Apple’s iPod nano adopted a new form factor in late 2010, stripping the popular music player of its scroll wheel and replaced it with a small multi-touch screen, with apps for music, radio, and podcasts. Although the new design gave the iPod nano a revamp and introduced a better option for browsing music, many users complained that the device still lacked some of the features that it once had, such as a video camera, and video playback. Japanese site, Macotakara now reports that Apple is planning yet another redesign of the iPod nano line.

According to the report, the next gen iPod nano will carry a larger rectangular display and a home button, similar to the one found on all iOS devices. The screen, although larger than the current generation, would still be relatively smaller than other iOS devices, and as a result, would not run iOS apps. Apple will likely create a new OS for the device and add on a skin to resemble iOS. The report also goes on to mention that Apple may bring a “dedicated new iTunes Service” to the device, however, it remains unclear exactly what that would be.

Apple’s iPod nano has gone through many major redesigns since its first generation, with Apple adding a camera and then removing it in the latest generation. Apple’s 8th generation design was rumored to receive a camera, with images of a camera hole in the clip of the Nano, however, Apple likely scrapped those plans for this new design. This new design makes sense for a number of reasons; a redesign would help increase iPod sales which have been in decline for several quarters, the last two generations of iPod nano have had the same design, and this design would help Apple synchronize its product lines and make multi-touch the focal point.

If Apple released this new design later in the year, iPod nano users would see more functionality with a larger screen, a camera, and a tailored iTunes service.

{via MacRumors}

Earlier in the week, Apple released iOS 5.1.1 for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch and now the company has updated the Apple TV to version 5.0.1. The update doesn’t bring any major features to the set top box, but now allows previews of movies and TV shows to be viewed in HD. Previously, the TV shows and movies could only be viewed in HD after the customer purchased it. In addition to this new feature, the update also brings a few minor bug fixes to the 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TV models. Other minor updates for the Apple TV include:

iTunes previews – Previews for movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store can now be viewed in HD.
AirPlay – Fixes an issue that caused some iOS apps to have trouble connecting via AirPlay.
Home Sharing – Improves the reliability of Home Sharing connections.
Netflix – Addresses an issue affecting Netflix login and navigation.
Stability and performance – Includes fixes for issues affecting stability and performance.

The update is now available directly on the Apple TV and can be downloaded by going to Settings>General>Update Software. Apple, with this latest update, is likely stabilizing the minor bug fixes and patching up issues in iOS 5 before the company releases iOS 6, the next version of its mobile software.

{via MacRumors}

I must admit, when a friend and I decided to take up app coding as a hobby to see if we could make a game, I thought mobile app coding was the same across the board. Guess what? It is not the same. Surprise I know, don’t get me wrong I didn’t think it was identical but I did think it would be more cross-platform than it is. Specifically, we’ll look at the differences of aesthetics between iOS and Android in this article.

In a nutshell, it’s easier to make good looking apps in iOS than in Android. Hipmunk UI/UX designer and iOS developer Danilo Campos explains: “The very simple short answer is it’s easier to make a good-looking, attractive iOS app compared to making an Android app.”

It’s no surprise that when you look at an Apple product vs. a Google product that the Apple product is going to most likely be more polished and sleek, also more expensive. This should give you a hint as to which one cares more about these qualities when it comes to software as well. Now that I sit down and think about it, it makes perfect sense, I just hadn’t thought about it.

Though many things that Apple product users such as myself see as issues with Android many Android users see as benefits. This might be true but some of these are the very reason for the apps not appearing as polished. One thing is for sure, it is is not for lack of talent in the Android development scene.

Let’s look at the reasoning before I am strung up by the Android users:

• Fragmentation: iOS devs have fewer resolutions and hardware profiles to worry about. The Android market is saturated with devices with different resolutions and hardware specs.

“Android devices come in different shapes and sizes, different screen resolutions, different device speeds – and that’s actually a huge hurdle,” Karma app co-founder Lee Linden told Wired.

• Images: Hipmunk generates its Android assets in three resolutions: 1x for older devices, 2x for high-resolution devices and 1.5x for other devices. Campos states that this is a must to avoid artifacting in some apps. The issue with this is that you’re spending more times on things like images and not on ground-breaking and cutting edge technology development. Even if you are, that’s added time and expense that iOS devs don’t have to worrry about.

• Tools & Documentation: Surprisingly, tools and documentation is less robust when it comes to Android. I say surprising as Android is more open than iOS. Part of that is that Apple has had a 20 year head start in developer support. That’s when you have to ask yourself, how old is Android really? That’s how long Google has been at developer support and it doesn’t come without some growing pains.

Campos states, “It feels like you’ve got more documentation, both officially sanctioned and thirdparty, so that makes things smoother.” He adds, “One of the hangups [with Android] is so much of the stuff doesn’t feel fully documented.” “Ryan, our Android guy, has to go digging around in the source code to figure out some XML formatting piece that isn’t made clear. That’s been painful for him.”

