iPhone and iPod touch users will notice a revamped landing page when directing Mobile Safari to MobileMe today. Instead of just informing users they can access MobileMe syncing functions from the Settings on their iPhone or iPod touch, a few more options are available. Now present are links for instructions on setting up MobileMe services on your device, links to download Apple’s iDisk or Gallery app on the App Store, and the ability to use Find My iPhone.
Find my iPhone should be handy if, say, your significant other or friend also has an iPhone or iPod touch, and you need to lock down your device right away, especially if you aren’t near a computer.
It’s a nice addition, and one that hopefully won’t be needed too often.
Early this morning our favorite fruit company released Aperture 3, the iPhoto-on-steroids performance enhancing code for prosumer and professional shutterbugs alike. Aperture 3 is 64-bit, includes Faces and Places from the previous iPhoto release, and includes a few new tools such as Brushes and Adjustment Presets (among many other minute tweaks and updates).
I, for one, have been salivating over Aperture for a while. Since I started shooting RAW images over JPGs, iPhoto has become a slow, uncooperative mutt. Yes, I could have bought Aperture 2, but I had been convinced for the past 6 months that Aperture 3 was right around the corner. I waited, and it has paid off.
I’ve requested a trial copy from Apple’s site, and can’t wait to download it and give it a run. That will also give me 30-days to see if I can find a decent deal on it.
I’ll post more on my thoughts on Aperture 3, the ease (or difficulty) of transitioning from iPhoto, and other gems after I’ve had a while to play and tinker.
If you’ve been feeling a little cramped by iPhoto, go visit the Aperture page and request a trial to see if that fits better for your photo processing needs. And when you want to buy, remember to feed the techēse speaking guy by using the Amazon link in the sidebar.
The iPad is certainly the talk of the town these days. Most of the focus has been on it running a flavor of the iPhone OS, it “just” being a giant iPod touch, the exclusion of a webcam, or a myriad of other surface details. By far, though, I have been chiefly interested by the things Apple told us are inside the iPad.
Back at the iPhone unveiling in January 2007, Steve Jobs quoted Alan Kay, the so-called father of object-oriented programming, which Apple uses in Mac OS X and the iPhone OS. The quote Jobs used was,
“People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware.”
Over the past three years, Apple has really taken that philosophy to heart. Just over a year ago, Apple introduced the 17-inch aluminum unibody MacBook Pro to round out the unibody line of Mac portables. The key difference of the 17-inch from the 13- and 15-inch varieties was more than just a larger screen. The battery was no longer removable by the user. Apple revealed they had been designing their own batteries (versus buying the cells from a third party), and by removing the hardware necessary to allow the user the change the battery out themselves, they were able to expand the size of the battery and the overall capacity. They began to make the battery cells in house, taking on a new form factor and the ability to last up to 7 hours on a single charge. Also, normally a computer battery can handle around 300 charge cycles before needing replacement. Apple was able to increase that to around 1,000 cycles.
The following June, the 13- and 15-inch aluminum unibody portables received the same battery treatment.
And now, fast-forward to January 2010, and the iPad uses a custom processor, made in-house by Apple. It’s called the A4. Details are scarce, as the iPad hasn’t yet been released to the public. But what we do know is that it is a mobile processor than runs at 1GHz (the iPhone 3GS runs an ARM Cortex A8 at 600 MHz). Other than that, all we have to go on are educated guesses, and some statements than Steve Jobs apparently told Walt Mossberg of the The Wall Street Journal last week after the event. AppleInsider has the scoop on that conversation:
Like the iPad, people familiar with the matter claim the fourth-generation iPhone will run a version of Apple’s homebred silicon, which melds ARM’s latest multi-core Cortex reference designs with Imagination’s upcoming GPU components into a fine-tuned, customized SoC (system-on-a-chip) package.
These enhancements, along with improvements to the iPhone software, are expected to translate into quantifiable improvements in battery life and the overall speed of the iPhone interface and the software that runs on top of it.
Last week, in a conversation with Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, Jobs spoke of the battery-sipping custom chips Apple has built with the acquisition of P.A. Semi. He noted that the newly announced iPad will offer “140-something hours,” or nearly six days, of continuous music playback with the screen off.
“It’s all about the display,” Jobs said of battery life. “Our chips don’t use hardly any power.”
With Apple making its own chips, batteries, and software, it is obvious that they are able to manage the power consumption to an almost ridiculous level. This is merely the beginning. These technologies will continue to get faster, more efficient, and generally better.
