iOS 5 Beta 5 ready for Download

Already tired of that old iOS 5 Beta 4 build? Fear not, as Apple has released the newest beta for your downloading pleasure (if you're a dev), just over two weeks after releasing the last build. Unfortunately I don't have the download link for you, as I'm not a developer. Anyways, if you do have It, comment below to tell us how it works.

iOS Lovers, Rest Assured, No More Annoying Notifications

Scott Forstall took the stage to discuss the improvements in iOS 5, of which there were many. The first is a major overhaul of notifications. No more annoying popups in apps. No more more interrupted Angry Birds marathons. This is accomplished with a "Notification Center", which is reached with a swipe down from the status bar in a method identical to Android's. Nothing is different in the implementation of notifications, really. And Apple just sued Samsung for "copying" their software with Touchwiz. At least Touchwiz works differently in implementation than iOS, but this here is just blatant and unabashed theft of an idea. iOS fanboys, guess who had it first.

The next feature is a newsstand application for housing any and all of your electronic magazine and newspaper subscriptions, and reading them. Not a huge feature, but an useful one nonetheless. It also provides an area where you can purchase all of these subscriptions, whereas previously they were separate apps for each newspaper.

Camera wise, there will be a link to the camera on the lockscreen. Android had this first as well. Think HTC Sense.

One of the only original ideas included in iOS 5 is iCloud. It is a free wireless service that syncs everything on your device into the cloud and stores it there for backup. And if you lose your device, it seems all you will have to do is get a new device and sync back all of your lost apps, contacts, or whatever else you had on your idevice. And thank goodness, you now don't have to connect to your computer to update your software. It will be all over the air.

No Improved Notifications in iOS 5?

One of  the best reasons to jailbreak may be the ability to get rid of those tiresome iOS notifications with MobileNotifier, software that provides less intrusive notifications. It seems that Apple may also like the style of notifications provided by MobileNotifier better- Redmond Pie reports that the leading developer of MobileNotifier has been hired by Apple to provide better notifications on iOS. Peter Hajas, the developer, tweeted that he was taking a break from MobileNotifier, and also made a reference to Steve Jobs and going off to work for a "fruit company" in California. The evidence also includes a screenshot of Hajas' name in an internal Apple employee database.

I guess you could say that it is good news that Apple has hired somebody to work on their currently terrible notification system, but then again improved notifications were supposed to be a huge part of iOS 5, to be announced on Monday. This leaves me wondering if the notification system is going to be improved at all, since it appears that Hajas was hired recently.





MobileNotifier