APPLE'S CHANGE LOG FOR iOS 5 BETA 4

Apple on Friday released the fourth beta version of its iOS 5 operating system, and this one brings about plenty of goodies that developers have been waiting for. The fact that the update can be applied over the air is a huge addition, of course, but there’s plenty more to be found buried within iOS 5 beta4 for the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPad, iPad 2, and third and fourth-generation iPod touch. Wondering what’s new in this build? Apple’s full change log for iOS 5 beta 4 follows below.

Accounts

• When creating an iCloud account you can use any Apple ID provided it is a full email address and not a MobileMe account. If you have a MobileMe account, you can copy data from that account to an iCloud account to use during testing. You can find more information on iCloud at: http://developer.apple.com/icloud
• When setting up an iCloud or MobileMe account using the setup assistant and leaving Find My iPhone on, it might actually turn Find my iPhone off after the setup. Please verify in Settings/Mail, Contacts, Calendar/YourAccount that Find my iPhone is toggled On after leaving the setup assistant.
• It is recommended that you disable Bookmarks on multiple accounts. If they are enabled, the results might be undefined.
• FIXED: In this beta the option of “Choosing a security question” is not working during an iCloud account setup.

AirPlay

• Starting in iOS 5, video content in applications and websites are AirPlay-enabled by default.
• iOS 5 supports AirPlay of video via AV Foundation.
• Switching into AirPay Video while using mirroring will leave the screen black but the video is still playing.

Apple TV

• Apple TV Software beta enables users to mirror the contents of an iPad 2 to an Apple TV (2nd generation) using AirPlay. This beta software also enables Photo Stream on Apple TV so users can access photos stored in iCloud. Apple TV Software beta is being provided to test the latest AirPlay functionality with your iOS 5 apps and web sites. If you wish to install Apple TV Software beta on your device, you must first register your device UDID in the iOS Developer Program Portal.
• There is no new build for AppleTV for beta 4. Please continue using the build provided with beta 3.

Audio

• Using voice chat in iOS 5 requires setting the kAudioSessionMode_VoiceChat mode on the Audio Session, or setting the AVAudioSessionModeVoiceChat mode on the AVAudioSession object.

Calendar

• All MobileMe calendars were duplicated after turning calendar syncing off and back on.
• FIXED: Restoring from a Seed 1 backup or earlier will cause MobileMe/iCloud calendars not to sync. Subscribed calendars will show up in Calendars but none of your event calendars will appear in MobileCal. To workaround the problem please remove and re-add the account.
• If SnowLeopard isn’t syncing your calendars on iOS device and you created a calendar or reminders list using a previous iOS 5.0 seed, change the name of that calendar or list on the iOS device and then let it sync.
• In this beta Birthday calendar is temporarily disabled for Web apps and Windows and will be available in a future release.

Contacts

• NEW:In MobileMe local contacts are deleted instead of be being merged.
• In this beta Import/Export vCard is disabled from Action menu and will be available in future release.

GameKit

• Match data for turn based matches is currently limited to 4 KB of data.
• When both Wifi and 3G are disabled (i.e. in Airplane mode) sometimes GameKit can cause the connection in a local Bluetooth match to fail.

iBooks

• iBooks 1.2.2 may fail to display some text or images in books. Please update to iBooks 1.3 in the App Store.

iCloud Backup

• As this is beta software, it is recommended that you do not use the iCloud services to store any critical data or information. If you enable iCloud Backup, automatic backup with iTunes when syncing will be disabled. We suggest you also manually back up your device with iTunes. It is strongly advised you upgrade to this version of the iOS 5 beta in order to continue backing up your devices and preserve previous backups.

iCloud Storage

• During the iOS 5 beta period, any documents stored on the servers might be purged periodically before GM. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you do not store any critical documents or information on the servers.
• If your application is using the NSMetadataQuery class, you must set a predicate, even though the predicate itself is ignored.
• The Foundation framework doesn’t include the team ID when looking for an app’s mobile documents container. The Team ID must be included at the beginning of the identifier string passed to theURLForUbiquityContainerIdentifier: method.
• In this beta, the setSortDescriptors: method of NSMetadataQuery is not supported.
• In this beta, if you want to use iCloud, you have to manually specify various container identifiers (your application’s Display set) within an Entitlements file for both of your Mac OS X and iOS projects.
• There are issues using the Cloud Storage document API in conjunction with protected data which can lead to data corruption.
• In this beta, document-based applications cannot always detect when files change, move, or are deleted out from underneath them.
• NEW: In this beta, file presenters (objects that adopt the NSFilePresenter protocol) do not receive some of the messages that they’re supposed to receive, especially:
• presentedItemDidChange
• presentedSubitemDidAppearAtURL:
• presentedSubitemDidChangeAtURL:
• You can workaround this by implementing the relinquishPresentedItemToWriter: method and checking to see if the writer actually wrote when your file presenter reacquires. You can also use FSEvents to observe file system changes
• 
  