Apple is getting serious with it’s products. I would be shocked if Apple didn’t use a custom processor in the next iPhone model. I can’t even begin to imagine what a screamer the next iPhone will be if it has something similar to the A4, if not the A4 itself.
And it just so happens that I’ll be eligible for a new iPhone this summer.
Earlier today Steve Jobs unveiled the long-rumored tablet computer — iPad. Yes, you read that right. iPad. Close to iPod, but one vowel off. I could care less for the name, but I thought iPod was pretty ridiculous back in 2001. Obviously I changed my tune on that, and I am sure the iPad moniker will grow on me.
Aside from the name, though, the device seems to be quite the spectacular technological specimen, especially for the price it will sell for when it is released in late March/early April. The iPad is essentially a giant iPod touch in form factor, but the software has been tweaked to better accommodate the larger 9.7-inch screen. It weighs in at 1.5 pounds and is 0.5 inches thin. I think it is quite attractive aesthetically (from what I have seen on pictures/video).
Hardware
Let’s get into what we now know about the iPad. The display is a 9.7-inches, with 1024 x 768 resolution at 132 pixels per inch, and has In-Plane Switching (IPS) technology. IPS is cool because it prevents color distortion when the display is viewed from an angle. Apple’s current iMac line utilizes IPS and I have seen it cropping up in quite a few HDTVs lately (I know Vizio’s XVT line uses it). That makes for one sharp display.
It will comes in storage capacities of 16/32/64 GB at $499/$599/$699, respectively for Wi-Fi only models and $629/$729/$829 for Wi-Fi + 3G models, respectively. Apple also announced a breakthrough deal in the US for 3G coverage. Users can pre-pay for 250 MB bandwidth $15/month and Unlimited¹ bandwidth will run $30/month. However, these plans are contract free, and can be activated/deactivated from iPad itself. So if a user is going on a trip, they can activate before they leave and deactivate when the get home. Nice deal. Also, the device itself is unlocked, so any GSM micro-SIM can be placed in it, presumably. The big catch for the US? The deal is with AT&T.
Networking is accomplished via 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with Enhanced Data Rate, and optionally, 3G networking.
One of the most interesting tidbits is the brain of the iPad. A while back, Apple acquired a chip design firm called PA Semi-Conductor. It appears that acquisition has borne fruit (forgive the pun) as Apple is using custom silicon for iPad’s processor. The new processor is called the Apple A4, and has a clock-speed of 1 GHz. This is exciting, and I hope Apple uses custom silicon in the next iPhone model. (Could they possibly make their own processors for notebooks, too?)
Software
On the software side of things, it appears iPad is running a build of the unreleased iPhone OS 3.2. I was surprised by this, as I thought the tablet would run its own branch of OS X. The advantage of the iPhone core is that iPad can run all existing iPhone and iPod touch applications, either in regular size, or it can scale them up to full screen. Developers will be able to make apps for just the iPad, or ones that run on all Apple touchscreen devices.
Input is much like the iPhone. A software keyboard pops up in portrait or landscape view, and you type on it much like you would a notebook keyboard. Well, at least that’s how Steve Jobs did it. There are a couple more input options, but I’ll discuss those under accessories. Navigation is done with your fingers. It is a touchscreen, after all.
From what was demoed of included apps, I was quite pleased with the Calendar and Mail app. The Calendar app looks so much better than even iCal on Mac OS X. And Mail just looks so much more functionally laid out than Mail on iPhone or even Mac OS X. I also enjoyed the look of the iPod app, as it looks like a next-generation iTunes on the Mac.
The iPad also fills the role of an eBook reader, and introduces a new app called iBooks and the iBookstore, powered by the iTunes Store, naturally. Of course, I recently became a Kindle owner. Great timing, huh? I can already tell that the browsing and buying experience will be better with iPad, but I can attest that the Kindle is easy on the eyes. That said, I think the whirlwind force of Apple with its iTunes Store behemoth will slaughter the Kindle.
Apple also announced iWork for iPad. Each app — Pages, Keynote, and Numbers — has been reworked for use on the touchscreen. They will sell separately for $10 each on the App Store. I don’t believe they will be compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch.
To see this stuff in action, go watch Apple’s iPad video.
Accessories
Apple announced a few accessories to complement the iPad. First, a Dock — think of it as a charging station. There is also a Keyboard Dock — it looks like Apple’s compact aluminum keyboard attached to the iPad Dock. There’s a cover that doubles as a stand, and a cable that allows iPad to be hooked up to a monitor. There are also camera connectors, one for connecting your camera via USB to dump photos, or an SD card reader.
