Apple WWDC - iOS 5 for iPhone/iPad - iCloud

[jcb]

Anyone else following Steve Jobs' talk at Apple's WWDC?

iOS 5 is being released in beta. Updates include:

1. new interface for notifications
2. news stand
3. twitter integration (as expected)
4. safari update (cross platform synching)
5. reminders - to do list and synch with gps (i.e., reminds you, when you get to the Magic Kingdom to call in sick to work - )
6. updates to camera - faster, start from lock screen, software updates
7. mail - rich text
8. something to do with dictionary support
9. cutting ipad ties to pc and itunes (no word on podcast updates )
10. game updates - see your friends of friends while playing games )

iMessage is new app for messaging.
MobieMe is dead - iCloud with free mail, calendar, contacts
PhotoStream - syncs photos taken on iPhone to iPad, Apple TV and PCs. Might be something ADP could use for our continued enjoyment.
iTunes in the Cloud - looks like a way to get you to pay again (yearly $25 fee) music you have already downloaded but without DRM.

I'm not in SF, by the way, so I'm sure I've lost something in the translation.

 

[JDBB]

Yeah, looks neat. iMessage especially for me. Also no need to sync your iphone/ipad to pc anymore. I'm reading everything will update automatically wirelessly. Can't wait for the fall!

 

[Disney Dad Canada]

Yeah, looks neat. iMessage especially for me. Also no need to sync your iphone/ipad to pc anymore. I'm reading everything will update automatically wirelessly. Can't wait for the fall!

I think you still need to sink, just wirelessly. Could be wrong.

 

[mainegal]

I think you still need to sink, just wirelessly. Could be wrong.

Syncs from the cloud, maybe?

 

[JDBB]

http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html#pcfree

No pc necessary. Yay for clouds.

 

[DEA]

iOS updates will not require you to be plugged in to a computer. That's a big win. Bigger win for my Mom, who will not have to keep a computer up just to support her iPad.

 

[mainegal]

We just got a new Macbook a year or so ago. Now we won't need it any more?!

I use the laptop for Wednesday night chat. Someone will need to remind me how to get to chat with the iPad. Does it work as well? We have a wireless keyboard for the iPad.

 

[sschu717]

I sat through lunch reading live updates. Now I'm watching it.

I can't wait for iCloud, particularly for photos. Photo Stream looks promising.

 

[k5jm]

I am excited about being able to stream the whole iPad display to an Apple TV without AirPlay app enablement!!! That is a game changer for Conference rooms and presentations.

This was just one of the many new features that didn't warrant more than a sneeze at the end of the iOS 5 portion of today's keynote, but it's an awesome one: AirPlay Mirroring. They didn't explain the feature in too much detail, but the gist of it is mirroring your iPad display—whatever apps you're using or videos you're watching—directly to your AppleTV, wirelessly. Hard to imagine that it'll be quick enough over Wi-Fi for you to, say, watch yourself cleave fruits on your TV while swiping away on your iPad, but it's an unexpected and exciting new weapon in the increasingly-impressive AirPlay arsenal.

 

[PHILCT]

If you watch APPLE's developer conference on the APPLE site, it demonstrates a lot of the new changes for MAC LION, and IOS 5 DEVICES.

Very cool stuff, which addresses some of the PHOTOS problems with organizing, editing, and updating inside my IPAD Photos APP.

It is possible you can just upgrade a recent MAC to the LION software, it was either free or really cheap? I forget, watch the Developers conference.

The demonstration even showed how a new IPHONE/IPOD TOUCH/IPAD customer could just use ICLOUD and never own a COMPUTER.

Can't wait, especially for some of the PHOTO improvements and PHOTO STREAM to ICLOUD for free storage of your latest 1000 pictures in CAMERA ROLL.

The Data Center they built for ICLOUD is enormous and super expensive, and ICLOUD is free.

You can put all your songs on ICLOUD, including ripped ones, for a small annual fee, and APPLE will give any songs they find in their
database on your ICLOUD library for free. Any that they don't have, they run a ITUNES MATCH against your library and update the ones that don't match to your piece of the ICLOUD. Music streaming in the sky to your devices. Seems to be no limit on how many songs you can put in the ICLOUD, they assume they will have most of them, and the one's they don't they will convert to the standard ITUNES quality.

