Beta software updates are available only to registered developers. The build number of the beta update released today is 12D5480a. Xcode 6.2 beta 5 with Watchkit was also made available today.

iOS 8.2 enables Watchkit features for developers. During its Q1 2015 earnings report Apple’s CEO Tim Cook announced that the company is on track to ship Apple Watch in April. Developers are busy developing apps for Apple’s upcoming smart watch, adding glances and notifications for their existing iPhone apps.

Apple Watch will work only with an iPhone as it relies on its bluetooth connection to process information. Developers  are beginning to showcase some examples of AppleWatch apps they are working on. The smart watch could be a great way to unlock your car, check To-Do lists or even collect gold and elixir resources from Clash of Clans.

Apple hasn’t revealed battery life of the upcoming device however, it is obvious that it will vary depending on how often you use the device. Apple has hinted that it is possible to get a full days worth of use without charging in some use case scenarios.

According to a rumour Apple has asked one of its Apple Pay partners to have their app ready by mid-February. The company will be looking for a successful launch of its smart watch with major apps available for its new product category on launch day.

Are you excited about Apple Watch? Which apps would you like to see on launch day? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Apple will showcase the next major release of OS X during WWDC 2013 keynote event and according to a new report OS X 10.9 will focus on power-user features. OS X 10.9 has been widely reported to be internally codenamed as “Cabernet” which won’t bring a complete UI change to the operating system but will improve the overall performance and functions of the OS.

In a new report 9to5 Mac details the upcoming features of OS X 10.9 highlighting tags and tabbed browsing mode in the Finder. A new version of Safari is also reported to be in the works that will feature a “redesigned backend for improved page loading, speed and efficiency”. Another pro-user friendly feature that could be introduced is the ability to open different full-screen apps in a multiple monitor setup.

The report further details a new multi-tasking system for OS X that could be similar to iOS and also bring app pausing for background apps to OS X. This could bring more efficiency, performance and battery improvements to the MacBook lineup.

Siri for OS X has been rumoured to be in the works since the introduction of speech dictation in OS X Mountain Lion. The report suggests that it’s possible that Apple may launch Siri only on next gen products.

Apple’s WWDC 2013 press release also clearly mentioned that the company will showcase “advances in software technologies and developer tools” which suggests that we will see a preview of Xcode 5.0 as well.

Last year, Apple previewed Mountain Lion before WWDC and then released it in July. This year due to management shakeup in the iOS department the teams from OS X were brought over to work on iOS and thus the company had to push the OS X 10.9 preview to June.

It will be interesting to see if Apple would still launch OS X 10.9 in July or if it will push the release of iOS 7 and OS X 10.9 to later this fall.

Earlier this month, Apple seeded the first beta of iOS 6.1 to developers that included new features allowing developers to integrate iOS Maps into their applications, as well as fixes for boarding passes in Passbook as well as changes in Safari. Now, Apple has seeded a second beta of iOS 6.1 to developers with a build number of 10B5105c, as opposed to the build number of 10B5095f for the first beta of iOS 6.1. it is unclear what changes the second beta has brought to the update.

It is likely stability improvements for the iOS Maps and Passbook features. It is unclear exactly when Apple will release iOS 6.1 to the public but Apple will likely identify other bugs and include them in the final update, perhaps even releasing another beta before finally releasing it.

Alongside the second beta of iOS 6.1, Apple also released a beta of the Apple TV software, as well as Xcode 4.6 Developer Preview 2. Developers who are registered to receive these updates can go and download the beta software through Apple’s Developer page.

{Via MacRumors}

On Monday, Apple seeded the Golden Master (GM) version of OS X Mountain Lion to developers and is now accepting app submissions for the Mac App Store. The apps are to be tailored for OS X Mountain Lion and will ensure that both new and old apps run seamlessly on Mac computers after they are downloaded from the App Store.

Apple sent out an email to all developers, reminding them that they can now download the Golden Master seed on the Mac Dev Center and that they can now submit apps to take advantage of the new features in the update. The email from Apple to registered developers in part, went as follows:

Make sure your apps take advantage of the great new features in OS X Mountain Lion when the world’s most advanced operating system ships to millions of customers worldwide. Download OS X Mountain Lion GM seed and Xcode 4.4 GM seed, now available on the Mac Dev Center. Build your apps with these latest seeds, then test and submit for review.

You can also submit iOS apps that take advantage of the new cross-platform Game Center Groups, so they’ll be available when OS X Mountain Lion ships.

Although the Golden Master version is only available to developers now, the final version will be available in the Mac App Store later this July for only $19.99, down from the $29.99 Apple charged for Mac OS X Lion.

{via MacRumors}

Ever wondered what different platforms developers use to make iOS games? I have often wondered what the “Special Sauce” certain developers used to create games like “Angry Birds” or other insanely successful games use. Naturally when I read about Cargo-Bot, a game made entirely on the iPad, it caught my eye.

