HD camera.

    UPDATE: Adding a USB 3.0 port.

    UPDATE: i& Ivy Bridge processors, up to 8GB RAM, 60% faster memory. 512MB of flash storage.

    UPDATE: MacBook Air up first. Looks like four separate models.

    WWDC 2012

    UPDATE: “The MacBook Lineup.”

    UPDATE: Phil Schiller takes the stage to show off notebook changes.

    UPDATE: “Today we’re announcing exciting new changes in notebooks, and major releases of OS X and iOS.”

    UPDATE: Video over. Tim Cook returns to the stage.

    UPDATE: Video talking about some of the amazing apps in the App Store, including one that helps blind people navigate. Developer says he never thought of picking another platform.

    UPDATE: App Store coming soon to 32 new countries, bringing the total to 155.

    UPDATE: Developers have gotten a whopping $5 billion in payments from the App Store.

    UPDATE: The App Store has over 400 million user accounts. Largest number of accounts with credit cards on the internet. 650K apps in the App Store, 225K of them are iPad-specific. “This compares to just a few hundred for our competition.” 30 billion app downloads so far.

    WWDC 2012

    UPDATE: Tim Cook takes the stage. “We have some really cool stuff to show you this morning.”

    UPDATE: The presentation is opening with a video of Siri, who says she “was asked to warm up the crowd.” She’s telling jokes, including “How many developers does it take to change a light bulb? None. That’s a hardware problem.”

    UPDATE: Apple has announced that the presentation will begin shortly. There are reportedly some MacBooks already on the stage, though it’s not clear whether they’re new ones or not.

    With just a few minutes left to go until Apple’s WWDC 2012 Keynote, attendees are already being seated in the hall at San Francisco’s Moscone West. You can check out our rumor roundup from this morning for an idea of what to expect from today’s keynote. Meanwhile, this page will be updated live as the keynote progresses. Click refresh regularly to see new updates, which will appear at the top of the page.

  • iOS 6, New Mac Updates On Tap At WWDC 2012 Today

    It wouldn’t be much of a stretch at all to say that Apple’s WWDC 2012 keynote is the most highly-anticipated keynote in a long time. Historically, Apple has used WWDC to unveil new generations of the iPhone. Last year’s delayed launch of the iPhone 4S, however, means that we won’t be seeing the next iPhone (probably “the new iPhone,” instead of the iPhone 5 or iPhone 6) until October, or possibly September.

    Nevertheless, expectations for this year’s keynote are running high, and with good reason. There have been a lot of rumors zipping about in the last few weeks, and if even half of them are true, it’s going to be a big day.

    With that in mind, here is what we know so far about what we should expect from Apple’s WWDC 2012 keynote. But first, a disclaimer: WWDC is a software conference. Strictly speaking, the focus isn’t on hardware. That means that all we’re guaranteed from today’s keynote is iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion. Anything else is just gravy. Though as you’ll see, there’s reason to expect a sizable helping of gravy.

    iOS 6

    The first of the two guarantees for today’s keynote is iOS 6. Even though the new iPhone isn’t coming out for another 3-4 months, Apple will be unveiling the latest version of the iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch’s operating system today. While it’s been treated as a given for some time that iOS 6 would be on today’s menu, we got the best confirmation we could want short of an official statement from Apple on Friday. An Instagram user managed to catch a picture of workers raising a giant iOS 6 banner inside Moscone West, the San Francisco venue for WWDC 2012.

    So, iOS 6 has been confirmed, but what should we expect from iOS 6? Well, the biggest news is a new Maps app. Back in May it was reported that Apple was preparing to ditch Google Maps as the source for the iOS Maps app and replace it with mapping data developed in-house by the three mapping companies Apple began purchasing in 2009 (just a year after Google launched Android). Since that initial report there have been several additional leaks confirming a new Maps app. According to the reports, the new app will be largely the same in terms of interface, but will sport a hyper-realistic 3D mode. Check out a mockup of the new app below:

    iOS 6 Maps Mockup

    But that’s not all we should expect from iOS 6. Speaking at AllThingsD’s D10 Conference at the end of May, Apple CEO Tim Cook all but promised that iOS would be getting Facebook integration soon. Later reports have appeared to confirm that, saying that iOS 6’s system-wide Facebook integration will be much like the Twitter integration introduced last year with iOS 5.

