iLounge

Customers have received notifications from Apple that the new iPod touch, iPod nano, and both Lightning to 30-pin Adapters — the direct plug adapter and the version with a 0.2m cable—are shipping, with some deliveries beginning today. Readers outside the United States are already beginning to find the new iPod touch and nano up in Apple’s retail stores today, confirming previous reports. Users interested in getting a leg up on the new iPod touch may want to peruse the official user’s guide, which has been posted on Apple’s website.

On the anniversary of Steve Jobs’ death, web design company Inventika Solutions has posted a fitting tribute: a virtual classic iPod that works within your browser. The virtual iPod works just as the original did — operate the clickwheel and play one of the loaded songs. Designer Pritesh Desai wrote in a tweet to Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal that the design was made in tribute to Jobs; Apple has notably forced past iPod interface simulators offline, so it’s worth seeing this one before it disappears. [via Gizmodo]

Apple has contacted retail stores to prepare for an Oct. 9 launch of the new iPod touch and iPod nano, according to Japanese blog Macotakara. Japanese stores have been contacted about the launch first, Macotakara told iLounge, noting that there will apparently be few units in the initial shipment. There has been no official announcement from Apple as of yet, and the Apple Store still only lists the new iPod touch and nano as available to ship in October. Some readers have seen pre-order shipping status change to “preparing for shipment,” suggesting that these orders will be fulfilled shortly.

iOS 6 users with iPhones and iPod touches can now add the Starbucks app to Apple’s Passbook, thanks to a new update. Existing Starbucks Card holders can add their cards to the app for phone payment and rewards, while users without cards can sign up for a new mobile card. Up to 10 “favorite stores” can be added to the app — your device can use geofencing to recognize that you’ve entered one of those stores, and load your card accordingly. To add the card to Passbook, sign in, then go to My Card>Manage>Add Card to Passbook. Note that while the Starbucks app is not yet formatted for iPhone 5, it runs properly in the center of the new iPhone’s taller screen.

Street View has officially been added to the mobile Google Maps web app, accessible on iOS devices at Maps.Google.com, or by searching for an address within Safari’s search bar. After selecting a location within Google Maps, a new icon of a person pops up on the bottom of the screen, leading to Street View within a new Safari tab. The web app for Google Maps also has a new, branded icon, which users will see after adding the page to their Home screens.

Today’s addition of Street View was anticipated by recent reports, and it arrived sooner than initial estimates anticipated. Google Maps is one of the apps mentioned by Apple CEO Tim Cook as an alternative to Apple’s iOS 6 Maps.

Wind Solutions has announced the final release of CopyTrans Contacts, software that allows PC users to import and manage contacts across iOS devices without using the cloud or any third-party servers. Contacts can be transferred or imported from other iOS devices and PC email solutions such as Outlook or Gmail. Users can edit contacts on a PC or through the Contacts app. Designed for Windows 7, XP, and Vista, the download is currently available for $2, and is compatible with all iOS devices.

Announced in June, Shared Photo Streams have officially arrived today with the release of Apple’s iOS 6, as well as corresponding updates to Mac OS X applications. Users can now create iCloud-based virtual photo albums that can be shared as web pages or individual photos, both capable of being viewed and commented on by other iOS 6 and iCloud users.

It should be noted that Shared Photo Streams don’t have to include photos from the main Photo Stream, and they are not subject to the same Wi-Fi-only and 30-day, 1000-photo limitations. They don’t appear to count against iCloud storage allocation, either, and enable users to easily notify family members and friends of new images that are being privately shared amongst themselves.

Following the release of iOS 6 earlier today, Apple has released an update to iPhoto for iOS devices adding a multitude of new features and enhancements. iPhoto 1.1 now includes six new Apple-designed ink effects along with a collection of Coaching tips in the help system to assist new users in getting started with the app and producing the best results. Users can also now import full resolution photos via iTunes File Sharing, with images of up to 36.5 megapixels in size supported on the iPhone 5 and third-generation iPad. Custom tags can be added to photos to create tag albums and multiple photos can now also be saved out the Camera Roll in a single operation. Photos can be sorted by date and filtered using new criteria and a Power Scroll strip has been added for high-speed scrolling through the app. A month-year overlay also now appears when scrolling in Photos view and a grid of thumbnails can be expanded to multiple rows when viewing in portrait orientation.

A number of enhancements have also been made to the various editing features including the ability to rotate tile-shift and gradient effects, modify fonts and alignment of text in journal items, and resize journal Note and Memory items. Dividers can also now be manually added to break journal pages into sections and a new Swap mode is available for changing the placement of items in a journal layout. In addition, links to journals can be shared directly to Facebook and Twitter and send out via Messages and links to remote journals can be shared from any device. Users can also control when to update their journal via a new “Publish Changes” button.

Facebook integration has also been improved with the ability to more easily add comments, upload videos to Facebook and set locations and friend tags when posting photos. Photos previously posted to Facebook can also now be more easily replaced with a more current version and notifications are now displayed when a Facebook upload completes in the background. The new version also adds integration with other apps such as Cards and iMovie, allowing photos to be shared directly to these apps from within iPhoto for iOS and adds support for the fourth- and fifth-generation iPod touch. iPhoto for iOS 1.1 is a universal app requiring iOS 6.0 and is available from the App Store for $5.

