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Opening
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Opening Music
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Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
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Mandaandthemarbles.com
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Sponsor
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Smile
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TextExpander
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Allows you to set up abbreviated "snippets" that expand into larger blocks of text.
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The text can even be rich text with formatting and images
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Fill-ins are one of my favorite power features. These will give you dynamic fill in areas at expansion time. Great for inserting personalized information like a first name in an email response.
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News
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Apple expanding workforce in Cork
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According to a Reuters article Apple will increase the headcount at its European headquarters in the southern city of Cork by up to 500 employees over the next 18 months
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The offices there currently employ 2,800 and provide distribution, supply chain management, and back office functions.
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The new jobs are good news for the region which has seen some growth over the past year. 9to5 Mac notes that RTE News Ireland reported revenues in the markets handled by Cork HQ grew 55 percent year over year in the October/December timeframe.
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Apple moves forward on Oregon data center
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Apple plans a 250 million investment on 160 acres of land in Prineville, Oregon
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Apple has also pledged to pay the local governments there $150,000 a year, and will receive a 15-year property tax exemption.
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In exchange, Apple states it will create a minimum of 35 jobs at the center, and the average wage there will be 150 percent of the average wage in Cook County.
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The new data center is also expected to be environmentally friendly, but will start small.
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The first building will be just 10,000 sq ft and part of 8 modular data center units.
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Later a larger facility will be constructed on the same site.
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As for the new Apple facility being, "green". Like the term "4G" Apple might find itself arguing semantics once again.
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Apple is currently at odds with Greenpeace over the "green" moniker for it's massive data center Maiden, North Carolina.
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Greenpeace claims that despite the facilities solar farm and on-site fuel cell technology it still relies mainly on coal-based power
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Apple contends the organization is grossly overestimating the facilities power consumption and ignoring the fact that 60 percent of the power will come from on-site from renewable energy sources.
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This is not the first time Apple and Greenpeace have been at odds and I'll bet it won't be the last.
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Apple tells Aussies they don't know 4G
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The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accused Apple of misrepresenting the third generation iPad’s wireless data capabilities by including the term “4G”
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Apple is now arguing that the issue is that Australia's 3G networks are simply mislabeled
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So what's really at issue is the definition which Apple says is defined by the International Telecommunications Union.
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In December that union expanded the definition to allow HSPA+ networks to gain the "4G" moniker
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That is supposedly why Apple adjusted the iOS menubar badging to display "4G" on AT&T iPhones in the States.
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Since all three major Australian carriers support the UMTS standard on the 2100MHz band Apple is contending this is 4G.
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Apple also changed all advertising and signage on the new iPad to stipulate that it did not support LTE networks in the region.
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A similar issue and consumer confusion exists in the UK
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The issue remains that even if you separate the 4G vs. LTE monikers consumers are likely to be confused.
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Apple carefully markets the device on it's website as Wi-Fi + 4G with support for 4G LTE. The text is subtle but my guess is also very deliberate.
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Seems to me like Apple is playing marketing word games and my belief is that much of it is to keep carrier partners like AT&T happy. I personally don't like it and do agree with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission that it causes confusion among consumers.
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To me Apple's argument; while possibly technically valid, if you accept the ITU's definition, seems counter to their mission of making things simple. They could have simply stated "runs on the fastest wireless networks available" or something to that effect. The trouble is we are at a point where not adding a "4G" badge to your device is probably smartphone branding suicide. Since the claim is technically accurate according to Apple they went with it. Looking at it from a pure business and marketing perspective then, it's hard to blame them.
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Apple in Store local iCloud backup
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Apple is reportedly in the early stages of testing a new in retail store system that would let geniuses backup up customers iOS data
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The system is designed to facilitate the ability to do a quick, secure, and temporary local backup of a customers iDevice in cases where the device may need to be replaced.
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According to reports, Apple is finding that now that devices are PC free many customers arrive for Genius bar appointments without having had backed up their device, either via connecting to a Mac or PC via iTunes or using the new free iCloud service.
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Apple could have customers sign up and back up to iCould backup over in store Wi-Fi, but that process would be too slow and time consuming.
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The new system would reportedly serve and a local "mini" iCloud and let geniuses quickly backup the customers data and then restore it back to a new replacement device.
