Episode Britishmac049
News
Headlines
Steve & Bill interview
hey will was listening to your last show and ya
mentioned the vid i sent ya bout he 3d desktop. well
here it is again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ODskdEPnQ

heres another

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65

cheers
pete
Summary / Highlights

• Regarding Apple's name change to Apple, Inc: "We're in two busineses today, we'll be very shortly in three business and a hobby. One is our Mac business, second is our music business, third business is the phone business, handsets. And the hobby is Apple TV. The reason I call it a hobby is a lot of people have tried and failed to make it a business. " - Engadget
• "Is that the faint outline of an iPhone I see in Steve Jobs’ pocket? We’ll see." - All Things Digital
• Gradually Exiting Computer Business? "No. If you come to WWDC we're rolling out our new version of OSX -- massive investments in desktops. You'll love it." - Engadget
• "Jobs says Apple is on track to ship iPhone in late June as planned. Walt: Like the last day of June? Jobs: (Laughs) Yeah, probably." - All Things Digital
• "Any features on the iphone you haven't announced you'd like to share? Steve: Uh, nope! [Laughter]" - Engadget
• "Walt: So how much argument was there about not having a keyboard on the iPhone? Steve: None. None. Walt: So you had no one in Cupertino that thought that was a good idea? Steve: Yeah. [Laughter]." - Engadget
• "Walt: Why? [no keyboard]. Steve: A few reasons. Once you actually use this magical display there's no going back. We actually think we have a better keyboard. It takes a few days of getting used to, but I bet you dinner that after a few days of using it you'll be convinced. It takes a week -- you have to learn how to trust it. When you learn how to trust it, you'll fly. And we can use that physical space for other things where you don't need a keyboard -- we can add new applications... it provides incredible flexibility and you don't take up half the space of this thing with a phsyical keyboard." - Engadget
• "Walt: could a Mac OS X app run on an iPhone? We don't think that's a good idea. We don't have a mouse, we don't have pull-down menus... we have a very different user interface on the phone." - Engadget
• "You can buy movies off iTunes as well. It's pretty good quality -- we arent selling high def... at this point. But I think in the future that might change!" - Engadget
• "wouldn't it be great if you could see YouTube on your Apple TV... it's available as a free software upgrade available in a few weeks. Normally I wouldn't announce it early, but hey, it's D." - Engadget
• "Walt asks if iPhone will allow over-the-air video downloads. Jobs says no. It doesn’t make sense to buy media that way. Delivery over the airwaves is too costly" - All Things Digital
• "Question: We'd love to write apps. Will it open up? SJ This is a very important tradeoff between security and openness. We want both. We've got good ideas, and sometime later this year, we can open it up to 3rd party apps, and keep security." - Gizmodo
Steve Jobs on Apple, Mac, iPod and iPhone
Apple remains focused on the Mac, promises company CEO
Jonny Evans

Apple CEO Steve Jobs also seized a solo spot at yesterday's D: All Things Digital event.
He talked about Apple, categorising its increasingly diverse businesses as: "Three businesses and a hobby." Businesses include Macs, music and the iPhone, while the Apple TV is "a hobby".

