My ApplNion

And I have it on my iPhone.

Apple released it a around 1h00pm eastern time. As soon as I saw it available in iTunes, I started the installation on my iPhone. The total installation time took approximatively 25 minutes, and I had no issue at all. Some people said that in the past they lost their iPhone services for a long time, while Apple servers were processing the reactivation, but in my case, it was automatic. And I did it at that moment on purpose. I did not have any specific need for my iPhone, so even if it was going to be out of service for a few hours, it would not affected me at all. In a way, I tested how Apple improved the reactivation process over the years! And it was great.

Then, what’s new and fun?

Multitasking is certainly the best feature. It took me a few minutes understanding how it works, but that is really wonderful to come back to an application in the state it was before. While this has nothing to do with multitasking, the animation to switch from the menu to an app and so on, makes the experience much more pleasant.

Folder is my next best feature. I had so many apps, that trying to classify them on a per page basis was not doable anymore. Now I can have multiples games folders, instead of pages, classify my games per type (strategy, puzzle, etc.), or by productivity type of apps, and so on. Thanks Apple.

Then, I’d say that the Mail.app is the best “better app” at all. The unified inbox is cool, but imagine the threaded messages. You no longer have to look at multiple messages in your inbox to see all answers you received for a specific message. It feels as good as what you have on your Mac.

What is still wrong?

I must say that on the iPhone itself, it is not too bad. I cannot say that I found something I do not like yet. But the classification of apps on pages and folders is still painful. And iTunes 9.2 is not much better than was the previous version at helping there. Apple could do much more better than that in iTunes.

Ok, now I have to leave it there and continue to explore the new stuff in my hand!

Hi to all,

I’ve obviously taken a break from my blog lately. Not that I haven’t done anything with my Mac, or had nothing to say, but I was busy on other things.

Many events happened since my last post. Here a few outlines of my opinions on them:

Apple released the iPad

I’ve seen one in a local store, and I must admit I like it. But I’m not ready to put my money on one of them because I do not feel I need one now. And I’m waiting for Apple to show what iOS4 will do on the iPad before I commit to one.

Apple announced iPhone OS 4

Apple had a special event to announce the iPhone OS 4, now renamed iOS to show the support of many different device types. I must say, at first, this looked like a much more better upgrade than version 3 was. While version 3’s great innovations were Cut & Paste and notifications, nothing is showing better than multitasking.

The Gizmodo iPhone 4 leak

While I like reading about rumors and may be disappointed by them not becoming true, the iPhone 4 leak was a bit over the top as far as I’m concerned. I really think that things went wrong there. There is a limit that the publication’s sites must stop at. Law is law after all.

iOS 4 to be released tomorrow

I just can’t wait to install it on my iPhone. I think it is what I’ve been waiting for the most in 2010 in the Apple world.

iPhone 4 to be release this week

While I have no intention of upgrading my iPhone 3GS to an iPhone 4 at a huge price and break my contract by doing so, I will certainly try to see one of them in service to compare it to mine. The Retina Display is what I want to see. FaceTime is certainly the most useless features I’ve seen so far. I saw, a few months ago, another mobile phone with a front facing camera, and failed to see the purpose. Apple is no different, especially that it is iPhone 4 to iPhone 4, not even with iChat or something like this. The fact that they make it an open standard is going to help, maybe, but I’m not sure of the success of it. Bonjour is also an open standard, supported by the IETF, but it is not widely used outside the Apple software and hardware.

New Apple laptop

The new MacBook Pro released in March is certainly good stuff. It is just too bad that Apple could not fit a i3 or i5 in the 13″ MacBook Pro. The standard MacBook is a breaking deal compare to the 13″ MacBook Pro for those who don’t need FireWire.

New Mac mini

The new mini certainly looks better than the old one, but the bump of $100 is not going to help it at all. At that price tag, I’d recommend to anyone to go to the MacBook 13″, you get a screen, a keyboard and portability for almost the same price. And if you prefer using it at home on a desktop like configuration, you can still buy a keyboard, mouse and display for a relatively decent price. The HDMI port is not a selling option to me.

That’s it for today.

The year 2010 will be the third year of the launch date of the Apple TV. I got mine 6 month after its release date, and love every moment of using it. Take 2 of Apple TV, which came one year later, has improved the device by a huge amount compared to the first version. Version 3.0 was released in November 2009, more than 16 month after version 2.0. This last version have an interface that is more appealing to the users, and add only a few functionality, such as the iTunes LPs and iTunes Extra.