    While reports suggest that iOS 6 won’t actually look much different from iOS 5 on the surface, Apple appears to have completely rewritten all of the stock iOS apps – Weather, Clock, Contacts, Calendar, etc. – in addition to Maps. While details are a little thin, the new versions of the apps are expected to have some pretty remarkable new features, and a slightly different user interface.

    During the same D10 session mentioned above, Tim Cook also strongly hinted that there would be major improvements to Siri coming soon. Though he was, naturally, coy about the details, it’s a fair bet that with iOS 6 Siri will be losing her “beta” label, and getting several new features and performance improvements. Though it may be too much to hope for Apple to release Siri’s APIs to developers, it’s certainly possible.

    Finally, iOS 6 will be getting some of the same improvements to existing features that are about to be rolled out with OS X Mountain Lion, including a Do Not Disturb feature for Notifications, Mail VIPs, and iCloud Tabs. The Do Not Disturb mode is pretty self-explanatory: it temporarily disables notifications from popping up while you’re, say, watching a movie or trying to sleep (nobody appreciates waking up to a Words With Friends notification at 3 in the morning, after all). Mail VIPs makes it easier to find and read mail from your selected list of VIPs, and iCloud Tabs allows you to see from one version of Safari (mobile or desktop) the tabs you’ve got open in all versions of Safari.

    OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

    There actually hasn’t been a lot of detail surface about Mountain Lion since Apple made the original (and quite unexpected) announcement earlier this year. That said, here’s what we know. Mountain Lion will be releasing sometime later this summer (possibly this month). It will include OS-wide Twitter integration like iOS 5, though surprisingly there has been no hint of Facebook integration making the jump to OS X. It will be getting a variety of sharing options including Flickr and Vimeo. It will also feature Message, an app that syncs with iMessage on your iPhone and iPad. While there’s currently a beta available for OS X Lion, that beta will stop working after Mountain Lion launches, making Messages a Mountain Lion-only product.

    Mountain Lion will be continuing the tradition Apple began with OS X 10.7 Lion last year of bringing iOS features “back to the Mac.” Consequently, Mountain Lion will be getting Notification Center, Reminders, and Notes, in addition to the aforementioned Twitter integration. There have also been recent rumors that the Dictation feature that made its way to the iPad in March will also be coming to Mountain Lion.

    Another new Mountain Lion feature will be Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper is a security feature that allows you to lock down your Mac so that only software from the Mac App Store can be installed. You can also set Gatekeeper to allow apps created by participants in Apple’s Developer ID program, or you can turn Gatekeeper off completely, allowing software from any source to be installed. While it’s likely to be popular with businesses and parents, there are those who worry that it’s a step toward making OS X the same sort of walled garden that iOS is.

    Finally, there appear to be several new features coming to iCloud. Early last month Apple accidentally made their test of iOS-style banner notifications for the iCloud web interface public. A few days later a beta version of the iCloud web interface revealed that Notes and Reminders apps were being added as well. It’s not certain that these new features will be unveiled at WWDC 2012, but a third report predicted that several major new features would be shown off at the conference, including vast improvements to iCloud’s photo handling and sharing.

    New Macs

    If you pay much attention to Apple’s product cycles, you may have noticed that while the company has been aggressively updating iOS and its associated devices, and has been incorporating certain features into OS X, there hasn’t been much attention paid to actual Mac hardware. Though the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac lines have gotten feature bumps in recent years, there have been no major upgrades. Indeed, some models – namely the Mac Pro – have been without an upgrade of any kind for years.

    According to what we’ve been hearing over the last few weeks, that’s about to change. While there have been rumors since the launch of the iPhone 4 in 2010 that Macs would start getting retina displays, it looks like this time it might actually happen. Back in May we started hearing the first serious rumblings of the MacBook Pro getting a retina display. The next day reports surfaced that the same might be true of the MacBook Air and iMac. While nothing has been confirmed, of course, Apple did let a retina display-ready app into the Mac App Store last week.

