MacRumors

Two weeks after Apple released the first beta version of iOS 7 following its unveiling at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple has just released a second beta for testing. The update is currently available through Apple's over-the-air updating system on iOS devices, and should be posted soon to the iOS Dev Center.

The beta 2 appears as build 11A4400f, up from the previous 11a4372q.

iOS 7 is scheduled for release in the fall of this year, undoubtedly alongside new iOS hardware. Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPad mini will all be due for updates in the latter portion of this year, and if past history is any indication iOS 7 should be made available to the public just a few days before the launch of the next-generation iPhone.

Updates on changes in beta 2:

- Beta 2 is available not only for iPhone and iPod touch, but also iPad and iPad mini. The first beta released alongside the WWDC keynote did not include official iPad support, with Apple announcing that iPad versions of iOS 7 would follow in the coming weeks.

- In line with previous hints, the Voice Memos app has returned in beta 2.

- The new male and female Siri voices showed off by Apple at WWDC are now available in English.

- Multiple users are reporting that Siri is much faster than in beta 1.

- In addition to iOS beta 2, Apple has also released Xcode 5 Developer Preview 2 and a second beta of Apple TV Software version 5.4.

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- iPad (4th generation Model A1458)
- iPad (4th generation Model A1459)
- iPad (4th generation Model A1460)
- iPad mini (Model A1432)
- iPad mini (Model A1454)
- iPad mini (Model A1455)
- iPad Wi-Fi (3rd generation)
- iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for ATT)
- iPad Wi-Fi + Cellular (model for Verizon)
- iPad 2 Wi-Fi (Rev A)
- iPad 2 Wi-Fi
- iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (GSM)
- iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G (CDMA)
- iPhone 5 (Model A1428)
- iPhone 5 (Model A1429)
- iPhone 4S
- iPhone 4 (GSM Rev A)
- iPhone 4 (GSM)
- iPhone 4 (CDMA)
- iPod touch (5th generation)

As noted just after the launch of the first iOS 7 beta earlier this month, the operating system is capable of detecting when unauthorized Lightning cables or accessories are plugged into an iOS 7 device. While the system alerts the user with dialog box that must be manually dismissed, it does not prevent the unauthorized cables and accessories from working with the device at this point.

iPhone5mod, the Chinese firm that was among the first to begin offering Lightning accessories last year while Apple had yet to authorize official accessories and was struggling to keep up with demand for its own Lightning cables, now claims to have cracked Apple's iOS 7 authentication and is now offering new cables compatible with the upcoming operating system.

iPhone5mod's Cyril Chang says that his company's effort is a hardware crack that can not be worked around by Apple without changing its own Lightning hardware, and iPhone5mod is offering a money-back guarantee that its new cables will work with the final release of iOS 7.

Chang warns that several other companies have claimed to have achieved similar cracks, but that in iPhone5mod's testing those companies' cables still generate alerts under certain circumstances.

iPhone5mod's cables, docks and accessories are all being updated with the new cracked Lightning chips, with production already underway.

Update 10:56 AM: Chang tells MacRumors that the new Lightning cables with cracked authentication continue to function properly under iOS 7 beta 2, which was released today.

Last week, we shared a pair of photos of Apple's upcoming iPhone 5S, revealing a few details such as a larger-capacity battery and a new dual-LED flash system for the rear camera. At the time, we had some questions about the main chip from the device, which lacked an A-series identification printed on it and which carried date codes indicating that it had been manufactured in October 2012.

We have now received several additional photos showing the device in greater detail, with a particular emphasis on the main chip.

As seen in one photo, the chip carries an Apple model number of APL0698, suggesting that this is indeed intended to be branded as an A7 chip rather than a modification on the A6 chip found in the iPhone 5. The original A6 chip carried a model number of APL0598, with the A6X found in the fourth-generation iPad carrying an APL5598 model number, demonstrating how Apple varies the first digit for members of a given A-series family and increments the second digit when transitioning to a new family.

Apple's pattern of model numbers can be seen even more clearly in the A5, which has seen several different variations over its lifetime. That chip debuted with an APL0498 model number, with a later die shrink carrying an APL2498 model number. Yet another version of the A5 appeared earlier this year in a tweaked Apple TV, with that chip carrying an APL7498 model number.

Additional markings on this new iPhone 5S chip indicate that it carries Elpida DRAM, apparently in the same 1 GB amount seen on the A6.

In addition to the 1243 date code visible in the previous photo, the new photo also clearly shows another date code of 1239 for the DRAM, indicating that that portion of the chip was manufactured in late September 2012. We have also determined that the device itself was assembled in December 2012, making it a rather early prototype.

