MacStories' Scoop on Lion

Yesterday, MacStories published a scoop regarding tomorrow’s Mac-focused event at Apple HQ. I deliberated last week about my hopes and dreams regarding the new cat. According to MacStories’ exclusive, it appears Mac OS X will be receiving some UI elements from iOS.

Scrolling

Apple introduced inertial scrolling to Mac OS X with the Magic Mouse, then added it to the built-in trackpad of the last MacBook Pro and MacBook revision. With the Magic Trackpad, Apple then brought inertial scrolling to the built-in trackpads of previous unibody MacBooks Pros.

So the foundation for a more iOS-like inertial scrolling is already available. Apparently, Lion will bring the rubber-band effect when you hit the top or bottom of content. This may also herald pull to refresh, which has become popular in a few iOS apps, such as Twitter for iPhone, Facebook, and Yowza. Pull to refresh would be pretty nice for Safari.

Minimizing Aqua

Aqua is the user interface design that made Mac OS X look so futuristic ten years ago. It sounds like Aqua will be taking a step back (but not a complete step out) of the user interface. One such withdrawl will be in scrollbars. Replacing Aqua scrollbars will be iOS inspired scrollbars. If you visit Maxvoltar in Safari or Chrome on Mac OS X, you’ll see the Aqua scrollbar replaced with a minimalistic iOS-like scrollbar. That’s what I’m expecting to see in Lion, although I wouldn’t be surprised if the scrollbar faded away when content is stationary.

QuickLook and Popovers

Lastly, MacStories claims QuickLook will look more like popovers on the iPad, but with a white background. Their mockup looks great.

MobileMe Calendar Officially Gets Overhauled

If you’re a MobileMe subscriber, you may want to go check out the spiffy new web-based [Calendar] redesign that went live for everyone today.

I have been beta testing the new Calendar for a couple months, and I like it a lot. It’s extremely reminiscent of the iPad’s Calendar app.

But a fresh coat of paint on the web-based Calendar isn’t all that is going on. MobileMe Calendar has been migrated to an all-new backend, which I believe is CalDAV. There’s a number of new features which you can read about, but my favorite is the ability to share a calendar with someone else and allow that person to edit it as well. As my son gets older, he’ll inevitably have play dates and sporting events and such, and it will be nice for my wife and I to both be able to edit a calendar for him.

It’s nice to see Apple continuing to improve MobileMe into a better product with these redesigns. Now let’s hope for an iDisk overhaul.

Lions, MacBooks, Predictions! Oh My!

As I noted earlier, Apple’s Mac event is just a week away, and the invite is highly suggestive of two things:

1. New Aluminum MacBook Pro’s and/or MacBook Air, and
2. Mac OS X 10.7 Lion

The majority of the invite itself looks like the lid of a an aluminum Mac notebook, with the Apple logo freshly cut out (I’d love to get my hands on one of those scrap Apple logos). And then there is the lion peeking out. And let’s face it, I don’t think Apple will stick with the cat theme for Mac OS 11, so my bet is definitely on Mac OS X 10.7.

Needless to say, I have my hopes and dreams…

New Mac Portables

MacBook Pro

I suspect there will be slight refreshes to the MacBook Pro. Faster processors, bigger batteries, USB 3, and maybe even higher resolution screens (maybe even 16:9). Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if the Pro line took a page from the MacBook Air and moved the optical drive to an external accessory. I rarely use my optical drive, and would love to use that space for something else.

MacBook Air

The MacBook Air has always been an enigma to me — super light & portable but severely underpowered and overpriced. Also, with the 13-inch screen, a 13-inch MacBook Pro seems like a better investment.

For weeks there have been rumors that the Air may go to an 11.6-inch screen. I think this seems right. Shrink the screen, shed even more weight, give it the all-glass trackpad like the MacBook and MacBook Pros, and for crying out loud, figure out how to squeeze more than one USB port in the thing.

And hey, if the price can be chopped further, I think you may have something neat on your hands.

