shownotes_20110701

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News
  True Apple TV in the works?
    DailyTech reported they had word Apple was working with a "major supplier" (probably Samsung) to OEM an Apple branded TV
    This has been rumored for years, but I still say unlikely.
    What's the advantage of a high-end, expensive LCD with an integrated Apple TV? Ask Google how that's working for them?
    Apple TV is small box that works with ANY TV.
    At best I see maybe Apple integrating Apple TV into an Apple LCD display.
      PC-Free's the LCD display
      AirPlay mirroring for iOS devices
  MacBook Air Back in Black
    MacRumors reports new MacBook Airs may come in a black anodized aluminum finish.
    available on a top-end MacBook Air model
    Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge
    9to5Mac reports there won't be a black model, but starting prices will drop to $899.00
      They say the models will feature Intel 1.8GHz Intel Core i7, 1.7GHz Core i7, and 1.7GHz Core i5 processors.
      Arrive July 19th
    Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt Mac Pros and Mac Minis coming soon too.
      Mac Pros may add up to 16-cores (8, 12, or 16)
      May not be Server class Sandy Bridge Mac Pros, but according to one source a whole new, unique CPUs, custom-made for Apple by Intel
    AppleInsider notes that MacBook supplies have become "severely constrained" at a number of third-party retailers.
      Apple still lists 24 hour ship times
      Shortages at 3rd parties can be an early sign of a refresh
      The Macbook was last updated May 2010
    All rumors report to models arriving in July when OS X Lion is publicly available.
  iPhone 5 Rumors
    Camera
      Debate on 5 or 8 mega pixel sensor
      The moved flash is now a dual LED flash
      Apple patent for using sensors to do auto tilt and distortion correction in photos
    Radical design changes (or not)
      Depending on whom you ask
      Maybe a dual-core processor
      Maybe a Macbook Air like tapered design
      Maybe a larger edge to edge screen
      Apple tests lots of designs, so who has seen which ones may be playing a factor here.
  More OS X Lion details
    Will you need Snow Leopard
      Steve (apparently) says 'yes'. Rumored email
      No word on if Apple will continue to sell Snow Leopard.
    John Gruber thinks iCloud will auto-resolve sync conflicts
      No more split "conflict" dialog. Apple knows best.
      Use logic to determine the "truth" and versioning to allow you to fix it if it's wrong.
    When iCloud's 5GB are used up, the email stops.
    iCloud will have web interfaces for iCloud Mail, Contacts, Calendar, and Find My iPhone. iWeb Hosting, Mobile Me Galley, and iDisk will be cut.
      You have until June 30th, 2012 for the transition and Apple has a FAQ posted with links and articles on how to transition.
    July 6th or 19th being rumored as release dates. Earlier date seems to have more clout given that the 19th has been announced as the date for Apple's quarterly results call.
  Airport and Time Capsule updated
    New storage sizes 2GB and 3GB. $299 and $499 respectively.
    New Airport model number, but no new specs
      Rumors of A5 powered Airport
      I'm still hopeful for LAN-Cloud. Support for LAN based, PC-free, iOS local storage.
    French Mac site tore down a 2TB Time Capsule rand found a Western Digital Caviar Green HDD, not a server grade one as advertised.
  Mac OS 10.6.8 Update
    Enhancements to the Mac App Store to get your Mac ready to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion.
    Resolves an issue that may cause Preview to unexpectedly quit.
    Improves support for IPv6.
    Improves VPN reliability.
    Identifies and removes known variants of MacDefender malware.
    RAW image support for additional digital cameras.
    A metric crud load of security patches.
    Security Update 2011-004, brings a number of security patches to Mac OS X Leopard.
    Added TRIM support for SSD drives. Basically needed to ensure performance at the SSD drive gets full.
      Cult of Mac reports it might not work for 3rd party SSDs
  Could low cost iPhone replace the iPod Touch
    A TUAW reader made the case:
      According to iSuppli, "The components that make up the 16 GB iPhone 4 cost just under $188." That of course should be taken with a grain of salt.
