Find My Friends allows you to easily locate your friends and family from your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch. Install this free app on your iOS 5 device and sign in with the Apple ID you use with iCloud. Adding a friend is easy – just send a request to see their location. Once your friend accepts using the Find My Friends app, you will then be able to see that friend's location on a list or on a map.
Find My Friends is a universal app compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. As previously mentioned, it requires iOS 5 and is therefore limited to the models capable of running the latest version of Apple's mobile operating system, which include the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, 3rd- and 4th-generation iPod touch, and the iPad and iPad 2.
Apple's new Cards app, which was also announced last week, will be released today as well.
Apple seems to be putting the finishing touches on their new iCloud service. iCloud.com has been updated this evening with a new login screen. The service now shows icons in the background and a new login that no longer is listed as "beta". iCloud.com, itself, still seems restricted to developers for the most part. There have been sporadic reports of non-developers being able to upgrade, but it seems you must have created one in iOS 5.
iCloud is expected to launch today (Wed, October 12th) alongside iOS 5 and Mac OS X 10.7.2. Apple released iTunes 10.5 on Tuesday in preparation. We don't expect iOS 5 to actually be released until later in the day. Apple has historically released their major iOS updates around 1pm eastern time.
Macworld reveals an interesting fact about the CDMA iPhone 4Ss that wasn't immediately obvious. The Sprint CDMA iPhone 4S comes GSM-unlocked, while the Verizon CDMA iPhone 4S can be unlocked by request after 60 days.
Sprint plans to sell the iPhone 4S with its micro-SIM slot unlocked; Verizon’s will be initially locked, but if you’ve been a customer in good standing for 60 days, you can call Verizon and ask for an “international unlock.” (A Verizon spokesperson told me that this is Verizon’s standard policy for all world phones—it’s just the first time it’s manifested itself on an iPhone.)
This is welcome news to those looking to travel internationally. In those situations, customers can buy a local SIM card to use during travel, eliminating costly roaming charges.
Macworld does a great job breaking down the advantages and disadvantages of world roaming on the various U.S. carriers. AT&T iPhone 4Ss will apparently still come locked.
Sprint and Verizon iPhone 4Ss should start arriving on Friday, October 14th.
The early iPhone 4S reviews are in. Apple has provided some publications with an early review unit of the iPhone 4S and here are the reviews. We've extracted some of the more interesting points from each review, but you can click each title to read the full writeup.
- "The iPhone 4S blows away the iPhone 4 when it comes to speed." - "The true killer feature of the device is Siri." - "The amount of times Siri hasn’t been able to understand and execute my request is astonishingly low. I’ll say something that I’m sure Siri won’t be able to understand, and it gets it." - You need to be connected to internet for Siri to work.
- "[The iPhone 4S is] easily one of the most capable handsets on the market." - "The 4S is more than capable of going through a full business day without needing a charge, and if you’re a lighter user, you’ll rarely have to worry about it." - On Siri, "The software even has a good sense of humor. Asking it “what is the meaning of life?” will bring up a number of responses, both serious and not so serious. The first time I asked, Siri simply said “42.”
- "My advice is that owners of the iPhone 4 needn’t rush to upgrade; they can get the new operating system. But owners of older iPhone models, or those with basic phones, will find this latest iPhone a pleasure and a good value." - In Washington suburbs, was able to get nearly 7 megabits per second. - AT&T Model still dropped calls.
- "This phone comes dangerously close to displacing a $200 point-and-shoot digital camera." - "Apple says Siri will improve with time — both because she adapts to you, and because Apple itself will periodically upgrade her brain."
- "Before, with the standard iPhone calendar, I would often forget to add an event because I was too busy to type it, and as a result I would forget I had something scheduled altogether. With Siri and Apple’s new Reminders to-do list app, it’s unlikely I’ll forget anything important again because the process is so effortless. - "From my experience, talking on an iPhone 4S on AT&T sounds noticeably clearer than it did on past iPhones I’ve owned" - Several amusing examples of Siri responses including 'I'm Drunk' (Here's a list of cab companies)
- An amusing exchange with Siri at the top of the review - A 1080P sample video is included (edited with iMovie on a Mac) - More praise for Siri: "Siri is not your typical voice recognition technology. You don’t dictate to Siri, you interact and have a conversation with Siri. It’s difficult to explain how good Siri is, but you’ll find out soon enough."
