Feedly Looks Forward ⇢

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With the death of Google Reader just a few weeks away, the people behind Feedly are hard at work.

In addition to updating their web app, they’re working on something that made me smile:

We have been working behind the curtains with the developers of Reeder, Press, Nextgen Reader, Newsify and gReader as design partners for our Normandy project. Today we are excited to announce that you will be able to access your feedly from all these apps before Google Reader retires and that the access to feedly API will be free. More details soon.

I really like Reeder, but have been using Feedly’s web and first-party apps for several weeks. It’ll be nice to switch back soon.

How To Setup iOS To Sync With Google Contacts Via CardDAV

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Back in December, I outlined how to hook up Google CardDAV to Contacts in Mountain Lion, but neglected to cover how to do so on iOS.

Sorry about that. Here’s how to do it.

In the Settings app, tap “Mail, Contacts, Calendars,” then tap “Add Account…”

In the Accounts Type screen, select “Other” at the bottom of the list, then select “Add CardDAV Account.”

The next screen is where you enter settings for the account:

Here are the details you need:

  • Server: google.com
  • User Name: Full Gmail address
  • Password: Your Gmail password
  • Description: What you want to call the account.

Once you are done entering this information, tap “Next” in the upper-right hand corner, and iOS will verify the settings are correct, then kick you back to the main Accounts screen.

The account will automatically sync the first time. Like on OS X, CardDAV accounts have to manually synced for later updates.

If your iPhone or iPad doesn’t have any other contact accounts setup, you’ll need to select your vcard for the “My Info” setting:

Old Mac of the Month: Titanium PowerBook G4

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This month’s entry is written by Jared Sorge. Jared’s been a Mac user since 1st grade and sold them from 1999–2003 for an Authorized Reseller in the Seattle area. Currently he’s a developer of FileMaker and iOS apps. You can find him on Twitter and ADN as @jsorge, or at his blog over at jsorge.net.

image via Apple PR

In January 2001, Apple brought out the Titanium PowerBook G4. This was a landmark introduction that would influence generations of designs across the PC industry (and still holds up well today).

Back then, there was an unwritten rule that you skip the first generation of a new Apple product. They were known for some quality issues, and the TiBook was no exception. There were problems with the display hinges, the new slot-loading DVD drive (an industry first in a laptop) and the FireWire controller.

Apple spec bumped up to 550 & 667Mhz in October, adding gigabit ethernet as well as boosting the bus on the 667 to 133Mhz but the real second generation Titanium PowerBook came in April 2002.

I was waiting to buy one of these. At that point I had a Blue & White G3 and one of the Dual USB iBooks and wanted to consolidate my computing to one machine. I sold both of those computers to buy one of the 667Mhz PowerBooks. It was worth every penny.

Hardware

  • 667Mhz G4 processor
  • 256MB PC133 SO-DIMM RAM
  • 30GB Hard drive
  • 15.2" Widescreen, enhanced to 1280×854 resolution
  • ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 w/ 32MB DDR SDRAM
  • Slot-loading combo drive (fixed from the original DVD-ROM drives)
  • DVI video output
  • 133Mhz system bus across all models
  • AirPort ready (the high-end 800Mhz model came with the card installed)

The big news of note in the hardware department was the display. The first couple revisions of the Powerbook G4 had an 1152×768 resolution. The DVI model upped that by 23% according to Apple’s PR. I got the computer to do video editing, and the extra resolution definitely came in handy when I would run Final Cut Pro. I loved that display. And with the extra graphics horsepower it handled Castle Wolfenstein with ease.

Software

  • Mac OS X v10.1 and Mac OS 9.2
  • Acrobat Reader
  • Art Directors Toolkit
  • Earthlink
  • FAXstf
  • Graphic Converter
  • Internet Explorer
  • OmniGraffle
  • OmniOutliner
  • PCalc
  • PixelNhance
  • Snapz Pro X

My first reaction to researching all of this: Just look at that list of third-party software that they used to include in every one of these computers[1]. I loved using OmniOutliner for taking notes in classes. I still use OmniGraffle for flowcharting processes and prototyping some UIs. I wish Apple would get back to these older ways and bundle some more quality third-party apps, but we all know that won’t be happening.

My PowerBook G4

I loved my TiBook, so much so that I actually bought 2 of them. One of my co-workers at the time was moving to Africa and wanted to buy a machine that he knew was reliable so he paid the same amount as a new one and I bought another.

