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Back in March, I reviewed the Opera Turbo Labs preview version of the Opera 10 alpha browser incorporating server-side optimization and compression technology that Opera claims can speed throughput over slow connections by reducing the amount of data needed to display Web pages by up to 80 percent — music to my ears, being stuck at present with a rural dial-up Internet connection that gives me 26,400 bps throughput on good days.
Initially skeptical, I was delighted to discover it wasn’t just hype. Opera Turbo provided such a dramatic speed boost it seems silly to use any other browser. There was some image quality degradation from the compression, but you can always turn Turbo off when you need full image resolution.
Earlier this month, Opera released the first public beta of Version 10 with the Turbo feature, joined by a raft of other enhancements. The alpha build of Opera 10 Turbo I’ve been using for three months has proved amazingly stable and bug-free, but I’ve run into some issues with Opera 10 Beta 1, especially on my Intel Mac.
But to first accentuate the positive, the new Opera 10 beta (code-named Peregrine) includes an array of other new features such as an interface facelift by designer Jon Hicks, including etch effects and border highlights, giving extra crispness to edges. Text Shadow has a new parameter to reproduce the etched text effect that is standard on OS X and some Windows applications.
The Mac default skin gets a fresh look that’s OK if you like Safari-esque gray. I don’t, and will install a skin I like better — easy to do from Opera’s large selection.
I won’t revisit the Turbo feature in great detail, since how it works was outlined thoroughly in the previous article, but a new configuration option enables an Opera Turbo setting to activate only if a slow network is detected. New in Opera 10b1 is a resizable tab bar that displays thumbnails of your open Web pages on mouseover, and can now also be used to show all open tabs as thumbnails.
Opera’s Speed Dial bookmark thumbnail feature can now be customized to suit your taste by using the “Configure” button to display from 4 to 25 favorite web sites, and you can add a custom background. (Some downloadable alternate Opera skins also include Speed Dial backgrounds.)
If you use a Webmail service as your default mail client, you can configure Opera 10 to do the same, so clicking on email addresses or the Send by Mail in Opera will open the compose page from your Webmail service provider. The same is true with the Feed reader — you can now also add any RSS/atom feed into your favorite online feed reader from within Opera 10.
Opera 10’s new Presto 2.2 browser engine is claimed to to be up to 40 percent faster on resource-intensive pages such as Gmail and Facebook, and Opera is reportedly the only browser besides Safari 4 to achieve an Acid3 100/100 score. There is also enhanced Web Fonts support, RGBA/HSLA color and SVG improvements. Spelling errors are now red underlined as you type in all fields where you can input text, using the Hunspell dictionary format. A contextual menu includes spelling suggestions, the ability to change dictionary languages, or to select additional dictionaries.
The program’s integrated Opera Mail email client now supports rich text messages including inline images, styled text, links, and/or custom HTML, and a new “Delete after X days” feature automatically removes messages from POP servers after the specified interval.
That’s a ton of new features added to what was already one of the richest feature sets of any browser.
Turning to the problems, after my first attempt at downloading an installer didn’t work (corrupted disk image that wouldn’t mount) I tried the online update feature, which seemed to install OK, but after I applied it, the browser refused to start. Frustrated, I downloaded the Intel-specific version of the installer and ran it. No joy; Opera 10 Beta 1 would still abort on startup.
Trashing the Opera Preferences and letting the program create new preference files proved the key (I made sure to save my Bookmarks and cookies files first) to getting it to launch, but my troubles weren’t over. For some reason, it refuses to load certain graphics, just displaying a placeholder, while others seem to load with no problem, and general performance doesn’t seem quite as smooth and solid as it’s been with the Opera 10 Turbo alpha.
I hasten to add that the online update worked like a charm on my Power PC Pismo PowerBook running OS 10.4.11, although the graphics non-loading glitch afflicts it there, too. Hopefully, some bugs will be squashed with the next release, and I remain a fan.
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Just about as far back as I can remember, every new release of an operating system has brought new features, additional functionality, and, unfortunately, more bloat. This applies equally for OS X and Windows, and in recent years has become even more prominent.
Windows XP was bigger than both NT or 98, Vista was far bigger than XP, and Windows 7 is shaping up to be bigger still than Vista. Panther included 150 additional features, Tiger brought more than 200, and Leopard brought north of 300, as well as a visual refresh and more dependence on the 3D interface. We can see a steady trend of increasing size and complexity for operating systems.
But while Microsoft is continuing that trend with Windows 7, Apple has opted to do something different. The company has taken a step back and started building a platform that is going to carry their operating system for the next 5-10 years. Snow Leopard includes “no new features.” Apple has decidedly spent the past year refining Leopard, stripping out old code, and building frameworks for developers to take advantage of the multicore, multiprocessor machines that it’s building.
But let’s be clear: To say that Snow Leopard includes absolutely no new features is kind of misleading. Snow Leopard does include new features, including some tweaks to the Dock and Exposé, a new Finder, and exchange support for iCal, Mail and Address Book.
That’s all well and good, but the real new features, the ones that matter, are all for developers. 64bit support, Grand Central Dispatch (GCD), and OpenCL will make applications developed for Snow Leopard faster, and able to take advantage of the power and capabilities of the new machines. Enabling 64-bit applications means that apps can now address more than 4GB of RAM (theoretically up to 16 billion gigabytes). The new GCD frameworks make it easier for developers to write code that executes on all of the available CPU cores simultaneously. OpenCL enables developers to tap the unused power of the graphics cards to speed up their applications even more. Snow Leopard is more than an OS, it’s a platform built for developers.