Another item of interest on the main chip is a K1A0062 identifier. We spoke with Dick James and Jim Morrison of chip teardown firm Chipworks, and they pointed out that in previous chips this number has typically started with an "N" and referred to a Samsung part number on the die. They wonder whether this new "K" identifier could indicate that the chip is being made by TSMC instead of Samsung. A transition from Samsung to TSMC has long been rumored, although the latest rumors indicate that the move will be made with the A8 chip rather than the A7.

Additional photos reveal a clearer view of the text on the rear of the device showing placeholder model and regulatory identifiers of X1234X, as well as a clear view of the rear camera system with dual-LED flash.

As noted by 9to5Mac, iTunes Store customers have begun receiving emails notifying them of the settlement of a class action lawsuit related to unauthorized In-App Purchases made by children. The lawsuit originated from parents whose children racked up significant In-App Purchase bills through Apple's systems that in some cases allowed purchases to be made without requiring a password for the Apple ID account.

In the email, Apple outlines the settlement terms, which allow affected users to receive a minimum of a $5 iTunes Store credit. Users with more than $5 in charges can receive the full documented amount in credit, with cash refunds available to those with more than $30 in charges or who no longer have iTunes Store accounts.

You may choose between (a) a single $5 iTunes Store credit or (b) a credit equal to the total amount of Game Currency that a minor charged to your iTunes account without your knowledge or permission within a single forty-five (45) day period, less any refund you previously received (“Aggregate Relief”). A cash refund in lieu of an iTunes Store credit is available if (a) you no longer have an active iTunes account, or (b) your claims exceed $30 in total. Additional requirements for claiming charges after the forty-five (45) day period apply. You must complete a valid Claim Form to receive settlement benefits.

Users wishing to exclude themselves from the proposed settlement have until August 30 to do so, and those seeking iTunes Store credits or refunds have until January 13, 2014 to submit their claim forms. A searchable list of qualifying apps is available on the settlement website, and over 23 million users are expected to receive claim notices informing them that they may be eligible for compensation.

Digitimes reports that Taiwan Semiconductor Company (TSMC) has officially landed a three-year deal with Apple to produce the A-series chips that will be used to power upcoming iOS devices. The deal is said to begin with the A8 chip, with future A9/A9X chips also mentioned as being included.

TSMC will start to manufacture Apple's A8 chips in small volume in July 2013, and substantially ramp up its 20nm production capacity after December, the sources revealed. The foundry will complete installing a batch of new 20nm fab equipment, which is capable of processing 50,000 wafers, in the first quarter of 2014, the sources said.

A portion of the upcoming production capacity, estimated at 20,000 wafers, can later be upgraded to process wafers used to build 16nm chips, the sources continued. TSMC is scheduled to volume produce the Apple A9 and A9X processors starting the end of third-quarter 2014, the sources said.

The report claims that the A8 will appear in a new iPhone "slated for release in early 2014", although it is unclear how that timeframe would fit into Apple's usual product lifecycle. Apple has yet to introduce a device running an A7 chip, and with that chip expected to debut in an iPhone later this year, an early 2014 launch for an A8-based iPhone would seem to be too early.

Apple has so far exclusively used Samsung as the supplier for its A-series chips, but with the two companies emerging as bitter rivals in the mobile device market, Apple has reportedly been trying to reduce its reliance on Samsung for component supplies. TSMC has been the most commonly rumored candidate to take over supplying Apple's A-series chips, but it has taken some time for the two companies to reach an agreement and work out any technical hurdles to the shift.

Apple's Board of Directors has elected to modify the award of restricted stock that Tim Cook received after being promoted to CEO in August 2011. The modification, made at Cook's request, changes the award of 1,000,000 restricted stock units -- originally supposed to be awarded in two lump sums over 10 years -- to a more performance-based compensation system.

A restricted stock unit, or RSU, is a form of compensation valued in terms of company stock, but the stock is not issued at the time of the grant. Instead, the recipient gets shares of stock at a later date, generally only if they are still employed by the company.

According to a filing with the SEC today, the Compensation Committee of the Apple Board of Directors approved the amendment of the award from August 2011, though the amendment does not change the fair value of the grant as of the day it was rewarded.

The Committee intends for future stock awards to Apple executives officers to be performance-based and Cook will lead by example. However, though normal performance-based compensation normally has both an upside and downside, at his request, Cook's award will solely have a downside component.

Under the adopted modification, Mr. Cook will forfeit a portion of the 2011 CEO equity award, which was previously entirely time-based, if the Company does not achieve certain performance criteria. While the Committee generally believes that a performance-based award should have both a downside and an upside component, at Mr. Cook’s request, the modification does not contain an upside opportunity for overachievement of these criteria. As a result of implementing a modification with only downside risk, the Committee has determined that a portion of the original grant should vest earlier than originally scheduled. This modification will not change the award’s original value for accounting expense purposes.

The original award would have given Cook 500,000 shares of Apple stock in August 2016, with another 500,000 in August 2021.

