An update to the iPod range with a new shuffle came out some hours after the podcast went online. for more information and links, see Late Items (below).
An act of faith this week. I am keeping my fingers crossed for the arrival of my article which I delivered via a new method as email has proved to be so unreliable these days. Another act of faith concerns the battery of my MacBookPro, but more on that later.
iLife Updated (3): iPhoto Editing and Places.
Well, the article got through so this delivery system, using my own website, is effective. Interesting this week that, while I am going through the benefits of iPhoto and ways to add or use data and metadata, Wanda Sloan, who covers applications for Windows sufferers writes on ways that users can strip all that unnecessary EXIF data: things line aperture, lens information, ISO, exposure, flash use. As someone who deals with people who do want that data this was a bit of an eye-opener. Not everyone wants the same thing and what is needed by some really is trash to others.
There has been some speculation in the last few days about 6 June for the release of Apple’s forthcoming OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. The release date is put forward on several web sites and there is some good detective work by David Zeller of the Baltimore Sun. The rumours circulate around this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference, but Apple has not yet announced the dates for this yet.
Some guesswork suggests that 6 June (a Saturday) may be the start of the conference (it was a Sunday last year) with the keynote speech on Monday, 8 June. And the following Friday is 12 June. Friday is when a new OS X usually appears in the shops, although last time Leopard was delayed here by almost 24 hours for some reason.
Snow Leopard is rumoured to deliver powerful new text features "across all applications that use Core Text," Prince McLean reports for AppleInsider.
We also mentioned a couple of weeks ago some thoughts that there might be changes to the Quick Time Pro in Snow Leopard and Katie Marsal of AppleInsider has some comments on a redesigned QuickTime X and its "new minimal user interface focused predominately on playback"; but according to Ms Marsal, 10.6 is not anywhere near being finished.
What is closer to being finished is the next update to Leopard. We suggested a couple of weeks ago that 2 weeks would be about right and, as I put this together, rumours suggest that the 10.5.7 update is closer but not imminent. A few weeks is what we now hear.
While the economic recession does not seem to be hitting Apple so hard at the moment, there are some effects. Apparently some 50 or so sales group people have lost their jobs in certain areas of the US. It affects only a few and they have been given severance packages and the opportunity to apply for other jobs inside Apple. Note that: Other jobs part which looks as if it is more like an adjustment than any downsizing. This becomes a little clearer in the article by Tom Krazit where the phrase, "Change in philosophy," is used. I expect we will read about this in next week's Post as indicating that Apple is a disaster or something along those lines.
Other rumours concern that Netbook again. This has had more lives than the original iPhone rumours. From the direction of Taiwan we hear that this is alleged to be a touch screen netbook. TUAW has another slant on this as Winkler who may be the source of part of the rumour say they are working on something for Apple but do not know what it is for, which does sound like a tactical approach from Apple.
On the other hand, Dennis Sellers of Maximum News is suggesting another reason for the production of these touch screens and opts for a large-screen iPod. He cites a Silicon Alley Insider article as his source.
Locally, I was asked by someone at the Apple office about the Post's Education supplement that comes out on Tuesday. This is an area that Apple sees as fairly open for sales expansion and they are looking at advertising and perhaps also articles.
A fair bit on Microsoft this week, mainly in the shoot ourselves in the foot vein. But to start, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, whose logo I carry on my home page, have launched a Surveillance Self-Defense Project and their first health warning is about Microsoft; and it does much better than I ever could, and as part of its warning includes, "Avoid Microsoft products where possible". It explains why IE, Outlook and Outlook Express -- software of choice for many people -- are the kiss of death to your security. Well, not mine. Rixstep put me onto this, so both that link and a link to the EFF page are included.
On that, let me again make use of the excellent MacDaily News who present an article by a CNET writer, Rafe Needleman who switched to the Mac, but not without some pain. As the story unfolds, he apparently ignored the advice of others and broke my rule 1: it ain't Windows. Some improvements were eventually made and now he is like a pig in some messy substance and amazed at the lack of virus software, spyware and the disappearance of the IT person. I leave the MacDaily News page as that carries several of the excellent sources Mr. Needleman should have used in the first place.
Ballmer has been dissing the iPhone a bit of late and the reasons perhaps became a little clearer in the last few days. He can't deliver. One wonders about the safety of the shareholders investments. Windows 7 is due in early 2010; OSX 10.6 will probably be 6 months ahead of that. MS is trying to figure out a way to deliver an OS that is not too complex for some of the notebooks it is to be installed on. Bloomberg has a detailed look at this problem. OS X would do of course.
Vista was a mess and there is still fallout from that, including winning The 2009 Fiasco Award. There really is such a thing and I have a link on the podcast pages.