The current Apple Wireless Keyboard can also be connected via bluetooth to iPad for text input.
Closing
Reflecting upon my prediction post a couple days ago, I was wrong on nearly everything. iLife and iWork didn’t see updates for the Mac (iWork did get an update, just not how I expected, and it isn’t released yet). There wasn’t an iTunes bump. iPhone OS 3.2 wasn’t released (and likely won’t be until the iPad is out in late March/early April). Chiefly, Apple is still hugging AT&T. I was convinced they were losing exclusivity. I owe you all a crow eating.
Beyond all that, I think the iPad is a very awesome device, just from what I’ve read/seen pictures of. I can definitely see where it fits in the computing lifestyle for someone like my wife. She uses an iMac, and has an iPod touch. She used to have an iBook, and sometimes she misses it. I can see where she would want an iPad for that medium-sized portable computer.
On the other hand, for someone like me, who uses an MacBook Pro and has an iPhone, well, I have a portable computer already. Two if you count the iPhone. I’m just not sure how iPad would fit for me. Don’t worry, that wouldn’t keep me from getting one. I drank the kool-aid long ago. The message is just a little less clear for folks who use a notebook computer as their main computer.
I suppose my thoughts are that the iPad is the start of something new. Perhaps, given time, it will grow into a device that could replace the notebook computer altogether. Perhaps. Only time will tell.
¹Carriers usually impose a 5 GB cap on these so-called “unlimited” data plans.
I’ve wrestled with the idea of posting any predictions on the forthcoming Apple Event that takes place in less than 48 hours, but I am caving to tradition. This is just something most any writer who writes about Apple has to do. I don’t have anything to back anything up besides my gut feelings. I’m really just spitballing with a best guess.
The order of events to an Apple keynote, especially a Jobsnote (love having you back, Steve), is a pretty timeless and standard affair. Everything will start by recapping a lot of market data for the Mac, iPod, and iPhone. Apple will tout the financial numbers which are being released later today.
Mac announcements will come first, if there are any. I’m expecting a cursory announcement of iLife and iWork 2010 (or whatever they decide to call it) with some brief demonstrations of the latest enhancements. I’m thinking only iPhoto and iMovie will see demos. I have absolutely no idea what could be added. Expect both suites to go fully 64-bit.
iTunes will be after that. There will be a new feature or two added. I’m hoping that the rumors of all-you-can-eat streaming TV shows come to fruition. If that happens, and the Apple TV gets a hardware refresh to support 1080p, I’m there. I’ve been looking for an excuse to drop cable TV and TiVo (combined, they are just too expensive). $30 or $40 a month would be perfect. I must say, though, I don’t really see this happening. I do see iTunes getting one or two new features, and they’ll likely tie into the iPod and iPhone.
iPod announcements will follow iTunes, and the iPod touch is going to get most of the spotlight (all 3-5 minutes of it). The gist of it will be the announcement of iPhone OS 3.2, which will support whatever new features iTunes brings.
Following that, the iPhone will get a nod, with iPhone OS 3.2 coming for it as well, natch. Here’s where I play my wild card. AT&T will lose it’s US exclusivity on iPhone. Now, I expect this to be more announcement oriented, rather than immediate availability. I expect the iPhone will simply be available this summer on T-Mobile, the other GSM carrier in the States. But I know most are hoping Apple releases a CDMA iPhone for use on Verizon (and maybe Sprint). And this could be the stage to announce that for summer availability. Either way, or even both ways, AT&T will lose exclusivity. I’m calling that one, and I’ll eat crow if it doesn’t happen.
Lastly, and this will be the most lengthy part (I’m counting 30-minutes for everything else, an hour for this), the mythical “tablet” will finally be unveiled. There’s so many delusions surrounding this thing’s hype that it’s laughable. I’m keeping my predictions light. The hardware will look similar to an overgrown iPhone or iPod touch. I mean, realistically, imagining much beyond a giant piece of glass with a metal and/or plastic back, with as few buttons as possible isn’t much of a stretch. But the secret will lie in the software. That’s what is beautiful about multi-touch input — there isn’t a lot of limit on the user interface. I think the software will be more closely related to iPhone OS than Mac OS X, but it will be its own branch off the OS X root, much like iPhone OS was.
I think it will be revolutionary. I don’t think any of us have come close to what it will do or how it will fit in with our computing lifestyles. I do think that we’ll all say, “That makes sense” after Steve explains it to us.
I just hope it has a cool name like Canvas. I’ll slap my forehead if its name is iSlate or iPad.
