Dec 11
22
Wireless Update
More wireless blues and traps for young players.
For the last month or so, my wireless has been getting very flakey. So bad the internet keeps dropping out in the back half of the house, and the wireless network disappearing altogether.
With younger families moving into the neighbourhood, it’s little surprise the number of wireless networks has increased dramatically. There are 3 – 4 at the back of the house, and 4 – 5 at the front of the house.
There’s a huge problem running your base stations on 5GHz only. I could never figure out why my iPhone could never pick up on the network in the front of the house. The answer was, the newer Airport Extreme out back runs dual band, whereas the 2nd gen device runs 2.4 or 5. As the iPhone only supports 2.4, it could use the network within range of the dual band Airport, but not the older 2nd gen running 5GHz only.
In a nutshell, with so many other networks around, it’s no longer possible to extend the network down to the back of the house. This has ultimately led to running ethernet which has brought about some massive benefits.
The foremost of these is being able to use the AppleTV. On wireless trying to watch movies or listen to music was an exercise in frustration. 8 minutes to buffer a 2 min video! Now I can encode my DVDs and watch them far less effortlessly on the ATV.
The compromise was splitting the house into 3 separate wireless networks with the 4th gen Airport Extreme in the front of the house. It runs a 2.4 and 5GHz network. The latter is used for everything including the iPad2 that can use 5Ghz.
The second is the 2.4 for iPhones. The third runs down the back for my office.
The other tip I picked up to improve performance is to drop the multicast down. This allows devices to connect at lower quality radio levels, EG: 1 – 2 bars.
It’s not ideal having to swap networks with the phones, but I’m not constantly walking between the 2 halves of the house.
Maybe in another couple of months I come up with another solution. Meanwhile I have uninterrupted internet 
Posted in Editorial by .
Oct 11
13
New Season Apples?
In the aftermath of Steve Jobs untimely passing, one of the most alarming articles I’ve read was one claiming 4 years of Apple product design had been left behind by Steve. (Daily Mail article)
Conceptually this is only alarming if Apple rely solely on these designs and fail to innovate for the future. The concern revolves around the fact technology life cycles are around 8 years. Look at Wifi, Virtualisation and many other new technologies and you’ll see a common pattern. They start life in a fairly shaky manner with Geeks and Technologists as the early adopters.
Over the first 4 years the product improves in leaps and bounds, to the point where in year 4, the uptake by the mainstream is fairly solid, and the product’s pretty stable.
By about year 6, almost everyone has the product or technology. Innovation has slowed significantly, and big improvements are few and far between. The product is as close to “finished” as it’s going to get, and there’s not much more than can be done to improve it further.
It’s usually around years 6-8 that technology around the product has started changing to such a degree, that people are beginning to do things entirely differently. The Internet for example, smart phones and most recently tablets.
For the last ten years Apple have been at the forefront of some of the big changes in the way we do things. The iPod, iPhone and iPad. Their notebook products have been cutting edge as well, not to mention the trackpad and whole touch concept that has completely changed the way we interface with our devices.
In order for Apple to stay at the forefront of technology, they can’t rest on their laurels. Steve has certainly left them in good stead with OS X Lion, iCloud and the iPad. However, the iPhone is starting to enter that phase where it’s no longer innovating. iCloud has certainly integrated it far further. Technologies like AirPlay and AirPrint have massively improved it’s usability. At another level however, it’s starting to languish behind, with updates being catchups, rather than setting all new standards.
Features in my view that have been long overdue are the centralised notifications. Ability to customise all system sounds. The lock screen could still do with some improvements, such as being able to see the weather and calendar on the lock screen all the time, as you can in the notification centre.
Hopefully the team that has been built can be as innovative as the innovator himself. If that turns out to be the case, I believe Apple will in fact be that much better off as their ongoing success will not be at the hand of an individual.
Long live Apple Innovation.
