MacCast 09.19.2010 - Show #318
Media/Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is "Say Anything" by Manda and the Marbles
* Band's MySpace page
V Sponsor
V Gazelle
* Gazelle.com
* Open that drawer, look in the corner, open that closet. You've see that old piece of gear you were going to sell but never got around to? Get cash for it now.
V Gazelle.com is THE place to get cash for your used gadgets
* Save the hassle and uncertainty of using online classifieds or auction sites.
V Easy 3 step process:
* 1) find your gadget and get an offer
* 2) ship it to Gazelle for free
* 3) get paid (check, paypal, Amazon Gift Card, or charity)
* Gazelle pays for shipping (and many times even sends you a box), wipes data, and no items ever end up in a landfill.
* Get a 5% bonus on your item's value, just use the code "maccast" when checking out
V News
V What's next for iDevices and iOS
* BusinessWeek has a report with the Foxconn CEO and says they produce 90 iPhone 4′s a minute, 137,000 per day, 1.5 per second or up to 50 million/year.
V According to BGR the China Times is reporting that Apple may move from Infineon baseband chips to Qualcomm
* Qualcomm makes a baseband chip that could provide support for HSPA, HSPA+, LTE, and EVDO all in one chip.
* There have been rumors that Apple and Qualcomm have been in talks for a while
V Apple and Intel publicly have said their relationship is strong, but rumors says it's rocky
* Apple moved to it's own A4 chips in it's iOS devices and the new Apple TV
* Has all but moved away from Intel's integrated GPU chipsets.
* Intel announced it's intent to purchase Infineon in August and the deal should go through in early 2011
V According to DigiTimes Apple has inked a deal with AU Optronics subsidiary, Cando for 1 million 9.7 inch iPad touchscreen sensors a month.
* Apple is likely lining up suppliers to meet expected Holiday demand.
* DigiTimes is also reporting there will be new iPads in Q1
* Meanwhile AT&T is currently testing it's 4G LTE network in Baltimore and Dallas and plans to have it's LTE 4G network on-ling by mid-2011. Timing should be perfect to coincide with an iPhone 5G announcement.
V Best Buy will expand iPad distribution to all of its 1,093 U.S. stores Sept. 26.
* The CEO said in an interview with Wall Street Journal that they are seeing the iPad cannibalize PC laptop sales in their stores by up to 50%.
* The CEO later softened his comments saying that it's not the "death of the PC", but tablets are making an impact.
* NDP has shown numbers to support declining US notebook sales since the launch of the iPad.
V Looking like Airplay will be part of the built-in video player in iOS, so apps that leverage it could also automatically get AirPlay streaming support
* Netflix, ABC app, Hulu, etc.
V AirPrint for iOS coming with 4.2
* Apple announced AirPrint which will allow for printing from iOS devices
* It will be part of the iOS update due in November
* Works wirelessly to a host Mac or PC and with HP's ePrint enabled printers.
* Will also require an upcoming 10.6.5 update.
V How it works
* Print via a button in the applications navigation bar or toolbar
V Once a job has started printing a "Print Center" app is added in the multitasking bar
* From this app you can see queued jobs
* The app is only available when items are printing.
* Printing is only available on iOS devices that support multitasking. That means the iPhone 3G will not allow for wireless printing.
* Multiple applications can submit multiple print jobs, and they will simply all end up in the Print Center queue.
* An iOS device has one queue for all print jobs, regardless of the originating application or destination printer.
* Developers received the iOS 4.2 update for iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad along with the latest 10.6.5 beta
V iOS 4.2 on iPad adds/changes
* Support for .ics calendar files in the Mail app.
V Orientation lock on iPad becomes mute switch. Orientation lock is in software to the left of the multitasking bar. (This will not be popular if it ships).
* This area also offers brightness controls on the iPad
* Notes preferences to select font (Chalkboard, Marker Felt, and Helvetica)
* You can have up to 20 icons in a folder on the iPad, instead of the 12 on iPhone and iPod Touch
* 7 items visible in the iPad multitasking bar
* Airplay in the iPod app
V In page search results for Safari searches
* Appear in an "On this Page" section under the standard Google (or Yahoo,Bing) search results
* New redesigned black keyboard on the lock screen if you enable alpha-numeric entry.
V FaceTime coming to desktops
* A French Mac site Mac4Ever reported that Apple was working on adding faceTime to iChat (duh)
V Also that they would bring the technology to Windows
* Not likely, but it is an open standard and I'm sure a 3rd party will support it.
V FaceTime will also likely be included in a next gen iPad.
* AppleInsider says ship date could be for the holidays or by end of Q1 2011 (March)
V The same site also reported that iLife 11 is on it's way and will not have iDVD
* Listings and hints for next gen iLife have popped up on various international Amazon.com sites
V Intel's next gen chips announced
* "Sandy Bridge" uses a ring architecture
* 32 nanometer design
* Moves the GPU on the chip with shared cache. Reportedly bring integrated GPU performance more in-line with dedicated GPUs.
