It’s been a rousing Monday on the Apple scene, with Cupertino dropping a new iOS 5.1 beta (and faking out bloggers at the same time), pulling a fake driver’s license app from the App Store and updating iTunes -- all while getting news that the Apple TV is no mere hobby. Ready to find out more from those tantalizing tidbits? Then read on and get a blast of all the news from this Monday, December 12, 2011.
The iOS 5.1 beta train rolls on today with the release of a second beta for developers only, tagged as Build 9B5127c. According to MacRumors, the only substantial change noted is a new feature allowing users to manage the images uploaded to Photo Stream. “Photos taken using iOS 5.1 can be deleted from Photo Stream on your device and will be removed automatically from Photo Stream on your other iOS 5.1 devices,” the release notes reveal. “Older photos can be manually deleted from your iOS 5.1 devices.” Sounds like a worthwhile change to us, and we look forward to using it on our own devices soon. According to Cult of Mac, the beta even comes with an Easter egg in the form of .plist files which comically refer to an “Apple TV 9, iPad 8 and iPhone 10, among others.” These appear to be inserted just to mess with bloggers who use such data for “exclusives” in an effort to predict future Apple devices. Hey, at least the engineers have a sense of humor, right? iOS 5.1 Beta 2 was also accompanied by a new version of Xcode 4.3 and software for the Apple TV as well.
AppleInsider is reporting that a letter of complaint sent to Apple CEO Tim Cook from U.S. Senator Bob Casey has resulted in Cupertino pulling a fake driver’s license app from the App Store. The appropriately named License from developer DriversEd.com “allowed users to electronically insert a digital photo and biographical information to a driver’s license template” which included all 50 states. The Pennsylvania Democrat voiced concerns about users being able to email the driver’s license image, print and laminate it to “potentially” make a fake driver’s license. The app has been in the App Store for more than two years, and the Coalition for Secure Driver’s License has been pushing to get the app removed as far back as April of this year, claiming that it “facilitates criminal fraud.”
According to 9to5Mac, the Apple TV is starting to become a serious business for Cupertino. Research firm Strategy Analytics has predicted that Apple will sell upwards of four million of those little black boxes in 2011, scooping up 32 percent of the market for “connected” TV devices. “Apple has emerged as the leading player in the rapidly growing connected TV player market,” the report reveals, with almost 12 million such devices sold this year in total. Another positive statistic for Apple claims that more Apple TV users are renting movies and TV shows, with 30 percent of that market versus the other guys’ 20 percent. Not bad for a $99 box that the company still famously considers a “hobby.”
The drama continues with AT&T’s proposed merger with T-Mobile, but this time the telco is getting a small reprieve. According to Engadget, AT&T has requested that the judge in the U.S. antitrust court proceedings to postpone things until January 18 to allow the company extra time to “evaluate all options” and “revise our current transaction to achieve the necessary regulatory approvals” for the merger. The New York Times is now reporting that Judge Huvelle has granted the stay of execution -- er, postponement -- meaning the drama will continue to unfold into 2012. Not like we weren’t expecting that anyway...
Quick! To the Software Update! Apple has just pushed out a minor update to iTunes, bringing the media player and storefront to version 10.5.2 for both Mac and Windows. According to the release notes, the update “includes several improvements for iTunes Match and fixes an audio distortion problem when playing or importing certain CDs.” Fairly vague as usual for Apple, but we’ll take whatever improvements we can get. To download, fire up Software Update or head directly to the iTunes download page and grab your copy today.
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