iPod your BMW ⇢

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Apple PR, back in 2004:

Apple and BMW Group today announced the BMW iPod Adapter, the first seamless integration between iPod and a car audio system. The new system developed by Apple and BMW enables drivers to seamlessly use their iPod in BMW’s 3 Series, Z4 Roadster, X3 and X5 Sports Activity Vehicles and MINI Cooper by simply plugging their iPod into a cable located in the car’s glove compartment. With the iPod safely located in the glove compartment and powered by the car’s battery, drivers can now enjoy high fidelity sound through their car’s stereo system and control their iPod using the standard buttons on their BMW or MINI steering wheel.

“One of the next frontiers for a seamless digital music experience is the car,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We all spend a lot of time driving, and now this elegant solution lets iPod users enjoy their entire music collection in their BMW or MINI.”

Turns out, the system is still around, and the page referenced in the PR piece is still up.

I guess this is what Apple meant when it said it had “led consumer technology integration in the car for more than a decade” in the CarPlay press release.

Thanks, Brian!

RSS Sponsor: the CreativeLabs AXX 200 ⇢

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We believe there’s so much more that your portable wireless speaker should do for you. That’s why we made the AXX 200.

The AXX 200 is a Bluetooth wireless speaker + Sound Blaster audio processor. This means a portable wireless speaker with power for real-time audio enhancement.

Intelligence. That’s what the AXX 200 brings to the table.

  • Make a call. Listen to music. AXX 200 intelligently adjusts the audio settings for you.
  • The Sound Blaster Central App for your iOS or Android device places the control in your hands.
  • Built-in quad array microphone – That’s FOUR microphones in a single wireless speaker for 360° of clear, unmatched audio pickup for voice calls and recording.
  • A wireless speaker that automatically cancels out noise during voice calls. For real.

It’s for work, it’s for play.

It can be everything you need it to be.

The AXX 200 is now on sale for a limited time at Creative.com and Amazon.com.

Podcasting Wars: Skype Vs. FaceTime Audio

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While FaceTime Audio was introduced with iOS 7, with OS X 10.9.2, Apple added audio-only calls to the desktop FaceTime application.

I — like many other podcasters — have thought about trying to harness Apple’s service to record shows, as opposed to the venerable solution, Skype.

FaceTime Audio only supports calls with two people, so it isn’t helpful for podcasts like mine, but it is possible to capture the incoming and outgoing audio fairly easily.

Double-Ending

Recording a podcast via the “double-ender” method is the best way to get the highest possible audio quality, as each host is recording their own audio input locally on their Mac or PC.

On The Prompt, each of the three of us use QuickTime to record our own audio. Once the show is done, we get our files to Myke via Dropbox, and he uses them to edit and mix the show. To aide in the timing of these tracks, he uses a file he captures with Ecamm Call Recorder that include audio from each “side” of the conversation.

Since double-ending is really just syncing up a bunch of locally-recorded files, Skype is relegated to being the middle man. In that regard, FaceTime Audio can easily become a replacement for Skype.

But what if you want to live on the edge and go straight to tape, assuming you have your mic input set correctly?

Recording a FaceTime Audio Conversation

While Call Recorder won’t work with FaceTime, both Audio Hijack Pro and Piezo are capable of recording both sides of a FaceTime Audio call.

Piezo is $15, but records FaceTime Audio calls only in stereo, with the local caller on one side and the remote guest on the other. While this easy enough to fix in post, the $32 Audio Hijack Pro can be configured to record directly to mono, once it’s pointed at the FaceTime app:

The Future

While Skype has a fairly poor reputation, FaceTime Audio isn’t immune to dropping packets or calls, either. In fact, at times, Skype has proved much more reliable than FaceTime Audio.

Acknowledging that no VoIP system is perfect, it is important to note that FaceTime Audio and Skype sound very different.

Here is 5by5’s Myke Hurley:

My conversations with podcasters that are smarter than me tell me that they do a lot of work on compression to ensure that Skype sounds closest to telephone conversation and has a warm, rich tone. I am inclined to agree with this. When the call connection is good, Skype sounds great.

I agree with Myke’s assessment. I wouldn’t want to switch back and forth between FaceTime Audio and Skype, as the sound is noticeably different.

At this point, I think it’s best to think of FaceTime Audio as a good backup for Skype, but I won’t be moving to it anytime soon.

Update: On episode 38 of The Prompt, we tested FaceTime Audio on the air. Be sure to check out the difference in audio quality. It’s crazy.

