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Imagining a Cloud-Based Future for Mac OS X
Apple has recently been awarded a patent (via AppleInsider) for “administering and maintaining a network-booted operating system.” This could point to the development of a cloud-based Mac OS X. If it comes to pass, what would a cloud-based OS X actually look like and how will it work?

I imagine that using a cloud-based Mac OS X would, on the face of it, be much like using Mac OS X today; a user would boot their device, log-in to their user account and work or play as normal. The great difference, of course, is that rather than being read from the device’s local storage, the OS would be streamed to the device over the Internet. In a way, the concept resembles the early days of computing, when people used terminals that were often only smart enough to communicate with a single “mainframe” computer — where all the real work was done.

A modern, cloud-based OS X would likely be able to assess the device used at login and deliver the most appropriate subset of functionality for that machine. So, in this scenario, a MacBook Pro might get a richer array of functionality than, say, a more lightweight tablet device.

Delivering the rich functionality of an entire operating system over the Internet is only the first step; a user’s applications and personal data would also need to be made available, too. For this to work swiftly enough for the data streaming to go unnoticed, the beefy legacy applications we use today will need to be re-architected into lightweight alternatives with much smaller footprints — for example, imagine a re-jiggered iPhoto that, when loaded over-the-air to a low-powered tablet device, more closely resembles today’s iOS Photos app. For any of this to work properly, Apple would likely need a truly colossal, state-of-the-art data center to power it all. Why, what do we have here?

Closer Than You Might Think

Now, this might all sounds utterly ludicrous, but consider; Apple’s iOS devices and App Store ecosystem have, for the last few years, steadily trained users to expect at least this much;
1. Great software is either free or inexpensive
2. Software and services are easy to access (or acquire, install and update)
3. The best tablets and cellphones are designed to offer exceptional portability and simplicity
4. The very best portable devices turn on instantly and offer consistently good battery life
Apple’s MacBook line has been gradually moving to meet these expectations, with improved battery life, faster flash-based memory/storage for very rapid boot times and, with tomorrow’s launch of the Mac App Store, a seamless and user-friendly software discovery and management system. It’s only a matter of time until even the MacBook Pro and iMac lose their optical drives altogether, with USB and Wi-Fi networks filling the gap until even USB is replaced.

A Natural Next Step

None of this is as far-fetched as it sounds. In fact, it seems inevitable; a cloud-based OS perfectly delivers on Apple’s age-old, Jobs-inspired philosophy of ubiquitous minimalism, simplicity and interoperability across everything the company creates.

Users will no longer need to upgrade their operating system — heck, users won’t even need to know what operating system they’re running. OS updates will be pushed to their devices quietly, automatically, alongside app updates, and could be free or ad-supported.

A leaner, lighter, cloud-based software ecosystem will enable Apple to ditch mechanical hard drives entirely, making for lighter, thinner computers. More importantly, those future machines will be cheaper, too, and therefore far more disposable than a typical Apple notebook is today. The math is easy; it’s a far more lucrative proposition for Apple to try to achieve the same upgrade cycle it has with the iPhone (and potentially the iPad, too) in which customers are encouraged to buy (at least) one $499 device annually, rather than one $999 MacBook once every half-decade.

Problems Still Exist

Is a cloud-based OS X guaranteed? It is, in my opinion, but then, I’ve no idea how (or if) Apple can overcome some of the more chewy problems that stand in the way of a purely cloud-based future. For instance, in a world where high-speed Internet connectivity is still very much limited to wealthy developed countries, widespread technical disparity would invariably be the outcome, leaving entire developing markets effectively inaccessible to Apple.

Ultimately however, I think the signs are there that Apple is — gradually — moving ever more into the cloud. Jobs already redefined Apple as a “mobile company” (and as if to prove the point, last year the iPhone took the crown as Apple’s biggest money-maker). Apple knows the future lies in thin, light and cloud-connected devices. A cloud-based OS X is a natural progression of that future.

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Apple Personalizes Troubleshooting With Support Profiles

Earlier this year, Apple launched Express Lane, a support site designed to help consumers diagnose problems with Apple products through category selection. With an Apple ID, visitors could also see a list of their registered products and get help with common issues, as well as look up repair cases. Now, Apple has taken the idea of customized help a step further with the My Support Profile website.

Logging onto My Support Profile for the first time with your Apple ID, you’ll immediately see a list of all support activity between you and Apple, from phone calls made to repairs taking place, as well as a list of registered products. You will also see your contact information, and if you live in the U.S. or Canada, an option for VoicePass.

