Apple has been emailing previous MobileMe customers, including iMore's own writer-at-large, Chad Garrett, informing them that complimentary storage boost they received during the iCloud transition has been extended again, this time until September 2013. Here's the email:

When you moved your MobileMe account to iCloud, we provided you with a complimentary storage upgrade beyond the standard 5GB that comes with an iCloud account to help you with the transition. Originally, this storage upgrade was set to expire on September 30, 2012.

As a thank you to our former MobileMe members, we will continue to provide you with this complimentary storage upgrade at no charge, for an additional year, until September 30, 2013. No action is required on your part. For complete details, please read this article.

Thank you again for using iCloud,

There was some confusion/elation last week when a glitch caused the iCloud accounts of previous MobileMe subscribers to read 2050, but alas the real extension turns out to be far more temporally conservative.

Still, a nice to have. Anyone else get their extension letter yet?

Back in August iMore reported that Apple was planning to update all current iOS devices to the new Lightning connector. That included the new iPad (iPad 3) that went on sale last March. Today MacRumors reported a developer had started seeing iPad 3,6 show in his or her app analytics, and what's more, it appeared to be running an iPhone 5-class, ARM v7s-based, Apple A6 custom system-on-a-chip.

We talked about the "iPad 3 mark II" (or rev A, for lack of a better term) on last week's iMore show Sunday edition, but here's the gist -- Apple isn't merely updating the iPad 3 with the Lightning connector because they figure if they're going to update it at all they may as well take the opportunity to make it as good an update as they can. That could include the Apple A6 processor, and the updated Qualcomm LTE 4G chipset. Specifics aside, the goal would be to make the revised iPad 3 run better and cooler. And Apple's not going to want to have 30-pin Dock connectors on Apple Store shelves any longer than absolutely necessary, after all...

Because the iPad 3 was only launched in March, my guess remains that Apple won't make a big deal out of it so as not to cause any negative push-back from original iPad 3 customers. If anything, it'll simply be announced as the same iPad with the updated connector, for anyone who wants such a thing. Apple has performed minor internal updates on devices before, and even released an original iPhone with a higher storage option mid-cycle in 2008.

It's our understanding that Apple has the revised iPad 3 ready to go. In previous years, however, iMore and others have heard about Apple preparing new iPads before the holidays, only to have them ultimately hold back until the traditional spring launch window. For major new features like Retina display, and given the market, that made sense. Apple could easily sell a Lightning connector (plus) iPad 3 revision now, and still keep an iPad 4 on the product roadmap for 2012.

If Apple does choose to launch the revised iPad 3 this fall, it should be alongside the new iPad mini, which as of the iPhone 5-launch was still scheduled for an October debut and a $200 - $250 starting price point.

With your iPhone you have one of the best 4:3 compact cameras in the world, but what happens when the world you want to capture isn't 4:3? What happens when you come across a gorgeous scene -- the Golden Gate bridge at sunset, the Manhattan skyline at dawn, the crystal-clear island beach, the magnificent Old Port architecture, the rally that's filling the campus. You can still take a photo, or several photos, of part of it, but nothing can really compare to capturing the full breadth and majesty of such an image all in one shot.

Enter the panorama.

The difference between wide angle and panorama

There's a fine line between what separates a photograph taken with a wide angle lens and a panoramic photograph. We're not going to get into the nitty-gritty details, so for the sake of simplicity, we'll say that a panoramic photo is one that has a wider field of view than the human eye, is at least twice as long as it is tall, and was created by using software (in our case, apps) to stitch together multiple images.

You've probably seen panorama's displayed and showcased at various places -- they're long and skinny and commonly have cityscapes, landscapes, and sports stadiums as their subject. With the release of iOS 6, Apple has updated the built-in camera with the ability to take panoramas by simply panning the scene for the iPhone 5 and iPhone 4S.

How to take a great panoramic photos with your iPhone 5 or iPhone 4S and the Camera app

The good news is that the panorama features in the built-in Camera app is super easy to use. First, open the camera app and tap Options, then tap Panorama. You'll then be forced into portrait mode and a horizontal bar will appear in the center of the screen that will show you what's being photographed and a small preview of your panorama as it's being built. There will also be instructions that tell you to "move the iPhone continuously when taking a Panorama". It is important that you obey this. If you stop moving part way, through, then continue again, you will not get as good of results.

The Camera will support panoramas up to 240 degrees so keep this in mind when planning your photo. If you don't want to use the entire 240 degrees, you don't have to. Remember, a longer panorama does not necessarily mean a better panorama.

