MacCraic

Howdy folks, since Ginger has decided to not allow me to trade in rumours & speculation anymore on the podcast (except where I get a patent story in) I have decided to throw in my few cents as to what presents I believe Uncle Steve will be showing us tomorrow. So here we go :

Firstly as the title of this post suggests tomorrow will see the introduction of a new iPod Nano (Touch) with a 1.7 inch touchscreen which is about the size of the screen from the 2nd gen Nano. This is obviously based on the stories broken by Macrumors showing pics from a Chinese accessory manufacturer of a new case for this device & the pic of the 1.7 inch display, also an AppleInsider story with render of what it should look like . This along with the introduction of a 32, 64 & 128GB iPod Touch with features close to those found on iPhone4 (Retina Display for 64 & 128GB model but Facetime for all of them) will mean the dropping of the iPod Classic I believe & the death of the clickwheel. With that, the iPod OS will be no more on all display based iPods running on iOS going forward, the Shuffle will remain for now to cover the lower end of the market.

Secondly, there will be an update to iTunes to allow it to be more social as per AppleInsider but it will not go to the cloud yet as the data centre in North Carolina is not due to go live till January 2011 as per comment from Tim Cook (COO) during last quarterly analyst call. There is also a rumour going that iTunes song previews will be extended from 30 secs to a min (will they allow that on a 2min 30 sec song ?).

Thirdly, believe that iTV (UK naming rights pending ) or AppleTV revised will be previewed at the event, it is believed that this runs iOS (a headless iPod Touch effectively) as originally broken in an Engadget story here , will be compatible with existing iOS apps in the store & can be controlled via an iPod Touch or iPhone using acclerometer or even a remote (Magic Wand here we go) .  Looking to get one of these myself.

As for a far out idea of what I think could also be introduced, I started thinking about the invite being in the shape of a guitar & realised it reminded me of the the electric guitar icon used for GarageBand, so I’m gonna throw out a mad thought that iLife 2011 will be previewed with a new feature/app allowing you to create your own iTunes extras/LP features.

Finally, I’m also hoping as per the current IMP episode panel that iTunes 10 is introduced, written to be Cocoa native with improved performance & media management capabilities.

Will sign off now & look forward to tomorrow.

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This week Justin “The Head Craicer” Byrne takes exception to Andy Ihnatko’s Jersey Shore/Apple remark as the main Cupertino crew seem share some common traits (though I don’t believe that they are sleeping with one another (Dave “Snookie” Shortle) ).

News

• Apple iPod Operations Manager Paul Shin Devine held in supplier kickback scheme – Christ where do you start with this, suffice to say though we might not be getting as many scoops from Asian supplier leaks going forward.
• Camera+ nabs $500K in 2 months with easter egg, gets pulled from App Store –  ’Tis dangerous to mess with “the situation” Jobs or the App Store approval team when planting easter eggs.

Sponsor – GoDaddy

iPod Touch, iOS4 & the magical disappearing battery life – The boys discuss the curious case of the magical disappearing battery life on Justin’s 3G iPod Touch which we could summarise as blame fast app switching or the Mail.app

Apple TV becoming iTV, getting application support, yet losing full HD? I give my thoughts on whether this “iTV” can handle 1080P, but with an A4 chip

it should be more than capable just like this.

App Review: Shark or Die from HandyGames (Free) For those of us out there who always wanted to be Jaws

 

 MacCraic 87- Dodging Grenades on the Jersey Shore: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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News

• Put an extension on it (Recommended extension for all you multi-tab junkies out there : Exposer- When you’ve got multiple tabs open, just click it and a set of thumbnails appear, each representing one of those pages)
• Legitimate Piracy and Jailbreaking
• Sit on my Face Time-  How the porno industry is once again at the edge of the Tech frontier (or would that be in front of rear ? )

Sponsor – GoDaddy

Discussions – iPad and it’s commercial benefits

Partially discussed- 10 ways Apple’s iPad is Changing Healthcare – This shows the massive impact that the iPad is having on the healthcare market.

Papermaster takes on Jobs & loses the Apple Universe – WSJ via 9to5 Mac’s take on the story which looks like delay in shipping white iPhone4 being the last straw.  Also check out the Beatweek article

 

 MacCraic 86 - Sit on my Face…Time: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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In the Beginning

When a number of our listeners suggested that Dave and I be certified I don’t quite think that the following was quite what they had in mind.

