iOS 5 is now available.

iOS 5 is now available for download.

You should make some preparations before updating to iOS 5 such as installing iTunes 10.5 and backing up your devices.

iOS 5 Software Update

This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

•    Notifications
◦    Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Center
◦    New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
◦    View notifications from lock screen
◦    Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app
•    iMessage
◦    Send and receive unlimited text, photo, and video messages with other iOS 5 users
◦    Track messages with delivery and read receipts
◦    Group messaging and secure encryption
◦    Works over cellular network and Wi-Fi*
•    Newsstand
◦    Automatically organizes magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
◦    Displays the cover of the latest issue
◦    Background downloads of new issues
•    Reminders for managing to do lists
◦    Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
◦    Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
•    Built-in support for Twitter
◦    Sign-in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
◦    Add location to any tweet
◦    View twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts
•    Camera improvements for devices with cameras
◦    Double click the home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
◦    Volume Up button to take a picture
◦    Optional grid lines to line up shots
◦    Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
◦    Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
◦    Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure, iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock
•    Photo improvements for devices with cameras
◦    Crop and rotate
◦    Red eye removal
◦    One tap enhance
◦    Organize photos into albums
•    Mail improvements
◦    Format text using bold, italic, or underlined fonts
◦    Indentation control
◦    Drag to rearrange names in address fields
◦    Flag messages
◦    Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
◦    Customize mail alert sounds
◦    S/MIME
•    Calendar improvements
◦    Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
◦    Tap to create an event
◦    View and add event attachments
•    Game Center improvements
◦    Use personal photos for your Game Center account
◦    Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
◦    Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
◦    Discover new games with custom game recommendations
•    AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S
•    Multitasking Gestures for iPad
◦    Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
◦    Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
◦    Swipe left or right to switch between apps
•    On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant
•    Software updates available over the air without tethering
•    iCloud support
◦    iTunes in the Cloud
◦    Photo Stream
◦    Documents in the Cloud
◦    Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
◦    Backup
◦    Contacts, Calendar, and Mail
◦    Find My iPhone
•    Redesigned Music app for iPad
•    Hourly weather forecast
•    Real-time stock quotes
•    Wireless sync to iTunes
•    Keyboard improvements
◦    Split keyboard for iPad
◦    Improved autocorrection accuracy
◦    Improved Chinese and Japanese input
◦    New Emoji keyboard
◦    Personal dictionary for autocorrection
◦    Optionally create keyboard short cuts for frequently used words
•    Accessibility improvements
◦    Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
◦    Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
◦    New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
◦    Option to speak a selection of text
◦    Custom element labeling for VoiceOver
•    Exchange ActiveSync improvements
◦    Wirelessly sync tasks
◦    Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
◦    Improved offline support
◦    Save a new contact from a GAL service
•    More than 1,500 new developer APIs
•    Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update:
•    iPhone 4S
•    iPhone 4
•    iPhone 3GS
•    iPad 2
•    iPad
•    iPod touch (4th generation)
•    iPod touch (3rd generation)

* Normal carrier data rates may apply. Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable, carrier messaging fees apply.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

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Moving your MobileMe account to iCloud.

So, you want to move your MobileMe account to iCloud.

First, read this frequently asked questions about the MobileMe transition and iCloud.

What you need to have is at least one of the followings:

  • A Macintosh running OS X Lion 10.7.2
  • An iPhone, iPod touch or iPad running iOS 5.

From iCloud page at Apple.com:

iCloud requires iOS 5 on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd and 4th generation), iPad, or iPad 2; a Mac computer with OS X Lion; or a PC with Windows Vista or Windows 7 (Outlook 2007 or 2010 required for accessing contacts and calendars). Some features require a Wi-Fi connection. Some features are not available in all countries. Access to some services is limited to 10 devices

Whenever you are ready,  head to http://me.com/move/ and login to your MobileMe account. Follow the instructions. Once the transition completed, you can then login to iCloud.

Apple updates iTunes Terms and Conditions.

Apple updates iTunes Terms and Conditions ahead of iOS 5 release.

The changes we have made to the terms and conditions include the following:

  • Update of iTunes terms and conditions and/or certain usage rules to reflect changes to available content types;
  • Amendment of the App Store terms and conditions to account for the availability of free in-app subscriptions, and to explain where
    the subscriptions appear on devices after download;
  • New terms have been added that govern your use of iTunes Match, whereby you may pay a subscription fee to access certain
    content remotely, subject to existing association rules and usage rules, and explain that such content may be accessed on certain
    devices that are not subject to existing association rules, with limitations; and
  • New terms have been added that explain that use of iTunes Match requires collection of certain information from your iTunes library
    which shall be associated with your Account.

Complete iTunes Terms and Conditions can be found here.

Deluge of iOS 5 compatible Apps.

Apple has been busy approving iOS 5 compatible Apps. iOS 5 is scheduled for released on the morning of October 12th, 2011. Many of the Apps listed in the screen-capture are updated for iOS 5 compatibility.

Getting ready for iOS 5.

Apple is set to release iOS 5 to the public on Wednesday October 12th, 2011. Here are the steps to prepare yourself before upgrading to iOS 5:

  1. Download iTunes 10.5 – Mac | Windows | Windows 64 bit
  2. Back up your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad using iTunes.Make sure you check “Encrypt iPhone/iPod touch/iPad backup”. That way all your password settings are also backed up.
  3. Import all your photos and videos from the iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Mac users can use iPhoto, Aperture or Image Capture. Windows Users can directly access the Photos folder through Explorer and copy the files manually.
  4. Transfer all purchases from your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad to your computer using iTunes.
  5. Make sure the apps, songs, movies, ringtones in your iPhones, iPod touch or iPad are also in your iTunes Library.

Now you are ready for iOS 5.

Starting Wednesday October 12th, 2011 you can update your iPhone/iPod touch/iPad through iTunes.

If for some reasons you could not update to iOS 5, you might have to go the “Restore” route. After that you can “Restore from Backup”.

iOS 5 GM is expected to ship to Developers today.

Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone.” event just ended and Apple is expected to ship iOS 5 GM to developers anytime now.

Since Apple NDA is in effect, our Developer contacts are not saying a word about this. Logically Apple would ship the GM at least a week before the public release.