News - page 1975

Want to play with the same version of iTunes us devs have been rocking for the past few months? iTunes 10.5 is out, and it brings support for the iPhone 4S, the iCloud and iTunes Match along with it. Not that you’ll be able to use iTunes Match yet, but best be prepared anyway.

You can download iTunes 10.5 here. Pick it up now if you plan on upgrading to iOS 5 tomorrow, or plan on getting an iPhone 4S on Friday. It’s a 103MB download on the Mac.

Update: iTunes 10.5 actually doesn’t support iTunes Match. Instead, iTunes Match support has been shuffled off to iTunes 10.5.1 Beta, which is also now available for download by devs.

Movie studios, faced with dwindling DVD sales as consumers turn to streaming, want to create their own cloud-based storage option to compete with Apple. Aptly named UltraViolet, the service apparently hinges on invisible interest by audiences that have abandoned physical sales.

Sure, the new iPhone 4S has a brand-spanking new iOS 5, the endlessly cool Siri voice-recognition and HD-quality digital camera. But perhaps the most exciting feature for Apple is the 71 percent to 73 percent profit margin on each handset sold – and there should be millions, one analyst said.

Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography of Steve Jobs has according to rumor already been picked up for a $1M option by Hollywood, but who should play Steve? Here are some casting ideas, some great (bring back Noah Wyle!), some not so great (Michael Cera?) Who is your favorite?

Did you miss out on preordering an iPhone 4S? Afraid to brave the lines outside of your local Apple Store? Skeptical that Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy will get the iPhone 4S you want? You now have another option: go pre-order an iPhone 4S at Sam’s Club today, then pick it up Friday.

The iPad has become the favored device for slurping up media in the U.S., overtaking the iPhone in August, according to new figures from an Internet research firm. Apple’s iOS also is the overwhelming choice for U.S. media consumption with Android a distant second.

As the number of voice calls have dwindled, mobile carriers now rely on text messaging as a profit center. Now that source of revenue is under attack as Apple prepares to release iOS 5 and iMessage, a feature allowing free messaging between iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users.

Rather than complying with Apple’s App Store terms and throwing the Cupertino company 30% of every sale it makes, Audible has launched an iPhone-friendly web app that allows users to add a bookmark to their home screen for quick and easy purchasing.

The Jobs tributes show no sign of slowing down. Some Minecraft players have been getting busy building their own Jobs tributes out of blocky Minecraft stuff. The one above, by KickAssTechnology, is particularly nicely done and ends on a poignant tone.

There’s more where that came from.

While Apple may not be all too happy about it, some German customers are ecstatic today having received their iPhone 4S pre-orders three days before the device is scheduled to launch.

Want to know what Apple retail employees can tell you about iOS 5 and iCloud? These images are of leaked internal Apple documents which are provided to retail store employees to help them sell iOS 5 and iCloud.

The first GeekBench benchmarks for Apple’s new iPhone 4S prove that dual-core A5 processor makes this baby a super speedy smartphone. Thought your iPhone 4 was quick? The new iPhone is about 68% quicker!

Following its unveiling of the iPhone 4S on October 4, Apple published a gallery of photographs taken with the device’s 8-megapixel camera. The results were stunning — so good, in fact, that many criticized the company for editing the photos before they were posted. However, this awesome image of a one dollar bill has not been edited, and it’s amazing.

Boy Genius Report has an interesting scoop on how Sprint and Apple will be handling the upcoming iPhone 4S launch this Friday, October 14th.

Apple is well-known for keeping its unreleased products under lock and key, and the 4S launch is no exception. Those that were lucky enough to pre-order the iPhone 4S during the initial rush last Friday will get the product delivered to their doorstep when it becomes available in stories Friday.

Steve Jobs’ death certificate has been officially released, according to Bloomberg. His exact time and cause of death is documented in the certificate.

