Category Archives: iOS 5
iCloud.com Beta Now Live With Mail, Contacts, Calendar, iWork Web Apps, Pricing Revealed
There was a lot of speculation as to whether Apple would develop a web interface for its cloud services.
All that speculation had been put to rest when Apple clarified that iCloud services would be available on the web and today, iCloud.com is finally live albeit in beta. It is primarily meant for developers to test iCloud features with their apps.
The web apps available through iCloud.com are Mail, Contacts, Calendar, Find My iPhone and iWork. As you would expect from Apple, the iCloud interface looks fantastic, right from the login screen to the web apps themselves. Apple has, at the same time, made no compromise in terms of speed and responsiveness of the web interface.
In fact launching web apps like Contacts and Calendar (yes launching, because it is so familiar to the iOS Home Screen paradigm) take almost the same time as their native counterparts on iOS and OS X. The supported browsers are Chrome, Safari 4+, Firefox 4+, IE 8+, Opera and of course Mobile Safari.
Face Recognition May Be Coming To iOS 5 [video]
It looks like Apple is planning to include face recognition capabilities in iOS 5.
9 to 5 Mac has discovered several face recognition APIs in iOS 5 beta 4 that was seeded to developers late last week.
9 to 5 Mac reports:
We have taken a look at these iOS 5-exclusive APIs and they are highly sophisticated. The first, called CIFaceFeature, can determine through an image where a person’s mouth and eyes are located. The second API, CIDetector, is a resource within the operating system that processes images for face detection.
hasLeftEyePosition
hasRightEyePosition hasMouthPosition
leftEyePosition
rightEyePosition
mouthPosition
This presumably would power face detection via live motion imagery. The significance of this finding is that Apple is making face detection an even easier feature for developers to implement.
9 to 5 Mac speculates that Apple will open up these APIs either to developers to make it easier to implement face recognition technology in their iOS apps or Apple could be working behind the scenes in developing a killer app using these face recognition APIs.
Apple had acquired Polar Rose, a Swedish face recognition company
Tutorial: How To Install & Activate iOS 5 Beta 4 On iPhone, iPad, iPod touch Without Apple Developer Account
All experimental builds of iOS 5, the next version of the mobile operating system that runs on iPhones,iPod touches and iPads require users to validate their developer accounts with Apple when activating, as a way to curb unauthorized use.
Sadly, the just-released iOS 5 beta 4 is no exception, although there’s a way around it as long as you’re willing to perform a jailbreak. Unfortunately, since the iPad 2 running iOS 5 can’t be jailbroken yet, this guide won’t work with said device.
In order to begin this process, you’ll need the following:
- iTunes 10.5 Beta 4 and iOS 5 Beta 4.
- Redsn0w 0.9.8b4 (which you can get from here).
- iPhone Browser (which you can get from here).
Once you have what it takes, just follow the steps below. They should take under 10 minutes:
WARNING: We haven’t tested this method, and we wont recommend downloading iOS firmware files from anywhere other than the iOS Dev Center, which for $99 a year can be a good investment. The following instructions are shared for information and educational purposes only. Proceed at your own risk only.
Step 1: Assuming you already have iTunes 10.5 Beta 4 installed, update your device to iOS 5 Beta 4. If you have a un-jailbroken device on iOS 5 Beta 3, you can also update using OTA update method as explained here.
Once done, follow the activation steps as usual, although you’re supposed to get an error when the device is connected to iTunes for the first time.
Step 2: Fire up Redsn0w and
iOS 5′s final release may include “Assistant” speech-to-text feature
Apple has included limited voice control functionality in the iPhone since the debut of the iPhone 3GS, but the company’s plans for voice control in iOS 5 are reportedly far broader in application according to 9to5 Mac.
While no such feature was announced at WWDC and it has yet to show up in the iOS 5 betas, 9to5′s sources claim Apple’s test units are already testing out an “Assistant” feature meant to introduce widespread speech-to-text functionality in iOS 5.
Those of you who have used Siri or the recently-launched Dragon Go! know how powerful third parties have been able to leverage speech-to-text in iOS already. Apple purchased Siri outright in 2010 and has reportedly been working with Dragon’s parent company, Nuance, in further expanding the speech-to-text functions of iOS 5. Apple’s partnership with Nuance has even extended to OS X, with several of Lion’s optional text-to-speech voices coming directly from Nuance’s stable of high-quality voices (and we’ll provide you with an overview of those new voices in an upcoming post — spoiler alert, they are awesome).
9to5 notes that since these new features have been missing from developer betas of iOS 5, it may imply that the new voice navigation “Assistant” feature may be an iPhone 5 exclusive. However, it’s equally probable that since the feature has only just entered testing within Apple, Apple is not yet ready for developers to begin prodding at it in the betas. Given how well Siri and Dragon Search function already, there doesn’t appear to be any technical reason why the iPhone 4 or iPad 2 wouldn’t be able to run the “Assistant” feature as it’s been described.
According to
Cellular Data & GPS Toggle In iOS 5 Beta 4 For iPod touch Confirms 3G-Capable iPod touch 5G For Fall? [PICTURE]
A little screenshot has surfaced of an iPod touch running iOS 5 Beta 4, which only adds to the growing speculation surrounding what Apple has in store in the not-so-distant-future, is currently doing the rounds.
Of course, Apple is not exactly famed for dropping hints here, there and everywhere so when one seemingly lands in our lap like this, it’s only polite that we give it a fair amount of scrutiny. Maybe there isn’t anything to see here – it could just so happen that Apple slipped up by leaving the cellular option on the iPod touch software rather than just the iPhone.
But with a new iPhone on the horizon, the iPod touch always gets an upgrade or ten, and it does look as though it will be hauled in the direction of the iPad and given some 3G connectivity.
It may be that Jobs and Co. are trying to maximize the appeal of a device which, although marketed as essentially an iPhone without the actual phone function, is seriously lacking in many departments. In fact, it falls short in almost every category from the screen to the RAM. But with prices starting at well under half that of the 16GB iPhone, and the option of 64GB of space for all of those essential apps and games, you get what you pay for and yet the iPod touch has certainly more than held its own.
It has been said that Apple may use the current iPod touch as a platform to build a cheaper, more affordable iPhone option to compete against the Android devices.
Apple’s iPhone 4 is currently priced
