iOS 5 Beta: The first Reactions + New features.

Apple has released a beta of the mobile OS to its developer community. Here's a look at the significant changes and early reactions from those who've used it.



Among continuous rumours about possible release dates for next-generation iPhone and iPad devices, Apple has released a beta version of the iOS 5 software development kit to its developer community. Coders have had four days to look at the pre-release software, and some first impressions are starting to emerge. As expected, the new version of Apple's mobile OS offers some new features to satisfy critics as well as the Apple faithful.

Apple released the iOS 5 SDK beta to developers on Saturday, giving the world outside Cupertino its first hands-on glimpse of the new OS. As expected, iOS 5 includes support for Apple's iCloud service, a new Notification Center, Twitter integration, and improvements to the AirPlay wireless media-sharing feature. But the new OS and SDK also include some important new enhancements for developers, such as automatic reference counting to simplify memory management, storyboards built into Xcode to ease the creation of view transitions within apps, and new tools to trace system resource consumption during the dev process.

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Now that the dev community has had four days to inspect the new software, some previews and first impressions are making their way onto developer forums and blogs. Understandably, most developers are tight-lipped about the new OS, undoubtedly wary of losing their standing with Apple by breaking the company's non-disclosure agreement. On the popular forum iPhone Dev SDK, moderators went so far as to spell it out for members: "iOS 5 is under NDA, as is any beta version of Xcode, and thus it cannot be discussed here. The proper place for such discussion or questions is the Apple Developer forums. Sorry, complain to Apple if you must complain."

Still, some developers have chimed in with their perspectives.

"I installed the iOS 5 beta and have been playing with it for a few hours. It's pretty stable, but there are some bugs," said one user on the MacRumors forum, confirming nothing so much as the fact that this is, indeed, beta software.

Cutting to the chase, one somewhat guarded MacRumors member offered this perspective: "FWIW, and without going into any details due to the NDA, I don't think iOS 5 is anywhere near prime time yet; it's very buggy and I'd advise sticking to iOS 4 if it's your only device you intend to install on."

Another developer on MacRumors was more forthcoming, noting a number of specific bugs in the beta, such as issues with notifications on the lock screen, troubles with the weather widget, minor Wi-Fi issues, and trouble with the new option to take photos from the lock screen. Several of these issues were confirmed by other members of the forum.

For a full change log of the iOS 5 SDK, which confirms much of what we're seeing from users on the forums and in the blogosophere, see this BGR post.

YouTube user Nate of NatesTechUpdate has also posted a video preview of the beta.
There's certainly nothing shocking about the presence of bugs in software at this stage of development. It would be more shocking to find a beta OS that didn't feature some nagging issues here and there. However, these early responses from the dev community do signal that coders looking to get their hands on the SDK for mission-critical development might do well to hold off a while longer.

NEW - Google+ App for iPad

Google has pushed their iPhone app to the iPad, and even though it's a direct clone, it's quite a good move for the invite-only social network.

Google seems to have introduced an updated Google+ iPhone app that is now available on all iOS devices, including the iPad. However, this update will not add anything new to the Google+ mobile app for iPhone, that has been available since mid July.

The new release simply makes the app work on the iPad. It even keeps its original size, floating in a sea of blackness, although you can tap a "x2" button to magnify the app and view it in all its granulated iPad glory.


Google strangely enough decided not to create their iOS application for Google+ a widespread application when it very first launched it last month, however it's now finally allowing iPad and iPod touch users in on the act as well. Unfortunately, the iPad part of the formula comes along in the form of a blown-up iPhone application instead of a nicely enhanced version, that's not specifically unexpected bearing in mind it's much similar scenario which Honeycomb users still find themselves stuck with. Additionally included in the update are additional Huddle settings, aggregated circle include notifications to cut down on some of the noise, along with the usual performance and stability improvements. You know what to do to get your hands on it.



Regardless of the fact that, for now, the app isn't any different on the iPad than on the iPhone (and, while we're at it, let's note that Google delivers a remarkably similar experience on the Google+ mobile app for Android, too), mobile apps are essential to the whole social-networking experience. Apple iPad owners wanted an app, and now they have one. I think most iPad owners would rather have a cloned app than none at all while they wait for a fully fledged version to come their way.
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Google+ mobile app : User interface
Google+ mobile app : No iPad support
Google+ mobile app : Sign in
Google+ mobile app

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The Google+ mobile app came out of the gate strong, due to its clean interface and Spartan design. The search giant is sometimes criticized for designs that are too austere, but on a smartphone, simplicity counts. Less screen space means every inch of it has to be used effectively. The iPad, with its mid-sized screen, could certainly support more stuff-buttons, panels, slider bars-and in time, perhaps it will. Still, the app is clean and easy to navigate without too many menus and unnecessary words cluttering the screen.

