Apple/Mac News and tutorials

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 :(

Handbrake Almost Perfect

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 17:38:35 -0500

Handbrake is a program for your Mac that allows you to rip your DVDs so that you can watch them on your computer, iPod, or Apple TV. And now they’ve added the ability to convert other video formats for the same purpose.

With Handbrake 0.9.3 now you can convert just about any video currently on your computer to a version playable on your iPod or Apple TV.

But to continue ripping DVDs you’ll need to have VLC 0.9.x or later. This is because the makers of Handbrake no longer want to be responsible for people copying DVDs and so they are not supplying the code to do so. But that code is within the VLC program and Handbrake can access it if you want to rip a DVD.

Basically, if you were ripping DVDs with Handbrake before and you have VLC installed now, you won’t notice any difference.

What I’d like to see from Handbrake is the ability to drag-and-drop multiple video files into the queue. Currently, you have to select individual files one at a time to put them in the queue.

On my test, Handbrake converted a video at about the same speed as VisualHub, but the file, converted for the Apple TV, was almost twice as large with Handbrake with no noticeable quality differences.

The program VisualHub, which is what I currently use to convert video files for my iPod and Apple TV, has the drag-and-drop feature. I drop as many files in as I want and let it run overnight or while I’m at work and when I wake up or get home it’s all done. VisualHub also automatically puts the files into my iTunes so they’re available on my Apple TV as soon as they are converted.

It would be great to see Handbrake add those features soon. Especially since VisualHub has been discontinued.

If you have a copy VisualHub it still works and you can still download it from geekmeetsgirl.net. But it’s only a matter of time until Apple changes something in iTunes or QuickTime that causes the program to not function as it was meant to.

So for now I’ll continue to use VisualHub to convert videos already on my computer, but Handbrake is still the best way to get your DVD content on to your computer and into your iPod or Apple TV.

Boxee patches software for Apple TV 2.3 UPDATE

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 17:21:34 -0500

Boxee’s own blog describes the patch for the Apple TV 2.3 update as a “geeky solution,” but they say it works.

Apparently it involves working with Terminal, which most people using Macs avoid or don’t even know about. I’ve been using Macs since 1997 and I only use Terminal when someone gives me code that I can copy and paste in to make it work.

There are still some bugs with this patch due to the Apple TV 2.3 update including some that cause Boxee to just show as a black screen, but this can be fixed by relaunching Boxee, and sometimes the Remote doesn’t work in Boxee in which case you have to reboot and run the patch again.

Boxee is working on a plug-n-play version of the patch, but for now, unless you’re up for using Terminal and don’t mind a few bugs I’d hold off on installing Boxee.

iPod touch 2.2 update

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 04:39:56 -0500

I downloaded the new iPod touch update, version 2.2. This coincides with the iPhone 2.2 update with similar features.

Apparently the update to Maps does not include Google Street View and doesn’t allow for bike and pedestrian paths when getting directions.

This doesn’t affect me much in Guam since most location functions don’t work here anyway (not many WiFi hotspots around here), but I would imagine it would be a nice feature to have on your iPod touch and not just your iPhone.

This will probably be remedied the next time a major update occurs when Apple has to charge for it.

Other functions the iPod touch did pick up on this update was the ability to download podcasts directly from the iTunes Store rather than being forced to sync with iTunes. As far as I can tell though the podcasts do not update automatically like they do in iTunes on your Mac.

Also, now when you press the Home button while in any other Home screen it will take you back to the first Home screen.

I was actually thinking that would be a good idea before this update because I use my first Home screen for my most used apps and then scatter the other apps through the rest of the screens.

I’ve also noticed that my iPod touch seems to be working much more smoothly with this new update. Before, it would crash on me a little too often, cutting out in the middle of a video, song, or podcast, but so far no crashes with this update.

Hopefully it keeps working smoothly and the updates keep coming until I can get back to the States and get the next new iPhone.

Apple TV 2.3 update

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 07:18:39 -0500

The Apple TV was updated to version 2.3 today.

Here are my thoughts on some of the great new features...

Just go to Setup>General>Update Software to check for new Software. Then choose Download Now.

Mine downloaded in about 7 minutes on my 10MB/S service. Then choose to Install Now and the Apple TV restarts.

The new software installs with a status bar and then your Apple TV is ready to use.

