Maccast 05.15.2012 - Show #396
Links
V Opening
V Opening Music
* Music is Say Anything by Manda and the Marbles
* Mandaandthemarbles.com
V Sponsor
V Circus Ponies
* Notebook
* Summer is coming up, so you can start planning your vacations
* Make sections for planning, packing lists, activities, expenses, etc.
* You can add in hyperlinks back to hotels, restaurants, and places you want to visit.
* Copy in images, etc.
* Drop in the PDFs receipts for your rental car, air fare and hotel and then you'll have them handy
* You can sync it all over to your iPad through iTunes or Dropbox if you have the iPad app
* Free 30-day trial
V News
V Mac OS 10.7.4 update
V Apple says:
V Resolves an issue where the “Reopen windows when logging back in” setting is always enabled
* Looks like it now actually remember your last selected choice.
* Improves compatibility with certain British third-party USB keyboards
* Address an issue that may prevent files from being saved to a server
* Improves the reliability of copying files to an SMB server
* Also has updates to address 26 security vulnerabilities.
V David Morgenstern over at the Apple Core cites a few update issues to look out for
* Some storage vendors reported issues with some external SATA and RAID products not working after the update.
* Also some older non-Lion compatible software that was working in prior versions might cease to work. Specifically VMWare 2.0 (the current Lion compatible version is 4.1.2).
V I discovered that the inline audio player now has a Quicktime X look, but gets cut off on the right side.
* You can't access the volume controls and the playhead scroll off into infinity.
V Apple also released a pair security update of the 2 generations old Leopard designed to address some of the latest Apple maleware threats
* Leopard Security Update 2012-003 - "disables versions of Adobe Flash Player that do not include the latest security updates and provides the option to get the current version from Adobe's website"
* Flashback Removal Security Update - "removes the most common variants of the Flashback malware. If the Flashback malware is found, a dialog will notify you that malware was removed. In some cases, the update may need to restart your computer in order to completely remove the Flashback malware"
V Apple TV 5.0.1 update
* Apple released an update for 2nd and 3rd generation Apple TVs
* Available by going under General > Software Update
V The update contains bug fixes and improvements including:
* Adding previews for movies and TV shows from the iTunes Store in HD.
* Fixing an issue that caused some iOS apps to have trouble connecting via AirPlay.
* Improving the reliability of Home Sharing connections.
* Addressing an issue affecting Netflix login and navigation.
* Fixing issues affecting stability and performance.
V Apple minimizes iPad 4G branding
* Apple updated many of the new iPad pages on it's site changing the iPad + 4G titles to iPad + Cellular
* The change is likely in response to complaints and threats of lawsuits in several countries where the new iPad doesn't fully support local 4G frequencies.
* Apple's original claim was that the label adhered to the marketing standard set by the ITU. The recent changes to the definition by the organization allowed for faster HSDPA+ speed to be classified as "4G"
* Guess Apple just decided to let this one go.
* The copy on many of the pages still references the device supporting 4G LTE, it's just no longer identified with the iPad+4G naming.
V New Macs getting lots of rumor love
V Mac Pro
* Some reports claim Apple will finally update the Mac Pros possibly in the June timeframe, some speculate around WWDC
* Reportedly they want to use Intel's latest Sandy Bridge E Xeon processors.
* Reports also claim Apple will jump from AMD GPUs to Nvidia's “Kepler” platform which has rolled out slowly mostly due to supply constraints
V iMacs
* Reports, mostly from ABC News, that the new iMacs would be significantly thinner thanks to new displays and I assume a dropping of the optical drive
* New displays will also reportedly be hi-DPI.
* The panels are also supposed to remain "glossy" but will supposedly have a anti-reflective treatment
V The higher resolutions are being supported by a number of reports
* Apple Insider reported finding "retina" resolution (1,024-by-1,024 pixels) icons in the OS X 10.7.4 update
V New iMacs are expected to feature the latest Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors
* While it could be faked, a Geekbench benchmark test showed up online recently with a unreleased iMac 13,2 designation
* The test showed specs of a quad core i7 iMac running 10.8 Mountain Lion at 3.40 GHz. The Geekbench score was logged at 12,183
* Apple will supposedly also replace the AMD graphics in favor of chips from NVIDIA
V Macbook Pros
* Bloomberg claims Apple will release thinner Macbook Pros at WWDC on June 11th
* Hi-res displays, using Intel's latest Ivy Bridge processors and be pre-installed with OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion.