Once you've planned out what you want included in your panorama, tap the shutter button to begin and start panning the scene. Do your best to keep the arrow on the center line. If you don't do a perfect job at this, it's ok, but you'll need to follow up with a little cropping. Once you're captured everything in your panorama, tap the shutter button to end the recording.

Go vertical

Traditionally, panoramas are horizontally oriented, but this is by no means a requirement! Some of the most interesting panoramas I've ever seen were vertically oriented like the one shown to the right. To do so, just flip your phone so that the shutter button is on the right before starting your panorama. The UI will not adjust for you holding the phone in landscape, but that's ok. Just start at the bottom and pan upwards. When you're done, your panorama will be oriented correctly.

How to take a great panoramic photos with your iPhone with 3rd party apps

If your iPhone is a model older than the iPhone 4S, then you'll have to head to the App Store to take panorama photos. Luckily, there are many affordable apps in the App Store that do offer this functionality.

My personal favorite iPhone app for creating panoramic photographs is AutoStitch Panorama. The reason I like this one so much is because it lets you stitch any arrangement of photos. You're not limited to stitching photos to the left and right of each other -- you can also go up and down. It also supports high resolution creations up to 18 megapixels.

• $1.99 - Download Now

While the software will take care of the stitching, it can only do as good a job as your images allow. There are several things you need to do to make sure the photos you take will come together into an amazing panorama, including maintaining a steady camera position, taking sufficient pictures, keeping focus and exposure consistent, and leaving enough room to crop the final image.

Pivot the iPhone around the camera lens

The biggest key to taking good panoramic photos is to make sure you don't shift the position of the iPhone while taking the photos. What I mean, is to imagine that there's a pole sticking out of the bottom of your iPhone, centered under the lens) and that the only motion you're allowed to do is to spin the pole so that the iPhone rotates. Since panoramic images are created by stitching multiple photos together, it should make sense that any shift of the camera's position will lessen the quality of results.

To prevent shifting your iPhone as you pan across the scene taking photos, I recommend holding your iPhone in the landscape position with two hands. To increase stability, you should also press your elbows against your torso. As you take the photos, do not to twist your body or move your feet. Place your left thumb and forefinger below and above the lens. Position your right hand similarly about the home button. The only movement you want to make is with your right hand. Keep your body facing the same direction and just rotate the iPhone with your right hand -- pivot about your left hand.

The easiest types of panoramas to take are of landscapes or big open spaces. Since everything is far away, there's plenty of room for error. The app you use for stitching will still be able to produce great results even if you shift the camera more than you should have.

Err on the side of too many photos

Just about every iPhone app that's dedicated to panoramic photography will advice you to make sure that you have at least 30% overlap between your adjacent photos. Unless you're using an app that overlays the previous image while taking the next one, I recommend overlapping a little more than 30% to play it safe. I say this for two reasons: 1. you may not be correctly estimating 30%, and 2. the more photos you have, the better chance you have at completing a nice precise stitch job.

Use AE/AF lock to keep a consistent exposure and focus

If your scene has a lot of dark and light elements, of if you're close to something you want in focus, make sure you trigger the AE/AF feature of the iPhone's camera. To do this, simply hold your finger down on the screen until the blue focus box starts pulsating. When you release, "AE/AF Lock" should appear on the screen.

Give yourself room to crop

Make sure that you give yourself enough room to crop your your final image. In the photo above (a panorama of the school I teach at), I made sure to capture enough of the sky and grass to give me the flexibility of cropping it exactly how I wanted when the stitching was done. First, I cropped it like this, applying the rule of thirds to the horizon and giving the interesting sky the spotlight.

But it's common practice to critique every image that I take, and after looking at this one a bit, I wasn't happy with how the left building is underexposed and didn't feel it really added to the photo. Sure, including it makes the panorama longer, but my goal isn't to create the widest pano, but to create an interesting photograph. To further justify cropping out the building on the left, I noticed that the sky was least interesting on that part of the photo as well. Here's the final image after cropping off the left.

This is a much better photograph, in my opinion. It may not show off as much of the campus, but that's ok. I've instead brought the focus of the image to the properly exposed buildings and the interesting sky.

Panoramic macros

When I saw these mushrooms in the grass, I was dying to take photos of them, and since I was working on this panoramic iPhone photography article, I thought I'd try to get a close-up, macro-style panorama. Nearly 15 tries later, I settled on the above image.

Remember how I mentioned that if you shift the position of the lens while taking the photos that it increases the chance of a bad stitch job? This is a prime example of the truth of that statement and demonstrates why close-up panoramas are very difficult.

