To complete the transformation from iPhone 5 to wearable fitness tracker, you need to get an app. As far as fitness tracking apps go, there are dozens of them out there… Each has it’s own strengths and weaknesses. From Nexercise to Fitocracy, from Runtastic to a whole gamut of Nike and Adidas apps, there’s something for everybody in the fitness tracking app department.

The iPhone 5 is a very cool piece of tech that basically already falls into the category of wearable technology. It can track you footsteps, location, speed, altitude, even your heart rate using the camera! With a bit of research, you’ll find the iPhone 5 case that fits you best and lets you either carry your phone in your pocket or on your arm for all of your wearable technology needs. If you want something a little different to cover your iPhone 5, go here for more iPhone 5 cases and cover options.

One of the problems with current generation of high tech optical displays is that they are very limited on how the eye focuses on them. The eye can only focus on one thing at a time, and placing a digital screen in front of it means it needs to go out of focus on the world around it to focus on what is placed very close in front of it. Traditional near-eye display developers have circumvented this issue by designing fancy devices make the image appear far away. However this is quite limited and requires bulky optics.

It is unclear how Google’s Glasses plan on avoiding this issue. However, one company may have found what could be called the very first Google Glasses Accessory! Innovega is developing a new approach to near-eye optics using contact lenses. This product is called iOptik and it involves a single contact lens.

“The ability to focus the near-eye image is achieved by embedding optical elements inside the iOptik™ contact lens. These micro-components are so small that they do not interfere with the wearer’s normal vision.

The iOptik™ contact lens enhances vision and enables consumers to better visualize their digital world. It allows light from the display to pass through the center of the pupil, and light from the surrounding environment to pass through the outer portion of the pupil. Each of these sets of light rays produces an image on the retina simultaneously with the other set. They are superimposed to form a single integrated image.”

In short, these contacts will allow the user to perceive digital data and real world data at the same time and in focus. Plus, since many of us wear contacts just to see the normal world, these contact lenses even come in your prescription too! The best part about this project is the fact that it can and is being made right now! Here’s a video of these babies in action:

It’s a pretty exciting concept to have a digital display that is all but indistinguishable from the real world around you. Although we’re not too sure about having to put on a set of contact lenses AND a wear a pair of glasses at the same time. It just seems… cumbersome.

Now if only they could get the contacts themselves to be the viewscreen… then we’d be talking! Oh wait… we can!

The Pebble smart watch syncs via bluetooth to your iPhone or Android phone (apparently a lot of people like those things). It has an e-paper display similar to what the Kindle has so you can read outside, a built in accelerometer, vibrating alert, and it’s waterproof to boot! Plus it will be able to install and run it’s own suite of apps that can even connect to the internet! The SDK will be open to other developers as well for free who are interested in enhancing it’s functionality.

The Pebble watch will be able to control your iPhone, receive alerts and text messages, work like a bike computer or pedometer to track your runs and cycling, and do a bunch of other nifty things. All in all, it’s a pretty cool little device that has a ton of different uses so you don’t have to pull that super heavy and cumbersome iPhone out of your pocket all the time… The Pebble watch will retail for $150, but you can back it on Kickstarter and preorder it for $115!

Up until this point, the rumors on the internet mostly dealt with the theory that Valve would be making a “steam box”, a sort of open-source platform capable of running steam, and the games on steam, in some predictable way. It would essentially be a PC-as-a-console concept. This minimum-spec computer would be the target of games in production, much in the same way that the Xbox 360 and PS3 are fixed resource computers targeted by current video game developers. This standardization would be much more agile, as PCs are infinitely more upgradable than consoles. What this would mean to gaming at large is smoothing out the generational gaps in game fidelity and technology. As the current crop of consoles have been holding back PC gaming for some time now, this idea is an exciting proposition. It is also likely not true.

As if the rumormill didn’t have enough to go on, comes a possible third clue in Valve’s recent news headlines: Tim Cook, Apple’s current CEO, was seen on Valve’s campus. Internet sites quickly blasted out rumors that Apple and Valve would be teaming up to compete against Google’s recently unveiled “Project Glass”. While a long-shot, it certainly is a possibility. What is more likely, in other site’s opinions, is the possible integration of Steam in Apple’s new line of smart HDTVs. Valve and Apple have a cordial history, although nothing to date has materialized.

Will it be some futuristic “termination vision” or a mundane mouse? Only time will tell, and with Valve time, it’s certainly going to be later rather than sooner.

The video showcases many different functions and was intended to show the possibilities of integrating all of Google’s various services together. Some highlights of the video are:

• Setting Appointments
• Checking the Weather
• Instant Messaging
• Voice to Text
• Location Based Notifications
• Routes via Google Maps
• Voice Recording
• Reminders
• Location Sharing
• Location Check In
• Pictures w/ Integrated Google+ Sharing
• Music Player
• Video Chat w/ View Sharing

Google’s recent privacy policy unification now makes a lot of sense. Larry Page, Google’s CEO, also tied all employee’s bonuses to the success of their social networking offerings. With Google+ looking to be the foundation of their service this too, makes a lot of sense. Google feels that their ability to stay relevant is tied directly with the success of their social offering.

One rather large thing to keep in mind is the video was not showing a production ready Project Glass, but was merely a tech demo for all the features Google wants to include. Even the user interface was simply computer graphics overlayed on the screen. Still, the tech demo give a sneak peak into the future, and that future looks sweet indeed!

Designed to keep mothers connected to their children while they are at work by providing active monitoring and soon to be released on Think Geek (ok… maybe not). It has some actual uses beyond uber-geek parenting though, since it constantly monitors the infant it will help with children who require active cardie-pulminary monitoring and who have conditions that require constant attention. Also it is being marketed to parents who are worried about sleep apnea, choking, and other dangers that relate to the dreaded SIDS.

They may be tugging at the heart strings of first time parents and appealing to our inner geek, but this new device is a step forward in wearable technology and medical monitoring devices and could actually make a big difference for some parents and especially for infants with serious medical conditions. I wonder what kinds of in-app-purchases their software will come with? What will the virtual currency be called? BabyBucks gets our vote!

It is the smart phones in particular that will lead to more smart textiles being used in daily life, particularly those designed for sensing and monitoring. Thanks in part to the increasingly common BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) technology, which is estimated to be present in 70% of mobile phones and the vast majority of new laptops and tablets. Smart sensors integrated into clothing and wearable technologies will be able to connect to the internet using BLE tech and perform many kinds of functions.

One major area that wearable technology will be heading is physiological monitoring systems to check and monitor health and vital signs like heart rate, body temperature, breathing, and activity levels. Utilizing these sensors and an internet connection vital signs will be able to be monitored, issues diagnosed, and potential problems prevented. As health care continues to increase, and the population in developed countries continues to age, these medical wearable technology devices will be in high demand.

However, the report doesn’t paint an entirely rosy picture of the future, outlining a number of major hurdles that must be overcome first. User friendliness and accessibility are going to need to be addressed if smart textiles are going to become adopted by the majority of the population, especially for those over 60. Currently the systems are either too complicated or too fragile for general use. Another issue that will prevent widespread adoption of smart textiles and wearable technology is the problem of power supplies. This is why energy harvesting is going to become a major industry in the coming years. Current generation batteries have issues with size, short life spans, and laundering problems. However, advances are being made to improve the integration of batteries into textiles such as flexible lithium ion batteries and batteries that can be woven into certain garments.

Currently the smart textile market is a tiny niche, the report says, confined to specialist applications like protective apparel and military wear. For it to reach the mainstream market, these hurdles are going to need to be surmounted. Thankfully major companies like Apple, Sony, and Google are spurring innovation with their renewed interest in wearable tech, so we can expect to see some exciting developments in the near future.

Google is said to be researching futuristic glasses which will communicate with their “cloud” services to provide real-time data based on where the user is located. A front facing camera would take in the scenery and using Google’s extensive mapping data, be able to figure out precisely where the user is located, and what direction the user is facing. A screen, either a small opaque LCD, or possibly some sort of transparent LCD technology would relay live data about nearby people and locations. The rumors point towards the former screen option, at least for the initial iteration of glasses, as there are still hurdles with the transparent option.

It is not known precisely what form factor the glasses will take but the oft-shown picture of Oakley Thumps is being used to depict a possible design for “Google’s Goggles”. The glasses would use their own connection to the internet rather than an Android device, although an Android device would be able to communicate with the glasses to provide additional functionality beyond what the glasses are capable of. The final result would be a brand new layer of information, the fabled “augmented reality” layer often the focus of Sci-Fi books and movies, that would merge cyber-space with meat-space. Imagine a world where you could already be familiar with someone’s name and interests prior to saying “hi”, or knowing where the closest burger worthy of your money is. It’s an exciting thought indeed!

Google is known for pushing the boundaries of technology, usually with little regard as to its commercial viability (Google Wave anyone?). While the promise of a better tomorrow is exciting, it’s tough to imagine anyone but the most bleeding edge technophiles who are willing to put up with the trade-offs needed to bring the future into the present. Such trade-offs like bulky, expensive glasses, yet another monthly data plan bill, one more source of distractions, and the stares of strangers wondering if they are being monitored by a shadowy government agency. Only time will tell.

The power circuit is greatly improved from the earlier Lilypad. The device won’t burn out if the power plug is plugged in backwards, or plugged into a 9V battery. As a matter of fact, the FLORA is compatible with a multitude of battery technologies and with an on-board power regulator and USB fuse, the device is protected from most beginner mistakes. Even the power switch gets a makeover with an inline 2 amp FET to protect it from switch failures due to higher amp loads.