And as they kept saying over and over in the Developers Conference, ICLOUD: IT JUST WORKS.

 

[nedac]

I think you still need to sink, just wirelessly. Could be wrong.

As I understand, you can set it to sync at night over wi-fi.

Am I also understanding that texting will now be free between iOS devices? As in no texting charges, free?

 

[Disney Dad Canada]

Most if not all of these ideas were around before, especially on android. Good to see them coming to Apple, although I just wish the hype machine would stop calling them innoventions. Nice features yes, but hardly new.

 

[Disney Dad Canada]

As I understand, you can set it to sync at night over wi-fi.

Am I also understanding that texting will now be free between iOS devices? As in no texting charges, free?

Yes, just think of the Apple equivalent of BBM for Blackberry devices.

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

It is possible you can just upgrade a recent Mac to the LION software, it was either free or really cheap? I forget, watch the Developers conference.

According to an email I received from Apple yesterday, I can upgrade to OS X Lion (coming in July) for $29.99.

 

[MinnieDiva]

Maybe one of you all caught this. I have mobile me now, and have used the same mac.com (yes, I still use it and it works) email address for 6 years. I think that's a record in the email address world. So, I have a 3GS that won't be iOS5 upgradeable, and I actually like my iMac. What happens to my email? Does it disappear into the "cloud"?

Please...enlighten me....

 

[Disneybridein2k3]

Maybe one of you all caught this. I have mobile me now, and have used the same mac.com (yes, I still use it and it works) email address for 6 years. I think that's a record in the email address world. So, I have a 3GS that won't be iOS5 upgradeable, and I actually like my iMac. What happens to my email? Does it disappear into the "cloud"?

Please...enlighten me....

I don't know the answer to your question (I am, however, VERY impressed - 6 years!) but I did see at the bottom of the announcement it says IOS 5 is compatible with iPhone 3GS (http://www.apple.com/ios/ios5/features.html)
Hope that helps!

 

[Disney Dad Canada]

Unfortunately, as with every company, Apple makes their products in their keynotes look an awful lot better than in practice.

Some questions I've had that have not been answered by my various Apple insider friends.

1. Podcasts: There is no mention of wireless synching when it comes to podcasts. Heck, you can't even subscribe to a podcast on an iPad currently, so am I going to have to continue to hard wire sync for podcasts?

2. iCloud: Just how will iTunes determine what songs you have? Metadata? I can already see the software coming out to change the metadata of a song to anything you want, thus getting music for free. Also, what about video? I have over 200 movies that I own legally ripped to my home server. Can I upload and synch these too?

3. Bandwidth: With people having a large amount of media on all their computers, plus surfing, video game consoles, apple TV, Netflix, people are going to reach their ISP bandwidth caps pretty quickly.

All this seems like a good idea in theory, I'm just holding off judgement until I see it in practice.

 

[simmons_m]

I believe you can get more podcast episodes directly through the podcast interface on your iPad. It works when I click "get more episodes"
I have not tested adding a pod cast through iTunes on my iPad, but thought that was supported as well.
What you cannot do currently is wireless sync with your Mac or pc.

 

[k5jm]

Unfortunately, as with every company, Apple makes their products in their keynotes look an awful lot better than in practice.

Some questions I've had that have not been answered by my various Apple insider friends.

1. Podcasts: There is no mention of wireless synching when it comes to podcasts. Heck, you can't even subscribe to a podcast on an iPad currently, so am I going to have to continue to hard wire sync for podcasts?

2. iCloud: Just how will iTunes determine what songs you have? Metadata? I can already see the software coming out to change the metadata of a song to anything you want, thus getting music for free. Also, what about video? I have over 200 movies that I own legally ripped to my home server. Can I upload and synch these too?

3. Bandwidth: With people having a large amount of media on all their computers, plus surfing, video game consoles, apple TV, Netflix, people are going to reach their ISP bandwidth caps pretty quickly.

All this seems like a good idea in theory, I'm just holding off judgement until I see it in practice.

My ISP is "Linksys" and it has no caps.

 

[Renysmom]

I DL podcasts to my iPad all the time. Check your settings.