Category: Tutorials

Back in June 2010 we first reported on a pilot program by Qantas Airways’ low-cost airline Jetstar to offer iPad rentals as in-flight entertainment, and now we have learned that Jetstar will finally start offering them in April for AUD$10 per flight. According to Australian Business Traveler, the in-flight iPads will come loaded with “movies, music, magazines, books and games” and will be available on Jetstar’s A320 flights in Australia and Asia.

Jetstar had initially intended to launch the rental program in time for the holiday season after successful trial runs last summer, but due to contract negotiations and pending licensing agreements with Apple, they weren’t able to get it ready in time. In talking with Australian Business Traveler, Jetstar marketing manager David May said that “if the trial works, we want to put them on every aircraft because they’re so much slimmer and lighter than our existing units,” and I imagine we will be seeing many other airlines follow suit.

With some airlines already offering integration between iPods and in-flight entertainment systems and iPads being used as electronic flight bags for pilots, just how far off are we from flying Apple Airlines? Anyone care to take a guess?

Jetstar airline to offer in-flight iPads in April originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shortly after the first iPad shipped last April, there were some allegations from users that the device overheated quickly in warm weather or direct sunlight. By July of 2010, three disgruntled iPad owners — John Browning, Jacob Balthazar and Claudia Keller — had filed a class-action lawsuit against Apple. Due to the alleged shut down problem from overheating, the trio stated that they felt that they had been taken in by Apple marketing claims that said that “reading on iPad is just like reading a book.” Since books never overheat and shut down, the group accused Apple of fraud, deceptive advertising, and violating State of California consumer protection laws by producing, advertising and selling defective tablets.

Last Thursday, US District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel dismissed the lawsuit, saying that the trio’s charges were “inadequate” and that they should have cited specific advertising where the claims of “reading on iPad is just like reading a book” were made. He’s given the group 30 days to file an amended complaint with the information he’s requested.

I don’t know about you, but I have never thought that reading on an iPad is like reading a book. I don’t have to charge a book, I don’t have to turn a book on, and a book can’t do other things (like play music in the background) while I’m reading it. Have you ever had your iPad overheat and shut down? If you have, let us know in the comments.

[via The Mac Observer]

Overheating iPad suit dismissed originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hit the fight bell, because here we go — Harry McCracken reports that Rhapsody is the first company to pass on Apple’s new subscription rules, saying in a statement that Apple’s arrangement is “economically untenable.” Typically, they say, a Rhapsody subscription only costs them a 2.5 percent credit card fee, but with Apple asking for 30 percent of any subscription payments accepted through the app, it just wouldn’t work for Rhapsody to offer that service. And in what could possibly be seen as a veiled threat, Rhapsody mentions that it will “be collaborating with our market peers in determining an appropriate legal and business response to this latest development.” Legal, you say? Interesting.

In reality, one of two things is likely to happen here — either Rhapsody will change its mind and decide to take the hit from Apple, or it will not be allowed to release the app on the App Store at all, and it will have to look elsewhere for users. Apple’s unlikely to back down from the 30 percent deal — that’s the deal it’s seen lots of success with in the rest of iTunes, and I’m sure there are plenty of companies happy to offer subscriptions and let the cut go.

The bottom line, whether Rhapsody likes it or not, is that Apple built this platform up, and it’s Apple’s prerogative to charge what it wants and allow apps or not based on its own guidelines. If we see lots more companies take this tack, Apple might be forced to change, but as long as others buy into the subscription model, Apple’s unlikely to back down first.

Rhapsody won’t sing Apple’s subscription tune originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 18:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Software Update calls your name… the latest version of Apple’s iWeb site editor (part of the iLife suite) is available now.

The iWeb patch contains “bug fixes and improvements,” including: resolving an issue when using the iSight Movie widget on certain Macs; an issue publishing iWeb sites using FTP; and “improves compatibility with Mac OS X” (an odd thing to say, as it presupposes that iWeb might be compatible with some other operating system that we didn’t know about). The update is 186 MB.

Removed the Aperture update detail, as it was indeed an old update — sorry for the false alarm.

iWeb 3.0.3 update released originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The New York Times has an interesting writeup of a growing new trade built around services commonly used as smartphone apps: music-tracking, or music-identifying services. You’ve probably played with Pandora or Shazam on your iPhone already, and the article profiles just how all of that music gets tracked down and identified for your listening pleasure. A surprising amount of it is still done simply by human hands. While everything is still fed into the system, obviously (computers do have to know what the music is and what it sounds like), humans do a lot of the actual tracking down, both finding new tracks to index and implement, and listening in to describe to the computers how it sounds.

