This Week @ MacsWest

Teaching, Helping, Learning and Having Fun

 

• Monday, January 23
    10:00 AM: Keynote Workshop -Bill Turvin, Room C

• Tuesday, January 24
    8:00 AM : Adanced iMovie Class - Ed Zacho, Room C
    10:30 AM: Mac Basics Class - Wally Bock, Room C (this class is full)
    1:00 PM: Q&A Session, Hosted by Bill Turvin
    2:15 PM: Green Apples, led by Bruce Merrihew and Bill Turvin

• Wednesday, January 25
    8:00 AM: Advanced iMovie Class - Ed Zacko, Room C

• Thursday, January 26
    8:00 AM: Adcanced iMovie Class - Ed Zacko, Room C
    10:30 AM: Mac Basics Class - Wally Bock, Room C
    1:00 PM: iPad Class - Mary Kocha and Nancy Owen, Room C 

• Friday, January 27
    11:30 AM: Program Committee Meeting - Room C
    1:00 PM: Regular Meeting - Ruth Davis, iPhoto

   Saturday, January 28
    Nothing Scheduled

There is an important message on the Genealogy page.

Apple is working on supporting 80.211ac, a fast, next generation wireless technology that hasn’t been formerly ratified by the standards body that controls the 802.11 family of technologies. AppleInsider reportedthat Apple could be deploying the new technology as soon as this year, bringing theoretical wireless speeds faster than 1 Gigabit per second to its Macs, iOS devices, and AirPort line of base stations.

Apple currently supports 802.11a/b/g and n in its devices, but the 802.11ac version of WiFi could bring local network speeds of a Gigabit per second to your Apple products. It does so by using more radio bandwidth, more efficiently managing local traffic, and by using up to eight antennas.

Apple has a long history of quietly building support for so-called “draft” version of 802.11x into its products ahead of their official ratification by the 802.111 Working Group. By doing so, Apple has been able to be first, or among the first, out of the gate to support the new protocols once they are released into the wild.

Apple has built-in support for Wi-Fi in the form of 802.11n (and backwards-compatible to the earlier versions) in its Macs, Apple TV, iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad. The company’s markets a line of Wi-Fi base stations under the AirPort Extreme name, while it has a networked backup device called Time Capsule that includes storage and an AirPort Extreme base station.

NEW YORK — Apple Inc. on Thursday launched its attempt to make the iPad a replacement for a satchel full of textbooks by starting to sell electronic versions of a handful of standard high-school books.

The electronic textbooks, which include “Biology” and “Environmental Science” from Pearson and “Algebra 1” and “Chemistry” from McGraw-Hill, contain videos and other interactive elements.

But it’s far from clear that even a company with Apple’s clout will be able to reform the primary and high-school textbook market. The printed books are bought by schools, not students, and are reused year after year, which isn’t possible with the electronic versions. New books are subject to lengthy state approval processes, making the speed and ease with which ebooks can be published less of an advantage.

Major textbook publishers have been making electronic versions of their products for years, but until recently, there hasn’t been any hardware suitable to display them. PCs are too expensive and cumbersome to be good e-book machines for students. Dedicated e-book readers like the Kindle have small screens and can’t display color. IPads and other tablet computers work well, but iPads cost at least $499. Apple didn’t reveal any new program to defray the cost of getting the tablet computers into the hands of students.

All this means textbooks have lagged the general adoption of e-books, even when counting college-level works that students buy themselves. Forrester Research said e-books accounted for only 2.8 percent of the $8 billion U.S. textbook market in 2010.

Pearson PLC of Britain and The McGraw-Hill Cos. of New York are two of the three big companies in the U.S. textbook market. The third, Boston-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, also plans to supply books to Apple’s store, but none were immediately available.

The new textbooks are legible with a new version of the free iBooks application, which became available Thursday.

The textbooks will cost $15 or less, said Phil Schiller, Apple’s head of marketing. He unveiled the books at an event at New York’s Guggenheim Museum. Schools will be able to buy the books for its students and issue redemption codes to them, he said.

Full story here.

There's supposedly a 50-inch Apple iTV already up and running in Jonathan Ive's locked-down studio.