Cargo-Bot was developed by the folks over at Two Lives Left using an iPad app they created. Codea is that app and it will run you a mere $10. Codea allows you to use the Lua programming language to code your game. The Two Lives Left team used an unreleased Xcode template tool to make the transition from Codea to the App Store. Two Lives Left has at the very least made believers of some in what a tablet is capable of.

I have often had friends question what possible uses my iPad has. I use mine daily and I am always looking for ways to integrate it into my day. Like anything, it’s in how much effort you’re willing to put into it. The folks over at Two Live Left have taken the initiative and created a pretty cool game with it. Desktop replacement, maybe not but it’s sure easier to tell my wife I’m not working when I have my iPad as opposed to my laptop.

{via Cult of Mac}

According to a report from Chronic Wire, Apple’s developer seed of iOS 5.1 has passed quality assurance tests conducted by the company. The company issued a number of seeds to developer for iOS 5.1 to ensure that the final public release would be as stable as possible, especially after a number of users complained of battery life issues on iPhone 4S and other issues with iOS 5.

iOS 5.1 may now be ready to be released to the public, likely during the iPad 3 release date announcement event on Wednesday, or perhaps following the event during Apple’s initial sales of the iPad 3. The report mentions that iOS 5.1 is now in Golden Master stage with build 9B176 being the final build to be issued for public release.

The build number of iOS 5.1 Gold Master is 9B176 according to a very solid source, although three different partners who are testing the Gold Master claim to have slightly (by single digits) higher builds numbers on their copies, I’m assuming that’s because right now it’d make sense for those people to be testing what will soon be released as 5.1.1, so I’ve disregarded the claims.

Quality assurance appears to have been conducted over the past three weeks, since Apple issued the last beta version. Apple worked with carriers to ensure that the OS was entirely bug free and worked on all aspects of the iPhone. iOS 5.1 has been reported to include Japanese  support for Siri and a new camera slider from the lock screen among other improvements.

{via Mac Rumors}

Apple has been busy getting iOS 5.1 software update ready for release as the company has been seeding beta to developers since November. As new beta updates were released details about future products, features and changes were revealed.

iOS 5.1 beta code had references to an unreleased iPad 2 model and then another beta release revealed that Apple will finally include ability to delete photos from Photo Stream from your iOS device.

In early January, details about the beta code pointing to quad-core A6 (A5X SoC) iPad 3 were widely reported and suggested that iPhone 5 and next gen iPad would support new processors. Now, according to a new leak iOS 5.1 software update will include a new camera button on the lock screen.

Among more than 200 new features which were introduced in iOS 5 Apple enabled a lock screen camera button to enable users to capture important moments quickly. When you double-tap the home button to reveal the quick camera access button instead of the regular button iOS 5.1 will now have a slider. When you slide the camera icon upwards it will launch the camera app so that you take photos with your iPhone / iPod touch camera.

BlogdoiPhone who gained access to “pre-GM” version of iOS 5.1 also claim that the upcoming update will finally include support for Japanese Siri.

We recently highlighted another rumor which suggested that code in operator profiles mentioned iOS 5.1 release date as March 9th. iPad 3 launch event is expected to be held on March 7th and it will be interesting to see if Apple mentions the release date for iOS 5.1 during the event.

{via MacRumors}

On Monday, Apple released iOS 5.1 beta 3 to developers for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, adding on the previous beta versions released late last year. Apple released iOS 5.1 Beta 2 on December 12 with Build number 9B5127a. The current beta now uses build number 9B5141a.

iOS 5.1 beta 3 restores a sought after feature by many users, Enable 3G. The Enable 3G toggle allows users to completely shut off their cellular data, something that is currently unavailable. iOS users who use WiFi at work and home, experience heavy battery loss due to the fact that 3G and WiFi are running simultaneously. With this new feature, users can simply switch off 3G and use WiFi and can switch on WiFi just as easily. Apple noted under the toggle feature, that “3G offers faster data speeds but uses more battery power than EDGE”.

The new beta 3 is now available on Apple’s iOS developer program portal and is available to developers to download via OTA update. Apple also released Xcode 4.3 Developer Preview 3 and Apple TV Software Beta 2, as they have with all other beta updates in the past. It also appears that Apple has posted a new API to help developers flag app content that should not be backed up. The addition of these two new features and other security updates may not be the last of the updates, just yet.

iOS 5.1 introduces a new API to mark files or directories that should not be backed up. For NSURL objects, add the NSURLIsExcludedFromBackupKey attribute to prevent the corresponding file from being backed up.

With a beta 4 or the final release, Apple may add more features to help conserve battery life and improve stability.

