Why you should buy your iPhones and other iOS devices in September

OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) was released on August 28, 2009. Version 10.6.4 came out last in June of 2010; it’s now a good upgrade for a 10.5 machine. It took Apple about 10 months to beat the OS into decent shape, which is a bit of a problem if you’re considering a new desktop machine. Unless you enjoy computer hassles, you should buy new Macs a few months before, or six months after, a major OS X update.

Apple’s iOS environments are much simpler than OS X [2], and Apple has many fewer “system apps” to test [1] – so it’s not surprising that their iOS updates have been more reliable than their OS X updates. The first couple of iOS upgrades went pretty well. Things are getting more complicated though [2], and now we’re seeing real problems …

Google Apps phone-lock issues with iOS 4

… In a strange twist with what appears to be a security issue, users of Google Apps who set up their accounts using the Microsoft Exchange settings (aka ActiveSync) may find that their iPhones have been set to auto-lock in one minute…

and

iOS 4- Updating woes with iPhone 3G

…. While we can't help much with the activation errors that some of you have had (potentially due to overloaded communications between Apple), we can help with the infamous error 3002 that many iPhone 3G owners are seeing when attempting to update their device…

Both of these bugs would have been a waste of time and energy for us. It’s summer in Minnesota, I have better ways to spend my sunny days.

These bugs will get sorted out through a combination of third party, iOS and iTunes updates over the next month or so. If you only have older phones, the smart move is to wait until August to upgrade. If you’re buying a new phone, however, you have to use the new OS [3].

Which is why you should buy a new iPhone or iPad in September. Apple seems to have very consistent phone release cycles (though not all will be major updates), so if you get a new phone and a new 2 year contract in September you’ll be in phase with the release cycle. iOS device prices tend to be stable over their life cycle, so a purchase in September gets you the best life cycle value with the least upgrade troubles.

In my own case my 3G is painfully slow [3] so I’ll probably buy in August, but I’ll aim for September for our next upgrade cycle.

--

[1] I’d like Apple to get the heck out of the apps business altogether due the very long bugfix and upgrade cycles of systems apps, but that’s another post.

[2] The complexity is increasing very quickly with the iPad and with iTunes OS X and Windows XP/Vista/7 dependencies. There are also some iPod dependencies due to a shared DRM infrastructure. For example, iTunes 9.2 sounds like bad news for older iPods. I’m waiting for 9.2.1. Since iOS4 may require iTunes 9.2 that’s another reason to delay iOS updating.

[3] At least for that device, you don’t have to update all devices you sync to the same iTunes account

[4] Apps are being developed for modern devices, so upgrades expect more RAM and more CPU – especially the former. I also sync way too many calendars, contacts sources, etc for this device – I’m basically flogging it.

July 17, 2010: Wow, I sure called it for 2010. This year it's probably a good idea to wait until November and see if Apple is going to come up with fixes for the proximity sensor and antenna design flaws, not to mention the worse than 3GS connectivity.

Netflix via Wii - works so far

I've streamed Netlfix to my iMac with acceptable results. Like all (yech) Flash based technologies it is buggy and inefficient on a Mac, but it works. I knew Netflix could also be streamed to X-Box and Roku, but I'd not realized you could stream to a Wii until I saw a notice when editing my queue.

I ordered the Netflix wii disc and tried it out. It worked well while streaming over our 802.11g WAP encrypted WiFi LAN. Some of the interface graphics are blocky and ugly, but the movie itself was fine. The control UI uses the arrow keys on a Wii wand.

The Flash stream results are at least as good as what I see on my vastly more powerful iMac, and there's no fan noise. Apparently Adobe just hates the Mac.

You need a computer, iPhone, or iPad to validate your account and manage your queue. I assume Netflix would like to remove that requirement eventually.

Activation took less than a minute. You can stream from one Netflix account on up to 6 unique devices (iMac, iPad, iPhone 4 soon, Wii, Roku, etc).

From their site today, here's a list of the streaming Netflix supports. They're clearly well on the way to eliminating DVD mailing (main problem -- too easy to rip and distribute).

• Roku Streaming Player
• Seagate FreeAgent Theater+ HD Media Player
• WD TV Live Plus HD Media Player
• PlayStation®3 System
• Wii™ console
• Xbox 360
• Insignia Connected Blu-Ray Player
• LG Network Blu-ray Players
• Panasonic Networking Blu-Ray Player
• Philips Netflix ready Blu-ray Player
• Samsung Network Blu-ray Players

• VIZIO Blu-ray™ Player with Wireless Internet Apps
• Sony Network Blu-ray Disc player
• LG HDTVs with NetCast Broadband
• Sony® BRAVIA® LCD HDTVs featuring BRAVIA Internet Video
• VIZIO® XVT Series HDTVs with VIZIO Internet Apps™ (VIA)
• TiVo® Digital Video Recorder
• Insignia 5.1-Ch. Home Theater System with Blu-ray Disc Player
• LG Network Blu-ray Home Theater Systems
• Panasonic Blu-Ray Home Theater In A Box
• Samsung Blu-Ray Home Theater Systems

We don't have cable at home, we get 3 DVDs a week for the kids to watch. This gives us some new options. I really don't miss cable at all (we do have free broadcast HD via a D/A converter box and some rabbit ear antennae -- works surprisingly well)).

