Maccast 2016.01.08 - Show #555
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V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
V Sponsor
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V News
V Dubious claims of 256GB iPhone
* Citing typical "supply chain" sources we have a claim that the next iPhone could come with a 256GB storage option, at least on the Plus
V Comes from a Chinese site, Mydrivers.
* They have in the past claimed the original iPad mini update would be as thin as an iPad 2 and have a Sharp IGZO display
V They also seem to believe that Apple will increase the iPhone 7 Plus battery up 12 percent to a whopping 3100 mAh battery
* Last update Apple actually reduced the battery size to save thickness and weight
* The battery stayed the same because of the more efficient A9 processor
V Recent rumors of a new "composite" material for the case that could remove antenna lines
* Also said it will be waterproof
V Display will likely still be TFT-IPS and not OLED
* Apple supposedly sealing contracts with their display providers for OLED but not expected in devices before 2018
* The new displays in the iPhone 7 are expected to use in-cell display technology making them thinner.
* The iPhone 7 might be as thin as the current iPod Touch (6.1mm)
V Renewed rumors that the 3.5mm headphone jack will be replaced by the Lightning connector
*
V With the move to an all digital connection Apple is said to be bringing in new functionality
* One rumor claims they will add noise cancelling technology that will be in the Phone and headphones
* 3rd party's will be able to add the noise cancelling features for a licensing fee
V Many are not happy about this rumor
* A site, SumOfUs.org, has a petition that claims to have over 200,000 signatures from people imploring Apple to keep the 3.5mm jack
V Apple may do some things to lessen the "sting" of the transition
* 9to5 Mac claims Apple will indeed ship Lightning-connected EarPods with the iPhone 7
* There's also a rumor that Apple is developing a set of Bluetooth in ear headphones with no cord.
* They would be individual ear pieces
* Users would charge the device with a special carrying case and they could ship as an available accessory when the iPhone 7 launches.
* Apple did file a trademark application last October for a product dubbed "AIRPODS".c
* Also a rumor Apple may add wireless charging.
V What else is coming soon
V iPhone 6c
* 4-inch version of the iPhone 6
* Most pointing to it having an A9 processor and 2GB of RAM
* Touch ID, but no 3D Touch.
* Priced similar to the current iPhone 5s and possibly announced in March
V Apple Watch 2
* Announcement in March with an April ship date
* More sensors like possibly skin conductivity, blood oxygen level, and blood pressure
* FaceTime camera
* Thinner designs
* Upgraded WiFi, though many would like to see cellular access and GPS (not likely)
V iPad Air 3
* Since Apple didn't update the iPad Air this fall
* Would be updated in the first half of this year
* Updated specs to bring it inline with the latest iOS devices
* Processor, RAM, cameras, etc.
* Will not get 3D Touch
V More reports of Apple slowing iPhone production
* This time from the Japanese site Nikkei, they say Apple has too much excess iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus inventory in stores
* This time of year Apple would normally slow down a bit, but these cuts are rumored to be as high as 30 percent
* The strong dollar is also not helping, especially in many of the emerging markets Apple has seen growth in in recent years
* The production slow down is seen as a correction and the production levels are expected to be brought back to normal in the April-June quarter
V In the short term the cuts do seem to be impacting some of Apple's suppliers
* Many, including Touch panel maker TPK Holding and an iPhone chassis supplier Catcher, are lowering revenue estimates
* The suppliers are citing reduced client orders for the cutbacks and many analysts believe that client is Apple.
V Gene Munster still thinks Apple will meet it's iPhone guidance during their quarterly sales call which happens on Jan. 26th
* He expects Apple will still announce year over year growth for iPhone
* Apple projects revenue between $75.5 billion and $77.5 billion, with gross margins between 39 and 40 percent
V AT&T and Sprint killing off contracts
* Depending on how you feel about carrier subsidies this might make you happy or sad
* Verizon and T-Mobile had already moved to kill off contracts
V Engadget got a hold of leaked internal AT&T documents that say after January 8th they will not longer offer subsidized phones, including iPhones.
