2x Graphic Files Found in Lion May Hint at “Retina Display” for Macs

By Federico Viticci

A report surfaced earlier this week suggested Apple may soon start building support for “HiDPI display modes” in Mac OS X to allow developers to take advantage of high-resolution displays and provide graphic files for apps at much greater detail. The HiDPI mode, from what MacRumors managed to gather taking a look at Lion’s Quartz Debug, would let developers save different sets of graphic elements into an application bundle, standard ones and 2x-enlarged ones that will have the same physical size on a display, but more detail thanks to the high-resolution mode. A 15” MacBook Pro with a standard 1440x900 display, for example, could go to 2880x1800 and have the same 15-inch size, but more detail because of its pixel density. Just like on the iPhone 4’s Retina Display, 2x files would be automatically used for the hi-res display.

While the HiDPI mode needs to be manually enabled for now, we have found a series of 2x-enlarged files in the current version of Safari for OS X Lion, version 5.1. The files carry the same “@2x” suffix of those seen on iPhone 4 apps, and are twice the size of those saved without 2x mode. The “HideReaderButtonCapLeft” file, for instance, is 6x30 in 2x mode and 3x15 in standard mode. Same applies for all the other files in Safari 5.1.

This isn’t the first time we discover 2x files hidden in Apple’s applications, and while they don’t really confirm high-res displays are coming in the near future (remember the @2x files we found in iBooks for iPad last year), they should be a good indication of the method Apple is testing to let Macs run more detailed applications on higher resolution displays. It doesn’t come as a surprise that the method is the same of the iPhone 4, and likely the same that will be adopted on the iPad as well. With next year’s MacBook Pro refresh rumored to be a complete redesign of the line, Apple may implement a “Retina display” to leverage 2x-mode for apps.

Buy Todolicious Today, Donate To The New Zealand Red Cross

By Federico Viticci

Mac app Todolicious by Mustacheware was one of the first Mac App Store-exclusive apps we covered ahead of the launch of the new Store and, overall, an elegant to-do manager for the Mac that makes it easy to jot down tasks with an intuitive keyboard-based panel you can invoke at any time. With the choice of multiple themes and cute sound notifications for completed tasks, Todolicious still is one of the “best new apps” available in the Mac App Store (also mysteriously not featured by Apple since January 6th).

An update to Todolicious was released today adding a new editing engine and an option to delete completed to-dos, but that’s not what we want to focus on right now. The update is great and adds a bunch of much requested fixes, but what we think is absolutely worth of your consideration is the fact that Mustacheware decided to donate 100% of sales today to the New Zealand Red Cross in response of the earthquake that occurred on February 21. If you buy Todolicious today (February 25), you’ll give your contribution to the victims of the earthquake and, at the same time, you’ll end up with a sweet application on your Mac.

So head over the Mac App Store now, and download Todolicious.

Consumer Reports Can’t Recommend the Verizon iPhone

By Federico Viticci

In spite of earlier reports that suggested ratings and reviews publication Consumer Reports would give a thumbs up to the Verizon iPhone (and debates on its testing methods), this is clearly not happening. For the second time since Consumer Reports smacked the AT&T iPhone 4 in July due to signal degradation issues (and eventually confirmed they could be easily fixed with duct tape, a free bumper or a better holding of the phone), the iPhone 4 can’t be recommended.

The Verizon iPhone 4 has a problem that could cause the phone to drop calls, or be unable to place calls, in weak signal conditions, Consumer Reports engineers have found in lab tests.

The problem is similar to the one we confirmed in July with the AT&T version of Apple’s newest smart phone. It can occur when you hold either version of the phone in a specific but quite natural way in which a gap in the phone’s external casing is covered. The phone performs superbly in most other respects, and using the iPhone 4 with a case can alleviate the problem.

Consumer Reports has performed its usual set of tests to determine whether or not the iPhone 4 on Verizon could be inserted into the list of recommended products. The iPhone 4 is among Consumer Reports’ highest rated smartphones, but can’t be recommended by Consumer Reports itself. Verizon, on the other hand, is widely recognized as America’s most reliable and recommended network. The Verizon iPhone has collected very positive reviews from all around the web.