Much like the Arduino there are sewable (with stainless steel conductive thread) pads to allow for the integration of electronic circuits into clothing simply and easily. The FLORA interleaves power and ground pads with the programmable pads making connecting modules, such as a chain of colorful LEDs much more simple to do with conductive thread.

The platform is in its testing phase so the specifications are certainly subject to change, as are the planned modules. There is currently a waiting list to hear when the device is available for public use and purchase, so be sure to sign up! The best part is that Adafruit is committing a team to produce tutorials, support, and projects for 2012 making it a great time to jump head first into DIY wearable tech!

Just how much kinetic juice do you generate when you are walking? Well that varies widely by user, activity, and how bouncy you tend to be… however here’s a few examples:

• 1 minute of walking provides approximately 1 minute of listening time on an iPod Nano
• 11 minutes of walking provides approximately 1 minute of talk time on a 2G phone call (iPhone 3G)
• 26 minutes of walking provides approximately 1 minute of talk time on a 3G phone call (iPhone 3G)

With tons of useful applications for athletes, runners, bicyclists, first responders, and even the military, the nPower PEG is a cool gadget. While it’s not exactly “wearable” they are coming out with multiple solutions for attaching it to your body, arms, and legs to increase its effectiveness while doing different kinds of sports.

It’s an awesome solution to keeping your tech charged while you are off the grid. It’s compatible with most every major electronic device on the market, and it lets you turn your kinetic energy into green electricity.  That’s a win in our book! Personally, I just can’t wait to say “Is that an nPower PEG in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

You can reserve your nPower PEG for $159.99 at www.nPowerPEG.com.

Set to be released within the next year for around $129, the AirMouse is an ergonomic solution to a problem that has been plaguing people since the first mouse was introduced. This innovative product turns the palm of your hand into the sensor and your index and middle fingers into the mouse buttons.

The inventors at Deanmark claim that it actually increases your speed and accuracy by aligning itself with the ligaments of your hand and wrist, allowing you to mouse better, faster, and longer. On top of that, the wearable mouse was designed to align itself with the ligaments of your hand and wrist, helping reduce pain associated with RSIs. The pieces are all interchangeable, the batteries last at least a week, and you can even select the color you want the glove to be made out of.

While it’s not a revolutionary device, it is an evolutionary device that is immediately deployable and useable in most all existing computing environments without any learning curve whatsoever. Pretty cool if you ask us! Learn more about the AirMouse at www.theairmouse.com

Wearable technology is already sweet, but it sounds oh so much sweeter when being reported on by someone with a British accent.

Fitness trackers have been great and all, but let’s face it- at their core they are fancy pedometers. Some can measure when you walk, run, and climb stairs, but that’s about as far as most fitness trackers go these days. That’s all about to end with the new Nike+ Training shoes and the Hyperdunk+ shoes. Loaded to the… tongue… with pressure sensors, these smart shoes will track a whole lot more than how many steps you’ve taken. Utilizing up to 5 or more pressure sensors they will track the intensity of your workouts, how high you jump, how fast you are, how many reps you’re doing, and tell you in numbers just how hard your bringing it.

The data is transmitted wirelessly to a Nike+ interactive app on a mobile device of your choosing. From there you get to play games with your friends and compete with them in leaderboards and trying to get more NikeFuel points. The gaming component isn’t exactly very clear yet, but what we can see from the videos is enough to get our mouths watering. You also get drill packs, daily workouts, and challenges from the worlds greatest athletes and pros, guiding your every step. Literally.

Nike+ Training Shoes:

Nike Hyperdunk+ Basketball Shoes:

One of the coolest features of the Nike Hyperdunk+ Basketball shoes is that players can record their games and then superimpose their live data on the video later somehow. This is a pretty dang awesome little feature, and a great way to integrate all that information the smart shoes will be collecting. Oh, and of course they will probably all sync with the Nike+ FuelBand as well.

These hot little pieces of wearable technology will be available June 29, 2012.

3D printers are perhaps one of the coolest new trends in recent years, and when combined with the up and coming Arduino system, you had better believe we’ll be seeing some very cool DIY wearable gadgets coming down the line soon. How about a bracelet that monitors the level of pollution in the air, a necklace that measures your vitals, earrings that constantly monitor your temperature and more! All of this is more than possible with current generation tech, and actually pretty darn easy to make if you are handy with a 3d printer and a soldering iron (ok… so it’s not like Pop Tarts easy… but it’s close).

Imagine your every day clothing being able to measure and monitor information about you and communicate it wherever you want without you even having to think about it. Your shirt could know that you were getting sick before you even did! A pair of contacts could tell diabetics their glucose levels! Says MedCityNews:

It’s a safe bet that mobile monitoring devices like those built on the Arduino platform will find their way into more and more patients’ hands in the coming years.

But that presents clinicians with a challenge that the health system will have to grapple with, Stokes said: Many of these devices that are likely to be adopted by consumers will fall outside the purview of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, so should that data be included in a patient’s medical record?

That’s not a question that needs an answer now, but it’s something clinicians and health IT leaders need to start thinking about.

Cheap DIY wearable mobile monitoring medical devices are just one of the many exciting new applications popping up in the wearable tech industry thanks the the growing ubiquitousness of 3d printers and Arduino. We can’t wait to see what other exciting innovations will be coming down the pipeline soon!

The WiMM One is a 1″ square screen with 160×160 resolution, packing a variable frequency (100 MHz Max) ARM 11 with 512MB Flash, 256MB Mobile DDR RAM, and a 2 GB embedded micro SD card. The small device packs a punch with built in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, an accelerometer, a magnetometer, and a battery that can run all day, no sweat. Typical mock-ups show it worn as a watch, but it can be worn in nearly any way imaginable! The company is hoping to partner with software and hardware devs and embed their device in a multitude of wearable technology. The idea sounds compelling and with rumors starting to heat up about a possible watch based iOS device, their timing couldn’t be more perfect!

Dev kits are currently selling at Amazon for $199 and all your favorite Android development tools will work on the system.

WiFi glasses, built in camera, built in GPS units… it’s a dream come true for marketers and data collection agencies. And it’s a nightmare made real for technophiles and conspiracy theorists. To see the potential power of these Google Glasses you have to look no further than Google Goggles which already exists and can turn any photo into data for you.

iSeeYou- Google Glasses Transforming How Data Is Collected

Google’s glasses will transform how data is collected, and everybody is going to want to get their sticky fingers on it. Now instead of just being able to track what you do on your smart phone, data gatherers will be able to track what you look at, where you go, and plaster advertising directly in front of your face. Combine this with facial recognition software, geolocation, and the tendency of governments to demand mega-corporations like Google to store all your data on 3rd party servers… and you have a recipe that will turn any person in the world into a mobile covert surveillance unit that can be tracked day or night.

Everything will be tracked and quantified, any time of day, anywhere in the world, anything that is looked at, ever. Talk about a potential nightmare big brother scenario. Not to mention having to deal with Adsense advertisements in the corner of your eye everywhere you look… William Gibson predicted this in his book Virtual Light in 1993, Neal Stephenson called them ‘Gargoyle’s’ in Snow Crash saying “The payoff for this self-imposed ostracism is that you can be in the Metaverse all the time.” Now it’s finally going to become a reality.

You Will Be Assimilated… But Will You Care?

Sure, this may sound a bit alarmist, and let’s face it… these kinds of things are probably already happening and nobody really seems to care. However, as technology gets more and more pervasive in our lives and our privacy is intruded upon to the point of tracking even the things we fix our gaze upon, it begs the question- where does it stop? At what point do we as a race just decide to surrender all vestiges of privacy and give over our entire lives to the ever pervasive “cloud” of data and metrics? Is this what it will take to spark the singularity, turn us all into techno zombies, become part of the borg collective, the true hive mind, the Great Link, or even Cybermen…

On the other hand, imagine being able to get real time data on anything and everything you could want just by looking its way. Instant data in your face for anything- instant wikipedia articles, price comparisons, reviews, coupon offers, translations… Imagine the potential applications in journalism, entertainment, education, and more! It’s an exciting new world out there and next gen wearable technologies like Google’s Glasses are going to change everything you know about modern living… for better or worse… (or both).

What do you think? We await your response.

Harvest Those Good Vibrations

Piezoelectric vibration sensors are a mouthful to say but are already in use today in Nike’s smart shoes (not pictured) that wirelessly link to your phone or fitness tracker (like the Nike+ FuelBand perhaps…) and track your steps and speed. These sensors use constant movement to generate current to power a wireless link. They are particularly useful in running shoes where there is a lot of constant motion, but can also be woven into clothing to form a fancy capacitor that will store energy to power your devices. For a lower tech solution there is also the nPower PEG which harvests kinetic energy and charges an internal 1000mah battery that can be plugged into numerous devices to provide completely green energy!

Heat It Up With Thermal Sensors

Thanks to something called the Peltier effect, sensors can be placed around your body and detect the differences in your body heat to generate a current. By now most of us know you can get more power out of a dead battery by sticking it under your armpit for a while and heating it up. That isn’t the Peltier effect… that’s just gross. However, these thermal sensors can generate a current not only from your body heat, but from the difference in temperature on the inside and outside of a garment! These ‘thermopiles’ can already generate up to 2mW when walking around, which won’t charge your iPhone but is more than enough to power a health monitoring device or trickle feed some other piece of tech. These sensors can even be washed and ironed without having to worry about breaking them.

Solar Power To The Rescue

While themopiles and fancy vibration sensors are great for trickle feed a wireless connection or a low energy consumption piece of tech, sometimes you just need some serious energy production! This is where solar cells come to the rescue, and thanks to advances in flexible solar cells they can now be added onto clothing, jackets, backpacks, and more quite easily and even (dare we say it) stylishly! New solar cells have an increased efficiency so that they can generate power even from indoor lighting ‘low light’ conditions. And thanks to the advances in flexible lithium ion batteries that can be woven into clothing now, they can provide enough power to actually charge and power cell phones, LEDs, music players, and more.

