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How to stream movies from Time Capsule to an iOS device

14/09/2012
How to stream movies from Time Capsule to an iOS device

Diagram of movie streamed from Time Capsule

Since buying Apple’s Time Capsule I’ve tried to find a way to stream movies to my iPhone/iPad from an external hard-drive connected to Time Capsule by its USB port.

After a few weeks of testing apps and what parameters to use, I am able to share with you the solution I have found.

To be able to watch movies streamed from a hard drive connected to Time Capsule you need an app capable of connecting to a mounted volume on your local network.

This is easy to do from OS X Finder but from iOS it’s a completely different story. For the most part, the apps you can find on the App Store only allow you to download files from a remote server, or mapped drive, to your iOS device. Only a handful of them allow you to connect to the remote server and stream the movie without downloading it locally first onto your iOS device.

I’ve solved the problem by using eXPlayer, a € 2.39 app for iPhone and iPad). Before purchasing the app, I recommend testing my solution with the free edition of the app.

Streaming a movie from Time Capsule (or Time Machine) to your iPhone/iPad involves three steps:

  1. Finding the IP address of your Time Capsule.
  2. Finding the path of the external hard-drive connected to Time Capsule via USB.
  3. Setting up the app.

1. IP Address of Time Capsule

To get this value, launch Airport Utility on OS X, click on Time Capsule and read the IP Address.

Time Capsule IP Address

Time Capsule IP Address

2. USB hard-drive path

Use OS X Finder to browse to folder where your movies are stored on the USB drive connected to Time Capsule.

Click on any movie to highlight its icon and press ?i or go to File –> Get Info:

Time Capsule server address

Time Capsule server address

You need to write down the section called Server, as shown in the image above.

In my case the folder has this path:

afp://sfo._afpovertcp._tcp.local/Tera/

where Tera is the name of my USB drive.

  1. Setup the app
    After you have these two parameters it’s fairly easy to setup eXPlayer.

Add a Windows Network Server with these options:

eXPlayer network server settings

eXPlayer network server settings

After you’ve created a connection like this you’ll be able to browse the folder where you have stored the movies to stream and watch them without downloading them to your iPhone/iPad.

In my tests, this setup works very reliably. The only problem I’ve noticed is the poor frame rate that I get when watching movies.

Even for short movies images are not fluid. I don’t know if this comes down to the app or the iOS device itself. I would rule out any network speed issue as I don’t have any problems when watching movies streamed to my Mac. If you find a reason for this behaviour please leave a comment.

Apple’s ecosystem diagram

04/09/2012

Apple ecosystem

I am deeply fascinated with the Apple’s ecosystem and how the different devices can be connected by using cable, WiFi and iCloud.

I’ve made an effort to make Apple ecosystem diagram as complete as possible using my knowledge and the documentation available on the internet. Feel free to drop me a line if you spot any mistake.

The reason I included two Macs is because I wanted the flow chart to show that you can exchange files via Airdrop.

You can download a hi-res jpeg version of the diagram or a PDF one. Feel free to distribute it, just add a link back to my blog.

Edited May 2013: Added Podcast app sync between iOS devices.

Scanner Pro for iOS review

07/08/2012

Today I am going to review Scanner Pro by Readdle, arguably one of the most famous software houses for iOS. Readdle is famous for developing apps such as PDF Expert, Readdle Docs and PDF Converter. These are all apps that I purchased a long time ago and that any serious iPad user should own.

Just last week Readdle celebrated its fifth anniversary with a massive sale on the iTunes and Mac App Store. Scanner Pro was an app that I had been eyeing for a while so when I saw the discount I bought it. It’s not that I needed a scanning app but I always look forward to testing new ones.

On this blog I’ve already reviewed two other document scanning applications, TurboScan and CamScanner Pro. Those two apps are the direct competitors of Scanner Pro but this is not going to be a comparison of any sort with the other two apps. I am going to show you the functionalities, highlight the pros and cons and as usual I’ll let you make the final decision on whether to buy the app or not.

I’ve split this review in four parts:

  1. Capturing documents
  2. Processing
  3. Post-processing and uploading
  4. Settings

These four parts are also the steps all iOS scanning applications follow to create the final PDF document. Scanner Pro is no exception to this.

Capturing documents

Scanner Pro is not any different than other scanning applications in what you see after launching the app. The first screen gives you the option to either:

  • Take a picture.
  • Use an image from Camera Roll.

I like the way Readdle’s developers implemented the image acquisition through the camera. For this functionality they have added:

  • A useful grid that overlays the image seen in the camera display to help you align the document. You can easily disable this grid if you wish.
  • A two second delay between the moment you click the camera shutter and the moment the picture is taken. This is the right amount of time to grab and steady the device using two hands.

In my tests these two small improvements help a lot with the quality of the images taken and I have not experienced any bad shooting.

When you acquire your image by using the camera function, you can decide whether the scanned document is going to be composed of one or more pages by tapping on the top-right hand corner of the screen. If you choose the multi-page document, you return to the camera function straight after taking the previous shot.

Processing

Once you’ve imported your image in the app, it’s time to process it.

The options available to the user are limited but I see this as an advantage rather than a limitation. Quite often in fact, developers add too many options in their iOS apps, only to make them more complicated to use when you’re out and about.

The typical usage of a document scanning app for iOS is when you are away from your computer. In these cases you don’t want to fiddle with too many controls. What you want is a reliable application that allows you to create a PDF file just with a few taps. Scanner Pro deserves five stars when it comes to a solid workflow and choice of options.

Image processing in Scanner Pro is a two step process:

  1. Find the document borders.
  2. Select the page size.

The first step is made easier by the fact that the app automatically tries to determine the borders of your document. You can also drag the corners of the area found by the app to adjust the edges of what will become the final document. As is common in all document scanning apps for iOS, the portion of the screen just under your finger is magnified and displayed just off the touching point.

The second step of processing the image allows you to select the page size but this is really just an optional step as you will see in the fourth part of this review. The settings in fact let you select a default document size. Chances are that once you’ve done that the first time you use the app, you will never have to change it again.

Post-processing and uploading

As I said before the developers have made the sensible choice to keep the options at a minimum. What you can do in post-processing is to:

  1. Change the brightness and contrast of the image.
  2. Rotate it.
  3. Process it as a Photo (i.e. as a colour document), Document (i.e. a black and white PDF file) or Grayscale.

After clicking on Save you are pretty much done. In the following screen you can:

  • Rename the file by tapping on its name.
  • Sort the pages in case of multi-page scan.
  • Email the PDF.
  • Print, fax, open the document in a different application and upload it to Dropbox, Evernote, Google Docs or a in generic WebDav server.
  • Password protect the document.

This last option will make many security conscious users happy. Of the three document scanning apps that I’ve tested, ScanPro is the only one that includes this functionality. This is a handy feature if you need to send the document to someone securely.

When you attempt to open the document on your Mac, Preview.app will ask you for a password. Great stuff.

I wish Scanner Pro had TextExpander support. I have a bunch of shortcuts that I use constantly and it’d be handy to be able to type ymd to insert the date in YYYY-MM-DD format in the filename.

Settings

You will find the expected authentication buttons to integrate Scanner Pro with Dropbox, Evernote, Google Drive and a generic WebDAV service. After entering your credentials for any of these services you won’t be prompted to enter them again.

If you use either Dropbox or Evernote you can also enable an auto-upload feature. With this option enabled, the final scanned document is automatically uploaded to the service of your choice. This happens behind the scenes so if you are busy scanning multiple documents, you can continue working on them while the ones already processed are queued and automatically uploaded to the cloud. This increases efficiency. I have found this option so useful that I’ve used it over and over in real case scenarios.

The only annoying thing is that Scanner Pro – like too many other applications that integrate with Dropbox – by default stores the uploaded documents in a predefined folder named ScannerPro, which is located at root level. I wish the developers had added an option to choose an existing folder to avoid overcrowding the Dropbox root folder.

Other options available to the user include a WiFi access point that allows you to retrieve the files stored on the app from any computer located in the same Local Area Network. You just need to open Safari on your Mac, type in the IP address of the device and you will be prompted with a list of files stored.

A welcome feature is that Scanner Pro introduces iCloud sync in the world of document scanning applications. If you are a multi-iOS user, you can install Scanner Pro on the other devices and have the docs automatically synced across devices. I think I am going to use it in combination with my iPad. The Apple tablet is in fact becoming the repository of my PDF files thanks to the fantastic reading experience you get with it.

The list of options include the aforementioned Default Page Size, the option to enable or disable grayscale scanning and to add a password lock to access the app. This is particularly useful if you plan to use Scanner Pro not only as a scanner application but also as a PDF document archive.

To complete this well-made app, you also have the choice of compressing your documents. In my tests the compression reduces the file size by two thirds without an appreciable decay in the quality of the PDF files created.

Conclusions

This is the third document scanning app that I own and the question that I’ve kept asking myself in the past week is whether I will delete TurboScan and CamScanner Pro from my iPhone.

I’ll likely delete TurboScan . It is still a good app but after using Scanner Pro for a week, it feels old. The UI feels old and it doesn’t automatically upload documents to Dropbox, which is something that I love in Scanner Pro.

How about CamScanner Pro? This app almost belongs to a different category because it tries to answer the question of how to edit your PDF files when away from your computer. If you need an app that is able to do OCR, add notes to your scanned files (note for the readers: The notes are only visible in the app Edited: This is incorrect, please see the comments.) and with a more complete feature set then this app is the way to go.

For whoever needs a simple but complete and well-designed scanning app then Scanner Pro is probably the way to go. Its ease of use and the well-thought out UI will help you in all those situations in which you need to scan a document with your iPhone.

Scanner Pro is available on the iTunes Store as a universal app for iPhone/iPad at $6.99.

iCloud documents and subfolder organization

31/07/2012

With the release of OS X Mountain Lion, iCloud has gone from being a technology preview functionality in OS X Lion to a fully fledged function of the new operating system.

The question that I have been asking myself since OS X Mountain Lion was announced in February 2012 is whether I could benefit from documents in iCloud.

Documents stored on iCloud are now standard in many OS X applications, which means that we should be able to work seamlessly on the same files from different devices.

Over the weekend I read a post on the iA Writer blog about the flat organizational file system that iCloud forces us to use. I invite you to read it because it gives you a new way to look at how people manage their documents and how iCloud might solve a certain number of problems.

The author, Oliver Reichenstein, makes a compelling case against the folder/subfolder structure that all of us have been using for years:

Folders tend to grow deeper and deeper. As soon as we have more than a handful of notions, or (beware!) more than one hierarchical level of notions, it gets hard for most brains to build a mental model of that information architecture.

This is absolutely true. Throughout the years, I’ve created some very complex folder structures only to make my life difficult when I want to move a document in one of the folders. My typical problem is whether I should move say a pension statement to the folder General Papers or the one called 2011/Investments or something else. I could give you dozens of examples like this.

