shownotes_20120312

Opening
  Opening Music
    Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
    Mandaandthemarbles.com
Sponsor
  Gazelle
    Great way to help fund your new iPad upgrade
    They make it incredibly simple and right now as they've streamlined the process for Apple products and them most common brands of smartphones
    Select what kind of Apple product, answer some simple questions about condition and accessories, and get an offer.
    If you accept the offer they send you an email with a pre-paid shipping label and instructions.
    Gazelle is a reCommerce service, so they will receive the items, assess the condition, wipe the data, and put the item back into use.
    If your item doesn't have reCommerce value then they offer a local recycler network to help you find a place to properly dispose of your old items.
    Get an offer and more details on their service by going to gazelle.com
News
  The new iPad
    Retina display
      2048 x 1536 panel reportedly being made by Samsung, Sharp and LG
      Is an "a-Si TFT" panel at 9.7" with a pixel density of 264ppi which reportedly pushes the limits of the technology
      Use double the LEDs for backlighting
      Uses a Super High Aperture pixel design. Separates the pixels from signal lines which can cause noise at that high density
      All of this is said to make the panels particularly hard to make.
      I assume this means Apple's competitors won;t be able to match these pixel densities anytime soon.
    Dual-core A5X processor with quad-core graphics
      Apple claimed it outperforms the Nvidia Tegra 3, but didn't provide benchmark details to back it up
    5MP iSight (rear-facing) camera. Facetime camera remains VGA. Same camera specs as the iPhone 4
      backside illumination sensor
      face detection that automatically balances focus and exposure across up to 10 faces
      hybrid infrared filter
      ƒ/2.4 aperture and a five-element lens. Same lens system from the iPhone 4S
    1080p HD video support for recording and playback
      automatic video stabilization
    Voice dictation, but not Siri
    0.03 in. thicker and weighs 0.13 lbs more
    No word on RAM
      Likely at least the same 512MB as the iPad 2, but the Verge reports it will have 1GB
    Battery life remains the same at 10 hours. 9 hours on 4G
      ZDNet notes that the battery went from 25Wh in the iPad 2 to 42Wh in the new iPad. they point out that measured in milliamps the battery goes from 6944 mAh to a monstrous 11,666 mAh
      Amazing considering they barely increased the device size.
      That's some serious battery engineering as I expect the battery itself won't look too different after the iFixit teardown on Friday.
    Bluetooth 4.0
      Lower energy
      Better range
    4G LTE
      Apple announced support in the US and Canada on AT&T, Verizon; Bell, Rogers and Telus.
        Engdget reports Best Buys internal systems show a Sprint version
        Rumors that Virgin Mobile in Canada will also have the new iPad
      Verizon will include Hotspot in all iPad data plans, AT&T won't offer it at launch even for a fee. Thanks again AT&T.
      Also note that the iOS 5.1 update added a "4G" icon to the menu bar on existing 3G devices
        The reason is there is no legal definition of what 2G, 3G, or 4G is
        AT&T considers it's HSDPA+ network to be "4G", but it's not LTE.
      LTE is heavily fragmented with more than 32 different recognized bands.
      In the US AT&T and Verizon are both in the 700MHz band, but too far apart to allow for a single iPad model to serve both networks.
      The issues get trickier outside the US where it appears Apple is selling the AT&T variant of the LTE iPad
        In the UK the 700MHz band is already in use by the Freeview TV service
        UK new iPads can still use the 2.1GHz band for 3G, but LTE may be out?
        UK and Germany will reportedly run their LTE networks in the 800MHz and 2.6GHz bands
      In the fine print on Apple's iPad site they note: "4G LTE supported on AT&T and Verizon networks in the US; Bell, Rogers and Telus networks in Canada."
    Pricing remains the same
      WiFi: 16GB - $499, 32GB $599, 64GB $699
      WiFi+4G: $629 16GB, $729 32GB, $829 64GB
      Also selling 16GB WiFi iPad 2 for $399.00 and 16GB+3G for $529.00
    Starts shipping in the Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Switzerland, U.K. and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Friday, March 16th
      On the 26th, 26 more countries. Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Macau, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden.
    Sales, "off the charts"
      Apple confirmed Sunday with USA Today that launch day supplies were sold out for pre-orders
        They aren't saying how many pre-orders were taken
        The store was slammed when pre-ordersd opened up. Errors for the fire few hours.
        Apple had to "offline" the Store while they reportedly added more servers to handle the demand
      There should still be iPad supply at retail locations on launch day
        Gene Munster predicts Apple will sell 1 Million devices opening day
        Apple didn't release opening day iPad 2 sales numbers, but estimates were between 500,000 and 1 million
      US and Canadian pre-orders are now shipping the 19th with other countries reporting a 2-3 week shipping delay
      Some UK customers who pre-ordered are reportedly getting emails from Apple reporting delayed shipments
        "Despite our best efforts and those of our shipping partners to get your order to you on time, we want to inform you that it will not arrive on its originally scheduled delivery date."
        Date are pushed back to the 20th or 21st from the 16th
