200 New Features of iOS5

You probably heard enough about the iOS 5 and what the new features are, but according to Apple and the beta testers, there are in fact close to 200 new features.  I came across a lot of good listings of the new features but nothing beats the listing on iPhonedownloadblog.  Their list is the most comprehensive (and constantly updating) list of the iOS 5 features and for some of the features, they have a more in-depth look, just click on to the hyperlinks to see more.  Be sure to check it out ahead of the release.

Notifications (full details)

• Notification center
• Lockscreen notifications
• Slide lockscreen notifications to open their app
• In app notifications
• Select what notifications appear
• Select where notifications appear
• Sort notifications manually or by time

Twitter Integration (full details)

• Single sign on
• Install Twitter from Settings app
• Tweet a location in Maps
• Tweet a picture from the camera roll
• Tweet a link from Safari
• Tweet a video from YouTube
• Apply your friends’ Twitter usernames and pictures to contact
• Special keyboard when using the Twitter integration

Apple WWDC in a Wrap

Think everyone is all settled after the keynote and think it’s time to wrap things up for the three major areas and thanks to TUAW who compiled the housekeeping list.

Mac OSX Lion

• Lion will be available in July, and it only costs US$29.99 for all your devices.
• Lion will only be available through the Mac App Store.
• If you have a desktop Mac, now’s a good time to go get a Magic Trackpad to take good use of the new Mission Control feature.
• Mac OS X is taking some design cues from iOS with Launchpad and new Mail design
• Saving and backing up files will be easier than ever.

iCloud

• iCloud replaces MobileMe and is now FREE.
• iCloud wirelessly syncs data across all your devices.
• Photo Stream makes syncing recent photos manually a thing of the past, pics gets synced across different devices.
• iTunes Music purchases now appear everywhere via the iCloud sync.

iPhone

• iCloud
• PC Free – no more cables needed to hook up to iTunes for updates, now done via WiFi
• Photography – the mapping of the Home button, by double tapping will now immediately launch the Camera app and with the Camera app loaded, a quick press of the “volume up” button will take the pic
• Notifications – like the Android phones, notifications now appear in an ordered list in a special screen which you access at any time by swiping down from the top bar
• Twitter – Photos and Camera app will allow you to post images and video to your Twitter stream and Youtube and Safari will post a links to the page or video you are currently viewing
• iMessage – iMessage is the Messages app crossed with an instant messaging client crossed with a group messaging app.
• Reminder – hmm…. need to find out more on this one.

Source – What Mac owners need to know after today’s WWDC announcements, Seven things iPhone users should know about today’s announcment

 

 

Silent Film Director – Free for Limited Time

For those who love to shoot video on their iPhone, Silent Film Director gone free for the day to celebrate Marilyn’s birthday.  Grab it fast as time’s running out, link here.

VARIETY OF STYLES for your films
★ 20’s movie
★ 60’s home video (for the Hippie style videos)
★ 70’s home video
★ Black and White
★ Sepia
★ Vintage Sepia

iOS App – Awesome App to Read You Your Emails, RSS Feeds, Tweets & Almost Everything

Too busy to find time to catch up with your emails, RSS feeds or even your your tweets? Fear not, there is an awesome app out there which can actually read stuff you don’t have time to read on the go or in the background. Voice Brief by Dong Baik (US$3.99 for full version, free for lite version) was first released in March and was just updated. Check out the neat features below.

Voice Brief Features:
• Customizable contents such as Calendar, Weather, RSS news, Google Reader, Facebook, Twitter, Stocks, Gmail (inbox summary only) and any sentence you type
• Built in Alarm – wake up with your own news.
• World’s best voice synthesis
• Four different high-quality voices
• Works with any remote control, bluetooth audio
• Airplay
• Background listening with multi-tasking
• Internal web browser
• Musical bridge.
• On-the-fly News Share via facebook and twitter.
• Voice synthesis within your phone – (Private, Secure, no data usage)

Colton101998 had a pretty good review off an earlier version and I’m embedding below for you to check out some of the features.

Source – Colton101998, Voice Brief by Dong Baik

Kelby Training Online App is Available on iTunes App Store

Being a great fan and member of Scott Kelby’s Kelby Training Online and National Association Of Photoshop Professionals, I am so thrilled to see the Kelby Training Online App hit the iTunes App Store.

The new app features 720p HD video streaming on your iPad or iPhone. For those who subscribes to KelbyTraining.com, this is an awesome app as you can watch the courses on the go, of course you need to have an active subscription.

I downloaded the app and it looks great on an iPad.  For those looking for a reason to subscribe to Kelby Training, this might be the one.

About Kelby Training:
At KelbyTraining.com you’re always on-location and in-studio. Become part of the action as we take you behind the scenes of professional photo shoots and show you exactly how the pros do it, step-by-step, from start-to-finish. They share their gear, setup, settings, and tips and tricks that took them decades to master. Spend a day learning lighting and flash with Joe McNally and Scott Kelby. Learn to shoot wedding portraits with legendary wedding photographer David Ziser. Learn the pros secrets to creating jaw-dropping Photoshop effects for fashion photography with Frank Doorhof. Photograph “Big Game” in Yellowstone with Moose Peterson, or study composition, light, and photo compositing with Jeremy Cowart, and so much more! And, that’s just the start! Master Photoshop® and Lightroom® in record time with the world’s top creative design gurus! Enhance your photography, retouch like a pro, and add stunning effects to your portraits.