Major iOS4 feature: You can turn off all data services on the phone

You can't unlock an AT&T iPhone, but after your contract contract is done you can give it to another person who has an AT&T account. If they insert a GSM card [1] they can use the phone. I've gotten contradictory reports from AT&T, but it appears that under current policy if that GSM card does not have a data plan then the iPhone can be used without a data plan.

Of course that iPhone will then run up a large bill -- since it will inevitably do some network data transactions and they will be billed at very high rates. The current workaround is to pay $5/month for an AT&T plan that less you monitor a phone, limit data use, etc.

As of iOS4 though you can just turn off the data service on the phone ...

iOS 4 walkthrough | TiPb 

... You can now choose to not only turn off 3G data or roaming data, but all cellular data...

I think you can use the Parental Controls to lock settings so the user will not be able to turn cellular data back on. So I can give my old 3G to my son and he can use it as a phone and for texting, but will only have data services when he's on a WiFi. I won't have to pay $180/year for minimal 3G data services. Over two years that pays for my new phone.

[1] iPhone 4 uses a micro-SIM that is not compatible with SIMS from older phones. This does work for a 3G or 3GS.

Two ways to find a lost iPhone

Apple has produced a well done iOS app for conventiently location an iPhone, sending it a message, locking it or wiping it completely. TidBITS has the best overview ...

TidBITS iPhone iPad iPod: Find My iPhone App Enables Mobile Device Discovery

... To enable Find My iPhone/iPad/iPod touch on a given device, tap Settings > Mail > Contacts, Settings, and tap your MobileMe account under Accounts. Set the Find My iPhone switch to On, if it isn't already, and tap Done. In the Fetch New Data view, either or both Push and Fetch need to be active. If Push is set to Off and Fetch is set to Manually, Find My iPhone cannot work, because the location is never updated. (Apple recommends Push for MobileMe.)...

It's hard to imagine now, but the BB Pearl of 2008 was a proto-gPhone. It ran Google Mobile and you could track it on Google Maps. I came to despise the phone and I was delighted to get rid of it, but I missed the free location tracking. Now I have an easy way to track a phone; unlike Latitude it's strictly on demand tracking - the phone isn't routinely updating its location.

I tested the new iPhone app on Emily and my phones -- and discovered I hadn't enabled tracking on my phone. That was an oversight! I was lucky to discover my mistake because you can't enable tracking remotely, though you can wipe a phone remotely. (For reasons good or greedy, Apple has a far more conservative attitude towards location sharing than Google.)

The new app with MobileMe services is a good way to find a lost phone, or to see how far your spouse is from airport pickup (though you need his/her MM password -- again, conservative on the privacy). However it only works if you enable it, and you need a MM account.

A friend of mine came up with another approach that doesn't require a MM account -- or any advance planning. When he lost his iPhone bicycling to work he had AT&T add the family tracking feature to his account. You can add it at any time, and you don't need possession of the phone (it does have to be on however). This is less precise than MobileMe tracking since it relies on cell tower triangulation, but in urban areas that can work well. It worked very well for him -- he found his phone quickly. He then canceled the service; AT&T allows customers to add and remove services as needed. The AT&T locator service, of course, works with any phone.

So there are two approaches, but if you're primarily concerned about finding a lost phone the on-demand AT&T tracking service is quite a bit cheaper than MobileMe -- and it doesn't require setup. If you have a MM account for other reasons (it's really a pretty crummy service to be honest) this is well worth enabling and testing.

The 10.6.4 update breaks iMac external display function?

An iMac 27 can serve as an external monitor. Connect a DisplayPort input and it should switch to that.

It used to work. Until now ...

Apple - Support - Discussions - After 10.6.4 update I cannot use iMac ...

I've routinely connected my work laptop to my iMac via the DisplayPort to use it as an external display. This morning this is no longer working. I updated to 10.6.4 last night.

When I plug the DisplayPort cable into my laptop the iMac screen goes black as it should. I can then select dual monitors. For a moment it switches to the laptop setting. When I then click 'Apply' on the laptop to configure dual monitors it gracefully switches back to the Mac desktop (which is wrong).

There may be other causes of course. I strongly suspect a 10.6.4 bug however.

Updates to come if I learn more.

Update: I found a workaround

1. Set iMac resolution to 800x600
2. Plug DisplayPort cable into Laptop
3. In laptop, click on secondary display and set external display resolution to 800x600

It then switched the iMac into display mode. It also jumped to the correct resolution.

Multi-monitor support on Windows has emergent properties, so I can't be sure this is a 10.6.4 bug. We'll have to see how many have trouble.

