Apple on Thursday released iOS 5.0.1, fixing a number of issues with the operating system.
According to Apple, the update fixes bugs affecting battery life; adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad; resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud; and improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation.
iOS 5.0.1 is compatible with iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (4th generation) and iPod touch (3rd generation).
The update is available via iTunes and through Apple’s over-the-air update on the device itself.
Everyone who works with Adobe After Effects for any length of time, particularly on a deadline, eventually finds himself (or herself) wanting to improve his or her productivity. In this tutorial, I’ll share five useful tips you may not know about that will help you work more efficiently.
If you’re in your 30s or older, you may remember a time when families took photos using instant cameras like Polaroid’s late lamented SX-70. Polaroid is bringing back a bit of that magic with the Z340, which is now available for $300.
The Z340 sports a wedge shape like Polaroid’s old instant cameras, and even features a built in printer to output pictures instantly (instead of using ink tanks it uses specially treated “Zero Ink (ZINK)” paper, which comes in 20-packs).
Under the hood is a 14-megapixel digital sensor and 2.7-inch LCD viewfinder, which you can also use to edit your photos in-camera. It uses a rechargeable lithium ion battery good for about 25 prints and sports an SD card slot for expanded storage. It connects to your computer using a USB cable.
The 3 x 4 inch prints are borderless, though you can add a “Polaroid Classic Border Logo” if you want to relive the glory days of getting a Polaroid snapshot. Finding a Garanimals shirt and Toughskins jeans that fit may be a bit tougher, though.
The prints are also water resistant and smudge-proof, so you can even shake them like a Polaroid picture (with apologies to OutKast) without worrying about messing them up.
“Whether you‚re a musician, engineer, or mastering pro, Ozone 5 lets you master music and other audio simply and efficiently,” says Nick Dika, iZotope Senior Product Manager. “Ozone 5 is the biggest update we‚ve ever offered, with improvements that will appeal to Ozone experts and new users alike. Ozone 5 Advanced is designed to set a new industry standard for mastering tools. Advanced includes many exclusive features, and offers mixing and mastering engineers an even higher level of flexibility, precision and control.”
I know a lot of people that really like Ozone as a mastering tool.
The argument goes that the layperson does not know what RSS means, how to use it to their advantage, and it does not have the lasting attractiveness to bring in a new audience. While there is certainly validity in this stance, it is flawed.
Specifically, the view that widespread understanding has anything to do with the health of RSS is flawed.
RSS is fundamentally a backbone technology for websites. It allows content to be aggregated and organized. It allows for the syndication and dispersion of content.
In my opinion, RSS, insofar as it is a backbone, is merely returning to its rightful place. It is becoming hidden from the end user.
RSS unofficially stands for “Really Simple Syndication,” and if held to this definition, I would argue that it is in perfect health, and that the “Really Simple” portion of the definition has fundamentally come to redefine and reinvigorate it.
Just as /Library is now hidden from an OS X Lion user, and just as the iOS platform is locked down and sandboxed, RSS is simply dropping off into the background. Content is being syndicated and aggregated just as before. Perhaps even more so than in the past. Virtually everyone with a Facebook, Google+, or Twitter account follows a news-providing entity. Those entities share content feeds. Those content feeds are generally derived from the XML and Atom feeds that comprise the RSS.
Similarly, apps like Flipboard and Pulse have been playing their part in disguising and hiding RSS from the end user.
In essence, RSS has become analogous to just about every other aspect of the modern computing industry, insofar as everything is becoming simplified and tucked away from the average user.
For the lack of a viable alternative, RSS is healthy, working, and active. While you might not see it in the same manner, content is still being syndicated, but presented in a different way.
RSS is not dead, but at the same time, journalists are correct, it is too alienating for the common user. So the owners of RSS feeds are presenting them in a more accessible, understandable manner.
That is not death, that is reinvigoration.
Matt Alexander is the owner and editor of ONE37.net, a writer, a technology enthusiast, and a contributing writer for The Loop.
Dragon Express is the latest member of the Dragon family of speech recognition software that lets people control a computer with their voice. It’s the fast, hands-free way to turn speech into text, whether sending email, surfing the Web or posting an update to Facebook and Twitter. Dragon provides an easy, natural way to get more done in less time. Dragon Express is priced to provide the broadest range of people with an opportunity to experience the power and performance of speech recognition.
