“Exciting Announcement from iTunes” Coming Tomorrow

Oh, look what we have here. Apple just updated its homepage on apple.com to include this banner, which states an “exciting announcement” from iTunes is coming tomorrow at 7 AM PST. “Tomorrow is just another day. That you’ll never forget” – that’s quite a thing to write up on Apple’s homepage.

We know that iOS 4.2 should drop tomorrow at 10 AM PST, and we know that iPhone and iPad users will be able to download the software update using iTunes. Will Apple change the system underlying the whole software update process? But then again, how would that be something we’ll never forget? It definitely must be something else than iOS 4.2-related rumors.

What comes to mind if the long-awaited “iTunes in the cloud”, based on that huge data center Apple is building in North Carolina. Apple could deploy a cloud-based sync and streaming solution for apps and media, or the rumored iTunes subscription service for music. The possibilities are really endless, and it’s just up to Apple and how much they’re willing to deploy in the first version of “the new iTunes”. What we’re sure of is, Steve Jobs doesn’t hype something so much unless it’s totally revolutionary and breakthrough. So the cloud would be, in my opinion, the most plausible answer.

We’ll check back tomorrow at 7 AM PST. Is there going to be a live streaming of the announcement, anyway? Or just text and screenshots? We’ll keep you posted as we find out more.

Update: more speculation here.

The iPadification of OS X – Part II→

The iPadification of OS X – Part II

iOS and OS X may share some DNA, but irreconcilable differences remain. The two OSs serve two different usage models. As a result, Apple is likely to grow them separately instead of trying to bastardize iOS into a one-OS-fits-all. If we have doubts, we can go back and look at what happened with Windows shoehorned onto a Tablet PC.

So: Now that I’ve taken both sides—Yes, iOS will be the Apple OS; No, it won’t—what do I really believe? I think it’s a matter of numbers and layers of software silt.

Think about it: iOS 5 and Lion could come out together sometime next summer.

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Steve Jobs: iOS and OS X Keynote Presentations Coming To Apple TV

According to a recent email from Steve Jobs to a user asking whether the Apple TV would be able to display Keynote presentations at some point, iOS and OS X presentations are coming “soon” to the Apple TV.

“Soon”, as in Keynote ‘11 for Mac and an updated iPad version? That would be an option, or maybe a simple update to the existing iWork suite to support the feature. Speaking of which, that would be something like AirPlay for presentations, right? It makes perfect sense to be able to output presentations on a bigger screen powered by the Apple TV in an Apple-focused office environment, although the functionality wouldn’t obviously be that big of a deal for “home workers”.

Anyway, we’re looking forward to new AirPlay feature, iWork ‘11 or whatever a Steve Jobs email can tell us about new things coming to Apple devices.

The Future Of Writing On Tablets→

The Future Of Writing On Tablets

iPad is often described as a “lean-back” device, which is wrong. It’s a lean-back device, if you are in a lean-back situation where you read. But it also works as a lean-forward device. It works for writing if it’s optimized.

The lean-forward/lean-back change is hard on the iPad, but if you have a program that helps you just do one certain task, iPad can be useful. It’s that single-mode atmosphere that makes the iPad fun and strange at the same time.

Reading works well, but writing works well too if it’s just input and not editing.

The first wave of iPad apps was mostly made of bigger iPhone apps. The second wave saw Flipboard, Writer and OmniFocus coming to our tablets. The third wave is going to be real fun.

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Letterbox Now 10.6.5 Compatible

Letterbox is a must-have plugin for Apple Mail which takes advantage of widescreen monitors and lets you display messages in a 3-column widescreen view. Apple Mail doesn’t support this by default.

The plugin is now fully 10.6.5 compatible, all you have to do is head over the official website, download the bundle and double click on it to install. Mail will restart and the plugin will be activated. In Mail’s preferences window you’ll be able to access Letterbox’s options, which allow you to switch back to preview pane at the bottom, enable alternate row colors and show a divider line between rows. Read more

Apple Brings Ping To The iPad

Earlier today, ahead of iOS 4.2 launch, Apple updated the backend of the iTunes app for iPad to include support for Ping. Once you’ve authorized Ping in iTunes 10 on the Mac, you can access your stream through a Ping tab at the bottom of iTunes app. Just like the desktop version, Ping for iPad integrates with Twitter and automatically tweets every time you like or post something on Ping.

You can like and post songs available in the iTunes Store (sadly, there’s no way to integrate Ping with the native iPod app), check on your profile and see your activity. There’s also a concert-specific section that shows local concerts, bands on tour and links to purchase tickets on ticketmaster.

Ping integration in iTunes for iPad suggests iOS 4.2 is really around the corner now, as we reported when Apple released the second GM build of iOS 4.2 for iPad last night.

Check out more screenshots below. [Thanks, Tim] Read more

iPhone 4 Not So Great At Grilling Contest

iOS, Windows Phone 7, Android…each one of them comes with its pros and cons, advantages and shortcomings. It is up to a user’s perspective and needs to find the best platform and device. So from the video you can watch below, it appears that grilling is a priority for this user, who decided to see which device between a T-Mobile G2, HTC Surround and iPhone 4 would survice the terrific grilling contest he set up.

The iPhone 4 doesn’t win. There’s no app for that. The result, however, might surprise you. Check out the video below.

Apple Seeds Xcode 4 Preview 5 To Developers

A few minutes ago Apple released the fifth developer preview of Xcode 4 to developers. It’s available in the Mac and iOS Dev Center. The release comes a month after the fourth developer preview.

This is a pre-release version of Xcode 4, a major new release of Xcode for both Mac and iOS development. This release requires Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, and includes the iOS SDK 4.2 GM seed, to develop apps for Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

As for this very specific build, new features for tabs, editors panes and alerts are introduced:

This preview introduces new features and enhancements for tabs, editor panes, and alerts.  These features are designed to scale the single window interface of Xcode 4 to more effectively use available screen real estate, from the 11” MacBook Air, up to Macs equipped with multiple monitors.  Please experiment with these new features to see how Xcode 4 can speed up your daily development tasks.