Is this evidence of Apple’s controversial Killswitch in action?

Please note this now appears to be a bug which is being fixed.

A recent app that I, like many others, bought on the AppStore with real money appears to have suddenly stopped working. A simple application called Night Stand, which is now copied by other app developers in true AppStore style, designed to simply display the time and alarm while dimming the screen. Not exactly a controversial app to say the least and has been available for some time! Now it seems that you can load the app but it simply won’t run.

This app has also been tested on a colleagues phone with the same results. This is not as a result of any updates as it was seen to work recently and, stranger still, the app has been pulled from the AppStore itself. As of this moment I have not yet been able to find any reason for it’s disappearance, but am more concerned about the fact that any app can seemingly be pulled from your device without warning or reason.

I paid good money for that app, all be it 59 pence but it is mine, or is it?

Apple have released an update for the iPhone and iPod Touch update to take them to OS 3.1.2.

The release notes claim that 3.1.2:

• Resolves sporadic issues that may cause iPhone not to wake from sleep
• Resolves intermittent issue that may interrupt cellular network services until restart
• Fixes bug that could cause occasional crash during video streaming

The update is available from iTunes in the usual way!

After the excitement of the iPhone OS 3.0 upgrade coming out yesterday I decided to upgrade my iPod Touch. After connecting to iTunes I was met with a screen telling me I needed to pay for the upgrade.

Woah hold on are iPod Touch users second class Apple citizens? This was something that Apple had kept very quiet in the run up to the launch of the new OS, but I suppose alarm bells should have rung when there was no beta software for the iPod Touch.

The upgrade costs $9.99 on the US AppStore or £5.99 on the UK one.

iPod Touch OS3.0 Rip-off??

Apple Remote

If you have an Apple TV or even some remote speakers connected to your iTunes application on your Mac, then you will know that it is quite tricky trying to control it to get the content you really want.

Apple have developed an iPhone application to overcome some of those limitations: Remote.

Apple TV remote

Apple Remote connects to either your Apple TV or iTunes using WiFi.  This then allows your iPhone to act as a remote controller for your device.

You can connect to a number of devices or iTunes Libraries, but only one is active at any one time.  To make the initial connection you need to authorise the iPhone on the Apple TV of iTunes library so you cant just find Apple TVs around you and start to control them…

Once connected you have pretty much full functionality for an iTunes library, being able to browse by playlist, artist or album.  You can also tap on the search to find the particular item you want.

Apple Remote more options

Tapping on the more icon presents the menu shown to the left.  This provides control of some of the lesser used features of the iTunes library.  From here you can gain access to your video collection, podcasts and TV shows.

In fact this just about mirrors the functionality that you can find in iTunes, and this is great for controlling the iTunes on your computer, but less so for the Apple TV.

In fact for the Apple TV the whole application is really back to front.  The controls for movies are hidden behind a couple of taps.  That is not to say that Remote is not useful, more that is it not as useful as it could be.

The Apple TV has many more functions than the iTunes Library on your computer, and none of these are catered for.  Remote cannot be used as a substitute for the little remote control provided with your Apple TV.  Even the very basic minimum of adding a dial control and text entry would make this a far better application.

Available from the Apple Appstore as a free application

Continue reading »

Today Apple released iTunes 8.2 and Quicktime 7.6.2 on general release. This is the version of the music, video and application manager from Apple that is compatible with the new version 3.0 operating system currently in beta testing.  

The timing of this release is interesting just before the Apple WWDC where we expect at least one new iPhone hardware platform to be released.  The implication is that Apple are preparing the groundwork for a release of the new version 3.0 software in the near future, possibly even to coincide with the Developers Conference in San Francisco. 

The quickTime update includes some security fixes and also support for iTunes 8.2

Click here for more information on Apple iTunes version 8.