And yes, Apple is dropping support for PowerPC. I’m assuming that stripping out the Rosetta code and the PowerPC code from universal binaries is one of the ways Apple has saved so much disk space in Snow Leopard when compared to Leopard. Although, as awesome technologies go, Rosetta certainly ranked high.
To get Snow Leopard to as many Macs as possible, Apple is going to try very hard to push how much faster all the built-in applications run. However, the real benefit from Snow Leopard might not be seen until the developers catch up. Large, professional applications like Apple’s own Final Cut Pro and Adobe’s Photoshop might see the biggest benefit from taking advantage of the new technologies.
What Apple has done is shift away from adding more and more code and features into OS X, and instead concentrate on making what’s in Leopard lighter, faster, and stronger. It’s the right thing to do. Snow Leopard might be a hard sell at first, which I’m assuming is why it’s competitively priced at $29, but roughly a year after it comes out, when more developers have had a chance to build on it, I believe we are going to see a line drawn in the sand. There will be the apps before Snow Leopard, and then there will be everything that comes after it. Leopard is a transitional OS, the prequel, and Snow Leopard is the main event.
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I recently switched from my iPhone to a BlackBerry. A few weeks after the transition, I have discovered my likes and dislikes between phones, and by far the most frustrating difference is the “syncing with computer” feature. An iPhone is literally plug and play, whereas a BlackBerry requires tons of configuration, even for the simplest tasks.
Below I have roughly outlined how to send files between your BlackBerry and computer via Bluetooth.
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Everyone is so focused on finding apps that support push notification that they probably haven’t looked too hard for apps that take advantage of other iPhone OS 3.0-specific features. For example, Gokivo is the first app to officially make use of in-app purchases.
Unfortunately, it also appears to be the first to use the new feature to bilk you with a ridiculous payment scheme. The app is being billed as the first to offer turn-by-turn directions that make use of the iPhone’s built-in GPS. And at only $1, it may seem like a steal.
But $1 only gets a relatively useless map and Yahoo local search app. To enable turn-by-turn navigation, you’ll have to make use of Apple’s nifty new in-app purchasing system to buy a subscription. Which, until recently, wasn’t indicated anywhere on the app’s description page, so it came as a nasty surprise to people who’d already bought and paid for what they thought was a navigation app.
Before they updated the app description, it was when you actually went to use turn-by-turn that the service would cost you an additional fee. And what a fee it was. $1 would get you one minute, or $3 for 10, or $10 for a monthly pass. At those prices, the appeal of having turn-by-turn on the iPhone is lost for me, since I can get a standalone Garmin for a one-time fee and not pay a dime in monthly subscription fees.
Not only is the price exorbitant, but the service itself actually doesn’t even work that well, according to at least one source. iLounge’s Jeremy Horwitz actually forked over some cash to test out the turn-by-turn features, and ended up in some dead-end street nowhere near the Apple retail store he was trying to get to.
It isn’t all bad, though, according to Horwitz. Nice features include voice-over directions; live, automatically updating traffic information; and a save function that allows you to resume your trip if you have to leave the app to take a call, check email, etc.
I just can’t get past the price for the service. I suppose as an early entrant, the folks behind Gokivo can be expected to try to grab some of that early adopter green that’s passed around so freely, but given their dismal rating in the app store, and the negative press this is generating for them, it can’t possibly be working out to be a profitable arrangement for them. Let’s just hope it stands as an object lesson instead of a sign of things to come.
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Apple’s recent tech note regarding third parties using iTunes’ syncing has caused plenty of discussion. Should Apple “break” the Pre’s ability to sync as an iPod? Why would Cupertino do this? The comments across the web vary in their opinions, so I’ll throw mine in here as well.
First, it’s no secret what I think of Palm’s decision to hack its way into iTunes as an iPod. I also believe Apple should put a stop to it. But in a broader view, this isn’t just about Palm or the Pre.
Let’s look at the three most common positions in this debate.
There are those who think Apple “breaking” the Pre’s ability to sync is because Apple doesn’t want competition. This is the view I have the least patience with, and disagree with the most.
I have no idea how these people define “competition,” but I fail to see how any reasonable definition could possibly include not writing your own software, and instead hacking into someone else’s. The whole competition angle is a red herring, in my opinion. It has nothing to do with that.
There are those who think Apple doesn’t have to like it, but shouldn’t waste the time or resources to put a stop to it.
Fair enough, I suppose, and if a large effort were required, there may be some value in this. But the details I’ve read seem to indicate the time needed would be pretty small. Seems to me it could be easily rolled into the next iTunes update and, with a new OS and iPhone model coming out now, the next bug fix release is likely to be pretty soon.
And there are those, like me, who think Apple should close the “loophole” that allows Palm to do this in the first place. I touched on why I think this before, but here’s a summary:
But there is another reason, one even more important than the others. Until now, no one exploited the hole because they didn’t know about it. Palm had the advantage of lots of ex-Apple talent, so it knew just what to do. Good for Palm, but now that it’s shown the smartphone world how to pull this off, what’s to stop others from doing it as well?