How to Get Google+ Mobile App for iPad
You can get the iPad app by downloading it through iTunes. Once you find and install the free app, just sign in using your Google account. You do need Google+ access, so if you don't have an invite yet, ask around. They're much easier to come by this month than last.

Select Features
If you've used the Google+ site, you've likely already established Circles, or subsets of your connections, grouped by whatever classification you want to create, such as close friends, co-workers, extended family, and so forth. All those Circles will be present and ready to go when you load your iPad app and log in.

Notably missing in the app is the Hangout feature, or video group chat, which is Web-only. Given the iPad's support for video, I'd wager that this is a feature that's in the works for when (or "if") a full iPad version is developed and released.

Replacing Hangouts, for the time being, is Huddle, a group instant messaging tool. To use Google+'s Huddle, select Huddle and click the speech bubble icon at the top right to start a new chat. You can invite individuals to group chat with you, or an entire Circle.

Managing Friends
The ease with which you can manage Circles from the iPad is shocking. Google has laid out the app in such a way that you can scroll through a long list of possible connections-some of whom you'll know, and some complete strangers-and add them to existing Circles or new ones that you can create on the spot.

At the very bottom of the main screen is a Notifications box containing a number. The box is gray if it's 0 and red if it's 1 or greater. Nearly identical to Facebook's mobile Notification feature, Google+'s pops up a screen that you can refresh by dragging down and releasing.

Mobile and Social
Bear in mind that the app is only in version 1.0.2. It's likely that Google will push out improvements, including a true iPad app, in the coming weeks or months. I'd put my money on the Google+ iPad app having support for Hangouts, as well as a few more buttons, tools, and interface items. Yet I doubt Google will clutter the space, as it tends to err on the side of being too sparse.

The Google+ iPad app works well due to its smart design and comprehensible interface. The mobile apps are helping strum more interest in the social network, which is exactly what it needs to stay active and interesting-on all the devices where you can access it.

New Apple patent, to share your info and chat with people nearby!!

Apple wants to assist you meeting new people Nearby -- by sharing what's on your iPhone. The company has filed a patent for a method of "ad hoc networking based on content and location" which, simply put, allows you to contact complete strangers nearby based on your shared interests and phone usage.

Apple wants to ease the awkwardness of meeting like-minded people in the real world, TUAW reports. Apparently, when away from the safety of your laptop and Facebook friend requests, you have to talk to people face to face to get to know them. A sobering thought.

However, this "often requires a substantial amount of and time and effort because identifying new persons with common interests for friendships is difficult," according to the application. Indeed, life isn't always played out at speed-dating pace and people don't walk around with 'Like' buttons grafted to them.

"When two strangers meet, it may take a long and awkward conversation to discover their common interests or experiences," Apple says. Yeah, we hate it when you have to put any effort into a conversation.

Apparently it's far better to sit down with your iPhone or iPad and use it like a radar, pinpointing other people in the vicinity who you might get along with.

Obviously, Apple doesn't want another privacy disaster on its hands, so users would have to opt in to share various tidbits of information about themselves. As well as filling in a few basic facts about their likes, dislikes and hobbies, the handset might also match people based on the music and photos stored on their phone and what places they've visited.

If you like listening to Rebecca Black, have taken lots of photos of black labradors, recently returned from a conference in Blackpool and pretend you have a black belt in karate, Apple's system may be able to find someone for you. Let's hope she doesn't look like the person in the patent drawing.

A previous Apple patent would allow existing contacts to find one another if they were in the same area. Services such as Foursquare and Facebook Places do a similar thing already and you don't have to own Apple gear to use it.

Would you appreciate it if technology helped you to get to know complete strangers, or are old-fashioned concepts like eye contact and talking still best at initiating contact?

Imagination Technologies forecasts 1bn in mobile chip income

Imagination Technologies, the company that designs microchips used in Apple’s iPad and iPhone, seems to have doubled their prediction towards mobile chip shipments. By 2016, this company expects more than 1bn shipped a year, way up from a previous forecast of 500m.

