Maccast 08.26.2012 - Show #408
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
V Sponsor
V Circus Ponies
* iTrash
V Put the trash back on the Desktop and in a fixed place
* You can actually place iTrash's icon anywhere on the desktop
* Helps with muscle memory as it's not moving around like it does in the Dock
* Can set it to always be on top if you'd like
V 20 animated trash icons and characters
* Black Hole and Classic are my favorites
* Also has sounds making it a bit more fun.
* Brings back some of the customizing fun we had back in the OS 8 and 9 days
V More ways to empty
* Gives easier access to Secure empty
* You can force empty the trash
* Easily and quickly eject volumes
V News
V AT&T requires shared data plan for Facetime 3G
* AT&T said it will support iOS 6's Facetime over cellular features, but only for customers who sign up for the generally more expensive shared data plans.
* Consumer groups are claiming the policy runs afoul of Net neutrality laws, but At&T claims that since FaceTime "built-in" to the device they are within their rights to limit it.
* They are using the same defense they always use saying the decision it to protect the overall experience of all their customers from the few high data use customers.
V September iPhone 5 launch imminent
* Both AT&T and Verizon now appear to have employee vacation blackouts from September 21st to the 30th
V Features
* LTE, likely enabled by new chips from Qualcomm. Allows for better power usage and support for more global frequencies
* Processor, at least an A5X dual-core like the new iPad, but possibly a quad-core A6
* Screen, 16:9 taller 1136 x 640 pixel 3.99" display using in-cell touch technology to marry the LCD and touch capacitors into a single unit. Allows the new iPhone to be thinner
* New "micro" dock connector. 8 to 19 pins depending on who you ask. How many will depend on if it's one or two sided. May also be orientation free which will be nice.
* Headphone jack on the bottom. Annoying, but may be moot point with low powered Bluetooth 4 A2DP headphones.
* Camera, haven't heard much here. May up the MP and sensor, but may not have to.
* Nano SIM. Apple helped push through the new 4FF "nano" SIM standard in the EU, so it seems like they would want to use it. That said some of the leaked images make it seem like the next iPhone may still use the current micro SIM technology.
* You would think they would have a larger battery, especially if they will support LTE, but early indications is that the battery might only be slightly larger. They may make up power in other ways, like the in-cell display and with software tweaks.
* I still hate the rumored 2-tone back design. Still better to have less glass to break.
V Two product announcement events likely
* There is mounting evidence that the iPhone 5 and iPad Mini announcements will be separate events just weeks apart
V The Loop and Daring Fireball seem to agree
* John Gruber said the event would be in the 1st or second week of October and Jim Dalrymple seemed to agree
* All Things D also confirmed an October iPad mini event
V iPad Mini and new Nano Event
* 7.85" iPad Mini, likely the final name, although Gruber has thrown around iPad Air
V The iPad Mini
* Cases show hole for rear camera
* Also a small hole in the top center which may be for an externally facing mic.
* Interestingly some iPhone 5 designs also show a small "mic" hole between the camera lens and LED flash.
* Macotakara, seems to think Mini and say that the iPod nano might get wi-fi support. Would also mean it support iCloud, AirPlay, and could work with Music Match.
* Early rumors say the nano will return to the taller form factor, larger screen, and may even have a physical "home" button.
V A new iPod Touch that takes cues from the new iPhone may also be announced at the event. Mainly it is said to incorporate the taller screen, and I assume in-cell technology
* Also possibly adding an LED flash
* Better built-in speakers? Case designs show an odd hole cut out in lower corner on the back case
V Still hoping for an Apple branded TV. You may wait a while;
* Eddy Cue, Apple SVP of Internet Software and Services, recently was cited as explaining the reasons
* Apple only enters markets where they can create create great customer experiences and address key problems.
* They can fix TVs from a UI, hardware, and experience perspective, but they can't impact the consumption issue
* They can't break the forced bundling of pay TV content because it's all but impossible to acquire the content rights needed outside a traditional broadcast model.
* That's why I still think Apple has plans to disrupt that model in some way.
V Mountain Lion 10.8.1 update
V According to Apple the update:
* Resolves an issue that may cause Migration Assistant to unexpectedly quit
* Improve compatibility when connecting to a Microsoft Exchange server in Mail
* Address an issue playing audio through a Thunderbolt display
* Resolve an issue that could prevent iMessages from being sent
* Address an issue that could cause the system to become unresponsive when using Pinyin input
* Resolve an issue when connecting to SMB servers with long names
* Address a issue that may prevent Safari from launching when using a Proxy Automatic Configuration (PAC) file
* Improve 802.1X authentication with Active Directory credentials.
* The update was delivered through the App Store's update tab. In my case was very small (around 24MB) and quick to install. You can also get it from Apple's support site.
* They didn't mention addressing some notebook battery issues, but many sites mention slight improvements
V TMO did some extensive battery life tests to see if it addressed some of the loss sin battery life complaints, but they fond 10.8.1 only slightly restored battery times to normal.
