MacCast 10.23.2009 - Show #282
Media/Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is "Say Anything" by Manda and the Marbles
* Band's MySpace page
V Sponsor
V Smile on My Mac
* PDFpen 4.5
* Integrated the OmniPage OCR engine
* Fantastic OCR at just $50 USD
* And if you use Snow Leopard there is direct scanning in the app
* 30-day free trial available
V News
V Apple updates everything consumer
V New iMacs
* 21.5" and 27" Models with a Quad Core version on the top end.
* 16:9 Aspect ratios. 21.5" has 1920x1080 (1080p) res, 27" res is 2560x1440. Both are LED backlit
* Standard configs offer a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo on the 21.5" and bottom 27" configs. The top of the line 27" config has a 2.66GHz Intel Core i5 Quad Core. You can also BTO the 27" models with a
2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, there is also a 3.33 GHz Core 2 Duo option.
* All standard configs have 4GB RAM.
V 21.5" has 500 GB HD and NVIDIA 9400M. 27" - 1TB HD and ATI Radeon HD 4670 graphics
* 27" models have 4 memory slots so upgradeable to 16GB RAM. 8GB (4 x 2GB) upgrade is only $200.00
* 21" still has just 2 slots, but upgradeable to 8GB RAM
* 27" has ATI Radeon HD 4850 BTO option
* 8x SuperDrive
* FireWire 800 port; Four USB 2.0 ports, and SD card slot, , 802.11n, Bluetooth
* Mini Display port and 27" supports Display-port in.
* Wireless keyboard and Magic Mouse standard.
* Two internal 17-watt high-efficiency amplifiers. Gizmodo says noticeable improvement in built-in sound.
* They don't have BluRay. Rumors that the feature was pulled at the last minute.
* All Aluminum enclosure. iFixit noted that the antenna is behind the Apple logo on the back, the only plastic area.
* Prices start at $1,199 for the 21.5" and $1,699 for the 27"
V New Macbook
* White polycarobonate Unibody. Still $999.00
* 2.26 Core 2 Duo, 9400M, 2GB RAM (up to 4GB), 250GB HD, Superdrive, 802.11n, Bluetooth
* Rounded edge "cloud" design. ArsTechnica says the entire bottom surface is soft rubber like the bottom of Airport Base Stations.
* LED-backlit 13.3" 1280x800 display
* 7-hour "sealed" battery
* Glass multitouch trackpad
* Single port for audio in and out. Sound preference pane has a Use Audio Port For pop-up menu.
* Firewire is gone again
V New Mac Minis
* Faster, more storage, more memory. Plus a new "server" option.
* $599.00, 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 160 GB HD, NVIDIA 9400M
* $799.00, 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320 GB HD, NVIDIA 9400M. 2.66 BTO
* $999.00, Snow Leopard Server, 2 x500GB HD (5400RPM), 2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 320 GB HD, NVIDIA 9400M. No optical drive. Snow Leopard Server is $499.00 itself.
* 802.11n, Bluetooth, 5USB 2 Ports, FW 800, Mini Display Port, Mini-DVI port
* MacMiniColo notes the new models have new firmware that does allow them to take up to 8GB of RAM.
V New Magic Mouse
V Entire top surface is multitouch, allowing clicks, scrolls, multitouch swipes and gestures
* Uses 138 capacitive touch sensors according to the iFixit teardown.
* Captures rate of scroll, can do 360 scrolling.
* Bluetooth
* System specs list 10.6.2 as a system requirement.
* USD $69.00
* Apple renamed the Mighty Mouse the Apple Mouse and still sell it for USD $49.00
V New Airport Extreme and Time Capsule
* New antenna designs that boots performance up to 50% and extend the range up to 25%
* Time Capsules working with Snow Leopard machines should back up up to 60% faster.
V New Apple Remote
* Longer, aluminum, with black (high contract) controls.
* Directional buttons in ring at top
* Separate Play/Pause and Menu buttons below.
V Other changes (thanks to Ars)
* Apple Wireless Keyboard now uses 2 AAs instead of 3
* 60W MagSafe Power Supply now uses a PVC Free cable and feature the aluminum style connector like on the MacBook Air power supply.
