Look like Apple will soon release another update for the iOS 4. Yesterday, Apple released iOS 4.1 beta 2, a pre-release version for iPhone developers. Unless you are developing iPhone apps, there is no reason for you to try out this beta version.

As usual, Apple does not detail the fixes and features for the upcoming release. So far, based on the reports from early adopters, the upcoming iOS 4.1 release may come with the following updates:

• Signal Bars fixed and taller (which is already included in iOS 4.0.1)
• New Baseband (02.07.01)
• Game Center Support
• Camera Switch and Flash buttons reposition in landscape mode
• Allow to add Favorite as voice or FaceTime
• Option to turn off Spell Check
• FaceTime and Game Center Parental Controls
• Full Bluetooth AVRCP (i.e. Audio/Video Remote Control) Support
• Fix for iPhone 4’s proximity issue

For those concern about jailbreaking, iPhone Dev team has confirmed the beta 2 release of iOS 4.1 can be jailbroken using redsn0w. However, ultrasn0w do not support the unlock for the new version of baseband. Here is the jailbreaking update about iOS 4.1 beta 2 from iPhone Dev team:

If you’ve updated to 4.1beta2 on iPhone3G or iPod2G(non-MC), you can use this redsn0w from June to jailbreak. Just point it at the 4.0 IPSW (the public one, not the developer GM one).

(Yes – point it at the 4.0 IPSW even though you’re at 4.1beta2).

Don’t do this if you need the ultrasn0w carrier unlock!!

Note 1: This won’t hacktivate your iPhone3G – but for those with legit access to the 4.1beta2 this shouldn’t matter. Please don’t pirate Apple software

Note 2: If you’re at 4.1beta2 you’ll probably experience network problems after jailbreaking. Until a new version of redsn0w is released, you may need to rely on afc2 access (such as FunBox-like file browser programs) to manipulate your filesystem.

Note 3: This is recommended only for power users who can deal with the problems that will pop up as the JB apps fall further behind the beta firmwares.

We have no idea about the release date for the general availability of iOS 4.1. But please take extra care when iTunes prompts you to upgrade your iPhone firmware. Make sure you hit the “Cancel” button to avoid the upgrade if jailbreaking and unlocking are essential for you.

If you are iPhone developers, you can download the beta 2 release at iPhone Developer Center.

Citigroup has admitted that its free iPhone app – Citi Mobile contains a major security flaw that “accidentally” saves users personal account information in a hidden file on their iPhone. The company has rolled out an updated version of the app and is urging its customers to upgrade ASAP.

The accidentally stored information includes account numbers, bill payments and security access codes. What’s worse, this information is also saved to user’s computer if it had been synched with an iPhone. WSJ reports that the security hole affects nearly 117,600 customers who had registered the iPhone app with Citi since its launch in March 2009.

The Citi Mobile app is currently the 11th most-popular offering in the finance category of Apple’s App Store and Citibank has nearly 800,000 mobile customers. The app was developed in partnership with MFoundry, a mobile financial services provider based in Larkspur, California.

Citi says it fixed the bug and informed customers within 24 hours of discovering the issue. Though the bank says that any personal data was not exposed by the flaw, I beg to differ. If a user’s computer is infected with a worm/ trojan, there is a strong likelihood of user’s personal information being compromised. What’s worse, hackers can create malware apps to retrieve user’s personal information stored on their iPhone.

The only saving grace for Citi is that it managed to fix the issue sooner than later. The updated version of the app will erase the previously stored information and is listed as a ‘mandatory’ update for customers on the app store. The fix will also eliminate the possibility of the problem resurfacing in future. Natalie Riper, a Citibank spokesperson, says, “We have no reason to believe that our customers’ personal information has been accessed or used inappropriately by anyone, i.e., there has been no data breach.” 

Click here to learn more about Citi Mobile® for the iPhone.  Do you use the Citi Mobile iPhone app? If so, have you updated your iPhone app?

Resco development on Windows Phone software seems to have slowed down, but at least one of their most popular software was updated earlier in the month. Resco Explorer is one of the first software that I ever knew when I bought my first Tilt, and now 2 years later… it has more features than you could ever imagine. The update was released just on the July 4th week, and now reading the feature list… I am loving it.

New features:

Upload to Social Network

Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Picasa, MySpace and Photobucket

More…

Thumbnails View Mode

The new view mode displays previews of images

More…

Today Plugin

Launch your favorite applications and documents with a single tap

More…

Task Manager

Experience smooth and touch friendly interface

More…

Other features:

Full Touch Optimization

Navigate through your files easily using your finger

More…

Letter Bar Navigation

Features the letter preview of the files you would like to access

More…

Virtual Folders For All Documents

Very useful when looking for files of the same type

More…

Quick Search Function

Instantly search for files you need by typing in the starting letters

More…

The Registry Editor

It allows you to export, import, view or modify the registry keys.

More…

ZIP Compression

Simplest and cheapest way to save significant amounts of storage space.

More…

The FTP Explorer

Gives the possibility to browse the FTP server’s content directly in your device

More…

The Network Browser

Simply map the shared network folders

More…

Recycle Bin

Moves deleted files into a virtual folder "Recycle Bin" instead of immediate deletion

More…

Now that is enough new features to make it worth the price, but again… if you do not find any of these things useful to you, I would not buy this or any software.

