512 Pixels

Jordan Kahn spoke with moderators of tonymacx86.com and other tinkerers to see what they want in the new Mac Pro. Hard to find fault with their wishes.

Yesterday, NASA shared news about two icy moons, one around Saturn, the other at Jupiter:

Two veteran NASA missions are providing new details about icy, ocean-bearing moons of Jupiter and Saturn, further heightening the scientific interest of these and other “ocean worlds” in our solar system and beyond. The findings are presented in papers published Thursday by researchers with NASA’s Cassini mission to Saturn and Hubble Space Telescope.

This news — broken down on the agency’s Tumblr — is really exciting. It’s long been imagined that these under-ice oceans could hold the ingredients for life. That’s still unknown, but evidence is mounting that we may not be alone in the Solar System.

John Brodkin at Ars Technica:

A Republican lawmaker who voted to eliminate Internet privacy rules said, “Nobody’s got to use the Internet” when asked why ISPs should be able to use and share their customers’ Web browsing history for advertising purposes.

US Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) was hosting a town hall meeting when a constituent asked about the decision to eliminate privacy rules. The person in the audience was disputing the Republican argument that ISPs shouldn’t face stricter requirements than websites such as Facebook.

These people have no real understanding of the things they are legislating.

After the Clamshell, the iBook got a lot more traditional.

Fraser Speirs and his wife had a bag stolen on vacation. In it was her iPhone, which set Fraser down a road of loss recovery when he had a realization:

I use 1Password for Families, so my data is hosted by 1Password itself. I have 2-factor authentication turned on for every account that supports it, including my Apple ID, personal and work Google accounts, Dropbox, Evernote and others.

All my devices have passcodes. I use alphanumeric passcodes on my iOS devices. I have Touch ID enabled. My Apple Watch locks when I take it off. Find My iPhone is turned on for all devices and Activation Lock is enabled.

I’m really doing my best here. Ironically, though, it’s this good level of security that makes the recovery trickier.

I’m in the same boat — I really only know a couple of passwords, and not the ones I would need in a disaster like this. I’m going to be rethinking some things.

Microsoft:

Last month, we announced that we’re bringing major improvements to how Google Accounts work in Outlook 2016 for Mac—including an improved setup experience and Google Calendar and Contacts support. We’re excited to be delivering on these highly requested features for Mac users—matching Outlook for iOS and Android—by providing Google Accounts with a more powerful way to stay in control of the day ahead.

I’m going to take this for a spin.

This fortnight on Ungeniused:

From 1969 to 1972, twelve astronauts walked on the moon. OR DID THEY?

Don’t miss this one.

Henry Bodkin at The Telegraph:

The British Red Cross has launched a voice-activated app which tells people how to deal with household medical emergencies such as seizures or burns.

From today, hesitant first-aiders confronted with a crisis will simply have to say “Alexa, first aid”, before explaining the nature of the problem, and a female voice will calmly talk them through the steps they need to take.

I can see potential liability issues here, but making basic first aid accessible via voice¹ seems like a good idea to me.

Confused by Apple’s iPad naming scheme? So is everyone else. This article is here to help.

This fortnight on Liftoff:

After visiting Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the Voyager probes are now probing the very edges of our solar system — and beyond.

I find something … unsettling … about the Voyager mission.

This week on Connected:

With Myke pondering life in the woods, Stephen and Federico talk about Clips and what the Mac and iPad can learn from each other before quizzing each other on their preferred platforms in a battle for eternal nerd glory.

I had a lot of fun going up against Viticci in this episode.

My thanks to our sponsors:

• Incapsula: Secure and accelerate your website. Connected listeners get one month free.
• Pingdom: Start monitoring your websites and servers today. Use offer CONNECTED to get 20% off.
• Eero: Blanket your home in fast, reliable WiFi.

Seven years ago, I published my original iPad review. I thought it would be fun to revisit it today.

I really had no intention of buying an iPad on launch day, but I was very curious about it. About an hour before the local Apple Store closed, I called a friend of mine to see if he wanted to go with me to check out the demo models. I figured I was safe from an impulsive decision, but they still had models in stock:

As the release day drew to an end and I read more reviews of the device I caved, drove to the Apple Store and plunked down some money for the 16GB Wi-Fi model.

