November, 2011

Earlier today, Apple finally released iOS 5.0.1 firmware to the public. If you have a supported iPhone, iPad or iPod touch you can now download iOS 5.0.1 firmware IPSW either from the official download links provided below or over-the-air using your device itself.

The release notes of iOS 5.0.1 don’t point at any new features, as we had reported last week. iOS 5.0.1 is just a minor update to Apple’s latest and undoubtedly the greatest iOS update of all times, iOS 5. This update comes with a plethora of performance and security improvements as well as crucial bug fixes.

Apart from that, iOS 5.0.1 also fixes the iPhone 4S battery drain issue which has been making rounds on the internet for the past couple of weeks. iOS 5.0.1 also brings improved voice recognition for Australian and restores multitasking gestures on the original iPad.

Earlier last week Apple seeded iOS 5.0.1 beta 1 to developers. Apple admitted that there was a major battery drain issue on iPhone 4S and that they were working on a fix that would be released via a software update. iOS 5.0.1 was seeded to developers to that they could provide relevant feedback. However within two days of that, Apple seeded iOS 5 beta 2 to developers with more bug fixes, and that last update seemed to have finally put an end to this iPhone 4S battery drain issue. A crucial security vulnerability has also been patched in iOS 5.0.1, a vulnerability which could use harmless apps for potentially harmful purposes. Thankfully, that has been taken care of in iOS 5.0.1 firmware.

If you’re already on iOS 5 firmware, you can get iOS 5.0.1 over-the-air. Simply open the Settings.app and go to General followed by Software Update. The device will prompt you that iOS 5.0.1 is available for download. Downloading over-the-air would be relatively faster as the file size is approximately 45 MB. If you’re not on iOS 5, you can use the official direct download links provided below to download iOS 5.0.1 firmware IPSW for supported iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices.

Official iOS 5.0.1 Direct Download Links:

• iPhone 4S
• iPhone 4 (CDMA)
• iPhone 4 (GSM)
• iPhone 3GS
• iPad 2 (GSM)
• iPad 2 (WiFi)
• iPad 2 (CDMA)
• iPad 1
• iPod touch 3G
• iPod touch 4G

MyWebSQL is a database administrating tool not unlike phpMyAdmin, built with PHP.

MyWebSQL features a fully-Ajax’d interface and enables working with web possibilities and a desktop-like interface.

The software allows executing SQL queries, exporting and importing databases, and, of course, connecting to servers of choice.

Overall, the software is simple to use and easy to integrate; however, MyWebSQL doesn’t deliver in multi-server connections and… the scarce theme choice, as the design isn’t that appealing.

Cupcake Ipsum is an online “Lorem ipsum” generator that generates placeholder text filled with cupcakes and muffins.

The text generated by this very fine web application consists of random candy and sweet names.

However, you can add “extra love” to the text, which apparently inserts statements like “I love cake” in the placeholder text. Sweet!

Firmin is a JS animation library that uses CSS transforms and transitions.

Firmin has a minuscule API that works fine for creating neat, hardware-accelerated animations.

What’s interesting is that Firmin uses “relative” transforms for consecutive animations.

The library’s main drawback is the scarce support (WebKit only).

However, Firmin delivers in functionality and being easy to comprehend, so the library can definitely become a top pick for developing mobile, etc., applications.

In the weeks following release of iPhone 4S, one question was asked at large by majority of iDevice users. Will Apple ever officially release Siri for devices other than iPhone 4S? The fruit company has answered that question once and for all in a statement earlier today. Apple will not be releasing Siri for devices other than iPhone 4S, ever.

Apple announced Siri, their virtual personal assistant alongside the iPhone 4S last month at an intimate media event in Cupertino, California. Siri revolutionizes, not to mention commercializes artificial intelligence. Accessible through one touch of the Home button, iPhone 4S users can give a variety of commands to Siri which would then do the relevant tasks for them which includes but is not limited to reading and replying to emails, settings alarms, creating calendar entries, taking notes, displaying weather and traffic information etc. Apple did not explicitly mention at their iPhone 4S release event that Siri was exclusive to their next generation iPhone and that probably is the only reason why such speculation got wind in the first place.

Bear in mind that there will be an illegal way to get Siri on devices other than the iPhone 4S, through means of a jailbreak. Developers are working hard on such solutions and they have already managed to port Siri to iPhone 4, iPad 1 and iPod touch 4G and make it connect to Apple’s servers. While nothing of this sort has been released as yet, developers have been able to release proof of concept videos depicting that it is indeed possible to port and run Siri perfectly on devices other than iPhone 4S.

Coming back to the way of doing things that we encourage, legal that is, Apple has made it clear once and for all that as of now they have no plans of releasing Siri on older iOS devices, regardless of the fact that most of them have hardware capable enough to run it. To quote Apple:

Siri only works on iPhone 4S and we currently have no plans to support older devices.

You heard them! If you wish to use Siri, its better to get yourself an iPhone 4S rather than waiting for illegal ways to get Apple’s virtual assistant on your iOS device.

xui.js is a JavaScript DOM library for authoring HTML5 mobile applications.

Those familiar with Russian or other Slavic languages probably secretly wish for xui.js to have a different name.

xui is, however, a worthwhile library for building simpler web applications, as it doesn’t offer many new, high-tech features, but rather focuses on simple, cross-platform supporting buttons-in-a-list approach to application development, as it’s what most applications require either way.