* They estimate that 10.8 and 10.8.1 brought a 16 to 33% reduction in battery life over Lion
* That said theMacs are still within Apple's stated 5-7 hour battery life spec, though just about the 5 hour end.
V Apple has already seeded betas of 10.8.2 to developers
* Developers are being asked to test Messages, Facebook, Game Center, Safari, and Reminders
V The Apple v Samsung verdict
* As much as I personally don't like doing lawsuit coverage I think this one was unavoidable
* Apple pretty much won the case hands down
* Apple won on most of it's claims of patent infringement for utility patents, design patents, and trade dress on Smartphones. Interestingly Apple did not win it's infringement claims against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
* On the Smartphone side not all phones cited were found to be infringing either, but enough to strike a big blow to Samsung
* They were awarded a $1.05 billion dollar settlement which could triple according to reports.
* I get the laws and I understands Apple's right and duty to go after Samsung, but not that it's all said and done I'm not sure that business or the consumer are going to be better off.
V Cook said it's about values and not wanting Apple to be the designer for the world.
* I think Apple believe that and I think that Samsung was egregious in some of the copying.
* But I also believe it was also about licensing for Apple and adding teeth to the patents so that other companies will be more will to license that fight.
* So now there will be appeals and Apple will file for injunctions and ultimately what will likely happen is Samsung will finally do what they should have in the first place and enter a licensing agreement with Apple.
* But what it perpetuates I think is this patent and IP land grab which I'm not convinced it going to do much for innovation.
V But as Mike Elgan so aptly points out, don't be mad at Apple or Samsung be mad at the system.
* In some ways Apple plays this game because they are forced to play this game
* If Apple didn't patent this stuff and aggressively protect it then they could get sued by a competitor who does play the game.
* This is what the system has become, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.
* Take a look at Kirby Ferguson's, "Everything is a Remix" series
V Apple has made a history of copying and innovating based on others designs.
* Xerox PARC had the ideas for the GUI and desktop
* Steve Jobs took inspiration for round rectangles in the original Mac OS from street signs
* Star Trek had PADDs long before we had an iPad
* So are we really making things better and more innovative by closing up the opportunities to remix ideas and designs into new things?
* Seems like a lot time time, energy, money, and resources wasted in legal battles when they could be out remixing the next great idea.
V 13-inch Retina Displays reportedly in production
* Richard Shim, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, claims supply chain checks show Apple is in production of 13" retina Macbook Pro displays
* The displays are reportedly being produced by all three Apple suppliers LG, Samsung, and Sharp and supposedly the initial orders are expected to exceed the initial numbers Apple ordered for the 15" Retina Macbook Pros seeming to indicate Apple is expecting high initial demand.
* The display is 2560-by-1600 exactly double the resolution of the current 1,280-by-800 pixel 13" Macbook Pro displays
* The speculation is that Apple would update the 13" Macbook Pro with the new models sometime in the Fall, likely sometime in September, possibly October.
* My guess is that with two major announcement around the same time that the 13" retina Macbook pro might just see a soft launch with an update and press release on Apple's website.
V Sponsor
V Smile
* Let's just come right out and say it, "PDFPen is awesome"
* If you want to go Paperless it's a must have.
* Markup and edit PDFs. Add annotations. Add images and signatures.
* Maccast listener Jerry bought PDFPen and discovered that unlike Preview, it handles selecting columns in a multicolumn document correctly.
* I recently used it to convert a clients form into a true PDF form.
V And there is PDFPen for iPad.
* iCloud integration with OS X, including Lion
* Add signatures to documents on the go.
* Free trial of the Mac version is on the site and PDFPen for iPad is just $14.99 on the App Store
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Selling a machine upgraded to Lion
* So now that OS X upgrades are sold exclusively as downloads Greg wonders what happens when you go to sell the Mac
V From the research i was able to do it seems Apple's policy on OS and licenses is clear
* The OS that came with the Mac is licensed to the Mac
* OSes purchased on the AppStore are licensed to the individual (Apple ID)
* So if Lion came pre-installed on your machine and you wipe the drive and re-install Lion (from Internet Recovery) or a USB disk. Then it transfers to the new owner, Pre-installed copies don;t require and AppleID or authentication to install.
* If you upgraded to Lion or Mountain Lion from Sonow Leopard then you would use the original Snow Leopard disks that came with the machine to re-install the original OS and then sell the disk along with the Machine.
* If you're really cool you could knock $20 buck of the sale price of a machine and tell them to upgrade to Mountain Lion, or throw in a $20 App Store gift card.
* iLife is a but tricker. It comes with new Mac, but it is still software that is licensed to the Apple ID you use when you set up the App Store and register the Mac. That is licensed to the user, not the machine.
V Time Machine Local Snapshots
V Bryan send me an email with an interesting dilemma. He was checking is disk usage in the Finder, Disk Utility, and the Get Info window and noticed a significant discrepancy
* Disk Utility was reporting he was using 126.47 GB of disk space, but the Finder's Get info window claimed he was only using 70.84 GB
* So why did Disk Utility think he was using 55.63 GB more than the Finder did?
* The answer was because he was using up 56 more GBs, but just didn't know it.
