Marco Arment, creator of the popular Instapaper app for the iPhone and iPad, noticed an problem related to changes made in iOS 5 tied to iCloud backups.

A common scenario: an Instapaper customer is stocking up an iPad for a long flight. She syncs a bunch of movies and podcasts, downloads some magazines, and buys a few new games, leaving very little free space. Right before boarding, she remembers to download the newest issue of The Economist. (I think highly of my customers.) This causes free space to fall below the threshold that triggers the cleaner, which — in the background, unbeknownst to her — deletes everything that was saved in Instapaper. Later in the flight, with no internet connectivity, she goes to launch Instapaper and finds it completely empty.

(Last week, almost this exact scenario happened to one of my customers.)

Apps like eBook readers, podcast clients, offline mapping programs and even Apple’s own iBooks app (as long as Apple is following its own rules) would have its cached data wiped clean if ever the device runs low on space.

Hit the link below for Arment’s detailed explanation of the problem.

Source: Marco Arment

Scott Forstall, the man in charge of Apple’s Mobile Software Division and head of the iOS development team, was profiled by Bloomberg Businessweek, and they revealed a number of bits (facts or gossip, hard to tell) into how Forstall is an integral part of Apple’s executive team.

Forstall is described as a “mini-Steve” who obsesses over the little details that make Apple products great and knows when to say ‘No’ when needed. But the similarities to Steve don’t stop there.

Forstall is like Steve in one other important way: He can be, in what some of his co-workers might call an understatement, a polarizing figure. He's won the intense loyalty and allegiance of many of his underlings, and his engineers are among the hardest workers at the company. At the same time, according to several former Apple employees, a number of high-ranking executives have left the company because they found working with Forstall so difficult [...] They say he has such a fraught relationship with other members of the executive team—including lead designer Jony Ive and Mac hardware chief Bob Mansfield—that they avoid meetings with him unless Tim Cook is present.

Despite some of these alleged relationship issues, Scott Forstall is considered to be the father of OS X Leopard, the Aqua interface, the App Store and the general principles of the iOS software that’s installed on every iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. This has commanded a certain level of respect among Apple employees and is something of a feat for the 42-year-old (the youngest of the Apple executive team).

Forstall is also said to have been extremely close to Steve Jobs, one of his biggest mentors.

Forstall's most recent triumphs are likely bittersweet. Over the last few years he watched as his biggest champion and mentor slowly lost an agonizing personal battle, all while products running his software have helped make Apple the most valuable company in the world. Apple has sold more than a quarter billion devices running Forstall's iOS.

Interestingly, Forstall was the one who convinced Jobs to let engineers carry prototype iPhone units outside of the Apple campus for testing purposes, which ultimately led to the lost iPhone 4 debacle.

Before the iPhone 4 went to market, Forstall persuaded Jobs to allow dozens of his engineers to carry prototypes of the device to better test its network performance and minimize dropped calls, says a former Apple employee who was a manager at the time.

All in all, the profile on Scott Forstall is an amazing read and we’d suggest giving it a once-over to get an overall picture of how he’s helped Apple succeed in the mobile software industry.

Source: BusinessWeek

While Apple’s new iOS 5 Newsstand is technically a Folder, and hence can’t be put into another Folder, The Coding Massacre has discovered a glitch in the Matrix that can let Newsstand haters banish it into another Folder… at least temporarily.

Basically, you create a new Folder and in the first few seconds, while iOS is getting its act together, you jam Newsstand in there before it can stop you. However, if you launch Newsstand, it will come screaming back out at you.

So file this under temporary work around if you hate the look of Newsstand so much, even a short break is better than none.

Check out the step by step, below!

Source: The Coding Massacre via 52 Tigers

Just get an iPhone 4S and curious how to get it set up so you can get going with it? No problem. With iCloud, you can get set up right on your iPhone, no cable, no iTunes desktop required! If you like to go old school, however, iTunes is still there for you. We recommend iCloud, but we’ll walk you through both option, below!

And if you need some extra assistance to get you started check out:

• iOS 5 walkthrough: Everything you need to know!
• iPhone 4S Forums: All the help you need!

On-device setup with iCloud

When you turn on your new device, you’ll now be presented with a screen that says iPhone, iPad touch, or iPad (depending on which device you’re setting up). Just swipe to unlock and you’re welcomed and invited to choose your preferred language. The most common language options will be immediately available but you can tap the down arrow to see others. Hit the Next button to pick. Apple will also provide you a default Country or Region based on where you bought your device, but you can tap Show More to expand the choices.

Interestingly, neither here nor in any later step are default choices pre-checked for you. You can’t simply keep hitting Next to speed through. You have to look at the choices and tap one to check it before the Next button will even activate. Apple is forcing you to pay more attention than is often required on the web or in apps.