One of the sad things about the titanium design was that the case was painted. On the first day of use while taking notes in class, my metal watch actually chipped some of it away. I got around this later by using my keyboard screen protector as a cover where my watch would hit the case but by that point the damage was done (I learned my lesson before my 2nd one, which stayed pristine during my usage).

I bought the PowerBook in the middle of a weird season for me, with new computer purchases every year from 2001–2004. I replaced this PowerBook with one of the 12-inch PowerBook G4s in 2003. I’m pretty sure that I actually made money on the deal (which was a driving factor for a college student) and I really wanted the SuperDrive for burning my videos.

Selling my TiBook was a mistake, so in 2004 I sold the 12-inch PowerBook and bought a refurbished 15-inch Aluminum PowerBook G4. That machine had several repair issues and after the third time Apple replaced it with a brand new one. You guessed it, I sold it a couple months later and used those funds to buy an iMac G5.[2] That was the last computer I would purchase for home until 2009, when I upgraded to a 15-inch Unibody MacBook Pro that I still use.

The Titanium PowerBook G4 was a landmark in computing. Apple perfected its design with the DVI model, increasing the screen resolution, the speed, and ironing out the kinks from the first generation. I loved that computer, and it served me well for too short of a time.

Want to write about an old Mac you love? Get in touch!

  1. Remember when Apple and Earthlink were partners?  ↩
  2. Yes, I was certifiably crazy during those few years. And it’s odd how several of my computers that I’ve owned have been featured here on 512 Pixels.  ↩

One Half Of One Percent ⇢

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Wayne Hale, 32-year NASA veteran and Space Shuttle Flight Director:

For all our limitations, America is a very rich country. There are many things which America needs to do for the present moment: provide for a strong military to protect us in a dangerous world, educate our children, care for our elderly and infirm, revitalize our transportation infrastructure of roads, bridges, airports, and more. All of these activities are of vital importance today. Space exploration is about the future. Space exploration is possibly the only line item in the federal budget that is all about the future. Currently we spend one half of one percent of our nation’s treasure on the future. Isn’t the future worth that investment? Or more!

Chicago Sun-Times Fires Photographers, Trains Reporters on iPhone Photography ⇢

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AppleInsider:

The Chicago Sun-Times, one of the oldest daily newspapers in America, fired its entire pool of 28 photographers on Friday, and plans to source future graphics from reporters who will be trained to capture print-worthy images with their iPhones.

I’m sure that there’s no way this will backfire.

On the Acer Aspire R7 ⇢

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David Pierce at The Verge:

In a fit of late-night frustration, I picked the R7 up, held it aloft, and shouted at it: “WHAT ARE YOU?!” I still don’t know. It’s too big and cumbersome to be a really useful laptop — even for a 15-inch device it’s pretty enormous. But it’s too small to be an all-in-one, and not powerful enough to really qualify as a desktop or desktop replacement.

Be sure to click through, if even just to look at the photos of this machine. It’s wild, and not in a good way.

The State of Apple’s Mac Software Products

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Steve Jobs said on numerous occasions that Apple is primarly a software company.

As Apple Remote Desktop crashed on my MacBook Air yesterday, that came to mind. Then I realized besides some maintenance updates, ARD hasn’t changed all that much in a while.

I decided to take a look at all of the software Apple currently has in the Mac App Store, and see if that was the case for other titles as well.

Apple Configurator

Apple Configurator is a free application designed for setting up, deploying and managing large numbers of iOS devices.

Using Apple Configurator, IT professionals in educational and business environments can configure multiple devices at once, update iOS from a central point across multiple devices, install apps, setup restrictors and more.

(To learn more about the app, be sure to check out these two episodes of the Out of School podcast.)

It is currently siting at version 1.2.1, with its last update on October 31, 2012, adding iOS 6 support and squashing bugs relating to data activation on iPhones and LTE-equipped iPads. The update also added more robust support for managing AppleTVs.

Apple Remote Desktop

Apple Remote Desktop has been the central tool for most Mac admins for years. First released in March 2002, the app supported both the classic MacOS and OS X.

The app has seen some major changes over the years. Version 2 moved the entire connection scheme to the VNC standard, and version 3 (released in 2006) added better security tools and support for Intel.