Well, something is on. Everyone has been running around with their heads unscrewed drooling about the possibility of Apple introducing a tablet later this month. I’ve held off on the drooling so as to not make a total fool of myself until substantial information is available.
However, one of the rumors surrounding the unicorn tablet has been an event at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (Apple’s favorite iPod event venue) on either the 26th or 27th on January. Apparently Apple sent out the invites to the media this morning (no, I’m not even close to their radar). An event is planned for January 27th and invites the press to “come see our latest creation.”
The invite features a multitude of paint splotches in various colors. Reminds me of the nanos. If it is the tablet, perhaps it will have some art focus? I could speculate a lot more, and likely end up very wrong. I think the safest bet is that Apple will amaze us all, yet again.
A week and a half ago, Apple refreshed some of its product lineup for the holidays. The changes included new unibody plastic MacBooks, gorgeous 21.5” and 27” iMacs, updated Airport Extreme and Time Capsule base stations, an aluminum Apple Remote, and the multitouch Magic Mouse. The Magic Mouse instantly became the object of my desire, and I placed an order for one as soon as the store was updated with the new merchandise. Today, it arrived.
This is purely a thing of beauty.
This has to be one of the sleekest designs to ever come out of Cupertino. The bottom is aluminum and the top is a curved blade of plastic. The top shell does depress physically for button clicks, but otherwise buttons do not exist.
The top surface is multitouch enabled. It detects when you want to perform a primary click or secondary click (aka right click) by how your fingers naturally interact with other mice. This function can be reversed via software if you mouse with your left hand.
Scrolling is achievable with a soft flick along the surface. The new software for the Magic Mouse even gives scrolling the visual feedback of momentum, much like the iPhone. (Please, Apple, enable momentum when I scroll with the multitouch trackpad built into my MacBook Pro!)
Swiping two fingers left or right allows you to move backward or forward, respectively, between web pages in a browser, or pages within a document, or items in Cover Flow view in Finder or iTunes.
Inevitably, comparisons must be made to the Magic Mouse’s predecessor, the Mighty Mouse. First of all, the Magic Mouse is only available with wireless bluetooth, whereas the Mighty Mouse had wired and wireless varieties (Apple still sells the wired Mighty Mouse, yet it has been rebranded as the Apple Mouse).
The Magic Mouse is much lighter and thinner than the Mighty Mouse. In fact, even though both contain two AA batteries, the Magic Mouse is on par with the light weight of the wired (thus without batteries) Mighty Mouse.
One stupendous benefit is the lack of the dreaded scroll ball. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the function of the scroll ball, but only when it actually functioned. Due to a poor design decision, there was no way to clean the scroll ball, and it would often gum up and stop working. I managed to sort of clean it with a cotton ball and some water, but cleaning it was at least a twice-weekly event. Scrolling with a touch sensor is much nicer.
Speaking of the scroll ball, here is one nagging difference where the Magic Mouse is lacking. On the Mighty Mouse, depressing the scroll ball acted as a third button, which I had set up to activate Exposé. Also, there was a fourth button on the side that you could squeeze, which I had set up to enable Spaces. The Magic Mouse lacks these buttons, or even a way to access any tertiary function. Perhaps Apple will be able to add in more gestures through software updates. One can hope.
Honestly, I rarely used the squeezable fourth button on the Mighty Mouse, but I used the tertiary button under the scroll ball a lot.
Thankfully, if you have a Mac notebook manufactured since late 2007 or any of the aluminum external keyboards, there is an Exposé button on the F3 key.
All in all, I am actually enjoying the lower profile of the Magic Mouse, as my wrist doesn’t have to bend at all for my hand to conform to it. Clicking is easy, and scrolling feels more natural than ever. The two-finger swipe is a bit tricky yet, but I think I just need to develop the muscle memory for it, like I did with the multitouch trackpads.
The only things lacking are the ability for at least a tertiary function, and I kind of wish the pinch/zoom gesture were available.
I highly suggest giving the Magic Mouse a try at an Apple Store. If you currently use a Mighty Mouse, I’d say overall it is an upgrade.
I’ve embedded some “unboxing” photos in the slideshow below.
I recently discovered a neat little trick about QuickLook. It occurred by accident, but I have since been using it quite a bit.
There is one requirement, you must have a trackpad that has all the multitouch capabilities, specifically the pinch/zoom gesture. Also, I have only tested this on Snow Leopard, so I have no idea if this works on Leopard.
Basically, highlight a file, tap the spacebar to enable QuickLook, then use the pinch/zoom gesture by drawing your two fingers away from each other. QuickLook will expand the document out into fullscreen.