In other words, forget the Pre, or even Palm. There’s an exposure for iTunes here that could have BlackBerrys, LGs, Nokias, etc. all passing themselves off as iPods. Again, the obvious question to me is that, having learned there’s this hole in iTunes, Apple should take steps to close it. An iPod can be an iPod, and the rest can be, well, the rest. If they want seamless syncing, they can write their own software to do it.
I have no idea what Apple will do here. I’ve already stated I think the tech note is less a warning and more a preemptive “CYA,” but a company that prides itself on customer service will not want to continually refer Pre owners to a tech note. To me, that’s a short-term thing. Ultimately Apple needs to close that iTunes hole.
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Part of me wishes people would stop making great Twitter clients for the iPhone so that I can just pick a horse and stick to it, but another, far larger part of me is thrilled to see TweetDeck (free, iTunes link) come to the App Store. While I stopped using the desktop client in favor of Nambu, and later Tweetie for Mac, because I far prefer a native OS X app to an Adobe AIR one, I loved and deeply missed some of TweetDeck’s features, including support for custom user groups.
Which is why when TweetDeck hit the App Store, I was all over it.
With an app like this, I feel compelled to get right to the point: TweetDeck is the most usable Twitter client yet to appear on the iPhone platform. The key to that usability lies in their trademark columnar layout, which they’ve actually managed to successfully port to the iPhone version in a way that makes sense.
Once you’ve entered your Twitter credentials, you’re presented with a screen that looks a little like mobile Safari when you zoom out to choose between your multiple open tabs or pages. These are the columns in TweetDeck for iPhone. By default, there’s one for all of the people you follow, one for @ mentions and one for direct messages. To this default set, you can also add specific keyword searches, user groups and favorites.
And columns allow for the best implementation of multiple Twitter accounts I’ve ever seen. Once you’ve registered another account with the device, all you have to do is choose that username in the “Add Column” dialog. Then you can rearrange the columns however you like, and have access to multiple account streams side-by-side. Easier than both Twitterific’s Source list and Tweetie’s account switching. Maybe best of all, when you’re composing, all you have to do is click your account name to switch.
One of the neatest tricks up TweetDeck’s sleeve is the ability to move columns simply by holding your finger on any one in the zoomed-out view. The columns will then start to jiggle, just like icons on your main iPhone springboard, and you can rearrange them as necessary.
Another big benefit of TweetDeck, for users of the desktop version, is the ability to sync back and forth. That means that you don’t have to set up your columns and groups all over again when you start using TweetDeck on the iPhone. All of those settings will be imported, so long as you have the latest version of TweetDeck and a TweetDeck account, which you can sign up for from the iPhone app.
Syncing is also automatic, and happens in the background. Not only that, but it’s a two-way street. If you remove a column or account on the Twitter version of the app, the change is likewise made in your Adobe AIR installation as well. That’s very handy if you use Twitter a lot for work purposes, like I do. It might even be reason enough to go back to using the desktop version.
TweetDeck on the iPhone also looks and behaves like the desktop version, so there’s relatively little ramping up to be done. It even has “Growl” notifications, though I wonder about them using that name specifically, since the people behind Growl can’t have worked on the iPhone version, right? Still, they work, and they work well, although you might find the whole interface a little too busy depending on your aesthetic tastes.
Is TweetDeck my new go-to Twitter client on the iPhone? Not exactly. Thing is, when I’m using Twitter from my phone, I’d say 90 percent of the time it’s just to kill some time. For that purpose, TweetDeck is overkill, and not really as suited for quick, casual checking as, say, Tweetie or Twitterific. But if I need to find a specific tweet, or I’m using Twitter on-the-go for work or research purposes, than TweetDeck is definitely my weapon of choice.
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Many of the services we use now will eventually be web-based or “in the cloud.” People who use services like MobileMe will increasingly see more of their data and “work” being done out there in the cloud.
The GigaOM Network will be hosting the second annual Structure conference in San Francisco on June 25. The CEOs of Salesforce.com and Akamai, among dozens of other speakers, will talk about what the capabilities of platforms like MobileMe will be in the near future.
Last year’s event sold out, so be sure to check out the event details soon. We’d love to have you. Register here now, and we’ll give you a $60 savings on your ticket. Check out our speakers and topics here.
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The fact that they included parental controls for games in the 3.0 beta sort of hinted at this, but along with the iPhone 3.0 update today came app ratings, which appear rather inconspicuously under the app’s price and buy button on the detailed info screen. It also appears next to an app’s name in the list view of the iTunes store browser.
Interestingly, all apps appear to be getting a rating, as I checked out even one so innocuous as HP’s MediaSmart Server iStream app and found that it was “not yet rated.” It may be that all harmless utilities will receive this nondescript side-stepping of a rating going forward.
Games, though, and apps like Exterminator – Shooter Sounds Massacre! (9+), definitely have been rated using Apple’s own internal standards. The ratings are are as follows, taken directly from iTunes:
4+: Applications in this category contain no objectionable materials.
9+: Applications in this category may contain mild or infrequent occurrences of cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence, and infrequent or mild mature, suggestive, or horror-themed content which may not be suitable for children under the age of 9.
12+: Applications in this category may also contain infrequent mild language, frequent or intense cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence, and mild or infrequent mature or suggestive themes, and simulated gambling which may not be suitable for children under the age of 12.