Apple’s Cards app, previously available for iPhone and iPod touch, has added iPad support alongside an iOS 6 compatibility update. Cards allows users to create professional quality greeting cards to be printed and mailed out directly by Apple through the U.S. Postal Service.

There are a number of other improvements to the Version 2.0 release, including six new letterpress holiday card designs, new layouts featuring three photos on a single card, iPhoto image sharing directly to the app, mailing of customized cards to up to 12 recipients within the same order, automatic image sharpening, and an enhanced card history view on iPad, along with improvements to address verification and the checkout process. Cards is available from the App Store as a free download, with individual cards sold at $3 including mailing within the U.S., versus $5 for international recipients.

Apple has released an update to GarageBand for iOS adding the ability to import songs from the iOS Music library and create ringtones directly from the app. With GarageBand 1.3 users on iOS 6 can now create custom ringtones and alerts for the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch and save them directly into the device’s ringtone/alert library. The new version also adds support for importing songs directly from the iOS Music library and playing and recording in the background while using other apps on the iPhone 4S/5 and the iPad 2 and third-generation iPad. A number of minor performance and stability issues have also been addressed in this update. GarageBand 1.3 is a universal app requiring iOS 5.1 or later and is available from the App Store for $5.

Apple has updated its standalone Podcasts app for iOS adding support for iOS 6 and synchronization of podcasts subscriptions between devices via iCloud. Users can now also choose to automatically download new episodes only when on Wi-Fi and play episodes in both forward and reverse chronological order. A new pull-to-refresh gesture has also been added to check for new episodes on iOS 6 devices. Podcasts 1.1 is a universal app requiring iOS 5.1 or later and is available from the App Store as a free download.

Apple has posted detailed blueprints for the bodies of its iPhone 5, new iPod touch, and new iPod nano online. The documents are available through Apple’s developer portal.

Packed with caliper-level measurements of each device’s key external features, the documents open the gates for accessory designers, enabling the creation of cases and related accessories with tight tolerances. [via 9to5Mac]

Despite web site hiccups early on Friday morning, Apple and its carrier partners are now officially accepting and processing pre-orders for the iPhone 5. Falling a little behind schedule after promising a 12:01am PT/3:01am ET online pre-order process, Apple’s web site began to accept orders several minutes later, and provided a reasonably graceful fallback reservation process when AT&T’s computers buckled—an outage that lasted for approximately 30 minutes as AT&T’s own site quickly failed at processing upgrade eligibility status for existing users.

Users attempting to order Verizon phones were promptly processed, while AT&T iPhone 5 orders through Apple were given reservation numbers and the opportunity to log in to complete their orders when AT&T’s computers became operable. E-mails offering that opportunity began to go out by 12:35am PT, and were processed properly at that point. Notably, iPhone 4S customers have discovered that they are not eligible for discounted or fully subsidized iPhone 5 pricing, with October 8 of this year as the earliest date for discounts, and May 8, 2013 for full subsidized pricing. iPhone 5 unlocked and off-contract pricing remains the same as for the iPhone 4S: $649 (16GB), $749 (32GB), or $849 (64GB).

Apple also began to accept pre-orders for the fifth-generation iPod touch and seventh-generation iPod nano during the same time period. Unexpectedly, Apple limited iPod touch orders to two per person, with no limitation on iPod nano orders. iPod touch loop wrist strap accessories became available separately for $9 each. The company provided no further details on ship dates for the new iPods or accessories beyond the word “October.”

Updated: One hour after pre-orders began, Apple sold through its initial U.S. pre-order allocation of iPhone 5s; the Apple Store web site thereafter told customers that new orders would ship in “two weeks.” iPod availability apparently remained unchanged.

Apple has released its Gold Master seed of iOS 6 to registered developers. Listed as build 10A403, the GM build is normally the last to be seeded prior to the software’s official launch, expected on September 19, and as such can be used to submit iOS 6 applications to the App Store for review. It is unclear whether the iOS 6 GM seed will be made available as an over-the-air software update, as has been the case with past iOS 5 and iOS 6 beta releases, however Registered Developers can download the iOS 6 GM seed and the accompanying SDK from the iOS Dev Center now.

The fifth-generation iPod touch was introduced today by Apple at a media event in San Francisco. Confirming part leaks and rumors, the new model includes a 4” Retina display, a new aluminum back with a rear flash and microphone alongside the iSight camera, and an A5 processor. It weighs only 3.1 ounces, and measures 4.86 × 2.31 × 0.24”, the thinnest and lightest iPod touch yet released.