While I welcome the new software upgrade for my Apple TV, I think Apple could do much better than that. From the beginning I knew that the Apple TV was hacked but I was never really tempted to do it. Let’s say that the first hacking procedures forced the user to remove the hard drive from the hardware and do manipulations that were not really tempting, even for a very technical person like me.

Last week I realized that there is now some procedures that uses a USB dongle to do the task without opening the hardware. The free atvusb-creator is the one I tried. It still requires a few manual steps using the command line, but it is easier for many users to do. This permit eventually to install the Boxee.tv software and NitoTV.

Basically, my understanding so far, is that NitoTV is something that can facilitate the installation of some software, such as a Flash plug-in and a web browser for example. Boxee, on the other hand, is more like an Apple TV within an Apple TV. It is a software that permit to stream many web contents that are, for most, not available in Apple basic software. I say most, because some are available via iTunes as podcast or video podcast.

After a few days playing with Boxee on my Apple TV, I can say that it is not really an Apple experience. It is not bad, but the interface is more complex to play with than the standard Apple TV software. Another thing I do not like about Boxee is that it is not a add-on in the Apple TV interface. It is a software that replace the Apple TV interface completely. When you want to return to the Apple TV menu, you need to quit Boxee as if it was a software on your Mac. In fact, it is.

I tried streaming some content from Boxee, some were working just perfectly and got me an image immediately. Some other make me wait forever before playing anything. When I say forever, I mean, two minutes in front of a black screen, nothing moving, it is forever to me. There is nothing I hate more than waiting for something to happen in front of a black screen.

So, if I have to conclude something about this experiment, it is that hacking the Apple TV is not something that was very impressive to me. I really don’t like the experience, not at all. It feels like running Windows in Parallel. It is working, but it is not like running Windows in BootCamp, say. But in this last case, at least, the experience is better, as I do not feel the need to install BootCamp.

It has been almost a week since Apple launched the iPad. Since, there is huges debates around the device itself. People are talking about the fact that it lacks a front camera for video conferencing, or the lack of multitasking. You can read Rob Griffiths article at Macworld as a reference. It even goes to the question as to why the iPad does run iPhone OS instead of a full Mac OS.

But the largest debate, by far more than any of the other, is the support of Flash on the device. Jason Snell said on Twitter.com that now that iPhone is such a popular device, there is now a debate over the need for Flash on the web. Here is what he said 3 days ago:

The people who try to debate me about Flash are just proving what I’m saying. That there’s a debate. And three years ago there wasn’t one.

I totally agree with that. In the past, who cared about the fact that a site was done using Flash, except the fact that you may be asked to install the plug-in. Today, when surfing from an iPhone, all those sites place a blank space in Safari where there is Flash content. As an iPhone user myself, yes, it is frustrating. Sometimes I have to forward the link to myself so I will be able to look at it later on my Mac.

Personally, I do not think we will see the dismiss of Flash content on the web anytime soon. But there may be place where Flash can be left alone and be given another standard technology such as Apple praised HTML5 standard.

For me, Flash should be used in places where it is really require. For example, what it the purpose of having video embedded in Flash when there is so many standards for playing video. Let’s standardize a way to display video on the web that everyone will use, then we won’t have a need to install multiple plug-ins for this, now, simple task.

Also, I can get very annoyed when simple text, publicity or image slideshows are embedded in something like Flash. This is nothing that needs Flash, really. So why use a complex technology to display simple things when it is not really required?

Flash may have its place for things such as Internet web based games. Facebook is full of such games and I do not care if they don’t display on my iPhone, or even on an iPad. Those are not the thing I expect to do on such device. I’ll use a Mac or a PC for gaming if necessary, that said, I’m not really in this gaming stuff anyway. But when I browse web pages for content, I do not want to be blocked by Flash embedded content to reach the information I want to see or read.

I hope we’ll see that happening in a near future…

At the beginning of November 2009, Apple announced their new line up iMac. At that time I had a white iMac 24″. I liked it, and I upgraded the internal disk a few month before to a 1.5 Tb. So, was I to change it for one of the newest model? Sure, hey, 27 inches! Not only it added 3 more inches to the screen, but the high definition resolution of 2560×1440 (vs 1980×1080) was almost 30% more screen estate! That was sold for me at that point.

So I put my 24″ iMac on sale, and ordered the 27″ iMac with the Core i7 processor. That specific model was only available by the end of November, and mine was shipped in early December. I received it something like December 12, and installed it as soon as I can.