On Apple TV he observed: “The reason I call it a hobby is, a lot of people have tried and failed to make it a business. And it’s a hard problem. So we’re trying. I think if we work on it and improve things over the next year, 18 months, we can crack that,” said Jobs, as reported by Macworld US.
What everybody’s tried, and where we’ve come from, too, is coming from the personal computer market, you first think about getting content from PC to widescreen TV. And I’m not sure that’s what consumers want,” Jobs said.
“It’s great to get that all on there, but we tend to think of that as the entree. And the more we think about it, we think that that stuff is the peas on the side. And the entree might be content on the internet.”
Beyond introducing his audience to the Apple TV's soon-to-come support for YouTube, Jobs wouldn't share any future product plans. He did dismiss the notion that the iPod needs updating, pointing out that new models only debuted in September 2006.
Jobs stressed his company remains deeply committed to the Mac market, predicting June's WWDC would be the best attended yet and adding that the company is making "massive investments in the computer business".
Apple's marketshare is climbing. “Our share in notebooks is ahead of the industry, two-thirds notebooks. I can see a time when notebooks are 80, 90 per cent of what we sell. We’re also always improving our OS, generally have a release 18 months or so. And we had a big release we didn’t get much credit for, which is Mac OS X Tiger for Intel,” he said.
On iPods, he promised more ahed: "We’re working on the best iPods that we’ve ever worked on, and they’re awesome," he said, and hinted at 3G support in future iterations of the iPhone.
Jobs also once again confirmed that the iPhone runs a full version of OS X, stripped of inappropriate elements such as sound files, desktop patterns. "If you take out the data, the OS isn't that huge," he said.
Apple's leader chose to dismiss the idea of making the iTunes Store accessible through the iPhone, "we have nothing to announce today", he said, observing that high mobile network data charges at present make such services impractical.
Answering critics who say Apple is missing a trick by not opening the iPhone up to third-party developers, he said the decision was based on security problems.
“I think sometime later this year we will find a way to let third parties write apps and still preserve security. But until we can find that way, we can’t compromise the security of the phone. Nobody’s perfect, but we sure don’t want our phone to crash. We would like to solve this problem, if you could be just a little more patient with us, I think everyone can get what they want,” he said.
Jobs confirmed that 300 million copies of iTunes have been downloaded so far, mainly to Windows machines. "That's like a glass of ice water in hell," he quipped, on the presence of an Apple application on a Windows computer.
Jobs also observed some surprise at the success of the iPod: “I never thought we’d ship 100 million iPods. No, never," he said.
He ended his appearance demonstrating the new feature addition of YouTube videos running on the Apple TV (interestingly, this features an on-screen alphanumeric keyboard for searching for new clips). The company later revealed that YouTube is re-encoding all its video archives into the Apple TV supported video codec, H.264.
Jobs admitted that high-definition videos aren't yet available for the Apple TV, but admitted that this may change.
“We’re not selling HD yet, because of the tradeoffs between download time and quality. But that might change in the future,” said Jobs.
YouTube lands on the Apple TV
Apple TV to offer access to YouTube video by end of June
Jonny Evans

Apple CEO Steve Jobs used his appearance at last night's D: All Things Digital event to announce a new future feature for the Apple TV - access to YouTube videos.
Beginning in mid-June, the Apple TV will wirelessly stream videos directly from YouTube and play them on a user’s widescreen TV. Users will be able to navigate the site using their Apple Remote.

“This is the first time users can easily browse, find and watch YouTube videos right from their living room couch, and it’s really, really fun,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “YouTube is a worldwide sensation, and Apple TV is bringing it directly from the internet onto the widescreen TV in your living room.”
Thousands of the most current and popular YouTube videos will be available on Apple TV at launch in mid-June, with YouTube adding thousands more each week until the full YouTube catalogue is available this autumn.
Users will be able to search for specific videos or navigate through YouTube's existing categories. They will also be able to log-in to their YouTube accounts to save and subscribe to video streams
Apple Launches iTunes Plus

Higher Quality DRM-Free Tracks Now Available on the iTunes Store Worldwide
CUPERTINO, California — May 30th, 2007
Apple today launched iTunes Plus — DRM-free music tracks featuring high quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings — for just 99 pence per song. iTunes Plus is launching with EMI’s digital catalogue of outstanding recordings, including singles and albums from Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Norah Jones, Frank Sinatra, Joss Stone, Pink Floyd, John Coltrane and more than a dozen of Paul McCartney’s classic albums available on iTunes for the first time.
iTunes will continue to offer its entire catalogue, currently over five million songs, in the same versions as today — 128 kbps AAC encoding with DRM — at the same price of 79 pence per song, alongside the higher quality iTunes Plus versions when available. In addition, iTunes customers can now easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to iTunes Plus tracks for just 20 pence a song and £2.00 for most albums.
“Our customers are very excited about the freedom and amazing sound quality of iTunes Plus”, said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We expect more than half of the songs on iTunes will be offered in iTunes Plus versions by the end of this year”.
“This is a tremendous milestone for digital music”, said Eric Nicoli, CEO of EMI Group. “Consumers are going to love listening to higher quality iTunes Plus tracks from their favourite EMI artists with no usage restrictions”.
With the release of iTunes Plus, customers can now download tracks from their favourite EMI artists without limitations on the type of music player or number of computers that purchased songs can be played on. iTunes is also offering customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their library of previously purchased EMI content to the iTunes Plus versions. EMI music videos are now also available in iTunes Plus versions with no change in price. iTunes Plus songs purchased from the iTunes Store will play on all iPods, Mac or Windows computers, widescreen TVs with Apple TV and soon iPhones, as well as many other digital music players.
The iTunes Store features the world’s largest catalogue with over five million songs, 350 television shows and over 500 movies. The iTunes Store has sold over 2.5 billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over two million movies, making it the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store. Television shows and feature films are available in the US only, and video availability varies by country.
With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod and the ability to turn previously purchased songs into completed albums at a reduced price, the iTunes Store is the best way for PC and Mac users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.
Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and will enter the mobile phone market this year with its revolutionary iPhone.
Apple's DRM-free EMI music includes a trap for the pirates.
When you purchase DRM-free music from the iTunes Store information about you is tagged onto it. Look for file information and you will see your name and your email address.