A new report has surfaced claiming that Apple's rumored iOS-based "iTV" will include 42- and 50-inch sizes. The news arrives by way of a former Apple employee who claims that a working 50-inch version -- likely a prototype -- actually resides inside the locked-down studio of Jonathan Ive, senior vice president ofindustrial design at Apple. Previous reports indicatedthat Apple was launching 32- and 37-inch models, yet currently there's no indication if the larger models are an addition, or the correct sizes.

In addition to the sizes, Apple is reportedly still trying to negotiate deals with content owners. One reported roadblock -- a major one at that -- is an unwillingness to cut a deal with Apple that would allow it to offer first-tier TV network programs for an à la carte iTunes TV service -- a huge selling point for the supposed iTV. There's speculation that the reluctance may be due to a fear of Apple taking control of the TV market as it did with the mobile sector. Les Moonves even admitted that it declined a streaming deal for Apple's iTV in a recent company financial report.

Full story here.

Amid unconfirmed online rumors that Apple has plans to release 32- and 37-inch “smart” television models in 2012 to launch the Apple TV era, tech-savvy analysts and TV insiders continue to speculate on how Apple will change TV forever. There’s no doubt that the future of TV is connected to the web (and likely connected to Apple). And that future, what was once only a thought of “wouldn’t that be cool,” is almost now. But within that “now”, we still have cable television and such issues as content, licensing, and more. One of the many million dollar questions surrounding Apple TV sets is how the status quo will interact with Apple TV and vice versa.

Although the thought of Apple TV sets is exciting in terms of possibilities, as all new technology is, business models don’t change overnight. There are many, MANY huge companies within the business of television. From satellite to set to streaming to smart-phone to subscription (and more), some of the biggest companies in the world aren’t about to go belly-up simply because Apple is in the TV game with their own models. With Apple rumored to take TV to the next level, everyone involved will need to work together. Apparently, if it’s indeed true, that very professional togetherness is already taking place after recent reports indicated Samsung is making the connectivity chips for the Apple TV.

However, looking ahead to what the TV landscape may look like in three years with Apple TV sets, there’s a very real possibility that companies will need to be more like Apple to survive than who they are today.

Complete story here.

Word on the street

Microsoft plans to get its Office software suite on the iPad

BY MATT HICKEY TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Microsoft is planning a version of its Office business app for the iPad, The Daily has learned.

According to sources, the tech giant is actively working on adapting its popular software suite for Apple’s tablet. With the iPad making up over 80 percent of the tablet market and millions of people worldwide using Office, that could mean big bucks for the tech giant based in Redmond, Wash.

In addition to an iPad-ready version, a new edition of Office is expected for OS X Lion sometime next year. The current version of the desktop package, Office 2011, officially supports iOS versions up to Snow Leopard. A Lion version, likely available via the Mac App Store, is widely expected. Windows, too, is due for an update, with Office 2012 currently in beta form.

It’s assumed that both of these would work with Office 365 as well as mobile versions, such as Windows Phone’s Office Hub. Because it would be compatible with these full suites rather than as stand-alone apps, the pricing will most likely be significantly lower than existing Office products. In fact, it’s likely the cost will be around the $10 price point that Apple has established for its Pages, Numbers and Keynote products.

Microsoft already has numerous popular — and some not so popular — apps available for the iPad. They include Bing, MSN Onit and MSN OnPoint. There are even more available for iPhone, including Microsoft Tag, Windows Live Messenger and Wonderwall.

Office is one Microsoft’s biggest sellers, second only to Windows. In 2011, the software suite should earn more than $15 billion in revenue, according to Business Insider. By branching out to new platforms — like the iPad — that number should only grow.

Besides Office, Microsoft is betting heavily on the next version of its flagship product, Windows 8, which, with its graphically focused Metro interface, has proven controversial. If it flops, the company’s fiscal future could rest on the performance of Office. Spreading Office to new platforms therefore makes a lot of sense for Microsoft.

The full versions of Office for Mac and Windows 8 are expected to launch near the end of 2012, though the iPad version could come well ahead of that date.

The new iOS 5 goes live soon, bringing with it revamped notifications and more than 200 new features for your iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. These are the top ten, and then some more.

Some of these features you already had in your iPhone or iPad. They just came in third-party apps.

