From the very first day of the iPhone App store, we’ve loved Pandora Radio. This App is basically the same thing you get at the Pandora Web site, but on your iPhone. You can listen to streaming music based on a song or artist you choose. As you indicate how much you like each song that is played, Pandora continues to customize the music. The App is free, as Pandora is advertising supported. This App makes your car’s FM radio obsolete.
If you hold down the Option key and click on the WiFi indicator at the top right of your screen in the toolbar, you will get additional information about your current WiFi connection. You’ll find out your signal strength and WiFi channel. You’ll also see your MAC address, which you sometimes need to give out to be allowed to connect to closed WiFi networks.
Chaperoning elementary school field trips is something every parent should try to do. You’re pretty lucky, though, when your first call to do one is a visit to the Apple Store.
Apparently some Apple Stores offer opportunities to allow schools to bring in classes. The employees then teach something age-appropriate using the Macs in the store.
In this case, we brought about 17 kids in and they divided them up, two per Mac. They actually used MacBooks, MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs. This was done with the sample machines scattered in the store for customers to play with.
For this first grade class, the tasks were simple. First, they had them open up Photo Booth. The kids had a blast taking pictures of themselves, especially when they were shown the special effects.
Then they opened up Pages. I thought it was weird to have them work with a program from iWork, but it was basically an introduction to publishing, and iWork is the publishing tool.
The kids were shown how to make shapes on the page, and then drag their photos from the PhotoBooth panel to the shapes. They then added a bit of text, usually talk bubbles.
While all the kids had experience with computers before, most seemed a little uncomfortable with the track pad as they are used to mice. But instructions like “drag the triangle along the slider to zoom out the picture” were understood easily.
It is obvious what the goal was here for Apple — get the kids to come home with their printouts and “certificate” and talk to their parents about how cool the Apple Store was. Maybe even force a detour into the Apple Store the next time the family goes to the mall.
From the school’s side of things, there was some benefit as well. I think it was a pretty comparable experience to an in-school computer class — at least at the first grade level. The kids gained a little more knowledge about what computers can do and how to use them.
So it was a win-win. A win-win-win if you count me in there. I mean, how often do you get to participate in a school field trip, do some research for work, and have a good time all at once?
Several small announcements and updates this week from Apple. The AppleTV OS version 2.3 was released, with AirTunes streaming and the support for third-party remote controls. That’s a good idea considering how small the Apple remote is and how easy it is to lose. And, of course, the fact that anyone with a home theater setup (AppleTV’s target market) is using a multi-device universal remote anyway.
But in other home theater news, Apple has given in to another draconian anti-piracy measure by building in HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) into the new line of MacBooks. That means that you can’t play protected movies you bought from iTunes on large TVs and projectors unless they are “HDCP authorized.” If you are wondering how this is supposed to prevent piracy, or do anything other than upset Apple’s paying customers, you are not alone.
But then on the other side of the DRM battle, Apple is supposedly in talks with Sony, Warner and Universal to join EMI in allowing Apple to distribute non-DRM versions of their music through iTunes.
This week we are also finally starting to hear Snow Leopard rumors. The Mac OS X 10.6 operating system is potentially ahead of schedule and may ship earlier in 2009 than expected — perhaps in the first quarter.
For some of us, an FTP program is a basic requirement of any computer. We need to move files to and from server and maintain content on Web sites. There is no lack of FTP programs for the Mac. Plenty to choose from. But Transmit from Panic gives you a simple drag-and-drop interface just technical enough to get things done, but simple enough to be easy to use. It’s powerful too, supporting all sorts of types of file transfer. Well worth $30.
Galcon is a combination of a strategy game and an arcade game. You start with a home planet among a bunch of uninhabited ones. You spread out in an array of conquest — that is, until you meet your enemy. But instead of happening at a slow turn-by-turn strategy game pace, you’ve got move as fast as you can, touching and dragging the screen to move your ships. It’s a lot of fun.
The free Google app now allows you to search the Web by speaking into your iPhone. It will attempt to translate what you say into text and search the Web or pinpoint a location on the map.
Back in January of 2007 when the iPhone was announced, many people cheered. People cheered the touch screen. People cheered the beautiful design. People cheered the fact that the rumors were right.