Apple’s co-founder Steve Jobs was nominated by “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams to be Time magazine’s Person of the Year. If selected it would be the first time the distinction would be awarded to a person posthumously.
If you’ve got four-finger swipe down set to App Exposé on your Magic Trackpad or MacBook’s trackpad like I do, hover over a dock icon of a running app and swipe.
Intuit and AT&T have formed what Engadget calls “an unholy alliance” to create a poor, twenty-two-months-late ripoff of Square’s credit card reader for mobile devices. Go ahead and watch the video on Engadget’s site, and compare it with the experience that Square debuted two Januaries ago. Intuit and AT&T knew exactly what they had to rip off, had almost two years to do it, and still laid an egg.
In fact, The Loop finished as the third top rising blog, coming behind Netflix and Google Analytics. Technorati currently indexes over one million blogs.
All this talk in the past couple of days about how journalists should retweet got me thinking about my chosen profession. For me, it comes down to trust and respect.
I believe that for me to be successful, my readers have to trust that what I write and post is honest. If I gain their trust, they will come back. If I’m constantly proven wrong, they won’t.
It seems pretty simple, but it’s really not. Some journalists don’t make their views known to their readers, often toning down their stories so nobody gets offended.
Some media companies don’t want journalists to publicly endorse one product over another for fear it will upset an advertiser.
I look at things like this just the opposite. I want to be honest with the people that read my stories or tweets. If I don’t like something, I’m going to say I don’t like it. If I really like a product, I’ll say that too.
People come here for my opinion — if I withhold my opinion from them, what is it that I’m really offering? Stale words on a web page.
Sometimes I’ll post a link to something just because it’s funny, or very interesting. It could be about design, guitars, video or Apple. As long as it catches my eye, it has a chance to get posted.
Having respect for a writer doesn’t mean that you have to agree with everything they write. There are plenty of people that disagree with my opinions, but they continue to read the site. That’s respect.
That’s the way it should be. I can’t be afraid to post what I feel is right and readers will have their say on Twitter or in the forums.
In the end it’s the readers that must decide if a journalist is worth investing their time in. If you don’t like what a writer has to say, or you have no trust or respect for them, it’s time to stop reading and find someone that you do like to read.
I don’t see retweeting by journalists as a problem, but rather an added bonus. If people want to know my opinion, I’m going to give it to them — good or bad.
The Tegra 3 is the world’s first quad-core ARM A9-based processor, and features a 12-core GeForce graphics unit. Nvidia says the Tegra 3 offers three times the performance of its previous dual-core Tegra generation, and boasts improved multitasking, better web browsing, and smoother app performance.
It’s an impressive technical feat, and Asus plans to release a tablet using the chip sometime near the start of 2012. Nvidia’s Tegra 2 made inroads to the tablet and smartphone markets. The company is continuing to leverage its core strength – a strong rapport with software developers, especially game developers – to remain an important component source for tablet makers as Android-based devices continue to flood the marketplace.
Foremost, the iPhone is already killing it in China without China Mobile. And as much as Apple would like to put the iPhone on the world’s largest wireless carrier, it’s not going to do so unless it gets the terms it wants. And right now there’s some disagreement between the two companies over App Store revenue.
This should be interesting. Apple is notoriously tough in negotiations. I can’t see them giving up any kind of revenue.
Editor’s Note: Matt Alexander is the owner and editor of ONE37.net, a writer, a technology enthusiast, and a contributing writer for The Loop.
Mobile Flash is, and always has been, pointless.
Regardless of platform, Mobile Flash absorbs battery life, heats phones, and provides an unquestionably lackluster end-user experience.
And yet, hardware manufacturers continue to tout Mobile Flash’s relevance. Best Buy clerks try to sell you on the advantages of Flash over sans-Flash platforms. Ads flaunt the apparent benefits of a Flash-enabled web on your tablet and phone. Meanwhile, reviewers across the web grapple with its usefulness and buggy implementation. So, the question is, why has there been such prominent exposure of one feature?
