Apple has just dropped the sixth (6th!) update to their iPhone SDK and 2.0 beta firmware. Pre-req is Apple’s almost simultaneously dropped OS X Leopard update, 10.5.3, so developers are forewarned to get that first before beginning the SDK install.
No word yet on what new treasures may be hiding in this version, but if past betas are any indication, there’ll no doubt be something hidden in them there strings
According to TUAW, however, Apple is now carding. Yup, they’re checking Application IDs at the door, so make sure you’re registered before you try to install apps on a test iPhone.
Head on over to Apple’s iPhone DevCenter to get yours now!
A New Version of the iPhone SDK is Now Available
Sixth beta version just posted.
Via
WinPwn, the Pwnage tool for Windows, has finally left beta and is now available for official release. WinPwn 1.0 claims to be much more stable than previous beta releases and includes many bug fixes and new features. WinPwn is an incredibly safe and powerful way of jailbreaking your iPhone. It can jailbreak any firmware and the folks over at Pwnage believe that it will eventually replace the likes of iLiberty+ and ZiPhone.
At its most basic level, WinPwn allows you to install custom firmware on your iPhone and restore with custom firmware through iTunes. Though there isn’t a true need for WinPwn and Pwnage for 1.1.4, it is the only current option to jailbreak 2.0. Also, the Pwnage tool is for those who like to dabble with new firmware, so those wary of more sophisticated measures of jailbreaking might want to stick with the other options for the time being.
We haven’t gotten our hands on WinPwn or the Pwnage tool here at TiPb just yet, but we’ll be sure to update you guys about the entire process when we do.
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A lot of people look at the iPhone, in its current iteration, and complain that while it looks good, it lacks customization and is in dire need of native applications. And there’s a lot of truth to that, Apple has restricted much of the features on the iPhone and has limited what you can and cannot do. As much as it falls in line with keeping the user interface clear and intuitive, making users become passive to development prevents Apple from fully realizing the iPhone’s potential.
You want to run 3rd party apps? Safari and Web Apps is the only ‘official’ way. Granted that Web Apps have come a long way, it doesn’t give justice to the true power of the iPhone as much as it shows off the versatility of Safari.
Currently, the only answer to this dilemma is jailbreaking. After having mulled the jailbreaking option a few times before, I made the switch only a couple months ago. And my, if you want to get a true glimpse of what the iPhone can do, Jailbreaking is currently the only way to go. In this article, I’ll show you why you should strongly consider jailbreaking and what it offers for iPhone users.
Read On For The Reasons to Jailbreak!
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Ask and ye shall receive, dig deep into the code and ye shall find fresh-baked Apple-y goodness.
No sooner did Apple drop iPhone 2.0 SDK Beta 5, than the developers began scouring it for any hint of what’s to come, and as usually TUAW serves up what they found:
A certain, unnamed individual sent us some pictures of the latest build of the iPhone firmware showing .Mac push e-mail. The picture shows the main Settings page with a new button: “Fetch new data.” When you click the button, you are taken to a list of your mail accounts, where you can choose between either “fetch” or “push.” According to Mr. Anonymous, while .Mac is offering push e-mail, you are currently not able to do contact or calendar syncing.
Check out TUAW’s gallery for the pics.
Boy, Apple is pushing the features fast and furiously. We already knew about “push” via the Microsoft licensed ActiveSync, which offers full Exchange support, but complementing that with .Mac for non-Exchange users? Very nice!
(Of course, much as I love Back-to-My-Mac, iSync, iDisk, and other .Mac features, it really needs a more competitive feature-set upgrade — Imagine Google-like offerings and capacities with Apple’s ease of use and integration! — especially for the rather steep $100 a year.)
June really can’t come fast enough!
TUAW and iPhone dev extraordinaire Erica Sadun reports that Apple has dropped the svelte-ish 1GB iPhone 2.0 SDK Beta 5 and accompanying firmware:
The fifth beta version of the iPhone SDK is now available. Log in to the iPhone Dev Center and take advantage of all the development resources available to you—a new version of the iPhone SDK, updated documentation, the latest release notes, and more.
No word yet on what secrets deep delving this latest code may reveal, but if past discoveries are any indication, literally anything is possible (except for cut and paste, of course).
Any guesses?