Oct 11
12
The Apple Formula
Over the years I’ve been following Apple products, two constants seem to be rumour and speculation about their next product release, matched only by impenetrable secrecy about what Apple themselves are actually doing.
The rumours range from the improbable to the ridiculous, and invariably Apple manage to catch almost everyone by surprise. Sometimes it’s by over delivering on expectations. From time to time they bitterly disappoint close followers by seemingly under delivering.
What has become evident to me is the very tight formula I believe they work to for products. Some evidence towards this is the 3.5″ iPhone screen which is unlikely to change given the sound logic behind it. (http://dcurt.is/2011/10/03/3-point-5-inches/)
If you start looking at other products in their range, and consider the primary use the product is aimed at, you might start realising why some things just might never be.
Take the MacBook Pro (MBP) and MacBook Air (MBA) for examples. In July some sites started reporting that an ultra slim 15″ MacBook might appear. (http://www.macrumors.com/2011/07/26/apple-finishing-up-work-on-an-ultra-thin-15-notebook/)
At face value this seems a reasonable product. If you apply the “Apple Formula” however, it starts looking unlikely.
The MacBook Pro is aimed at power users who prefer power and performance over weight and form. If they want to balance slightly between the two, they’ll pick a 13″ MBP over a 15″ MBP or MBA. It’s not just the performance but the options such as Firewire, USB ports etc. As soon as you start slimming the form factor, you start compromising on what’s available, and moving away from the power user demographic.
On the flip side the MacBook Air is aimed at road warriors. They want as light and small as possible, and on the whole, are going to be running power hungry apps, or plugging a variety of external devices in. To achieve the latter, the new Thunderbolt displays offer Firewire and the like.
A 15″ MacBook Air doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t appeal to people who want a small lightweight device, nor does it appeal to people who want extra power and options.
Oct 11
5
iPhone Flop?
With all the anticipation leading up to an iPhone5, what Apple actually delivers is an iPhone4 refresh.
I can’t help feeling if they’d done things a little differently, it would have been a massive hit rather than the disappointing flop many on Twitter are pronouncing it to be. The only people that seem to be cheering are iPhone 3Gs owners, and frankly, they are the real winners. I didn’t personally feel the iPhone4 was a worthy upgrade. Moving from a 3Gs to a 4s however is definitely worthwhile and I for one would have been slapping down a pre-order on the 7th.
Taking a step back from all the hype, one has to ask themselves how much more hardware wise can be done to the iPhone. Realistically Apple have made the only non-superficial changes they could. Improved the camera, and fixed what was an utter fail. Voice control.
Getting back to my initial thought, I can’t help feeling if iOS5, iCloud and the iPhone4s had all been announced yesterday, people would today be cheering in the streets. Undoubtedly it would slowly dawn on iPhone4 owners the actual hardware isn’t that much of an improvement, but then all that iOS5 sweetness would wash over them and the warm and fuzzes would return.
Had the 4s been released about 6 months ago, it probably would have received a warmer reception as well. Sure everyone would be bagging it and holding out for an iPhone 5, but at least the huge amount of anticipation over a totally redesigned phone wouldn’t have built as it has.
It sort of begs the question, what’s actually happened to the iPhone5?
No doubt everyone has varying views. Express yours in the forum.
Sep 11
29
Boost your Wireless
About 5-6 weeks ago I bought an AppleTV 2. To date I’d only been using Internet radio and a bit of music AirPlay from the iPad. There were a few drop out problems, but nothing I couldn’t live with.
Last week I bought an Elgato Turbo.264HD and converted a whole lot of movies to AppleTV format. When I went to access them via Home Sharing, it was basically a complete fail. The access was so slow, and videos simply wouldn’t play.
After a quick Google I found I wasn’t the only person that had struck this problem. It’s plagued the ATV2 from day dot it appears.
The more reason posts on the Apple support forum however had some success stories. What’s the fastest fix?
