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- Rumored Mac Mini: I Don't Think It's Fake
Seems nearly everybody believes the rumored Mac mini is fake. At least, that’s what I see in most of the comments to the published rumors.
Predicting what Apple will do next is nearly impossible, and I usually don’t bother going there. But today, what the heck. I think these rumors are valid. My issue with a lot of the comments saying “Fake!” are that they don’t pass any reasonable test I apply to them.
No New Form Factor
A lot of people seem to think this can’t be the new mini because it’s been so long since it was updated it needs to be a new design. Some even speculate it coming in black or white, or at least with a new (black) plastic top. They all seem to agree it should be smaller.
The mini, at only 6.5″ square and 2″ high, in silver, is still a beautiful machine if you ask me. How much smaller can it be made? There are thermal considerations, and I don’t think it can shrink much further and still run a decent-speed modern processor. Sure, Apple TV is thinner (though also wider and deeper), but it runs a processor that’d choke on the general purpose computing expected of a “real” Mac.
And, yes, I know processors run cooler now than when the mini first appeared, but rather than take advantage of that by making the mini smaller, Apple would prefer (rightfully so, in my opinion) to simply run more powerful processors instead. In this case, it’s also likely they’re adding much better graphics. Indeed, a question I have is if they’ll “clock down” the 9400M graphics in this thing like they did for the MacBook Air.
Too Many USB Ports
Five USB ports? The iMac doesn’t have that many, and the argument goes that Apple would not allow that many on a Mac.
Setting aside that the Mac Pro has that many, this makes sense to me anyway. Comparisons to the iMac don’t. While the iMacs only have three, Apple knows your keyboard on that system is a two-port USB hub. With the mini, however, you bring your own keyboard, so Apple can make no such assumption. It makes sense to put extra on. They had four before, but perhaps have more room (or more thermal “breathing room”) so adding another was not that big of a deal.
Two Video Ports? No Way.
This one is trickier, in that having two video ports seems odd. I wonder if they could both be used at the same time (i.e., will there be dual monitor support?). It wouldn’t surprise me if it was only one port or the other.
I suspect this is a case where they included mini-DVI because it’s well-known and supported; for someone buying a budget machine they shouldn’t have to fish around for something that uses the “new” mini-Display Port. However, they included Display Port because it’s the direction Apple’s moving in, and there was no sense leaving an upgraded mini out of the loop.
FireWire 800
They left FireWire out of the MacBook, it can’t be on the mini!
Really? Why not? Being a laptop, more choices had to be made on the unibody MacBook than the mini. I mean, the MacBook doesn’t sport five USB ports, either.
From a cost perspective, since I suspect Apple has long since recovered the cost of developing FireWire years ago, an 800 port is likely similar to the 400 port. Since 800 can also run 400, it made sense to use it.
Why didn’t they drop FW completely? Because, despite the small size, the mini is still a desktop system and they have more room to work with. Yet another argument for not making it smaller.
Still, the above being said, I admit this tends to emphasize the MacBook as the “odd man out” in Apple’s lineup. I use FW only for my 8-year old video camera, and am moving to a USB model when I get a new one. I don’t think the MacBook or the overwhelming majority of its target market was hurt by the lack of FireWire, but I’m not sure the mini would be either.
Summary
To me, this seems like an expected and reasonable upgrade to the mini. The only surprises, in my opinion, are the existence of mini-DVI (we knew Display Port was coming) and the retention of FireWire. But those are the “good” kind of surprises. I’ll take those.
A better surprise would be a cost reduction. I know Apple typically keeps prices the same when upgrading, choosing instead to let the added value speak for itself. I actually agree with that, but that’s because I feel their products — for what you get — are usually pretty well priced.
Not so for the mini. I believe the low-end mini at $599 is simply too much, and the above upgrades don’t change that. They simply make it more modern (long overdue) but its value is still questionable. Apple should lower the price on both models.
And just to be clear, I’m not suggesting they lower the price because of the economy, I’m suggesting it because, at the dog-eat-dog low end, the mini does not compete very well.
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Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - MarsEdit 2.3 Public Beta Released
If you’re a blogger, you’ve probably run into MarsEdit at some point or another. Maybe it stuck, maybe it didn’t, but in my experience people who’ve blogged for some reason or another, and who own a Mac, have played with MarsEdit. Whether it appealed to you before or not, it might be worth a second look now that the public beta 2.3 version has been released. You can grab it at the Red Sweater Software blog.
Now, I won’t lie, I haven’t been partial to MarsEdit or other software-based blogging solutions in the past. This is actually a point of contention between me and my girlfriend, who is a die-hard MarsEdit devotee. I recognize the many benefits of it, and I do think that it’s a nice piece of software, but I just prefer working directly in the WordPress editor with Google Gears enabled.