For each of my attempts, I took 35-40 photos in hopes of improving my results, but they still all ended up with a lot of unwanted distortion. The problem was that since I was laying flat on my stomach propped up on my elbows, keeping a perfectly steady rotation was extremely challenging. In the end, I created a platform with the knuckles of my right hand while also keeping it stable on the ground. Then I stabilized the iPhone with my left hand and used my thumb to press the volume buttons to trigger the shutter. I did my best to carefully pivot the iPhone on my knuckles without allowing it to slide around.

In the end, I got an OK panorama. You can see a lot of distortion in the background, though -- it looks like the background is moving (take a look at a larger version to better see what I mean). But I think this is something that's going to be associated with close-up panoramas.

Panoramas as substitutes for wide angles

In addition to creating traditional panoramic photographs, you can use apps like AutoStitch to give the illusion of having a wide angle lens. I'm going to use my desk as an example for this. Here's a photo of my desk from the view of me sitting in my chair.

Horrible photo. It's way too close and cuts off a lot of stuff on my desk. Why don't I back up, you ask? Ok, I will.

Better. This photo does show off more of my desk, and I could've backed up further to show even more, but it's still not giving the look that I want. When envisioning a photo of my desk, I pictured one of those wide angle photographs that actually have some distortion to the photo. I mean this is a photo of my desk for crying out loud -- it needs something special to make it interesting.

That's where thinking of this as a panoramic project comes in. Only instead of creating a long and skinny image, I'm going to stitch a bunch of photos together from all directions, and give it a traditional crop. Here's what I got before cropping -- and I did this while sitting in my chair, the same position as the first photo.

Now we're getting somewhere! Lastly, I rotated and cropped the stitched image to an 8"x10" and got this.

Bingo. This is exactly what I was imagining what an interesting photo of my desk might look like. It has the feel of a wide angle lens, yet I didn't need any fancy gear and a DSLR -- just a $2 app and my iPhone!

Now go out and shoot!

Your assignment this week is create some killer panoramic photos and share them with us in the iMore photography forum. Make sure you also let us know which app you used to stitch your panorama!

How to get more help with iPhone photography

• How to get started with iPhone photography
• How to make your iPhone photography more striking with the "rule of thirds"
• How to make your iPhone photographs more powerful with negative space
• How to take amazing macros with your iPhone
• How to take awesome HDR photos with your iPhone
• How to take great looking portraits with your iPhone camera
• How to take fantastic photos of your kids with your iPhone
• How to take dreamy iPhone photos of your newborn baby
• How to take irresistible photos of your pets with your iPhone
• How to take spectacular photos of your car with your iPhone
• How to use iPhoto to darken and add drama to your iPhone photography
• How to use iPhoto to polish and perfect your iPhone portraits
• All iPhone Camera app how-tos
• All iPhone Photos app how-tos
• iPhone photography forum

Earlier this week, we brought you a video of me going hands on with the iPhone 5 on EE's new 4G LTE network which goes live in the UK on October 30th. I thought it may be interesting to run some 4G speed tests alongside 3G just so those of you that will switch from either an Orange or T-Mobile contract over to an EE one can see what you will be getting. Price plans have not yet been announced, which it a bit of a shame. However, it will be interesting to see if EE charge any extra for the LTE service.

As you will see in the video, I didn't manage to get the fastest download speeds of the day (I managed 42mbps at one point), but what you will see is that the upload speeds on 4G walk all over 3G. The difference was phenomenal. Customers who purchase a 4G capable smartphone in the UK are in for a real treat once this rolls out. Speeds are faster than what much of the population get on their home broadband I'm looking forward to seeing how much more we will use our iPhones rather than jumping on the computer for certain tasks.

One thing that does slightly concern me is the data limits that EE will give us with a new contract. At the moment, I have not seen them offer an unlimited data plan and 1GB-2GB is currently the top of the range. Will the network take into consideration that we'll be using our phones more since we'll download/stream content so much more quickly and give us some realistic data plans? I hope so or it could well be the one negative thing that comes out of the first 4G network going live in the UK.

We will, of course, keep you up to date on any more information we get relating to price plans and data allowances. Does anyone else share this concern with me? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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Apple, today, took down the front page of Apple.com and replaced all navigation, all iPhone 5 hero graphics, and all links to corporate information, with a single, simple video containing iconic Steve Jobs words and images.

• "There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love -- I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been. And we've always tried to do that at Apple."

• "This is iMac. The whole thing is translucent. You can see into it. It's so cool."

• "This amazing little device holds a thousand songs... and it goes right into my pocket."

• "An iPod. A phone... And an internet communicator. Are you getting it?"

• "Good morning, can I help you?" "Yes, I'd like to order four thousand lattes to go please. No, just kidding! Wrong number, thank you."