    Last week rumors surfaced that a fourth Mac line would be getting an update. While some believed it would be the Mac Mini, I speculated that the Mac Pro would be the model to get updated, which is in far worse need of an update than the Mac Mini. A report the next day appeared to confirm that it would indeed be the Mac Pro, though there’s little information on what, specifically, will be updated.

    Finally, there was a report last week that all these updates we’ve been hearing about for the MacBook Pro might not be headed to the MacBook Pro at all, but to an entirely new line of MacBook. This new MacBook would drop the “Pro” branding, and would get the lion’s share of the upgrades, leaving the MacBook Pro with only a basic feature bump. If it sells well, this new MacBook would eventually replace the current MacBook Pro (which replaced the original MacBook line a few years ago).

    New Apple TV OS (and the iTV?)

    Last but not least, there have been reports that Apple may show off a new operating system for the Apple TV at this year’s conference. There aren’t many details, but it’s possible that this update is meant to pave the way for the much-rumored iTV, Apple’s entry into the HDTV market. Though there has been some speculation that the iTV itself would be unveiled at this year’s conference, that is not likely.

    While little is known about the new Apple TV OS, one exciting detail has been circulated. It seems that Apple may release a software development kit (SDK) for the Apple TV alongside the OS update. That will mean that third-party developers can create apps for the Apple TV. That’s right, the Apple TV (and possibly the iTV?) may finally be getting the App Store.

    Conclusions

    It’s worth noting again that WWDC is a software developers’ conference, and that the only things that have been confirmed about this year’s keynote are iOS 6 and Mountain Lion. The rest is just speculation, though much of it appears solid. At any rate, we’re less than two hours from the keynote now, when all will be revealed. Until then, you can follow our WWDC 2012 page for more information, and check back for our live coverage of the keynote itself at 1 PM Eastern time.

  • Siri Wants To Kill Zooey Deschanel And Take Over Her Body

    Siri, iPhone’s voice assistant, has gathered a lot of attention in recent weeks; between ads featuring some high-profile actors and IBM announcing they were banning Siri due to security concerns, she’s certainly getting a lot of play.

    One particular ad has people buzzing and has even spawned a few spoofs; as with everything actress Zooey Deschanel does, people either really love it or hate it with a fiery passion. The commercial shows Zooey asking Siri to have soup delivered on a rainy day, remind her to clean up later, and play a particular song to dance to. One writer for Huffington Post asked exactly the same questions of his iPhone assistant to see if he would get the same results after lawsuits popped up against Apple for misleading advertising; according to this video, Zooey’s ad was pretty accurate.


    But that doesn’t mean it hasn’t drawn some ire from people who think the actress’ demands are ridiculous. That’s why some of the funny guys over at Team Coco have put together a little commercial of their own, depicting Siri’s vengeful personality after being subjected to an overload of cute and quirky Zooey.

    Of course, it’s all in good fun. The world is still in love with Zooey, no matter how fed up Siri is with her. And she is totally safe from demonic smartphone possession. Until the machines rise up, that is.

  • Apple To Unveil Developer Analytics Tool That Preserves User Privacy

    In a world where virtually every computer is connected to virtually every other computer, millions of people spend countless hours reading and posting to social networks, and so many of us carry our own little internet boxes in our pockets, the issue of privacy has become tricky. Before the social media age and the rise of mobile technology, it was a lot simpler: companies weren’t allowed to listen in on your phone conversations with friends, read your mail, or follow you around at the grocery store or the mall to see what you bought.

    With everyone connected all the time, though, it’s a little more difficult. Oftentimes basic features of the technology we love – things that these gadgets and services require to do what we want them to do – raise their own privacy concerns. We want to use our phone’s built-in map app to find our way from where we are to where we want to be, but we don’t want Google to know too much about where we are. We want Siri to understand what we say and give appropriate answers, but we’re not comfortable with the fact that she has to upload our queries to Apple’s servers to do it. App developers need to collect usage data so they know what features of their apps are the most popular and which need the most improvement, but we don’t want them to associate that data with our devices.

