Maccast 08.23.2012 - Show #412
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
V Sponsor: Squaretrade
* Look. Stuff happens. I saw a friend on twitter today who dropped his new iPhone in the toilet. Or say your the type of person like say, I don't know who, who may leave the iPhone and iPad on the top of their car and drive off.
* The question is, will you now b eshelling out full boat for a new device, or do you want to be protected for the little "oops" moment we have in life.
* If you got a SquareTrade warranty right, you don't have to worry because you're covered for these kinds of accidents.
* A SquareTrade extended warranty covers you for drops and water damage including 'full immersion' which sometimes isn't covered by other plans
* The coverage is also very affordable. Carriers offer coverage, but at $10/mo your looking at $240 by the end of your 2-year contract,
* SquareTrade offers 2 years of coverage for just $124 and if you use the Maccast link and sign up now it's just $99.00
* And if you have other devices you want coverage for like iPads, laptops, cameras, tvs, appliances SquareTrade has plans for those things too.
V News
V iPhone 5 First Impressions
* Some first impressions and early reports on the iPhone 5
V Look and feel
* I love the look and feel os this iPhone
* Feels like the size was made for you hand
* Stretches the limits of my thumb range, but for sure you can use it one handed, just maybe not comfortably for an extended period.
* Construction is unbelievable. Everything seems smooth and refined.
* I've put an album up on the Maccast Facebook page
V LTE
* LTE seems to be a case of location, location, location.
* Also speed, at least on AT&T, seems to vary widely
* My Speedtest.net score have ranged from around 6.00 Mbps down / 3.00 Mbps up up to 42.60 Mbps down/21.11 Mbps up. All in the same LTE "city", just in different places all within a few square miles of each other
* Also at first I had not LTE at my house then today I suddenly had LTE, but a "moderate" version. 14 Mbps down and 9 Mbps up.
* Still WAY better than my HSPA+ "4G" which averaged around 3 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up.
V Scratches
* "Scratchgate" as coined by iFixit who did some informal tests
* I have a scratch on mine from just putting in my pocket accidentally with my keys one time.
* The "chamfered" edge seems to be most susceptible, but the anodized back may also scratch.
* Seems like the black coating (paint?) on the edge comes off too easily
* Good news is some early drop tests I've seen make it seem like the device, while not looking pretty after, seems to survive with less chance of cracked glass.
V Battery
* Battery seems to run down pretty quickly
* I've put it through 2 full cycles in 2 days which isn;t too bad, but seems to run down more when I'm not using it
* Don't know if that a factor of the LTE running in the background for notifications, etc.
* Also feels like the classic issue with a new device where the algorithm that displays the battery percentage is off. Seems to draw own quickly on the front end and then slow on the backend,
* I lost 30% battery overnight, yet only lost 20% battery over the next 6 hours with use.
V Camera
* launches faster and takes shots about as fast as you can press the button.
* Low light performance seems improved.
V Earpods
* I for sure like the fit better than the old earbids. Much more comfortable, but not necessarily better than form fitted earbuds.
* Sounds is a lot fuller, but maybe too much bass.
* I like the case although opening it and putting the earpods back in can be tricky
* Verizon phone is unlocked GSM "world" phone.
V A6 specs have been revealed
* UBM TechInsights and Anandtech, and Chipworks have done their diffusion image and microscopic tricks and turned out the details
V UBM TechInsights and Anandtech
* 3 GPU cores, assumed to be a PowerVR SGX 543MP3 running at 266MHz.
* Dual general purpose ARM cores
* Two 32-bit LPDDR2 memory channels
* 1 GB of 1066MHz DDR2 RAM
* The A6 is a 1Ghz dual core custom Apple chip that is armv7s-compatible.
V Chipworks
* Confirmed the iSight is an Omnivision sensor and that Sony makes the 8MP front camera
* Performance benchmarks seem to also show the A6 smoking the old A5s and Android phones
V Sponsor: Smile
V Text Expander 4
* I couldn't run the show without it.
* Literally a time saver, they have a statistics window and I've saved typing over 650,000 characters or 27 hours of time.
* I'll very often get asked the same questions or need to respond to various requests for tips and tricks.
* heck I even added one snippet recently to keep track of the new craft breweries that are in town, so I can share that with other fans who come to visit.
* Basically the second time I find myself typing the same content I make a snippet for it.
* And they don't have to me impersonal. With fill-in forms and multiple options for variable content you can customize text at expansion.
* Also with TextExpander Touch you can have your snippets on iOS also. Over 140 apps have TextExpander technology integrated into them.
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Getting Podcasts back in Music
* A few people have written in to ask how to fix Podcast Smart Playlists in iOS 6 now that the Podcast app replaces Podcasts in Music
V Luckily there is a trick that will let you get Podcasts back in Music.
* On your iOS device quit the Music and Podcast apps. Be sure to also double click the Home button, press and hold the icons, and close them from running in the background.
V Return to the home screen, find the Podcast app, press and hold the icon until it jiggles, tap the "X" to delete the App from your device.
* You will need to confirm the delete
* Note, that this may also delete and data in the Podcast app.
* Downloaded podcasts seem to be retained
* Now relaunch the Music app and the Podcasts section should be back
* The main downside to this trick is that you will not be able to download more episodes or stream directly from the Music app
* Clicking "Get More Episodes", give you the Podcasts have moved message telling you to download the Podcast app.
* You'll need to sync from iTunes on the Mac, but your Smart playlists should work again.
V Virtual launch day interviews
* Play interview with Ken
* Play interview with Glenn
* Play interview with Ian
* Play interview with Michael
* Play interview with Kevin
V Closing
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
V MCE 2012
* I'll be speaking again at the Mac Computer Expo in Petaluma on the 6th of October
* Awesome event and at $10 buck tickets are a steal.
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 Checkout the page on Facebook
* Posted unboxing photos and video