Aperture 3 Released

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.

Did Anyone Else Forget Macworld Expo is Next Week?

For a Mac user, there is a special, magical time of year called Macworld Expo. It’s the Mac geek’s Christmas. It’s the event where, once a year, the fearless leader Steve Jobs (or in a medical absence, Phil Schiller) takes the stage and wows us with new shiny products with Apple logos on them.

Except…Macworld is in February this year? Apple isn’t attending this year? David Pogue, the journalist, is delivering the keynote address instead of Steve Jobs? Is this the Twilight Zone?

Look, last year, during Steve’s medical leave of absence, Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing, took stage, delivered a couple products, nothing earth-shattering. Then he dropped the bomb that Apple wouldn’t be attending in the future. Tony Bennett came out to patch things up by singing “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

In the fallout, the Expo organizers pushed everything back to February 2010 (probably to give a little bit more time to strategize and so they wouldn’t be buried in the press by CES).

The reality is, I was so focused on Apple’s own iPad event and its aftermath that I forgot all about Macworld Expo. Am I the only one? I doubt it. I honestly can’t think of a single reason the consumer side of me should be salivating over Macworld Expo. 

Every Mac Geek’s Christmas was postponed a month, then Apple came in and saved the day with the iPad. Apple is simply enough of a juggernaut now that they don’t need the expenditure of being at an Expo for a week to grab the attention of the world. They just need to send out vague invitations a week early.

I’ll keep an eye out for anything interesting coming out of expo, but I have a feeling it, too, will succumb to its sibling’s fate. You do remember Macworld Boston, right?

Making Headlines

My thanks to Silicon Prairie News for featuring techēse on their site today. It is an honor to be associated with such a prestigious site in the Midwest region.

Click image to visit article.

Getting Serious

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.

Speaking techēse

When you’re launching a primarily slightly Apple-focused site that covers tech in the world today, it’d be nice to have some shiny news to discuss. Maybe I should have done this last Wednesday when the iPad was announced! Or maybe tomorrow, since our favorite fruit company typically releases new stuff on Tuesdays. But I’d also have to compete with the groundhog tomorrow. My feelings on it? It’s the beginning of a new month, and it’s the best time to begin something.

Welcome to techēse. The language of ones, zeros, and more acronyms than you can shake an iPod shuffle at. My goal on this site is to offer news and opinions about the latest in tech. I’ll be the first to admit that I am an Apple zealot, so expect a lot of talk about Cupertino. But I’ve been wanting to expand to talking about any interesting tech advancements, without having the name of the site give visitors the impression that all things will lead back to Apple. MacGeek Pro (the previous home of my writing) was so focused on one thing that I felt painted into a corner topically. That severely hampered my writing during times when Apple would go on a dry spell of announcements. Now is the time to start fresh with a new name, new design, and a new platform (Squarespace is much nicer for me than Wordpress).  

Enjoy the new look and feel. Go ahead and take a look around the site. Don’t be surprised if there are a few tweaks (nothing too drastic) over the next week or too as I settle in. Enjoy.

MacGeek Pro is Learning a New Language

My dearest readers, I have loved writing and producing content on this blog for the past 5 years. I started on Blogger, and eventually moved to WordPress.com, then moved to my own Wordpress.org install with this domain name.

Over the years, you may have noticed there is a www.macgeekpro.net which serves as a home for some basic information for me. I rarely do anything with that space and it’s also on a whole other platform, so there really isn’t unity between the two sites. Frankly, I’m tired of that. I want a platform that can serve all of my needs.

I know Wordpress can probably do it all for me, but I’m not a Wordpress wizard.

That is why I am moving to Squarespace. My lovely wife, Karen, has been using Squarespace and loves it. And I must say I have been eyeing it with a bit of jealousy. I believe Squarespace will provide the foundation I need to create a site that I will love to use, and that will have a fundamental design that you will love to look at.

There is something greater that will affect you, the reader. The domain name is changing, along with the name of the entire site.

Get ready to learn the language of Techese. The site isn’t quite finished at the time of this post, but I am going to pound it out today. All of the content I’ve written here will be over there. (Also, the domain may not have resolved yet. Be patient.) So please add / to your bookmarks, and update your RSS readers once you can access the site.

Why the big change? Well, I have been competing for years with some other guy in grabbing the macgeekpro name. I decided I wanted something more original. I’ve been wanting to expand the focus of my writing to all tech, not just being focused on Apple (though that will still be the primary inspiration of my writing). I wanted a cool brand name. I wanted something easy for folks to remember.

So I arrived at Techese. The true inspiration is from my great friend, Aaron. I recently helped him and his family switch to a Mac, and he has a knack for telling me that I speak Techese, but that he’s grateful I can translate it to English. Techese. Genius. Thanks, Aaron. I owe you lunch.

