Listen to today’s show here! 
MC20060419.mp3 [26.3mb 00:57:23 64kbps]
A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 132. Aperture 1.1 released, Beatles may be planning to offer music downloads, buying iTunes while in flight? True video iPod missed the party on April 1st, Apple orders 13.3″ LCDs, MacBook out soon? Steve Jobs declines to write Woz forward (unconfirmed), Apple legal form letter not the response 9-year old expected. Boot Camp stranding Mac owners in Windows. Triple booting with Boot Camp. Lucky, Lucky Charms come with free iTunes. Burst.com files lawsuit against Apple. OS 10.5 Leopard will make an appearance at WWDC 2006. New firmware update for Intel Macs. My initial impressions of the Intel Mac Mini and Boot Camp. Apple Universal Access, VoiceOver and GarageBand. What to do if you see that annoying blinking question mark at start up. My update on using GarageBand 3 for the MacCast (enhanced). Question about multiple Applications folders. Review of the iSlicker iPod protector.
New music, The Maybe Love Song by Vanessa Peters and Ice Cream On Mondays
I was happy for the briefest moment.
Shownotes: HTML or OPML
Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3
In the Podtrac thing, do we HAVE to sign up for the Podcast Panel at the end?
Gordo. NO, and I personally wouldn’t, but it’s up to you.
Adam, are you going to be adding ads to the podcast? I have absolutely no problem with it, but you had previously indicated you weren’t going to do that.
Is the suvey to see what kinds of ads will work best in the Mac Cast? Please Do Not put ads in the Mac Cast.
I will never say never to ads in the MacCast, but for now there are no ads. The survey is to get a better understanding of my audience in case opportunities present themselves in the future. I am a good “boy scout” and like to be prepared. The immediate need is I am thinking of trying to get some banner ads for the web site and demographics can help sell those at better rates.
A couple of mistakes in your latest podcast…
Conroe is the new Intel cpu, Transmeta had the Crusoe chip.
The WinXp install disk cannot format a Fat32 partition greater than 32Gb (you could use a partition manager after the install to resize), however Fat32 is limited to 8 Tb.
Currently I am running WinXp/Ubuntu but would like to use Macs. Good podcast, interesting to hear about a different os.
Multiple Photoshops? This is a common probelm for new users. If you want an easy way to lanch an application, experienced Mac users know to drag the app to the Dock, or make an Alias to the desktop. However, novice users will often just drag the app (or the folder) to the desktop making a COPY of the origirnal.
The best solution is to delete all of the Photoshop applications in your home folder, leaving the one in the /Applications folder, making sure that all of your plugins etc are in THAT Photoshop/Plugins folder.
Really appreciated the story about the 9-year-old who wrote Steve Jobs. We had a similar experience with Disney. My daughter loves the Figment character at Epcot and would love for Disney to make a Figment movie, since they’ve already done Pirates and the Haunted Mansion. Two years ago, I suggested that she write to Michael Eisner and ask him. In her letter, she suggested some things she would like to see. I had her write the letter by hand and put her age on it so that they could clearly tell it was from an eight-year-old.
About a month later she received a large envelope from Disney which contained her letter and a letter from a Disney attorney saying that they did not accept story ideas from outside the company, just like the Steve Jobs situation. They also included an old copy of Disney Adventures Magazine, which she already had. She was crushed. I did my best to put a positive spin on the situation, explaining why they did what they did, and pointing out a mark that had been stamped on the letter which made it sound like Eisner might have actually read it. That helped her feel better. Though we were sorely disappointed that company such as Disney wouldn’t have a better system for dealing with letters from children.
Conversely, right after she sent her letter to Eisner, she also sent a birthday card to Audrey Geisel, Dr. Suess’ widow, in honor of his 100th birthday. Shortly after receiving the Disney package, she received a hand-written thank-you card from Mrs. Geisel along with a whole packet full of cool Dr. Suess stuff. That one made her day. And it made us feel a lot better that at least Dr. Suess’ company knows how to respond to children, even if Walt Disney’s doesn’t.