17+: You must be at least 17 years old to purchase this application. (emphasis in the original)
Applications in this category may also contain frequent and intense offensive language; frequent and intense cartoon, fantasy or realistic violence; and frequent and intense mature, horror, and suggestive themes; plus sexual content, nudity, alcohol, tobacco, and drugs which may not be suitable for children under the age of 17.
Sounds like we’ve got some exciting 17+ apps coming our way. And, without a doubt, endless debate as to the merit of Apple’s ratings system, and the categories they’ve devised, and which apps receive which ratings and why.
A quick test of the restrictions found that they do indeed prevent me from downloading Exterminator with the settings turned down to 4+ and below only. You can view the app’s info screen in the App Store, but that’s as far as you’ll get. Notice the grayed out “Free” button at the top right of the screen. No novelty gunshot noises for junior.
In addition to a rating, each app also receives a brief description of how it earned that classification, so you know Apple reviewers weren’t just choosing at random because their eyes are bleeding from reviewing thousands of apps. Doubt the ESRB is pleased with the company’s decision to go it alone, but I expect we’ll hear first-hand what they think of the move any moment now.
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If you're like me, you have one of many choices to view your television shows. TiVo, your own DVR, Netflix, Hulu, cable — whatever makes you happy. But for the last 6 months, I've been trying to budget both my time and money. In doing so, I've cut cable completely.
Between regular channels (with no DVR) and Hulu, I've been able to keep current with most of my favorite shows. However there is only so much I can keep up with on Hulu, and so much eye strain I can take from a 13-inch screen.
I propose, and with the community’s support, that rentals should be extended to television shows within iTunes. I'd love nothing more then the opportunity to rent a series, or subscribe to it for less than half the current price to own a TV series from the iTunes store.
This would allow viewers to watch within 24 hours of a current show, instead of waiting for up to two weeks with other free, online services. It would also allow viewers the comfort of watching premium content and shows completely commercial-free, where and when they please. If a current standard definition video sells for $2.99, would it not be possible to rent a single episode for 50 cents? This would roughly make a season of 12 episodes about $6, or $11 for a 22-episode series. Depending on how many seasons or shows you watch in a year, this could be really cost-effective.
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I’m already on record saying that I think AT&T’s upgrade pricing for iPhone 3G owners is not only comparable to the industry, but maybe even a little better.
Despite what could already be considered reasonable terms, AT&T has responded to the complaints by shortening the contract duration for 3G owners to be eligible for the full subsidy:
We're now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18.
This means you can get a full subsidy having used the iPhone 3G for as little as nine months out of a 24-month contract. There’s a FAQ about the changes, and also a video. Nicely done, AT&T.
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If you’re like me, then you’ve spent a fitful night tossing and turning with anticipation, because today is the day that iPhone OS 3.0 officially arrives.
Well, toss no more, iPhone OS 3.0 has arrived (iPod touch users go here). If I can manage to actually download it, since Apple’s servers are no doubt taking a severe beating, I’ll probably send a completely unnecessary MMS to my girlfriend and then go back to life as usual. Until I get my camping gear ready for the 3G S line-up Thursday night, anyway.
I realize that it’s cruel and unusual to bring up MMS when so many of you will have to go without, but for once, living in Canada has allowed me to be an early adopter of something, and I’m going to milk that for all it’s worth. Take solace in the fact that adding MMS to my Fido plan will cost me an extra $5 a month.
For a full breakdown of what else you get with your shiny new software, check out this post. Judging by the comments there, some people will only be updating begrudgingly, while simultaneously shaking their fists at Apple for leaving so many seemingly software-only upgrades exclusively to the iPhone 3G S, including video recording and voice control.
What has me really excited about iPhone OS 3.0 isn’t necessarily what has arrived today (although I really had trouble sleeping yesterday…warm milk was almost necessary), but what’s coming in the future from developers thanks to the new APIs available to them. Device support, push notifications, and in-app commerce all represent amazing potential for app makers, and I doubt even the exciting things we’ve already seen will scratch the surface of what’s to come.
You can grab the update from Apple’s servers via your iTunes interface any time now, but do me a favor and everyone hold off for at least a couple hours. I’ve got a pointless MMS I’m itching to send.
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As the handheld world waits on iPhone OS 3.0, Apple may be planning a pre-emptive strike on “unsupported third-party digital media players.” A new technical note in the support knowledgebase certainly seems to imply that.
Without mentioning any names, Apple warns that, regarding iTunes integration, the company “does not provide support for” other hardware, and that “newer versions of Apple’s iTunes software may no longer provide syncing functionality with non-Apple digital media players.” Of course, we all know this is about the Palm Pre.
When the Pre was launched, Palm was happy to demonstrate it syncing with iTunes. Jon Lech Johansen first described the likely process through which this was done.
- When you select "Media Sync" on the Pre, it will switch its USB interface to use Apple's Vendor Id and the Product Id for a specific iPod model
- The Pre exposes a filesystem through Mass Storage Class that mimics the structure of an iPod
- The Pre responds to Apple's custom USB command and returns XML info about the device
In other words, it’s a hack, which explains why Palm was careful to say that the “feature” was only compatible with iTunes 8.1.1 on Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X version 10.3.9-10.5.7. Now, Palm is saying something else, as John Paczkowski at Digital Daily reports the company’s response.
