MacCast 05.15.2010 - Show #302
Media/Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is "Say Anything" by Manda and the Marbles
* Band's MySpace page
V Sponsor
V Circus Ponies
* Notebook
* Great for, notes, lists, web research.
* Have "virtual" notebooks for all your stuff.
V I don't talk about the themes much
* Ruled paper, white, yellow, graph paper, etc.
* Binding: spiral, 3-ring, perfect., pad.
* Sticky notes, tabs, flags, etc.
* Adds an element of fun.
* They are working on an iPad version according to their FAQ. No details though.
* Free trial
V News
V iPad supply feels the global crunch
V International pre-orders are already sold out most places.
* Ship dates for orders now in the UK for example are June 7th.
* Early pre-orders will still ship out May 28th.
V Apple wants iBookstore at launch internationally
* legality of Apple's "agency" model of pricing being questioned in the UK
* Competition laws say publishers need to be in control of pricing.
* Stuff I read said it is unclear in Apple's agreement, but I always thought it was like the App Store.
* US Supplies also continue to be strained, accessories too.
* WalMart senior vice president of entertainment, Gary Severson, told Bloomberg they will start carrying the iPad later in the year.
V Apple working on iPad Wi-Fi fix
V MacObserver notes that Apple has an support article details some customers issues with Wi-Fi on the iPad and offers some possible solutions
* These include manually renewing your IP address, turning off 'auto brightness' and not setting it at the lowest setting, using WPA or WPA2 encryption, and making sure your router firmware is up-to-date.
* The article also hints that Apple will address the issue in a future firmware update, but doesn't give a timeline.
V Apple's new "What Is iPad" Ad
* Apple has started airing a iPad Ad
* Mac Rumors points out that some who have been around long enough might feel like were suffering from deja vu.
V CSI: Cupertino, documents unsealed
* I now full expect a "ripped from the headlines" episode.
* A judge in San Mateo County, Calif unsealed the affidavit that was used to secure the search warrant for Gizmodo editor Jason Chen's home.
V They were sealed to protect the privacy of the parties involved, but that info was already all over the web.
* Wired.com, the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, and other news outlets wanted the records unsealed.
V Offers a very detailed account of the investigation that lead up to the search.
* If the information offered in the document are correct then it's pretty clear the parties knew what they were doing and that it doesn't seem legit.
* Roommate of the guy who found the phone was worried since he connected it to his computer and contacted Apple
V According to her
* He knew the the phone belonged to.
V He knew what he had, didn't attempt to return it, made arrangements to sell it
* $5,000 from Gizmodo and another $2,500 when Apple announced
* He reportedly had another $3,500, but from an unknown source
* Email to Steve Jobs from Brian Lam. Read like extortion and bitter feelings to me.
* Police note when the found Brian Hogan and his other roommate they were in the process of destroying evidence.
V Important notes
* no charges have been filed, no one has been charged with a crime
* The account given is the statements of one roommate. Brian Hogan's lawyers claim the statements aren't 100% accurate.
* The observations of the investigators I believe to be factual.
* If the roommates statements are found to be true then it doesn't look good for Hoagn or Gizmodo.
V Another 4G iPhone prototype surfaced. In Taiwan this time.
* Missing bottom screws.
* A4 processor and 256MB of RAM
V 4G iPhone rumors continue to flow
* DigiTimes is reporting that Pegatron Technology, a spin off from Asustek, has been given the orders to produce a CDMA version of the iPhone for Apple.
* Would go along with rumors that Verizon would start carrying the iPhone this Fall (September)
* AT&T was confirmed to have iPhone exclusivity on the original agreement through 2012, but most believe that deal was renegotiated, possibly multiple times since.
V Mobile Me updates in the works
V Apple launched a new BETA of it's Mobile Me web interface.
* Log-in to your Mobile Me account and click the link in your Mail app to request an invite
V Features include
* Widescreen and compact views.
* Rules to keep your email organized everywhere.
* Single-click archiving
* Formatting toolbar
* Improved performance
* Increased security with SSL.
