One of the highlights of Steve Job’s keynote today was the announcement that iOS 4.1 will be available September 8th and that the update will include bug fixes that “we think you’re going to be pretty happy with.”
The single biggest issue for me since upgrading to the iPhone 4 has been with the proximity sensor. The touch screen will become active during a call and your cheek will inadvertently mute the phone, hang up or (my personal favorite) start dialing other people.
I’ve never had this issue with any other iPhone so hopefully this upcoming software fix should do the trick.
Apple is now offering volume discounts on iOS apps for the education market.
As more education institutions embrace the iPad, and iPod Touch the new volume program will make it easier (and cheaper) to deploy apps to end users.
Administrators buy blocks of vouchers that can then be redeemed with codes for app purchases. The new program also allows app developers to provide volume discounts on their apps.
Only Program Facilitators who are Authorized Apple Purchasers for education institutions can currently participate in the program.
It’s good to see Apple engaging the education market to find creative solutions for managing and deploying iOS apps. These apps have the potential to make a huge impact on students and educators.
Playing the music from your iTunes library (iPod) in your car has never really been easy. I started off using tape adapters, FM transmitters, Clarion head units, aux inputs and OEM car adapters. While the interface has continually improved, it’s never been as fast or easy as just using the iPod.
Apple’s new iPod Out feature provides 3rd party companies (i.e. aftermarket stereo makers and car manufacturers) with more access to how the iPod is controlled and interfaced. This allows things like album artwork, faster searching, and genius creation to be better incorporated into car stereos.
BMW was one of the first car manufactures to offer iPod integration and their new iDrive interface with iPod Out support looks awesome. Hopefully this same tech will make it’s way into more cars and they won’t charge an arm and a leg for the feature.
Apple has added extensions to the latest version of Safari, 5.0.1
Extensions are add-ons to the browser that can display notifications and other interactions.
A good example is the Gmail notification extension (pictures with the red 7) that simply let’s you know how many unread messages you have in your Gmail account.
Extensions have been around in Firefox for a while so it’s good to see them make there way into Safari. The install process for the extensions is almost instant and no restart of the browser is required. There are already a good mix of extensions for sites like Twitter, Bing, The Weather Channel and of course, Fox News.
After you’ve updated to Safari 10.5.1, you can access the Safari Extensions Gallery under Apple Menu>Safari.
Apple has refreshed their iMac line with new 21.5″ and 27″ iMacs.
The new iMacs maintain the same industrial design of the previous models. Updated processors, graphics chips and storage options round out the list of improvements.
New CPUs
Most of the processor options include “Turbo boost” technology which allows certain software programs (like Final Cut Pro) to take further advantage of multiple cores.
Announcing Apple’s least sexy product, the new Apple Battery Charger.
This AA wall charger holds 6 rechargeable AA NiMH batteries with a advertised lifespan of 10 years? This is Apple’s solution for wireless products like the new Magic Trackpad that require AA batteries to run.
The nice thing about this charger is the fact that it comes with the 6 batteries included. With the rate my Magic Mouse runs through batteries this could come in handy. Now that I think about it, it is pretty sexy.
The Apple Battery Charger is available from the Apple Store for $29.
This bluetooth wireless trackpad is essentially a larger (80% larger than the MacBook Pro 13″) laptop trackpad. The whole surface is clickable and made of the same glass found on the MacBook Pros.
Who wants this?
People that prefer a trackpad to traditional mouse for their Mac desktop or to use with an external keyboard with their Mac laptop. Apple highlights that you can use the new Magic Trackpad in conjunction with an external mouse, so you have all the input methods available for whatever your application.
My only real gripe is the name. “Magic” just doesn’t seem to fit with Apple’s overall brand strategy, although they seem intent on changing that.
The Magic Mouse is available now for $69 and requires a Mac with bluetooth and 10.6.4 or later.
There’s over 200,000 apps for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Will Apple ever bring these apps to the Mac laptop and desktop lines? If so, how and when?
Most of these apps are built to take advantage of the specific form factor (touch, small screen, etc.) of the device, yet it would be great to be able to access some of these apps on your Mac laptop or desktop.
A lot of iOS apps could be run as widgets with simple mouse over control. The real trick would be how to incorporate multi-touch control without a touchscreen? If Apple were to “digitize” (touch input) the glass covers of iMacs, MacBooks and monitors, that would help deliver a more authentic overall app experience. Adding GPS to the Mac laptop line would also enable apps that utilize location services.
The question Apple is most likely to ask is, why do you even need to access iOS apps on your laptop or desktop when you can already do it on your iPhone or iPad?
My answer is simple, I want to be able to see and use multiple apps on the same screen at the same time. OK, maybe I just want to play Angry Birds on my work computer, but isn’t that reason enough?
Ahh checks. Nothing makes you feel like you’re back in the 1800′s quite like writing and depositing checks. Thankfully the app programmers at Chase must have felt my pain and you can now deposit checks straight from your iPhone.
The app works by using the iPhone’s camera to take pictures of the front and back of your check. Newer ATMs scan checks directly yet, at least at Chase, you can’t manually input what the dollar amount is. So if someone has bad handwriting or if the check is crinkled, you may not be able to deposit at the ATM. With the iPhone app, you manually input the amount which ensures that you’ll be able to deposit the check for the correct amount.
While the app doesn’t do away with checks (yet,) it’s free, easy to use and if it saves you one trip to the ATM, well worth the effort.
Right now it looks like Chase is the only big bank app with the check deposit feature, though I’m sure BofA and Wells won’t be too far behind.
One of the highlights of Steve Job’s keynote today was the announcement that iOS 4.1 will be available September 8th and that the update will include bug fixes that “we think you’re going to be pretty happy with.”
This upgrade will not void your Apple warranty. Use your old drive for backup.
