iOS - page 131

iOS devices are big business in China, and not just for Apple. Gangs of scalpers queue up to get their hands on the latest devices on launch day so that they can later be sold on through the grey market for a sizable profit.

Back in October, when the iPhone 4S launched in Hong Kong, police were called to break up the riots that occurred outside of Apple retail stores as scalpers attempted to force their way into the lines ahead of genuine customers. To ensure it doesn’t happen again, Apple has warned scalpers not to queue up for its new iPad on Friday.

User experience expert Rian van der Merwe posted a heartfelt rant at Smashing Magazine yesterday, begging developers of iPad apps for kids to think a little more carefully about how they put their apps together.

Most of his comments were about UI and interface issues, but the final one was a warning a lot of parents (myself included) will support: don’t try and trick my kids into buying additional content.

A new jailbreak tweak has been released, and it lets you access your Home screen from anywhere in iOS. It’s called Springround, and it costs $0.99 in Cydia, the jailbreak version of the App Store.

It doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing on your iPhone; you can quickly view your entire Home screen, all your app pages, etc. on top of the app you’re currently in. Sound interesting?

Virtual school The Khan Academy just released an official iPad app today, and if you have kids in school you might just want to grab a copy, because it’s excellent.

Do you ever feel like you need a little more screen space while you’re working away on your Mac? Does your iPad sit in its dock next to your iMac staring back at your with a blank face? With Air Display from Avatron, you can put that iPad to good use by turning it into a secondary display for your Mac, allowing you to extend your desktop with an extra 9.7-inches of real estate.

Here’s how to get started with Air Display.

In 1971, Coca-Cola unleashed one of history’s most iconic commercials on the world. “I’d Like To Buy the World a Coke” showed people of various ethnicities and social classes standing on a hilltop, singing about how much they’d like to buy everyone in the world a soft drink originally based on coca leaf extract. The commercial was a huge success during its time, but watching it today becomes slightly unbearable with all of its cheesy happiness.

No one sings on hilltops anymore, so with a little help from Google, Coca-Cola has reimagined their iconic advertisement to be more fitting in the digital world. The end result is pretty crazy: rather than singing about buying the world a Coke, users of the Coca-Cola iOS app can actually purchase a Coca-Cola for people across the world.

Here’s the video showcasing the app:

Though our own reader poll and the sellout of the new iPad strongly suggest otherwise, at least one gadget site says its readers are not interested in buying the latest version of the device.
Only a quarter of readers polled on gadget news aggregator Drippler who own first-gen iPads plan to upgrade and about the same percentage of iPad 2 owners plan to pony up for the next iPad. (The site wouldn’t reveal exact numbers behind the poll but says they have predominantly U.S. readers who are gadget hounds.)

Are you an iOS/Android/Web Developer looking to work with a great group of individuals in a startup environment? Do you like Korean food and FIFA 2012? Then you might want to take a look at Boxee as they’re looking for developers in NYC to join their crew. To get potential candidates excited, Boxee is even offering up free Boxee Boxes to interviewees. That’s right, if you apply and end up getting an interview (whether in person or over Skype), Boxee will award you with a free Boxee Box. It’s like getting paid for trying to get paid!

The Apple TV isn’t positioned as a business or enterprise product, but its small size, easy setup, and AirPlay make it a very solid presentation tool – and the low cost doesn’t hurt, either.

While the Apple TV has the obvious advantage of being wireless and integrated with other Apple products, specific business advantages beyond its small form factor and the ubiquity of HDTVs and other HDMI-enabled display devices like projectors aren’t always immediately obvious (though those are pretty big advantages in their own right) – but at least one company is designing its business solutions around Apple’s so-called hobby device.

Business Intelligence developer MicroStrategy has taken the Apple TV/iOS combination to a new level by building its mobile apps around AirPlay and the Apple TV.

Apple included a list of new features in the release notes for iOS 5.1, which became available on Wednesday alongside the announcement of the new iPad. It seems that Apple included some unannounced features as well – some of which enable more iOS device security and management when paired with a mobile device management (MDM) suite or with Apple’s new Apple Configurator tool for iOS.

The new management features seem to be primarily related to Siri on the iPhone 4S and they include the ability to prevent any use of Siri while an iPhone 4S is locked as well as the ability to filter out profanity. Additionally, as noted by the Intrepidus Group, a security consulting firm, is the ability to block location services on any iOS device.

A recent update to the iTunes Terms and Conditions adds an interesting clause regarding free trials for in-app subscriptions in the iOS App Store. Ever since the launch of the App Store in 2007, users have been clamoring for some kind of demoing system for paid apps. It looks like Apple may be slowly making strides towards that reality.

Publishers “may offer a free trial period” via in-app subscriptions in an iOS app, according to Apple.

Newly launched at SXSW this week is Picle, a free iOS photography app with a twist: the aim is to make something that sounds like Instagram. It’s a lovely idea but the initial release suffers a few disappointing problems.

Earlier this year, OnLive debuted its OnLine Desktop app for the iPad. The app offers users a virtual desktop environment that includes Windows 7, Microsoft Office, Adobe Reader, and Internet Explorer (which allows iPad users to watch Flash-based web content). The service comes in both free and paid versions that include 2GB of cloud storage and OnLive plans to expand the service with more advanced plans for both end users and for businesses.

