iOS

Twitter photo integration rumored for iOS 5

Next week Apple shows off iOS 5 at its Worldwide Developers Conference, and while much remains unknown about what will be included, a new report suggests Twitter is on the VIP list.

In a post this afternoon, TechCrunch says Apple is baking Twitter into the operating system to help users post photos they've taken on their iOS devices directly to the service. The feature is said to be integrated into the camera and photo roll to let users share pictures to Twitter just like they would a video to YouTube, Vimeo, or one of the other video-hosting sites Apple includes.

That idea in itself is not so outlandish with the expected launch of an official photo-hosting service from Twitter, which AllThingsD says will be announced tomorrow night at the outlet's D9 conference. As the Twitter photo-sharing landscape currently stands, users have to venture to outside sites for photo hosting, scattering the options across a number of providers. With Apple's current sharing tools for photos and videos, such an expansive list could prove challenging to fit and maintain. … Read more

Lodsys: iOS developers still on the hook for licenses

The coast may not be clear for developers who thought that Apple could protect them against a company seeking to tax developer revenue.

A week after being told by Apple that its license of four patents covered iOS developers who use in-app purchasing, patent holdings group Lodsys has said that's not the case.

In a post on the group's blog this afternoon (via Macrumors), the group said that after reading Apple's claims as well as consulting "several legal experts," developers who have implemented in-app purchasing are still on the hook to pay Lodsys a percentage … Read more

Apple security update targets MacDefender malware

As promised, Apple's released a security update to address the MacDefender malware, as well as its known variants.

Security Update 2011-003, which went out to Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard users this afternoon, adds file quarantine and built-in removal of the MacDefender malware.

"The installation process for this update will search for and remove known variants of the MacDefender malware," Apple's support document reads. "If a known variant was detected and removed, the user will be notified via an alert after the update is installed."

The MacDefender malware, which also goes by the … Read more

iCloud mention out of character for Apple

For a company that operates on secrecy and the element of surprise, Apple's naming of "iCloud" earlier this morning as part of the lineup of products to be shown off at next week's Worldwide Developers Conference was out of character.

Apple has a long history of saving big announcements for a show, even if various details about a product or a service have been leaked well ahead of time.

For last year's show that product was the iPhone 4. Photos and videos of the device were posted by Gizmodo nearly two months ahead of WWDC … Read more

Apple's Keynote, Pages, Numbers apps go universal

Apple this morning rolled out universal versions of all three of its iWork apps, bringing the suite to iPhone and iPod Touch devices.

Keynote, Pages, and Numbers (updated reviews), which have been on the App Store for the past year, were previously only available for iPad users. Today's updates shrink the same user interfaces down into pocket-size versions that let users create, save, open, and edit documents.

Along with going universal Apple has tweaked the user interface a bit to let users see thumbnail previews of documents to find them by sight.

The software suite originally made its debut on the Mac OS, beginning with Keynote, Apple's presentation software. Apple later added Pages then Numbers, rolling together all three applications into iWork. Apple now sells the individual applications through the Mac App Store, and in the iOS App Store, letting users get a single program without having to buy the others.

The apps continue to retail for $9.99 each, and this morning's update is free of charge to existing owners of the applications. The software is only available to users of Apple's more recent iOS products, including the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, third- and fourth-generation iPod Touch devices, and iPad and iPad 2. … Read more

Rumor: Widgets, better notifications headed to iOS 5

In just a week and a half Apple will take the wraps off "the future of iOS" at its Worldwide Developers Conference. Two features that are said to be making a debut as part of that introduction are widgets and a new notifications system.

Buried at the tail end of a post on murmurs that Apple's been inviting press from around the world to come to the WWDC keynote, TechCrunch claims that Apple will be using that time to introduce "completely revamped notifications and widgets."

This is not the first time Apple's notification system … Read more

Fun video apps for iPhone

It doesn't seem that long ago when we would have to lug around a VHS camera to capture video of family events, vacations, and other memories we could relive later by inserting the VHS tape and hitting the play button on our VCRs. While it was a workable solution for capturing memories in motion, lugging around a video camera everywhere we went wasn't exactly practical.

Fortunately these days, there is no longer the need for fresh VHS tapes or making sure to pack the digital video camera because we have the ability to shoot reasonably good video right on our smartphones. With the iPhone 4's front- and rear-facing cameras, we have even more options for shooting videos, and with hundreds of cool video apps in the App Store, we have tons of interesting (and sometimes strange) options.

This week's collection of apps gives you some options for shooting good-looking videos. The first app lets you film the action from before you hit the record button, the second makes retro-looking videos using effects you control, and the last app gives you some professional options for shooting more-serious movies.… Read more

Lodsys targets Android dev over in-app purchase

Lodsys, the company that's gone after a number of Apple iOS developers for allegedly infringing on its patents, is now doing the same to at least one developer on Google's Android platform.

Cult of Mac has dug up a developing discussion thread on Google's Android developer forums, noting that at least one Android developer has been targeted by the group over the use of in-app purchase within their application.

"We recently implemented in-app purchases for our Android application and several weeks later we received a letter from Lodsys, claiming that we infringed on their patents," … Read more

Study: Android Market sees lower top app turnover

A new study of various mobile application stores during the month of April conducted by research company Distimo found that the top apps chart on Google's Android Market had considerably less turnover than the one on Apple's App Store for the iPhone, which leads to less downloads overall.

In terms of numbers, that works out to 94 unique applications in the App Store for the iPhone's top 10 free and paid categories during the month of April, with just 26 in the Android Market during the same time period. For the top 300 apps in the iPhone'… Read more

Rumor: iOS 5 will not be available for iPhone 3GS

Such is the way of technology. Just two years after its release, the iPhone 3GS may be deemed "too old" for Apple's next iteration of its mobile operating system, iOS 5.

Mobile phone blogger Eldar Murtazin, from the Russian site Mobile-Review, stated frankly in a tweet recently (via MacStories): "Just one comment. Apple iPhone 3GS wont be upgradable to iOS 5.x. iPhone 4 will."

The comment did not come with a follow-up on sources of the information and could very well just be an educated guess on Murtazin's part. Whether fact or fiction, … Read more