Apple signs deal, goes with TomTom for iOS 6 mapping functions

// June 13th, 2012 // No Comments » // iOS

Apple signs deal, goes with TomTom for iOS 6 mapping functions: “

It’s not you…it’s me.

Per Macworld, digital maps provider TomTom announced on Tuesday it has signed a global agreement with Apple for maps and related information.

Apple announced Monday at its World Wide Developers Conference that an upcoming version of its iOS mobile operating system will feature a rebuilt maps app with Apple-designed cartography, turn-by-turn navigation, and interactive 3-D views, placing the company in competition with Google’s Maps product.

Apple demonstrated some of the capabilities of its rebuilt Maps app for iOS 6 at Monday’s Worldwide Developers Conference.
TomTom already supplies its maps and related data to companies including Samsung, Research In Motion, and Google, but expects its relationship with Apple to be deeper, said company spokesman Taco Titulaer on Tuesday.

TomTom claims up-to-date digital maps that cover more than 200 countries and territories. Headquartered in Amsterdam, the company also offers an up-to-date route planner, including live traffic information. Other products include portable navigation devices, in-dash infotainment systems, and fleet management services. Its customers include Internet companies, mobile handset makers, and network operators, besides government and enterprise, the company said on its website.

TomTom will be the primary but not the only supplier of maps and related data to Apple, as the company does not have mapping data for some countries such as China, Titulaer said.

The upcoming iOS 6 includes vector-based map elements that make graphics and text smooth, and panning, tilting and zooming fluid, according to Apple. The maps app will also feature turn-by-turn navigation with spoken directions, interactive 3D views, realtime traffic information with alternate time-saving routes if traffic conditions change significantly, and local search for over 100 million businesses.

Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

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Access Photo Stream Pictures on Your Mac Without Loading iPhoto or Aperture

// April 26th, 2012 // No Comments » // iOS

Access Photo Stream Pictures on Your Mac Without Loading iPhoto or Aperture: “

The promise of Photo Stream is easy to see on iOS devices. Take a photo or screenshot on your iPhone, load up the Photos app on the iPad, and wait for the images to land on the device via Photo Stream. The phrase ‘it’s so easy with online’ comes to mind.

Strangely enough, things aren’t quite as easy on the Mac. The only way to access Photo Stream pictures is to manually activate the service within iCloud settings and then use iPhoto or Aperture to view and manage the pictures. Or so I thought.

Thanks to this awesome post on The Iconmaster, I now have a saved Spotlight search that targets the folder in which all of my Photo Stream .PNG files are stored. By saving this search to the sidebar in Finder (or the Dock, if quick access is a priority), I can now view and manage files from Photo Stream without having to load any extra apps up. In my quick tests, a screenshot from my 4S took about 30 seconds to appear in the Photo Stream folder on my Mac. The only caveat here is that you may need to have either iPhoto or Aperture installed on your Mac for this to work (I didn’t want to uninstall my apps to find out).

I used to use the Dropbox app for quickly shooting photos straight to my Mac for posts, but thanks to this tip, I can now take full advantage of Photo Stream for painless and automatic photo transfers across all of my Apple devices.

Apple Driving iCloud Conversions with Free Copies of Snow Leopard for MobileMe Users

// April 19th, 2012 // No Comments » // iOS

Apple Driving iCloud Conversions with Free Copies of Snow Leopard for MobileMe Users: “follow this link”

The main persistent weakness/problem with the new 1080p AppleTV (3?) = no USB port that allows access to external storage of movies – WHY?!?

// March 8th, 2012 // No Comments » // AppleTV, Boxee Box, iCloud, iOS, iPad, iPhone

I purchased the first small black square AppleTV (2?) and resold it because it does NOT support attaching an external hard drive, and directly playing movies that you have created in iMovie (with your iPhone or iPad or another camera), and/or legally recorded from commercial television (I use an EyeTV HD device for this).

The newest version is no different, besides a different GUI, faster processor, and finally supporting 1080p it is exactly the same animal.

Why does Apple assume that you do not want to play locally stored movies? Why must all of the movies be accessed from the cloud or by streaming them wirelessly or by ethernet from your Mac/iTunes to your AppleTV?

Yes, iPad and iPhone mirroring on your big screen is tempting, but why must all of the video be downloaded and at least cached on the AppleTV, before it is played? Bandwidth hog anyone?

AppleTV Ports and Interfaces

HDMI2
Optical audio
10/100BASE-T Ethernet
Built-in IR receiver
Micro-USB (for service and support) – how about for attaching an external hard drive? How hard would this be?

This (above) is all she wrote – really now, how hard would it be for Apple to add a USB port to the list?

Until Apple addresses this I will have to live with the limitations of a Boxee Box, and hope that someday, somehow Boxee will allow easy creation and use of video playlists – another completely mindless omission.

Apple Set to Become World’s Largest PC Manufacturer When Tablets Are Counted in the Mix

// November 22nd, 2011 // No Comments » // iOS, iPad

Apple Set to Become World’s Largest PC Manufacturer When Tablets Are Counted in the Mix: “

Canalys, a research firm, has noted that Apple is closing in on becoming the world’s largest PC manufacturer by volume when the iPad and other tablets are included in those numbers. Apple, as of right now, is behind only HP in that regard, and Canalys suggests that Apple will overtake HP either by the end of this year, or with a surge of sales with the introduction of the next-generation iPad in the first quarter of next year.

