The all quiteness from Apple is the sound of approaching of a storm. And this one’s named iBooks 2. A software designed to let iPad, iPhone and iPod user get access to textbooks via their own devices using an Apple patented software.

iBooks 2 will comprise of a number of features, most exclusive being the 3-D imaging and gesture control. Particularly designed to focus student’s needs, the software allows to read textbooks, watch videos and  even take notes right inside their e-books, as reported by Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president for world-wide marketing. Along with this wonder app, Apple also released iBook Author that would allow users to make any book of their choice and upload it to Apple’s iBookstore. According to Guardian, the textbooks will be available in the US only. The iBookstore will feature a range of books with customers ranging from every walk of life. It also provides books for students that are in either high schools or colleges with the pricetag of products ranging from $14.99 to $499.

This iBook is particularly released to compete with Amazon’s kindle Fire that grabs most of the e-readers in the market.

Source  Guardian

Apple is set to enhance the security measures for the users of its MacBook and iOS Devices, patents published by United States Patent and Trademark Office reveal. According to them, the password  recovery information could be stored in a charging adapter of the device. By merely plugging in the adapter, the password details would be displayed on the device.

This would eventually lead to an increased sense of security and privacy among the users as the power adapters aren’t usually lost or stolen along with the devices. This would also relieve the users of prevailing password retrieval methods like security questions and the setting of complicated, alphanumeric passwords too.

However, in the case of loss of the power adapter, some retrieval methods have to be employed. They include backing up the system to multiple peripherals connecting your device and the secondary power adapters. Retrieval over a  remote server is also mentioned.

Nevertheless, it is yet to seen how it gets endorsed finally!!!

Source   The Apple Blog

Ever since Siri0us tweak became available in Cydia, there has been hope that Siri would soon be available for non-iPhone 4S users in Cydia store. A Chinese hacker team called CD-group has managed to port functional Siri on older devices, that allows users to use it on all fourth generation iPod touchs or iPhone 4 devices running on iOs 5.0 or later. The port surfaced on Cydia today under a private repo.

Some believe that the new port may be utilizing SiriProxy. If this is true, then it is likely that official Apple servers are not being utilized directly. Rather private servers are being used instead, and this causes concern because it might be unsafe to share your data with an unknown hacker who might have wrong intentions.

A guide is available to guide you step-by-step through the installation of this port.

The port does seem to have some problems other than some people have reported facing connectivity issues. Additionally, H1Siri may be illegal, as some hacking and cracks are involved in its development. We are in no way endorsing this Cydia tweak and you can download it at your own risk if you want to.

Source: 9to5mac

TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is well known throughout the world for their talks and presentations regarding ‘ideas worth spreading’. Fans of TED may already know about the iPad application that they launched in October, which has since been a top download in the App store.  Now, as part of their strategy to digitally spread TED ideas, an iPhone application has been released.

This application is very similar to its award-winning iPad counterpart. Hosting a plethora of engaging content and easy-to-use features, the application has already received some great reviews by users. Watchable videos are from 3 minutes to 18 minutes long, and can easily be shared on Facebook and other social networking sites.

New features include  the ability to bookmark videos so that they can be viewed later. One increase in functionality from the  iPad version of the application is the TED Radio feature, which continuously streams TED talks, without the user having to choose a specific video to watch. To cater for cellular phone usage, the application allows a user to use this feature in the background, so he/she can listen to TED lectures while on the go.

Get the free app from iTunes App Store: [download link]

Source: PRNewsWire

Apple has released the first beta of iOS 5.1 to registered developers. Enrolled developers can download the iOS 5.1 beta for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad from iOS Dev Center. The iOS 5.1 beta includes references to the iPad 2,4, iPad 3,1 and 3,2. According to folks at 9to5mac iPad 2,4 could be the Sprint version of current iPad. While iPad 3,1 and 3,2 refers to the next generation of iPad, expected in March next year.

The new beta of iOS hints at a newer version of Apple TV 3,1 codenamed J33 as well as developers have also found the reference to the next iPhone 5,1 which is expected in June at WWDC 2012.

Some new changes include different colored location services icon representing apps using your location, currently, within last 24 hours, and the apps using geofence.

A geofence is a virtual perimeter around a location. Apps like Reminders use geofencing to notify you arrive or leave a certain location.

iOS 5.1 beta also allows you to sync your iTunes Match library using Cellular data. Stay tuned for more.

Source: 9to5mac

A quick note for those who are curious about iPhone 4S ultrasn0w unlock. @MuscleNerd the member of iPhone Dev-Team has tweeted that “very promising iPhone 4S unlock is in the works”. The tweet stresses that it’s for iPhone 4S not for the iPhone 4. No more details have been revealed yet. Hopefully updated ultrasn0w will be released after Chronic Dev-Team’s “coming soon” untethered jailbreak. Stay tuned for more updates.

Google has now launched a search engine just for mobile applications. The feature is present in the left side bar of the usual Google search page. Click on the applications and you would get the results filtered only for the apps from Apple’s App Store, Google’s Android  Market, AppBrain, AndroidZoom, CNET and others. You will be able to view the results according to the relevance and not according to the rating, price or any other parameter.

While searching you could restrict your results to the apps of iOS or Android. You can do this using the advanced search options or filter it simply by writing site:apple.com for iOS apps and site:android.com for Android apps.

Via: GOS

With a clean sweep in the arenas of smart phones, tablets, personal computers and consumer electronics, Apple Inc. is now designing a Television dubbed as iTV which would be able to understand and obey the user gestures. The Japanese electronics firm SHARP has been designated the task of beginning commercial production of Apple’s TV screens in early 2012 and making the sets available from the mid of the year.

The iTV would be connected to the internet being able to synchronise with the cloud and to download movies. It would have infrared sensors to detect the motion and gestures of the user. User could have real time video process control enabled to edit the video or copy it to another device. iTV would have Liquid Crystal Display(LCD) and voice and facial recognition applications. iPhone could be used as a remote control for it.

Apple co founder and former CEO Steve Jobs had hinted at developing such TV. He mentioned:“ I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use. It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud. It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it”. Jeff Robin, the builder of iTunes is reported to have been spearheading the developments.

Apple has taken over a full fledged SHARP factory for the purpose. The manufacture of iTV would mark the beginning of a competition with South Korean Electronics Giant Samsung which is the largest producer of internet connected TV sets. Will Apple take the lead this time too?

Source: Guardian