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I would guess too that if Apple were really clever, customers could opt to also have the local mini backup be migrated from the Apple store network to iCloud. Then once they left the store their new device would be set up for doing incremental iCloud backups moving forward.
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Apple has best performing retail space in the US
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Asymco released it's latest retail performance numbers and Apple Stores perform 17 times better in sales per square foot than the average mall retailer.
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Annual store sales in the range of $300 per square foot are considered respectable in the US.
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Apple earns on average a whopping $5,626 per square foot more than doubling the performance of the number 2 US retailer, famous jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co.
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Seeing numbers like these make it easy to understand why Apple has worked to aggressively grow it retail store locations and presence.
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Apple worst in security for 1st Quarter
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In the wake of the recent Flashback exploit security firm Kaspersky Lab held a press conference and declared Mac security "invulnerability" a myth.
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Despite the source, and that fact that no reasonable person would declare any computing device "immune" from exploits, I think they do have a point.
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In general Apple owners, and Apple itself, are far too brash about security and the recent rash of attacks targeting the Mac should hopefully serve as a kind of wake up call
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The growth in Mac marketshare and the high profile of the company along with it's devices have made the platform a desirable target for increasingly high-profile attacks.
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The good news is this stuff is easy to combat if taken seriously
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I think this is evidenced by the fact that Kespersky found only 30,000 Macs remain infected with the Flashback trojan, down from a high of over 600,000 just a few weeks ago.
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I believe the numbers came down quickly when awareness rose and Apple addressed the hole which had been patched in the Java core for over two months. There was no excuse for Apple to have ignored patching OS X for that long and this time got bit for it. My hope is that they learned a lesson and this kind of mistake will be avoided in the future.
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I will note that while I believe Kaspersky and Symantecs reports on reduced Flashback infections, some researchers seem to dispute that decline. They claim the number of infected Macs still remain in the 600,000 to 650,000 range.
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Whatever side you believe, I do feel that it's time some of the attitudes surrounding security and the Mac change.
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Especially if you believe reports from places like Trend Micro which claims that Apple's OS had more exploits than any other platform in the first 3 months of 2012.
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According to their study Apple had 91 reported vulnerabilities compared to only 43 for Microsoft.
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Apple has always claimed that they take security very seriously and the Trend Micro report did point out the company patched a record 83 bugs and security flaws in it's Safari 5 web browser recently.
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Apple is also adding developer Apple ID code signing requirements to App Store apps, enforcing sandboxing in Mac apps, and adding the Gatekeeper security technology to OS X Mountain Lion. All steps to increase security moving forward
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These are good steps, but as a spoke about with George Starcher on a recent Maccast Member episode, security is best handled in "layers" of protection. Every small piece you put into place better protects you on the whole. This includes making the assumption that you can and may get attacked. That doesn't have to be synonymous with "will" get attacked, but is a much better posture than assuming as a Mac owner that you're immune.
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Please don't confuse my statements. I still believe the Mac is one of the securest platforms to you can use. iOS also has an impeccable security record, but that comes from active efforts to secure the platform. The point here is to keep security a priority and never assume that it can be ignored.
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Apple offering free Snow Leopard upgrades
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The Apple site Macgasam reported the link to the free upgrade offer
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Came in an email to customers about the pending MobileMe to iCloud transition which happens on June 30th
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The trouble is, to run iCloud you need Lion and to get Lion you need the Mac App Store and to get the Mac App Store you have to be running Snow Leopard
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Customers following the link, can log on to their MobileMe accounts and fill out a form to request a free Snow Leopard DVD, which retails for USD $29.99
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The program appears to run through June 15th, 2012
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Apple does seem to be shipping out DVDs quickly. One listener in the UK ordered the DVD late Thursday and it arrived to him on Monday from the US.
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This is great, but I still wonder about all those Mobile Me customers who still have very capable Mac hardware that won't run Lion. Lion requires a 64-bit capable Intel Mac.
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iCloud not supporting OS X Snow Leopard is ridiculous, especially when it will run under Windows Vista, anOS older than even OS X Leopard, 10.5
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I think it's great that Apple is providing customers with supported hardware a less expensive path to get upgraded to Lion, but the gesture still comes off a bit thin and somewhat self serving.
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I see no reason why Apple technically couldn't support iCloud on older operating systems, so unless they put out an update for at least Snow Leopard the move to me feels like a pure play to force a large portion customers to buy new hardware.
