• apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  ipod,  itunes,  touch

    How To: Upgrade to iOS 4.2.1

    November 22, 2010 /

    Apple’s iOS 4.2.1 software update that was rolled out today is a nice tweak for iPhone and iPod touch users already running iOS 4.0 and a huge leap forward for iPad owners.  This guide is intended to help you make the jump to the latest iOS release for current model iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

    Step 1: Install iTunes 10.1 on your Mac or Windows PC if you haven’t already done so.  (Use the Apple Software control panel to check for the iTunes software update.)
    Step 2: Connect your iDevice to your computer to sync your data and back it up.
    Step 3: Select your iDevice from the iTunes “Source” list.
    iTunes 10.1 Devices Source List
    Step 4: Click the Check for Update button.
    Click the Check for Update Button
    Step 5: Click the Next button to begin the upgrade process.  Follow the on screen directions.
    Click Next to Begin the Install Process
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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  itunes,  mobileme,  touch

    Find My iPhone MobileMe Service Become Free

    November 22, 2010 /

    As an early Christmas present along side the iOS 4.2.1 update, Apple has made the Find My iPhone feature of the $99/year MobileMe service free.

    Apple descrbes Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) on their website as the following:

    Find My iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch — the MobileMe feature that helps you locate your missing device and protect its data — is now free on any iPhone 4, iPad, or fourth-generation iPod touch running iOS 4.2.3 Once you set it up, you can find your lost device on a map, display a message on its screen, remotely set a passcode lock, and initiate a remote wipe to delete your data. And if you eventually find your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can restore everything from your last backup.

    You can download the MobileMe Find My iPhone client for iPhone/iPod touch/iPad from the iTunes App Store (iTunes link).

    Once you have the Find My iPhone client installed, check out Apple’s easy to follow setup directions for iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  itunes,  mobileme,  touch

    Apple Releases iOS 4.2.1 for iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Makes Find My iPhone Free

    November 22, 2010 /

    Looks like Apple will make good on their September promise that iOS 4.2, now 4.2.1 after a few Golden Master resets, will be available in November.  In addition to bringing iOS 4 to the iPad, Apple has also chosen to give iOS users free access to the Find My iPhone feature that is part of the $99/year MobileMe subscription service.

    You can read my first impressions of iOS 4.2.1 for iPad; which were posted over the weekend.

    CUPERTINO, California—November 22, 2010—Apple® today announced that iOS 4.2, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, is available today for download for iPad™, iPhone® and iPod touch®. iOS 4.2 brings over 100 new features from iOS 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 to iPad including Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay® and AirPrint.

    “iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.”

    iPad users can now run their favorite apps and switch between them instantly, while preserving iPad’s legendary battery life. Users can organize their apps with drag-and-drop simplicity using Folders, and Mail now features a Unified Inbox, fast inbox switching and a threaded message view.

    The Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) feature is now free to use without a MobileMe℠ subscription and helps you locate your missing device.* The Find My iPhone app is a free download on the App Store℠ and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. Users can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device to protect privacy.

    Other new features that iOS 4.2 brings to the iPad include: the ability to rent TV episodes directly to iPad using the iTunes® App with a 30 day viewing window and a 48 hour session window once playback is started; the ability to easily find and highlight specific words and phrases on web pages in Safari®; enhanced enterprise support so businesses can take advantage of stronger security features, new device management capabilities and improved enterprise integration; industry-leading accessibility enhancements; and support for 25 additional languages, including Korean, Portuguese and Traditional Chinese

    Availability

    The iOS 4.2 update is available today to download to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch by syncing the device with iTunes 10.1. iOS 4.2 is compatible with iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) and new iPod touch. Some features may not be available on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) or later.

    *The free Find My iPhone feature is available for iPhone 4, iPad or new iPod touch (4th generation).

    To install the update on your current model iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, connect your iDevice to your computer, launch iTunes 10.  Once your device has completed it’s sync, select it in the left section of the iTunes window, and then click the Check for Update button.

    You can read the full Apple iOS 4.2 press release on the Apple website.

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  • google,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  microsoft,  touch

    Setting Up Your iOS Device with Exchange Push for Email, Calendar, and Contacts

    November 21, 2010 /

    Yesterday I wrote a blog post about the upcoming iOS 4.2.1 software upgrade for the Apple iPad.  (iOS 4.0 is already available for current model iPhone and iPod touch units.)

    In the article, I talked about support for multiple Microsoft Exchange Active Sync (EAS) accounts.  EAS is a protocol that you can license and use from Microsoft to sync email, contacts, and calendar data from the email server down to a client, like an iPhone or iPad.

    If you use a Google account with your iOS 4.0 or later iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, you can keep your email, contacts, and calendar in sync all the time and across multiple devices, such as an iPad, and a MacBook Pro, for example.

    If you want to learn how to set EAS up on your iOS device, just follow Google’s directions found in their article: Mail, Calendar, & Contacts: Set Up Your Apple Device for Google Sync.

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  mac,  mobileme,  touch

    Rumor: Free, Limited MobileMe Subscriptions On the Horizon?

    November 20, 2010 /

    Back in June I read a rumor on the gadget blog Electronista.com that stated that Apple was considering launching a free version of their $99 a year MobileMe service.  At the time, I was really excited by the prospect, because, I have a number of Apple devices (three Macs, and three iOS devices) and this would be a great way to keep the address book and calendars in sync across all six devices.

    On June 4, Electronista.com wrote;

    “Apple has lately faced growing criticism for continuing to charge for MobileMe at a time when Google can promise free e-mail, calendars and contacts synchronized online for Android phones where the iPhone is still at least partly reliant on a physical sync without paying $99 per year. The company has recently been working on a North Carolina data center that could help scale such plans in the future.”