With the iPhone 4, we placed a finger in contact with the lower-left-side gap. Reception typically dropped notably within 15 seconds or so of the gap being bridged. The iPhone eventually dropped calls when touched at very low signal strength—that is, at levels of around one bar in the phone’s signal-strength meter.

For those interested, video is embedded below. For those running a Verizon iPhone: sorry it can’t be recommended, but enjoy your phone.

DropPhox: The Easiest Way From Your iPhone’s Camera to Dropbox

By Federico Viticci

DropPhox, a $1.99 app by DaVinciWare, provides an easy solution to take pictures and videos on your iPhone, and instantly upload them to the popular service Dropbox, used these days by a plethora of applications and external services. The app’s tagline, in fact, is “Snap and send to Dropbox”.

Once authenticated with your Dropbox credentials in the settings, the app will create a folder in your Dropbox to save photos and videos shot on the iPhone. By default, the path is /DropPhox. In the in-app settings you can also choose to keep GeoTags while uploading, whilst you’ll have to head over the Settings app to modify other preferences. The selection here is pretty rich: you can edit the date format (International, US, Japan), choose the photo size (keep original, or automatically scale to 600x800, 960x1280, 1200x1600) and select the badges you’d like to see on the homescreen and tab bar. I particularly appreciate the possibility to choose photo size as most of my iPhone 4 pictures will end up being resized at 600x800 anyway.

With DropPhox set up to upload to Dropbox correctly, there really isn’t much else to say: open the app and start shooting. As you take pictures and videos, the queue will upload them to Dropbox in the background. It’s very nice. After taking a photo or video, you’ll only have to tap on an additional “Use” button to send stuff to Dropbox.

DropPhox could use some additional UI refinements, but it works well as a way to get photos and videos on to Dropbox in seconds. Sure, everything will depend on the speed of your Internet connection, and that’s why the size settings are very welcome (especially when using an iPhone 4 on 3G). Go download it here.

Apple Gets Back To Basics with Lion →

Linked By Federico Viticci

Apple Gets Back To Basics with Lion

Great post by David Chartier at Macworld:

iOS and Mac OS X are symbiotic entities. When designing iOS, Apple distilled the Mac down to something pocketable, but the core concepts are there, such as an app-centric workflow, an always-accessible “home base” Dock, and a fierce pursuit of intuitive interfaces. After gaining knowledge and experience from nearly five years and four versions of iOS, Apple clearly felt that it’s time to return the favor in Lion. Apple is incorporating some of the fresh simplicity of iOS back into its point-and-click desktop computing platform that, at its conceptual core, is almost three decades old.

It’s all there in the first beta: AirDrop lets you share files in your local network with one click (and I wonder if iOS 5 will gain support for this feature). The Finder is streamlined, redesigned and it’s got Coverflow-like navigation in the icon view. There is a unified UI for managing Mail and Calendar accounts. The Launchpad really looks like an iOS homescreen. Mission Control, one of my favorites, brings Spaces, Exposè and full-screen apps all together into a simpler interface.

We only have one beta of Lion, but the future points in this direction: simplification.

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OS X Lion Adds TRIM Support for SSDs

By Federico Viticci

Here’s some great news for SSD owners like me (on a 2008 unibody MacBook Pro) or people that bought a new shiny MacBook Air with integrated Flash storage earlier this year: the developer beta of Mac OS X Lion adds support for the TRIM command on SSD. As you can see in the screenshot above captured by MacGeneration, there’s a “Oui” (yes) next to TRIM command info.

What’s the big deal with TRIM support? To put it simply, operating systems like Snow Leopard that don’t have TRIM support will treat solid state drives as regular, spinning drives when writing and deleting blocks of data. Snow Leopard doesn’t exactly know it’s dealing with an SSD, and while you’ll notice incredible performance improvements in daily usage, the same performances will slowly degrade over time without TRIM support. TRIM correctly tells the operating system which blocks of data are no longer in use in the solid state unit, and the OS passes the information along to the SSD controller so it can wipe blocks internally.

Basically: this is great news for SSD aficionados and, looking forward, a smart move from Apple as the move to solid state drives in all Mac computers seems inevitable.