I cheered what Steve Jobs said about the built-in Safari Web browser: that it would allow you to surf the real Web. In other words, that it would be a real Web browser, capable of displaying Web pages just like a Mac or PC.
Data Detectors allow you to turn addresses, phone numbers and dates in mail messages into Address Book contacts and iCal events. You can also turn selected text into to-do items or stickies.
There are some utilities that no Mac should be without. And when they are free, you really have no excuse not to at least try it. iStat Menus is a great collection of menu bar items that monitor everything about your Mac. You can see CPU usage, temperature readings, power usage, drive space, and tons of other bits of data. CPU usage, for instance, can tell you which apps are hogging the most power. There is also a Dashboard widget version called iStat Pro.
You can make a sticky note quickly and easily from selecting text and then going to the application’s menu (named for the application, between the apple and the File menu) and selecting Services and then Make New Sticky Note. It works in Safari, Mail and many other applications. In Safari, you can also use Command+Shift+Y. This is a quick way to capture bits of information for later use.
Seems a bit ridiculous to carry around a scrap of paper with a shopping list when you have all the power of an iPhone in your pocket. But most shopping list apps make a scrap of paper look good. However, Groceries Grocery List from Ontomni is a pretty cool app. You only need to type the first few letters of most items to add it to your list, and it remembers new and unique items that you’ve added before. It also organizes your list by section, so you can proceed through a super market in a logical manner and save time. So far it seems to be the best choice for a shopping list app.
Despite the global economic crisis, 2008 seems to be a year of growth for Apple. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Apple added more than 13,000 full-time and contract workers. Most of these populate the 50 new Apple stores opened this year. Apple also showed a 40 percent increase in research and development spending. Hopefully that means more cool new products coming next year.
But one area of 2008 growth, the iPhone App Store, is showing some growing pains. Apple rejected yet another App for questionable reasons. CastCatcher, from developer return7, was simply submitted for an update from version 1.2 to 1.3 when it was rejected because “it is transferring excessive volumes of data over the cellular network.”
CastCatcher is a streaming radio App, similar to others in the App Store. The developer believes that version 1.3 uses the same amount of bandwidth as these other apps, as well as version 1.2 of CastCatcher, which is still available in the store.
This is just the latest in a series of puzzling decisions by Apple about which apps to accept and which to reject.
Significant updates this week include a major batch for the iPod Nano and a new version of Parallels. The iPod Nano update includes support for the new Apple in-ear headphones with remote and microphone, the ability to turn off cover flow, and some bug fixes. Parallels 4.0, software used to run Windows and other OSes in a virtual environment, includes a new look and some significant speed increases.
So the new MacBook Pros have lots of upgrades: faster processor, better video chips, more standard memory and hard drive space, a snazzy new aluminum shell. But they have one downgrade: the video port.
The new MacBook Pros, like all the MacBooks, now use a Mini DisplayPort for external video. While this is supposed to be a industry-standard can-do-anything port, it is a poor substitute for the DVI port on the older MacBook Pros.
For one, there are almost no monitors in existence that support Mini DisplayPort. The new 24 inch Apple monitor does, but the old ones do not. So you need an adapter. No problem, right? Just use the adapter that comes with the MacBook Pro. But wait, no adapters come with it at all.
So Apple decides to move forward to use a very new type of video port, and then doesn’t even give us the adapters that they used to include.
So you can get a VGA or a DVI adapter, purchased separately. But large monitors, such as the 30 inch Apple Cinema display, and any 30 inch monitor, require a Dual-Link DVI adapter. The plain DVI one won’t do.
So Apple has a third adapter: Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter. Check it out. It is $100! Worse, it isn’t even available yet. And it will use both the Mini DisplayPort and a whole USB port for power.
So there is currently no way to hook up a new MacBook Pro to a 30 inch monitor. This sort of configuration is common among media professionals like myself who like the portability of a MacBook Pro, but need to have a huge desktop when working in programs like Flash, PhotoShop or Final Cut.
It makes me appreciate the Dual-Link DVI built into the side of my current MacBook Pro. And it made me forget about ordering a new MacBook Pro, at least for the time being.
Sometimes removing an application isn't as easy as dragging the application to the trash. Learn how to find the files that are left behind and clean up after an uninstall.