As our clothing gets smarter and our energy needs get higher and higher, we can expect to see these new methods of harvesting energy becoming more common place. There’s no reason why these technologies can’t be used in tandem either, so before you know the days of plugging in your smart phone may be over and the days of being a living breathing energy generating power plant may be upon us!

In the article Gabe speaks of internal hardware development with biofeedback and biometrics and states that the issue isn’t with the usefulness of the products, but instead with the desire to establish a short product iteration cycle based on customer usage and customer feedback. This system was used to organically grow the now free-to-play Team Fortress 2 into one of the largest and continually profitable online multiplayer games in existence. Gabe goes on to state that the problem with hardware is with the front-loaded cost of inventory and distribution. If the product fails to meet its intended usage and target market then Valve would be stuck with millions in inventory. Instead Valve is seeking to get hardware into the hands of users and developers and give them the chance to shape and direct the intended purpose of the product ala’ 37 Signals. It’s a model that worked with TF2 and Steam and could work with wearable tech says Gabe, so long as the distribution and short iteration cycle issues are solved.

Most would agree that Google and Apple are the obvious choices to lead the way into the future but there are some obvious concerns with both. Many fear Google turning into Skynet and becoming self-aware flush with the power of personal information, and the closed, almost Draconian style of Apples’ offerings leaves a significant chunk of the market with a bad taste in their mouth. The article goes on to point out how data mining can be used to create more value transparently with customers and how open systems translate into faster innovation and higher customer satisfaction. Both ideas directly counter some of Apple’s and Google’s criticisms.

If I were asked just yesterday who I thought would be the big players in the budding wearable tech market I would have never in a million years thought of Valve. But today is a new day and if there were one company I’d trust with paving the way of the future it would be Valve.

Post image via http://penny-arcade.com

Graphene is made from layers of carbon atoms arranged in a chicken wire like pattern that is one atom thick, similar to carbon nanotubes this is a ‘wonder material’ with many potential applications. Also, it is relatively common and easy to come by, you can peel this material away from a graphite pencil using scotch tape!

Graphene Problem #1: How To Make Lots Of It…

However, making sheets of graphene that are of high enough quality to be used in electronics has generally been an extremely pain staking process. We imagine many graphite pencils have given up the ghost for this… Now though by using techniques found in microchip manufacturing, several research groups have reported that they have found a way to produce computer chips made out of Graphene at a level that can be scaled up for mass production!

It’s all about the gas baby. In a recent Science News article they stated this about the new way of producing high quality Graphene:

“…the new technique causes carbon atoms in a vapor of hydrocarbons to settle onto a nickel surface and arrange into graphene’s characteristic pattern of hexagons.
Using standard chip-making techniques, circuit designs are etched into the nickel surface. As the graphene layers form, they take on the shape of the circuit template.”

Graphene Problem #2: Can’t Cut The Juice!

The other hurdle was that while graphene is extremely conductive, it was hard to turn off the flow of electricity through it, making it unusable as a circuit board. Previously there was only one known method of controlling the conductivity of graphene called the “hummers method” which used acidic compounds to change the molecular makeup. The problem was that this irreparably damaged the lattice shape that makes this material so special. However, scientists have recently found a way to alter the material chemically to tune the conductive properties and make it much more functional using graphene oxide according to this DailyNews article:

To create the graphene oxide, researchers leaked oxygen gas (O2) into an ultra-high vacuum chamber. Inside, a hot tungsten filament was heated to 1500C, causing the oxygen molecules to dissociate into atomic oxygen. The highly reactive oxygen atoms then uniformly inserted into the graphene lattice.

The resulting material possesses a high degree of chemical homogeneity. Spectroscopic measurements show that the electronic properties of the graphene vary as a function of oxygen coverage, suggesting that this approach can tune the properties of graphene-based devices.

Graphene Fun Facts

Here’s a few more cool graphene facts you can use to impress your friends at all the parties you are undoubtedly invited to:

• Graphene is around 200 times stronger than steel and shares many properties with carbon nanotubes making it incredibly strong.
• A sheet of Graphene as thin as plastic wrap could hold up an entire elephant
• Graphene is the best known material in the world for conducting heat and electricity
• Graphene has real world applications in fields as wide as medicine, avionics, semiconductors, display technology, and even quantum physics research!

But Don’t Take Our Word For It!

Learn how to make your own Graphene and learn more cool facts about this wonder material from Dr. Jonathan Hare (a guy with a cool British accent so he sounds very authoritative)

The ‘X’ is for eXtreme

Extreme sports fans, snow boarders, bikers of all sorts, and their adrenaline addicted ilk will love this new piece of wearable technology. The Miveu-X is a ruggedized case and mount system with a custom designed optical glass lens that more than doubles the view of the iPhone’s camera to record full HD POV video in all it’s shaky adrenaline pumping goodness. Does it get any better than this?

Clip It On and Hit The Trail

We love how simple this is system is to set up. The case connects to a clip on the chest that has a full pivoting mount so you can get a great view of what you are doing regardless of the sport. There’s no laser pointers or other weird leveling system to worry about getting it adjusted just right. Two large straps with oversized clips connect to the chest mount and go over your shoulders to make you look like on of the X-Men. There’s a water resistant skin to protect the iPhone from wetter elements allegedly… though I wouldn’t try using this while surfing.

Thanks to the iPhone’s ability to edit photos immediately after taking them, you get the instant gratification of checking out your sweet run as soon as the adrenaline shakes wear off and even posting it to the youtubes like the kids do these days. Another cool selling feature is the fact that you don’t have to buy an expensive GoPro camera or any of the other cameras out there. It’s a simple tool that uses the iPhone you probably already have in a new way. With mountain biking season just around the corner, we’d love to get our hands on a review unit when this project inevitably gets funded!

Help Get The Miveu-X Kickstarted!

The Miveu-X is a cool little gadget from a young and creative new company. It’s got 10 days to go on Kickstarter and has about $5000 more that needs to be raised in order to achieve the $15,000 funding goal. We think this is a pretty cool piece of wearable technology! If you are looking for a creative and extreme way to break your iPhone, then a mere $70 will net you one of these bad boys! Check out the Miveu-X Kickstarter page for more info!

According to the Nike press release-

“Previously, Reinertsen would use the outsole of a traditional running shoe as her prosthetic “shoe.” With limited innovations with prosthetic soles, this cobbling approach to creating solutions using regular running footwear had become the norm.  The new Flex-Run with Nike Sole provides a reliable advantage and is now available through prosthetists’ offices globally.”

While the rest of the world is oohing and aahing over their latest iDevices, it’s exciting to see advances being made in the fields of medical therapy and prosthetics that utilize the latest and greatest in wearable technology to enhance the lives of millions. Our only question after previewing the Nike FuelBand is- does this Nike Sole sync with the Nike+ network?

Arduino, for those of you unfamiliar with the project, is a blanket term used for a line-up of open-source electronic prototyping boards and associated accessories. You can think of it as the Linux of electronics. The boards, design schematics, and documentation are all published under the liberal Creative Commons license enabling you to create your own versions of the boards, up to, and including reselling the modules commercially! What better way to learn electronics than with a whole system specifically designed from the ground up for learning? Mastering the Arduino platform opens a whole world of possibilities for prototyping with a plethora of modules to choose from; from bluetooth enabled boards, boards that are able to control precise and powerful stepping motors, swarmable Zigbee protocol based XBee boards, and boards with LCD screens and gaming joysticks, the possibilities are mindboggling endless!

The Arduino Lilypad was developed by Leah Buechley and can be purchased from SparkFun. The Lilypad is both a specific version of the Arduino, and is a term that includes a whole line-up of accessories all designed to be thin, clothing-sewable, and hand washable. Stainless steel fiber conductive thread is used to connect everything together into electronic circuits.

The Lilypad mainboard is connected through a small USB to serial break-out board to a computer and programmed with a custom C-style Arduino programming language. Programs (called ‘sketches’) are then sent to the Lilypad which then happily run your custom code to mold and shape the world to your hearts content. Many modules are available to interface with the Lilypad like motion sensors, LEDs, vibrating motors, accelerometers, and temperature sensors. And since it’s an Arduino based any other Arduino or Arduino-clone compatible accessories will work out-of-the-box!

So what can you create with the Lilypad? Anything you want! The internet is chock full of project ideas like a turn signal hoodie, a dice throwing gauntlet and an animated heart broach. Make a set of armbands to play electronic tag with, create a step counter to count how far you walk in a day, make a shirt that displays the current temperature, or changes color based on your heart rate. Anything is possible with a little creativity and technical know-how. The internet is filled to the brim with tutorials, youtube videos, instructables, and blogs posts all documenting every step of creating your own doomsday device so no technical know-how required.

The Lilypad opens up the wide world of wearable tech to the lay-person so be sure to check it out. Who knows, you might even learn a thing or two!

FitBit Ultra Features

So small you can easily forget it’s there, the FitBit Ultra has a tiny form factor that easily clips anywhere on your person or in your purse/pocket. It is equipped with a accelerometer and an altimeter to track your steps and stairs. There’s an LCD display that displays all the important information along with some motivational messages like “Walk Me” and “Burn It” and it even greets you by name when you turn it on. It wirelessly syncs with the base station any time you are within 15 feet of it, so you don’t need to worry about plugging it in every time you want to sync. It also comes with a wrist band that you attach the FitBit to while you sleep to track your sleep patterns.

