MacCast 03.07.2007 - Show #179
Media/Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
www.mandaandthemarbles.com
V News
V Apple plans special event at NAB
* Apple will hold a special event at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) trade show on Sunday, April 15th.
NAB 2007
* No details, but speculation is they will release the next version of FinalCut Studio. Also rumblings of new Mac Pros are surfacing again. BluRay? 8-Core?
* Leopard, not likely.
V iTunes 7.1 and QuickTime 7.1.5 updates and more
* Quicktime update for eight different security flaws.
V iTunes adds support for AppleTV (in preferences now). Full screen Cover Flow. New "sorting" tab under a tracks "Get Info...". Seems to be a way to add aliases or nickname for better (more accurate) sorting.
* I had an Album "CSII Exclusives" by Crystal Method. On on track the Artist is listed as Kevin Beber & The Crystal Method
* When sorted as "Album by Artist" all the tracks except this one are grouped, but this one is down in the Ks (Kevin) instead of the Cs. I added the Sort artist as "Crystal Method" and now it sorts "properly".
* This also, my artist is listed as "The Crystal Method", but the Sort artist is "Crystal Method" meaning it gets sorted in the Cs instead of the Ts.
* A new “Ratings for” dropdown has been added to Parental Controls, with country options. Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Video content coming?
* iTunes Update improves VIsta compatibility, but is not finished. Apple is working with Microsoft on a few more bugs.
* Apple also release an update to DVD Studio, DVD Studio Pro v4.1.2. The update addresses a compatibility issue with HD DVD projects and Toshiba HD DVD players, as well as, “important bug fixes.”
* Backup 3.1.1, improved backup and restore with external drives, better memory management, fixes to restore of bundled file types.
V New Apple Retail stores set to open
* Apple's 11th Texas store, Apple Store The Domain opens Friday, March 9, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. CST. It is located at 11410 Century Oaks Terrace (Suite 120) in Austin, Texas.
Apple Retail
* Apple's 12th Florida Store, Apple Store Waterside Shops opens Saturday, March 10, 2007 at 10:00 a.m. EST. Located at 5555 Tamiami Trail North (Suite 6) in Naples, Florida
V Reports of a planned flagship store in Munich, Germany.
* Four-story flagship retail store in building that was Sport Schuster.
* Open some time in the second half of next year
* One of five planned for Germany, other locations likely in Berlin and Frankfurt.
V US DOT bans upgrading to Vista
* Example of the "telephone" effect in web reporting. I am likely guilty too.
* MacNN head line reads, "U.S. DOT considers switch to Mac, Linux", then reads: "The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has banned Windows Vista, Office 2007, and Internet Explorer 2007 from its offices, and is considering switching its operations to Macs and PCs running Novell's SuSe Linux"
* They link to a Business 2.0 BETA blog site which references the original Information Week article
* In the original, workers at the DOT were given a memo in January sating that no one is allowed to upgrade to Vista, Office 2007 or IE 7 until IT can evaluate and approve the software compatibility with their current software and systems. A common practice in most companies.
* As for Linux and OS X, "the Transportation Department is weighing as a possible alternative or complement to Windows Vista are Novell's Suse Linux and, for a limited group of users, Apple's Macintosh hardware and software."
V 6th Gen Video iPod plays second fiddle to iPhone?
* ArsTechnica's Infinite Loop Journal is reporting that their sources say Apple may not launch another major iPod upgrade until the third quarter of this year or later.
* Apple doesn't want to take resources or consumer focus away from the iPhone.
* Could give them more time to move away from HD based storage and move to NAND Flash
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Apple Bluetooth headset was unmemorable
* As so many of you have pointed out Steve Jobs did briefly show the Bluetooth headset for iPhone that I reported on in the last show in his Macworld Keynote. He even showed some images.
* I now remember that when I first saw it I thought it looked kinda "dorky" and not very cool at all. Little black stick, 1/2 the width and about the length and thickness of an Apple remote, hanging off a 1st gen iPod ear bud.
* According to David Pogue the headset charges via a Magsafe like connection at one end of the ear piece itself and that the headset actually sits side by side in the new iPhone dock
V Library Management could be it's own podcast
* Going to suggest we move the iTunes multiple library discussion to the forum
Maccast Forum
V iPhoto Library management and alternatives
* Play question from Kenny
* iPhoto is really meant to be used as a Finder replacement for Photos.
