MacRumors

Toktumi, the firm behind the popular Line2 VoIP application for iOS devices, today sent an email to its customers warning them of a bug in iOS 4.2 that results in the ringer continuing to ring even after a call is answered when Line2 is running in the background. According to Toktumi, Apple's engineers are aware of the issue, which reportedly affects all VoIP applications, and have classified it as "severe".

Attention all Line2 iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad users:

Please do not upgrade to iOS version 4.2.

If you upgrade to iOS 4.2 and you are running Line2 in the background, the ringer will continue to ring even after an incoming call is answered. This affects Line2 as well as all other VoIP and social calling apps. (Note: If you do not use Line2 your Toktumi service will not be effected.)

Apple Developer Support is aware of this issue and has designated its status as 'severe'. However, as of the most recent iOS beta (GMSeed build), this issue is still not resolved. We apologize for this inconvenience and will update you as soon as we get more information from Apple.

Line2 will continue to work as normal with your current operating system. We strongly encourage you not to install iOS 4.2 until Apple fixes the upgrade issue. We will send out an email update as soon as it is safe to upgrade.

Sincerely,
The Toktumi/Line2 Team

Apple released a golden master version of iOS 4.2 to developers on November 1st, and a public release was expected last week. Reported issues with Wi-Fi connectivity on the iPad have been blamed for delays from Apple's original internal timeline and resulted in Apple pushing out a revised golden master build for the iPad late last week.

Update: It is not yet known if the issue is addressed in the iOS 4.2.1 golden master that was just seeded to developers.

Update 2: One beta tester has informed us that this bug is indeed fixed in the new iOS 4.2.1 seed.

Last week, it was revealed that Apple had pulled support for using the forthcoming AirPrint wireless printing functionality for iOS 4.2 devices to print to printers shared on PCs and Macs, restricting the feature to a handful of HP printers supporting AirPrint directly.

While several hacks to enable support for shared printers on AirPrint surfaced, a pair of commercial software releases are now providing a way for everyday users to enable the functionality on Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard once iOS 4.2 finally debuts without the need to modify system files.

Printopia from Ecamm Network installs as a preference pane in System Preferences and allows users to easily select which local and networked printers should be shared to iOS 4.2 devices on the local network. Users can also send print jobs from iOS 4.2 devices directly to their Macs (including Dropbox folders for automatic syncing), allowing for easy export of PDF/JPEG files without the need for actual printing. Printopia is priced at $9.95 with a 7-day free trial available.

FingerPrint from Collobos Software similarly offers Bonjour-based sharing of printers for AirPrint functionality managed through a standalone application. FingerPrint is priced at $7.99 and is also available as a 7-day free trial.

Several users have reported that Apple's iOS software updater within iTunes is currently down, leading to speculation that the company could be preparing to roll out iOS 4.2 in the very near future.

Users connecting their devices to iTunes and clicking the "Check for Update" button are currently being greeted with the following message:

The iPhone software update server could not be contacted.

Make sure your network settings are correct and your network connection is active, or try again later.

iOS 4.2 had been rumored for release last week, but a last-minute issue with Wi-Fi connectivity for iPad users reportedly results in Apple pushing back its internal release timeline and issuing a new golden master version for the iPad to developers. Rumors have pegged the new public release of iOS for sometime this week or early next week ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States.

Update: The software updater is now functioning normally and alerting users running iOS 4.1 that their software is still up-to-date.

Update 2: The iOS software updater is operating sporadically at the moment, sometimes offering the error message and other times noting that the user's software is up-to-date.

id Software has launched its highly-anticipated RAGE first-person shooter for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. A scaled-down version of the forthcoming game scheduled for release in late 2011 on PC/Mac and console platforms, the iOS version of RAGE is known as Mutant Bash TV! and offers a storyline in which the player participates in a post-apocalyptic game show to battle against mutants.

RAGE comes to your mobile device with the hit of the wastelands, Mutant Bash TV! This intense first-person rail shooter casts you in the starring role of a post-apocalyptic game show where you'll be stalked by hungry mutants while you scour pulse-pounding levels for ammo and cash pick-ups. Make a deal with J.K Stiles, the show's menacing host, and see if you have what it takes to survive this carnage-filled carnival of death!

