Macintosh
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
by lepton
Everybody seems to be begging for Apple to put select, copy, cut, and paste into the iPhone and iPod Touch. But when you think about it… there isn’t much you really NEED it for.
Sure, sure, you want to copy and paste text in your word processor, to move a paragraph here and there. And, you want to copy some stuff out of an EMail to paste into a note. And, I might want to copy and paste stuff around in this WordPress blog post as I edit on my iPhone. But frankly these are not very common things to be doing on an iPhone. The things that you DO commonly need to do can be handled by other means.
Would you like to copy a picture out of a web page and save it? You can do that already. Touch and hold the picture, and a menu pops up offering to “Save Image” to your Photos application. Want to EMail a photo? Display it in Photos, touch an icon, and a menu pops up offering to EMail the photo, or to send it to a MobileMe gallery. No copying, no pasting, no problems.
It’s the same with many things you might be using copy/paste for on a lesser computer. Save the sender of an EMail message into a contact? There’s a menu command for that. Call a phone number you spot in an EMail or web page? Touch it and the iPhone offers to call the number in one step.
Enter the Data Detector
The last example, calling a phone number that is in an EMail or Web page by touching it, illustrates a feature in Mac OSX known as the Data Detector. The iPhone simply recognizes the text is a phone number, and turns it into a live link that, when touched, will offer to make the call. And this is much better than selecting the phone number, copying it to a clipboard, switching to the phone application, pasting it in to the phone keypad, and making a call.
We don’t need copy and paste so much as we need commands and data detectors to do the same tasks in a single step. We need Apple to expand the data detectors and to add some more commands.
Look, don’t worry. Apple is going to add select, cut, copy and paste into the iPhone. In some cases, we flat out need it. But why did Apple say adding this was a low priority? Because it is not going to be elegant. We need it for a fallback, but it might not be pretty.
How will the mechanics of selecting text work? What guesture will perform a “Copy” or “Paste”. It might take a bit of finger dexterity. It might take more than a sentence in a pamphlet to explain it. It might not be very intuitive. Apple hates this kind of stuff, as they should.
So the priority might be to put in a few more commands, a few more data detectors. This would handle many cases where you would be copying and pasting, intuitively and elegantly.
For example, if a phone number appears on a web page or EMail, data detectors recognize it and you can call it with a touch. But type a phone number into the Notes application (or any other) and it isn’t recognized. You can’t touch and call it. So my suggestion is allow this detection in all text fields.
Did you know that there are several data detectors in your Mac’s Mail application? In Leopard Mail, look at one of the EMail messages you’ve received, for a date and time anywhere in the message. Hover the cursor over it, and you will see a gray box appear around the date and time, with a little drop down triangle in it. Click that triangle and a menu appears - “Create New iCal Event…” and ”Show This Date in iCal” appear as commands. A date data detector recognized it and lets you do common tasks with it, no copy/switch/paste necessary. Try hovering over a name that’s in your address book. “Show in Address Book” is available. Over a phone number, you get “Create New Contact” and “Add to Existing Contact”, Hover over an address and you get those plus “Show on Map”.
This is the sort of thing I believe Apple is wanting to put in our devices. Elegant, intuitive, easier. No weird gestures, no multiple steps, no learning techniques. We will get copy and paste, but most people need data detectors and commands much more.
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Friday, July 25th, 2008
by lepton
I love predicting what great new products Apple might come up with. Recently I came across this document I wrote September 5th, 2004. It had my vision for an Apple Handheld Computer.
Did I get close to predicting the iPhone and iPod Touch years before it happened? Well, I thought the entire front would be a screen, but I also thought for iPod functions it would show a virtual click wheel on it, and I thought you could put membrane switches under the screen to sense finger presses! Sheesh! But I also thought of a full touch screen of the right dimensions, and putting full OS X on it. And I’m still waiting for Bluetooth stereo and Apple Remote Desktop! Here it is:
Handheld Computer Idea
First, let me assure you I am not insane. And, these ideas are solely my own. It is my vision of an Apple handheld computer. Very few things need to be invented to create this design; these will be explained as we get to them. I believe the device could be made in a year or two.
Hardware:
Start with a 4th generation iPod. The clickwheel can be thought of as five membrane switches, one in the center and four at the points of the compass. In addition there is a touch sensitive ring positioned over the four outer switches that senses finger capacitance.
Give the iPod a quarter turn to the left so that the screen is on the left and the controller is on the right. Imagine the screen gone for a moment.