* Turn off "Copy files to iPhoto Library folder when adding to Library" option in the Advanced tab of the iPhoto Preferences
* Could set up Multiple, smaller iPhoto Libraries. Hold Option on launch.
V Alternatives
* Shoebox, USD $29.99 (lite, 2 catalogs, up to 10,000 photos), USD$79.99 (pro, unlimited). No editing I could see, but TONS of organization features.
Shoebox
* Lightbox, USD $25.00. Editing features are via plug-ins, not sure what features are there
Lightbox
* Aperture, USD$299.00
Aperture
* Adobe Lightroom, USD$199.00
Photoshop LightRoom
* iView Media Pro, now owned by Microsoft, USD$199.00
iView Media Pro
V Solutions to listener's Drag & Drop issues
V MarBel's problem seems to be a rare and unpatched QuickSilver bug.
* The developer hasn't been able to fix it because he can't re-produce it
* Maybe a conflict with some other app, since it doesn't effect all QuickSilver users?
* Listener John had slightly different, but similar issue. Item's on his desktop would "jump" from the position where he would drop them. Desktop and Finder View Options... "Snap to Grid". Also if you have "Keep arranged by..." turned on you won't be able to move items on the Desktop or in icon view.
V Using Airport Express as a NAS
* Listener Chris was wondering about using the Express to attach a USB HD to the network.
Airport Express
* USB Port is for printer sharing only
* May be possible to attach and ethernet capable HD, like the LaCie Ethernet Big Drive (use a wi-fi bridge).
V Still many unanswered iPhone Questions
* Play questions from Wyane.
V Games
* No details, but not likely.
* No "click-wheel" which current games are designed to use.
* Rumor that Apple was in talks with EA for developing iPhone games, so may be different.
V GPS
* No details
* Google has been asked about it and is not saying.
V Photos
* 2-megapixel camera
* Back of iPhone at Macworld didn't appear to have a flash.
V Disk mode
* Assumption would be yes, but not confirmed.
* Disk size is a bit small though
* Slot on side is a SIM card slot used by Cingular service.
V Airtime and costs
* You would likely be buying an unlimited data plan to go with cellular service
* Remember it has Wi-Fi and switches seamlessly.
V Additional stuff (mostly from Pogue's Jobs Interview)
* No JAVA, FLASH maybe.
* Using iPod songs as ringtones, not decided
* Will add 3G support (HSDPA) when it is more widely available. New phone.
* I am still sitting on my iPhone Special with Alex Curtis.
V Finding and removing duplicate files across hard drives
* Listener Dan has 3 that are almost full and he knows there are files duplicated across them.
* There are some shell scripts and command line tools you can use.
V I found TidyUp!
TidyUp!
* Be VERY careful
* Allows your to specify criteria to match: filename, date, file size, etc.
* Lots of features so get familiar before you do anything
* I would "flag" potential duplicates and then use the "burn" feature to burn a CD or DVD before trashing anything.
V Prevent Spotlight Indexing of BootCamp volume
* From Listener Devin
* Can't seem to add Windows formated partitions (can verify volumes) to the Spotlight "privacy" list.
* To work around this you can do this by creating a blank file called ".metadata_never_index" at the root of the volume.
V Closing
V Maccast Loop
* On Talkshoe this Sunday at 1:00 PM EST/ 10:00 AM PST
www.talkshoe.com
* Maccast Loop is being produced by Victor Cajiao from Typical Mac User Podcast
Typical Mac User Podcast
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V MacRoundtable
* MacRoundtable Podcast
MacRoundtable
V Guest Appearance on Killing Time
* Killing Time Podcast
Killing Time Podcast
V Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
* maccast@gmail.com
V 206-222-2788 (20-MACCAST-8)
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* MacCast Forum
forum.maccast.com
V New music, "Flash Dancer" by Blue Light Special
* From listener Kenneth
* One of those "catchy" tunes that is likely to get stuck in your head.
* They are a "GarageBand" at the moment and don't have a website. You can email Kenneth if you like the track. Kennethclone@msn.com
Kennethclone@msn.com