Update 7/25/2010: The workaround doesn't always work. I've submitted a bug report. I've also noticed that if you unplug a remote display from an iMac, the main display switches to the resolution of the removed remote display. So there are several things broken.

My current workaround is (Windows XP on Dell laptop) as below. I think behavior is different if you've never successfully connected to the external Mac monitor. The key is to switch the Mac to 800x600

1. Laptop: set NVIDIA control panel to multiple monitor configuration screen. It will show only one monitor.
2. Switch iMac user account to 800x600 resolution
3. Plug in DisplayPort cable to laptop
4. NVIDIA control panel display will switch to dual monitor view. Configure as needed.

Under some conditions you will have a very short period of time to configure the NVIDIA control panel before the iMac switches back to showing the OS X time period. My hunch is that this is the 10.6.4 bug -- a change made to the timing. In earlier releases the OS X desktop remained "black" (waiting for external input signal) for a much longer time, perhaps indefinitely. I suspect the 10.6.4 bug was introduced as a hasty hack for problems where the OS X desktop remained stuck in an inappropriate "black" mode, waiting for a signal that never came.

Update 7/28/10:

Another tip. I have the habit of turning off my iMac's OS X secondary monitor before disconnecting it and plugging in the laptop that will put the iMac in monitor mode. I think this causes problem. The iMac still thinks it has an external display and it won't switch over to being in display mode itself. If I simply unplug the external LCD, without first turning it off, the iMac goes into single display mode. I think this may make a difference.

iPad user guide: accessibility and more

I've been puzzled that my mother's iPad accessibility seemed undocumented. Turns out it's all in the PDF iPad User Guide (manual).

Did you know there was a 150+ page manual for the iPad? It's an Apple secret.

The manual is impressive, but it's a bit too complete. It describes some VoiceOver features that didn't make it into the shipping product (some rotor controls).

Here's the current list of iPad accessibility gestures, taken from the manual:

Navigate and Read

Tap: Speak item.
Flick right or left: Select the next or previous item.
Flick up or down: The effect varies depending on the Rotor Control setting. See “Using VoiceOver” on page 110.
Two-finger tap: Stop speaking the current item.
Two-finger flick up: Read all, from the top of the screen.
Two-finger flick down: Read all, from the current position.
Three-finger flick up or down: Scroll one page at a time.
Three-finger flick right or left: Go to the next or previous page (such as the Home screen or Safari).
Three-finger tap: Speak the scroll status (which page or rows are visible).
Four-finger flick up or down: Go to the first or last element on a page.
Four-finger flick right or left: Go to the next or previous section (for example, on a webpage).

Select and Activate

Double-tap: Activate selected item. Touch an item with one finger, tap the screen with another finger (“split-tapping”):
Activate item. Double-tap and hold (1 second) + standard gesture: Use a standard gesture.
The double-tap and hold gesture tells iPad to interpret the subsequent gesture as standard. For example, you can double-tap and hold, and then without lifting your finger, drag your finger to slide a switch.
You can use standard gestures when VoiceOver is turned on, by double-tapping and holding your finger on the screen. A series of tones indicates that normal gestures are in force. They remain in effect until you lift your finger, then VoiceOver gestures resume.
Two-finger double tap: Play or pause in iPod, YouTube, Voice Memos, or Photos. Start or pause recording in Voice Memos. Start or stop the stopwatch.
Three-finger double tap: Mute or unmute VoiceOver.

Three-finger triple tap: Turn the display on or off. (This is known as the "screen curtain" feature. For my mother it's a bug, not a feature. It's too easy to go from mute/unmute VoiceOver to blanking the screen.)

There's also far more to the zoom feature than I'd realized. This User Guide deserves a bit of publicity.

I throw the magic mouse out of the house

I'd like to say I dated someone who resembled this mouse, but I didn't travel in those circles (ok, once) ...

My Amazon.com Apple Magic Mouse review: Electronics

I've used this mouse with my iMac for about seven months. During that time I've scared my kids more than once with a scream of frustration.

This is one of those things that looks beautiful, feels lovely, shows well, but has the heart of Satan. Inevitably, a slight errant motion careens windows about, loses location, or zaps the wrong set of photos.

I beg you, don't buy this mouse. Apple doesn't need the encouragement and they sure don't need the money (believe me, I give them enough).

Yes, I understand the seductive appeal. It's lovely when it works. It does fine with some apps. It's disastrous with other apps, esp. Google apps.

Apple has never made a good mouse. This is no exception. I think this explains why Jobs went to iOS (iPad, iPhone) -- he finally realized he's violently allergic to mice.

Buy a Microsoft mouse. They don't do very many things well, but they make great mice.

Even Andrew gave up on his Magic Mouse -- and he bleeds Apple.

I've gone back to using an ancient Microsoft RF mouse with scrollwheel. Maybe I'll buy a Bluetooth mouse, but for now this one works fine.