The new features are pretty cool. The best so far is being able to set up just about any remote to work with your Apple TV. I got my Sony Surround Sound system’s remote to work without any problem. The Apple TV walks you through the process telling you to select a button for each function. You press and hold the button until the Apple TV tells you that button has been activated and repeat for each button/function you want to program.

It even gives you some extra buttons than just the regular Select, Menu, Right, Left, Up, Down. You can program Play, Pause, Stop, Chapter Forward, Chapter Back, Fast Forward, Fast Reverse, Skip Ahead, and Skip Back.

From my use the Skip functions are nice because they skip 10 seconds forward or backward.

It also allows you volume control directly with the Apple Remote, but only for music. Some people are complaining that this volume control should be enabled for video as well, but with the ability to set up your own remote, it’s likely that remote already has volume control for the system on which you’re playing your Apple TV’s content. So it’s probably not necessary.

Another great new feature is being able to play your Apple TV’s music through speakers connected to the same network via an Airport Express. Again this only works for music. I’d love it if this worked for video audio too. Just imagine the Surround Sound you could have with speakers in the next room. Not very practical, but would be cool.

You can also view playlists for TV Shows and Movies now, and not just Music. This could be a good feature if you have some good Smart Playlists set up for TV Shows you haven’t watched or if you have kids and want to have a playlist for just their movies or TV shows. Although I probably won’t use it much.

It’s just a point upgrade, but it’s definitely worth it.

Word around the internet though is that Boxee is not compatible with this new update although that is likely to change with the next Boxee update.

Share your thoughts on the new Apple TV update below.

MacBook Mini?

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:57:43 -0400

I believe the $899 product everyone expects to be an LED Display is actually a Sub-Macbook.

Why would Apple announce an LED Display at an event that is being touting as putting the Spotlight back on Notebooks?”

I see it as an 8 inch wide-screen in clamshell form with a keyboard on one side and a touch screen on the other. No trackpad because you use the touch screen to select things. It runs Mac OS X. There’s no optical drive. It has WiFi and can access drives on your network if you have a DVD install disk.

It may even have the option of moving the cursor around via a built in accelerometer.

If you double the price of a 32GB iPod touch, that’s only $800. So I see no reason why this device couldn’t have double the disk space. A 64GB SSD with 1GB RAM.

Whether it happens or not I think it’s a great idea for an Apple sub-notebook, the Sub-MacBook. Or maybe MacBook Mini.

I posted my thoughts on MacDailyNews.com - I wonder if anyone else agrees.

Getting Started with iChat

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:31:05 -0400

To use iChat I'd recommend an AIM screen name.

To get an AIM screen name go to aim.com. In the top right corner of the screen look for the link "Get a Screen Name" and click on it.

Then you'll see the options on the left. If you want to use an Email address as your screen name you can do that, but most people create a unique screen name. Mine is "kfloydh" which I use as the screen name for my Email addresses too.

You'll then get the screen below on the right which is pretty self explanatory. Just enter your information.

Once you have your screen name, open iChat. If someone on your computer has already set up a screen name to use with iChat you’ll have to go to Preferences in the iChat Menu.

When you go to the Accounts pane their screen name will show up just as my kfloydh screen name does in the screen below. Just click on the plus sign at the bottom left to add your screen name.

You'll then get the screen below. Make sure you select the AIM Account option from the drop down menu and then type in your Screen Name and Password and click Done.

Your buddy list should open automatically and you can start adding buddies by clicking the plus sign in the bottom left corner.

You can add me like so in the screen to the right. This will also add me to your Address Book.
If you see a phone icon next to someone's name it means you can Audio chat with them. A video camera icon means you can video chat with them. Just click on the icon next to the screen name you want to invite to an audio or video chat.

To share screens with someone select them in your buddy list and click on the interlocking screens icon at the bottom.

That should get you started using iChat. Once you get the hang of the basics you’ll be able to move on to customizing your buddy list and chat windows. You can also play with different video effects while chatting with people on video chat. You can even share photos and watch videos together through iChat Theater.

If you need help with any of it, just add me to your buddy list and we can screen share so I can show you how.

ScreenCast: New to iPhoto

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:36:46 -0400

Some friends of mine have decided to make the switch from Windows to Mac. In doing so they wanted to get all their photos into iPhoto.

But importing them into iPhoto doesn’t automatically make it easy to use some of the great new features in iPhoto 08.

Here’s a ScreenCast that shows you how to get your imported photos into events and how to use Smart Albums to make it easier to access the photos you’re looking for.