Thanks to iPhone developer, forum regular, and troll-slayer extraordinaire cmaier for passing along this gem from McRumors:
Apple has quietly included handwriting recognition for Chinese (Traditional and Simplified) into the latest iPhone Firmware 2.0 beta. When you select Chinese input, you are given the option to use handwriting recognition allowing you to draw characters on the screen with your finger. As you write the character, four possibilities appear on the right side of the screen.
Simplified characters, the official version in Mainland China, is the key to one massive market. Traditional characters, used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, regaining popularity in the South of China, and adapted to form parts of the Japanese and some South East Asian regional/cultural groups, is key to a second.
(Not to mention what implications, if any, this has for on-again/off-again China Mobile discussions…)
Having studied Chinese for a few years, and not having found any handset character recognition I’ve been particularly fond of yet, I’m likewise eager to see what Apple can bring to the table.
What do you think?
Can’t wait any longer for Native Apps? Me neither. (Late) June seems too far away? I’m with you. So why wait, when you can jailbreak! Over the next couple months before 2.0 is released, I’ll give you guys a glimpse into the jailbroken world of native apps every week. If we don’t find anything life-changing, hopefully we’ll learn a few things along the way. Plus: let’s face it, Jailbreaking isn’t going anywhere. The SDK is awesome, but some people won’t settle for anything less than full-on access to all the hidden bits of the iPhone.
Today, we start with another look at the ever-evolving program that is Installer.app. Developed by the guys at Nullriver, Installer.app is the first app you see after jailbreaking. Its main goal is to serve as an outlet for all the rest of the iPhone’s native apps and it has come a long way since we first showed you how to use it. Does it succeed? Is it effective? Can Apple learn something from Installer.app?
Read on for the rest of the review! (and remember you’ll need a Jailbroken iPhone to take advantage of this native app)
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TUAW’s code-scouring tipster is back with rumors on what could be found in an Apple iChatMobile app, and it’s set to jibber with some Jabber:
[a] new XMPP framework has been spotten in the latest iPhone firmware. XMPP refers to the open source standard developed by the Jabber community for instant messaging. Remember back in March when Apple announced it would support native instant messaging? In a nutshell, it looks like Apple’s new iPhone-based chat will be built on Jabber/XMPP. [...] Unfortunately, we’re told that this XMPP support remains in a private framework and will not be available to 3rd party SDK developers.
How (and if) this fits in with the recently discovered Apple chat-related patent filing, and/or (double if) the AOL concept demo from the SDK event, is anyone’s guess at this point, but one thing’s for certain: it’s getting interesting in iPhone IM land!
One of the features I most want for the iPhone is the ability to use it as a Wi-Fi remote for iTunes (and related services like Front Row or the Apple TV). Sitting back, multi-touch flicking through lists of content, finding something interesting, tapping, and — boom — having it “just work” on my TV or Mac would be Jobsian perfection.
Well, if TUAW’s latest rumor pans out, Apple may be about to deliver, well… not exactly that, but something just as cool:
Apple is working on a new iPhone application called iControl. Like Apple TV and other remote controllers, it would allow the iPhone to connect wirelessly to local iTunes libraries and browse through and play media from those sources. TUAW is told that a media navigator will allow you to view videos, play podcasts, listen to music and even support shuffle playback.
As is increasingly the case, the rumor comes via deep delving into the latest firmware and discovering all sorts of interesting localization strings. Whether this means we’ll just be able to play iTunes content on the iPhone as though it were a mobile Apple TV, or if I’ll be getting my dream iTunes/Front Row/Apple TV remote control via the iPhone as well, we’ll have to wait and see.
And I really am finding it harder and harder to wait. How about you?
No reports of Pink Screens of Death this time, but Apple has released the fourth version of their SDK (5A258f), which weighs in at a beefy 1.15GB (200+MB for firmware) and according to TAUW (via Apple Developer Connection) sports:
Xcode IDE, iPhone simulator with Open GL ES support, Interface Builder, Instruments, frameworks and samples, compilers, and Shark analysis tool.
In addition, code-signing is now enforced, Audio Toolbox was big-upped, NSXML parser was introduced, fonts were given some pro love, and — teasingly — the UIApplication delegate class is now rumored to have Springboard Icon badging and some way to get and release “active status”. TAUW speculates this may allow some form of background functionality for Apps! (Wishful thinking?)
Go get ‘em developers. Especially you deep-code-digging developers who find all sorts of goodies hidden in the strings.
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