Google Updates Google Sync for Better Mail and Calendaring on iOS

Not familiar with Google Sync? It’s not an app on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, but rather something that exists in the background to help you keep your Mail, Calendars, and Contacts in check. Today, Google is announcing improvements to the service so you can better push and pull information from the cloud.

The first improvements are with Mail, and I think this one is my favorite. Google is now giving iOS users the ability to search for messages stored on the server, and not just locally on your device. The next time you’re looking up an old love letter, just search in Mail for your message and it’ll continue the search on the server.

Mail is also getting another improvement in the account department. If you have multiple addresses tied into one gmail account, it’s now way easier to send as an alternate address in Mail. If you “send mail as” in Gmail, iOS will now respect those settings so you’ll never send email from the wrong address again.

Want to edit calendar events? Now you can! Accept, decline, and edit calendar event (invitations) are now possible through iOS.

For more information, and how to setup Google Sync on your device, please refer to the recent blog post and how-to-guide here.

[via The Official Google Enterprise Blog]

Shazam for iPhone Updated, Gets New LyricPlay Feature

Shazam, the popular music tagging application for iPhone that allows you to hold your device up to a speaker and instantly get to know what’s playing, has been updated earlier today to include a new functionality called LyricPlay that, according to the developers, will display lyrics for the song you’ve just tagged in a beautiful landscape view. It works like this: once Shazam (Encore or RED, as LyricPlay has only been added to the Premium versions) has found a song, it’ll be saved in the My Tags section as usual. In the section, there’s a new LyricPlay button that is capable of syncing lyrics with the song you’ve just tagged, quite possibly promising to start visualizing lyrics in the exact position you just tagged a song. Turn your iPhone in landscape, and lyrics will start flowing in real-time in a Star Wars-esque interface that’s actually quite nice and undoubtedly accurate as far as lyrics go (Shazam says they have access to 25,000 songs with Lyrics after the acquisition of Silicon Valley startup Tunezee).

In reality, I found Shazam’s new LyricPlay feature somewhat unreliable, as it didn’t show up on most (old and recent) songs I have in my iTunes library (best way to run a quick Shazam experiment is to use your own songs), and when it did it definitely wasn’t “synced” with the position of the song. I’m not sure how a listener is supposed to follow the song and the lyrics running on screen, but there’s no doubt Shazam needs to make the whole thing more intuitive.

Overall though, the idea is pretty nice and it comes s a free update. I’m sure LyricsPlay will get better over time, so go download the app here and check out what Shazam has to say in the official press release below. Read more

Apple Removes App That Revealed The Most Common PINs

On Monday we reported on what the most common PINs were for users of the Big Brother Camera Security app after its developer had added the ability for the app to anonymously send back those PINs. Many were not happy about hearing this and Apple was clearly among those as the Big Brother Camera Security app was pulled from the App Store yesterday.

In a blog post, the developer of the app, Danial Amitay explains that the app was not obtaining the actual lockscreen PINs but rather those used for his app. He also quells fears by explaining that when the app sent the data to his server it was “literally sending only that number (e.g. “1234”) and nothing else”. Amitay had presumed (when he added the function) that it would be within the iTunes EULA for him to do so, as it states the following (emphasis added):

b. Consent to Use of Data: You agree that Application Provider may collect and use technical data and related information, including but not limited to technical information about Your device, system and application software, and peripherals, that is gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, product support and other services to You (if any) related to the Licensed Application. Application Provider may use this information, as long as it is in a form that does not personally identify You, to improve its products or to provide services or technologies to You.

Amitay says he is actively trying to work out the issue Apple had with the app and get it back into the App Store soon. If it means he has to get rid of the code that sent the PIN data, he says would “gladly” do that, understanding the concern it raised. He does say however that he had planned to warn users not choose the obvious PINs that the data had revealed in a future update.

[Via Macgasm]

BBC iPlayer Rolling Out To Western Europe By Year’s End

A number of countries in Western Europe will be the first to experience the BBC iPlayer outside of the UK as the BBC begins its international rollout this year. Fans of BBC content such as Doctor Who that live in Western Europe will be the first that will be able to access it and other BBC shows (including archive content) on the iPlayer app available on the iPad.

The BBC will begin the rollout for Western Europeans sometime before the end of the year and at a monthly cost of something under $10 – the fee has yet to be finalised. The content library will be available on the iPad app but only in English at this stage.

For its international rollout of the BBC iPlayer, Jana Bennett who works for BBC Worldwide said to The Guardian that they are looking forward to adding collections of content for various genres including music, comedy and documentaries. She says that the international version is a “different proposition” from its British counterpart that is primarily for catch-up content.

The freedom from catchup means that we’ve got a lot more flexibility in terms of what we put on there and how we present it.

