shownotes_20120509

Opening
  Opening Music
    Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
    Mandaandthemarbles.com
Sponsor
  Faronics
    Deep Freeze
    Repurposing a Mac as an Internet terminal in a guest room
    Guest can surf the web, check Facebook, do online-banking
    Use email web based or they could even configure their own in Mail.app
    They could even download and install apps
    Rebooting would wipe all their settings, apps, customizations, and personal data. Even stuff saved to the Library folders
News
  Rumors of new Macs 'n stuff
    DigiTimes claims a $799 Macbook Air might surface to fight off low cost Ultrabooks
      Apple tends not to play the low price game, but maybe. Current 11" Air starts at $999, so 200 less isn't really a stretch
      They claim the new low budget Air will be here later this year
      Of course they don't offer any details on specs or how Apple might achieve the lower price. One obvious choice would be to retain the current $999 spec'd one when they do the next update to CPUs and specs.
    Cult of Mac cites a "reliable" source who claims to have seen an iTV prototype
      Said it has aluminum construction (surprised?) and looks similar to Apple's LCD Cinema Displays, but "much larger".
      Also says the sets feature Siri and FaceTime calling with Face detection to auto-zoom in on callers across the room.
      Some feel the Apple Televisions will hit the streets possibly tis year, but a JP Morgan analyst recently claimed he didn't expect an Apple branded TV before 2014
    DigiTimes also claims Apple supplier Pegatron has received orders for several new Apple products
      Remember DigiTimes is generally hit or miss on rumors
      They the new iPhone in September (likely true) and a new 10-inch iPad in the 4th quarter.
      Pegatron is typically an additional supplier for Apple to help supplement their orders from Foxconn
      The Digitimes report also goes on to say that Foxconn will be delivering a 7-inch iPad to be launched in August.
  Apple gearing up for iPhone 5
    They filed a claim with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for the domain iPhone5.com
      The site is a small forum/rumor site launched in October 2010
      Seems odd they would just buy the domain out, but they have made similar domain trademark claims in the past, including one for iphone4s.com in November 2011.
    Apple's iPhone 4S touch panel display suppliers expect a 15 to 20% dropping shipments in the 2nd quarter. Likely due to Apple showing down production leading up to the launch of the iPhone 5
    As for what it might look like?
      At least one source claims it will be taller, thinner, and have at least a partial metal back
      According to iLounge. 10mm taller to accommodate a 4" diagonal display
      Metal back, but covering only the middle section
      New thinner Gorilla Glass 2. Allowing the device to be 2mm thinner overall
      new smaller dock connector with fewer pins, possible only 16?
      Mockups look stupid and fugly, I'm calling fake.
        New aspect ratio for apps
        Non seamless silly looking back, no.
    As for it having a new "Liquidmetal" case, that rumor may remain a rumor for a while
      One of the inventors of Liquidmetal said there is no suitable manufacturing infrastructure to produce large scale parts, so Apple is likely years away from being able to use the material for casings
      Apple purchased exclusive rights to use the material in consumer electronics
      The inventor notes Apple may first start using the material on small component parts like hinges. Apple has reportedly used the material just once to make the SIM ejector toll that came with the iPhone 3GS. In later iPhone's that tool was replaced with one made from standard materials.
    Apple continues to take most of the mobile phone profits
      Asymco's latest numbers show mobile phone revenues are up 20% with profits up a staggering 52%
      The funny thing, or maybe not so if your one of the other guys, is that Apple and Samsung are responsible for the lions share of those profits
      Samsung takes 26% of smartphone profits, which Apple settles for a measly 76%. HTC gets 1% and the rest, actually were not profitable in the first quarter of 2012. Doh.
      Oh and in case your wondering, Apple takes that 76% of the profits by selling just 8.8% of the devices.
      If you look purely at Smartphone's Apple's US marketshare grew 7% year over year in the first quarter according to NPD
        Apple has 29% share of the US smartphone market with Samsung garnering 24%
        Despite being the US smartphone leader, the NPD report points out that Apple has ultimately lost 29% of it's smartphone unit share sliding from a high of 41% in the 2nd quarter of 2011.
      The loss in unit share is something Apple will need to watch, but ultimately Apple has always seemed to be happy with maintaing profitability vs. marketshare and they seem to continue to excel on that front.
  iOS updated to 5.1.1
    Improves reliability of using HDR option for photos taken using the Lock Screen shortcut
    Addresses bugs that could prevent the new iPad from switching between 2G and 3G networks
    Fixes bugs that affected AirPlay video playback in some circumstances
    Improved reliability for syncing Safari bookmarks and Reading List
    Fixes an issue where ‘Unable to purchase’ alert could be displayed after successful purchase
    The update also addresses a number of security issues
    You can get the update Over the Air (OTA) Settings > General > Software Update or via the Check for Update button when your device is connected in iTunes
  iPad on sale in 30 more countries
    This weekend the iPad goes on sale in 30 more regions. 23 new countries on Friday, May 11th and seven additional markets on Saturday, May 12th.
