Test of Author iBooks

Kind of mixture between Pages (€ 15.99), Keynote (€ 15.99), and iWeb, Author iBooks) is a new application designed to create books electronic interactive WYSIWYG. Is it as easy to use as Apple claims? Does it really create rich, interactive books? If it is powerful, but free, there is something to hide? The response in our test! Case study: creating a "history of Apple"

With OS X Lion: first steps and iOS 5: first steps, we had the opportunity to lay out several digital books. To do this, we used conventional tools: writing XHTML code in an editor, assembled in Sigil, with ePub Validation Check and Book Proofer, submission to iTunes Producer.

2012: Challenges for Apple

2011 was good for Apple financially. A figure attests to its success: its annual sales in 2011 (ended in late September), amounting to 108 billion dollars. The Cupertino company is now a relatively small club of companies that make over $ 100 billion of turnover.

Unquestionable financial success, but paradoxically one year fairly quiet in terms of news products. Not true major innovations as was the case in 2010, for example with the iPad. But we can not do the "revolution" .2011 was especially synonymous with renewal software with OS X Lion and iOS 5, and a new beginning in terms of services or with icloud Siri. A "renewal program" challenged, because if iOS 5 is a major release if only because it releases the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch from the tutelage of Mac and PC, OS X Lion is without Apple probably the animal that makes the unanimously least for some time.

Apple more aggressively against the jailbreak with iOS 5

With iOS 5, Apple would have become more aggressive in the struggle between the supporters of the jailbreak. Recently, Apple seemed rather free rein and let teams do their job jailbreak: iOS 5 has been unbridled and Apple has dug some ideas in the world of jailbreak for the new version of its system.

If one could think that Apple turned a blind eye and allowed, he is not. According to the Dev Team, Apple has stuck with the possibility of iOS 5 go back and install an older version of IOS. This is useful in the world of jailbreak; it facilitates the return to a previous version, a practical procedure in case of problems with an update including IOS. With iOS 5, Apple could easily block the back. The jailbreak tethered (the terminal cannot restart without the computer) will always be possible, but not the jailbreak not tethered.

The Dev-Team does not despair of finding a solution to counter this deadlock, but until the release of the final version, the group will not publish anything before then.

New research in the iPad page with iOS 5

With iOS 5, Apple changed the presentation of research within a web page in Safari mobile iPad. Until then, it was necessary to enter the (s) term (s) sought (s) in the Google search box to initiate a search within a web page.

With iOS 5, a specific field was added above the keyboard of the iPad. It is not permanent, but only when the user performs a tap into the Google search box. The result is then directly highlighted, while the arrows to navigate between different occurrences.

This new format is valid only for the iPad. In IPhone or iPod touch, always type the query in the box dedicated to the search engine and scroll down the results to initiate a search in a page.

iOS 5 Preview

Accessibility side, Apple has added several elements, such as activating the flash of the camera for new notifications on the iPhone 4 or backplane dedicated to accessibility issues. Apple also proposes to change the behavior of the vibrator for calls only. Besides the continuous vibration by default, you can now choose between five vibration proposed by Apple, but also create new ones.

Apple has integrated the system with a vibration pattern generator custom. By tapping the screen, tells iOS when the buzzer is active. We can make a short tap or hold your finger to adjust the duration of vibration, while the intensity depends on the strength of tapping.

Other customization offered by Apple with iOS 5, the creation of custom gestures for use with "adaptive accessories. By default, a horizontal zigzag opens a menu, but the user can register new gestures. A priori, these actions will activate a specific function, but integration does not seem complete: once the action is recorded, IOS does not use it.

Since iOS 4.3, iPad used in development are entitled to a series of additional actions to manage the multitasking. Using four or five fingers can move from one application to another (shift to the left or right), show or hide the recent applications (sliding down or up) or quit an application by squeezing four or more fingers.

In the current beta version of IOS 5, these actions are available to all users and they are enabled by default. We can turn them off in the Settings, under "General", which will be useful for the (few) applications using more than three fingers at once.