Now imagine a second controller just like the first, positioned to the left of the original controller and slightly overlapping, such that the “West” switch of the original controller is exactly over the “East” switch of the new one. In fact, make them the same switch.
Imagine the touch sensitive rings gone for a moment. What we have so far is an array of nine membrane switches. Ine common one in the center of the front surface, four to the right, and four to the left.
Add one half inch to the width (height actually, since we have positioned the iPod sideways) of the unit. Re=center everything.
Now place a screen over the entire front of the unit, on top of the array of switches. The screen is an OLED type. Such screens are thin, can be on a flexible substrate, are low power, and need no backlight. The screen is thin and flexible enough that you can click the switches below by pressing on them. Essentially, the screen is the top surface of the membrane switches. As in the original iPod, the two “center” switches can have a slight dome shape over them such that you can feel their positions.
A screen with the above characteristic needs to be invented. It absolutely is well within the realm of possibility. Hurdles include making a screen with a good half life, making it flexible enough to allow for membrane switch operation, and allowing for the domes without distorting the image on the screen.
Above or under this screen is a capacitive touch sensor such that your fingertip position can be sensed anywhere on the screen. This may or may not have to be invented.
A metal stylus may be used which “focuses” your finger to make it easier to sense the precise position you are touching. This allows writing or drawing on the screen.
Above all this is a protective coating which is clear, allows viewing, finger sensing, stylus, and, membrane switches.
You now have a case whose front surface has a wide screen aspect ratio 4.5” diagonal image. You can touch, write on, and click buttons on this screen.
Place hard disk, battery, memory, CPU, audio out, video out, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technology inside.
Software:
Write software to allow the functions described below.
iPod function:
This device is still an iPod. Hold it in the vertical orientation. On the top half of the unit is the usual iPod screen. On the bottom half is an image of the familiar iPod control wheel. Use normally. You have physical click switches in the usual positions, and the touch screen allows the ring-control function.
You can also hold the unit upside down and it can work the same way, since you have switches and controls at both ends of the device.
Video iPod function:
Hold the unit in a horizontal orientation. Playback full screen video. You have invisible iPod-like controls on both the left and right side of the screen, you can use these controls to control the video playback.
Audio output function:
Audio can come through a headphone jack. It may be streamed over Wi-Fi to an Airport Express. It may be streamed over Blurtooth to stereo headphones.
Video output function:
Video can appear on the screen, It can be sent to an I/O connector which can connect to a video device. It can be streamed out through Wi-Fi.
Data I/O function:
Data can be transferred through an I/O connector to a dock. This is the only way to get mass data such as audio and video into the device. The dock also charges the device.
Remote desktop function:
Allow connection to Apple Remote Desktop over Wi-Fi such that the device can be used to see the screen of a Macintosh, and control it. Allow Bluetooh keyboards and mice to connect to the device to aid in this control.
Macintosh function:
Someday, place OSX in the device and let it be a true, stand-alone Macintosh.
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Tuesday, November 6th, 2007
by lepton
Recently, a data corruption event occurred on my Intel iMac. The computer would not boot. Luckily, it had Leopard installed, and it was being fully backed up with Time Machine. So, I decided to do a full restore of the entire disk using the Time MAchine backup.
The iMac has a 120GB hard disk containing about 100GB of data. Time Machine was backing up to an external 500GB hard disk over USB 2. To do a full restore of the computer from a Time Machine backup, you start up the computer using your OS X install disk. There is a menu item to restore from a Time Machine backup. Simply choose which backup you wish to use, and it begins, doing the rest automatically.
The progress bar started calculating the time remaining to complete the backup, and in a few moments it indicated… 170 hours to complete! Progress bar time estimates typically start conservatively, and tone down to be more accurate after a little while. It did, a little - to about 100 hours. This seemed startling - You can copy a 100GB disk using Disk Utility or SuperDuper in a tiny fraction of that time. But, having the time and curiosity, I let it run. It indeed took over 100 hours to complete the restore of 100GB of data.
Holy cow! Almost four days to restore a system from a Time Machine backup! The restore was successful, but if this hour-per-gigabyte rate is typical, it is something that needs improvement right away!
So, has anyone else had occasion to do a full restore of this kind? Did it take an incredibly long time, or was my experience an exception?
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Monday, September 17th, 2007
by lepton
Here is a bug in the current version of iTunes 7.4.2 and the earlier 7.4 versions. I have an iPhone and see this. It will likely appear on video iPods as well. Videos watched to the end and deleted to conserve space will not be marked as viewed in the next sync. Here are the details.
