July 28, 2012

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Mac Roundtable 2012.07.28 Episode #113

Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 2:55 pm

Allison Sheridan NosillaCast Mac Podcast podfeet.com @podfeet
Katie Floyd Mac Power Users: macpowerusers.com katiefloyd.me @katiefloyd
Bart Busschots – bartb.ie International Mac Podcast: impodcast.com @bbusschots
Tim Verpoorten surfbits@gmail.com  @surfbits http://www.surfbits.com
John F. Braun macgeekgab.com @johnfbraun @macgeekgab

Mountain Lion

  • Who’s Upgraded & Who Hasn’t?
    • Bart – I played dangerously and just upgraded all my machines – I’ve not yet noticed any problems (I did do two full backups before playing dangerously though)
    • Tim – My Mac Pro cannot be updated to ML without a firmware hack (jabbawok.net/?p=47), but I have an updated video card that can handle it, 16 gigs of ram, and an SSD drive. Should Apple allow users to install ML on a Mac if the user feels they can run it?
    • John – I upgraded on my MBP Early 2008 running Lion, all seems well
      • TIP…WHen installing, you can view installation log, save to disk, good to stay amused or diagnose install issues
    • Katie – yep running beta for weeks
    • Allison – Wirecast Studio won’t be ready till mid-August so my primary MBP can’t go yet, so I used my spare MacBook for the upgrade
    • Mountain Lion Supported Models: apple.com/osx/specs
  • Disappointments
    • Angry about Airplay limitations – nothing pre mid-2011? (Allison)
    • My friend Kevin got a hand me down mac from his son. bought new RAM last week, installed Snow Leopard at the Apple Store on Monday so he could go to Lion on Tuesday…and Lion was gone. what the heck does he do? (Allison)
    • First app I tried to install I had to get rid of Gatekeeper (Desktop Presenter from Telestream.net)
      • Apps that are already on your Mac when you up-grade get grand-fathered in to Gatekeeper – this probably why I’ve not hit any snags
      • Apple said in the keynote that you could make exceptions – but I can’t find out how on the intertubes, and all my un-signed apps are grandfathered in.
      • Workaround – right click -> Open
    • Don’t like VIP implementation – isn’t just new messages
    • 802.11g Airport Express no longer works
    • Snapz Pro doesn’t quite work, Ambrosia yet again has an app that doesn’t quite work under new OS  (coming soon though: ambrosiasw.com/support/faqs/products/snapz-pro-x)
    • None of my VM software (VMWare, VirtualBox) works, will need to upgrade, what did they change to kill all the VM software? It’s not a matter of ‘Killing’ – you can’t expect something so low-level to just work on a whole new OS without so much as an app update! BTW – the latest version of VirtualBox works fine according to roaringapps.com.
    • Odd screen color bug after upgrade, had to go to Displays | Scaled then manually choose resolution to fix.  In other news, there’s now a “Best for built-in display” option.  Big Brother is going ot make all the decisions for us now, eh? Or – they are making things easy for human beings?
    • Crashplan was disabled, had to select and reinstall JVM, seems to be working again.
    • No way to choose how long to snooze calendar alerts – some things I want to be reminded of in 5 mins, some in a day – why was this feature removed?

Favorite Features

  • Love Safari 6
    • Cool “Ask websites not to track me” and “prevent search engines from providing suggestions” privacy options
    • Web site and search entry field are the same, BLOW MY MIND
    • Safari 6 killed the “Activity” section so you can’t use that as a workaround to download videos
    • Privacy – can tell sites not to track me
  • You have to love the built-in security features. Gatekeeper + FileVault2 really gives a lot of protection.
    • Yeah what’s with warnings around accessing contact list, what are apps (so far I’ve had WeatherBug, DashBoard and SpamSieve request access) trying to do?
  • I like the privacy controlls around the Addressbook APIs
  • I think we are not seeing it’s full potential yet, but the Twitter & Flickr integration and the sharing panes are going to become really useful as more and more apps start to use these APIs
  • Simiarly – I think Notification Centre has great potential, but ATM, most of my apps are still writting to Growl.
  • New version of mail, why?  Disabled my mail plug-ins, again (is there official support for mail plugins? Or are these hacks? Hacks will break, that’s the nature of hacking!)

