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Posts tagged with "iCloud"

Apple Releases New iTunes Beta with iTunes Match

Apple just seeded a new version of iTunes 10.5 to developers, enabling the iTunes Match functionality that will allow users to upload songs to Apple’s iCloud directly from their iTunes libraries this Fall. Unlike other “cloud locker” services from Google and Amazon, Apple’s iTunes Match uses a “scan & match” technology that will try to match songs from a user’s library to the ones found on Apple’s iTunes Store servers, thus avoiding to upload a library in its entirety. The iTunes Match beta is currently available to developers in the United States, and as Apple explains in the release notes the music libraries added during this beta period may be subject to deletion, thus leading to additional re-scans and uploads.

As Apple also mentions in the release notes, iTunes Match beta subscribers “will receive the beta period and an additional 3 months of service with their 12 month subscription”, which as previously announced it’s set at $24.99 per year for 25,000 songs. iTunes LP and Extras are currently unsupported by Match, which is available as a subscription from iTunes’ new interface. From Apple’s official iTunes Match webpage:

Here’s how it works: iTunes determines which songs in your collection are available in the iTunes Store. Any music with a match is automatically added to your iCloud library for you to listen to anytime, on any device. Since there are more than 18 million songs in the iTunes Store, most of your music is probably already in iCloud. All you have to upload is what iTunes can’t match. Which is much faster than starting from scratch. And all the music iTunes matches plays back at 256-Kbps iTunes Plus quality — even if your original copy was of lower quality.

The first beta of iTunes Match comes with a few known issues such as impossibility to add music to iCloud from more than one computer at a time, or some playback issues on iOS. Apple is suggesting developers to backup their iTunes music libraries before installing and subscribing.

More information about iTunes Match is available on Apple’s website. Ars Technica also had a good write-up about this new service back in June.

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Snow Leopard To Get Basic iCloud Compatibility with 10.6.9

In a somewhat expected turn of events, a notice appeared on an old Mac running Tiger seems to confirm Apple will provide basic support for iCloud sync on Snow Leopard machines. As reported by MacRumors, a developer testing the MobileMe to iCloud transition with Tiger’s .Mac preference pane noticed a message about a 10.6.9 requirement for calendar, bookmark and contact sync.

You will no longer be able to sync with this machine because you’ve upgraded to iCloud.

iCloud requires a computer running Mac OS X Snow Leopard v10.6.9 or later for Contacts, Calendars, and Bookmarks.

Whilst Apple made no mention of Snow Leopard compatibility when detailing iCloud and the transition from MobileMe (actually indicating “some features of iCloud” will require iOS 5 and OS X Lion), it would certainly make sense to provide an additional 10.6 upgrade to ensure basic former MobileMe functionalities under the new iCloud brand. Apple has already started migrating MobileMe developer accounts to the new iCloud ecosystem, providing a desktop add-on for testing on the 10.7.2 developer seed. iCloud is expected to go public this Fall alongside the aforementioned 10.7.2 and iOS 5, whereas MobileMe will be officially discontinued on June 30, 2012.

Developer accounts that are being transitioned from MobileMe are automatically given free storage regardless of the previous subscription until next year, and considering Lion is still touted as an “upgrade to Snow Leopard” (which is required to purchase Lion from the Mac App Store) and that Snow Leopard is still available on Apple’s website, it would be an optimal solution to provide 10.6 users with one last software update to migrate from old MobileMe services to some new iCloud free offerings. There’s one caveat, however: assuming the MobileMe to iCloud transition goes as planned and Apple will really push 10.6.9 to enable iCloud sync, some old MobileMe features like syncing of Mac Dashboard widgets, keychains, Dock items, and System Preferences won’t be available on OS X anymore, as Apple explains here.

Apple Releases New 10.7.2, iCloud, iPhoto 9.2 Dev Builds

Exactly one week after the latest iOS 5 beta, Apple has released new developer builds of OS X Lion 10.7.2, iCloud beta, and iPhoto 9.2. iCloud beta and 10.7.2 were last updated alongside iOS 5 beta 6 on August 19, which brings today’s releases to:

  • iCloud for OS X Lion beta 9
  • iPhoto 9.2 beta 3
  • OS X Lion 10.7.2 Update (11C43)

Apple is expected to introduce iCloud this fall, and 10.7.2 is in fact being seeded to developers for testing purposes through the separate iCloud installer. iPhoto 9.2 will introduce Photo Stream, a new way of syncing photos from iOS’ camera roll to iCloud, and have the most recent ones always available on all devices including the Mac (indeed, with iPhoto) and Windows PCs.

MobileMe to iCloud Transition Goes Live for Developers

As first noted by 9to5mac, Apple is now allowing developers with access to the iOS 5 beta or OS X Lion 10.7.2 preview to migrate their existing MobileMe accounts to iCloud. A MobileMe account needs to be associated with a development device to be correctly transitioned to iCloud for now – once an account is eligible, the migration process can be initiated from OS X Lion (from the MobileMe control panel) or by directly visiting me.com/move.

As Apple previously detailed in its MobileMe to iCloud Transition Q&A, some functionalities of MobileMe won’t transfer over to iCloud. This includes MobileMe Gallery, iDisk and iWeb publishing, which, however, will still be accessible until June 30, 2012, even after moving to iCloud. Another feature that iCloud won’t include is the ability of syncing several Mac OS X items like Dashboard widgets, Preferences, and Mail Rules.

Apple’s web interface for the transition is very straightforward and guides you through the process of moving your MobileMe account to iCloud by detailing each step with an explanation, and links pointing to support articles.

Once upgraded, an already configured MobileMe account on iOS or OS X will need to manually “confirmed” before completely moving to iCloud. If the account isn’t already configured, you’ll just need to log in as a new iCloud account and choose which content you’d like to keep stored on Apple’s servers.