    While many of these problems present significant difficulties, that last one, at least, may be remedied soon. In case you’re not familiar with the issue, Apple began taking steps recently to prevent iOS apps from accessing an iOS device’s universal device identifier (UDID). The concern was that allowing apps to do so compromised user privacy in a way that consumers were not comfortable with. While the move was good for user privacy, it presented significant problems for developers, since these apps used a device’s UDID to gather analytics data on how their apps were being used, how many users they had, how the apps were performing, and the like.

    Now, though, Apple may have found a compromise. According to a report this afternoon from the Wall Street Journal, Apple will introduce a developers’ tool that will allow users to collect the data they need while masking a device’s UDID. The details of the new tool are unclear, but Apple is expected to roll it out over the next week. Though it might not make the WWDC 2012 keynote, there’s a good chance that it will be a major topic during the conference itself.

  • iOS 6: Banner Confirms WWDC 2012 Launch

    Ever since Apple announced the dates for WWDC 2012, there has been speculation that they would unveil iOS 6 during their keynote. While there are all sorts of rumors about just what will be the topic of this year’s presentation, iOS 6 and OS X Mountain Lion have always been expected to be the central focus. This is, after all, a conference focused on software.

    Well, in case you needed any confirmation that Apple really will be showing off iOS 6 on Monday, you’ve got it now. Instagram user zacaltman has posted a photo of a huge iOS 6 banner being hung up inside Moscone West in San Francisco, the venue for this year’s conference:

    iOS 6 Banner At WWDC

    This year’s Apple keynote is scheduled for Monday, June 11 at 10 AM Pacific time (1 PM Eastern). If even half of the rumors we’ve been hearing about what Apple has in store are true, it’s going to be a good one.

    [Hat Tip: MacRumors]

  • MapQuest 3.0 for iPhone Gets Superbly Remade from Scratch

    MapQuest announced today that it’s released a completely overhauled version of its app for iPhone with a total redesign that hosts a much improved user interface that should make your next trip a little easier to figure out.

    The most notable improvement to the app, at least in my nowhere-near-comprehensive first impression, is the directions feature. In virtually every map service, whether its Google Maps, Bing Maps, MapQuest, or whatever, the directions always contain way too much information for certain junctions in your trip. Really, nobody needs to know the state route number and the multiple names of a street – one will suffice. It’s less to juggle around in the head while you’re trying to, y’know, drive an car safely. The new MapQuest app for iPhone remedies that vexing amount of information by giving you one name for your turns/exits and also presents it in a large, easily readable font.

    Below is a before-and-after comparison of MapQuest 3.0 and the previous version, both of which display the same step in the same directions. In the new version, which is on the right, it is clearly apparent what street I should be on the lookout for during this trek without muddling my already-divided attention with superfluous transit details.

    Mapqyest 3.0 for iPhone

    Another improvement in Mapquest 3.0 is the layout of the menus. As you can see in comparison above, or maybe you just know from using the app yourself, the main menu (where you type in your search or directions) has been consolidated from a full space-consuming menu bar at the bottom of the screen to a single “Menu” button in the lower left-hand corner. Now that the menu has been liberated from the bottom of the screen, you’ll find a few more options in the Menu with 3.0, like live traffic conditions and options to easily clear the map or edit your location/directions.

    Where the menu had previously been you will now find a collapsable menu of options to conduct quick searches for places like gas stations, hotels, rest stops, drug stores, theatres, banks and, yes, even ice cream vendors. You can view more than one of these categories at once, so if you really want to find a hotel that is within walking distance to bar, you can choose both of those options to satisfy your every need.

    Mapquest 3.0 for iPhone

    The menu bar at the bottom is also collapsable now so you can see a great area of the map. Oh yeah, and if you didn’t notice in that last example, there’s now a landscape view for MapQuest, too.

    Other fun inclusions in this update easy searches for gas prices at nearby stations and an overall better, faster search function when trying to figure out just where the hell you wanna be going.