• In this beta, messages about changes to files in a directory are not getting delivered to objects that adopt the NSFilePresenter protocol.
• While reporting a bug related to the iCloud storage interfaces, please include the logs collected during your debugging session. To generate these logs, you must install a special debug profile on your device.The debug profile can be obtained from http://connect.apple.com. This profile enables the generation of debug logs that are needed to diagnose any problems using iCloud storage. The instructions to collect the logs are:
• Install the profile. (The easiest way to do this is to mail it to yourself and open the attachment on their device.)
• Reproduce the bug.
• Sync with iTunes to pull the logs off your device.
• Attach the logs to your bug report. You can find the logs in ~/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/MobileDevice/DeviceName/DiagnosticLogs.
• These logs can grow large very quickly, so you should remove the profile after you have reproduced the problem and pulled the logs for the bug report.
• 
  
• NEW: File names in iCloud Storage are case sensitive.
• iMessage
• NEW: iMessage beta 1 will be unable to communicate with iMessage users on beta 2 or later.
• iTunes
• The version of iTunes that comes with beta 4 cannot sync devices that have the beta 2 software installed. To avoid this problem, do the following:
• Sync any devices that have beta 3 installed to the version of iTunes that came with beta 4.
• Upgrade iTunes to the version that comes with beta 4.
• Connect the device and install the beta 4 software. (Understand that you might see a failure to sync error when you first connect the device.)
• After installing the beta 4 software, restore from your the backup you made in step 1.
• Videos purchased from the iTunes Store do not play on a 2nd generation AppleTV over AirPlay with iTunes 10.5.

Location

• NEW:The startMonitoringSignificantLocationChanges method of CLLocationManager does not cause applications to be resumed or launched in the background for significant location change updates. However, if a backup from a previous software version (where an application was monitoring significant location changes) is restored to the device, significant location change monitoring will continue to cause that application to be resumed or launched in the background.

Mail

• NEW:Forwarding a message with attachments included does not attach the file and the message compose screen does not change from “Loading….”
• Music Library
• NEW:Some songs are missing their album artwork after changing the device library via syncing.

OpenGL

• NEW: In iOS 5.0 beta 4, several OpenGL extensions have been moved from the APPLE namespace to the EXT namespace, causing some API to be renamed. The altered extensions are EXT_color_buffer_half_float,EXT_occlusion_query_boolean, EXT_separate_shader_objects, EXT_shadow_samplers, EXT_texture_rg, EXT_debug_label, and EXT_debug_marker.

OTA Software Update

• NEW: If you are doing a OTA software update from beta 3 to beta 4, you will need to re-sync your photos with iTunes.”

Personal HotSpot

• NEW:In this beta iPhone 4 device cannot join personal hotspot even if it is on due to a non functional WiFi tethering on these devices.

Photo Adjustments

• If you apply red-eye adjustments in iOS, and import your image into the iPhoto seed build, the red-eye adjustments will not appear on that image in iPhoto. As a result, subsequent syncing of your image back to the iOS device from iPhoto will not show the red-eye adjustments.

Settings

• FIXED: In this beta FaceTime icon is missing in Settings on the iPhones.

Simulator

• NEW: Location services are not functional in iOS 4.3 simulator running on Mac OS 10.7 with Xcode 4.2.

Springboard

• Push and local notifications for apps appear in the new Notification Center in iOS 5. Notification Center displays notifications that are considered “unread.” In order to accommodate push and local notifications that have no “unread” status, developers can use their application badge count to trigger a clearing of notifications from Notification Center. When an application clears its badge count (by setting it to zero), iOS 5 will clear its notifications from Notification Center.
• NEW: iOS 5.0 terminates VoIP applications that are resumed in the background for incoming network traffic with extreme frequency. Developers are encouraged to make sure all incoming data is read from VoIP sockets to avoid this condition.

Twitter

• NEW: When tweeting your location from Safari and exiting before the location can be established, the location arrow will stay in the status bar. The arrow can be removed by killing Safari from the task switcher.

