Cody Fink

161 posts on MacStories since January 2010

Former MacStories contributor.
cody@macstories.net

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If you don’t have an iPhone, you don’t have AirPlay or FaceTime.

Apple doesn’t just make a handsome phone — the iPhone has plenty of unique features that separate it from the competition. A pair of new iPhone commercials are taking the stage tonight, putting AirPlay and FaceTime in the spotlight. The commercials, both featuring the same catchy background jingle we’ve become familiar in the “If you don’t have an iPhone” series, show off just how easy it is to use the iPhone for sharing photos, videos, and conversations across the Apple TV, Mac, and iPad. While the commercials do come off a bit bumptious as usual in this series, the AirPlay commercial does a great job of showing off just how easy it is to stream media to your television or play music wirelessly through your home stereo system. AirPlay is something I’ve come to love in iOS 4 on my iPad and iPod touch, and I’m glad to see it getting its own air time in Apple’s latest set of commercials. Past the break we’ve posted both videos for your viewing enjoyment.

[via Apple]

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Instacast 1.3 Now Available: Chapter Lists, Download Waiting List, and Video AirPlay

Instacast is simply my favorite podcast player on iOS, and I’m delighted to say that Instacast has now reached version 1.3 and is available for download in the App Store. Instacast 1.3 brings lots of new features to the fold, including improvements for clearing out cached tunes, a download waiting list, chapter lists (super useful for podcasts like the Mac Geek Gab), video airplay for those Revision3 podcasts, and “group sorting” in the All Episodes list that bundles together similar episodes. There’s a lot to talk about, so let’s dive right in.

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Chinese Court Sends 3 To Jail for Leaking iPad 2 Details

In what could possibly be related to the arrest of Foxconn employees back in December, Tuesday, a Chinese court have convicted three individuals with leaking Apple trade secrets and have sentenced them to prison. In March, Foxconn employees that leaked case designs revealing the iPad 2’s shape were convicted of violating Foxconn’s trade secrets–an employee who was previously a manager of MacTop and two others were sentenced on similar charges on Tuesday–case designs were leaked revealing the shape of the iPad 2. Two of the individuals claimed to be Foxconn employees, so they may likely be linked be the same individuals we’ve heard about before.

It said that Xiao Chengsong, general manager of Shenzhen MacTop Electronics Co., had offered 20,000 yuan, or about $3,000, plus discounts on MacTop products to a former Hon Hai employee named Hou Pengna, for information about the iPad 2. The court said Ms. Hou then paid Lin Kecheng, a Hon Hai research-and-development employee, to get digital images of the device’s back cover from last September, six months before the iPad 2 was publicly announced.

Many leaked case designs made their way online before Apple’s announcement, and an iPad 2 was even spotted at this year’s CES. The individuals will serve sentences up to 18 months with fines ranging from $4,500 to $23,000.

[WSJ via MacRumors]

Google Updates Google Sync for Better Mail and Calendaring on iOS

Not familiar with Google Sync? It’s not an app on your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, but rather something that exists in the background to help you keep your Mail, Calendars, and Contacts in check. Today, Google is announcing improvements to the service so you can better push and pull information from the cloud.

The first improvements are with Mail, and I think this one is my favorite. Google is now giving iOS users the ability to search for messages stored on the server, and not just locally on your device. The next time you’re looking up an old love letter, just search in Mail for your message and it’ll continue the search on the server.

Mail is also getting another improvement in the account department. If you have multiple addresses tied into one gmail account, it’s now way easier to send as an alternate address in Mail. If you “send mail as” in Gmail, iOS will now respect those settings so you’ll never send email from the wrong address again.

Want to edit calendar events? Now you can! Accept, decline, and edit calendar event (invitations) are now possible through iOS.

For more information, and how to setup Google Sync on your device, please refer to the recent blog post and how-to-guide here.

[via The Official Google Enterprise Blog]

If you think WWDC wasn’t successful, you weren’t paying attention→

If you think WWDC wasn’t successful, you weren’t paying attention

Apple did a lot at WWDC, but one of the most important things was that they gave developers the roadmap for where they are headed (at least in the short term). That’s big for the end user because we are relying on those developers to make the apps that we use.

I spoke with countless developers last week and not one of them were disappointed with Apple’s announcements. Apple gave them hundreds of new APIs to work with to improve existing apps and to create new ones.

Jim Dalrymple from the loop tells it like it is. This year was a massive success by Apple at WWDC, and many genuinely see the distinction that make this month’s announcements revolutionary, and not evolutionary. And it’s not just about what was announced, but about what Apple does for its community.

