MacCast 11.20.2011 - Show #374
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
V Sponsor
V Circus Ponies
* Notebook
* Trials are available
V News
V More evidence of unified iOS messaging
* Developer John Heaton found some code stings in the latest versions of iOS that show potential support for messaging services not currently on iOS devices
* In addition to iMessage and Facetime there are references to the Jabber and AIM services
* Both of these are currently supported by iChat on the desktop.
V Many of the rumors are suggesting an iChat app coming to iOS
* I'm more hopeful that Apple plans to unify messaging under the Messages app both on iOS and in OS X.
V Final Cut X 10.0.2 Update
* Appears to be a release to deal with some minor bugs.
* Fixes an issue where a title may revert to the default font after restarting Final Cut Pro X
* Resolves an issue that could cause files recorded with certain third-party mobile devices to play back incorrectly
* Addresses a stability issue caused by changing the start time on a Compound Clip
V Mac market share continues to rise
* Macworld says that Needham and Co. analyst Charlie Wolf is reporting Apple has finally cracked the 5% mark in worldwide PC market share
* It's been 15 years since Apple had this much of the global market.
* Amazingly Apple's sales have outpaced the PC industry average for the past 22 consecutive quarters.
* By Wolf's estimates Apple's sold 4.89 million Macs in the September quarter. That's more Macs in one quarter than in any entire year prior to 2006.
* Amazingly Apple's growth in the enterprise is even bigger. Up 43.8% by Wolf's estimates. I imagine in larger art due to iOS halo effects.
* Another study from research firm iPass indicates that the iPhone has passed Blackberry in the business smartphone segment rising to 45% share in 2011, up from 31.1% in 2010. Blackberry fell slightly in the same period from 34.5% down to 32.2% according to the iPass numbers. Android also had an impressive increase in business up 10% from 11.3 to 21.3% in 2011.
V iPad tops kids holiday wishlists
* Nielsen just finished up it's annual survey of 3,000 US kids and guess what they want for the Holidays?
V Apple dominated the wish lists of kids 6-12 and the iPad was tops with teens
* The iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone took the top 3 spots with the 12 and under set. 44% said they wanted iPads, 30% iPods, and 27% iPhones. The next 3 items were computers, non-iPad tablets, and the Nintendo 3DS at 25%
* With 13 and older it was a bit different. The iPad was desired by 24%, followed by Computers and e-Book readers at 18% and TVs at 17%. The iPhone was the next Apple product desired by teens coming in 7th at 15%. The iPod Touch was 12th at 8%.
* Obviously by the percentages kids were allowed to pick several items.
* For teens I wonder if Apple scored lower mainly because many of them already had iPhones, iPods, and iPads.
* No matter what I have a feeling the Apple Stores will be doing a brisk business this holiday season and Apple's Q1 numbers will likely reflect that.
V Let the iPad 3 rumors begin continue
* DigiTimes reports that Apple has reduced iPad 2 display orders as it begins to ramp up iPad 3 production
* Apple apparently stockpiled components in the 3rd quarter to have a healthy stock and inventory to carry them through the end of the year.
* This also would explain the recent rash of reports that Apple cut 4th quarter iPad production
V The returning rumor on the iPad 3 is that it will feature an high pixel density "retina" display
* LG, Samsung, and Sharp all rumored to be supplying displays and reportedly shipped 1 million units in October and will ship 2 million in November
* Suppliers are reportedly having trouble producing HD panels in volume
V Debate on the PPI and resolution
* Doubling up on the current 1024 x 768 resolution to 2048 x 1536 and keeping the 9.7" size would make sense and make it easier for Apps to scale up
* Trouble is at that res and size the pixel density is only 260PPI.
V Unofficially "retina" is believed to be 300 PPI (actually 326 PPI on the current iPhone), but maybe any density were the individual pixel are not discernible from a "normal" viewing distance.