Simply put, Mobile Flash has been an excuse of a “feature” for platforms in the face of iOS.
In the face of the ever-growing App Store, hardware manufacturers have used Flash compatibility as a cheap way out. With the uneven distribution of media apps like Netflix and Hulu Plus on Android, Mobile Flash has provided vague, unfounded hope to the uninformed consumer.
Realistically, the majority of media outlets block Mobile Flash, thus rendering any hope of watching Flash video as limited to obscure situations, or victim to bothersome workarounds. The primary use for Mobile Flash has largely become rendering aging Flash-based ads, and older web interfaces.
Whether you agree with this assessment or not, Adobe seems to have sensed the pointlessness of the endeavor, and that speaks volumes.
The rise of web standards has cast renewed focus on the modernization of the Internet. With focus on HTML5 and responsive web applications, both Flash and Mobile Flash have stood out as the stubborn, pointless protectors of uninspired, 1990s-esque web design, and today, one of them at least, has taken a welcome, final bow.
Adobe has made a mature and sensible decision here. Let’s hope this is a pattern they choose to follow in future.
As for Apple’s Flash-offering rivals, how might they choose to account for this? Having pushed Mobile Flash as such a key differentiator, they’re looking at dealing with a whole host of confused and misinformed consumers.
Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics, now in its 17th year, ranks the world’s top 15 technology companies on their green policies and practices, on how products and processes impact the climate. Apple climbed five places to rank fourth, behind HP, Dell and Nokia, with the all four of the companies improving their green impact over the year to march up the charts.
Don’t get me wrong, I think this is great, but with all of the information that Apple makes available about its environmental efforts, it seems a bit odd that they would only rank fourth. It’s like Greenpeace is the Consumer Reports for the environment.
Jason Perlow got this from his sources. It’s announcement that Adobe will make:
Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores. We will no longer adapt Flash Player for mobile devices to new browser, OS version or device configurations. Some of our source code licensees may opt to continue working on and releasing their own implementations. We will continue to support the current Android and PlayBook configurations with critical bug fixes and security updates.
We sat down with Khoi Vinh, former Design Director of NYTimes.com to discuss the subject that has made his work most noteworthy: the grid. And in his case, the “g” almost deserves to be capitalized. The result is an illuminating conversation about Khoi’s plans for the future, first interest in the field of design, and even the grid’s complex relationship with emotion.
I have a tremendous amount of respect for Khoi. Well worth a couple of minutes to watch the video.
I’m looking at their full test results (I’ve been a CR website subscriber for six years), and I’m really not confident in the metrics and priorities that they seem to be using. Even some of the measurements seem suspicious to me.
There’s been a lot of talk today about Eric Schmidt’s statement that Android pre-dated Apple’s iOS, so it couldn’t possibly be a rip-off.
People have been quick to point out that Android started in 2003 and was bought by Google in 2005. That’s two years before Apple released its first iPhone in 2007.
However, it would appear that nobody considered the fact that Apple didn’t just pull iOS out of its ass in 2007. They worked on it for years prior to releasing it in the first iPhone.
Using the introduction date of the iPhone is completely ignoring the development time that Apple put into iOS, the iPhone and iPad.
Adobe Systems on Tuesday said it is cutting about 750 jobs, mainly in North America and Europe as part of a restructuring of the company. The company said it expects to record about $87 million to $94 million in pre-tax restructuring charges.
The iPB-10 Programmable Pedalboard sets a new standard for guitar signal processing. By harnessing the power of the iPad, it combines the simplicity of a pedalboard with the flexibility of a multi-effects. The iPB-10 unleashes the ability to create and control guitar effects like never before.
Worldwide online music revenue from end-user spending is on pace to total $6.3 billion in 2011, up from $5.9 billion in 2010, according to Gartner, Inc. Online music revenue is forecast to reach $6.8 billion in 2012, and grow to $7.7 billion in 2015. By comparison, consumer spending on physical music (CDs and LPs) is expected to slide from approximately $15 billion in 2010 to about $10 billion in 2015.
A software flaw in Apple Inc’s iPhones and iPads may allow hackers to build apps that secretly install programs to steal data, send text messages or destroy information, according to an expert on Apple device security.
Here is a video from the researcher Charlie Miller:
