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I wanted to tell you about my experience with Apple. I had my iPhone for 5 days when I realized that it had stopped working correctly. If I used the earbuds, or the speaker, everything was fine. If I held it to my ear I couldn’t hear the call and the other party on the call couldn’t hear me. I called Apple and went through all the troubleshooting procedures, and the technician determined that it was a hardware issue and needed to be repaired. He arranged a “loaner” for me and told me to send in my own phone when the loaner arrived, that all the instructions would be in the box.

Well the box arrived Monday morning (I had called Saturday evening) and I have to admire Apple’s thoroughness. The box iteself has all three shipping labels on it, in layers. I peel off the top label and it has Apple’s shipping label, and when Apple fixes my iPhone the final label will send my phone back to me. Inside the shipping box is a pamphlet that explains the process, 3 inches of foam padding with a small white box in the middle (for the iPhone), a pad of shipping tape and a paper clip. I’m not kidding, they included a paper clip in a little baggie. This is because you need a paper clip to remove your sim card from your phone before you send it to them. Apple wanted to make sure I had this high-tech and rare tool.

Leave it to Apple to think of everything.

It does leave me wondering one thing though… with this kind of an endorsement, why don’t more podcasters do enhanced podcasts?

So now I have a few questions… First, can anyone identify these screws, say where they came from or tell us what they might be used for? Second, how come these screws were not discovered by Apples quality control before shipping? Lastly, are there any other owners out there who have found these screws or similar loose parts inside any of their new Macs (Mac Pro or otherwise)? I would hope this is a one time isolated incident, but lets find out for sure.

Overall I think this does just go right back into our discussion about Apple and concerns I have over the quality of their products in recent years. Are Apples standards becoming a little more laxadasical? Now I don’t want to cause a panic and I am sure this is just one random case. But, we also can’t let Apple slide. One of the reasons Apple is so great is they listen to us, so when we see this stuff we need to say something. Apple has always made quality products and of course we love them, but if they are slipping we need to say something about it. Lets make sure we do our part to help Apple maintain the high standards they are known for and ensure that they continue to make the best personal computers in the world.

(oh yeah, that’s why I can’t stand windows)
Every once in a while I hear Adam comment on Windows on the show. I’m also a Windows user/programmer at work, Mac user at home. Because I’m a pretty advanced computer user my PC rarely experiences any of the problems that Windows is known for. I don’t ever get viruses or worms, and I know how to keep things running pretty efficiently. That doesn’t mean I enjoy using windows, it just means that I can tolerate it while at work.

However I had a rude re-awakening the other day when I was asked to assist a family I know whose PC was “popping up black windows” everywhere. I have worked on their computer before and had to do a near-resurrection on it. Installing anti-virus, anti-spyware, removing administrator privileges etc…. And I had their computer running almost like new. That plus the addition of broadband internet service to make updates easier for them, lulled me into a state of ignorance, thinking that I was safe.

Well, I don’t even know how, but this time the computer was in worse shape then it was before. Every single toolbar, search assistant, online coupon, spyware product known to man was infesting their 700MHz Celeron PC. As I sat down to work on it, I thought to myself “Ah…yes, this is why I love my Mac”.

I think it’s easy to forget, as an advanced computer user, that the differences between Macs and PCs are much different when you don’t know what you’re doing. Advanced users can probably get done what they need to do on either because they know how to safely use a PC without messing it up. But to the average user, a PC is like walking through Central Park with $100 bills sticking out of your pockets. The entire world seems ready to mug you, and it’s entirely too easy to render your computer unusable. Unfortunately I think a lot of people just give up and use their computers less because of this. They don’t even know that it’s possible to have a computer that works with you instead of against you.

Listener Andre pointed out a really cool feature of the new MacBook Pro that many, including myself, had missed. If you carefully read the “Pure Digital Signal” section of the MacBook Pro Graphics page on Apples site you’ll see this:

…you get three options for using your display: dual-display mode, video mirroring, and lid-closed mode.

So apparently the MacBook can be run with the lid shut. This is a BIG change from the PowerBook. With the PowerBooks you can use software like Sleepless, but doing so could cause excess heat and damage your Mac, so it is NOT recommended. I’m sure addition of lid closed operation will be a welcome feature for many new MacBook owners.