That original hardware was very much of its time:

The iPhone and the Mid–2007 iMac kicked off Apple’s current love affair with smooth, slick aluminum coupled with glass-covered panels with thick black borders. The design language they introduced with those products can now be found on Apple’s notebooks, and it’s embodied in the iPad. In many ways, the iPad reminds me of an iMac — both machines are defined by their large glass-covered displays. What lives behind the screen is easily forgotten.

This iPad is from the time before Apple put an oleophobic coating on their devices, and it showed. After getting my new device setup, I was shocked at how gross it looked. This wasn’t helped by the chunky black bezels.

Right off the bat, the iPad felt like a product from the future. The screen was just a giant window into apps and content; the hardware yielded its ground to the software unlike any other device. Best of all, it was silent:

After playing a racing game for 30 minutes, it was barely warm. It’s pretty incredible. I’d almost like my iPad to get warm more often so I know it’s actually working. That, coupled with the complete lack of noise or humming, makes the iPad seem even more futuristic. Like most groundbreaking Apple products, it doesn’t have a fan — think of how magical the G4 Cube and the iMac G3 still seem.

I did have some complaints about the hardware; I really wanted to see an SD card slot on the original iPad. I’ve since bought SD card adaptors for my iOS devices, and I think I’ve used them maybe three or four times.

As I read through my old review, I came across something that still drives me crazy:

A huge complaint of mine is that the icons on the home screen shift when the iPad changes orientation. It really screws with muscle memory, and makes me hunt down icons when I’m in portrait mode, since I use mine in landscape most of the time. Apple needs to fix it.

Maybe this is the year the iPad homescreen becomes more useful.¹

Thankfully this complaint has been taken care as of iOS 7:

A lot of third-party apps (and apps like Contacts and Calendars) are designed to look like the real objects they replace. It’s an odd trend, and I’m not sure I am in love with it. Virtual bookcases and sticky notes just aren’t as effective as their physical inspirations.

Younger-Stephen was unaware of the painful nerve damage in his future, and could still use an Apple Extended II keyboard. His taste in keyboards clearly didn’t affect how he used his iPad:

I haven’t paired my iPad to a bluetooth keyboard, but it seems like a good solution for long typing sessions. I just don’t see the need at this point. Even typing this review on the iPad wasn’t bad enough for me to go grab a keyboard. Granted, I’ve been working on over the course of a week, not all at once.

I’m writing this on my 9.7" iPad Pro with the Smart Keyboard attached. I much prefer it to the software keyboard these days, even if the Smart Keyboard is a little cramped at this smaller size.

I ended my review by pontificating on the iPad’s role in the world:

The biggest question of all when it comes to the iPad is this — can it revolutionize the computer industry? I’m not sure it can.

I think it can replace the desktop for some users who just surf, email and look at photos, the iPad is a compelling alternative.

Of course, since the iPad is dependent on iTunes, it makes it more difficult to think of it as a stand-alone machine.

For another class of users, the desktop computer cannot be replaced at this point. People who use computers to create will see their iPads as secondary devices for light tasks, note taking and media playback. That’s where I am with it. All in all, it’s a great device with lots of promise, but it’s far from being as revolutionary as the Macintosh was in 1984. No matter what Apple says.

iTunes dependency may be a thing of the past, but this conflict is still at the heart of any conversation about the iPad. Many people can – and do — use the tablet as their primary computing device. The software and hardware advancements of the last seven years have made the iPad more powerful and flexible, but it’s not enough for everyone.

I’m somewhere in the middle. Some of my work has to be done on a Mac, but a bunch of it can be done on my iPad. I often choose my Mac over my iPad for those tasks out of habit, but that isn’t the iPad’s fault.

It’s clear Apple needs to do more to push the iPad further down the road to general computing. As much as Steve Jobs disliked it, most users need access to some sort of file system. Multitasking should be native, not bolted-on through the use of a weird sidebar app drawer. Some of us need access to more powerful applications and utilities to complete our workdays on an iPad.

I think Apple is hard at work on these things, but looking back, it’s pretty incredible how far this device has come. This iPad Pro I’m typing on now may have the same screen size as the original iPad, but they are worlds apart in terms of capability.