Maccast 10.21.2012 - Show #416
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
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V News
V iPad Mini Event October 23rd
* Official announcements went out last week and journalists and pundits are flocking to San Jose this week.
* The invite said, "We've got a little more to show you".
* The event will happen at the San Jose California Theatre, Tuesday October 23rd at 10:00 AM PDT
* Rumors claim the event will have a strong books, textbooks, and education slant.
V Spec for the new models are predicted as follows:
* 7.85" 1024 x 768 pixel display
* Lightning connector
* Front and rear cameras
* Ultra-thin and light design with reduced bezel from the larger iPads
V While the media has seemed to prefer calling it the iPad Mini that may now end up being the final name.
* Guess have been "7-inch iPad", "iPad mini", "iPad Air". Odd no one has bet on "smaller new iPad" (joking).
V Pricing seems to be in debate and going up
* Originally it was believed that Apple would aggressively price the iPad Mini against the Kinde and Nexus 7 tablets. Starting as low as $199, but most sources seemed to believe a $249 price point.
* That was until last week when we saw reporting price list leaks that seem to indicate a $329 USD staring price for an 16GB Wi-Fi only model
* One thought is that the $249 price may have been for an 8GB model that Apple has since abandoned.
V It's believed Apple will have model in 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB Wi-Fi only along with matching 4G LTE models
* Seems like a lot to me personally. I could see them leave off the expensive 64GB end and have kept the entry 8GB $249 model.
* Wi-Fi models would then be $329, $429, and $529 for 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB respectively. 4G LTE will add $129 USD to the base prices coming in at $459, $559, and $659 for the same sizes.
* Predictions are that pre-orders will begin Friday the 26th of October with units beginning to ship November 2nd. The launch is also expected to be multi-country with at least US and UK being mentioned specifically in the rumors.
* After the iPad Mini begins shipping some sites are reporting that Apple may phase out sales of the $399 16GB model iPad 2.
V iTunes 11 could also finally makes it's appearance
* Apple promised it at the iPhone 5 event saying it would be here in October, so timing makes sense.
V New features include:
* No more sidebar. Drop down gives access to specific views (Music, Movies, TV, etc)
* Expand in place views, think iOS folder-style, show album details
* In the Store recommendations in place, more heavy marking emphasis?
* redesigned Mini Player with 'Next Up' list and search box
* Redesign iTunes store
V iBooks 3 may also debut
* The NextWeb noticed an iBook listing that mentioned requiring iBooks 3
* May also be announced along with an update to iBooks Author
* There were also rumors of iBooks being made available on Apple TV, but that one seems odd to me.
V New new iPad too?
* iMore started reporting in August, and continues to believe, that Apple will release an update to the new iPad.
* iMore has dubbed it the iPad Mark II
* Reportedly a minor update which will add an A6 class, ARM v7s-based, Apple A6 custom system-on-a-chip. LTE support for International markets and a Lightning connector.
* Pricing is expected to remain the same.
V New iMacs and MacBook Pros
V New iMac reportedly has a teardrop thin profile. Thinner at the top and rounded at the bottom
* It been 531 days since he last update
* Leaked images from Chinese blog claim the iMac still has the front "chin"
* Glass is reportedly glued in, like on the retina MBP.
* Not certain it will be a retina screen or not, but site claims the 21” may hit before a redesigned 27"
* They also believe that to make it thinner it will lose the optical drive.
V At least one report believes Apple may also finally sell 8GB RAM modules in their configurations.
* To date you could us 8GB, but from 3rd parties.
* If they keep 4 slots that could mean up to 32GB of RAM
* The thinner design could only allow for 2 slots though
* Believes a late October or early November release and pricing on models is expected to remain the same
V Retina 13" MacBook Pro
* I kept saying "Air" in the last episode, sorry. There is not, as far as I know, currently plans to update the 13" Air with a retina display
V Apple is also expected to finally announce the 13" Retina MacBook Pro
* Source of the iMac leaks claims it's design had been experiencing "thermal" issues which delayed launch
* Like the 15" it's expected to come in 2 configurations.
