Apple Releases iOS 5.0.1 – Solves Battery Issues
Nov 10, 2011 Apple, Information, iphone
Apple released iOS 5.0.1 today to fix a few bugs that effected the battery life and some document syncing issues.
You can download it with iTunes and it will be the full install of 709MB or you can use your iDevice and go to Settings/General/Software Update and update it over the air. This will be only the changes needed and will be 55 mb.
How To Enable Secret iOS 5 Features
Nov 10, 2011 Apple, Hacks, Information, iphone
Did you know that there are probably dozens of secrete easter eggs in iOS 5 that are just waiting to get discovered?
I will tell you about two the I enabled that are pretty awesome and that you may find useful.
First feature that I find very very cool is the panoramic mode of the camera.
Its pretty cool actually. You have to have a steady hand to pull off some great pics, or a tripod.
There is a arrow that acts like a leveler and you touch the camera button then slowly turn to the right and it snaps many photos one frame at a time and puts it together.
Here are some examples and they were done fast and ugly.
The one above was really ugly and done fast.
With a steady hand you could take some really neat photos.
Next is the hidden auto correct feature on the keyboard
OK so you like all this and want it and want it all without jailbreaking right?
OK LETS DO THIS!
First you will need a tool. The Tool is iBackUpBot and its available for Windows and the Mac.
Get it here http://www.icopybot.com/itunes-backup-manager.htm Its free to download and use for this.
Download the correct version for your operating system.
Next you will want to do a full backup of your iPhone to iTunes.
I do it the old fashioned. That is to say that when the iPhone is detected in the left hand pane of the library window in iTunes, right click the iPhone and choose Backup.
This will back it up and copy any new apps over to iTunes.
Now you have a complete backup.
Now install iBackupBot (free download) program and open it up.
It will scour through your iTunes Backup directories and reveal all of your backups.
Select the latest most recent backup.
Now for the Camera hack, look for Library/Preferences/com.apple.mobileslideshow.plist
Double click it to open it up in the plist editor.
Click Cancel on this page about registering the iBackupBot app.
Now you will add a few lines and they will look like this:
<key>EnableFirebreak</key>
<string>YES</string>
Then save it, then close it. Follow steps one, two, and three.
Here is a picture.
Now for the keyboard hack.
While you are in iBackupBot with your backup open, look for
Library/Preferences/com.apple.keyboard.plist
You will do the same thing but add the following:
<key>KeyboardAutocorrectionLists</key>
<string>YES</string>
After that click Save and Close.
Now from within iBackupBot, you will restore your backup to your device.
Now you are complete.
Let us know what you think about these hacks.
The Future of TV
Nov 4, 2011 Apple, Information
For long time on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. you could find me parked on a couch somewhere tuned into ABC to watch my beloved L O S T.
Before I lost myself in “L O S T” it was “Big Brother” on CBS.
We used to pile around the TV set and watch this show.
To this day I cant figure out why, but me and several others used to have Big Brother and Survivor parties and sit and watch these shows. I say I cant figure out why, because after about 5 seasons of the same thing, you grow tired and wonder what the hell you were doing ever watching it past season one.
Back in those days it was a sure fire way to have a social gathering. A very positive thing.
The negative, was that you may have found yourself always having to be in front of the TV at a certain time. These days the entire television frontier has changed.
The future of TV is right now and growing quickly. Right now you no longer have to fit YOUR schedule around your TELEVISIONS schedule.
With the advent of DVR’s (digital video recorders) and other like devices, you can now watch TV when YOU want to watch it.
In this “On Demand” world we now live in, everyone wants to WATCH what they WANT when THEY want to, freeing up their lives to do more, like going to soccer games, no longer postponing dinner engagements, and other things.
Currently there are many devices on the market to which TV shows, Podcasts, Music, even Movies can be delivered to your TV anytime you want them.
We really shouldn’t call these devices SET TOP boxes anymore as its hard to set anything atop a flat screen LCD that is only about 2 inches thick at most. Instead we now call them appliances. Seems like everyone is getting into this game now. Lets see there is the Roku player, the Boxee Box, The Apple TV, heck even hard drive maker Western Digital is getting into the mix with their WDLIVE!
