Apple Thoughts - News & Reviews on all things Apple

"Ars got the official word from an Apple spokesperson: there will be no new software update for old AppleTVs. That means no sexy Netflix, though you'll be able to keep on buying movies and TV shows instead of renting."

It was kind of buried in the overview article at Ars Technica where they note "We confirmed with an Apple spokesperson that the maximum HD resolution of the Apple TV is 720p, consistent with recent rumors. Additionally, there will be no software update to bring the new features to older Apple TVs. Older Apple TVs will continue to work as they have been working up to this point, and they will continue to be able to purchase movies and TV shows even though the new Apple TV is rental-only." It was also something that I wondered about since I have one of the original Apple TVs and now I know, I can't update my Apple TV so I'll have to buy one of the new ones to get the enhanced features. Disappointing but not entirely unexpected with new devices, backward compatibility has to end at some point yes?

"The lack of an official, native version of the Twitter client for the iPad has been a puzzling omission, but now the big blue bird has set things right, having pushed their native iPad app to iTunes."

I've been waiting for this for a while (along with an official Facebook app for iPad, which has yet to make an appearance). I didn't get a lot of time to play with it this morning, but so far, I like it. The interface is a little quirky, and takes some getting used to, but it really is a great twitter app. If you're as much of a twitter fan as I am, you'll probably want to give this a try. The official Twitter app for iPad is free.

"As revealed yesterday, The latest version of Apple's iTunes media-managing software, iTunes 10, is now available to download through Software Update or via direct download..."

I updated to iTunes 10 last night, and I have to say: I love it. My only complaint is that the Ping feature doesn't have sub-accounts for family members. My partner and I use the same account for iTunes, but that means we only get one Ping account as well. I'm sure this is something Apple will fix in the future. Cult of Mac goes through a list of all the interface changes to iTunes 10. Have you updated to iTunes 10, and if so, what do you think?

"Too busy to read our liveblog coverage of Apple's September iPod Event? Everything you need to know about Apple's new products is below the fold, including details about the new iPod Shuffle, Nano, iPod Touch, AppleTV, iTunes and iOS update."

Pretty good summary of yesterday's Apple event, in case you weren't following along on any number of the live blogs or the live streaming by Apple. As you may have guessed, I was pretty excited about the Apple TV portion and I think they are on the right track with it. The price point is low enough, I think, that this will become more than just a "hobby" for Apple, and topping it off with the Netflix integration is icing on the cake. Definitely a big step in the right direction. The other high point for me was the update to iTunes with Ping. Seems like a logical way to keep track of your favorite artists and find out information on their next concert. The social aspect of it wasn't that big of a deal for me, but I can see how it might be for others. And of course the fixing of the proximity sensor was a big deal, especially since reports had it that it would not be fixed with this update. How about you? What were your highlights from yesterday's event?

"Another promising sign for e-books. The electronic version of a recently-released mystery novel outsold the hardcover version, according to the publisher, HarperCollins.

The thriller by Laura Lippman, "I'd Know You Anywhere," which hit bookstands Aug. 17 sold 4,739 e-books versus 4,000 hardcover versions during the first five days the title was available. However, there's no mystery why e-book sales are edging out physical book purchases."

No surprise that eBook sales are in ascent, despite the somewhat misleading title of the referenced article. Harper Collins has seen their eBook sales double in the last year, (but) today comprising (only) about 8 percent of their sales. Why, you may ask? One theory: A positive review gets posted online, and readers are immediately able to buy (acquire/download) the book online, 24x7, at a variety of sources. No more waiting for the bookstore to open at 10am tomorrow. No more "out of stock." Regardless of the platform, the book is often immediately available online, whether you're using a Kindle (number one!), a Nook, a Sony Reader, something else, or an iBooks-capable device. Instant gratification. In an attempt to appease print publishers losing revenue over sales of eBooks, Apple has offered to add iAds to books sold by Apple, but this idea has been rejected by publishers - so far. I'm a pretty avid reader, and I try to find new books online before browsing the bookshelves in bricks-and-mortar stores, but I don't think that eBooks will overtake printed books until a eBook reader arrives on the scene that is affordable to everyone. What do you believe is a realistic price point for "the eReader for the rest of us?" $29? $49? $99?

"As expected, Apple refreshed its iPod lineup Wednesday, unveiling redesigned versions of its iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle music players. But the company didn't stop there, using its annual fall music event to also announce an update to its iTunes software and an overhaul of its Apple TV set-top box."