Read more about the software

Now I am not quite sure how Verizon, T-mobile, and Sprint will feel about this, but it seems AT&T (the nation’s worst provider if you live around lake Erie) now says they are your best option for Windows Phone 7 devices. This news comes from PCWorld, which just recently had an interview with an AT&T spokesman who are now claiming they are the best WP7 source. This claim comes to me as a surprise considering how much I thought T-mobile (nation’s most accepting carrier) would be taking the plunge into the new world of connected.

“We’ll be the premier carrier for Windows Phone 7,” a spokeswoman said via e-mail on Monday. “We haven’t given guidance on timing.”

Now I love Windows Phone 7 (weird since I have never used it before), but I really would never switch to AT&T just for it. T-mobile will most likely also get some great devices and will have them on its HSDPA+ network (I hope).

That is just me, but does anyone else want Windows Phone 7 that bad that they will go to AT&T for it? Comment below.

A few days ago, news broke that Microsoft was going to offer WP7 devices to all their employees worldwide. The act in itself will give WP7 a huge boost and exposure as it tries to claw its way back to relevance in the smartphone market. Brandon Watson, head of the developer experience team, then upped the ante by stating that not only would the employees be getting free phones, they will also be encouraged to write apps for the OS. Microsoft then changed their policies that now allows the aforementioned employees, to profit from such endeavors. On the surface, the idea is excellent, and there is already even a RSS reader created by Microsoft interns, but when you dig deeper, there is an issue, or two that I hope MS thought through about.

Firstly, say for example  an employee creates an app that eventually becomes very popular, is approached and offered a lot of money by Google or Apple for the app and Intellectual  property, is there anything MS can do to stop it? Do they get the right of first refusal? (they’d better have that clause in there!) in order to avoid the debacle like they have in Japan where Yahoo went with Google for search instead of Bing.

Secondly, will some employees now save their good ideas and try to commercialize through apps instead of contributing to the company?

Thirdly, does this mean that we are going to see more apps coming from the Microsoft Research? I sure hope so. There have been so many great projects that have been demoed by this division over the years that unfortunately never saw the light of day. My fingers are crossed that this policy change will bring some of these applications to the mass market.

I have no qualms with MS offering the phones to their workers, heck I wish I was getting one! I just hope their lawyers took care of the fine print before signing off on the deal.

The video speaks for itself. The developer started working on his app at 3 pm and already has it up and running  just a few hours later, and at the same stage as a similar Android app that he has spent two weeks on! The demo proves how it is easy to code for WP7 (move over Android App inventor!) and with that in mind, I pose this question, are there still doubters out there who think that WP7 will not have a quantity of quality apps at launch?

With the WP7 devices shipping to developers and the reviews of the technical preview out, some people may feel overloaded with demo videos the OS. For those of us who cannot get enough, Pocketnow.com has posted a set of four videos, featuring Microsoft’s Greg Sullivan, Senior Product Manager for Windows Phone, that provides the best overall look of the OS far.  We also get more details about what the OEMs will or will not be able to do and so much more. Click on the link for the rest of the Videos.

Last week, we saw a demo of speech recognition features for WP7 powered by Tellme.  The app had robust web searching capabilities providing great local results. The only problem (technically missing functionality), was that the application, as far as I know, could not stitch together two or more searches and relate them to each other, to provide a comprehensive answer to the search. A good example for such use would be when making dinner and movie plans like in the video above. Apple bought Siri, the company behind the app and I’m sure we will see that functionality on the IOS platform sooner or later. I have even come with the name for the app, “Bing Personal Assistant” (it just roll off the tounge doesn’t it?) in keeping with Microsoft’s knack for long names, so please Microsoft, make it happen?

As good as the latest Beta SDK tools for WP7 are, Microsoft, for some unknown reason, has chosen not to release the templates for Panorama and Pivot controls; two key features of the OS. This forces developers to individually write code to mimic the effect wasting a lot of valuable resources in the process.  In order to save time, Stephane Crozatier at Codeplex, has posted the sample code to make this process a breeze. The Code includes both Panorama and Pivot controls. There is on caveat though

This project is a temporary solution while the official controls are being worked out. You are encouraged to replace the Panorama and Pivot controls in your app with the official Microsoft implementation when they are released.

I hope this helps any aspiring developers out there who may have been pulling their hair out to get the feature working for their apps.

Via Don Burnett

We already know that Windows phone 7 will provide a tight integration with social networks like Facebook, Myspace, Windows Live etc but with one exception, and it is a big one; Twitter. Apparently, Twitter changed its policies in regards to how Windows live accessed their APIs therefore in the meantime, we are stuck with relying on a 3rd party app to fill in the void until MS and Twitter work out their differences. The guys at Microsoftfeed.com, a Middle East focused blog, came up with a concept for such an app. The UI looks sleek and fits perfectly with the metro concept. I would like to see it move from the concept stage, to a working demo using the latest beta development tools. It reminds me a lot of the MetroTwit desktop app( I personally use this app and highly recommend it) that I would also like to see a WP7 version. Click here for more screenshots of the concept Twitter app.

Thanks to KeyboardP for the link