Macgasm

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In this episode, Grant talks about printing on Mac OS X.

[02.0 MB] [0:04:20] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner]

It’s okay, I get it, some of you might have a palm pre. Being fair, it’s probably a great phone and I’ve never physically gotten my hands on one, so I can’t really say with any degree of certainty that the iPhone is a better device. I’d love to try one out though, so if you’re feeling generous and know someone at Palm, drop them my email! Anyway, some great news came down the wire today for Pre owners. You can now sync your Palm Pre with your Mac. Thank goodness! I wouldn’t be able to live with out sync capabilities on my phone, it’d be like a trip back to the stone age!

The Folks over at Mark Space made it happen, so throw some high fives there way!

Contacts

Sync contacts from Address Book on your Mac with your Pre. Add or edit contacts and the changes sync automatically.

Music

Take your favorite music with you. The Missing Sync works with iTunes.¹ Don’t just transfer songs. Sync playlists!

Photos

Transfer pictures you take with your Pre into iPhoto. And sync iPhoto albums with the Pre Photos app, too.

Ringtones

Create ringtones from your favorite songs using the built-in editor.¹ Or, use included ringtones to customize your Pre.

Docs and Files

For school. For work. PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Sync them all, then view them on your Pre.

Proximity Sync^â„¢

Sync without thinking! Contacts and calendars sync automatically over WiFi when your Pre is near your Mac.

Calendars

Keep calendars from iCal or Entourage in sync with your Pre. Sync your schedules – work, home, school and play.

Video and Home Movies

The Missing Sync converts and transfers digital video and movies for optimum viewing on the Pre.¹

Podcasts

Take your podcasts to-go. Transfer Smart Playlists of the audio and video podcasts you subscribe to.

Safari Bookmarks – Coming Soon²

View your favorite web sites on the Pre. Transfer bookmarks from your Mac to the Fliq Bookmarks² app.

Following Jason’s article on apps he uses, I thought it might be a good idea to make a series of it.  I’m a systems administrator, but I tend to dabble in a variety of things.  As such, the software I use is a decent variety.

AppleJack -
While not software I use every day (nor would I want to), AppleJack is a superb piece of F/OSS that every Mac should have installed.  It’s able to repair disk permissions, and do a variety of other recovery tasks from single user mode.  If your Mac is hosed, and you don’t have an OSX disk handy for whatever reason, AppleJack can save you.

VMWare Fusion -
Sometimes you just can’t get it done with OSX alone, which is why I have both an XP and Linux virtual machine.  I’m accustomed to their software, having used VMWare Workstation before switching to Macs, so I didn’t even give Parallels a second’s thought.

Quicksilver -
For me, Quicksilver wears a few hats.  Application launcher of course, but also quick and dirty file navigation.  Web searching and URL opening (select, ^Space, Cmd+G, enter as opposed to select, Cmd+C, Cmd+Tab, Cmd+V) round out my most common uses.  Couple it’s usefulness with the attractive interface (I use Bezel HUD http://www.julius-eckert.com/projects/), and staying out of my way when I’m not actively using it, you really can’t go wrong with QS.

Linkinus -
While Adium and Twitterrific are givens for most people, Linkinus seems to be a relative rarity.  It’s a fantastic IRC client, and fits right into OSX as a whole.  If you use IRC enough to consider paying for a client, Linkinus is perfect.

Yojimbo -
I use Yojimbo for any note I need to take, as well as organizing all my software licenses.  It’s one of this increasingly rare apps that just does what it’s supposed to exactly how it should.  A nice bonus is it’s compatibility with Mobile Me, assuring me that even should my laptop suddenly burst into flames, I can still install Yojimbo on any Mac and retrieve all my notes.

DTerm -
DTerm is somewhat akin to Yuake or Visor, in that it provides on demand access to a terminal without having a window constantly open.  What makes DTerm stand apart from Visor (aside form not requiring SIMBL) is that it grabs your current working directory.  So, if I’m trying to test a script from Textmate quickly, I can just use DTerm.  If something seems out of whack in VMWare, I can open DTerm and immediately check the log files without opening a terminal.  Also great for the quick ping here and there.

Other miscellaneous apps I use, but which don’t require much explaining are Cyberduck, coconutBattery, TextMate (who’s virtues have already ben extolled), smcFanControl (for watching Hulu without melting anything) and Caffeine.

The iPhone has a ton of icons that change on occasion, and leave people extremely confused about what’s going on with their devices.  These “iPhone problems” are far from problems.  They’re normally just some information feedback letting you know what type of network you’re connected to or what settings are active on your iPhone.  I’ve been asked twice in the last two days what the icon of the phone headset over a keyboard means, so I figured it was time to post what each of the iPhone icons means, and how they relate to your iPhone.  All this information can be found in your manual.