The big change in this update is Tumblr support. Before, MarsEdit supported WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, and many others, but this is the first time Tumblr support has been included. If you’re unfamiliar with Tumblr, it’s a relatively recent player in the weblog game, but it offers a degree of customizability not available for Blogger or WordPress users without additional paid features or self-hosted installs. There’s a couple of outstanding issues, like MarsEdit won’t recognize your Tumblr blog if you have your own custom domain name, but you can still edit it, as long as you point your software at the Tumblr-based URL they provide you.
Tumblr support may not seem like that big of a deal in and of itself, but combined with MarsEdit’s already long list of supported software, it definitely adds to its appeal as a one-stop source for all your blogging needs. Especially since Tumblr has become such a hit with the Twitter crowd, owing to its quick and easy posting of a variety of media in a addition to written blog content.
As a recent Tumblr user myself, I’m willing to give MarsEdit another try. I value software that centralizes or congregates otherwise scattered tasks, and that’s exactly what MarsEdit 2.3 does for blogging.
Other than the addition of Tumblr support, the only other improvements seem to be favicon detection, Technorati Tags editing, and some media manager updates. MarsEdit has a free 30-day trial. After that, it will set you back about $30.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Mailplane: If Gmail and OS X Had a Love Child
I’ve been a hardcore Gmail user since the early days, when beta really meant the email service was in its infancy. It’s perfect for managing my email but there are two big things Gmail can’t do that seriously hinder my daily workflow: There’s no easy way to switch between Gmail accounts, and no way to drag and drop a attachments into emails.
To get around these two issues, I use Mailplane. It’s a fantastic application that replicates the Gmail interface right on your desktop and integrates so well with your Mac that you’ll never want to access Gmail from the web again.
Mailplane runs on Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, and requires 15 MB of hard disk space. It takes all of about two minutes to install and configure, depending on how many Gmail accounts you’d like it to access. Once you provide your Gmail login information — it’s stored locally, and safely, on your machine — a screen opens that looks exactly like the Gmail interface you’re used to, but with an additional toolbar at the top to let you access Mac-specific functions.
Keyboard shortcuts still work, as do the Gmail option buttons (Archive, Report Spam, Delete, etc.).
The Toolbar
Mailplane’s toolbar adds additional, if redundant, New, Reply, Forward, Send, and Discard buttons. I don’t use those, but the five other buttons on this toolbar make Mailplane worth every MB of disk space it uses.
Screenshot - While composing an email, click Screenshot and choose which onscreen image you want to capture: a window, a particular screen, or a specific selection. You can also opt to hide Mailplane while capturing your screenshot. Once snapped, the .png will be automatically attached to your email.
Email - This button accesses your Mac’s Address Book so you can easily look up contacts while crafting an email. Or, simply click Email, choose a contact, and begin typing a new message.
Media - This is my favorite feature of Mailplane. Click this button to access all media files stored on your computer. Find files by name, or by their thumbnail image. Select your file, decide what size you want it to be (small for a faster download, medium, or large for better quality), and the file is automatically attached to your outgoing email.
Download - Click on Download to reveal in Finder any attachments you’ve received via email. Any photos or .zip files you receive are automatically opened in iPhoto.
Accounts - Use this button to access all of your Gmail or Google Apps for domain accounts via fast-switching. Since Mailplane keeps you logged in to all of your Gmail accounts until you say otherwise, simply click the button to open a drawer on right side of the window for a list of all accounts and how many unread emails are in each inbox.
Additional Goodies
If Mailplane’s extended Gmail functionality ended there, it would still be well worth the download. It still has a whole lot more to offer, though. If you leave Mailplane in your dock, you can just drag and drop any file right onto the icon and a blank email opens with the file already attached. You can also get notified of new mail via a sound, a numeric display on the dock’s icon, or directly through the Growl notification system.
There’s even a really cool plugin that lets you email pictures right from iPhoto with a single click, and OmniFocus users will love the plugin that integrates Mailplane with the popular task manager.
I’ve been an avid user of Mailplane for a long time and have had no serious issues with stability, hanging, or freezing. The app does hang on occasion, but it typically occurs when I’m asking it to do too much — like compose a new email while attaching a large file to another.
Mailplane’s developer is very responsive and usually answers emails within a day or so. For a really rapid response for support or questions, the forums are an excellent place to start.
