Category: news

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Installed the Lion

I have now installed Mac OS X Lion on the kid’s computer. Well it’s a good test machine and it it goes all wrong, I can just format and reinstall Snow Leopard. It’s an older Core 2 Duo iMac so not state of the art, but still does a great job as a home computer.

The install process was quick and easy and the Mac seems to work just fine.

There are quite a few old apps on there and some now no longer work as they were for my old PowerPC Mac and relied on Rosetta, which isn’t part of Lion and doesn’t work on Lion.

No real problem as I don’t use those apps myself, but something to be aware of if you do use older apps. To find which Rosetta apps are on your system, use System Profiler.

System Profiler > Software > Applications

Select by Kind and look for PowerPC.

These apps won’t work in Lion, do you will either need to find alternative apps or not upgrade!

Though there are some fundamental differences between Snow Leopard and Lion, you can “ignore” much of the changes and have a system that feels and looks more like Snow Leopard than the iOSation of many of the features of Lion.

Having said that I quite like Launchpad and certainly much easier to use than the Applications folder in Finder.

Still not 100% sure if I will install Lion on my main production iMac as I do have a couple of key PowerPC apps that I still use and there aren’t currently Universal or Intel alternatives. Also still have a few concerns about Adobe. What I will do though is install it on an external drive connected to my iMac and by using that on a regular basis I will have a much better idea if I like it or not.

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Adobe in the Mac App Store

Okay so it’s not Photoshop, but Adobe have their first product in the Mac App Store.

Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 Editor – Now at version 12

Make every photo look its best with a powerful yet easy-to use photo editor from the creators of industry-standard Adobe Photoshop software

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The Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 Editor delivers powerful yet easy-to-use photo editing tools that take your photos from flawed to phenomenal in seconds. Count on automated options that help you get great results with just a few clicks. Works great with iPhoto when you’re ready to go beyond the basics.

For many people Photoshop Elements has all the necessary tools and features for editing and adjusting photographs. Yes, Photoshop is a much more powerful editor, but if you want to go further than the editing tools in iPhoto, but don’t want to spend megabucks on pro tools, than this is the tool for you.

Having said it’s not expensive, if you are use to paying iOS prices for software, then £54.99 may seem a touch more than you are willing to pay, though it is cheaper than the £79 for the boxed software.

It is in fact cheaper to buy the boxed software from Amazon than buying from the Mac App Store, however one of the advantages of buying from the App Store is if you have more than one Mac, then you can, using the App Store, install it on all your Macs. I also like how I can update apps more easily from the app store. Another nice feature of the App Store is when you get a new Mac and then you can transfer your software to it really easily.

This move by Adobe, does make me wonder if their pro tools will ever find their way into the App Store?

There are some really nice features and tools within the photo editor and is a great tool if you want something that is powerful, but isn’t as complicated as the professional Photoshop application is.

Get Photoshop Elements from the App Store.

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ITV Player for Android

I recently discovered that there was an ITVPlayer App for the iPad and the iPhone I also on looking on the ITV site there is also an ITVPlayer App for Android.

I was never really impressed with the BBC iPlayer App for Android that I installed on my Google Nexus One.

The main problem is you don’t get the smooth playback that I get on the iPhone or the iPad. If I play videos direct from the phone I do get smooth playback, so I don’t think it’s an underpowered hardware issue.

I have exactly the same issue with ITV Player. Both apps I find result in audio sync issues. However when playing the same programmes on the iPad, the iPhone or my computer I don’t have the sync or buffering issues.

As I said before I don’t think it’s a hardware issue, identical mp4 video files play just as well on the Google Nexus One as they do on my iPhone. I often use the same file to show the difference in screen quality between the Nexus One and the iPhone 3GS (and now the iPhone 4).

It would appear that my Google Nexus One doesn’t like streaming video. It’s not the connection as I am on wifi and my home broadband is quite fast.

So a question, is it just me and my phone, or are others having similar stuttering, audio sync and buffering issues?

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Podcast Choice #03 – MacBreak Weekly

I have been asked a fair few times about the different podcasts I listen to. I not only have a lengthy commute to work, but also travel a fair bit for work, so it’s vital to me to have something to listen to. This series will discuss and review the different podcasts I listen to or have listened to. In a previous blog post I spoke about the why and how I listen to podcasts, now we look at the actual podcasts I listen to.

This week’s podcast is MacBreak Weekly.

Get the latest Mac news and views from the top journalists covering Apple today. Another great show from the TWiT Netcast Network.

I know I have a bit of a reputation as what some people would call an Apple Fanboy. I do have an iMac at home and one in the office, yes I do have an iPhone and an iPad. So in terms of using Apple hardware, yes I am a bit of a fan. However am I anti-Windows which is in my opinion what really make a fanboy, the answer is no. I do run Windows on my iMac, XP and 7, I do have an Android powered Google Nexus One. I also do use Linux.

Some people may consider MacBreak Weekly, a show about Apple, Macs and iOS as just one for the fans. I won’t say it isn’t about Apple stuff, as it is, however this is quite a balanced show with a focus on Apple stuff. If they don’t like it, they will say so, if they do likewise.

