The All-New, Just-the-Same iTunes

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Whenever a major new version of OS X is released, many of Apple's notable apps get a bit of a facelift, too. iPhoto, iMovie, & GarageBand received updates to take advantage of Lion's full-screen feature. iWork received full-screen, auto-save, versions, and resume support.

And then there's iTunes. Normally, iTunes just gets worse with each update. I have, for years, blamed this on iTunes being a dinosaur running on 32-bit Carbon, relying on crufty frameworks a decade old. It was just plain bogged down.

Key word: was.

Just like when the Finder was rewritten with Snow Leopard bearing the tagline "all-new, just-the-same", iTunes has finally been rewritten in Cocoa and is fully 64-bit with version 10.4. So, to the casual observer it may just look like iTunes got the full-screen Lion treatment, but a keen person will realize that iTunes is actually fast again. Everything I have done in the new iTunes 10.4 has been quick and the beach ball of doom hasn't reared its ugly head.

I have no idea how things are with iTunes on the Windows side of things, but Mac users can finally begin to enjoy iTunes again.

Patrick Rhone on OS X Lion

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Patrick Rhone on minimalmac:

Here is my short review having never laid eyes on this thing… It’s great. How do I know? Apple doesn’t do less than great. If you have a Mac that can run it, get it.

Like Patrick, I didn't sign up for the developer program to access the developer previews. I am downloading OS X Lion as I write this. And I share the exact same sentiments as Patrick — if you're Mac is able to run it, get it. And maybe get a Magic Trackpad if you're still rocking a mouse.

Get Your Mac Ready to Pounce on Lion

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During its quarterly financial results conference call today, Apple confirmed that OS X Lion will be on the Mac App Store tomorrow, 20 July. So, if you are planning to upgrade tomorrow, like I am, it would be a good idea to prep your Mac tonight.

Here's a good summary of how to approach a major upgrade from Chairman Gruber:

  1. Do a complete backup clone to an external FireWire drive.
  2. Test that the backup is indeed bootable and up to date.
  3. Unplug the backup drive.
  4. Pop in the installer DVD and launch the “Install Mac OS X” app.

Step 4 has been obviated by the App Store, of course, but steps 1-3 still stand. Do not assume that going from 10.6 to 10.7 will be an easy or seamless transition.

In all likelihood, the upgrade to Lion should go smoothly, but it is always better to be prepared for the worst. I highly recommend SuperDuper! for your cloning needs.

¶ The AirPrint Monopoly

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Last September, during Apple's annual music-focused event, they previewed iOS 4.2 as the pinnacle release to unify the iPhone/iPod touch with the iPad on a software level. Another feature that Apple touted was AirPrint, which would allow printing from an iOS device without needing to install printer drivers. The idea was that as long as a printer was on the same network as the iOS device, it would simply just be available.

The gotcha was that the printer had to have AirPrint technology baked into it. And Apple said that any manufacturer could do this, as they would be opening up the technology.

Apple also said that there would be a workaround where your Mac would make any AirPrint-less printer on your network available to your iOS device, as long as the Mac was currently running on the same network as your iOS device. I thought that was great, as my printer works fine, and if I am home, my Mac is usually on.

Well, a funny thing happened. All through the betas of iOS 4.2 and OS X 10.6.5, this AirPrint bridge for older printers worked — right up until the GM versions. Suddenly, when iOS 4.2 and OS X 10.6.5 made their public debut, the AirPrint bridge mode was gone, even from the website.

And the only printers available with AirPrint were a new breed of HP printers. I found that to be mostly understandable, for one manufacturer to have the first few AirPrinters. Others would follow soon, right?

Wrong.

Nine months after AirPrint's public debut, HP is the only manufacturer offering the technology. Why? Did Apple and HP make an exclusivity agreement? Did every other printer manufacturer find AirPrint to be too costly or cumbersome to implement? I don't know.

I don't know why this bothers me so much, as I rarely ever print anything. Maybe it is the realization of seeing a trend of broken promises from Apple for minor technology features. For instance:

  • Time Machine via AirPort. When OS X Leopard entered developer preview at WWDC a number of years back, Apple touted that users would be able to attach an external hard drive to the back of an AirPort Extreme in order to use it as a wireless backup hub for the whole family using Time Machine. When Leopard was released, the feature was gone. A few months later, at Macworld Expo, Apple unveiled the Time Capsule, which was an AirPort with an integrated hard drive for Time Machine backups.
  • FaceTime. Don't get me wrong, I love FaceTime. It's used weekly in home. But I remember Apple saying a year ago that they were opening it up as a public spec, so any manufacturer could integrate the FaceTime service. I really don't care that FaceTime is still only available to Apple hardware, as the people I want to use it with are able to, but it is another promise that has yet to be fulfilled.

None of these are earth-shattering. Nothing like RIM or HP shipping tablets with half-baked, buggy software and then promising to deliver updates in weeks or months. For all I can guess, maybe Apple decided features like Time Machine over AirPort or AirPrint didn't work well unless they remained largely closed system. And maybe they decided to keep FaceTime in-house as a competitive advantage. I sure haven't seen any other phones or devices that have implemented video calling as robust as FaceTime, not even those that use Skype.

