Earlier today Apple seeded the first beta of iOS 5.1 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch to developers. Apple only releases beta firmware for registered developers. So if you’re not a developer, you can not legally download iOS 5.1 beta 1 for your iOS device. Registered developers can easily download this beta from the Developers Portal.

Apple formally released iOS 5 to the public on October 12. Since WWDC 2011, at which iOS 5 was first announce, seven betas of iOS 5 had been seeded to developers and with each passing beta, Apple’s latest and undoubtedly the greatest iOS platform update ever become less ridiculed with bugs. When the final public version dropped on October 12, there was such a downloading frenzy that iTunes activation servers were having trouble coping up with the activation requests.

The iOS 5 launch went smooth and after than on October 17, Apple started shipping its new iPhone 4S to consumers in seven countries. As people got down to using this new iPhone, a startling discovery was made. The iPhone 4S had pathetic battery timing for some users. It wasn’t a hardware issue, rather it was a bug in iOS 5 firmware that caused battery drainage issue on iPhone 4S. To cater to this issue, Apple started reaching out to iPhone 4S owners and got data from them, with their permission of course, that could prove to be helpful for them in developing a fix. Merely after a month had passed since public release of iOS 5, Apple released a minor iOS 5.0.1 update in order to fix iPhone 4S battery issue. However things didn’t turn out so well as many users claimed that they started facing battery drainage issues, not only on iPhone 4S this time but on other supported devices as well, after they had updated to iOS 5.0.1. Apple soon promised to release iOS 5.0.2 in a couple of weeks to fix this issue once and for all.

However now it looks like this battery drainage bug is bigger than we expected. Mind you, the release number, iOS 5.1 that is, indicates a major upgrade. Minor upgrades such as iOS 5.0.2 are usually pushed out as they normally only contain meager bug fixes and patches. This bug causing battery drain seems big enough to need a major iOS 5 update version, and its totally possible given the fact that its not only iPhone 4S in particular that’s giving pathetic battery timing. No definitive release date as yet for iOS 5.1, however sources claim that there will be a couple of further iOS 5.1 betas before public release, which can take place sometime around mid-December.

Regardless of the fact that Samsung’s Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich touting flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus, is already on sale in the UK, citizens of USA are still waiting for it to release on their turf. However it looks like the wait will soon be over for them as one online retailer in USA has revealed the possibility of Samsung Galaxy Nexus being available in the USA from December 9.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the third smartphone which carries with it the Nexus branding. Co-developed by Google and Samsung, this particular smartphone has been tailor-made for Google’s biggest update to its Android mobile platform, the Ice Cream Sandwich.

Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich is, as previously mentioned, Google’s biggest update to its mobile operating system. It comes with a ton of new features,  updates, performance and stability fixes for devices Android 4.0 is compatible with. Android 4.0 is destined to be the only true competitor for iOS 5, Apple’s latest and undoubtedly the greatest update to its own mobile operating system. Given the animosity between these two companies, it can be said for sure that Google has left no stone unturned in making Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich the best Android platform update as yet.

Interest based USA retailer Negri Electronics tweeted earlier today that their source at Verizon Wireless had told them to expect Samsung Galaxy Nexus stock before December 9. If this source is anything to go by, there is a huge possibility that USA citizens will be able to get their hands on Samsung’s latest flagship Android smartphone starting December 9.

Based on the information we were given by OUR contact at #Verizon, we are set to have stock on 12/9. We will update here when we know more

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has gotten off to a good start. There is reasonable consumer interest in this product and it will definitely succeed in niche markets. We just have to wait and see whether it can capture some of the territory of Apple’s latest iPhone 4S.

TileMill is a Linux/Mac OS application for desigining beautiful maps.

GeoJSON, GeoTIFF, ESRI shape, KML and SQLite files are supported for map data generation.

TileMill runs on the Carto programming language — which is almost the same as CSS.

