Maccast 09.23.2013 - Show #462
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is "Say Anything" by Manda and the Marbles
V Sponsor: Smile
V TextExpander
* You really should just own everything they make
V I couldn't live without TextExpander
* Anytime I find myself writing the same thing more than once, it goes into a Textexpander
* One cool trick is to set up snippets that are set up to correction common typos. For some reason I always transpose the 'o' and 'a' when I type 'download' so I set up a snippet with the incorrect version and it auto corrects to the right one.
* Plus now TextExpander Touch has gone 2.0 and it has support for fill-ins, too.
* You can sync your snippets from your Mac and Text Expander Touch has Dropbox support
* Also, TextExpander Touch is integrated into over 160 supported iOS apps, so you can use your snippets right inside the supported apps.
* If you're not using TextExpander you really need to try it out.
* Free trials of the Mac apps are available on the website and while you're there checkout PDFPen and Disc Label too.
V News
V iPhone 5s and 5c are here
V Launch day came and went and Apple sold a gazillion, well technically 9 million, iPhones in the launches
* They are not being 100% clear, but most assume this is in store and online worldwide orders taken since the iPhone 5c went on pre-sale on September 13th.
* Still a record for Apple, but it's hard to compare because they have two new models this time around.
* Once source says the iPhone 5s activations out did the iPhone 5c by more than ~3.5 to 1.
* So if those numbers are true the iPhone 5s probably just slightly out did the 6 million iPhone 5's Apple sold at launch last year at about 6.5 million with the iPhone 5c bringing in another 2.5 million in unit sales
* They also reported that 200 million devices have been upgraded to iOS 7. That's ahead of the iOS 6 adoption rate.
V There were long lines worldwide and quick sellouts online
* Lines in some location might not have seemed as long as for the iPhone 5 launch
* Most seemed lined up for the iPhone 5s
* Gold was in extremely low supply at all locations. As predicted carrier stores seems to have no gold models. Apple retail stores very few.
* The Wall Street Journal said Apple's suppliers were ordered to increase production of gold models by 33% after launch day.
V Online orders moved quickly from 1-3 day to ship time to a 7-10 day. Gold models quickly dropped back to 'October' ship times
* 'Deliver by' dates started at September 27th to October 2nd.
* Many have already received shipping confirmations with delivery dates as soon as September 25th, so Apple might be beating the expectations.
V In China, some carriers like China Unicom, are fully subsidizing the iPhone 5s and 5c
* Makes the effective up front price "free", but buyers are hit with high monthly costs and contracts that last 30 or 36 months.
* Still, it's a solution that makes the iPhone approachable for some buyers.
* Other carriers are also reportedly offering large subsides to make the iPhone's more attractive to Chinese consumers.
V China Mobile has reportedly begun readying advertising materials for 3G variants of Apple's iPhone 5s and 5c. The two have not officially announced any deal.
* 4G TD-LTE has been approved by the China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, but the Chinese government has yet to issue 4G operating licenses to carriers.
V The iPhone 5s has a dual-core 1.3GHz CPU with 1GB of RAM
* Specwise below the quad and even eight core CPUs some of the competition is using
* But Anandtech found that once again your datasheet doesn't equal performance.
* The A7 came out on top in performance for current smartphones and in browser tests by a wide margin
* It also beat, in some cases, tablet CPUs, like Intel's just announced Bay Trail SoC.
* It smokes the competition on javascript browser benchmarks.
V The GPU is believed to be a variant of the PowerVR G6430 (Rogue). iPhone is the first to have it.
* GPU seems to perform at the same levels or better than some of the best phones currently on the market depending on the situation.
* Chipworks confirmed that the A7 is made by Samsung.
V iFixit had a hard time locating the M7 co-processor, but Chipworks found it.
* It was buried beneath a neoprene-looking cover
* It's a NXP LPC18A1. Part of the LPC1800 series which are high-performing Cortx-M3 based microcontrollers.
V There is an iOS 7.0.1 update for iPhone 5s and 5c
* Apple just says the update contains "bug fixes and improvements."
* Some reports not it addresses a TouchID issue.
V Android Authority was quick out with the 5s and 5c drop tests
* The video was online before US stores even opened for sales
* The 5s faired better than the 5c which failed the face drop test
* The 5c case came out virtually unscathed.
* It was only one phone each and three drops, so take it with a grain of salt.
* SquareTrade also did there tests and the iPhone 5s survived a corner drop where the iPhone 5c's screen cracked. Both survived a dunk test.
V Apple executives surprised some fans at Apple Stores on launch day
* Tim Cook was at the Palo Alto store.
* Eddie Cue, Phil Schiller were at the new Stanford Store and reportedly later joined by Tim Cook and Katie Cotton, Apple's VP of Worldwide Corporate Communications
V If you're still looking to get an iPhone 5s or 5c you can now check inventory online. Just select your options and then on the left you can select the 'Available for Pickup' option.
