Apple/Mac News and tutorials

iPad: Over 1 Million Served

Mon, 3 May 2010 20:56:30 -0400

Apple announced today that they have sold 1 million iPads in the first 28 days they were available.

As a comparison, when the iPhone was released it took 3 months for it to sell 1 million units.

I think it might be worth noting that the iPhone was not able to be ordered prior to its release, but that the iPad was “on sale” almost 1 months before it was released via pre-orders.

But still I think it’s pretty amazing that such an unknown entity like the iPad could sell 3 times faster than a phone. I think it speaks quite strongly as to how highly regarded Apple has become in the public eye.

We may finally be seeing some of the “halo-effect” people were talking about in relation to the iPod a few years ago. People have seen how great Apple is with the iPod and how great they are with the iPhone that now they’re confident buying just about anything from Apple.

1 Million iPad customers! Wow! Oh how I wish I could count myself in their number.

I Play with iPad

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 20:21:59 -0400

I had the opportunity to check out an iPad at an Apple Store on Saturday, April 3rd as they went on sale.

I had already decided I wasn’t going to buy one at this time. At the very least I would wait to maybe get a version that has 3G capabilities (I went without an iPhone for the 1st 2 years of their existence, I can go at least a year to see what might get better in the next version of the iPad).

In the 20 mins I spent with the iPad in my hands I tried to imagine how I might use it in the real world.

The iPad was a little awkward to hold with one hand and try to type. You can’t hold it landscape and type with two thumbs easily which is how I like to use my iPhone to text and Email. But I can imagine sitting on the couch with the iPad in my lap and typing away once I got used to some of the peculiarities of the iPad’s virtual keyboard.

Some of the apps made specifically for the iPad looked amazing. I tried Flight Control and liked it so much I bought it for my iPhone the next chance I got. I played a car racing game that was like holding the iPad as a steering wheel and turning it back and forth to navigate the turns. I play the same game on my iPhone and when you go off the road the phone vibrates, but the iPad apparently doesn’t have a vibrate function. The speakers are so strong though you can feel the iPad rattle in your hands as you play.

The Email program was great and I wish a similar version would be available for iPhone in the next OS, but there probably isn’t enough screen real estate to really do it.

Photos and HD videos look amazing on the 10-inch screen.

The Maps app worked similar to the iPhone’s and apparently the iPad has a compass to orient you to the map, but from what I’ve read the GPS will only be included in the 3G versions.

I checked out the iBook store and I think eventually I could get used to reading books in this format with such a beautiful screen.

I think the best app on the iPad though is probably Safari. What a great way to surf the web. Sure the iPhone has the point-and-surf browser, but on the iPad the internet just seems to come to life in your hands.

I definitely look forward to getting my own iPad in the next year or so, but until then I’ll have to settle for playing with my friend’s and over utilizing my iPhone.

To iPad or not to iPad?

Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:44:26 -0500

A lot of people have been asking me if I’ve ordered my iPad yet...

The truth is I’m not sure I’m going to get one.

Sure, the iPad looks awesome and does a bunch of cool things and if I had money to burn I’d be first in line (if I also had time to waste). But with my iPhone 3GS and my MacBook I’m not sure I see the potential of an iPad in my hands yet.

Right now I use my iPhone from my couch to look things while I’m watching TV, or see what the score is, or get Email, facebook, and twitter updates. If I really want to surf the web while I’m on the couch though I’ll get my laptop. Sure I could use an iPad for this, but I’m not looking to replace my MacBook yet.

If I were to get an iPad I’d definitely get one with 3G with an unlimited data plan. It’s nice to know you only have to pay month to month. So if I realized I wasn’t really using that much data I could back down to the 250GB plan or just not buy one at all until I went on a trip where I felt I needed it.

I’d really like to see it have a camera pointed towards the user like a MacBook with an iChat app that works fairly similarly to iChat in Mac OS X. Not that I use iChat all that much, ever since the first iMac with built-in iSight camera came out I don’t think I could buy a computer without a camera.

And that’s really what the iPad is...it’s a computer. As much as a netbook is a computer, if not more so considering how much better it does computer stuff like surfing the web, reading Email, looking at photos and watching videos, running applications.

I’m definitely a fan of the iPad and I can’t wait to get my hands on the 2nd Generation version of it. But for now I’ll be content with my MacBook and iPhone (which by the way I didn’t get until the 3rd Generation)

Apple TV update 3.0 and TV subscriptions?

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 19:19:41 -0500

I updated my Apple TV to version 3.0 this week. It broke the ability to use Boxee, but I didn’t use Boxee that much anyway.

The main change for ATV 3.0 is the interface. It is more graphical and shows you top Movies and TV Shows right at the top as well as a selection of your own Movies and TV Shows already in your iTunes library.

Once you navigate into Movies, TV Shows, or Music though the interface is much the same as in previous versions.

Podcasts on the other hand offers you some more options to browse for different types of podcasts based on genre as well video versus audio. And then breaks them down much like the way Movie titles were presented before (top podcasts, new and notable, featured, etc.)