My goal is to have the site nailed down by Monday, February 1st, 2010. I plan to officially launch it and publish my first post on Techese then.

This is my final post on this site. I’ll leave it up until my registration for it expires. Don’t worry, all the content here will be available on Techese without an interruption in the timeline. Thanks for sticking with me through the years, and I hope you follow me through this transition.

See you on Monday, February 1st, 2010 over at Techese.

MacGeek Pro, signing off.

iPad — Apple's Newest Creation

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.

A Few Predictions on the "Tablet" Event

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.

Thoughts on Web Video [Updated]

Video on the web has been quite the boom in the last decade. In the early days, everything was a QuickTime or Windows Media video. Windows Media was the reigning king for a long time. Eventually, Macromedia Flash, since acquired by Adobe, became the dominant delivery system for web video. I believe what brought forth the era of Flash was YouTube. YouTube employs Flash to deliver millions (billions?) of video every day to the masses.

Now, I don’t have a great deal of love for Flash. It’s slow, buggy, and is largely believed to be the chief cause of browser crashes. But Flash is unavoidable. Everyone pretty much has to have it installed, because so many sites are built around Flash for video and interactive components.

Flash is also a huge resource hog. It eats up a good chunk of CPU (though the 10.1 beta doesn’t eat nearly as much as past versions). In today’s largely mobile lifestyle, more CPU consumption means shorter battery life. It’s no secret that Flash’s hunger for CPU resources (and therefore battery life) is one of the chief reasons that Apple doesn’t allow Flash on the iPhone and iPod touch.

Still need a case against Flash? Some people feel so strongly about it that they built the wonderful ClickToFlash which blocks all Flash content until the user clicks on the Flash element to play it. Go ahead, install it now.

The answer to Flash, at least regarding web video, presented itself not too long ago in the advent of HTML5 and it’s <video> tag. Nearly all of the most popular browsers have adopted HTML5 (except for Internet Explorer, but no one should use that anyway). The biggest hurdle in the adoption of HTML5’s video tag has been the format of video presented. Safari & Chrome use H.264, and Firefox uses Ogg Theora to present video.

Without a unanimous agreement for HTML5 video format, Flash will remain the most prevalent form of video delivery on the web for years to come. But all of that has the potential to change quickly. How? YouTube, the world’s largest distributor of web video.

Yesterday YouTube opened up a beta of HTML5 video delivery. They chose to run with the H.264 encoding (naturally, since YouTube and Chrome are both Google products). There are a couple of caveats, though. This beta implementation of HTML5 video on YouTube will not work in full screen, or on videos that have ads embedded (those will still present in Flash). Also, if there are annotations to the video, those will not display in the HTML5 player. Lastly, YouTube videos embedded in other sites will play in Flash for the time being.

If you currently use Safari 4, Chrome, or Internet Explorer with Chrome Frame, you too can join the downfall of Flash video. Visit YouTube’s HTML5 Beta page and with one click you will see most YouTube content in HTML5. Videos now load quickly and efficiently without hitting your CPU too hard.

I have a feeling that if enough users participate in the HTML5 beta, YouTube will expand its feature set on the site, and might even use it by default. They obviously wouldn’t open a beta unless they were considering making the jump to a native, browser-based delivery system.

UPDATE: Of course, as soon as I hit publish, Vimeo has followed YouTube in rolling out an HTML5 player, circumventing Flash altogether. They also chose to go with H.264, so Firefox users are out in the cold. It also has the limitation of not supporting full screen. If you want to use HTML5 on Vimeo, the details are here.

I have a feeling that the Firefox team will be looking at H.264 soon.

The Little Blue Bird Becomes a Reality

If you’ve been around twitter for a while now, I’m sure you’ve seen Ollie in many places (though it should be noted, he’s used quite often without consent from his creators). Ollie is the mascot and icon of Twitterrific, the popular twitter client for the Mac and iPhone from The Iconfactory.

Twitterrific pioneered twitter clients on the Mac (where it has unfortunately stagnated, but I’ve been told by Ged from Iconfactory that they are diligently working on a stellar update). It was also one of the first native iPhone twitter clients, and won an Apple Design Award.

Ollie has branched out from software in the past year, as he now adorns a t-shirt (which I own) and now the above pictured collectible figurine. Ollie is made of vinyl and comes in two flavors — straight vinyl or flocked. The flocked version is fuzzy. I opted for the straight vinyl Ollie as I figured he will likely sit on my desk, and the flocking may attract dust.

Overall the build quality is fantastic. It’s neat to see a 2D icon become a 3D figure. And hey, now I have my own Ollie to stare me down with his beady eyes until I check Twitterrific.

You too can have your very own Ollie at the Iconfactory Store. The regular Ollie is $19.95 and the flocked Ollie is $26.95 (you’ll also find that Ollie t-shirt there).