RAGE is available in two universal versions, a standard version priced at $0.99 and RAGE HD priced at $1.99 and offering higher-resolution graphics for the iPad, iPhone 4, and fourth-generation iPod touch.

id's John Carmack teased RAGE for iOS back in August at QuakeCon 2010, showing a demo of the game running at 60 frames per second. Our friends over at TouchArcade were able to get their hands on a prerelease version of RAGE for iOS earlier this month and offered an overview of the gameplay and impressive graphics included on the sample levels.

Apple today released Safari 5.0.3 for Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Leopard, as well as Windows 7, Vista, and XP, bringing a number of minor fixes and improvements to users of Apple's Internet browser. The update is also available for Mac OS X Tiger users as Safari 4.1.3.

This update contains improvements to usability, compatibility, stability, accessibility and security, including the following:

- More accurate Top Hit results in the Address Field
- More accurate results in Top Sites
- Fixes an issue that could cause content delivered with the Flash 10.1 plug-in to overlap webpage content
- More reliable pop-up blocking
- Improved stability when typing into search and text input fields on www.netflix.com and www.facebook.com
- Improved stability when using JavaScript-intensive extensions
- Improved stability when using VoiceOver with Safari

For detailed information on the security content of this update, please visit this site: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222

The update is available through Software Update or via direct download from Apple's site.

Apple today announced that it will be bringing its iAd mobile advertising platform to the UK and France next month, with Germany set to follow in January. A number of high-profile European companies have already signed on to the program.

Apple today announced it will expand its revolutionary iAd mobile advertising network to the UK and France this December, with Germany to follow in January. iAd will launch in Europe with iAds from L'Oréal, Renault, Louis Vuitton, Nespresso, Perrier, Unilever, Citi, Evian, LG Display, AB InBev, Turkish Airlines and Absolute Radio.

According to the press release, more than half of the top 25 advertisers in the United States have signed since the iAd program launched earlier this year, and Apple is projected to take 21% of the mobile display advertising market for 2010.

"We're thrilled to add leading global brands to the iAd Network in Europe and create even more great opportunities for developers," said Andy Miller, Apple's vice president of iAd. "In just four months, we've doubled the number of advertisers on the network and thousands of developers now have a valuable new source of revenue."

Just last week, Apple announced that it has partnered with major Japanese advertising agency Dentsu to bring iAds to that country early next year.

Hulu today released an updated version of its Hulu Plus [App Store] application for iOS devices, bringing several enhancements including a new split-screen player for the iPad version and improved management of subscriptions and queues.

What's new

- New split-screen player on iPad
- Enhanced queue and subscription management
- Improved playback performance
- New thumbnail viewer on iPad
- Miscellaneous bug fixes

The update comes just as Hulu announces that the Hulu Plus premium service has exited preview mode and is now officially launched to the public. With that announcement, Hulu has dropped the subscription price on Hulu Plus to $7.99/month from the $9.99/month rate that was charged during the preview period. Customers who signed up during the preview period will be credited for the difference.

I am happy to announce that today we are launching the Hulu Plus subscription service out of preview. With this launch, we are proud to offer our users the only subscription service with the full current season of hit TV shows like Glee, Modern Family, The Office, House, 30 Rock, Grey's Anatomy, and more, with minimal ad-load, across computers, TVs, mobile phones, and tablets.

With Hulu Plus officially launching today on Roku boxes and support for TiVo Premiere boxes coming in the near future, some have hoped that the service could make its way to the new Apple TV, but no such announcement has yet been made.

The ongoing spat between Apple and Adobe over Flash technology took another interesting turn over the past month as the new MacBook Air became Apple's first Mac to ship without Flash Player pre-installed. A review from Ars Technica noted that the battery life of the small notebook took a significant hit when browsing the Web with Flash Player installed, leading Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch to observe that it takes more power to display Flash content than it does to not display it, and claim that HTML5 content of a similar nature to that presented in Flash would use just as much or more power.