The process is now exclusive to developers and there’s the chance Apple will tweak the interface/steps required before the public release of iCloud. However, the information available today falls in line with what Apple revealed months ago about the transition. Furthermore, it appears MobileMe accounts will be automatically upgraded to a paid 20 GB plan for free until June 30, 2012, (with pricing depending on where you live, and the 20 GBs are in addition to the 5 GBs iCloud already gives you for free) although there are no subscription management options available yet to developers on iCloud.com. Read more

iCloud Storage: International & Competitor Pricing Comparison

Last night, Apple launched a first developer beta of iCloud.com, a set of web apps based on the iCloud functionality originally introduced in iOS 5 beta that mimic the appearance of Apple’s Lion desktop apps like Address Book and iCal, or the Mail app for iPad. The new web apps, seen as replacements for MobileMe’s existing web offerings, have been completely rewritten to take advantage of iCloud’s faster and invisible sync of content between devices, and they also include a new web-based version of iWork that, however, isn’t live yet. Screenshots (and videos) of the iCloud web apps have surfaced online and partially on Apple’s website too; early screenshots of the login page had been leaked ahead of the WWDC in June.

The iCloud web apps provide an alternative to their iOS and OS X counterparts – being entirely web-based, they can come in handy “if you happen to be away from home without your computer or one of your iOS devices” so that “you can access your mail, contacts, and calendar — ad-free — from any computer at icloud.com”. Read more

Apple Seeds iWork for iOS Beta Apps With iCloud Support

Following the launch of iCloud.com beta to developers, Apple updated its iCloud beta for Developers page including special versions of the iWork for iOS apps. Labelled “iWork for iOS beta apps” by Apple, the package includes new versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers for iOS that will allow developers and testers of iCloud to start working on a new document on a device, and find it after a few seconds on another iCloud-connected device or the web counterpart, which also comes with web apps to edit documents.

The functionality was first demoed by Apple at the WWDC in June, and an iOS developer program membership is required to test the new iWork beta apps.

Apple’s iCloud Beta Goes Live on the Web

Apple’s finally done something pretty awesome with their iCloud domain — this evening the iCloud.com website has gone live giving developers access to their mail, contacts, calendars, and iWork documents through the web. Developers testing iCloud’s features can log in and play around with a gorgeous interface that mimicks a lot of iOS interface elements. For example, if you type in the wrong password at the login, you’ll get iOS-style dialog boxes in the browser. It’s cool stuff!

Visit www.icloud.com

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Apple May Bring Back ‘Tech Talk World Tour’ for iOS 5 and iCloud

It’s been a while since Apple’s embarked on a ‘Tech Talk World Tour’, aimed at providing developers with additional sessions, presentations, and the opportunity to ask Apple engineers questions related to development. Macotakara via AppleInsider suggests that Apple may bring the program back online this year, offering additional seats for students at event locations, focusing on iOS 5 and iCloud integration.

The Tech Talk World Tours offer developers a more intimate setting and a second chance to meet engineers at Apple if they’re unable to attend the WWDC event — while Apple’s tours aren’t too extensive, they do try to hit major tech hubs in hopes of reaching out to the largest portions of the iOS developer base. Previous hotspots have been various cities including Seattle, Austin, and New York City. Apple previously ran the developer events in 2008 and 2009 as the iPhone saw a surge in development — new and groundbreaking technologies in iOS 5 would give Apple plenty of reasons to revisit the Tech Talk World Tours. The events would be likely held between October and December.

[Macotakara via AppleInsider]

The New Brain Behind Your Photos

One of the new features of iCloud that was announced at WWDC but was slightly overlooked by bloggers and iOS users is Photo Stream. Built into the native Photos app for iOS devices, iPhoto for Mac and the Pictures folder on Windows PCs, Photo Stream will allow you to automatically find on any device the photos you’ve taken on an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. With the addition of the Apple TV 2nd gen, Photo Stream will let you watch these photos on the bigger screen with your friends and family. How does it work? For those that missed the announcement, here’s a quick recap: because iCloud automatically stores, updates and pushes your content on all your registered devices (be them iPhones, iPads, or Macs and PCs running the iCloud control panel), Photo Stream acts as an extension of the mobile Camera Roll that, rather than just storing pictures locally, also pushes them to the cloud as soon as they’re taken, provided you’re on a WiFi connection. If you’re not on WiFi, Photo Stream will upload the photos from the Camera Roll to iCloud as soon a a new connection is established.

As explained by Steve Jobs on stage, and later demoed by Eddy Cue, the main purpose of Photo Stream is that of easing the process of importing photos shot on, say, an iPhone to an iPad or Mac for better viewing. With previous versions of iOS, users were forced to email pictures themselves and open the message on OS X to save the photos (facing at the same time a risk of quality loss due to email limitations); create an account on social services like Flickr or Facebook to upload photos from their mobile devices to avoid a desktop transfer process; even worse, users had to go home, find a USB cable, connect their iPhone to a computer, launch iPhoto or Image Capture and manually import the most recent photos. That’s a long and tedious process Apple wants to eliminate with a smart, automatic system that always puts the most recent photos on all your devices. In fact, Photo Stream can display the 1,000 most recent photos on iOS devices, whilst files are stored on iCloud for 30 days due to storage limitations on both ends (iOS and Apple’s server farms). On desktop computers, which come with more storage, Photo Stream stores all photos. Again, this new functionality works out of the box with any iOS 5 device configured with an iCloud account, and Photo Stream can be enabled in the Settings app. On the desktop’s side, right now Apple is requiring developers to download a special beta version of iPhoto and the iCloud control panel to test Photo Stream, but once iCloud publicly launches this fall everything will be baked in with no further configuration needed.
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