There, I got a into some problems: the wireless keyboard and mouse were not working. So, to setup the computer’s initial launch, I had to hook-up a wired keyboard and mouse. After investigating a little bit, I realized that in the System Preferences there were no Bluetooth’s icon. I looked into System Profiler, not Bluetooth module detected.

I then called Apple Care, and they offered me a replacement unit, which I accepted. The representatives I talked to, very nice persons by the way, told me it may take 1 or 2 weeks to received the replacement. I returned the iMac and waited for the replacement to come in.

I was, like always when waiting for a new Apple product, looking at my Apple Store account to watch what was happening with the replacement. I saw that the representative made a mistake: they issued a replacement for the (free) printer I ordered at the same time of the iMac. I called Apple care again, and they corrected it. Then, I awaited for the replacement to be received by Apple. It took almost a week before it was entered as returned in my account. And then I saw the probable shipping date for my replacement: December 24th! We were near December 16 at that time.

On December 25th, I received an Apple gift: a note stating that my iMac shipment was delayed until January 6. Then, it finally shipped from China on December 31. I finally received the iMac on January 11th, after some problems with the carrier.

So, to be honest, at some point I was asking myself if I did the right thing ordering it just after the release date. I must say, after two weeks of working on it, I’m happy. I guest my experience is what happen when you order a revision one of a product. That’s a risk to assume, and I’m happy to have taken that risk. The computer is just fantastic and I love it.

Finally, the T day, T stands for tablet, was today and Apple announced their tablet computer. It’s not an iSlate, but an iPad. There is basically 6 models based on capacity and 3G capability.

What do I think about it? Nice. Just nice? No, very nice. Just very nice? No, very good… Ok, what I mean is not that I am disappointed by the device. In fact, the little things I saw about it looks very nice. The interface is very polished and the user experience way over the top. But still…

It is very obvious that Apple is placing that device to compete with the Amazon Kindle and all the e-readers that were announced at CES at the beginning of January. As a person who is not a frequent book reader, an e-reader from Apple is not likely to make me read more. That’s a fact, and that is why I have this love/hate feeling about the device.

Where I’m more interested, it is about having a really small and portable device such as a Netbook. Apple have introduced iWork for the iPad too, making it a good netbook for casual tasks. I use my iPhone as my fully portable device for reading emails and surfing the web. But the screen is small and is good for short reading, quick email answers or Twitter.

Will I buy an iPad? I have 60 days or so to think about it. I find it interesting, but considering I already have an iPhone, a MacBook Pro and an iMac, is it too much for my needs? Maybe.

Another thing that let me suspicious, I have not heard of the device being compatible with Adobe Flash. I do understand the iPhone not having Flash compatibility, but a netbook is compatible with Flash for almost half the price of the iPad. Considering that many web sites uses Flash technology, if the iPad does not support it, I’m better putting my MacBook Pro on my knees.

If pre-order was available today, I may have placed my order to keep priority, and still reserved the right to cancel before it shipped. I’ll continue reading on it, and hope I find my “true path” to the iPad. Even pro columnists on Twitter said that they will buy one, but not because they want one, because they need one to write review about it.

I’ve been using iLife, mostly iPhoto, iMovie, Garage Band and iDVD, for the last 7 years. While there was many improvement in the products in the last few years, there is still stuff that do not scale to my needs.

I’m not a professional photographer nor a film maker. But sine I bought a DSLR camera, my current is a Nikon D90, I figure out that iPhoto did not fit my needs anymore. So I jumped to Aperture 2 last May/June, and my photography workflow have improved to something I would not have expected.

Now, for my personal videos and video assignment that I’m requested for, I thing I’m ready to go to Final Cut Express. In fact, I would like Final Cut Studio, but the price is overkill for my occasional needs. But there’s one missing elements in Final cut Express: there is no DVD authoring software included. To get DVD Studio Pro, we absolutely need to buy Final Cut Studio, because the product is no longer sold as a separate application. And in Final Cut Studio, I do not need Motion, Compressor or Colors. Those are great apps, but they are part of a more professional workflow that I do not need to use for my needs.

There may be a need to either include DVD Studio Pro in the Final Cut Express bundle, or maybe even better, make a new bundle priced in between the Final Cut Studio price and the Pro single apps prices that would be some kind of iLife Pro Bundle. This could include something like:

• Final Cut Express
• Aperture
• LiveFont
• DVD Studio Pro
• And maybe Soundtrack Pro and/or Logic Express, while in my case Garage Band fits most of my need for soundtracks editions of my movies and photo slideshows.

As for the iWeb component, I personally think that Aperture Web publishing feature is great, and with MobileMe gallery, we can do most of what we have to do without a web authoring software included in such a bundle. For such a bundle, I may be willing to pay, say, 400-500$ for it. That would be awesome as it will improve my production features by such a great amount.

