Mark Dalby

Steve Jobs has always been considered the heart and soul of Apple. He’s the man that has brought us Apple’s most successful products of the last decade, including the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. He’s been the face of Apple for years, and he’s seen as an industry innovator and pioneer.

Since his third medical leave of absence in January of this year, Jobs has begun to slowly let go of the reins at Apple. He’s still very much in control, but the ‘Age of Jobs’ is drawing to an end.

In his days as acting CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs was known for his extensive control and micromanagement of everything that happened at the company. No decision was made without Steve’s approval, and Jobs always made himself intricately involved in daily ongoings. Product launches, like the iPhone and iPad, were always helmed by Jobs.

Hot on the heels of Apple’s $ 945 legal settlement to a Korean man over location logging behavior in iOS in June, a new suit in the works reportedly seeking class action aims to bring similar settlements to some 27,800 other individuals.

The Korea Herald reports that law firm Miraelaw plans to file the suit against Apple in Korea later this month, once again claiming that the iPhone violated the country’s domestic privacy laws. If those listed on the suit end up with a similar payout to the one provided in June, Apple could be facing an overall settlement of 27 billion won, or around $ 25.6 million dollars.

The June lawsuit that resulted in the $ 945 legal settlement between Apple and a Korean iPhone owner centered around the iPhone’s location database. In a suit filed on April 26, the man alleged that Apple violated his privacy by keeping the record, which Apple detailed in full to the world just a day later. In that note, which took the form of a Q&A on Apple’s Web site, as well as press interviews with company executives, Apple maintained that said database was part of a crowd-sourced effort to help iOS devices more quickly and accurately determine their location.

Apple has issued an update to address a security vulnerability in its iOS mobile operating system.

The company said that the iOS 4.3.5 and 4.2.10 updates would address a flaw in the way devices handle data on SSL/TSL secured connections.

According to Apple, a malicious users could exploit a vulnerability in the handling of X.509 security certificates to intercept or modify secured. If exploited, the flaw could leave users at risk for data theft. Apple’s update will address the issue by properly validating information on X.509 certificates. The iOS 4 update comes as Apple is preparing to launch the next version of its mobile platform. The company has released a beta version of iOS 5 which introduces the ability to wirelessly sync devices.

Apple on Saturday evening tapped developers to begin testing a fifth pre-release version of its iCloud cloud computing service software for the company’s new Mac OS X 10.7 Lion operating system alongside the first external beta of Mac OS X 10.7.2.

The move is somewhat unusual given that Apple is requiring developers to install Mac OS X 10.7.2 build 11C26 in order to use iCloud beta 5 but has yet to provide developers with any information of test builds of Mac OS X 10.7.1.

“You must install OS X Lion 10.7.2 in order to use iCloud for OS X Lion beta 5,” Apple reportedly told developers. “This pre-release version of OS X Lion is being provided solely for testing iCloud.” As such, people familiar with the release say OS X Lion 10.7.2 does not appear to address any of the outstanding issues or glitches that have surfaced with Wednesday’s market release of OS X Lion 10.7. Instead, it’s believed that Apple will initiate a separate beta test for Mac OS X 10.7.1 in the coming days or weeks.

Apple has proved once again that Fridays are still work days by dropping iOS 5 Beta 4. Developers can now download the latest iOS 5 beta in Apple’s dev channel, and, for the first time, through the miracle of over-the-air updates.

Those on iOS 5 Beta 3 should be able to wirelessly upgrade to Beta 4.

Apple is gearing up for iOS 5 and iCloud’s public launch in September, and Beta 4 will probably be one of the last updates pushed for developers. If you’re on Beta 3 already, try and download Beta 4 as an OTA update. People have been already reporting that OTA updates aren’t working, but we’re curious to see if some are still successful.

Apple today updated Safari to version 5.1, patching 58 security vulnerabilities and adding several new features, including sandboxing on Mac OS X 10.7.

Safari 5.1 is the browser bundled with Lion, the operating system Apple released earlier today, but it will also run on Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard. A separate Safari update to version 5.0.6 was also issued today for users running Mac OS X 10.5, or Leopard.

The update patched a total of 58 flaws in Safari, 14 of them specific to the Windows edition, one that affected only the Mac version, and 44 that impact both platforms. Forty-seven of the 58 were accompanied by Apple’s “arbitrary code execution” phrasing, indicating that the company considered them critical. Unlike rival Microsoft, Apple does not tag vulnerabilities with threat-level labels.

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, Apple’s highly anticipated next-generation operating system, is now available to purchase on the Mac App Store for $ 29.99, weighing in at 3.49GB.

Lion boasts more than 250 new features, including new Multi-Touch gestures; system-wide support for full screen apps; Mission Control to view everything running on your Mac; the Mac App Store; Launchpad, an iPad-like home screen for apps; and a completely redesigned Mail app.

“Lion is the best version of OS X yet, and we’re thrilled that users around the world can download it starting today,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Lion makes upgrading a Mac easier than ever before; just launch the Mac App Store, buy Lion with your iTunes account, and the download and install process will begin automatically.”

In a long-established ritual ahead of the appearance of a new Apple product, the Apple Store has been taken down for refurbishment, as the scene shifters prepare for the launch of the Mac OS 10.7 upgrade, dubbed Lion.

Lion is expected to converge all the best bits of Apple’s mobile operating system iOS with the existing Snow Leopard OSX, so expect lots of touch gestures and simplified interfaces, as well as an avalanche of complaints from hard-core users users who don’t like the dumbing down.

The 4GB download will cost £21 and, for the first time, it won’t come in a box. The updated OS  will apparently have to be paired with either a Magic Trackpad or Magic Mouse if you want to play with all of its new bells and whistles.