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I know you could argue that those customers don't have to upgrade and could use alternative cloud services, like Google or Dropbox, with their older hardware. My guess is that is exactly what many customer will do and I see that as an issue for Apple.
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With so many services moving to the cloud and companies, including Apple, spending time and money to build out their cloud service networks and customer bases. Apple decision to not support iCloud on older hardware seems a bit baffling.
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Customer wins over MacBook Pro GPU issue
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A blogger going by the handle SeattleRex, sued Apple in small claims court and when when the company refused to repair his out of warranty MacBook Pro
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At the core of the issue is an Apple and NVIDIA recognized flaw with MacBook Pros containing NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics processors
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The units in question are 15" and 17" models manufactured between May 2007 and September 2008.
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Rex had one of these and it started showing the graphics issues 2 months after his extended AppleCare warranty expired. A month after that the whole system failed and refused to boot.
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It's that second issue that seems to have caused Apple to refuse to recognize the first failure.
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Apple argued that since they couldn't boot the system to test it for the NVIDIA failure that Rex was liable for the repairs. He obviously disagreed and a Seattle judge ended up agreeing with Rex.
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Apple had issued a warranty extension program that covered the NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT effected models for 4 years from manufacturing date and it was Rex's contention that his system should be covered by that warranty program.
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Rex posted full details about the incident to his blog, but here are some highlights according to Rex
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Apple sent two representatives to plead their case, which was tried in small claims court.
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Rex did opt for arbitration, but it failed
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Apple claimed that, because the CPU in Rex's MacBook Pro was build to order clocked at 2.6Ghz, and not the stock 2.4Ghz, or 2.5Ghz as stated in an Apple press release about the extended warranty, that it was completely different computer … not subject to the 4 year replacement program
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Rex claimed the chips, logic boards, and GPUs in all of the MacBook Pro models were the same, regardless of the speed at which the CPUs had been clocked.
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The judge asked the Apple reps if that was true and they said, "yes" and further conceded that the unit was indeed covered by the extended warranty coverage.
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Apple had offered to replace the logic board, but Rex argued that replacing the logic board wouldn't help because it would have the same bad NVIDIA GPU. When asked the Apple reps told the judge that that model Macbook Pro logic board would only accept an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT GPU.
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I'm not 100% sure replacing the logic board wouldn't have helped. I think it was a bad batch of chips and later NVIDIA GPUs were fixed, although that wasn't my personal experience so I can certainly see Rex's point. My Macbook Pro had 3 logic boards replaced before being swapped out completely for a new model by Apple under the warranty extension program.
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I think the bigger concern here is why did Apple choose to fight this one so hard. It certainly didn't help their PR image.
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We hear the stories and rumors that Applecare and Apple support are getting stricter. But I haven't noticed that myself.
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I don't know much more than what I've read, but I can say that this is not indicative of the stories or experiences that I have had even recently.
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To me it seems like the case of an isolated incident being blown way out of proportion to make a good headlines and attract eyeballs.
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That's not to say Apple didn't screw up in this one particular incident. They obviously did and I'm glad that Rex did not back down and fought for what he felt was right. But to conclude based on this one case that his in indicative of some major problem with Apple's customer service is not right either.
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If this was every customer's experience, or even if it was 10% of customers experiences we would have a problem. I have no evidence, nor have I heard evidence, to support that claim. As a matter of fact I probably have more evidence to support the counter argument. This was simply one bad screw up of one support case in one Apple Store.
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That's not to say there are more Rex cases out there that we don't about, but until we do I'm not sure we should be yelling fire in the theater.
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To that end if, you've recently had an unpleasant experience in an Apple Store or at the Genius Bar, please let me know. My experiences have all been mostly positive though.
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The build up to Apple's Q2 results
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Canaccord Genuity reported that iPhone 4S sales are slowing in developed markets
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Likely due to the believed upcoming release of a next generation iPhone 5 in October.
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Goldman Sachs predicts "solid numbers" for Apple's Q2
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With sales of 31.1 million iPhones in the quarter, along with 12.5 million iPads
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And while iOS sales should be strong they are calling Mac sales "Lackluster". Which is odd because the numbers they expect are 4.3 million units with a 14 percent annual growth. Well above any numbers recently seen by most other PC makers.