* You will need to buy the device outright or use the AT&T Next Plans
* Apple stopped offering subsidized iPhones in their retails stores when the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus went on sale.
* If you're a grandfathered "unlimited" plan subscriber this could impact you if you don't want to pay the additional $5/mo. To keep your unlimited plan.
V AT&T also recently started rolling out limited availability of cross-carrier VoLTE (voice over LTE)
* It's in limited areas and only calls to an unnamed "other"carrier.
V And since this party is growing looks like Sprint figured they better join in too
* In a leaked internal memo Sprint tells employees they are ending their 2-year pricing options
* No more subsidies
* They will now just offer the Lease and EasyPay options according to the leaked document
V USB-C on the rise at CES
* This week is the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas
* So far I haven't seen many showstoppers, but one trend that seems to be taking shape is many products and devices that support USB-C
* Monitors from Lenovo featuring at 24-inch model with multiple ways to connect and a 27-inch model with a single USB-C cable that carries power to charge your device
V Acer also announced a line up of USB-C supported monitors and ASUS jumped in with a 15.6-inch 1080p portable model.
* The ASUS display is 1.8 lbs and gets power and display signal via the single USB-C cable
V Griffin announced their own take a MagSafe with BreakSafe.
* It's a USB-C power cable that has a magnetic connector on the USB-C side
* LaCie announced both mobile and desktop updates to their Porsche Design lines. The new drives have USB-C connections and come in 1,2 and 4TB sizes for mobile and 4, 5, and 8TB sizes for desktop.
V CarPlay also getting mixed play at CES
* Apple isn't at CES, but their presence is always felt.
* This year so far it's CarPlay that seems to be getting some buzz even if that buzz is a mix of seemingly good and bad news
V First off Ford made the big announcement that it's adding CarPlay and Android Auto to all 2017 vehicles in North America equipped with BlackBerry's QNX-based SYNC 3 platform
* Also they said that 2016 cars that have a SYNC 3 system will get an upgrade later this year to add CarPlay and Android Auto support
V Fiat Chrysler also announced it would add CarPlay support to a "select number of vehicles" in 2016
* They didn't give specifics, but said cars with their UConnect systems with its 8.4-inch screen, along with a select number of other cars would be supported
V Toyota on the other had has moved forward on their stated intention to dump CarPlay
* They were one of the early supporters, but last year announced they would not adopts CarPlay
* At CES they announced support for, oddly enough, Ford's SmartDeviceLink
* SmartDeviceLink is the open-source version of Ford AppLink platform for smartphone apps and car's that allows "customers can use apps in their vehicle through voice recognition function and operation panel."
* Sounds more like Siri Eyes Free for apps and true device integration.
* Developers of iOS apps can build in SmartDeviceLink support to their apps, so the technology may still integrate with some apps
V Apple Pencil is an IC bundle of joy
* There's not a lot to the story other than pure awesomeness
V The Apple Pencil is an accessory that completes the iPad Pro.
* I love mine for drawing, writing, and heck, just tapping.
* It's an extension and enhancement to the 10 styli I have built into my hand.r
* And the tech inside might be the source of it's magical powers.
* Chipworks did an extensive analysis and found more than 15 semiconductors inside.
* The Apple Pencil is just 176 millimeters long, and 9 millimeters thick, so that's impressive
* They found most of the chips were from Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics, but there are also chips from Maxim Integrated Products, Cambridge Silicon Radio, SiTime, Bosch, and Fairchild
* Even more amazing there is also a chip in the tip of the Apple Pencil (a replaceable part BTW). It's a tiny driver integrated circuit designed and fabricated by STMicroelectronics.
* And remember too that there is a 3.82 volt 0.329Wh battery in there too.

V Circus Ponies closes Notebook
* A long standing Mac app and great developer has left our community
* Jayson Adams from Circus Ponies announce he is ending development on the product after 13 years on the Mac
V He wrote on this site:
* "After 13 years in business, Circus Ponies has gone to that great Alphabet company in the sky. It was a good run, but we are done (as in no longer in business)."
* The product actually began as a NeXT application in the 90's
* Because of the reference to "Alphabet" and a http://circusponies.xyz link, some sites speculated that Circus Ponies was maybe acquired by Google.