* MacDailyNews reported an unconfirmed rumor that Apple may have plans to make MobileMe free.
V Mac sales up with new Macbook Pros
V Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu told his investors he's expecting a strong quarter from Apple
* Raised estimates on iPad sales for the quarter from 1 million (Apple already hit that mark) to 2 million. (comment: assuming Apple can keep the supply up).
* Expects to see a 20 percent year over year unit growth in Mac Sales thanks in part the the refresh of the Macbook Pro line.
V Ars Technica reports that some users aren't getting the battery life they were promised and suspect the new auto graphics card switching and Core Animation apps to be the issue
* Trouble is lots of apps, even non-GPU, intensive ones use the Core Animation API and the theory is that any use of Core Animation triggers the discrete GPU which uses more power.
* There is now an app called " gfxCardStatus" that will show an icon in the menubar so you know which card is active. Also allows you to manually switch the GPU.
V Homeland Security warns of Safari Exploit
V CERT team warns of a Javascript zero-day exploit in Safari 4.0.5 for Windows. Other versions may be effected?
* Typical issue is that these exploits are used to install bot software, etc and most often the apps run on PCs, but not Macs.
* Until Apple offers a fix solution is to turn off Javascript, or be extremely careful in clicking on unsolicited links in email and on social networks, chat, etc.
V Steam on the Mac
* Portal for Free until May 24th.
* Checkout the Maccast "Macsteamy" episode with Scott Johnston and Brian Ibbot.
V Sponsor
V Citrix
* Goto Assist Express
* Remote access on demand that you won't have to configure.
* Great for corporate tech support teams and home tech support gurus.
* Try for free for 30-days
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Follow-up PGP Whole Disk Encryption
* Joe Kissel at TibBITS has a great article on PGP WDE
* Symantec is buying PGP
V Managing iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad backups
* Tony realized that he had 9GB of space being taken up by his iPhone Backups
V You can find them at: ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync
* live inside cryptic folders, so there is a somewhat easier way to manage these
V In iTunes
* Preferences-->Devices-->Device Backups:
* You can select and delete old backups
* Annoying that you cant sort by date or device name.
V Likely these are old backups from prior versions of iTunes or devices you upgraded from old devices
* According to Apple's documentation there should only be 1 backup per device.
* If you restore and choose not to recover data from a backup then a new file will overwrite the old backup.
V And what exactly gets backed up?
* Info in Apple's tech support article
V Auto BCC from Mail.app per Account
* Tony gets a two 'fer
V The only in Mail.app way to add a BCC is per message
* When composing a message choose 'View' and you will get the BCC address field option
* You can also click the little "field list" icon drop down at the lower left of the address input area.
V There is a Terminal hack to enable a global BCC setting, so that every email sent is auto BCC's to an address.
* You can also set this using Secrets from Blacktree
V What about an auto BCC, but per account?
* MailActOn from inDev
* Mail add-on (like a plug-in). Let's you set keyboard macros to apply rules, move, organize emails
* Has an Outbox Rules option
V Playing audiobooks and podcasts in double speed
* Brian wrote in to say he enjoys the show, but often listens to it in 2x on his iPod Touch.
* Found in iTunes he didn't have that option, so how to to do it?
V Let's start for those who might not know how on an iPod
* Click wheels, use the Settings-->Audiobooks-->Playback options. You can choose "slower", "normal", or "faster". Works for audiobooks and podcasts.
* On iPod Touch, iPhone, or iPad when playing a podcast or audiobook you will see a little "1x" near the end of the playback timeline. Click that to toggle speeds.
V On the Mac iTunes doesn't have the option, but Quicktime 7 does.
* In Quicktime X, I couldn't find playback speed.
* 1) Select the track in iTunes.
* 2) Control+Click and choose 'Show in Finder'.
* 3) In the Finder Control+Click (Right+Click) the track and choose 'Open in QuickTime 7'. If you are running Snow Leopard and did not install QuickTime 7 you can install it from the original System discs ( support.apple.com—ht3678)
* 4) Once it's open in Quicktime. From the 'Window' menu choose 'Show AV Controls' (Command+K).