The other side of it is interesting, too — Shazam’s employees will keep an eye on what’s showing up on television or in movies, and make sure that the database can identify any songs popping up and being tagged a lot. It’s really wild. Of course I know that there are networks of people and computers behind these apps tI only use for a moment every day, but they’re such a small part of my life that I tend to forget just how much work goes into them.

[via Engadget]

How to go music hunting for Shazam and Pandora originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Picture-sharing service Instagram (driven only by the popularity of its free iOS app) has hit a whopping 2 million users already. As TechCrunch notes, the service hit its first million users in just three months, and six weeks after that, it has doubled that number. That’s pretty astounding growth — even other popular sharing services usually don’t hit those milestones until a year or more after they start operation.

But Instagram certainly seems like it’s hitting at the right place and time — it’s a super simple sharing service that offers a lot of features that tie in very well with all of its users walking around with connected HD cameras in their pockets. Instagram doesn’t even have an Android app yet (though presumably we’ll see one very soon), and also noted by TechCrunch, you can’t even sign up for the service on the website — it’s all driven through Apple’s iOS platform. That hints at quite a future for Instagram and its service.

Instagram photo sharing service reaches 2 million users originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s guidelines for developers who place their wares in the App Store have been updated, with a few key bullets. Changes to accommodate the new subscription models are there in section 11, along with a stern warning up front to developers who might game the review system or steal other devs’ work: “[Y]our apps will be removed from the store and you will be expelled from the developer program.”

Additions and changes also include more specific examples of problematic me-too apps in section 2.11 (now noted “such as fart, burp, flashlight and Kama Sutra apps”); section 2.13 citing “simply web sites bundled as apps” or “do not provide any lasting entertainment value”; section 2.21 suggesting apps that are media-only should be submitted to the iTunes store instead.

Section 2.22 warns against arbitrary carrier differentiation in apps (no ‘Angry Birds for Verizon’!); section 3.11 cautions apps not to warn users to restart before installing; and section 3.12 tells developers to have all included URLs live and working when the app is submitted (otherwise known by its street nickname, “The Embargo Crusher”). Where Apple was previously “thrilled” to have developers invest time and talent in creating App Store apps, now the company says it is merely “pleased.”

The document (hosted behind the Dev Center registration wall) retains its conversational and just-us-geeks folksy introduction — “We will reject Apps for any content or behavior that we believe is over the line. What line, you ask? Well, as a Supreme Court Justice once said, “I’ll know it when I see it.” And we think that you will also know it when you cross it.” The opening section still ends with the familiar namaste for responsible and user-centric development:

Lastly, we love this stuff too, and honor what you do. We’re really trying our best to create the best platform in the world for you to express your talents and make a living too. If it sounds like we’re control freaks, well, maybe it’s because we’re so committed to our users and making sure they have a quality experience with our products. Just like almost all of you are too.

Our favorite clause remains 4.2: “Apps that use location-based APIs for automatic or autonomous control of vehicles, aircraft, or other devices will be rejected.” If you want to use iPhones as the brains of your army of drone dirigibles, you’re gonna have to jailbreak.

[hat tip MacRumors]

App Store guidelines updated for subscriptions, more tweaks originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As we reported earlier, Apple announced the arrival of new subscription services for apps in the App Store today. According to the press release, subscriptions purchased from within the App Store will utilize the same billing system currently employed for app and in-app purchases. Publishers are free to set the length and price of the subscriptions, which can be weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, bi-yearly or yearly. Then with one click, customers choose the length of their subscription and are immediately charged for it.

The great thing about these digital subscriptions for customers is that they can cancel their subscription at any time with very little hassle. They simply need to go to their personal account page to stop re-billing or cancel a current subscription. Anyone who has ever dealt with the headache of getting out of a magazine subscription will recognize this as a huge benefit of Apple’s subscription model.

However, as we’ve already seen, many content-based app publishers might not like all the new terms that Apple has laid out. All publishers of content-based apps (like Netflix, Hulu, etc.) must comply with Apple’s new subscription service guidelines by June 30 or risk removal of their app from the App Store. The guideline compliance was originally rumored to go into effect March 31, but it seems that app publishers have four more months to make their apps compliant. Content-based app publishers are still free to sell content outside of the apps (like buying a Kindle magazine subscription from Amazon.com), but they now must offer the same content available for purchase directly within the app itself at the same or better price.