Gmail is nearly perfect these days, especially with all the tweaks and new features they’ve been rolling out lately. I used to use Gmail via Mail.app and POP because I wanted to access my mail offline and have an email client that’s tightly integrated with my OS. Now that Gmail is available offline, Mailplane is a perfect way for me to access my accounts any time I want without jumping through POP mail hoops or giving up Mac integration.
Mailplane has a 30-day trial period before registration is required. A single license costs $24.95, but you can license up to 5 additional Macs with the Family Option for $15 more. Quantity and educational discounts are also available.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - March 24: Apple Event, New Hardware?
It’s a rumor that got a lot of play over the weekend, and for good reason. Two separate, unaffiliated web sites are reporting that Tuesday, March 24 will be the date of an upcoming official Apple event, at which announcements would include new hardware updates.
The sites in question are World of Apple and My Apple Guide, two sites with little in common except their lack of a track record of breaking this kind of big news. World of Apple, you may recall, is the source of some recent screenshots of the latest build of Snow Leopard, but My Apple Guide, according to many, including World of Apple themselves, has historically not had a lot of success with rumors.
What makes it solid, as pointed out by Ars Technica, is the reporting of the same date by two separate Apple news entities. Both are informed by “anonymous sources,” so the possibility exists that the same person (or people) is taking them both for a ride, but Ars reporter Jacqui Cheng is pretty confident that when specific dates get leaked, it’s probably likely that Apple employees have been informed of a real event.
Both sites agree not only on the date of the event, but also on the nature of it, although neither is particularly clear on the specifics. Apparently, the event will be like Apple’s notebook event of last October, but this time the focus will be on their desktop lineup, and will include updates to the Mac mini, the iMac and the Mac Pro. It makes sense to see a desktop event come on the heels of a notebook one, and all three machines are due for an upgrade, so it does seem a very plausible rumor.
Personally, I’ve long suspected that Apple, while appearing not to like or approve of the ecosystem of rumor sites that have sprung up around its existence, is very much aware that that network is in fact a large part of their success as a company. Accordingly, they would engineer leaks when it was timely and advantageous to do so. Something like this strikes me as that kind of engineered link, because the rumor is specific on date, but mysterious on content, leaked to two sources, and to ones that are just far enough away from the spotlight to be noticed and picked up by larger outlets, but too far away to be taken as truth right away.
Apple benefits from early press about events like these, so I wouldn’t be surprised if these anonymous “sources” are a clever PR effort. I just hope the March 24 date sticks, because Papa needs a new Mac mini.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Resource Roundup: Automator
Since first appearing in Tiger, Automator has brought programming to the masses in a simple drag and drop interface. An entire ecosystem has sprung up around Automator, using its ability to create and distribute complex workflows and actions, and the ability for developers to provide Automator with actions specific to their application. If you are looking for a way to automate a repetitive task, chances are there may already be an action or workflow built to do what you need.
The best resource, and the first stop on the way to finding the perfect automation solution, is Apple's own download page. One I found that was immediately useful was the attach2mail action, which gives the Finder a contextual menu to attach the selected Finder items in a new email in Mail. If nothing in the Apple site seems right, Automator.us, Automator World, and Automator Actions each offer collections of user-submitted actions and workflows.
I’d also suggest checking out the excellent packages available from Automator-Actions and Automated Workflows that give you quick access to bundles of actions revolving around certain needs (Productivity, Photoshop, FileMaker, etc.). Automated Workflows also offers a custom workflow development service, so if you truly cannot find what you are looking for, they'll create it for you!
Finally, as an example of what can be done with Automator, there is the open source project OttoMate, a complete automated web testing system.
Automator may very well be one of the forgotten gems of OS X, but there are still plenty of resources out there to get started with your own personal automation system.
What are some tasks that you use Automator for? Do you use it regularly? What are some other Automator resources you’ve found useful?
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Weekly App Store Picks: Feb. 28, 2009
Nine out of ten iPhone owners would probably agree that this article, containing the freshest picks from the App Store, is a nutritious and delicious source of information.
Before we kick things off with this week’s picks, let’s take a quick look at happenings in the world of Apple this week.
Business news first, Apple’s shareholders have re-elected the board. This means that Jobs, Google’s Eric Schmidt and Internet-inventing eco-savior Al Gore are here to stay for the time being. Rumors abound that He-Man and The Ultimate Warrior will be joining the Apple board’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen this time next year.
Subscribers to MobileMe will be overjoyed to hear that the service has been tweaked, incorporating a few minor improvements. The most immediate difference is the updated log-in page, however, most impactful in terms of productivity will be the changes made to Mail’s address handling and Calendar’s speed-boost.
My favorite post from TheAppleBlog this week came from Tom Reetsman. Tom decided to take journalist and Microsoft-zealot Paul Thurrott to task in an amusing dissection of Thurrott’s Safari 4 Beta review.