Out of all the appliances out there today, the only one I want you to really meet is the new black Apple TV or as some are referring to it as the Apple TV 2 or ATV2 since its the second generation one that Apple Computer has put out.
Apple TV is slick and tiny. It can fit in the palm of your hand, and is very easy to setup.
You simply just take it out of the box, connect an HDMI cable (not included) to your TV and power it up, then you are quickly presented with a screen to set up a few preferences.
Check out this video about the Apple TV
I purchased one of these for my Aunt and she says its the best gift she has ever received, a truly amazing device.
I highly recommend this device over the other ones for its pure simplistic user interface.
How To Import MP3 Files Into Audiobooks of iTunes and iPhone
Oct 27, 2011 Apple, Information, iphone
Recently I got my hands on a new audiobook and I wanted it to appear in the AUDIOBOOKS section of my iPhone/iPod. At first this was a difficult task. I dragged the folder full of MP3′s into iTunes into the Books Library. It imported them just fine, but it was into the Music Library.
I thought ok, I will choose Get Info and change it to Audiobooks. Well that doesnt exist in the latest iTunes. You can however add the word Audiobooks in Genres, so I did that. I went to sync the iPhone and I chose that Genre on the lower bottom half of the music part of the iPhone sync section in iTunes.
After the sync was complete I checked, and it didnt do much good. It was mixed in with my music. All this had done was, when you click on the MORE section of your iPod on the iPhone, there is a place called Genres, all the mp3′s were in there and mixed in with my music, so this was not acceptable.
Finally! I figured it out.
In iTunes, in the Music Library, I chose the album or selection of mp3′s and right clicked and selected GET INFO and on the OPTIONS tab where it says MEDIA KIND I chose AUDIOBOOK. Next I chose REMEMBER POSITION-YES , and PART OF COMPILATION-YES then it moved into the Books Library.
Next before I synced my iPhone I went to the books tab on the Devices part of iTunes and at the bottom of the page I chose Sync Audiobooks, then chose Selected Audiobooks and finally placed a check by the Audiobook I wanted to sync.
That was it.
After the sync it was under AUDIOBOOKS on the iPhone just as it should have been all along.
Hope this helps.
Megapixels-Do They Matter?
Oct 10, 2011 Apple, Hardware, Information, iphone
Hey the new iphone 4s is coming with an 8 megapixel camera, but does that really mean its going to take better pictures?
Yes its going to take better pictures, but only because its going to have 5 lenses, better aperture to bring in more light, and a new larger sensor.
So how many megapixels do you really need?
See in the past, the 2g(first) iphone, the 3g, the 3gs and the 4 were all almost capable of taking fantastic pictures, but they lacked the lens and sensor to do so. Its always been the Lens that makes the difference in good pictures.
Sure having 8 megapixels is nice, but only if you are going to print out 16×20 inch photos for your wall. Let me explain.
The choice of how many megapixels you need on your phone depends on what you want to do with your photos. If you just want to capture life’s memorable moments, send them to friends and family, and post them on the Web, a 1.3 or 2 MP camera will do the job. If you want to take high-resolution pictures, blow them up, and edit them on your computer, then pixel-size really matters.
This guy explains it really well.
So you see you can’t always believe the hype when it comes to advertising megapixels. People tend to go on the notion that more is better. Especially in this case when all the cellphone makers are competing to be the leader. Most people will buy simply based on how many megapixels a camera is cause the average consumer thinks that more is better.
The latest cellphone trying to get the top megapixel spot is the “Samsung’s M8910 Pixon12″ capable of 12 megapixels.
Crazy isn’t it?
This is terrible for networks and network speeds. Emailing a 12 megapixel photo from your cell phone? Forget sending that over MMS. Are you serious? That’s going to be 9-10 megabytes in size. Ridiculous!
If you can take anything away from this short article and video, just remember that when it comes to purchasing a Digital SLR camera, a point and shoot, or cellphone with high megapixel camera, just remember its all in the lens and not the advertised megapixel. Please do not believe that the more megapixels the camera has, the better this is. This was not the case with the iphone 2g, 3g, 3gs, and 4.
