Maccast 2014.05.17 - Show #488
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
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V News
V More on Beats Acquisition Rumors
* Some sources are claiming Apple might announce Dr. Dre (Andre Young) and Jimmy Iovine (eye-O-veen) as new Apple executives at WWDC
* A leaked royalty report from a musician’s website seemed to show that last month Beats Music service only had 110,992 paid subscribers.
V ReCode reported that the deal was still pending and might not happen until this week.
* It's not clear what the source of the delay has been.
* Even when done it’s expected that it will take a few months to finalize the acquisition
* The reason Apple is after and would pay the reported 3.2 billion for the company is still puzzling.
V Split-screen in iOS 8
* Mark Gurman from 9to5 Mac says his sources are telling him that iOS 8 will bring a new split-screen multitasking feature to iPads
* Allowing you to run two Apps side by side simultaneously.
* Designed with the 9.7-inch iPad display in mind, and it is unclear if the feature will work on the smaller-screened iPad mini.
* Work exclusively in landscape mode
V Might be partly a pre-cursor of a feature that makes a lot of sense for larger screened iPad that have been rumored.
* Latest has been that a 12-inch iPad has been delayed until at least early 2015
V Mac Otakara is claiming iOS 8 will have high-definition audio playback features
* Some think that might play into the Beats acquisition. Hardware, music, and software support?
* iOS software currently is not capable of playing 24-bit tracks with a sample rate greater than 48 kHz.
V iOS 8 will not be the massive update and redesign like iOS 7 was
* Expect some nice refinements and new apps
* Healthbook along with Apple’s wearable will be a big feature, but unlikely seen at WWDC
* Better iCloud. please make it work and be easier for developers to use.
* TextEdit and Preview apps (meh).
* Transit directions back in Maps.
* Speed and performance enhancements and UI refinements.
V
V Folks who think Apple will have a staggered two gigantiphone launch I think are going to be disappointed (keep in mind I’ve been wrong a lot).
* Many have been saying Apple has both a 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch iPhone 6 in the works.
* Earlier we heard the 4.7-inch would be here in the fall and the 5.5-inch model later in the year.
* Then a crazy rumor that the 4.7-inch would get here in August with the 5.5-inch coming in September
V Now there is a leak saying that Apple retail employees (in Germany) have restricted time off for the month of September.
* usually a sign of a big product launch.
* I still think Apple has plans for only one size iPhone this year and that will be the 4.7-inch model.
V The screen size is rumored to be 1704x960 resolution
* Maintains the 16:9 aspect ratio
* 1704x960 would be a 416ppi pixel density, well above the 300 ppi Apple requires for the "retina" designation.
* Spec-wise that PPI would be low compared to Apple competitors, also falls short of a "true" 1080p (1920 x 1080) resolution. (Stupid spec for a screen that small anyway).
* 3x resolution of the pixel width of the iPhone
* Means that there is only a 50% upscaling for non-optimized apps to maintain compatibility.
V We also got a new word on who might be the third supplier for the 4.7-inch display
* Surprisingly it might be Taiwanese LCD manufacturer Innolux and not Sharp or Samsung
* The rumor came out of the Taiwanese supply chain and, as Tim Cook warned, we need to be careful with supply chain rumors
V But if true the theory is that Apple is leery about continuing to hand Samsung more of it’s business in the wake of all the lawsuits
* Weak considering they (Samsung) still has the majority of Apple’s chip business
* And that Sharp had quality issues during preliminary test runs of the new panels
V Rumors of that 5.5-inch iPhone 6 seem to get stronger and stronger
* I just hope that Apple pre-announces it so they don’t have angry and remorseful iPhone 4.7-inch buyers on their hands.
V Apple can’t fix vanishing iMessages
* Ex-Lifehacker editor Adam Pash recently switched from iOS to Android, but fond that TXT messages from his still iPhone owning friends were not showing up.
* The iPhone owners would see the messages as successfully sent, but Adam never got them.
* The issue? iOS was still seeing Adam’s number as registered with iMessage, so it was sending them as iMessages.
* Adam claims that after an extensive support call with AppleCare that they said "a lot" of people are having this issue and they are unsure how to solve it.
V This issue has actually been a problem for over two years.
