Apple Releases iOS 6 Beta 3 For Developers 145
hypnosec writes "Developers of iOS apps have been blessed with another update to iOS 6 around 21 days after an update of the iOS 5 successor was doled out and it contains quite a few new features. The 3rd update, dubbed iOS 6 Beta 3, can now be applied to the existing iOS on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch and full downloads are available from Apple's developer portal. MacRumours notes that this update doesn't come with any change list and developers seeing the over the air update get the message that iOS 6 Beta 3 contains some 'bug fixes and improvement.' The latest build contains new options under the Settings application for Apple's latest Maps software. The beta allows developers to customize certain aspects like the volume of turn-by-turn navigation, and whether to measure distances in miles or kilometers, notes Apple Insider."
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It's FAR too common as slang for my taste, but that's what an iPod touch is called to the masses.
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This is contrary to the current setting of.. not having a setting.. If you happen to map a route within the US, you get miles. Canada or elsewhere, kilometers. I can think in terms of both, but not everyone can.. It's a little thing, but damn it'll be nice.
I'm an Apple fanboy... (Score:4, Insightful)
...and even I don't care about this. Let me know when a release date for iOS 6 is announced. Until then, let's hear some real news for nerds.
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I'm inclined to agree. I mean even the summary says:
MacRumours notes that this update doesn't come with any change list and developers seeing the over the air update get the message that iOS 6 Beta 3 contains some "bug fixes and improvement".
Non-story.
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There's a big difference between a major product announcement and an "announcement" that the integer following "beta" has been incremented by one. If they had announced new features, or even specified new features that were implemented in this particular build or listed out the bugs that had been fixed, I would have let it go, since it would have given people an idea of how much further than had to go before iOS 6 would be ready. Instead, they specifically announced that there was no announcement regarding
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Announcing a new beta with no new announced features is non-news. Unless the submitter can add something to the story, there's no point in mentioning it here instead of simply allowing the developers to notice that an update is available. Not to mention the fact that coverage of insignificant Apple happenings like this are spotty here (hence my annoyance at this one), meaning that any professional who relies on Slashdot for news of a new beta is a fool.
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Apple sends them an email. I got my notice last night, but it didn't even cross my mind that it was "slashdot-worthy."
(cue the humorous posts about that last phrase.)
Miles or Kilometers? (Score:2)
When will the rest of the world catch up to the awesomeness of imperial units?
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Re:Miles or Kilometers? (Score:4, Funny)
Kilometers suck because 100 Km/h is too slow to be such a nice round number.
Problem solved, just go 100 Km per minute. Elon Musk should be able to help you.
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Just out of curiosity, is it smart enough to figure out that--at least by default--I want metric units if I'm in Europe and Imperial units if I'm in Liberia?
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Where in Europe ? The UK still uses imperial...
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Around the time yanks learn to spell 'metre'.
meter = A thing to put coins in when parking a car.
metre = A measurement of length.
Adjustable volume (Score:2)
Nice, adjustable volume for the turn-by-turn navigation. Maybe eventually Android will get this feature and catch up with current iOS and also Android from a year ago, before Google in their infinite wisdom removed the option.
Use Waze (Score:1)
Waze is the best turn by turn GPS for either Andriod or iOS. Supports real time traffic conditions submitted by other waze users (police visible, traffic jams, construction and road hazzards, etc...)
Free app. It's worth installing.
Waze, bitches! (Score:1)
OMG I just installed this yesterday, cannot believe something this amazing is free.
I mean, virtually all other options with turn-by-turn voice navigation have either a $50 price tag (TomTom, Navigon, Magellan), or a recurring subscription price (TeleNav Scout, MotionX, GoKivo, etc).
Add to that the awesomeness of crowd-sourced realtime updates, and solidly implemented features like automatic route recalculation, and Waze is a real winner. And it's FREE! TomTom and Garmin must be shitting bricks right about
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I mean, virtually all other options with turn-by-turn voice navigation have either a $50 price tag (TomTom, Navigon, Magellan), or a recurring subscription price (TeleNav Scout, MotionX, GoKivo, etc).
You've obviously never owned an android mobile.
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Many apps could benefit from a custom (slider) volume. For example, just because I want high volume on a phone call doesn't mean I want high volume on I-radio.