* VESA Mounting Kit adapter updated to work with the 27" iMacs
V What's next?
* Price drops?
* Cult of Mac has rumors of Apple testing a new 6-core Intel 'Gulftown; chip that may been seen in a MacPro update in early 2010.
V Levinson leaves Google board, sticks with Apple
* Former CEO Genentech Arthur Levinson is also now a former Google board member.
* Levinson, who serves on Apple's board, did the opposite Google CEO Eric Schmidt who recently stepped down from Apple's board
* The FTC had been scrutinizing Apple and Google due to their board member crossover even after Schmidt's resignation
* According to a NY Times article after the Levinson announcement FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz commended Google and Apple and hinted that they had effectively resolved the FTC antitrust concerns.
V Apple acknowledges a potential Snow Leopard data loss bug
* According to CNet, Apple has confirmed a bug in Snow Leopard where some users report losing data in their user accounts after logging into and out of a guest account.
* There are also reports that having an active guest account when upgrading might cause the loss.
* Apple says the issues is "extremely" rare and is working on a fix.
* Until the fix is issued, disable and avoid using a guest account in Snow Leopard
* If you have been hit, restore your user account from backup.
* Reports that the latest 10.6.2 beta release to developers has a fix for the issue
V In a separate unrelated issue there are reports of a unusually high number of 1st Gen TimeCapsules failing all within an eerily similar TimeFrame (ArsTechnica)
* There is now a website set up to track the issue
* The site lists 450 failed units with an average lifespan of 17months 3 days.
* Mostly 500MB and 1TB units, only 1 2TB unit to date
V Apple software updates
V iMovie 8.05
* Improves compatibility with a number of devices and fixes other minor issues.
* Improved compatibility with camcorders using the iFrame video format
* Improved compatibility with importing video captured on the iPod nano
* Fixed problems with resizing the iMovie window during playback
* iFrame is a new format based on H.264 and AAC audio. Used as native format in 2 new Sanyo cameras.
V Performance Update 1.0
* For some MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models
* Addresses intermittent hard drive related pauses reported by a small number of customers.
V Pro Applications Update 2009-01
* A revision to Final Cut Studio (2009).
* Update includes Final Cut Pro 7.0.1, Motion 4.0.1, Soundtrack Pro 3.0.1, Color 1.5.1, and Compressor 3.5.1.
* Addresses general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and addresses a number of other minor issues.
V Apple edges toward 10% US market share
* Electronista has numbers from IDC showing Apple's share of the US PC market is at 9.4% of shipments
* TMO says Gartner has Apple's market share numbers at 8.8% slightly less than the IDC numbers, but still growing in the quarter.
* 35.2% growth from last quarter when Mac market share slipped a little.
V Apple has another record quarter
V Anyone who says Apple's prices are too high, isn't looking at Apple's balance sheet. Amazing numbers in a "recession"? Guess Apple didn't get the memo.
* Actually the price war is annoying an the press, like Walt Mossberg, are harping on it too much.
* This proves why Apple Shouldn't play the bargain price game. They obviously don't need to.
* October 19th 4th Quarter Conference call
V Macworld ran down the numbers for Apple's most profitable quarter ever
* Profit of $1.67 billion on revenue of $9.87 billion.
* Year over year quarter profit gain of 46%. Yearly revenue rose 12%
* Apple has 34 billion in cash in the bank. Who says Americans don't save?
* Just over 3 million Macs sold, up 17% from a year ago. A record for Mac sales.
V iPhone sales up 7% year over year with Apple selling 7.4 million units in the quarter
* iPhone revenue was up 186% from the same quarter a year ago, bringing in $2.3 billion.
V iPods were the bummer.
* Sales down 8% from last year with Apple selling 10.2 million units in the quarter.
* Holiday season is usually a big time for iPod sales. Unit sales usually double other quarters.
V Free apps can now go paid
* Apple has opened up in-App purchases for free applications
* Developers now can enable features after you pay and also have a potential audit for pirated apps.
V Apple celebrates Windows 7 with new Ads
* OK, more like mock and ridicules, but lets not split hairs
* 3 new Ads, "Broken Promises", "PC News" , and "Teeter Tottering"
* Basic message is that if your going to change OS's why not change to a Mac. The also mention Macs top rating in customer satisfaction. All why taking some shots at the Windows 7 launch.