* On the iPhone that was believed to be 12 inches
* On an iPad you could argue that the distance would be further, so a lower PPI could still be considered, "retina"
V To achieve a 9.7" screen with a pixel density of 300 PPI the screen would need to have a resolution of 2560 x 1920
* This would mean a 3rd display resolution for developers to need to optimize apps for
* For an iPhone 5, a 1280 x 960 4" display (resolution halved) would be a 400 PPI LCD. Not likely anytime soon
* Samsung had a roadmap in 3/2011 that showed a 400 PPI 10.1" display with a 400 PPI density by 2015.
* Also would impact battery life and require more GPU.
V I think the obvious resolution will be 2048 x 1536 and even that 260 PPI density may prove tricky for suppliers.
* Backlighting and size are also reported to be challenges
* The iPad 2 may have dual LED light bars and have to be slightly thicker at 0.7 mm
* iPad 3 is predicted to be shipping around March 2012
V Of course we also have rumors that Apple was developing a 7.85-inch tablet display with the help of AU Optronics and LG Display. Ridiculous.
* Many fell that Apple has to respond to the Kindle Fire. Not even in the same league. Apple doesn't play the low end game.
V Qualcomm is now shipping 4G LTE Gobi 4000 platform to OEMs
* This could power 4G iPhones and iPads
* The Gobi platform combines 3G and 4G modems and allows devices that can support LTE/HSPA+ and LTE/EV-DO networks
* Apple uses Gobi technology in Verizon CDMA iPhone 4 and iPad 2, the GSM parts are disabled though I believe.
V Early rumors are also surfacing on an iPhone 5 this summer
* Lose the rumored "teardrop" design
* Metal back, like the iPad
* 4" screen LG-display
* Again, ridiculous and both these rumors were sourced to a post The Korea Times’s website, which has since been pulled.
V A 15" Macbook Air in 2012
* 9 to 5 Mac sites "reliable" sources who say Apple had planned a 15" Macbook Air when it announced the 11" and 13" model in 2010
* Supposedly the prototype units are still around in Cupertino, but the issue that scraped it at the time was that the hinge design couldn't reliably hold the larger screens. Apple needed to redesign it and scrapped the model at the last minute.
* A new design is supposedly in the works and would likely feature a 22nm Ivy Bridge Intel processor
* It would faster, offer better on board graphics, and have better battery life.
* Reports expect a 15" ultra thin Macbook Air (maybe Pro?) sometime in early 2012.
V Sponsor
V Smile
* PDFPen Pro
* Convert websites to multi-page PDFs, complete with hyperlinks
* Redact or erase text, and this includes removing the OCR search text.
* OCR on scanned documents
V Easily add signatures or text to PDFs. Great for going paperless.
* Snippet Library for common scribbles, signatures, and drawing elements
* Even has a built-in "proofreaders marks" library
* Trials are available
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V Thoughts on iTunes Match
* I did an in-depth review and analysis on the Maccast Members show.
* The one word I have for it is "clunky", actually that could be my one word for most Apple services.
* That said I think it's early and for the price has enough stuff it in to make it worth it for many.
V Stuff I find clunky
* Syncing a base set of songs and then using match when needed
V "upgrading" multiple tracks
* Made easier by Jason Snell's Smart playlist tip.
* Genius must be on to use match. Makes sense, but still might be an issue for some.
V No streaming on iOS, means storage and music management are still issues
* Luckily Apple is kind of helping with the storage thing
* It will remove songs to make space for new ones. A "smart" algorithm removes older and least-played tracks are removed first.
V What I like
* Cleaning up duplicates seems easier.
* Upgrading tracks is awesome. Can convert old FairPlay DRM tracks to DRM-Free 256kbps AAC.
* Unifying multiple Libraries and iTunes account purchases is possible.
* Does stream in iTunes on the Mac.
V There are other clunky things like this issue that John and some of you may run into
* Play comment from John
* Solution would be to create 'sub' libraries. Hold option down while launching iTunes.
* Create a second user account with just an 'iTunes Match' copy of your Music Library.
* I think it will get better. 1st thing I want to see is true streaming on iOS.
V The idea of Sharing Libraries
* These days many of Apple's apps use "Libraries". iPhoto, iTunes, Aperture, etc.
