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Apple Seeds iWork for iOS Beta Apps With iCloud Support

Following the launch of iCloud.com beta to developers, Apple updated its iCloud beta for Developers page including special versions of the iWork for iOS apps. Labelled “iWork for iOS beta apps” by Apple, the package includes new versions of Pages, Keynote and Numbers for iOS that will allow developers and testers of iCloud to start working on a new document on a device, and find it after a few seconds on another iCloud-connected device or the web counterpart, which also comes with web apps to edit documents.

The functionality was first demoed by Apple at the WWDC in June, and an iOS developer program membership is required to test the new iWork beta apps.

Apple’s iCloud Beta Goes Live on the Web

Apple’s finally done something pretty awesome with their iCloud domain — this evening the iCloud.com website has gone live giving developers access to their mail, contacts, calendars, and iWork documents through the web. Developers testing iCloud’s features can log in and play around with a gorgeous interface that mimicks a lot of iOS interface elements. For example, if you type in the wrong password at the login, you’ll get iOS-style dialog boxes in the browser. It’s cool stuff!

Visit www.icloud.com

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Safari’s Growth Outshines Dulled Chrome in July

Browser Wars - it’s not surprising that competition for the best browser is always fueled by which is the fastest, most reliable and doesn’t suck up all your resources on your desktop and mobile machines.

According to Net Applications newest report, July was a great month for Apple’s Safari browser. July boasted the largest increase ever, with Safari being used by 8.1 percent of all web users.

Apple’s iOS devices (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) make up for more that a third of the usage for Safari. The growth rate surpassed (and doubled) Chrome as well, jumping .6 percent for July while Google’s Chrome only grew .3 percent.

Statistics say that Safari has had continual growth for 17 months now while Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer has been declining. IE still has 52.8% of the market but solid declines month to month help Apple and others cut in to Microsoft’s dominance in the browser market. IE 9 is being used more with Windows 7 adopters but the overall browser share for IE is still declining.

If Apple and Chrome are growing and IE is shrinking, where is Firefox and Opera in all of this? Numbers show that Opera is down to a minimal 1.7% of the web market - this is where it was back in 2007. Firefox is mostly steady but had a slight decline from 23% a year ago to 21.5% now.

Safari isn’t King of the Jungle yet but is making great strides. Apple’s strength in mobile devices and increases in Mac sales will help Safari continue to grow and grow. Safari had a major update 2 weeks ago with version 5.1 that supports full screen mode and gestures (Mac), Reading List and more. The upcoming iOS 5 adds some great new features for Apple’s mobile version like tabbed browsing, Reader and Reading List as well as an improved performance on all iOS devices.

[via TUAW]

Mockups Show Lion Inspired Changes For Future Firefox

Like Google’s Chrome browser, Mozilla announced earlier this year its intention to move to a fast release cycle for new major versions of its popular browser for Windows, Linux and Mac, Firefox. Following the launch of Firefox 4 in March – which brought major design changes from Firefox 3 – Mozilla moved up its schedule and released Firefox 5 in June, just three months after the previous upgrade, adding a “Do not track” feature for all browsers and platforms, as well as other HTML5 and CSS improvements, although the UI design remained largely unchanged from Firefox 4. As part of Mozilla’s new channel-based alpha and beta testing, Firefox 6.0 is already available as beta, whilst Firefox 7.0 has been made available as early developer preview (or alpha) in the Aurora channel. You can read more about Mozilla’s new “every six weeks” policy here.

While waiting for the future Firefox 6.0 and 7.0, Mozilla’s Product Visual Designer with the Firefox team, Stephen Horlander, has posted some mockups of what the future Firefox could look like on Windows and OS X machines. The images, posted as a presentation on Mozilla’s website, don’t necessarily reflect any upcoming feature in the next versions of Firefox, but they provide some kind of insight into the kind of discussions the team is having in regards of what could come next.

As you can see from the image above (more here), the proposed solution unifies Firefox’s top bar to accomodate tabs, a Home button, a new tab button, as well as integrated add-on manager that has its own tab (much like Google Chrome opens its settings in new tabs, rather than windows). The mockups have been built on top of OS X Lion, as you can tell from the window texture and the traffic lights in the upper left corner. Speaking of which, Horlander has also played around with Lion’s monochrome and popovers, implementing monochromatic icons for cut/copy/paste, bookmarks and tab controls inside a settings popover accessible from a gear icon next to the address bar. Another screenshot shows native full-screen support with minimal chrome when browsing a website. On the PC side, the proposed changes are similar, but based on Windows’ default theme.

It’ll be interesting to see whether these Lion-inspired changes for Firefox on the Mac will evolve into an actual release in the coming months. Meanwhile, Windows users can install this fan-made theme that takes some of Horlander’s UI elements, and applies them to the current version of Firefox.