* Both with a 2,560-by-1,600-pixel display
* According to leaks by at least two separate sources, at least one of the variants may feature a 2.9GHz Core i7-3520 processor.
* A suspected leaked image of the new notebook shows two Thunderbolt ports, two USB 3 ports, an SD card reader, MagSafe 2 connector, and HDMI output.
* Prices are rumored to start at $1,699.00 USD which would put it a full $500 above the current non-retina 13" MacBook Pro
V There is also some speculation that the Mac Minis might see a quiet bump.
* Expect better processors, more RAM configurations, more storage.
* Also possibly USB 3 and loss of Firewire 800 port.
* Also would reportedly have 8GB build to order RAM module option.
* Priced the same $599 and $799 for the two standard models. $999 for a server model.
V Apple announces earnings soon
* Apple will hold it's Q3 2012 earnings call on October 25th
V On the whole for 2012 Apple is doing well vs the PC industry as a whole.
* Apple's calendar year 2012 revenues are up 30 percent year over year, while the broader PC market has dropped 4 percent this year.
* Apple is also getting ready to post September quarter numbers. High end predictions are around 27 million iPhones, 17 million iPads, 4.9 million Macs and 5.7 million iPods with revenue of $36.4 billion in revenue and $8.93 earnings per share.
* On average analyst are expecting around 26.3 million iPhones sold in the 3rd quarter.
V Strong, but lower iPhone sales
* Gene Munster is a little less bullish on iPhone sales
* Munster believes that iPhone 5 sales will be strong, but may have resulted in a year-on-year decline of 35% on non-iPhone 5 sales. Net result. 25 million iPhones sold, but a net year over year quarter decline of 4%
* Still Munster sees 4th quarter end of year phone sales being strong predicting 49 million units sold in that quarter with total predicted revenues of $56.1 billion.
* So just on iPhone sales it looks like Apple will have a killer last quarter and if they can produce iPad Minis fast enough the end of the year numbers could be off the charts.
V Apple extends Seagate iMac hard drive replacement program
* Apple has determined that certain Seagate 1TB hard drives used in 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac systems may fail. These systems were sold between October 2009 and July 2011.
* If you have one of these models there is a page on Apple's site to check if your serial number is one of the effected systems.
* Apple is also reportedly sending emails out to some customers who systems qualify for the replacement.
V If it is you should:
* Do a full backup your system ASAP.
* Get your iMac into an Apple Retail Store, Apple Authorized Repair Center, or contact Apple Technical Support immediately to get a replacement
* The program covers affected iMacs for three years after the first retail sale of the unit or until April 12, 2013, whichever provides longer coverage
V New iPods hit the streets
* The 7th generation iPod Nanos, 5th generation iPod Touch, and new iPod Shuffles started arriving in consumers hands this week.
* Geekbench did tests in the updated A5 processor and it comes in right where you'd expect. Just under the iPhone 4S which has an A5 800MhZ dual core with 512 MB of RAM, same as new iPod.
V The iPod Nano teardown
* Double the battery of the prior generation
* Design is a really tight package with the battery, Lightning connector, volume controls all being on the motherboard.
* The display and LCD digitizer are separate components
* The NAND memory is from Toshiba
* And it has a Broadcom module for the Bluetooth and FM radio features.
V Apple on a acquisition spree
V Earlier in the week it was reported that Apple was acquiring a second company founded by LaLa founder Bill Nguyen
* This time the company was Color Labs. Which is a social video startup that has had luke warm success.
* Early belief was that Apple may be interested in some of the companies video related patents and that it was a multi-million dollar deal.
* Later AllThingsD reported that their sources claim the deal is not a buy out, but that Apple acquired the companies engineering team for between $2 and $5 million dollars
* Color has been reportedly close to shutting down, so this deal would seem to let Apple get the engineering talent while leaving behind the companies IP and name.
* Of course neither Apple nor Color are commenting on any of this.
V Apple also reportedly also acquired the HTML 5 company Particle this week
* Particle was at least partially backed by Justin Timberlake
* Once again after the new broke AllThingsD reported that this too was a partial acquisition of just some of Particle's talent.
* Particle has done work for Apple, Google, Disney, Motorola, Amazon, Yahoo and Sony.