      Production of the iPhone 5 allegedly begins in July, with a launch in September -- traditionally the time Apple unveils new iPod hardware.
      iOS 5 will debut in the fall, and major iOS releases tend to come alongside new iPhone hardware.
      Thus far, there is no mention of new iPod touch hardware in the iOS 5 betas.
      The next-gen iPhone has reached final testing stage, destined for a September launch. With the exception of an A5 processor and possibly a universal GSM/CDMA design for its 3G hardware, it is expected to be substantially similar to the iPhone 4.
      Unlocked iPhones are finally available in the US.
      Recently unearthed evidence in the iOS 5 beta suggests the iPhone 5 will use the same 5 megapixel camera as the current iPhone 4 rather than the 8 megapixel camera suggested by rumors earlier this year, suggesting Apple is focused on cutting production costs.
      This year, Apple's Back-to-School promotion will offer a $100 iTunes gift card instead of a free iPod touch as in previous years.
    I think rather than an iPhone 5 maybe a re-branded iPhone 4 design? Apple already sells the 3GS (off contract) for $199.00.
    Would give buyers the option for pay-as-you go, multiple-carrier options, activate as needed mobile data (like iPad).
    Apple's continued iPhone growth in US vs. Android
      According to a Nielsen over the past 3 months new iPhone ownership grew from 10% to 17% while Android remained flat at 27%
      Android still has a significant lead in share though.
      Suggestion is that Apple's growth is at least in part due to expanding to Verizon
      moving to more carriers and lowing iPhone prices would only help that growth.
  Verizon moving to capped data plans
    According to reportedly leaked documents
    Switch will happen July 7th
    3 options for smart phones
      2GB for $30/mo
      5GB for $50/mo
      10GB for $80/mo.
      Personal hotspot can be added for $20/mo to any plan and adds 2GB more data.
      Current unlimited users will reportedly be grandfathered in
  Debate on "retina" iPad display
    Rumors have been that a double res (2048×1536) iPad 3 display is in the works
      Would be best option for current app compatibility
      meets the 300ppi "retina" criteria
    DisplayMate did some tests on the current display and the iPad 2 screen came out ahead of most other competitors
      Tests included measurements for screen reflections, brightness, contrast, colors and intensities, viewing angles, backlight power consumption and battery life.
      iPad won in most categories
    DisplayMate then argued that a "retina" iPad display would likely effect performance more that it would benefit quality. Also add significant cost.
      Compared the table res war to the camera mega-pixel war. More isn't always better
      A 200 ppi resolution with enhanced sub-pixel anti-aliasing could offer a better compromise according to the company.
      Then we had a strange rumor of 33% higher res iPad 3 display (1366x1024), but may not seem so given DisplayMate's comments
    Don't expect the iPad 3 this year
      Digitimes reported Apple's shipping 9 to 12 million iPad 2s this spring and 14 million over the Summer. Unless sales really start to tank near the end of the Summer there seems to be no reason to upgrade early.
  Final Cut X Pro launches to mixed reviews
    $299 available exclusively on the Mac App Store
    Also Motion 5 ($49.99) and Compressor 4 ($49.99)
    FinalCut Express no longer available
    Reportedly borrows some from iMovie in terms of UI which may put off traditionalists
    Workflow based on 3 areas, Editing, media organization, and post-production.
    Features included 64-bit, Magnetic Timeline, Clip Connections, Compound Clips, and Auditions. Content Auto-Analysis, Smart Collections, Integrated audio editing, color grading
    Apple might be planning rapid free feature updates via the Mac App store
    Hardware requirements seem to require "newish" Macs
      Some 2 year old models and earlier not up to snuff
      OpenCL-capable graphics card with 256 MB of VRAM.
      There is a NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 Graphics Upgrade Kit for Mac Pro (early 2009) for $149
      Interestingly the Intel HD Graphics 3000 (or later) will do.