    On word yet on retail store sales time, usually morning or 5:00 PM local time based on past events
    Apple's margins might be slightly lower
      UBM TechInsights estimates the build cost of a 16Gb LTE iPad at around $310, giving Apple roughly a 50% margin
      Down from the 56% margin they reportedly enjoyed on the 16GB iPad 2 on release in 2011
    Who's buying
      Ars Technica has a poll and it seems to reflect other reports I've seen
      About 45% of respondents saying they are buying and 55% not.
    Storage considerations
      Macworld looked at the sizes of Apple's apps optimized for Retina and notes app size went up by a factor of 2 to 3 times
        Keynote 115MB to 327MB;
        Numbers increased from 109MB to 283MB
        Pages went from 95MB to 269MB
        iMovie went from 70MB to 404MB, but they added all the trailer assets
      Developers have a few options when "optimizing" apps for Retina
        Include retina assets and let them scale down for older devices
        Include multiple optimized versions of the same assets (I assume best for quality and experience, but not for app size).
        Do nothing and let iOS scale up for retina
      iPad magazines might also be at risk of huge bloat since many publishers use images or PDFs.
        Pushing the resolution to support retina will make already large publications larger
        Using technology like HTML 5 to produce the publications would be better, but that would require big changes to their production workflows.
      Interestingly Apple has obviously considered these issues when implementing support for 1080p
        Movies and TV shows at 1080p are only slightly larger than their 720p counterparts
        The reason is that Apple is using and supporting a new High profile for compression scheme in H.264
        The A5 and A5X chips in the new iPad, new Apple TV, iPad 2, and iPhone 4S all support an improved decoder level 4.1
        This makes it possible to achieve and support higher maximum bit-rates on those devices
  New Apple TV
    Adds 1080p support and the new UI
    has a single core A5 processor
    Digital copies of movies added to iTunes are reportedly showing up now for iTunes streaming.
  iOS 5.1
    Fast Camera access from lock screen
      Always next to the slide to unlock , grab the icon and slide up. Flick also works
      Swipe down to get back to lock screen
    Delete photos from Photostream
      Select the photo, tap the Action button, tap delete, and confirm.
      Note that deleting the items on the device only deletes older items only from that devices photostream, newer items are deleted on all devices?
      Deleting them from the photostream in iPhoto 9.2.2 should delete them from all devices
      I had several issues with deleting from Photostream
    Siri in Japanese
    "4G" network indicator in menu bar on AT&T
    URL screen shortcuts no longer work.
      There was a simple URL homepage button shortcut that gave quick access to screens in the iPhone settings
    Podcast controls in Music player on iPad
      30 second skip back and speed controls
    iTunes Match now supports Genius Mixes and Genius Playlists
    Camera app UI is updated on the iPad.
    Face detection on the iPhone will now highlight up to 10 faces, not just the most prominent one.
    Audio enhancements to TV and Movies on iPad
      Apple claims the audio will be louder and clearer
    Bug-fixes for battery life
      Mine seems to be improved, but may be too early to tell
    If you've enable geofencing in iRemonders you'll see an outlined location status icon in the menubar
    New security restrictions in Parental controls
      Settings > General > Restrictions
      Profanity filter for Siri
      Disable Siri and block location Services or the ability to change location services settings
    Cellular data download limit raised from 20MB to 50MB
      In Settings > Store you may want to toggle 'Use Cellular Data' option to avoid larger app and content downloads over cellular
    Apple TV update
      Version 5.0 brings new UI to Apple TV 2
      To get it go to Settings > General > Check For Updates
      Instead of the old menu system under the artwork on the main screen you get "tiles" with access to all the services
        Movies, TV Shows, Music, Computers, Settings
        Netflix, NBA, NHL, Trailers, MLB.TV, WSJ Live, YouTube, Vimeo, Podcasts, Radio, Photo Stream, MobileMe, and Flickr
      Inside items you get navigation across the top and artwork below. As you navigate inside a section the menu disappears at the top, but pressing the menu button on the remote or scrolling to the top brings it back
      National Geographic photo screen saver
      On device Netflix sign-up
      iTunes Store menu now shows a choice of “Standard Definition” or “720p HD” for preferred video resolution when purchasing or renting movies and TV shows on the Apple TV.
  iTunes 10.6
    Enabling you to play 1080p movies and TV shows purchased from the iTunes Store
    Improves iTunes Match, including matching songs, downloading and displaying album artwork.
    Addressing an issue that caused some songs to skip when playing from iCloud
    Preferences > Store can now choose 720p or 1080p HD downloads
      Remember that only the new iPad and new Apple TV have 1080p playback support. They will also playback on an iPhone 4S
      looks like 1080p only adds around 800MB to 1GB to the file size for most
    New options for down converting music on sync
      iTunes > Preferences > General
      The "Convert higher bit rate songs" checkbox now includes a drop-down menu offering 128, 192, or 256kbps AAC options. Prior to the update 128kbps was the only choice.
    New terms of service indicate publishers “may offer a free trial period” via in-app subscriptions in an iOS app.