When you watch a video podcast to the end, a dialog pops up asking if you want to delete the video to conserve space. If you agree to delete it and then sync the iPhone, the video is not marked as watched in iTunes. So, if you have a preference like “Sync 10 most recent unplayed episodes of all podcasts” set, it will not work - the video you deleted is not marked as played, and in the sync, it is simply copied back onto the iPhone in an unplayed state.
Earlier versions properly marked such deleted videos as played, and they would not be copied back.
Note that if you choose to keep the played video, when you sync, it will properly be marked as played in iTunes, and with the preference set as above, will correctly be deleted from the iPhone.
Do you also see this bug with your iPhone or video iPod?
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Friday, June 8th, 2007
by lepton
First, he’ll talk about the iPhone. He’ll show a production model. He’ll talk about the tinyBluetooth headset bundled in the package. He will show the iPhone dock in the package that lets you plug in the phone and charge the earpiece. He will mention the iPhone dock connector is compatible with almost all current iPhone accessories that plug in to an iPod, especially the interfaces in many current automobiles. He will announce new iPhone interfaces in some cars that integrate both music and phone functions into the automobile. He will talk about the new stereo bluetooth headphones that are available and how great they sound playing music. He will mention iPhone’s software update system which happens through iTunes syncing. He will show functions he didn’t cover, including the calendar and notepad apps. The notepad is essentially the Mac Preview app and opens PDF, Word, Pages, and Keynote files. He will show new apps including Apple Remote Access and the GPS turn by turn directions tied into Google Maps. He will show printing to Bluetooth printers and over WiFi to printers on local networks. He will say DashCode widgets will run on the iPhone, allowing anyone to write simple iPhone apps. Oh, one more thing - he will sell iPhones to anyone at WWDC who wants one out in the hall right after the speech. WWDC attendees will be the first iPhone customers, two weeks before anyone else can get them.
Then he will talk about .Mac, which hasn’t been updated in a while. He will show full integration with the iPhone. He will show that .Mac will push EMail to the iPhone. He will show iPhone syncing directly with .Mac’s calendar, address book, and bookmarks. Oh, one more thing, a free year of .Mac comes with your iPhone.
Forty minutes in, he moves to Leopard. He will say everyone gets a full beta copy in their attendee goodie bag. A week later, it will be available for developers to download at ADC. It does not run on the G4. It will use a new default disk format called ZFS. Older formats will of course be supported, but you want to migrate your system disk over, as well as disks you want to use for Time Machine backups. This is for a few reasons. One, backups and Time Machine will be simple, fast and smooth, as ZFS makes snapshots of every change you make to your files as it goes. You will be able to set up very fine grain backups if you wish, not just being able to go back to a particular day, but even to a particular save. Another reason to switch involves Spotlight. Spotlight will be much faster and searches will be more detailed. Spotlight will be integrated into Time Machine and into more apps.
There is a completely rewritten Finder. It is much faster and much more efficient. It is more extensive in the way it displays and allows you to see and manipulate file metadata. It gives much better and faster access to Spotlight. Spotlight itself finds faster, is much more consistent in its interface, allows you to do much more detailed searches, yet is simpler to use. It is a very efficient app and file launcher, more like Quicksilver.
There is a new default User Interface look. Aqua is still available in the Appearance preference pane. The new look uses the unifies window look, colors tend toward smooth gray and blue gray. The look is flatter, more subdued. The look is similar to that in the current iTunes. Scroll bars are rounder, thumbs are blue gray. The look is made to fall farther into the background than Aqua, and be more neutral in color, to let window content be the focus.
Leopard fully integrates Multi-Touch into the system. Steve announces a new line of Multi-Touch displays available now. The new displays have a gray aluminum look, are thin, use LCD backlighting, and all have Multi-Touch ability. The displays can be oriented vertically, or placed flat on a table or at a low angle like an easel or tablet.
Leopard can be completely controlled by MultiTouch. Fingers can work as a mouse, tapping and dragging on the surface of the screen. Thus at this point, Macs can be controlled by a keyboard, mouse, voice, or touch, alone or in combination, and peripherals like the new touch displays will take advantage of that.
One more thing. One “remote screen” display model will be wireless and portable, around 10″ diagonal and 12mm thick, run on WiFi and uses Apple Remote Access to put a Mac’s screen on its own screen. This portable tablet is a display, not a computer, but works as a second screen to any Mac on a network. It can control all Mac functions remotely via Multi-Touch. It is available now.
There are a lot of predictions here, let’s see what comes true!
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