iLounge

Sony Entertainment Network has released an official iOS app for its Music Unlimited streaming music service. Music Unlimited is a subscription-based cloud music service with a global catalog of over 15 million licensed songs available on such devices as the sony PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, BRAVIA TVs and Android smartphones and tablets. Use of the service requires payment of a monthly subscription fee. A Basic subscription ($4/month) allows users to sync and match their own personal music libraries with the Music Unlimited service and access and stream that music from any supported device along with a basic set of streaming radio channels; a Premium subscription ($10/month) provides users with access to the entire Music Unlimited collection for on-demand streaming with the ability to create playlists, add items to their personal listening libraries and listen to premium content channels.

The new iPhone and iPod touch app provides subscribers with access to their Music Unlimited subscriptions from their iOS devices streamed over either a Wi-Fi or cellular network connection. Premium subscribers can also add songs to their personal libraries for faster access, add to and edit playlists and browse Premium Channels and top songs in favourite genres. The Music Unlimited app requires iOS 4.3 or later and a subscription to the Music Unlimited service and is available from the App Store as a free download.

Tapbots has released an update to Tweetbot adding a cornucopia of new features including support for finding tweets by geo-location, improvements to offline reading, mute filters based on keywords and several other UI enhancements. With Tweetbot 2.4 users can now easily find tweets posted near their current location or specify an alternate location to search from there; location-based keyword searches are now also supported for finding tweets based on location. The new update also allows users to mark tweets as favourites or add links to a Read Later service even when offline.

Mute filters can now be created based on keywords in addition to the previous options for people, hashtags and clients, with regular expressions also supported for creating advanced keyword patterns to mute; users can also now choose to mute mentions as well as posts in the main timeline. A number of other UI enhancements have also been made in this latest update, including an updated search view with a more efficient search box and a new browse section containing Trends, People and Top Tweets. In addition, double-tapping the search button now automatically takes the user to the keyword field for quicker entry and users can also now change their preferred location for viewing Trends. Several other minor user interface tweaks have also been made along with a number of bug fixes. Tweetbot 2.4 is available from the App Store in two separate versions for $3 each: Tweetbot for the iPhone and iPod touch and Tweetbot for iPad.

Facebook has released Facebook Camera, a new iPhone application designed specifically to focus on posting and viewing photos on the company’s social network. With Facebook Camera, users can take photos directly within the app and select multiple photos from the iOS camera roll for posting on their Facebook timeline. Users can also crop and apply any of 14 pre-defined filters to their photos and add the standard text, captions, location and friend tags when posting their photos as part of a status update. In addition, the app provides a simple view of the user’s news feed with only photo-related posts displayed, including photos not only from standard Facebook posts but also from third-party Facebook apps, with the user’s own camera roll photos displayed above the news feed for quick access. Facebook Camera is available from the App Store as a free download.

Bump Technologies has released an update to its popular inter-device sharing app for iOS adding the ability for users to transfer photos from an iPhone to a desktop computer. Primarily designed to allow users to share common information between mobile devices simply by bumping two devices together, this latest Bump update broadens the scope of the application by allowing photos to also be transferred to any computer that the user happens to be working at, with no additional software required on the computer side.

To bump photos to a computer, users simply open the computer’s browser to the Bump web site, choose photos in the Bump app and then lightly tap the spacebar with their iPhone. The selected photos are displayed in the web browser where users can view them and download them all to a folder on the computer, drag-and-drop them directly into other apps or get a short link for sharing them elsewhere. Bump 3.3 requires iOS 4.1 or later and is available from the App Store as a free download.

Sharp will supply technical know-how to Foxconn for a new plant in China that will produce display panels for the iPhone and other consumer electronics, according to a new report. Citing the Nikkei business daily, Reuters reports that the technology sharing agreement only further serves to tie the company to Foxconn, which in March agreed to buy a nearly 47 percent stake in a Sharp LCD manufacturing plant in Sakai, Japan. That plant is said in the report to be Japan’s most advanced panel factory; at the same time, Foxconn also agreed to purchase an 11 percent stake in Sharp for roughly $844 million.

Epic Games and Chair Entertainment have released Infinity Blade II: Vault of Tears, the latest major content update for the critically acclaimed iOS game. Available as a free update, Vault of Tears adds a large collection of new single player content as well new social features for the game’s ClashMob multiplayer update released last month.

In Vault of Tears players delve further into Siris’ mysterious past with new areas available to explore and a plethora of new enemies to encounter. A new Treasure Map feature allows players to discover hidden items and rewards as well as searching out a hidden ally. New enemies include the Mass Golem, Dark Fiend, Bog Giant, Acolyte and more along with a collection of over 50 new items to collect and master. Several new achievements have also been added along with unique gems to forge and a few other hidden surprises.