The Future of the Mac App Store

  • Great article from Marco Arment: marco.org/2012/07/26/mac-app-store-future and followup: marco.org/2012/07/26/not-just-geeks (what’s great about it? No facts, no figures, no great insights that I can see)
  • Mass exodus since Sandboxing <– no stats on what “mass” means, how do we know this is true? I have a total of 1 apps that left (TextExpander) out of 50 – I don’t buy this  OTT “mass exodus” scare mongering
  • App Store use to be my “go to place” for Apps – but can we “trust it” with so many good apps being pulled. Makes me reconsider purchasing from the App Store
    • I can see how this is a problem for power apps that need to poke around in non-standard things that are not covered by the current set of sandbox entitlements – but for simple apps, I just don’t see the danger. Solitaire isn’t going anywhere 🙂
    • TextExpander have proven that having an app you bought leave the app store does not have to be a bad thing for users. The upgrade from V3 of TE from the App to V4 outside the App Store was painless. I was really impressed at how smooth the process was. If Smile can do it, so can other devs
  • Still lack of Trials/Paid Upgrades – Likely Apple has just decided they don’t want to do this.
    • I just don’t get this. You can’t try apps before you buy, and if you choose badly based on just screenshots and reviews your only recourse is to open a support ticket and hope Apple are in a good mood. This is bad for users, and for Apple. Total waste of time and effort all round!
  • I noticed that now if you go to Software Update… in the Apple menu, it goes to the App Store!

Picks:

  • Allison: AirParrot from airparrot.com gives non Mountain Lion (or pre-2011 macs) Airplay. $10 for one license, $30 for a family pack of 5.
  • Tim: Olympics iOS apps:
  • John : Colloquy – Mac IRC Client colloquy.info & mibbit.com for embedded IRC browser plugin
  • Bart: Carbon Copy Cloner – new version has been updated for Mountain Lion, and had transitioned from donationware to paid software. Those who donated get the new version free, and it is at 25% off ($29.96) for everyone until 12 August (full price $39.95). bombich.com/ccc_features.html
  • Katie – Tweetbot for Mac (public alpha) – tapbots.com/tweetbot_mac/
  • Steve Sheridan – Web Video Downloader for Firefox v6.8 now that Safari Activity trick is gone web-video-downloader.com
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

    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

    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

    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

    May 15, 2011

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    Mac Roundtable 2011.05.15 Episode #100

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 4:20 pm

    This show is hosted by:

    Allison Sheridan: NosillaCast at http://podfeet.com http://twitter.com/podfeet

    Katie Floyd: Mac Power Users at http://macpowerusers.com http://twitter.com/katiefloyd

    John F Braun: Mac Geek Gab at http://macgeekgab.com http://twitter.com/johnfbraun

    Tim Verpoorten: Mac ReviewCast at http://macreviewcast.com http://twitter.com/surfbits

    Woohoo 100 episodes!

    Topics in this show include:

    Skype bought by Microsoft – what does that mean to podcasting? is there a chance they won’t screw this up?

    • It’s Microsoft, how can they not screw this up?

    Display problem with new MacBook Pros – screen flicker on Apple cinema displays using Thunderbolt & shift of the bottom 1/4 of the screen (not fixed by recent firmware update)

    Confusion about where your applications came from when it comes time to reinstall

    • Mac App Store (MAS)
    • Direct from developer – where’s my license key/serial number
    • Direct from developer – but they used a web link for authorization
    • If you have CRL checking ON in Keychain Access | Certificates, many operations in MAS take FOREVER
    • What’s CRL? CRL is Certificate Revocation List, it’s a way for an application to see if any of the certificates it normally trusts have been Revoked. Here’s an article with more detail http://www.securitygeneration.com/security/safari-mac-os-x-and-fraudulent-ssl-certificates-comodo/

    How excited are we about Final Cut X?

    • Very excited expect I won’t be upgrading until…
    • Lion is released
    • New Mac Pros are released
    • I’m finished with all the client jobs I’m in the middle of doing with the current FCP 3

    Mac Security – is it time to worry?

    • Fake anti-virus download
    • Want to be clear that this was Malware, best defense is to just not automatically install an app, or disable “Open “safe” files after downloading” in Safari General preferences
    • Skype payload bug
    • Also good discussion, if someone you don’t know sends you an attachment, it could be this attack, more detail here http://thenextweb.com/apple/2011/05/06/a-bug-in-skype-for-mac-could-give-hackers-root-access-to-os-x/
    • Tim runs antivirus apps on all the Macs that other household members use, none on his own
    • But what’s in the virus definitions if there are still no viruses (defined as self-replicating malware)

    Video/Audio movement between Macs and iPads and other media devices

    Semi-proprietary hard drive in recent iMacs (temp sensor must be part of drive and attach to special Apple cable, otherwise, fans go nuts) should one expect being able to upgrade HD in iMac. Mac Pro, sure, that’s why there’s multiple drive bays.

    Picks:

    Play

    March 29, 2011

    p

    Mac Roundtable 2011.03.29 Episode #99

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 8:07 pm

    This episode is hosted by:

    Katie Floyd: www.macpowerusers.com, www.katiefloyd.me, @katiefloyd

    Steve Stanger themacattack.tv, about.me/sstanger, @tmasteve

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

    Chuck Joiner http://macvoicesgroup.com @chuckjoiner

    Mac OS X turns 10 years old!

