The BBC brings out a retina supported iPlayer app for the iPad

August 17, 2012 by

The BBC has released some important updates to it’s iPlayer iOS app. Firstly it has added retina support to its iPad app, so users will now be able to utilise the enhanced resolution of the retina display.  This update has been welcomed by avid users of the app. Also there have been a number of other bug fixes that have been released with this update that have also been rolled out to other iOS devices. These fixes range from improved video playback to better support of voice commands.   

However this update does not go far enough, because the iPlayer app still lacks some functionality.  One problem that needs to be addressed relates to apples airplay, the BBC needs to make Apples airplay icon more easily accessible on the app and the iPlayer needs to have the ability to support video playback without a data connection.

Even with these short comings the BBC’s iPlayer app has been very successful within the UK.  According to the BBC the iPlayer has seen a 94% increase in traffic from mobile and tablet users in April in as little as a year. In just the Month of April the BBC found a 15% jump in traffic.  The BBC also noted that in May the iPlayer was named as the most successful free app used on the iPad of all time.  

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New pictures has been released of the iPhone 5 that further substantiates the current rumours about the specs

July 30, 2012 by

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New pictures been released by a repair shop called iLabfactory, according to the tech website 9to5mac of the iPhone 5 that further substantiates the current rumours flying around about the rumoured iPhone 5 specifications.

The picture clearly shows the smaller dock connector which consists of the rumoured 19 pins rather than the current 30 pins that are currently being used on all Apple iOS products at the moment. The rumoured 4 inch 16:9 screen in a longer form factor is also present in the picture.

Nothing have been verified so it’s best to treat every rumour and photo about the iPhone that emerges with caution until Apple actually confirms it. Because in 2011 before the iphone 4S was released, there were many rumours around that suggested that the iPhone 4s was coming with a 4 inch screen, 4g and NFC   technology, but all these rumours came to nothing and the iPhone 4S actually got more of a minor upgrade.  Apple are actually very good at keeping security tight regarding their future planned products.

 

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Apple users in the UK and some other countries can now store their itunes movies in Apples iCloud

July 21, 2012 by

Apple have announced that Apple users in the UK, Australia,New Zealand and Canada, along with several in Latin America and the Asia Pacific region, can now store their movies that they have previously purchased from iTunes in the iCloud. Previously iOS users in these countries have only been able to back up books and music, TV content and app purchases to Apples iCloud.

This  service is ideal for those who don’t want to rely on their pcs to backup their content. This service has also the added advantage of allowing  you to download your content across all your iOS devices. The only disadvantage is that there will be a yearly cost involved. Users will most likely need to purchase more than the free 5GB of storage what Apple gives you for free.   

Apples iClould has been rolled out to many as 37 countries around the world. But due to licensing agreements not being initialised or finalised in some of these countries, iOS users will not have the opportunity to backup up movies music and TV content in the iClould. 

 

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Apple fixes a glitch that causes apps to crash after they have been updated

July 8, 2012 by

Apple has apparently fixed a glitch that has caused apps to crash after they have been updated. This problem was raised last week by Apple users and developers.

Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller says that ”only a “small number” of users had been affected by the problem, which was caused by wrongly-applied digital rights management (DRM) code.

“We had a temporary issue that began yesterday with a server that generated DRM code for some apps being downloaded,” Apple said. 

“The issue has been rectified and we don’t expect it to occur again. 

“Users who experienced an issue launching an app caused by this server bug can delete the affected app and re-download it.”

 

Muller goes on to say that the problem was first raised on the 4th of July, by an app developer called Marco Arment, who is the creator of an app called Instapaper. Who blogged and tweeted that he started receiving lots of complaints of his app crashing from angry customers who had just updated to the latest version of his app, which was version 4.2.3. He went on to state that even totally removing the app and reinstalling it did not fix the problem. Arment goes on to claim that this then quickly totalled up to over 20, 000 complaints over a short period of time.  He also documented that this problem seems to have effected over 120 of other iOS apps including “Angry Birds,” Huffington and GoodReader.

This raises suggestions that Apple has appeared to have downplayed the incident, who really knows what was the exact magnitude of the problem with the exception of Apple. 

 

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Mozilla is working on bringing a revised version of Firefox to the iPad

June 18, 2012 by

Mozilla has announced on their website air Mozilla that they are working on bringing a revised version of Firefox to the iPad. Their aim is to bring out a browser that is best suited to the form factor of the iPad,this browser also aims to beat Apple’s Safari browser in terms of  usability and looks and it also promises to make browsing more of a pleasurable experience.  The project is called codenamed “Junior”. The browser is going to feature a minimalist design, there will be no tabs or address bar taking up the space, so providing you with a less distracting full screen Internet surfing experience. The only buttons you will get on the browser are two buttons, which will give you access to the usual features that are on most browsers such as bookmarks url/search bar,etc.

Alex Limi, who is a product designer for Mozilla said on the website air Mozilla that, 

“We wanted to make something entirely new. We wanted to look into how we could reinvent the browser for a new form factor,” adding that Safari on ipad is “a miserable experience”. “There are a lot of reasons we should be on iOS even though we can’t bring our rendering engine there.”

Mozilla will be entering an already overcrowded ios market. It seems that they will have their work cut out to make an impact, due to the advanced features being already offered by their competitors on ios, such as the ability to view flash content ect. Whether they are able to make an impact it’s anyone’s guess.  