* And it was actually Time Machine, or more correctly a feature of Time Machine, that was using up the extra disk space.
* In Time Machine in Lion Apple added a feature called "local snapshots" that comes into play on portables.
V Local snapshots come into play if you have Time Machine enabled and are disconnected from your Time Machine drive
* In those cases Time Machine will use a local snapshot to store Time Machine data
* They are created in /Volumes/MobileBackups
* Just like regular TimeMachine backups they are created hourly
* They are only created if you have at least 20% free disk space
* If your disk gets 80% full or more Time Machine will start deleting the oldest local snapshots
* Local snapshots are also reduced to 1 per day after 24 hours and deleted after a week
* When you enter Time Machine you'll be able to identify local snapshots because their tick-marks in the timeline will be grey instead of pink
V To see if you have local snapshots and how much data they are using
* If you look at the Time Machine preferences pane when enabled (System Preferences > Time Machine), you'll see that in Lion or later it says "Time Machine keeps local backups as space permits"
* You can also use the Storage display. Apple Menu > About This Mac, click More Info… and then click the 'Storage' tab. Find your main HD and look at the 'Backups' value. (remember this is only on notebooks).
V You can also check the comparison of the available space in the Finder's Get Info window vs. the value you see in Disk utility
* The Finder's Get Info window ignores the Backup data and shows it was available space since if you need the space the Time Machine data will be removed.
V Now, if you don't like the idea of Time machine using local storage at all you can issue a command in the Terminal to disable the feature:
* Launch the Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal) and issue the command 'sudo tmutil disablelocal'. You'll need to enter your Admin credentials
* To turn it back on use the command 'sudo tmutil enablelocal'
* To force a local snapshot you can issue the command 'tmutil snapshot'
* If you disable the local snapshot feature you can verify it's off by going to the Time Machine preferences pane. If it's off you'll no longer see the "Time Machine keeps local backups as space permits" text.
V Interestingly in Bryan's case he had never even enabled Time Machine on his Mac, yet it had local storage files. He thinks it may have been a bug introduced with the 10.8.1 update
* I checked my Macbook Air though and I didn't see that issue
* Maybe the local backups were just old and had been there from a time when Time Machine WAS enabled on Bryan's laptop.
V Be your own cloud media service
* Follow-up on sharing media on a LAN.
V Play comment from Ron
V AirVideo
* Cool because it can do on the fly video format conversions.
* Blinq photo
* Audiogalaxy
V These services all install a little app onto your Mac that runs in the background
* The basic reason is so that it can act as a directory service so that the app on your iOS device can find it's way back to your Mac.
* Some offer the ability to also upload data to the services servers
* I'll also second the recommendation for iTunes Music Match
V Setting up DHCP reservations
* Here is a little trick I learned and covered on Maccast Member episode 61
* Your router at home is in most cases set up to provide dynamic IP addresses to the various Macs and devices that connect to it. If you have mobile devices (and even for some non mobile ones) that can mean each time it connects to the network it gets a new address
* Normally this isn't all all an issue, but in some cases things can get confused and if you have devices that somehow get assigned the same IP you can get conflicts.
* Luckily Macs and iOS devices and your Airport base station can set up DHCP reservations assuring that a device always gets the same IP address
V To set it up you first need to assign a DHCP Client ID or get the MAC address from each device you want to create a reservation for.
V DHCP Client ID
V On Mac, System Preferences-->Network-->choose interface (Ethernet, AirPort, etc.)
* Click the 'Advanced…' button
* When set to 'Configure Using DHCP' in the TCP/IP tab there is a box for DHCP Client ID
* Set the ID to whatever you want, but remember it for later.
V On iOS
* Settings-->General-->Network-->Select the network
* Under 'DHCP' add a 'Client ID'
V MAC Address
V Media Access Control address.
* A number consisting of six groups of two hexadecimal digits separated by a colons
* For ANY network device, or more specifically interface. Not just an Apple thing.
V On the Mac
* System Preferences-->Network-->Select the Interface
* Click the 'Advanced…' button
* Click the 'Hardware' tab
* Note the MAC Address
* Can also find it in the System Profiler under 'Network'-->'Locations' and looking for the 'MAC Address' value for each interface.
V On iOS
* Settings-->General-->About
* Note the 'Wi-Fi Address'
V Make the reservation
V Specific instructions will vary slightly based on your network setting and router
* I use an AirPort extreme and private IPS in the 10.0.0.0 range. 192.168.0.0 and 172.16.0.0 are also possible
V In the Airport Utility
* Select the Airport and click the "Edit" button
* Select the 'Network' tab locate the DHCP reservations section
V Section for DHCP Reservations
* Click the "+" button
* In the 'Description' enter anything you'd like to remember the reservation
* Reserve by, choose MAC Address or DHCP Client ID
* Then enter the MAC Address or Client ID depending
* Set the desired IP address (it will auto pick the next available in the range).
* Click 'Done' and then Update to reset the Airport
* You may need to reset the device or renew the DHCP lease for it to take effect on the client.
* From this point forward on your network it should always assign that IP address to that device.
V Closing
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