In addition to black and white versions of the new iPod touch, pink, blue, green, and red versions have been added as firsts for the family, each very similar from the front to the fourth-generation model thanks to the use of only white or black painted glass bezels. Headphone port and speaker holes on the bottom are joined by a new Lightning connector port, replacing the prior 30-Pin Dock Connector and requiring an adapter for old accessories. Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11n dual-band support are now included, along with major camera improvements—a 720p FaceTime HD camera on the front and 1080p / 5-Megapixel iSight camera on the rear. Siri and AirPlay mirroring have been added for the first time in an iPod touch.

Unusually, a swirled metal button on the bottom left of the back turns out to be a camera hole-sized nub for a wrist strap called “iPod touch loop” to attach. Each iPod touch comes with a color-matched loop wrist strap, as well as EarPods, Apple’s newly redesigned earphones, and a Lightning to USB Cable.

The new iPod touch will be available in October for $299 (32GB) or $399 (64GB), with pre-orders to begin on September 14. Apple will continue to sell fourth-generation iPod touches for $199 (16GB) or $249 (32GB).

During today’s iPhone 5 event Apple announced the official release dates for iOS 6, the next major version of the company’s operating system for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. Originally announced at WWDC in June, iOS 6 is expected to add over 200 new user features. During the event, Senior iOS VP Scott Forstall took the stage to demonstrate several of the major new features in iOS 6 running on the new iPhone 5, including the new Apple Maps application with turn-by-turn navigation, a database of 100 million points of interest and integration with Yelp for photos and reviews.

Forstall also demonstrated the new 3D Flyover feature in iOS 6 Maps, new Safari features such as full-screen view and iCloud tabs, VIP support in the new Mail app, the new Passbook digital coupon and ticket app and Shared Photos Streams. Forstall also highlighted new Siri features such as the ability to request sports results, get movie recommendations, find restaurants and make reservations via OpenTable and post Facebook updates by voice. iOS 6 is compatible with the iPhone 3GS and later, second- and third-generation iPod and fourth-generation iPod touch and will be available for download via iTunes and OTA update on September 19th.

Searches for “iPhone-5” on Apple’s site ahead of today’s media event have revealed a number of search results, apparently confirming that the sixth-generation iPhone will indeed be called the “iPhone 5.” The results include a now-inactive PR announcement and tips section, as well as an inactive press release announcing a new iPod touch and new iPod nano. [via MacRumors]

Updated: iLounge has confirmed that a new version of iTunes is also amongst today’s scheduled announcements.

Following reports that iOS 6 will remove the built-in YouTube app, Google has now launched its own official standalone YouTube app for the iPhone and iPod touch. Although Apple has included a native YouTube app on the iPhone since the beginning, the built-in version was developed by Apple rather than Google and has generally seen only modest updates as new iOS versions are released, failing to keep pace with newer YouTube features. Recent iOS 6 betas now suggest that the built-in app will disappear when Apple releases iOS 6 later this month, and while Google introduced an iPhone optimized web version of YouTube back in 2010, this still relied on Safari and like many web apps lacked native iOS integration.

The new YouTube app has been developed for the iPhone and iPod touch to provide a more integrated experience along with improved performance and exploration features, allowing users to access YouTube either as a guest or with their own YouTube account, view playlists, subscribe to video channels, and discover content via a new integrated YouTube channel guide. Users can also play videos via AirPlay and share on Google+, Facebook, Twitter, Messages and e-mail. The new app also provides access to a greater range of content by allowing users to view videos with pre-roll advertising—a requirement that barred many videos from being displayed in the built-in app. YouTube is an iPhone and iPod touch app requiring iOS 4.3 or later and is available from the App Store as a free download. An iPad optimized version is reportedly under development and expected to be available in the coming months.

American Airlines, United, Virgin, and Delta have all confirmed they’re either ready or working to support Apple’s new Passbook application, debuting with iOS 6 this month. Passbook stores boarding passes, tickets, loyalty cards and other forms of digital information, then uses the iPhone’s location services feature to call up the appropriate document on the Lock Screen when in the correct location. At the initial iOS 6 presentation, Apple suggested that Passbook would be backed by companies such as United, Amtrak, Starbucks, and Fandango. [via Electronista]

Some case manufacturers believe that a previously-rumored refresh of the iPod nano is imminent, and have prepared new cases, notes MacRumors. The cases, from Italian accessory maker Puro, look to fit an iPod roughly the size of a fourth or fifth-generation nano, though seemingly wider — a tremendous turnaround from the current nano, with extruded pill curves resembling the second-generation nano and long-gone iPod mini. Rumors have suggested that this model will have an iPod touch-like but smaller touchscreen and Home Button, as well as wireless capabilities; however, no actual parts appear to have surfaced publicly to confirm the device’s existence.

Puro’s designs for the new iPod touch repeat elements found in previously-leaked cases, including a mysterious lower left hole at the bottom of the case seen in earlier case photos. The new iPod touch’s front panel is believed to have been revealed months ago, with a 4” display as its signature feature, and the as-yet-unseen rear shell is thought to be closer to the original iPod touch’s shape. A separate 9 to 5 Mac report claims that Apple will preserve the old iPod touch—perhaps with modest tweaks, such as a new Dock Connector—alongside the new model, while radically updating the nano, and offering new iPod shuffle colors.