shownotes_20100430

Opening
  Opening Music
    Music is "Say Anything" by Manda and the Marbles
    Band's MySpace page
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News
  Police look into "stolen" iPhone 4G
    And not in a nice way.
    Serving a warrant the California Rapid Enforcement Allied Computer Team (REACT) siezed Jason Chen's computers, iPhones, iPad, iPods, and other equipment. jason is the Gizmodo Editor who broke the iPhone 4G prototype story.
    There is some question now as to if the warrant granted to the DA was legal. Police are not examining evidence until it's resolved.
      EFF civil liberties director Jennifer Granick says that hat federal law prohibits the government from seizing materials that are used by journalists for the purpose of communicating to the public, even if the individual committed a crime.
      Granick also feels the warrant was too broad and police should not have been able to seize all the stuff they did.
    Wired uncovered who the guy who sold the phone to Gizmodo is
      He has a lawyer and now says he regrets not trying harder to return the phone.
      The Wired Story makes it seem like he's really remorseful about not trying hard to get the phone back to Apple
        Claims that he thought the $5,000 was for the exclusive rights to looks at the phone and not for the device itself
        Also says Gizmodo assured him, “that there was nothing wrong in sharing the phone with the tech press”
        I'm not sure I buy all of it, but could be plausible given Gawker's reputation, but why was he shopping the phone in the first place? (Wired, engadget, etc.)
    Good news is that one suspect in the iPad theft at the Cherry Creek Shopping Center Apple Store in Colorado where a man lost part of his finger is behind bars.
  Skirmishes in the North re-ignite Flash War
    Well Steve Jobs stirred the hornets nest just when things were calming down. His "Thoughts on Flash" piece laid out in pretty plain language what Apple thinks about Flash
    I agree with some of his points and understand the others. It's important to remember, in this battle both sides have a lot to gain and lose. They both have agendas and despite how they might want you to think about it, not every action they are taking has your best interests at heart.
    Let's do some point counterpoint to slow the spin and let you decide for yourself what to make of this War.
  Apple big in Japan
    Bloomberg reported that the iPhone accounted for 72% of the smartphone sales in Japan in 2009 based on research numbers from MM Research Institute Ltd.
      1.69 million phones, does that seem small consider Japans population (127 million in 2009)
      5.6% of the total iPhones Apple shipped
    The iPhone is exclusive to Softbank which is the nations 3rd largest wireless carrier.
    According to "Marketwatch" and a report by the Nikkei business daily in Japan (via TMO), many Japanese discount electronic retailers have stopped online sales of iPods, iMacs and other Apple products at the request of Apple, Inc..
      Asked to do so by Apple Japan because they were selling items below Apple controlled prices
      Apple Japan didn't comment.
  Production issues reportedly delaying iPads and Macbook Pros
    According to TUAW, Andrew Rassweiler of iSuppli told Bloomberg News that Apple's LCD suppliers are having production yield issues which is slowing production of the iPad.
      Apple has 3 suppliers. LG Display and Samsung Electronics in South Korea, and Seiko Epson in Japan.
      Apple has said US demand is slowing the International launch.
    Mac Rumor's reported that the IDG News service is saying Intel is struggling with shortages of their Arrandale processors.
      The issue mainly effects the Core i3 and i5 processors.
      Apple uses i5s in newly announced 15" and 17" Macbook Pros, but supposedly has a good supply locked up with Intel. Although it may have been part of the delay in announcing the new models?
  Apple's iPad Camera Connection Kit surprises
    iLounge findings:
      Sharing via email features:
        Images.
          3-Megapixel resolution: 2048x1536 for typical 4:3 point-and-shoot images, or 2048x1364 for 3:2 DSLR images
          EXIF data is removed
        Video
          5 MB cap on emailing
          Can edit in Photos on the iPad
      Import into Photos app
        Image: full res with EXIF data intact
        Transferred back to iPhoto just fine.
      Transfer speeds seem improved over the iPod Camera Connection kit
    Glenn Fleishman (TidBits) reported, standard USB-audio accessories—namely, USB headphones, headsets, and speakers—can be used with the iPad via the Camera Connection Kit’s USB adapter.
    USB Keyboards, that don't have high power USB ports for additional devices, seem to work too.
  Apple steps up "mergers and aquisitions"
    Apple has a 10% ownership in Imagination Technologies Ltd., which makes the PowerVR graphics chips in the iPhone.