Since becoming a Mac owner (and subsequent fanboy) I have toyed with the idea of doing the exams to become Apple Certified, not just for the prestige of the Cert itself, but also to learn more about the best computing platform I have ever used.   It is one of those ideas that resided on my “someday/maybe” list.  When I was informed in June that I was being made redundant due to the current economic crisis I moved this idea to my current projects list replacing the work related projects that I would now no longer be responsible for finishing.

After careful consideration I decided what better way to assist my studies and keep me focused on my learning than to use the MacCraic website to blog about it.   I hope the blog will serve as my revision aid and also be of assistance to others who decide to follow along the same path.

So here begins the diary of my road to certification.

Finding Out What the Requirements Are

My first port of call was Apples website where I searched for what was required to become certified.   There are a number of various routes that you can take form Pro Apps to IT Support.  I decided to start with the Apple Certified Support Professional course (Nicknamed Snow Leopard 101).  A full list of available Apple training and certification can be found at http://training.apple.com/#certification.

Method of study

You can choose to attend an Apple Authorized Training Centre or study at your own pace using one of the Apple Authorized Training Books published by Peachpit (http://www.peachpit.com).

As there are no AATC’s convenient to me, coupled with time and family constraints, I opted to go the route of getting the book and learning at my own pace.   A quick search of Amazon and I had found and ordered the book.  Thanks to Pat Dengler (http://www.yourmacdoctor.com) for telling me about the book.   If you are in the LA area and need help with your Mac be sure to check out Pat.

Exams

Once I feel I have acquired enough knowledge I will apply for and sit the Snow Leopard 101 exam.   When I previously looked it appeared that there was not a place to sit the exam in Ireland however that seems to have changed and I will be looking into this at a later stage and will advise in a later post.

Keep your eyes and ears open for more of this as I hope this series of articles will be of assistance to others who choose to go the same route as me or just of general interest to Mac and MacCraic fans.

I look forward to having you as companions on my journey.

Thanks for reading.

That’s all the Craic till next time.

Justin

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Hello MacCraicers , know these posts have been thin on the ground but just want to point out the odd price (possible saving) situation that is occurring re mobile connectivity that you might choose for the iPad you may have bought in Ireland on launch.

At the moment and I’m taking the base model iPad for the simplest comparison, the 16GB model with just wi-fi retails for €499 while you will pay an extra €100 premium for the 3G model (this pricing differential is the same for the different models in the line).

If you choose to get the Vodafone Micro-SIM ( assuming of course you’ve paid the €100 premium for the pleasure of the 3G model) you have option of paying:

1 day iPad Plan

€3.99 per day

5GB data allowance

30 day iPad plan

€20 per month

500mb data allowance

Remember, like AT&T there are no termination fees for ending the contract after 30 days or a day depending on which plan you choose above.

Now here’s where this gets strange, at the moment Vodafone Ireland are pushing on their site the Vodafone mobile broadband hotspot (Mi-Fi anyone)

for the following tariffs:

Vodafone mobile broadband

€19.90 per month

10GB data allowance

Vodafone mobile broadband unlimited

You can purchase the hardware on Vodafone Ireland’s online store for €39 with the above plan of choice.

So let’s think about this for a second, you can pick up a 16GB wifi iPad €499 + VF mobile broadband hotspot €39 = €538 and for sake of comparison you choose the VF Mobile Broadband package-10GB monthly allowance (€19.90 per mth X 12mths) €238.80 gives a figure €776.80 for total cost of ownership initially.

However, if you decide to pay the premium & plump for a wi-fi+3G model and VF data plan then it works out as follows – 16gb wi-fi+3G €599 + again for comparison take the 30 day iPad plan-5GB allowance (€20 per mth X 12 mths) €240 which gives a figure of €839 for initial total cost of ownership

This means that you can save €62.20 by plumping for the first option of buying the base wi-fi model with Mi-Fi initially and enjoy double the monthly data allowance (10Gb vs 5GB). In 2nd & subsequent years you save only €1.20 per year but still get double the data allowance.

Know which iPad & plan you would choose ?  :-)

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