* 5) In the AV Controls window you will see the 'Playback Speed' slider. Set it to your desired speed (2x) it should start playing at that speed, if not hit play.
* Using Quicktime in 10.6.3 I had issues with skipping on AAC files, but MP3s seemed fine.
V Brian also asked about the Chapters when playing back in iTunes
* Cover AAC and how the chapters work.
V Interview with the Photo Booth Guy
* Play interview with Mark Pernice
V Manage iPhone Photos without iPhoto
V Derek wanted to know if there was a way to selectively delete photo's from his iPod Touch (iPhone)
* Connecting to iPhoto after an import your asked if you want to delete the imported photos from the device, but that is the only time.
* Delete in the Photos app on the device. In Camera Roll, tap the Photo Selection icon, select the images, then delete.
V Use Applications-->Image Capture on the Mac
* Any cameras, iPhones, card readers, etc. will appear in the Devices section
* See all the images and meta data in a list, also icon view
* Select, rotate, or delete images directly from the card or device
V Importing options
* Has delete on import checkbox
* Import to 3 default folder locations. Pictures, Desktop, or Documents
* Import to 3 default apps. iPhoto, Preview, or Mail.
V 2 special import "apps"
* These import to your Pictures folder and then run apps
V Build Web Page.app
* Create a simple photo gallery web page with thumbnail and full sized images.
V Make PDF.app
* Create PDF "sheets" in contact sheet or standard photo sizes.
* Set which app opens when you connect a card or device
V Sharing the device
* They will be added to your Bonjour network
* Launching Image Capture on another Mac and they will show up in the "Shared" section.
* All the same features as if it were physically connected are available
* Launching iPhoto while the shared device is "mounted" it would show up in iPhoto and you could import direct to iPhoto over the network.
V Once a device is "shared" it seemed to stay that way even if you don't have Image Capture open on the host Mac, at least until you eject the device from the host Mac.
* No password for sharing.
* Scanners will also show up in the "Devices" section
V Some connected cameras. File-->Take Picture. Press spacebar or return to take a picture.
* No live on screen preview
* Does have a timed option. Seconds, minutes, hours.
V Using old scanners in Snow Leopard
* In playing with Image capture I realized it worked with my Canon MP480 All-in-One scanner
* Wanted to see if I could revive my old CanoScan N670U
V VueScan
* USD $39.95 for 1-year, USD $79.95 for unlimited. Scanners run $100 or more
* 1,100 supported scanners
* The software works well, is fairly easy to use, the UI is OK
V TWAIN SANE
* A TWAIN datasource with the SANE (Scanner Access Now Easy) backend drivers for scanners
* Allows scanning in GraphicConverter, Image Capture, OmniPage, Microsoft Word, and other apps that support TWAIN.
V You need to install 3 items available as binary packages form the TWAIN SANE site
* libusb
* SANE Backends
* TWAIN SANE Interface
* System Preference Pane (optional) - Manage and configure drivers. UNIX.
* Once installed you can use Image Capture to do scans
* Basic functionality to my old CanoScan.
V Closing
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
* Circus Ponies
* Smile on my Mac
* Faronics, Deep Freeze
* Cocoatech, Pathfinder 5
* Citrix
V Winners of the Maccast TextPlus Wi-Fi Challenge
* Marcello C. and Shana B received the 8GB iPod Touches
* Aaron P was the recipient of the 16Gb Wi-fi iPad
* Thank you to TextPlus for providing the prizes and you can get the Text Plus app on iTunes to get free texting on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Even over wi-fi.
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 New Music
* "Soft Rocked By Me" by Jonathan Coulton
* Artist web site
V EOL: Load your Apple IIe via iPad
* Cabel Sasser, of Panic Software, has a working Apple IIe. A fan wanted to see if an old BASIC app he wrote for a band video would still run. Problem how to get the software onto the IIe. Since the "source" as audio on a cassette tape the solution became easy. MP3 from an iPad. (via Panic Blog)