    iBooks Author was also updated to add support for the new iPad's retina display
    Had one listener who reported iTunes crashing at launch after upgrading
      Was on Lion, but using iPhoo '09 still
      Upgrading to iPhoto '11 resolved the issue
  iOS iLife Apps updated
    All are updated for the new iPad's retina display
    GarageBand
      Individual note editing
        double tap a note in the instrument track to bring up the editor
        Change, pitch, duration, and velocity
        Can even change in groups and the changes are applied proportionally and relationships between notes are maintained
      New Smart Strings instrument
      Track merging
        Allowing you now to have in essence more than 8-tracks
      More sharing options
        Facebook, YouTube, SoundCloud, and iMovie
        In addition to iTunes and Mail
      iCloud song sync
      Jam Session, that lets up to four people record a song together.
        Uses WiFi or Bluetooth
        Leader starts the session and other join
        By default the Auto-Collect Recordings option is on and collects recording into tracks on the leaders iPad
          Turn that off and individuals can edit their tracks locally before the leader click the "Collect Recordings" button
        You can also overdub, so do two 4 track sessions for example.
      GarageBand '11 for the Mac updated to version 6.0.5
        Updates compatibility with GarageBand for iOS projects
        Fixes a playback issue with the GarageBand Lesson preview videos
        Corrects issues with some software instruments triggering incorrect or stuck notes
    iMovie
      Adds Movie trailers
      a new icon
      a few graphics changes, including a revised undo button making it more consistent with GarageBand and iPhoto
      a button to preview audio within the audio browser
      exporting and playing 1080p video
      A swipe up gesture within the timeline to create a freeze frame.
    iPhoto (new)
      When editing:
        Get basic tools: auto-enhance, orientation, flag, favorite, and hide
        Toolbox: with Crop & Straighten, Exposure, Color, Brushes, and Effects
      Tap + Hold with two fingers in a "pinch" position to bring up a loupe magnifier, twist inside it adjust the magnification level
      View metadata and EXIF data and comments (includes Flickr and Facebook)
        Mapping data reportedly using Open Street Maps, not Google.
        Also interesting that it's not Apple's own data
      double tapping a photo will select similar photos in a group
        useful because you can make adjustments to one image
        Copy the adjustments from that one image and then apply it to a batch of similar images
      The UI is again "swishy" and makes heavy use of skeuomorphism (glass shelves, brushes, push pins, etc)
      Has albums, photos, events, and Journals
        Journals allow you to publish and share to iCloud
        They feel like a mix between iPhoto Galleries and iWeb
        You can combine photos and 'widget' like elements
          Header, Text, Notes, Memory, Space, Page, Map, Day (calendar), Quote, Food, Weather
        Gives the Journals more of a digital scrapbook feel.
        Send email with link. Seems like simple an obfuscated URl, no real security to public URL
      Sharing
        Journal, Email, Print, Slideshow (local only), Camera Roll, iTunes, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook
        New feature 'Beam' which lets to send directly to iPhoto on another device up to 100 images at a time.
      I've been using it and it's great about my only complaint is the annoying "Updating iPhoto Library" dialog that seems to come up every time you add a photo.
    Installing on Original iPad
      iMovie and iPhoto can't be bought on an original iPad
      Can use Apple's Enterprise iPhone configuration utility to install on an older iPad
      After doing this if you try and sync in iTunes it will warn you to authorize the apps or they will be removed. If you authorize in iTunes then the warning should go away, but it didn't work in my case.
      So back-up apps and be careful if you try this hack.
    iPhoto '11 9.2.2
      Adds support for deleting items from Photostream
  Configurator App
    Apple Configurator makes it easy for anyone to mass configure and deploy iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch in a school, business, or institution.
    Update up to 30 devices at a time to the latest version of iOS, configures settings to maintain a standard configuration, and installs apps and data onto the devices
      Can create multiple sets of 30 devices, but can only work on one set of 30 at a time
    Allows for remote management by IT and support staff
    Can checkout and assign devices to specific users in an Open Directory or Active Directory.
      This lets IT staff set standard configuration settings, approved policies, parental controls, and device personalization (including setting a user’s picture on their Lock screen.)
    The app is designed as a replacement for the older iPhone Configuration Utility.
  Apple discontinues iWork.com
    Friday Apple announced that its iWork.com service will be discontinued on July 31, 2012.
    As a replacement Apple is recommending sharing through iCloud which is fine for your own devices, but doesn't address any of the collaborative and public sharing features currently offered by iWork.com
  Safari 5.1.4 Update
    Available for Lion and Snow Leopard
    Improve JavaScript performance
    Improve responsiveness when typing into the search field after changing network configurations or with an intermittent network connection
    Address an issue that could cause webpages to flash white when switching between Safari windows