When it comes to create a folder structure, my doubts always revolve around whether I should file all my bills in a single massive Bills directory or split them by year, or even better by year and type of bill (2012/Gas Bills, 2011/Internet, …)? As you can see there are so many different ways to achieve the same result.

Oliver also writes:

The more experience you have dealing with notional systems, the more you know that there is no perfect information architecture, but only better or worse compromises. And making compromises is tiring.

The truth is, the more you tweak the folder structure, the more you end up working. It’s an endless game. You can achieve the same level of efficiency – or chaos, depending from the point of view – by organizing your folders in so many different ways.

As usual when it comes to making choices the more options you have, the less effective your decision is.

The author goes on to admit of seeing the light when Apple introduced default folders is OS X such as Music, Documents, Photos etc. These directories helped him to make a drastic decision which was to dump all files in Documents without following any type of subfolder structure. The combined efficiency of search and sort (like iTunes so to speak) turned out to be the best choice for him.

With the introduction of iCloud and app sandboxing, it’s as if Apple has decided to step in and solve the document filing problem once and for all. Gone are the complex folder structures more than one level deep. iCloud in fact allows you only one level of subfolders:

Using iCloud documents, the author states that:

  1. I don’t need to type file extensions into Spotlight any more. In general, documents belong to an app. While there are often several apps that can use the same document, we usually have a preferred app for each document type.
  2. I don’t need to drag documents into the app. I can navigate from app to app, and handle the documents right there.
  3. I don’t need to put files away. The OS does it all for me, and my documents are always at hand in the app that they belong to.

Which is entirely true. I also totally agree with Oliver’s conclusion:

The iCloud Document Library folders, restricted to one level, guide us to use a simple hierarchical system that mirrors our mental model. This makes them easy to understand, gives us peace of mind that the files are in the right place, and relieves us from our OCD compulsion to over-organize.

iA Writer achieves this very easily. As far as I know it’s the first text editor that allows you to manage iCloud folders on both OS X and iOS (Byword in contrast manages folders only in OS X. Their support was not that helpful when I contacted them on whether the iOS version will have the same features. The answer was a generic yes but without much more information).

I would really like to embrace Apple’s vision of document organization but I have two problems with it:

  • I don’t want to link my documents to a particular application.
  • None of Apple standard applications allow me to share files between iOS and OS X.

In fact, both Preview.app and TextEdit.app in OS X Mountain Lion make use of iCloud documents. They even go beyond that by displaying the iCloud storage as the default location the first time you launch them.

I find it funny that there isn’t an equivalent app in iOS that allows me to read a text file created in TextEdit and saved in iCloud.

How about if you want to have a single iCloud location for your PDF files? Apple doesn’t give you any solution to achieve that. Preview.app doesn’t have an equivalent in iOS. Actually, iOS uses iBooks as a repository for PDF files. Guess what though? Because of sandboxing the two apps cannot share the same iCloud pool of documents. This is inconsistency at the highest level.

If you want to share PDF files seamlessly between iOS and OS X you can buy PDFPen for iOS and OS X that let you store all your PDF on iCloud. My question is why I need to use 3rd party software when both iOS and OS X are able to manage PDF files quite well?

As you can see from these examples, iCloud has been marketed as one of the big features of OS X Mountain Lion but the truth is that it still remains a work in progress. I hope that iOS 6, due to be released sometime this autumn, will improve things but I am not that optimistic.

Apple has embarked in a long journey with iCloud. One day it will likely supersede Finder. For the time being though, I cannot see how users can fully embrace the new technology without making huge compromises that ultimately affect their productivity.

After using OS X Mountain Lion for five days I can tell that one day I might extensively use iCloud documents. For now that functionality remains a grey area for me. An area that I’d like to explore but that Apple doesn’t give me the tools to leverage it. Until that moment I think that Dropbox will remain the solution for my needs.

Computer based vs app centric workflows

16/07/2012

Working on my blog for a few weeks exclusively from my iPad has taught me many things. Among them I have had the opportunity to understand how to devise your workflow in order to remain productive.

The way to be productive on a device like the iPad is to modify your way of working to what I call an app based workflow from the computer based workflow, which we have been using since computers became mainstream.

Let me clarify these two concepts.

Computer Based Workflow

I’ll start with this one as we are quite comfortable with it. This type of workflow follows a number of steps which define a process. These steps are made of our interaction with one or more applications.

For example, if you want to insert a picture in one of your blog posts a process you could use is:

  1. Find the picture in Safari
  2. Switch to Photoshop
  3. Add comments to the picture
  4. Crop it
  5. Save it
  6. Switch to an FTP program
  7. Upload the image to your FTP server
  8. Get the image URL
  9. Switch to Byword
  10. Write your post
  11. Add the syntax to insert the image in your post
  12. …

I could continue with many other steps. The point here is that the process moves along with you and adapts to your needs because you have a filesystem that acts as common layer between applications.

The purpose of the workflow is to insert a picture in your post. When you use a computer, the image (which is a file) follows you as you carry out each step.

Not only that but you have endless ways to achieve the same result. The advantage is that each of us can adapt the process so that it fits our way of working/thinking. This is flexible and allows us to maximize our efficiency.

In summary, you are able to tweak the workflow as much as you want.

App Centric Workflow

This way of working is typical of iOS devices. I talk about iOS devices because this is an Apple centric blog and I am familiar with this operating system.

The way I came up with this concept is the realization that in order to complete your the steps you want to carry out on an iOS device, most of the time the workflow must be embedded inside the app.

The fact that Apple makes it hard – if not outright impossible – to move data across apps, means that the ability to achieve a certain result depends largely on whether the app is able to complete the steps you would normally use to carry out your task.

For example, the workflow I use to insert pictures for my blog from an iOS device is largely possible because the app I use to edit pictures have some kind of FTP functionalities that allow me to easily upload that picture to my server.

Had it not been possible, I would have had to find complicated workarounds to achieve a result that require specific and well defined steps on a normal computer.

Even in the few cases where you are allowed to transfer information across apps, this limits the freedom to adapt the workflow to your particular way of working.

Because the workflow is often embedded in the app, that means adapting your way of working to the way the app developer designed the app itself.

In this case you cannot adapt the workflow around the apps you use but have to adapt yourself to the way they are designed. This is hardly flexible at all. The way I bluntly put it is that it doesn’t allow you to find your way of working and it’s the main reason why at a certain point during my experiment I went back to an old iBook G4.

Conclusion

As I’ve discussed in the points above, the main reason for this behavior is the lack of a common layer at OS level that allows the apps to exchange data between them.

The lack of a user accessible filesystem and apps sandboxing cause the apps to be isolated from each other in a way that you don’t see in a normal computer.

I’ve been blogging for some time asking Apple (as if they read my blog…) for an easy way in iOS to exchange information across apps but I’m afraid that my influence is zilch. I am sure that there is a reason for this design decision. Likely the added complexity that a filesystem would add is the main one.

I would love to open a discussion with my fellow readers and bloggers about these two type of workflow. I would like to understand if you have had the same feeling and what is your perception in terms of lost productivity.

More than the absence of a physical keyboard I believe that this is the main reason why so many pundits insist on claiming that you cannot create content on an iOS device. It’s patently false that you cannot but maybe these people have not considered the fact that they need to change their way of working to an app centric approach.

It’s not ideal, but it is a compromise that we have to accept in order to carry with us the most portable – yet powerful – mobile devices ever designed.

Why I didn’t buy the MacBook Pro Retina

15/07/2012

Now that the buzz about the MacBook Pro Retina has waned I’d like to tell you the reasons behind my decision to not buy it.

As you recall, a few weeks ago, just before WWDC 2012, I sold my old pre-Unibody MacBook Pro 15″ and for about three weeks I managed my blog entirely from an iPad.

When the MacBook Pro Retina was unveiled at WWDC 2012, I got very excited and even stood in line at the local Apple Centre for 20 minutes just to have the chance to have some quality time with it.

Like me, many other bloggers either purchased it or gave a serious thought about buying one. As the days wore on, I had time to read the first reviews and forums and started getting an opinion on whether I should go for it or not.

Certainly the new Mac laptop is the future of Macs, there’s no doubt about it. The MacBook Pro Retina’s main feature (but don’t be fooled, it’s not the only one) is a fantastic screen. Despite the innovative technologies that it uses, the base model of the MacBook Pro Retina is priced quite aggressively compared to other Mac laptops on the market.

There are three main reasons why eventually I decided to pass this model and concentrate my assessment on whether to buy the standard MacBook Pro and Air, that I eventually bought (but this is for another post).

Revision A product

I’ve been a longtime Apple user and if there is one thing I’ve learnt in these twenty one years is that Rev. A Apple products are invariably destined to oblivion sooner than later revisions.

Don’t get me wrong, Apple is no different than any other multinational. When you introduce a new product the QA that the company carries out is limited to the pre-production units. The real QA is done by the users with the first product revision that goes on sale.

When users get their hands on the new machine they start using it in the real world. That means, using the laptop in a café, on a table with bread crumbs on it, in a car, maybe on a plane. Users’ wireless networks are the most diverse and problems with the network card can surface unexpectedly. On top of that users install a whole set of software to fit their needs that can of course change the way the cooling system is used.

Furthermore, there’s the usual problems with manufacturing processes. In the case of the MacBook Pro Retina, the beautiful screen is likely the most critical component of the whole laptop. It’s not a coincidence that the waiting times to buy a MacBook Pro Retina are so long. The demand of the new Mac is high but not even close to the demand of a new iPhone model. The delay is likely caused by the complexities of the manufacturing process of the new Retina display.

There’s also another thing. The new MacBook Pro Retina is completely different from any other computer ever designed by Apple. Its cooling system is new as well as the display and the battery (although admittedly Apple has some good experience with batteries thanks to the iPhone and the iPad). I would be not surprised if some of these systems turn out to be problematic once users start using the product in the real world.

In summary, the likely Revision B of the MacBook Pro that will be released when the Haswell family of Intel processors are released will make it a grown up product.

Given that I change laptop every four years or so, I was not ready to live with the teething problems that surely will surface in this model.

Hardware pushed to the limits

The moment I saw that the specs for the new MacBook Air (the classic MacBook Pro non-Retina and the MacBook Pro Retina use the same integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000 graphic card) I though that this card must be a heck of a card. I also noticed that the two Pro models, non-Retina and Retina, shared the same discrete graphic card, the NVidia GeForce GT 650M.

Then I started writing down some numbers. The integrated card is able to drive displays from a resolution as little as 1366×768 (MacBook Air 11″) to the astonishing resolution of 2880×1800 of the Retina. In the Retina that card is being asked to drive a display with almost 400% more number of pixels of the small Air.

When it comes to the discrete graphic card NVidia GeForce GT 650M must drive four times as many pixels as the normal Pro.