Set your wireless network to 5GHz only. All of a sudden the ATV2 started playing videos and movies. What’s more, all my wireless gear like the iPhones and iPads have stepped up in performance, especially when playing YouTube videos etc.
The next thing I might do is look around for an unused channel using iStumble. When we first moved into this neighbourhood it was all old people. Now there’s far more young people, all with wireless. I’ve gone from no hotspots to about 6 I can see!
Hope this info helps out some others.
Aug 11
9
Device Convergence
Two recent articles on Tech Republic have led me to thinking about a topic that’s been discussed a couple of times on Oz Mac User.
The first article is about the convergence of mobile devices and PCs. In essence I get the impression what is being eluded to here is docking smaller devices so they become bigger, desktop devices.
The second article explores the possibility of Microsoft pursuing this as their next big move to dominate Apple and Android. Realistically, it’s unlikely Microsoft will pursue this avenue, but they are the sort of company that have previously grabbed the wrong end of the bull with emerging trends and suffered the consequence.
One of the biggest issues is devices that are not one thing nor the other. They become bulky and bloated trying to be a PC with USB ports, video out etc. They usually tend to be underpowered trying to strike that balance between battery life and performance.
The faster newer processors are solving some of the performance issues. The big question is around portability.
Looking at the direction Apple are going, I doubt any converged device will be docked. Airplay illustrates how you can wirelessly stream content to your big screen TV. The Apple BT keyboard illustrates how you turn your iPad into a pseudo notebook.
Perhaps the big blockers are file management and “full blown” browser. The two things that turn me to my MBA when I’m using the iPad is needing to look up an old email, needing to retrieve a file, or accessing a web site mobile safari won’t render correctly.
At a software level, the first barrier to be removed on tablets is mobile sites. The second in Apple’s case is hiding the file system. These things make some sense on a phone, but not on a tablet.
To the delight of PC users, the Toshiba AT100 tablet ticks many boxes for them. It’s around $500, has USB ports and memory expansion. It runs the tablet version of Android, 3.0, upgradable to 3.1. Unfortunately, in my view, the world has moved on from plugging things in. I certainly have. I honestly don’t want to be carrying around a bag full of peripherals.
Perhaps the biggest convergence challenge is that of the smart phone and tablet. One or the other is eventually going to have enough processing power to satisfy most people processing wise. So long as more and more of what we do moves to the cloud, storage isn’t so big a problem.
The key difference between tablet and phone is screen size. Perhaps when they develop a smart phone that can project a full size screen onto the wall, and the touch surface becomes a trackpad, all the problems will be solved. Add in a BT keyboard and you have the near perfect converged device.
If anyone actually produces such a thing, remember you heard it here first. Time to rush off to the patent office?
Jul 11
25
iPhone: Best ever camera?
Over the weekend as I downloaded a couple of camera apps for my iPhone, I couldn’t help thinking, is the iPhone not the best consumer camera ever released?
A dSLR it certainly isn’t, and technically it probably struggles to match most point and click digicams for specs. That said, what other camera out there can you upgrade with software? This occurred to me while downloading SnapFilters. I remember the days of SLR carrying around lens and never having the right one on the body when I wanted a particular shot. Similar deal with filters.
The iPhone to a degree frees you from all that, provided you’re in the business of taking snapshots that are fun. Anything serious and I’ll still pull out my Nikon. Those occasions are becoming rarer though as the range of photos I can take on my iPhone increases. Isn’t composition 90% of a photo’s appeal? I’ve certainly seen technically brillent photos that leave me cold because they absolutely lack any of kind soul.
Thinking back on all the digital cameras I’ve owned, the iPhone pretty much trumps all of them. What’s more, despite having 5MP smartphone cameras, none have matched the versatility of the iPhone thanks to the massive range of photography apps out there.
I encourage everyone to add their favorite photo app to the following thread: Favorite Camera Apps. Please sign up if you’re not already a member; we’d love your input.
