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iReply: Never Forget To Respond To A Text Message Again

It’s happened to everyone, you’ve received a text message and quickly read it but for any number of reasons decided you would respond to it later but then realize two days later that the message is still sitting unanswered in the Messages app on your iPhone.

Apple does a good enough job of alerting you to any unread text messages, but once read, you won’t get any more alerts about that text message. A new tweak to hit the Cydia store, iReply, aims to enhance that iOS SMS alert function by also reminding you of any text messages that you haven’t replied to and avoiding that awkward moment when your friend or boss asks why you ignored their text message. Jump the break for a short review of the app.

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US Senators Want Apple To Pull Apps That Aid DUI Checkpoint Evasion

A group of four US senators have called on Apple to remove apps from its App Store that warn and alert users of where DUI (driving under the influence) checkpoints are. In a letter addressed to Scott Forstall, Apple’s senior vice president of iPhone software, the four US senators which includes Harry Reid, Charles Schumer, Frank Lautenberg and Tom Udall convey their “grave concern” over the apps which are “harmful to public safety.”

The letter doesn’t name any specific apps but takes at aim at those which “allow customers to identify where local police officers have set up DUI checkpoints” and citing a police officer asks “what other purpose are they going to use them for except to drink and drive?” The App Store does indeed include numerous apps that have DUI checkpoint databases, some of which are free and some of which are paid and many feature crowd-sourced information gathering on the location of the DUI checkpoints.

The senators end their letter stating “We appreciate the technology that has allowed millions of Americans to have information at their fingertips, but giving drunk drivers a free tool to evade checkpoints, putting innocent families and children at risk, is a matter of public concern.” Currently the App Store Guidelines only state that apps cannot “encourage excessive consumption of alcohol or illegal substances, or encourage minors to consume alcohol or smoke cigarettes” - there is no mention of such police or DUI checkpoint evasion apps.

CNet contacted Apple for comment but received no comment at the time of publication. For the full letter from the senators, jump the break.

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Bertrand Serlet Is Leaving Apple After 22 Years

With a press release posted a few minutes ago, Apple has announced that senior vice president of Mac Software Engineering Bertrand Serlet is leaving the company after 22 years. Craig Federighi will assume Serlet’s responsibilities and report directly to Steve Jobs.

I’ve worked with Steve for 22 years and have had an incredible time developing products at both NeXT and Apple, but at this point, I want to focus less on products and more on science,” said Bertrand Serlet, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Craig has done a great job managing the Mac OS team for the past two years, Lion is a great release and the transition should be seamless.

Serlet has been working with Jobs for the last 22 years: the two worked together at NeXT and Serlet followed Jobs in his return at Apple to work on the modern versions of OS X as we know it. He played a key role in the development of Mac OS X and this is certainly a huge loss for Apple and the whole OS X engineering team. Serlet says he wants to focus “more on science”, and we wish him the best of luck. Craig Federighi – the guy that demoed OS X Lion back in October –  worked at NeXT, too, and came back to Apple in 2009.

Press release and a video of Serlet at the WWDC below. [image via]

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Quick Tip: iMovie App May Not Recognize Videos From Your Camcorder

With the release of the iPad 2, Apple updated the official iMovie app for iOS to include native support for the device and a brand new user interface that takes advantage of the features and real screen estate offered by the tablet. With new precision controls, intuitive UI and several sharing functionalities, we have seen iMovie for iPad has become for many the perfect way to quickly import a video, edit it with cool transitions and subtitles, and send it off to the cloud. These videos can be imported from an iPhone or iPod Touch, or just shot with an iPad 2 in HD.

Weeks ago we discussed Apple needed a better way to let iOS devices communicate with each other to share information and data without the need of using the cable. Something like AirDrop for iOS. As it stands now, you’re either forced to attach cables, sync with iTunes, or upload to MobileMe or Dropbox and download media again on a second device.

But the problem with the iMovie app for iOS also lies in the fact that it doesn’t recognize “certain non-Apple video clips” recorded with non-iOS devices. A support document updated yesterday explains:

iMovie for iOS is designed to work with video recorded with iPad 2, iPhone 4, and iPod touch (4th generation). To ensure optimal performance, the app filters out certain non-Apple video clips from the Video browser. These incompatible clips cannot be added to your iMovie project.

It’s simple: videos from your camcorder might not be compatible with iMovie out of the box, so forget about the camera connection kit or other techniques. Apple doesn’t provide technical specifications, but we’re pretty sure a free app like Handbrake can help you along with the conversion of a video to an iOS-compatible format. [via AppAdvice]

Long-time Subscriber? The NYT Gives You 1 Year of Free Web, iPhone and iPad Access→

Long-time Subscriber? The NYT Gives Out 1 Year of Free Web, iPhone and iPad Access

Jim Dalrymple at The Loop reports the New York Times is refining its paywall introduction by gifting one year of full free digital access (web, iPhone and iPad) to “long-time subscribers”. Apparently the NYT started sending out emails to some subscribers earlier today inviting them to join the promotion, and the one who got in touch with by The Loop has been a subscriber for 12 years.