I must be skeptical by nature but I can foresee that as applications become more demanding and more important as OS X adds more eye candy to its UI, the discrete graphic card is going to kick in more often than it should. That of course will result in a shorter battery life and less available processing power for the programs that really need a discrete graphic card.

AnandTech in his review has clearly stated that none of the graphical components in the MacBook Air were designed for those resolutions.

At the default setting, either Intel’s HD 4000 or NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 650M already have to render and display far more pixels than either GPU was ever intended to. At the 1680 and 1920 settings however the GPUs are doing more work than even their high-end desktop counterparts are used to.

The result is some stuttering of the UI even doing simple things like activating Mission Control:

At 2880 x 1800 most interactions are smooth but things like zooming windows or scrolling on certain web pages is clearly sub-30fps. At the higher scaled resolutions, since the GPU has to render as much as 9.2MP, even UI performance can be sluggish. There’s simply nothing that can be done at this point – Apple is pushing the limits of the hardware we have available today, far beyond what any other OEM has done.

As you recall, I’ve experienced something similar in my twenty minutes of quality time with the MacBook Pro Retina.

Again, my feeling was that it was wise to wait for the next revision of the product when both Intel and NVidia will have components ready for those resolutions.

Only recently, during my stay in California, I had the pleasure to have lunch with an Intel design engineer who told me how hard Apple is pushing Intel for better performing graphical capabilities out of their chips. Intel Haswell and even more Broadwell family of i5/i7 microprocessors will fulfill many of Apple requests. A big part of Intel’s roadmap was actually adapted to meet Apple’s demands. This is fascinating stuff. I was high even if I was only drinking iced tea.

Cost

At the beginning of this post I said that the Retina is currently priced quite aggressively compared to other Apple laptops.

It’s true, the base Retina model cost exactly the same as my specs out MacBook Air 13″.

Nevertheless, what I want to say in this section is that the low end Retina Mac is priced $400.00 more than the base non-Retina MacBook Pro 15″.

I would expect the prices of the Retina to go down next year when – in my opinion – the base non-Retina MacBook Pro 15″ will be phased-out and a new base Retina model will take its place, likely at exactly the same price.

The original MacBook Air was priced at a premium compared to other Mac laptops confining it to a niche market made of frequent travellers and hipsters. Prices of newer MacBook Air models got slashed to the point that the current models are actually the entry-level Mac laptops. The magic of the economies of scale, the absurdly efficient Apple logistics and contractual power with its suppliers has made all this possible. There’s no doubt that a similar pattern will repeat for the Pro Retina even though it will never be an entry model.

Summary

I’ve tried to give you the three main reasons why I didn’t go for the Retina. I am sure that whoever has bought one has found many more reasons that it is a good choice. Different people have different ways to assess and process data to make the best decision.

Unlike the many commenters online, I didn’t find the fact that there were not any 3rd party applications ready for the Retina display a problem. Usually developers are very fast when it comes to updating their software to include functionalities introduced in a new Apple product and I knew that that is a price to pay when it comes to breakthrough technology.

Despite the fact that I didn’t buy the new MacBook Pro Retina, I am a strong believer that it is an incredible product. Whoever says that after all it’s just a laptop with a high resolution display has not grasped the evolution of laptops and the trend of computers.

In the same way that when I bought my MacBook Pro 15″ in 2008 I knew that the next laptop would have an SSD, I now know that my next laptop will have a Retina display.

How to order from a foreign Apple online store while visiting that country

11/07/2012

It’s well known that Apple products are cheaper in the US than the rest of the world. When visiting that beautiful country buying a brand new Mac or iPad is very tempting.

The problem is that Apple Stores usually have in stock only the basic and ultimate configuration of any computer model. There is no way to buy a Mac with the exact configuration you would normally order while shopping online.

It would be awesome if you could order a BTO (build to order) Mac with the desired configuration at the competitive prices that you can get in the USA.

The problem is that if you don’t have a US issued credit card you cannot buy anything from the US online Apple Store.

If you are going to stay in the US for a couple of weeks, there is a workaround to that and it’s perfectly legal. I wouldn’t post it otherwise.

The workaround makes use of Apple Gift Cards. It turns out that you can use your foreign credit card to buy an Apple Gift Card in any online Apple Store around the world. The maximum value for an Apple Gift Card is $2,500, which should be enough for most purchases.

The process to buy the Mac of your dreams while abroad goes like this:

  1. Go to the online US Apple Store.
  2. Configure your Mac to your liking.
  3. Check-out.
  4. Select the option to pick up your Mac to a specific retail Apple Store where you will effectively pick up your Mac. This is important as different states in the US have different sale taxes that are added to the total cost of your purchase.
  5. Write down the total cost. It’s probably a good idea to add a few more dollars to that value just to cover for unexpected expenses, such as the recycling tax states like California have.
  6. Cancel the transaction just before you are prompted to enter a payment method.
  7. Go back to the main page of the online store and purchase a Gift Card for the value calculated in point 5. and issued to yourself using your credit card. If you are prompted to enter an address, your hotel address will do.
  8. Wait for the email confirmation and certificate number.
  9. Now you are ready to order your Mac. Repeat the steps from 1 to 4.
  10. As payment method choose your Gift Certificate. You are simply redeeming the Gift Card issued in your name.
  11. Choose the option to pick up the order in the retail store of your choice.
  12. When the customized Mac is delivered to the Apple Store you can pick it up after showing the sales person your ID and the order confirmation email.

I hope this is going to be useful for you.

Be aware that buying any valuable item abroad is subject to import taxes when you return to your home country so be prepared for that. Consult your local authorities for the law that applies to your country before purchasing any product abroad.

CamScanner Pro for iPhone review

14/06/2012

A few days ago I was made aware of a scanning app for iPhone that I didn’t know. I like apps that let you create a PDF file from a picture you can take with your iPhone.

I believe that the iPhone is a great productivity tool and being able to digitise paper documents into PDF files on the fly is something that I’ve always dreamt of doing since I started using computers (well maybe a bit later, PDF files didn’t exist when I started).

On this blog, I’ve already reviewed two other scan apps TurboScan and Genius Scan+. I thought of working for a few days with CamScanner and report my impressions.

Versions

The app comes in three different versions: Free, Plus and Pro. Generally speaking there aren’t major differences between the Plus and Pro versions. The former exists due to legacy reasons. You should go for the Pro to find all the goodies. The main differences with the free version are:

  • In the Free Version the PDF files generated are embedded with a watermark saying “Generated by CamScanner”.
  • In the Free Version, OCR and Airprint are not available. In the full version, there are not any limits.
  • The Free Version has ads.

I tend to stay away from free apps, but in general free versions are useful to test the app and check if they fit your workflow. I like the fact that the developers have released a free version so that users can test the app before committing to the purchase.

Scanning

As its common in this type of apps, the scanning process starts by choosing whether you want to use an image already stored on your Photo Roll or take a new picture.

In case you want to take a new picture you can choose to whether take a single image or multiple ones in succession, very useful if you plan to create a multi-page document in one sweep.

There aren’t particular options in this first phase beside the possibility to enable an anti-shake algorithm.

Editing

Once your image is in the app, it’s time to manipulate it so as to get the best results. The process follows these steps:

  • Determine the margins of the page. CamScanner is quite good at it but it also allows you to select the edges of the document using your fingers and a clever positioning of the zoom.
  • Other options allow you to scan the whole screen or an automatic selection of the document edges. You can of course also rotate the image by 90 degrees clock or anti-clockwise.
  • Image processing. You can choose whether to keep the colour document, make it black & white or use the proprietary Magic Color technology that optimises the colours of the image you took. Other options include a gray scale mode, economy (to create small docs) and lightening of the colours.

After you tap ok you are presented with a second editing screen that allows you to fine tune the brightness, contrast and what I believe is the colour temperature.

From this screen you can also start the character recognition. More on this later.

After you use the app for a few days you realise that it aims at being a repository for all your scans files. You can in fact sort them in different ways, add notes and tag to them. You can also sort pages in a multi-page document and the process is very straightforward.

Settings

The app is very complete when it comes to the options available. There are options to:

  • Work with faxes. You can use the app to fax your docs. In order to do so you can buy, as an in-app purchase, a faxing service for one, two or ten pages documents. The prices range from 79 euro-cents for a one page document to € 6.99 for a ten page PDF file. I haven’t faxed a document in years but knowing that the option is there in case you need it can be useful.
  • You can edit the tags used to catalog your scanned documents and even assign different colors to them.
  • Choose the default enhance colour mode.
  • Setup your cloud accounts.
  • Auto-save your scanned images to albums.
  • Set a default auto-process mode in case you want to process your documents always in the same way.
  • Set the OCR language.
  • Set the page size of your PDF files. Options include the common, in Europe at least, A4, A5, and so forth and North American customers can choose between Legal and a multitude of other sizes more common across the pond. If you are not satisfied with the ones included – and you should be as there are so many of them – you can set a custom size as well. Great stuff.
  • You can choose whether to export your PDF to iTunes Sharing.
  • Decide whether to include the notes you add when editing a PDF in the file itself.
  • Because this app aims at becoming the central hub for your scanned files, you can even setup a backup/restore with your Mac. The way to retrieve your backups use a native Mac app downloadable from the company website.
  • A comprehensive help.
  • Last but not least you can set a passcode.

The range of options is very complete. You can even submit bugs from within the app itself. I am amazed at the amount of attention that the developers put in adding all these options. I am sure you will be able to configure the app to your liking.

Cloud options

You can export your PDF files to:

  • Google Docs
  • Evernote
  • iDisk (smile)
  • Box.net
  • Dropbox

At this point I wish the iDisk option were replaced with iCloud. It’d be nice if I could export my PDF files to OS X Mountain Lion Preview.app.

This is a call to Intsig developers, consider this an enhancement request if it is technically possible.

OCR

The character recognition technology is quite good. In my tests I rarely encountered problems. This is a good achievement for an iOS app that performs the OCR on the device itself.

The guys at Intsig did a really good job. The speed is impressive too. While I was testing the app I got suspicious of the speed and contacted their developers to check if the character recognition was done on their servers. The answer is negative, everything is done locally. This is good to know in case you’re worried about your privacy and your scans being uploaded to some remote location. This is not the case for CamScan.

Additional notes

In my tests the UI is well thought and fairly intuitive. There are also some well thoughts solutions to solve seemingly complex problems. For example, in the app’s main menu one of the buttons change its meaning depending on whether you select a single or multiple docs. In the former it means copy file, in the latter merge the documents.

I wish the developers added more common iOS gestures to their app though. I am not sure if this is not being done because the app also exists for other platforms.

For example in iOS if I want to delete an item in a list, my muscle memory tells me to swipe on that item. In CamScanner, you need to tap and hold on the file to get a menu that contains the delete file option. Again, this is not a criticism but just something that I’ve noticed. Your productivity won’t be affected by these things.

