April 19, 2012

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Mac Roundtable 2012.04.18 Episode #111

Filed under: Podcast — ChuckJoiner @ 8:08 am

The panel for this edition includes:

Chuck Joiner – The MacVoices Group @chuckjoiner
Jeff Gamet – The Mac Observer
John F. Braun – Mac Geek Gab @johnfbraun @macgeekgab
Bart Busschots – www.bartb.ie @bbusschots

Topics Discussed:

  • Apple Stock Price Swings – what’s behind them?
  • Facebook buy Instagram for one biiiiiiiillion dollars:
  • what are people worried about?
  • was it worth a billion dollars?
  • a discussion on the rights you give away and don’t when you upload content to social media services
  • Tangent – social media: Facebook -v- Google+ -v- Twitter
  • The new Security Reality
  • time to re-assess your situation
  • we discuss Apple’s schizophrenic attitude to security
  • what can people do to protect themselves (ALWAYS patch, consider disabling Java & Flash, consider free AV, or even paid AV)
  • free AV from ClamXav – (AVOID the crippled Mac App Store version)
  • Little Snitch is another tool people may find useful for watching what their computer is at

Picks:

Play

March 10, 2012

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Mac Roundtable 2012.03.10 Episode #110

Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 4:19 pm

Allison Sheridan: NosillaCast Mac Podcast  http://podfeet.com @podfeet
Bart Busschots: International Mac Podcast http://impodcast.tv @bbusschots
Jeff Gamet (with bells on): The Mac Observer http://macobserver.com @jgamet
Don McAllister: ScreenCastsOnline http://screencastsonline.com @donmcallister
Ken Ray, man of mystery: Mac OS Ken http://macosken.com @macosken

The iPad that shall not be named

  • Screen resolution
    • 2048×1536 – 3.14MP – 264 ppi
  • 4G
    • Which carrier to select?
  • Size (wifi dimensions)

  • Chart comparing iPad 1,2,3
    comparison of thickness, volume, weight and pixels from iPads 1 2 and 3rd gen
  • .37 in thick vs. .34 for the iPad 2 (9.4mm vs. 8.8mm)
  • 1.44 lbs vs. 1.33 lbs for the iPad 2 (652g vs. 601g)
  • still thinner & lighter than iPad 1
  • bigger battery presumably? 10 hr battery is on wifi, not 4G
  • Has iFixit taken it apart yet?
  • Camera
    • back camera improvement 0.7MP –> 5MP 
    • front camera no change (.3MP/VGA)
    • video stabilization
  • Processor(s)
    • Dual-core A5X
    • Quad Core graphics
    • Does this matter beyond gamers?
  • Voice Dictation
    • not Siri
  • AirPlay Mirroring
    • 720p to AppleTV gen 2 and 3 – not 1080p like new AppleTV
  • Why it’s called the New iPad
  • $100 drop in iPad 2 price
  • iOS 5.1

    • 20MB download limit upped to 50MB
    • Delete one photo from Photostream – but doesn’t really delete the photo in photostream
    • New backgrounds
    • Swipe up for Camera is AWESOME – will save my dying home button :)
    • Japanese Siri

    AppleTV gen 3

    iPhoto on iOS

    • Universal app
    • The loss-less editor with brushes is surprisingly Aperture like
    • No ability to calibrate screen – so not useful for pros or serious photographers/videographers You can’t even use it to proof stuff without calibration
    • To normal users it’s a very cool and useful app

    iWork on iOS

    • Don will tell us what’s new?
    • What’s new? Not a lot – bigger graphics?

    Picks

    Play

    February 6, 2012

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    Mac Roundtable 2012.02.06 Episode #109

    Filed under: Podcast — macroundtable @ 11:00 am

    MacRoundtable #109 – Macworld | iWorld 2012 from MacRoundtable on Vimeo.