I’m loving the Safari 4 Beta, in particular the Top Sites feature has become an essential browsing tool. It’s just a prettyfied list of dynamic bookmarks, but I really dig the combination of actual usefulness and swish aesthetic: there’s no good reason why our digital desktops shouldn’t work wonderfully and look great too.
Moving on to the apps, this week I’m looking at Re<ords 003, Cooking Mama, WordFu and PhotoKeys.
Re<ords 003 ($1.99)
There’s a slowly emerging trend of music releases via the App Store, whereby labels are releasing sets of tracks wrapped in apps. It’s an interesting concept to be sure, and one which Japan’s self-styled supersonic group Delaware are experimenting with. The app’s crude tongue-in-cheek interactivity, flipping your iPhone flips the record over to the next side, mixed with utterly avant and endearing music certainly make this a unique experience. Visit Delaware’s lo-fi site for a vid.Cooking Mama ($6.99)
Popularized through its releases on Nintendo’s DS and Wii, Taito’s Cooking Mama has made the leap to iPhone. The game sees you learning to prepare and cook a variety of dishes and with a tweaked control-scheme harnessing the iPhone’s hardware, you’ll find yourself chopping veggies, slicing meat and simmering your concoctions in the frying pan. Cooking is a real passion for me, so fusing that with such a clever game makes for a seriously delicious app. One for the gamers and the wannabe chefs, then.WordFu (99 cents)
The folks at ngmoco have done it again, bringing another awesome game to iPhone and, in the process, becoming my favorite game publisher. Their latest title, WordFu, plays out like caffeine-boosted single-player speed-Scrabble. Given a random selection of letters, this is hardcore, fast-paced wordplay as you attempt to rack up the highest score in a limited amount of time. There’s even a Wi-Fi multiplayer mode (which I haven’t gotten around to trying yet). For the price, an introductory offer apparently, this is worth grabbing immediately.PhotoKeys: Photoshop Remote ($3.99)
After seeing the Optimus Mini Three, my gadget-desire has gone in to overdrive at the prospect of turning the iPhone into a dynamic keyboard extension. In particular, an app interfacing with Photoshop — activating the various tools at the tap of a finger — would be a productivity dream come true, freeing me from the constraints of keyboard shortcuts. The Optimus Mini Three has three buttons and is around $130, PhotoKeys is designed specifically for Photoshop, works wonders and is only four bucks. Do the math, then buy the app, then make a pretty Photoshop mashup about how awesome your math is.That’s all the apps I’ve got for you this week, meet me back here — same time, same place — next Saturday, for more fresh pickings from the App Store. And make sure to drop by the comments to tell me which apps you’ve been downloading too.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - App Review: Caught You! — Make Your iPhone Rat Out Thieves
App Quick Stats
Oh the sheer horror of it! I’m feeling uneasy at the very thought of my iPhone getting half inched. At the moment, my strongest defense against thieves seems to be keeping my iPhone within a 1-foot radius at all times.
Beyond simply keeping a keen eye on one’s iPhone, it would be much more appropriate to leverage some of the device’s actual technology in an effort to ensure its safety and, at the very least, assuage the owner’s simmering worry.
Caught You! is the first app to hit the store that has awoken the tiny gadget-loving Bond inside of me: the app utilizes the iPhone’s raft of connectivity features — specifically 3G/Edge and GPS — in a bid to combat theft.
The Honeypot
Once installed, Caught You! masquerades as a standard iPhone app called Bank Details. The idea is that when your phone is pilfered, the thief — unethical and prone to stealing things as they are — will be sifting through your apps, spy Bank Details and decide to load it up in a bid to access your precious savings.
The Bank Details app invites Mr. Thief to enter a pin number. The thing is, there is no pin number, and so while Mr. Thief is excitedly trying various combinations, the app is covertly mailing its location back to you.
It’s an ingenious concept, executed in an efficient way, putting the iPhone’s Q-esque feature-set to potentially good use. And it’s exciting to think you might catch the thieves at their own game, should that fateful day ever come.
Preparing The Ruse
The setup process is simple — it requests your email address — this initial configuration screen will, the app warns, never be seen again. After this, you simply have to close and open the app a few times — each time agreeing that the app is allowed to use your current location — in order to initialize it.
A tip though: the address you use will be the one that future covert messages are sent to, so it’s best to set that to a rarely used email account, certainly not the email account that you have synced to your iPhone’s mail application.
After this quick setup process, the app will never again ask for permission to use your current location. To all intents and purposes it seems like an iPhone app designed for holding various bank details, account numbers and such.