Next you’re given a choice to globally enable or disable Location Services. Location Services use GPS, cell-tower triangulation, and Wi-Fi router mapping to determine the approximate location of your device. This feature is used for turn-by-turn navigation (like TomTom), check-in games (like FourSquare), social networks (like Facebook), geo-tagging (like in the Camera app), and utilities (like Siri and Find my iPhone), etc. Unless you have a particular need to globally disable it, you probably want to turn on the Location Services feature at this point. You can change your mind or selectively disable or enable these services later on in the Settings app (e.g., turn off your Camera app's geo-tagging, but leave on TomTom's turn-by-turn navigation).

You’ll need to connect to a Wi-Fi network to continue iCloud setup (if none is available, you’ll have to switch to iTunes setup instead.) Your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch will then connect to Apple’s servers to activate (the cord was cut from iTunes, not from Apple).

You have the choice to

• Setup as a new iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad
• Restore from an iCloud Backup
• Restore from an iTunes Backup

Set up as New

To set up your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch as a new device, sign in with your Apple ID (or tap through to create one). If you have multiple Apple IDs, for example a MobileMe ID, an iTunes ID, an ID associated with FaceTime or something else, you’ll have to choose which one you want to use. If you change your mind, you can login with a different ID later (and you can also login to different apps, like iTunes and iMessage, with separate IDs later). Agree to Apple’s Terms and Conditions and Apple will setup your ID and ask if you want to use iCloud or not. If you do — and most people should because it’s 1) free for the base level service, and 2) highly functional — you’ll be asked to enable iCloud Backup — and again, most people should. (It will create daily backups when you’re connected to Wi-Fi.)

Decide whether or not you want to enable Find my iPhone to help trace lost or stolen devices, and then choose if you want to share diagnostic information with Apple to help them improve the iOS experience.

And you’re done.

Restore from iCloud Backup

You can also choose to restore based on a previous iCloud Backup. You’ll be asked to sign in with your Apple ID. Make sure it’s the same Apple/iCloud ID that you used to make your previous backups. Agree to the Terms and Conditions and you’ll be given a list of recent backups to choose from, including those of all iOS devices backed up to iCloud.

Pick your backup and iCloud will begin the restore. Then your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will restart, all your settings nicely back where you left them, and iTunes will begin to re-download all the apps you had installed when the backup was made. If you live in countries where iTunes in the Cloud is available, iTunes will also re-download all the iTunes music, TV shows, and iBooks that were previously on your device. (You need to stay on Wi-Fi for large files to re-download.)

For security reasons, iOS may also prompt you to set a Passcode Lock, and not wait for you to go find it in Settings on your own.

Software Update

Gone are the days when, after Apple released a software update, you had to rush back to your iTunes-equipped Windows or Mac PC, download a 500MB+ firmware file, backup your data, install the new OS version, and restore you data back to your device. You can now do all that, better and faster, right on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

When a Software Update is available, you’ll get a notification popup. The Settings app will also get badged, just like Mail. To get your update, go to Settings, tap on General, tap on Software Updates, and if it isn’t there waiting for you, tap on Check for Updates. When you see the update, tap Install.

The firmware will download and then your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad will restart and update.

Apple is now doing bit-differential, or delta file updates. That means only the bits that have changed need to be downloaded, not the entire firmware anymore. The update also happens in place, so you don’t need to backup and restore your data. Much more efficient and hence much faster.

Traditional setup with iTunes

You can still setup your new iPhone 4 the same way you’ve set up your previous iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad devices.

Plug into your Mac or Windows PC with the white USB Dock cable that came with your iPhone 4S. iTunes your device will be detected and displayed in the sidebar, and you'll be asked to register it with Apple. If you have a MobileMe, iTunes Store, or other form of Apple ID you can log in with it and your information should pop up for you to check over. Either type it out or accept it and you're good to go!

If you're upgrading from a previous generation iPhone or iPod touch, iTunes will detect any backups you might have made and offer to restore your data for you. For example, if you're moving from an iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4S, iTunes can setup your new phone to pretty much match your old. If you don't want to do this, or if you don't have any backups, iTunes will set up your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad as new.

Wi-Fi sync

If you want to keep syncing with your home iTunes library but don’t want to have to tether to your Windows or Mac PC over USB, you now have the option to sync over Wi-Fi as well. Wi-Fi sync needs to be enabled in the Settings app, and you need to sync with iTunes over USB at least once to set it up, and you need to be plugged into power throughout, but if none of that dissuades you, Zune-like Wi-Fi sync is finally yours.

Non-modal USB sync

If you do choose to keep syncing with iTunes over USB, or you sync occasionally over USB to move over large files, like movies, you can now continue to use your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad while syncing. (Previously unlocking your device would cancel the sync.)

Software Update

Depending on when exactly your new iPhone 4S was manufactured and shipped, it’s possible that it may have an older version of the software, iOS. Here’s how to check for updates, and get updated, using iTunes. (Though we strongly recommend you switch to iCloud updates, see below!)

• How to update your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad

The iFixit team is back at it again, and they have torn down the iPhone 4S for us all to see. Want to know what that A5 chip looks like inside the device, or that new 8MP camera? They take us through it step by step.