UI Automation

• NEW: Instruments overwrites the loaded automation script, even if another program is editing it.
• The play and record buttons in the Automation instrument script editor may not work properly after targeting an application that was launched by a trace session and has ended. They may also not work if you target an application that was suspended. If you run into this problem and it persists, you may need to close and reopen the trace document to get back into a functional state.
• When capturing actions into a script using the Automation instrument, interfaces with web views or table cells that contain a high number of off screen elements may take an extremely long time before returning with an expression.
• The lock() and unlock() functions of UIATarget have been replaced with the lockForDuration() function.
• FIXED:Instruments overwrites the loaded automation script, even if another program is editing it.
• Starting in iOS 5 beta 2, you can now trigger the execution of an UI Automation script on an iOS device from the host terminal by using the instruments tool. The command is:
• instruments -w -t 
• When using the cli instruments for UI Automation you can now target the default Automation Template and pass the script and results path into the tool as environment variable options. For example:
• instruments -w -t /Developer/Platforms/iPhoneOS.platform/Developer/Library/Instruments/PlugIns/AutomationInstrument.bundle/Contents/Resources/Automation.tracetemplate -e UIASCRIPT

GOOGLE+ CHANGING DUE TO USER FEEDBACK

Today, Vic Gundotra, senior vice president of social at Google used his Google+ account to post a message confirming there’s “lots of criticism for Google+.” Not only that, but before the end of the week we should start seeing changes to address those criticisms.

Although there isn’t a list of what the most criticized features are (or lack thereof), the responses to Gundotra’s post are very telling. Here’s the ones we managed to extract from the 200+ comments he has received so far, most of which have had multiple +1 upvotes:

• Ability to modify circles a post is shared with after posting it
• Reading sparks and +1 comments in the Android app
• Lifting of the 5000 circle cap (really?)
• The ability to overlap circles
• Option of a circle that doesn’t show up in your stream
• Menu follows you down the stream as you scroll
• Easy private messaging option including to person who starts a thread
• Google+ app for other platforms (WP7)
• Blocking working 100% of the time
• Easy way to merge circles
• Sharing and refresh updates in the Android app
• Link to hide all comments again after you’ve clicked to show all
• Better integration of Google Chat with Google+
• Fix issues with instant upload for photos
• Ability to share with all circles, but with an “except” option
• Ability to share Google Docs and Calendar with circles
• Revamp Google Reader to make sharing easier
• File-sharing integration
• Nested comments
• Addition of hashtags to aid searching

As you can see, most of the requests are for more control and more integration with other Google services. There also seems to be a big push for the Android app to be improved quickly.

We know any bugs will be the first thing to be fixed, but also for the control of circles (privacy, merging) and better stream access and controls to be targeted first. I’m sure there’s also a lot of feedback regarding the invite system and how overwhelmed it became.

Tell us what you think needs changing/fixed/added/modified in the comments.

LEAK: FACEBOOK UPDATE COMING

Ever since it debuted as TheFacebook in early 2004, the world's largest social network has undergone design changes both big and small. Just one year after Mark Zuckerberg launched the site from his Harvard dorm room, he dropped the The from its name and purchased facebook.com for a reported $200,000. That same year, the trademark blue color shifted slightly and the site's banner disappeared. I can't find any public response to the change (remember, Facebook was only open to select college students back then), but if the feedback from future design tweaks is representative of the reaction to the first, nobody was pleased.

Over the past seven years, Facebook's designers and developers have made a number of changes to the site. With each one, a vocal minority rises up and expresses -- loudly -- its opposition. But they eventually settle down or move on and we quickly acclimate to a new look and feel. It's like every two years when you upgrade your smartphone and have to get used to a new keyboard, a new interface, a new operating system. You hate it at first, but you grow used to it in time.

Well, it's time to get ready for the next wave of noise. It's been over a year since any major changes were made to Facebook's homepage, according to VentureBeat, and the site's developers are currently in the process of testing a new change that is sure to get users as heated as they've ever been -- perhaps more so. And that's because the new site design prominently features advertisements. Nobody likes advertisements, even if they keep Facebook free for its 750 million users.

The new homepage tweak, if made public (and it probably will be), would keep the placement of advertisements and the menu navigation window static. As the user scrolls down the page, scanning their News Feed and checking in on friends, these elements would follow them. The navigation bar at the top of the screen and even the site's footer would also remain static.

The only elements that scroll in the new design are the News Feed in the middle of the window and the Happening Now feed, which is a real-time feature that Facebook just started testing two weeks ago. The Happening Now feed, which has, in tests, appeared at the top of the right-hand sidebar where Upcoming Events are usually listed, shows users what their friends are sharing and commenting on and liking as it happens. Clicking on any of the feed's entries activates a pop-up window with more details.

What's interesting about this change is that it will only allow Facebook to display a certain number of advertisements on each page. Presumably they'll be able to charge more for this digital real estate given that all of the available ad spots will have a longer impression time on viewers -- and should, as a result, enjoy a higher click-through rate. But in the current layout, Facebook can stack as many advertisements in the right-hand section of the website as it's team can sell; the space is virtually limitless.