    The Mac Roundtable had their very own Tech Talk at Macworld | iWorld 2012! Participating panel members included:

    John F Braun – macgeekgab.com @johnfbraun @macgeekgab

    Victor Cajiao – http://www.typicalmacuser.com @victorcajiao

    Adam Christianson – MacCast @maccast

    Jeff Gamet – macobserver.com @jgamet

    Dave Hamilton – macobserver.com/ macgeekgab.com/ @davehamilton

    Chuck Joiner – The MacVoices Group @chuckjoiner

    Don McAllister – ScreenCastsOnline @donmcallister

    Ken Ray – MacOSKen, Day 6, MacOSKen Live @macosken

    Allison Sheridan – NosillaCast Mac Podcast podfeet.com @podfeet

    Steve Stanger – stevestanger.com @tmasteve iSee, iShoot, iPhone & The Mac Attack podcasts

    Play

    December 21, 2011

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    Mac Roundtable 2011.12.20 Episode #108

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 12:04 am

    Allison Sheridan – NosillaCast Mac Podcast podfeet.com @podfeet
    Chuck Joiner – The MacVoices Group macvoicesgroup.com @chuckjoiner
    Steve Stanger – stevestanger.com @tmasteve iSee, iShoot, iPhone & The Mac Attack podcasts
    John F Braun – macgeekgab.com @johnfbraun @macgeekgab
    Jeff Gamet – macobserver.com @jgamet

    Tablets Everywhere!

    Macworld | iWorld Plans

    macworldiworld.com
    * iFan Pass is SO inexpensive giving access to the Tech Talks that used to be hundreds of dollars to attend, now only $100:
    * http://www.macworldiworld.com/packages-and-prices/
    * Exhibit hall only is $30 – anyone heard of free passes yet? Traditionally there have been some
    * What do you look forward to the most?
    * presentations?
    * exhibit hall?
    * hanging out with other Mac geeks?
    * Cirque De Mac? Friday 8pm Holywood Studios
    * NosillaCastaways Party? 6-8pm on Friday @Jillians – register at podfeet.com listen to the show to hear the password!
    * San Francisco itself?
    * Who’s doing presenations, what about, and when? (check the schedule as it changes: macworldiworld.com/techtalks/)

    • Allison – Blindfolded! 11am Th 1/26
    • Chuck – Parenting in the Mobile Internet Age 1 PM 1/26; Mac, iPad and iPhone Essentials: The Stuff You Gotta Have 1 PM 1/27
    • Jeff – iCloud’s Little Helpers 2pm 1/27
    • Dave – Backing Up Your Mac, 11am, 1/26; Macworld RapidFire 5pm, 1/26, 5 minutes on using custom search to find pesky preferences.
    • Katie & David – Podcast: Mac Power User Workflows 11am Friday 1/27
    • David – 40 OS X Tips in 40 Minutes 10am Th 1/26
    • Don – Hidden Secrets of Quicktime – 1pm Thursday 1/26
    • Mac Roundtable Crew 10am Friday 1/27
    • John & Dave – Meet the Podcasters, Smile booth, Thu 1/26 3PM
    • John & Dave – Mac Geek Gab Live Fri 1/27 2PM
    • macworldiworld.com/techtalks/friday-overview/friday-agenda/#986
    • Final Cut Pro Super Users event supermeet.com

    Holiday Tech Gifts

    Allison

    • Magic Trackpad (not everyone has one yet!) http://www.apple.com/magictrackpad/
    • iTunes gift cards are even better now – buy iOS apps and Mac Apps! Like them because we can buy the silliest thing just because we have the credits

    John – New toys I like

    Steve

    • Buy yourself (or a loved one) more RAM! Still pretty inexpensive.
    • iTunes gift cards
    • A year of online back up (sexy, I know…)
      * Free options to get you started http://dropbox.com, http://sugarsync.com, http://box.net, http://pogoplug.com
    • Steve Jobs, Official Biography
    • Cool laptop bag or iPad, iPhone case

    Chuck

    • Apple TV $100
    • Individual iTunes item gifts
    • A month or two of training from Lynda.com

    Jeff

    Play

    November 11, 2011

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    Mac Roundtable 2011.11.10 Episode #107

    Filed under: Podcast — macroundtable @ 11:43 am

    Mac Roundtable #107 from MacRoundtable on Vimeo.