Lion

Whenever there is news of an upcoming major update to Mac OS X, I always find myself at a loss for what Apple could possibly add to make it better. And, of course, I am always blown away. Last time, for Snow Leopard, I was blown away by the cost — $29. Once installed, Snow Leopard blew my mind with the overall “super polished” responsiveness. Even though there wasn’t a great deal of new features, it was obvious there was a lot of refactoring under the hood.

For Lion, I can only fathom a couple things that seem like shoe-ins.

FaceTime

Apple’s giant drum to parade around this year is FaceTime. It’s in the iPhone 4 and the latest iPod touch. I also think it is going to be in the next iPad.

For years, we’ve had video calls in iChat on Mac OS X. However, right now, FaceTime isn’t getting a lot of my attention since I can’t do a video call with my relatives who don’t have an iPhone 4 or new iPod touch. Lion will likely change this. I bet iChat will gain FaceTime support for video calls to Apple’s mobile devices.

Hey, maybe Apple will give iChat a much needed facelift while they are at it.

Multi-Touch

Apple has been slowly adding Multi-Touch to the Mac over the years. Mostly, this has remained exclusive to Mac portables, but recently came to the desktop with the advent of the Magic Trackpad (which I love, by the way).

I think Apple will eventually bundle the Magic Trackpad with the iMac as the default pointing device, likely around Lion’s release, as I am sure it will utilize a fair amount of Multi-Touch interaction.

I am unsure how extensive Multi-Touch will permeate within Lion, but I’d wager it will be a foundational release to eventually move away from the traditional mouse for good.

iOS Integration

One thing I appreciate about my Mac apps that have iOS counterparts is the ability to sync their data via WiFi. The problem is that this is cumbersome. You have to launch the Mac app and the iOS app and have both devices on the same network in order for them to sync.

Some apps, such as 1Password have taken to using services like Dropbox to sync data cross device and cross platform, without requiring the user to do anything beyond the initial setup.

That is a much more fluid and transparent way of doing things. I hope Apple provides a method for developers to easily hook into a drop dead easy way to sync information from a Mac to an iOS device. Label this as hopeful.

MobileMe Included

Apple has been building a gigantic data center on the east coast for some time. I have long wondered if that was either for a streaming iTunes service, or for a free MobileMe. Overall, MobileMe is much better than .Mac, which it replaced, with one glaring exception – iDisk. It is slow and just plain doesn’t work all that well.

I’d really like to see iDisk get overhauled to be a lot like the aforementioned Dropbox. That would actually facilitate that iOS syncing integration pretty well.

My hope would be that MobileMe would move to being free with Lion, but I do actually feel like I get my $100 per year out of it. The advantage of making it free is that more users would adopt the technology, making for a leaner, cleaner experience. Also, iOS device owners on Windows may feel more inclined to have that seamless integration between Mac OS X and iOS.

UI Refresh

Undoubtedly, a major Mac OS X revision brings some fresh UI paint. Maybe I’m crazy, but iTunes always seems to be the forerunner for design choices that later find their way to Mac OS X. Particularly, I am think of the “traffic lights” going vertical, and the title bar possibly going by the wayside. It seems to work well in iTunes, though I am unsure how well the removal of the title bar would fare in other places, such as Safari (that is, unless, Tabs on Top finally made their reappearance).

I can definitely see the traffic lights going vertical. I’d bet a nickel on it.

iLife and iWork

Who knows, maybe we’ll see fully 64-bit updates and overhauls to Apple’s two famous software suites. I know I wouldn’t mind seeing both of these appear.

That’s my wish list and educated guesses.

Back to the Mac!

Apple just sent out invites to the press for an event on 20 October, pictured above. It simply says Back to the Mac, and shows a lion behind a slightly rotated Apple logo.

I’ll bet my money on a preview of Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. Also, I’d wager speed bumps to the MacBook Pro line (it’s due) and that 11.6” MacBook Air redesign that has been in the rumor mills the past couple months.

I hope this event is live-streamed like the September iPod event was.

Apple's Stock Opens at Over $300

Today Apple reached a new milestone for its history: for the first time ever, their stock reached over $300 per share. Who knows if it will stay there throughout the day, but the fact is, it has happened. Congratulations to all the folks in Cupertino.