V Inevitably I get asked about the idea of multiple members of a family on multiple Macs or one Mac wanting to share a single library.
* Play comment from Matt
* I want to talk about why this is tricky and cover the core ideas of what you need to do to set this up.
V Apple's world is a happy land with unicorns and ponies
* Long ago I learned "acceptance" of the "Apple Way"
* Apple's walled garden is generally safe because they control the variables and test it.
* The optimal user experience for the optimal number of users. Doesn't work in all use cases or scenarios, but most of the time.
* Venturing outside the walls can be done, but you are on your own. Apple can't protect you.
V How to share libraries
V Move the library to a shared location
* On a single Mac with multiple users the /Users/Shared folder is a good choice
* Another option is an external or network volume with 'Ignore permissions' turned on.
V Ensure all users have access
* All user accounts are going to need read/write permissions to ALL the files and folders in the Library
V Point the apps in each account at the shared Library
* In iPhoto and iTunes you can hold the 'option' key when launching and choose a Library
V Where things get "challenging"
* When we talk about leaving the walled garden it sounds exciting, fun, and liberating, but there are some challenges and risks too
V EVERYTHING is shared
* Playlists, podcast subscriptions. metadata, albums, ratings, etc.
* App preferences remain separate too
* Luckily devices control the content that syncs to them.
* Permissions can rear it's ugly head
* Want to avoid multiple users accessing the Libraries at the same time. One persons data or changes could overwrite the others
* Not sure what happened when you bring the cloud into the mix.
* Many apps "assume" things about the structure of the system.
* Deviating from the "norm" complicates troubleshooting.
V Documents in the Cloud iWork mess
* Kevin emailed me and was having trouble with Pages '08 files he added to documents in the Cloud.
V You can upload the docs via the web interface, but you can't open '08 documents in the iOS apps
* To convert you need to open them first in iWork '09 and save them
* It will warn you that saving will lose the backward compatibility.
V You could also make a duplicate or 'Save As…' an '08 compatible version later if need be.
* In Lion, File-->Duplicate the '09 document. Click 'Duplicate'
* File-->Save…
* Name the file and check the 'Save copy as:' box. Choose iWork '08 ads the format
V To put a file in iCloud the "Apple way" is to use the iCloud.com web interface
* There is a folder at ~/Library/Mobile Documents
* In there there are folders for each iWork app named like 'com~apple~Pages'
* In each one you can add the appropriate document type to the 'Documents' folder and it will upload to iCloud Documents in the Cloud
* If you then access and open that file on iOS it converts it to a folder structure and you can no longer open it on the Desktop apps
* Have to go pack and download a copy back to your Mac via the iCloud.com web interface
V Saving off iPhone Data
* Ernesto had a friend who owns an iPhone 3GS and wanted to save voicemails off the device
V On the Mac I use an app called PhoneView from eCamm
* Allows you to browse an iOS device and copy off or add files
* Can't access the iOSFiles folder directly, for hacking plists
V Direct access to:
* Contacts, Notes, Call Logs, Messages (SMS), Web history and Bookmarks, Voicemail, 3rd party app folders and data
* Also Media. Music, Videos, books, Podcasts, Ringtones, Photos, and Voice Memos
* ecamm recommends TouchCopy from WideAngle software for similar functionality on the PC
V Missing 'tab' in iOS pages
* Javier pointed out something that I had missed in the latest Pages update for iOS. The tab ket is no longer on the ruler.
V Now you have to do 4 taps to add a tab
* tap to bring up the contextual 'selection' pop-up
* tap the '>' to go to more options
* tap 'Insert…'
* tap 'Tab'
* There used to be a simple 'tab' button in the ruler.
* Can't seem to customize it.
* Am I missing a trick?
V Alternatives
V Use another app that has a 'tab' key. Textastic has this above the standard keyboard. Also Nebulous notes.
* Then use copy/paste or Open In… options
V Use a 3rd party outlining app
* OmniOutliner
* Notebook
V Experience with Photostream
* Play comment from Bruce
* Respond to comment
V Closing
V Podcast Marketplace
V Thanks to my sponsors
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