The customer I spoke with has been a subscriber for 12 years and received the email this afternoon. He said he took The Times up on the offer and accepted the one-year free.

In the email The Times says “as a frequent reader of NYTimes.com, you’ve demonstrated an uncommon interest in a wide variety of today’s most important topics.” The email and subscription is being sponsored by Lincoln.

The New York Times’ paywall is set to go live for everyone on March 28th.

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“Single-Issue” $1.99 Downloads Coming to WSJ iPad App

In an effort to drive more customers to its monthly subscription plans and experiment with the App Store distribution platform, the Wall Street Journal is launching “single-issue” downloads in its official iPad app, Paid Content reports. The option, not available yet in the free iPad app, will allow users to download a day’s WSJ content for $1.99 on their iPad, and according to Dow Jones’ digital head Alisa Bowen the new system will better invite users to subscribe to the full-access digital subscription plan. Single-issue downloads will offer a relatively cheap way to sample content and decide whether or not a full subscription is worth it.

There will be limitations in the single-issue downloads, but the WSJ hasn’t provided additional details. These new downloads won’t affect in any way the current $18 subscription that gives readers complete access to the WSJ website.

Right now, any current WSJ subscriber with a log-in can get full access—to the site and all the apps—and that won’t change. In addition, the WSJ recently began offering a digital bundle offer. Basically, for $3.99 per week, you can get full access to WSJ.com and its suite of digital products (iPad, Android Tablet Edition, iPhone and BlackBerry apps), all of which works out to roughly $17 with tax for a full month.

Bowen told me that she believes readers are more likely to subscribe once they had a taste of the content. But it’s not the first time they’ve tried that approach. For example, WSJ content is available for free to users who log on to Starbucks’ digital network as part of the coffee chain’s free wifi access.

Last week, controversy arose around the New York Times’ subscription plans that will force readers to choose between three different packages for website access, smartphone and tablet apps. Many think the NYT’s plans are too expensive and complex in differentiating between smartphones and tablets; it is unclear at this point whether the WSJ will consider a unified option for iPhone, iPad and Android users or take a similar approach to the NYT by launching different subscriptions across devices. The single-issues downloads are expected to be implemented with a new version of the iPad app, which was last updated in February.

Apple TV 4.2.1 Update Released With Various Fixes

As noted by MacRumors, Apple issued an update for the second-generation Apple TV earlier today bringing a number of fixes and stability improvements. More specifically, the Apple TV 4.2.1 software (based on iOS 4.3) fixes the color and flickering issues reported by many owners of old televisions in the past months and also fixes other problems with audio and “wake from sleep”. The changes are outlined in Apple’s support document for the device.

TV compatibility: Addresses issues that may cause the screen to flicker or display incorrect color on some older TVs.

Wake from sleep: Addresses an issue where Apple TV may not wake up from sleep.

Audio: Addresses an issue where audio may not be heard on some TV models after switching from another input.

Stability and performance: Apple TV Software Update 4.2.1 includes stability and performance fixes for Apple TV

With iOS 4.3, Apple brought NBA League Pass and MLB.tv to the Apple TV, as well as several minor changes to the interface and user experience.

Aperture 3.1.2 Released

Apple released a minor update to Aperture a few minutes ago, improving compatibility with the importing process of iPhoto libraries and a number of reliability improvements for brushes. The new version is labelled 3.1.2; Aperture 3.1.1 was released in December.

More information about the update are available here, full changelog below.

About Aperture 3.1.2

This update improves overall stability and performance, including specific fixes in the following areas:

Importing iPhoto libraries

Reliability and responsiveness when using brushes to apply adjustments

Reconnecting referenced master images

Aperture 3.1.2 is also available in the Mac App Store at $79.99.

Steve Jobs: “We Have No Plans To Kill The iPod Classic”

In the past months, several reports suggested Apple was in the process of discontinuing the iPod Classic line, which hasn’t been updated in years, to make room for the latest generation iPod Touches, Nanos and Shuffles. With stock running low in several Apple resellers and a lack of announcements at Apple’s September music event, many thought the iPod Classic was on its way out. The numbers, however, proved that in spite of old hardware, the Classic was the 5th most popular music player in the US in 2010. Rumors of new portable hard drives by Toshiba even suggested Apple might not discontinue the line, but bump its capacity to a whopping 220 GB in the same design. That hasn’t happened yet.

Now it’s Steve Jobs himself, in an email reply to a MacRumors reader, to confirm that Apple isn’t planning to kill the iPod Classic just yet.

Q: Hello, I’ve heard a LOT of speculation that Apple is looking to kill the iPod Classic because it wasn’t updated on Sept. 1st, and that a lot of people would rather Touch. The iPod Classic is probably the best iPod in the line. PLEASE DON’T KILL IT!!!

A: We have no plans to.

Sent from my iPhone

So there you have it. In his usual short-reply fashion, Jobs allegedly reassures a loyal Apple fan that the iPod Classic isn’t going anywhere. Discontinuing the line would indeed be a strange move on Apple’s part, considering how the iPod Classic is the only device that can enable owners of large music collections to carry around their libraries without worrying about space.