* Apple hasn't commented on the deal which reportedly went through late last month.
* Assumption is the talent will work on Apple's web related technologies like Apple.com, iAds, iCloud.com, and the new iTunes and App Stores.
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V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Follow-up Printed Address Book from Contacts
* Last week we had someone ask about printing a physical Address Book from the contacts app.
* Specifically he was looking for a replacement for Appleworks and I had suggested Bento, Printing from Address Book (limited options), and doing a Mail Merge with Pages
* Scott send a link to a nice app that may also be worth checking out
V Address Book Reports from Scruffyware
* $15 Shareware and seems to have been around for a while
* Was not updated since January 2006, but looks like a new beta was added February 2012 and added Universal Binary support
* I only tested on Lion, so I can't say if it works with Mountain Lion
V Does a great job printing a physical Address Book.
* Multiple columns
* Control font and size
* Add section labels
* Select which phone numbers, addresses, email, notes, etc to include
* Also supports printing Cards, Envelopes, and Labels
* Generates a PDF that can be saved or printed.
V Contact Groups in iOS 6
* Play question from Blake.
* The issue is that Apple significantly changed how you view groups in the Contacts app in iOS 6
V Before you would have a Group and then navigate into that Group to see just a list of those contacts in that group.
* Once inside a group you could tap the "+" button to add a new Contact to that group
V In iOS 6 Groups are now merged into a single view and you toggle which groups are active in the current view.
* Tap the 'Groups' button and you'll see your various accounts (like iCloud) with the groups you have set up listed with checkboxes next to the groups who's contacts are actively being displayed
* There is an 'All' button which can toggle all the groups for an account. You can also toggle on individual groups by tapping the name.
* A 'Hide/Show All' button at the top lets you toggle the checkmarks for all accounts
V To set the view to just one group
* Tap the Groups button
* Tap the 'Hide All Contacts' button
* Tap the single group you'd like to view
* Tap Done
* Once you are viewing a single group, tapping the "+" button and adding a new Contact will add it to that group like before.
* The new process is a bit cumbersome, but you can achieve the same result as before.
* Interestingly, it seems that if you have more than one group visible, but not the 'All' group, adding a new contact will add it to the group that is highest alphabetically.
* The one advantage of the new system is that it does allow you to see specific groups merged together, so you can mix and match as needed. Still I think I prefer the old way since in the new method switching group view takes a lot of tapping.
V Hacking iTunes print font
* Bill is a musician and uses iTunes and Playlists to create and print out his Bands set lists.
* The trouble is the default font size on the song list is 9pt and there really isn't any way to change the font or size
V Some of you might not be aware of some of iTunes special 'Print' options.
* Select a group of songs, an album, or a playlist in iTunes
* Go to File > Print…
V You'll notice 3 choices, 'CD jewel case insert', Song list, or Album list
* Changing these gives additional options for each type
* The jewel case for example let's you do text only, or mosaics with album covers, etc.
* Song list will let you prints, songs, user ratings, play dates, or custom (shows columns you have visible in iTunes)
V The only way I could find to adjust the font was to hack iTunes. I don't recommend it, but if you must here is how.
* This procedure is based on some info I found in a MacRumors forum thread
* I will tell you that hacking iTunes in this way could have undesired consequences, so back up and proceed at your own risk.
* 1) If iTunes is open quit it
* 2) In the Finder got to the Applications folder, right click on iTunes and choose 'Show Package Contents'
* 3) Navigate to Contents > Resources and locate the English.lproj folder.
* 4) Select that folder and from the Finder menu choose File > Get Info… (Command+I)
* 5) In the Info dialog find and expand the Sharing & Permissions. Click the 'lock' icon and enter your Admin username and password.
* 6) Change the privilege for the 'Everyone' group to 'Read & Write'. Close the Info window
* 7) Back in the Finder, inside the English.lproj folder locate the TextStyles.plist file.
* 8) Select the TextStyles.plist file and and from the Finder menu choose File > Get Info… (Command+I)
* 9) In the Info dialog find and expand the Sharing & Permissions. Click the 'lock' icon and enter your Admin username and password.