ClashMob players can also now earn extra turns and invite non-Infinity Blade players on their social networks to do in-game damage by liking the player’s battle calls on Facebook or re-tweeting them on Twitter. Players can also earn bonus plays by liking and commenting on the official Facebook post and retweeting the official tweet for the active ClashMob challenge. Infinity Blade II is currently available from the App Store for $3 for a limited time.

Noted actor John Malkovich is the star of two new official Apple ads for the iPhone 4S. As with the prior “Date Night” and “Rainy Day” ads—starring Samuel L. Jackson and Zooey Deschanel, respectively—the new ads, entitled “Joke” and “Life”, feature the star interacting with Siri to perform tasks such as checking the weather, calendar, and searching for food. Consistent with Malkovich’s quirky persona, he mainly queries Siri with single words, with “Life” consisting of the majority of the latter commercial, and “Joke” serving as the punchline for the former. Both commercials are available for viewing now on Apple’s website.

Google has updated its universal Google Search app for iOS devices introducing a complete redesign of the user interface for the iPhone and iPod touch. Designed with an emphasis on speed and simplicity, the new version dramatically improves performance with significantly faster autocompletion of search suggestions and faster loading of results. Users can also now easily see multiple pages with a slide-in panel, use swipe gestures to move back and forth between webpages,  search results and search modes and easily locate text within any web page. Image search has also been redesigned to now display a grid view of high resolution images; users can scroll down to see additional results, tap on any image to get details about it or swipe between images and save images to the iOS photo library using a tap-and-hold gesture. Google Search is a universal app requiring iOS 4.2 or later and is available from the App Store as a free download.

INRIX has updated its traffic information and monitoring app adding new Personalize Traffic Reports designed to assist users with their daily commute. Version 4.0 adds a new “Places” page that allows users to quickly see at a glance the fastest route between two locations, the exact estimated arrival time of the two top routes and the optimal time to leave. Users can now also specify their home and work locations in the free version to help track their normal daily commute; an in-app Premium upgrade allows additional locations to be added as well as unlimited viewing of traffic cameras. The map view has also been enhanced with new icons and an optimized layout to provide a more intuitive view of en route traffic, with colours depicting traffic flow and icons used to identify specific events impacting traffic that users can tap on for additional details; the map view also now automatically adjusts to the user’s route at regular intervals to help reduce the need to zoom in and out. In addition, users can now quickly share their estimated arrival time via text message or e-mail. INRIX Traffic is a universal app and is available from the App Store as a free download.

Popular third-party CloudApp client DropCloud has received a major update adding several new features and a new name. Now known as ClouDrop, the universal app allows users of the CloudApp online sharing service to upload, share and view files and links directly from their iOS devices. ClouDrop includes several advanced features such as background uploading from the iOS clipboard, automatic archive creation during upload and a built-in music player. Version 2.3 adds support for live real-time updating of the CloudApp item list including the view count alongside inline previews for photos and bookmarks and a corresponding redesign of the main page. A new option is also now available to automatically upload iOS screenshots while ClouDrop is running in the background. ClouDrop is a universal app and is available from the App Store for $1.

A new part claimed to be the front panel of a fifth-generation iPod touch has surfaced online, suggesting that the device will sport a substantially larger screen. MacRumors reports that the part, which appears to be for a white iPod touch, sports a 4.1-inch opening for the display. As Apple would be unlikely to increase the size of the iPod touch’s screen without doing the same for the iPhone—the two devices have traditionally shared the same screen size—the part, if genuine, represents the first physical evidence to support the release of an iPhone with a larger screen. While the report points out that the 4.1-inch opening is slightly out of line with prior reports of 4- or 3.95-inch screens for the next iPhone, it seems likely that some portion of the interior will be taken up by black space between the edges of the opening and the screen itself—as is the case with current iPhone and iPod touch models—and is therefore sized appropriately for a 4-inch screen. Also mentioned in the report are purported home button, front camera, and rear camera parts for the next iPhone; these parts are said to be in the “verification” stage.

Apple has at least two roughly 4-inch iPhone prototypes in testing, according to a new report. 9to5Mac claims that it has “independently heard” that the two prototypes sport 3.95-inch displays, which are the same 1.94 inches wide, but 3.45 inches tall, giving the display an aspect ratio close to 16:9. The resolution of the screen is said to be 1136 x 640 — to account for the extra height while keeping the same pixel density; the report further substantiates a new, smaller Dock Connector that’s between Mini-USB and Micro-USB in size. Notably, these specs match up very well with iLounge’s prior report on the next iPhone. The prototypes are said to be encased in thick shells so as to disguise their actual design, and are codenamed N41AP (5,1) and N42AP (5,2); it remains unclear which of the two models Apple plans to release as its next iPhone.