Overall, Google is learning from their developers and fixing many of the issues. Adding developer support pages to Google+ and also adding a much more robust Android training regiment. With these improvements, some issues still persist. The fragmentation remains as a major issue as less than 3 percent of Android devices currently run Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0). I’ll continue to monitor the progress as my company utilizes Google Apps for Business and I am a fan of all things Google, except Android. Sorry Android fans, it just hasn’t lured me away from iOS… yet.

{via Gizmodo}

“This incident raises questions about whether Apple’s iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts.”

Butterfield and Waxman then quote parts of Apple’s iOS developer website which states that Apple provides a comprehensive collection of tools and frameworks for storing, accessing and sharing data. It is then questioned whether Apple requires apps to request user permission before transmitting data about a user.”

As soon as the Congressmen reached out to Tim Cook, Apple responded with a reply, that the issue will be addressed through a iOS update very soon, likely iOS 5.1.

“Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.”

Apple has been releasing iOS 5.1 beta software updates for quite some time now, but has not yet released to the public. It is likely that Apple is planning to release the iOS 5.1 update alongside the rumored iPad 3, however, it is unclear whether iOS 5.1 will address the issue with data collection.

The jailbreak community has always tried and been successful in giving users more options to customize their iOS device. Even as Apple tries its best to plug the security holes and bugs to get rid of ‘jailbreak’ the community continues to find new bugs and release updated tools to make jailbreaking possible.

The latest hack being developed by iOS developers Steven Troughton-Smith and TheMudKip is for second gen Apple TV that enables you to run iPhone / iPad apps at full screen on your HDTV. In order to achieve this the developers used a coded a custom Springboard for a jailbroken Apple TV.

Second gen Apple TV includes Apple’s A4 chip which is also used in fourth gen iPhone and iPod touch. A video posted on YouTube by the developers shows that iOS apps run quite well on the Apple TV. This is just a proof of concept as the hack appears to be still under development and not available for the public as yet.

Apple has been rumored to be developing Apple television and various rumors and reports in the past have suggested that the company could introduce apps specifically for its television and even expand iTunes store content to offer users more reasons to buy Apple’s television.

In Steve Jobs’ biography it was first time revealed that Apple was indeed researching a simple interface for the television and that Jobs had finally figured the way to build a TV with “simplest user interface you could imagine,”.

{via MacRumors}

Before iOS 4 was made available Apple would not allow apps that were developed using tools other than the official SDK. Later when some of the top apps were discovered to be using other tools Apple changed its developer guidelines and allowed such apps to be accepted as long as they don’t download any code.

With the latest versions of Flash Builder and Flex Adobe will be able to offer support for iOS development. In addition to iOS, the software also supports Android and BlackBerry’s PlayBook.

Adobe’s CEO continues to feel that for Apple it’s a business decision as opposed to being a technology decision when it comes to offering native support for flash in mobile safari. Steve Jobs on the other hand believes that Flash is on its way out as HTML5 is gaining more popularity.

It’s interesting to note that Adobe is also working on a Flash-to-HTML5 converter so that developers can convert their flash based projects and make them compatible with Apple’s safari browser for iOS devices.

For those of you who love your iOS apps, you’ll be interested to know that there have been some great updates recently to some of the App Store’s most popular, including Game Centre support for Labyrinth 2 and Guitar Hero, and a new ocean layer for Google Earth!

Google Earth

Version 3.1.0 brings with it an awesome new feature that lets you explore the ocean floor on your device. It’s pretty impressive, and as it’s free, there’s no reason not to try it out (view in iTunes)! Another great new improvement is that Google Earth now features incredibly sharp and detailed visuals, optimized for the Retina display.

Facebook

Facebook’s update brings the application up to version 3.2.3. This update (view in iTunes) includes many fixes to several bugs, including:

• Fixed a crash when receiving push notifications
• Fixed a crash when navigating in Messages
• Fixed inconsistent notification counts in notification bar and application badge
• Fixed a problem where people would appear twice in Here Now on a Place view
• Fixed a problem that could cause the toolbar to not be shown on a Place view
• The update also improves the login experience for developers using the Facebook SDK.

Labyrinth 2

The update to Labyrinth 2 brings it up to version 1.3.0 and includes Game Centre support. There are 36 Game Centre achievements, together with a leaderboard. There are also graphical improvements, which now make Labyrinth 2 (view in iTunes) perfect on the Retina display.

Guitar Hero

One of my favorite iPhone games available, and now even better, as Guitar Hero also includes Game Centre support, although we’re unsure how many achievements there are at present. Version 1.2.0 (view in iTunes) also provides support for multitasking and makes Guitar Hero iOS 4.1 ready. If you haven’t already played this game, I seriously recommend it.