All in all, this is a healthy number of features packed into one small little device. It fits anywhere, tracks steps, stairs, and sleep, and it’s easy to forget you are even wearing it.

Though when you compare it to it’s competition like the Striiv which adds in addicting games, goals, and rewards, a full color touch sensitive screen, not to mention donating to charities for the same price… it falls a little short. The new Nike+ FuelBand looks like it will leave the FitBit in the dust as well with it’s ability to sync automatically with your phone and not just when you are around the base station.

FitBit Ultra Dashboard

The FitBit Dashboard is where you go to see all your data in one place with fancy charts and graphs. There is even a section that lets you keep a food diary, and a mobile app to help make it easier as well. There is certainly a bit of room for improvement here, but it is easy to use, bright and colorful, and will give you plenty of information at your fingertips.

Another cool feature is the sleep tracker that tells you how well you sleep and what your sleep cycles are. Given enough time and patience, you will get a good idea of what helps you sleep better and what to avoid before bed.

There is also a community and forums you can join that will help cheer you on and let you set up challenges and competitions with each other. The community isn’t nearly as large as say the Nike+ community, but it is growing.

The food goals is a nice feature, you can track your caloric intake and set target weights and all that good stuff. It’s just a matter of remembering to enter into your phone each time you sneak a potato chip or two.

The software works on PC and Mac, and the device plays well with others too easily syncing with popular programs like LoseIt!, RunKeeper, HealthVault, and Endomondo, so if you are into any of those networks then this is quite nice. For an additional $49.99/yr you can get access to their premium network which gives you more in-depth analysis of your activity, food intake, and sleep. This is a little strange in our opinion and seems a little silly given that they are already charging you $100 for the device.

The Verdict

All in all, the FitBit Ultra is a nice little piece of wearable technology. It’s a decent fitness tracker that comes with plenty of cool features, and it does most all of them quite well. It’s lightweight and tiny, and it’s kind of cute to boot. If we hadn’t known about the Striiv and the Nike+ FuelBand we’d be giving this top marks, but when compared to the competition it seems to fall a bit short for the price. Now if they’d knock say… $25 off of the price tag, then it would be a whole new ball game. But for $100, we’d recommend the skipping this one and either going for the fun and addicting Striiv or waiting for the Nike+ FuelBand.

Check Out The FitBit On Sale For $94.45 Today!

Need More Nike Fuel

The FuelBand promises to be an innovative device that can track not only your steps and runs but also other sports like dancing, basketball, and dozens of other everyday activities. Every bit of activity you do gets turned into “Nike Fuel” which is indicated by by a 20 color led progress bar on the band going from red to green. The more you exercise, the more fuel you get on the band.

You are able to set daily goals and challenges and see if you can quickly see if you have reached them by checking the status bar. There is also a 20 LED display which will tell you the time, steps taken calories burned, and other features with the push of a button.

Wirelessly Sync with Nike+

While those features are all good and fine, what makes the Nike FuelBand most exciting is the Nike+ community that it syncs with. Able to be synced via USB or wirelessly via bluetooth to your mobile device, the FuelBand will automatically keep your Nike+ account in sync and let you track your progress and compare it with other community members and friends, receive coaching, and share your triumphs on facebook and twitter. It’s also very easy to set up challenges for friends and organize friendly competitions as well. While there are other communities out there for devices like the FitBit and the Jawbone Up, the Nike+ community is easily the biggest and the oldest.

We are excited to see the Nike+ FuelBand in action, and you can expect to see it hit the shelves starting February 22, 2012 as announced here. Will it be as good as it promises? Or will it be another tragic failure of wearable tech to meet the needs of real consumers? Stay tuned to find out!

Striiv: Technically Impressive

At Striiv they say they are passionate about “changing the face of exercise” and we are inclined to agree. At it’s core, this little gadget is a fitness tracker that tracks your steps movement throughout the day. However, the Striiv is so much more than just a fitness tracking device! But we’ll get to the most exciting parts after we review the tech specs:

The Striiv is very small (about 2.75 inches long) and it has a bright 320×240 resolution 2” touch screen. It sports a 500MHz dual core processor, 3 axis accelerometers, and an altimeter. It comes with a convenient keychain connector and works just fine in the pocket or purse or anywhere else connected to you. The internal lithium ion battery lasts about 1 week off a full charge, and it syncs via USB to your computer automatically (Mac or PC). The interface of the Striiv is simple and intuitive, almost Apple-esque. There are just 3 physical buttons- power, home, and back, and the rest is controlled via the cute touch screen.

Using their patented Trumotion technology, the Striiv can tell whether you are walking, running, or climbing stairs and counts each of those movements differently. It does so with a fair amount of accuracy as well we might add.

Overall, it’s an impressive little device technically speaking. Especially at the $99 price point. But there’s so much more to this little device than just a fitness tracker…

Striiv: Turning Exercise Into A Game

Counting your steps is all good and fine, but let’s face it… it’s boring! So you walked 2000000 steps today… who cares? Striiv cares. The genius game designers at Striiv use positive reinforcement and all the fun reward based gameplay elements that make games like Farmville so addicting to make people actually enjoy exercising!

Putting you in charge of your own island you are tasked with building it up and planting gardens to attract the mythical animals back onto your island. You walked 10,000 steps today? You just got 10,000 points to spend! Go and build yourself a Lemur Mansion and soon you’ll find you have attracted a band of lemurs to your island. The cute graphics are reminiscent of Farmville, and it’s fun to have a game like that in the palm of your hand that you are building literally with the sweat of your brow. There’s something very rewarding about doing this, and it actually makes you feel productive as you play a game.

In addition to the MyLand game, the Striiv also has nifty little features that let you compare how far you walked with other things like how many Eiffel towers you just climbed. Also there are special mini-game reward challenges and trophies you can get if you complete randomly assigned challenges like running 1000 steps in 5 minutes or climbing 5 flights in 2 minutes. It turns exercise into a game that you can really get into!

But wait… there’s more!

Striiv: The Power Of A Walkathon In The Palm Of Your Hand

The Striiv makes all the other fitness trackers look like jerks. Every step you take gives you reward points that you can use to donate to one of 3 charities through GlobalGiving. You can choose to save the Tanzanian rain forest, provide clean water to children in South America, or provide much needed polio vaccines to those in need. Not only are you getting more healthy by walking, you are helping improve the world one step at a time. 15 minutes on a treadmill just gave a child in South America enough clean water to drink for a day. Take that FitBit!

Basically, if you use any other fitness tracker, you are a jerk who hates humanity. ;p

Our Verdict

To say we are impressed with the Striiv would be a massive understatement. This one little device makes fitness fun, addicting, and emotionally rewarding at the same time. The folks over at Striiv, Inc are to be heartily commended for their visionary take on what exercise can be, and they are officially one of our favorite companies in the whole wide world.

The Striiv is an awesome debut device from a company that obviously is oozing potential. We can’t wait to see what they come out with next and how they striiv (pun intended) to continue to change the face of exercise one gadget at a time! WTG guys! WTG.

Get The Striiv Personal Trainer For $99 Now!

spnKiX are set to launch in March for $649 via their website.

This idea isn’t as far fetched as it sounds. Apple has added the newest version of Bluetooth, version 4.0, to it’s product lineup including the iPhone 4S, the MacBook Air, and the Mac Mini. They are also pushing accessory makers to use the technology in their products. This low power protocol would enable long battery life of satellite tech such as the wrist iPod. The idea of a wearable iPod isn’t new either with the rumor of an “iBangle”, a chic aluminum bracelet, going dating back to 2008.

While wearable technology is an emerging trend, it is quickly shaping up to become the next “big thing”. Apple, as a tech innovator and leader, could be the company to get the right combination of fashion and functionality. They paved the way for MP3 players, Smartphones, and Tablets, and wearable tech might just be the next target in their sights.

Originally reported on Cerebral Cortex and then picked up on io9, science has made another leap in wearable technology that can this time help blind people to see! Using a camera this “Sensory Substitution Device” can turn you into a living breathing Dare Devil by gathering in visual data and translating it into sound! Apparently with some practice blind users are even gaining the ability to read and identify complex shapes and surroundings by listening to the information contained in these “soundscapes.”

Taking a cue from Geordi LaForge, this device actually hacks your visual cortex to do it, activating the dormant cortices and making them behave exactly as if actual visual data was being inputed. Showing yet again that the brain is able to process information even if the proper sensory organs don’t actually work!

This is amazing news for the visually impaired, and an incredible advance in wearable technology as well!

It is not known if the glasses will be built with transparent LCD or AMOLED displays or have an opaque screen off to one side. What is known is the glasses will only feature a screen on one side. The glasses are said to resemble Oakley Thumps and will look very much like ordinary glasses save a few buttons for control. What’s interesting is the glasses are rumored to connect directly to Google’s cloud via its own Android OS instead of piggy-backing off the users own Android Smartphone.

The move by Google into “augmented reality” is hardly a surprise as they’ve been vigorously mapping the world for over half a decade with Google Earth and Google Maps. Google labs product, Google Goggles is a natural extension of that trajectory, neatly blending internet information with real world items. Getting rid of handheld phones and moving it into the eyes line of sight is a logical next step for the information giant.

Information could be layered into the picture that the user sees creating a very natural viewing environment for location based data. This idea lines up very closely with Google’s recent push into more local search results and personalized search results based on your interests and social connections.

The first generation product is likely to be rough as Google isn’t known for chic design, but those willing to brave a fashion faux pas could be rewarded with a glimpse of the future.