  • iPhone 5 Rumor: Concept Video Puts New iPhone’s Pieces Together

    We’ve learned an awful lot about Apple’s next iPhone (probably called “the new iPhone,” rather than the iPhone 5 or iPhone 6). There have been a slew of details leaked about the iPhone’s design, centered largely on a few sets of images that show the redesigned case and front panel. There’s even been a hands-on video of the new iPhone’s case being compared to the iPhone 4S.

    We also know a fair bit about iOS 6, which will likely be revealed at next week’s WWDC 2012 Apple keynote, and will launch alongside the new iPhone (probably in the fall).

    What we don’t know, though, is how all this will fit together. We have a good idea of what the iPhone’s new design is, but what will it actually look like? Well, a concept video released yesterday gives us a little bit of insight in that department. The video shows the new iPhone in black and white next to each other. It includes the rumored fifth row of apps on the the iOS home screen, and reflects the design of the case shown in the images that have come out so far. Check it out for yourself below:

    Assuming these part leaks have been genuine – that is, assuming the leaked case doesn’t belong on an iPhone prototype or something like that – then it’s a fair bet that what you’re just saw is really close to what the next iPhone will look like.

  • Developers Still Prefer Apple Over Android By A Large Margin

    Developers Still Prefer Apple Over Android By A Large Margin

    We reported on a trend in the mobile development scene Wednesday – Android is on the rise. It’s true, but it’s not the whole story. While Android is on the rise, the behemoth that is Apple is still dominating the hearts, minds and most importantly, the time and resources, of developers.

    Flurry Analytics runs a study every quarter that looks at the support each major mobile operating system gets from developers. The results may or may not be surprising depending on whatever camp – Apple or Android – you belong in. Let’s take a look:

    Developers Apple Android

    As you can see, the results have shifted over the past year and Android is growing again while Apple is losing ground. The only problem is that it’s still not enough. Apple still commands an overwhelming amount of support from developers and Android only just gaining back some share after dropping down to 25 percent is not exactly a confidence booster.

    Flurry suggests that Android’s gains could also be purely seasonal. They found that iOS development grows as the holiday season approaches. Considering the absurd amount of iPhones and iPads that were sold during the holiday season last year, it’s not surprising that developers want in on all that new potential revenue.

    If it was just a fight between Android and the iPhone, Android might have a chance. Unfortunately for Android, Apple has a not-so-secret weapon in the iPad. It still commands a massive majority of the tablet market and developers are going to developer for iOS over Android tablets where only two brands have really managed to break into the market. When you consider that the Amazon Kindle runs a heavily-modified version of Android that doesn’t even resemble the regular Android OS, it gets even more bleak for the average Android developer.

    Of course, we can’t forget the elephant in the room either when it comes to Android development – fragmentation. Having to develop for a multitude of devices as well as the multiple versions of Android there are, it creates a challenge for developers. With Apple, developers just have to create an app for iOS and it runs across pretty much every device from the iPhone 3GS onward.

    Here’s a graph showing the top phones that are being used that run Android. You can’t deny that fragmentation is a problem when the breakdown looks like this:

    Developers Apple Android

    Regardless, things are looking up for Android. It’s obviously not a failure as it still commands a pretty hefty chunk of the market in terms of sales. Google just needs to centralize the Android ecosystem to make app development easier on developers and consumers. Nothing sucks more than finding out that an app that runs fine on Gingerbread still breaks because of the phone you’re using. Looking at you, Facebook.

  • iPhone 5 Rumor: Video Shows New iPhone’s Metal Back Up Close

    Rumors about the new iPhone’s upcoming redesign have gotten a major boost today thanks to a hands-on video of the iPhone’s new metal back panel. While there have been rumors for some time that Apple would be making big changes to the new iPhone’s design, no one was quite sure what those changes would look like. Last week, though, two sets of images and a schematic surfaced that gave as much information about the new iPhone’s look as you could hope for (without finding one in a bar).