$499 used to get you support for an unlimited number of managed computers, but the app is now just $79.99 in the Mac App Store.

Sadly, the app is just at version 3.6.1. In the last seven years, Apple’s only really touched the app to add support for new versions of OS X. In August 2012, ARD was updated for “improved performance,” after Mountain Lion broke version 3.5.

I — like many people who rely on Apple Remote Desktop daily — feel like its been forgotten by Apple. It feels stagnant. At least it’s affordable now.

Aperture

Aperture is Apple’s pro-level photography editing and management application.

Aperture had a rocky birth, with the first versions being painfully slow, even on on decent hardware.

Overall, while Aperture 3 itself has been out for over three years, Apple updated the application fairly regularly, albeit mostly to add RAW support for new cameras.

Many believe that Aperture is due for another overhaul. Aperture X has been rumored for some time, and could be critical for the product, as Adobe keeps improving Lightroom at a much faster clip.

Like ARD, the price has fallen from $499 to just $79.99 after its introduction in the Mac App Store. Version 3.4.4 was updated in April of this year.

Compressor

Compressor 4 is one of the few apps on this list that I’ve never used.

In a nutshell, Compressor adds more powerful exporting options to Final Cut Pro X. It boasts numerous options for fine-tweaking video output (including re-timing, cropping, applying filters and more), and can be used to build workflows to cut down on repetitive tasks. Compressor is mainly used for preparing video for DVD or Blu-Ray discs, although DVD Studio Pro is basically dead.

Compressor was part of the old Final Cut Studio, but is now available as a stand-alone application for $49.99 from the Mac App Store.

FaceTime

FaceTime is a 99¢ app on the Mac App Store.

The app is used to make FaceTime calls from the Mac, and pops up when an incoming call is detected on your AppleID. FaceTime is a very simple app, and oddly, is built using OS X’s HID interface. Last updated in March of 2011, it’s remained basically unchanged for the course of its life. It does what it needs to do, but it should be free.

As simple as the app is, its history is confusing. OS X 10.7 Lion came with FaceTime installed out of the box, so the App Store version is only needed if you are running Snow Leopard or somehow don’t have it installed. While the App Store version is 1.0.2, while Mountain Lion ships with version 2.0.

Final Cut Pro

Out of all of the apps on this list, none have caused so much controversy as Final Cut Pro.

Apple announced Final Cut Pro X in 2011, and was met with wide-ranging criticism from the professional video editing community. The new version stripped out many features found in Final Cut Pro 7, the previous version.

The $299 app is updated more frequently than anything else on this list. Every update has brought substantial improvements, bringing the new version back to near-parity with the old.

The current version — 10.0.8 — was last updated in March of this year.

iBooks Author

iBooks Author is one of the newest apps on the list. Announced in January 2012, the free app allows users to build custom books — including textbooks — for the iPad version of iBooks. (The books created with the app won’t run on the iPhone, and there’s no Mac version of iBooks at this time.)

iBooks Author looks and operates like an iWork application, bringing the same UI to a more powerful application. Users can add videos, interactives and more to their book easily.

Version 2.0 was released in October 2012, with new templates, better support for mathematical expressions, and the addition of custom fonts.

iLife

The iLife suite — made up GarageBand, iMovie and iPhoto — isn’t really a suite anymore. At one time, all of the apps (with iDVD and iWeb) came together on an installer DVD.

Now available from the Mac App Store for $14.99 each, iLife received its last major update in October 2010, earning an ’11 at the end of its name.

iMovie and iPhoto were both updated this spring, but GarageBand — at version 6.0.5 — has been untouched since March 2012, when bug fixes related to the iOS version were pushed.

iLife’s rather stagnant state is in contrast with its history, which saw new versions far more frequently. In 2001, Steve Jobs unveiled his “Digital Hub” vision, and iLife became the realization of that, in many ways. Today, the iOS versions seem enjoy more of Apple’s attention, however.

iWork

There’s nothing sadder on this list, however, than iWork. Keynote, Numbers and Pages have been largely untouched since 2009.

In July 2012, iWork gained iCloud and Retina display support.

Keynote 5.3, Pages 4.3 and Numbers 2.3 were released in December 2012, adding support for version their updated iOS counterparts.

iWork feels largely forgotten. While all three apps feel relatively feature-complete, there are things from iBooks Author Apple could add, in addition to new transitions and themes for Keynote. Currently, all three enjoy spots in the top five paid productivity applications on the Mac App Store.