If Apple chooses to disable media sync in a future version of iTunes, it will be a direct blow to their users who will be deprived of a seamless synchronization experience. However, people will have options. They can stay with the iTunes version that works to sync their music on their Pre, they can transfer the music via USB, and there are other third-party applications we could consider.
It’s likely only a matter of time until Apple breaks syncing between the Pre and iTunes, and Palm’s response seems to indicate the company will not attempt another workaround. The saga will likely end here, unless Palm investor Roger McNamee has something to say, and he always does.
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One of the great things about technology these days is that we’re no longer tied to a physical office space or even a desktop computer. We’re quickly becoming a completely mobile society, especially in the business world. With Fuze Meeting for iPhone, business in a mobile world just got a bit easier.
Fuze Meeting is, at its core, web conference software. It has features like desktop sharing, HD content, and attendee fetching. What Fuze Meeting for iPhone does is bring those features to you in an app that’s formatting specifically for the iPhone’s screen.
Fuze Meeting and Fuze Meeting for iPhone are both free. Be sure to check them out!
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Despite all the advances in “Cloud Computing” over the last year or two, a large part of most people’s work is still contained in individual files like documents (Word, Pages, PDF), spreadsheets (Excel, Numbers), text files (HTML, text, notes), delimited data files (CSV), presentations (Powerpoint, Keynote), and images (JPEG, GIF, PNG). Finding the right file-sharing solution for your small team is still critically important to using your Mac effectively.
I would like to share some tips and tricks that I’ve picked up working with small businesses that may help you as you plan for, or make improvements to, your file-sharing system.
I wanted to limit the discussion here to small teams because if you have a large organization, there are many solutions for file-sharing already available (Mac OS X Server, Windows Server, Sharepoint, Document Management systems, and so on). A large organization also probably has a dedicated IT team to implement all of these solutions. I want to talk about what you do when you do not have those resources. I am talking to the team of 3 to 5 people, maybe 10, that wants to share files effectively, and easily, to just get your work done and move on.
File-sharing means being able to access electronic files that aren’t necessarily stored on your local hard drive but are accessible over a network connection. This also implies that different people all have access to these files, or a multi-user system. These people may have different permissions in this system to Create, Read, Update, or Delete these files over the network, or CRUD access controls. All the solutions that I will discuss have these three traits in common:
If you are working in a small team, then simplicity is your technology mantra. Simplicity helps improve reliability, manageability and usability — all of which allow you to focus on the things that make you money, rather than wrestling with technology that gets in your way.
Host-based file-sharing, using a Mac to share files on the network, is a lot simpler with Macs than using a NAS box. For one, many NAS boxes do not support AFP, the Mac-native Apple Filing Protocol. You will likely have to use SMB (Windows Sharing). If you only have Macs, it will be easier to manage and simpler to integrate with your other machines if you share the files from a Mac. Not only will you save money, but you can ignore Windows file naming restrictions, path length problems, potential permissions problems, and so on that come with a NAS.
If you have both Macs and PCs, you can still use host-based file-sharing on a Mac and provide access to Windows or Linux PCs on your network by turning on SMB for those users. FTP is supported, too, but SMB will be easier for most to use.
Guest Access is a really easy way to make files available to anyone to read or to drop files on your computer. No usernames, no passwords. It’s easy. And easy is good, right? Well, I suppose it is good in some cases, but I really do not like leaving guest access turned on. It is just one more way for people to get access to my computer without any authentication required. I prefer turning it off in the Accounts system preferences. Just uncheck the box that says, “Allow guests to connect to shared folders.”
If you really need to share files with someone on a one-time basis, then consider buying a high capacity thumb drive as an alternative to Guest Access. If you need to share files on the network on a regular basis, then consider using a Sharing-only account.
Mac OS X lets you create sharing-only accounts that can access shared folders from another machine, but cannot sit down at the keyboard and login to the computer itself. You can set file-sharing permissions individually by user. This is great if you need to give Tom access to one set of files and Harry access to another set. It kind of gets out of control if you also have Larry, Moe, Curly, Shirley, Laverne, Richie and the Fonz all in the office, too. If you’re in a small team where you can give everyone equal access to files, just create a sharing-only account with a common name that everyone uses.
This approach also has the benefit of avoiding permissions problems between co-workers who want to work on the same files. I’ve seen quite a few small design shops get stymied by permissions discrepancies that arise from creating a file on their local computer and then copying it to the shared folder compared with creating it directly on the share. When everyone has their own local account and their own server login, this problem can compound. In many cases, it is just simpler to have one login that everyone uses to access the shared folder. That way, anything created or modified on the shared folder looks like it came from the same user and everyone is able to use it.
If you need more granular control over permissions, then you could create multiple sharing-only accounts, but at some point, you’ll want to look at Mac OS X Server so you can manage all those accounts in one place for the whole network.
If you have a large team, then you will likely have different needs. But if you are working in a small, tight-knit environment, give some thought to adopting these practices. They will make your life simpler, and I hope more productive as well.
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I was recently helping a colleague prepare for a presentation that included a slideshow, but instead of using a PowerPoint presentation, our designer chose to make a PDF of the presentation. Using a PDF over a PowerPoint has a couple of advantages: The font doesn’t need to be installed on the client machine, so you can use a much wider variety of them, and pretty much any computer can open a PDF, so there’s no need to worry about software versions.