    And so, I stated to wait patiently.  In the mean time, Google’s Android platform began to grow in popularity until today, Google’s Android is breathing down Apple’s neck.  Does Apple think that they could continue to sell a $99 a year service when Google’s free web apps could deliver a similar service and experience?

    Fast forward to this weekend when Mac-centric website MacRumors.com released more evidence that Apple is still considering providing at least some of the MobileMe services for free to iOS users.

    In the latest iOS 4.2 and 4.2.1 builds of iOS, MacRumors has discovered error messages in the operating system that read “MOBILEME_CREATE_UNAVAILABLE_IPAD” = “The maximum number of free accounts have been activated on this iPad.”

    Well, well, well…looks like the iPad maker is still very much considering a free MobileMe offering of some sort.

    Naturally, Apple has not confirmed their plans to launch an new MobileMe services.  Many believe that an new MobileMe service would go into effect once Apple’s new $1 billion North Carolina data center is fully ramped up and is online.

    [Via Electronista.com, MacRumors.com…]

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  • astraware,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  touch

    Astraware Mahjong Released for iOS

    November 17, 2010 /

    Today, Astraware has released Mahjong for Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

    Mahjong is described by Wikipedia as a Chinese game based on 152 tiles; which is a game of skill, strategy and  calculation with a little bit of chance thrown in for good measure.

    Astraware Mahjong for iOS includes the following gaming features:

    • AutoZoom – optional feature which zooms in or out from the play area
    • Mahjong of the Day daily challenge
    • Truly solvable puzzles at Easy, Medium and Hard difficulty levels, as well as Classic
    • Full tutorial with photos to help you learn how to play
    • More than 30 different puzzle layouts
    • Supports Game Center achievements. Earn all the achievements to unlock the Golden Tile Set
    • Optional tile highlighting – removable tiles appear lighter in colour. This can be adjusted in Settings)
    • Helpful assistance features including the ability to shuffle the tiles or undo moves
    • A choice of decorative tile sets and traditional backgrounds
    • Ability to play in landscape or portrait modes
    • Universal binary is optimized for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Retina display devices
    • Automatically saves when you exit and allows you to play your own music in the background.

     Astraware Mahjong is available now exclusively from the Apple iTunes store for $0.99. (iTunes link)

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  • apple,  ipad,  iphone,  itunes,  lifestyle,  mac,  touch,  windows

    Confirmed: The Beatles Are Coming to iTunes

    November 16, 2010 /

    MacDailyNews.com is reporting, and I have confirmed with my own tests, that The Beatles are finally coming to Apple’s iTunes Store.  (To test: Open the iTunes Store and search for the term “the beatles”.)

    While that is probably great news for many people, I’m not a big fan of The Beatles.  I’m still holding out for the iTunes.com steaming service.

    [Via MacDailyNews.com…]

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  • apple,  ipad,  iphone,  itunes,  touch

    Apple Schedules an iTunes Media Event Tomorrow, 11/16/10, 10:00 EST

    November 15, 2010 /

    Well, well, well…what do we have here?  Anyone visiting the Apple website today was greeted by the above splash page.

    Apple’s legendary secrecy is clearly alive and well as we heard all sorts of rumors around the release of Mac OS X 10.6.5, iTunes 10.1 for Mac OS X and Windows PC, and we even had gotten word of not one, but two possible release dates for the iOS 4.2 update.

    But this, my dear readers, was completely off the radar.  If I had to guess what might be going on tomorrow morning at 10:00am, I will only speculate that whatever it is, will likely have to do with Apple’s new massive data center in North Carolina.

    Back on October 25, AppleInsider.com reported that “According to a Data Center Knowledge report published Sunday, the data center is “fully operational,” with Apple beginning to “ramp up production” at the server farm. The Cupertino, Calif., company could be planning to build a second facility on the site, the report notes.”

    Below is an aerial photo of Apple’s new data center.

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  • apple,  ios,  ipad,  iphone,  itunes,  touch

    iOS 4.2 Still “Coming Soon”

    November 13, 2010 /

    Did a last minute Wi-Fi bug end up aborting yesterday’s rumored launch for Apple’s iOS 4.2 update for the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad?

    There certainly seems to be enough evidence of that.  Apple had released the golden master, or “GM” developer release of iOS 4.2 a few days ago.  The GM release of software is usually identical to the shipping version.  Many speculated that this past Friday, 11/12/10, was suppose to be the launch date for iOS 4.2.  November 24, 2010 is the new rumored launch date for iOS 4.2.

    Rather than getting a final software release of iOS 4.2 yesterday, we saw Apple release a second GM release of the software.  The release of a second GM version of the software leads me to believe that the reports of a late discovered bug was to blame for the iOS no-show.

    Software usually goes through several iterations before getting int consumer’s hands.  Alpha, beta, release candidate, golden master, and then release/retail.  It’s normal to see several release candidates, or RCs, but you usually only get one GM.

    The way I see it, during the September iPod event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs promised that iOS 4.2 would be available in November, and there is still plenty of time to make good on that promise.  I’d rather have working software than almost working software.

    That said, I still want access to the cool features that iPhone 4 and late generation iPod touch users have had for the last few months already.

    In the mean time, if you haven’t already done so, you can upgrade to Mac OS X 10.6.5 and iTunes 10.1 (iTunes 10.1 is available now for both Mac OS X and Windows PC).  Both software updates lay the ground work to support iOS 4.2 devices.  Use the Apple Software Update control panel to upgrade your Mac OS X or Windows PC.

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