    Live at BlogWorld L.A. 2011, members of The Mac Roundtable gathered in person to discuss the show. In attendance were:

    Victor Cajiao http://www.typicalmacuser.com @victorcajiao

    John Chambers One Minute Tip Twitter: @tipman

    Adam Christianson, MacCast http://www.maccast.com Twitter: @maccast

    Dave Hamilton macobserver.com/ macgeekgab.com/ Twitter: @davehamilton

    Chuck Joiner macvoicesgroup.com Twitter: @chuckjoiner

    Don McAllister ScreenCastsOnline – http://screencastsoonline.com Twitter: @donmcallister

    Allison Sheridan NosillaCast Mac Podcast http://podfeet.com Twitter: @podfeet

    David Sparks macsparky.com macpowerusers.com Twitter: @macsparky

    Play

    October 16, 2011

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    Mac Roundtable 2011.10.16 Episode #106

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 5:41 pm

    Allison Sheridan – NosillaCast Mac Podcast podfeet.com @podfeet
    Bart Busschots – www.bartb.ie impodcast.com @bbusschots
    Don McAllister – www.screencastsonline.com
    Katie Floyd – macpowerusers.com @katiefloyd
    Chuck Joiner – macvoicesgroup.com  @chuckjoiner
    John F. Braun – macgeekgab.com @johnfbraun
    Siri – apple.com/iphone/features/siri.html

    iPhone 4S

    Who upgraded who didn’t and why?
    Difference in AT&T Upgrade Elligability
    Option to move to a different Carrier

    • Sprint offering some $125 credit to move (have to ask)
    • ETF less than subsidized price
    • Concerns about being out of cycle for iPhone 5 next year

    Camera

    Battery

    • Noticing very poor battery performance – need a few more recharge cycles? (Don)

    Siri

    iOS 5

    General:

    • Finding lots of nice tweaks everywhere
    • Has really slowed down my original iPad :( – not QUITE as bad as iOS 4 on an iPhone 3G, but typing should NEVER be laggy! (Luckily it’s just for Bart)

    Upgrade process – 10.7.2, iOS 5, iCloud, iTunes

    iCloud

    • Disappointed that the iWork suite wasn’t upgraded to take into account iCloud sync’ing. Expecting a huge release in the coming weeks with new versions of apps plus full iCloud support for Numbers, Pages and Keynote on the Mac
    • Took several hours to make move (servers swamped)
    • Lost 20,000 archived email messages in the proces
      • Apple recovered – then lost again
      • questionable support experience
      • MailSteward and Time Machine FTW!
    • With a few exceptions like Photo Stream, this seems to be all just Mobile Me 2.0, but with loads of features REMOVED!
    • I’m afraid to migrate to iCloud since I still have one machine on Snow Leopard.

    Reminders

    • Location reminders very cool – needs some setup in Contacts list
      • Can’t do location based reminders on an iPad or Exchange accounts
    • Very basic functionality
      • No ability to share reminders (household to do list)
      • No start/end times
      • Limited categories
      • Everything syncs to iCal

    iMessage

    • So cool!  If recipient is capable, input field will say iMessage, otherwise, Text Message.
    • Settings | Messages | Receive At shows phone and email messages can be received at, need to use email registered as Apple ID?
    • Settings | Messages | Send as SMS will send via SMS if iMessage fails, I had this happen once with person who was iMessage capable
    • I have no disabled MMS – this is so great for people who HATE those massive bills.
    • Superb for people living in Europe with all those little countries!

    Photostream

    • Love having photos show up in Aperture
    • No ability to selectively choose what syncs
    • No ability to remove individual photos from stream

    Wireless sync

    • Settings | General | iTunes Wi-Fi Sync.  Says device must be connected to power, I found I could without power.
    • Only automatic sync needs power.
    • Problems with Podcasts – deleted off iPhone get re-synced with iTunes

    Notifications
    Text Tones by person
    Maps alternate routes
    Split keyboard on iPad
    Camera

    • Like new AE/AF lock feature, was able to take pic of neon theater sign at night that iOS 4 camera app would fail on.