> – Apple A5 Dual-core Processor (more on this later) > – Qualcomm RTR8605 Multi-band/mode RF Transceiver. Chipworks has provided us with a die photo. > – Skyworks 77464-20 Load-Insensitive Power Amplifier (LIPA®) module developed for WCDMA applications > – Avago ACPM-7181 Power Amplifier > – TriQuint TQM9M9030 Multi-Mode Quad-Band Power Amplifier Module. > – TriQuint TQM66052 (possibly a PA-Duplexer Module)

And yes, 512MB of RAM. So no huge surprises, but hit the link below for all the details

Source: iFixit

Chipworks Posts Teardown Images of Apple iPhone 4S

Images and analysis to be updated continuously on Chipworks and iFixit web sites.

Ottawa, Ontario, October 13, 2011 – Chipworks announced it has posted initial results of its Apple iPhone 4S teardown and will continuously update images and information as it comes out of its labs over the next 48 hours. The focus of this analysis is on the die level to provide information that is not readily available at the board level.

Images and information from the teardown will be posted at http://www.chipworks.com/en/technical-competitive-analysis/resources/recent-teardowns, and select images are being shared with iFixit at http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPhone-4S-Teardown/6610/1.

A full analysis will be available on the Chipworks website including de-capsulated images of the chips in the iPhone 4S, die layouts, and information on the process technology used to build some of the devices.

"The iPhone 4S contains a lot of the same devices observed in the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2 making this somewhat of a technology hybrid between the two." says Jim Morrison, Product Manager at Chipworks, "we're going to be looking deeper to confirm other similarities and differences. For example, we will confirm whether the A5 chip found in the iPhone 4S is still being fabricated by Samsung or has been moved to TSMC's 40 nm low power process."

Chipworks is the recognized leader in reverse engineering and patent infringement analysis of semiconductors and electronic systems. The company's ability to analyze the circuitry and physical composition of these systems makes it a key partner in the success of the world's largest semiconductor and microelectronics companies. For more information, visit www.chipworks.com.

For today only, the TiPb Store has the  Dual XGPS150 Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver for iPhone 4S, iPad 2, Verizon iPhone 4 for only $69.95. That’s great rigid impact protection in black, fuchsia magenta, bright purple, metallic purple, metallic black, white, turquoise, and coral — Get them before they’re gone!

Shop Dual XGPS150 Universal Bluetooth GPS Receiver for iPhone 4S, iPad 2, Verizon iPhone 4 now!

iOS Dev-Team member MuscleNerd says that UltraSn0w will be updated as soon as tomorrow with support for iOS 5, allowing iPhone users to unlock their device to use on unsupported carriers.

will coordinate ultrasn0w iOS5 compatibility update to come out after a planned MobileSubstrate update tomorrow

Keep in mind that the UltraSn0w unlock will only work for 01.59.00, 05.11.07, 04.26.08, 05.12.01, 05.13.04 and 06.15.00 basebands, so if your baseband differs from these you won’t be able to unlock your iPhone using UltraSn0w until the Dev-Team finds a new exploit.

It’s currently possible to upgrade your iPhone to iOS 5 while preserving your baseband using the current version of RedSn0w, which you’ll also need to jailbreak your iPhone before starting.

Will you be unlocking your iPhone with UltraSn0w?

Source: MuscleNerd

It seems like every time Apple introduces a new version of iOS, some people get slightly better battery life, most people stay about the same, and a ridiculous number flood our contacts, comments, and forums saying it’s their worst battery life EVER.

Vote in the poll up top and then give us the great — or gory — details in the comments below. If you are having problems, let us know how you’ve tried to trouble shoot: clean install (not from backup), remove and re-add push accounts, delete and re-download notification and location happy apps, turn off Ping (always a good idea), turn of location Reminders, restart a lot — what’s worked and what hasn’t?

With the release of iOS 5, Apple has added the ability to buy custom alert tones from the iTunes app on your device. If you open iTunes and click on Genres, you will see a new entry called Tones.

The iTunes Store on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch now includes the Tone Store — an incredible spectrum of music ringtones and alert tones that can be assigned to any alert setting on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.

We already knew about Ringtones but these alerts are a completely new feature. Some of the Star Wars alerts are particularly impressive and comprehensive too. Alerts will cost $0.99 whilst Ringtones still cost $1.29. You can also access the Ringtones and Alerts directly from the Sounds tab within the settings app.

 

So… how’s iOS 5 working for you? Apple opened the gates of update yesterday and unleashed a ton of new software so did you manage to download what you needed? Was it smooth sailing or did you have problems? Did it work out eventually or are you still having issues? Did you update all your iOS devices already or are you waiting on some? (I updated my iPad 2, I’m still waiting on my iPhone 4…)

For those of you who’ve updated successfully to iOS 5, do you like it? Is it what you expected? Are the new features implemented well for you? Anything surprisingly good or surprisingly bad? Any iOS 5 bugs driving you nuts, or hidden gems that just made your day?

One day later and one version ahead, how is iOS 5 working for you?