The developer’s instructions don’t mention this, but if you manage to botch the setup process, by entering the wrong email address, simply delete the app and re-install it. Once freshly re-installed, the app is ready to be initialized.
In The Wild
After the setup period, I took to the streets of central London and tested out the Bank Details app several times. I was looking for speed and accuracy, in terms of the app locating me and firing off an email as fast as possible.
While the app’s performance wasn’t perfect, it was admirable — locating me down to the nearest block. The alert email hit my account seconds after opening the app. The message itself containing activation time, latitude and longitude, plus a very handy Google Maps link.
Now there are of course some unmentioned caveats that may not be obvious to the average user. As discussed, the app needs to be initialized before use. In practice, when the app is activated, the iPhone will need to be able to locate itself quickly and it’ll need a data-connection signal in order to fire off the covert email.
Furthermore, standard practice once your mobile phone is stolen is to call your carrier to de-activate the SIM, contact the police to report the crime and call the insurance company. Delaying any of this might mean you’re ineligible for your insurance and will almost certainly give the individual who scampered off with your iPhone more time to rack up the bill.
Summing Up
Caught You! really does work, in so much as it accurately determines your location and consistently fires off emails to your chosen address. However, it’s unclear just how useful this app would really be. Where it shines is in its psychological comfort-value. It really feels good to know that there’s an extra degree of protection for such a valued possession.
Knowing which block, in which neighborhood, your kidnapped iPhone is on may not be so helpful in practice though. Furthermore, is this the kind of information the police could take seriously or act on? And, if not, surely it wouldn’t be advisable to go knocking on doors in a desperate bid to retrieve your stolen goods.
For worried iPhone-owners who fear that their device could be pinched at any moment, Caught You! is a worry-allaying app that you’ll hopefully never have to use. However, for the rest of us, the app’s prime-feature, while impressive, is vastly outweighed by its lack of practicality. As such, I just can’t see this being useful in a real-world iPhone-theft situation.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - TV.com App Streams Major Network Content to iPhone
Finally, one of the networks has figured out that the iPhone represents a huge audience just waiting for some quality video content. CBS is the network in question, which must’ve gotten tech savvy when they acquired CNET a little while ago. They’re offering content, including full episodes, via the recently released TV.com (iTunes link) application for the iPhone and iPod touch. The app includes content from their affiliates Showtime and The CW.
Don’t get out your noise-makers and party hats just yet, however; it’s not all fun and games. The interface isn’t all that great, and the naming and organization of shows is worse than you’d find on some torrent sites. And the vast majority of the content isn’t full episodes at all, but little clips from various shows that make little sense out of context for the uninitiated, who you might expect an app like this to target (attracting new viewers is the idea, right CBS?).
But what is there, is golden. Full episodes of the original “Star Trek” series, “CSI” (and yes, sadly, “CSI: Miami,” too), and “MacGyver.” Yes, “MacGyver.” On your iPhone or iPod touch. The original DIY gadgeteer has finally arrived on the platform that he probably would’ve greatly appreciated, had it been available in his day. The selection of shows available from any of these titles (and the others they offer) seem chosen at random, however, so keep your fingers crossed that your favorite is among them.
Currently, TV.com is only available in the U.S. App Store, which is terrible for international fans like me. I used my U.S. account, since it’s a free download, but the app knows you’re in Canada (or any other country) based on your IP and displays the now all-too-familiar “We’re sorry, we hate your country” message. Luckily, if you’ve set up Hotspot Shield for iPhone (or iPod touch), like we told you to a while ago, you can still use the app, with very satisfactory results.
To say that CBS is the first to offer this sort of thing would be to ignore the excellent BBC iPlayer that our friends across the pond have been enjoying for months now, but it is the first of the big U.S. networks to go this route. In a perfect world, this would be the glove thrown to the ground that prompts the others to get on board and make this a proper duel, but the networks are confused and scared by this fancy Internet thing, so you never know. I’m keeping my eyes on the horizon for the inevitable Hulu app. Tell your goons to get on it, Baldwin.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - doubleTwist Takes Jab at iTunes Tyranny
Look out iTunes, there’s a brand new media manager in town, in the form of a public beta just released for OS X. The program is called doubleTwist, and it’s the brainchild of anti-DRM crusader “DVD” Jon Johansen.
Ars Technica had a look at it in length, and it seems to be fairly promising. The idea is the same one behind Pioneers of the Inevitable’s Songbird, namely to provide users with an alternative to Apple’s own iTunes, which is sometimes criticized as having an unnecessarily large memory footprint, among other failings.