    Address issues that prevented printing U.S. Postal Service shipping labels and embedded PDFs
    Preserve links in PDFs saved from webpages
    Fix an issue that could make Flash content appear incomplete after using gesture zooming
    Fix an issue that could cause the screen to dim while watching HTML5 video
    Improve stability, compatibility and startup time when using extensions
    Allow cookies set during regular browsing to be available after using Private Browsing
    Fix an issue that could cause some data to be left behind after pressing the “Remove All Website Data” button
Sponsor
  Faronics
    Deep Freeze
    Free trials available
Feedback, Comments and Commentary
  IMAP Drafts hanging around
    In Mail.app with IMAP accounts if you've set the folder mappings to save Drafts on the server you'll notice on occasion that there is a message in drafts that has already been sent.
      In case you don't know how to map an IMAP folder to Mail.app
      Find the folder under the account in the accounts list that you want to map
        Common folders will be things like, 'Sent', 'Sent Messages', 'Trash', 'Spam', 'Junk', 'Draft', etc.
      Select the item you want to map and then choose 'Mailbox' > 'Use this mailbox for…'
      You can then map it to the Mail.app Inbox, Sent, Trash, or Junk folder for an Account
    The issue with Drafts that mapped and set to sync to the server is that sometimes you'll get a message stuck in the Drafts folder even after you've sent it
    I'm not sure why, but one theory is that Mail is auto-saving versions to the drafts folder in the background.
    The only "fix" I know of is to disable saving of drafts on the server. The downside being that you can't start a message in one place and then finish it up in another.
    In Mail.app
      Preferences > Accounts
      Select the account and click on the Mailbox Behaviors tab
      In the 'Drafts' section uncheck the 'Store draft messages on the server' option.
    In iOS
      Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars
      Click on the Account
      Click Account > Advanced
      Under 'Mailbox Behaviors', click the Drafts Mailbox
      Change from the 'On the server' Drafts mailbox to the 'On My iPhone" box
  iPad Bluetooth Keyboard Shortcuts
    Play question from David
    He already mentioned the several of the special keys
      Brightness keys up and down (F1 and F2)
      Media Playback keys. Skip Back, Play/Pause, Skip Forward (F7,F8, F9)
      Volume. Mute, Down, Up (F10, F11, F12)
      Eject, bring up on screen keyboard (F13?)
    Text Editing and Selection commands work
      Command-C, X, and V for Copy, Cut, and Paste. Command-Z (undo) and Command+Shift+Z (redo)
      Use Shift+arrow keys to highlight text
    Keyboard navigation
      CMD – Up Arrow (Jump to top of document)
      CMD – Down Arrow (Jump to bottom of document)
      CMD – Left Arrow (Jump to beginning of line)
      CMD – Right Arrow (Jump to end of line)
      CMD – Delete (Delete everything on the current line to the left of the cursor)
      Option – Delete (Delete the word to the left of the cursor, and its preceding space)
    Emacs cursor controls
      Control-e: end of the line
      Control-a: beginning of the line
      Control-k: delete to end of the line
      Control-f: cursor forward
      Control-b: cursor back
    Option-key shortcuts for typing diacritical (accented) characters
      Option+; for ellipsis
      Option+e and the "e" for an accented é
    Using VoiceOver
      I found a great article on how to use VoiceOver to control almost everything from the iPad keyboard
      Apple has info on the controls in their User Guides
        Page 240 of the iPhone user guide
        Page 146 of the iPad user guide
        Page 191 of the iPod touch user guide
      Turn on Voice Over
        Settings > General > Accessibility and select VoiceOver. Turn it on.
        Note you now need to select (tap once) and then double tap to "tap" on something
      How to control:
        Control-option-S : mute or unmute VoiceOver. Can also adjust the speaking rate up (goes faster) and turn on 'Use compact Voice'
        Control-option-H to activate Home button, Control-option-H+H to "double-tap" home.
        Use 'Quick Nav'
          All of these can also be accessed from command-option equivalents, but using 'Quick Nav' is faster
          Press the right and left arrow keys simultaneously to toggle QuickNav mode
          Press up and down arrows simultaneously : "tap" the highlighted item
          right arrow : select the next item
          left arrow : select the previous arrow
          control-up arrow : select the first item
          control-down arrow : select the last item
          option-arrow key : scroll in the direction pressed
          up arrow + left arrow : move the rotor left
          up arrow + right arrow : move the rotor right
        VoiceOver will outline the items you have selected to you can visually tell where you are in the UI.
        Combine quicknav with the other keyboard commands for navigating text and you can do almost everything from the keyboard.
        May want to make 'Triple-click Home' turn on and off Voiceover
          Settings > General > Accessibility and then select 'Triple-click Home'
  Apple response to customer on Supplier Responsibility
    Apple has taken a lot of criticism recently over their factories in China and whatever side of the debate we fall on I think it is important for each of us to do the research and take action for ourselves.
    If something upsets you then you should take action and that's just what one of you did
    A listener, who asked to remain anonymous, wort this letter to Tim Cook at Apple expressing concern and asking Apple to continue to address this issue