[Via The Guardian]

Lidpop Plays A Sound When Your Mac Wakes Up

Here’s a $0.99 app from the Mac App Store that I found quite hilarious and worth a mention here on MacStories. You know when you close your Mac’s lid, or wake the computer from sleep, right? Worst case scenario, you haven’t assigned any kind of security to the process so your Mac goes to sleep and wakes up without asking for any password or displaying a login screen. Or, maybe you’re a bit like me, and you’ve told System Preferences to lock the computer as soon as it’s closed so nobody will be able to open it and log in. But in both cases, closing the lid and opening it back again doesn’t change, right? It’s just a simple action: you open, you close. Here’s when Lidpop comes in: the app will make your Mac play a sound when it goes to sleep or wakes up. Close the lid, play a sound. Wake up from sleep, play another sound. It wants to add some personalization to the whole boring concept of opening and closing a computer, but I wasn’t quite sure about the idea until I tried it. See, Lidpop comes with some hilariously well-done sound effects like “electricity surge”, “sitcom laughter” or “slamming metal lid” that will play as you close the lid, or open it. I installed the app, and found myself smiling every time the lid made a slamming metal sound – you should have seen the look on my friends’ face. In fact, I think Lidpop is the perfect app to surprise your non-geek friends and convince them that Apple computers play those sounds when you close them. Might be something I have to try out.

Close the lid with a resounding clank or a happy slide whistle. Open it back up with a laugh or a whimsical chime — it’s up to you. Lidpop brings a dash of personality to your computer.

Lidpop won’t make you more productive but it’ll make laugh when you step away from your Mac and you hear the sound of a vault closing. Get the app here.

References to New Time Capsule With Software Update Caching Found

Following the variety of reports from the past weeks that claimed Apple would announce new Time Capsule and AirPort Extreme models at WWDC, an AirPort Utility update was released last night for Mac and Windows, bringing minor fixes to desktop users. AirPort Utility is Apple’s management software to configure and set up an AirPort base station or Time Capsule. Hidden in the update, however, there were some code strings spotted by MacRumors forum members that are hinting at 3rd generation Time Capsules and AirPort Extremes with a software update caching system. This was previously reported as a new feature of these products that would allow a Time Capsule (or AirPort Extreme) to download software updates in the background, cache them, and send them to computers and devices in seconds without the user waiting for the entire download process.

The code strings:

“bsUP.productName” = “Store Apple software updates on this %@”;

“bsUP.description” = “Apple software updates that are copied to this %@ are available to anyone using this network.”;

K31 K30B Time Capsule (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen3)

K10B Apple AirPort Extreme (Simultaneous Dual-Band, Gen3)

Mentioned in the app’s contents are also a 4th generation Time Capsule and a 5th generation AirPort Extreme. The existing simultaneous dual-band Time Capsules and AirPort Extremes are indicated as 2nd-gen by Apple, thus leading to speculation that an upcoming refresh would be the third generation mentioned in code.

In the weeks leading up to WWDC, several rumors suggested the new Time Capsule (Apple’s flagship router solution with integrated Time Machine capabilities) would be a complete redesign running a custom version of iOS through an A5 chip. Others also claimed Apple had implemented a way to store iCloud media on the Time Capsule (or hard drive attached to an AirPort Extreme) so iOS devices on the same local network wouldn’t have to download or stream content every time. As Apple didn’t announce any streaming feature for iCloud, however, it’s unlikely the Time Capsule would be capable of caching content downloadable from iTunes otherwise. The possibility of a caching system was also suggested by Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, who hinted at iOS software update without tethering to a computer. iOS 5 does have OTA updates built into the Settings app, so the Time Capsule would serve as a caching mechanism to download updates in the background, allowing users to close the Settings app and receive the update when it’s already been downloaded.

Facebook Working on Instagram-like Photo Sharing App

TechCrunch has posted a screenshot of what they claim to be a new photo sharing app for iPhone developed by Facebook and soon to be released in the App Store. The new app, internally codenamed “Hovertown” or “WithPeople” according to the website, from a first look at the leaked documents looks like a mix of Instagram, Color, Path and With. With the exception of Instagram  (for those who don’t know, an iPhone app / social network that allows you to share photos in seconds with cool built-in effects and geo-tagging capabilities), all the other apps mentioned by MG Siegler are photo sharing solutions meant to capture what’s around you, with people that are with you, are share it with people you know. Basing on these alleged similarities and the screenshot itself, Facebook may be working on an iPhone app that leverages the social graph and location information to share places, people and moments in single shots or entire photo streams.

How do we know? We have obtained roughly 50 MB of images and documents outlining the entire thing.

To be honest, we’re still sorting through all of them. But again, the app looks amazing. We’ve heard that internally it is being called either “Hovertown” or “WithPeople”. And while it looks like a stand-alone app right now, there are also signs that it could be eventually integrated into Facebook’s main iPhone app — as well as the main site.

It’s unclear whether the new photo product may be integrated with the official Facebook iPhone app (which is heavily web-based as far as the interface goes) in a new photos tab or if Facebook is really planning on releasing it as a standalone application. The Facebook iPhone app is the most popular free app of all time, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Facebook growing its catalogue of official software for the iOS platform. Facebook has been criticized for not having a native iPad app, a choice that has allowed third-party developers to build their own paid and successful solutions for the tablet. Read more

Twitterrific 4.2 Updated for Mac & iOS: MLKSHK, Pikchur, Read It Later, and More!

Twitterrific 4.2 is available on the App Store for both Mac and iOS right now if you’re so inclined to keep on top of the latest updates, and there’s some new major additions that we think you’ll really love. There’s also some big changes to how you’ll sign in–thanks to the way Twitter is requiring 3rd party clients to authorize your account–thus making 4.2 a mandatory update to comply with Twitter’s rules.

Read more