- "So good is the voice recognition that it is now built into all apps that use a keyboard. For the first time I've found that I can happily and accurately dictate texts and emails." - "There is an option to enable Photostream, which keeps every picture you take for ever. Be warned. You cannot delete a picture once it is in Photostream. There may well be blushes within families who share devices and discover that a photo they would rather not be seen is permanently on view, but they'll have to learn the hard way." - "Once again Apple is taking a lead and asking a lot of its competitors. I wish those competitors luck, for the better all smartphones are, the happier I am. If Steve Jobs's true legacy is that the devices every other company makes are so, so much better than they otherwise would have been, I don't think he would mind one bit."
iOS developers are beginning to release apps that take advantage of iCloud's storage features. The excellent SketchBook Pro, a painting and drawing program from Autodesk, was updated today boasting an "option to set iCloud as default location to save canvases" and "controls in Gallery to upload or download from iCloud".
iCloud, which launches tomorrow, automatically "stores your music, photos, documents, and more and wirelessly pushes them to all your devices", according to Apple's promotional materials. The free services aims to help users automatically back up their data and allow them to seamless move load all their data onto a new device when they upgrade or replace their existing one -- part of Apple's new PC Free feature.
In his last keynote address, Steve Jobs launched iCloud, noting that devices have changed over the past decade, with people now using photos and videos on the go, the PC should no longer be the hub for your digital life, with all media hosted on the computer. "Keeping these devices in sync is driving us crazy," Steve told the crowd.
"Some people think a cloud is just a hard disk in the sky," Steve told the crowd. "We think it's way more than that." iCloud stores content (think contacts, calendar, photos, music), with wireless push to all devices. And with APIs providing developers with hooks into iCloud, all apps can take advantage of the service.
SketchBook Mobile for iPhone is available on the App Store for $1.99. SketchBook Pro for iPad is $4.99.
Magazine apps are starting to be updated to appear in the Newsstand feature of iOS 5. In this screenshot, sent to us by reader Shawn, we can see Wired, GQ, and Popular Science apps ready for reading. At the moment, only developers with the iOS 5 developer beta can see Newsstand.
All three apps were updated today with support for Newsstand built-in. Other magazine apps, including Golf Digest and Glamour, were updated today for Newsstand support, ready for iOS 5's general release tomorrow.
Steve Jobs was famous for his wardrobe of black mock turtlenecks and Levi's 501 jeans, but the story of what inspired him to adopt the basic but unique uniform has never really been revealed in detail.
Gawker now shares an excerpt from Walter Isaacson's upcoming biography of Jobs, revealing the history behind the wardrobe choice. According to Isaacson, the idea of a corporate uniform first came to Jobs on a visit to Sony's facilities in Japan, where he was struck by the way uniforms for employees helped create an identity bonding them to the company. Born out of necessity for Sony after World War II when the company's workers had few clothes of their own, Jobs briefly sought to bring the idea of corporate uniforms at Apple.
Sony, with its appreciation for style, had gotten the famous designer Issey Miyake to create its uniform. It was a jacket made of rip-stop nylon with sleeves that could unzip to make it a vest. So Jobs called Issey Miyake and asked him to design a vest for Apple, Jobs recalled, "I came back with some samples and told everyone it would great if we would all wear these vests. Oh man, did I get booed off the stage. Everybody hated the idea."
Despite being shot down by Apple employees, Jobs adopted the idea of a uniform for himself for the sake of convenience and identity, and drew on his friendship with Miyake to create his signature look.
"So I asked Issey to make me some of his black turtlenecks that I liked, and he made me like a hundred of them." Jobs noticed my surprise when he told this story, so he showed them stacked up in the closet. "That's what I wear," he said. "I have enough to last for the rest of my life."
It's not clear when Jobs related that story to Isaacson, but as Gawker notes, the closing quote comes with a whole new perspective following Jobs' death last week.
iPhone-Ticker.de points us to a hands on demo video of Siri on the new iPhone 4S. Siri is Apple's new voice assistant that is designed to provide you with some voice-only capabilities on your iPhone 4S.
Besides some serious examples, the reviewer also asks some silly questions and statements including "How Old Are You" and "I Love You".
The reviewer also briefly walks through some of the other iOS 5 features. iOS 5 (without Siri) will be launched on October 12th.
Meanwhile another video by Stuff.tv is also making the rounds. This was recorded at Apple's media event last week and shows some more examples of what Siri is capable of. The demonstrator in this video is tapping the Siri icon to end recognition, but Siri will also work when listening for a pause in conversation:
Siri is an iPhone 4S exclusive feature. The iPhone 4S will be officially launched on Friday, October 14th.