According to Engadget, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen yesterday noted that the key to conserving battery life lies in hardware acceleration, and reported that the company currently has a version of Flash Player optimized for the new MacBook Air in testing.

He said it's really all about optimizing for silicon: "When we have access to hardware acceleration, we've proven that Flash has equal or better performance on every platform." You wouldn't be blamed for thinking that sentence a cop-out, but that's actually not the case -- the chief executive says they've presently got a Macbook Air in the labs and have an optimized beta of Flash for the device presently in testing.

Apple revised its policies earlier this year to allow for hardware-accelerated decoding of H.264 video by third-party developers on select graphics cards, including the NVIDIA GeForce 320M that is included in the new MacBook Air. Following a period of beta testing, Adobe released an updated version of Flash Player 10.1 in mid-August to officially bring hardware acceleration to a number of Mac models.

Back in September, Google announced that it would be bringing the ability to edit Google Docs on the iPad and Android platforms.

Today, the company announced that it has followed through on that promise and even included support for the iPhone and iPod touch, bringing Google Docs editing to iOS devices running iOS 3.0 or later, as well as Android 2.2+ devices.

With Google Docs, we're always trying to make you more productive - and part of that means making it possible for you to get things done from anywhere, at anytime. That's why we're excited that the new documents editor now supports editing on your mobile browser. We're rolling this out over the next few days.

Google has also posted a video showing off how the mobile editing feature works. The feature will be English-only during the initial rollout, but support for other languages will be coming in the future.

A pair of reports issued yesterday and today are shedding some light on the behind-the-scenes negotiations that finally led to The Beatles' catalog finally coming to the iTunes Store yesterday.

Billboard reports that the multi-year holdup in bringing The Beatles to iTunes was in large part a result of squabbling between record label EMI and Beatles holding company Apple Corps, neither of which had the sole power to reach a deal for digital distribution of Beatles content.

Much of the impasse was between Apple Corps and EMI. Although EMI has the rights to exploit the Beatles catalog under an existing agreement with Apple Corps, there was enough ambiguity in the deal that EMI was not free to fully negotiate in the digital realm as it would have liked.

"Apple Corp and EMI had some major issues to work through with respect to the granting of rights to exploit the master recordings that the Beatles gave EMI," a source with knowledge of the relationship says. "EMI would never be in the business of doing something against the wishes of the Beatles."

The stalemate was reportedly broken by EMI's new head of recorded music Roger Faxon, who made bringing The Beatles to iTunes one of his top priorities. On the other side, Apple Corps' Jeff Jones, who took over the reigns of the company in 2007, has also been credited with bringing a fresh willingness to negotiate to the table.

While Billboard's report notes that Apple is assumed to have paid a "substantial" advance to EMI to obtain The Beatles' catalog, a report from The New York Post claims that no such such upfront payment was made to EMI as part of the deal.

The New York Post's article also reports that Google and Amazon were pitching to obtain the digital distribution rights for The Beatles' catalog, but that Apple offered the other parties involved the best deal.

Google and Amazon were also pitching to secure the Beatles rights for their own digital music stores, according to industry sources.

In the end, Apple's iTunes, which remains the dominant digital music store, offered the Beatles the best deal despite the previous bad blood between the two entities, sources said.

The Beatles are currently making a strong showing in Apple's lists of top iTunes Store sellers, with over 60 of the group's songs currently ranked on the Top 200 Songs list and all 17 of the album/box set releases ranking among the top 50 albums.

When the iPad was first announced, one of the most exciting aspects of the device was that developers now had a large multi-touch platform to develop cool new apps. In particular, the possibility of DJ applications with multi-touch scratching and mixing captured some people's imaginations, but for a number of reasons those full-fledged apps never really arrived.

The primary reason is that the iPad has been stuck on iOS 3.2 which offers far fewer audio-related options than the 4.x build. But with the imminent release of iOS 4.2, at least one developer is going to finally deliver a full featured iPad DJ app. We've learned that Algoriddim, the makers of the popular djay application for Mac, has ported djay over to the iPad, taking full advantage of the new iOS 4.2 audio features.