Should this music end up on a file sharing service it will lead the music companies straight to the culprits.
The fact that music can be protected in this way begs the question, why was the current FairPlay DRM ever necessary?
Quick News
Steve Jobs' house on Google Maps
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=Waverley+Street,+Palo+Alto+CA+94306&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=51.222969,75.322266&ie=UTF8&ll=37.447419,-122.138786&spn=0.025315,0.050855&z=15&om=1&layer=c&cbll=37.43466,-122.140713&cbp=2,410.10896051045,0.503905413874261,0
Apple has introduced another discount deal on sales through iTunes, offering 25 albums from new artists at under £5.
Apple has launched iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes Store offering free educational material.
iTunes U offers resources including course lectures, language lessons, lab demonstrations, sports highlights and campus tours provided by top US colleges and universities including Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Duke University and MIT.
Apple updates Mac security update
Apple has issued a revised security patch for its Macs
Macworld staff

Apple has shipped an updated version of the Security Update 2007-005 1.1 update for Intel Macs.
The new software appeared 30 May and weighs in as a 29.2MB download, available now through Software Update and for direct download from Apple's support website. Security Update 2007-004 has been incorporated into this security update.

The security patch enhances numerous elements of Mac OS X, including the widely-reported iChat flaw.
The update also improves the security of the following system components: bind; CarbonCore; CoreGraphics; crontabs; fetchmail; file; mDNSResponder; PPP; ruby; screen; texinfo and VPN.
Apple TV gets 160GB drive
Apple answers critics, intros Apple TV with large-capacity drive
Jonny Evans

Apple will offer Apple TV's equipped with much larger hard drives from June 1.
The move to introduce a 160GB drive configuration as a build-to-order option is a direct response to complaints that the previously available 40GB drive was too small for many users digital media collections.

The new larger hard drive offers four times the storage for up to 200 hours of video, 36,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each, Apple claims.
Apple TV has a suggested retail price of £199 (including VAT). Apple TV with a 160GB hard drive will be available from 1 June for a suggested retail price of £269 (including VAT)
Frankenwidget
About Tarot Card
This Tarot Card widget displays the current “general card of the day” by adding together the day, month, and year. The cards shown are the famous Rider-Waite Tarot Deck. Please make sure you have the correct date set on your computer.

Future versions will include:
- a date input field to display the general card for that day
- choice of different decks

Remember: Tarot Cards are pictures! Use your imagination to tell you what they mean.
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/basics
http://home.maine.rr.com/wellshome41/wellshome41.html
Tarot Card widget displays today's general card by adding together the day, month, and year, and then adding those digits together. If the result is greater than 21, then it adds those numbers together because the general card of the day is chosen between 21 Major Arcana Cards. There are actually 22 Major Arcana Cards, but since The Fool is Card Number 0, it can't be chosen since whole numbers greater than 0 can't add up to 0. In the Journey of Life, we are The Fool and it's The Fool's Journey.
Uncle Mac's Interview
Interview with Dan Wood Part 2
Desert Island Applications
St. British Mac
File Chute
Ye Olde Mac & Mouse
MacBook Pro V MacBook Part 1
Dear Will

You had a "switcher" last week ask about whether to get a MacBook or MacBook Pro. I am a recent switcher and bought a MacBook which I am extremely delighted with. Even when running Windows software under Parallels it is much much faster than my previous PC and I love the small form factor of the MacBook for travelling. I certainly would not advise your listener to worry about a MacBook from the performance point of view.

Incidentally, your listeners may not be aware of the Apple policy which allows one to exchange a Mac for the latest model if bought within 2 weeks of a new product being announced. I went into an Apple Store a couple of weeks ago and swapped my MacBook on the 14th day of having bought it for the latest spec MacBook. Apple even gave me £50 refund reflecting the drop in price. Now that's what I call service.