The ElectroDress is an individualized tailored rehabilitation suit for patients with significant rehabilitation needs. This 7 piece suit has electrodes and motors stitched into place throughout that can provide EMS (electronic muscle stimulation) and vibration therapy to specific regions to assist with muscle relaxation, increase range and ease of movement and potentially lead to rehabilitation. By triggering reflexes that inhibit or stimulate various muscles in a patients body, modulating and controlling muscle tone, and altering muscle tension the electrodes in this suit can strengthen weak muscles and counteract improperly tensed muscles. It can potentially be tailored to each individual patient to assist with rehabilitation and improve their quality of life significantly.

Termed a “therapeutic assistance device” the Electro Dress can not only help those with nerve disorders but can bring relief to those affected by stroke, brain injuries, rheumatism, and diseases that cause improper muscle tension and upper motor neuron damage (OMS).

The Electro Dress by Inerventions is an inspiring project and an exciting use of smart textiles and wearable technology. It is scheduled to release its first version in late 2012. We hope this project is a resounding success and hope it is able to inspire more inventors to push the boundaries of smart clothing textiles and wearable technology to continue improving the lives of millions. Find out more about this amazing new invention at the Inerventions website (in Swedish)

Watch how the pitch went down on the Swedish Dragons Den below:

ElektroDress Part 1:

ElektroDress Part 2:

The signs are all there- wearable technology is on the verge of exploding. The internets have been abuzz with rumors of Apple hiring wearable technology specialists, Google developing wearable gadgets, fitness trackers that quantify your life, track your sleep, and tell you things you never even knew about yourself abound all over!

Flexible batteries, capacitative fibers, conductive materials, and more are being announced every day. These new technologies and others are pushing the envelope on what is possible with smart clothing and wearable tech. Exciting times are ahead and we will be right there to report on it and bring you the latest and greatest news and reviews!

It’s a brave new world out there! Tablet computers and touch screens are only the start! Join us on our new adventures as we delve into the world of wearable tech and see what we can find!

Today, Apple released an update to the Airport Utility Application along with an update to the Airport Express, Extreme, and the Time Capsule.

The Airport Utility update (6.0) can be downloaded via Software Update. This is a massive update when it comes to the UI part of the app.  Apple has re-written the app from the ground up and what seems to be an iOS-duplicate of Airport Utility for the Mac.

This is the iPhone version of the app.  Notice the similarities?

As Apple continue their progress in porting more and more iOS elements such as launchpad, the scrolling bars, and this new addition, Airport Utility 6.0, we just hope that the Mac is not going to be full of iOS elements in the near future.  Something like iOS for the Mac.

Apple has also released an update for the Airport Base Stations and Time Capsule (v7.6.1).

Release notes:

This update is for all 802.11n AirPort Express, 802.11n AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule models. It fixes an issue with wireless performance and provides support for remote access to an AirPort disk or a Time Capsule hard drive with an iCloud account.

Here are the direct links to the updates:

-AirPort Utility 6.0 for Mac OS X Lion

- AirPort Base Station and Time Capsule Firmware Update 7.6.1

At the same time, however, authoring standards-compliant e-books (despite some promises to the contrary) is not as simple as running a Word document of a manuscript through a filter. The current state of software tools continues to frustrate authors and publishers alike, with several authors telling Ars that they wish Apple or some other vendor would make a simple app that makes the process as easy as creating a song in GarageBand.

Our sources say Apple will announce such a tool on Thursday. – ArsTechnica

Besides the normal bug fixes in all iOS beta updates, Apple has finally brought back the mysterious 3G toggle button that seemed to have vanished ever since the iPhone 4S got released in Mid-October. This should have some effect on preserving battery life, more specially the iPhone 4S as one can switch to EDGE connectivity.

9to5Mac reports that iOS 5.1 Beta 3 also comes with Siri in Japanese.

In 2012, Siri will support additional languages, including Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Italian, and Spanish – Siri FAQ (Apple)

They also claimed that the iPad 3 will feature an amazing Retina Display packed to the gills with a Quad Core chip.  It will also be able to run LTE networks.

The company’s manufacturing partners in Asia started ramping up production of the iPad 3 this month and plan to reach full volumes by February, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the details aren’t public. The tablet will use a quad-core chip, an enhancement that lets users jump more quickly between applications, two of the people said.

The iPad 3 was also said in a  previous rumor that it would have the same design as the iPad 2.

iLounge‘s Jeremy Horwitz claimed that the next generation iPad is to be 1mm thicker to make room for other parts.

Curve radiuses on the body will change only a little to accommodate the added thickness, not dramatically. Think iPad 2 Pro, not a redesign.

Mr. Horwitz sources also claimed that the release date would be around the same time as last year’s iPad 2 which would be around March.  The iPad 3 would also stick to the same price tag of $399 and is also rumored to feature a retina display.

The addition of a thunderbolt cable would increase the speeds of data transfer and recharging.  In order for Apple to pursue such technology, they are going to have to reengineer the thunderbolt tip to be as flat as a USB tip.

Apple already started testing out 30pin connectors back in 2009 when a patent was published via PatentlyApple.  The patent also showed the Apple is working on a new hybrid connector to support dual lane DisplayPort technology which is the equivalent to ThunderBolt.

The report stated the event is to be involve Apple’s Senior Vice President of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue. Mr. Cue is in charge of services such as the App store, iTunes store,iAd, iCloud, and iBooks.

TechCrunch also reports that there will be no new hardware additions and will not be a major event.

According to the source the event will not involve any hardware and instead will focus on publishing and eBooks (sold through Apple’s iBooks platform) rather than iAds. Attendance also be more publishing industry-oriented than consumer.

The event will unveil improvements to the iBooks platform according to the same source, and is not “major.”

According to 9to5mac, Steve Jobs mentioned in his biography by Walter Isaacson that Steve always wanted to re-invent the textbook industry.

MacRumors has reported that the image above could possibly be the retina display screen for the next generation iPad.  There has been loads of rumors in regards to wether or not we will see a retina display iPad next year.  We think there will be.

The image itself does not represent much about the retina display but from what we can infer is that are three ribbon cables.  That could possibly mean more cables to support more pixels.  The iPad 2 screen is at the top of the image whilst the iPad 3 is on the bottom.  See their differences? The iPad 3 is rumored to have a 2048×1536 resolution.

The retina display will be the biggest change yet in the next generation iPad if these rumors are true along with probably a faster processor and a better camera.  A re-design is also yet to be rumored.

Or could the retina display be Apple’s only change for the next generation iPad? Tell us what you guys think in the comments below.

We certainly don’t think so.

The new MirrorBook Air is packed to the gills with a miniature sized screen for one’s viewing pleasure.  The MirrorBook also comes with a 1.5″ Retina Display screen.  The screen is also extremely reflective that one can see himself/herself in the display…How cool is that?! It also comes with an all new “SuperMini” Drive that would definitely fit all range of CD sizes.

The MirrorBook Air comes with 5 mins of battery life that you can enjoy, and with the new Nano-Solid-State technology, it would be able to boot at insane speeds.

Credits to @geekanoids for making such an excellent review

SiriPrefs is a utility in which Siri will be able to launch apps and toggle settings.

According to iPhoneil, an Isreali – based iPhone blog, their goal is to make Siri listen and react to other commands such as launching apps.

Here is a video of it in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsnRAThYVWM

The video is in Hebrew but we can tell it uses URL schemes and relies on the Microsoft Bing search application.

The developer also notes that he is nowhere near completion so keep your eyes open and stay tuned!

It will join the glass iPhone face with a new aluminum back plate. It will also cover a redesigned antenna system that surrounds the device, allowing Apple to build the rear case out of aluminum without having to use a large plastic insert above the antennas as the company does on its iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G.

A new jailbreak installer called “Spire” has just been released on Cydia.  The developers behind this port is Chpwn and Ryan Petrich.

According to Chpwn’s blog:

Spire is my (along with Ryan Petrich) new tool for installing Siri on previously unsupported, but jailbroken, devices. Spire is a small download, but while installing it will download Siri itself (directly from Apple). Spire is available in Cydia right now — go get it! This will use about 100 MB of data, so please connect to Wi-Fi before installing.

However, Spire is not a complete solution. Apple still requires authorization to use Siri, so information from an iPhone 4S is still required. To insert this information, Spire allows you to enter your own proxy server address. By using this (ancient) SiriProxy fork, you can setup a proxy using your own iPhone 4S to insert the needed information reasonably easily. Other solutions for proxying Siri will be listed here as they are developed — perhaps that sort of proxy might be included in the main SiriProxyrepository.

Spire uses a new method to obtain the files necessary for Siri, so it doesn’t have thecopyright issues encountered by previous attempts. Similarly, rather than directing all traffic through a specific proxy server (and the associated privacy issues), Spire allows you to specify your own proxy server.

Of course, one will need a 4S in order to get Siri fully working.  This is the UI that you are downloading from Cydia and will not work without the 4S authorization keys.

Chpwn talks about using the SiriProxyFork method to obtain your own proxy server address to gain authorization from Apple to use Siri on older devices. He also explains that there will be other ways to obtain this in the future instead of the very tedious method once they are developed.

One of the biggest strengths about this port is that it is finally legal. Spire uses a method to obtain files required to run Siri without infringing copyright.

In the image above, some minor differences are noticeable such as The iPad 3 home button’s icon (the square) seems to be relatively thicker than the iPad 2′s. Now, you may wonder what these changes have anything to do with the overall design of the next generation iPad.

1. The iPad 3 will come in both black and white just like the iPad 2 if these are the legitimate home buttons that are being used in the final product.
2. The home buttons represents that the iPad 3 is not in their final stages of production.
3. The iPad 3 will come with the home button as there were some rumors of Apple replacing them with “Multitasking Gestures”.