The app must be quite popular with Evernote users as it is also featured in the Evernote Trunk list of apps that integrates and belong to the Evernote ecosystem. If you are an Evernote user this is probably a good addition.

Last but not least, the company behind CamScanner Intsig is a young startup whose employees are always ready to help if you have any questions. To write this review I’ve sent them many emails at different times of the day and always received replies in a matter of hours. This is always a nice touch, it means that they care.

After using this app for a few days it has already become one of my favourites. As you know in this period I am working exclusively with iOS devices. This means that I cannot access my scanner. CamScanner helps me to scan the bills I am receiving and continue in my quest to go paperless.

CamScanner Pro for iPhone is available from the iTunes App Store for $4.99.

15 tips to improve your typing skills on the iPad

04/05/2012

So what’s it like to touch type on an iPad? I’m sure you’ve found it frustrating at best. Sometimes you would simply like to stop writing on it and go back to your laptop.

Does that sound familiar? In this post I’ll give you some tips that have helped me write better and faster on the iPad.

Once I made some changes to the way I typed, I improved the situation significantly. The secret is to:

  • Trust the technology.
  • Get into your mind that you’re typing on something different than a normal keyboard.
  • Employ some techniques to limit the frustration that comes when typing on a glass surface.

Let’s take a look at the tips I have for you.

  1. Place your iPad in landscape mode. If you need to type in portrait mode simply use two fingers. There’s no way to touch type otherwise. The space between the keys is too small. I’ve found the split keyboard of no use despite being positively impressed when I tested it at the Apple store.
  2. Trust your fingers. Rely on muscle memory as much as you can.
  3. Trust the autocorrect feature. I like to compare this to walking with a scarf over your eyes while holding your partner’s hand. At the beginning it can be weird but after a while you’re fine.
  4. Posture. Try to lay the iPad on a desk, preferably tilted a little bit towards you. The natural tilt that the Smart Cover provides works very well.
  5. Avoid at all cost typing with the iPad on your knees. It’s cool, and it works in commercials but it simply doesn’t work in real life. When you’re in that position your wrists are at an awkward angle and you’ll make many more mistakes. Reserve that position for the times you consume content, not when you create it.
  6. Keep the fingers as close as possible to the glass and minimize their movement. There’s no tactile feeling on the virtual keyboard so the less you lift and move your fingers around, the better.
  7. Keep on typing if you make a mistake, and correct the mistake during the revision phase. This will make sure that you don’t lose the typing rhythm.
  8. Use the keyboard click sound. I’ve found that the feedback helps a lot and tricks your brain into believing that you’re typing on a real keyboard.
  9. Keep an eye on the auto completion pop up bubble and if the word you’re typing is displayed just press the space bar to select it and start typing the next word.
  10. Remember double tap. To correct a word use a double tap on the word and tap on Suggestion.
  11. Limit the use of the backspace. When deleting sentences, you’re working on a touch device so use the available technology. Double tap the first word of the sentence you want to delete and then use the select tool to highlight the whole sentence.
  12. Find your rhythm. It’s going to be slower than the one on your Mac but I’ve noticed that using a constant speed minimizes the number of mistakes. Keeping a steady albeit slow rhythm allows you to type more words per minute compared to typing very fast a few words and having to go back to correct them.
  13. Change your attitude toward mistakes and speed. Stop getting annoyed with yourself. Just relax and let your fingers guide you.
  14. Use two fingers when you have to type a date, file name, acronyms etc. You’ll save yourself a lot of frustration.
  15. Practice, practice, practice. After a while you’ll realize that despite being slower than typing on a physical keyboard you’ll still be able to type at a decent speed. Live with it. You’ll never be able to type with the same speed and accuracy as on your laptop. The iPad is not a laptop replacement, it is a different device altogether.

In conclusion the best way to improve your typing on the iPad is to remember that you are using a different tool than your usual laptop.

Just as you hold a hammer differently from a screwdriver you can’t expect to use the iPad keyboard the same way as a mechanical one.

What is your secret to typing better on your iPad? Don’t tell me a Bluetooth keyboard! Let’s hear from you in the comments.

Speed test: Dropbox vs Google Drive

29/04/2012

[Edited on 22/05/2013 - In case you are interested in a speed test of different solutions, after you finish this post, you can go right here. There is a speed test of Dropbox vs Google Drive vs Box vs SkyDrive vs Google Cloud Drive]

Inspired by the success of an old Dropbox vs iDisk speed test post I took on the challenge to repeat a similar – yet more limited – set of tests with Google Drive.

As in the other post, let me print this disclaimer so that nobody can complain of the lack of scientific methodology behind my tests:

I acknowledge that this testing methodology is far from being scientific.

My setup and test methods might have affected the results and other people might get different values even opposite from what I am sharing in this post.

The results posted on this blog are for personal use only and do not constitute a definitive proof on what service is faster.

More tests, using different scenarios, different networks, and a systematic way to time events are needed to calculate average times, variance values and to draw some more informative conclusions.

Methodology and configuration

I have only used my MacBook Pro 15″ with both Dropbox and Google Drive clients installed on it.

The tests measure the time it takes to upload four different types of files to Dropbox and Google Drive. For the tests I used these files:

  1. ZIP file, 23MB.
  2. XML file, 9MB.
  3. MP3 file, 10MB.
  4. One folder containing folders/subfolders up to three levels and a total of 2663 files and a smaller one with 673 files. More on this later.

My test methodology simply involved carrying out a Copy Item and Paste Item operation between folders while measuring the time using my iPhone stopwatch.

The errors that you invariably introduce when you execute tests in this way can be so big that I wisely decided to not consider fractions of a second in my measurements. All data are correct to the nearest second.

To avoid that other software might influence the upload speeds, before running my tests I quit all browsers, mail programs, RSS readers etc.

Test results with single files

I have collected the results in this table:

 

 

 

 

and in these three graphs:

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the results, in this David and Goliath battle Dropbox performs quite well.

Not only that, but because of the technology used by Dropbox, subsequent uploads of the same file are significantly faster than with Google Drive.

Dropbox splits the file you upload into chunks and calculate the hash of each of them. If a chunk with the same hash already exists on the cloud, Dropbox doesn’t upload it but simply match it with the existing one.

It looks to me that Dropbox have offset their limited resources with smarter algorithms whereas Google has simply given us a hard-drive in the cloud so to speak.

This will probably be the recurrent theme in the battle between the two services. Google going for sheer size, speed and integration with its other services whereas Dropbox will likely add small, elegant features to differentiate its product from the competition.

Test results with folders

I was curious to check the behaviour of a copy/paste operation of some useless temporary folder with a bunch of small files in them.

In my experience, different systems behave completely differently when it comes to deal with a large number of small files.

Somehow my curiosity has rewarded me, or maybe has just added a question that I don’t have the answer to. This is what I’ve found.

I first copied to Dropbox these two folders:

  • Folder A with 2663 temporary files in it and a structure with three level of subfolders.
  • Folder B with 673 temporary files in it stored directly under the main father folder.

Dropbox behaved quite normally, it took about 3 minutes to copy Folder A and about a minute for Folder B. Quite ordinary.

When I repeated the same test with Google Drive I was surprised to discover that Google Drive managed to complete the job only after 15–20 minutes (I stopped measuring the time because I though there was no reason to continue the experiment). To make sure that I wasn’t suffering from some broadband problems or an unavailability of Google Drive, I repeated the same test other three times at different times of the day getting exactly the same results. Why?

Why would Google Drive have such problems uploading this type of data?

If somebody has any idea I’d like to hear it and I would also be curious to know if you can reproduce the same behaviour. For your information I attempted to copy

/Users/[username]/Library/Calendars

and

/Users/[username]/Library/Calendars/Calendar Sync Changes

Conclusions

As you can see from the tests that I carried out, both solutions return similar results. In case you upload the same file multiple times, Dropbox is dramatically faster thanks to the smart use of algorithms that make sure that file chunks with the same hash are not uploaded twice.

The obvious conclusion is that if you base your decision to use either Dropbox or Google Drive on pure speed only you will not get a clear answer. Dropbox in particular circumstances can be way faster than Google Drive despite not having the massive data centres Google have all over the world.

Google can entice us in many ways to use its Google Drive but speed is not one of them. Obviously the big advantage for Google is the integration of Google Drive with the other services available. It is definitely in that arena that the real battle for the best consumer cloud solution will be fought.

For instance, just two days ago Dropbox introduced the possibility to upload pictures directly from your camera and I am sure that we’ll see many other innovations coming our way.

Does Google Drive signal a change in Google’s revenue strategy?

26/04/2012

An interesting comment by one of the readers at The Verge on the privacy implications of Google Drive:

The real questions is what type of company would you trust with keeping your data in the cloud?

Microsoft is a software company, which sells it’s [sic] products and services to customers for money. You are the customer.

Apple is a hardware company, which sells it’s [sic] products and services to customers for money. You are the customer.

Dropbox is a web-service company , which sells it’s [sic] services to customers for money. You are the customer.

Google is an advertising company, which sells it’s [sic] services to customers for money. You are not the customer — advertisers are customers. You are Google’s product.

Now, I wonder if Google is trying – with Google Drive – to timidly diversify its revenue stream by making customers pay for the service they provide instead of being the latest way to mine your data so that they can targets their ads more precisely.

I admit that this question is provocative but maybe there’s something behind my reasoning:

  • This is not a beta product like so many other Google products in the past. With the exception of the iOS client (short sighted anyway) this is a finished product, not a half baked one.
  • The time between the announcement and the roll out has been very short. Again, this is not like Google TV or Google Music. Google wants people to use it, now.
  • Google Drive has been enabled for Google Apps for Domain at the same time as normal Google Accounts. This is unusual for Google, Google Apps customers are always behind when it comes to get the latest Google services. This signals that Google is targeting the service to companies as well in a moment when Google Apps for Business is doing pretty well.
  • Most important the new prices are more expensive than the old ones. For a basic 20GB drive now you spend almost six times more than what you used to spend with the old pricing structure. Google had the capability to maintain the old prices and massively data-mine your files but instead chose to increase the prices quite a lot. Why?
  • Google realises that having 96% of your revenue from ads put them in a vulnerable position especially in an worldwide weak economy hence the need to find other sources.

Anyway, this has been a fun post to write, maybe far fetched but fun. What is your take on Google Drive and how does it fit in Google’s business plan?

Genius Scan+ Review

24/04/2012

Genius Scan+ by The Grizzly Labs has been recently featured in the new iPhone business section on the Apple website so I thought of testing it for my readers.

I’ve been a happy TurboScan user for quite sometime (you can read my review here) but I always like to see what’s out there and Genius Scan+ got me curious.