    Now, thanks to electronics component supplier ETrade Supply, we have more than pictures. They seem to have gotten their hands on one of the new rear panels, and were kind enough to post a video about it. The video confirms a lot of what has been suspected about the new iPhone: it’s longer and thinner than its predecessor, it has a unibody metal frame, the SIM card slot is slightly different, the current dock connector has been replaced with a smaller version, the speakers are larger, and the headphone jack (unfortunately) has been moved to the bottom.

    Now, it’s always possible that this isn’t the final version of the new iPhone’s back panel. It could be a prototype, or it could be an extremely elaborate fake. If it isn’t, though, then it looks like we’ve already got a really good idea of what the next iPhone will look like. The only thing left to learn is what new features (e.g., 4G LTE) it will have. While the expected unveiling of iOS 6 at next week’s WWDC 2012 Apple keynote may provide hints, we won’t know for sure until the iPhone is officially announced. For that, alas, we will likely have to wait until October (or maybe September).

  • iPhone 4S Coming To Virgin Mobile June 29

    iPhone 4S Coming To Virgin Mobile June 29

    Following rumors earlier this week that they would do so, Virgin Mobile has announced this morning that they will begin offering Apple’s iPhone 4S on their prepaid wireless network. The iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will be available to Virgin Mobile customers on June 29. There will be a variety of rate plans available to Virgin Mobile iPhone customers, all with unlimited texting and unlimited data (though their “fair use policy” means that “unlimited” actually means 2.5GB). Plans start at $30 for 300 voice minutes per month, $40 for 1,200 minuutes, and $50 for unlimited minutes (though that price includes a discount that you get when you let Virgin bill your credit card monthly).

    Virgin Mobile is the second prepaid wireless carrier to announce that they would be offering the iPhone. Cricket Wireless announced last week that they would begin offering the iPhone on June 22. Rumors that Boost Mobile would do the same have not been confirmed.

    Just like Cricket, Virgin Mobile will be offering the iPhone without contract or activations fees. That, of course, means no carrier subsidies, which means that an iPhone 4S will cost you $649 up front. Savings on the rate plan, though, more than make up for the heftier iPhone price tag.

    For more information, you can check out Virgin Mobile’s website.

  • iPhone 5 Rumor: New iPhone To Get HD FaceTime Camera

    If you have an iPhone 4S, you know that it’s got one of the best cameras ever put into a mobile phone. In fact, for many iPhone users – myself included – the iPhone has taken the place of the traditional point-and-shoot camera for everyday photography needs. It takes excellent photos, HD video, has a ridiculously bright LED flash, and is a lot less bulky than your average camera.

    The front-facing camera – the FaceTime camera, as Apple calls it – is a completely different story. If you need it for video chatting – via FaceTime, Skype, ooVoo, or whatever your chat service of choice is – it definitely gets the job done. If you want to check your hair or make sure you got that bit of broccoli out of your teeth, it’s fine. If you want to take actual pictures, it’s… okay. In good light (i.e., sunlight) the pictures are fine. In anything less, they tend to be grainy and generally unimpressive.

    The new iPhone, expected to release in October, may change all that. AppleInsider is reporting that while the new iPhone’s rear camera will be getting a minor boost, the FaceTime camera will be getting a major upgrade. Mingchi Kuo, an analyst with KGI, said in a note to investors that he expected the new iPhone to sport an HD FaceTime camera, instead of the VGA camera currently found on the iPHone 4S. He also expects the iSight camera (i.e., the rear camera) to remain at 8 megapixels, but get an increased aperture range.

    Kuo also said that he expects the iSight camera on the new iPhone to be thinner, and in fact that the iPhone itself will be significantly thinner than the iPhone 4S. Whereas the iPhone 4S is 9.3 millimeters thick, Kuo expects the new iPhone to be only 7.9 millimeters thick.

  • iPhone 4S Coming To Virgin Mobile?

    The announcement that Apple’s iPhone 4S is coming Cricket Wireless slated for later this month has set off a storm of speculation about the possibility of other prepaid carriers getting the iPhone as well. Last week saw rumors that Boost Mobile would be next, though Boost all but denied it.

