Information technology: Apple releases second beta version of iOS 8

Apple has released the second beta version of iOS 8, which adds a number of bug fixes and improvements to the operating system. One change will prevent Safari from redirecting ads to the App Store without the user's permission. In addition, Apple's mobile browser now has a new pinch-to-tab view. Downloaded apps will once again be sorted by the chronological order in which they were downloaded, after switching to an alphabetical list in iOS 8 beta 1.

The QuickType keyboard, available on the iPhone with iOS 8, now gains support for all iPad models except for the Apple iPad 2. The brightness button, which was disabled in the first beta, is now enabled once again. And the icons for the camera and microphone in Messages, is now grey instead of blue. A new "All Messages Read" button has been added.

A new "Allow Notifications" button for each app is now offered, so that users can "mute" notifications from each app on an individual basis. Previously, you could only disable the notifications setting for all apps at one time. Those who keep an obsessive look at their battery usage, will be happy to find a new feature on the Battery Usage by App menu, which shows you what percentage of your battery life was used when your device was not hooked up to a cellular network. And when entering the camera app, instead of seeing the user's Photo Stream, you will see a pop up for iCloud photos. Podcast is now a default iOS app, which means it cannot be deleted.

While iOS 8 will be pushed out to iDevices most likely in September, those who are registered as developers with Apple, can install the beta version of the OS now. Actually, there is a back door way to install iOS 8 beta 2, even if you're not a registered developer