March 22: Kindle Armageddon ⇢

⌘ Permalink

Amazon Support:

Customers using an outdated software version on Kindle e-readers require an important software update by March 22, 2016 in order to continue to download Kindle books from the Cloud, access the Kindle Store, and use other Kindle services on their device.

If you do not update your device by March 22, 2016, you will receive the following message on your device: Your Kindle is unable to connect at this time. Please make sure you are within wireless range and try again. If the problem persists, please restart your Kindle from the Menu in Settings and try again. If you see this message on your device on or after March 22, you will need to manually install the latest software update for your device.

I can’t imagine what changed on Amazon’s end that requires an update like this, across almost every generation of device.

A look back at Apple’s Town Hall ⇢

⌘ Permalink

Jason Snell and … well … yours truly:

Located at 4 Infinite Loop on Apple’s main campus, the Town Hall conference center was probably designed more for in-company meetings than for major events covered by worldwide media. And yet on numerous occasions over the years, it’s been exactly that.

Monday’s event in Town Hall could very well be the last hurrah for the old 300-seat venue, given that Apple is constructing a 1,000-seat auditorium in its new campus, due to open next year. Before it goes, here’s a look back at key public events in Town Hall, starting in late 2001.

It was a lot of fun to dive into some of these events. Products from the iPod to the Xserve to the iPhone 5C have been introduced at Town Hall:

Kbase Article of the Week: Duo Dock: How Far It Ejects the PowerBook Duo ⇢

⌘ Permalink

I wrote about the PowerBook Duo and its docking stations back in 2011, but I left a critical question unanswered:

As a general rule, the PowerBook Duo is ejected from the dock approximately 2.5 inches (6.3 cm). This is a typical measurement, not a minimum or maximum.

It’s similar to a VCR ejecting a video tape: if you can easily grab the Duo and pull it out of the machine, then the Duo Dock is operating correctly.

On the Fusion Drive

⌘ Permalink

Since publishing my article about tech that should come to the Mac this morning, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about Fusion Drives.

For the uninitiated, the Fusion Drive is a storage solution Apple ships with the Mac mini and iMac that uses a small SSD mated to a larger spinning hard drive. To vastly oversimplify what’s going behind the scenes, the system sees these two devices as one volume. OS X, core apps and the user’s most-used files are on the SSD, while apps and data accessed less frequently live on the hard drive.

This system is designed to give the user the best of both worlds: SSD performance with the large capacity offered by cheap spinning disks. In practice, most users will see speeds much closer to what an SSD can provide than users without a Fusion Drive.

It’s not all great news, though. Fusion Drives generally work well, but there is a level of complication to them not found in single-device storage systems.

Then there’s the penny-pinching. In late 2015, Apple adjusted the Fusion Drive to include much less Flash storage space on some models:

In previous versions of the Fusion Drive, Apple has included 128 GB of flash storage—enough to store a lot of large apps and files that you use frequently. In the new iMacs with 1 TB Fusion Drives, however, that number has been cut to an insanely small 24 GB.

This means that less can be on the SSD at any given time. While OS X and many core apps will still fit there, more users will have more files on the spinning hard drive more of the time, making the overall experience slower than it may have been previously.

SSD costs are still higher than hard drives, so the Fusion Drive continues to exist as a stop-gap. Many users need bigger capacities than Apple offers in their all-SSD models. Other users simply can’t — or don’t want to — pay for a 1 TB SSD at Apple’s prices.

I wish we could move past the Fusion Drive and live in all-SSD world, but I fully realize why we aren’t there yet. But hey, it’s fun to talk about goals.

Back to the Mac

⌘ Permalink

When Apple introduced OS X Lion, it was at the “Back to the Mac” event, and rightfully so. Lion was the first OS X release to really incorporate — for better and for worse — features from Apple’s mobile operating system.

These days, iOS and OS X’s development tracks are closer than ever, with features like Handoff and AirDrop tying the two systems together in new ways.

With a new version of Mac OS X — or MacOS — assumedly around the corner, I think there’s more Apple could take from iOS’ cookie jar.

Picture in Picture

While the official YouTube app still doesn’t support it, Picture in Picture has changed the way I use my iPad in a significant way.

For example, in the past, preparing for an Apple history article or writing a video script had to be done at my Mac, as I couldn’t have a video, a bunch of browser tabs and a text document set up in any useful way. Now, I can open a video and have it float above my document and browser as I take notes and collect links to relevant articles.

In the short time since iOS 9 has been out, I already feel like video is stifled and trapped on the Mac. Needing an entire browser window open to watch something on YouTube feels incredibly old-fashioned and inflexible. I’d like to see Picture in Picture show up on the Mac to solve this.

UIKit

I’m not a developer, so I’m unable to fully explain this, but in talking with friends who make apps, it’s clear that there’s a frustration on the part of many when it comes to developing on the Mac.

This is especially true in terms of taking an iOS codebase and making a desktop version of an existing app. Mac OS X’s AppKit is far older then UIKit, and is full of differences. The tools and technologies available don’t go far enough in bridging the gap.

There’s no doubt that iOS is where all the action is these days for developers, but I believe the Mac is a longterm, stable platform where people are willing to spend money for software. If Apple could make porting iOS apps to OS X easier, it’d be better for everyone. Bringing UIKit to the Mac would allow developers to re-use much more of their work, lowering the bar required for cross-platform development. That could breathe new life into the Mac software ecosystem and lead to more sales for developers who are seeing prices continue to plummet on the iOS App Store.

All Flash Storage

That 2010 event closed with the introduction of the second-generation MacBook Air. The new design, with its great battery life, thin enclosure and instant sleep/wake ability was only possible through the magic of Flash storage.

Indeed, the MacBook Air is the notebook that brought SSD technology to the masses.

But here in 2016 — a full 6 years later — the Mac lineup still includes numerous models with spinning hard drives (or Fusion Drives) as the default configuration.

These computers can be upgraded to ship with an SSD from the factory, but many people won’t see or understand the need for it, and have a subpar experience.

While I can understand this on the MacBook Pro and Mac mini, the Retina iMac is perhaps the flagship Mac. It’s dissapointing that Apple cripples it by putting a slow 5400 RPM drive in the thing.

2016 should be the last year this is true. It’s time that Apple finish this transition and leave the spinning hard drive behind.