    Now it looks like the other prepaid wireless carrier owned by Spring – Virgin Mobile – might actually be next to get the iPhone. Citing “people familiar with the company’s plans,” the Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sprint will announce later this week that the iPhone is coming to Virgin Mobile on July 1. Details on plan pricing and whatnot are not clear at this point, but Virgin’s existing plans are comparable to those on Cricket and Boost. Odds are Virgin Mobile iPhone customers will be paying $55 per month for unlimited talk, text, and data. Like Cricket, though, Virgin is a prepaid-only carrier. That means no carrier subsidies for the iPhone itself, which means that you’ll be paying $499.99 for your phone, though the difference in handset cost is more than offset by the amount of savings on a monthly plan from one of the big three carriers – Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint.

    Apple has been steadily increasing the iPhone’s presence on wireless carriers other than the big three. Over the last month they’ve brought the iPhone to several small, local carriers. Now they’re bringing the iPhone to Cricket and (presumably) Virgin (and maybe Boost). Bringing a high-end phone like the iPhone – the single best-selling smartphone in the world – to prepaid carriers is a big move. While it may not hurt the big carriers much, it definitely lends an air of legitimacy to the prepaid carriers.

    A request for comment sent to Virgin Mobile has not yet been answered.

  • Twizgrid Upgrade Gives Twitter an Aesthetic Contrast

    Twizgrid, the increasingly popular photo browser for Twitter, released a comprehensive new upgrade that will have tweeters marveling at its sheer utility. While Twitter is usually a place where words are the centerpiece of interest, Twizgrid has a goal to bring contrast to that notion by providing a uniquely visual experience on the platform.

    Their latest group of enhancements makes sharing photos on Twitter even more appealing by including a massive increase in available photo content, convenient access to a user’s home timeline, and a recent album to view images in real time. Users can view Twitter photos by topic, person, or location with Twizgrid.

    A dynamic album titled, “Around Me” shows a chronology of nearby photos but addresses privacy concerns utilizing a user-driven approach which allows the photos originator to selectively identify their location on a case by case basis.

    Twizgrid Co-Founder Chauncey Regan comments on the “Around Me” album and other upgrades to their service:

    “This feature supplements dominant nearby apps, such as Banjo and Highlight, as well as Twitter’s nearby tweet feature. Twizgrid now offers an enticing way to view what’s happening in the immediate vicinity, whether it’s a raging party or a raging fire.”

    “Our unwavering objective is to be the most cohesive, comprehensive and compelling platform to display Twitter photos.”

    Twizgrid is available for free on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Visit the iTunes store to download the app.

  • John Malkovich Siri Ad Inspires Parody Twitter Account

    You may recall a couple weeks ago, when Apple started airing two new commercials for the iPhone 4S – Siri, specifically – starring John Malkovich. The two ads showcased Siri’s ability to handle very simple commands, as opposed to the conversational style of interaction most commercials demonstrate.

    This is the second time in recent memory that Apple has used celebrities in its ads. Back in April they released a pair of ads showing Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson interacting with Siri. As you might expect, each of those ads spawned its own parody – a Twitter account making fun of Deschanel’s silly question, and a video that put Siri into a famous scene from Pulp Fiction.

    Unsurprisingly, Malkovich’s two commercials have inspired some parodies of their own. The Twitter account SiriAndJohn portrays Malkovich asking Siri a variety of questions. In keeping with the tone ads, the tweets are usually taciturn. Check out a sample below:

    SiriAndJohn
    @SiriAndJohn     Tell me a joke. In the joke, someone must die. For when laughter echoes, we all die. A little.
    1 day ago via web · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    SiriAndJohn
    @SiriAndJohn     Non-irritating gold leaf for full-body use.
    22 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    SiriAndJohn
    @SiriAndJohn     Cancel sock closet feng shui appointment. Move fitting for Thor helmet to Friday morning.
    13 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    SiriAndJohn
    @SiriAndJohn     Set up a meeting with my therapist. Then cancel it. Then set it up again. Remind me to cry softly later as I stand in the shower.
    3 hours ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    SiriAndJohn
    @SiriAndJohn     What time is my staring appointment with Christopher Walken?
    3 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
     Reply  · Retweet  · Favorite