Jul 11
18
Fully Fledged Tablet OS
With the evolution of iOS it’s dawned on me seeing people comment they they’re waiting for a tablet with a “fully fledged” OS, that iOS is in fact it.
Many will argue without Flash support iOS can’t claim to be fully fledged. I don’t personally believe this is a necessary criteria though. When you look at what the iPad is capable of, you begin to realise that the glove that is iOS fits the hand.
Obviously what people are talking about is shoehorning a PC OS like Windows or Linux onto a tablet. There are tablets available now that run Windows 7, and no doubt tablets that run Linux.
Of those I’ve seen, they are an utter fail. Windows is an OS that’s designed to run on as many different devices as possible. Jack of all trades and master of none springs to mind. Vast amounts of the code aren’t required to run on a tablet.
As everything is becoming more wireless, the need to plug things in is diminishing. iOS5 and iCloud illustrate that theme. As it is, being able to buy an app on my Mac, and find it on my iPhone and iPad when I next use them is a Godsend. With photo sharing services like Flickr and Instagram, the need to plug my iPhone in at all is further diminished. With the camera adapter kit for the iPad, I can even pull photos from my digital camera.
With a Bluetooth keyboard and iPad, you really start to appreciate the functionality of iOS. All the keys like Tab, volume control and pasteboard all work. With a keyboard you can also do serious document editing. This is entering the realm of “fully fledged” OS.
Perhaps the only weakness is the ability to download files. The necessity to do so on the iOS platform is vastly diminished. However, push come to shove, with the likes of Mercury Browser for iOS, you can even download files if you wish.
I imagine in 5 years time this will be one of those really dated posts when people look back and think, “How could they have thought iOS wasn’t fully fledged?” As in, why was anyone even debating it.
It’s likely to be the case that the lines between OSX and iOS may be near indistinguishable. As different as iOS for the iPad is from iOS on the iPhone. They have device specific differences, but for the most part, are the same OS. I don’t find it difficult to imagine OSX and iOS merging so much, the same goes for all Apple devices.
Have your say on this topic here: http://ozmacuser.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=199
Jul 11
11
Social Revolution
If nothing else, over the past week Google Plus has stirred up a bit of a dust storm. All over Twitter and Empire Avenue, people have been going to extraordinary lengths to get an invite. Read begging.
It took me about 4 days of persistence to actually get on using an invite obtained by The Next Web editor Zee M Kane. Once in, I could see nearly straight away the wait was worth it. If nothing else, “Circles” are a welcome benefit to the social media scene. In essence Circles allow you to separate friends, family and nutbags into separate circles, and control who sees what comments you make. EG: You might post a comment that can only be seen by your friends.
Where this system falls down a little bit, so far as I can see, is when someone in one of your circles creates a stream that is public. At that point any of your comments to that stream become public. This means you still have to be careful what you’re saying about the nutbags behind their back
Without a close circle of friends, none of these social media tools are going to do much for. The slight exception is if like Twitter you crash in on someone else’s public stream. It’s not completely inconceivable to gain new friends this way, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you can add some sort of wit or value to the topic being discussed.
With a group of friends online at once, the streams almost work like a multi-threaded chat. This can however be a little challenging to follow. New streams (topic threads) appear at the top of the page. New comments to existing topics appear at the bottom of those topics. As the interface is right at the moment, this could get a little difficult depending on how much is happening at once.
Without numerous people on at once, the streams feel like a big unstructured forum. By that I mean, you feel a little like you’re contributing to a forum post.
From what I’ve seen so far, and heard so far as other people’s opinions go, GooglePlus is likely to be many different things to many different people.
What it does to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn remains to be seen. I can imagine some people dumping one or all of those services for G+, others preferring to stay where they are.