Each week a varied panel of Mac experts and journalists, chaired and hosted by Leo Laporte, review the weeks news, releases and occasionally rumours! They also have weekly picks covering hardware and software, both OS X and iOS.

It’s certainly the show I listen to, to find out what is happening with Apple and also what is happening with OS X and iOS software developers. I have picked up many ideas from the picks and made a fair few purchases. If you use Apple kit and software then you will certainly get useful tips and fresh ideas from the podcast.

As with many podcasts you might need to listen to a few episodes to get a feel for it. As you might expect there may be a few in-jokes that don’t fit if you only hear them once.

Unlike many podcasts each episode is a fair length, sometimes up to two hours, so be prepared for a lengthy listen.

Subscribe to MacBreak Weekly in the iTunes Store.

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QR Code on the telly

So there I was watching a cookery programme when up popped a QR code. Though I have seen them on the telly before, this was the first time I think I have seen one on a “normal” mainstream programme rather than your typical tech news or geek style show.

The programme was a mainstream BBC One early evening choice, so it would have hit a fair few viewers.

You would need to be either watching it recorded or on iPlayer or always have your phone’s QR Code reader ready to capture the code. I checked out how it worked using Optiscan on my iPhone and it (usefully) went to the mobile version of the website for the recipe.

One of the nice features of Optiscan (and other QR Code readers) is that I can then e-mail the link to myself so if necessary I can open the relevant link in my computer’s browser.

So are these QR Codes now mainstream?

Of course QR Codes are quite an old technology and more intelligent smartphone apps can now recognise that you are watching television and bring up the relevant content just by listening to the soundtrack. They compare the sound signature to a library and then connect with relevant content.

Likewise for other uses of QR Codes location awareness and image recognition of real things mean that it is possible to get content just by either taking a photograph or just by your phone knowing where it is.

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Podcast Choice #02 – Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4


I have been asked a fair few times about the different podcasts I listen to. I not only have a lengthy commute to work, but also travel a fair bit for work, so it’s vital to me to have something to listen to. This series will discuss and review the different podcasts I listen to or have listened to. In a previous blog post I spoke about the why and how I listen to podcasts, now we look at the actual podcasts I listen to.

This week’s podcast is Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4.

Bringing you a satirical take on the week’s news with the cream of UK comedy talent from BBC Radio 4.

Every Friday at 6.30pm on Radio 4 you can listen to (usually) either the News Quiz or the Now Show. These, if you like satirical comedy, are very funny and well worth listening to. The News Quiz was the inspiration for Have I Got News for You (on the telly) and is hosted by the talented Sandy Toksvig with a panels that changes every week. It’s a light hearted look at the week’s news in the form of a quiz!

The Now Show is a different kettle of fish, hosted by Punt and Dennis, if you enjoyed the Mary Whitehouse Experience (also from the Telly) then very likely you will enjoy the Now Show. It takes a satirical look at the week’s news and the running gags, “come on Tim” ensure a regular listen is a must.

The Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4 podcast alternates between these two shows, and occasionally with something less satisfying.

As a BBC Podcast one of the annoying aspects is that only the latest episode is available, if you forget to download it then you’ve missed it. I suspect that this is a licensing issue and the BBC can’t avoid it. I know I regularly check for new episodes in iTunes, however if you don’t subscribe to many podcasts it can be easy to forget to check on a regular basis. As it is a podcast, unlike iPlayer downloads, there is no DRM, so you can hold into past episodes. Unlike some of the other podcasts I listen to, these I will listen to again, so have a fair archive now of episodes going back a few years.

I usually listen to the podcast on the way into work on a Monday morning and it certainly has me laughing out loud as I trundle up the M5.

My only complaint, well, I wonder where the podcasts of Just a Minute or Sorry I Haven’t a Clue are? Would be great if they were available – they are occasionally as part of Radio 4’s Comedy of the Week, but would be nice if every episode was available to download.

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99p Rentals

My recent experience with 99p rentals from iTunes has not been entirely successful. As you may know every week iTunes puts up, a usually decent, film for rental for 99p.

My first problem was with renting the re-made Ladykillers starring Tom Hanks.

Anyone who has rented a movie from iTunes knows that you can transfer the rental from the computer to your iPad (or iPhone). So knowing that I was going away I transferred the rental from my iMac to my iPad. However I never did find the time to watch it…

After a couple of days I decided to watch it at home. One of the things I like about the new Apple TV is that it is possible to watch rentals that are on your Mac without needing to transfer them. This means you can rent non-HD films on your Mac and then view them on your TV using the Apple TV. If you rent from the Apple TV, you “have” to rent HD movies and they are £1 more than the SD ones on your computer. Did I say I was a cheapskate? So having decided to stream the film via the Apple TV, I couldn’t find it… ah yes I thought it will still be on my iPad. Ah but it wasn’t… no I couldn’t find it anywhere!