Make Your Mac Tell You Weather and Time
Oct 9, 2011 Apple, Information
How many of you saw the part in Iron Man where the girl is awakened in the morning by Jarvis? I thought that it was just TOO COOL!
In case you didn’t, here is a clip.
After seeing that my brain started to click and I though that could easily be done on an Apple Mac Computer.
See the Mac and say out loud anything you tell it to say. All you have to do is type in “Say” and something to follow. The command is simply Say. So if I wanted the computer to say that “I am on the internet” I would type at the cmd line or terminal, SAY I am on the internet and I press enter and it would speak it. Very neat.
I want my computer to tell me the weather forecast and time every morning, or at least on weekdays.
For you Apple Script folk here is the script to do it. Download here
Or you can copy the following and paste it into your applescript editor and save it:
–this is the city code. Search the code for your city on http://weather.yahoo.com/ set CityCode to 12774701 –temperature format set t_format to “F” –voiceover format set v_format to “S” –say present condition set a_format to “Y”
set IURL to “http://weather.yahooapis.com/forecastrss?w=” & CityCode
–downloading the file using curl set file_content to (do shell script “curl ” & IURL) –looking for the line with actual condition set theText to text ((offset of “yweather:condition” in file_content) + 1) thru -1 of file_content set sub_1 to text ((offset of “\”" in theText) + 1) thru -1 of theText
–today conditions found set actual_condition to text 1 thru ((offset of “\”" in sub_1) – 1) of sub_1
–looking for actual temperature temperature set sub_1a to text ((offset of “temp=” in sub_1)) thru -1 of sub_1 set sub_1b to text ((offset of “\”" in sub_1a) + 1) thru -1 of sub_1a set actual_temp to text 1 thru ((offset of “\”" in sub_1b) – 1) of sub_1b
if t_format is equal to “C” then set actual_temp to (5 / 9) * (actual_temp – 32) as integer end if
–looking for today forecast set theText to text ((offset of “yweather:forecast” in file_content) + 1) thru -1 of file_content set sub_2 to text ((offset of “\”" in theText) + 1) thru -1 of theText
–maximum and minimum temperatures found set today_min_temp to word 9 of sub_2 set today_max_temp to word 12 of sub_2 if t_format is equal to “C” then set today_min_temp to (5 / 9) * (today_min_temp – 32) as integer set today_max_temp to (5 / 9) * (today_max_temp – 32) as integer end if
–looking for today forecast condition (a bit tricky) set sub_3 to text ((offset of “text” in sub_2) + 1) thru -1 of sub_2 set sub_4 to text ((offset of “\”" in sub_3) + 1) thru -1 of sub_3 set today_forecast to text 1 thru ((offset of “\”" in sub_4) – 1) of sub_4
–looking for tomorrow forecast set sub_5 to text ((offset of “yweather:forecast” in sub_4) + 1) thru -1 of sub_4 set sub_6 to text ((offset of “\”" in sub_5) + 1) thru -1 of sub_5
–maximum and minimum temperatures found set tomorrow_min_temp to word 9 of sub_6 set tomorrow_max_temp to word 12 of sub_6 if t_format is equal to “C” then set tomorrow_min_temp to (5 / 9) * (tomorrow_min_temp – 32) as integer set tomorrow_max_temp to (5 / 9) * (tomorrow_max_temp – 32) as integer end if
–looking for tomorrow forecast condition (a bit tricky) set sub_7 to text ((offset of “text” in sub_6) + 1) thru -1 of sub_6 set sub_8 to text ((offset of “\”" in sub_7) + 1) thru -1 of sub_7 set tomorrow_forecast to text 1 thru ((offset of “\”" in sub_8) – 1) of sub_8
–VoiceOver Section set myTime to time string of (current date) set myParts to words of myTime set mySpeak to (item 1 of myParts) & ” ” & (item 2 of myParts) & ” ” say “Good morning, it is ” & mySpeak using “Alex” if a_format is equal to “Y” then say “Outside it is, ” & actual_condition & “, and ” & actual_temp & ” degrees ” using “Alex” end if if v_format is equal to “L” then say “Today: ” & today_forecast & “. Temperature: between ” & today_min_temp & ” and ” & today_max_temp & ” degrees. Tomorrow: ” & tomorrow_forecast & “. Temperature: between ” & today_min_temp & ” and ” & today_max_temp & ” degrees” using “Alex” else say “Today: ” & today_forecast & “, between ” & today_min_temp & ” , and ” & today_max_temp & ” degrees. Tomorrow: ” & tomorrow_forecast & “, between ” & tomorrow_min_temp & ” ,and ” & tomorrow_max_temp & ” degrees” using “Alex” say “I say again, Today: ” & today_forecast & “. Temperature: between ” & today_min_temp & ” ,and ” & today_max_temp & ” degrees” end if
I later used iCal to schedule it to run on weekdays.