I should have bought AAPL when it was $7 per share.

Disclaimer: I do not own any AAPL stock.

Passwords

I checked my site stats this morning to see a rather unusual metric — 3,200 page views in the span of a few moments, while unique visitors remained at a normal, more rational number. I then checked to see which content was being viewed, and lo and behold, it was the login screen to the admin of my site!

Then I checked the access log to see that all the attempts were from a single IP located in Turkey (using Firefox on Win XP, at that). I’ve since blacklisted that IP from ever being able to view my site, and made a more unique path to my login page, since I’m the only one who needs it.

The attacker was unable to gain access to my site largely in thanks to 1Password. If you’re the kind of person who uses the same password for everything, you either desperately need 1Password or would not be interested in it at all. Trust me, you should be the former.

I used to rely on only two rather weak passwords for everything. As of a couple years ago, I jumped on 1Password’s bandwagon (thanks to my good friend Samantha) and now have a unique complex password for every site I use. 1Password keeps track of all of them, and is easy to use with its browser plugin. And I always have my passwords handy thanks to the 1Password iOS app.

Your identity (and bank account!) is so important. Don’t trust it to feeble passwords. Get 1Password, because it is awesome.

P.S. Also a major hat tip to my host, Squarespace for their awesome stats, logs, and IP filters. Love you guys.

Sparrow is a Refreshing Rethink of Mail

I mentioned the other day Bjango’s philosophy of the best method to design a desktop app is to imagine you’re building them for iOS. Well, it looks like there are some like-minded developers out there looking to rethink the Mac email client.

Sparrow is definitely taking cues from not only the iPad’s Mail app, but also a highly popular Mac Twitter client — Tweetie. Sparrow currently only works for Gmail accounts, but it looks like integration with Yahoo! Mail, MobileMe, and other IMAP providers.

Sparrow is a very compelling email client. It has a minimalist approach initially, showing just a Tweetie-style accounts and mailbox sidebar and an iOS-style message list. However, you can click a button and expand the window to show a preview pane.

If you don’t use the preview pane, you’ll notice that the app has a lavish amount of Core Animation. Double click a message and it ghosts in. Close the message, and it fades away with a subtle zoom. Same thing happens when open the app’s preferences.

Even though the app is currently in beta, it really feels like something right out of Cupertino. I would love to see Apple revamp Mac OS X’s Mail app like this.

Sparrow is a free download for now, though the developers would be crazy not to charge for this at the time of final release.

Go ahead and give it a whirl.

Review: Griffin TuneFlex AUX HandsFree

I’ve been a longtime user and fan of Griffin Technology’s products. One area Griffin has always excelled in was integrating my iPod, well, now iPhone, into my car. Shortly after I bought my iPhone 3G a couple years ago, Griffin released the TuneFlex AUX SmartClick. The SmartClick had this super handy remote you could attach to your steering wheel to control playback. This was one of the most useful accessories I ever owned. You can read my glowing review from back in January 2009.

Sadly, when the iPhone 4 came out, the SmartClick’s model-specific adapters didn’t accommodate the new shape of the iPhone 4. So I’ve been patiently waiting for a revised TuneFlex.

A couple weeks ago, Griffin released the TuneFlex AUX HandsFree. The main features are an adjustable cradle that can accommodate the various shapes of iPod and iPhone models, even while the device is in a case, and a microphone that will allow you to talk on the phone handsfree. Hence the name.

I saw this pop up on Amazon for $32, which is quite the discount from the $49.99 MSRP, so I ordered it.

In seven years, this is the first time I am disappointed with a Griffin product. Sadly, the HandsFree is four steps backwards in design from the SmartClick. Sadly, I’ll be returning it for the reasons listed below.