      Imagination Technologies Ltd. announced a non-exclusive marketing alliance with MIPS Technologies, Inc. who is an embedded processor manufacturer and ARM competitor.
    Apple acquired Intrinsity in what is believe d to be a $121 million deal.
      They are an Austin, Texas based company that specialized in speeding up ARM-based chip designs and reducing their power consumption
      Speculation is they are the experts behind the performance of Apple A4 processor
    Robert Scoble reported, later confirmed by the WSJ, that Apple purchased Siri.
      They make a free voice controlled personal assistant app for the iPhone and iPod touch
      It's kinda like a search, 3rd party web service mashup controlled by the Nuance Speech Recognition engine.
      Very close to Apple's "Knowledge Navigator" concept from the 80s.
    Apple announced that Lala service will shut down May 31st, 2010
      Anyone who purchased web songs, USD $0.10/each. will get iTunes Store credit
      Wallet balances will be refunded or converted to iTunes credit.
      Purchased MP3s can be downloaded and stored locally.
      Speculation is that Apple may use web technology to drive a cloud based streaming service or iTunes Locker.
      The iTunes web previews are likely a result of Lala technology.
  Next Mac OS and WWDC Dates
    Apple Insider claims Apple begun broad beta distribution of Mac OS X 10.6.4 and is reading the update for distribution soon.
      A maintenance and security release, developers are being specifically asked to test graphics drivers, Windows file sharing, USB devices and Voice Over.
    The site Rixstep claimed that starting with 10.7 Apple would require code signing and approval of OS X apps by Apple
      Claimed and Apple Software Store and control like on the iPhone OS
      Steve Jobs denied the claims
      Code signing has been around in since 10.5
        "Verifies" the source of the code.
        Benefits like a developer being able to update an app and you not having to re-auth the keychain file after the update since the update has the same code signature that you already authorized.
    WWDC dates are June 7th - 11th at Moscone West in San Francisco
    No Apple Design Awards for desktop apps.
    Rumors are starting to surface that Apple may start iPhone 4G sales during WWDC
      Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to investors that he thinks the "leak" could hurt Apple's June iPhone sales numbers as people wait for the next iPhone.
      MacNN is saying sources, "familiar with the situation" are telling them the iPhone 4G will be on sale as early as June 7th, the start of WWDC.
        This is a big departure from the past and I agree with ArsTechnica that it's likely Apple will begin pre-orders at WWDC and ship later in the month.
  Apple Software updates
    iTunes 9.1.1
      Provides a number of important bug fixes, including:
        Addresses several stability issues with VoiceOver
        Addresses a usability issue with VoiceOver and Genius Mixes
        Addresses issues with converting songs to 128 kbps AAC while syncing
        Addresses other issues that improve stability and performance
    Aperture 3.0.3
      Improves overall stability and fixes issues in a number of areas in Aperture 3. See the key areas addressed below.
      The full list of fixes is fairly extensive and includes fixes and updates to Adjustments, Faces, printing, the Library, Slideshows, and metadata.
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Feedback, Comments and Commentary
  Why Apple doesn't care about market share
    I've been having a number of conversation with people recently about Apple's "market share" numbers.
      According to AdMod this month in the US iPhone has 39% of the ad requests to Androids 46%. Internationally Apple still lead with 46% share to Androids 25%.
    Apple love's profits, not market share.
      Remember Apple's iPhone sales goal was 1% of the market by the end of 2008. (10 million units).
    Apple is happy if you don't by an Apple product if it doesn't suite your needs or you don't like their limits.
      Steve Jobs, if you want porn get an Android.
      This one is the hardest for people to understand.
    Apple is used to single digit market share.
    There goal is the best quality product and an easy, seamless experience.
    Apple makes "appliances".
      The Woz Apple III vs. Jobs Macintosh
      They don't support aging technology
    You either like it or you don't and if you don't then Apple is happy to let you buy what they consider to be an inferior product
      Actually I don't even think Jobs thinks he has competitors.
      They want to make what they feel are the best products in the world, even if those are the "best selling".
  The iPad Ban that wasn't.
    Just like i thought.
    A reader of TMO, Steve Wildstrom and Bryan Chaffin verified what I told you about last time
      iPads are not banned at Cornell, George Washington, or Princeton, but are having some network issues
    George Washington is a lack of support for the networks VPN. Should be fixed by the summer. SSL VPN?
