With the release of iOS 4.2 earlier today some users have experienced the ‘loss of music / podcasts” after upgrading to the new software.  Yes I was one of the unlucky ones, but the good news is that we have a simple fix to get it back to what it should be.

After the upgrade, I loaded the iPod (Music) app, and to my surprise was presented with the ‘no content’ message.  Knowing that I did have content I frantically went searching for a solution, and thanks to the ‘apple discussion” boards, found a very simple fix to apply.

If you are one of those that have encountered the problem, just follow the steps below to rectify the issue:-

1. Connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes on the computer.

2. Play a song/podcast that you have on your iPhone, via iTunes on your computer.

4. Once you have done that, then sync the iPhone again.

5. Re-open the iPod app on the iPhone where you will find the iPod will update its library very quickly

6. Time to now relax and enjoy listening to your favourite tune.

Were you one of the unlucky ones that experienced this slight glitch after upgrading to the new software?

The free iOS 4.2 Software update has finally arrived -- and it brings all-new features to your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Multitasking on the iPad
iOS 4.2 brings multitasking from the iPhone and iPod touch to the iPad. You can now be more productive as you work, have more fun as you play or do a little of both. Everything happens smoothly and efficiently, without slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily.

Folders on the iPad
Now your iPad has more room for more apps. Move apps into folders with drag-and-drop simplicity to declutter your Home screens and keep your apps organised for fast access to your favourites.

AirPrint
AirPrint makes it simple to print email, photos, web pages and documents right from your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch. A few taps is all it takes to go from viewing it onscreen to holding a printed copy. There’s no software to download, no drivers to install and no cables to connect.

AirPlay
AirPlay lets you stream digital media wirelessly from your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to your Apple TV and AirPlay-enabled speakers. So you can watch movies and photos on your widescreen TV and play music through the best speakers in the house.

Watch the video to see AirPlay in action.

Find My iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.
The MobileMe feature that helps you locate your missing device and protect its data is now free on any iPhone 4, iPad or fourth-generation iPod touch running iOS 4.2.3

Once you set it up, you can find your lost device on a map, display a message on its screen, remotely set a passcode lock and initiate a remote wipe to delete your data. And if you eventually find your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you can restore everything from your last backup.

If you are not sure how to set this feature up, follow the instructions provided in the video

Game Center
Be more social with your gaming. Find friends or use auto-match to play multiplayer games against new opponents. Track achievements and compare high scores.

Messaging with text tones -- iPhone only
Know who is texting without looking at your screen. Choose from 17 new alerts and assign custom tones for people in your contact list.

Even better Mail
See messages from all your accounts in a unified inbox organise messages by threads and open attachments in third-party apps.

Find text on web pages
In Safari, you can do a quick text search to find and highlight specific words and phrases on even the longest web pages.

Notes with fonts
Customise your notes using different fonts — Marker Felt, Helvetica and Chalkboard.

Reply to calendar invitations
Reply to event invitations from friends using calendar services like Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft Exchange — right from the built-in Calendar app.

Keyboard and dictionary enhancements
iOS 4.2 includes support for over 50 languages and dialects, with more than 30 new international keyboards and dictionaries for iPad.

Accessibility enhancements
Control VoiceOver using a wireless keyboard. Output in braille to over 30 supported ?wireless Bluetooth refreshable braille displays in more than 25 languages.

Updating is easy -- Simply connect your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch to your Mac or PC and follow the onscreen instructions in iTunes.

Let us know your thoughts about the update/new features by sending us a comment.

It has been a long wait for Apple users.

Today Skype released its beta version (5.0) to the public with the most talked about feature, group calling included, but the Facebook integration as seen in the Windows’ version is not.

Immediately noticeable is the revamped interface, which Skype product manager Krishna Panicker explains, saying, “the new Skype 5.0 is introducing a revamped look and feel that simplifies navigation and provides a more Mac-like experience.” Think a cartoonish iTunes, big buttons and a larger font size. Generally, all the same features are there, just rearranged.

Krishna Panicker talks about the new release:-

Skype 5.0 beta for Mac offers many of the same upgrades as it did for Windows, the most significant being group calling. It allows for up to five participants (as long as they have also upgraded to the most recent version) and displays all users conveniently in the same window. It is only available for a 28-day free trial and after that it will be included in the premium package.

