Category: Apple

Dr. Drang, discussing Mrs. Drang’s all-iPad lifestyle:

It works for my wife for the same reason it works for Ben Thompson’s mom and tens of millions of others—it removes many of the computery aspects of using a computer. I’m willing to put up with the computery stuff because I already know it and I’m not willing to give up the power and control I get from it. My wife has no need for that power and control and shouldn’t be forced to confront it whenever she wants to send an email or read an article on the web.

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Greg Scown:

Yesterday, after a period of engagement with the App Review Team from Apple, they informed us that TextExpander’s use of Reminders for shared snippet data storage is not an intended use of Reminders and will no longer be accepted. TextExpander touch will not clear review until this is resolved. Apps which implement the current TextExpander touch SDK may not clear review until their TextExpander touch SDK is updated.

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Microsoft’s released a product that the Apple fanboy in your life will love for Christmas.

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Rusty Ross has written the definitive guide to VPN Server on Mavericks. If you’re thinking about upgrading, or have and are seeing issues, this article is for you.

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Time Machine Server can be great. With enough storage, it’s easy to backup multiple Macs to a single location, leaving the worry about USB drives being stolen or Thunderbolt drives not being plugged in behind. With Mavericks Server OS X Server 3, Apple has improved the service with better disk space controls (as long as all clients are running Mavericks as well) in addition to an easy-to-use dashboard to see what clients are backing up when and how much space the backups are using.

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Katie Fehrenbacher at Gigaom breaks down the massive solar farm Apple’s built in North Carolina. This made me chuckle:

Apple manages the grass under the panels in a variety of ways, but one of those is a little more unusual. Apple works with a company that ropes in sheep that eat the grass on a portion of the solar farm; when the sheep finish grazing on one spot, they’re moved to the next.

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I’m no stranger to the iPad. I’ve had the original, the iPad 2, the iPad with Retina display and the iPad mini.

Over the years and through the generational changes, I’ve used my iPads for the same core set of tasks:

• Reading
• Surfing
• Email management
• Note-taking and light writing
• Games

When the iPad mini came out last year, I jumped on it, excited to be able to do these things with something I could put in a coat pocket. In fact, I closed my iPad mini review this way:

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It’s nice to see Apple taking action here, but how is the company just now adding printer support? I know the service is in beta, but even that label seems a touch generous.

Update: Over on Twitter, Dave Chartier writes:

FWIW, I think Apple subscribes to the traditional definition of “beta.” Things are busted, features are missing.

That’s a great point. Before Gmail’s five years of beta, the term was used for something that was rough and incomplete. The word has lost its meaning, perhaps leaving iWork for iCloud stuck with a check it can’t cash quite yet.

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Matthew Panzarino breaks down the sapphire story.

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Mike Beasley:

Customers have always been able to request screen sharing, at which point the AppleCare representative would instruct them to download an application from Apple’s site that facilitates the connection. Now the download is listed directly on the support page. If a customer opts to use screen sharing, the AppleCare rep must comply with their request whether they think it will help or not.

I wasn’t aware this could be done with AppleCare. Putting the feature in front of more users puts AppleCare more in line with what Amazon is doing on the new Kindle Fires. Anyone who has worked in IT knows how helpful this can be, and I think it’s a great change to Apple’s support system.

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Has anyone checked on Gene Munster today? Also, how do I get a job as an analyst?

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Rob McGinley Myers, discussing iMovie ‘08 and Final Cut Pro X, in response to my post from Friday about iWork:

You can argue about whether either of these redesigns was actually successful. In my opinion, iMovie 08 was a mess when it first came out, but Final Cut Pro X was actually amazing for a first time user. But what you can’t argue is that each was a bold, radical departure from the past that laid a new foundation for the app’s future.

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