In-App Purchases Require Password Reentry for iOS 4.3

According to the Washington Post, Apple iOS 4.3 included a change that requires users to re-enter their iTunes Store password in order to confirm in-app purchases, even if the user already entered their password to download the application. This could be Apple’s answer to all the questions they have received about concerns of children and others buying thousands of dollars of in-app purchases on games such as Capcom’s Smurfs’ Village.

The Cupertino company’s move affects users of its most recent operating system and comes amid growing concern by federal and state enforcement agencies that consumers, including children, were not adequately informed or aware that they were incurring charges on iTunes accounts because of a 15-minute period that allowed for purchases without a password. Apple said its new device software, iOS 4.3, made available Wednesday, will come with a feature that requires a password when purchases are made within an application after it is downloaded.

An Apple spokeswoman said that this change to iOS 4.3 should prevent people without knowledge from ‘accidentally’ buying in-app content.

We are proud to have industry-leading parental controls with iOS,” said Trudy Muller, a spokeswoman for Apple. She said users have always been able to use parental control setting and restrictions of in-app purchases to protect their iTunes accounts from accidental charges. “With iOS 4.3, in addition to a password being required to purchase an app on the App Store, a reentry of your password is now required when making an in-app purchase.

Please remember that that giving passwords to children, or anyone other than you, is considered a bad practice, especially now that they can re-enter them for in-app purchases without asking. Parents: next time you hand an iPad or iPhone to your kids just to “keep them happy and quiet”, think about the consequences; because you can’t blame Apple or any other tech company if your children break the bank.

[via MacRumors]

Apple Rolls Out “Like” & “Post” to Ping for iOS 4.3 iPod App

Announced yesterday but not enabled until a few hours ago, the iPod app on iOS 4.3 got two new features: you can now “like” songs and “post” them to Ping directly from the iPod app on iOS 4.3. We’re not sure right now whether this feature only works with tracks and albums purchased from the iTunes Store or music that matches the exact information stored in iTunes servers (try it with your Amazon MP3s, and let us know if it works), but as it stands now Apple has definitely updated the iPod app remotely to integrate the Ping functionality. It wasn’t there yesterday, and there it is now (see screenshots).

To like or post a song, Make sure to be signed into Ping from the iOS iTunes app. Open the iPod app, tap the artwork to bring up the top toolbar and check out the Ping icons. One is to like a song, one is to post it. Both will show up in your Ping activity stream, also accessible from the iOS iTunes app.

Update: it looks like the Ping buttons only appear in tracks purchased from the iTunes Store.

Your Verizon iPhone Won’t Send iMovies To Your Apple TV Just Yet

The Verizon iPhone might lessen dropped calls, but it’s getting the short end of the stick thanks to the lack of Apple’s latest iOS 4.3 update. Heads up: a note in the iMovie support documents indicate that the Verizon iPhone isn’t compatible with the Apple TV just yet, as sending a movie from iMovie to the Apple TV requires the iOS 4.3 update for your iPhone, as well as the Apple TV Software 4.2. AirPlay has recently been vastly expanded in the iOS 4.3 update, adding support from Photos to other supporting apps, and you’ll need to hold on a little longer if the movie buff in you can’t wait to share home movies on the big screen.

http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3686

GarageBand for iPad Now Available

Following the release of iMovie for iPad, Apple also pulled the trigger on the second app unveiled at the March 2 event, GarageBand for iPad. The app is available now in the App Store at $4.99.

GarageBand for iPad features an intuitive interface depicting real music instruments you can play with your fingers and multitouch; with Smart Instruments, users who are not musicians but still want to play music can use the tools provided by the app to easily switch between chords and notes without actually having to precisely know music. For medium to advanced users, GarageBand offers a semi-professional music making and mixing environment with multi-track audio recording, exporting features, touch instruments with a realistic interface for drums, guitars, synthesizers, pianos and many more. GarageBand for iPad really is a full-functional port of the Mac version with the addition of multitouch that allows you, for example, to play instruments at different sensitivity levels thanks to the built-in support for pressure recognition through the accelerometer.