* remember stolen deactivated iPhones still getting iMessages after their owners replaced them?
* Apple needs to fix this.
V One thing I can think of that may work is to be sure to unlink the phone number on your iPhone in Messages before you move to another device.
* On iOS Settings > Messages . Send & Receive and make sure to uncheck the phone number in the "You can be reached by iMessage at" section.
* On Mac Messages > Preferences. Click on the 'Accounts' tab and select your iMessage account. Then uncheck the phone number.
V Can also turn iMessage off on your devices
* Settings > Messages
* Toggle the iMessages setting to off.
* On the Mac, uncheck the 'Enable this account' option in the account settings.
V If you already got rid of your device and have a new non-iOS one try this:
* Log in if not already logged in.
* Click on "edit products"
* Click on the "x" to the right of the product.
* Click "unregister"
V Apple Updates OS X, iTunes, and Podcasts
V Mavericks OS X 10.9.3
* Improves support for 4K displays on Apple's new Mac Pro
V Allows users to sync contacts and calendars to iOS devices over USB.
* Need iTunes 11.2.1 for this
* Improves the reliability of VPN connections using IPsec
* Resolves an issue that prevented Font Book from installing PostScript Type 1 fonts
* Improves reliability of copying, editing and inspecting permissions of files on an SMB file server
* Improves reliability of network home directories
* Improves stability when installing configuration profiles
* Improves login speed for users in Active Directory groups
* Includes Safari 7.0.3
V Also came with a nasty bug that effected some people
* After the upgrade their /Users and /Users/Shared folders went missing
* MacObserver realized that the bug seemed to be actually in iTunes 11.2 if you have Find My Mac turned on and not caused by OS X 10.9.3
* There were several quick workarounds, but the bug would come back on reboot.
* Luckily Apple quickly released and iTunes 11.2.1 update that resolves the problem
V iTunes 11.2.1
* Improvements to overall performance and stability
V Improvements to Podcast browsing
* Adds 'unplayed', 'feed', and 'saved' tabs
* Feed lets you see all episodes in the feed and stream or download episodes individually.
* Fixes an issue where iTunes may become unresponsive when updating Genius.
* If you didn’t get the iTunes 11.2.1 update make sure you do to avoid the trouble mentioned earlier.
V Podcasts 2.1
* Resolves playback issues after syncing with iTunes and improves stability while downloading podcasts.
* Adds Siri support, so now you can simply ask Siri to "Play Maccast (enhanced)"
* Automatically delete episodes after they are played.
* Save Episodes. Tap the "i" icon and tap 'Save Episode'
V Added support for CarPlay
* Pioneer has demoed Apple CarPlay integration with its NEX dash systems (4000-8000 models)
* They will issue a CarPlay update for the systems sometime this summer
* Share Podcast links via AirDrop
V Sponsor: Smile
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* I went paperless a long time about, but one of the biggest hassles with going paperless is getting the paper into digital form
* Really remembering to do it when you get home from a business trip or running it through the scanner later. You forget and then the documents pile up.
V With PDFpen Scan+ you can capture it right when you get the paper.
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V They just updated the app to version 1.3, with a bunch of great new features.
* Improved user interface and usability
* Effortless multi-page scans with post-process image editing
* Adds “Receipt” and “Custom” paper sizes
* Preview OCR text as page overlay
* New scan cropping features improve precision and ease of use
* Improved OCR accuracy and OCR text layout
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V Feedback, commentary, opinions
V Chip and Pin, tap to pay, and NFC
* TONs of feedback on this and the rest of the world is laughing at US for they antiquated use of swipe and sign
* Lower fees, better convenience, higher security with the "swipeless" systems.
* For lower amount transactions, like under US$25.00 you often don’t need the PIN (like no signature here)
* PayPass is a common system (which we have in the US BTW).
* One listener, in Australia, sent an image of a "sticker" that had the chip that could be attached to the back of your cell phone for payment.
* So my point is why do we need it built into the phone itself?
* Again, like another listener mentioned, it only makes sense if it just so happens that the wireless chips have support for the standard used by the NFC system already.
* My fear is that different cards use different, and proprietary systems. If so why not just use a system that uses a wi-fi or bluetooth standard already built into our device.