The company which is based in Hertfordshire UK, specialised on designs the chips for the graphics that powers the display screens of smartphones and tablet computers, on Wednesday said the fact that 245m chips utilizing their blueprints have already been shipped in the year to the end of April.

Imagination falls despite upbeat forecast - Mar-16
Imagination buys Caustic in graphics chip push - Dec-14
Imagination to license chips to telecoms - Dec-14
Imagination chief urges UK to nurture IT - Oct-11
Imagination more than trebles profits - Jun-24
Apple raises Imagination Technologies stake - Jun-26

This is nearly double the quantity previous year and also has prompted Imagination to revise sharply its medium-term forecasts.

“Our licensing pipeline is very strong so I think this is a reasonable goal,” said Hossein Yassaie, chief executive. “When we set a 200m unit target in 2008 we were only shipping 10m units and a lot of analysts thought I was mad. But we have passed that now.”

Chips for mobile phones account for about 80 per cent of Imagination’s royalties, but Mr Yassaie said that television set-top boxes, tablet computers and cars were increasingly using the technology.

Revenues at the company increased 21 per cent to £98m, while pre-tax profits rose more than 60 per cent to £16.4m. Earnings per share were up 32 per cent at 7.4p.

Some analysts were disappointed, however, that the average royalties Imagination gets from each chip was only 27 cents compared with market expectations of 30 cents.

In spite of strong growth for smartphone and tablet sales, Imagination faces increasing competition from companies such as Qualcomm, Nvidia and Arm, which will keep royalty rates under pressure, said Adrien Bommelaer, analyst at Matrix Corporate Capital.

Imagination’s results were also held back by its unprofitable Pure Radio division, which makes DAB digital radios. Revenues at the unit fell 16 per cent to £28.2m and operating losses widened to £3.8m.

However, Mr Yassaie said he was not thinking of selling the Pure business, which he sees as a useful showcase for Imagination’s technology products.

Shares in Imagination, which have gained nearly 40 per cent over the past year, fell 18½p to 414½p on Wednesday.

Will the iPhone 5 release on 7 September? Well lets see.

We've learned from CNET UK earwigged the rumours and even consulted their iPod Ouija board. After 16 hours of number-crunching on the CNET UK supercomputer, they came up with the most likely release date for the iPhone 5 -- 7 September 2011. Dont take this serious thos as is just predictions :).

Let's break down the facts, Poirot-style. We know this for certain: Apple didn't announce the iPhone 5 at this year's Apple WWDC event, as it has in years past. Instead, we got iOS 5.

That means we won't be seeing the iPhone 5 this summer. Steve Jobs, however, stated iOS 5 will appear in the autumn. Which is traditionally when the various iPods are refreshed at a music-themed event.

iOS 5 is packed with cool features as we seen it on beta version, including a new notification style that pays homage to Android's drop-down menu. But at the end of the day, it's just software, and it means nothing without some hardware to run it on. iOS 5 will run on the iPod touch, but we don't think an iPod has enough glamour to shepherd iOS 5 into the world.

That's why we're expecting to see the iPhone 5 launch at the same time as iOS 5, in the autumn. In fact, we think the iPhone 5 will cruelly oust the iPod from its own event.

Some pundits are predicting we'll have to wait until 2012 for the iPhone 5 release. But it's already been over a year since the iPhone 4 came out, and we can't see Apple ceding that much ground to the galloping hordes of Android phones. Not to mention the Nokia Windows Phones that are also on the horizon this autumn.

So, if Apple does swap its traditional iPod event for an iPhone 5 fest, when exactly will we be opening our earholes to the message of the fifth Jesus phone? We've run the dates through equations created from numerology, astrology and NumberWang to find out.

Since 2005, Apple has shown a strong tendency to launch its iPods on the first Wednesday after Labour Day, a US bank holiday that celebrates all the work that goes into eating off the back end of a truck.

There are exceptions -- in 2008, the second-generation iPod touch and its siblings were announced on the Tuesday instead, as was the iPod in 2006. But Wednesday is still Apple's overwhelming favourite.

That means that we're laying the the finger of prognostication on Wednesday 7 September 2011.

That's a mere 2 months and 24 days from now, so get planning those app cupcakes now. Don't forget to include the latest iOS 5 apps, such as Newsstand and iMessage.



source: CNET UK

Download Snowbreeze 2.7 untethered Jailbreak for IOS 4.3.3 (DIRECT LINK!!) iPhone 3G/3GS/ iPhone 4/ iPod touch 3G/4G/ Apple TV 2G

The Iphone Dev-Team member iH8snow has released the newest untethered jailbreak tool for IOS 4.3.3, Snowbreeze 2.7.Snowbreeze 2.7 is highly suggested tool for whoever need to preserve baseband for unlocking with Ultrasn0w. Snowbreeze 2.7 is available only for Windows, however , if you are using Mac you should use PwnageTool from Dev-Team .

