GregsHead.net » Apple

“Reader” Feature for Safari 5

Greg — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:15:24 +0000

Along with the announcement of the new iPhone on Monday (including a fantastic new design, Apple’s A4 processor for greater speed and battery life, and many other great features like the new FaceTime video calling), Apple also released Safari 5 (for Mac/Windows).

As is my wont, I updated all our computers as soon as I heard of the available update, and didn’t think much of it. I always assume most of the updates are bug fixes and/or security patches, which are of course beneficial. But this time, I also noticed a fun new feature: Reader.

Reader lets you view a web page (like this very one) with all of the extraneous content “stripped” away, allowing the viewer a more enjoyable “reading” experience. So, header, ads, sidebars… all of that is gone, and up pops a nicely formatted version of the article in a window that sits on top of the one you were just viewing.

Once you’re in Reader mode, if you scroll over the content, several buttons appear near the bottom of the window. There are the two magnifying glasses with the plus and minus (for zooming in and out), an envelope (for emailing the simply-formatted article, along with a link to the full version), and a printer icon (for printing this reader-friendly format). There is also a circle with an X, to exit the Reader mode.

To access the feature there is a handy little button that appears at the far right end of the address bar whenever a page has content that can be viewed in the “Reader”. The button says, “READER”. One click takes you to the new view.

Go ahead. Give it a try…

Now that you’re seeing this content in it’s purest, simplest form, you can just relax and enjoy reading all of the great content on the web—for example, you could start with a perusal of the archives of GregsHead.net, starting with any of the “Related articles” at the bottom of this post!

To exit the reader, click anywhere on the window, or click that READER button that got you to the simpler view to begin with.

A pretty neat new feature that I am going to give a go for a week or so. If it’s as usable as it seems… then I’ll be doing so for much more than a week!

Interesting take… Some are concerned that removing the ads and other extraneous stuff will limit the site owners’ money-making potential. However, once you see the feature, you’ll realize that first, you have to actually click the button to use this feature on EVERY single page you navigate to, and likewise, it’s completely a voluntary option—no way to make it the default.

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Apple Posts HTML5 Showcase

Greg — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:44:31 +0000

I just saw a link to a new section of Apple’s website, showcasing the power of HTML5, the next coding language for the web. It of course was named in Steve Job’s open letter to Adobe as one of the main reasons Apple is not using Adobe’s Flash on their portable devices. (Almost) All of that can be done via the features of HTML5.

It’s a pretty neat little overview/demo, even if you’re not in the business of making websites as I am. But, if you are, there’s a link there for more info for developers.

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“That’s alright, I have a Mac.”

Greg — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:47:35 +0000

Today I stopped at Staples to pick up a couple ink cartridges for my printer. I noticed a banner as I walked in advertising “Free PC Tune-Ups” but thought nothing of it, since I don’t have the “PC”s to which they refer.

Upon further entering the store however, I saw the giant Genius-Bar-like construct that now replaced more than half of where the ink cartridges previously resided. Impressive (however unoriginal) as it was, I really only needed to get my ink and leave. I did however, read the various signage as I slowly walked past … curiously pondering in my head why people put up with Windows and it’s numerous susceptibilities to viruses, spyware, and all forms of malware.

Having located and procured said ink cartridges, I proceeded to the checkout lane. After a speedy checkout process, the friendly sales associate asked me if I’d be interested in their free PC Tune-Up service, “to eliminate viruses, spyware, and help your computer run faster.”

Almost without thinking, I cordially replied, “That’s alright, I have a Mac.” I then, almost sheepishly added, “See?” and pointed her to the tiny Apple logo on my sleeve.

The best part was, she, being apparently aware of the commonly known immunity that Macs have to such things, rejoined, “Oh, great. Well, it’s a good service for those of us who don’t have Macs…”

I’m not quoting her exactly, I wish I could. But it wasn’t really her words that were so fitting, so telling. It was the way she said them. Without thinking, both of us had summed up one of the most clear distinctions between the two operating systems (Mac and Windows) and simultaneously revealed a strange enigma within our technological society: For some reason, we’re all OK with some people having computers that work, and a great number of us not having computers that work… even if they are the same price!*

That is just so very, very strange to me.

So, if you’re going to buy a computer … would you at least consider a Mac? And if not, well… sorry.

* Note… this price comparison was from 2006. I don’t have the time to re-do it, but I know from very recent experience that friends who buy (comparable) computers running Windows OS are spending as much or more than what they’d spend on a Mac. But why?

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Apple to Offer MobileMe Free?

Greg — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:03:18 +0000

According to MacDailyNews.com, Apple may make their $99/year MobileMe service a completely free service in the near future. They reported the following on May 7th:

We have received a tip that we cannot confirm, hence our “RUMOR” designation, that nonetheless has at least an air of credibility about it that says, “Apple is planning to make MobileMe free.”

They also said that, though there is no timeframe specified, it was said to be “sooner than later… depend[ing] on certain facilities going operational.”

CNET.com does not think the rumor to be very credible, however. (Though, the writer of the article does wish it to be true…)

I’m not sure what I think. I would love to see that. It’s really a very valuable service in so many ways. MacDailyNews did a good job listing all of the featured included. Aside from all the syncing features across all your devices (data across Macs, PCs, and iPod/iPhone/iPad devices, and from with multiple Mac apps) and file storage/sharing, it—in a way—lets you have the Mac OS, even on a PC. You get web versions of Apple’s Mail, iCal, Address Book, iPhoto (sort of…), and Finder.

If Apple did eliminate the cost (or at least lower the cost) that might interest more people who, I believe, just don’t know what they’re missing. I literally use nearly every service that comes with MobileMe. It would be super neato if it was free!