Hope you are creative and have fun with this
Here is a video of me getting the computer to say it.
Enable Airplay on Boxee – XBMC – Plex
May 30, 2011 Apple, Information, iphone
I had the chance a while back to play with airplay on the Apple TV in conjunction with the iphone and I quickly saw how wonderful this was and how useful it could be at times. One big drawback was that it was only available on the Apple TV through Itunes and the iPhone….until recently.
First let me remind how AirPlay works by showing you this video.
Ok so now that you are reminded of what it does, some of you do not have an Apple TV and you use XBMC or Boxee or even Plex as your media center.
Thankfully there is a fellow that has coded a way to finally do this. His name is Pascal Widdershoven. Check out his website here for information on what he has done and a video to show you. http://pwiddershoven.nl/blog/2011/01/05/airplayer.html
He has some great code, and I installed it and all of it went somewhat well, but it took me a long time to figure it out even with instructions. There were a few pitfals so I wanted to write this article to help out some of my freinds and the rest of you out there on the web, so lets get started.
First off download the following files and place them in an easily accesible folder, like c:\apps. If you do not know how to make a new folder under the C drive on windows, stop reading now. Oh and by the way this tutorial will focus on Windows as my Boxee system is running on Windows 7 and most of my friends are doing the same thing.
Files to get:
Install 7zip so that you can untar the file below that you will need to download
http://www.7-zip.org/download.html
https://github.com/PascalW/Airplayer/tarball/master
This is Pascals hard work right here and there is a file inside install.mdown and I suggest you open it up in Wordpad to read the instructions inside.
Next get Python for Windows and this is the best and easiest version to install so that you will not have to fool with installing PIP or any other special tools.
http://www.activestate.com/activepython/downloads Get the appropriate version for your version of Windows.
Get the Bonjour SDK from me so you will not have to log into Apple to do so.
http://userbytes.com/extra/bonjoursdksetup.exe
Ok now install
1. Install 7zip
2.Bonjour SDK
3. Active State Python
4. untar the airplayer file you downloaded by right clicking on it and choosing extract to blah blah .tar using 7zip. After that do it again on the tar file and choose extract to here and it will show the name of the file. Next go inside all that and you should see all the files that are listed here.
https://github.com/PascalW/Airplayer
Copy the Airplayer folder to your c:\Python27 folder. It can really go anywhere but I like it mixed in the meat where the work is going to be happening.
Ok now we need to open a cmd window and do some work, go to START or the ORB/Pearl thingy on Windows 7, and in the search box or run box type cmd and press enter.
While in here lets start with cd \ and press enter to get to the C: prompt and only the C: prompt.
Now lets type cd python and you can actually just type cd pyt and press the tab key and it will complete it for you and it may say python27 press enter and you should now be at c:\python27.
Type cd scripts and press enter, now you should be at c:\python27\scripts
While here type the following at the command line and press return or enter
pip install -r c:\pyhton27\airplayer\requirements.txt
Some things will install that you need and you will see lots of text go by.
Before we fire this off and test it all out edit the settings.py to reflect your setup.
I went into the airplay folder (C:\python27\Airplayer\Airplayer\settings.py) and opened settings.py with Wordpad.
Since I use Boxee for Windows I edited the following:
MEDIA_BACKEND = 'Boxee'
MEDIA_BACKEND_PORT = 8800
And thats it, save it and exit.
Now you can test it out right now by opening a cmd window and navigating to your airplayer.py file and make python run it.
At the command line enter the following and press return or enter
python C:\python27\airplayer\airplayer\airplayer.py
You should now see a some time stamps if its connected or if Boxee is closed, it will say it can not connect.
