Apple posts iPhone OS 3.1 beta, SDK with new video extensions

[AppleInsider]

Although iPhone OS 3.0 is just cooling off, Apple has already given developers early access to iPhone OS 3.1 with new hooks for video support.

Seeded to developers on Tuesday night, the first beta and a matching SDK are said by those familiar with the releases to include roughly a dozen new extensions for the OpenGL ES graphics library that developers can use to improve graphics on the iPhone 3GS, which is needed to support the standard.

They also reportedly give programmers their choice of video recording quality as well as a pair of new app interface classes that are known to relate to graphics, but which haven't had their functions identified.

Xcode 3.1.3 has also been released and is said by people aware of the update to improve facilities for creating a new project as well as setting a target configuration.

Apple's release is a quick turnaround and unusual for hinting at a point release so soon after 3.0. In the past, Apple has often preferred to address outstanding bugs first in minor patches rather than more significant revisions that often contain small but noteworthy new features. So far, nothing contained in iPhone OS 3.1 is believed to have added significant components.

[alectheking]

even better than the 3.0.1 update i was looking forward to.

[dreyfus2]

When editing/trimming video, you can now save as a copy. Quite useful.

[dizzy13]

Originally Posted by dreyfus2

When editing/trimming video, you can now save as a copy. Quite useful.

Yeah, I know a lot of people complained about this one.

[NasserAE]

I know they did not do this in 3.1 but I hope they save videos in dedicated video section instead of the the photo app. I also hope they sync videos with iMovie instead of iPhoto.

[digitalclips]

Originally Posted by NasserAE

I know they did not do this in 3.1 but I hope they save videos in dedicated video section instead of the the photo app. I also hope they sync videos with iMovie instead of iPhoto.

As a FCPro user in my work I had not paid all that much attention to iLife for movies but I did notice the movies from my wife's small Canon Elf were sucked into her iPhoto not iMovie and at the time thought this odd. Now I have actually played with this a bit more I can see why this is. iPhoto is the storage area and iMovie is for the editing. You can easily access the movies to edit via the media bin. To have added a full, sortable movie library function to iMovie would have been redundant IMHO with iPhoto sitting there. Perhaps iPhoto needs a new name ... iMedia for example?

[Virgil-TB2]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

... the movies from my wife's small Canon Elf were sucked into her iPhoto not iMovie and at the time thought this odd. Now I have actually played with this a bit more I can see why this is. iPhoto is the storage area and iMovie is for the editing. You can easily access the movies to edit via the media bin. ... Perhaps iPhoto needs a new name ... iMedia for example?

iTunes and iDVD are in the same boat though.

The real problem with these kinds of critiques (that iPhoto is used instead of something else), is that there really isn't any logic to the way Apple splits up any of it's media offerings to begin with so the assumption that any of this should make some sort of sense is really a faulty premise.

It's almost like the more central a software product is to Apple's line-up, the less sense it makes in terms of it's functionality matching with it's name, what it's promoted as, or what the general software buying public thinks it does.

It's probably best not to even think about these things.

[MacTel]

Originally Posted by Virgil-TB2

iTunes and iDVD are in the same boat though.

The real problem with these kinds of critiques (that iPhoto is used instead of something else), is that there really isn't any logic to the way Apple splits up any of it's media offerings to begin with so the assumption that any of this should make some sort of sense is really a faulty premise.

It's almost like the more central a software product is to Apple's line-up, the less sense it makes in terms of it's functionality matching with it's name, what it's promoted as, or what the general software buying public thinks it does.

It's probably best not to even think about these things.

Wow, this explains a lot. I just started using iMovie (had a reason to use it) earlier this year and it keeps asking me to import movies from iPhoto every time I open it. I keep having to decline as I'm not interested in editing the movies taken from our digital camera.

iLife needs a media database outside of iPhoto as it is confusing at some the the interactions the apps are requesting.

[ajprice]

Any news on whether they have fixed the bug in AVRCP for Bluetooth stereo?

[Hattig]

Originally Posted by digitalclips

As a FCPro user in my work I had not paid all that much attention to iLife for movies but I did notice the movies from my wife's small Canon Elf were sucked into her iPhoto not iMovie and at the time thought this odd. Now I have actually played with this a bit more I can see why this is. iPhoto is the storage area and iMovie is for the editing. You can easily access the movies to edit via the media bin. To have added a full, sortable movie library function to iMovie would have been redundant IMHO with iPhoto sitting there. Perhaps iPhoto needs a new name ... iMedia for example?

But iTunes is the media library as well.