1. The new, adjustable cradle doesn’t apply enough tension to keep the iPhone 4 seated well on the Dock connector. The iPhone wobbles around a lot. With the Dock connector providing the only apparent point of stability, I’m afraid either the connector on the TuneFlex will snap, or worse, the port on the iPhone will be damaged.
2. On both the SmarClick and Handsfree editions of the TuneFlex, the point at which the gooseneck meets the cradle swivels to the left and right. On the SmartClick, it had ratchet points to provide resistance in swiveling. The HandsFree has a completely smooth action. Too smooth. A modestly hard turn will definitely cause the swivel point to swing and, combined with the loose tension in the cradle, will likely send your iPhone or iPod flying across the cabin.
3. There is no way to control playback anymore. I do much more listening with my iPhone than talking in the car. Having to fiddle with onscreen controls to skip forward a track or pause is more dangerous. The SmartClick had such an excellent solution to this. The HandsFree offers no solution.
4. Audio on the SmartClick was line-out via the Dock connector. The HandsFree offers only audio out via the headphone jack, so you first have to adjust the device’s volume, then your stereo’s. What a distraction and a mess. Never mind the fact that if you forget to turn down the device’s volume before you plug in headphones you’ll have hurting ears.

I really wish I had better things to say about this product. It actually kind of hurts to lampoon a Griffin product since I have never had a bad experience from them.

It’s a shame they didn’t just release a $10 adapter for the iPhone 4 for SmartClick owners.

Rethinking iChat

Bjango makes fantastic apps for iOS and Mac OS X. I use their hugely popular iStat utility every day. They pose the question on their blog of “What if iChat was one window?”

Their mockup and explanation is top notch and a great read. My favorite line from the whole thing is:

I’m finding more and more that the best way to design desktop apps is to imagine you’re building them for iOS.

I couldn’t agree more. I hope someone at Apple is listening.

Blu-ray is a Bag of Hurt

As Steve Jobs famously said back in October 2008, during the unveiling of the unibody MacBook and MacBook Pro, blu-ray is a bag of hurt. I have found this out first hand in the past 24 hours. Yesterday, I bought Iron Man 2 in a Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Copy set. I saw the movie in theaters and loved it, so adding it to my collection was a no-brainer. But once I got it home, the pain began.

First off, I love the picture quality of Blu-ray (or rather, HD, whether or not it’s on a disc). What I hate, however, is Digital Rights Management, or DRM. In layman’s terms – copy protection. The reason I hate it so much is the undue burden it puts on the average consumer. I experienced such a burden last night.

The movie industry is constantly changing the DRM scheme on new movies, requiring your Blu-ray player to be updated constantly with new firmware to decode the new schemes. What I have fallen into is something I figured would be unlikely. The manufacturer of my player has stopped providing updates.

I hadn’t noticed as I hadn’t bought a new release in quite some time, but LG last updated my BD-390 in April. Iron Man 2 freezes in playback every 20 minutes, and when you press rewind or fast-forward to get over the freeze, it forgets where it was at and drops you ten minutes back in the movie.

At first, I figured it was a defective disc, so I exchanged it. The new disc exhibited the same problem. I decided to experiment a little. I picked a different part of the movie to start from, watched about 20 minutes, and freeze. Same behavior. I nudged past the freeze, watched about 20 minutes, freeze. Rinse, repeat. So it isn’t a physical anomaly in the disc.

I checked for updates via the WiFi connection of my player. Nothing. So I went to Google. It appears that many owners of the LG BD-390 are experiencing the same exact issue. Even worse, folks who have purchased movies made by Lionsgate films that were released since May have had their LG BD-390 spit the disc right back out.

LG lists the BD-390 as discontinued. We’re talking about a 10-month old player that was the top of the game last November. It sure seems like LG has given up on supporting new firmware for a discontinued device.

I talked with LG’s support, and the representative told me my report would be filed with the firmware team. I’m not very confident.

This whole mess is because of constantly changing DRM schemes, and companies discontinuing support for those schemes. I do love the Blu-ray experience when it works. This is the first bump I’ve hit with it, but it doesn’t bode well for the format.

Quite simply, DRM needs to go away, just like it did with music downloads. It’s time to trust the majority of consumers, because DRM sure as heck doesn’t stop the pirates. It just slows them down.