Even though some people are already testing out iOS 5 (a bit jealous of our bosses Chris and Matt) others are still using a version of iOS 4 on their iPhone and iPad. To help those people out, Apple has just released iOS 4.3.4 for its iOS devices.

This update will work for the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad and third and fourth-generation iPod touch devices. Not forgetting its Verizon customers, Apple has also released a comparable update for the CDMA iPhone 4 known as iOS 4.2.9.

These updates address the usual bunch of “fixes and improvements” but also features a security update that addresses a vulnerability with PDF files. It also patches the extremely popular jailbreak.me jailbreak solution, so it will no longer function on devices that update. Sorry hackers. You can read more about the update on Apple’s site.

iOS 4.3.4 and iOS 4.2.9 are available immediately via iTunes. Let us know if you have any problems with the update.

As it’s been quite some time since the iPhone 4 made its debut, naturally speculation on the next version of Apple’s flagship device is running rampant. Even the venerable Wall Street Journal, it seems, wants to get into the act.

The paper is reporting that Apple is preparing to release a redesigned iPhone 5 later this year. Citing anonymous sources in Apple’s supply chain, the Journal says Apple has placed component orders with key suppliers for fifth-generation iPhone parts.

In addition, the device is reported to feature an 8-megapixel camera and Qualcomm radios. Also, and this goes against earlier reports that the device will retain the same form factor as the iPhone 4, the new iPhone 5 will be thinner and lighter than the current model.

While a new case and being thinner and lighter are nice additions, I’m personally looking forward to an iPhone that works on Verizon’s 4G network. That would be pretty cool indeed.

The next iPhone is expected to begin shipping in September. So, you gonna upgrade when it does?

If you’re one of the people who like to make sure you’re friends know where you are and what you’re doing as much as possible, you’re probably already using Foursquare. If you’re also n iOS user, then today is your lucky day. Well, actually yesterday. Why?

Foursquare released a new version of its iOS client on Tuesday with a number of changes and enhancements. Among the changes are a new Check In button that will allow users to check into locations faster, a new Explore tab that will help users find local specials easier, and a faster check-in process.

Of course, being the early adopters we are around here, we installed the new app immediately. It definitely seemed improved and only took a few minutes to get used to the new layout and features. The user interface also feels noticeably quicker.

Also, in related news, Foursquare announced it has surpassed 10,000,000 users. That’s “M” as in Million. Nice work Foursquare team.

To get Foursquare 3.2, hit up the iTunes App Store.

It was just a matter of time but according to reports, Apple has completed negotiations with all four of the major record labels including Warner Music Group, EMI Music Group, Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment and signed contracts to enable their upcoming cloud music service to go forward. Contracts with the music publishers is reportedly set to follow on Friday.

The new service, which will be called iCloud, will be offered for a free period initially to people who buy music from Apple’s iTunes digital download store. This will allow users to upload and store their music and then be able to play it from a Web browser or Internet-connected Apple device such as an iPhone or iPad.

Even though the service will start out free, the company plans to eventually charge a subscription fee, about $25 a year, for it. Apple would also sell advertising around its iCloud service. So, $25 bucks and advertising? Kinda lame Apple.

Of course, the service is initially to store uses music on the cloud but you can clearly see Apple’s intent here is to eventually offer storage of TV, Movie and other digital content as well. After all, why stop at music when the real money to be made is with other tyopes of content?

With the service set to debut soon some questions have to be asked including how much storage will be included and how easy will it be to upload your iTunes library should you choose to do it. I don’t know about you but my iTunes is very large and it would take a long time to upload. With a large library like that I can’t quite see the utility of this service, especially when I can already sync my music and more to my iPhone and iPad.

I guess we’ll see how well it works, or doesn’t, soon enough.

If you’re an Android-powered device user and have been jealous of all your iPhone and iPad using friends who get to watch Netflix content on their devices, be jealous no longer. Netflix finally announced that its Android application is now available and ready for you to download in the Android Market.

However, as great as that news is for Android users, there’s one thing that may dampen the excitement. The app is only supported on “select phones that have the requisite playback support.” All is not lost, however, as Netflix says it will add supported devices to its list over time.

As you probably already know, the video streaming service is currently available on Windows Phone and iOS devices, but what was the holdup for Android? “Because the platform has evolved so rapidly, there are some significant challenges associated with developing a streaming video application for this ecosystem,” Netflix product team member Roma De said.

“One of these challenges is the lack of standard streaming playback features that the Netflix application can use to gain penetration across all available Android phones. In the absence of standardization, we have to test each individual handset and launch only on those that can support playback.”

I guess that makes sense. See, Apple owning the entire widget and making developers adhere to a strict set of rules might not be a bad thing after all. At least iOS users get cool apps first, at least in most cases.

Netflix for Android currently runs on the HTC Incredible, Nexus One, and EVO 4G with Android 2.2 installed. It’s also supported on the Nexus S and Nexus One with Android 2.3 installed.

Games based on popular or cult classic movies don’t always deliver the goods and often seem more like a cheap grab for cash than an actual attempt at creating a good game. However, there are sometimes exceptions. One of those exceptions is the new game Army of Darkness: Defense game from Backflip Studios and MGM Studios.

Army of Darkness: Defense is a mobile castle defense game designed as a homage to Sam Raimi’s 1992 classic film and takes place during the pivotal castle scene from the movie where Ash and his allies defend the powerful Necronomicon within Lord Arthur’s fortress from the onslaught of the Deadites.

In the game you take on the role of the chiseled chin, one-liner-spouting Ash while summoning familiar troops, spells and weapons from the movie to help in the defense. Gameplay features include over 150 direct lines of dialogue from Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams, and beautifully animated graphics using the well-known “Granny 3D” engine.

