At their special media event, Apple today has announced the final availability iOS 6. Having first been given the once-over at WWDC '12, Apple has presented us with a full-on showcase of its brand-new mobile operating system, known as iOS 6. As well as the features we've already seen, there were other new and exciting implementations on show, and here, we take a moment to sum up some of the most exciting of them.
I don't mind admitting that I am hugely looking forward to the announcement and release of the new iPhone, as it is almost here, and the excitement will quickly subside and I'll be looking for my next Apple hardware related thrill. Thankfully for me and countless others, rumor has it that Apple is set to announce a lot of new and updated devices in the coming months, with one of those being the speculated iPad Mini that could be with us before the holiday shopping season gets into full swing.
The battle for supremacy in the cloud-based services has definitely stepped up a notch or two over the past few months, with a host of companies joining a territory manned mainly by Dropbox. Apple kicked things off by launching iCloud along with iOS 5 back in October of last year, and Microsoft finally brought SkyDrive to the mainstream in the early stages of 2012 - laying the foundations for the eventual release of its so-called "Cloud OS" - Windows 8.
If you had mentioned the possibility of having standard access to the ability to print three-dimensional solid objects from a digital image a few years ago, then most people would have turned their noses up and say that it would never be possible unless the user had a shed load of cash to invest in the process. In some aspects, that has actually proven to be true, with 3D printing being available but not exactly the cheapest thing in the world. Fortunately, thanks to processes being introduced that remove much of the hassle behind designing prints, the whole process is becoming cheaper and more accessible.
If you happen to be a fan of the Marvel Comics range of characters, as well as throwing yourself into the rather impressive shoes of one of the world’s most legendary protectors, then assuming the role of a Norse god might just be right up your street. Even better, you can now become the mighty Thor free of charge if you happen to own an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, as Marvel Entertainment has made their fantastic and fast-paced Thor: Son of Asgard game free of charge on the App Store for a limited time.
If we told you that Apple was planning on launching a service that allows users to search for, select and then stream music across multiple iOS and OS X devices, then it probably shouldn’t come as a great surprise. After all, Apple pretty much pioneered the shift in music and paved the way for digital downloads and the like, so the surprise would be that it has taken them this long to adopt the strategy and actually come up with a service similar to that offered by the likes of Pandora and Spotify.
Despite having not released any new material for quite a while now, the wacky pop star Lady Gaga remains a press reporter's dream. Famed for her unusual outfits and antics as well as her chart-smashing success, she has a legion of fans she affectionately refers to as "little monsters," and on a social network created especially for her superfans, Gaga has announced her next album will be released as an app for Apple's iPhone and iPad.
If you like your comic books, 2012 will have, by all accounts, been a pretty decent year for you entertainment-wise. The recent release of the Dark Knight Rises was a box office smash, and the accompanying title for mobile devices certainly wasn't too shabby, either.
If you've even the remotest insight into the mobile app and gaming sphere, you'll undoubtedly have stumbled across Angry Birds on a number of occasions. In fact, you wouldn't even have needed to pick up a smartphone or slab to have encountered the immensely-popular title, and the fact it can be played in Chrome, on Facebook, Windows or Mac suggests nobody has managed to avoid those pesky multicolored poultry.
During the course of this year, there have been a number of minor security-based controversies that have revolved around third-party app developers building functionality into their apps to capture and upload the Unique Identifier (UDID) of the device to their own servers. Till the time this knowledge became public, there was uproar from specific sections of the iOS community, and although the UDID itself doesn't really represent a significant risk when placed in the wrong hands, the latest UDID-based news is sure to be a cause for concern for a large number of iPhone and iPad owners.
