512 Pixels

What a guy. He’s been to the moon and to Reddit. I wonder which one was scarier.

For a while now, I’ve been using Dropbox as my photo management solution.

It’s not the cheapest thing on the planet, but it works for me. However, with Photos for OS X coming soon, I’m re-thinking my long-term strategy.

Apple has to prove to users that it can sync and stream photos, but if the system will work the way the company says it will, it looks compelling. So compelling, in fact, that I’m already thinking about my migration strategy.

On last week’s ATP, John Siracusa spoke about his photo management solution, iPhoto. He’s spent hours and hours over the last decade fine-tuning his metadata, making it easy to dial in to a small set of photos using time, location, ratings and even facial recognition.

That discovery isn’t possible using just the file system. While I have Hazel name my files by creation date and I sort them into folders, finding the right photo usually means thumbing through Finder with Quick Look.

With Photos on the horizon, I’m seriously considering importing my 66 GB photo library and hammer out some metadata work in iPhoto, then transition to Photos.app when it’s released.

Update: Jordan Patterson brings up an excellent question:

@ismh do you plan on waiting for photos on the Mac or will you use iOS to import unit iCloud photo library?

— Jordan Patterson (@JordanPatterson) July 8, 2014

The split launch thing Apple’s doing here is going to be annoying. Hopefully the Mac OS X application will be released as a beta when iOS 8 is launched.

Dr. Drang, in response to last week’s episode of The Prompt:

As I said a few years ago, the likelihood that an app will be Sherlocked depends less on the quality of the app than on the effort Apple puts into its purported replacement.

The example Papa Drang uses is Apple’s own Podcasts app. As he writes, Apple took the nascent podcast market and Sherlocked guys like iPodderX and Odeo with iTunes in 2005.

Of course, Apple re-Sherlocked the podcast client scene with its own first-party client, as The Good Doctor wrote:

Unlike the podcast integration in iTunes, the Podcasts app was clumsy, ugly, and harder to use than the existing third-party solutions. A later version of Podcasts was said to be an improvement, but it still stunk. When a further update hit the App Store, I refused to test it myself and waited for others to report on the new odor. This was a good decision.

Apple’s tendency to is to move into a complex market with an app or solution that covers the basics in an easy-to-use way. Very often, this leaves room in the market for third-party apps to cater to power users. Pocketcasts, Instacast, Castro and Downcast are all doing fine. Hell, new players are joining the fray.

While the pocket created at the high-end of the market is great for users and developers, it speaks volumes about how Apple approaches software, and highlights the tension that some of us have felt for years while dealing with Cupertino’s applications. Final Cut Pro X, GarageBand and iWork have all taken big hits after recent updates. More on topic, the feature set for Apple’s Podcast apps looks good on paper, it is more or less a dud. It currently is rocking a 1.5 star rating on the App Store.

All of this builds the case that being Sherlocked doesn’t have to be a death sentence for an application. Apple launching an app with a similar feature set as a popular app doesn’t mean Apple’s solution will be popular … or good.

Ashley Feinberg:

That lingering coolness factor only makes it all the more depressing when you realize that, today, the Razr is a barely functional, actively-out-to-sabotage you bit of technological refuse. What was once displayed with pride on a shiny store pedestal, I found on eBay for $36 and sandwiched between a bulk set of broken chargers and discontinued memory cards.

As someone with a moderate to severe smartphone dependency, I knew my Razr month would be an adjustment. But I would have never guessed which things actually ended up needing the adjusting. Here’s everything I learned during 30 days soundtracked by polyphonic ringtones and my own, gentle cries of defeat. Kids, please, don’t try this at home.

In November 2012, I switched back to a dumbphone, and while my experiment failed miserably, I did learn a lot about myself and how I use technology.

This week on The Prompt, we talk about phenomenon of Sherlocking. It’s a good one.

This week’s tip on The Sweet Setup is a good one.

Nitin Ganatra may not be a household name to most Apple nerds, but he was partially responsible for all sorts of projects like System 7.5, Mail.app and the company’s first-party iOS apps.

Over the last few weeks, Rene Ritchie and Guy English have been releasing a three-part interview with Ganatra on their podcast, Debug. Part three just landed today, but if it’s half as good as the first two episodes, it’ll be excellent. These are a must-listen:

• Debug 39: Nitin Ganatra episode I: System 7 to Carbon
• Debug 40: Nitin Ganatra episode II: OS X to iOS
• Debug 41: Nitin Ganatra episode III: iPhone to iPad

I have a huge place in my heart for old Sony hardware.

Allen Pike reflects on Tim Cook’s Apple.

It’s been a busy day for the software update teams in Cupertino. iOS 7.1.2 was released this morning with the following updates:

• Improves iBeacon connectivity and stability
• Fixes a bug with data transfer for some 3rd party accessories, including bar code scanners
• Corrects an issue with data protection class of Mail attachments

The update can be downloaded via iTunes or over the air directly on the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

On the Mac side, OS X Mavericks 10.9.4 is also out with the following tweaks:

• Fixes an issue that prevented some Macs from automatically connecting to known Wi-Fi networks
• Fixes issue causing the background or Apple logo to appear incorrectly on startup
• Improves the reliability of waking from sleep
• Includes Safari 7.0.5

I’ve seen Wi-Fi and sleep/wake issues on my MacBook Air, and am crossing my finger this release will take care of things.

As technology becomes easier to use by children, so increases the chance of them having access to indecent content online.

‘iOS 7 Safari, Siri and Website Restrictions’ teaches the reader how to use restrictions on Apple’s mobile devices to prevent access to offensive content when using Siri, Safari and other apps with access to the internet.

Written by Jim Christian, a technology consultant with over ten years working in education with students, parents and teachers, ‘iOS 7 Safari, Siri and Website Restrictions’ is available now on the iBooks Store.

Educators can now create and manage content from the iPad.