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And while not impressed with quarterly Mac sales, Goldman Sachs, does expect Mac sales to rebound as Apple releases new models with the latest Intel Ivy Bridge technology.
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Chris Whitmore with Deutsche Bank is a bit more conservative in his iOS numbers and a bit more bullish on Macs.
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He sees sales of 26 million iPhones, 10 million iPads and 4.5 million Macs.
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He also expects Apple to beat consensus revenue and earnings per share estimates of $35.9 billion and $9.78, respectively.
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Brian White with Topeka Capital Markets is also estimating numbers in a similar range.
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With 29.6 million iPhones and 11.58 million iPads sold in the quarter.
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In general Apple's stock price has been volatile in the last week dropping sharply last Tuesday, but some seem to believe that it's simply the standard profit taking which often happens in advance of Apple's earnings calls.
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In general I would say we can expect Apple to post their now almost typical positive results on Tuesday.
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iPhone 5 rumors gain steam
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The Korean site ETNews claims Apple will finally take advantage of a 2010 deal that gave them exclusive rights to technology developed by Liquidmetal.
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To date it's been believed that Apple has only used the metal technology in the SIM ejection tool included with the iPhone 3GS. Although this tool was eventually changed to a more standard material with later models.
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Now the belief is the back case on he next iPhone may use the Liquidmetal technology.
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The advantages are that the material is lightweight, stronger and harder than titanium, but has more elasticity maintaining shape better and absorbing impacts better under stress. It also has unique acoustic properties.
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The materials atomic structure is more like glass than metal and can be moulded like plastics into final parts that require little finishing. Speeding up and simplifying manufacturing processes.
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The ETNews piece seems to fall apart though because they claim Apple will announce the new iPhone at WWDC in June. WWDC has always taken place in June, but the event and date for this years conference has yet to be announced. ETNews also has a spotty track record with rumors.
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Apple partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) is reportedly ramping up their 28nm mobile chip manufacturing
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There is no evidence Apple would use this technology yet, but there were rumors at one point that Apple was considering it for their next generation A6 processors.
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The A5 dual core chips and even the new A5X chips in the new iPad still use the Samsung 45nm process
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The A5 in the new Apple TV was revealed to use a 32nm chip, making it significantly smaller than the A5 in the iPad 2, but so far that's Apple's only A-series chip reported to use a non 45nm process.
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Chips using smaller nanometer designs are more energy efficient and reduce heat which is desirable in mobile devices, but they are also more costly and tend to have lower yields in the early stages of developing the manufacturing process.
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Because a new iPhone would have large demand and Apple likes to maintain a healthy profit margin on iPhones I think it's more likely we would see another 45nm or possible 32nm design in the Apple A6 chips. I guess it's also possible Apple may choose use the iPad's A5X chip in the next gen iPhone, but they'll probably want more bang than that to stay a step ahead of the competition.
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I think there is little dispute that the next iPhone will support 4G LTE.
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Reuters reports however that Qualcomm may have trouble meeting Apple's chip demands
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The odd thing about the report is that they say the delays would push the iPhone launch to the September or October timeframe, which is exactly the launch date that most of us predict for the next iPhone.
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DigiTimes claims the next gen iPhone displays will be supplied by Sharp and Toshiba Mobile Display.
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The rumor is that the next gen screens will use "in cell" touch panels that merge the LCD and touch panels into a single unit
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The newer designs would have better touch response and be lighter and thinner
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The issue is that the new panels would be more expensive and have lower yield rates, although Apple typically overcomes the yield issues by tapping multiple suppliers.
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The trouble there is that neither of Apple current suppliers, TPK Holdings or Wintek can produce in "cell panels". TPK is developing an alternative technology called “touch on lens” that can scale to larger displays, but it won't be ready until late this year.
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Piper Jaffery analyst Gene Munster in a Bloomberg video called the next iPhone the, "mother of all upgrades". Seems like a big claim, but Munster is typically reliable in his predictions.
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Not to be ignored the rumors of a 7-inch iPad continue
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A Chinese blog claims Apple will ship a 7.85 inch device in the 3rd quarter priced at USD $250 - $299 to compete with lower priced Android tables
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About the only way I believe this rumor is if it's a "super-sized" iPod Touch media gaming device and even then for me it's a huge stretch.