Continue reading Apple’s subscription model is boon to consumers, bad for publishers

Apple’s subscription model is boon to consumers, bad for publishers originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This, my friends, is the triumphant return of Ask TUAW — everyone’s favorite Mac and iOS Q&A and advice column. Unfortunately, a giant beaver ate all of the questions from prior editions of Ask TUAW, and we need more new questions!

So, here’s what we need you to do: go to the comments of this post, think long and hard about which burning questions have been bothering you about your Mac, iPod, iPad, iPhone or AppleTV, and ask away! You can also email your questions directly to ask [at] tuaw.com.

Here are a few perennial favorites asked and answered:

Q: Which MacBook Air should I buy?
A: Get the 11″ if you have another computer, or the 13″ if it’s your primary machine. Order the BTO memory upgrade, too; you can’t upgrade the RAM after the fact.

Q: What’s the best way to sync my iPhone to multiple computers?
A: The only way to win is not to play — syncing to more than one computer is asking for trouble, honestly. Pick your most accessible machine with the best storage situation for your media and applications library, and sync to that one. If you need to shuffle content around or purchase apps on multiple machines, go with Apple’s Home Sharing to keep things synchronized.

So, head down to the comments at the end of this post, and do your best. When asking a question, it makes life a lot easier for the Ask TUAW team if you include what type of machine you’re using, which version of Mac OS X you’re running or, if you’re asking an iPhone/iPod/iPad question, let us know which generation device and which version of iOS you have — though, in general, you should always upgrade to the latest version if you can.

We’ve got a few questions left in the can from last time, so let’s get cracking.

Dave asks:

I am seeing terrible performance from Finder when trying to access a Windows share over a VPN. If I do an ‘ls’ or ‘cd’ command to get to the same files, everything is instantaneous. Is there some setting in Finder that will make it act more like the ‘ls’ done via Terminal?

I have looked at a lot of Finder replacements and they all appear to have the same problem. Given this works great on Terminal, I’m a bit stumped at what Finder can be doing that would slow things down so dramatically.

Continue reading Ask TUAW’s triumphant return from abroad

Ask TUAW’s triumphant return from abroad originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T is wielding a new weapon in its fight against Verizon Wireless: the iPhone 3GS. In the carrier’s latest advertisement, the almost 20-month old handset and its $49 price tag is dangled in front of customers as a cheap alternative to the iPhone 4. Price-wise, the iPhone 3GS lets customers jump on the iPhone bandwagon for $150 less than the 16 GB iPhone 4 and $250 less than the 32 GB model.

Of course, there is always that nagging monthly cost. Still, if you are going to pay for it anyway and don’t need the latest and greatest that Apple has to offer, why not? AT&T is hoping you will think that way so that the carrier can lock you into a contract before Verizon has its own cheap previous generation model to peddle to the masses. AT&T’s television advertisement is included in the second half of this post.

Continue reading AT&T highlights $49 iPhone 3GS in new TV ad

AT&T highlights $49 iPhone 3GS in new TV ad originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The free ride on the Post iPad app was supposed to end in mid-February, but the Post app has been updated, and the iTunes Store description says that the full access subscription is still “provided for a limited time.”

That’s the same thing that another iPad paper, The Daily, did the other day. One wonders if the newspapers are afraid to pull the plug and see how a paid version will fare. I don’t blame them. App Store reviews of both endeavors have been dreadful. Maybe they are trying to set up the in-app subscriptions Apple has allowed.

This latest update to the Washington Post app now includes the ability to read offline (duh!) and fixes the frequent crashes that plagued the software. I haven’t seen anything in either of these efforts that would convince me to subscribe when the free trial ends. How about you? Were you enticed by the apps, or are you going to dump them when or if the free trials end?

Washington Post extends free iPad app subscription originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon’s vaunted network is handling the onslaught of new iPhones very well, according to a report published by web application performance firm Compuware Gomez. The report states that Verizon’s mobile data performance seems untouched by the addition of hundreds of thousands of data-hungry iPhones to the network. There was virtually no change — about four-tenths of one percent slower — in the performance of the Verizon network in terms of browsing and page load times.