There is also a new control bar that stays positioned at the top of the screen so you can end calls, mute, increase volume, etc. You can now customize contacts’ profiles, and it is easier to search through your contacts. Like FaceTime, it integrates with your Mac Address Book, and it also lets you easily add contacts once within the application.

To download the Beta version, follow this link

Good news, Skyfire is back! Sort of..  Release from the CEO of Skyfire follows:-

Update on Skyfire for iPhone from CEO
November 05, 2010

The last two days have been quite busy here at Skyfire to say the least. To everyone who wanted to download Skyfire for iPhone, thank you for your patience. We are gratified there is so much interest in the product, and we’re working around the clock to add capacity for more users.

-Jeff Glueck

Skyfire, the flash-enabled browser that hit the App Store yesterday, is no longer available for download. No need to panic though, it will be back.

The app became so successful, and so quickly, that Skyfire could not cope with the demand anymore. Within 5 hours of the release, it became the top grossing app in the iTunes App Store, the third highest paid app overall and the top application in the Utilities category. Wow!

The magic of the Skyfire app lies in its servers, which convert flash content on the go and stream it to you in a compatible format.

Skyfire could only support so many users, and due to the massive enthusiasm it was simply a bit too much.  Therefore, to preserve the experience for the rest of the users, Skyfire had to pull their own app.

It will return as soon as they increase the capacity of their infrastructure. Also, if you have had issues using the app, DO NOT  give up yet.  Having had the opportunity to try it earlier on, during the time when things were quiet, it really does work.

Skyfire advises that it will issue Facebook and Twitter status updates when the next batch of licenses is available.

Were you one of the lucky one’s to purchase the app, before it SOLD OUT?

SkyFire Link to original post

Almost six months after the iPad was launched in Australia, the last piece of the puzzle has fallen into place with the local launch of Apple’s iBook Store service.

The iBook Store was a central part of the January 2010 unveiling of the iPad when Steve Jobs declared that while Amazon had “done a great job” with its Kindle, “we’re going to stand on their shoulders and go a little bit farther”.

Launched with the softest of soft launches yesterday, thousands of titles from both major and independent publishers, including Macmillan, Hachette Book Group, Hardie Grant, HarperCollins Publishers, Murdoch Publishers and Wiley, are now available on the Australian iBook store.

HarperCollins issued its own statement, saying its “full eBook catalogue” of local and international titles would now be available through the iBook Store, including Australian offerings such as Colleen McCullogh’s Naked Cruelty, Rebecca Lim’s Mercy and A Simpler Time by Peter FitzSimons.

‘Having HarperCollins’ e-books available in Apple’s iBook Store when it launches represents a significant opportunity for the Australian consumer to get further access to a fantastic array of books,” said HarperCollins chief executive Michael Moynahan.

“The popularity of the iPad and the iBook Store in the US and the UK indicates that the market available to Australian authors through this platform will be significant here in Australia and also contribute to the accessibility of our authors in these markets.”

Hachette Australia also issued a statement noting it would from today make its eBooks available through the iBook Store. The company publishes a wide range locally from imprints such as Hodder & Stoughton, Orion, Orbit and Gollancz, for example, Some of the authors to be made available by the publisher include Patricia Cornwell, Charlaine Harris, Stephen King, Stephenie Meyer and Alexander McCall Smith.

“In future, all newly published books will be available simultaneously with the publication of their printed equivalent, and Hachette will progressively add more previously published titles, as they go through the process of digitisation,” the company said.

Business publisher Wrightbooks (an imprint of John Wiley & Sons) said it would make “a wide selection of titles” available through Apple’s market, and likewise Murdoch Books, which said it would publish books such as the recent autobiography of Australian television entrepreneur Reg Grundy.

In Australia, the iBook Store’s primary local competitor,  apart from Amazon,  is Borders’ Kobo store. Borders said at launch that over 2 million titles would eventually be available through the Kobo platform, and recently said it was averaging 1,000 sales (not including the free books available) a day, at an average price of just above $10.

The most talked about app, in recent weeks, SkyFire, the Flash-enabled iOS Web Browser, has finally arrived in the app store, selling for $US2.99

What is so special about this app?

The SkyFire Web Browser converts Flash content into HTML5, and then plays it on your iPhone i.e. when you come across a video which requires Adobe Flash, you touch an icon at the bottom of the browser, and Skyfire switches to a different screen, where it loads your video, as shown below.