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Yup, and Google is going in the exact wrong direction on this. First tying navigation volume to music volume, then tying notifications to the ringer volume. I love my Android phone, but some of these decisions are just stupid.
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Tim Cook will soon follow up Apple's groundbreaking Retina display[tm] innovation with Eustachian Tube[tm] speakers.
Fix Siri (Score:2)
By many accounts, including Woz himself, Siri is giving poorer quality answers as Apple dials back the processing time allowed on it's servers for individual queries.
Apple has invested a great deal of their clout in the Siri app. Siri could easily become the poster child for buggy portable apps if Apple lets this slide.
quick button for onboard mic vs BT mic. (Score:2)
Yes there are release notes (Score:1)
... you just have to be a developer under NDA to read them. There are lots of changes and improvements but it's still beta software.
Whacky (Score:2)
From TFS: "The 3rd update, dubbed iOS 6 Beta 3"
You don't have to be crazy to work at Apple - but it helps!
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Re:Still? (Score:5, Funny)
No wonder you had to post as AC. Samsung have not released any JellyBean phones yet. Liar liar, phone on fire
(ok, ok, you had to microwave it first...)
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Jelly Bean is already available on multiple devices [theandroidsoul.com] including Samsung models.
There, go ahead and try to spin that as a negative.
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Cyanogen is half crippled on these phones without appropriate drivers for gps, camera etc. If that counts as "working" for you, great! More power to you!
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Why don't you both start making fun of Windows Phone; you'll find some common ground there.
Both Windows Phone and iOS are good for light comic relief, what's your bias?
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I would say it's idiotic to start running CM10 nightlies at this point
Why is it idiotic? Just do a nandroid backup and flash CM10 whenever you feel like it. If it doesn't work out, reflash your backup and you're right back where you started. I don't see how that is somehow "idiotic".
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I should have said *non-Nexus* Samsung phones. Oh well.
Wait! Did Samsung release the roms for this phone, or did Google...?! Heh :) I might still be safe! :)
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My Galaxy Nexus disagrees.
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Android doesn't multitask apps "for real" either, just services. Which is fine because a phone wouldn't really work well with multiple tiny windows.
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Any process sent to the background has the kernel's sword of damocles hanging over it at all times - it can be killed instantly and without warning if android decides it needs the resources. That's not "for real" multitasking in my book. Android does a pretty good impression of multitasking, but it's not the same as a desktop OS. Its still my phone OS of choice, fwiw.
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Any process sent to the background has the kernel's sword of damocles hanging over it at all times - it can be killed instantly and without warning if android decides it needs the resources.
Well, the only real alternative to that is the entire device crashes with an OOM error. I think I would prefer the app itself to crash as at least that is going to happen either way.
Re:Still? (Score:4, Informative)
Any process sent to the background has the kernel's sword of damocles hanging over it at all times - it can be killed instantly and without warning if android decides it needs the resources. That's not "for real" multitasking in my book.
I learned recently that the Linux kernel does this, too. If it's pretty much completely out of memory, it will kill a process to get some memory back. As noted above, the alternative is for the kernel to just crash.
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Desktops have the option of swapping out programs before they hit that point though. A phone has limited memory and no swap, so Android is hyper-aggressive about crushing apps (particularly ones that see infrequent use) that are waiting in the background once you start doing other things. My personal litmus test for multitasking is that, on a desktop, I can generally set aside a program and be confident that it will keep churning along indefinitely. On my phone, anything sent to the background for even a mi
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Desktops have the option of swapping out programs before they hit that point though.
Swap space is not unlimited. When I said out of memory, I meant swap space as well.
Re:Still? (Score:4, Informative)
iOS has always been a fully preemptive multitasking operating system. It's just whether the app has permission to run as such and Apple have some very stringent requirements to ensure a good user experience and acceptable battery life. There are no technical reasons why iOS should not be considered to not be a multitasking OS. For example, if your app plays music, it can continue to do everything whilst running in the background. Of course, if you do too much non music playback related stuff apple may not accept your app in the AppStore.
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There is a difference between "app is not in the foreground" and "app is not performing some useful task".