The new, amended package will give Cook 100,000 RSU's in August 2016, another 100,000 RSU's in August 2021, and the remaining 800,000 RSU's in ten equal allotments over the ten-year life of the initial award.

In order to receive the 80,000 share annual award, Apple's 'total shareholder return' will be compared to companies in the S&P 500. If Apple's performance is within the top third of that group, the award for that year will vest in full. If its performance is in the middle third, the award will be reduced by 25%, and the bottom third, the the award will be reduced by 50%.

As a result of the changes Cook will receive at least 672,877 shares of Apple stock by the end of the award in 2021, with the possibility of 1,000,000 shares total if Apple continues to outperform its peers. The Form 8-K filing that Apple filed with the SEC today contains additional information about the modifications to Cook's award.

The first trailer for Ashton Kutcher's 'Jobs' was released earlier today, giving the wider public its first glimpse at the movie after it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to mixed reviews earlier this year.

The film was originally scheduled for release in April, but will now receive a widespread release on August 16, 2013. A minute-long clip was released back in January but the trailer showcases a number of scenes from the film.

"Jobs", which stars Ashton Kutcher as Steve Jobs and Josh Gad as Steve Wozniak, is one of several Jobs-related films in the works or already released. Back in April, rumor site Funny or Die released a rather poorly received "iSteve" comedy film starring Justin Long, who had played the "Mac" character in Apple's long-running "Mac vs. PC" ad campaign.

A third film is being written by Aaron Sorkin and is the official adaptation of Jobs' authorized biography by Walter Isaacson. The film, which is still in the early stages of development, is planned to encompass three 30-minute scenes showing Jobs backstage just prior to the launches of the original Mac, NeXT, and the iPod.

Apple recently updated its "Optimizing Apps for iOS 6"developer page with a new pie chart highlighting the lack of fragmentation among iOS versions being run on active mobile devices (via AppleInsider). According to the chart, 93% of iOS devices accessing the App Store over a two-week period ending on June 3 were running some version of iOS 6, with 6% running iOS 5 and just 1% running earlier versions of the operating system software.

Apple's chart appears to be a direct jab at Google, which has long published its own pie chart that currently shows just 33% of devices visiting the Google Play store over the same time period running the company's latest Android 4.1-4.2 Jelly Bean versions, which began appearing last July. In fact, the most popular version of Android remains 2.3.x Gingerbread, which first appeared in December 2010.

Apple executives have increasingly focused on Android's fragmentation as a major weakness of the platform, with developers having to target many different versions of Android and numerous different devices with their apps. Apple contrasts that experience with developing for iOS, which supports a limited number of display sizes and for which the vast majority of users are running the most recent major version.

Virgin Mobile USA today announced that it will begin selling the iPhone 5 next Friday, June 28, offering the device on its no-contract Beyond Talk service plans. The plans start at $35/month for 300 minutes plus unlimited text and data, although the carrier begins throttling data speeds after a monthly soft cap of 2.5 GB. A $45/month plan offers 1200 minutes, while a $55/month plan adds unlimited calling, and customers can earn a $5/month discount on their bills when they sign up for automatic payments.

As for the iPhone itself, Virgin Mobile is offering a $100 discount off of Apple's standard unsubsidized pricing, selling the 16 GB iPhone 5 for $549.99 with the 32 GB model priced at $649.99 and the 64 GB model at $749.99.

We noted last October that Apple had Virgin Mobile-specific iPhone 5 models ready to go, although it was unclear at the time when they would be released and it remains unknown why it took approximately nine months after the device's launch to appear at the carrier. The iPhone 5 has been available through other prepaid carriers such as Cricket since as long ago as September.

MacRumors has received several images that appear to show both the interior and rear shell of Apple's upcoming iPhone 5S. The device appears to carry the same redesigned logic board that appeared earlier this week, suggesting that this is indeed a new iPhone.

Among the interesting observations from the images:

- Based on the observable features, the logic board appears to be an exact match to the one that appeared in photos earlier this week, with a slightly narrower profile and a new layout for connectors and other components.

- The main chip on the logic board is interestingly not labeled with an A-series name such as on the A6 seen in the iPhone 5. It is unclear whether the chip name has been removed somehow or if it was never printed in the first place.

- A date code visible on the bottom of the main chip reads "1243", signifying that the chip was manufactured in the 43rd week of 2012, corresponding to late October. This would seem to be much earlier than would be expected for a new handset, so it is unclear whether this is a very early prototype that could still be running the same A6 chip found in the iPhone 5 or if it is in fact a different chip.

- The battery carries a more recent Apple Part Number of 616-0652 compared to the iPhone 5 battery, which has carried several different part numbers including 616-0611 and 616-0613. The new battery also has a higher capacity of 5.92 Whr, compared to the 5.45 Whr capacity of the iPhone 5's battery. The battery also has several blank boxes printed on it where various regulatory logos would be, suggesting that this is a prototype battery yet to receive final certifications.