And Ballmer fails to accept the success of the integrated model of iPhone, iTunes and Apps store that has captured 51% of the market. On that point, Apple Insider tells us that this is close to becoming a billion dollar market and that there are now over 25,000 apps available.
Talking of the App store. I mentioned last week the news of a Kindle app for the iPhone. It took a couple of days to confirm, but this is not available in the Thailand app store. I guess that is just one more thing that Amazon does not let us have here.
If you ever watch movies it is one of the givens that the colours, at least in the better productions, are impressive. Like music, they add atmosphere to a scene. Apple updated its software called Color recently and if you want to know how to use some of these effects, a video on the web page is an education in itself. I had seen a video of the Coen Brothers using this, but here it is in its simplest form. This is not for the home user -- nothing to stop you using it if course, but it is part of the Final Cut Studio suite -- and shows, with the time that must be taken to get it just right, why movies may be costly to produce.
Not everything at Apple is perfect. Apple Insider reports about delays that iPhone developers are experiencing with contracts. The earliest third-party app developers are facing expired contracts but some new developers have yet to have their very first contracts approved. Where requests for an agreement once took as little as two days for Apple to handle in the early days of the iPhone SDK this has changed to months -- even for free apps, which require less paperwork than commercial software. With such a cash cow as this is, maybe Apple needs to hire which would send several messages in these economically troubled times.
Talking of not being perfect, my battery started playing up on Monday. This itself was a replacement for the original and was supplied to me last May, less than 12 months ago. I was working with some students and the power cable was not in, but power levels were dropping normally, down to about 50%. I put it in another room round lunchtime, but when I went to it a few minutes later, it was showing 19%. I put it to sleep over lunch and on waking the level indicator showed zero, which was wrong as it continued to work.
I put in the power supply but nothing seemed to happen so I restarted, which resets and checks the battery: system profiler did not show it as healthy. I have tried a few things and even took the battery out in case it had not been making proper contact, but come 50% and down it goes. If I keep it connected and fully charged, we seem to be OK, but it looks as if the Sony battery bug has bitten again and I am making inquiries to see if the battery is still covered by a warranty.
I have now calibrated it and the power indicator seems a bit more accurate but System Profiler is not showing the battery as being in good condition. To calibrate, by the way, take out the power adapter cord and run the battery all the way down, past the warnings about going to sleep and let it sleep by itself. Then reattach the cord and take it all the way up to 100%. You should really do this again and again: run it on the battery and not the power as that extends battery life.
Once in a while MacOSX Hints has a tip that is so useful I feel I have to pass it on. This one concerns making a simple contact sheet from a folder of images. Select a folder and all files with Command + A. If there are any text files these can be deselected by pressing the command key and clicking on the mouse or trackpad. Then Command-Option-Y, which creates a slideshow. I had forgotten how to do that.
As the slideshow's first image appears, there is a semi-transparent toolbar and in the centre of that is a grid icon. Click this, it is the Index Sheet button, then press Command-Shift-3 which is the capture screen function. On my Mac, the image appears as a file named picture with a number and is in PNG format which can easily be changed by saving the image as something else.
Late Items (Updated)
Infuriatingly, a couple of hours after the podcast was uploaded, the Apple stores worldwide went offline. When they reappeared, Apple had released a new iPod: the iPod shuffle.
The newest version of the iPod shuffle utilizes what is called "small talk" which they are billing as the first MP3 player that talks to you.
Some of the information on the site tells us that "With the press of a button, it tells you what song is playing and who’s performing it."
The new shuffle which comes in silver or black has a 4G capacity and is shown as 3,290 baht in the Thai online Store. The US price is $79.
According to a developer named Derek Underwood, Apple are getting ready to release a new iPhone and a new iPod touch. Some of the improvements he claims are in the pipeline include a faster CPU, better memory use, more than one app open at a time, speed improvements, cut and paste which has long been wanted, and changes to the camera software. There is also likely to be a subtle shape-change and some different pricing structures along with whatever name Apple gives this new version. All rumour and speculation of course, but it reads nicely.
There was a bit of a fuss earlier in the week about a new Twitter app that Apple was not allowing as there was some suggestion that naughty words could be accessed. The F-word was the main objection as this could be displayed. But now Apple has relented as Steven Musil explains on CNET. Rather than being a process subject to whims that some would like to think it is, a number of developers accept that it is part of a process of working out the kinks.
Having written about buying iLife and using iPhoto over three weeks, I decided to bring the parts together, so these are online as a single file for anyone who wants to go through the complete look at the new iPhoto. As a note, GarageBand is coming next. I also put online a print version -- no images -- for anyone so inclined.
And to end, Apple's shares dropped a bit last week, but once again have begun to climb and ended the day yesterday at just under $89. There was an idea floated this week about putting Apple on the DOW index to reflect the changes in the economy.