New iOS Notification System

The big thing about this all new notification system is to group all notifications under one roof and have it sit above your running application and the lock screen as well.  A clever app indeed, and this is long due Apple.  If your iPhone is jailbroken, check out Notified on Cydia, they are more or less the same.

Source – iSpazio

Tons of White iPhone 4 in Hong Kong

Well, they are here.  The white iPhone 4 and there’s ample supply for those in Hong Kong and for the grey market dealers who’s looking forward to make a hefty profit due to the high price in Mainland China and the high demand over limited supply.

The first batch went on sale past midnight Thursday, local time here in Hong Kong.  The main service providers all claim that they have enough stock on hand but each person is limited with one purchase (requires Hong Kong Identity Card registration).

Image from unwire.hk

The above pic was taken last night in downtown Central.  Gee, long line there. For more pics, check out the post from unwire.hk (in Chinese).

Source – unwire.hk via TNW

White iPhone4 Out End of this Month?

 

Image from appadvice

Okay, no iPhone 5 this coming June.  In return, we might get the white iPhone 4 as consolation.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek’s article, “Apple Inc. will start selling a white version of its iPhone 4 in the next few weeks, following a delay of 10 months, according to three people with knowledge of the plans. The new model will be available from AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless by the end of April, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans aren’t public.”

Click into the article for full report.

Looking back at the old white iPhone 3GS fetching dust on my shelf, I wonder how hard it is to get the white iPhone 4 out in the market and gee, what’s the hype with white anyways.

Source – Bloomberg Businessweek via appadvice

Updates on Apple Store – iPhone Back In, iPad Still No Sign

The iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4 are back on Apple Store Hong Kong but still no sign of iPad 2 yet as of today.

iOS 4.3 Lauching Today….in 2 hours?

This according to an article over at TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog), it states that there’s a rumor going on which claims iOS debut maybe as soon as 10AM Pacific Time today, i.e. two hours from now.  For you late nighters, stay on and check it out.  Also in the article, it states that the limit on the personal hotspot could be as many as five devices (which is about par with my pocket MiFi)…interesting….but reading on, it actually meant three devices via WiFi and two devices via USB and Bluetooth respectively…duh.

[Update: nah…not happening]

Source – TUAW

App of the Week – Photo Measures

Ever need to take measurements of a pic? the elegant way or just simply neat way? check out this app from Big Blue Pixel. The app helps you to –

• Take a photo and directly draw measures on it
• Zoom into and out of your photo when you need more precision
• Edit your measures with a very intuitive interface
• Quickly add text as comments when measures are not enough
• Native support for angles
• Save your measures in imperial or metric units
• Easily organize your documents in folders
• Export your dimensions in high resolution by email or to the photo library
• Import photos of any size and aspect ratio
• Support Retina display for iPhone 4 owners

This is in fact one of the few apps which I find the most useful and handy.  The best part of it is it works amazingly good on the iPad.  A “yes” from me.  It’s US$2.99 on iTunes Store, check out the following vid for more.

Source – Big Blue Pixel

iPhone Shutter App “NexRemote” for Sony NEX

This from dpreview forum member, Bikr.  He developed this cool app, NexRemote, which offers two shutter release signal from the iPhone via the earphone jack connected to an IR device to trigger the Sony NEX camera. The App was just launched and Bikr is already working on the 2.0 version which promise intervalometer and maybe even bulb mode.  Also in works is the Android version. Check out the App description below –

“NexRemote allows you to control your Sony Nex5 camera using a super inexpensive home made or store bought ir dongle that plugs into your headphone jack.

We will soon be adding detailed instructions on making your own, but quickly: you simple need to solder a IR LED, available at any radio shack, to a minijack cable. You can just strip the cable from an old pair of headphones etc and there will be 3 wires inside. 2 insulated and 1 ground wire. You need to attach one of the 2 insulated wires and the ground wire to the poles of the LED. Plug in and you’re good to go.

Shutter lets you control the shutter in any mode, including bulb. click once while in bulb to open the shutter and again to close it when ready..

2 sec initiates the Nex5’s 2 second shutter timer and beeps to let you know it’s coming, great for hiding your phone back in your pocket when taking self portraits.”

Source – NexRemote

CNET Asia Community Blog Entry – The Best iPhone Clone So Far – SoPhone

My new entry over at CNET Asia Community Blog is up. This week’s entry, “The best iPhone clone so far – SoPhone”. Click here for the full read.

 

CNET Asia Community Blog Entry – Skype iOS App to Launch Soon for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

My new entry over at CNET Asia Community Blog is up. This week’s entry, “Skype iOS app to launch soon for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch”. Click here for the full read.