The killer feature of doubleTwist, the one which really sets it apart from both Songbird and iTunes, is its ability to sync your media on pretty much any portable device of your choosing that’s capable of playing it back. In fact, doubleTwist supports syncing with literally hundreds of devices, among them the standard heavy hitters like BlackBerry, Sony’s PSP, Nintendo’s DSI, and just about any mobile phone you can think of. Except, and this is the odd part, for the iPhone and iPod, which are currently available for PC users only, though the Mac client with iPhone/iPod support is in private testing.
Curiously, doubleTwist does feature a mandatory sign-up before you can start using it. And, annoyingly, you have to wait to receive a confirmation email and click an activation link before the application will even let you get past an authentication screen. It wouldn’t have been nearly as aggravating if I’d just received the email right away, but I had to wait quite a while to even get started.
Aside from login issues, the program itself is intuitive and easy to use. It can automatically scan all of your drives, folders, and connected mobile devices for any kind of media to build a comprehensive library, organized by where it was found. Unfortunately, doubleTwist is DRM-phobic in its current incarnation, and will not find or recognize any DRM-enabled content, besides iTunes music, which it can presumably play by running Quicktime in the background.
The beauty of doubleTwist, from the perspective of someone who hates messing about with conversion software and often gets frustrating results when he does, is its automatic conversion feature when dragging and dropping media to different devices. If the device is one of the many doubleTwist has in its expanding database, your file will either just be transferred to it automatically if already in a compatible format, or converted into a file type the device will recognize. No muss, no fuss. Which is also a limitation, since you have no control over conversion.
I’m not sure it’ll ever replace iTunes as my primary media manager, since I’d miss Apple proprietary features like AirTunes support, but it does help me wrangle my gadget collection a little better, and with a lot fewer headaches. Let’s hope future updates fully realize doubleTwist’s early potential.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Sony Set to Take On Growing Dominance of iPhone and iPod Touch
Sony is no doubt feeling the heat from Apple, whose campaign to push the iPod touch (and the iPhone, though less directly) to the forefront of mobile gaming continues, with another recent advertisement using the “Funnest iPod Ever” tag line, and highlighting another selection of games available for the platform. They’ve also introduced a Games Showcase attached to the official iPod touch page of their web site. It looks like Sony may be taking Apple’s success seriously into consideration in designing their upcoming successor to the PlayStation Portable, their own mobile gaming device.
The biggest cue they’re rumored to be taking from Apple is a switch to exclusive digital distribution, instead of retaining support for disc-based media via their own proprietary UMD format. I am myself a PSP owner, and I admit that I find the discs both cumbersome and antiquated now that I’m used to just downloading, resetting, and playing on my iPhone and iPod touch.
News of the new device comes from David Perry, Chief Creative Officer of Acclaim, as reported by Kotaku’s Brian Crecente. Perry says the news of the new device comes directly from one of its developers at Sony, and I suspect the leak might even be one that’s officially sanctioned by Sony in order to steal some of Apple’s thunder.
We’ve already seen the mobile gaming market change in the wake of the arrival of the iPod touch, with Nintendo’s introduction of the DSi, which adds some built-in media playback ability to the mobile console. It makes sense that Sony and Nintendo would do their best to bridge the gap between their own products and Apple’s jack-of-all-trades.
This move probably also means another mobile app store is on the way, although the exact nature of the PSP 2’s isn’t explained in detail. CNET is speculating that 3G as well as Wi-Fi might be offered. Sony, of course, has experience with direct digital distribution via their PlayStation Network Store, so they won’t be starting from scratch.
I think they have a chance to give Apple a run for their money, in fact, as long as they can appeal more to casual gamers while still keeping the core crowd interested. An OLED touchscreen like the one that’s forthcoming on their latest incarnation of the Walkman would go a very long way to adding to the appeal of a new PSP, as would the addition of the often-requested second analog joystick. If they are going to take on Apple, they should know their strengths, and game system controls are definitely one of them.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Paul Thurrott: Safari is From Apple, Therefore I Hate It
Paul Thurrott has weighed in with his opinion of the new Safari 4 update, and he’s not impressed. While no surprise, it’s the manner in which he blasts the product (and, of course, Apple’s users) that was especially interesting.
I was wondering how Thurrott was going to counter the incredible speed of the browser engine. Apple’s own marketing aside, others have tested it and confirmed it to be the fastest web browser available. I assumed he’d blast the test methodology, or claim that IE 8 would be better (though IE 8 was in the tests), etc. But no, he took a different tack altogether. He simply acknowledged the browser engine is good, and then blasted the UI because he’s apparently a manly man who doesn’t need no steenking graphics.