OmniFocus for iPhone 1.9 Released with Improved View Settings, In-App Browser

By Federico Viticci

A major update to OmniFocus for iPhone was released yesterday in the App Store, including support for new view settings that make it easier to switch between next, available and remaining actions or all items saved in OmniFocus. The OmniGroup developers also improved the design of the date picker (start and due dates) which now has a series of shortcuts to increment the start or due dates quickly by 1 day, 1 week or 1 month. Admittedly, being able to jot down a due date without having to manually scroll a list was one of the features I was really looking forward to have in OmniFocus for iPhone.

Other improvements in version 1.9 include a rewritten in-app browser (finally, it is much more stable and incredibly useful for those users like me that insert a lot of web links in tasks’ notes), Map mode available from the main screen and the possibility to view dropped contexts in the Context list.

OmniFocus for iPhone is available here. Check out the full changelog below. Read more

iFixit Tears Down 2011 MacBook Pro

By Federico Viticci

iFixit didin’t waste any time and, shortly after the release of the new MacBook Pros, tore down a 15” model to see the changes performed by Apple in this revision. It turns out, not much. Most changes are visible in the logic board (quad-core processor, AMD GPU, Thunderbolt chip) and in the way the battery is attached to the laptop.

A few notes from the teardown below.

Battery life decreased from previous generations, as Apple is performing more accurate tests with more realistic estimates (their tests include Flash installed while browsing the web):

No pentalobe screws;

iFixit thinks Apple made some improvements to wireless performance under the hood;

Broadcom BCM4331 chip.

The RAM in this machine is PC3-10600 RAM. That’s the same RAM used in the 2010 revision of the 21.5” and 27” iMacs, but different from earlier Apple laptops. PC3-10600 RAM is backwards compatible with the PC3-8500 RAM in older MacBook Pro Unibody machines, but you can’t use PC3-8500 RAM in this machine

The wireless card bracket is aluminum, rather than the plastic in previous revisions. Perhaps this change was made for thermal reasons, as a visible pink thermal pad is used to transfer heat from the board to its aluminum bracket.

Holy thermal paste! Time will tell if the gobs of thermal paste applied to the CPU and GPU will cause overheating issues down the road.

Rumor: iTunes In The Cloud Will Let You Backup Your Music Collection, Stream It

By Federico Viticci

At a shareholders meeting yesterday, Apple clarified its position on the massive data center they’ve been building in Maiden, North Carolina confirming that launch is set for a Spring 2011 and it will to host the iTunes and MobileMe services. Many, however, have speculated in the past months whether the move of iTunes to the cloud would bring a new way of streaming songs and albums sold in the iTunes Store through a monthly subscription, or an easy-to-use way of uploading your personal media to the cloud.

According to a new report by the Financial Times, the iTunes online service will simply function as a backup solution for your music collection, which will be available over the internet on all Apple devices.

Apple, which rocked digital music services such as Pandora, Rdio and MOG last week by announcing plans to keep 30 per cent of all revenues from subscriptions taken out through its App Store, has clarified its plans for using remote storage, known as the cloud, according to several music industry executives.

More than a year after buying Lala, a cloud-based digital music service, Apple is now looking to use the cloud mainly to allow users of its iTunes store to back up their collections and access them from any Apple device.

One person with knowledge of Apple’s plans said the company did not want to undermine the market that it dominates for paid downloads, likening its plans for the cloud to “insurance”.

Rumors surfaced in the past weeks suggested Apple was working on a new version of MobileMe that would work as a “locker” for your personal media, stored in the cloud and accessible from all your Mac and iOS devices. Such a system would not compromise Apple’s lead in the digital music distribution market, but would let users upload their music to an online service always available. In the meantime, Google is rumored to be finalizing the details of its Google Music service for Android devices, and European company Spotify is reportedly nearing a U.S. launch after closing deals with major music labels. Spotify lets you stream any song available in the service’s online library through a monthly Premium subscription; it appears at this point that Apple is building the exact opposite, a cloud service that will let you backup / stream the songs and albums you already own.

References of a “MediaStream” service found in the iOS 4.3 SDK suggested Apple might be working on a new platform to allow users to stream their media from the cloud to iOS.