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If you can't think of any app that can do something useful in background other than draining battery, you have a seriously impaired imagination (and must have never used a real computer in your life). To give a specific example, my smartphone can torrent more videos in background while I'm watching one; can yours?
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I have already replied to another guy who thinks that he can pick apart my argument by latching onto "illegality" of torrents instead of acknowledging the issue. I refuse to be sidetracked in that manner, so go ahead and replace all mentions of torrents in my post above with Amazon Instant Video, and try to address the actual points that it makes.
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My argument is that iOS can only multitask for a certain very limited set of scenarios, and cannot multitask outside of that set, even though there are many useful activities that require such multitasking.
(I'm not the AC who wrote the "piece of shit" comment that started the thread)
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Android the OS does not restrict the set of scenarios. And, in practice, software available for Android covers practically the same range as software available for PCs - in other words, all real applications. If I ever run into something that is not covered, I can write it myself, or pay someone else to do it for me. With an iOS, your only option is put it aside and use a different device. Or to convince yourself that you don't really need all that, aka "you're holding it wrong" argument.
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Torrents are unambiguously useful, and a real and common use case. Their legality is completely orthogonal to the question at hand.
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Any smartphone practically can play something downloaded on the computer. And when everything is all planned out that's great but life happens and sometimes I'm out and about away from my computer and I want to watch something specific. iTunes on my desktop isn't helping me there.
You can download music, videos, apps from the iTunes store on the phone while out and about. You don't need to be connected to a computer. Remember the whole "PC Free" thing Apple was promoting last year? You don't really need to connect an iDevice to a desktop ever any more.
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He said torrent not iTunes.
And the difference is? The phone is still acquiring new content in the background while playing existing content in the foreground. It's just using different apps/methods. I would hate to think what torrents would do to your battery with the amount of CPU/networking effort required vs iTunes which is simple HTTP.
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The obvious difference is that you can only download what is available on iTunes. Which is a far more limited selection compared to what's available elsewhere (and specifically via torrents).
It's the main problem with Apple's "PC free" vision - unfortunately, it's only that if you relegate yourself to Apple services exclusively. Everything else is subpar at best (like how you can't purchase books from the Kindle app), and not possible or not allowed at worst (like torrents).
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If you are so keen on legality, substitute "torrents" in all my comments above with the name of any alternative online video service that permits downloading videos legally - for example, Amazon Instant Video. The point still stands.
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Selection still applies, you just need to broaden the criteria - I have Amazon Prime subscription, which gives me (among other benefits, which I also rely on) access to a lot of content for free on AIV that I would have to pay for on iTunes. Why would I want to, effectively, purchase the same content twice just so that my device can download it in background?
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No, this discussion is about multitasking, with torrents as a specific example. There are many others, but apparently (judging by the fact that yours is a third reply trying to derail the discussion in exact same way), users of Apple devices just can't comprehend what multitasking is. I'm forced to conclude that there is some surgical procedure performed on the brain of those unfortunate who wander into Apple Stores before they are allowed to part with their money to ensure that they don't ever devise a usa
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The proper way to handle this sort of thing is to allow arbitrary background tasks, but require that any such present a clear indication to the user. On Android, for example, this is done by requiring background activities to have associated notifications in the notification drawer. This way, you can quickly tell what might be running in background just by looking at the status bar on top - if there are any icons on the left, those are either notifications or background apps.
Win8 has a similar model, where
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I was never trying to argue that iPhone cannot multitask. It obviously can, since the very first version (as you could always play music in background). The problem with it is rather that its multitasking is severely limited for third-party apps, to the point that it precludes many useful scenarios that other platforms allow.
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They really do think Apple is God.......
A common misconception among the Apple-rati. Me, I picked my iPad up this morning after not having touched it for several weeks and was struck by how much smoother Jellybean on my Galaxy Nexus and Xoom are compared to iOS 4 on the Apple device. Maybe iOS 5 and 6 are better but Google has really stomped iOS with the latest Android iteration. About time too. Can't wait to add the new Nexus 7 to my stable. Called Sam's Club this morning and they were completely sold out everywhere in the city. Oh well.
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What's even more surprising is the FPU work being done with custom compiles of Android code, If they get a Gentoo style Android solution cranking and reinvent the old adage of creating efficient code under the handheld industry it's future is looking quite bright.