    The Twitter account, of course, isn’t the only parody of Malkovich’s ads out there. In the second of the two ads, Malkovich has Siri tell him a joke. Siri responds with the only joke she knows: “Two iPhones walk into a bar… I forget the rest.” That wasn’t good enough for the folks at Slacktory, though. They thought Siri’s sense of humor needed a little boost, so they made their own version in which Siri tries a couple of (slightly) funnier jokes. When those don’t do the trick, she tells him “The iRistocrats,” an iPhone-centric (and astonishingly clean) version of the most offensive joke in the world: The Aristocrats. Check out the video below (but be aware that there’s some language at the very end of the video that isn’t suitable for work):

  • iPhone 5 Rumor: New WiFi Chip Improves Battery Life

    Last week we brought you news that the new iPhone would be getting some significant internal upgrades to go along with it’s external makeover. Those upgrades – hints of which were found in the beta version of iOS 6, currently being tested internally by Apple – indicate that the new iPhone will be getting a better processor, a full gigabyte of RAM, and a much improved GPU.

    Now it seems that another internal upgrade will provide the new iPhone with a much-needed boost to its battery life. According to 9to5Mac, the iOS 6 beta code also includes references to Broadcom’s BCM4334 chips. According to Broadcom’s description, the BCM4334 is a 40nm chip that provides a variety of capabilities, including 802.11n wi-fi, Bluetooth 4.0, and FM radio reception. What’s more, the chip is extremely energy efficient, having relatively minimal power consumption requirements. The chip also supports wi-fi direct, which could be used to make direct connections to other wi-fi devices, making the transfer of data between the two much easier (think iOS 5’s wireless syncing capabilities).

    Broadcom BCM4334

    Image credit: AnandTech

    With this new wi-fi chip, then, the new iPhone will get some significant feature enhancements along with dramatically improved power efficiency. That makes for two components in the new iPhone that will enhance its battery life. It’s a fair bet that the improved processor the new iPhone will be getting will be the same as – or extremely similar to – the one found in some very recent iPad 2 models. That processor, if you recall, gave the new iPad 2 a dramatic boost in battery life all by itself.

    Of course, some of the features of the new iPhone – larger display and 4G LTE, mainly – come with increased power requirements. To offset those increased power requirements, Apple was going to have to do something to improve – or at least maintain – the battery life of the iPhone 4S (which is pretty poor). If the new processor and wi-fi chip perform as well as promised, the new iPhone may actually wind up with a better battery than the iPhone 4S.

  • Square Inc. Doubles its Reach to Over 20,000 Retailers

    Square Inc. Doubles its Reach to Over 20,000 Retailers

    Back in April, Twitter’s Jack Dorsey announced that his newest venture, Square Inc was already processing about $5 billion worth of transactions per year, and being used at almost 10,000 stores around the country.

    Today, that number has doubled and Square is an accepted form of payment at over 20,000 outlets nationwide.

    For about ten bucks you can go to Walmart, Target, or Best Buy and get a Square reader for your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. There’s even an app that will let you pay at some shops just by telling the cashier your name. Pretty impressive! I guess that’s why they have over one million registered customers.

    But Square still has some pretty stiff competition to overcome by their biggest rival, PayPal. While payments on Square cost 2.75%, PayPal charges only 2.7% and it doesn’t require merchants to purchase any additional equipment. Payments are processed using either a PayPal card or a phone number and PIN ID.

    Also, PayPal’s latest initiative has them partnered with 15 extremely popular retailers including Abercrombie & Fitch, Advance Auto Parts, Aéropostale, American Eagle Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, Foot Locker, Guitar Center, Jamba Juice, JC Penney, Jos. A. Bank Clothiers, Nine West, Office Depot, Rooms To Go, Tiger Direct and Toys “R” Us.

    So there’s some fierce competition to overcome before we can really consider Square Inc. to be a leader in the mobile payments arena, but last we heard, Jack Dorsey was out drumming up interest from prominent investors like Legg Mason and Fidelity, so another big breakthrough could be just on the horizon. We’ll keep you posted.