Incidentally, love your podcast. When I first heard it I thought "how naff", what is this guy on. However, it has grown on me and is now my favourite download - keep up the good work.

Tony
MacBook Pro V MacBook Part 2
Hello Will

Firstly, a big thanks for your podcast - it has been part of my sunday lie-in for a couple of years now, and is definitely the best podcast out there : )

So, I was listening to your last one and thought I can give a bit back here, or, at least, have a reason to send you a message.

I have a MacBookPro Core 2 Duo and of course love it. However, I think the MacBooks are great two but here's a couple of things to consider. A good friend of mine is a Mac service engineer and has always moaned about the build quality of iBooks and subsequently MacBooks. They routinely have MacBooks in to be fixed and, by comparison, very very rarely have MBP's in.
Screen size is an obvious difference worth paying extra for although the MacBook is more portable.
Something else to consider though, the metal casing of MBP's is so prone to scratching and denting. I look after mine so carefully and still find new scratches or hips in the surface, and the slightest accident can easily result in twisting the case or denting a corner. My guess is, the MacBooks are much tougher and harder wearing. My previous computer, a 15" Powerbook, was written off after an accident where it fell onto the floor off a small side table - it landed on the corner of the screen and cracked the lcd panel. I couldn't believe it could have happened so easily. The replacement part is £450 and the Apple repair is around £600

Rumours are everywhere about he new led-lit screens and, also, there's talk of a new 12" MBP - a very slim one

Again Will, thanks for the wicked podcast

Richard, Manchester
Message from Christian
My Secret Life revealed!

Hi Will,

Thought I'd get an email in before the next Apple WWDC Conference.  You see, I've been analysing your holiday and podcast production schedules and there seems to be a pattern developing.  My studies, whilst not scientific nor of any great interest, suggest that your production rate goes something like this; do 2 or 3 in a go and then take a break for 2 or 3 weeks, a kind of sinusoidal wave if you like.  2/3 weeks on, 2/3 weeks off.

Of course you know I'm only jesting, but if you've managed to get yourself a ticket to San Francisco then all I can say is that I'd be utterly jealous.  Or would I?.  Have you ever been to one of those types of events?  I went to one a number of years ago when Apple were doing a road show on OSX - it was actually rather bizarre.  It was held at a swanky-ish hotel in Bristol, you had to get an invite first - via MacUser I think - and they sent you a pair of tickets and when you arrived you had to "sign-up" for one of the four/five free seminars; sound, photography, film, 3D, and the 'keynote'.  The keynote was like a rally cry but was slick and humorous and hit all the right buttons and at the time demonstrated a new 'wow' factor in Mac OS.  At this point in history most of us 'early adopters' were running Puma OS X 10.1 after parking Cheetah OS X 10.0 due to its' slowness and CPU intensive operation just to move the mouse across the screen!

The whole objective of the event was to wean people away from OS9 and prepare the user base for the transition to OS X.  So, obviously you're were going to get a cross section of the Mac using community; from expert digital photographer with his/her 50,000 photo library complaining about the iPhoto's lack of archiving capability to the recently "switched" PC user who was now completely confused by the whole affair.

I took my wife along to the event. Maybe that was a small mistake since I can recall the bemused looks from her when we went to the 3D seminar and she was completely baffled by the "geek-speak". But what struck me at that event was that some of the Apple representatives at the geek-stands didn't have a clue about the product they were trying to "sell".  There were others' like me who were listening in to a punters question only be bit gobsmacked at the pathetic response from the Apple-geek.  For example, a punter asked "what about my OS9 applications, how do they work?".  Without knowing the level of the punters current knowledge the Apple-geek went completely about-the-houses to explain the various Cocoa, Carbon blah-dee-dlah this that and the other for about 5 minutes just to explain that "OS9 applications work inside the Classic environment, like another window within OS X".  There were a number of bemused faces from the punter colony thinking "that's not an answer, that's the complicated answer" and you could see all of them cringing.

So, if you could get a ticket to an event like WWDC what do you think your experience would be? What killer question would you ask the Apple-geeks?

Anyway, before you jet off to the west coast have you got any good books I could read in your absence?  :-)

Like everyone else hooked on BM I look forward to next podcast.  By the way the interview with Dan Wood - excellent and very professional.

Take care mate

Regards

Rob
Say hello to Lucy Walton, the youngest British Mac fan who's Dad says she will draw me a picture if I say hello!
British Icon - Stephen Fry