The firm made measurements of data performance on the Verizon network on the first four official days of iPhone availability — February 10 – 13. Based on estimates from Wall Street analysts, upwards of 500,000 Verizon iPhones may have been purchased during pre-sales, with another 70,000 – 100,000 users switching from AT&T to Verizon. Compuware Gomez believes that between 500,000 and 700,000 new iPhone users are now using the Verizon network.

While that could be construed as causing additional demand for bandwidth on the Verizon network, many of the 500,000 Verizon iPhone pre-sales may have been to existing customers, therefore offsetting any expected increase in data usage. Compuware Gomez performs their tests by capturing data from a few thousand actual users spread across the US, so the numbers essentially mirror what real customers will see in the field.

Sure, this study was done only four days into the life of the iPhone on a new US carrier’s network, but it’s good to see that the huge number of iPhones did not immediately cause the VZW network to take a dirt nap. It will be fascinating to see if that trend stays steady as adoption of the iPhone by Verizon customers continues.

Verizon network reportedly handling iPhone traffic well originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple is sending out surveys to MacBook Air owners that hint at 3G connectivity and other hardware changes for its popular notebook. The survey queries current owners about their interest in wireless 3G connectivity as well as the customer’s usage of web-based data storage services on the MacBook Air. The survey also addresses the issue of USB ports, keyboard function keys and the use of external hard drives with the portable computing device.

There is little doubt the latest MacBook Air is a step forward for Apple. The diminutive notebook merges the portable size of a tablet device with the power of a full notebook. The questions within this survey suggest Apple recognizes this mobility and may be looking to add a 3G radio to the notebook, a move that would pit the Air directly against the 3G iPad. Other questions hint at cloud-based services, which could suggest Apple is moving forward with the technology it acquired from its purchase of LaLa.

The use of surveys by Apple is a relatively common occurrence. Apple used a similar survey to tweak the Apple TV, which is slowly changing from a “hobby” to a viable media playback device. If you were Apple and had the power of Steve Jobs in your hands, how would you tweak the MacBook Air to make it even better than it already is?

Apple issues survey to MacBook Air owners, mentions 3G originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sparrow, the sleek new email client for Mac OS X, was updated yesterday to improve speed, fix some minor bugs and add some limited AppleScript support. While the changes might not be apparent to many Sparrow users, they were apparently an inspiration to Don Southard, who immediately figured out a way to use the AppleScript support with OmniFocus.

Southard’s quick work allows him to delegate an OmniFocus task by sending an email with details about the task to another person via Sparrow. The script is saved and placed into the ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/OmniFocus folder, and then a script icon named “Send to Sparrow” is placed on the OmniFocus toolbar at a place of your choosing. To delegate a task, you select a task, then click the icon to send it to Sparrow.

The task’s name, context and note fields are included in the email, with Delegated Task as the subject line. As Southard notes, you can easily rearrange the order of the task fields within the script.

It’s a simple but effective AppleScript, and demonstrates the power of Apple’s venerable scripting language in integration of different apps. As Sparrow evolves from the current 1.0.1 version, it would be nice to see additional AppleScript support built in so that people like Don Southard can do even more fun and useful things with the app.

[via MacStories, image from Tech Blog /via Dirt Don]

Sparrow gets AppleScript support, immediately put to use with OmniFocus originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fun things are afoot at the Mobile World Congress this week in Barcelona, Spain.

Today’s news comes from Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of cell carrier T-Mobile. The corporation announced that it’s rolling out the ability to make payments with a near-field communication (NFC) enabled smartphone starting this year. Throughout 2012, the full payment system will be rolled out in the US through a previously announced joint venture with Apple and Verizon.

The system, to be known as T-Mobile’s Mobile Wallet, will let users make payments simply by waving an NFC-equipped phone near a payment kiosk. The company believes that mobile payments that replace cash, such as buying a 72-ounce Slurpee at the local Kwik-E-Mart, are going to be the most popular form of transaction, followed by the ability to use the Mobile Wallet to pay for ticket transactions on public or private transportation.

Some of the other capabilities of Mobile Wallet include the ability to get customized coupons on your phone and support for loyalty programs, such as supermarket discount cards. Since losing an NFC-equipped phone would be akin to losing a wallet, security features are included to protect against phone theft or loss. There’s no word on whether the NFC capability will be built into future iPhones or if a special case will be required.

[via Engadget]

Deutsche Telekom claims Apple will support near-field communication e-wallet originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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