Genius Scan+ is the paid version of Genius Scan and compared to its free brother it doesn’t display annoying ads. Not only that but it also sports enhanced sharing options to Evernote, Dropbox and Google Docs. Anybody who is serious about the efficiency of their workflow should buy the paid version and consider the free version only as a trial.

Main screen

Genius Scan+ main screen is split in two sections. The upper one contains two simple icons that allow you to either take a picture of the document you want to scan or use a photo already stored on your iOS device.

The lower part of the screen contains the documents you have previously saved while working in the app. This is useful if you have already processed some images, saved them locally and want to send the document to someone else.

As it’s quite common in many iPhone apps, the settings icon is positioned on the upper left corner of the screen.

Everything is where you would expect in Genius Scan+ and this is one of the strong features of any intuitive, powerful apps. Genius Scan+ is no exception. I like the fact that you can start using the app straight after downloading it from the App Store without wasting time reading long FAQs.

Settings

From this page you can easily set:

Wifi Sharing

This function allows you to easily access the documents you have created in the app from a computer located on the same wireless local network. As soon as you turn this option on, you are presented with a web address that once entered in the browser’s address bar of your computer lets you to retrieve the documents created in Genius Scan+. It’s an elegant and practical solution that has been tested in other apps.

Default Enhancements

Once you take a picture of a document you have the option to automatically enhance it, force the document to be black&white, or simply to enhance its colors.

You can also choose to enhance the images in post-processing but this option is useful if you always create your scans in a certain way.

PDF Options and Export plugins

You can also set the default page size and orientation of your scans. I’ve found that the option fit to image gives me the highest level of flexibility so I have set it to this value.

Genius Scan+ offers one of the widest ranges of export options out there. You can export documents via Email, Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Dropbox, Google Docs, Box.net, Expensify.

This is a very good list and everybody will find the sharing option they need. I’d love to have the ability to toggle off the services that I don’t use in a similar way you can do it in Reeder.

Usage

To use the app you always follows the same flow:

  1. Take a picture.
  2. Define which portion of the picture to process. This is done by using a grid that you can adjust to fit the document borders. The process is very intuitive but maybe not as precise as in TurboScan in which you have a magnifying glass to precisely select the edges of your document. Nothing too dramatic, but be aware of it if your eyesight is not that great.
  3. Rotate and enhance the image.
  4. Share or save the PDF/JPG created. If you save the document locally you can append it to an existing file therefore creating a multiple page PDF file.

When you share the document you can also choose to reduce its size to small, medium, large and actual file size.

In my tests, I’ve found that large is a good compromise between quality and overall file size. PDF files shared as a smaller file can easily be processed by Adobe Acrobat for character recognition (OCR) or by using the automatic OCR functionalities in Evernote.

I’d like to highlight how good the image processing and the perspective correction tool are in this app. I’ve achieved fantastic results even when the picture taken was abnormally askew. This is a huge time saver when you’re out and about and don’t have time to perfectly position the camera perpendicularly to the page to scan.

Conclusions

This is a very intuitive app that will get you started in no time. Scan a document is as easy as point, shoot, select and share. An efficient process in all situations especially if you are away from your desk.

Genius Scan+ costs €2.79 and is available on the App Store). Give it a go, I am sure you’ll find it useful.

Happy Birthday macography.net

01/04/2012

One year of a blog, one year of macography.net. Who would have thought to reach the one year milestone? This is my first real blog, with my own domain and self hosting WordPress installation.

Last year, a bit arrogantly I chose to start my blog on 1st April, which is the same date that Apple was founded. It was actually an attempt to get closer to Apple, in a very amateurish yet genuine way.

So many things have happened in these 12 months. First and foremost Steve Jobs is not with us anymore. I still remember the morning I read the news of his death on my iPhone 4S, the sudden feeling of loss, something that I can’t remember having before in my life for a person that I’ve never met.

We have also seen so many new great products. I can clearly remember the iPhone 4S introduction, iCloud, the New iPad, a fantastic update for the MacBook Air and then again iOS 5, OS X Lion and a preview of Mountain Lion, Cards (ehm!) just to name a few.

In my first post I said that:

Using and talking about Apple products is my hobby. Reading the most visited Apple blogs out there while sipping a cup of espresso is the way I like to start my day. Call me a fan!
Like all passions, you can’t really explain it. It just exists. I love my job, I love my wife, friends, the city where I live but I also have an insane love for all things Apple.

It’s so true, the passion is still there and it has become bigger and better with every post, every comment, email, reblog.

I also wrote:

This blog is a humble way to contribute to the Apple community. My aim is not to become like one of the famous Apple blogs out there. Most of those bloggers started many years ago, write incredibly well (heck, English is not even my mother tongue. It’s just my third language in case you’re wondering!), their blogs contain invaluable information and interesting point of view. They lead the way, I see them as a source of inspiration.

I’ve achieved some interesting goals in these 12 months but this blog still remains the work of a hobbyist and I am not trying to make money out of it in any way.

Looking back I can see that a post that I made about a crazy prediction – that never materialized – has been one the most read post of this blog. Go figure, maybe I should start writing my posts after a few glasses of good Chianti!

I am actually really proud of some other posts that appear at the top of the most read articles such as the steps to move from Gmail to iCloud mail, or how to get ready for Lion, this repost of the touching Jonathan Ive’s tribute to Steve Jobs and more recently an analysis on how long you can expect to use your Mac.

Incidentally this March, my blog had the highest traffic of the whole 12 months. Thank you!

Anyway, I am not good at speeches, so let me just say that I hope you have found at least one of my posts useful in these past 12 months and that you got something out of it. Old and new readers alike, thanks a lot for coming here and read what I humbly write after a long day at work.

Kind regards,
macography.net

How long will your Mac last for?

27/03/2012

Encouraged by the response from my post on whether a MacBook Pro is more future-pro than other Apple laptops I set about analyzing what lifespan Apple laptops have had in the past.

By lifespan I define the supportability of a certain hardware configuration with a specific OS X version.

The purpose is to draw some general conclusions on how many – on average – versions of OS X you can expect to run on your Mac.

I’ll concentrate on laptops only because as Steve Jobs famously said, Apple is now a mobile devices company. Most users anyway buy laptops these days and I am in the market for a new Mac laptop too.

If you want to calculate how long your Mac will last you need to take into account two different factors:

  1. Hardware longevity
  2. Software longevity

Hardware longevity

I won’t spend too much time on this point. It’s generally accepted that Apple’s build quality and quality assurance are among the highest in the consumer electronics industry.

My direct experience confirms that too. Compared to an average PC, Mac hardware lasts longer and in the cases when you experience a hardware fault, Apple support is ready to help even with free repairs.

Software longevity

Software longevity is a different story altogether. It depends a lot on how long a company is willing to support old hardware. We need to stop seeing this point as how bad Apple is when they decide to make a device end of life (EOL) but consider that most of the time old hardware hinders the development of new software. Sometimes the old must go, must be rendered obsolete.

Of course there are market and profit reasons behind a decision to make a product EOL but Apple is in the business to make money, let’s not forget that.

To help me in the analysis I have used the data provided by Mactracker app. I personally thanks the developers for creating such a useful software that has helped me so many times in my life as a blogger.

In my table I have included all Mac laptops released since the first white MacBook. The table includes the model number and the graphics card used as well.

I have added this last column because in the case of OS X Mountain Lion many old Macs are not supported partly because of the old graphic chipset used.

The remaining columns show which Mac is supported with which version of OS X. The last column shows you how many versions of OS X that particular model has been able to use.

These are the results:

Results analysis

If you don’t take into account the models currently on the market – that ship with OS X Lion and will support OS X Mountain Lion – the laptops no longer sold were able to use the average number of different versions of OS X shown in this table:

Model Avg Median
MacBook 3.5 3
MacBook Air 3.4 3.5
MacBook Pro 3.9 4

The average calculation give only a partial representation of the expected lifespan of a Mac laptop.

The median calculation gives you more information. It shows you that the majority of Apple Pro laptops are supported on four different iteration of OS X.

This is confirmed by my experience. My MacBook Pro came with Leopard, then I installed Snow Leopard, Lion and potentially I could install Mountain Lion.

At first sight this should give you enough information to claim that MacBook Pros are more future proof.

Real world interpretation of the results

The math only tells you half of the story though. In the real world, and again my experience is backing this up, it is hard to have a performing machine on the fourth iteration of OS X.

I mean, my Mac is barely usable with Lion, I can’t imagine how slow it is going to be with OS X Mountain Lion.

The conclusion that I am inclined to draw from these numbers is twofold.

Contrary to what I believed before analyzing the actual data MacBook Air and Pro have similar lifespan. Buying a MacBook Pro because you think it’s more future proof might not be the right criteria to use.

When you plan to buy a new Mac, consider other factors instead:

  • Portability.
  • The possibility to run pro applications at a decent speed if you have this need (VMware, FinalCut Pro, Photoshop,…).
  • Battery life.
  • Screen size.
  • If the machine you’re considering adapts to your way of working and your workflow.
  • Cost.

Conclusions

At this point you might ask if I can tell you how many years you can expect to use your Mac laptop.

Version Name Release date Months from the prev. version
10.4 Tiger April 29, 2005 18
10.5 Leopard October 26, 2007 30
10.6 Snow Leopard August 28, 2009 22
10.7 Lion July 20, 2011 23
10.8 Mountain Lion Summer 2012 12

Even if hardware faults are not taken into account and if we take three as the right number of different versions of OS X you can realistically install on your Mac (the default one plus two upgrades), giving you a number is not easy. There are too many combinations between hardware and OS release dates that makes this calculation long and probably not useful for future forecasts.

Realistically you can expect to use your Mac for a minimum of about three to a maximum of four and a half years.

After that you can still use your Mac but should not count on being able to upgrade your operating system.

Things should change from this summer. Apple has pledged to roll out a new version of OS X every 12 months so we should be able to install more than three versions of OS X thanks to the shorter release cycle.

What is your mileage with your Macs?

The problem with iCloud documents in the cloud

26/03/2012

iCloud documents in the cloud will make its big debut in OS X Mountain Lion. Right now it can only be enabled at application level if the developer has decided to take advantage of the available APIs.

In Mountain Lion, iCloud documents in the cloud will be part of the operating system and all application that are included with it will be able to take use it.

From the screenshots that I have seen and the information I have read, iCloud documents in the cloud will be app centric. That is, each application installed on your Mac will have its separated iCloud space where to store the documents created with that software.

This approach has its advantages but I see a ton of disadvantages. The main one is the impossibility to organize your files by project.

Say I have a project that I am working on called MyBigProject. I would normally create a folder with that name and in it I would include mindmaps, text files with some notes, screenshots, Word or Excel documents, videos and maybe some other binary files as well.

All files inside that folder would automatically mean that they belong to that project. That’s the meaning of folder after all: A container where files related to each other in some logical way can be kept together.