XVision has released an update to DataMan, its real-time data usage tracking app for iOS devices. DataMan allows iPhone users to keep track of their Wi-Fi and cellular data usage. Users can view usage by date and time and location and even plot usage on a chart or a map and set alerts to be notified when data usage exceeds certain daily, weekly or monthly thresholds. Version 5.2 adds a new “App Watch” feature that allows users to track usage on a per-application basis so they can see which of their apps are using the most data. The new App Watch feature supports not only third-party apps but also built-in apps and services such as Siri and iCloud. DataMan Pro requires iOS 5.1 or later and is available from the App Store for $1.

Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was deeply involved in the development of the next-generation iPhone, according to a new report. Citing multiple people with knowledge of Apple’s plans, Bloomberg reports that Apple will “overhaul” the look of the iPhone with the next-generation model. It also claims that Jobs worked closely on the phone, which is said to sport a larger screen than past models. Earlier this month, iLounge reported that the next iPhone is slated to have a screen that’s roughly 4-inches diagonally, and that’s taller than prior screens, allowing Apple to increase the screen size without needing to widen the device itself.

Ravensburger Digital has launched Scotland Yard, bringing the popular board game to the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. In Scotland Yard, players take on the role of one of five Scotland Yard detectives or the elusive Mister X. Detective players must work together to travel throughout London using a limited number of taxi, bus and underground tickets in an attempt to locate and capture Mister X, who must in turn attempt to evade capture by the detectives, leaving only occasional appearances and his discarded transit tickets as clues to his whereabouts.

The iOS adaptation remains largely faithful to the original classic board game, adding a few new twists such as a new night-themed London setting along with HD graphics for the iPhone and iPad Retina Display. The game is designed for 3-6 players who can participate via pass-and-play on a single device or using local Bluetooth/Wi-Fi or online Game Center multiplayer across multiple devices; a single player mode is also supported with other pieces being played by the AI. Voice and text chat is also supported in multiplayer games allowing players to easily coordinate their moves and strategy, and an integrated tutorial provides new players with easy instructions for getting started in the game. Scotland Yard is a universal app and is available from the App Store for $5.

Sprint will soon begin a promotion in which customers can trade in any iPhone model and receive $100 off an iPhone 4S in return. TechnoBuffalo reports that starting May 18, Sprint will offer $100 on any iPhone trade-in—assumedly including the original model—towards a new iPhone 4S. The offer will reportedly be available for current and new customers alike, but requires a new line of service and a two-year commitment. According to the article, the offer is set to expire on June 30th.

Speaking at the J.P. Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom conference, Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said that the company plans to phase customers out of grandfathered-in unlimited data plans as they migrate to LTE. “Everyone will be on data share,” Shammo said, clarifying that, “a lot of our 3G base is on unlimited… [and] when they migrate off 3G they will have to go to data share.” Verizon plans to introduce new shared family data plans in the middle of the year.

Apple has placed orders for screens that measure at least 4 inches diagonally for use in the next iPhone, according to a new report. Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reports that production on the screens is set to begin next month in Asia. The report does not offer any other information as to possible features of the new phone, nor does it offer any further information on the screen itself, such as aspect ratio or resolution. Earlier this month, iLounge reported that the next iPhone is slated to have a screen that’s roughly 4-inches diagonally, and that’s taller than prior screens, allowing Apple to increase the screen size without needing to widen the device itself.

Apple dominates all other cell phone manufacturers when it comes to customer satisfaction, according to a new report from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). According to the report, Apple’s iPhone earned the company an 83 out of 100 customer satisfaction, the first time a cell phone company has ever broken into the 80s. Its nearest competitors were Nokia, LG, and HTC, all three of which scored a 75. The ACSI’s scores are based on data from interviews with roughly 70,000 U.S. customers. [via TUAW]

Mentions and appearances of Apple products on TV were up in 2011, according to a new report. Citing numbers from researcher Nielsen, Apple products were discussed or shown 891 times on TV in 2011, up from 613 in 2009. In addition, the company’s iDevices (iPhones, iPads, and iPods) appeared in more than 40 percent of weekly box office-topping films—nearly twice as often as the next most common brands, according to Brandchannel. Unlike most companies, Apple refuses to pay for product placement in movies or TV shows, although it has been known to hand out freebies. “Apple won’t pay to have their products featured, but they are more than willing to hand out an endless amount of computers, iPads, and iPhones,” said Curb Your Enthusiasm producer Gavin Polone. “It’s kind of a graft situation.”