Clearly there needs to be a CoreMediaLibrary type backend, that centralises all your media management. Then there needs to be a MediaViewer interface that iTunes, iMovie, iPhoto and more can utilise that hooks into CoreMediaLibrary (with filters for media type). In addition applications can register with CoreMediaLibrary for certain datatypes, so any applicatino that uses the MediaViewer interface can automatically have "Open with..." context menu items, so you can "Open with iMovie" for a video in iTunes or iPhoto, or "Open with Photoshop" for a photo in iPhoto.

[Oh-es-Ten]

This is something I am thinking Apple could be struggling with internally... The iLife media browser is great (quick access to music photos and movies etc) from apps like Mail, but now with video becoming part of the mix now, it is all going to become a bit messy for organising, although they have handled it well so far.

I think the biggest problem is iTunes in this case. There is a 'Movies' and 'TV Shows' folders in 'iTunes Music' folder, where as I think they should be in the /user/Movies folder for sure...

iTunes itself is not really about the 'tunes' anymore - rather is becoming music software that also syncs apps, and all of the other synched media as well. I would not mind if they spun off all of the synching to a dedicated app and left iTunes as the music/store program. The syncing app would do well to be like the media browser, so you could see what you are syncing before you do... rather than just tick a checkbox in a tab in a section of the sidebar in iTunes... phew!

EDIT: Erm... yeah - see above! Hattig beat me to it!

[skate71290]

omg please put coverflow for the videos Apple !!!! the artwork looks stupid in portrait mode..... or even better put the new iTunes interface on it... would look good, getting the new iPhone on Friday... sooo excited

[Hands Sandon]

Dearest Apple (if your out there)

My O2 conectivity goes in and out of reception, due to two feet thick stone walls. It wasn't an issue until 3.0 but now I sometimes find I have the blue box with dismiss/settings options pop up 40 times or so until I can finally use my iPhone. Just one time would suffice.

Please fix in the next update.

[super8sean]

Originally Posted by Hands Sandon

Dearest Apple (if your out there)

My O2 conectivity goes in and out of reception, due to two feet thick stone walls. It wasn't an issue until 3.0 but now I sometimes find I have the blue box with dismiss/settings options pop up 40 times or so until I can finally use my iPhone. Just one time would suffice.

Please fix in the next update.

send your complaint to apple !!!!

[Footloose301]

Everytime I plug in the iPhone to iTunes it prompts me to import photos and videos into iPhoto, which is what I want. But then when I sync my iPhone thru iTunes it only puts the photos back on. I wish apple would make iTunes put them back into your photo library on the iPhone.

Example: Last night I took some video and put it on my MacBook pro thru iPhoto. I made a new folder in iPhoto just for the place I was at last night. Sync the iPhone and now I no longer have those videos on my iPhone. Bummer. And I don't want to leave them in the camera roll on the iphone because I want them organized.

[NasserAE]

Originally Posted by Footloose301

Everytime I plug in the iPhone to iTunes it prompts me to import photos and videos into iPhoto, which is what I want. But then when I sync my iPhone thru iTunes it only puts the photos back on. I wish apple would make iTunes put them back into your photo library on the iPhone.

Example: Last night I took some video and put it on my MacBook pro thru iPhoto. I made a new folder in iPhoto just for the place I was at last night. Sync the iPhone and now I no longer have those videos on my iPhone. Bummer. And I don't want to leave them in the camera roll on the iphone because I want them organized.

Yep, this is a problem with video now. You cannot sync them back to your iPhone unless you put them in your iTunes library. This is why I was saying they need a separate place in the iPhone to keep videos and they need to sync them with iMovie not iPhoto. Furthermore, they need to let user send their movies to MobileMe Video gallery not Photo Gallery. I think in an effort to keep the 3GS features secret, Apple did not take all the necessary steps to integrate video in the iPhone with everything else (Mac and MobileMe).

[simon8]

Originally Posted by NasserAE

Yep, this is a problem with video now. You cannot sync them back to your iPhone unless you put them in your iTunes library. This is why I was saying they need a separate place in the iPhone to keep videos and they need to sync them with iMovie not iPhoto. Furthermore, they need to let user send their movies to MobileMe Video gallery not Photo Gallery. I think in an effort to keep the 3GS features secret, Apple did not take all the necessary steps to integrate video in the iPhone with everything else (Mac and MobileMe).

Yeah, noticed this aswell. Quite annoying as I wanted to send something I'd shot, but because I'd imported them and deleted them off the phone I can no longer send them because you can't send the re-imported 'movies' that are now in the iPod app! Argh!