Itsalltech created a large list of all of the features released to the developers in the latest updates and we can already see that we’re getting many more UI changes as well as stability updates, than the upgrade from Leopard to Snow Leopard. Here’s the list:

– New options in System Preferences>Mission Control
– There is a new animation when logging into the computer and displaying the desktop (seems buggy at this time)
– New Reminders menu in iCal
– New next desktop button in Dashboard space:
– New options when right-clicking (this appears to be buggy at this time):
– Compatibility to external displays has been improved (especially in Mission Control)
– There is now a Mission Control app
– Finders toolbar has been slightly updated:
– Desktop wallpapers have been updated (and new ones have been added);
– Reading List has been enabled in Safari:
– New changes in Mission Control: can add desktops right from Mission Control by clicking + button, close spaces from Mission Control, Mission Control no longer displaying text Desktop 1? etc., when hovering over desktop thumbnails, magnification of thumbnails are seen
– Scrollbars now change color depending on the background (black background=light scrollbar and vice versa)

Apple is expected to further discuss Mac OS X Lion in depth, come this June, during it’s annual WWDC conference held in San Francisco. Lion is pegged for a Summer release, similar to the release of Snow Leopard which arrived in late August of 2008.

What’s more gDEBugger offers a superior OpenGL debugging experience for desktop applications than that provided by Apple’s own tools as part of the iPhone package. It’s kind of an all in one deal!

Recently Gremedy were kind enough to let me try out an early version of the “on-device debugging” for iPhone apps.
That updated version allows apps to be run and debugged in real time on all iPhone and iPod hardware without exception.

In short it is excellent. Not only have they included performance metrics, but just like the Simulator version you can set breakpoints, inspect and edit shaders, textures, buffers and all aspects of the OpenGL ES state engine on the device, at run time, on production code. I blogged about it some time ago here

The more recent Beta has been further improved, and I was able to debug live on all of my development devices, and in the Simulator, seamlessly and in concert with Xcode to refine the performance of my apps by respectable percentages.

From Gremedy:

The upcoming gDEBugger iPhone version includes on-device debugging and profiling abilities, running in real-time and letting developers optimise their game on the actual iPhone device. gDEBugger iPhone displays invaluable inside information such as iPhone’s GPU, CPU, graphic driver and operating system performance counters.

gDEBugger is a tool I would find myself hard put to do without these days. A big plus is that the guys at Gremedy are extremely enthusiastic and helpful, and they offer a range of packages and support for their excellent products.

Details of their attendance at this years Game Developers Conference in San Francisco are below this article. Even if you can’t get to the conference then it’s worth getting in touch with them about this product.

It should be noted that they are also showing off their new OpenCL Debugger. Right now this is not necessarily pertinent to current iPhone and iPod development. But it is certainly of interest to desktop developers, and may well play a part in future more ambitious silicon we are sure to see in newer iPhone, iPod and iPad revisions.

From Gremedy:

gDEBugger CL is a new and exciting product; it brings all of gDEBugger’s Debugging and Profiling capabilities to the OpenCL developer’s world. gDEBugger CL, now in beta testing, supports all OpenCL implementations on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Here are those details I promised on the presentations at this years GDC. Will I see you there? Let me know in the comments.

GDC, San Francisco, March 9th – 13th Gremedy’s program:

Khronos OpenCL session
———————-
As part of this session, we will demonstrate the new gDEBugger CL debugging and profiling an OpenCL based fluid dynamics application.

* Thursday (March 11) 1:30pm-2:30pm Room #123, North Hall

Khronos OpenGL session
———————-
The latest of gDEBugger GL and gDEBugger iPhone will be demonstrated at the demo area in the back of the room. Demos will be held before and after the OpenGL session.

* Thursday (March 11) 3:00pm-4:00pm Room #123, North Hall

NVIDIA BOOTH
————
You are welcome to visit us at the Expo show floor, see the latest analysis features of gDEBugger in action and talk with the gDEBugger development team.

We will be located at the NVIDIA booth (#1702), Developer tools pod, on:
* Thursday (March 11th) 2:00pm – 6:00pm
* Friday (March 12th) 10:00am – 2:00pm
* Saturday (March 13th) 12:30pm – 3:00pm

NVIDIA Theater
————–
An “Advanced OpenGL, OpenGL ES and OpenCL debugging and profiling using gDEBugger” demo and presentation will be given by the gDEBugger team.

* Saturday (March 13) 11am, NVIDIA booth (#1702)

Khronos BOOTH
————-
You are welcome to visit us at the Expo show floor, see the latest analysis features of gDEBugger in action and talk with the gDEBugger development team.

We will be located at the Khronos booth (#1443)

The gDEBugger team looks forward to meeting you at the Game Developer Conference.

More information at : http://www.gremedy.com

By: Stephen Northcott