      App Store won't let you buy on a Mac that's not up to snuff, but apparently you can buy on a supported Mac and copy over to an unsupported one (with a performance hit).
    There has been some backlash from some editors in the pro community and sides are forming
      Apple has posted an FAQ to attempt to address some concerns and misconceptions.
      You cannot import your old FCP7 projects, but you can import video from those projects
      Multi-cam support is coming
      Tape based workflows are generally out. Need 3rd party deck control software.
      I am working on roundtable panel to discuss both sides.
  Thunderbolt details and cable released
    Apple is now selling a $49 Thunderbolt cable along with a Pegasus RAID to connect to it
    Some technical details
      Thunderbolt utilizes two separate 10Gbps links—one for displays and one for PCI-E device traffic
      Devices can support different rates, you'll want faster devices further up the chain.
        You can use the Disk Activity tab in the Activity monitor to check rates
        Most storage devices currently have maximum thruput rates lower than Thunderbolt is capable of
      2m is the maximum recommended cable length for Thunderbolt cables for best performance.
      Booting and target disk mode are supported.
      If you want to use an iMac in Target Display mode, you need to use a standard Mini Display port cable.
      Can use with Windows and Bootcamp, but need to have the device connected at boot-up. Windows will now sleep with Thunderbolt devices connected. If you eject it you will need to restart to connect it again.
    The cable has 9 chips according to the iFixit teardown with two Gennum GN2033 chips that ensure data performance and reliability over the copper.
      Cable quality is likely to be important with Thunderbolt if you want optimal performance.
    Several companies have announced support for Thunderbolt and we should start to see more and more new stuff arriving this summer
    Apple also released the Thunderbolt Firmware Update which provides Thunderbolt performance and stability fixes.
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Feedback, Comments and Commentary
  Check your clones boot-ability
    Discuss my recent issues in taking my Macs in for service
    My Super Duper clone in the wrong Partition Map
    Let the Genius restore the phone knowing you have it backed up on your Mac, but your giving Apple your Mac for service
    Deauth iTunes, App Store, Mobile Me before taking in the Mac
    Booting up from clone to use while in shop
      May want to disable Time Machine and cloud backups
      Set up second (new) back strategy for temp Mac
      Will need to re-auth temp Mac for iTunes music, apps, etc.
  Testing for Rosetta
    I did a Maccast Member show on Rosetta support missing from Lion and your options.
    Terry found a way to disable Rosetta in Snow Leopard via a terminal command (via OS X Hints)
      These commands set a system environment variable that tells the system which program to run when you try to launch a non-native app: to ask you to install Rosetta (/usr/libexec/oah/RosettaNonGrata), or to run it using Rosetta (/usr/libexec/oah/translate).
    Terry tested his Canon print drivers and they are Universal, but he points out the installers require Rosetta, so he could upgrade to Lion, but then wouldn't be able to reinstall the drivers.
      Could pull them from a Time Machine Backup
      Or would need to re-install Lion completely, stating with Snow Leopard, then the drivers, then Lion.
    I tip I suggested was to set up an old Mac and then use a KVM or run it headless
      Nigel reminded me about Teleport
      A donation-ware utility that lets you use a single mouse and keyboard with 2 Macs
      He confirmed it works with lion and when you move the mouse from 1 screen to the other it magically switches the keyboard and mouse control
      Works using the network connection (I think maybe using VNC technology)
    A number of people asked about running Snow Leopard as a virtual machine in Parallels or VM Ware. You can't, only Snow Leopard Server
    A rumor also surfaced that Apple may be considering licensing Rosetta to developers to embed in their apps that they don't want to convert.
      I don't know if it's technically possible, but do think it's unlikely. Apple wants to move on, not much money in it.
    Want to know which apps are Lion compatible (rosetta or not). RoaringApps to the rescue.
  Living without a Finder
    Kurt makes some good points
      You get a computer to do stuff, not to manage files
      What if you want to have one folder which contains different type of documents for one project?