While rehearsing the presentation, however, it became apparent that we were going to need to reorder and remove pages from the document. Turns out this is a very easy procedure in Leopard.
Here’s how to edit PDFs using Preview (Preview is built into Leopard):
Before I discovered this method I was using third-party software called Combine PDFs. Combine PDFs let me remove & reorder pages as well as combine multiple PDFs just like Preview, but it also let me add a simple password to protect my PDF files and apply different filters, including one that reduced the PDF size. Combine PDFs is free for the casual user; a license is only required if you use it regularly. Combine PDFs will allow you to test the functionality with processing up to 1,000 PDF pages, which should be fine for most users.
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Laptop stands are widely heralded as a great solution for a more ergonomic workstation and better positioning of your computer. They come in all manner of shapes and sizes, from the downright awful to very slick and stylish.
I recently took the plunge and purchased the Rain Design mStand. This particular stand is designed specifically for aluminum MacBook laptops, matching the anodized metal finish wonderfully. Like the latest Apple notebooks, mStand is made from one solid piece of aluminum.
While not the most cost-effective solution (mStand costs $50), it certainly goes a long way towards offering an ergonomic and stylish accessory for any MacBook or MacBook Pro. This review will take a look at the design, stability, ergonomic design and limitations of the stand.
Right from removing it from the box, the mStand looked comfortably at home in my Apple setup. The aim was to elevate my MacBook Pro to the same level of a Cinema Display and transform it into a more usable second monitor.
The design almost identically mimics the stand present on Apple’s Cinema Display and iMac computers — even down to the inclusion of a circular cable hole at the rear.
According to the documentation, the aluminum finish also assists with cooling your laptop through acting as a heat sink. While a solid metal block might not seem the best candidate for a heat sink, I found that it certainly did not cause any problems. My MacBook Pro remained cool and quiet.
Obviously if you’re going to entrust a small piece of metal to raise your precious MacBook 6 inches above a desk, stability is a major consideration. The mStand shines in this department due to a remarkably well-designed construction. It supports all MacBook and MacBook Pro models, along with any other laptop up to a 15″ widescreen.
Pressing, knocking and shaking the stand didn’t once instill a sense of fear for my laptop’s safety. If you’re using the stand on your lap (which works well), it’s perfectly capable of supporting even the most vigorous typing activity.
Pads cushion both the underside and front of your laptop where it comes into contact with the stand to ensure there’s no chance of scratching.
The stand’s accompanying leaflet makes it clear that “all ergonomic guidelines recommend placing the screen at eye level, and keeping your back, forearms and wrists straight.” Coupling the mStand with an external keyboard and mouse is a far better solution than using a laptop directly on your desk:
mStand Ergonomics
I can’t see myself lugging all this gear to Starbucks for an afternoon, but it can work extremely well in an office environment.
As mentioned below, at times I felt that the stand may be elevating the screen a little too high. It could be that I’ll just need a few weeks to adjust to looking in a slightly different direction.
The main limitation with this product is the non-adjustable height. While this is a common problem with many laptop stands, it could really make the mStand a perfect solution. I found that the stand elevated my MacBook Pro a little too high — almost to the top of my Cinema Display. I do, however, appreciate that this is likely the perfect position from an ergonomic perspective.
The only other niggle (and I’m really splitting hairs) is that the cable hole in the rear cannot accommodate the width of an external monitor connection. It’s a slight inconvenience for keeping cables organized, but certainly not a deal-breaker.
So far, I’ve been remarkably impressed with the mStand. It seems perfectly able to match Apple in terms of design, ergonomics and build quality — no easy task.
Is it worth the asking price of $50? The answer depends very much on whether you require a design that’s able to match the aluminum look and feel of an existing Mac setup. If appearance isn’t a major concern, the Logitech Alto Express may be a better (and more budget-friendly) alternative.
Whichever stand you go for, it’s definitely a move I would recommend for a more comfortable workspace.
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A number of different tidbits of information are pointing towards Apple shifting its chip design in-house, including the acquisition of P.A. Semi and the hiring of Mark Papermaster, but ARM clearly wants to give it every reason not to try to go it completely alone. It’s responsible for the Cortex A8 processor powering the much zippier iPhone 3G S being released later this week, and now, according to CNET, it’s already teasing the dual-core capable A9, due for inclusion in production smartphones in 2010.
The Cortex A9 will be the first smartphone processor to be dual-core configuration capable, further narrowing the gap between what your computer can do and what your phone can do. Next year’s chip will be only 45 nanometers, down from the “bulky” 65 of the A8. The size reduction should reduce power requirements enough to allow a dual-core configuration of A9s to use just about as much power as the current A8.
Not only will the A9 allow for much-improved performance due to its superscalar (can execute two separate instructions per clock cycle) and out-of-order capabilities, but it should also pave the way for much better graphics. The OMAP 4 from Texas Instruments, which is based on the Cortex A9 platform, is said to support 1080p playback and HD recording and image capture capabilities. In other words, if put to proper use, the next generation of smartphones could be capable enough in the A/V capture department to actually allow you to leave the camera and camcorder at home during that European sightseeing vacation you’ve been planning.