For what it’s worth, Apple is already the number one mobile PC vendor when the iPad is included. HP still sells more desktop machines however, and this has been enough to keep Apple at bay for the time being.

Also for what it’s worth, the iPad is likely cannibalizing some Mac sales, but Apple seems to be ok with that because of the company’s relatively small PC market share. In other words, the iPad is eating into Mac and PC sales, but because Apple has lower market share, Microsoft and PC manufacturers have far more at stake.

I’ll keep saying it until I’m blue in the face- 2012 is going to be an interesting year.

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A Clear Explanation of iTunes Match

// November 15th, 2011 // No Comments » // iCloud, iOS, iPad, iPhone

A Clear Explanation of iTunes Match: “After a bit of delay, Apple launched iTunes Match today. The new $25/year service offers users the ability to match their existing iTunes library with high quality versions in Apple’s iCloud. The new service, however, has generated a bit of confusion about what exactly happens to your music library after you have enabled it.

One of the first questions, how to determine the iCloud status of a particular song, is solved by right-clicking the column bar at the top of the iTunes window (or pressing Command-J) and making sure “iCloud Status” is selected.

MacRumors forum user Nunyabinez has written a detailed explanation of how iTunes Match works that should answer a number of potential questions if you are planning to enable the feature. We’ve summarized the key points here, but the full post is worth a read if you are planning on using Tunes Match.

– When you enable Match it goes through a three step process. Analyzing your library, matching songs, uploading non-matched content. It does this for your whole library. You can’t choose to exclude songs other than taking them out of your library.

– If a song is matched, it becomes available to download in 256K AAC. If a song is not matched it is copied in its current format and bit rate up to 320K. If the file is Lossless however, it is converted (presumably by your computer) to a 256k AAC file and then uploaded.

– Nothing happens to your local music when you run match. If you have a lower quality song that was matched you can remove it from your local library and then replace it with the 256k version. What happens is you delete the song, but the entry in iTunes stays, but a little cloud now shows up in a newly added column that shows you that you have a song that is in the cloud but not in your library. You can click on the cloud and it will download it to your local library, where again it is now permanently yours at the higher bit rate.

– Match uses your meta-data. If you in an anal-retentive fashion have made lots of custom edits to your files, that is what gets copied to the cloud. Even if you replace your songs with the upgraded versions you keep your previous meta-data.

iTunes Match launched earlier today with the arrival of iTunes 10.5.1. The $24.99/year service offers cloud-based matching and upload of users’ complete iTunes libraries.

Apple (Finally) Launches iTunes Match

// November 14th, 2011 // No Comments » // iCloud, iOS, iPad, iPhone

Apple (Finally) Launches iTunes Match: “

Coming in only several weeks later than Apple had originally announced, the company today has launched iTunes Match. The feature can be accessed with the download of iTunes 10.5.1, and comes in at a cost of $25/year to match a users library of content, that they likely didn’t get throughout the iTunes Store, and make said content available on all of their devices without hardwire syncing.

In other words customers who do not acquire content through the iTunes Store can now have the same benefit of as the people who do- download once, it appears everywhere.

Of course, iTunes Match was due for release by the end of October, but the company missed that timeline, and gave no further information on when the service might become available. Also worth noting, is the fact that iTunes Match is currently a U.S.- only service. However, Apple is reportedly hard at work to secure licensing agreements with international music companies to bring the service to other countries.

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LDS Music App for iOS Released

// October 24th, 2011 // No Comments » // iOS

LDS Music App for iOS Released: “

LDS Music 1.0 for iOS, released in October 2011, is available for free download in Apple’s App Store.

LDS Music contains the content of the LDS Hymnbook and Children’s Songbook, with each song presented in two views: the sheet music or simply the text of the verses. The songs are listed by number as well as alphabetically, by topic, by author, and by composer.

Authors and composers are listed by first or last name. There is a search option that covers not just song titles but also each song’s content. The application also plays instrumental music for each song, which is especially useful when there is no pianist around.

Future Plans

The purpose of this application is to expand the availability of Church music rather than just having it on the web. Hilton Campbell, a senior engineer on the project, says that the goal of this application is to provide members with access to Church music at church, at home, on the commute, or wherever they may be.

Hilton explained that the LDS Music app is just getting started, and this first version is only the basics of what the team would like to do. Future plans for the application include adding music from Seminary video soundtracks and Young Women camp songs, incorporating new features like playlists and audio controls, and making this application available in several languages, starting with Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Assistance Needed

For the app’s language requirements, the team needs help from the community. “The real need is to get the words for the music,” says Hilton. The team has PDF versions of the songs in Spanish, French, and Portuguese and needs community members to transfer the words to text files. The work does not require high technical skill, it just takes time, and yet it has great capacity to affect the lives of saints globally.

If you’re interested in participating in this project, join the project on LDSTech by signing to the site, click Projects in the top navigation bar, click the LDS Music for iPhone/iPad project, and then click Join.

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