* 10) Change the privilege for the 'Everyone' group to 'Read & Write'. Close the Info window
* 11) Right-click on the TextStyles.plist file and choose 'Open With' > 'Other…'. In the 'Choose Application' window find and select 'Text Edit' and click Open
* 12) Inside Text Edit you should see the contents of the PLIST file (XML). Scroll down and find the <key> entry numbered 9100. The <string> item will say "Printing Body".
* 13) Change the number between the <integer></integer> tags from '9' to the desired new font size. For example 14, for 14 point.
* 14) Save the file. Note this will change the ownership and permissions of the file and this could cause unexpected issues with iTunes in the future.
* 15) Quit TextEdit and relaunch iTunes.
* Now when you go to print the Song List it should be using the new larger font.
V Manually manage iOS device media
* Play question from Phil
V Well I'm "new skool" and now use iTunes Match, so it had been a while since I've set up manually managing Music, but I tried it and here is how it worked for me:
* 1) In iTunes, selected the device from the device list on the left
* 2) Went to the 'Summary' tab
* 3) Checked on the Manual Manage Music and Videos option and clicked sync.
* 4) Once sync'd I could expand the sections of my iPhone and select tracks and hit delete to remove them and then drag tracks from my library on to the device to add them.
* This seems to be how it worked before, but you mention that that isn't working for you. I tested on my iPhone 5, so it's possible it's an iPhone 4 bug?
V If that doesn't work it seems there is a second way to manually manage your device that might work better. Try this:
* 1) In iTunes, selected the device from the device list on the left
* 2) Go to the Music tab and check on 'Sync Music'
* 3) Set the option to 'Selected playlists, albums, artists, and genres'
* 4) Don't check any Playlists, Albums, Artists, or Genres, but scroll all the way to the bottom of that pane
* 5) Note the 'Manually Added Songs' section. There is a note that says, "Add songs by dragging them from your library to your iPhone".
* 6) Drag songs from the Library to the iPhone and you should see them sync over and show up in this section at the bottom of the Music pane.
* 7) To remove songs from the device you can select them here and click the 'Remove' button.
V I will also just give a plug for iTunes Match. I really like the service as I can always have access to all my music from any Mac or device and I don;t have to worry at all about syncing.
* Granted I'm grandfathered in on my unlimited data plan, but it does have the option to turn off downloading or streaming over cellular
V Mail, stop mark as read in preview pane
* Richy points out a little frustration with Mail that I've had for a while now.
* If you use the 'preview' pane when you select a message the message gets marked as read after a second or two and there is now way to control the time or the behavior.
* The really annoying thing is that when you are deleting or archiving messages the selection will jump to the next message automatically marking it as read whether you wanted it to or not.
V My workaround has been to just collapse the preview pane and not use it
* Double click the dividing area between the message list and the preview pane to collapse it.
* When collapsed you'll see a handle on the right edge of the Message Viewer Window that you can grab or double click to reopen the preview pane.
* This has the added benefit of not automatically alerting spam messages that get through your filters that you've opened and read the messages. basically validating your email address.
* The disadvantage is that when i want to read a message I have to double click to opt-in it in it's own window
V But Richy fond an even more elegant solution. A Mail add-on called 'TruePreview'
* It lets you control the specific behavior of when messages in the preview pane get marked as read
* Immediately, Never, or after a specified number of seconds
* You can also set the marked as read based on event triggers like replying, forwarding, viewing in a separate window, or scrolling to clicking in the preview pane.
* Plus, you can set all these setting on a per account basis.
* And the app is Donationware. If you use it and like it consider contributing some money to the developer.
V iPhone 5 and Power PC a no go
* Play comment from Steve
* I wish I had a better solution, but at this point I think Apple has put the writing on the wall
* If you want to use their latest devices you are going to have to upgrade your hardware to Intel systems
* The last PowerPC Power Mac G5 was made in August of 2006, so after 6 years Apple is saying it's time to move on
* I agree it's frustrating and annoying, but sadly it's the state of technology I guess.
* You could try submitting a request at apple.com/feedback or emailing tcook@apple.com but my guess is it won't get you iPhone 5 support for PowerPC systems.
V Closing
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