To the best of my knowledge with iCloud we will not have this kind of flexibility. Each application will keep its own files separated from other applications.

iCloud will not resemble iDisk or the more famous Dropbox. iCloud will be a filesystem-less storage space where the complexities of the filesystem are hidden to the user. Think of your iPhone or your iPad.

The last thing I want is to have an iCloud container for pdf files, another for images, another one for Word files etc.

Unless Mountain Lion will include a powerful tagging system it’ll be hard to keep track of a project as a single entity that contains information coming from different sources.

Can you help me understand? Am I missing something obvious in all this?

A call for a new OS X Finder

20/03/2012

Andy Ihnatko writing for Macworld:

I’m surprised that the molecular unit of the Finder experience is still Drill, Baby, Drill. We click through hierarchies and volumes, searching for a file or a scrap of data that we wish we’d labeled more clearly. Every time, my Mac acts as though it’s just met me this very second and has no idea who I am, how I work, or what I do for a living.

I’ve diligently organized my data following the trusted folder/sub-folder method for years only to realize that I am always unable to find what I am looking for the moment I think about it.

Recently I’ve started moving all my documents to Evernote. Instead of using the common folder paradigm, it uses searching and tagging to help you find the information you are looking for.

Surprisingly I have realized that a relatively flat organizational structure like Evernote – that organizes data in Notebooks and Notebooks Stacks – works much better. That and a generous amount of tagging helps me organize the information I generate in a more useful way.

It’s probably time for modern operating systems to embrace a similar concept and move on from the old hierarchical file system. As it stands the Finder is ill suited to help users achieve a high level of efficiency.

How do you organize your data? Do you simply rely on the Finder or use a third party software?

(Via MacWorld)

Google’s apologies list

13/01/2012

Google issues apologies way too often. This is a list of Google apologies that I keep up to date. In no particular order:

and some oldies but goodies:

I don’t think that demanding some respect for basic rules is asking too much. Google is, together with many other multinationals, constantly crossing the line between genuine mistakes and obvious disregard for consumer rights.

If a person apologize to me once I appreciate it immensely. The second time I frown. The third time I think that either he’s a moron or does it on purpose.

Jonathan Ive – Tribute to Steve Jobs

28/10/2011

Last night I finally managed to watch Apple’s tribute to Steve Jobs that was held at Apple Cupertino Campus on 19th October.

Jonathan Ive’s speech struck me as the most powerful, better written, sublimely spoken and profoundly emotional. If you you have six minutes to spare watch it.

I’ll copy his Steve Jobs’ eulogy because it is simply beautiful:

Steve used to say to me (and he used to say this a lot), “Hey Jony, here’s a dopey idea.” And sometimes they were — really dopey. Sometimes they were truly dreadful. But sometimes they took the air from the room, and they left us both completely silent. Bold, crazy, magnificent ideas. Or quiet, simple ones which, in their subtlety, their detail, they were utterly profound.

And just as Steve loved ideas, and loved making stuff, he treated the process of creativity with a rare and a wonderful reverence. I think he, better than anyone, understood that while ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily missed, so easily compromised, so easily just squished.

I loved the way that he listened so intently. I loved his perception, his remarkable sensitivity, and his surgically precise opinion. I really believe there was a beauty in how singular, how keen his insight was, even though sometimes it could sting.

As I’m sure many of you know, Steve didn’t confine his sense of excellence to making products. When we travelled together, we would check in and I’d go up to my room. And I’d leave my bags very neatly by the door. And I wouldn’t unpack. And I would go and sit on the bed. I would go and sit on the bed next to the phone. And I would wait for the inevitable phone call: “Hey Jony, this hotel sucks. Let’s go.”

He used to joke that the lunatics had taken over the asylum, as we shared a giddy excitement spending months and months working on a part of a product that nobody would ever see. Not with their eyes. We did it because we really believed it was right because we cared. He believed that there was a gravity, almost a sense of civic responsibility, to care way beyond any sort of functional imperative.

While the work hopefully appeared inevitable, appeared simple and easy, it really cost. It cost us all, didn’t it? But you know what? It cost him most. He cared the most. He worried the most deeply.

He constantly questioned, “Is this good enough? Is this right?” And despite all his successes, all his achievements, he never assumed that we would get there in the end. When the ideas didn’t come, and when the prototypes failed, it was with with great intent, with faith, that he decided to believe we would eventually make something great.

But the joy of getting there! I loved his enthusiasm, his simple delight (often, I think, mixed with some relief) that, yeah, we got there. We got there in the end and it was good. You can see his smile, can’t you? The celebration of making something great for everybody, enjoying the defeat of cynicism, the rejection of reason, the rejection of being told a hundred times, “You can’t do that”. So his, I think, was a victory for beauty, for purity, and, as he would say, for giving a damn.

He was my closest and my most loyal friend. We worked together for nearly fifteen years. (And he still laughed at the way I say “aluminium”.)

For the past two weeks, we’ve all been struggling to find ways to say goodbye. This morning I simply want to end by saying, “Thank you, Steve.” Thank you for your remarkable vision, which has united and inspired this extraordinary group of people. For all that we have learned from you, and for all that we will continue to learn from each other: Thank you, Steve.

I wanted to thank Geoff Coffey for originally posting on his blog the eulogy’s transcript.

Apple products in the enterprise market

21/10/2011

Apple devices are becoming more common in the enterprise market. Their popularity is pushed by pure osmotic pressure from the bottom up. That is from the users that already buy Apple products for their home use.

In the past week AppleInsider published a post that went almost completely unnoticed. According to Good, a company that manages multiplatform enterprise mobility solutions,

The iPhone accounted for 61 percent of all enterprise smartphone activations in the third quarter of 2011, retaining the lion’s share despite Android’s growth to 39 percent of smartphones.

Apple’s iPad also showed complete domination of the enterprise tablet market, taking 96 percent of total activations tracked by Good. Android represented just 4 percent of tablet activations for the quarter.

The statistics published by Good don’t include Blackberry and Windows devices which makes these numbers less dramatic that they initially seem. Nonetheless they give a good idea of how far iOS devices have come.

Whoever has the pleasure – or misfortune depending on the point of view – to walk around a multinational open space office will tell you that the number of employees walking around with Apple devices has increased significantly in the recent months.

It’s a big flurry of sales people talking into their iPhones, executives using iPads in their presentations and consultants taking MacBook Pros out of their bags.

Any IT Administrator will confirm this fact. They will tell you of how many support tickets they get every month with requests on how to connect an iPhone to the local Exchange server, print from a Mac and so forth.

It’s a trend that only now is getting steeper and steeper.

The factors behind the trend

This phenomenon is becoming bigger because of four factors:

  1. Bring Your Own PC (BYOP) policies.
  2. Self support.
  3. File and communication standards.
  4. The availability of solutions like Citrix Receiver.

Let’s briefly analyze each of these points.

BYOP

In the majority of multinationals’ IT policies have become somehow more lax. Usually strict policies are enforced for PCs because their hard-drive image is centrally managed.

Many other companies have real BYOP policies in place whereas they allow their employees to use whatever hardware they choose.

When it comes to smartphones, the control of IT is even less strict. Unless the company uses Blackberry devices and the Blackberry Enterprise Server that ties employees to a single platform, employees are free to use whatever brand they want. This is where all those big numbers for iOS devices come.

Self Support

This is somehow linked to the first point. IT policies usually request that if the employees decide to use their own devices, they are also responsible for the support. Not surprising as your own PC/smartphone is usually a non official supported device.

IT is generally OK with it as long as you don’t cause problems on the main infrastructure. A rare event in any case with the protections that exist nowadays.

File and communication standards

Microsoft Exchange, Docx, Xlsx, and so on makes working with an officially supported device or your own Apple device exactly the same thing.

The availability of solutions like Citrix Receiver

This is where a small piece of software, and a great technology behind it, can bridge the gap between Windows applications that are ubiquitous in the enterprise and Apple devices. Provided that those Windows applications are virtualized, by using a solution like Citrix Receiver, an employee can use his/her Mac/iPad/iPhone to work with the existing software.

An IT shift

For the first time in IT Enterprise history we are witnessing a change in who’s making decisions. More and more, the single employees are in control of what device to use.

Because most of them already use Apple computers in their own time, it’s only natural that given the possibility they are going to employ the same device at work.

The reasons why this is happening are quite obvious in my opinion:

  1. Products used at home are usually newer than the ones provided by IT. The lifecycle replacement time at home is shorter than at work.
  2. The Apple products you use at home are more efficient and you are more productive.
  3. They offer a better user experience.
  4. They are usually faster.
  5. You don’t need to carry twice as many devices with you.
  6. The cool factor, for good or bad always to take into account with Apple products.

Advantages

I can see advantages for everybody when employees are allowed to use their own Apple devices:

  1. Anybody is happier when they can use whatever computer they want.
  2. They can always work with up to date equipment.
  3. They can avail of a wider range of choices than the ones provided by their IT department.

For the employer the advantages are usually concentrated in three areas:

  1. Happier workforce.
  2. No additional IT helpdesk resources needed if a self-support policy is in place.
  3. The IT department can get valuable experience with a new platform at no additional costs if point 2. above is implemented.

Disadvantages

There are of course a number of disadvantages. They are mainly in the areas of standardization which is always an issue within any multinational, and the need for specialized helpdesk agents if employees are entitled to support.

Employees willing to work with their Apple machines can either experience glitches because some systems are not optimized for Apple computers or total incompatibilities in the case of software that cannot be streamed from a virtual server.

There are of course many more disadvantages than that but the purpose of this post is to show why Apple devices are becoming more popular in the enterprise not the challenges they face.

Advantages for Apple

I am not sure if Apple’s technical choices and tools that they include with their devices are just an after thought. I believe that Apple is employing a clear strategy to enter the enterprise market leveraging the pressure from the bottom up from their faithful Apple users.

Apple is entering the enterprise market without the hassle usually associated with it. Certifications, regulatory obligations and so on require huge investments in a company that wants to sell to the enterprise market.

Because officially Apple is not in it, it can get all the visibility, and revenue without bearing the costs associated with it.

Broadly speaking, Apple is getting a free ride on the enterprise market. Smart strategy if you ask me. By doing so Apple can gain priceless experience in this class of products without having so sustain the costly investment of enterprise support, management infrastructure and sales.

How to migrate from Gmail to iCloud

17/10/2011

I have been asked by a few readers to write a post on how to migrate your data from Google services (Gmail, Google Contacts and Google Calendar) to iCloud.

It seems that iCloud is gaining traction and more than MobileMe has ever done. The reasons are to be found in a perceived better reliability, even closer integration with iOS devices and the total number of iOS devices being used around the world.

Moreover there is the usual – but only whispered – concern with privacy that Google services pose. As much I like Google services, that company remains one of the biggest advertising agency in the US. They don’t have products to sell beside ads. All services that we get for free creates an ecosystem, for Google, from which to mine our data.