* Enter your zip code and it will show which stores have availability.
* Not sure if this option is available outside the US, didn't see it on the UK site.
V iPhone and iOS security concerns
V It didn't take long, but hackers figured out how to use a lifted fingerprint to fool TouchID
* Need a good source print (from the correct finger) and scanned at 2400 dpi and cleaned up.
* Printed back out in reverse at 1200 dpi on a transparency file with a laser printer using a special "thick toner" setting
* Create a "fake" rolling out a thin layer of wood glue.
* After drying, peel off the dummy and "attach" it to a real finger with theater glue (spirit gum).
* This technique has been used to bypass many other biometric sensors on the market. In the case of TouchID it requires higher resolution than other "hacks", so I assume you need a really clean good source print which would be harder, but not impossible, to come by.
* Any physical security system can be attacked physically.
* As Gruber points out, your fingerprint is still harder to hack than a 4-digit PIN number.
* As always with security there is a convenience vs. security level trade off.
V Wired also ran a piece noting that unlike with a memorized passcode, with a fingerprint you may not be able to, "plead the fifth" if authorities want access to your device in an investigation.
* Has to do with a physical form of access (key, fingerprint, etc) vs. something in your mind (safe combination, passcode).
* If you're concerned about security using a long passcode lock is probably your best bet.
* There was a $16,000+ prize being assembled for the first person to hack TouchID and this guy won. Too bad the main $10,000 pledger backed out after the hack was determined to be successful. What a slime ball.
V Access photos from lock screen
* Swiping upwards on the lock screen to access the Control Center and open the Clock app.
* With the clock app is open, hold down the sleep button until the "Slide to Power Off" option to appears.
* Tap cancel and before it closes fully, double click on the home button.
* If you got the timing right you should now see the app switching view and if the Camera app was opened you'd have access to it, any photos in the camera roll, and the sharing options. the later two are not normally available from the lock screen version of the Camera app.
* You'd also see other open background apps, but they don't seem to be accessible.
* All Things D confirmed Apple is already working on a fix.
V TMO's Bryan Chaffin pointed out how to protect yourself until Apple issues a fix by disabling Control Center access on your lock screen.
* Go to Settings > Control Center.
* Set "Access on Lock Screen" to off.
* Removes a convenience, but adds a protection. What did I just say about that convenience vs. security trade off?
V Another hack for making calls without unlock reported
* Supposedly if you access the 'Emergency call' screen from the lock screen and enter a real number then repeatedly press the call button it will make a call.
* I couldn't repeat this one on my iPhone 5s running 7.0.1, but could on an iPhone 5 running 7.0
V Apple TV 6.0 out and pulled
* The update included iTunes Radio, AirPlay from iCloud, iCloud Photos and Videos (replacing Photo Stream), iTunes Music Store, and conference room mode.
* There are reports that after releasing the update for Apple TV on Friday Apple has pulled it.
* Reports of the update "bricking" some Apple TV or having wi-fi issues that require a full restore to fix.
* I was able to update my Apple TV to 6.0 without a hitch last night, but I was required to connect to iTunes to get the update (I was previously running the Beta).
* Tonight (Monday) a new version is up. Still labeled Apple TV Software 6.0, the build number is 11A502. 11A470e was the pulled version.
* You can update by going to software update in the Apple TV Settings menu.
V Rumors for next Apple Event
* Predictions of next event happening Tuesday October 15th
* New iPad (5th generation), new iPad Mini, possibly new Macs (assume Mac Pro launch date and maybe Haswell Macbook Pros , iMacs?, and updated Mac mini?), OS X Mavericks, and possibly an update to Apple TV hardware.
V iPad 5th gen should get the styling of the current iPad mini.
* New Space Grey color
* No word on Gold.
* iPad mini will finally get a Retina display.
V Rumors that both iPads might get TouchID fingerprint scanner home buttons. (source: DigiTimes)
* Also claims Apple want to move from Gorilla glass to sapphire, but cost is a huge issue
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Download legacy versions of Apps
* Apple made a change after last weeks show that should, in most cases, address my concerns about apps on devices that don;t support iOS 7
* iOS App Store is now allowing users of older versions of iOS to download specific legacy versions of apps.
* But, the developer gets to decide if they want to have those versions available, so i would still recommend archiving (not just backing up) the .ipa files in your Music > iTunes > iTunes Media > Mobile Applications folder.
V StraightTalk also uses T-Mobile
* Play comment from Aaron
* I was obviously unaware of this fact. I had heard from multiple sources that they used AT&T's network.
* I tested StraightTalk last year in my area and it was using AT&T from what I could tell, but I guess some regions will be T-Mobile.
r
* So, please check the service and coverage maps for your area before you move services.
* Aaron I hope your processes of switching back goes smoothly.