• "It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with the liberal arts, married with humanities, that yields us the result that makes our hearts sing.

A message follows the video, from Tim Cook, Apple's CEO:

Steve's passing one year ago today was a sad and difficult time for all of us. I hope that today everyone will reflect on his extraordinary life and the many ways he made the world a better place.

One of the greatest gifts Steve gave the world is Apple. No company has ever inspired such creativity or set such high standards for itself. Our values originated from Steve and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple. We share the great privilege and responsibility of carrying his legacy into the future. I'm incredibly proud of the work we are doing delivering products that our customers love and dreaming up new ones it will delight them down the road. It's a wonderful tribute to Steve's memory and everything he stood for.

Tim

Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, CEO of Pixar, driving force behind the popularization of the Mac, of iTunes and iPods, of Apple Retail, of the iPhone and iPad, and of Apple itself, passed away one year ago today.

A temperamental, triumphant, fallible, transcendent technologist and artist, his taste, sensibility, and the sheer breadth and audacity of his vision more than dented our universe -- it shaped our culture and our lives, and helped empower us to dent universes all our own.

You shook the world, Steve, and we were shaken at your passing. But technology goes on, art goes on, Apple goes on, and while we're lessened without you, what you left behind makes us so much more.

Thank you.



One of the big disappointments for many when the iPhone 5 was released was the news that Apple would not be making a dock for their latest creation. It has been a big concern to many who like to have their iPhone 5 standing upright by the side of their bed or on their desk with easy viewing distance. Thankfully we now have an option to get a dock for the iPhone 5 and its called the Lightning Dock. The Lightning Dock has been designed by a company who claims to have been designing docks and mounts for iPad's and iPhone's for over 3 years. The latest dock is designed specifically for the iPhone 5 and also works with the iPod touch 5th generation too.

The dock is available in three color options and two different materials; anodized Aluminum, black anodized aluminum or hardwood. It can also be supplied with or without its own Lightning cable. The Lightning Dock works with or without a case and uses the strength of the Lightning dock connector to support the iPhone 5. The Lightning connector, according to TLD is very strong and is capable of holding your iPhone 5 firmly. If you don't want to take that chance, there is also an additional back plate that offers slim groves which accommodate a Plexiglas plate which can be removed later if you find it's not needed.

The Lightning Dock costs $24.95 for the hardwood version and $34.95 for either of the anodized aluminum docks. You can add on an additional $20 if you want it supplied with its own Lightning USB cable and en extra $5 for the back plate. Shipping is slated as 2-3 weeks and it can be shipped internationally. Not long to wait if you're desperate to get your hands on an iPhone 5 dock. I am planning on ordering one of these as I really miss my iPhone dock. What about you?

Source: Lightning Dock

For this week's photo contest, we're going to celebrate the new design and makeover given to the iMore forums by updating our avatars with some killer photos -- and giving away over $140 in prizes! Although self-portraits are extremely popular for people to use as their avatar, this is not a requirement. Pick a subject that reflects you, get creative, and capture that awesome image that translates into the perfect avatar.

Huge congrats to Catastrophology for winning the iOS 6 panorama photo contest!

The prize: Olloclip Lens System, Glif tripod mount, and $50 iTunes gift card

We're going all out this week and not only offering the winner one prize, but THREE! The winner will receive an Olloclip Lens System, a Glif tripod mount and stand, and a $50 iTunes gift card to spend on all those photography apps you've been wanting to buy! That's $140 worth of prizes!

The rules

The rules of entry are very simple. The photo must have been taken with an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch (we'll check the EXIF data of the original file to verify) and any edits must have been done with an iPhone or iPad app. No Photoshop CS6! If you have external lens accessories you are more than welcome to use them.

Additional Rule: In addition to the normal set of rules, this contest also requires that you set the photo as your iMore avatar and share it in the contest thread.

Resources

Now, before you run off to take your photo, remember that it's not technical skill alone that will claim this prize. Even if you're not the best photographer (yet!), a great eye and a great subject can still get you the win. However, a little help can never hurt, so make sure you check out these articles from our iPhone photography series for some tips.

• How to take great looking portraits with your iPhone camera
• How to edit portraits with iPhoto for iPhone and iPad
• How to make your iPhone photographs more powerful with negative space
• How to make your iPhone photography more striking with the "rule of thirds"

How to submit

Submitting your photo is easy. First, you must set your photo as your iMore avatar, then head over to the iMore Photography Forum and post your photo to the official contest thread. Don't forget to state which apps, if any, you used to edit your photo!

That's it! Now go out and shoot!

ENTER NOW