Thankfully, the migration is not difficult at all and in many ways the steps are the opposite of the ones I described when I advised to protect your data before upgrading to iCloud from MobileMe.

You will need to work on three types of data:

  1. Emails
  2. Contacts
  3. Calendars

Emails

This is probably the longest step. Give yourself plenty of time. In order to copy your emails from Gmail to iCloud you can simply do:

    1. Open Mail.app on your Mac.
    2. Create two accounts, one for iCloud and one for Gmail. The instructions are quite simple and you can find the steps on Apple’s website.
    3. Don’t forget to enable IMAP on your Gmail account (see here for the instructions).
    4. After Mail.app syncs with Gmail, you should be able to see in Mail.app all your Gmail labels represented as folders. Your Gmail messages will be of course inside these folders.
    5. In Mail.app create the folder structure for your iCloud emails. You may want to create a similar structure as you have in Gmail or create a more complex one that includes subfolders. The choice is yours. Make sure to create your folders under the iCloud account, not locally on your Mac:

    1. For each folder in your Gmail email account, select all messages, right-click on them and select Copy To and choose the corresponding iCloud folder:

  1. You can repeat point 6. even for your Sent folder. The process can be slow due to the limited upload speeds that most home broadband services still have (unless you live in some civilized country like Sweden, Finland, Japan, Canada etc.) so give yourself plenty of time.

Contacts

To migrate your contacts you will have to:

    1. Log into your Gmail account and go to Contacts.
    2. Click on Export as shown in this screenshot:

You will have to export your contacts in vCard format which is the standard that Address Book on the Mac uses:

    1. Open Address Book on your Mac and go to File –> Import:

  1. If you have correctly setup iCloud on your Mac, they will be automatically synced to the cloud.

Calendars

The steps to move your calendars to iCloud are similar:

    1. Log into your Gmail account and go to Google Calendar.
    2. Click on the cogwheel on the upper-right corner and choose Calendar Settings.
    3. Move to the Calendars tab and click on Export Calendars:

    1. Google exports all your calendars in a useful .zip file. If you expand it you will find all your calendars in .ics format which a standard format for calendars used by Apple as well.
    2. Go to iCal on your Mac and choose this option:

  1. You will have to repeat step 5. for all your calendars.
  2. As for the contacts, if your iCloud is correctly setup on your Mac, your calendars will be pushed to the Apple cloud.
[Edited on 20th October 2011: The day after I posted these steps Lifehacker wrote a similar article. They also included the steps to migrate your Google Docs documents which is something I didn't think about because I've never used that service. In case you are interested in moving those docs you can read Lifehacker's article here.]

On Steve Jobs

07/10/2011

Steve Jobs death has deeply touched me. It’s so weird to feel this sense of void for the loss of a person you have never met. I suppose this is the feeling people get when their favourite singer dies. I’ve never been a big fan of any singer so I didn’t know that feeling. This is something new to me.

I was really moved yesterday to see the comments left by Bill Gates, Eric Schmidt, Larry Page and Sergey Brin from Google, Walt Mossberg from AllThingsD, Steve Ballmer from Microsoft, Meg Withman from HP. It is unusual that partners and competitors alike feel the need to comment on a person death using such kind words and showing deep sorrow.

I have also felt proud to be an Apple user. I have realized that the sense of community, that I thought got lost together with the increasing adoption of Apple products by the masses, is still well intact. Apple users all over the world poured tears for this loss and tried to find comfort by sticking together on Facebook, Twitter, and forums. I’ve posted and replied to comments, friends and unknown people replied to mines in a vain attempt to understand if it was all true.

Steve Jobs was for me an inspiration, a role model, somebody to aspire to. It’s no secret that at times my fascination for Steve has bordered fanaticism – especially when I hung a Time and Newsweek cover with Steve on it in my home office. But it has all been done in a more he’s my hero type of way. He still is.

I don’t really know how to end this post. I’ll finish by talking about the picture I have attached at the top of this entry.

It’s a picture taken at the end of WWDC 2011, this past June. That was the last keynote he presented in. I simply love the way the CEO of Apple, the man that has changed the way we use technology puts his head close to his wife’s head seeking that human touch that we all long for. It’s a beautiful image. That is a man that will be remembered in history books and put at the same level as Alessandro Volta, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.

Now let’s continue to love our Apple products but let’s not forget to give a hug to our wives, husbands and partners.

Setup MarsEdit to work with All in One SEO plugin

24/07/2011

Yesterday I showed you how to setup MarsEdit to work with Yoast SEO plugin. Today I’ll show you how to work with All In One SEO plugin for WordPress.

It’s not that difficult. The only information you need to know is that All In One SEO plugin for WordPress introduces three custom fields: _aioseop_title, _aioseop_description, and _aioseop_keywords.

The process to setup MarsEdit so that you can edit these custom fields directly is fairly straightforward:

  1. Open MarsEdit
  2. Double-click on the blog where you installed All In One SEO plugin for WordPress
  3. Go to the Custom Fields tab
  4. Add three custom fields like in this picture

Note: If you work with WordPress 3.1.3 and above, check this post to make sure that your WordPress installation allows you to edit custom fields from an external source.

Setup MarsEdit to work with Yoast SEO plugin

23/07/2011

After my post on how to fix the existing problems when adding custom fields from MarsEdit with WordPress 3.1.3 and above, I’ve been asked to write some instructions on how to setup MarsEdit to work with Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress.

It’s very easy. Just follow these steps:

  1. Open MarsEdit
  2. Double-click on the blog where you installed Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress
  3. Go to the Custom Fields tab
  4. Add three custom fields like in this picture

The result will be this one:

Whenever you write a post you can add the custom fields added by Yoast SEO plugin directly from MarsEdit.

15 Things That Make You A MacHead™

04/05/2011

What makes a real MacHead™? Is it keeping a picture of Steve Jobs in the living room? Is it watching all Apple keynotes? I think there’s more than that.

  1. You keep a couple of framed pictures of Steve Jobs hung on the wall in your living room and are not ashamed of it

  2. You remember the day you shook Steve Wozniak’s hand and got his autograph

  3. You’re still thinking that had you not been so shy you would have had a picture of you two together

  4. You keep your first Mac in mint condition and with the original OS on it

  5. You keep MacHeads the movie on your iPhone

  6. You keep the last five years of Steve Jobs keynotes stored on an external hard drive

  7. You keep old iPods in your drawer even if you haven’t used them in years

  8. You can’t help but smile at the mp3 of “We like our stickers better” (click here to download it)

  9. Your life revolves around Apple special events calendar and the beginning of the week is actually on Tuesdays when Apple usually releases new products

  10. You plan to see a live Apple keynote at least once in a lifetime

  11. You run Repair Permission before and after an OS upgrade and feel good to see the new minor release in About This Mac

  12. Whenever you visit a new city you want to visit the local Apple store, even if they’re always the same

  13. You remember the first visit to an Apple store better than the day you graduated

  14. You remember where you bought each new version of Mac OS X and are glad to have stayed in line to get it on the first day

  15. You have an album in iPhoto with your own personal unboxing pictures of the Apple products you purchased through the years

How To Emulate System 7.5.5 on Mac OS X

29/04/2011

Last night I felt like bringing the past back to life by trying to find a Mac Classic OS emulator. The search was easy and in less than half hour I had a System 7.5.5 running on my MacBook Pro.

Many of you know that I am an old time Apple user and System 7 is the first Mac OS that I ever used. Sometimes it’s nice to use again the computers we used to have and experience how far technology has gone. Trust me, if you’re an old time Apple user emulating System 7 will bring back pleasant memories and will make you feel younger.

The starting point is this article in Mac OS X Hints. You will basically need three things to run System 7 on Mac OS X:

  1. BasiliskII emulator
  2. A PowerPC Mac ROM. The only way to get it is by downloading it from a real Mac. If you’re too lazy to do so you can find some ROM on the internet[1]
  3. System 7. We are lucky here because Apple has made System 7.5.3 free. The problem is that Apple allows you to download the single parts of System 7, ready to be copied on floppy-disks[2]. Michael Goodine in this article kindly created a single file package containing System 7.5.5

After you get these components, move them into a single folder. In a few seconds you’ll be running an old Mac on your Mac OS X:

  1. Launch BasiliskIIGUI

  2. Go to the Volumes tab and click on Add. Point to your System 7 operating system package downloaded from MacEmulation

  3. Go to the Memory/Misc tab. From here you will have to select the RAM (16MB in my case), the Mac Model ID and point to the ROM file

  4. Go to the Graphics/Sound tab and set the Window Refresh Rate to Dynamic

You’re done. Just click on Start and in a few seconds you’ll see the familiar System 7 desktop.

You’ve no idea how good it felt to see the old desktop, Note Pad, the Special menu… I wouldn’t go back of course but it’s incredible how familiar that old OS is even if you have never used it.

This is really one of Apple strength. Slow but steady improvements. Meaningful changes, justified only if they add a significant boost in the customer experience.

  1. Be aware that it is illegal to download ROMs from the internet if you don’t own a real Mac.

     ↩

  2. In the first draft of this post I wrote burned instead of copied. I wonder how long it is going to take before we forget the expression to burn a CD/DVD.

     ↩

Batch picture resize with Automator

09/04/2011

I’ve just come back from a friend’s wedding and found myself with over a gigabyte of pictures taken at a resolution 4592×3056, each of them weighting more than 4 MB in size. How could I resize all of them in one go?

I’m sure there are plenty of programs that can do that but Mac OS X has all the tools you need. No need to buy anything.

For example, Preview allows you to scale pictures quite easily and the only remaining problem to solve is to find a way to automatically resize more than one picture at a time.

Automator – included in every Mac OS X installation – comes to rescue. The solution is simple and incredibly elegant. I am not discovering anything new here but I thought that you’d be interested to see how it’s done:

  1. Open Automator from the Applications folder
  2. In the splash-screen that pops up click on the icon to create an Application
  3. Click on Choose

  4. From the left column make sure that the Actions tab is selected
  5. Click on Files & Folders and then on the list of actions on the column to its right click on Ask for Finder Items
  6. Drag the Ask for Finder Items element to the grey Workflow area to the right

  7. The action that you’ve just added contains an editable field called Prompt:. Type whatever message you want to see when launching the tool you’re creating. For example, I chose Select images to resize
  8. Click on Allow Multiple Selection checkbox. You can leave the Start At and Type options at the default values
  9. Scroll down on the Actions column and drag&drop the Rename Finder Items
  10. You will be warned that this actions is going to change the names of the originals and Automator will ask you if you also want to add a Copy Finder items action as well. This will copy the original files to a different folder and resize the copied images leaving the originals untouched. Click on the Add button

  11. You will now have three actions in total:
    • Ask for Finder Items
    • Copy Finder Items
    • Add Date or Time to Finder Item Names

  12. From the pull-down menu of action Copy Finder Items select where you want to save the copies of the originals
  13. Select Other and specify which folder you want to use for the copies
  14. On the Add Date or Time to Finder Item Names change the pull-down menu value from Add Date or Time to Add Text
  15. In the Add: textbox specify the suffix you want to append to the names of the resized images. For instance resized. All resized images will be named xxxxxxresized.xxx
  16. On the Actions column on the left click on Photos and select Scale Images. Drag&drop this action
  17. You will get another warning that this action will change the image files as in point 10. You can click on Don’t Add as we have already safeguarded our original files by following points 11 to 15.
  18. Change the drop-down menu to By Percentage and select a value, like 50. That means that all your modified images will be half the original size
  19. That’s it, you’re almost done
  20. Save the file and close Automator. Happy resizing!