The iPad 3 home button internal’s tells us another story as well.  The internals of the iPad 3 home buttons is smaller than the iPad 2′s.  Apple could be saving space for other things.  The next generation iPad is said to 1mm thicker to accommodate the rumored iPad Retina Display.

The Chinese Economic Times on the sources close to the Taiwanese makers in Apple’s supply chain,

After the iPhone 4S successfully took the tech market by storm, the iPad3 is widely expected to be Apple’s first hit product to be released next year. Industry sources said the first shipment of the iPad3 could exceed 4 million units. Because it is a new gadget, it is taking time for makers in the supply chain to raise their yield rates. The sources said all OEM and ODM makers have exercised great caution in ensuring the smooth operations of their production lines.

The report also stated that the original iPad was launched on January 27th to meet the same deadline.  Ironically, it was Steve Jobs himself who launched it back then.  The Asian component makers and contract manufacturers are demanding that the employees work on the Lunar Year Holiday.  Feb 24th is also a Friday and Apple usually releases major products such as iPhones, and iPads on Friday’s.

According the pod2g, the untethered jailbreak is technically completed and is in the final stage of wrapping everything up for us and giving it to us as a christmas present (and NO he did not actually say that) .

I gave all the details to the chronic dev team so that they can finish, test, integrate and release the A4 jb ASAP.

pod2g also mentioned that he is going to focus a lot on an untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 running iOS 5!

I’ll put all my energy from now on on the A5

I need to focus on A5 and hope I can find a path quick, and I have the feeling that chronic-dev could help me.

This guide was brought to you by iDownloadBlog:

Steps:

1. Open any stock Apple app such as “Stocks”
2. Hold the power button until the “Turn off” slider shows up
3. Hold the home button until the “Turn off” slider goes away.

Your home button should be much more responsive and fix some of the problems people have been reporting with broken home buttons.

The new build is available via the developer center and Apple has asked developers to focus on iCloud document storage, Address book, iCal, Mail, Spotlight, and Safari. The delta update weighs in at 986Mb with the combo update weighing at 1.2Gb. The final release OS X Lion 10.7.3 should be release in a few weeks.

This update is available via Software update on both Mac and Windows.

Full Release Notes:

What’s new in iTunes 10.5.2

iTunes 10.5.2 includes several improvements for iTunes Match and fixes an audio distortion problem when playing or importing certain CDs.

iTunes 10.5.1 also included:

• iTunes Match. Store your entire music library in iCloud, including music you’ve imported from CDs, and enjoy your collection anywhere, anytime, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, computer, or Apple TV.

• 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.

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

iTunes 10.5.2 requirements

Hardware:

• Mac computer with an Intel, PowerPC G5 or G4 processor and 512MB of RAM

• To play Standard Definition video from the iTunes Store, a 1.0GHz PowerPC G4 or faster processor and 512MB of RAM is required.

• To play HD video, an iTunes LP, or iTunes Extras, a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or faster processor and 1GB of RAM is required.

• Screen resolution of 1024×768 or greater; 1280×800 or greater is required to play an iTunes LP or iTunes Extras

• Broadband Internet connection to use the iTunes Store

• Apple combo drive or SuperDrive to create audio, MP3, or back-up CDs; some non-Apple CD-RW recorders may also work

• Apple SuperDrive to back up your library to DVDs; some non-Apple DVD-RW drives may also work

Software:

• Mac OS X version 10.5 or later

• Safari 4.0.3 or later

• 200MB of available disk space

• iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match availability may vary by country.

For more information

Using iTunes: Open iTunes and choose Help > iTunes Help. Type a question in the search field, or click “What is iTunes?” or a help topic.

Latest product news: See the iTunes website at www.itunes.com. For the latest information about iPod, see www.apple.com/ipod. For the latest information about iPhone, seewww.apple.com/iphone. For the latest information about iPad, see www.apple.com/ipad. For the latest information about Apple TV, see www.apple.com/appletv.

iTunes Store billing questions: See www.apple.com/support/itunes/store.

Using your iPod with iTunes: Open iTunes and choose Help > iTunes Help or iPod User Guide, or see the documentation that came with your iPod.

Using your iPhone with iTunes: Open iTunes and choose Help > iTunes Help or iPhone User Guide, or see the documentation that came with your iPhone.

Using your iPad with iTunes: Open iTunes and choose Help > iTunes Help or iPad User Guide, or see the documentation that came with your iPad.

Using your Apple TV with iTunes: Open iTunes and choose Help > iTunes Help or Apple TV Setup Guide, see the documentation that came with your Apple TV, or seewww.apple.com/support/appletv.

Additional help with iTunes, iPod, iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV: Open iTunes and choose Help > iTunes Help or Apple Service and Support.

iOS 5.1 Beta 2 seems to bring bug fixes in addition with the ability to delete images from ones iCloud photo stream.

Photos taken using iOS 5.1 can be deleted from Photo Stream on your device and will be removed automatically from Photo Stream on your other iOS 5.1 devices. Older photos can be manually deleted from your iOS 5.1 devices.

The Apple TV and Xcode got an update saw well which contains bug fixes as well.

Full Release Notes:

Notes and Known Issues

The following issues relate to using the 5.1 SDK to develop code.

Accounts

When creating an iCloud account, you can use any Apple ID as long as it is a full email address and not a MobileMe account. If you have a MobileMe account, you can move that account to iCloud. You can find more information at: http://me.com/move

APIs

• The NSNetService class and CFNetService APIs do not include P2P interfaces by default. To browse, register, or resolve services over P2P interfaces, an application needs to use the Bonjour DNSService*() APIs noted below.
• Setting the interfaceIndex parameter to kDNSServiceInterfaceIndexAny in the following API’s will not include P2P interfaces by default. To include P2P interfaces, you must now set the kDNSServiceFlagsIncludeP2P flag when usingkDNSServiceInterfaceIndexAny or set the interfaceIndex to kDNSServiceInterfaceIndexP2P. The affected APIs are:
  • DNSServiceBrowse
  • DNSServiceRegister
  • DNSServiceResolve
  • DNSServiceRegisterRecord
  • DNSServiceQueryRecord

GameKit

FIXED: App icons and profile photos are not loading in apps using Game Center.

iCloud Photo Stream

NEW: Photos taken using iOS 5.1 can be deleted from Photo Stream on your device and will be removed automatically from Photo Stream on your other iOS 5.1 devices. Older photos can be manually deleted from your iOS 5.1 devices.

iCloud Storage

• Provisioning profiles must be enabled for iCloud in the iOS Provisioning Portal. To enable a provisioning profile for iCloud, navigate to the App ID section of the iOS Provisioning Portal and configure your App ID for iCloud. After enabling the App ID for iCloud, regenerate your provisioning profiles to enable them for iCloud.
• The setSortDescriptors: method of NSMetadataQuery is not supported.
• In iOS 5, files that are protected via Data Protection cannot be used with iCloud Storage APIs.
• File names are case-insensitive in Mac OS X but case-sensitive in iOS. This can lead to problems when sharing files between the two using iCloud. You should take steps on iOS to avoid creating files whose names differ only by case.

Movie Player

Starting in iOS 5.0, in order to facilitate finer-grained playback control, a movie player is not automatically prepared to play upon creation. Call the prepareToPlay method to prepare the movie player. For more information, see MPMoviePlayerController Class Reference

Music Player

Using shake-to-shuffle causes Music app to freeze and playback to stop.

Security

In iOS 5, signing certificates with MD5 signatures is not supported. Please ensure that certificates use signature algorithms based on SHA1 or SHA2.

Setup Assistant

NEW: Immediately after completing the Setup Assistant, it may re-appear and show the wifi screen and/or final “Thank You” screen. The workaround when in this loop is to reboot the device.

SpringBoard Lock Screen

NEW: The lock screen can intermittently get in a state where double-clicking the home button will no longer bring up the camera button. To get out of that state, you need to restart the device.

Xcode/Developer Tools

• NEW: This preview release of Xcode 4.3 is distributed as a single application bundle, Xcode.app. Delivering the Xcode tools in a single app bundle allows Xcode to be installed directly from the App Store, without the additional step of running the Install Xcode app. To install Xcode during the preview period, double-click to open the downloaded DMG file, and drag the Xcode.app file to your Applications folder.Within Xcode, you can launch additional developer tools, such as Instruments and FileMerge, via the menu item Xcode -> Open Developer Tool. You can then pin the tool on your Dock for access when Xcode is not running. Not all of the tools previously included in the Xcode installer are bundled in this preview release.
• In the iOS 5 development tools, it is possible to extract APIs used by an application and have them checked for use of private APIs. This option is offered when you validate your application for app submission.
• FIXED: A bug in the documentation organizer causes an exception when you type in any field in the content area. To prevent the need to log into the developer website from Xcode, download documentation sets locally using Xcode’s documentation preference pane and enable the ‘Check for and install updates automatically’ checkbox as a workaround.
• FIXED: “uninstall-devtools” script mistakenly removes files and packages even if Xcode is still running. Be sure to quit any running copy of Xcode before starting the “uninstall-devtools” script.
• FIXED: The Network Link Conditioner daemon cannot be launched after installing the Networking Link Conditioner without a reboot. You can manually workaround the issue with a restart or by the following command: sudo launchctl load /system/library/launchdaemons/com.apple.networklinkconditioner.plist.]