After reflecting a while I realised I had in the intervening period restored my iPad after having a few problems with it and as a result I had “lost” the rental. Of course there is no way to retrieve a rental (you can’t even retrieve a video purchase let a,one a rental).

So in the end what we did was re-rent it, luckily it was still 99p.

As for the film itself, well it was amusing and Tom Hanks was very good. However the original Ealing version with Alec Guinness is SO much better and if you had to choose, go for the Ealing one.

I had another problem with rentals the other day, this time it was more my fault. I had rented another 99p rental, Donnie Darko, a film that I have been meaning to watch for a while. I started to watch the film and before even the studio ident had finished I got called away. So I never got to watch the film that evening. I was out the following night, so alas with only a 48 hour window in which to watch it, I missed the window and iTunes removed it from my computer. A 48 hour window is usually enough for me, but this time I didn’t have the time, and it’s probably why I don’t rent many films from iTunes. It’s the same reason I stopped renting from Blockbusters too, however I still do rent from the Library, where I got the Adjustment Bureau today. Not only was it cheaper than iTunes at £3, whereas iTunes is £3.49, I can also have it for a week!

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Feeder

I sometimes get asked how I create the RSS feed for my e-Learning Stuff Podcast so that people can subscribe to it from my blog or through iTunes.

Though it is quite easy using the WordPress software it is possible to get an RSS feed it doesn’t match the requirements of submitting to iTunes. Originally I used to parse the feed through feedburner, but then I found that the actual podcast posts were “lost” within the regular posts.

At that point I was resigned to using Notepad to write my own RSS XML file when I found out about Feeder.

Feeder is a fully featured application for creating, editing and publishing RSS and iTunes podcast feeds.

Feeder can create, download and import RSS 2.0 and iTunes podcast feeds with full support for the iTunes RSS podcasting extensions. Drag and drop enclosure files to create new items, Feeder will automatically tag audio and video files with artwork, etc in all popular podcast formats. Feeder makes editing your feed a breeze with auto-complete, templates, HTML tag insertion, previews and a customizable user interface that easily adapts to the task at hand.

Feeder can publish to FTP, SFTP, FTPS MobileMe, WebDAV or Amazon S3 servers and will upload the feed, artwork and enclosure files, post to the weblog and announce new content on Twitter and Facebook with a single click.

It is now a simple process to create the different podcast entries, it was also possible (following requests) to create a full feed of all my podcasts.

I now use Feeder to create the entries for my podcast RSS feed, though for legacy reasons the feed still goes through feedburner.

If you need to create RSS feeds for anything as well as podcasts then have a look at Feeder.

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Podcast Choice #01 – TWiT

I have been asked a fair few times about the different podcasts I listen to. I not only have a lengthy commute to work, but also travel a fair bit for work, so it’s vital to me to have something to listen to. This series will discuss and review the different podcasts I listen to or have listened to. Last week I spoke about the why and how I listen to podcasts, now we look at the actual podcasts I listen to.

This week’s podcast is TWiT.

Your first podcast of the week is the last word in tech. Join Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, John C. Dvorak, and other tech luminaries in a roundtable discussion of the latest trends in high tech. Released every Sunday at midnight Pacific.

TWiT or This Week in Tech is probably the first podcast I listened to. The first episode was released (broadcast) on April 17th 2005. Though I only started listening in June of that year. The podcast has evolved since then into a huge podcasting network and TWiT is still there and broadcast on a weekly basis. Released on a Sunday it is usually the first or second podcast I listen to on the way into work on a Monday morning. It’s quite a long podcast so it also covers my return home as well.

So what’s it all about then?

Well as you might guess from the title it’s the tech news from the last week.

However as with any good show, the reason it works and why I listen to virtually every week is the format, the panelists and the host.

The format is a panel format, tech pundits and journalists (mainly from the US, but sometimes the UK or other places) get together and discuss the news from the week. Tangential conversations are the norm for the show, so as well as news from Apple, Google, Facebook and others, the conversation also veers off into wine, food, television and comedy. Though the panel changes, as people come back again and again, it builds a familiarity that ensures that when listening it seems comfortable.

The host, Leo Laporte, is a US based tech pundit and journalist, whom has a track record in tech journalisim going back years. Though I have to admit the first I heard about him, was when I first started listening to podcasts and TWiT. He is very good at what he does in moving the conversations along and bringing the stories to life.

It is compelling listening and an enjoyable amusing listen too. Oh and in case you were wondering, yes I did base the e-Learning Stuff podcast on this format too.

Find TWiT in iTunes.

TWiT on the web.

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Steampunk Laptop

Oh yes please, I would like one of these.

This may look like a Victorian music box, but inside this intricately hand-crafted wooden case lives a Hewlett-Packard ZT1000 laptop that runs both Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux. It features an elaborate display of clockworks under glass, engraved brass accents, claw feet, an antiqued copper keyboard and mouse, leather wrist pads, and customized wireless network card. The machine turns on with an antique clock-winding key by way of a custom-built ratcheting switch made from old clock parts.

Find out more.