To reverse the process, use pinch/zoom in the opposite direction, drawing your fingers together, and you’ll return to the normal QuickLook HUD window.
I have found this extremely useful for viewing images, and especially documents where I just quickly need some information, but the font renders too small in the HUD window to read.
I hope this little hint has helped you out. If any of you are still running Leopard, let us all know if this works for you.
Too bad the Magic Mouse doesn’t do pinch/zoom. By the way, mine is set to arrive Friday, watch out for a review around then.
It’s hard to believe that 8 years ago today the original iPod was introduced to the world. It’s even harder to see how much it has changed over the years. I mean, the primary iPod of Apple’s arsenal doesn’t even use a wheel anymore!
I remember thinking back in 2001 that this would never take off. I’ve since owned a 3rd generation ipod, a 4th generation iPod, an iPod photo, a 2nd generation iPod nano, and a 1st generation iPod touch. Oh, and now I use an iPhone 3G, which has an iPod app.
I’d say my skepticism was greatly misplaced.
Dear iPod, I lift my glass in your honor. Happy birthday.
(Also, happy birthday to my sister-in-law, Michelle!)
(She’s a recent switcher to the Mac, to boot, which makes her doubly awesome!)
Since my second year of college (which was 5 years ago) (crap, I’m getting old), I’ve been using an AirPort Express base station for my home wireless network. Recently, I’d noticed my household was beginning to stretch its limits.
Between several Macs, an iPhone, iPod touch, TiVo, XBox 360, Wii, etc etc and so forth…things were getting crowded for the little AirPort Express, which supports a maximum of ten clients. Also, the AirPort Express just wasn’t transmitting enough to reach the places like the kitchen and bedroom.
A couple days ago I picked up a dual-band AirPort Extreme for our cozy little home. This was quite the upgrade for our network, as we had never realized the 802.11n capabilities of our computers. So now I am running simultaneous 802.11n and 802.11g networks. The iMac and MacBook Pro run on the 5GHz n network and everything else runs on the 2.4GHz g network.
I was curious how well syncing app data from Mac clients to iPhone clients (think 1Password) would work, since the different spectrums appeared as different networks to the Mac. I’m happy to report that the AirPort Extreme allows devices on both networks to interact with each other as if they were on the same network. Everything is absolutely seamless.
It took a grand total of about ten minutes to set up the g and n networks from the unboxing to being up and ready to go.
I even noticed quite the improvement in download speed on the 802.11n network. As illustrated in the image above, I tested my MacBook Pro on both the 802.11g and 802.11n networks using Speedtest.net. The speed difference was just under 7.5 Mb/s! I had never seen results come in above 16.3 Mb/s.
Needless to say, I am very pleased with upgrading to the dual-band AirPort Extreme. It’s a little spendy compared to other dual-band base stations from D-Link and Linksys, but I much prefer to use AirPort Utility to manage my base station than a web browser.
I’d recommend this even to Windows users, but it’s a no-brainer for a Mac house.
Update Oct. 24, 2009: Sure enough, I bought my AirPort Extreme on Saturday, Oct. 17 and Apple goes ahead and updates the darn hardware on Tuesday, Oct. 20. Well, my local-ish (it’s 40-minutes away) Apple Store finally got the new ones in. And thankfully, Apple has a policy where if they update the hardware you just bought within 14 days, you can exchange it.
Since only 3 days had passed, I was golden. I stopped there last night with the now-old-generation Airport Extreme all boxed in its original packaging with the receipt, and the guy helping me did a flat-out exchange. I had been told when I called earlier that I would be charged a 10% restocking fee, but looking at the new receipt, that didn’t happen.
There isn’t much different about this one and the one I picked up last week. In fact, externally, they are identical. Apple says the antenna has been re-engineered. So instead of being a 2x2 antenna it is now a 3x3 antenna. Apple claims this allows 50% better performance and 25% greater range. I ran Speedtest.net again and I had marginal improvement in download speed at 23.02 Mbps, and upload of 0.97 Mbps.
I doubt I’ll realize much difference, but I figured if I am going to have this router for around 5 years or more, I might as well take advantage of getting the latest and greatest since I had the opportunity.
Also, make sure to actually use the disc in the box to install a new version of AirPort Utility. I had v. 5.3.2 from Snow Leopard, but this new base station requires v.5.5, which Apple has not pushed through Software Update yet.
If you’re considering purchasing an AirPort Extreme, flip the box to see the bar code label and look to make sure the part number is MC340LL/A. That’s the freshly re-engineered one.