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Feedback, Comments and Commentary
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More on my iPhone unlock saga
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Play question from Brad
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I think the only way to tell is to do a restore in iTunes and when it re-boots it should display the "Congratulations" message in iTunes.
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I did order and receive my new pay as you go SIM and 30 day plan from Straight Talk
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They are an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) and for GSM use AT&T's network
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So technically using an AT&T GSM iPhone on their plans shouldn't even require an unlock
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The SIm was USD $15.00 and the plan is $45.00/mo for unlimited talk, text, and data. Although I've read that if you "abuse" the data and go above 2GB they will throttle or, worse, cancel your plan.
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StraightTalk refill cards are sold through Walmart.
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Activating the phone and text was as easy as popping in the new SIM.
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Getting the data to work proved frustrating as the instructions said I had to update the APN (Access Point Name).
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Apple has a support article on how to do this, but the screen referenced didn't exist at least on my device running iOS 5.1
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iPhone: Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data Network
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iPad: Settings > Cellular Data > APN Settings
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I tried also to use the iPhone Configuration Utility and while I could build the profile and settings the ability to install it to the phone was always greyed out.
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Finally I was able to use the newer Apple Configurator tool from the App Store
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Under the "Prepare" section, click the "+" to add a "Profile"
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Scroll down to the APN section and enter 'att.mvno' into the Access Point Name field and click Save.
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That's it. There is an option space for the Proxy Server and Port which Straight Talk does provide and say you need to enter, but info I found online and my own experience confirmed it doesn't appear to be needed.
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To send the profile to the device you need to connect it via the USB cable, check the profile in the 'Prepare' screen in the Apple Configurator, and then click the 'Prepare' button.
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A 'confirm' screen should pop up on the device. Click Install. and that should be it. I had to click the 'Stop' button in the configurator afterward.
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On the device you can confirm the profile is in place by going to Settings > General > Profile
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I did some testing of data speeds using the Speedtest.net app.
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Upload speeds seemed to be comparable to my iPhone 4S, around 2 - 2.5 Mbps
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Upload speeds were horrible though, around 0.20 Mbps vs. around 1.0 to 1.5 Mbps on my iPhone 4S
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The only other thing is the "network" indicator in the menubar on the iPhone simply says "HOME".
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I have a T-Mobile SIM on order, so I'll let you know how that compares. Obviously the data speeds will be not as good, but the T-Mobile plan comes in at USD $30/mo for 100 talk mins, unlimited text and data.
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Dock hack to show iTunes track
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Cult of Mac has detailed a neat little Terminal hack for iTunes and the Dock
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In OS X Lion you can get a notification pop-up displaying the currently playing track info
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In the Terminal enter:
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defaults write com.apple.dock itunes-notifications -bool YES
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Then enter the following to restart the Dock:
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killall Dock
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To turn it off enter:
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defaults write com.apple.dock itunes-notifications -bool NO
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And then:
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killall Dock
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When enabled, when a track starts playing in iTunes you'll see a Dock notification badge with the Title and Artist of the track that just started playing.
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And for those who aren;t comfortable with Terminal hacks you can enable this functionality using the Secrets system preference pane.
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Reduce PDF file sizes
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A common way to produce PDFs in OS X is to use the PDF options from the Print dialog
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Trouble is that if your document contains a lot of images it could wind up being fairly large
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There are 3rd party tools
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PDF Shrink
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PDF Compress
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There are even some web based services.
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If you use Pages using the export to PDF options and adjusting the quality from best to better or good can yield significant savings.
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Depending on your output usage of course (print, web, email, etc)
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Another method is to use Preview and it's Export options and ColorSync Quartz filters to optimize the images
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By default you can use the built-in method and preset.
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From the Print dialogs PDF… menu select the 'Open PDF in Preview' option.
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When the PDF opens in Preview go to File > Export…
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In the Export pane choose the 'Reduce File Size' option under the 'quartz filter' settings and press 'Save'
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The will export the PDF, but compress all the document images as medium quality JPEGs
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Obviously depending on your application medium quality JPEGs may or may not be desirable. Luckily we can also create our own Quartz filters.
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Using the ColorSync Utility
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Applications > Utilities > ColorSync Utility
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Switch to the “Filters” pane.
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In the lower left, click on the “+” button. This creates a new filter.
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Give the filter a name, like 'Reduce Size High Quality' and press return.