* Jayson told the Mac Observer, that while flattered people believe the app was good enough to be picked up by Google, that is not what happened.
* Another theory is that Jayson has taken a position at Google, though there is no evidence or confirmation of that.
* My guess is that that some of my fears about the future of app development are coming true.
* In 2010 Jayson ported Notebook to the iPad and it received mixed reviews.
* Add to that the low cost or free solutions from Apple, Microsoft, Evernote and others and it's hard for an indie to survive.
* It's a sad state of affairs and one that is likely to continue to be repeated.
* I'm saddened by this news, but I wish Jayson the best of luck in whatever he does next.
V Feedback, commentary, opinions
V When a host accuses a Genius
* Well, looks like I stepped in it again and it's time for a mea culpa
* Last week I mention that a listener was told by an Apple Genius to remove the 'wheel' "user" (group) from their Mac
* Turns out that was not the case. The listener did have a real mysterious "wheel" user, not group, on their Mac (as an account). It appeared in the Users & Groups System Preferences panel (odd)
* They deleted the user account themselves before visiting the Genius Bar
* So now the mystery is how did a "Wheel" user get onto their system. Any clues?
V Notes syncing not working on older OS X
* I received a couple emails this past week from users having trouble syncing Notes via iCloud on OS X Yosemite and OS X Mavericks machines.
V The reason is that for iCloud.com and iOS 9 Apple completely changed how Notes syncing works
* Pre-iOS 9 the system was part of IMAP, basically baked into Mail
* When you update to iOS 9 and first enable Notes syncing or use Notes you do get a warning that Notes will no longer sync with older systems
* The only workaround to getting notes to sync on pre-OS X El Capitan Macs is to use Notes through the iCloud.com interface in the browser.
* That, or upgrade your Mac to OS X El Capitan
V If you do upgrade there are some nice benefits as the new Notes app has a number of great new advanced features
* Turn a list into an interactive checklist
* Add a photo, map, or URL and get image previews
* Can sketch in Notes on iOS, and if you have an iPap Pro and Apple Pencil you even get pressure sensitivity.
V Sketch
* In a new Note, tap the "+" icon in the lower right corner
* Then tap the "squiggly line" icon
* You'll be given a bunch of tools including a Pen, marker, pencil, ruler, eraser.
V There is also a color picker
* Swipe to get more color options
* You can't do a custom color though.
V Use two-fingers to rotate the ruler.
* It displays the angle as you rotate it
* As you draw it also lists a length, in pixels?
V Formatting
* Tap the "+" icon and then the "Aa" icon
* Title, Heading, Body, Bulleted list, Dashed List, or Numbered List
V Checklist
* Tap the "+" icon and then the "checkmark" icon
* You can also select any bulleted, dashed, or numbered list and then tap the "checkmark" icon to convert it to a checklist
V To add URLs, Photos, or Maps
* In the appropriate app, Safari, Photos, or Maps, just tap or click the 'Share' button
* Then select 'Notes'
* You can create a new Note or select and existing Note to add to.
V Other apps for Notes
V Finding old Messages
* Play question from James
V So there are a couple ways to search for Messages on iOS
V Spotlight
* Make sure Spotlight serarching is on for Messages
* Settings > General > Spotlight Search
* Make sure 'Messages' is checked on.
* Looks like you cannot control order anymore which sucks.
* To do a search you can swipe all the way to the left on the home screen or swipe down on the home screen.
V Messages App
* Open Messages
* Swipe down on the messages list to get the serach box.
* Now here's the real bummer. Looks like search in either Spotlight or Messages will only go back about a month, even if there are older messages than that in a thread
* You can go into a thread and scroll back, when you get back about a month it will load another months worth of Messages, but you still can't serch that far back even after letting them load.
* Baffling
* The only way I could figure out how to do it was to use an app like PhoneView or iMazing to extract the Messages from your iPhone backup files and then search them
* These apps will also let you backup and archive your Messages among other data.