Apple Releases iOS 4.3 for Apple TV [Updated]

Apple has just released a new version of iOS for the Apple TV second-generation – iOS 4.3 with build number 8F455. Whilst there is no official changelog for the update yet, a series of tweets from Daring Fireball’s John Gruber suggests iOS 4.3 brings the possibility of streaming purchased TV Shows, including all the shows you’ve already bought in iTunes. Since the introduction of iCloud at the WWDC in June, Apple rolled out new features in iTunes to let users re-download every single purchase they made with their Apple IDs – this applied to music, apps, and books. With a new tab in the same Purchased section, Apple now allows you to re-watch TV Shows you’ve bought through iTunes. The “Purchased” option in iTunes was announced alongside iCloud (which will launch this Fall) and the broader iTunes in the Cloud initiative – in spite of iCloud still being a “beta” for developers, every Mac, iPad, iPhone and Apple TV can benefit from these re-download functionalities now. Read more

Apple Pressures Samsung Into Postponing Launch Of Galaxy Tab 10.1 In Australia

Update 2: The Sydney Morning Herald has managed to get more details on this legal dispute between Apple and Samsung in Australia. Apple claims that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 is misleading customers by making representations that the Tab is the iPad/is a version of the iPad 2/has the same performance of the iPad/is manufactured or supplied by Apple/is associated with Apple/is the same quality of the iPad 2. They are demanding that Samsung destroy all stock of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 or hand over stock to Apple. Furthermore the SMH also has details of the patents Apple is citing:

Standard Patents
- 2008201540: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
- 2005246219: Multipoint touchscreen
- 2007283771: Portable electronic device for photo management
- 2009200366: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
- 2007286532: Touch screen device, method and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics

Innovation Patents
- 2008100283: List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display
- 2008100372: Electronic device for photo management
- 2009100820: Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image
- 2008100419: Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image
- 2008101171: Portable electronic device for imaged-based browsing of contacts

Clarification 1: This agreement Samsung has made with Apple is related to not selling the US model of the Galaxy Tab in Australia. As detailed below, Samsung has also agreed to share 3 samples of the Australian version to Apple (which it will do at least 7 days prior to launching the product - which was expected for August 11). FOSS Patents speculates that sharing these models will allow ”Apple to seek a preliminary injunction against” the Australian model before it goes on sale as well.

In the latest development of the patent dispute between Samsung and Apple, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has now been delayed from going on sale in Australia whilst a Federal Court case is resolved. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 had been expected to launch just next week on August 11 down under, but after Apple pushed for an injunction on the device in Australia it seems that Samsung agreed to postpone the launch of the device.

Samsung’s lawyer noted in their court documentation that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has some differences in Australia and have agreed to provide Apple three samples of the Australian version. As a result of this agreement between Apple, Samsung and the courts, not only will Samsung postpone the release of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia but they will cease all forms of advertising for the product.

A hearing is currently scheduled for August 29 to review the status of the case and, if necessary, set a trial date. If Apple loses the case, they would be required to pay Samsung damages as a result of the release postponement.

[Via The Next Web]

Adobe Releases ‘Edge’, A New Tool To Create HTML5 Animations And Webpages

Despite some significant opposition to Apple’s push for HTML5 web development (and rejection of Flash on iOS devices), Adobe has in recent times made some significant moves to embrace HTML5 including the recent release of a Flash to HTML5 conversion tool. However this past weekend Adobe released Edge, a new piece of software that aims to help web developers create HTML5 web pages and animations.

Adobe Edge is a new web motion and interaction design tool that allows designers to bring animated content to websites, using web standards like HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3.

The move by Adobe is a significant one, and whilst at the moment is only in a ‘1.0’ beta, Edge will likely become a core piece of Adobe’s software repertoire. In its current form, Edge, is fairly limited to basic animations and can only handle a single page layout – however just like Adobe’s Dreamweaver, web developers can view and modify the code generated by Edge. TUAW, asking about integration with other Adobe products received a response that said integration would come, but at a later date.

However despite the promise of Edge, Adobe remains adamant that Flash is not dying. Instead, John Cole, creative solutions architect at Adobe claims “Flash and HTML5 will co-exist in the long term” – despite also admitting that HTML5 “will be big”. You can download the first beta of Edge from Adobe’s Lab website here.

[Via TUAW, The Inquirer]

AllThingsD: iPhone 5 Actually Set For An October Launch?

In recent weeks there have been rumors that the iPhone 5 will debut in late September – that timeframe sounded more likely than previous rumors of an August launch. But according to AllThingsD, the iPhone 5 will actually be an “October surprise”.

Claiming to have a source “familiar with Apple’s plans”, AllThingsD claims that any AT&T employee blackout during the last two weeks of September is unrelated to an iPhone launch. However despite citing October, the source declined to offer a specific date of launch – other sources of AllThingsD claim that the launch date would be later in October.

Last month DigiTimes reported that the iPhone 5 supply chain was ramping up for production runs in August for a late September unveiling and October launch to market – in line with today’s AllThingsD report. General rumors of the iPhone 5 have been suggesting an A5 processor, Qualcomm dual-mode GSM/CDMA baseband and an 8 MP camera.

[Via AllThingsD]

1Password Safari Extension Gets Complete Redesign with New Features

Ever since the release of OS X Lion and Safari 5.1, the Agile Bits team has been busy updating its 1Password Safari extension to work with the new OS and the updated version of the browser, which brings major changes both on Snow Leopard and Lion. Whilst initial Lion support (alongside Firefox 5 and Fluid 1.0 compatibility) was rolled out on June 20, Agile Bits spent the last month releasing new public and beta versions of 1Password for Mac, tweaking its extension engine and re-implementing features requested by their customers in an attempt to bring old functionalities back to Lion and Safari 5.1. First came support for Safari 5.1 on Snow Leopard (which has less features than its Lion counterpart, but still is a major upgrade from Safari 5.0), then Agile Bits released 1Password 3.7 for Mac through the public beta channel, adding features like copy to clipboard from the extension, universal unlock (if 1Password is already unlocked, so is the Safari extension), improved Auto Submit and a bunch of other changes and optimizations throughout the app and extension. You can read more about 3.7 beta here.

In the meantime though, Agile Bits was working on a complete redesign for the Safari extension, teased on the developer’s blog exactly a week ago. The new extension is now live, and as usual it needs to be installed from 1Password’s desktop Preferences panel (more information here). Read more