    The iPad will launch in Argentina, Aruba, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Malta, Martinique, Mauritius, Morocco, Peru, Taiwan, Tunisia, Vietnam on Friday followed by Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates on Saturday
    By the end on the weekend the new device will be available in a total of 90 countries.
    Oddly the iPad has not yet made it's way into China
    Though probably unrelated, Apple does have an ongoing dispute with Proview in China over the iPad trademark
      Apple asserts it purchased the trademark from a division of Proview in 2009. Proview says otherwise.
      A lower division court in China ruled Proview owned the trademark, Apple has appealed to a higher court and Apple in Proview are currently in settlement talks, but an outcome is not expected anytime soon.
      On the Proview front Apple did win one battle in the US this week. A judge threw out a request by Proview to have the case heard in a US court since Apple and Proview are already duking it out in China.
    Also interestingly, IDC notes that since the Holidays overall tablet sales have declined
      Apple's iPad shipments dropped from 15.4 in the holiday quarter to 11.8 million
      But even with the decline their tablet market share rose in 13.3% from 54.7% to 68%
      Amazon was hit much heavier though with a holiday market share of 16.8% that dropped to just 4% in the first quarter.
  T-Mobile becoming more iPhone Friendly
    T-Mobile has always been vocal that they have millions of unlocked iPhones on their network despite not being an official Apple partner
    They also said that now that AT&T is officially unlocking off contract iPhones that they welcome former AT&T subscribers to their network
    They do have some nice pay as you go options, but the issue has always been their 1700 MHz network doesn't support the iPhones 3G chipsets.
    Early this year we heard report that was changing with parts of Northern California, Nevada, and the Northwest saying they were getting full 3G data speeds.
    Now T-Mobile is saying they are moving their entire 3G network over to an iPhone friendly 1900 MHz band, not only that, but they also say they will support the faster HSPA+ 4G flavor and it will be ready by Q4 of this year.
    I have a feeling a lot more off contract and hand me down iDevice might be making their way over to T-Mobile and by their actions looks like they are banking on it.
  Rumored June release of Mountain Lion
    Based on a source that claims Apple is hiring and training new staff on certain OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion in it’s EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) division of AppleCare
    The speculation is that because Apple has begun training reps a lunch is just a few weeks away.
    The reason is Apple typically keeps internal details of a new product secret just prior to a launch to avoid leaks
    The feeling is that Apple may announce the availability of Mountain Lion at WWDC which is June 11 to June 15.
    Officially Apple has said it would release Mountain Lion this Summer. That provides a launch window up to September 21st, 2012
  Apple reveals banner alerts for iCloud.com
    The blogs seem to be making a big deal over this one, but I'm not sure why.
    Some users logging on to iCloud.com got a little iOS style pop-down notification
    The "Settings" in iCloud were given an iOS style treatment a few weeks back, coming up in a iOS kind of panel.
    Mostly I think the blogs are looking for any excuse to use the seemingly buzzwordy word. iOSification.
    MobileMe customers get their 20GB of free storage until September 30, 2012. Originally it was set to expire on June 30. After September you'll get the 5GB free and need to pay $40/yr to add 20GB (25GB total).
Sponsor
  Gazelle
    Get cash for your old Macs and iDevices
    You could do a private sale, or use a classified site or auction service, but there is a lot of hassle in that and can be concerns over fraud
    Gazelle makes the process of getting cash for your old gear easy
    Search for the product, enter the specs, answer a couple of questions and they make you an offer
    If you accept they cover shipping
    You send the item in and after they process and verify your item you get paid by check, PayPal, or Amazon.com gift card. You can also choose to have the value of your items donated to one of over 100 approved charities.
    It's simple and easy. You can see what it's like and get an offer by going to Gazelle.com and just doing a search.
Feedback, Comments and Commentary
  Clarification on NVIDIA GPU warranty repairs
    Successful follow up on the listener who had his repair refused since he was 14-days past the expiration. He emailed and was "polite but persistent" escalating his issue and was able to get his 2008 Macbook Pro repaired under the program.
      I don't know that Apple would do this in every case. If you are months past your warranty expiration then you may still be out of luck
      The point is to remember that employees are generally trying their best and have to work within Apple's policies and guidelines so be kind to them and be reasonable and understanding even when you yourself may be frustrated.
    I did get clarification and verification on some of the policies and pricing from an Apple source
      In warranty repairs must be done in store, not sent to the depot.
      Apple does do the repairs, not NVIDIA, although I still believe NVIDIA is covering Apple's costs for warrantied repairs, if Apple provides a diagnostic code.
      After the warranty period Apple sends repairs to the depot
        Normal costs would be $600-700, but for NVIDIA issue after the 4-year warranty Apple charges $310 for 15 or 17-inch models
    As for how long Apple should cover these units. I don't assume they will extend the period indefinitely, but I'm not sure 4 years is long enough given these parts were known to be bad.
      I see this as a special case and not the norm.
      Should it be "forever", maybe?
    The reason is real behavior. I still think only a small percentage of the customers will even bring their units in outside the 4 year window.
    Most will simply replace the unit on their own and likely not even contact Apple or even be aware their was an issue.