With Apple having pushed iTunes 10.5 out to the public earlier today, the company has already seeded developers with a beta version of iTunes 10.5.1 to continue testing of its forthcoming iTunes Match service.
iTunes 10.5.1 beta 1 includes several performance enhancements and bug fixes, and is a required update for all subscribers to iTunes Match beta. iTunes Match is not included in the iTunes 10.5 GM release.
As with previous builds testing iTunes Match, Apple notes that iCloud libraries will be deleted at the end of the beta testing period.
iTunes Match was initially part of iTunes 10.5 and appeared set to debut alongside iOS 5 and iCloud, but at Apple's media event last week the company announced that iTunes Match would not launch until the end of October. The last beta version of iTunes 10.5 still had some remaining issues with iTunes Match functionality, and Apple has given itself a few more weeks to address those problems by pulling the feature out into a separate iTunes 10.5.1 release.
iTunes Match is a $24.99/year service that allows users to have their music libraries matched to Apple's database of over 20 million tracks, making those songs available for use on any iCloud-enabled device associated with the user's accounts. Songs not available in the iTunes Store can be uploaded to Apple's servers and also made available across devices. iTunes Match will be a U.S.-only feature at first, but Apple is apparently working to extend it to other countries soon after its initial launch.
Apple today released iTunes 10.5, bringing support for iOS 5 and iCloud as well as new Wi-Fi syncing capabilities. iOS 5 and iCloud are set to launch tomorrow, and today's launch of iTunes 10.5 sets the stage for those releases.
What's new in iTunes 10.5
- iTunes in the Cloud. iTunes now stores your music and TV purchases in iCloud and makes them available on your devices anywhere, any time, at no additional cost. * Automatic Downloads. Purchase music from any device or computer and automatically download a copy to your Mac and iOS devices. * Download Previous Purchases. Download your past music, TV, app, and book purchases again, at no additional cost. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer on the iTunes Store.
- Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 5.
- Wi-Fi Syncing. Automatically sync your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iTunes any time they're both on the same Wi-Fi network.
iTunes 10.5 brings compatibility with iOS 5 and iCloud, as well as the paid iTunes Match portion of iCloud. iTunes Match is a $24.99/year service that allows users to have their music libraries matched to Apple's database of over 20 million tracks, making those songs available for use on any iCloud-enabled device associated with the user's accounts. Songs not available in the iTunes Store can be uploaded to Apple's servers and also made available across devices.
Apple announced at its media event last week that iTunes Match will launch in the United States by the end of October.
Update: iTunes Match appears to have been pulled completely from the public release of iTunes 10.5. Developer beta users had previously had the ability to turn iTunes Match on and off from the iTunes menu bar, but that option is missing in the public release. Consequently, Apple may need to release an updated version of iTunes to reenable the feature when the service launches later this month.
Update 2: Apple has posted a support document to assist users with troubleshooting the new Wi-Fi syncing feature in iTunes 10.5.
Last week, we noted that Apple had introduced a new "AppleCare+" offering for iPhone, replacing the previous $69 AppleCare with the new $99 warranty extending coverage to two years from the date of device purchase and including new coverage for up to two incidents of accidental damage. Incidents of accidental damage covered under the new AppleCare+ program will also incur $49 service fees.
One Apple retail store source has contacted us to explain in more detail how the new AppleCare+ program will also change the way the Genius Bar handles damaged devices. Previously, Genius Bar staff had some flexibility in waiving the $199 out-of-warranty replacement fee as a "one-time exception", giving customers a free replacement for a damaged phone. With the shift to AppleCare+, Genius Bar staff will no longer have the option of offering free replacements, so customers who have been aware of Apple's informal replacement policy should be mindful of the change.
Apple is also now requiring that AppleCare+ be purchased at the same time as the device, a change from other AppleCare offerings that have allowed customers to purchase AppleCare anytime before the standard warranty expires. That requirement has been causing some confusion with iPhone 4S pre-orders through carriers and other outlets, as many of them have not been offering AppleCare+ as an option.
Customers seem to be hearing different stories from Apple sales representatives regarding adding AppleCare+ to iPhone 4S purchases made elsewhere, adding to the confusion. Some representatives have suggested that a simple phone call to Apple can resolve the situation, while others have suggested that users should bring their unopened iPhone 4S boxes to Apple retail stores and have staff members set up the devices and add AppleCare+.
