MacCast 03.04.2011 - Show #340
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is "Say Anything" by Manda and the Marbles
* Band's MySpace page
V Sponsor
V Faronics
* Deep Freeze
V Reduce your IT support costs
* Faronics has a case study of one schools district in NYC saving 80% by using it's products
* They were spending a ton of time rebuilding systems
* I think a key is that when running the systems son't have to be so restrictive as to impact your users.
* If they do something bad, un-intentionally or otherwise a simple reboot restores the system to the originally installed state, but leave user files in defined Thaw Spaces in place.
* Trails available
V News
V The iPad 2
* Random House added as the last of the major publishers not on iBookstore.
* Black or White (both available same day)
V Thinner (0.34 in.)
* .02in thinner than iPhone 4
V Lighter (1.33 lbs)
* Old iPad was 1.5
V Design changes
* flat back with tapered edges
* mic moved to the middle top of the backplate
* sim slot moved up near to the top on the left-hand side
V No word on the speaker
* grill does appear to be bigger and uses the cheese grater design
V 1GHz Dual core Apple A5 processor
* Didn't mention how much RAM. Speculation is 512MB like the iPhone 4 and possibly a different kind, LPDDR2 RAM (1,066MHz). iPad 1 had LPDDR1 RAM (800 MHz)
V Dual cameras
* Front: VGA up to 30 frames per second
V Back: HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second
* Backside illumination on sensor
* Seems to be same specs as the iPod Touch
V faster 3G with HSUPA and HSPA+ support like the iPhone 4.
* upload speeds up to 5.8 Mbps, AT&T limited to 2Mbps
* download up to 21 Mbps. 8Mbps in the real world.
V Verizon version still limited to CDMA rev A.
* LTE speeds at launch will be 5 to 12 Mbps, not not roll nationwide until 2013.
* XOOM requires a 6 day modem upgrade to support LTE
* Still 10 hour battery despite being thinner. Apple say A5 has same power signature as the single core A4
* Same display. 9.7 in at 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch (ppi)
V Same storage 16GB, 32Gb, and 64GB
* some sites are harping on this as a disappointment.
* Apple still has double the storage on the top end of other tablets hitting the market.
* Same pricing $499, $599, $699 (Wi-Fi), $629, $729, $829 (3G)
V Video mirroring and video out support: Up to 1080p with Apple Digital AV Adapter (HDMI and 30-pin) or Apple VGA Adapter (cables sold separately)
* chances are the VGA connection won't allow access to HDCP protected content
* HDMI connector will work with iPad 1 and iPhone 4
* Mirroring is a hardware feature, so won't work on an iPad 1
V Verizon or AT&T, separate models
* Now there are 18 different models? 2 colors, 3 storage sizes, 2 carriers
V Will be here next week, on sale in the US at 5:00 PM PST Friday February 11th
* On pre-orders. Online sales start the same day.
V International shipments to 22 other countries start on the 25th.
* Includes: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK
* Looking like at Best Buy and WalMart and possibly Sam's Club. also Orange and O2 in the UK
V How many will there be?
* Suppliers are saying Apple will ship 2-3 million iPad 2's before April (6.5 million total 1 and 2) and possible 10-12 million in the Spring.
* 20 million in the first half of the year and 40 million by the end of the year
* Apples sold 15 million iPads in 9 months, so these estimates seem high to me.
V I would have said slower because many already have an iPad 1, but your responses make me think differently
* Next Worth says high trade-ins on old ipad show high demand, but those aren't "new" customers so not really new share.
* IPad 1 prices dropped $100 after the announcement and rumors that Apple will refund the differences on iPad purchases made between February 16th and March 2nd. Just bring it back to the Apple Store.
* If you're one of the lucky ones who had an unlimited iPad data plan with AT&T and has held on to it. It can be moved over to a new iPad 2.
V iPad Smart Cover
* Magnetic latches to the side of the iPad
* Rolls up to function as a stand for typing and display viewing
* opening the cover wakes the iPad and closing puts it to sleep
* microfiber liner
V 10 colors
* $39.00 - 5 Polyurethane covers. (Pink, orange, green, blue, and grey)
V $69.00 - 5 aniline-dyed Italian leather (light tan, tan, dark grey, red, and black)
* Apple notes, Some color may rub off during use.