I Don’t Like Apple’s Products, They Shouldn’t Either
So let’s see what pearls of wisdom we get from Mr. Thurrott:
Of course, Apple being Apple, they are promoting Safari 4 as if it were the second coming. It’s “the world’s fastest, most efficient, and most innovative” browser, according to the humble folks in Cupertino.
Good point. Why can’t Apple’s marketing department just say their stuff sucks and be done with it? One question, though: Why is it when Microsoft lies (the CEO, no less) Thurrott doesn’t care? Odd that he has a lie detector on everyone at Apple, but seems to ignore Microsoft’s own CEO.
Tabs on Top, Thinking on Bottom
Apple’s worst decision in this browser is the way it handles tabs… in Safari, tabs are integrated into the title bar area.
Apple claims that moving the tabs to the title bar saves space. But it only saves space because Safari now uses a native-like title bar: In previous versions of the browser, there was no true title bar, so the tab row didn’t really add to the height of the UI.
Huh?
Apple also claims that the new Tabs on Top reduces clutter, but the truth is, on Vista and 7, it looks horrible and cluttered.
Lots of people have opinions on this, Mac and PC. I see no reason for a window’s title bar to be sacrosanct. In my opinion, using it for tabs means the title bar is, in fact, showing the title of the currently displayed window (tab). I could make a valid case that putting tabs there lets the title bar do what it’s supposed to do.
Top Sites (and Top Shots at Apple’s Users)
Now let’s see what Thurrott has to say about Top Sites:
Apple fanatics–you know, those idiots who would buy anything with an Apple logo on it–will get all giddy and clap like little girls at a Hannah Montana concert when they see Top Sites, the new default Safari 4 home page. But these people are missing the point (what else is new?)
Hmm, that isn’t really about Top Sites at all, is it? Of course, no Thurrott opinion piece is complete without blasting Apple’s user base. Odd that he does so while still claiming that Mac users are the smug ones, isn’t it?
Top Sites’ curved, TV-like display would look wonderful on, well, a TV. But it’s pointlessly visual in a tool that, by nature, is used to find information online.
Fifty bucks to anyone who can honestly decipher that statement. What the heck is “pointlessly visual” supposed to mean? Hey, maybe Thurrott’s whole post is “pointlessly textual!” And what the heck does finding information online have to do with whether it should be visual or not? Geez, most of us don’t use Lynx any more.
It’s unclear why a simple grid of Web site previews wouldn’t be just as useful, and more in keeping with the Web browser aesthetic. Oh, right: Microsoft did it first, in IE 7, over two years ago
No they didn’t, but I don’t expect the Windows SuperSite to know the difference. The IE feature shows a visual grid of the tabs currently running. This is hardly the same as showing a visual grid of the sites you visit most often. But, as long as Thurrott brought it up, why isn’t IE’s feature “pointlessly visual?” Because IE’s grid is not curved? Really? So I guess the problem with Apple’s display is that it just looks too good for simple, hardworking Windows folk.
The nicest thing about Top Sites is that you can turn it off:
No, the nicest thing about Top Sites is that it’s customizable in terms of what, where, and how many items it shows. Unfortunately, it’s just too visual for poor Thurrott! If only Apple had made it uglier.
As for me, my “top sites” have always been in my Bookmarks Bar so I can access them via keyboard, but I’m going to use Top Sites for the visual history search that, as we’ll see presently, Thurrott also doesn’t believe in.
Cover Flow (Or, More Visuals? Ahhhhh!!!)
And speaking of pointless visual effects, allow me to point out the most recent and most egregious use of Apple’s Cover Flow display… it makes absolutely no sense at all in a browser. Naturally, Apple added it to Safari… it’s hard to even know where to start, and of course we’ll have to discuss it over the giddy clapping of those easily-impressed Apple geeks in the corner.
From some of the articles and comments I’ve read elsewhere, Thurrott is not alone in this thinking, but people need to give it a rest. When it comes to Cover Flow, it appears there are only two kinds of people:
- Those that recognize it can be useful sometimes, and use it for those occasions.
- Those that have no idea how to grab a handle and drag it to the top.
Well, here’s my view of it, and I better speak up lest Thurrott not hear me over my “giddy clapping” (quick question: is clapping “pointlessly audible?”). Below is what my Safari Collections look like.
As you’ll see, there’s nothing there but the search box (which, being text-based, I’m sure Thurrott approves of). I do this because for my bookmarks I don’t normally need a preview. I generally know them pretty well. And I’d rather have the real estate for dragging bookmarks around or deleting them, which are the primary reasons I visit this page.