I think, maybe, the thing that bothers me about these examples is that it is uncharacteristic for Apple to promise something, and then not deliver.

Byword 1.3

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Byword is a fantastically simple typing interface for the Mac. I picked it up when version 1.2 came out, which introduced Markdown support. I held off on publishing my thoughts after having a brief discussion with the developers about Markdown support getting a lot better in 1.3. Well, Byword 1.3 made its way onto the Mac App Store today, and I thought I'd share my thoughts on what has become my go-to tool for writing on my Mac.

Syntax

When Byword 1.2 introduced Markdown support a while back, the furthest it reached was the ability to convert your markup into HTML and preview or export it. This was all well and good, but having come from using the abandonware of TextMate, I missed being able to see my Markdown syntax take effect while I wrote. Meaning that by surrounding a word with an asterisk on each side, it would italicize. Well, Byword 1.3 takes care of that. Emphasis and strong emphasis, headers, ordered and unordered lists, and more all render in real time, aiding in visualizing your final work at a glance.

The export options have even expanded to include PDF, RTF, Word, & LaTeX in addition to HTML.

Preferences

I have always enjoyed Byword's minimal preference pane, which offers a light or dark theme, text width choices of narrow, medium, or wide, and the font chooser. Thankfully, one crucial preference was added, and that is the ability to set a default text format of rich text, plain text, or Markdown. And the Markdown choice even uses the .md file extension.

Miscellaneous Niceties

When tapping out a list, whether ordered or unordered, tapping return once now adds the next row with the appropriate marking. Also, there is a new typewriter scrolling mode which keeps the current line centered vertically in the window, so you can watch one area while typing, instead of traveling down the length of your screen as your type.

Ready to Roar

Byword 1.3 also adds support for OS X Lion, which should be arriving any day now. Once running on Lion, Byword will trade its custom full-screen support for Lion's native Full-Screen App support, along with Auto-Save, Versions, and Resume.

As someone who writes almost exclusively in Markdown anymore, Byword has grown to become the tool I reach for when I go to write. Today's enhancements to how Byword handles Markdown syntax has sealed it. In my book, Byword has become the tool that every serious writer using Markdown should use.

If you are looking for an app that is clean and simply gets out of your way so you can write, I can't recommend Byword enough.

Byword is available on the Mac App Store for $10.

¶ STS-135 Atlantis

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From NASA:

Emmy-nominated composer Bear McCreary, known for his television scores, has composed a fanfare specifically to commemorate the final space shuttle flight. After composing four seasons of music for a television show set in space, creating music inspired by a historic NASA mission was a natural fit. The composition will be played first on Friday morning at the NASA launch TweetUp.

People viewing the launch from some of the other locations at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will also be able to hear the composition.

In just over an hour, NASA will launch its final Space Shuttle mission. It truly is the end of an era. McCreary's work on the score for Battlestar Galactica is some of my favorite instrumental music of all time. There isn't a doubt that music can capture and convey great emotion, and I applaud NASA for commemorating the Shuttle program in such a way.

NASA will be releasing McCreary's composition on iTunes soon.

Be sure to watch this historic occasion at 11:31 am EDT via the web, iPhone app, or iPad app.

Capture — An App That Does One Thing Well

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I can't tell you how often I miss shooting a video of my boy doing something great because I have to do the following:

  1. Unlock my iPhone.
  2. Find the Camera app.
  3. Wait for the Camera app to load.
  4. Toggle the switch from still photo to video.
  5. Tap record.

The above process can take anywhere from 5 to 30 seconds, which, by the time I am ready to record, I have missed the moment.

Apple is hoping to alleviate some of this by adding a camera button to the lock screen in iOS 5, but that still seems like it will be best suited for quick access to taking still photos (which is also welcome).

Enter Capture, a great little app that does one thing, and does it very well. Tap Capture's icon on the home screen, and it instantly begins recording video as it launches. Simply press the home button to stop recording, and the video is saved to your camera roll.

Capture is 99 cents well spent if you are also frustrated with the slow performance of the built-in camera app.

Marco Arment pretty much speaks for me on that front:

By the way, it's embarrassing that Camera is so slow to launch and be ready to capture videos or photos that apps like this are necessary.

I guess that is a good reason to have a third-party developer community.

Make sure to pick up Capture for 99 cents over at the App Store.

Shawn Blanc Reviews the HP TouchPad

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Shawn Blanc went out and spent his own money to review the HP TouchPad. This gist of his review:

I could not find one feature or function that was significant or compelling enough to take the TouchPad seriously compared to the iPad.

It's a shame, really. Just like when the Palm Prē came out, I had high hopes webOS would be a worthy contender against iOS. I obviously love iOS, but competition is what keeps the gears moving on all sides. Instead, HP's first major take on their webOS acquisition was a cheap feeling tablet with half-baked software.

If you want to see what I mean, read Shawn's aforelinked review.

OS X Lion Hits Golden Master

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According to 9to5mac, Apple shouldn't have a problem hitting that July release timeframe for OS X Lion. This also makes me wonder if this rumor from Three Guys and a Podcast about a July 6 release holds any water. Personally, my guess is a release in the July 11-15 range, though I wouldn't be upset if a big cat showed up Wednesday.