Though the current Cortex A8 processor in the iPhone 3G S is technically Apple-branded, many suspect the actual manufacturer to be Samsung. ARM licenses its processor designs for a fee to third-party manufacturers, many of which will tweak the design somewhat and rebrand it as their own product. Texas Instruments, for instance, makes the OMAP 3, which is the processor powering the Palm Pre, and is based on the Cortex A8 design.
If Apple does decide to start making its own processors, one avenue for the company to take is to license ARM’s IP and use that as the basis for its designs. In many ways, it is the smartest solution, since ARM has over 25 years of industry experience under its belt, and the R&D work they put into its designs represents a very large chunk of saved cash compared with doing your own in-house. P.A. Semi was a licensee of ARM design when it produced the StrongARM processor in 1995, which was then part of the spec list for the Apple Newton.
If Apple is working on its own processing chip for the next-generation iPhone, expect it to be based on the Cortex A9. 2010 will be the year of the dual-core smartphone, and that could bring about the first major leap in smartphone tech. Could be one good reason to skip the iPhone 3G S, unless you’re just going to get every model they release anyway because you have a problem, like me.
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Apple first began shipping notebooks with glossy displays in May 2006 with the release of the first-generation MacBooks, which were only available with glossy, and as a no-cost option on MacBook Pros. In mid-2007, glossy “behind glass” displays were also made standard on the aluminum iMac line with no matte option. With the release of Apple’s unibody MacBooks and MacBook Pros last October, Apple ceased shipping any computers with matte screens. The Apple 24″ Cinema Display is also glossy-only, although Cupertino has relented to the extent of offering an anti-glare coating option on the 17″ MacBook Pro’s display for $50 extra.
But not everyone is happy about these developments. In fact, there are even reports that suggest use of glossy screens could increase the risk of health issues down the road.
Contra-glossy display blogger macmatte demands that Apple restore a matte screen option for iMacs and all MacBook/Pro models, contending that this is an issue that won’t die down with passage of time.
CNET’s Dan Ackerman has the lack of a matte display option leading his list of five remaining MacBook Pro deficiencies following the recent WWDC upgrades.
Macmatte argues that glare from glossy screens causes eye strain for many people, and says matte screens solve this eye health issue. He claims that the physiology of the human eye causes some to be more prone to eyestrain when staring for hours at reflective surfaces, although others are not bothered.
He thinks Apple’s rationale for dropping matte displays are flawed, that notwithstanding Steve Jobs assertion that most people prefer glossy, a Google search for “matte glossy polls MacBook” suggests that around 40 percent prefer matte. I’m not sure how accurate the metrics derived from a meta-composite of Google search info would be, but there’s no disputing that a sizable proportion of laptop users do prefer matte displays.
Personally, it’s a non-issue for me. I can be quite happy with either matte, which my first dozen years of Mac laptops all had, or the glossy display on my 13″ unibody MacBook. After four months, I haven’t noticed any eyestrain. I’m also constrained to observe that up until the wholesale switch to LCD/TFT flat-screen monitors began about a decade ago, only laptop users had matte displays and virtually everyone else used glassy, glossy-surfaced CRT monitors that usually had curved screen surfaces to boot. I actually did experience eyestrain from using CRT desktop monitors that I found happily disappeared when I switched to using a laptop in 2006, but I’m not noticing any issues with the glossy MacBook display after four months use. Perhaps it’s the flatness rather than the “matte-ness” (or lack of) that’s key for me.
Macmatte suggests that if Apple finds it unprofitable to offer two types of screens, perhaps they could charge a premium for a matte option (which they already do with the 17″ MacBook Pro’s sort-of “matte” screen option). Indeed, there seems to be little logical reason not to offer a similar choice to 13″ and 15″ MacBook Pro and iMac users except that I suspect the stumbling block is not so much cost as increased inventory management and stocking complexity. The workaround for that would be to offer matte as a build-to-order option.
Interestingly, macmatte gets some scientific validation for his contentions from academics Down Under. The Queensland University of Technology at Brisbane, Australia, has posted a page on its Health and Safety web site with considerations for Apple Macintosh and other glass or high-gloss monitor screen users, warning that glossy displays could cause operators to adopt “awkward postures” when viewing the screen that may in turn lead to injury.
The university suggests users of high-gloss monitor screens should assess the area where the laptop or monitor will be used to ensure that sources of reflections and glare are eliminated or minimized to reduce potential for injury based on the following points:
The university also suggests considering the purchase of other types of computers or monitors that offer matte screens, and has posted further information on recommended use of screen based equipment.
What do you think? Are you bothered by glossy displays, love ‘em, or have no particular preference?
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One of the best reasons to get a new MacBook Pro, aside from the dazzling new screen on the 13-inch, and in spite of the SATA capping that’s apparently in place, is the extended battery life courtesy of the new built-in lithium polymer batteries. And by all accounts, even if you won’t necessarily reach Apple’s estimates, you will get more usage out of your notebook without having to connect to a power source. Or you’ll get more usage as long as you’re not running in Windows under Boot Camp, that is.
AnandTech’s Anand Shimpi has been running a MacBook Pro 15-inch through its paces over at his site, and while he was very impressed with the machine’s new battery overall, he noticed a considerable disparity between apparent power consumption under OS X, and under Vista. Nor was the difference marginal. Running OS X while only web browsing, Shimpi was able to coax a little over eight hours out of the notebook under OS X, and only six using Vista. That’s a two hour, or 25 percent difference.