OOPS: Looks like I made a mistake on this one. From the comments on this post it looks like PowerBook have been able to run with the lid closed for a while now. The trick is they need to be connected to an external display. I was confused becasue this topic came up on the MacCast in the past, but in that case the listener wanted to run with the lid closed and still have the PowerBook a connected to the network, but with no external monitor attached. He wanted it available for server operation.

[Watch Happy 100th video] (QuickTime ~3.00MB)

I just wanted to offer a few comments on Apple’s new Aperture app, the purpose and position of which, in particular with respect to Adobe Photoshop, seems to leave some questions open. I did not have any chance to use Aperture yet, so I cannot comment on any details. I am not a professional photographer, but I /do/ shoot RAW pictures with my Nikon DX70, so I have some experience with handling these.

It’s important to realize what RAW pictures are — the, well, raw information from the light-sensitive chip, with no processing applied whatsoever in the camera, ie. no white balance, no color correction, no (ughh!) sharpening, etc. A RAW picture corresponds to an unprocessed film in conventional photography. Hence, you have to “develop” it on your computer, applying white balance, color corrections — whatever you want to get the picture look as you want, again very similar to the conventional film development process in the lab.

Yes, you /can/ do this all in Photoshop, with the corresponding plug- in for RAW files. But you have to import the RAW picture into Photoshop, and during this import, all the basic “development” actions are applied, based on one distinct setting defined at import time. Once in Photoshop, the picture is not RAW anymore, it’s a PSD file, which you then can manipulate further.

With Aperture, as far as I can tell, and as with tools like Capture One (see below), you don’t have to convert the RAW file into anything, you directly work with the RAW file, and this in a non- destructive way, as all manipulations are just stored as processing actions, which only determine what you see on screen (and print later), but don’t change the file proper. And so you can “play” with different setting, go back and forth. With Photoshop, to apply a different fundamental “development” setting from the RAW file, such as changing the white balance, you’d have to make another import. (Of course, you can manipulate the PSD file, but quality-wise, this is not the same as using the base RAW picture. It’s like creating MP3 files of recorded music tracks before you do a new track mix — you would do the mix with the original recordings and only then convert the resulting mix-file to MP3.)

I /did/ use Photoshop to handle RAW pictures, but it is not what you’d call a smooth workflow. Each RAW picture naturally requires manual setting for the import — remember, this is like the “development” of conventional film, so you must, and want to, tweak things. But you first have to do the import (“development”) in order to decide if you want to keep a picture, in particular if you want to compare it in detail with others in the series, and if you usually throw away more than half of your shots in a first selection round, as I do, this is just a lot of unnecessary work. Yes, there are RAW viewers (like PhotoReviewer of Stick Software), and they help a lot, but the process is not integrated. I also use a great program called iView Media Pro of iView Multimedia for managing sessions of photos, and again, it helps, but does not give the level of integration that Aperture promises to provide.

And with all these solutions you’ll end up having the RAW file and the PSD file, plus any files of variants of your picture. It’s a file organization challenge, and of course it will eat up your disk space quickly (and the RAW files are not the biggest problem, with about 5 MB each for the DX70 with NEF, Nikon’s RAW format, which uses non- lossy compression, but all the PSDs or TIFFs with your variants of one picture are adding dozens of MBs. You could use a differential storage solution, such as monotone, darcs, or subversion, but this adds one more tool…).

In addition, some words about “RAW workflow” vs. “JPEG workflow,” as Aperture is announced to make RAW workflows as easy as JPEG ones. Well, no photographer seeking highest possible quality would have a “JPEG workflow” in the narrower sense: the first thing you do with JPEG photos — which you sometimes need to shoot also if you’re usually doing RAW, eg. if you’re about to run out of space on your memory cards for the camera — is to store them in a non-lossy format such as TIFF or Photoshop files (PSD). You’d never manipulate a JPEG file directly in Photoshop, as with each save to disk, you lose a bit of quality due to the JPEG’s lossy compression. So you see, /without/ Aperture (or Capture One), you always convert your files from the camera, whether RAW or JPEG, to PSD or TIFF as basis for your further processing, such as color correction. With an app that handles RAW files directly, this is not necessary, which brings about the foundation for the easy workflow that Apple mentions as Aperture’s main focus. Combined with strong file management functions, such as versions, for me /this/ is the appeal of Aperture.