On the other hand, when searching through History, I find the page preview tremendously helpful. These are pages I haven’t bookmarked and don’t know as well. To access this I go to the Top Sites page and hit the search box.
As just one example, I wanted to go back to a specific Lynx page I had stumbled across after finding the link above. No way I’d remember the URL, but the page preview made it easy to find the page amongst all those in search for Lynx.
Another example was last night when I had done some comparison shopping for a new digital camera. The pages really add up, and then I wanted to get back to one I’d seen earlier. A visual search made it a snap to find the page I wanted.
So, for me, Cover Flow is less useful for sites I know (bookmarks), but in only 24 hours it has already been extremely valuable for searching history. But, alas, it’s just so…visual. Thurrott’s eyes!
Look, I’m no Luddite. … This stuff is pointless.
The last sentence above negates the first.
In Conclusion (Or, How I Explain That Internet Explorer Is Just Fine)
So, how does Thurrott wrap this all up? Exactly in the manner you’d expect:
I still feel that Internet Explorer (7 or 8) and Firefox 3 are better Windows Web browsers than their WebKit-based competitors, and that has nothing to do with the underlying Web rendering technologies involved and everything to do with functionality. Both browsers are simply better in day to day usage.
Hmm, yes, who wouldn’t prefer this dazzling interface:
to this one:
I suspect most people who excitedly try Safari 4 will very quickly move back to the more comfortable confines of IE or Firefox. I already have.
Amazing. In less than 24 hours Thurrott gleaned that Safari is too visual. He also learned that IE is confining, and that he prefers those confines. Good for him.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - Apple Puts Spotlight on Indie Acts in iTunes
This must be “Update iTunes Content” week at Cupertino or something, because Apple keeps making changes to the music player. First it introduced iTunes Pass, which provides superfans with heaps of exclusive content released on a staggered schedule over a brief subscription period, and now it’s launched the Indie Spotlight.
The Spotlight is a new subcategory of “More in Music,” a subsection along the right side of the iTunes store home page. You can find it right under the other new category, “Original Songs from Idol,” which is oddly its antithetical opposite.
Clicking on the link will bring you to the Indie Spotlight home page, complete with banners for three categories splashed across the top, all of which are very indie-looking, thanks to some nifty weathered Photoshop effects. I kid, but I genuinely do appreciate the new portal, which offers nice bonuses like a free music video of the week.
There’s also a dedicated Indie Spotlight podcast, which is organized by genre and comes out at a rate of one episode per week. Glancing through the catalog available via the Spotlight, I came across some of the bigger names like Cat Power, Bright Eyes, and Neko Case, but also a lot of hidden gems like Laura Gibson and Matt & Kim. The Artists’ Playlists displayed at the bottom left also offer some great mixes by the people who know best who to look out for; Hercules & Love Affair’s is particularly interesting.
It makes sense that Apple would try to cash in on the popularity of indie music, it’s really just surprising that it’s taken this long. Check out the offerings — at the very least, you’ll get a nice break from the Jonas Brothers.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать - AppleTV 2.3.1 Released with Network Test
Sometime between last night and this morning, Apple released a minor update to the Apple TV. The new software version is 2.3.1 and includes a new network test function and other fixes that haven’t been listed by Apple as of this time. The update, just like all previous updates, disables Boxee and other hacks, but these are easily restored by running the patchstick again (more notes on that at the end).
When you run the network test, it will ask if you’ve been having trouble with slow downloads from the iTunes store. You can answer Yes or No to this question and it will still proceed to run the test. It then asks you what download speeds you expect to get from your Internet connection and begins a download test, probably similar to the various speed tests available on the web that simply download a file of a known size and then track how long it takes to complete the download. The test is a little dissatisfying because it doesn’t tell you anything — all the information from the test is sent to Apple and you never know what kind of download speeds you were seeing.
Restoring Boxee was as simple as running the patchstick update again. I had an additional problem on my own Apple TV in that my external USB drive wasn’t seen after the update. I was hoping that a quick reinstall of nitoTV would fix everything, but the USB drive was still not showing up when I ran “diskutil list” from the command line. I rather like having a 1TB Apple TV, so I’m off to restore the box from factory settings and make sure everything is working. I’ll let you know what happens in the comments below.
That said, I wouldn’t let my experience scare you away from the update. The new network test will be useful for anyone that is experiencing problems with downloading purchased or rented content from the iTunes store and there may be other fixes that Apple hasn’t announced yet. Some users on other forums are reporting improved responsiveness on the iPhone Remote app, which would be a welcome benefit.
Let me know how your upgrade goes in the comments.
Hear Microsoft, IBM, Dell and Cisco execs at GigaOM’s Green:Net.Переслать
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