If you used apps like the must-have WhatsApp, which allows you to message in an extremely easy way with all kinds of phones for free, you already were enjoying something like iMessage (even while iMessage adds important services, like device-wide conversation synchronization). If you had the awesome Instapaper, you already had some of the features of the new Safari. Or if you had something like Remember the Milk, you already had a great reminders service.

However, there are features that weren't available before; either because they are completely new or because they are system-wide. And there are real jewels too.

Things that may sound silly, like using the volume + button as a shutter in the Camera app. Or more important stuff, like well thought Notifications and the ability to run your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad without having a PC. Your iDevices are now completely autonomous.

All these features put iOS on par again with some of the features that you could already find in Android, Palm or Windows Phone 7. Some of their implementations, surpass those platforms. But even while none of these new features are extraordinary per se, all of them together are quite impressive.

1. Notifications

The first big feature is notifications. At last, Apple will get rid of the annoying popups that break your flow. And with "annoying popups" I really meant "stupid dumb boxes that makes me want to smash my f*cking iPhone against the wall when I'm playing a game or chatting with strangers in the night".

They have replaced those with a new app called Notification Center. It's very similar to Mobile Notifier, the iOS notification app—which makes sense, since Apple hired its developer a while back. It not only includes app notification, but mini-widgets that show live information from apps like Weather and apps.

The notifications extend to the lock screen too, so you can see more stuff right away without unlocking your phone. Sliding your finger on it will automatically lead you to the app that generated that notification.

Notifications are clearly and by far the best part of iOS5—particularly coming from the stone age pop-up mess of previous versions. Everyone on staff who's used iOS5 is in love, and the upgrade is the must have feature.

2. iMessage

Another new useful feature, which will hurt Blackberry and the telecommunications companies wanting to sell you stupid SMS and MMS contracts: Apple has implemented a new messaging system called iMessage.

It works between all iOS 5 devices, allowing you to leave conversations on your iPhone and continue them in your iPad (again, I will not be surprised to see this integrated into Lion at a later date). It comes with delivery notification as well. However, unlike WhatsApp, it doesn't work with other non-iOS devices. Maybe Apple thinks your Android and Blackberry friends are not worth talking to for free.

3. New Camera app and photos

The new Camera up gets two of the most-requested features in the history of iOS. The first is a shortcut in the lock screen to access the camera right away, so you don't have to unlock and then click on the Camera icon, which often makes you lose the moment.

The other one, which is something we have whined about endlessly, is using one of the volume button as the shutter button. Just press + and that's it: CLICK! This is a very welcome addition.

The new app also includes basic photo editing. It includes quick enhance—which basically sharpens your image, making shadows and highlights more detailed, and correct color automagically. It also include red eye reduction and cropping, both welcome additions to those who don't have the Camera Plus already.

4. Newsstand

Apple has built a virtual newsstand right onto iOS 5, very similar to the iBooks app but exclusively for magazines and periodicals. It looks like a cross between iBooks and a folder view, actually.

5. Twitter integration everywhere

iOS 5 will have Twitter integration everywhere. Apps like camera will be able to directly post the image to Twitter. The YouTube App, Safari or even Maps will support direct sharing in Twitter. It also adds a new Twitter address field to your Contacts application.

6. A new Safari

Safari has been revamped with new features. Reader will allow you to reformat a site on the fly, taking out ads and reformatting text so it looks better on your iPad or iPhone screen.

This feature flows into Reading List, which is a way to save those pages for later offline viewing, keeping them synchronized between all your iOS devices and Lion. Presumably via iCloud.

Apple's web browser also adds tabs in this version. Your open pages will line up right below your address bar. According to Apple, switching between pages is "lightning fast," so perhaps they have made some magic with the memory management to reduce the reload of pages in older devices.

7. New Reminders app

The new Reminders app makes it easy to make to-do lists. The interface is very simple and it's synchronized between iOS 5 devices and your Mac OS X desktop or notebook.

The really cool thing about Reminders is that it's location aware. Imagine you add that you need to buy milk, but then you forget about it. When you pass by the grocery store, the app will tell you that you need to buy milk.