Jobs suffered from a rare form of pancreatic cancer that publicly surfaced for the first time in 2004. In April of 2009, Jobs underwent a dangerous liver transplant after taking his first leave of medical absence earlier that year. He continued to battle cancer while intermittently serving at Apple until his formal resignation two months ago.

Apple was incredibly secretive about Jobs’ health condition throughout his years of treatment, officially calling his disease an “undisclosed medical condition.”

We’ve been hearing tell that Facebook would be getting a native iPad version forever, but there’s been no official confirmation until now. Well, point your browser here and take a gander at the official Facebook for iPad webpage, complete with a link to the iOS App Store.

Sadly, that link only leads to the iPhone-only Facebook app, but consider this proof that the native iPad will be dropping soon… maybe even this week.

(Thanks, James!)

Me & Steve Stories — Some of the best stories about Steve Jobs are the personal, intimate ones. We’re collecting them here and will run as many new stories as we can find. If you have a story about Steve you’d like to share, please send us your submissions.

Steve Jobs loved to drive fast, and even late in his life, it wasn’t an uncommon sight to see him zooming down the highway at breakneck speeds to the Cupertino campus. Back in 1979, though, Stephen Stapleton got a joyride that he would always remember from Jobs… all in a breakneck search for Woz!

It’s a busy week for Apple between the launch of iOS 5 on Wednesday and the iPhone 4S on Friday, and there’s no time for mourning. Even so, Apple intends on giving company employees an opportunity to celebrate the life of Steve Jobs on October 19th.

Are you disappointed that after sixteen months, Apple followed the iPhone 4 not with a radically redesigned iPhone 5, but a mere iPhone 4S?

You shouldn’t be. There’s a reason the iPhone 4S is just a slightly better iPhone 4, and it’s because Apple’s looking out for you.

That’s also the reason you should expect an iPhone 5S, iPhone 6S and iPhone 7S every two years, like clockwork.

So Apple didn’t announce that all-new iPhone 5 you were so desperately longing for, but the good news is, you can use your current stock of iPhone 4 cases with your new iPhone 4S, right? Wrong!

While Apple’s new iPhone looks the same as its predecessor, there’s a very subtly difference that may mean some cases won’t fit it.

References in Apple’s iOS 5 software sparked speculation over the weekend that suggested an upcoming refresh to the Apple TV could introduce the company’s latest dual-core processor. While that would allow the device to playback content in 1080p, it could also pave the way for a Siri assistant on our TVs.

Back in 2004, designer Felix Sockwell was hired by a respectable design firm that had been contracted by Apple to redesign the iTunes logo. The iTunes logo didn’t actually end up being redesigned until 2010, but I find some of Sockwell’s sketches interesting, even if they are admittedly off the mark. As Sockwell himself eloquently says, “iTunes never needed a sales pitch or promise or proprietary device. They just needed a note in a circle. Boom. Done.”

Check out more of Felix’s sketches in the gallery below, then make sure to read his fantastic thoughts on what it takes to design a great Apple logo over at his blog.

Sprint has a $7 per month Total Equipment Protection Plan allows you to get your device replaced if you drop it on the hard ground, in the toilet, or accidentally blow it up with an explosive device. Seems like a good thing to sign yourself up for if you’re getting a Sprint iPhone, right?

Wrong, for two reasons. One: Sprint isn’t offering the Total Equipment Protection Plan for the iPhone 4S. Two? AppleCare + does the same thing, and at only $99, costs less overall than $7 a month over twenty four months.

If you thought untethered jailbreaking was dead, then think again. i0n1c, the jailbreaker behind the iOS 4.3.1, 4.3.2, and 4.3.3 untethered jailbreaks, reports that an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5 is already “covered” — days before the release goes public.

From all the bitching and moaning, you’d think the iPhone 4S was a flop.

But Apple just announced that iPhone 4S preorders topped more than 1 million in the first 24 hours — a new record. No wonder the preorder system was glitchy on Friday morning.