Lots of new and improved products from Apple announced today. Almost everything available today, with the exception of the new $99 smaller Apple TV, shipping in about four weeks. Some additional welcomed news: iOS 4.1 will be available shortly and will include bug fixes and GameCenter; iOS 4.2 will be available in November, and will bring the iPad feature-set equivalence with the iPhone, and will also introduce iPad printing. Details can be found here [ link ].

"Autodesk has announced AutoCAD 2011 for Mac. This new version of AutoCAD, software for professional design and engineering that previously ran only on the Windows platform, now runs natively on Mac OS X. Autodesk also announced that the new Mac version of AutoCAD would be accompanied by the AutoCAD WS mobile application, a new app for iPad, iPhone, and the iPod touch that will let users edit and share their AutoCAD designs remotely."

AutoCAD has not been available as a native Mac app for many years, losing an entire generation of design professionals to Windows. When released somewhere over the next three months, after being beta tested by over 5,000 users, this new version will fully support OS X and its associated hardware. In addition, a free 'portable' version (AutoCad WS) will be available for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch allowing mobile collaboration on AutoCAD drawings. OK, welcome back to the Mac, but the idea of viewing or editing -any- AutoCAD drawing on an iPhone or an iPad sounds like pure marketing - and not reality. These are HUGE complex documents, best seen on one or more HUGE monitors.

"If figures collated by 148Apps.biz are to be believed, Apple's App Store passed 250,000 apps on Friday, acheiving the milestone in just two years and 49 days since the marketplace was introduced."

I'm a firm believer that it's not the quantity of apps that are available, but the quality. Still, 250,000 is an impressive number. As someone who has used both a recent Android device (the Nexus One) and the iPhone 4, I have to say that in most cases, the quality of apps in the Apple App Store are higher, and it is easy to see when you compare apps that are available on both platforms. Of course, there are plenty of people who would argue that an open market is a better market. Which side do you fall on?

"Lovely new iPhone app that allows you to write text messages before hand, and choose if you always will send it to the same person or not. Either way you can send the message very fast, great tool and it's only $0.99."

Interesting app [affiliate link]. Most of my text messages are conceived on the spot so I don't really see myself using this, but I like the idea of having something like this as an option. I suppose it would work well if I was thinking far ahead enough to plan some messages about travel arrivals, asking about grocery items needed, etc. Come to think of it, I may find a use for this after all. What are your thoughts, canned text messages have a place in your arsenal?

"If you're an iPhone 4 user, you probably remember the proximity sensor problem we told you about way back when Apple's latest handset was released. Many iPhone users were reporting issues with their handset during calls, citing the proximity sensor as being a key problem. Apparently the sensor wasn't always detecting the users' faces, meaning many were accidentally interacting with their phone's screen while talking on the handset."

And even though Steve Jobs said it would be fixed in iOS 4.1, it appears this may not happen. The antenna issue was not an issue for me at all, but I have experienced this proximity problem several times, mostly by putting the phone call in mute status and talking like an idiot until I realized that the other half of the phone call couldn't hear me. No wonder they kept interrupting me and were off topic! I imagine this issue is a bit more difficult to fix than they first realized, which is a bit disappointing for those of us that have run into this annoyance. Let's hope the fix is in sooner rather than later.

"MPEG LA, the group that oversees licensing for a number of Internet media standards, today announced that Internet broadcast content using the H.264 video coding standard will remain royalty-free for the entire life of the license, quashing fears that the standard could suddenly become subject to royalty payments in 2016 after the current licensing term expires and is required to be renewed"

I'm sure this just about puts the nail in the coffin for HTML5 standardizing around an encoding scheme other than H.264. There's no reason not to use it. It's a codec that is supported by the major hardware makers, and browsers that support HTML5 all seem to have H.264 support. While I'd prefer an open source codec, a freely available codec is the next best alternative.

"CNET is reporting that Microsoft's Hotmail will finally gain support for... Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync protocol. Sure, even Google's had that for a while now, but better embarrassingly late than embarrassingly never, right?"

It's about time, and yes, better late than never! I've been a Hotmail user since the very beginning, but I've been forwarding my Hotmail to my MobileMe mail for so long now that I've almost forgotten that it costs $20 per year for Microsoft Live Hotmail Plus (to enable forwarding). I get so much spam every week (around 100 items per day) in Hotmail that I may keep things as they are, let the filtering and junk stay on the server, and not be sent to my iPad and iPhone. Availability is rumored to be 30 August 2010. What do you think? Will this be useful for you?

"As rumored last night, Google Voice is now embedded within Gmail, allowing users to make and receive calls to their Google voice numbers, from right within their browser. That's pretty impressive."