While users and reviewers have been largely happy with OnLive Desktop, it seems that Microsoft isn’t. After being mum on OnLive’s decision to release the app and service, Microsoft announced this week that it views OnLive as violating its license agreements and essentially pirating Windows.

At issue is the draconian puzzle that is Microsoft’s licensing system and how the company charges for virtual desktops.

Along with everything else in iLife for iOS (and iWork too), iMovie got an update at the new iPad announcement on Wednesday. The big new feature is trailers, which you may have used before on the desktop. Now you can make them on iPhones (4 or later) and iPads (2 or later).

We wanted to put the new iMovie through its paces, so here’s a trailer we made.

A common complaint that I heard earlier this week at the CITE conference in San Francisco was that Apple wasn’t a “real” enterprise vendor. IT professionals have whined and moaned about the fact that Apple doesn’t behave like most enterprise vendors for years (as a long time Mac and Apple IT professional myself, I’ve probably muttered under my breath about Apple’s approach to the enterprise many more times than most of the CITE attendees). What’s changed, however, is that CIOs and other IT leaders can no longer simply say “no” anytime Apple or an Apple product is mentioned.

This week, Apple even reiterated the point by dropping Apple Configurator, a completely new free tool for managing iOS devices in business. It’s a tool that offers new workflows when it comes to how businesses work with iPads (and to a lesser extent iPhones) and Apple released without telling its mobile management partners or its enterprise customers.

To all those IT folks bitching and complaining that Apple doesn’t publish 18-month roadmaps and doesn’t reach out to every enterprise months in advance of a product upgrade or cancelation, I have to say this: deal with it.

If you’re anything like me, now that you’ve pre-ordered your new iPad, you’ll be obsessing over its order status.  You know it’s not going to arrive until March 16, but once every hour you’ll logon to the Apple online store to see how your package is getting on anyway.

It’s even easier to do this with the free Apple Store app for iPhone. Here’s how.

Yesterday we told you that the newly-released iPhoto for iOS wasn’t using Google Maps data to provide map tiles for geotagged pics. The news was particularly shocking because Apple has always used Google Maps in the past to provide mapping data in its apps.

As it turns out, the Cupertino company is actually using open-source technology from OpenStreetMap to provide custom map tiles in iPhoto for iOS.

We’re two weeks away from launch day, the day Angry Birds boldly goes where no bird has gone before. I’m of course talking about Angry Birds Space, Rovio’s next Angry Bird iteration which looks to turn the series upside down. To prepare us for the challenges of launching a projectile in a weightless environment while compensating for the gravity fields of neighboring planetary bodies, NASA astronaut Dan Pettit gives us a quick physics lesson while aboard the International Space Station.

Along with announcing the new iPad and Apple TV (and related iOS and app updates), Apple released a new tool for managing iOS devices in business and education. The new Apple Configurator app is a free download in the Mac App Store for Macs running Lion. Although it takes the sting out of managing iPads, iPhones, and iPod touches for smaller organizations, it won’t replace more full feature mobile management solutions for mid-size or larger companies.

Here is the new Pages for iOS, as announced by Apple last night.

Not a huge amount has changed here, to be honest, but there are one or two nice additions, stuff that help Pages retain its top spot in the small world of word processing on iOS.

A very interesting factoid has been revealed in the newly-released iPhoto for iOS: Apple isn’t using Google Maps. More specifically, Apple is using its own mapping technology to provide map tiles in its brand new photo editing app.

There have been rumors for many months saying that Apple is working on proprietary mapping technology to replace Google Maps, and it looks like the rumors are true.

We told you that Apple announced the stunningly beautiful iPhoto for iPad today during the keynote, and it’s already available for download in the App Store! The $5 app is actually a universal download for the iPhone and iPad, so you get even more bang for your buck!

Apple has released iOS 5.1 to the public. The update is available for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad owners running iOS 5. Check Software Update in your Settings app to download.

This update includes Japanese support for Siri, an always-visible camera shortcut on the lock screen, a redesigned Camera app for iPad, and the ability to finally delete individual photos from Photo Stream.

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Your ideas for apps may be plentiful — and maybe even your wellspring for creativity is as well, but the amount we’ve crammed into this package would rival both of those. What you’ll get in this deal are tons of editable Photoshop and Pixelmator files, containing over 300 custom and standard design elements for both the iOS and Android platforms.

And we’re giving you that — and more — at a savings of 61% off the regular price.

Report after report, same old, same old: Android and iOS continue to kick everyone’s arse in the mobile market. The latest comScore report is out, and once again, these two remain the only ones gaining any market share. Android continues to lead the pack with 48.6% (up 2.3 percentage points) while iOS remains in second with 29.5% (up 1.4 percentage points). Everyone else continues to lose market share with RIM holding the third position at 15.2% (down 2 percentage points. After that it’s Microsoft with 4.4% (down 1 percentage point) followed by Symbian with 1.5% (down .1 percentage point). Overall Android and iOS occupy 78.1% of the market with no signs of slowing down.