Windows 7, which is supposed to make up for a lot of the mistakes Microsoft made with Vista, fared no better. The RC 1 version of the upcoming OS lasted only 5.48 hours using the same test conditions. Some of that can be ascribed to there not being final, optimized drivers for Windows 7 yet, but I doubt that accounts for the more than two-hour deficit it has compared with OS X running on the same hardware.
Windows supporters will no doubt chime in with claims that the Apple hardware is to blame, but Shimpi found some reason to believe that may not be the case. He spoke to a number of PC OEM manufacturers to see if they’d found a difference in battery life between OS X and Vista, and though none would officially go on record, some at least admitted to seeing a similar difference to the one Shimpi had found.
Since Apple doesn’t officially support any third-party hardware, it’ll be hard or even impossible to prove that OS X is, in fact, a more battery-efficient operating system, completely independent of any hardware considerations. Still, that’s one less reason to ever commit sacrilege by dual-booting your Apple notebook, which is bad news for Windows sales, no matter what the cause.
All you hackintosh experts out there, feel free to chime in with your own battery life tales, since your experience running OS X on non-standard hardware might be the closest thing we can get to a fair standard for comparison.
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With the iPhone 3G S on sale in a matter of days, a rush of 3G and original iPhone owners will be selling their phones and upgrading to the new model. If you are planning on selling your current iPhone, there are a few simple steps that can help maximize your resale value.
Before beginning the process of selling your current iPhone, ponder one last time whether it’s a good idea. There’s a lot to like in the new iPhone, but more than a few features are still missing. If you purchased an iPhone 3G last July from AT&T, you will not be eligible for the “standard” upgrade now, incurring $200 in additional cost unless you wait until December. Of course, December will be just six months from the next iteration of the iPhone, so why not just wait until June 2010, for a potential 4G iPhone, possibly on the Verizon LTE network? Obviously that last bit is a little friendly speculation.
So, again, why not just wait until next June? Because I don’t want to.
Setting aside better battery life, a better camera, and a compass with an app that looks like it’s from Myst, the iPhone 3G S is at least 50 percent faster than previous models, and has a better GPU too. From playing games to booting apps to rendering web pages, the extra cost of upgrading now will be saved in time spent using the iPhone 3G S. All that remains is to minimize that upfront cost as much as possible.
Even before choosing a selling venue, take at least one photo of your current iPhone and everything sold with it. Using a picture of the actual iPhone is superior to an advertising photo in that it both shows the prospective buyers what they are getting and that the phone is working. As you can see in the picture below, the headphones are not included. Frankly, anyone who would buy earbuds with a year’s worth of my ear wax and sweat from the gym coating them is not someone I want to sell to. Or meet. Having said that, you can sell your new headset from the iPhone 3G S with your old phone. It’s your choice, unlike where you’ll likely sell your iPhone.
Woodgrain is a nice background, clutter from your living space, not so much
Love it or hate it, it’s eBay. Sure, if you live in a large city, you can use craigslist, but eBay is the virtual bazaar for most of the planet that wants to buy an iPhone. Last year, eBay had additional rules on selling iPhones, including requiring PayPal for transactions, but not so far this year. Regarding price, the iPhone 3G appears to be going for between $300 and $400 right now, the original model a little less. Of course, you’ll have to decide whether or not to jailbreak the phone, which would likely increase the eventual selling price. Also, opting to sell worldwide will garner higher bids. For me, both those options were outside my personal comfort zone, but I still sold my original iPhone last September for close to $400, which brings us to the details.
“Apple iPhone 3G 16GB Black *Warranty* *Free Shipping*“
That listing, the picture, and a short description is all you need. In the description, I state that my iPhone is in excellent condition, that it is being sold to upgrade to an iPhone 3G S, and that buyers have the “option” of unlocking it. I also state when the warranty will expire. One-year warranties on iPhone 3Gs will start expiring as soon as July 11. Free shipping sets my ad apart from others, and is one less thing prospective buyers have to worry about. Considering the large numbers of used iPhones that will be coming on the market in the next few weeks, opting for a shorter auction makes more sense. It means an ad with fewer days buried behind thousands of others. As for a minimum selling price, I’m going with $300 for an iPhone 3G.
A lot of people are going to e-mail with questions or propositions of a dubious nature. Stick to your auction rules, which in my case includes selling to U.S. residents with a lot of positive feedback. It goes without saying that you don’t ship until they “paypal you the monies.” Once the sale is made, wipe the iPhone: Settings → General → Reset → Erase all Content and Settings. Remove the SIM card, clean the iPhone thoroughly, then pack it in its box, and pack that box in a larger one filled with styrofoam peanuts or other packing material. Don’t go cheap at the end. For me, that means UPS, a tracking number that I can follow every step of the way, and a signature required for delivery.
Since I do yearly upgrades, I always opt for the low-end iPhone. The retail cost of a 16GB iPhone will be approximately $450, tax and activation fee included. I expect that that my iPhone 3G will net me $350, taking into account shipping and PayPal fees. That means my iPhone 3G S will cost me about a quarter a day over the next year.
That’s a small price to pay for the fastest, most powerful, most hyped iPhone yet.
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