Keep the Automator action in your Utilities folder or on your home folder so that it’s easy to find it.

If you’re too lazy or don’t feel comfortable following these steps, I can send the file to you. Email me at ricky at macography.net.

Speed tests: iDisk vs Dropbox

06/04/2011

In this post I will show you the results of some upload/download speed tests that I have carried out in the past three days using iDisk and Dropbox. I was somehow surprised by the results that I got.

It is widely agreed that iDisk is an ill-designed service, probably one of the worst ever sold by Apple. The de-facto standard for file syncing on the cloud is Dropbox that offers a decent amount of space for free and that is available on most platforms.

Dropbox has also proven to be extremely reliable. This service has changed the way we carry around our files and its flexibility is limitless.

Inspired by this post on MacRumors and somehow surprised by the results, I’ve spent the past three days testing the upload/download speed of Dropbox and iDisk under different scenarios.

What I wanted to verify was whether iDisk performance is so bad compared to Dropbox. What I have learnt goes beyond that and the results that I want to share with you are interesting.

Scenarios

I have executed three types of scenario to compare the speed of iDisk and Dropbox.

Scenario 1

Repeated uploads/downloads of the same file through the web interface of iDisk and Dropbox from a public wireless network. The public library network I used for my tests became increasingly busy during the day and only at the end it got quieter again.

The purpose was to compare the upload/download speeds of the same file with different network loads.

Scenario 2

Repeated uploads/downloads of the same file through the web interface of iDisk and Dropbox from my home broadband with a constant network load.

The purpose was to measure the consistency of the uploads/download speeds.

Scenario 3

The purpose of this scenario was to assess the behavior of iDisk and Dropbox when uploading files of different type and size through the Finder.

Scenarios not considered

I have not run any tests in these two scenarios:

a. Time to upload the same file multiple times through the Finder because in this case Dropbox will not re-upload the file a second time.

When you upload a file to Dropbox, the underlying framework splits the file into chunks and calculate the hash (i.e. signature) for each of those chunks. At that point, only the chunks whose hash is not already stored on the cloud are uploaded. The result is a saving of the bandwidth used and more important an incredible upload speed, to the user eyes even greater than the network broadband specs.

In the case you upload a file, delete it and then upload exactly the same file again, the resulting second upload time is negligible because Dropbox simply restores the file with the same hash that was stored in the cloud before being deleted.

Interestingly, from my tests it appears that this technology is not being used when uploading files through the Dropbox web interface. That has allowed me to run the multiple upload tests of the same file.

The hashing process can be described with this simple diagram:

b. Download through the Finder.

No download tests have been carried out through the Finder due to the fact that Dropbox stores the files both on the filesystem and on the cloud making such tests irrelevant.

Configuration used

Scenario 1

  • HP 620 Core 2 Duo laptop, 2.2 GHz, 4GB RAM
  • Windows Vista SP2
  • Public network, unknown speed

Scenario 2

  • MacBook Pro 15”, 2.2 GHz, 4GB RAM
  • Mac OS 10.6.7
  • Home network, 8Mb download speed, upload 512kbps

Scenario 3

  • Same configuration as in Scenario 2
  • Uploads carried out through Finder
  • MobileMe iDisk Sync (from MobileMe preferences) set to Off

Test methodology

In both scenarios I used the stopwatch of my iPhone 4 to measure the time between:

  • For the web interface tests

    Measured the time between the Upload Now click event and the Upload Completed message.

  • For iDisk

    Paste Item event and the sound Finder plays when it completes a copy/paste operation on files.

  • For Dropbox

    Paste Item event and the moment the green checkmark appears on the file icon in Finder.

Disclaimer

I acknowledge that this testing methodology is far from being scientific.

My setup and test methods might have affected the results and other people might get different values even opposite from what I am sharing in this post.

The results posted on this blog are for personal use only and do not constitute a definitive proof on what service is best.

More tests, using different scenarios, different networks, and a systematic way to time the events are needed to calculate average times, variance values and to draw some more informative conclusions.

Experimental results

Scenario 1

The results of uploading/downloading the same 9.2 MB .pdf file multiple times through the web interface are as follows:

As you can see from the graph the amount of time taken to upload the same .pdf file increased during the day and only after Test 4 it dipped again. The reason of course is due to the network utilization. The public library where I was carrying out these tests, was very quiet in the morning and got busier and busier toward the middle of the day.

More important is the comparison between iDisk and Dropbox. In all five tests that I have run, iDisk has been faster.

The download times for the same 9.2 MB .pdf files are shown in this graph:

In 4 out 5 tests, Dropbox times have been lower than iDisk.

The surprise has been the upload times. This is a first indication that Dropbox is not the fastest of the two – at least not all the time.

It is worth noting that for some unknown reason the hashing mechanism that is at the origin of the incredible Dropbox performance is not being used when working through the web interface.

Scenario 2

I almost drew the same conclusions as in Scenario 1. Even in this case, the upload times were better for iDisk. This is something that will be confirmed in the next scenario but with some notable exceptions.

The download times are somehow reversed to Scenario 1:

I can’t say much about the download speeds. This last series of tests goes against the results I got in Scenario 1 and doesn’t really allow us to draw any conclusion.

The upload speeds on the other hand confirms the surprise I got in Scenario 1. There’s a huge gap between the times measured for iDisk uploads and the corresponding Dropbox ones.

The key to remember here is that I was uploading a single, fairly large file. More on this in the next scenario.

Scenario 3

As part of this scenario I have run six different tests by uploading different type of files and sizes in consecutive order:

  1. .zip file, 16.7 MB
  2. .mov file, 12.5 MB
  3. .mp3 file, 3.3 MB
  4. .pdf file, 1.2 MB
  5. A 909 kB folder containing 20 Microsoft Word files
  6. A 202 kB folder containing 12 text files

These are the results:

This is where we can start getting an idea of when one solution is better than the other. We also get a confirmation of the upload results obtained in Scenario 1 and Scenario 2.

  • For large single files, iDisk is consistently faster than Dropbox. This is shown in Test 1, Test 2 and Test 3. In Test 2 where I was uploading a QuickTime movie the advantage of iDisk is quite big
  • Where Dropbox excels is when you upload a bunch of smaller files like in Test 5 and Test 6. The gap in Test 5 is about five-fold

Conclusions

After running these tests, we can’t really say which service is faster, at least not in absolute terms. It would also be terribly wrong to try to name the best of the two, this was not the purpose of the tests. Each service in my opinion serves different purposes.

It’s worth mentioning a few points:

  • iDisk is faster when working with single large files
  • Dropbox excels when dealing with plenty of small files
  • I believe that the WebDAV protocol used by iDisk adds a substantial overhead on the data transmission. This overhead is negligible for large files but becomes a burden for small ones
  • Dropbox technology is way more sophisticated than iDisk and it has actually been since Dropbox was introduced. The fact that before uploading a file, the logic behind Dropbox prescreens the file by calculating the hash makes sure that in real world case scenario Dropbox is blazingly fast

I would be curious to know a little bit more about Dropbox technology and of course your results if you have the patience (or madness!) to run similar tests on your environment.

The conclusion that I am inclined to draw is that the data that I have obtained sort of prove what I suspected for quite some time.

Dropbox is perfect for real-time syncing across computers and gives its best when used as your on-the-go home folder, wherever you are in whatever platform you’re working. I personally use it daily to move files between three different computers, sync my 1Password keychain file etc.

iDisk is on the other hand better suited as an extra backup solution to be used beside the ubiquitous external hard-drive backup. If you combine it with an ftp software like Transmit you’re sure to have a very reliable network storage disk. I’ve been using iDisk in exactly this way for the past 4-5 years with excellent results.

References

Moneydance for iPhone

03/04/2011

My wife and I started using Moneydance for Mac back in 2006 when we got married. We installed the software on both of our computers and stored the database file on a shared folder in Dropbox.

In this way each of us can update the expenses and check the balance? independently. The software has proven to be über-reliable and robust in these four years. We have added more than eight accounts between current/savings/credit cards/investments and recorded thousands of transactions without Moneydance missing a beat.

There is also an iPhone Moneydance app that I’ve found very useful. The app is free and it is more of a companion to the desktop version of the software than a stand-alone application. I see this as an advantage rather than a limitation. I want the apps on my iPhone to be light, fast and stable. If I need to run some complex reports or analyze data I am more than happy to do it on my Mac, comfortably sitting at home with a cup of coffee.

What I need is an easy way to record expenses while I’m on the go. The best example was a couple of weeks ago when I went on holiday only with my iPhone and left my Mac at home.

The iPhone app and its desktop counterpart sync effortlessly via wifi if the two devices are on the same network. This is a proven solution used my many vendors and I find it a good solution.

According to the Moneydance blog the company is working on a version of the iPhone app with Dropbox sync. I can’t wait to see that in action!

To enable the sync over the air on the desktop application you need to install a Moneydance extension. This is easily done from the Extension menu.

After installing the app on the iPhone you need to pair the devices. When you first launch Moneydance app on the iPhone you will see a screen with a long pass key that you need to enter in Network Sync Settings —> Add Device on Moneydance for Mac/PC.

After you have done that the two devices start syncing (the first sync will simply copy your transactions from the desktop to the iPhone) and then you’re ready to go:

Entering a transaction is as easy as clicking on the ‘+’ sign on the upper right corner of the screen.

You can select the account for that transaction, date, description and the amount is easily entered using the numeric keypad. After that you just need to tap on Save.

When you click on an account you can see the list of transactions synced with the desktop.

A useful feature of the sync Moneydance desktop extension is the possibility to sync 30, 60, 90 or 365 days in the past.

The app settings are really simple. You have the option to add a passcode to access your data when you launch the app:

My conclusion is that this is one of the most useful apps that I own. It’s free, it’s stable, and it’s the perfect companion for a software that has proved to be close to perfect. Thanks Moneydance for writing this software and for constantly improving it.

Find Moneydance on AppStoreHQ.
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