Apple releases iOS 6 beta 2 to developers OTA

In typical fashion Apple released little information about the iOS 6 beta 2 update other than that it contains "bug fixes and improvements."


Apple tonight pushed its first major update of iOS 6.0 out to developers. The beta 2 update appeared in the form of an Over The Air (OTA) update that was pushed to devices running iOS 6 beta 1.
Developers running the first iOS 6 beta received a push notification of the update at around 9:45 p.m. ET (pictured at right.)
MacRumors notes that iOS 6 beta 2 is labeled as build 10A5338d (Beta 1 was build 10A5316k.) Oh and the gears in the Settings icon spin in a spiffy new animation when you're downloading the new beta (video).
iOS 6 beta 2 weighs in at 299MB on the iPhone 4 and 497MB on the iPad 3 (below).

9to5Mac is tracking the new features in beta 2 (including a Shared Photo Streams toggle, new Twitter icon, new TweetSheet in Siri UI, Reading List syncing over 3G, Calendar item ending times in Notification Center, Guided Access mode and more). Feel free to post any that you find in the TalkBack.
Apple also released Xcode 4.5 Developer Preview 2 and Apple TV Software beta 2.

Apple launches new Podcasts app for iPhone and iPad

Apple has released a new standalone Podcasts app for iPhone and iPad. Apple announced the iOS 6 earlier this month that would not have the podcast feature inside the iTunes app, instead users can download this app to subscribe to and play your favorite podcasts. You can subscribe to podcasts from the wide catalog based on your country in over 40 languages.
Features of Podcasts app for iPhone and iPad

• Audio and video podcasts in a single app
• Explore hundreds of thousands of podcasts including shows in over 40 languages
• Find new podcast series in a variety of topics, including arts, business, comedy, music, news, sports, and more.
• Browse by Audio or Video podcasts, or see what’s most popular in Top Charts
• Tap subscribe for your favorites and automatically receive new episodes for free as they become available
• Stream episodes or download to listen while offline
• Skip forward and back using simple playback controls
• Turn on Sleep Timer to automatically stop playing a podcast while listening in bed
• Share your favorite episodes with friends using Twitter, Messages and Mail
• Optionally sync your favorite episodes from iTunes on your Mac or PC
• Sync your episode playback for seamless transition between devices

Download Podcasts app for iPhone and iPad from the Apple iTunes Store for free.

Chrome for iPhone and iPad

Chrome for iPhone and iPad is now available for download in the App Store.

Chrome Vice President Brian Rakowski announced Chrome for iPhone and iPad (free, App Store) at Google I/O 2012 today in San Francisco.
According to reportage by The Verge Chrome for iOS will require iOS 4.3 or higher and will support Chrome sync. Blurry photos of the slideware don't provide many more details other than the fact that it's strikingly similar to Chrome for Android. No surprises there.
Possibly the most newsworthy part of the announcement is the fact that Chrome for iOS is available today.
Although it has a lot of potential for Chrome users on the desktop, I primarily use Safari on OS X and like its iCloud bookmark syncing. Plus iOS 6 is adding iCloud tab syncing which will be an added bonus.
Mashable notes that Chrome for iOS is basically a skinned version of Mobile Safari (UIWebView) minus the Nitro JavaScript engine -- which Apple restricts to Mobile Safari for "security reasons." Also since Apple doesn't provide an option to select default apps in iOS touching links in apps (email, messages, etc.) only opens them in Safari.

Turn your iPad into a scanner, copier, and fax with Scanner Pro

This inexpensive app turns the iPad (iPhone too) into a full-featured scanner that connects to the cloud. It prints to make copies and can fax documents cheaply over the web.

Freelancers and others who work from home sometimes need standard business tools
such as scanners, copiers, and fax machines. These can be expensive, especially since
most aren't needed very often. A cheap app for the iPad can turn it into all of those
office tools.

Scanner Pro ($6.99) uses the iPad (or iPhone) camera to snap high-resolution images
from
 documents. I prefer the iPad with Scanner Pro as the larger display makes it easier to
manipulate the recorded document.

Once a document is snapped using the app, it can be sent to the cloud (Evernote,
DropBox, Google Docs) for storage. The scanned document can be printed to
any printer that supports Air Print, turning the iPad into a simple copier.

Documents can also be sent directly to any computer over the local Wi-Fi network.
This is an easy way to get PDFs into the computer using just the iPad.

Scanned documents can also be faxed over the web for $0.99 handled as an in-app
purchase.
The fax recipient can be manually entered or picked from the user's contact list. The
 faxes
 are sent in just a few seconds once paid for in the app.

When a document is snapped by the app (multiple pages are supported), the app
automatically determines the document borders before saving. They are clearly
marked on the document image and can be easily moved by touch. This is important as
it provides a great way to limit a copy/ fax to only a portion of a scanned page if desired.

Scanner Pro can save scanned documents as either JPEG images or PDF documents. It is
possible to open the scanned image in an appropriate app for handling the selected
document
 type from within Scanner Pro. This allows further manipulation of the resultant file when
necessary.

The iPad with Scanner Pro has been serving me as a capable scanner, copier, and fax
 machine for a while. I don't need any of these functions often, but when I do this method
works quite well and for a low cost. Just as importantly it takes almost no desk space,
 unlike the equipment it has replaced.