Federico Viticci

10804 posts on MacStories since April 2009

Federico is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of MacStories, where he writes about Apple with a focus on apps, developers, iPad, and iOS productivity. He founded MacStories in April 2009 and has been writing about Apple since. Federico is also the co-host of AppStories, a weekly podcast exploring the world of apps, Unwind, a fun exploration of media and more, and NPC: Next Portable Console, a show about portable gaming and the handheld revolution.

iOS 4.2.1 Now Available For Download [Direct Links]

Finally, Apple flipped the switch on iOS 4.2 and released the new OS for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. It’s available now in iTunes, just hit the “Check for Updates” button. If you can’t see it just yet, keep refreshing as it’s propagating right now in iTunes.

We’ll update this post with direct download links as soon as they become available. In the meantime, check out our complete iOS 4.2 walkthrough. [Update: direct links below] Read more


Find My iPhone 1.1 Goes Live With iOS 4.2 and Apple ID Support

As announced this morning, Apple has just pushed an update for the official Find My iPhone app, which reaches version 1.1 and introduces support for 30 additional languages and Apple ID login.

• iPhone 4, iPad, or 4th generation iPod touch owners can use Find My iPhone for free with their Apple ID (iOS 4.2 required)
• Support for 30 additional languages
• Important: this update is required for users of the previous version of Find My iPhone app (v1.0 and v1.0.1)

Surprisingly enough, Apple hasn’t updated the background graphics of the iTunes page to better indicate that users can now use Find My iPhone with an Apple ID for free.

Find My iPhone is available for free here.


Orange UK Confirms Subsidized iPads Coming Soon

Just as we reported this morning, Orange UK just confirmed that they’ll be offering subsidized iPads “in the coming months”:

Orange UK today announced it will offer new purchase options for iPad users, including more affordable prices when purchased with a data service plan, for iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G models in the coming months. iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.

Users can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch user interface. For more information about iPad please visit www.apple.com/ipad/.

No word on pricing yet.



Apple: Over 40.000 iPad Apps Available, Battery Life Is “Legendary”

Two interesting tidbits from today’s Apple iOS 4.2 press release you might have missed with all the excitements for the new OS:

iPad users can now run their favorite apps and switch between them instantly, while preserving iPad’s legendary battery life.

Today, customers have downloaded more than seven billion apps from the groundbreaking App Store and more than 300,000 apps are available to consumers in 90 countries, with more than 40,000 native iPad apps. Over 125 million iOS users around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.

While Apple isn’t new to using peculiar adjectives to describe their products (just think of the “magical” iPad), the data provided in the press release are definitely noteworthy. Read more


Here Comes The New MobileMe Login Page [Screenshots]

Well, would you look at that. Although MobileMe is still down for maintenance for some users, we have managed to take a screenshot of the new login page that Apple will roll out for everyone later today, presumably together with the release of iOS 4.2 and 4.1 for the Apple TV. The change also comes ahead of Find My iPhone going free for all iOS 4.2 users on latest generation devices.

The new login page seems to be available for most users in the US, while European users are still being redirected to the maintenance page. Read more


iOS 4.2: 10 Great iPad Apps That Multitask

With iOS 4.2 coming in a few hours, iPad owners will surely have a great time today trying to figure out how the new operating system works, what’s the best way to arrange folders and what’s the deal with those widget controls in the multitasking bar. For all things new in iOS 4.2, make sure you don’t miss our huge walkthrough.

When a new OS is released, though, users come to the point where they want to try apps that support the new features introduced by Apple and its engineering team. Developers have been playing around with the OS for quite some time, there should be some apps already updated for iOS 4.2 in the App Store, right?

In this post we’ve collected the best 10 iPad apps that were updated in the past weeks to support iOS 4.2. Some great gems are in there, so read on past the break, and get your iTunes library ready before iOS 4.2 drops. Read more


Apple TV 4.1 Update Coming Today, Too

Together with the release of iOS 4.2 for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, today at approximately 10 AM PST Apple will also release the long awaited 4.1 for the second generation Apple TV, Macworld reports.

The 4.1 update introduces AirPlay for video support: users will be able to stream video from any iOS device or Mac running iTunes 10 to an Apple TV on a local network. AirPlay is a feature exclusive to iOS 4.2, so it makes sense for Apple to roll out the update together with iOS 4.2 later today. Read more


iOS 4.2: Our Complete Walkthrough

A few minutes ago Apple announced the release of iOS 4.2 today. The download links aren’t live yet, and we speculate the engineers at Cupertino will flip the switch at 10AM PST.

In the meantime,though, you can check out our complete iOS 4.2  for iPad walkthrough below. We have tested iOS 4.2 through all the betas and GM seeds Apple released, and there’s no doubt this is the OS we were all waiting for.

iOS 4.2 is a major new update for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad built on the strong foundation of iOS 4, released in June just two days before the iPhone 4 went on sale. iPhones and iPod Touches have been capable of enjoying multitasking, folders, fast app switching and the hundreds of new features since then, but it’s only with 4.2 that iPads are getting updated to support iOS 4. This new software update marks the grand unification of iDevices under a single OS, which comes with lots of new functionalities for the tablet, and a couple of interesting additions on the iPhone.

In this article we’ll take a look at everything that’s new in iOS 4.2 on the iPad, with a mention of the minor updates for the iPhone and iPod Touch as well. So read on past the break, and follow us along the ultimate guide of iOS 4.2 for iPad. Read more