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The Big WWDC 2011 Keynote Roundup

Apple unleashed a volley of updates this afternoon to iOS, OS X, and introduced the new iCloud that’s bound to make an Apple user blush with excitement. With notifications, over the air updates, AirDrop, and wireless file syncing, Apple is addressing nearly all of the complaints I can think of from users across the board.

We’ve covered a lot on MacStories this afternoon between our detailed posts where you can learn more about new and popular features, to our live blog where we consolidated all of the news into once place. Below, you’ll find a briefing on what’s new in all of these components, and how they fit together in Apple’s vision of the future.

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iCloud Beta for Developers Goes Live

Right on time after iOS 5 and OS X Lion developer seeds, Apple has updated the Dev Center to include the new iCloud beta for Developer pages, which lists all the instructions to get iCloud going on iOS devices, Macs and iPhoto. Indeed, Apple is including a download link to iPhoto 9.2 to test the new Photo Stream features in a separate development environment (your existing library won’t be ported over). Obviously, many of these features are exclusive to Lion and Apple clearly tells developers to go download the latest OS X Developer Preview if they want to test iCloud’s functionalities.

The iPhoto update will replace your current version of iPhoto. Your existing iPhoto Library will NOT open with this version of iPhoto. For this reason it is recommended that you work on a test/development system ONLY when using this release. You will not be able to revert the system to an earlier version of iPhoto without doing a clean install of Mac OS X and reinstalling iPhoto either from your original installation DVD or by downloading from the Mac App Store.

An iCloud Control Panel for Windows is also available to enable “Photo Stream, Contacts, and Calendar” on a PC through iCloud. A new iCloud account can be set up in the iOS 5 setup assistant or Settings app; in Lion, iCloud can be enabled from the Internet Accounts section in System Preferences – Developer Preview 4 is likely required for this action. Once installed an enabled on all devices, Apple is asking developers to test the new features and take advantage of the new APIs in Lion and iOS 5 – it will be interesting to see how devs will implement the iCloud storage API unveiled this morning.

Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 4 Now Available

Following iOS 5 beta and iTunes 10.5 beta for Mac, Apple also flipped the switch on Mac OS X Lion Developer Preview 4 – available now for download in the Mac Dev Center. Build number is 11A480b, and it should contain all the new features demoed at the WWDC keynote today, including iCloud integration.

We’ll update this story with more details as they become available.

iTunes 10.5 Beta for Mac Released

Alongside the first beta of iOS 5, Apple also released iTunes 10.5 beta for Mac – which is required to sync iOS 5 devices and enable more iCloud-related features than iTunes 10.3, also waiting for release.

As the changelog confirms, the new iTunes enables compatibility with devices running iOS 5 – we’ll update this story with more details as they come in.

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Apple Releases iOS 5 Beta 1: Details, Screenshots, And More

Apple just updated the iOS Dev Center with the first beta of iOS 5 – registered developers can start the download now. However, as the Dev Center is coming back online as we speak, there might still be errors when trying to download the DMG files.

Update: the Dev Center has come back online for (almost) everyone, and the first news about iOS beta 1 are starting to come in. Notably, some users are already tweeting from iOS 5 as you can see from the screenshots below. Twitter reports “via iOS” as the client that sent the tweet, but redirects to twitter.com when clicking on it. Photos are hosted on Photobucket as part of Twitter’s recently announced photo service.

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“Automatic Downloads” Lets You Push Purchases Over The Air

Revealed last week with a leaked screenshot from iTunes and officially announced earlier today at the WWDC keynote, the “Automatic Downloads” feature for iOS device is now live and accessible from the Store menu inside the Settings app on an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 4.3. Here’s how it works: once enabled in the Store menu, the new functionality will allow you to beam apps, books and songs across devices – Macs, iPhones and iPads. For a first test, I enabled the menu on my iPhone, and started downloading a free app on my Mac. Within the seconds, the download started on my iPhone, which wasn’t connected via USB – it was an OTA download based on the fact that I hit “download” on my MacBook Pro.

The iPad, which was not enabled to have Automatic Downloads, alerted me to say I had to activate the feature if I wanted to see purchases becoming available on it.

Once activated on the iPad too, I downloaded an app on my iPhone and it started downloading both on the iPhone and iPad, automatically. But what about updates, not new purchases or free downloads? The system seems to be a bit unstable now: I had three app updates on my Mac, and I downloaded them. Those updates were showing up on the iPad App Store app with a red badge, but the download didn’t start automatically as with a new purchase / download. However, as soon as I opened the App Store on my iPad, those updates were gone – as if the device downloaded them in the background without me seeing a loading indicator. Maybe Apple simply needs a better UI for app updates (again, not new purchases) or better integration with iTunes 10.2.2 on the desktop (the announced iTunes 10.3 is not available yet).

To test the new Automatic Downloads for iOS and Macs, go to the Store menu on your iPhone and iPad and turn the switches to “on”. You can also decide to use cellular data when not on WiFi.

Find My iPhone 1.2 Released, Supports Notifications for Offline Devices

A new version of Find My iPhone was released a few minutes ago in the App Store. The new app, reaching version 1.2, adds the ability to remove offline devices from the list of iPhones and iPads you configured, or be notified with an email when an offline device comes online and is located again.

  • When you are unable to locate a device because it is is offline, you will receive an email if the device comes online and is located.
  • Ability to remove an offline device from the list using the app.

It’s unclear how the new Find My iPhone takes advantage of iCloud, but we’re pretty sure Apple has already moved everything to the new system from MobileMe. You can find the updated app here.

App Store Now Lets You Download Not-Available Apps, Like Tweetie 1

Great news coming from the updated App Store application featuring the new Purchased tab: as noticed by our reader Nicola, you can download, install and run apps no longer available in the App Store, like the original Tweetie 1 or Instapaper Free. The apps appear in your purchase history alongside the usual description and screenshots page.

Unfortunately, due to Twitter’s changes, Tweetie 1 doesn’t work anymore – still this looks like a great option to fill your app library with software developers removed from sale. It might also be a temporary glitch on Apple’s end – we’re not sure. But for now, you can download apps that don’t appear in the App Store listings.