It will run in this window there until the window is closed, and while its running, launch Boxee, now while holding your iphone in hand, go to your pictures and open one and in the upper right hand corner you will see a tv looking icon with an arrow pointing upwards. This odd arrow looking icon means there is has been an airplay device detected. Touch it and you should see your computer name and when you select it, it will put the image or video on the screen. Way cool huh?
Ok that is way cool and all, but what happens on reboot? Do I have to start it up again manually? Well yes, but there is a better way.
Lets make it a system service that starts automatically when the computer boots up.
I cannot take any credit for this next bit of work either, but to make it a service download nssm2.9 and read this blog on how to do it.
http://pascalw.github.com/Airplayer/airplayer-windows-service.html
Check that out and it will show you all about how to make a service and make airplayer start up when the machine boots up.
Now if you do not see any video on your boxee box, you will need to go into settings, media, advanced and disable the hardware acceleration.
Here is a video we made today when we made this happen.
Netflix Streaming Only and iOS 4.2.1
Nov 22, 2010 Apple, Information, iphone
Big news in tech today! Netflix announced its Streaming Only package, and Apple released its long awaited iOS 4.2.1 for all of its idevices.
Not too long ago I signed back up with Netflix to take advantage of the new streaming video they offered. I wanted to stream video to my iPhone and to my Media Center in the living room which ran Boxee. It was a not braining to go with them since their service was $8.99 and I could stream as much as I wanted to as many devices as I wanted.
All the while I was thinking it would be great if they offered a cheaper streaming only package since that’s all I used anyways. Then I read where Netflix was thinking about doing just such a thing. They thought about it for a few months and BAM! They did it!
Today they announced that they would offer a streaming only package. Here a list of the new price matrix.
So as you can see my current plan was about to increase by a dollar and I didn’t even use the mail DVD option, so I quickly went to my account settings within the Netflix website and chose the streaming only package.
If you have not took the time to sign up with Netflix, do it now! Its a great service.
In other news Apple released their 4.2.1 software for the ipod touch, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPad. This is great for the iPad as it now allows the iPad to have backgrounding, airplay, and folders for apps.
Here let me break it down for you:
Multitasking for the iPad
Folders on the iPad
Airprint
Airplay
Find my iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch (for free now)
Notes with fonts that you can easily change
Reply to Calendar events to Yahoo, Google, and Exchange.
Messaging with Text Tones, now 17 new text tones that you can set for individuals that contact you.
Find Text on Web pages in Safari (finally this comes to the iPhone)
Airplay (video)
I am really glad that the Find My iPhone is now available for free. See how it works here. (video)
Updating is easy.
Connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to your Mac or PC and follow the onscreen instructions in iTunes.
For those wondering about the Jail Break for the iOS 4.2 READ THIS
Tags: netflix
Do Macs and Linux get Viruses and Malware?
Nov 17, 2010 Apple, Information, Operating Systems
I often get asked do Macs get viruses like Windows?
Well the short answer is NO they do not. Apple themselves say… “Mac OS X doesn’t get PC viruses. And its built-in defenses help keep you safe from other malware without the hassle of constant alerts and sweeps.”
Notice they say “PC viruses”, or let me put it this way, Macs do not get viruses that infect Windows computers.
With Windows being the majority of the computers on the internet, they are more susceptible to viruses and malware. Macs do not hold but 10% of the computing market so they are a smaller target and less susceptible to threats.
Think about this….in order for a virus to be effective, it has to be viral, it has to spread from machine to machine.
Imagine a cold or flu…if only one person had a cold in your town, how would the cold spread? It wouldn’t.
On windows with its exploits, its easy to have a virus become viral, again because there are more Windows computers out there on the internet than there are Apple and Linux computers.
Another reason is the way the operating system is built. With Windows, the core of it which is still based on the old Windows NT framework has lots of flaws that are exploited. Viruses will write themselves to the root of the operation system or to its system32 directory, and most of the time, every install of windows sets the user with full administrative control, so when you accidentally run a malicious program, it installs what it needs to without question, wherever it needs to, and has full admin rights to do so. This is also known as running as root.