But while Apple's official policy requires AppleCare+ to be purchased at same time as the device, the source who reached out to us notes that Apple will allow users who did not purchase AppleCare+ to add it to a replacement phone if they damage their device and need to have it replaced. Under the program, customers needing to replace a damaged iPhone would be given a $50 discount on Apple's standard $199 replacement fee if they also purchase AppleCare+ for the replacement device, for a total cost of $249. That program would then cover the consumer for additional accidental damage incidents in the future.
Update: We're hearing that even Apple isn't clear on whether AppleCare+ needs to be purchased at the same time as the device. While Apple's iPhone and AppleCare pages are clear that AppleCare+ "must be purchased together with your new iPhone", the legal text of the AppleCare+ Terms and Conditions (PDF) indicates otherwise:
You must purchase the Plan while your original iPhone is within Apple’s One Year Limited warranty.
We've been told that Apple may be offering some clarification on the AppleCare+ situation by the time the iPhone 4S launches on Friday.
Update 2: Apple has been reaching out to customers who were unable to order AppleCare+ at the time of their iPhone 4S purchases, noting that customers will have 30 days to visit an Apple retail store to purchase AppleCare+ if they so desire. The company's online store will not support standalone ordering of AppleCare+.
While Apple has touted Wal-Mart, Target, and Best Buy as its featured third-party retailers in the United States to carry the iPhone 4S at launch, Wal-Mart's warehouse club chain Sam's Club has now joined the list, alerting customers today that it is now taking reservations for the device. The iPhone 4S will be available through Sam's Club on the official launch day of this Friday, October 14th.
iPhone 4S will be available for pre-order at most Sam's Club locations beginning at 10:00 a.m. on October 11th on a first-come, first-served basis. Available for purchase on October 14th while supplies last.
Not all Sam's Club locations offer the iPhone, so customers should check the Sam's Club iPhone database to determine which clubs will offer the device for their carrier of choice. Sam's Club is also not offering a discount on the iPhone, but it does provide one more option for customers looking to purchase an iPhone 4S on launch day.
Apple sold out of its initial stock of iPhone 4S pre-orders in less than 24 hours, announcing that it had taken over one million pre-orders over that time.
Best Buy confirmed yesterday that it will carry the full line of iPhone offerings, and RadioShack has also been taking in-store pre-orders ahead of Friday's launch.
The first iPhone 4S deliveries have already started arriving in customers' hands. Several German customers have received their new phones several days before the official launch. Macerkopf.de posts a several images of the new device from different readers.
We've already seen information leak out about the device as early units make its way into the hands of customers. General benchmarks have shown the new device to be about 68% faster than the iPhone 4 and with graphics benchmarks close to 7x as fast.
The iPhone 4S officially goes on sale on Friday, October 14th with pre-orders scheduled to be arriving on the same day. At this point, if you haven't pre-ordered a device, the only way to get the iPhone 4S on launch day will be to stand in line at a local retail store.
The first GeekBench benchmarks for the iPhone 4S seem to be rolling in. At present, two iPhone4,1 (4S) benchmarks have been posted and seem, at first glance, to be legitimate.
The listed specs show a dual core processor that resembles the results from from the iPad 2 which also shares an A5 processor. Free RAM appears to be in-line with what we believe (512MB) and the benchmarks line up with known devices.
The iPhone 4S receives a total Geekbench score of ~622. This falls slightly below the iPad 2 scores of 749, but well above the iPhone 4 benchmarks of 370. So, the new iPhone seems to benchmark about 68% faster than the iPhone 4, and about 17% slower than the iPad 2.
The iPhone 4S A5 processor is likely underclocked (800MHz) as compared to the iPad 2 processor (1 GHz), explaining the slightly lower performance.
The iPhone 4S is currently shipping to customers for delivery on October 14th, but it seems at least a few units are already in the wild.
Update: Anandtech compiles these results (and more) in nice graphs:
Meanwhile, graphics performance of the iPhone 4S is confirmed to be about 7x faster than the iPhone 4.
Entertainment Weekly reports that the Discovery Channel is working on a documentary of Steve Jobs to be shown on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. The documentary will be hosted by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman of Mythbusters.
“Someone once said that to follow the path that others have laid before you is a very reasonable course of action, therefore all progress is made by unreasonable men,” Savage said. “Steve Jobs was an unreasonable man. He didn’t simply give the public what they wanted, he defined entirely new ways of thinking about our lives in the digital space: productivity, creativity, music, communication, media and art. He has touched, directly and indirectly, all of our lives.”
The one hour special has reportedly lined up a number of interviews with early figures in Jobs' life.
Facebook today announced the release of its first native application for the iPad, coming as an update to the company's existing iPhone application. The new iPad compatibility is being featured on Facebook's site.