These iOS 4.2-specific features coming in djay for iPad include:

- Full access to iPod library
- Multi-tasking: you can run djay in Automix mode and listen to a continuous, seamless mix running in the background while you surf the web, play games, etc.
- AirPlay: you can wirelessly stream your mix to your Apple TV or AirPort Express station in real-time.
- Fully leverages accelerated CPU extensions (SSE-like) for high-quality audio processing and analysis
- Very low latency (< 3 msec)
- Background audio playback (multi-tasking support)
- Pre-Cueing (via mono/stereo adapter)

The following exclusive video shows the iPad app in action:

Algoriddim describes the video:

As you can see, djay for iPad analyzes 2 tracks in parallel (BPM detection, beat grids, etc), *while* drawing the waveforms *and* playing / processing 2 tracks in real-time (minimal latency) *and* smoothly rendering graphics (*and* possibly recording the output to storage memory) *and* possibly sharing via AirPlay!

djay for iPad will be carrying over most of the features from the Mac version including BPM syncing, Automix, Automatic transitions, Speed and Pitch changes, and EQ / Gain settings. In fact, Algoriddim tells us that the iPad version will be technically superior to the Mac version in many ways and currently performs better in some aspects. The iPad version is expected to be available in the App Store shortly after iOS 4.2 becomes available. iOS 4.2 is expected by the end of November and they've set up a teaser page to sign up for a notification of the release.

Apple today announced that it has added Ronald Sugar, former Chairman and CEO of Northrop Grumman, to its Board of Directors, where he will also serve as Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee.

"Ron is an engineer at heart, who then became a very successful business leader. We are very excited to welcome him to Apples Board," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "In addition to having been the CEO of a high-tech Fortune 100 company, Ron has a Ph.D. in engineering and has been involved in the development of some very sophisticated technology."

"I have always had enormous admiration for the people of Apple," said Sugar. "It is a special privilege to serve on the board of such an amazing company."

Sugar also currently serves as a director at Chevron, Amgen, and Air Lease Corporation.

Apple had been operating with only six directors since March 2010 after Google CEO Eric Schmidt resigned from Apple's board in August 2009 and Jerry York passed away earlier this year.

NVIDIA today announced the release of the Quadro 4000 for Mac graphics card, bringing the company's cutting-edge Fermi architecture to Apple's Mac Pro professional workstation hardware.

NVIDIA announced today the expansion of its award-winning line of NVIDIA Quadro professional graphics solutions to the Mac platform, bringing the computational and visualization breakthroughs enabled by NVIDIA Fermi architecture to Mac Pro users.

For professional users operating on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, this means the wait is over. The NVIDIA Quadro 4000 graphics processing unit (GPU) for Mac is optimized to accelerate workflows and drive a range of top professional applications.

Offering 256 CUDA processing cores and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, the Quadro 4000 for Mac is capable of processing 890 million triangles per second. System requirements include Mac OS X 10.6.5 running on a 2008, 2009, or 2010 Mac Pro, and the card carries a suggested retail price of $1,199. It will be available beginning "this month" from Apple and other authorized retailers.

Google today announced that its official Google Voice [App Store] application for the iPhone is now available.

With this native app, you'll continue to have access to all the major Google Voice features on your iPhone, like:

- Cheap rates for international calls
- Free text messaging to U.S. numbers
- Voicemail transcription
- Display your Google Voice number as caller ID when making calls

In addition to these benefits, the app provides some features that make using Google Voice on your iPhone a much better experience:

- With push notifications, the app will alert you instantly when you receive a new voicemail or text message
- Most of your calls will be placed via Direct Access Numbers, making them connect just as quickly as regular phone calls

After Apple tweaked its review guidelines for the App Store back in September, it began accepting Google Voice-related applications, and the company reportedly approved the official Google application late that month, but it has not been available until today.

Google and Apple famously squared off over the Google Voice application, with Google claiming that Apple had rejected the application, citing duplication of the core functionality of the iPhone, while Apple claimed that it had merely not made a decision on the application, leaving it limbo for over a year.