As someone who uses Keynote and Pages often, I would love for Apple to remember these things are still around. It’s pretty pitiful.

Logic Pro

Like Aperture, Logic Pro 9 enjoyed a big price break when moving to the Mac App Store, and a “X” version has long been rumored. Unlike Aperture (and Final Cut Pro X), however, Logic Pro is relatively popular.

Last updated in October 2012, Logic Pro has remained untouched for some time, but Apple still enjoys a sizable marketshare in the space it shares with Pro Tools.

MainStage

Once part of the Logic Studio bundle, now MainStage is just $29.99 on the App Store.

Used by musicians who need live (or in-studio) effects, plug-ins and digital instruments, MainStage is a weird app to me. While I’m not in the market for something like this, I never hear anything about it. Obviously, it continues to sell, though. (Unlike Soundtrack Pro 3, which was dropped when the Logic Studio bundle was discontinued.)

Version 2.2.2 was released in January 2012 for better compatibility with OS X 10.7.4.

Motion

Like Final Cut Pro and Compressor, Motion is a remnant of the Final Cut Pro Studio package. (Ironically, from 2005–2006, Motion was sold as a stand-alone product.)

Now $49.99, the app was last updated in March 2013, bringing it to version 5.0.7. Version 5 was first released in June 2011.

Motion — like Compressor — is mainly used in conjunction with Final Cut, offering additional tools and options for menus, graphics and transitions. Both 2D and 3D animations can be created, putting it at odds with Adobe’s After Effects for many uses.

Xcode

When not sending text messages, to its users, Xcode is Apple’s tool for developing Mac and iOS applications.

Version 4.6 was released in January of this year, supporting OS X Lion and Mountain Lion, in addition to iOS versions 4.3–6.1.

Xcode is free to download and use, but a membership to the iOS or Mac Developer Program is required for some functions, including access to the Mac and iOS App Stores.

Xcode is updated frequently, as Apple has to support both its desktop and mobile operating systems and devices with the tool. Xcode 4 — introduced at WWDC in June 2010 — was the last major change, dropping PowerPC support. While each subsequent point release has included updated tools — including storyboards with 4.2 — the application remains basically the same.

Conclusions

After spending way too much time in the Mac App Store compiling all of this, I’ve come to several conclusions:

  1. Naming matters. Apple has — for the most part — dropped version numbers and release dates from their programs’ titles. “iWork ’09” and “iLife ’11” sound out-dated, whereas “Pages” or “iPhoto” don’t. It’s clever, and helps cover the fact that some of the core OS X apps Apple sells have been aging for some time.
  2. iOS is Apple’s focus. Anyone who has looked at the company’s earnings statements knows that the Mac isn’t the company’s big money maker anymore. While OS X continues to charge forward at a reasonable rate, Apple is clearly more focus on mobile than the desktop when it comes to client software.
  3. The Mac App Store is interesting. Almost all of these apps have seen major price drops since going digital-only. While the savings of ditching boxes and optical media is a factor, I think Apple really wants to make these products more accessible. Clearly, they’re saving money on development costs on more than a few of these apps. Ka-ching!

Sigh.

Apple Updating Service Training and Certification Program ⇢

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A poor, nameless Apple Support employee:

On June 23, 2013, AppleCare is updating its Service Training and Certification program. This update is based on feedback from the field and will ensure a simpler and easier way to create and maintain service technician credentials.

The new exams are as follows:

  • 9L0–010 – Apple Macintosh Service Certification Exam
  • 9L0–064 – OS X v10.8 Mountain Lion Troubleshooting Exam
  • 9L0-E04 – iOS Qualification Exam

The new ACMT exam is no longer proctored, and can be taken online without a trip to a testing center. This should all make life a little bit better for Apple-Authorized Service Providers. The special tests for certain models — like the new stupid thin iMac remain in place, however.

F—k Cancer ⇢

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Mary Beth Quirk:

Three daughters who recently lost their mother to cancer say they were kicked out of the King of Prussia Mall outside of Philadelphia for sporting a unique tribute to her. Two of the women were wearing black-and-pink hats designed by a family friend that read “F – – K CANCER” with the C in the naughty word replaced by a pink breast-cancer-awareness ribbon. They claim that on Sunday, a security guard told them they had to take of their hats, or leave the mall.