Skyfire does not work with Hulu or Vimeo, nor will it work with Flash apps or games. However, it does come with some pretty cool social networking features. Users can share a page with Facebook or Twitter in-app, and a Facebook “Quickview” menu allows Skyfire fans to view their wall, also from within the application. These are some nice features, which users of the app will undoubtedly appreciate.

If you are thinking of investing in Skyfire Web Browser, you should definitely be aware that it does not work perfectly all the time. In fact, sometimes it does not work at all. However, with perseverance, it is possible to load up a Flash video using Skyfire -- you just have to keep trying.

If you purchase this app, be sure to come back and let us know how it works for you in the comments below.

Today’s Apple special “Back To The Mac” event has just completed and as usual Apple announced a new range of ‘goodies’ coming to the Mac, including new MacBook Airs, coming in 13″ and 11″ double flavor.

The event covered the following:-

Introducing iLife ’11

Apple has today released a major new version of the iLife suite.  This will come free with every new Mac, $US49 as an upgrade and $US6.99 for October purchasers. The new version of iLife includes updated iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band, iDVD and iWeb have been included but not updated. iLife ’11 comes after the release of iLife ’09 at Macworld 2009. The three updated apps come with a serious iOS-inspired facelift, which leads the way to the previewed new Mac OS X Lion.

iPhoto: there is a new fullscreen UI, Facebook enhancements that allow users to post photos and check on comments made by others.  Included is a new in-app email functionality that lets you easily share photos from within the app, improved slideshows with geo-location data support.

You can also print the new photo books, or a brand new letterpress card. The fullscreen UI takes a lot of elements from iOS, such as popover menus or the tab bar.

From your Facebook Wall to your coffee table to your best friend’s inbox (or mailbox). Do more with your photos than you ever thought possible. And do it all in one place.

iMovie: new audio editing features such as dead-simple volume enhancement;  People Finder based on advanced face recognition technology;  Movie Trailers with built-in templates and audio recorded from a real full symphony.  The Movie Trailers feature is going to be huge.  iMovie makes it easy to turn your home videos into your all-time favorite films. You will laugh. You will cry and you will watch them over and over again. And of course you will share them with everyone.

Garage Band: Welcome to the school of rock. A Mac-size practice space. Your own recording studio. If you want to learn to play an instrument, write music, or record a song, GarageBand has everything you need.  This new version includes new features Flex Time and Groove Matching, together with new and improved guitar and piano lessons. The new Garage Band aims at being your one-stop solution for recording good music and learning how to play an instrument if you are a novice.

Say hello to “FaceTime for Mac”

This was a biggie.

You can now initiate and receive FaceTime calls directly from your Mac – all you need to do is sign in with your Apple ID.  A beta version of the application was released by Apple today and from all reports it feels a little buggy and unpolished in some areas, but it works.  Once you sign in with your Apple ID, you can receive calls even if the app is not running.

FaceTime for Mac makes it possible to talk, smile, wave, and laugh with anyone on an iPhone 4, iPod touch, or Mac from your Mac over Wi-Fi.  So you can catch up, hang out, joke around, and stay in touch with just a click.  FaceTime for Mac is available here.

Mac OS X Lion

The future of Mac OS X is called Lion and it is the return of OS X to OS X after a 3 year iOS short trip. Steve Jobs announced, in fact, that they first brought OS X to the iPhone and created iPhone OS.  Earlier this year Apple turned iPhone OS into iOS and created an iPad version – now iOS is coming back to the Mac with OS X Lion.

Featuring a streamlined user experience based on multitouch gestures and easier window navigation thanks to the new Mission Control feature (Exposè, Dashboard and Spaces all into one, with the addition of iOS-inspired fullscreen apps), OS X Lion will be a departure from OS X as we know it.

Steve Jobs did not show the Finder or the app installation system, but we did see the iOS scrollbars coming to the desktop and the new app launcher called “Launchpad”.  You can think of Launchpad as a direct iOS layer above the regular Finder, with a fullscreen UI to launch apps and create folders, just like on the iPad.

In Steve’s own words ‘We took our best thinking from Mac OS X and brought it to the iPhone. Then we took our best thinking from the iPhone and brought it to iPad. And now we’re bringing it all back to the Mac with our eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system”

Mac OS X Lion arrives in summer 2011.

Mac App Store

The ‘often’ denied Mac App Store is actually happening, and it will be the most important aspect to consider when talking about the future of OS X. It likely won’t be the only way to install Mac apps on OS X, but Apple wants developers to release apps in the Mac App Store, and we think they will want to do so as well.