A New Way to Experience Facebook
- Enjoy bigger, better photos: Your photos take on new life on the iPad. They're big, high-res and easy to flip through—like a real photo album. - Focus on what matters: With less on the screen, it's easier to zoom in on your friends' photos, updates and stories. - Navigate anywhere, fast: Just tap, slide or pinch to get from one screen to another and back again in no time. - Never lose your place: Use simplified navigation to send a message, see your notifications or browse your bookmarks without switching screens. - Play games on the go: Play your favorite Facebook games wherever you are, and on a bigger screen. - Tap to send messages: A simple dropdown menu makes it easy to scan and send messages without visiting your inbox.
The updated app should be propagating through to the App Store at any moment [App Store].
Facebook's long-awaited iPad application had apparently been delayed several times, with lead developer Jeff Verkoeyen quitting in part due to the delays. The New York Timesreported back in June that a Facebook app for iPad would be released "in coming weeks". In late July, an iPad version of the existing app for iPhone was discovered inside the iPhone app, accessible through a tweak, but Facebook quickly disabled access to the iPad-specific interface through that mechanism.
Update: The universal Facebook application (version 4.0) is now available in the App Store.
Details on the improvements to the iPhone version of the app:
With improved search and browsing, the facebook.com features you use most are now just a touch away. It’s a faster, fuller Facebook for iPhone.
- Games & Apps: Play games and access your favorite apps on the go - Navigation: Send a message or see your notifications from any screen, and swipe to browse Facebook without losing your place in News Feed - Bookmarks: Your groups, pages and apps are all in your left-hand menu, and the ones you use most are right on top - Search: Search for anything on Facebook—people, apps, pages and more—without having to click around or switch views - Security: We’ve added a few updates to make the app more secure
Update 2: Some users who already had the Facebook app installed on their iPads are reporting that the app is now crashing immediately upon launch. Deleting the application from the device entirely and redownloading it appears to resolve the issue.
Bloomberg reports that Steve Jobs' death certificate has been released, citing respiratory arrest and a pancreatic tumor as the cause of death. Jobs died last Wednesday at approximately 3:00 PM Pacific time.
Steve Jobs died at home of respiratory arrest and a pancreatic tumor at about 3 p.m. on Oct. 5, according to his death certificate. His occupation was listed as “entrepreneur.”
The Santa Clara County Public Health Department in San Jose, California, released the document today.
While many had assumed that Jobs' death was ultimately related to the rare form of pancreatic cancer for which he was initially treated back in 2004, official word on Jobs' ailments over the past few years has been scant. Jobs underwent a liver transplant in April 2009, but even at that time the transplant was described as treating an "undisclosed medical condition" and his condition had initially been described as a "hormone imbalance" when he went on a medical leave of absence early that year.
Jobs took his final leave of absence in January of this year, with sources reporting at the time that he was dealing "immune system issues common with people who have received liver transplants" and not necessarily continued battles with pancreatic cancer.
A private funeral for Jobs was held last Friday, and Apple will be holding a celebration of his life for company employees on Wednesday, October 19th.
Research firm comScore today announced the results of its latest study of digital media consumption in the United States, perhaps unsurprisingly finding that the iPad has continued to dominate the tablet industry and has even quickly overcome the iPhone's headstart to lead it in total traffic. Among iOS devices, the iPad is now responsible for more U.S. Internet traffic than the iPhone, taking the title by a margin of 46.8% to 42.6%.
Perhaps most notably, the iPad continues to dominate the U.S. tablet industry even as numerous high-profile competitors have introduced (and in some cases already discontinued) their own tablet products to take on the iPad. According to comScore, the iPad accounted for 97.2% of U.S. Internet traffic, as measured by browser-basd page views, from tablet devices over the June-August period.
Looking at the broader tablet and smartphone market, iOS as a whole represented 43.1% of the installed user base for connected devices in the United States over the study period, with Android placing second at 34.1%. But in looking at traffic from those devices as a gauge for how much they are being used, iOS takes a commanding 58.5% of the market while Android dips to 31.9%.
Apple fans have frequently pointed to the company's strong performance with the iPad and iPod touch as data that should be included when comparing the relative adoption of iOS versus Android. And given that Android has yet to take off in the tablet and non-phone connected device markets, iOS continues to hold a sizable lead in overall platform comparisons despite Android's rapid ascent in the smartphone portion of the market.
iOS developers are beginning to release apps that take advantage of iCloud's storage features. The excellent 
Last week, we 