TileMill also offers a number of features like tooltips and graph/image embedding to allow users adding an interactive layer to their maps.

• Website: http://mapbox.com/tilemill/

Three20 is an Objective-C library for developing iOS applications.

The library is open-source, and very popular — it’s used by app store giants such as Pulse, Meetup.com, Facebook and others.

Three20 is regularly extended by the community, with free extensions available for any taste.

Three20′s functionality is outstanding and, enhanced by the powerful view controllers employed by this framework, makes for a surprisingly solid, and reliable coding environment.

• Website: http://three20.info/

Samsung has had a rough year. Its flagship tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 based on the Android platform, is having a hard time taking off in the market. Credit for that goes to Apple, for being engaged in a vicious court battle with Samsung. Apple previously won an injunction in Germany where the court barred Samsung from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Deutschland. Now Samsung has relaunched Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Germany with a slightly new design as well as a new name.

In the image embedded above, you can see that Samsung has slightly tweaked the original design of its Galaxy Tab 10.1. The screen size remains the same, only change that has been made is that a metal frame has been added around the device,. This product is now being called the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N in Germany, since the injunction was against the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung can sell this device in the country if Apple doesn’t win another injunction.

Apple is battling Samsung in court in a variety of countries, taking up the chance to block sales of their products in whichever country they can legally do so. Apple claims Samsung has blatantly ripped off the design of their products. In this case, Apple says Samsung copied the iPad’s design for their Galaxy Tab 10.1. While it is evident that both devices are strikingly similar to each other and given the fact Apple released iPad 2 first, Samsung’s position in this lawsuit couldn’t have gotten any worse when Samsung’s lawyers failed to different between iPad 2 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 during court proceedings.

Currently, sales of Galaxy Tab 10.1 are blocked in Australia as well, where the Korean manufacturer launched Galaxy Tab 10.1 in its original design. Soon enough, they were slapped with a lawsuit from Apple and Australia’s Federal Court ruled that Samsung can not sell their Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia due to the fact that they have copied Apple’s design.

Who knows, maybe the Galaxy Tab 10.1N would change things once and for all. This slight tweak in the design does add a decent bit of disparity between the two devices, the question is whether or not its enough for Apple.

When Steve Jobs resigned as the CEO of Apple on August 24 2011, he made it clear that the company would still have the pleasure of his presence as he would be staying on as Chairman Board of Directors at Apple. After his death earlier last month, the Board had to appoint a new Chairman and it saw Dr. Arthur Levinson fit for the job.

Apple’s Co-founder, two time CEO, Chairman of the Board and long time visionary Steve Jobs passed away on October 5 2011. He had long before taken a medical leave of absence from the company in February 2011, while retaining his position as CEO, to focus on his health. He returned to the stage twice, whilst being on medical leave, for introducing the iPad 2 and iOS 5. As he passed away, a new Chairman had to be appointed by the Board of Directors at Apple. Tim Cook, who was previously COO at Apple, replaced Jobs as CEO of Apple.

Dr. Arthur Levinson is not new to the Apple Board of Directors. He has been serving as a member of the board since 2000, the same year Steve Jobs was permanently made CEO of Apple for the second time after his return to the company as an advisor and later interim CEO in 1997.

CEO of Apple Tim Cook released the following statement after Arther Levinson was named the new Chairman Board of Directors at Apple:

Art (Arthur) has made enormous contributions to Apple since he joined the board in 2000. He has been our longest serving co-lead director, and his insight and leadership are incredibly valuable to Apple, our employees and our shareholders

Born in the year 1950, Dr. Arthur Levinson has studied Molecular Biology and has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry. He joined Genentech in 1980 as a senior scientist and went on to become the Chairman and CEO of Genentech in 1999. His rapid promotion among the ranks at Genentech are proof enough that Dr. Arthur Levinson is indeed going to be an indispensable asset to Apple’s Board of Directors as Chairman. He has also served as a board member for Google from 2004 till 2009.