I tested this on Wednesday afternoon, and it worked great. I thought it was going to depend on either flash or HTML5, but in fact, it uses its own plugin, and it should run in any browser. I tested it in Google Chrome, Safari and Camino, and it worked fine in all three. You can go to http://www.google.com/chat/voice/ to download the plugin. If you want to receive calls in Gmail, you'll have to set it up as a destination in Google Voice.

"If you've been looking for a way to create ePub documents that you can read in iBooks on your iPad or iPhone, then you're in luck. Apple on Thursday released iWork 9.0.4, an update to its suite of productivity software; chief among the improvements is the ability for Pages to export ePub files."

Not only was iWork updated to allow you to create your own ePub documents, but the Core i5 and i7 MacBook Pro owners also got an EFI FirmWare update. Macworld has a write up on the EFI Update, as well as one on the features with the iWork 9.0.4 update, both released on Thursday. You can also read up on the iWork update at Apple via their knowledge base article.

"Boxee has been an awesome service to use if you want to get easy access to full length TV shows from networks across the web. Along with having a great interface, Boxee even has their own set top box and payment system. All that said, access to TV shows all that Boxee really offered...until now. This week, Boxee is adding a new feature to their platform called Movie Library."

Boxee now offers movies from EZTakes, Indie Movies Online, MUBI* and Openfilm. They plan to add new partners and make ongoing tweaks/improvements to the service in the near future. Interesting to see more and more competition to the 'traditional' content providers like cable and satellite. The Boxee Box by D-Link is pretty impressive - anyone have any comparisons with Apple TV? I especially like the remote control with the QWERTY keyboard on the back side!

"Just the other day, I found myself thinking back to this year's WWDC, where Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced that the company would provide an iPhone version of its iPad app sometime this year."

And now it is here, finally! Modified slightly from the iPad version (even though it is considered a "universal" app), but it does stream pretty well (according to various reports as I've not had the chance to try this myself), even over 3G. And it is limited, since you can only view titles that are available for streaming. But I'm glad it is here, and I'm sure it will be updated to add features soon enough. Netflix is one of those services that I feel I really get value for my dollar, and there aren't many of those companies out there.

"Over a quarter of mobile employees plan to purchase or receive an iPad in the next 6 months, according to a new survey."

Gotta love it when the press reports on blanket statements like this, based on an iPass survey of a whopping "over 1,100" mobile enterprise employees from North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Out of how many hundred million? In a related statement tucked-away in the small print, Citrix stated that "80% of its business users have plans to purchase and use an iPad for business." This to me is a more telling statement, despite not mentioning how many users were queried. So what is this all really saying? The iPad is getting a serious look inside enterprises and by remote workers. Please Microsoft, may we have a version of MS Office for iPad!?

"Good news for all of you fans of Google's Finance portal as it just has been updated to be more friendly to mobile browsers. Just like it did with YouTube in July, the company has found a way to bring amazing content to the iPhone/iPod touch without going through Apple's app approval process."

Google does a good job of making their mobile sites appear like an app, so it's easy to hit the "+" sign at the bottom of the screen and add their pages to your iPhone screen. You can even track your portfolio if you have it entered through Google.

"A beautiful high-resolution illustrated edition of Tips and Tricks - iPad Secrets is now available as an iBook to download through the iBooks store. Featuring over 80 great illustrated tips, it utilizes the iBooks reader to provide a brilliant reading experience to learn all about the iPad. With over 3 million iPads sold, this is the perfect companion to the iPad."

It looks like a pretty handy book to have on your iPad if your unfamiliar with how iOS and the iPad work. And it's pretty hard to beat the price. It's available for $1.99 in the iBook store and it is available internationally.

"iSkysoft DVD-Library lets you catalog, manage and backup your DVDs on Mac in a visual library. Just hold DVD barcode up to the iSight camera and the DVD's cover and all relevant info like DVD cover, actors, director etc. will be automatically added to the library. DVD-Library for Mac also allows you to backup DVDs to .dvdmedia files on Mac with one simple click. Your DVD movies are now at your fingertips and you can enjoy them anytime you want."

From August 21st to September 3rd, iSkysoft is giving away key codes for this DVD library software. All you have to do is go to their fan page on Facebook, hit the "Like" button, fill in the contact form and they ship you a key code for this normally $29.00 USD software package. I pretty much do my movie watching online so I don't have a use for this type of software, but if you are a collector or just have some DVDs you want to catalog, this sounds like a pretty good deal.