This major update brings a new nighttime layout to bring ease to reading on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad at night.  iBooks now comes with a full-screen mode as well which removes the tool bar, page numbers and make your iDevice feel like a real book.  This new update also brings new “beautiful covers” for classic titles, pop-up footnote support, and an improved annotation system. Like all updates do, v1.5 brings improved performance and stability enhancements.

iBooks 1.5 adds the following new features as well as some stability and performance improvements:

• Nighttime reading theme makes reading books in the dark easier on the eyes.
• Full-screen layout lets you focus on the words without distraction.
• iBooks now features an improved selection of fonts, including Athelas, Charter, Iowan, and Seravek.
• Beautiful new classic covers for public domain books.
• Support for pop-up footnotes, included in select iBookstore titles.
• A redesigned annotation palette makes it easier to choose a color for your highlighted text.

The iPhone and iPod touch version brings the same interface from the iPad app and also comes with an exclusive feature “Cover Stories”.  Cover Stories is feature that basically curates selected images or posts that are being shared with you.  This feature will be available for the iPad in the near future.

With Flipboard for iPhone we’re introducing Cover Stories — one place to quickly catch up on some of the most interesting news, updates and photos being shared with you right now. The more you interact with your friends and the stories being shared, the smarter Cover Stories gets. You can refine what appears here by adding content to your Flipboard, muting anyone you’d rather not hear from, and connecting to your social networks. Cover Stories will be coming to your iPad in the near future.

The Flipboard team has also made a short advertisement on this new release.   Flipboard can be downloaded on the App Store for free.

• New iPhone edition puts the power of Flipboard in your pocket.
• Cover Stories for iPhone, a selection of interesting articles and photos being shared with you right now. And it gets smarter every time you use it. (Coming soon to iPad.)
• Speed. Flip through pages as you would through a printed magazine, all with the flick of a thumb.

Flipboard Accounts:

• Sign into your Flipboard from either iPhone or iPad and get instant access to all your favorite content.
• Check out All Timelines. Flip through a single feed containing all articles and all photos being shared across all your social networks.

As the next generation Apple TV comes closer, the Apple TV has gotten its very own codename (J33) instead of the usual  5,1 or 4,3 but rather more as N94 (iPhone 4S) or K48 (iPad 1st gen).  This brings the release of the next Apple TV even closer with today’s iOS 5.1 beta release.

There has been numerous reports of the next generation Apple TV to get a display to transform it into an actual TV but from what we can tell from the codename (J33), this is probably just a minor update to bring an A5 dual core model with 1080p playback.  Only time will tell.

The boost from the 4,1 (iPhone 4S) model to 5,1 means that the iPhone 5 is going to be packed to the gills with major internal changes.  The iPhone 5 is expected to come with an A6 processor, a 4″ screen, and an aluminum casing. The iPhone 4S was just released last month and we are yet to see the iPhone 5 around the same time next year.  But who knows… Things might change.

According to 9to5mac, four iPad model numbers were discovered within iOS 5.1 Beta!

iPad 3,1 and 3,2 are the probable iPads that will be released next year with iPad 2,4 being the Sprint version.  A 3G sprint iPad would be the equivalent to the Verizon iPad.  iPad 3,3 has also been found with the iPad 3 rumored to be release March 2012!

The new version of Xcode 4.3 is required for developers to develop and test apps on iOS 5.1.  The iOS 5.1 update is available on the iOS Dev Center.

iOS SDK 5.1 provides support for developing iOS applications and includes the complete set of Xcode tools, compilers, and frameworks for creating applications for iOS and Mac OS X. These tools include the Xcode IDE and the Instruments analysis tool among many others.

With this software you can develop applications that run on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5.1. You can also test your applications using the included iOS Simulator, which supports iOS 5.1. There are two Xcode iOS SDK 5.1 images, one for installing on a Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.6.7 (Snow Leopard) or later, the other for installing on a Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion).

This version of iOS is intended only for installation on devices registered with Apple’s developer program. Attempting to install this version of iOS in an unauthorized manner could put your device in an unusable state.

There has been very few noticeable changes in this release but according to 9to5mac, here are some below which includes a new “geofencing” setting within location services to stop battery drain in the Reminders App when the app is not in use.

There is also a new option in the iTunes Match settings which gives you the option of wether you want to use cellular data when using iTunes Match.

Full Release Notes:

Introduction

iOS SDK 5.1 provides support for developing iOS applications and includes the complete set of Xcode tools, compilers, and frameworks for creating applications for iOS and Mac OS X. These tools include the Xcode IDE and the Instruments analysis tool among many others.

With this software you can develop applications that run on iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch running iOS 5.1. You can also test your applications using the included iOS Simulator, which supports iOS 5.1. There are two Xcode iOS SDK 5.1 images, one for installing on a Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.6.7 (Snow Leopard) or later, the other for installing on a Macintosh computer running Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion).

This version of iOS is intended only for installation on devices registered with Apple’s developer program. Attempting to install this version of iOS in an unauthorized manner could put your device in an unusable state.

For more information and additional support resources, visit:

http://developer.apple.com/programs/ios/

Bug Reporting

Please report any bugs not mentioned in the “Introduction” section using the Apple Bug Reporter on the Apple Developer website (http://developer.apple.com/bugreporter/). Additionally, you may discuss these issues and iOS SDK 5 in the Apple Developer Forums: http://devforums.apple.com. You can also access more information about iCloud for Developers at: http://developer.apple.com/icloud

Notes and Known Issues

The following issues relate to using the 5.1 SDK to develop code.

Accounts

When creating an iCloud account, you can use any Apple ID as long as it is a full email address and not a MobileMe account. If you have a MobileMe account, you can move that account to iCloud. You can find more information at: http://me.com/move

APIs

• The NSNetService class and CFNetService APIs do not include P2P interfaces by default. To browse, register, or resolve services over P2P interfaces, an application needs to use the Bonjour DNSService*() APIs noted below.
• Setting the interfaceIndex parameter to kDNSServiceInterfaceIndexAny in the following API’s will not include P2P interfaces by default. To include P2P interfaces, you must now set thekDNSServiceFlagsIncludeP2P flag when using kDNSServiceInterfaceIndexAny or set the interfaceIndex to kDNSServiceInterfaceIndexP2P. The affected APIs are:
  • DNSServiceBrowse
  • DNSServiceRegister
  • DNSServiceResolve
  • DNSServiceRegisterRecord
  • DNSServiceQueryRecord

GameKit

App Icons and Profile Photos are not loading in apps using Game Center.

iCloud Storage

• Provisioning profiles must be enabled for iCloud in the iOS Provisioning Portal. You can enable a provisioning profile for iCloud by navigating to the App ID section of the iOS Provisioning Portal and configuring your App ID for iCloud. After enabling the App ID for iCloud, regenerate your provisioning profiles to enable them for iCloud.
• The setSortDescriptors: method of NSMetadataQuery is not supported.
• In iOS 5, files that are protected via Data Protection cannot be used with iCloud Storage APIs.
• File names are case-insensitive in Mac OS X but case-sensitive in iOS. This can lead to problems when sharing files between the two using iCloud. You should take steps on iOS to avoid creating files whose names differ only by case.

Movie Player

Starting in iOS 5.0, in order to facilitate finer-grained playback control, a movie player is not automatically prepared to play upon creation. Call the prepareToPlay method to prepare the movie player. For more information, see MPMoviePlayerController Class Reference

Music Player

Using shake-to-shuffle causes Music app to freeze and playback to stop.

Newsstand

FIXED: Deleting an issue that was marked as the currently reading issue could cause a crash.

Security

In iOS 5, the signing of certificates with MD5 signatures is not supported. Please ensure that certificates use signature algorithms based on SHA1 or SHA2.

Xcode/Developer Tools

• A bug in the documentation organizer causes an exception when you type in any field in the content area. To prevent the need to log in to the developer website from Xcode, download documentation sets locally using Xcode’s documentation preference pane and enable the ‘Check for and install updates automatically’ checkbox as a workaround.
• “uninstall-devtools” script mistakenly removes files and packages even if Xcode is still running. Be sure to quit any running copy of Xcode before starting the “uninstall-devtools” script.
• The Network Link Conditioner daemon cannot be launched after installing the Networking Link Conditioner without a reboot. You can manually workaround the issue with a restart or by the following command: sudo launchctl load /system/library/launchdaemons/com.apple.networklinkconditioner.plist.]
• In the iOS 5 development tools, it is possible to extract APIs used by an application and have them checked for use of private APIs. This option is offered when you validate your application for app submission.

The sources noted that related upstream players have already started pilot production of the MacBook Air models and will add a 15-inch model into the product line to expand its reach in the ultra-thin notebook market.

Digitimes have also noted that Apple is expected to lower the prices for these notebooks. The refresh would probably include new Ivy Bride Processors to reduce power consumption and a speed bump for the GPU and CPU.

Joshua A.K.A p0sixninja gave us an update on the on going (in the works) greenpois0n which would be used to bring an untethered jailbreak to iOS 5 Devices. He also explains (in the blog update) how some of the user land exploits in iOS 5 got patched, and how you can help the chronic dev team to find exploits that can lead to an untethered jailbreak.  Finally, they explained that an iPad 2 and iPhone 4S jailbreak will come later.

This program is called C-Dev Reporter which basically sends all of your iDevice’s crash reports to the Chronic Dev Team (securely) instead of Apple to prevent the company from patching them.  These exploits will be used for a proper untethered iOS jailbreak later on.  C-Dev Reporter also blocks off iTunes ability to send these crash reports to Apple so the company will not be able to patch previous exploits.

At this point, the program copies all the crash reports off your device (which, under normal circumstances, would be sent right back to Apple), and instead sends this data to a secure, private server hosted by your friendly Chronic Dev team. Next, our program proceeds to neuter your copy of iTunes, simply by changing your settings to prevent your computer from sending any further diagnostic information from your device to Apple.