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To the right of the filter’s name, choose the down arrow. A menu will pop up. From the pop-up menu, choose “Add Image Effects Component”, and from that menu choose “Image Compression”.
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Adjust the image compression Mode to JPEG.
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Adjust the image compression quality however you prefer.
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By default ColorSync Utility save filters to your filters in your personal “Filters” folder under your “Library”.
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When you're finished you'll need to move this to the main '/Library/PDF Services'
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Hold the option key and choose Library from the Finder's 'Go' menu to get to your Home 'Library/Filters' folder.
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Choose Go > Go to Folder… and enter '/Library/PDF Services' to get to that folder.
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The next time you use Preview to “Export...”, you'll have a new option under Quartz filters.
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Display an "Acceptable Use Policy" at startup
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If you run a computer lab or have a public Mac terminal this can be useful. If not, it's just a fun and easy hack.
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This was found over on Cult of Mac
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Create a file in TextEdit, detailing all the terms of use. This can contain images, text, etc.
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Save that document with the name PolicyBanner. You can save as a plain text file (.txt), a rich text formatted file (.rtf), or a rich text format directory (.rtfd) when you make the banner.
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Save the file on your Desktop, then copy the banner file to the '/Library/Security' folder. You’ll be asked to enter your admin name and password when you drag the banner to the Security folder.
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Log out of your Mac, and you’ll see the document you made, along with an Accept button at the bottom of the window. After you click on the button, and you’ll get the standard Login window.
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Some OS X Lion Tips
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I covered a bunch more of these on a Maccast Member show, but here are two of my favorites
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Change Launchpad background style
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The default backdrop behind Launchpad is typically a colored blurred version of your desktop background
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You can change it to be not blurred or greyscale using a keyboard shortcut
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The options are color blurred, color not blurred, greyscale, greyscale blurred
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To change it
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Activate Launchpad from the Dock or using the special key or keyboard shortcut
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When in Launchpad press Control+Command+Option+B (OS X 10.7.3)
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You just use Command+B on older version of Lion
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This will toggle through the modes each time you press it.
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Getting the Auto-complete menu
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When you are typing in a document and you hit a word that you might have trouble spelling you can start the first few characters and then hit F5 to bring up the auto-complete menu.
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Then just scroll through the list to find the word you wanted, select it and hit enter to insert it.
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Easy-peasy
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The battery percentage is a lie
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OK, I admit it. I obsess over the battery percentage indictor on my iOS devices and I don't know why.
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I should really just turn it off
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Settings > General > Usage > Battery Percentage. Switch to OFF.
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Jon point out the core of the problem when he noticed that his new iPad would go from 100% to 95% charge very quickly.
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Hard resetting the device, hold the home + sleep/wake buttons until the unit resets, would restore the percentage.
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Sometimes resulting in an up to 8% just back up in charge
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The reason I'm told is that the algorithms and methods for determining remaining battery in the cells are just not all that accurate.
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Too be clear also, it's not the math, but I think the number of variables going into the equations and how frequently those variable change that is the problem.
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The reset, likely zeros out many of the variables feeding the equation. Network connections, background processes, wi-fi, bluetooth, cell signal strength, antenna signal strengths, GPS and location services, CPU and memory, etc.
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Same thing would go for what happens right after you pull the device off the charger.
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So what to do? Ignore it. Frankly it might be best if we could block out the battery indicator all together. OK, let's not get too crazy.
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Point is a better indicator on is actually how much "usage" time you get out of the device. My new iPad for example easily goes 2-3 days on a charge with normal usage. This is regardless how how quickly the percentage drops on the indicator which and be quickly and alarming at times.
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I resist the urge to run to a power adapter and can say that every time it seem to perform at or above the 10 hours of usage time that Apple states.
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So while facts , figures, stats and indicators are nice to have I find that using real world experience tends to help me keep my sanity when deciding if I have an "issue" or not.
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Closing
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Podcast Marketplace
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Thanks to my sponsors
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Faronics, Deep Freeze. 5.0 released with Lion compatibility
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Circus Ponies
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Smile
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Gazelle
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VWWare. Use the code 'maccast' to save 10%
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Keep emails coming. Audio comments.
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281-622-4269 or 281-Mac-I-Am-9
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PLEASE LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS
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MacCast Forum
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Follow me on Twitter
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