* Also there is a new iPad 2 Dock ()
V iOS 4.3
* Also will release Friday March 11th
* Will run on iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 GSM (not CDMA?), iPod Touch 3G and 4G, iPad 1 and iPad 2
V AirPlay
* Stream video from Safari and the Photo app
* 3rd party AirPlay enabled apps
* Photo slideshows with transitions
V Safari
* Faster with new Nitro JavaScript engine
V Home Sharing
* Connect iOS device to iTunes libraries and stream music, movies, tv and other content wirelessly to the device.
* Supports unlimited iOS devices
* Home Sharing already powers the new Apple TV 2
V Customize the iPad "slide switch"
* New name?
* Hold or Mute your choice
V Personal Hotspot
* iPhone 4 only
* Seems like limited to 5 devices, but only 3 wi-fi, 3 Bluetooth, and 1 tethered.
V Still need the extra $20/mo tethering plan
* Free on Rogers in Canada
* According to Cult of Mac Facetime will work over 3G if you connect using tethering.
* User Guides available for pre-order as free iBooks.
V iMovie and GarageBand for iPad
V iMovie
* $4.99 iMovie for iOS (Universal), will be updated on March 11
* iMovie for iPhone owners should get the update and it will also work on their iPad 2
* iMovie for iPad is iPad 2 only (Apple PR)
* iMovie projects don't transfer back to desktop (didn't on iPhone either)
V GarageBand
* $4.99 GarageBand for iPad
* iPad only
* Touch based instruments and can connect real instruments via 3rd party adapters
* Projects will transfer back to desktop
* The new GarageBand application for iPad will, be compatible with both first- and second-generation iPad devices, according to Apple engineer Danny Patterson. (source: MacRumors)
V iTunes 10.2 Update
* Support for iOS 4.3
* Sync with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.3.
* Improved Home Sharing.
* Browse and play from your iTunes libraries with Home Sharing on any iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch with iOS 4.3.
V Unannounced features
* option: “Home Sharing computers and devices update play counts.
* color back in preferences icons.
* If Home Sharing is activated in iTunes and you have "Wake for network access” in that Macs Energy Saver preferences its iTunes Library will be visible to other devices on the network even when sleeping. it will also wake when you use home sharing from another device or mac to access its iTunes library.
V Security fixes
* Over 50 updates to Webkit on the Windows side
* Webkit is the engine drives iTunes Store and Safari
V Updates are likely to show up for Safari prior to the CanSecWest 2011 Pwn2Own contest
* Security researcher Charlie Miller will be going for a 4-peat and looks like Apple wants to stop him.
V Apple launches Joint Venture Program
* Premium support program for businesses
V $499/yr for 5 macs, $99/yr for each additional Mac
* Priced for small businesses
V Seems like Pro Care with other benefits
* Mac Set up
* Genius Bar phone support
* Priority Genius Bar Appointments (not stated on Apple's site?)
* Loaner Macs for repairs
* Updates and cleaning your Macs
* 2-hour employee training sessions
* Special group workshops
* Special website to access all the services and schedule seminars, etc.
* Discounts, were rumored, but not mentioned on site
V Rumors DOJ looking at MPEG-LA
* Licensing firm that oversees H.264 licensing for it's members which includes Apple.
* Reportedly the organization is using threats of pending patent infringements lawsuits to pressure companies from using Google's open-source V8 codec
* MPEG-LA has long hinted that Google's technology infringes on several of the patents in the IP patent pool holds on behalf of companies such as Microsoft, Apple, LG, Samsung, Sharp, and Toshiba.
* DOJ hasn't confirmed it's investigating MPEG-LA
V Macbook Pro reviews are coming in
* Press seems to love them.
* Getting huge Geekbench benchmarking scores
V Macworld's testing showed some disappointing GPU results for some models
* Integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 processor were slower or similar to the integrated graphics used in last year’s MacBook Pros.
* The lower end 15" Macbook Pro's Radeon HD 6490M graphics processor performed similarly to the discrete graphics found in last year’s 15-inch models.
