Download today’s show here! 
MC20110330.mp3 [36.8MB 01:16:10 64kbps]
A podcast about all things Macintosh. For Mac geeks, by Mac geeks. Show 343. iOS 5 release moved to Fall. WWDC sells out in hours. International ipad2 launch. iOS 4.3.1 update. New iMacs soon? Mac 10.6.7 OpenType font bug. iPad 2 glass stronger. Lion Developer Preview 2. Voice Control on the Mac. Offline Mail in iOS. Gmail, Mail.app, and iOS set-up. Backward compatibility and upgrading. Shifting media to apps. Duplicate podcasts in iTunes. News feeds and the paywall.
Want more Maccast? Become a Maccast Member.
Special thanks to our sponsors:
Circus Ponies NoteBook – The Easy Way to Get Organized on the Mac. Try it FREE for 30 Days.
EOL: The 27″ iPad 2 (via YouTube)
Shownotes in: HTML or OPML
Subscribe to the Podcast Feed or Get the MP3 or Enhanced AAC
Great episode Adam, especially the section about the gmail settings.
Although there are cool things about iOS Albums, they will never take off if the music is locked in the app. Also who wants an iOS device with pages full of albums? Isn’t that why we have iTunes?
To really make albums attractive, iTunes LP compatibility should be expanded across all iOS devices, computers and of course Apple TV too. Locking down these bonus features to just a few devices will keep the content from ever catching on.
Hi Adam-
Thanks for your hard work on the podcast. Keep up the good work!
With regard to your caller asking about voice input on the Mac: Based on our experience, the built-in features will provide some basic voice control, but don’t offer the robust options that you will find in the commercial products from Nuance (Dragon Dictate, MacSpeech Scribe, etc.).
Additionally, although I primarily use a Mac and other Apple products, and I think they do an amazing job with accessibility for people with disabilities, it’s my personal opinion that the Windows-based voice input options (specifically Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred by Nuance) offers the most complete voice control options for people with limited mobility.
Hope this information helps and please feel free to contact our team with other assistive technology-related questions.
Wade Wingler, ATP
Director of Assistive Technology
Easter Seals Crossroads, Indianapolis
http://www.EasterSealsTech.com
http://blog.eastersealstech.com
Wade, thanks for the feedback and I would agree that at a minimum for most people with accessibility needs the 3rd party software is the way to go. Just curious, do you feel the Dragon products for the Mac are not as good as the ones for Windows in this regard?
Hi Adam– While the Mac version of Dictate has improved I still feel like Windows offers the better experience. Like you, I’m hopeful that Apple and/or Nuance will do some more work in this area.
Take care,
Wade
The iPad glass is not from “iSigh” but it sounded like you were trying to say “Asahi” (Au-Saw-Hee) which is represented by the Morning Sun (the previous sun symbol you may have seen on the WW1 Japanese flag with the sun beams bursting out in red from the red sun on a white background). But, that was good effort, Adam. Keep up the good casts( ^.^ )(^.^ )//
Ha ha. Thanks. Yeah, my Japanese is terrible.
About the international costs of the iPad units, here in Panama we experienced recently a new import incentives that just happened to benefit the iPads.
The new regulation was intended to encourage the import of inexpensive computers for educational purposes, making them more accessible for those with low income. In practical terms, all computers under 1,000 USD are now tax exempt.
The iPads were assigned to this category of inexpensive computers, and are tax free, and cheaper probably than our nearby countries.
Still, you may notice some price difference since we do not have a true Apple Store in the country, we have representatives and resellers, who may play with the profit, or may not get the iPads at the Apple retail store discounted price.
There is one more element in play that may have some effect on the imports: the estimated volume sales. Transportation cost is significantly reduced based on it.
Here in Panama the market is small, except for the huge number of visitors from south and central America that come to buy things at better import rates. Still it is a very fluctuating/seasonal market, so the prices may get higher due to the related risk.
Awesome show Adam!
Adam
Interesting rant on albums v singles. Historically singles have been popular. The first recordings were cylinders which contained 2 minute then 4 minute recordings. The disc was introduced and the 78 would have the A side featured song with a lesser B side recording. (Although that B side could “hit the charts”.) 78s were basically singles. An album would be several 78s. (My parents had a soundtrack album of “The Wizard of Oz” on about six records.) When LPs, at 33 1/3 came on the market the true single disc album had arrived. But the single was still popular with 45s having the same A side B side feature of the 78s. The move from analog to digital (in the form of CDs) might have killed the single but the advent of the digital online store has brought back the notion of getting that one song.
Which way to buy will stay an individual choice, I’m with you I buy albums.
(Except that one time when I wanted Tony Bennet’s classical recording of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”.)
Chris
@CalMiKy