VoicePass matches a phone number with your product information, so when you call Customer Support you won’t have to go through the process of identifying which product you’re calling about. You can also communicate with Apple Support via SMS, presumably for repair updates.

If you’re like me, you may be surprised at how many Apple products you’ve purchased, as listed by the new Support Profile. I found every single Apple product (18) I’ve bought going back almost a decade, though a few were gifts that apparently weren’t registered by the recipients. Besides serial numbers, each device can be given a “nickname,” and the page for each product contains tabs for warranty details, case and repair activity, and support resources. There are also links for calling support or scheduling a repair. Of course, you can also register any product not listed.

Overall, My Support Profile improves the Apple support experience, which is already rated as industry leading. Hopefully, future improvements will make the site more interactive, possibly through the introduction of live text chat or support account e-mail links. An option for FaceTime or Remote Desktop from Apple’s end would be even better. Nonetheless, My Support Profile makes technical support a less painful experience for customers, and that’s always a good thing.

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App Appeal: Task Ave Makes GTD Location-Based
Task Ave ($2.99) is a new iPhone app that makes use of Apple’s recent background location API to notify you when you approach a venue where you need to grab something or get something done. It’s a good use of the tech, especially for the extremely absent-minded like myself.

The app is incredibly simple, which is a welcome change from other GTD and to-do apps which often seem to have screen upon screen of overly detailed data entry to wade through. Honestly, if my brain required that much assistance, finding a decent to-do app would be the least of my worries. On the other hand, though, you can only assign tasks based on location, and not using dates, so if you’re looking for an app that doubles as an agenda, look elsewhere.

That’s not the point of Task Ave anyway. The point of the app is to help you avoid those instances where you promise to pick up milk on your way home from work, and then show up empty-handed at home to be greeted by an expectant (and subsequently disappointed) partner. Or to remind you that while you’re out in the north end of the city (where you never usually are), you should pick up some of those special croissants that they only seem to make there and nowhere else.

Task Ave is most definitely (pardon the pun) up to the task. The app opens with a Google Map centered on your location, and you can add tasks with the tap of a button. It’ll ask you for what you want to remember, and the location (there’s a searchable index or you can add your own). You can assign multiple items to the same location, and view your list at any time. When you come within a preset distance of the locations where you have tasks pending, Task Ave will notify you via local push notification on devices running iOS 4 or higher.

Being a downtown city-dweller, I find myself wishing Task Ave could be set to be more sensitive (the smallest distance it will let you set for receiving notifications is 500m, and a lot of the places I do most of my standard errands fall within that range), but it’s the best app I’ve found for this sort of thing. There’s also Task Aware, which features a more robust to-do component, but Task Ave’s simplicity and ease-of-use is a huge selling point. I find I won’t use more complicated apps for any length of time unless the functionality it delivers is truly spectacular. Task Ave threads the needle between functionality and usability near-perfectly.

App Appeal is an ongoing series in which we feature new and exciting apps for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that offer something above and beyond the usual. If you’d like your app to be considered, contact us on Twitter @theappleblog.

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Direct Over-The-Air TV Coming to iPad and iPhone
You can now get video on your iPhone or iPad from any number of sources, but grabbing over-the-air local TV directly, which is still the best (legal) way to get TV for free at home in the living room hasn’t been a possibility. That’s going to change, thanks to iOS-compatible mobile digital television (DTV) receivers.

The Tivizen, by Korean manufacturer Valups and introduced at CES, is one such device. It plugs into the iDevice’s 30-pin connector, and requires no cellular or data connection to work, so it’s even fully compatible with the iPod touch. All that’s required is an app, downloadable via the official App Store. The Tivizen grabs any available local DTV broadcasts and outputs them in a format your device can recognize and play back. Valups launched a previous iteration of the Tivizen last year, but it was a separate device that had to re-transmit the DTV signals it received to other devices via Wi-Fi.

Content selection will be limited, but not so limited as you might imagine. Checking the mobile DTV station guide from the Open Mobile Video Coaltion (OMVC), it looks like major network affiliates for most large urban areas in the U.S. will be covered. That’s thanks in part by a big push this year by OMVC to make more local mobile broadcasts more available.

When it launches in June of this year, the Tivizen will cost approximately $99, and the app required to use it will be free. When I returned from living in Japan three years ago, that would’ve seemed like a good deal to me, since cellular over-the-air TV was fairly common there and we had little to compare with it, I think the Tivizen and its ilk might fall into the “too little, too late” category. The device has its own battery, which is only good for a maximum of 2.5 hours usage. And with Neftlix, Hulu Plus and streaming video apps from the networks themselves, how much demand is there really for local DTV?

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