Break it down!

Network Activity

This one is pretty straight forward, if your phone is busy connecting to a web service, or some network then this little icon is going to be spinning.  It’s a great way to know when your phone is idling.  Sending an email?  This thing is going to be spinning like mad until that email has been sent across the tubes.  Some applications use this as a notifier to let you know that a process is running, so be careful.  If it’s a spinning don’t go a quitting.

Call Forwarding

If you’ve decided that you’re sick and tired of answering calls on your phone and decided to forward your number to another device then this baby will appear in your phones menubar.  It’s pretty handy when you’re going on vacation and don’t want to take your phone with you.  Bah. Who am I kidding, the iPhones attached to our hips.

VPN

A VPN is essentially a connection to a network over the internet.  This means you can access services on that network as if you were sitting in your office.  There’s some upsides to this for security reasons.  If you don’t want your web traffic going across the air then it’s probably a good idea to look into setting this bad boy up.  But, unless you’re working for a fourtune 500 company, there’s probably no reasons for this to be appearing on your phone.

Locked

You’ve gone and locked your phone.  You better hope you remember your password.  If not, well… there’s not much we can do for you.  Don’t lock your phone if you’re not so good at remembering passwords.  Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

TTY

This is mostly used for the deaf.  I’m not too sure how that works with a mobile device like the iPhone, but if you see it on your menu bar, you might want to turn it off, unless you’re deaf.  Then by all means, keep loving your iPhone.

Play

Another pretty self evident icon.  Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last sixty years, you’re probably well aware that that nice looking triangle is now the universal symbol for “play”.  If it’s on the menu bar you probably have media playing on your device.

Alarm

This isn’t on by default, and it’ll only appear if you set up an alarm in the clock application on your phone.  This lets you know that your alarm has been set, and it’s ready to wake you up in the morning.  The iPhone is the perfect alarm clock.  I’m abusive to my clocks in the morning, but since I’ve been using my iPhone, I’ve been  pretty domicile.

Bluetooth

This little application eats up battery life, so if you have no idea what it means you should probably disable bluetooth in your phones settings. The iPhone only lets you connect a wireless headset over bluetooth, or tether your phone to a computer, so if you’re not currently using either of these functions you should probably save some battery life and turn it off.

Battery

Another on that’s self-explanatory, this icon changes a little depending on if your phone has been plugged in to charge or not.  If you see a lightning bolt it means you’re charging up, if it’s missing in action, it means you’re running off the battery completely.  Keep your eye on it, it’ll let you know if you’re batteries about to die.

Cell Signal

Your signal indicator here lets you know just how strong of a connection you have to the cell towers in your area. The more bars there are the better connection you’re going to have. You’ll probably notice that it fluctuates depending on your position around town. If you have no bars showing your out of luck. You better hope you don’t get mugged or need to dial 911.

Airplane Mode

There’s been some controversy about this little plane icon. When the pilot comes on the speakers before you take off, and they tell you to turn off your phone, what they really mean is stop your phone from broadcasting signals.  Apple has your back here!  They gave you the ability to turn off all the transmissions on your phone, so you can still use it to listen to music and watch videos on your phone.  Hence the “air plane mode” title that they’ve given it.

3G

The last of the icons following this one all have to do with the connection type to the cellphone tower. Some are faster than others and provide better quality overall. 3G is where it’s at currently. It’s not the cream of the crop, but it’s the best that Apple has decided to offer us. It’s pretty fast, and if anything, your telecommunications company is likely throttling your connection to stop you from getting the full speed that 3G has to offer. Why? Because they can’t afford to let you have that much speed. They don’t have the infrastructure to support us all. Oh, and they’re bastards. I should probably note that you’ll either have the 3G icon, Edge icon, or Wifi Icon, and that you can not have any more than one of these at a time.

EDGE

Edge sucks, plain and simple. If you’re planning on using a smart phone and you’re stuck on an edge network I feel mighty sorry for you. It’s like taking a trip back in time and using a dial up modem again.  Hey, it’s better than nothing, but it is gonna take you some time to get your email over the cellular network in this mode.  It’s far from fun times. Avoid it where you can!

GPRS

If EDGE sucks, then GPRS BLOWS. That’s all I have to say about this!  Well that, and if you’re in a GPRS network most of the time, you should probably forgo the cost of an iPhone and buy yourself a HAM Radio instead.  Don’t laugh, people still use those… a lot!