I hope Apple will come out with something like this in a near future. Not everyone needs to pay the full price of Final Cut Studio plus Aperture to get in some kind of acceptable production. But some prosumer, like me, may need a bit more than what is offered in iLife 09, but we’re not ready to get to the high price of real pro suite.

Let’s hope 2010 will offer us something like this to buy. My money is already ready to get out.

In September, I said Apple don’t want my money, not yet!. But they finally got it.

No, I did not buy a new iPod touch, but I bought an 16 Gb iPhone 3GS. I got it last week, on Friday, and even if I have to pay a monthly fee for it, I appreciate it so far. Sometimes to get what you want, you need to get what you want. So that is what happened to me this time.

But, I must say, I do not find the iPhone 100% perfect. For example, the speakers are at the bottom of the iPhone. If I hand the iPhone with my right hand in landscape mode, my hand blocks the speakers, meaning I mute the sound at the same time. So that is one part of my new toy I do not appreciate so much. And if I use my left hand, the sound is send to my right, escaping my ears away.

So I have to push the volume up to hear correctly. I have to do some gymnastics to make sure I do not block the sound out of it, and hear well. So far, the solution is to use the right hand with a curve out of the speakers grid so that the sound is reflected toward me to hear correctly. Still the sound is not really stereo, but coming mostly to my right hear.

On the other side, I like the fact that the headphone jack is on top of the iPhone, instead of the bottom. My first iPod, an iPod photo 40 Gb, had the jack on top as well. When I bought my first generation iPod touch, I really hate the jack at the bottom. I still do after 2 years!

You certainly heard of the new feature in iTunes, the iTunes LP. Last week I found a web site that is all about this new feature. iTunesLP.NET offers a few free LPs for free. So if you have not see one yet, it is a way to experience it for free. As of this writing, there is five title available on the site.

Even better yet, there is a tutorial on the site to help you or your band produce your own iTunes Lp for distribution. I did not get much time to study the tutorial, but basically it looks like web technology wrapped into a specific bundle baring the “.itlp” extension. The tutorial teaches you how to add background music, how the controls works in iTunes and so on.

A few weeks ago, a rumors spreads the web that Apple was billing the LPs $10,000 to add an iTunes LP to the iTunes store. The rumor have been denied by Apple, so nothing prevents any artist to develop its own LP and sell it via iTunes, or even independently. Even fans can now produce LPs for their own usage, if they have the time and the pattion of doing so.

In hope we’ll see more iTunes LP coming in.

It is a special day today, not for Mac users, but for Windows ones: Windows 7 is officially out today. I’d say that for Windows users it is a great day. Let’s see why.

I’ve been looking at the Windows 7 features description on Microsoft site. From a Mac user perspective, there is not much to be impressed. Most of the features on this list are something we used to have on Mac OS X for years, on only one CD/DVD, and one version of OS X.

For example, the BitLocker feature is the FileVault feature we have in OS X since 10.3 Panther. Windows Search is the version of Spotlight that we have since 10.4 Tiger.

A first that I can see in Windows 7 (unless I missed something before) is the support for multiple languages with the same version of Windows. Windows 7 supports 35 different languages, but don’t ask me why, this feature is only available in the Ultimate version. OS X have multiple languages since almost the beginning, so the buyers don’t have to validate that the OS is in the language they want when buying it. That is hardly an Ultimate feature…

Windows 7 is selling in three different editions: Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate. Each editions is available in either 32 or 64 bits version. Snow Leopard have only one version, that is compatible with 32 or 64 bits. And there is finally the family pack, good for three computers in the same home (Apple offers up to 5), which comes with both the 32 and 64 bits version. That makes it 7 versions of Windows 7 you can choose from. Not mentioning that you have to carefully choose the language of the Home Premium and Professional version before you buy.

Personally, I would have prefer only two versions, like in the Windows XP and 2000 time, a Home and Professional version. Home, no need to be Premium, as there is only one version, for the consumer market. Professional for the business market, which can include stuff such as better network integration and so on. I would have included the 35 languages stuff in all versions, so that users can choose the best price on the market, and still have it in the language they prefer.

But that said, every article I read on Windows 7 said that now Windows users have an operating system that is as good as the Mac operating system. And I must admit, from what I read and saw (video demo), I think it is right. Apple took the last two years or so making Leopard a better OS with Snow Leopard. But now, the Apple OS team will have to get back to the work table and improve on it for the next release.