    New Apps – AirPort Utility, Trailers, Find Friends (requires iCloud), Cards
    iCloud charging us $40 this year?

    Picks

     

     

    John – Rubbernet €30 macobserver.com/tmo/article/rubbernet_shows_whos_hogging_your_bandwidth/
    Al – Jettison $2 – eject external drives & put Mac to sleep. credit to Allister Jenks of Sitting Duck Podcast for the find: Jettison : in the Mac App Store
    Katie – MailSteward $20 : itunes.apple.com/us/app/mailstewardapp
    Bart – iMapMyRide 1.59 Euro: itunes.apple.com (also a free version)
    Chuck – AppleTV  amzn.to/nHCtAW
    Don McAllister: Box.net – 50GB Free storage for iOS 5 users – themacscreencastguy.squarespace.com

    Play

    October 4, 2011

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    Mac Roundtable 2011.10.4 Episode #105

    Filed under: Podcast — themacattack @ 5:39 pm

    All about Apple’s October 4th iPhone event!

    Your humble hosts for this episode:
    Steve Stanger
    stevestanger.com Twitter: @tmasteve
    John F. Braun
    macgeekgab.com/ Twitter: @johnfbraun, Twitter: @macgeekgab
    Jonathan Cost
    thinkmac.net Twitter: @MacTipsDaily
    Chuck Joiner
    macvoicesgroup.com Twitter: @chuckjoiner
    Dave Hamilton
    macobserver.com/ macgeekgab.com/ Twitter: @davehamilton
    Jeff Gamet
    mamacobserver.com Twitter: @jgamet
    David Sparks
    macsparky.com macpowerusers.comTwitter: @macsparky
    Ken Ray
    macosken.com Twitter: @macosken

    This is the “print your own postcard” app mentioned during the show:
    Bill Atkinson PhotoCard (paid version)
    Bill Atkinson PhotoCard (free version)

    Play

    August 31, 2011

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    Mac Roundtable 2011.08.31 Episode #104

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 9:34 pm

    This show is hosted by:
    Joseph Nilo – http://www.josephnilo.com http://twitter.com/josephnilo
    Steve Stanger - http://www.stevestanger.com/ http://twitter.com/tmasteve
    John F. Braun, Mac Geek Gab http://www.macgeekgab.com http://twitter.com/johnfbraun
    Adam Christianson, Maccast http://www.maccaccast.com http://twitter.com/maccast
    Bart Busschots, International Mac Podcast, http://www.impodcast.tv http://www.bartb.ie http://twitter.com/bbusschots

    Topics in this show:
    Steve retires!
    OSX Lion, after a month
    FCPX and iMovie
    Come One Irene (Being prepared for natural disasters with your gear)

    Picks:
    John: http://www.virtualapple.org/ – Play Apple ][ games in your browser!
    Joseph: Synthcam: https://sites.google.com/site/marclevoy/ FREE
    Adam: Canyon Country National Parks (Free) Website: http://www.utah.com/ iTunes Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/canyon-country-national-parks/id458028890?mt=8
    Steve: Snapseed – iPhone/iPad photo editing app. http://www.niksoftware.com/snapseed/usa/index.php?view
    Bart: Trainz for iPad http://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/trainz-simulator/id405824661?mt=8

    Play

    July 24, 2011

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    Mac Roundtable 2011.07.24 Episode #103 Lion Food Fight

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 3:38 pm

    This week’s hosts are:
    Allison Sheridan NosillaCast Mac Podcast http://podfeet.com @podfeet
    Bart Busschots International Mac Podcast http://www.impodcast.tv @bbusschots
    Don McAllister  ScreenCastsOnline – http://screencastsoonline.com @donmcallister
    Adam Christianson, Maccast http://www.maccast.com @maccast
    John F. Braun, Mac Geek Gab http://www.macgeekgab.com @johnfbraun