Army of Darkness: Defense gives Ash the ability to call upon a wide variety of allies to help preserve the Necronomicon including swordsmen, armored knights, archers and more. In addition to the originally composed sound and music, the app also features many of the famous characters from the movie including Arthur, Henry, Sheila, the Wiseman, Evil Ash, and more.

Check out some screens from the game after the jump. Pick up your copy of Army of Darkness: Defense now in the iTunes App Store for iPhone/iPod Touch and iPad.

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Let’s start out this post by mentioning a few things. First, we love the iPhone around here and pretty much all of us have one and use it every day. Second, I don’t think any of us has jailbroken their iPhone, at least not the iPhone 4. Also, we love the guys at LifeHacker and read their site every day.

So, when we can have all of those things combined, life is good. I’m talking about, of course, an article over at LifeHacker wherein author Adam Dachis highlight four very good reasons not to jailbreak your iPhone. In summary, here’s what Adam says are the four major negatives:

Goodbye Stability and Safety

While jailbreaking can provide you with plenty of options to increase the functionality of your iDevice, it can also cause things to work unexpectedly.

You Don’t Get to Update iOS as Soon or as Easily

Updating a jailbroken device sucks. When you update, you lose your jailbreak, need to re-jailbreak, and then re-install all your jailbroken apps and extensions.

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As expected, late yesterday Apple released a new update for iOS devices such as the iPhone and iPad. This update, dubbed iOS 4.3.3 for AT&T and iOS 4.2.8 for Verizon, addresses the dreaded “Location Gate” issue that has been in the news the last few weekes.

Specifically, it makes changes to how the device stores and manages the “iOS crowd-sourced location database cache.” It also reduces the size of the cache, doesn’t back it up to iTunes and deletes the cache when you disable Location Services.

The updates are available right now. Simply connect your i-device to iTunes and you will be prompted to perform the update.

We’ve updated our devices here at The Flickcast offices. So far, so good. Although, we are still waiting to see if this improves our battery life that seemed to go down after the last update.

Let’s hope so.

I guess its’s a good thing I decided not to cancel HBO. If you’re considering ditching your premium subsctiption to the HBO service, you might want to re-think it too. Why? Read on.

The long-anticipated HBO Go app just hit the iOS App Store and Android Market, bringing original HBO series and a variety of blockbuster films to your mobile device. You’ll need an HBO subscription with your cable or satellite provider to get past the login screen, but unlocking all that the service has to offer is a pretty easy experience.

Although, it doesn’t seem Time Warner Cable is participating so if you’ve got that cable service, you’re out of luck — at least for now.

However, as I’m both a Time Warner and DirecTV subsciber (don’t ask) I was able to authenticae using my DirecTV sibsctiption and was off and running. This app features a pretty amazing collection of programming including pretty much every episode of every show HBO has ever aired plus many of their movies as well. Plus, you can also watch these programs via your computer as well. But you’ve got that fancy iPad or iPhone so why not watch it on those instead, right?

So, if you’re an HBO subscriber, head on over to your iOS or Android stores and check this app out. It’s pretty cool.

With all the hubbub about Apple and Android tracking your location via iOS 4 iPhones and 3G iPads and Android powered devices, it was just a matter of time before somebody released an official statement about it. Somewhat surprisingly, that someone first out of the gate with a statement is Apple, who released said statement today.

In its statement Apple says that it never has, and never plans to, track users’ devices and that the purpose of the database file in question — consolidated.db — is to “help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.”

Apple also said that a software update will limit the size of the location file and be available in the next few weeks. In addition, the next major IOS release will also encrypt the file as well.

Click through for the full statement from Apple which, contrary to most info from Apple, is pretty comprehensive and actually answers most of the questions people were having. Now can we move on from this?

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In what is a potentially disturbing development that will surely be blown way out of proportion, several researchers at O’Reilly have discovered a somewhat troubling feature of the iPhone and 3G iPads running Apple’s iOS 4. In a blog post and video, the site details that Apple is storing GPS coordinates of cellular iOS devices locally (as in on the device) and in an unencrypted and unprotected form.

“Ever since iOS 4 arrived, your device has been storing a long list of locations and time stamps,” say the researchers. “We’re not sure why Apple is gathering this data, but it’s clearly intentional, as the database is being restored across backups, and even device migrations.” The researchers go on to state that along with a list of timestamped GPS coordinates, the file also contains a list of Wi-Fi access points that the device has been in range of.

“Anybody with access to this file knows where you’ve been over the last year, since iOS 4 was released,” they continue. The file in question, which is called “consolidated.db”, is in the backup file created when syncing the cellular iOS device with iTunes, and on the iOS device itself. “Why this data is stored and how Apple intends to use it — or not — are important questions that need to be explored,” they conclude.

Check out the video made by the gang at O’Reilly after the break. I wonder how Apple will respond to this? I can guess. They won’t.

Does this bother you or is it something you don’t worry about? Sound off in the comments!

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If you’re one of the people who love to video chat using your iPhone or Android device but often wish you could include a few more friends in the conversation, you’re in luck. Not because Apple is doing anything for you, at least not at the moment. No, it’s another company called fring to the rescue.

The company is working on a group video chat implementation for its iOS and Android apps. The update will eventually allow users to chat with up to four participants onscreen at once. For the moment this feature is in beta but the company’s developers are allowing users to sign up so they can test it out before it’s officially available in the App Store.

In a recent video, the company showcased its latest software running a group video chat session on iOS. Sadly, for whatever reason — beta software, poor wireless reception, slower iPhone 4 processor — the video is a tad choppy. Still, it’s nice to see a company taking something Apple started, building on it and trying to make it better.

Check out the video after the break.

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