    • Anything we still miss from the Pre-OSX days?
    • Where is OS X still lacking?
    • What features do you want to see added?

    No iPhone, Macs at WWDC 2011 (rumor)

    WWDC June 6th-10th

    Apple?s 2011 World Wide Developers Conference has sold out after not even being open for more than 12 hours. The conference, which costs $1599 to attend

    • Sources claim no hardware announcements at WWDC.
    • No iOS5 announcement (another rumor of the release being moved to the fall).
    • I say good. Lets focus on the Mac and OSX!

    Katie’s Recent AppleCare “Deal” Fiasco

    • Buying from a third party reseller on Amazon almost cost me.
    • Tips for buying AppleCare

    Is there ever a perfect time to buy a Mac?

    • I want a MacPro but now waiting for Thurderbolt
    • I want a Macbook Air (heck Katie and David enabled me right into one,) but I’m waiting for Sandie Bridge
    • Apple I have money in the bank ready to give to you but your secrets keep me from doing anything at this point.

    Picks:

    Katie: Evernote: Relying on it heavily to organize my house building project,

    Steve: PictureShow iPhone camera app.

    Victor : Thanks to Tim Verporten and his posterous page for this.  Sendoid lets you instantly transfer big files up to about a gig  to another person through a browser connections .

    Chuck: TopXNotes

     

    Play

    March 7, 2011

    p

    Mac Roundtable 2011.03.05 Episode #98

    Filed under: Podcast — take2 @ 9:31 pm

    Cast:

    Allison Sheridan NosillaCast Mac Podcast – http://podfeet.com @podfeet
    Jonathan Cost – http://www.Thinkmac.net & Mac Tips Daily! Podcast — Twitter @mactipsdaily
    Joseph Nilo – HiLo Media http://josephnilo.com / @josephnilo
    David Sparks – http://macsparky.com / http://macpowerusers.com / Twitter @macsparky
    John F. Braun – http://macgeekgab.com / http://macobsever.com / Twitter @johnfbraun

    You can also follow us at @macroundtable

    iPad 2
    Specs: http://www.apple.com/ipad/specs/

    Who is upgrading and why?

    STEVE IS ALIVE

    Smart Cover

    • the color they demo’d with was freakin’ butt ugly, BUT what an ingenious design!  I kept thinking, how does ANYONE keep up with these guys???

    iOS 4.3

    • Mobile HotSpot!
    • Toggle switch, a “Feature”
    • Home sharing goodness
    • Not available on iPhone 3G or Verizon CDMA iPhone 4

    iOS 5

    • Notification?

    The “Post-PC” world

    David’s post – http://www.macsparky.com/blog/2011/3/2/thoughts-on-the-post-pc-world.html

    Applications for iOS:

    Printopia from Ecamm – Lets any printer work with Airprint.

    http://ecamm.com/mac/printopia/

    Garageband

    iMovie

    • if you don’t buy an iPad 2, is there a way to get videos in from say your iPhone or a flip? Without syncing through a computer that is…
    • Maybe premature to know until we have an iPad 2 to test it. My guess is that if you have synced videos to your iPad via iTunes then you might be able to edit them if they are in a compatible format.

    MacBook Pros

    • None of my enabling Mac Roundtable friends have been able to come up with a good reason for me to replace my 28 month old MacBook Pro – since I put the 60GB Mercury Extreme SSD in it – it’s so fast I never wait for it!  Please try to convince me?
      • update – OWC says I can take the data doubler and the SSD out of this one and pop it into the new model!

    New MBP – ThunderBolt, quad core, 1GB VRAM
    [Joseph’s new 15″ MBPro is en route from Shanghai]
    Engadget Review: http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/04/macbook-pro-review-early-2011/

    And now for something completely different.

    fseventer http://www.fernlightning.com/doku.php?id=software:fseventer:start – Shows what files are being created/destroyed, great for diagnosing issues where your HD is churning and you don’t know why.
    http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/find_out_whos_messing_with_your_drive_with_fseventer/

    fs_usage – command from the terminal that shows similar information.

    atmonitor – stumbled across this when diagnosing allison had with son’s macbook gpu performance.  one of the few utilities that shows gpu vram use and utilization.  like activity monitor, but will pull description of what app/process does from various sources.
    http://www.atpurpose.com/atMonitor/

    PICKS:
    David: Tom Bihn Ristretto for 13″ MBA – $120
    http://www.tombihn.com/page/001/PROD/300/TB0223


    Jonathan:

    Flick Tunes – iOS – http://flicktunes.com/FlickTunes/Welcome.html

    Epson R1900 – http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Product.do?sku=C11C698201

    Joseph: Canon EOS 60D DSLR: http://www.usa.canon.com/cusa/consumer/products/cameras/slr_cameras/eos_60d
    John : KisMAC http://kismac-ng.org/
    Allison: Boom $5 from http://globaldelight.com

    Play
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