    Lion Hits the Virtual Shelves:

    The Good:

    • The app store download was painless, and you CAN easily move the PKG file around to the various machines in your house, so only have to DL once
      • If you know to move it to another drive before you run the installer
      • No problem burning bootable DVD
      • I don’t think I was charged, I had downloaded the developer’s GM version earlier, is it supposed to be free if you’re a developer?
      • Apple have announced a version of USB thumb-drive for those not on Snow Leopard or with bad internets – coming out next month at $69
    • Full disk encryption with FileVault2 is an absolute breeze – you can even keep using your Mac while the disk is encrypting itself
    • The OS-wide auto-correct is really nicely implemented – a great carry-over from iOS
    • On the whole, I think the new ‘natural’ scrolling is a very positive upgrade, it takes us from controlling the scroll bar which controls the page, to just controlling the page we want to read. The iOS-like scroll bounce is a lovely little touch
      • Hard to switch between Macs
      • If you do want to change it back, System Preferences | Trackpad | Scroll & Zoom | Scroll direction : natural -> UNCHECK
      • There is an app to add natural scrolling to Snow Leopard – Scroll Reverser: http://pilotmoon.com/scrollreverser/
    • Like the full screen apps a lot – more useful to me than Spaces ever were
    • Zoom in window is cool for visually impaired (but I can’t find how to zoom the whole screen)
    • Love love love email – threads so clean and crisp, I almost hope I get email from someone on aol!
      • Reverted to older layout (Preferences | Layout | Use classic layout -> CHECK) I prefer msgs on top content on bottom, not side by side – me too, so glad they left the classic option
    • The iOS-like auto-save is both really cool and really disconcerting – will be confusing for a while as apps are updated, but sould soon become the new normal.
    • Saving state when re-opened is nice, you can disable (hold down option to Quit and Discard Windows)

    The Bad:

    • The total lack of any indication of what does and doesn’t scroll is very annoying – particully on web pages where just parts of a page scroll – don’t need scroll bars, but surely SOME indication is needed!
      • Scroll doesn’t work in Help!
    • Spaces has really been hobbled for power users – more people will use the feature now, but power users are taking a real step back
    • The new monochrome Finder with the most important stuff at the bottom (hard drives) is REALLY annoying <— YES!
    • Pitty you can’t do in-place encryption on external drives, has to be done when you format the drive (was linked to a Terminal hack – (http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/1935/lions-whole-disk-encryption)
    • Changing definition of three-finger swipe BOO.  System Preferences | Trackpad | More Gestures | Swipe Between Pages | Swipe left or right with three fingers, disable Swipe between full-screen apps
    • No AirDrop for earlier MBP (http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html)
    • The mysterious hidden ~/Library folder, hold down “option” in Finder and you’ll see it in Go menu.
    • Found some hiccups in Console, due to new Safari model, “sandboxd: ([323]) WebProcess(323) deny file-read-data … /Adobe/AIR/ELS/<file>” edited entries in com.apple.security.plist and they’re gone.
    • No “obvious” way to hide the “message” pane in the new mail layout. When I delete a message it jumps to the next one and marks it as read which I may or maynot want. Can switch back to Classic mode which does allow hidding the message pane.

    The stuff that makes you go, “huh.”

    • There doesn’t appear to be Save-As any more – Save a Version doesn’t appear to do it, had to use Duplicate – and when you save your duplicate it does NOT remember where you were in the file system – REALLY annoying!
    • Launchpad – meh. I use search to find apps on iOS, use Alfred on the Mac because I don’t want to have to search around visually
      • I think it’ll be great for Windows users used to a Start Menu-like this, and for people who think desktops should be cluttered with icons, they can clutter Lanch Pad instead!

