iCloud Revealed, Offers Free Storage & Streaming Services

Along with Apple announcing iOS 5, Mac OSX Lion, they have announced iCloud. iCloud that will backup your apps, songs, books, photos, videos and contacts. You will be able to have access to any of your information from any device whether it is a tablet, phone, or laptop/desktop. This will be taking over Mobile Me and the apps have been rewritten. iWork will be playing nice with iCloud, and app history, device settings, new photos, purchased music will all be automatically over wi-fi. The iTunes app for the iCloud will be available as the end of today. Contacts and mail and calendar store will be free, while some of the rest will be paided subscriptions. The rest will be announced.

Apple Branded HDTV May Get Released Later This Year

Apple is expected to "reinvent" the modern day TV with its own HDTV rumored to be released by the end of 2011. A new claim by Brian White, an analyst at Ticonderoga Securities points out that their research suggests Apple will release a smart HDTV that will incorporate Apple's current $99 priced Apple TV streaming device. A while back, Apple has posted a job opening hinting of a possible upcoming Apple branded HDTV.

Amazon Launches Cloud Player For Web & Android

This is big news coming from Amazon, they just launched their new cloud service for music streaming called Amazon Cloud Player. Amazon members in the US can now upload their music purchases to their cloud storage called the Cloud Drive with a 5GB capacity with optional paid plans of up to 1TB of Cloud Storage. The service is free for streaming music on your computer and Android running devices using the Android app.

Time Warner Cable's New iPad App Lets You Watch Live TV

Time Warner Cable subscribers can now watch live TV on their iPad from anywhere in their home using their WiFi network for free using the new TWCable TV app. No need for extra hookups, you can instantly start streaming channels on your iPad including Time Warner Cable's HD lineup. More features will be added soon like a Remote DVR Manager and a Remote Tuner which lets you use your iPad as a remote to control live programming, Video On Demand and set your DVR when you're on the go. You also need to have Time Warner's internet services in addition to having their cable services. My hopes were high until I remembered I use AT&T as my ISP. 

Apple TV Comes Back in Black for $99!

Steve Jobs does the famous "One more Thing" with the long overdue update to the Apple TV. There were rumours that the new Apple TV would look just like an iPhone except without a screen, but as it turns out it is a fourth of the size of the original and it is black, black plastic. Which is most likely one of the reasons why Apple lowered the cost. Apple's A4 processor now powers the new Apple TV for effortless streaming without any stutters or freezes. 

This update is a drastic change from the previous model, as no content is stored on the device, all of it is downloaded straight from iTunes as rentals. On the back of the new Apple TV, there are inputs for one HDMI cable, power cable (no more power brick as the power supply is now built in), optical audio and ethernet. You can control the Apple TV by the supplied aluminum remote or by the Apple Remote app using your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch via AirPlay. You can get all the fine details here. 

To give you an idea of how small this box really is, you can fit it on the palm of your hand.

Vimeo Ditches Flash for HTML5

The up-next to YouTube video streaming site Vimeo, today announced it's transformation away from Flash and onto the HTML5 platform. The new HTML5 video player will not be able to played thru all iDevices, Android and other non-flash supported devices. Vimeo calls their new HTML5 player a Universal Player. The new Universal Player will seamlessly play HD content on any website using the new embed code. 

Source 9to5mac | Vimeo 

iTunes in the cloud soon!

 

When Apple bought Lala, everybody thought that iTunes in the cloud was just around the corner, and now this rumour has new light, well acording to BGR's "reliable Apple sources."  So what BGR's sources are saying it that iTunes will have these 3 things:

1. Streaming music and movies from Apple’s servers to your computers, devices, etc.
2. Streaming music and movies from your home computers to your other computers, remote devices, etc.
3. Wireless iTunes syncing with devices

The first one is relatively simple to understand. It would stream iTunes content which you have bought over the internet to your iDevice, thus eliminating the need for a lot of local storage. Secondly, Apple will apparently let you stream your own content over your WiFi network to any of your own computers and devices. And last but not least, wireless syncing of for your iDevices.

Wireless syncing,  apparently works seamlessly and it will work much like the WiFi Sync app that got rejected from the app store and is now in the Cydia store. So any apps you buy for instance on your iPhone will immediately sync to your computer, changes to your calendar, or notes, or contacts will also automatically update on your computer as well. 

So all sounds great but when will we see it? I'd put my money on it coming in iTunes 10 when it gets announced alongside the new iPods in September.

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Source BGR