    Metadata, possibly tagging, will become important in a post Finder world.
      There may be some hints in the management of Final Cut Pro X files which use keywords.
    Think of taking a concept like albums or playlists to a file level
      The media browser lets you sort by those things
      What about a "project" group? The each app could show just the relevant docs for that app.
        Pages might only show the documents in a project group when opening, but if you are inserting give you the media elements (txt, pictures, pdf?).
    Lion still has a Finder, but is playing with new concepts. It's a beginning, not an end. The transition will be slow.
    Started with Spotlight, iTunes, iMovie, etc. Expanded with iOS and Apple continues to play with it.
  iPhone cropping trick
    I mentioned that I'm excited about iOS 5 bringing cropping and other basic built-in photo editing to iOS
    Tom gave this trick for doing cropping in the current Photo app
      In Photo pinch to zoom and position the photo how you would want to crop it
      Snap a screenshot by pressing the Home and Sleep/Wake buttons simultaneously
      The screenshot will be saved to your camera roll
    The main disadvantage to this method is the resulting image is at the iPhone's screen resolution (960x640 on the iPhone 4) Only 480-by-320-pixel resolution on the 3GS
    But that might be good enough for emailing, MMS, or Twitter, etc.
  Apple bullies developers with it's "innovation"
    Ian wrote in to express what I think are some valid concerns with respect to new OS features and innovations
    One of the app store rules is that you can't have an app that replicates built-in OS features or functionality
      Rule 5.3 (iOS App Store): Apps which appear confusingly similar to an existing Apple product or advertising theme will be rejected.
      Rule 2.7 from the Mac App Store: Apps that duplicate apps already in the App Store may be rejected, particularly if there are many of them
    So now that the OS adds Twitter integration and Reading List (Instapaper), or Photo Editing and enhancement (iOS). Will Apple start blocking competitors?
    I think what scares me (and Ian) most is that they can. My guess is that in all but the most edge and egregious cases they won't.
      Direct copies of built-in functionality will get blocked
      Twitter has already asked developers to stop making Twitter clients, but they keep coming.
      Apple integration isn't a Twitter "client"
      Apple's built-in stuff is mostly limited to minor specific functionality
      Tons of examples already in the iOS and Mac app stores of apps that have crossover that aren't being blocked.
        iPhoto and Aperture have photo editing
    Apple has a history of borrowing (or outright stealing) ideas from other developers and integrating them into iOS
      Waston, Cover Flow (purchased), Text snippet replacement, RSS integration
      Some of these are just good ideas and make sense, so stealing is a harsh word to use.
      With a lot of these ideas though Apple's integrates just the "basic" functionality and there is lot's of opportunity for third party apps to expand and differentiate.
        A lot os Instapaper's power is in it's API and integration with other Apps. It's not clear Apple will have an API for Reading Lists (at least not at first).
    There is a big difference between can and will, but a lot of power in having the option and that does concern me.
      Ultimately I think history has shown that the people and calmer heads prevail
        Google Voice is a good example.
    Blocking app choice doesn't benefit Apple most of the time
      Blocking apps that just directly copy functionality of other Apps, Apple's or otherwise, might benefit the users.
  Get Mail "conversations" in Snow Leopard
    And earlier
    Great Mail.app tip from Paul
    I had said I wanted both my emails and replies in a single thread, this does that.
    Use Smart Mailbox to get Mail "conversations"
      1. Create a new Smart Mailbox and change the top condition to "Any" of the following conditions:

      2. Add two conditions:
      i) Message is in Mailbox and then choose your Inbox
      ii) Message is in Mailbox and then choose your corresponding Sent mailbox

      3. Click on "Include messages from Sent"
      4. Give the Smart Mailbox a name and click OK.
      5. Finally, in the View menu item, select "Organize by Thread"
    I think Lions version has some more "logic" built in, but this works for the most part in my testing.
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