V Launch Day experiences
V Talk about my experience
* Overnight wait
* Availability issue
* Upgrade swapping in store
* Setup at home and 'extra' SIM
* Play interview with Don
* Play Interview with George
V My unboxing video and photos are online
V My few days with the 5s
V TouchID setup and use
* On third missed attempt forced to use passcode
* Keep forgetting to use TouchID
V Only offers five slots, one for each finger on one hand
* hack was discovered that when you first set one finger up you can scan all your fingers in sequence to set up five fingers in one slot. (source: iMore)
V Camera and slow-motion video
V Love slow motion, but stores raw Export issues
* Need to email or send to yourself. Loses full 720 x 1280 resolution. Becomes 320 x 568.
* If you iMessage it to yourself you get the raw on an iPhone 5s
* Can import to iMovie, but again comes as raw 120fps (gets a 120 badge in clip) You can use slow-mo in iMove to recreate the effect.
V Send to iCloud, make public, and download rendered version in browser
* Open Photos, go to the Shared tab
* Go to the stream with the video you want in it.
* Click on the People tab
* Turn on 'Public Website'
* Tap 'Share Link' and email the link to yourself.
* Go to your Mac, open the email and click the link
* Click on the video
* Click the 'Download' link at the top, to get the full res rendered video.
* You can now turn off the public sharing from Photos on your device if you want.
* Video zoom is really good in standard mode, but bad in slow-motion mode
* Unsure about the 'true tone' flash.
V Speed
V Swiping, scrolling, app launching felt faster to me, but was just new iPhone syndrome.
* I did some tests against my iPhone 5 and they were the same
* iPhoto image processing for some more complex effects was faster.
* Speed test benchmarks show great things for the iPhone 5s
* iOS 7 animations actually have the effect of making some things, like unlocking the phone and launching apps, feel slower than they actually are.
V More iOS related, but I love iTunes Radio
* Definitely has a Pandora feel and stations can get repetitive.
V I like that you can tweak the stations, to be more 'hits' vs. 'discovery'
* Hit the "i" button on your station and tweak it.
* For me having it be ad free, thanks to my iTunes Match subscription, helps put it over the edge from Pandora. I have not really used Spotify.
* Apple reports getting 11 million people using iTunes Radio already.
V iTunes 11.1, Podcasts, and Podcast app
* Brought some welcome features like iOS 7 compatibility, iTunes Radio, Genius Shuffle, but…
* Many of you have come to discover that in iTunes 11.1 the Podcast section has changed in extreme ways and many of you don't like it.
* It now works exactly like the Podcast App for iOS and syncs podcasts via the iTunes Store and your iTunes Store Apple ID (not your iCloud Apple ID, if it's different).
V Many users found that old shows downloaded in the past were deleted. I didn't have that experience
* One tip I read is that if you have a big collection of Podcasts you want to keep. Change the Media Kind
* Get info on the Episode and go to the 'options' tab
* They recommend Audiobook fro Spoken shows and Music for Music.
* It will move the show to that section of iTunes.
* Beware it will also likely re-download the episode in podcasts, but you can delete it.
* My wife and I share an iTunes Apple ID for purchases, so our Podcast subscriptions were merged.
V You can turn off Podcast subscription and settings syncing.
* On the device: Settings > Podcasts > Sync Subscriptions, toggle to OFF
* In iTunes: iTunes > Preferences > Store. Uncheck 'Sync podcast subscriptions and settings'
* Once disconnected from syncing your iTunes podcast or iOS device podcasts will operate completely independent from each other. Changes in one will not impact the other.
V To me the 'Podcast' settings under the Device, no appear to not do anything although they are still there.
* Am I missing something?
V Protected feeds, like Maccast Members, still don't sync.
* You can subscribe directly on the Podcast app, by including the username and password in the feed URL and entering it into the search field in the app.
* If you need instructions email me.
V Also, in iTunes the 'List' view now only shows 'All' episodes available in the feed. You can't delete or remove items from this view. There is a 'cloud' download icon for non-downloaded episodes
* In the 'My Podcasts' view you can delete items
* To see older episodes in the feed in this view, click the 'Old Episodes' button at the top of the view.
* If you don't like/want the list view you can go to iTunes > Preferences > General and uncheck the 'Show lit view for all media' option. Keep in mind this means you will not have list views for ANY of your media. Podcasts and others, like Music and Movies, included.
V Closing
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
* Smile
V Transporter by Connected Data
* Get the benefits of the cloud, but with control and security privacy of a physical hard drive or NAS
* Get 10% off your own personal cloud by using the code 'maccast'
V Gazelle
* Gazelle. The fast and simple way to sell your used gadgets! Find out what your used iPhone, iPad and other Apple products are worth at Gazelle.com.
V Squarespace
* The all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website or online portfolio. For a free trial and 20% off (this month only), go to squarespace.com and use offer code 'maccast9'.
V Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
V 281-622-4269 or 281-Mac-I-Am-9
* PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
* MacCast Forum
* Follow me on Twitter
* Checkout the page on Facebook