Download C-Dev Reporter Beta For Mac
Download C-Dev Reporter Beta For Windows

According to Macerkopf, a site that has seemed to have confirmed the release of iOS 5.0.2 this week, has re-claimed by stating that Apple will “probably” not release iOS 5.0.2 this week without providing an ETA either.  The report also claims that battery issues have been fixed but there were con-current issues in regards to memory leak.  The delay was actually more suitable for Apple instead of them realeasing iOS 5.0.3 right after.

The battery issue is still prominent on iOS 5.0.1 but some claim that it has been fixed with the update.  Around 10% of battery juice are being consumed per hour as of some iPhone 4S users.

Even though the Kindle Fire wilts in comparison to Apple’s iPad, it still is poised to become a major player and maybe even burn up some of Apple’s market share. There are two main reasons for this:

The Price Tag

The Kindle Fire is priced at a bare bones $199. In fact, Amazon is reportedly taking a ~$3 hit on every Kindle Fire sold. Of course, they will more than make that up when the user buys their first book or two, but this price point is very attractive to many. When compared to the iPad’s whopping $800 price tag, the Kindle glows with appeal to many in this penny pinched world right now.

The Brand

Amazon is a brand people trust. They can sell anything from books to refrigerators, and we buy it with confidence. Their internal recommendation engine is spot on, the reviews are actually useful, and shopping with Amazon is a delight! That alone will be enough to put the Kindle Fire on the map. If they can bring some of that magic to their internal Amazon App store for the Kindle Fire, then they will have a solid money maker on their hands. The vast library of books alone will be enough to sell this device if it is easily navigable and fun to shop around. This is something that Apple has yet to do with their own App store.

Avoiding The Issue All-together

The Kindle Fire is sneaky because instead of trying to compete directly with the iPad it is avoiding it altogether. Instead of coming out with a gadget that is over the top engineered with every bell and whistle, they are entering the low end market with a simple device that does everything it needs to well enough. It’s a smart play for Amazon. Most consumers buy something these days because it has Angry Birds on it and because it lets them read a book and watch movies. They don’t care about GHZ of processor power and GB or RAM or any of that stuff. And even though the Nook may be giving the Kindle Fire a run for it’s money, if the Kindle Fire Case and Covers market is any indication, accessory and case companies are banking on it’s success.

Amazon is putting bringing it’s vast wisdom of what sells and how to maintain a good brand into play with their Kindle Fire. They know how to reach their audience, and they know how to sell to them. The future of tablet computing is going to be quite exciting!

This build (11D16) of Mac OS X Lion 10.7.3 focuses on iCloud Document Storage, Address Book, iCal, and Mail.  This update weighs in at 633MB with OS X Lion Server 10.7.3 to accompany this release as well.  The Server edition has the same build number and focus points.

OS X Lion 10.7.3 build 11D16 Seed Note

OS X Lion Update 10.7.3 is an update to OS X Lion 10.7.

Installation Instructions

The OS X Lion 10.7.3 Update (Combo) updates

- OS X Lion 10.7, 10.7.1 or 10.7.2 GM builds.

The OS X Lion 10.7.3 Update (Delta) updates

- OS X Lion 10.7.2 GM builds.

Please be aware that you will not be able to revert back to your previous system after updating. Please install this update on a system you are prepared to erase if necessary.

Known Issues

- None

Focus Areas

- iCloud document storage

- AddressBook

- iCal

- Mail

Bug Reporting

This build is being provided to you for testing and development purposes. Should you encounter any problems, please submit a bug report using the online Bug Reporter at <http://bugreporter.apple.com/>. Please make sure to include “10.7.3 (11D16)” in the bug title and description. This information will ensure that your bug is processed quickly.

When submitting a bug report, please make sure to include a Summary, Steps to Reproduce, Actual Results, Expected Results, the System Profile Report, and any other relevant information that is necessary to process the report.

IMPORTANT: Engineering requires additional information for crashing bugs, kernel panics, and hanging issues.

Crashing Bugs: Crash logs are required for crashing bugs. Crash logs can be located in ~/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports

Kernel Panics: Backtraces, which contain vital information for investigating kernel panics, are required for kernel panic issues. Backtraces can be saved to nvram on restart shutdown, then copied to the panic.log file on restart. The panic.log file can be found in /Library/Logs/PanicReporter.

Hanging Issues: When an application is hung, a Sample should be provided. This can be done using the Activity Monitor (/Applications/Utilities/). To generate a Sample using this utility, click on the hung application name, then from the View Menu select “Sample Process”.

According to Digitimes, we would have to wait until March for a possible 15″ (could be up to 17″) Macbook Air,

Upstream suppliers of Apple have recently started shipping a small volume of components for a 15-inch ultra-thin notebook model from Apple in November and the device could be either MacBook Air or just a thinner MacBook Pro….Estimated by the product planning, mass shipments of the notebook device will start in March…While a 15-inch ultrabook model would be considered a full function machine, which consumers normally expect to have an optical drive, limitations over the thickness restriction of 0.8-inch for the ultrabook means the launch of a 15-inch machine with an optical drive and a thickness of less than 0.8-inch may not be in the plans until a later time.

It is still unclear wether Apple will release a Macbook Air, Macbook Pro or just “Macbook”.  Apple has been very clear with the Macbook Airs that they are moving away from a Hard and Optical Drive company with the latest releases of Mac App Store and flash storage.

Intel has also been expected to release a Quad Core Ivy Bridge i7 CPU on a 22nm platter that will save 10w off the current chip’s power consumption.  This will allow laptops do go Quad-Core!  Consumption is not the only benefit to Ivy Bridge CPU’s but they also increase the CPU performance by 20% with a 60% increase in integrated graphics performance.

Apple in particular is limited to 35W in its 13-inch MacBook Pro chassis, we may see a quad-core option in the 2012 13-inch Ivy Bridge MacBook Pro as a result.

This update is available via Software Update.  This new version of iTunes brings the all new iTunes Match that is a feature that allows you to access all your music (matched up or in the cloud) from anywhere with internet access.  iTunes Match syncs your music to iCloud for a annual fee of $24.99.  Unlimited songs can be synced as it does not take up space in your iCloud but only songs that are available on iTunes can be synced otherwise will have to be uploaded manually.

Please note that iTunes Match is still in beta stages even though it is available to the public.  Developers will get a 3 months free with their yearly subscription.

iTunes 10.5.1 beta 3 is now available. This update includes a number of important stability and performance improvements for iTunes Match. iTunes Match stores your music library in iCloud and allows you to enjoy your collection from anywhere, any time, on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, computer or Apple TV. In order to subscribe to iTunes Match, or continue using your existing subscription, please upgrade to iTunes 10.5.1 beta 3. Once upgraded, turn on iTunes Match on each of your computers and iOS devices. On your computer, choose Store > Turn on iTunes Match. On your iOS device, tap Settings > Music, then turn on iTunes Match. On your Apple TV, please turn off iTunes Match under Settings > General > iTunes Store. The songs on your computer should not be affected. As always, please backup regularly and do not delete the music you add to iCloud from your computer.

iTunes Match was set to be released at the end of October but after the company was not able to reach their deadline, more and more beta releases are coming out at a quicker pace.  An official public release should be imminent.

The wipe out process will occur on November 12th, 10AM Pacific time.

With the 2nd wiping off to be occurring tomorrow, a launch date is expected to be close as Apple has missed their October 31st launch date.

The build number for iOS 5.0.1 is 9A405.  This is a very minor update as Apple is still looking for a fix into the iPhone 4S battery issue.  Of course, iOS 5.0.1 was not only based on a battery fix for the iPhone 4S with 5.0.1 enabling multitasking gestures for the iPad 1st gen (again), fixes the Smart Cover for the iPad 2nd Gen flaw (hack), resolves bugs with the Documents in the Cloud (iCloud) feature, and finally, improves Siri voice recognition for Australian iPhone 4S users.

Fixes bugs affecting battery life
• Adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad
• Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
• Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation

Here are your direct download links!

•  iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4 GSM
•  iPhone 4 CDMA
•  iPhone 4S
•  iPad
•  iPad 2 WiFi
•  iPad 2 AT&T
•  iPad 2 Verizon)
•  iPod touch 3rd gen
•  iPod touch 4th gen

This update is also available via Software Update in iTunes or using the OTA (Over The Air) update service directly on your iOS 5 iDevice under Settings – General – Software Update.

This version is compatible with all 802.11n Base Stations and Time Capsules.  Apple recommends updating all models to v7.6 as it resolves a couple of bugs:

• An issue with performance on overlapping wireless networks
• An issue with AirPlay audio streaming
• An issue with configuring multiple entries for DNS servers

This update can be downloaded through Airport Utility.

This update is available via the Developer center but it seems Apple has sent the following email to developers:

iTunes 10.5.1 beta 2 is now available and includes a number of important stability and performance improvements. iTunes Match is also now available for testing on Apple TV.

On your Apple TV, choose Music > Turn on iTunes Match.

Please remember to backup regularly and do not delete the music you add to iCloud from your computer.

This update (9A402) weighs at 811MB, and this brings back Multitouch gestures for the original iPad, a fix for the iPhone 4S battery life issue, improved voice recognition for Australian users, and many more bug fixes!

iOS 5.0.1 beta contains improvements and other bug fixes including:
– Fixes bugs affecting battery life
– Adds Multitasking Gestures for original iPad
– Resolves bugs with Documents in the Cloud
– Improves voice recognition for Australian users using dictation
– Contains security improvements

iOS 5.0.1 beta introduces a new way for developers to specify files that should remain on device, even in low storage situations.

According to iH8Sn0w via Twitter, iOS 5.0.1 Beta 1 expires on December 14th which seems pretty odd as beta 2 would probably not take that long for it to be released.