* Will move from AMD to NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M
V Again a Geekbench score surfaced to reportedly support the rumors of new models
* The Macbook Pro 9,1 showed an ivy Bridge quad-core i7 processor
V We are getting reports from 9to5 Mac of a 15" model that will be thinner than the current designs
* Power button on the keyboard
* Ports are expected to be a charging port, two USB ports, two audio in/out-sized ports, and the battery meter on the left side and two Thunderbolt-sized ports, an SD card slot, and another USB port.
* Lacking are a built in Ethernet port (have to buy an adapter) and Firewire
V 9to5 does speculate that the USB ports might finally be bumped to USB 3
* Would be the first Macs to feature the port
* Supported by the Ivy Bridge technology
* There are software strings in OS 10.7.4 and 10.8 betas that show potential for USB 3 support
V Macbook Air
* Rumors that Air will aslo get a USB 3.0 update
V iOS 6 prepares for debut
* 9to5 Mac has several reports on early sightings of iOS 6
* Some app developers are beginning to see hits referencing iOS 6 in their Apps Store app usage logs
* The hits actually started showing up for some developers back in April.
* The entries likely indicate that Apple is ramping up internal testing in advance of WWDC where many believe Apple will first show off the new OS.
* There have also been other iOS 6 indicators. Code strings were recently found on the iCloud.com beta site.
V One of the biggest changes expected is Apple officially dropping Google Maps in favor of their own system
* Apple already is using Open Street Maps data in iPhoto on iOS
* They also acquired 3 mapping companies over the last few years. (Placebase, Poly 9, and C3 Technologies)
* The new maps are reportedly said to feature an impressive 3D mode likely leveraging some of the technology acquired from C3 technologies
V Other features expected in iOS 6
* Some thing changes to the home screen, but not likely
V Updates to iCloud and ind it's integration
* Sharing and commenting features for photos
* Video syncing to iCloud, like photo stream, but for your videos.
V Hope holds for 7" iPad
* DigiTimes just won;t let this one go
* They say Apple will release a 7-7.85" iPad in the 4th quarter of this year
* The latest rumor is that the touch panels on the "iPad mini" will use a "G/F2" thin-film touch technology
* The basic difference being there is one less layer of film. So you have Glass + film instead of Glass + film + film which has been traditional
* The advantages of the new technology are thinner and clearer panels at a reduced cost, something that would be important as the alleged price target for the new iPad is $200-$250 USD
* The screen resolution has also been said to be 1024 x 768 which is the same resolution as the iPad and iPad 2 making things easier for developers. One report hints at a 2048x1536 screen (same as iPad 3) which at 7" would yield a retina 326ppi resolution (same as iPhone 4S).
V Sponsor
V VMWare
* VMWare Fusion 4 for Mac
* If you have to run Windows apps you don't have to be switching screen or rebooting. You want a seamless experience
* Fusion 4 for Mac allows you to do that.
* The latest version is Lion compatible and has over 90 new features
* It supports all the built-in OS X feature for Windows apps. Mission Control, Full screen mode, even gestures
* It's designed to give you the best Windows experience possible on OS X.
* And it's priced right, just $49.99 and if you use the code 'maccast' you get another 10% off.
* You can download a free trial or make a purchase at vmware.com/mac
V Feedback, Comments and Commentary
V App for creating iOS group email
* On a recent episode I gave the tip on how to create a special email group entry in your Contacts that you can use to send group emails easily on your iOS devices in Mail
* A few people have emailed me to tell me about the app MailShot that will let you do the same thing but using an app
* Prior to my segment I actually did now about MailShot and try it out, but quickly realized that all it appears to do is set up a contacts in the same way that I described you could do manually yourself on my show.
* Since the free version of MailShot only lets you create groups with 5 addresses and the paid 'Pro' version costs $3.99 I decided not to mention the app.
* Enough people emailed me though so i figured I should share the info. The app does take many of the manual text editing and copy in pasting steps out of the process of creating the Contact entries, so it may be worth $3.99 especially if you are creating a lot of email groups.
V More on syncing deleted podcasts to iTunes
* This segment seems to have generated a lot of feedback
V As many pointed out with syncing it gets complicated because of needing to have a single sync source
* Play feedback from Bob
V Play feedback from Brendan
* This relies on the setting in iTunes as you and I mentioned
V Tips of going Paperless from MacSparky
* Play interview with David Sparks
* Get David's new iBook, "Paperless"
V Cleaning duplicate files
V You basically have 3 options.
* Find and removed manually, aided by search or filtering
* Use a 3rd party tool
* Use Terminal and command line tools.