GarageBand looks like a must-have for iPad owners and an app that we’ll thoroughly test next week once we get our hands on the iPad 2. You can find it here at $4.99. Full changelog below. Read more

Apple Releases iMovie for iPad

As announced in a press releases earlier today, Apple has just released the new iMovie for iPad. It is available now in the App Store at $4.99 here. iMovie is a universal app for iPhone 4 and iPad 2, a free update for existing customers.

iMovie for iPad takes where the Mac and iPhone versions left off to bring a powerful yet easy to use movie editing experience to the iPad, deeply based on multitouch technology. Users of iMovie for iPad can easily import their photos shot on the iPad 2, or iPhone or iPod touch (or any other camera) through the Camera Connection Kit; movies recorded at 720p through the iPad 2’s back camera can be accessed from a Library popup menu to start editing right away. With a split-screen interface you can visualize the movie you’re editing in the top section, and manage or trim video and photo segments in the lower part of the iPad’s screen. You can pinch to zoom to additional parts of a video, use the precision editor to adjust videos with accuracy.

You can import songs from your iPod library to use for background audio, or use the built-in effects in iMovie. You can share videos on the web through Facebook, Youtube and a variety of other services, beam your creations to the Apple TV via AirPlay, or simply export to iTunes.

Go get the new iMovie 1.2 here. Read more

The iPad: Does It Need Programming Apps?

Many things have been said about the iPad as a content creation tool, rather than a device to consume media like music, movies and photos. In spite of the plethora of apps released in 2010 that proved you can actually do stuff on an iPad, at the iPad 2 event last week Steve Jobs himself wanted to remember the audience how the tablet is “no toy”, also thanks to the upcoming iMovie and GarageBand apps. But no matter how many apps allow you to produce and create original content using only your fingers and the virtual keyboard, there’s still a niche market Apple hasn’t addressed yet: coding apps. Read more

Developers Can Still Enable Multitasking Gestures in 4.3 Final with Xcode

With the final release of iOS 4.3 final yesterday, several readers asked us whether or not Apple pulled the multitasking gestures that had been implemented in developer betas of iOS 4.3. As we noted in January, multitasking gestures for iPad were only meant for testing purposes so developers could test the integration of gestures in their apps. The feature needed to be activated with Xcode.

We received word from several developers that the multitasking gestures can still be enabled in the final version of iOS 4.3 (build 8F190, same as GM), but you will need Xcode and an Apple Developer account to register the device for development and activate the gestures panel in the iOS Settings app. Again, the process takes less than a minute and you can find the instructions here.

The gestures in iOS 4.3 final are the same of earlier betas:  four or five finger pinch to Home screen, swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar, swipe left or right to switch between apps. So if you have Xcode and a dev account, update your iPad to 4.3 final and you’ll still be able to activate gestures. [via RazorianFly]

Flipboard CEO Talks New Version, iPad 2

With the release of version 1.2 last night, the team at Flipboard has one again raised the bar for social magazines on the iPad. Flipboard 1.2, not different in the design from the previous iterations but richer in content,  manages to extend the platform’s capabilities beyond articles and status updates with Instagram integration. The coolest iPhone-only social network these days is now baked directly into Flipboard thanks to an API that allows you to browse photos, comment on them and like them, discover and follow users without leaving the app or jumping to Safari. Everything happens through Flipboard. Together with that, a new feature called “social search” lets you browse for any term or hashtag within an easy-to-use popup menu that aggregates content from a variety of sources like Facebook, Twitter and the aforementioned Instagram.

In an interview with Robert Scoble, Flipboard CEO Mike McCue confirms Social Search is the first example of the implementation of Ellerdale, a company Flipboard acquired last year to build a smart algorithm for aggregating and displaying relevant and personalized content. Whilst this “intelligent system” is still in the works, all the members of Ellerdale are now working at the Flipboard office and have shipped the very first feature last night, social search. It’s very cool in the way it catches tweets, photos, articles and status updates from social media, but it’s not intelligent yet. More will come in the next months, we’re sure.

McCue also gives a hint at advertising coming in future versions of Flipboard. Some fullscreen, elegant banners have already been implemented in the Flipboard-formatted version of SF Gate, and he says they’re indeed targeting for this kind of ads: beautiful photography, fast and lightweight. The opportunity for publishers to team up with Flipboard (like SF Gate) and set up iPad-optimized versions of their articles is also something McCue is heavily betting on. Last night, Flipboard rolled out integration with Wired and Pictory, too.

Last, Flipboard is going to take advantage of the iPad 2’s improved hardware with the possibility to create more than two pages in the main screen – currently a limitation of the iPad 1 hardware and memory constraints. With the iPad 2 coming out tomorrow, we can’t wait to see how Flipboard will benefit from faster processor, graphics and more RAM. As for the competition and all the tablets coming out this year, McCue says they’re just going to wait and see.

Check out the video below.
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