Wi-Fi

WiFi is going to provide you with the fastest possible data connection you can get, unless you have a dial up modem at home still. Essentially this means you’ve connected to your local internet connection, and you’re using that connection to get your data on your phone.

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In this episode, Grant talks about HD content on Mac OS X.

[03.5 MB] [0:07:30] [Hosted by: Josh Schnell & Grant Brunner]

Networkworld has published a report that Apple has ordered some chips from Foxlink that will afford them the ability to add micro projectors to their devices.  The logical conclusion that most people have made up until now is that these things should be expected in iPhones and Touch devices within the coming years, and “the report goes on to note that Apple will be one of the companies who will implement Foxlink’s mobile projector in an upcoming model of the iPhone”.  The word ‘upcoming’ is pretty ambiguous, and no timeframe is being tossed around, so I’m not full sure what to expect here.

Would a mobile projector on your phone be fun to use?

You bet it would! The modern art implications could be outstanding.  Projecting stuff around town, despite being a sure fire way to get unwanted attention, some creativity could net interesting results.  Watching a movie in a tent or a park.  A heads up display in your car. Giving a sales pitch in an elevator, complete with slideshow!  All have some awesome possibilities, but lets take a step back and get real.

Currently the iPhone has a bluetooth chip, and gps chip, a wireless networking chip, and now… a projection chip?  Starting to sound like a little too many features considering the amount of battery life we currently have.  Is there such a thing as feature overkill?  If there is, the iPhone is slowly encroaching on that territory.  Don’t get me wrong, if a projector was built into the device, even though I highly doubt it will be, it could be really take the phone to the next level.  But, you know what would take the phone to the promised land? A battery that lasts a more then a couple of days with moderate use.  I don’t know much about battery manufacturing, and I’m by no means an electrical engineer, but one would think that the first person to take the next step in mobile power will really set themselves apart from the competition.

I say screw the projector ships, and reallocate that money to battery research and development.  There’s more benefit there than there is being able to watch an episode of 24 on the side of a house.

[image via rmtwrkr]

Apple has just released Safari 4.0.2.

The security announcement indicates that “An issue in WebKit’s handling of the parent and top objects may result in a cross-site scripting attack when visiting a maliciously crafted website. This update addresses the issue through improved handling of parent and top objects.”

This will affect a Mac or PC, so leave the battle for another day.  Download it now and protect yourself from malicious attacks.

In my last post, located here, I provided my initial iPhone 3GS thoughts. Well after having used the iPhone 3GS for two weeks, I thought I would share my thoughts about the new hardware.

Battery life on the iPhone 3GS is definitely worse than on the iPhone 3G. I think there are a couple of factors that are causing this issue. The first is Location services. I know that the iPhone 3G had location services, however with Push notifications, a compass, and applications that have Location services built in, the battery life take a major hit.

I struggled to determine what the primary cause for such battery life was until I looked at AIM and noticed that it was transmitting my location to my friends EVERY five minutes. Well, that was a lightbulb that decided to light itself after I found the setting. Needless to say I have changed that to only determine my location upon startup. For me, that was the biggest culprit.

Another one of the new features is the video camera built in. I have taken a few videos and, as one would expect, it does drain the battery more so than regular usage. However the video is not horrible by any stretch of the imagination. No, this isn’t something that you would necessarily want to publish on broadcast television (although these days it seems like any video, even 320 x 240 can make it onto television) but it is good enough to take home movies for a special event. Plus, you do not have to carry about another piece of equipment, it’s right there in your pocket. I would like to see the ability to turn on 720p with the caveat that it will drain battery even quicker. At that point a Mophie Juice pack might not be a bad investment.

The speed within the 3GS is significantly faster. This is shown most assuredly when I updated both my iPhone 3GS and my iPhone 3G with 12 application updates. The iPhone 3GS finished updating 4 minutes faster than the iPhone 3G. When the iPhone 3G was started before the iPhone 3GS.

The final aspect that I want to cover is the screen. I didn’t cover this in my initial review but I have definitely noticed that the screen does not attract nearly as many fingerprints as the previous iPhones. The new Oleophobic screen does not allow nearly as many fingerprints to stay on the screen. I have definitely noticed that I do not have to clean the screen nearly as often. This makes it easier for maintenance. The yellow tint that I had mentioned is less noticeable, but it is definitely still present.

Overall the iPhone 3GS has been quite a good experience. Particularly since there are fewer slowdowns when typing and the overall experience is more positive. Now if I could only get better 3G coverage with AT&T. I know this is ‘supposed’ to be coming by the end of 2009 by AT&T upgrading their 850 MHz spectrum to 3G speeds, but I’d like to see this happen faster. We won’t even go into tethering…