V Remote access a Mac from iPad
* So as you know I've been looking into ways to make my iPad Pro my primary mobile machine
* So far it's working for most things, but the number one challenge has been coding.
* There do just seem to be some tasks that the iPad Pro is just not up to yet
V There are some very capable apps for writing code
* DraftCode, Textastic, etc.
V What there is not is a way to test code locally.
* You can't build out a LAMP stack on iOS
* DraftCode will let you run PHP, but it's limited
V That means that you need to test remotely
* Again apps like Transmit, etc can help but you're still doing a lot of shuffling of stuff and it's not that efficient
* Right now the workaround that's best seems to be setting up a Mac with remote access.
V One way would be to use an app like Logmein.
* I've actually done this and it's OK, but there is a cost.
* About $150/yr.
V The thing is you can also roll your own remote access using VNC and an SSH tunnel.
* I'm going to be covering the concepts here and not a lot of the details. All of it is easily Googleable once you know what you're trying to do.
* There are some serious consideration though. Uptime, security, IP access, etc.
* You need to leave a dedicated Mac on that is accessible
V Overview
* Set up VNC and SSH on the Mac
* Create and set up SSH public/private keys
* Set up router and Mac to route traffic from outside your network back to the Mac running SSH and VNC
* Set up and configure a client on iOS to access VNC server via an SSH tunnel
* Turn off "sleep" functions in System Preferences > Energy Saver
V You need a way to be able to get back to your Mac
* DynDNS Remote Access $40/yr.
* If you know your ISPs assigned IP address will never change (or will change infrequently) then you could just use the IP address
V A route through to your Mac
* To make this the most secure you'll want to use SSH and authenticate with a key.
V Turning on SSH remote access is done via the System Preferences > Sharing options
* Check on 'Remote Login'
V You'll also want to turn on 'Remote Access' and enable VNC
* Advanced > VNC
* Set a good strong password, though we won't allow VNC through the router.
V Generate a SSH key pair
* This will be how you authenticate.
* There are lots of tutorials online that will teach you how to do it. [GitHub] ( https://help.github.com/articles/generating-ssh-keys/) has a good one.
* Once generated you'll want a copy of your 'public' key and you'll use that in your remote access app to create an SSH tunnel.
V You'll need to map the SSH port (22) to go through your router
* On the outside you want to use a non-standard port
* Just note that some places, like Starbucks, block certain outbound ports so trial and error may be needed.
* You'll go into the router and map the external non-standard SSH port back to the standard port on your Mac.
* Will probably want to set up your Mac with a static internal IP or use a DHCP reservation for that Mac so it's local IP never changes.
* Even better would be to set up another machine to answer on the non-standard port and proxy the SSH connection to your Mac.
V Install and configure a VNC client on your iOS device
* I like [Screens]( http://edovia.com/screens/)
* In that you want to enable a 'secure' connection. SSH tunnel and you'll copy your SSH public key for the authentication.
V Thing of the Moment: Know It All!
* Trivia Game for the Apple TV
V It has a "Jeopardy" like board with questions columns centered around various topics
* Movies, Music, Sports, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, STAR WARS and a special Christmas
V A "host" controls the question selection from the board with the Siri Remote
* After choosing a question, "Animated Movies for 300"
* The question is displayed and all Players have a chance to answer
* Whomever answers first will get points if they get it correct and control of the board.
* If they guess wrong control of the board goes back the the last player who correctly answered a question and play continues
V Players or "Teams" use iPhones, iPods, or iPads to answer questions
* ABCD options come up on screen
* Each game is just one "round" of 20 questions and there is not a "final" round
* Each connected iOS device is assigned a random team name.
V This was a lot of fun but I do have some complaints
* Wish you could pick your team name
* Would be nice to "buzz" in and then give a chance to answer. This would work better for team play.
* Better if missed answers could be "stolen" by another team
* Ability to have more than one round would be nice
* More categories, but I'm guessing this will happen over time.
* Option for a "Final" question like Jeopardy.
* Still a great family and party trivia game for Apple TV and it's just $1.99.
* Know It All! - USD $1.99 on iTunes
V Closing
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V Thanks to my sponsors
* Smile
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