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Feedback on iTunes 24-bit audio files
* Play comment from Steve
V Maccast One Minute Tip: Preview and Annotate
* Play One Minute Tip
* Skitch
V Add all Mail emails to Address Book
* Andy has an email with multiple email addresses in it and want to send all of them to a group in Address Book
* Data detectors allow you to send individual addresses to Address Book
* Also can use dropdowns in address fields
V I've used Email Alchemy
* Has an email harvester feature. $29.00 for personal license per year
* Need to then parse through Text Mate to strip quotes and add commas to make CSV
* Then use Abee Importer, free for 1 time use. $10 after
V Recommendations on Macbook Pro Gaming
* Play question from Luther
* Intel HD 3000 performance seems like not much of an improvement over the prior gens NVIDA 320M and in some reviews I've seen it performing worse
* Benchmarks on PCs at low quality settings at 1024 x 768 res for titles like Bioshock, Call of Duty 2, and World of Warcraft in a Core i5 seem to fall in the 30-40 FPS range
V The Macs seems to fair a little better at their native res (1280 X 800) in testing done by BareFeats, bu tnot by much
* They were able to test Starcraft and Portal at higher settings and get 50 to 100 FPS on the dedicated GPUs
* Their WOW nunbers were also good at 92 FPS
* Dedicated GPUs on MacPros with push 350 FPS at full HD resolutions
* The answer probably lies in your gaming expectations and which titles you plan to run.
* You'll probably want at least the 15" 2.2GHz Quad i7 with the AMD Radeon HD 6750M for adequate gaming performance
* Remember that even the AMD Radeons in the new Macbook Pros are considered mid-level gaming GPUs.
V Mobile Me Dot Mac Nightmare
* I was discussing this on the last show and Dwaine confirmed suffering similar issues
* Something forced him to use a .me instead of his .Mac and created trouble with iTunes and Apple discussion forum logins for him.
* I've been trying to transition as much as I can over to .me, but as Dwaine points out if you have both it can get tricky
V AppleCare had them separate until the recent MyApple ID merger
* I think I was able to merge some of the data, but things like my ADC accounts are still off.
V Everyone will eventually need to change iCal to new Cal DAV version
* Apple will turn off the old system on May 5th
* Dwaine has duplicates
V I'm assuming you've already gone through the Mobile Me migration to the new system and it was successful
* You probably have a 'On My Mac' and a 'user @ME.COM' section
V Apple has a support article on this
* If events are being duplicated in iCal, but not when you log into Mobile Me then you need to run a sync and it should clear up
V If they are duplicated both places then:
* Backup your iCal data
* Under the "On My Mac" section, uncheck all calendars.
* Examine iCal and make sure the events and To Dos that you expect to see there are still displayed. If they are not, your data may not have been migrated successfully. And you need to re-do the migration.
* Highlight one of the unchecked calendars under the "On My Mac" section.
* Click Edit and select Delete.
* Confirm that you want to delete the calendar.
* Repeat for each calendar under the "On My Mac" section for each duplicated calendar.
* DO NOT remove calendars under the 'Subscribed' section or the ones under the @ME.COM section
V Smudges under iMac glass
* John points out an 11 page Apple discussion thread with 164 replies on the issue effecting a number of recent iMac models
* Grayish smudges on the back side of the iMac glass
* Seems to be both a design flaw and possible impacted by your environment
V Dust gets behind the glass and sticks
* Glass held on by magnets. Remove with some heavy duty suction cups.
* Combination of a not tight seal and probably how air flows through the iMac. Sucked up from bottom and out the top.
* If your in a dusty environment or a heavy smoker it can accelerate the issue.
* Take to Apple as in some cases it might be an issue with the LCD, but otherwise they can safely remove and clean inside the glass.
V Closing
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
* Circus Ponies
* Smile
* Faronics, Deep Freeze
V Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
V 281-622-4269 or 281-Mac-I-Am-9
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* MacCast Forum
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V New Music
* "Without You" by The Jason Adamo Band
* Jason is a singer/songwriter and lead singer of the band out of Raleigh, NC.
* This single is on iTunes or get the whole album "Transistor" on the bands site
* Buy on iTunes
V EOL: I Have Altered the Deal
* Funny video from Adult Swim. Seems to sum up the relationship between Apple, developers, and now publishers who want to sell subscriptions.