The internet options have grown slightly. You can still access YouTube, but now Internet Radio stations have been added for your streaming pleasure.

Photos work much the same way as before, but now with iTunes 9.0.2 you have more options as to what photos to sync to your Apple TV (Events and Faces, similar to the iPhone 3.0 photo syncing options).

I haven’t noticed much of a performance improvement, but I never really had a complaint of how my Apple TV performed before anyway.

I’d love to see more video streaming options in the internet menu. Hulu would be great on the Apple TV much like it is via Hulu desktop on Macs.

But apparently there are rumors that Apple is trying to set up it’s own internet video service through iTunes with a $30 per month subscription deal that would allow you to access all the TV Shows you want. And anything you have on iTunes you can watch on your Apple TV.

I would love to see this happen. I already pay $30 a month just to text as often as want. I think I would get a lot more for my $30 if I was able to watch as many TV Shows as I wanted.

I love my Magic Mouse

Sun, 1 Nov 2009 14:01:32 -0500

I got my Magic Mouse, as promised, in late October (Oct 31 to be exact).

With the Magic Mouse you lose some of the extra buttons of the Mighty Mouse. With the scroll ball gone you lose it as a button, and with the sleek new look of the Magic Mouse Apple had to do away with the side buttons.

I had set up my Mighty Mouse to go to Dashboard with the side buttons and to open up my Spaces with a click of the scroll ball.

Once the Magic Mouse is synced with the computer and you run Software Update to install the new Mouse Preferences Pane you can set up the Magic Mouse to use the top surface to right click, scroll, and swipe. But there’s no way to set up Spaces or Exposé functions, unless you want to use your right click to do it.

I do miss not being able to open Spaces with my scroll ball button, but now I just use a hot corner to open Spaces when I drag my pointer to the bottom right of the screen.

All this is worth it though to be able to scroll just like an iPhone by dragging your finger up and down on the top surface of the Mighty Mouse.

Two finger swipes are a little more difficult, but I usually use the arrow keys for those types of functions anyway.

I’m hoping Apple can add a few more functions via 2 and 3 finger taps and that should be able to be done with a software update.

In the meantime, I love the feel of the Magic Mouse in my hand, the way it glides across the desk, the way it looks on my desk, and of course the smooth touch scrolling. If only I had a beautiful new 27 inch iMac to go with it.

Move Music from iPod to iTunes

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:14:12 -0500

With more and more people who have had iPods for years now deciding to get Macs, they want to know how to get their music from their iPod to their iTunes.

iTunes won’t let you do this because then everyone would just be trading iPods and sharing music with their friends, but there is a program that allows you to do this called Senuti.

With Senuti you simply plug your iPod in to your computer and with one click it transfers all your music from your iPod to your iTunes.

There are a few other steps, but it’s really pretty simple.

Watch this Screencast to see how to move your music from your iPod to your iTunes with Senuti. Click here for better quality.

10.5.6 Update Hanging?

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 02:54:39 -0500

I awoke to Software Update telling me Mac OS X 10.5.6 was downloaded and ready to install.

But when I hit the restart button the installation hung when it got to the “Configuring Installation” very early in the status bar progress.

I had to hard restart my computer and then figured maybe it would just take a while, so I reran Software Update and restarted the computer to install and left for work.

But when I came home it was still hung on Configuring Installation.

I searched the Apple Discussion Boards and found this helpful thread.

I followed the instructions of deleting the 10.5.6 update file from (hardrive)>Library>Updates>Mac OS X Update>Packages

Then reran Software Update which took a while, but it redownloaded the 10.5.6 update and I clicked restart and it installed without issue.

I’m guessing the problem may have been that Apple pulled the initial copy and so those of us downloading it when it got pulled didn’t have the whole file, but a redownload after the current version was put up solves the issue.

Boxee on my Apple TV

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:45:26 -0500

I finally got Boxee up and running on my Apple TV.

It’s pretty cool. Normally, the Apple TV is limited to music and videos in your iTunes library or pictures in your iPhoto library, along with TV shows and movies that you can rent through the iTunes Store along with YouTube videos.

But with Boxee installed on your Apple TV you can stream video, just like YouTube does, but it allows you to do it from other streaming video sites like Hulu.com, CNN.com, and CBS.com. This allows you to get full episodes and movies on your Apple TV for free.

Sure the quality is not the same as renting an HD video from the iTunes Store, but hey, you don’t have to pay $4 to $5 for it either.

Along with video, there’s also music streaming through Last.fm and other sites. And you can link your Flickr account and view all your friends’ pictures on your TV.

Boxee is still in alpha, so there are plenty of glitches, but it’s pretty cool and has a social networking component to it allowing you to recommend videos and music for your Boxee friends and watch what they’re watching.

If you want to try Boxee, you’ll need an invitation, so if you’re interested send me an Email and I’ll invite you to try it out.

Right now it’s only working on Apple TV, Mac OS X Tiger or Leopard, or Ubuntu on Linux.

Sorry, Windows :(