I'm already expecting this to be marked troll because I haven't said anything nice about Apple. I haven't said anything bad either, I've just inferred that Android is better and done so without being AC, so go on mark me down ... I LIKE IT!!!
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Apparently Android users liked the M part of BDSM.
Then again, they do continue to let Samsung/HTC/non-Google manufacturers screw them over...
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Apparently you don't know how to read. Check out that "non-Google manufacturers" part.
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Well, it's the idiots that give you the "Android is so big" range. Without them, how many percent of the market does Nexus own again?
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Heh, i just realised BDSM is a palindrome from MSDB :) I wonder if that was on purpose LOL
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Either way, the joke was supposed to infer that anything Microsoft related was akin to BDSM.
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Guy at work sitting less than 2m away from. iPhone 3GS. Can he get iOS6? No, he can't.
Anyway, iOS6 is essentially iOS1 + a few features stolen from Android Cupcake, so of course you can run it on old hardware. The iPhone 1 and the iPhone 4S are fundamentally the same hardware with the same software
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Hey don't you DARE classify me as an Apple Fanboi. Look at my post history WE ARE ON SAME SIDE!!! now holster you're side arm.
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Well, since Android started at about 5 or 6 years behind iOS, it had to change a lot in order to catch up.
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Wait, aren't there Android phones/tablets being sold NOW with an out of date Android OS with no intention of being able to upgrade to the current Android OS?
I sure see mention on the CNET tech reviews (that my Tivo downloads) that so-and-so phone isn't running the latest Android OS and they have no info that you'll be able to upgrade it to the current one.
I actually agree with you about obsoleting hardware too early, but it seems to me that it's worse on Android, if you can buy current hardware that's not e
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up to 16x the storage space
4x the RAM
single core to dual core, each processor over twice as fast and more efficient
custom video hardware added
2x the screen resolution in both directions.
How exactly is that the same hardware?
Re:Oh lord (Score:5, Funny)
It's about time someone recognized that we need a self-compiled version of Android for efficiency.
When you go to sleep, you just plug in your phone, skate over to the build app, and tap "rebuild" - all the newest code is automatically downloaded, compiled, and installed so that the OS is always up to date and optimized for your particular system.
If Google would only do this, Apple would be totally left in the dust and be a distant memory. No one would want to buy an iPhone if they could compile their own Android kernels and userland every night.
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I'm already expecting this to be marked troll because I haven't said anything nice about Apple.
They tried. Ever talked to a Scientologist?
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They really do think Apple is God.......
Simmer down now, I saw Apple rise from the dead, although Steve Jobs was there saying, "I"m not quite dead yet" the entire time. Maybe that's what Jesus was saying the entire time he was in his tomb. I digress.
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They really do think Apple is God.......
When someone asks if you're a god, say YES
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I figured the word "blessed" was sarcasm, because now ap developers have to go back and tune their code. Again. After only 21 days.
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Wow. You live in a fantasy world. Who tunes their code for iterations of a beta?
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where by "they" you mean some random author from some random site called parity news
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Yes, developers should fall in behind Google instead. It's totally not building a patent arsenal [infoworld.com], that's just unfounded speculation [google.com]....
Face it, corporations are scum. Microsoft is scum, Apple is scum, and Google is doing the world no favors.
Re:supporting apple = supporting shady patents (Score:4, Informative)
It's especially egregious in Apple's case, as they have practically zero R&D to speak of.
Facts say other wise. [shareholder.com]
Research and Development Expense (“R&D”)
R&D expense increased $260 million or 45% to $841 million during the second quarter of 2012 compared to the same period of 2011 and increased $443 million or 38% to $1.6 billion during the first six months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011. These increases were due primarily to an increase in headcount and related expenses to support expanded R&D activities.
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Like it or not, that's what patents are for. Keeping others out of a market. Licensing is nice, but that's not the point of patents.
So basically, you're an idiot and wrong.
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Easy, iOS still makes lots of money. To make money on Android (yes, it's possible) means having to put in a bunch of ads in your app, which then gets the Android community in a tizzy because now you need "Full internet connectivity," "Phone State," and "Contact List" access in order to support your ad platform.
Or you could, I guess, starv