Posts tagged with "iCloud"

App Store Now Lets You Download Not-Available Apps, Like Tweetie 1

Great news coming from the updated App Store application featuring the new Purchased tab: as noticed by our reader Nicola, you can download, install and run apps no longer available in the App Store, like the original Tweetie 1 or Instapaper Free. The apps appear in your purchase history alongside the usual description and screenshots page.

Unfortunately, due to Twitter’s changes, Tweetie 1 doesn’t work anymore – still this looks like a great option to fill your app library with software developers removed from sale. It might also be a temporary glitch on Apple’s end – we’re not sure. But for now, you can download apps that don’t appear in the App Store listings.

MobileMe No Longer Accepting Subscribers, Runs Until June 30, 2012

Following the massive iCloud announcements at WWDC, Apple just updated the official MobileMe page to inform users that new subscribers are no longer accepted as Apple moves everything to iCloud, but existing apps will be usable until June 30, 2012. Furthermore, Apple has posted more details on a new support document available here. All accounts have been extended to June 30, 2012, free of charge and all data from MobileMe (including email addresses and contacts) will be automatically transitioned to iCloud when you sign up.

Can I create a new MobileMe account?

You can no longer create a new 60-day trial account or start a new subscription using a code contained in a MobileMe box. However, if you have a Family Pack subscription, you can still create new family member accounts.

Can I upgrade to a Family Pack or purchase additional storage?

Effective June 6, 2011, you can no longer upgrade your Individual account to a Family Pack or purchase additional storage for your MobileMe account.

I purchased a MobileMe box and have not used the activation code inside. Can I get refund for it?

Yes. If you have an unused activation code from a MobileMe box, you can submit a refund request.

For more info about iCloud, check out our coverage here.

iTunes In the Cloud: Free, Or Scan Your Library and Match Songs at $24.99 Per Year

Once again, the rumors were real – Apple has just introduced iTunes In The Cloud at its WWDC keynote. The new system will allow you to get access to all your previously purchased songs on device from a new Purchased tab in the iTunes Store (similar to Purchased apps in the new App Store) and download items at any time. More importantly, the new cloud will allow you to push a single purchase to multiple devices at once – a first in the music industry, Steve Jobs said.

But the real new feature was unveiled on stage as a “one more thing” by Apple CEO. As previous rumors and speculation suggested, iTunes in the cloud would be more than simple pushing and updating of songs from the iTunes Store. Besides the usual sync (and the new WiFi one?) and iTunes Store, Apple will offer a new iTunes Match service that scans your music library, and matches it with Apple’s catalogue of 18 million songs in the cloud. iTunes Match comes at a price: $24.99 per year.

In additions, iTunes Match will upgrade the songs to 256k AAC DRM free. And it costs just $24.99 per year. So if you’ve got a bunch of music that you didn’t get from iTunes, you can get it in the cloud. Now if you look at some competitors, you’ll be surprised. We scan and match, the other guys you have to upload the whole collection. The other guys only have web apps. For 5000 songs, Amazon is $50. Even up to 20,000 songs, we’re one flat price.

The new iTunes in the cloud will be available as developer beta today.

Update: it looks like “some music features” of iCloud will be available in the US only while in beta. We assume the new iTunes Match service will be US-only during this period. From Apple’s official iCloud page:

Features are subject to change. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices. See www.apple.com/legal/itunes/ww/ for more information. Some features of iCloud require iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, or iPad 2, or a Mac computer with OS X Lion or a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Outlook 2007 or 2010 recommended). Some music features of iCloud are available in beta now in the U.S. only and require iOS 4.3.1 on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 (GSM model), iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, or iPad 2, or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3.

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iCloud: iWork Apps, Document Storage, Developer API

iCloud is currently being demoed at the WWDC keynote in San Francisco, and besides being a full replacement for MobileMe that does a lot of things (including App Store downloads and backups) for free, new features have been demoed as well. For instance, iWork integration: the iWork apps on the iPhone and iPad will get the possibility t0 push documents to iCloud and download them – it runs on all devices, iCloud will update the documents you’ve been working on and push them to all your other devices. The functionality has already been implemented in the iWork for iOS update from last week.