- The rear shell photo shows a vertical pill-shaped window for the LED flash as opposed to a round window, supporting rumors of a dual LED flash for the iPhone 5S. A similar pill-shaped flash window was depicted on a case maker's design drawings that also leaked earlier this week.

- Regulatory identifiers shown on the back of the device such as the FCC ID appear to be placeholders, in several cases reading X1234X.

Apple is expected to launch the iPhone 5S later this year alongside a lower-cost iPhone with a plastic shell that will be available in an array of color options. Rumors have suggested that Apple is likely to release the new iPhones around the September timeframe.

After slightly more than two weeks of litigation, USA v. Apple, Inc. concluded with closing arguments from Apple and the Department of Justice.

AllThingsD reports that Orin Snyder, Apple's lead counsel, closed out the trial with a slick Keynote presentation, as the company's lawyers have been doing throughout the trial.

At one point, the PowerPoint presentation the Government's lawyers were using failed to play audio, with the Judge noting that they weren't using a Mac.

"Apple did not conspire with a single publisher to fix prices in the e-book industry," Snyder said, arguing that the negotiations under scrutiny in this case were nothing more than "standard, lawful business activity." And the DOJ’s claim that they were more than that, a nefarious plot over which Apple served as ringmaster, is entirely unsupported. "All of the government’s evidence is ambiguous at best," Snyder argued, lambasting the DOJ’s case as one built on "word games and inferences."

Snyder's final slide shows an iPad with the text "It's time to close the book on this case".

The Department of Justice has argued that Apple was the "ringmaster" of a scheme to raise e-book pricing across the industry. The government says Apple convinced publishing companies to work together to set pricing above the $9.99 price point that Amazon was selling books at before the iPad came out. The DOJ's slide deck is available from AllThingsD as well.

U.S. District Judge Denise Cote is expected to have a final judgement within a few weeks. Both sides agreed to have a judge hear and decide on the case rather than present it to a jury.

On Wednesday, Apple released a long awaited update that brought new channels to its Apple TV, including WatchESPN, Sky News, and HBO GO.

HBO GO has been available on other platforms like the iPhone and iPad, Roku, and Xbox 360 for quite some time, but it was only in January that reports surfaced suggesting that Apple and HBO were in talks to bring HBO content directly to the Apple TV.

In a post that includes an interview with HBO chief technology officer Otto Berkes, The Verge details some of the reasons why it took so long for HBO to get its content on Apple's set-top box.

According to Berkes, the primary reason for the delay was the creation of the app itself, as it was developed entirely in-house. It is unclear if HBO used an existing SDK to create the app, but that the app was devised by HBO suggests that other companies may be able to create similar apps in the future.

Nothing is more time consuming than writing all the code involved and encoding HBO's massive video library, said Otto Berkes, HBO's chief technology officer, in an exclusive interview with The Verge. He said “optimizing the compression formula to deliver the high-quality video to the lowest bandwidth” is a massive undertaking.

Getting HBO Go on the Apple TV might have taken longer had HBO not begun to boost the number of engineers working at the company's new development center in Seattle. Apple TV was the first app that HBO created completely in-house, said Berkes, a former Microsoft executive who started at HBO two years ago. Prior to Apple TV, HBO teamed with third parties on its apps, but “this was 100 percent created by our software and design staff,” Berkes said.

Despite hiring extra engineers to complete the Apple TV project faster, HBO faced other delays. As highlighted by The Verge, complicated negotiations with cable companies are always involved when attempting to bring channels like HBO and ESPN to set-top boxes.

For instance, Charter Communications has refused to authenticate HBO Go for Apple TV. Comcast blocks subscribers from receiving HBO fare on the Roku, according to HBO’s site. Dish won’t authenticate ESPN but it does authenticate HBO Go for the Apple TV as well as many other gadgets. Yesterday morning, when Apple announced it would offer HBO and ESPN, DirecTV wasn’t authenticating the device. By late afternoon, however, the satellite TV provider had reversed itself.

Though HBO GO is now available on the Apple TV, accessing the content is still dependent on a cable TV subscription. While many hope that content providers like HBO will at some point offer channels on a piecemeal basis that are not tied to cable providers, HBO garners the majority of its revenue through cable operators, which means cutting the cord is a risky prospect at best.

Historically, the Apple TV has taken a backseat to the iPad and the iPhone, which also explains why HBO GO has been available on iOS since 2011 but didn't come to the Apple TV until 2013. Apple has, in the past, referred to the Apple TV as a "hobby project," though the company is rumored to be exploring new product lines that could eventually include an Apple television set.

At the D11 conference in May, Apple CEO Tim Cook reiterated that television continues to be an "area of great interest" for Apple and that the company has a "grand vision" in place.