The new design would not just be welcomed by advertisers, but also Page managers. "By piling more stories into the same space rather than hiding them behind the Most Recent tab, Happening Now could boost impressions for Page update stories," according to Inside Facebook, a blog that tracks the social network closely. Current statistics show that even the most popular Pages, those with over one million fans, receive less than three unique impressions per day per 100 fans. This change should also improve user retention for apps, which will be prominently featured in the left-hand sidebar wherever any user is on the site.

But what are the benefits for users? Facebook could argue that it's easier to navigate to your messages and photos or to access your admin options since the navigation bar is static. But that's probably not going to be enough to make people happy when this starts getting rolled out across the network. In fact, it looks and functions a lot like Gawker's redesign, which relies heavily on a scrollable main content window with static elements. And the reaction there wasn't something to try and replicate.

APPLE CHANGES POLICY ON IN-APP SUBSCRIPTION PRICES

It looks like Apple has decided to make some pretty major changes to its App Store Review Guidelines and, in particular, to its controversial in-app subscription policy. Under the new guidelines, publishers will be able to offer subscriptions to content outside of the App Store, as long as their apps don't include a "buy" button that directs users away from Apple's marketplace.

Under the previous version of the policy, which was set to go into effect at the end of this month, app owners offering subscriptions outside of App Store were required to sell equivalent, in-app services at the "same price or less than it is offered outside the app," while giving a 30 percent cut to Cupertino.

Now, however, they can price these in-app subscriptions as they see fit, or circumvent the system altogether, by exclusively selling them outside of their apps. Apple will still receive 30 percent of the revenue generated from in-app subscriptions, but won't get any money from purchases made outside of its domain. Theoretically, then, publishers would be able to offer in-app subscriptions at higher prices, in order to offset Apple's share.

ACER CHANGES LOGO

Over in Acer HQ, it's out with the old and in with the new. Having bid ciao to former CEO Gianfranco Lanci, the Taiwanese company is now slapping a fresh coat of paint and a softer typeface upon its corporate identity. The new Acer green is lighter and brighter and the more rounded new shape looks a lot safer for kids to play around with, should the occasion ever arise. We doubt this will make a big difference in the company's push to be "more like Apple," but hey, at least we now have a visual marker to distinguish the products that came before this shift in strategy from those that come after.

WIKILEAKS MOVES TO SWITZERLAND; CHANGES DOMAIN NAME

After being ousted by Amazon’s Web Services, the controversial site WikiLeaks has run into another snafu, this time with its DNS provider, EveryDns.net. Via a statement, EveryDns stated that due to “interference issues” that are affecting the service of others, the company has ceased resolving wikileaks.org; the service was provided to WikiLeaks for free. In response to the DNS shutdown, WikiLeaks tweeted the following message:

WIKILEAKS: Free speech has a number: http://88.80.13.160

In a subsequent tweet, the company then announced that it had moved to Switzerland; the site’s new domain name is now wikileaks.ch.

A very vocal opponent of the WikiLeaks cable publishings has been the Independent Senator from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman. The Senator has introduced legislation, dubbed the SHIELD (Securing Human Intelligence and Enforcing Lawful Dissemination) Act, that would make it illegal to publish information “concerning the human intelligence activities of the United States or any foreign government” or information relating to “a classified source or informant.” We have to wonder where Sen. Lieberman’s legislation was when CIA operative Valerie Plame was outed. No word on when the new legislation will hit the Senate floor.

Meanwhile, Amazon has released a statement stating that the reason for its removal of WikiLeaks’ data from its AWS servers was not a result of denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks or government pressure, but rather the fact that the site did not operate within Amazon’s terms of service. [BGR]

NEW MYSPACE LOGO COMING

MySpace is trying to generate some buzz and excitement around its aging product.  They introduced a new logo at the Warm Gun design conference recently and the crowds reaction was silence.  The new logo is the word my followed by a space.

The space won't remain blank however. It will be filled with user generated art as seen in the video from the Warm Gun conference.  MySpace VP of User Experience Mike Macadaan explains:

MySpace is a platform for people to be whatever they want, so we’ve decided to give them the space to do it.


What are your thoughts on the new logo?  Is anyone still using MySpace? [Geek]

FACEBOOK LAUNCHES NEW FEATURES

Facebook announced today a slew of new features.  One of the most interesting if retrieval of all your information in .zip format.  You can simply click a button on the settings page, Facebook will zip up your friend list, wall posts, photos and more for you to download.  This is most probably a response to all the privacy issues they Facebook has encountered.

Facebook also revamped the groups pages to include new group chat and document editing features. Head on over to the Facebook link for full description of all the changes and how to take advantage of them. [Engadget] [Facebook]