No official date has been given by Mozilla for the release of their browser for the iPad. Let’s hope it will not be too long.

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Apple announces iOS 6 at the world wide developers conference

June 12, 2012 by

Yesterday iOS 6 was announced at the world wide developers conference 2012 event, it brings around 200 new features to iOS. Many of the rumoured features were included in this update. One of the most anticipated updates is the introduction of their own Mapping software, up to now they have relied on Google for their maps. According to the website called Slash Gear TomTom is also going to supply the data for the maps, but not much information regarding this matter has been released yet. There was just a small press release from Tom Tom, stating that.

“ TomTom has signed a global agreement with Apple for maps and related information,” and that “No further details of the agreement will be provided.”

This update will add extra functionality to their mapping software such as turn-by-turn navigation,better Siri map integration,3D city views etc.

Apple’s decision to move away from Google was probably influenced by that fact that they have become bitter rivals in recent times. 

IOS 6 brings other new features such as Facebook being fully integrated into the software in the same way as twitter is, so making it easier to share photos and data with facebook. Apple’s facetime is going to be able to work with cellular networks, which was highly welcomed.  Siri will also be improved with this update and it will be made available on the new ipad and the ipad 2.

There will also be a feature available that enables you put on hold all calls and messages, if you want to do this you will just need to look for the ”Don’t want to be disturbed” option on your device.  Apple is also introducing with this update a feature called passbook, this will be like a virtual wallet, which lets you store all your boarding passes, tickets and gift cards and other important documents. Passbook will come to life when you enter a place were your are documents relevant and your documents will pop up automatically. To use this feature you will have to have your location services switched on.

There are many other interesting updates in iOS 6, if you want to find out more just go to Apple.com

It worth pointing out that Apple has missed the opportunity again to add Adobe flash and Blue-tooth file sharing to it’s arsenal, which Android has offered from day one.

IOS 6 is expected to be released in the autumn. Its release will probably coincide with the release of the new iPhone, which most likely will be released in September or October this year.  

If you want to try some of the exciting new features all you need to do is just get a developers account and download iOS 6 beta from Apple. However its worth pointing out that the iOS 6 beta download is unstable at the moment and some of the features have not been implemented yet. 

 

 

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Will the iphone 5 be announced at the WWDC event

June 11, 2012 by

Soon we will find out whether the iphone 5 is getting launched at the WWDC, which starts today. A keynote announcement is expected today, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook begins at 10am PT/ 1:00p.m. EST.  Many are hoping for the iphone 5 release, but it is most likely that this event will focus on software rather than hardware. It will most probably be centred around iOS 6 and Apple’s Mac OS X Mountain Lion OS.  But who knows what Apple has planned, they don’t always stick to exact time frames when they release products. Look at last year everybody was expecting the new iPhone to be released in June 2011, instead Apple opted to release it in October.  It’s even possible Apple could make an announcement regarding the iPod at this event, because the rumoured iPod touch 5g is long overdue.

You can follow the events as they happen on abcnews or CNET

 

 

 

 

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Apple plans to release Siri on the iPad

June 5, 2012 by

Apple is planning to implement Siri to the Ipad. It is expected to come included with the new iOS 6 software, which is expected to be announced at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, which starts  on June 11.  

According to 9to5Mac who are a reliable source, Siri will have identical features to what the current iphone 4S Siri has  such as iMessaging, Weather, Calendar managing, Music playback, Reminders  and Maps integration. But there are a few differences, the phone-related commands, which are on the iphones version are not included.  Its seems also likely that the Siri ipad version will not occupy all the screen like the iphone version did, according to 9to5Mac instead it will be presented on small pop up window, 9to5Mac  go on to say that there will also be an option to activate it  from the lock screen.

Lets hope the older ipad models will get Siri too. If they don’t there is going to be a lot of disgruntled customers.   

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Scalado Photo beamer brings easy photo sharing to IOS

May 29, 2012 by

 

A new app has just been launched for IOS its called PhotoBeamer and its made by Scalado. It brings easy photo sharing to the platform with zero configuration. It enables you to share photos from the camera roll with any device and any type of connection.  All you need to do is just  point your browser to the Photobeamers homepage, where you will find a QR code, which provides your device with a camera with all the clever linkage you will ever need for transferring your photos.  It works as well as Apple’s own iCloud’s Photo Stream software, which allows simplistic photo sharing between Apple devices.  For more information about this app visit the Photobeamers website. 

Scalado the makers of the app have announced that they plan provide regular updates and enhancements and they also plan to further enhance the app in the future based on customer demands. This app  is available for $0.99 cents from the US app store and 0.69p from the UK store .

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Sony’s Music Unlimited service is now available for iOS

May 23, 2012 by

The cloud based Music Unlimited service from Sony is now available for ios devices in the USA. It has came to ios in order to try and capture some of Spotify’s share of the market. This service was previously available on only specific devices such as the Sony Ericsson Xperia range of smartphones,PlayStation 3 console,  Bravia televisions, Sony’s Tablet S and Tablet P Android slates.

 The app will be free to download but it will require a monthly subscription which will be priced around $3.99 (£2.50) a month. Its premium service will cost $10 (£6.30) per month, which will allow users to gain access to offline playback and a few other extras.

According to Mcvuk this service is being relased on May 25 in the UK.

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