V Sponsor
V Circus Ponies
* Notebook
* Snow Leopard compatible.
* 30-day free trial available
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Apple's live product R&D
V 20th Anniversary Macintosh
* The first LCD Mac, long before the flat panel iMac. This may be a stretch, but my guess is Apple learned some things about the all-in-one flat panel form factor
V G4 Cube
* The original "mini"
V Macbook Air
* Lead to unibody construction, longer battery life. Slimmer stronger notebook designs.
V Apple TV
* Remains to be seen, but the 'media tablet mac' may have some tricks learned from the Apple TV incorporated into it.
V Recording Internet Radio
V Listener Christopher was trying to set up an Automator workflow to capture Internet audio
* This would work fine, but depending on the source (iTunes radio in his case) and the app used for recording can get tricky
V Enter the Rogue Amoeba
V Radioshift makes it easy. 50,000 internet radio stations you can tune in, schedule, and record.
* Multiple shows at once, add to itunes, wake and power-on.
* If you want to get audio from a URL. Audio Hijack Pro can capture in Safari from a URl and you can set up schedules
V Add a Trash Folder to the Desktop
* This works for Snow Leopard.
* In the Finder Choose 'Go'-->'Go to Folder...'
* Type '~/.Trash' and hit 'Go'. This will display the hidden .Trash folder in the Finder. Make an alias of this on the Desktop (Option+Command+Drag)
* This will make an invisible .Trash alias file on the Desktop, In the Finder choose 'Go'-->'Go to Folder...' again. Type '~/Desktop/.Trash' and hit Go. You will once again see the .Trashes folder (grayed out) in the Finder.
* Control+Click and choose 'Get Info...' and under the Name & Extension remove the ".". This will make the Trash alias visible on the desktop.
* Now you can add a custom icon if you want. Wont show the full/not full states on the Finder.
V Add sorting data to iTunes tracks
* Ever had trouble sorting iTunes track by artist or album when it's a compilation or has multiple artists?
V Use the 'sorting' tab to add sort data to the track that is different from the displayed data.
* Select the track in iTunes
* Choose Get info... and click the 'Sorting' tab
* Can also click the 'Artist' column heading to switch to 'Album by Artist' and 'Album by Year' sorting
V Also in info... 'Part of a compilation' checkbox. The in iTunes Preferences 'General' check 'Group compilations when browsing'.
* Artists from compilations will appear together in the Artist list in Browse view.
V Get iTunes LPs outside of iTunes
V There have been allegations that Apple wants to charge USD $10,000 to produce an iTunes LP and are only currently working with the Major labels to produce them
* According to Macworld Apple has denied this saying they will be releasing an open spec soon.
V TUAW says the folks at iTunesLP.net figured out how to create their own iTunes LPs using standard web technologies and calls to iTunes (HTML, CSS, XML, Javascript, etc.)
* There is also a "TuneKit" javascript library that Apple has in it's LPs. I assume this will become part of the open framework.
* Show package contents on the iTunes LP .itlp file and there in the 'src' folder.
* They have tutorials and some free LP downloads.
V Remove "name" when copying Mail email addresses
* In Snow Leopard's Mail.app if you copy an email address (click the little down triangle and choose copy email address...), you get not just the address, but the full name and email surrounded in <>'s. Awful for pasting.
V Over on the eCamm MacDaddy World blog they uncover a Terminal command to activate a hidden preference and turn that off. (via TUAW)
* Open Terminal and type: 'defaults write com.apple.mail AddressesIncludeNameOnPasteboard -bool NO'
V Our use Secrets from Blacktree
* Install the Secrets System Preference Pane.
* If running Quit Mail.
* Choose Mail from the list on the left
* Uncheck the 'Include names when copying email addresses option'.
* Relaunch Mail.
V Closing
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
* Circus Ponies
* Smile on my Mac
* Faronics, Deep Freeze
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 "Fall for You" by Secondhand Serenade
* From Mevio's Music Alley
* Artists web site
V EOL: iPhone Controlled Vehicle
* The "Spirit of Berlin" is an iPhone controlled Mini Van project out of Germany