V Specs are preliminary, but should be:
* Dual core designs, Core i3, i5 and i7s ranging from 2.5 GHz to 2.7GHz
* Quad core designs in Core i5 and i7 models ranging from 2.2 to 2.5GHz
* Dual cores for notebooks and duals and quads for desktops
V Mac sales continue to rise
* The latest numbers from NPD group show Apple on track to have another record breaking quarter in Mac sales
V According to the groups predictions Apple should sell 3.8 million Macs in the September quarter.
* Up 23% year over year
* Beating the previous best June 2010 number of 3.47 million Macs sold
V iPod sales are expected to be relatively flat
* 10 to 10.5 million units
* Ranging from a 2% loss to a 3% gain in sales over a year ago.
* The iPod refresh in September could drive the numbers into the positive.
V Gaming on iOS is big
* TUAW reports on an industry survey that claims 40.1 million Americans are playing games on iOS devices
* That's more than 50% of the total 77 million US gaming market
* By comparison the study claims there are 18 million Sony PSP gamers and 41 million Nintendo DS gamers.
* What isn't noted is the amount of time spent gaming on the devices vs. dedicated gaming systems.
V The report also notes that iOS gamers are less likely to pay for games
* 66% of gamers willing to pay for games on handhelds
* 45% on iPhone or iPod touch and 32% on iPad
V With numbers like that though it does show opportunities for Ad supported games.
* Also "free-mium" games and in-app upgrades are proving lucrative if not always popular.
V iPhone makes big gains in Europe
* ComScore says as of July the iPhone accounted for 19.2% of all smartphones in Europe.
* Apple has nearly doubled it's market share in just a year.
* Nokia has dropped to 51.2% from 65.6% in July of last year
* Apple's recent success is likely linked to opening up multi-carrier agreements in many regions throughout Europe.
* I would predict a smaller, but still significant boost in US sales once they lift AT&T's exclusivity.
V In the US ComScore reports that Apple lost 1.3% market share in July. Down to 23.8% from 25.1% in April
* Android was up 5% from 12% to 17%
V Apple ExpressLane Support
* Track products, support issues, etc.
V For products under AppleCare free, also options for per-incident support
* Request an exception. repaired within 90 days, bought Apple Software or OS X, recently bought AppleCare, but hadn't registered.
V Also new "support profile"
* VoicePass to register numbers you would be calling in for support from
* History of cases and repairs.
* Share my experience with the service
V iPhone 4 free bumper program ends soon
* September 30th is the last day
* Consumer Reports says they will no longer recommend the iPhone
V Newspaper subscription plans for iPad
* The San Jose Mercury news is citing a source that claims Apple will roll out a new service to allow newspapers to sell subscriptions via the iPad
V Bloomberg reported that Apple will develop a "digital newsstand" similar to the iBookstore to feature and sell subscription based content
* Wasn't clear if it would be a separate app or integrated into iTunes or iBookstore?
* Bloomberg also claims Apple is working on software to make it easier for publishers to create digital versions with interactive content and video.
V The hold up has been the newspapers reluctance to share revenue with Apple and Apple's reluctance to share users personal information with the papers
* Publishers claim they need subscriber data for ad deals and to be able to bundle print/digital subscription offers.
V The new service will reportedly have a revenue share and users will opt in to have some information shared with the publishers
* Apple will get their now standard 30% cut of the subscription rate and up to a 40% share of ad revenue
* The papers would prefer a simple fee based model, but are likely giving in since Apple's iPad is currently the reigning tablet and like will be into the future.
* I assume there will also be split print/digital subscription plans, but orders would be processed through the iPad app.
V Pro App Update 2010-02
* Fixes and improvements for Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Server, and Logic Studio.
* Includes support for new cameras, bug fixes, and other updates.
V 2G Apple TV may be iOS after all
* TUAW is reporting that a developer source discovered an AppleTV reference in the USB device configuration list in the iOS 4.2 beta
* AppleTV 2,1 has the device string "iProd" and the productID key of 4765
* References to iProd 2,1 had been noted in builds prior to the 4.2 update, but many had assumed it was a reference to the next gen iPad, since the original iPad has also carried the "iProd" designation.
* In the demo of the next gen Apple TV last month the UI looked almost identical to the interface on the current generation Apple TV which runs a variation of Mac OS X Leopard.
V 27" LED Cinema Display now available
* USD $999
* 2,560-x-1,440 resolution with a 178-degree viewing angle.
* MagSafe connector
* Three USB 2.0 ports
* Mini DisplayPort cable.
V Sponsor
V Circus Ponies
* Notebook
V Create to-dos, but link back to relevant info
* Text clippings within a notebook. Could be emails, etc.
* Drag in an address book entry and then you get a "sticker" that when clicked shows the contact info, phone number, etc.