V Using the terminal can be powerful, but also intimidating and potentially dangerous if you make an error or don't fully understand what your doing.
* If you use this method don't just copy and past commands, know exactly what those commands are going to do and get your paths right
* For ANY of these de-duplicating methods make sure you have full backups before proceeding.
V In the Finder
* Using spotlight and criteria
* I would use the Finder search, command+F in the Finder
V Use search tokens or search parameters to filter your results
* For example you could search on kind:pdf to return all PDFs
* Then sort by the size column in the results to find and group PDFs with together
* PDFs with the same files size and name will then be next to each other in the results and you can use Quicklook to make sure they are identical
* I would also make sure you have the Pathbar visible (Finder > View > Show Path Bar) so you can see the location of each duplicate to decide which one you want to remove
* The Finder method is very tedious and manual, but works and is possibly safer because you have the ability to hand review each file before you remove it.
V 3rd Party Apps
* Apps that guide you through finding duplicates.
* Prices range from a few bucks on up
V The key thing you want it a good interface, the ability to review before deleting and options for setting the matching criteria
* A key one to look for is "bit-by-bit". Basically the apps will use a checksum on the core file data to make sure it's an exact match
* ACDSee Duplicate Finder
* Gemni II
V In iTunes
* Generally you don't want to find iTunes or iPhoto duplicates and remove them directly in the Finder because the apps Library files won't get updated and you'll end up with broken links
V Built-in you can view, review, and remove duplicates
* Again this is a more manual process and I find you get a lot of false positives
* Select the item in your iTunes library you want to find duplicates in (such as Music, Films, Podcasts, etc)
* In iTunes go to File > Display Duplicates
* Use columns to help sort and identify duplicates
V When you've finished don't forget to turn off the 'Display Duplicates' option
* File > Display All
* Click the 'Display All' button at the bottom of the iTunes Window
V 3rd Party Apps
* I personally have never had much luck with these, but some folks like them
* TuneUp
* Dupin' (Dougscripts Apps)
V In iPhoto
V 3rd party software
V Duplicate Annihilator
* Rather than deleting automatically when it finds a duplicate you can have it mark it with a comment and then use search or a Smart album in iPhoto to review and remove the duplicates
V Keep .Me email after iCloud
* What happens to your old Mobile Me email accounts if you can't transition to iCloud?
V You can actually keep them if you follow a couple steps
* Just go to me.com/move. log in with your Mobile Me account and select the option to keep using your email after MobileMe ends.
* If you're not tied to your Me.com email address you might consider transitioning to GMail and Google sync. You can sync your Mail, contacts, and calendars with Google on your Mac and iOS devices. In essence replacing what you had with Mobile Me.
* If you want to stay with your iCloud/Mobile Me email you can switch to Busy Cal for calendar sync. BusyCal can sync with iCloud on a Mac running Leopard 10.5, Snow Leopard 10.6, or Lion 10.7. iCal will only sync with iCloud on Lion. BusyCal FAQ has a great post on how to get it all set up.
V Controlling Mac Internet Access
* Play question from Phillip
V If you were going to use a Mac that was running Snow Leopard or Lion I would say look into the parental controls.
* System Preferences > Parental Controls
* Even on older systems it would give you some, but not all, of the features you're looking for.
* In Snow Leopard and Lion you could create a whitelist (only approved) of web sites
* The timed access though only controls access to the entire Mac and by the time of day, not by a limit of number of minutes or bandwidth used, so not ideal for your scenario.
V Your router may be able to limit internet access based on MAC address
* On an Airport Extreme for example, use Timed Access Controls
* Applications > Utilities >Airport Utility
* Select the Airport Basestation and click Edit to bring up the settings
* Click on the Network tab
* Check the 'Enable Access Control' box and click the 'Timed Access Control' button
V Click the "+" button to add a new client. Enter the description and the MAC address
* Hold down the Option key and select System Profiler (Snow Leopard) or System Information (Lion) from the Apple menu.
* When System Profiler appears, select Network
* In the Active Services column to the right, select the device used to connect to the Internet (AirPort or Ethernet).
* Search for the MAC Address entry in the results.
* Use the "+" button to add and set days and times to control access to the router.
* This still isn't exactly what you want Phillip
V For what you ant I would lok at 3rd party software like Intego Content Barrier
* It will let you do full logging of connections including , amount of time, and even record screencasts and do keystroke logging
* It will also let you limit internet access based on time of day and hours or by a total time limit.
* It does require 10.5 or better, so you'll have to upgrade to Leopard
* The cost is USD $39.95/yr for up to 2 Macs.
V Closing
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