    Princeton is having the DHCP lease issue I mention, effectively blocking devices.
    Cornell is having no issues or bans.
    The iPad "virus" is real, but not a threat to Mac users or savvy PC users
      BitDefender started the alert of Backdoor.Bifrose.AADY which is being distributed and an iTunes update trojan to unwitting PC users
      Comes in an email or other hyperlink. When downloaded and installed allows access to the PC. Also logs ICQ, Messenger and POP3 mail account password plus protected storage logins.
  What if I don't want to multitask?
    I thought I mentioned how I thought this process was broken in iPhone OS 4 on this show, but a question from Marty makes me think that maybe I didn't.
    I don't think I want EVERY iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad app to go to the background on close by default.
    It breaks the easy quit app process. Seems like in 4 if I want to quit an app:
      a) Double tap to bring up list of background apps
      b) Find the app you want to close. If more than 4 are open then you will have to swipe to find it.
      c) Click and hold to start the jiggle and show the close "X"
      d) Click the "x" to close the app.
    Maybe a developer can confirm if what I described is currently the one and only method to quit an app in iPhone OS 4
  Converting DVDs
    Carter wanted to know about "backing-up" his growing DVD and BluRay collection.
    There is no "legal" way to do it for commercial disc, but it's technically possible. If you have personal DVDs that are unencrypted it's OK. Typically in 2-steps.
    For DVDs
      Need to un-encrypt the DVD first
        DVDs are in a standard MPEG-2 format but wrapped up in Content Scramble System (CSS) DRM.
        Apps will give you a VIDEO_TS (.VOBs) or .dvdmedia file. These are playable by Apple's built-in DVD player.
          File-->Open DVD Media…
        Apps like RipIt, FairMount, or Mac the Ripper.
        Some of the apps require VLC or other tools be added.
    For BluRay:
      MakeMKV is the only tool I know of and I don't own any BluRay, so i have no idea if it works or not
      Storage in all cases will be an issue.
    After you've un-encrypted the DVD and have the digital source you can now use a tool to re-encode it to make it smaller or compatible with other devices
      I typical use my ElGato H.264, but there are other tools
      HandBrake is a popular choice.
      Deciding on your device and compression options can be tricky.
      Many of the tools use the FFMPEG project
    Honestly if you value your time then it's really more hassle than it's worth sometimes
      Buy discs that offer a "digital-copy" option
      Just re-buy the digital format. If you value your time at $100.00/hr then you can buy 6 movies at $15.00 from iTunes for the time it would likely take you to rip and convert 1 DVD.
  Review: El Gato turbo.264 HD
    Faster Video Encoding
    Simple and easy to use options.
  Pssst. VNC is built in to your Mac.
    It's basically what iChat screen sharing and Back to My Mac use
      These methods take care of a lot of the DNS finagling you have to deal with though
    Apple doesn't really want to tell you about it, but there is a server and client.
      System Preferences-->Sharing-->Screen Sharing
        Click the 'Computer Settings...' button and check 'VNC users may control my screen' and enter a secure password.
        You can also enable Screen Sharing to remote to MAcs over your local network using Bonjour.
      The VNC client (Apple's Screen Sharing.app) is found at System-->Library-->Core Services-->Screen Sharing.app
    Other VNC client apps include Chicken of the VNC and JollyFast VNC
      Screen Recycler and iDisplay use VNC technology
    VNC works great over a LAN, but gets tricky over the internet with NAT and firewalls. Can be worth it if you want remote control for free.
      Great iPad/iPhone VNC clients like iTeleport
    Alternative services like LogMeIn and GoToMyPC are even easier and don't have to do router/firewall juggling.
  Playing with GPU accelerated Flash
    Adobe put out a new pre-release of Flash that adds H.264 hardware decoding support for OS 10.6.3 and the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 320M or GeForce GT 330M processors.
    I tried some video playback using YouTube and 720p video and the results were pretty good.
      CPU went from about 90% down to 30 to 40%.
      HTML 5 video still seemed better jumping Safari to about 20%, if that is a good measure?
Closing
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  New Music
    "Jamie All Over" by Mayday Parade
    From MusicAlley
    Artist web site
    Buy on iTunes
  EOL: Retro iPhone Handset
    An awesome looking iPhone "dock" that turns your iPhone into an old style looking rotary phone handset. Bonus is that the handset does work with the iPhone so you can use it to make calls at your desk. (via TUAW)