8. New Mail app

Mail includes a barrage of enhancements

• Rich Text Formatting, which will allow you to annoy the hell out of everyone bolding every sentence in your mails.
• Indentation control, which allows you to control the level of indentation of your quotes from other messages.
• Draggable email addresses, which allows to drag and drop email addresses into to, cc and bcc fields.
• Message flagging to call your attention over a particular mail later.
• Swipe to Inbox, which makes it very easy to access the list of message in portrait mode on the iPad, instead of clicking on a button for a weird pop-up dialog.

9. No PC required

At long last, the most important feature of them all: You will not need iTunes and PC anymore to use your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. Apple has caught up with Android and Windows Phone 7. The new iOS 5 will allow you to set up your new device easily: Turn your new gadget on and a Welcome screen will appear. All software updates will happen over the air.

All the applications will now be completely autonomous. You will not have to go to iCal or some other desktop app to create a calendar, for example. There is no need for a desktop or laptop anymore, for anything.

10. New Game Center

The have enhanced Game Center too. Unfortunately, they have not renewed its awful casino interface, which looks as dated as always. But they have added much needed concepts from Xbox Live and other gaming systems:

• Achievement points.
• Access friends of friends, so you can compare and play with a wider range of people.
• Photos in your profile, so you can flirt with other nerds pretending to be women online.
• Game discovery, to play with whoever wants to play with you at any given time.
• Game downloads within Game Center.
• Support for turn-based games like Words for Friends and Scrabble.

All the others

• Cards: Lets you create digital cards directly from your iPod Touch or iPhone and send them to your contacts
• Dictionary everywhere: This is something that many people have asked for because they like it in the iBooks app. Now, every application will have Dictionary built-in.
• iTunes synchronization over Wi-Fi
• Advanced gestures: It will allow you to pass from app to app on the iPad by using a simple swipe gesture, without having to use the home button. This was a feature has been in testing for a long time and, trust me, once you try it you will not be able to live without it.

This post was originally published at Gizmodo on 10/4.

Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled a new Apple product, iCloud, that underscores a major shift taking place in the tech world as users' information moves from gadgets to the cloud, where it is stored on remote servers and accessible from any device with an Internet connection.

"We're going to demote the PC and the Mac to just be a device," said Jobs, according to a live blog of his remarks at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. "We're going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud."

Apple described iCloud as a service that is integrated with apps and "stores your content, and wirelessly pushes it to all your devices." In essence, it will provide a way to ensure that users' data, whether contacts, photos, appointments, or apps, is consistent and equally accessible across Apple devices, including the iPhone, iPad, and PC.

Jobs highlighted how iCloud will work with several different apps, including iBooks, the App Store, and iWork. For example, contacts that are added to an iPhone will be sent to the cloud, then synced across all other Apple devices a user has. Likewise, a Calendar update will be pushed across multiple devices, automatically. Jobs noted that iCloud will regularly back up certain information, via WiFi, such as purchased music, device settings, and photos, then push this data across a user's devices. A photo taken on an iPhone will instantly be accessible on a user's iPad and Mac.

iCloud will be available for free and there will be no ads on the service, as had been rumored. The cloud-based storage system will work on iOS devices (the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch), as well as on Macs.

Jobs also announced iTunes in the Cloud, a service that will download any song a customer has purchased on iTunes on all of her devices without additional cost.

The CEO's trademark "one more thing" announcement focused on iTunes Match, a $24.99 per year service that will help users put any music they've uploaded to their computer (but not purchased via iTunes) on the cloud by scanning and matching the songs.

The process will take "minutes, not weeks," said Jobs, with an implicit dig at Google, which launched a music service that has been criticized for taking hours to upload songs to its servers. He also explained that whereas Amazon charges $50 for 50GB of storage (or around 5,000 songs, by Apple's estimation), and around $200 for 20,000 songs, iTunes Match will cost the same--$24.99--whether you're uploading 20 songs or 20,000.

"It's an industry-leading offer, let's put it that way," Jobs remarked.

Want to have the Macswest calendar appear in your iCal calendar? Do the following.

Open iCal on your Mac, Click on Calendar then Subscribe. A window will open, copy and paste the following URL then click Subscribe. That’s all there is to it.

    http://www.google.com/calendar/ical/macswestscw%40gmail.com/public/basic.ics

Travel along with the Ginsbergs by viewing their photographs as the sail the Mediterranean - October 23 - November 5, 2011