The Mac however is a form of BSD Unix, a bigger brother to Linux. On most all Unix/Linux systems, no one runs as root. You operate the computer as a regular user and only elevate yourself when something needs elevated privileges to do so. You will be prompted to enter your password. What’s interesting to know about BSD and Linux is that the core is open source. This means that you can basically download the Source to BSD and compile your own operating system, and use it for free. This is essentially what Apple did. They took Darwin Unix and BSD derivative and made it their own and sold it.
Now you would think that with it being “open source” many virus writers would see what was there and be able to write code to specifically exploit the operating system, but it’s actually the opposite. People who try and protect machines from viruses and malware can contribute making it more secure, whereas at Microsoft, their core is only seen by their small group of people, so it’s harder for them to come up with ideas on how to prevent the malicious things out there on the net.
Another thing that makes Windows a lot less secure than the Mac, is Internet Explorer and its use of Active X. Active X basically embeds an application inside the web browser, and executes as the system user, so you can actually go to a site that has a malicious active x control embedded in it and instantly get infected. On Mac and Linux systems, this doesn’t exist.
The core of the Mac is a lot more secure than the core of Windows. This is debatable but true.
The 64-bit applications in Snow Leopard are even more secure from hackers and malware than the 32-bit versions. That’s because 64-bit applications can use more advanced security techniques to fend off malicious code. Yes you can get Microsoft Windows in 64 bit, but remember we are still facing core issues.
Also with the Mac, with virtually no effort on your part, Mac OS X offers a multi-layered system of defenses against viruses and other malicious applications, or malware. For example, it prevents hackers from harming your programs through a technique called “sand-boxing” — restricting what actions programs can perform on your Mac, what files they can access, and what other programs they can launch. Other automatic security features include Library Randomization, which prevents malicious commands from finding their targets, and Execute Disable, which protects the memory in your Mac from attacks.
So really it boils down to virus and malware writers do not want to waste their time writing for the Mac and Linux because for one, it’s a limited number of user base, and its harder to write for since the Mac uses randomization and there is no easily exploitable active x and internet explorer on these systems.
Some tips to help you avoid getting viruses and malware.
- Download files only from known and trusted websites.
- On the Mac, use FileVault to encrypt your most important documents.
- Control access to your Mac by locking your screen after a period of inactivity.
- Securely delete outdated sensitive files with the Secure Empty Trash command.
- Don’t do anything stupid.
See the image below? It clearly states that its a Possible Phishing Site and gives you the option to leave!
Tags: Apple Computer, iMac, Mac, OSX
I made the switch!
Oct 8, 2010 Apple, Information
That’s right, I drank the kool-aid, I MADE THE SWITCH!
Usually when you hear “I MADE THE SWITCH” in the tech circle, it no doubt means you moved away from Microsoft Windows to something else like Mac OS/X or Ubuntu.
Well I did both. I got me an Apple iMac and I scrubbed my old Dell D810 laptop and put Ubuntu Linux on it. Unfortunately for my Media Center computer, I had to stick with Windows 7. I plan to blog about the complete media center setup later on, and tell you why I had to stick with Windows on that one.
At work as a IT Specialists, I have no choice but to use Microsoft Windows for the most part, but at home I had definitely had enough!
Why did I change? What was the final straw? For the most part I was sick and tired of having to bend over backwards making windows secure enough to use on a daily basis and not get attacked by malware.
What is malware you ask? Malware, short for malicious software, is software designed to secretly access a computer system without the owner’s informed consent. It usually takes the shape of fake anti-virus software pretending to show you that your system is infected when in fact it is not, and trying to nag you into visiting a site where you can purchase their software and rid your computer of the virus that it pretends to find.
My wife had gotten infected with malware and I had to get it off, then 30 days later it happened again, then again. It also happened to me on my computer and I was using Firefox with lots of precautions in place and yet malware still got through to me. Then it happened on my laptop! Enough is Enough!
For years I had played with Linux and dabbled with many Apple operating systems before and this time I decided to just go ahead and dive head first into the world of Apple.
Let me first describe some of the pains that I have endured over the years with Windows.
Tags: Apple Computer, iMac, Microsoft Sucks, Windows Sucks