    For the very small percentage that do contact Apple, Apple comes off looking great if they simply service those customers.
    A big part of Apple's brand it it's reputation for quality and customer service and what I see as a small gesture on Apple's part goes a long way to supporting that brand reputation and that is priceless.
  Using iOS shortcut for group email
    Got some feedback from Michael on a recent workaround I mentioned for the lack of the ability to send email to a Contact group in iOS.
    Play comment.
    Despite being able to see the group you still have to pick one email at a time
    I covered a method for setting up separate a contact entry with multiple specially formatted email addresses in the email field. Michael had this idea, play comment
    To set up shortcuts in iOS
      Settings > General > Keyboard
      Under 'Shortcuts' tap 'Add New Shortcut…'
      Under 'Phrase' put in the full text you want to come up when auto-correct kicks in.
      Under 'Shortcut' you can add an abbreviation to trigger the Phrase in auto correct. It's optional since when you start typing the first few characters of your phrase iOS auto correct will also recognize that and make the suggestion.
    I tried using a shortcut for the email address list and I was only able to successfully send out email when my phrase was a simple comma separated list of just email addresses
      You have to add a space after entering the phrase to trigger the auto complete
      It will show as only having 1 recipient in the To: field
      I also get the 'Invalid Address' warning, but you send anyway.
      Also on the receiving side Mail.app still showed the From filed with one address containing the entire comma separated list of addresses, not individual emails.
  Converting lapsed MobileMe to iCloud
    Here's an interesting situation and a good thing to be aware of.
    Susan had a Mobile Me account and Apple ID tied to an @mac Address.
    At some point she decided she didn't need the Mobile Me services, so let the account expire, but continued to use the @Mac address as her Apple ID for iTunes purchases
    Now with the transition to an iCloud being free she was interested in possibly reviving the MobileMe/iCloud services on that account
    She tried logging in using the old credentials only to find, maybe not surprisingly, that the account no longer worked and could not be converted to iCloud
    The Apple ID @mac.com login still worked, but it seemed like since Mobile Me was cancelled the services were no longer attached to it. Again, not surprising.
    Where it gets interesting is she contacted Apple support and they confirmed that the old account was dead and could not be transitioned
      As a matter of fact the same account name @me.com had already been taken by another person as a @me.com address.
      I wasn't aware that the @mac.com and @me.com variants were treated separately, but obviously they are.
    So Apple ID, .Mac, Mobile Me, and iCloud account names do appear to just be unique IDs, even though they happen to use email addresses.
    In Susan's case she can continue to use the @mac.com username as her Apple ID, but in going to iCloud will need to get a new username and if she wants @me.com email address.
  Sharing hotel wireless access
    Chris was traveling with multiple devices and the hotel offered that expensive pay per day internet
    The big issue was it was wireless only and locked to the MAC address of the Macbook Pro he used to sign up via the web form
    A great option would be to use the Internet Sharing feature built into OS X
      System Preferences > Sharing > Internet Sharing
      The trouble is this only works if you can hardwire your Macbook Pro to the hotel connection and then share out via your Airport
      You can also go the other way connecting over Wi-Fi to the hotel wireless and then hardwiring a device or switch.
    You can't connect via wi-fi and share that connection over the same wi-fi.
    Makes sense because you only have one interface. You need two. So what are some options
      Add another wireless port to your Mac.
        You can use something like the NewerTech MaxPower 802.11 USB Adapters
        Basically a USB Wifi card. That way you can connect on the internal Airport and share the internet connection over the USB Wi-Fi adapter
      Connect to the hotel wireless with a portable Wi-Fi travel router
        You's think the Airport Express would be ideal for this and it would except that if you only have wireless in the hotel that locks to the Mac address you have no way to connect the Airport to the wi-fi
        The Airport Express will not let you manually configure (clone) a Mac Address either
        Luckily the D-Link 1350 Wireless N Pocket Router will
        You connect the Macbook to it to configure the router and you can even have it clone the MAC address to the router. In essence at that point the hotel wi fi thinks the D-link router is your Macbook. Then you set up the router as an Access Point and connect your devices to it.
  Delete podcasts from iOS and syncing
    Play question from Brad
    Many may not even know how to delete content in the Music app on iOS
      Swipe across the item in the list in the app and you'll get a 'Delete' button
      This also works in the video app
    The thing is that deletes don't sync back to iTunes
    For that the only thing I can think of is to use the "keep" settings in the podcast settings in iTunes
      Under Podcasts, click the 'Settings…' button at the bottom of the window.
      Set it to only keep 'unplayed' podcasts
      You can set this as the default or change it per podcast. To set an individual podcasts behavior:
        Select it in iTunes
        Click the 'Settings…' button and uncheck the 'Use Default Settings' box
        Then set the settings for that particular podcast.
    My guess is that this is NOT what you're looking for Brad, but I don't know of any other work around.
Closing
  Podcast Marketplace
    Thanks to my sponsors
      Faronics, Deep Freeze. 5.0 released with Lion compatibility
      Circus Ponies
      Smile
      Gazelle
      VWWare. Use the code 'maccast' to save 10%
  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