Right now, I use Capture One LE from PhaseOne to do the RAW “development,” which I think is the program (or kind of program) primarily challenged by Aperture, not Photoshop. It also directly works on the RAW files, ie. without any conversion, allowing to quickly kick out unwanted shots before doing any white balance or whatever processing. All manipulations happen in a non-destructive way, just storing the manipulations in a separate file, like Aperture (Capture One uses an XML file in “plist” format). These instructions are then used for 1) displaying on screen and 2) producing TIFFs or JPEGs at the end of the workflow to produce prints or web pictures or whatever you chose to present your work. But also with Capture One basically you need only keep the original RAW files, plus the stored manipulation actions belonging to it, and only create any other format when needed.

Interestingly, Capture One is in the same price range as Aperture, with a Limited Edition (LE, that’s what I have) for about 100 USD though. Capture One is by no means as powerful as Aperture, as far as I can tell, with respect to features like grouping, light table, versions, and file/picture organization, but has a professional-grade RAW viewing and conversion engine, and allows a pretty smooth workflow, just staying within the realm of RAW.

To conclude, I think Aperture is really filling an existing gap, as claimed by Apple, with some unavoidable functional overlap with Photoshop, but leaving the latter enough room to breathe in the field of picture manipulation. However, I’d expect that quite a few photographers won’t need to use Photoshop anymore so often for their daily work, as you can produce appealing pictures just in Aperture by basic manipulations such as color correction and cropping. At least for me, this kind of operations are the most often used, and I don’t spend hours with tweaking single pictures — either a shot is basically good, or I dump it. But I guess here everyone has their own objectives and ways of working! :-)

In any case, I don’t think Aperture is for someone who uses iPhoto today /and/ is satisfied with it.

Since I obviously don’t get UK TV here in the States, I would love it if someone could send me a clip of episode.

UPDATE: Thanks to a listener I now have a copy of the segment and a DVD version is on the way. I have asked for permission to post the clip, so as soon as (and if) I get it I will post a link.

I wanted to comment on something you talked about in your 8-17 show regarding Apple’s iPod patent problems. There seems to be a lot of misinformation regarding this story and I’m glad you talked about this. One thing that I’m not sure if you’re aware of though, is that Microsoft’s patent application has been turned down too, so they don’t hold the patent on this technology either. They simply turned the application in before Apple did. This is still unclear but from what I understand, the descriptions on both applications are too vague and overlap one another somewhat. The patent that Microsoft filed seems to have more in common with Smart Playlists and the way that a device could assemble a playlist by looking at a user’s habits, etc. (similar to the way Amazon.com suggests other products you might like based on products you’ve already purchased). Regardless of what happens with Apple’s patent, it looks like Microsoft will have a hard time getting the rights to this because it seems to be a pretty basic use of databases.

There is some good additional information over on the Register, read it here.

Patent Links
Apple’s Patent Filing (Robbin, Jobs, Schiller)
Microsoft’s Patent Filing (Platt)

Is a new Mac store opening?
Are they just now releasing Tiger in the Midwest?
Are they giving away Ipods? Well actually yes but only to teachers.

This weekend is a tax free holiday in Missouri, for computers, clothes and school supplies. Looks like everyone was using it to buy Macs.

Special thanks to listeners Charlie and Eugene for sending these in.

My Wife and I started Due, three years ago. It started out as a little maternity boutique down here in sleepy Santa Barbara.

Because we used Macs in our past careers, (in advertising and PR) we decided to run the store on Macs too. It wasn’t an easy choice at the time because there was only 2 advanced retail applications that ran on the Mac, and one of them had poor industry ratings.

So we went with POSIM (Point of Sale Inventory Management) produced by Ensign, a company based in Utah. http://www.ensign.com

Six months into opening the store I launched our website to move old inventory. Well a year and a half later or eCommerce accounts for more than 3x our store sales and we’ve opened three other maternity boutiques around the country Atlanta, Austin, and soon to be open San Francisco. I have to say we owe our success all to the fact that we were able to quickly train our staff on the simple digital workflow of the Mac.