CarPlay ⇢

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The Apple PR Machine:

Apple today announced that leading auto manufacturers are rolling out CarPlay, the smarter, safer and more fun way to use iPhone in the car. CarPlay gives iPhone users an incredibly intuitive way to make calls, use Maps, listen to music and access messages with just a word or a touch. Users can easily control CarPlay from the car’s native interface or just push-and-hold the voice control button on the steering wheel to activate Siri without distraction. Vehicles from Ferrari, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo will premiere CarPlay to their drivers this week, while additional auto manufacturers bringing CarPlay to their drivers down the road include BMW Group, Ford, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motor Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Kia Motors, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan Motor Company, PSA Peugeot Citroën, Subaru, Suzuki and Toyota Motor Corp.

The interface looks great, but there’s been chatter about a lack of third-party apps. Currently, Apple lists the following apps on its website as being compatible with CarPlay:

  • Podcasts
  • Beats Radio
  • iHeartRadio
  • Spotify
  • Sticher

The company promises that “even more support apps are coming soon,” and while I’d like to use my podcast client of choice with a system like this, I get why Apple’s keeping things closed right now. I’m not sure opening this up to the entire development community would be the best idea, as this thing is front-and-center while driving a car.

I did chuckle at this bit from Apple’s press release, though:

Apple has led consumer technology integration in the car for more than a decade. CarPlay brings your car and iPhone together for a thoughtful experience that lets drivers focus on driving, while also tapping into everything they want to do with their iPhone.

If by “consumer technology integration,” the company meant “selling FM transmitters in our stores,” I guess they’re right.

Tim Cook Vs. the NCPPR ⇢

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The whole Mac Observer piece about today’s Apple shareholder meeting is worth the read, but this is the most exciting part, in which Tim Cook tangles with a representative from the National Center for Public Policy Research:

“When we work on making our devices accessible by the blind,” he said, “I don’t consider the bloody ROI.” He said that the same thing about environmental issues, worker safety, and other areas where Apple is a leader.

[…]

He didn’t stop there, however, as he looked directly at the NCPPR representative and said, “If you want me to do things only for ROI reasons, you should get out of this stock.”

I like fiesty Tim Cook.

Update: Don’t miss the group’s press release on the subject.

Apple releases iOS security white paper ⇢

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Apple:

Apple designed the iOS platform with security at its core. When we set out to create the best possible mobile OS, we drew from decades of experience to build an entirely new architecture. We thought about the security hazards of the desktop environment, and established a new approach to security in the design of iOS. We developed and incorporated innovative features that tighten mobile security and protect the entire system by default. As a result, iOS is a major leap forward in OS security.

While I can’t help but think that Apple’s trying to move past the goto fail; bug, there’s a lot of interesting stuff in this PDF.

On the whole ‘Apple dropping Snow Leopard from support’ thing ⇢

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Gregg Keizer at Computerworld:

Apple on Tuesday made it clear that it will no longer patch OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, when it again declined to offer a security update for the four-and-a-half-year-old operating system.

As Apple issued an update for Mavericks, or OS X 10.9, as well as for its two predecessors, Mountain Lion (10.8) and Lion (10.7), Apple had nothing for Snow Leopard or its owners yesterday.

Keizer fails to mention that Snow Leopard wasn’t affected by Apple’s goto fail; bug, but hey, I’m not a security reporter. Let’s move on:

Snow Leopard was also ignored in December, when Apple patched Safari 6 and 7 for newer editions of OS X, but did not update Safari 5.1.10, the most-current Apple browser for the OS.

In that paragraph, Keizer links to this article, in which he writes:

Apple has apparently decided to kill support for OS X Snow Leopard, the 2009 operating system that has resisted retirement for more than a year.

On Monday, Apple did not update Safari 5.1 when it patched the later Safari 6 and 7 for newer editions of OS X, including 2011’s Lion, 2012’s Mountain Lion and this year’s Mavericks.

Keizer is referring to the release of Safari 6.1.1 and Safari 7.0.1, which took place in December of last year.

According to CVE Details, the issue related to user credentials and autofills weren’t an issue in Safari 5.1, as were none of the other CVE-IDs listed in Apple’s document.

I don’t know if Apple’s dropped support for OS X Snow Leopard. It would be weird for the company do it mid-stride, but Keizer’s evidence of Apple’s “apparent” change just don’t add up.

Plink ⇢

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Jeff Mueller:

Like a lot of nerds, I write in Markdown, and I use a combination of Byword and Editorial to draft my posts. Editorial can be made to upload images to a CDN, but it’s difficult to set up.

I wanted something simpler that could provide an easy-to-configure way to insert images into my posts directly from my iPad or iPhone. And I wanted it to be something anyone could set up.

Thus, Plink was born.

If Mueller’s crowd funding hits $3,500, he’ll be able to add Flickr, Photobucket, Amazon S3, and Rackspace’s CDN for image hosting. I tossed some money his way, as this would make working from my iPad a good bit easier.