Then, iCloud features document storage and an API for developers so all apps can store documents in the cloud, push them around to devices, and automatically update those documents as changes happen on a user’s end. It works on Macs and PCs as well, and we’re expecting several developers to take advantage of this API (which is said to be very easy to implement) within the next few weeks through the iOS 5 betas.

Photos courtesy of This is my Next.

iCloud: Photo Stream

Another cornerstone feature of iCloud that was just unveiled was ‘Photo Stream’ which will bring all your photos to the cloud. It works so that as soon as you take a photo with your iPhone, that photo will instantly be whisked away to the cloud and then pushed back to all of your other devices - whether it be a Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple TV or even a Windows PC!

How many times have we taken photos on our iPhone and wanted to share them on the iPad. Wouldn’t it be great if they were already there?

Photo Stream is built right into the iOS Photos app so there is “nothing new to learn” and on the Mac it is built right into iPhoto whilst on a PC it integrates with the ‘Pictures’ folder. The Apple TV won’t miss out either, Photo Stream is integrated straight into it.

Each photo will survive on iCloud for 30 days, at which point old photos will no longer be pushed to devices. iOS devices will be able to keep the last 1,000 photos but Macs and PCs will keep all photos.

Apple Unveils iCloud

UPDATE: You get access to iCloud when you upgrade or buy a new phone. Everyone gets 5GB of iCloud storage for Mail, but don’t worry because Apps, Books and Photo Stream do not count. Developers can try out iCloud from today.

Steve Jobs has just unveiled iCloud and it is a service that frees all your devices from having to connect to your Mac to get updated media and data. The Mac is being demoted, and in its place is the iCloud which will become “the hub of your digital life”. iCloud will be free!

We’ve got a solution for this problem. We’re going to demote the PC and the mac to just be a device. We’re going to move your hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.”

iCloud stores all your content, so that if you have something new on your iPhone it is sent to the cloud immediately, iCloud will then push it back to all your other devices.

And it’s completely integrated with your apps, and there’s nothing new to learn. It just all… works. It just works.

Whether it be new events on your calendar or a new message in your @me account (which will remain), all of it gets pushed to the cloud and then pushed back to all your devices. The App Store, which is integrated within iCloud will let you see all your purchased apps, even if they are from another device. The same will occur for iBooks

Now what about for devices you buy in the future. The cloud downloads it to all of your devices.

Backup too will be dealt with by iCloud, it will take daily backups of all your devices over WiFi including all the purchased music, apps and books, photos, videos and app data. If you ever lose your device or get a new one, it can all be restored from iCloud.

Apple Unveils iMessage For iOS 5

A new service to hit iOS 5 is iMessage, a service that will allow any user on an iOS 5 device to send text, photos, videos, contacts and more to any other iOS 5 user. It’ll work fine regardless of whether they are using an iPhone, iPad, iPad Touch or even a mixture of those devices.

Our customers have been asking us for a new messaging solution. We’re launching a service that works for all iOS 5 customers

iMessages has support for delivery receipts, optionally read receipts, typing notifications and all messages will be pushed to all devices you own, “so that you can pick up where you left off”. It’ll work on 3G and WiFi and everything will be encrypted.

iOS 5 Camera App: Lock screen Shortcut, Volume Shutter Button And Photo Editing


Improvements to the iOS Camera app are next up in the WWDC keynote, and chief to the improvements made to that app includes a lock screen shortcut to taking pictures and improved auto focus options.

A camera icon on the lockscreen will take you to the Camera app, ready to take a photo. If you have a passcode it will let you take photos but not view the photo album. What is even cooler is that pressing the volume up button now becomes a shutter button.

Within the Camera app, you can pinch to zoom and holding your finger on the screen will create an auto-focus and exposure lock around that area. Finally, you can now edit photos straight from the Camera app including the oft-used ‘Red-eye removal’ feature, crop photos and ‘Auto-Enhance’.

iOS 5: Safari Improvements

Apple has unveiled a number of improvements to the iOS version of Safari and in particular is proper tabbed browsing for Safari on the iPad. As can be seen above, you will now be able to switch tabs with just one touch.

Other new features include ‘Reader’ which will strip a website down to the bare basics of just the text and image, similar to Readability and Instapaper functions. You can then email that “streamlined” article to any friends or family.

The second is the ‘Reading List’ which allows you to save articles for reading at a later time. It works on the iPhone, iPad or Safari and you can access the Reading List from any of those versions of Safari.