While Apple’s response to the little girl was done poorly, the basic message is absolutely correct. Intellectual Property (IP) issues are so contentious these days that Apple has to discourage unsolicited ideas very forcefully.
Your mentions of the Beatles(trademark) and Burst(patent) stories just prove how crucial IP issues are currently.
What if Steve Jobs had graciously responded to the girl’s letter and, coincidentally, Apple made some of the improvements to the nano the girl suggested? It would look like Apple stole her idea and some shyster lawyer would start a suit! What would happen to the Apple employee who independently invented that improvement? Would they get proper recognition as the true inventor?
That’s why I send my ideas to Apple using their form that says the idea is theirs. They are not patentable anyways. I always ask for iPhoto to allow you to make a photo web page that lets the READERS order prints from Apple.
In response to Roger –
I don’t see how Disney did anything wrong in your situation. They responded to your daughter with an explanation of why they couldn’t use her ideas and eased the rejection with a stamp of approval and a magazine. It’s harsh to blame them for the fact that your daughter already had the magazine. How were they to know?
MacFanDave explained very well why large companies can not excpet these kinds of communicatinos from the public. They are protecting themselves and I don’t see how we can fault them for that.
Apple didn’t handle their situation as delicately as Disney did, but hopefully they will learn from their mistake and ease the sting when dealing with a child.
I wonder if Microsoft settled with Burst and took out a license to legitimize their claim much like they did with SCO so as to harm Linux later when SCO went after companies? In this case, Microsoft settling and taking a license was for Burst to later go after Apple to make it tougher in court for them to say Burst’s claims were not legitimate. This is of course to try to take down the iPod and the iTMS since they can’t seem to compete with it.
Ryan I can’t help but agree with you. It is rather sinister a thought but lest not forget, Apple has made hell freeze over a few times already. Yes I think Microsoft, by settling with Burst, was trying to create a
On a side note, regarding Universal Access and the insights Adam had, the correct word is not ‘handicapped’ but rather ‘challenged’. I prefer challenged my myself because that’s what mentally or physically challenged people are.
Please note, I’m not trying to embarrass or make anyone feel offended but I just want to promote the use of ‘challenged’ as it sounds like a kinder word.
Keep up the great work Adam!
You didn’t mention any thing about Apples new product on your show. A few days ago they released Apple Remote Desktop 3!
When I removed Boot Camp from my Intel Mini (it was fun for about 10 minutes, but overall I was unimpressed), I also had the “folder with a question mark” problem.
Your advice of making sure the appopriate system is checked in System Preferences is correct.
Just wanted to let the masses know that they may run into this if/when they remove Boot Camp.
In response to Bruce –
I understand perfectly why Disney sent the letter that they did and why they have a policy for not accepting ideas from outside the company. My problem was how they handled it. This is an eight-year-old child and the Walt Disney Company. Mickey Mouse. When you go to the theme parks, Mickey, Donald and Goofy call you for wake-up calls. When she was at WDW on her birthday, she got a card under the door signed by Cinderella and the other princesses.
For kids, they could have a letter from Mickey, thanking them for writing, then put the fine print and legalese at the bottom. The stamp was just a standard stamp saying it had been received by Eisner’s office — it wasn’t anything designed to make her feel better. I just did my best to make it sound that way. And the magazine that they sent was a year old — clearly, no forethought was given to sticking it in the envelope. They should have something special to send to children who write to Disney, even if it’s just a card from Mickey, that you can’t get anywhere else. They should also have some system for differentiating a request from a submission — this is a kid telling Disney what she wants to see, like “please build a Pooh ride” or “please make another Toy Story movie.”
It’s always been our experience that Disney goes the extra mile for children, so I certainly expected better (like Audrey Geisel did). They should have two different processes for adults and kids, not just stick an old magazine in an envelope if it’s from a kid.