* Apple’s system could use iBeacons at the point of sale and let you pay using your credit card attached to iTunes already. You don’t need a card, chip, or NFC at all. Leave all the cards at home.
V Mac OS X "Cubed"
* Larry had the perfect solution to how to refer to the next edition of Mac OS X 10.10.
* Mac OS X "cubed".
V Drivers for Unsupported Printers
* Listener Beans, pointed me to Apple Support article HT3669 which pretty much confirms what i thought last show. That vendors need to submit updated drivers to Apple for inclusion in Software Update, but Apple doesn’t have to write (and actually won’t) drivers for the manufacturers.
* The article has an updated and extensive list of supported printers.
* They also recommend that if you have a printer not listed that you check the manufactures website (they have links for each manufacturer in the article)
V They also say as a list resort that you might try the Generic PostScript or PCL Drivers provided by Apple.
* Available from the "Print Using" pop-up menu when adding a printer.
* It will only provide limited functionality, but some functionality is better than none.
V Tweaking Safari’s Top Hits
* Mike emailed me to ask about resetting Safari’s "Top Hits" list.
V At first I guess I was confused and thought he was talking about the "Top Sites" (History > Show Top Sites)
* This you can reset from Safari > Reset Safari…
* Check the 'Reset Top Sites' option and click 'Reset'
V What he was referring to was the 'Top Hits' section of the "Smart Search" field (URL bar) in Safari
* It pops down suggestions as you type, like 'Top Hits', search results (based on your preferred search engine), Bookmarks and History, etc.
V I believe this is populated simply from your browsing history, so to remove that data
* History > Rest History…
* Click 'OK'
* You can also check the 'Reset Top Sites' option to clear those too from this dialog.
V The thing is that even after clearing history you’ll still probably get some results in the 'top hits'.
* I think the data comes in real time from your default search engine, if you have no browser history.
V The Top Hit is also pre-loaded by Safari
* You can disable that in the Preferences
* Safari > Preferences
* Click on the 'Privacy' tab
* In the 'Smart Search Field' section check on 'Do not preload Top Hit in the background'
* You also have an option to disable the search engine from providing suggestions.
V Fixing iTunes Album Art
* I received an email from Huw and he is having issues with the album and song artwork in iTunes going missing.
* Using File > Get Info… and then clicking Cancel seems to fix it, but then the issues return.
* Artwork has ALWAYS seemed to be finicky in iTunes.
V I have come to the conclusion that most of the problems come between conflicts of your own added data vs. Apple generated data
* If you do the File > Get Info… thing and add your own artwork it’s added to the file (I think).
* If you choose the track, right+click, and choose 'Get Album Artwork…' the artwork is downloaded to ~/Music/iTunes/Album Artwork and then a reference is set up in the iTunes Metadata (again I believe)
* Conflicts can arrive, so I believe it’s a one or the other proposition.
* If you’re finicky about your Album Art I would avoid the Apple Downloaded artwork (don’t use 'Get Album Artwork…' ).
V You can clear out the Apple data, but selecting a group of tracks or an album in iTunes, right+clicking, and choosing 'Clear Downloaded Artwork'
* This will remove only downloaded artwork and leave any embedded in place.
V After clearing the downloaded artwork you’ll want to embed your own.
* Google image search, Albumart.org, and Album Art Exchange are good sources for images
* For iTunes Retina devices Apple uses 1400 x 1400 pixel artwork which can be hard to come by.
* If you use iTunes Match also note that downloaded tracks will have Apple’s downloaded artwork, so you’ll need to swap that out.
* If you’re resetting things you’ll probably want to temporarily disable iTunes Match, clean up the artwork, then re-enable iTunes Match. Match is supposed to prefer your own metadata over Apple’s.
V To add you’re own album art
* 1. Find the artwork you want. Select the artwork and copy it to the clipboard
* 2. Select the song or album in iTunes and choose File > Get Info… (Command+I)
* 3. Paste the artwork to the artwork field and click OK
* 4. You will see a "Processing" pop up window.
* 5. Close the Get Info window.
V There are also a few apps that can help you find and apply album artwork
* TuneUp, this will do both artist, song, title, etc. metadata and artwork
* CoverScout, they also have SongGenie for other metadata
V Closing
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