Apple has recently signed a deal with POSIM and is now giving in store seminars on how to run your business on a Mac. As you know this is a really really big deal because for a long time Mac users had little or no option for using their computers for business processes, save for the mundane Office Apps.

Because POSIM is customizable for any industry, I believe this software is the start of a new movement that I believe will introduce the rest of the working world to the ease and joy of using a Mac for business beyond the Office suite.

We have since connected our POSIM solution to our online eCommerce program and automated our fulfillment across the enterprise. We are targeting several MM in sales this year and we did it on a Mac.

Albert DiPadova
Due Maternity
http://www.duematernity.com

Thought you might want to hear about my Mac experience.

I am a business owner of a computer software/support company. I have for years been slaving over books and updates to keep current on programming languages and new support bug fixes. In my offices I have several Windows Servers and Windows XP laptops and desktops. You guessed it, I am (was) a PC geek.

During a project at a local client, there were a few of us going to a meeting about the Java application we were writing. I didn’t take my Toshiba Laptop with me because these meetings were always about design or bugs. This certain meeting turned into a “bug-fix” session instead. Well, being without a laptop presented an issue. I was asked to correct a few things and I didn’t have a laptop to work with. Well another programmer on the team offered his PowerBook. I told him that I was against using Mac. I told him the story about me not being able to respect any machine that had a color description that was a fruit (iMac Tangerine). I was forced to make my changes on the PowerBook. Which wasn’t that bad.

My colleague offered his PowerBook for the evening. He created an account on the PowerBook and let me take it home. I agreed because I was going to put this machine through it’s paces. I was hell bent on locking the thing up or making it scream with mercy at the things I could do to it. Needless to say he didn’t give me admin access so there wasn’t much I could do. I noticed that there was no anti-virus software (BIG NO NO) and I tried everything. I installed and removed software, I checked the residue the software install and removal left (none, maybe a plist). The next day, I took the PowerBook back to my colleague. He just looked at me and told me not to say a word. There wasn’t anything I could say. I couldn’t break it. I tried. Believe me, I have the PC skills to kill any Windows PC on the market. I know how to trash a box. I left his office and retreated to the local Mac store at SouthPoint Mall in Durham, North Carolina. I bought two PowerBooks and an iPOD, deciding to convert my office into a Mac shop. Now we still have Microsoft machines, but they are not our main machines. I have been converting my offices for the past 10 months from support to software development, with great success I might add.

Jamie Daniel, CEO
Blade Technology, LLC
http://www.bladetechnology.com

I just had to tell the story of a great experience at my favorite Apple store in Salem, NH (at the Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem New Hampshire)!

On July 14th on the way to the White Mountains of NH for some camping, I stopped in to pick up a 12 inch iBook, an extra 256 MB of RAM and a trusty apple care plan for it. I was in and out in no time and en route to my first campground.

On July 18th I checked in to a less primitive campground that offered $15.00 wifi for the week. This was great, I synced my iBook with my dot mac account, and updated the OS.

Then one day I noticed the main Apple page announcing the new 12 inch iBooks! I was mortified!

Well yesterday, I made a special trip back to the store not knowing what to expect. I packaged everything up, and once I explained my story, I was immediately offered a $100.00 rebate of sorts on my iBook, I asked what the possibility was of getting an upgraded unit, it was explained for the same $100.00, I could get one! We proceeded to the Genius bar for the existing iBook to undergo inspection. The employee helping me said she would “meet me halfway” SO for only $50.00, I got the upgraded unit, they also swapped one for one the stick of 256 MB RAM for me as the specs had changed, and the transfer of the Apple care plan was explained to me.

Needless to say I am real pleased with my new iBook, it joins my G5 iMac, 40 GB iPod, and 512 shuffle.

1) Open iTunes 4.9 and open the Preferences
2) You will see the Podcasting tab with the “i” Podcast icon.
3) Now change your display to only show 256 colors and watch the icon change to a “phone” icon.

cool.

[ Pics from Apple Store opening, Geen Hills, Nashville, TN ]