The Mac App Store will be, as the name suggests, the App Store you know and love (?), but for Mac software. One-click downloads, categories, promo codes, instant updates, descriptions – it’s really just what you think. Rejections and submission guidelines included.

The Mac App Store will launch in 90 days, and developers will be able to start submitting apps in November.

As Steve said “The Mac App Store is just like the App Store for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. So it’s as easy to find and download Mac apps as it is to add your favorite magazine to iPad or a new game to iPod touch. You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music, and more. Or do a quick search for something specific. Read developer descriptions and user reviews. Flip through screenshots. When you find an app you like, click to buy it”

MacBook Air

Apple has today released two new models of the MacBook Air, the 13-inch and the 11-inch

As Steve Jobs said (and as you can see now on the just-launched and redesigned Apple homepage)- This is the future of MacBooks. This is where they think laptop computers are going: ultra-thin, multitouch trackpad (because touching a screen directly “just doesn’t work”), SSD storage for instant-on awakening. We learned a lot from iPad. The new MacBook Air is proof. It’s designed around all-flash storage for better responsiveness and reliability. It features a trackpad with full Multi-Touch support. And though it’s incredibly thin and light, its large battery gives you portable power that lasts for hours.

Starting at US$999 for the 11-inch model with 64GB SSD storage and 2GB RAM, Apple is really pushing the new Airs. They even come with a fancy new restore stick.

To learn more about the new MacBook Air products follow this link

If you missed the Apple event earlier today, it is now available for streaming here.  Or, just open this link

If you are an iPhone user, and love taking and sharing photos, you need to get Instagram – an amazingly fun and simple life-sharing app for your iPhone. (Supports 3G, 3GS and iPhone 4)

If you are already a user then you know what everyone is talking about, but if not, this is how the app works:-

You follow and are followed by your friends, you snap pictures, adjust the photos with a handful of filters and then share them with your social networks of choice. It’s that simple. It’s so good, in fact, that Instagram had over 100,000 users just six days after it hit Apple’s App Store.

As reported by TechCrunch here is what is impressive about the numbers:-

“Now, 100,000 may not seem that impressive in a world where Facebook has 500 million users, but again, that is after just one week in existence and only being available on the iPhone. You cannot even sign up on their website yet, you need to get the app to be a user. As a point of comparison, it took new media darling Foursquare seven months to get 60,000 users.

The direct comparison with Foursquare, which everyone and their mother seems to use, is what makes this impressive. Surprisingly, you can only get it from the app store, and not anywhere else. You cannot even become a user online.

Instagram lets you share your photos with Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.  You also have the option to ‘geotag’ your photos.

The frequency at which photos come in, and where they’re coming from, also shows that it is not the tech nerds picking up on Instagram.

“We’re getting one picture taken every two seconds from places all over the world,” co-founder Kevin Systrom tells us. I asked him about usage outside the tech bubble and he noted that only about 12 percent of their photos are coming from areas around tech hubs like San Francisco and New York City. He also says that activity in both Europe and Asia has been strong and notes that the highest usage areas aside from the U.S. are Hong Kong, Spain, Germany, and Australia”

And best of all, it is free in the iTunes App Store

Via: TechCrunch

The popular network speed testing app, Speedtest.net Mobile, has just received a Retina-friendly facelift, which will certainly appease the iPhone 4 and new iPod touch owners out there. But that’s not the only addition to the app in version 2.0.1.

Speedtest.net Mobile‘s revamped user interface now displays real-time graphs directly below the speed gauge, which allows you to witness any connection quality drops over your network of choice, and since the interface is now Retina-friendly, watching those relatively small graphs shouldn’t be too painful. That is, unless your connection speed is painfully slow and unreliable. Retina graphics simply can’t help you with that. The app also features a more colorful and refined layout, along with a brand new icon.

New iDevice owners are not the only ones in for a treat, however, as the app is now more finely tuned for previous generation devices. This means better app performance when testing your 3G or Wi-Fi connection.

Since Ookla, the developer of Speedtest.net Mobile, was already hard at work adding all kinds of Retina-friendly images and animations, the team decided to throw in a rather odd and hilarious Easter egg. To access the Easter egg, simply pull down on the speed gauge after your test and you will see what we mean. Ookla the cat will haunt your dreams.

Speedtest.net Mobile is now available in the App Store for free.

Courtesy Appadvice