Developers spent the week hunkered down in sessions with Apple engineers learning about the new code. That’s what WWDC is all about — code, apps, APIs, and more code.

WWDC is not about Apple releasing new products for consumers to run out and buy. It’s about educating developers so they can make great products for consumers to buy.

Apple is setting the precedent for some big changes, and I can’t help but feel there’s a lot of anxiety around the new announcements. I think this piece by August Mueller sums up the wide variety of emotions and feelings encountered at this year’s WWDC: Roll With It. Multiply the implications of what Apple is doing by the 5000 developers at WWDC, and you can imagine how serious this is. What Apple is doing might look like just an upgrade on the surface by and end user, but internally there’s going to be a lot of changes as Apple drives innovation, and heads in the opposite direction that Microsoft appears to be heading in. It’s all being done for us.

Whether you were a developer soaking in all that Lion, iOS 5, and iCloud have to offer, or a bystander witnessing the change in technology, WWDC 2011 was an event to be remembered.

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UK Won’t Get iTunes Match, Cloud Until 2012

Those living in the United Kingdom will get to enjoy Spotify for a bit long as those living in the United States get to enjoy Apple’s iCloud and iTunes Match services between iOS 5 and Lion. Apple is still in the early stages of negotiations with the Performing Rights Society, who ensure composers, songwriters, and publishers all receive fair compensation for their works.

A music executive at one of the major record labels, who wished to remain unnamed, said: “Tentative talks have begun between the major labels and Apple in the UK. However, all talks are at the really early stages and no one expects to see the cloud music service live on this side of the pond until 2012.”

Even here in the United States, Apple still has yet to make deals with independent labels, and as with the initial launch of iTunes, Apple took their time as the rolled out their service to other countries. Mark Mulligan, VP and research director at Forrester Research, comments:

These types of negotiations take a long time… For one thing the UK arms of all the major record labels are biding their time and waiting to see how the service affects download sales in the US before they sign up to anything.

While the The Telegraph specifically exams licensing agreements in the UK, it’s likely that this situation holds true for the remainder of the world as well. For those in Europe, you’ll need to hang tight as Apple’s iCloud and the companion iTunes Match service go live. At the very least, iOS 5 doesn’t officially launch until this fall, so you just might not have to wait that long once iOS 5 devices start shipping.

[The Telegraph via MacRumors]

Apple Goes Shopping, Comes Back with Over 50 Domains

In a move to protect key terms and product features related to Monday’s Keynote that kicked off WWDC 2011, Apple decided to go domain shopping. Obviously you’d want to protect product names like Lion and iOS 5 from being abused, but Apple may have overdone it with their acquisition of over fifty domain names, including goodies like “macmailconversationview.com” and “pcfreeiphone.com”. Robin Wauters from TechCrunch was quick to point out that Apple still doesn’t own ipad.com or ipods.com, but what is Apple really afraid of?

You can tell Apple is clearly trying to protect their branding, but are they going too far? Do they have anything to worry about? I guess iTunes in the cloud is pretty important. But Mac gestures? Apple should definitely put a tutorial there.

Here’s some good examples of what Apple has picked up.

  • airplaymirroring.com
  • itunesinthecloud.com
  • macgestures.com
  • osxlionairdrop.com

For the full list, be sure to hit up the source link below.

[via Techcrunch]

Free Upgrade to Lion with a New Mac Purchase

If you’re in the market for a new Mac, you’ll be eligible for a free upgrade to Lion once it hits the Mac App Store in July, thanks to Apple’s Up-To-Date program which keeps new customers on top of the latest technology. From the OS X Lion press release:

The Mac OS X Lion Up-To-Date upgrade is available at no additional charge via the Mac App Store to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after June 6, 2011. Users must request their Up-To-Date upgrade within 30 days of purchase of their Mac computer. Customers who purchase a qualifying Mac between June 6, 2011 and the date when Lion is available in the Mac App Store will have 30 days from Lions official release date to make a request.

As MacRumors points out, you originally had to pay $9.95 for the installation DVD. However, as Lion is a download from the Mac App Store, there’s no longer going to be a charge to make up for packaging and shipping. Once Lion hits in July, you’ll have thirty days to request your free download through the program.

With new MacBook Airs around the corner, however, you might just want to wait to buy a shiny new Mac with Lion already installed.

[via MacRumors, OS X Lion Press Release]