MacCast 04.07.2010 - Show #297
Media/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 Great for schools and it administrators who need to run computer labs
* Works in mixed environments, Macs and PCs
* Works with Virtual Machines, like Parallels and VMWare Fusion and Bootcamp
* Integrates with Apple Remote Desktop
* Great for businesses who want to make public machine and kiosks available for their customers
* Don'd have to worry about the system, users can download and install apps, change default configurations, do almost anything they want (or at least what you allow them to do) to the system and when you reboot it's restored.
* Try it for free.
V News
V iPad hits the streets
* And for the most part it's a hit.
V Apple announced on Monday that it had sold 300,000 iPads by midnight on Saturday April 3. Analysts expect with continued sales could hit 600,000 in the first month of sales
* Second round of pre-orders ship to US on April 12th.
* 3G models still coming + International shipments.
* 1st gen iPhone sold 250,00 in first weekend. Bothe the 3G and 3GS iPhones sold 1 Million in their respective opening weekends.
* Piper Jaffery surveyed 448 iPad buyers and found 74 percent were Mac users, and 66 percent owned an iPhone.
V I broke down and bought a wi-fi model. My 3G+WiFi will stay on order.
V I love it
* Design and form factor are almost perfect. I don't find it "heavy" like some.
* Display is great. Too bright in some instances
* iPad apps are awesome.
* Typing on the on-screen keyboard is much better than I expected.
* Perfect for content consumption. Content creation is just OK.
V Cons
* Early apps are crash prone.
* Weaker wi-fi.
* Apps cost more and you have to re-buy in some cases
V iPad early issues
V Some users reporting trouble with wifi signal strength
* 2 antenna. I behind the glass and one behind the Apple logo
* Dual-band routers may cause some issues if you have both networks named the same and/or are using different security protocols.
V Might have a delicate constitution, if not thick skin.
* PCWorld did a stress test with some disturbing results
* 3-4 drops from a sitting position on to carpet resulted in a strip of garbled pixels appeared at the top of the display.
* Glass is scratch-proof and only cracked when dropped face down onto pavement.
* Back case is scratch-able.
V Reports of some iPads shutting down when used in direct sun
* Operating specs of 32 degrees to 95 degrees F (0 to 35 C) when running or up to 113 degrees when off.
V iPad processor details revealed
* The iPad is fast.
* Craig Hockenberry, from Iconfactory, did some benchmarking and showed it's about twice as fast as an iPhone 3GS when running native apps.
V iFixit and Chipworks (a company that reverse engineers ships) did some x-rays and found a 3 die design
* 2 layers of integrated Samsung RAM (256MB). Speed and improved battery life.
* Single core ARM processor. Likely an A8, but could be an single core A9 design (rare, but according to 9 to 5 Mac).
V iPhone OS 4 sneak peek just days away
* Special event Thursday April 8th at 10 AM PDT on Apple's campus.
* Apple Insider reports that Kaufman Bros.' Shaw Wu told investors that the new OS will fully support multitasking even with 3rd party apps
* iAd, Apple's mobile advertising API. Supposedly developed with help from their aquisition of Quattro Wireless.
* And a gaming announcement.
V Possibly direct printing support?
* Apple Insider points out the support docs for iWork iPad apps state, "printing directly from iPad is not currently available", not that they just don't print. "Currently" implies that they eventually will, right?
V Still rumors that we will see new Macbooks, Macbook Pros, and Macbook Airs this month
* Ars Technica cites a report from the Taiwan.
* Shortages of parts were cited as cause for the delay of the Core i5 and Core i7 notebooks.
V NVIDIA Optimus powered graphics, allowing on the fly switching between integrated and dedicated graphics chips.
* The Optimus gets around the Intel integrated bus lockout by using the Intel I/O via a x16 PCIe lane, so says Ars.
V Sponsor
V Citrix
* GoTo Assist Express
* From same folks who make GoTo Meeting and GoTo My PC
* Instantly connect to a customer's, friend's, or family member's Mac or PC to give them support.
* Just send them a link and your connected. Never have to leave the house.
* I've used it and nothing is simpler. Easy, and secure.
* Try it free for 30 days
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Apple's at 10,000 feet, why not?
* Got a lot of great feedback from those of you in the know on why this does and doesn't work.
* Mostly pilots and engineers, but it all comes down to air.
V Thinner air can cause a few issues
* hard drives rely on a very thin cushion of air (microscopic) to fly over the platter. Less dense air wouldn't allow this and could result in a "crash".
* convection cooling, heat dissipation won't work as well at elevation
* air pressure in sealed components (LCD?). As outside pressure decreases inside pressure would increase possibly resulting in failure.
* That said I have had several of you who are mostly in Colorado say you have used iPods (HD and Flash) and Macs at elevations above 10,000 feet without issue.
V iPad impressions from Robert
* Play comments from Robert
V iPad impressions from Ryan
* Play comments from Ryan
V iPad impressions from Serko
* Play comments from Serko
V iPad impressions from Jerry
* Play comments from Jerry
V Closing
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
* Circus Ponies
* Smile on my Mac
* Faronics, Deep Freeze
* Cocoatech, Pathfinder 5
* Citrix
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
V New Music
* "Perfect" by Love Equals Action
* From MusicAlley
* Artist web site
* Buy on iTunes
V EOL: Say Hello to Jarvis.
* Just read about this guy who has set up a Mac Mini, house controllers, and RFID tag reader and other gadgets together to build a virtual personal assistant. Pretty sweet.