The most common consensus I’ve seen about G+ is it definitely has potential. Perhaps better put another way, most people can see great potential in it. Taking notice of the GooglePlus bar that has appeared on Google services when you log into Google, I can see how Google is angling to unify the end user’s experience by tying all their services together. Having experienced the G+ notification icon, I can see the day arriving when it not only shows you what’s happening in GooglePlus, but also notifies you of new messages, chat requests, videos on YouTube channels you’re tuned into etc.
There’s no doubt this is a really big move by Google, and it could launch them near the front of social media services. I’m not convinced they will rule social media in the same way they’ve ruled search. Many people have a lot invested in Facebook and Twitter. It’s quite possible that for many, it will be just one more thing they use to communicate with others.
One things for sure. GooglePlus is unlikely to be the total flop that Google Wave was. Despite limiting daily invitations, more and more people are joining and connecting. Aside from the conceptual flaws in Wave, the fact you couldn’t collaborate with anyone on it was the biggest nail in it’s coffin in my opinion.
Please join the forum http://www.ozmacuser.com/forums/ if you’d like to contribute your views on this article.
Posted in Editorial by .
Jul 11
7
Windows on the Mac
It occurred to me after seeing someone ask about Windows on the Mac, that there’s a fair amount of info I can pass on from provisioning Macs where I work, along with my own personal experiences, so here it is.
There are two main ways of running Windows on your Mac, all with pros and cons. The first is using BootCamp. The second is using a HyperVisor (Virtual Machine) using VMWare Fusion or Parallels Desktop.
BootCamp
Setting up Windows using the BootCamp assistant in OS X is a walk in the park. BootCamp will create a Windows partition on your drive without damaging any of your data, and step you through the set up process. Once Windows is set up in it’s partition, you need to run the setup.exe on your OS X install disc to install device drivers and the BootCamp control panel.
The benefits of Bootcamp is having a super fast Windows machine. Some of the problems revolve around the fact you’re using a Mac. If you want to live in Windows (God knows why) I’d recommend a PC keyboard. Some problems you may experience are not being able to adjust brightness and contrast in Windows 7 (bug introduced by W7 SP in Jan 2011).
Parallels Desktop 6
Having used Parallels Desktop since about version 3, I can’t speak highly enough of the latest version. Not only can you play games like Sims3 and Need for Speed quite comfortably in it, the Windows/Mac integration is nothing short of astounding. I’ll explain that in a moment.
Installing Windows is a piece of cake. If you’re using a Corporate version of Win7, it might pay to put the key in afterwards as the installer may fail with certain keys. This at least is my experience. It’s crucial you install the Parallels tools to get the most out of the VM integration wise.
One of the best features of Parallels Desktop 6 is the tight integration between Windows and the Mac. For a start you can run the system so Windows programs run in their own Window on the Mac desktop as if they were a Mac app, or the Mac was a Windows desktop. Even better you can run Win7 gadgets on your Mac desktop. Check out the screen shots in this thread here: http://ozmacuser.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=191
Something that amazed me about the Parallels integration, is this. I can browse our corporate Sharepoint site using MSIE in the Windows VM. When I click on a document to edit it, Parallels opens the Office for Mac application to edit it. By rights one would think the Windows office app would open.
Another great feature of Parallels is if you have a BootCamp install of Windows, you can access as a VM for the Mac. Quite some time ago, I had a BootCamp install of Win7 for playing games. I could also use it for other things by running it as a VM in OS X.
To get the most out of Parallels you really need 8GB RAM. You can get by with 4GB, but memory usage on the Mac will get up to about 90-95% depending what else you’re using.
VMWare Fusion
I’ve never used Fusion but a couple of people I know that have swear by it. Around about PD5 I did a comparison via Google between the two, and benchmark wise Parallels Desktop kills Fusion. That may have changed with more recent versions, but given how much I like PD, I’ve never seen a reason to change.
If you have any questions, please join the forum and ask in this thread: http://ozmacuser.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=191