    What Died During the Upgrade:

    • Existing MacPorts installations are destroyed by the upgrade – RC1 of Lion support released
    • TrueCrypt was killed by the update, seemingly because FUSE was killed by the update
    • iCal went nuts – entire duplicate calendars popping up, and then not disapearing when they were deleted
      • No problems here in iCal – 4 calendars syncing + 5 subscriptions
    • There are bugs in some Automator actions – so the automator scripts I rely on every day in work died (the Get Contents of Clipboard action gives currupted output for a start)
    • My Desktop changer app DeskLickr is no longer able to change my desktop wallpaper :(
    • Cleared out all old PowerPC programs (view with System Profiler) beforehand, only item that was identified as incompatible was Default Folder X.  More info here http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3258
    • Mail.app and add-ons (SpamSieve and Signature Profiler)
    • XCode upgrade (now free in app store? – yes) first install resulted in Xcode reporting inconsistent state, ran installer again and all is well.

    Misc

    • Anyone else reminded heavily of Window7 on some of the OS animations? Nope
    • To really get the most out of this OS you need a mutlitouch trackpad – multitouch on the MagicMouse is a disaster – RSI-inducing hell!
    • Neat little add-on in /System/Library/CoreServices, Wi-Fi Diagnostics, includes data capture as a pcap file.
    • Also found Network Link Conditioner prefpane in Utilities folder, looks to be able to shape bandwidth based on pre-defined or user-defined profile.

    Picks:

    Play

    June 12, 2011

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    Mac Roundtable 2011.06.11 Episode #102

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 11:04 am

    This week’s show is hosted by:

    Allison Sheridan – NosillaCast Mac Podcast podfeet.com @podfeet
    Katie Floyd – Mac Power Users macpowerusers.com @katiefloyd
    John F. Braun – Mac Geek Gab macgeekgab.com @johnfbraun @macgeekgab
    David Sparks – Mac Power Users macpowerusers.com MacSparky macsparky.com @macsparky

    Lion – Questions/Concerns

    • Is there an ability to do a “fresh” install
    • We know there’s a “hack for the boot CD”
    • What if I don’t have Snow Leopard? What about grandpa, move him or not?
    • What if I have limited Bandwidth?
    • What’s with all the gesture stuff?  Will one *need* trackpad or touch surface to use OS X?   will this be too confusing? What about special needs users?
    • FileVault 2!  Done right, and works on external drives too
    • Windows migration, take that, Microsoft!
    • Autosave & versioning – particular about window locations this is good…or is it?
    • Will developers have to write to the APIs?

    iOS 5 – Questions/Concerns

    • Many of these offered on other devices/platforms (PC-free, WiFi sync) about time
    • Hope Twitter won’t be a baby like they have been with third party devs when it comes to development of clients
    • Are we marking the iPad as a PC replacement now? Can iCloud really replace a PC for Backup, Software updates and Sync?
    • What about Podcasts? will they wirelessly sync
    • “Wireless Sync” to your Mac still requires a power cable
    • What about Game Center?
    • Importance of iMessage – is it important?
    • LOVE camera avail from lock screen

    iCloud – Questions/Concerns

    • Here’s the article with details on the transition http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4597 (keep your me.com or mac.com email address and move your MobileMe mail, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks)
    • What about my other MobileMe stuff?  Publishing photos via iWeb?  Back to my Mac? what about iDisk? is iWeb gone? (Hope not)
    • Big Picture – Different visions
    • What if cloud isn’t available?  How does this work on local networks?  Will this make DropBox obsolete.
    • I think this will make the need for Dropbox even greater with no iDisk?
    • Will people actually spend more money on other services to replace iDisk?
    • Will people actually spend more money on other services to replace MobileMe functionality?
    • Novice users at my MUG were very concerned about MobileMe going away, they don’t want multiple services for cloud storage (dropbox), photos (flickr, and others) and their own domains (homepage). They want something simple and “Mac like”

    Picks:
    Katie: CardMunch cardmunch.comitunes.apple.com/us/app/cardmunch-business-card-reader – Free
    David: Reeder for Mac - itunes.apple.com/us/app/reeder $10
    John: Verbatim InSight 320 drive verbatim.com $119
    Allison: Flexiglass from nulana.com/flexiglass $8

    Play
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