* Free 30-day trial
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Search inside package contents
* Mark wanted to know if there was any options to allow searching for a file that was contained within a packages contents
V What is a Package and it's contents?
* Some "files" within Mac OS X are actually "packages".
* Mac OS X packages are simply folders disguised to look like single files. The most common examples are applications.
* Spotlight lost it's ability to search inside packages in a 10.3 update.
V To search inside a package you have to open it first and then issue your search.
* Control+Click and choose "Show Package Contents"
* Then select the root "Contents" folder and choose File-->Find… (Command+F)
* At the top of the window make sure "Contents" is selected to restrict the search to the package contents.
* Type your search
V Use a 3rd party app like Path Finder
* In Path Finder choose File-->Find… (Command+F)
* Select the Find By "Search" option, magnifying glass with the folder in toolbar
* Make sure the "Search inside packages" option is checked.
V Speed Dialing on the iPhone
* Barry wanted to know if it was possible on the iPhone to set up "speed dial" shortcuts, like #1 or #2 to dial specific numbers in the Contacts quickly from the keypad.
V The iPhone takes a different approach, "Favorites"
* In the "Contacts" app if you look up a number and then scroll down and you'll see an "Add to Favorites" option.
* Click that and then choose the number you wish to use for the Favorite.
* Now when you open the "Phone" (dialer) app, instead of clicking on the "Keypad" just select the "Favorites" tab at the bottom of the screen
* Then tap the saved favorite you wish to call.
* It's not exactly the kind of "speed dialing" Barry was looking for, but it actually is less taps. 3 instead of 4.
* The alternative is a web based hack taking advantage of the Safari feature that recognizes numbers on a web page and makes them "clickable" for dialing.
* If you type a URL like tel://5555551212 and hit "Go" it will pop-up and ask if you wish ti dial the number.
* Using some Javascript and a simple web page you could create a page that you can save as a Home Screen bookmark
V Nate True, the creator of Tap Tap Revenge, actually created a service that does exactly this.
* If you type the URL http://(phone number).tel.QLNK.net into Safari and hit go it will pop-up and ask you if you wish to call the number.
* Press 'Cancel' instead of 'Call'. The page will display a message about creating a "web clip"
* Tap the "+" at the bottom of the screen and choose "Add to Home Screen"
* Give your Call button a title (will be displayed below the button) and click Add.
* You'll now have a 1 click button on your home screen that will dial that number.
* You could even consolidate all your quick dial buttons into a folder in iOS 4.
V Two disadvantages to this approach
* When you set it up it does pass the number in the URL to a 3rd party service. It only has to connect once to set up the link, after the bookmark works locally. Nate also says he doesn't use or store the phone number data.
* It has to launch Safari before calling the number and you have to confirm that you want to dial, so there is an extra click.
V Managing External Storage options
* Play comment from Anthony
V Different external solutions
* Attached drives
V Shared attached drives
* Old Mac file server
V NAS drives and attached solutions
* Airport AirDisk and Back to My Mac
* PogoPlug
* RAIDs and RAID-like devices
* RAID+NAS
V Loving our Macs too much
* There is a strange resistance when we have an obvious issue to NOT take our systems back to Apple. Why?
V I'm currently guilty of this as my Macbook Pro has a display glitch and I make excuses for it.
* I still have until November 2011 on my Applecare.
* I NEED my Mac for work, I can't be without it. (When will be a good time?).
* It's just my imagination. It's not THAT serious.
* What ends up happening is I wait until I'm out of warranty, the logic board DOES fail and I'm out a Mac anyway and paying out of pocket for the repair.
* Apple is doing many more repairs store so times can be shorter.
* Occasionally they will replace entire systems and you end up with a brand new model Mac.
V Before you go in
* Backup, even if you don't think it's the drive.
* De-authorize iTunes
* Reset your admin password.
* Encrypt or remove sensitive data.
V Closing
V Get even more Maccast
* Become a Maccast Member
* Get extra content each week
* Support the show for as little at $3.75/mo. Less than a large latte.
V Mac Computer Expo 2010
* I'll be doing the Keynote Panel at the North Coast Mac User Group Mac Computer Expo in Petaluma, CA in October
* iFuture.
* Victor Cajiao, Jeff Gamet, Bryan Chaffin, Chris Christensen and I will discuss Apple changes and their meaning for the future
* It's free
* Saturday, October 2nd, 2010 9am – 5pm Petaluma Community Center
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
* Circus Ponies
* Smile
* Faronics, Deep Freeze
* Cocoatech, Pathfinder 5
* Gazelle
* KamAlert
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 "Happy" by Wagon Box Fight
* An album by Pierce, the coffee shop guy
V EOL: Light Painting with the iPad
* A London based firm, Dentsu, has used iPads, stop motion, and a custom iPad app to create this really cool light painting effect. (via TUAW)