I have provided direct links to download Snowbreeze 2.7 for 4.3.3 below.



Snowbreeze 2.7 adds full support for iOS 4.3.3. Snowbreeze 2.7 for 4.3.3 let you preserve the baseband if you need to unlock with the latest Ultrasnow 1.2.3 version, you can also add animated boot logos and Multitouch Gestures which i think are really cool but due to the small screen on iPhone Multitouch Gestures are designed more for the iPad.


Snowbreeze 2.7 designed for 4.3.3 supports these devices below ( mainly neede for iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS that rely on a carrier unlock ):

iPhone 4, 3GS
iPad
iPod Touch 4G, 3G
Apple TV 2G

Follow the tutorial below in order to jailbreak your iPhone 4, 3GS on iOS 4.3.3 using Snowbreeze 2.7 for 4.3.3 ( if you need too you can easily adapt this guide for the other iDevices as well)

These are the steps to generate your customized 4.3.3 jailbroken firmware using Snowbreeze 2.7

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS below
Download Snowbreeze 2.7 below
Start Snowbreeze 2.7 for 4.3.3 and click next
Browse for the previously downloaded 4.3.3 firmware file
Wait for Snowbreeze 2.7 to detect your device ( iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS )
Follow the on-screen instructions to enter DFU mode and proceed with part 2

Restoring the custom jailbroken 4.3.3 firmware to your iPhone 4 or iPhone 3GS using iTunes

Start iTunes and select your iPhone from the left sidebar
Click on the “Restore” button while holding the left SHIFT button and then browse for the custom jailbroken 4.3.3 firmware created with Snowbreeze
Click on OPEN and then wait for iTunes to restore your iPhone to 4.3.3
Once your iPhone 4, 3GS will restart, it will be fully jailbroken on iOS 4.3.3. Done!

You can now unlock your iPhone using Ultrasnow 1.2.3 for 4.3.3. 

Download Links:

Download Snowbreeze 2.7 for 4.3.3

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPhone 4 ( GSM)

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPhone 3GS

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPad

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPad 2 Wifi

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPad 2 GSM

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPad 2 CDMA

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPod Touch 4G

Download iOS 4.3.3 for iPod Touch 3G

Finally peace between Nokia and Apple, regarding long-running legal dispute between the two firms

Nokia and Apple eventually decided to end the long battle about patent dispute, and coming up with a technology licensing agreement which will  end the long-running legal dispute between the two companies.

"The agreement will result in settlement of all patent litigation between the companies," Nokia said.
Nokia said Apple had agreed a one-off payment, the value of which was not disclosed, and continuous royalties to use its technologies.


Nokia sued Apple for patent infringements in 2009 and extended the action in December last year. However this outcome  could lead to same accuses from Nokia to be repeated to  phones using Google's Android software over the same set of patents it has just licensed, suggests one observer.
Apple had countersued, accusing Nokia of infringing its patents.



Nokia's chief executive Stephen Elop said on the firm's legal success: "We are very pleased to have Apple join the growing number of Nokia licensees."

"This settlement demonstrates Nokia's industry-leading patent portfolio and enables us to focus on further licensing opportunities in the mobile communications market."

Apple stated that two companies had agreed to "drop all of our current lawsuits and enter into a licence covering some of each other's patents, but not the majority of the innovations that make the iPhone unique".

"We're pleased to put this behind us and get back to focusing on our respective businesses."

Nokia's several claims against Apple included alleged patent infringements of touch interfaces, caller ID, display illumination, and 3G and wi-fi technologies.

Apple had additionally claimed that Nokia had infringed many of its patents.

Both sides had always denied each other's claims.

"This is the first positive news from Nokia for a long time. They can both focus on their businesses now, and the dispute was settled to Nokia's advantage," said Mikael Rautanen at research group Inderes in Helsinki.

At the end of last month, Nokia said it expected sales and profit margins for the current quarter to be well below its previous forecasts.

Nokia has been struggling to reposition themselves in the rapidly-growing smartphone market, where it is attempting to make up ground lost to rivals such as Apple's iPhone and mobile phones using Google's Android operating system.