      "As a longtime and loyal Apple customer I'd like to encourage you to continue Apple's quest to improve working conditions in its overseas factories. I'm sure it's a very complex issue, but I'd be willing to pay more, or wait longer for new products, if it meant that factory workers are guaranteed a safe, healthy, and dignified workplace.
      I think that Apple is in a very unique position to take an industry-wide lead in this...and indeed you are. I've read the materials on Apple.com regarding your supplier policies and think that's really encouraging.
      However, I know from recent reports in the media that there's more to be done and I don't want my ownership of a great product to come at the expense of someone else's health & safety.

      So in conclusion, please make this a top priority at Apple. It's without question the right thing to do."

    And he got this response from Apple:

      Thank you for writing to Apple about working conditions in our worldwide supply chain.

      At Apple, we believe that every worker has the right to a fair and safe work environment, free of discrimination, where they can earn competitive wages and they can voice their concerns freely. We work closely with our suppliers to make sure they meet our high standards wherever Apple products are made.

      Our Supplier Responsibility program has audited hundreds of factories for compliance with Apple's code of conduct. We encourage you to read about our progress at apple.com/supplierresponsibility.

      Right now, labor rights experts are conducting a series of in-depth, independent inspections of Apple's largest suppliers, including Foxconn. This project was launched at Apple's request and is being coordinated by the Fair Labor Association, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting workers rights. The FLA will post the results of the investigation on its website, www.fairlabor.org .

      If you'd like to learn more about what Apple is doing to protect workers, please click this link to hear Tim Cook talk about our approach to supplier responsibility at a recent tech conference.

      We share your concern for the wellbeing of workers everywhere. Thanks again for writing.

      Sincerely,
      Bill Frederick
      Apple

    Bill Frederick is Vice President – Worldwide Fulfillment & AppleCare at Apple Inc.
    The point I think is that the media attention on stuff these days is sensation, instantaneous, and fleeting. So while it may bring issues and concerns to the forefront briefly, those things go away just s quickly.
    I you care about this stuff then you have to continue to take actions and I thought this was a simple and great example of doing that which is why I wanted to share it.
Closing
  Podcast Marketplace
    Thanks to my sponsors
      Faronics, Deep Freeze. 5.0 released with Lion compatibility
      Circus Ponies
      Smile
      Audible
      Gazelle
  Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
    maccast@gmail.com
    281-622-4269 or 281-Mac-I-Am-9
      PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
    MacCast Forum
    Follow me on Twitter