(You can quote me on that…)

So, we’ll keep watching the Apple news feeds.

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(A Very Brief) iPad Review

Greg — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:26:38 +0000

Last week we went up to our local Apple Retail Store and got to actually touch the new iPad!

And, yes… it was fantastic, as advertised.

I thought it might be fun to highlight a couple of things that I noticed and would say make the iPad worth the purchase. Certainly you may have a different list, or just disagree completely. But, without actually taking one home, here were my initial impressions/thoughts.

It’s Fast!
OK, I kept hearing everyone say this, but didn’t fully understand the hullabaloo as there aren’t really any Apple products that are slow. However, when you get into it and see how quickly everything launches, and that there is zero latency in how the stuff on the screen reacts to your contact with it … you understand. Apple took this part into their own hands by developing the 1 Ghz A4 chip to run their OS. They understand that what makes their stuff unique and great is that it, “just works.”

How It Felt
Clearly, it’s just an impressive device. When you see it, you can’t help but say, “Oooo.” That’s impressive to begin with, but then when you pick it up, it impresses further. Nice and thin, just about the perfect size for an handheld device (that doesn’t have a tiny screen or keyboard.) It was a tad heavier than I expected, actually, so that was a bit confusing to my brain. It was about the right size (height and width) and weight for a big hardcover book, but it was too thin to be a hardcover book!

Which leads me to the thing I liked best…

iBooks
I went in really wanting to see what books looked like and felt like on the iPad. I love the idea of digital books, but haven’t ever found a way that makes them enjoyable to see, read, and feel/touch. The iPad promised it would do that, and, I do believe it does. (Again, I have not actually used one, as I don’t own one yet. My opinion on this could change if I were to read a book or two on the iPad.)

The interface is just great. When you launch the iBooks app, you see a nice bookshelf with all your books there for you to choose from. Tap a book cover and you’re instantly in it, reading right where you left off. Check out the video at the top of this post (if you didn’t already) to see some of the other cool features.

The iBook store was very much like the iTunes store. Found some books fairly quickly, downloaded a sample of one, and was reading it within seconds. (Even on the store’s notoriously slow internet connection.)

I really think this is a big feature of the iPad and will perhaps do for (at least digital) books what iTunes/iPod did for music.

Camera?
The funniest thing I noticed was the spot for the camera, which is not currently a feature of the iPad. Yes, there was a tiny hole/space right where a camera would go on the top of the front of the device. So, perhaps they are already in there? But, likely they are just saving the spot for a future (maybe near future) upgrade of the hardware. Thought that was interesting.

Final thoughts
I didn’t play with iWork, movies, games, maps, web browsing (ok, did that a bit… even updated the software that runs this blog!) … so there is much more to explore, but, from what I did see, it’s certainly a device that will be used—and used often.

Think of the iPad as another device. It’s not going to replace the laptop, which has much more expandability (including the use of more pro-level apps like Photoshop and Final Cut, and even consumer apps like iPhoto). It’s not going to replace your iPhone (or other “smart phone”) because, well… it’s not a phone!

(Note, however, that after playing with the iPad, we remained in the store for a bit, and while waiting to talk with a friend there, both my wife and I saw the iPhones and snickered at the thought of doing what we were just doing on the iPad on the iPhone’s (now) super tiny screen…)

The iPad is a perfect computer for what we use computers for at home. And you can even bring it with you, if you want. It’s great for kids. It’s great for students (think of the possibilities for the iBookstore and textbooks, plus the whole iWork productivity suite for only $9.99). And it’s great for Mom/Dad, Grandma/Grandpa who aren’t comfortable with a computer, but might be with this multi-touch interface device.

I think it’s certainly a great first release. With Apple’s track record, there’s no doubt it will only get better. (Speaking of which, don’t forget that this is only the Wi-Fi model. The Wi-Fi + 3G models ship in a couple weeks.)

Final conclusion… if you have the extra $499-$829 to spend, you will not be disappointed!

Your thoughts are welcome… Do you have an iPad? Let me know what you think!

DISCLAIMER: Though I was previously employed and otherwise officially affiliated with Apple, Inc., I am currently in no way affiliated with Apple, nor compensated for this glowing endorsement. I just like their stuff!

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Where Do You Get Your News?

Greg — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:26:08 +0000

In the olden days, Grandpa would read the newspaper every morning to catch up on the latest local, national, and world news. Our parents’ generation tuned their TV sets to the national news from their favorite of the three broadcast networks: ABC, CBS, or NBC. (And of course, just before bed there was the local TV news at Eleven.)

But that’s changing. Or more accurately, has changed.

Cable news networks (starting with CNN) changed how news was delivered. Still using the old medium of the television, the difference was that news was now available 24-hours a day. We were beginning to have access to breaking news as it happened. (I am neglecting radio here. Radio was another medium that was perhaps “closer” to the news prior to cable news. But as this is not an “exhaustive report”, you’ll allow me some wiggle room, I’m sure…)

Once news was available like this, it sort of conditioned us for what the internet would bring us. Dubbed the “information superhighway”—and for a good reason—news is now available not just 24/7, but often directly from the source of the news. And from many sources.

Even better than that, the internet is open to everyone. Anyone can have a website, and now multimedia-rich websites (podcasts) so with so many sources, there can be very specific subject matter. (Like one show on a network, I suppose… but far more “networks” and “time slots”.)

Even better than that is the advent of RSS, a technology that delivers electronic news (article by article, media item by media item) almost like the paper boy brought the newspaper to our Grandpa’s step. It’s fantastic!

This means we can get exactly the news we want to read or hear. For example, I enjoy following the latest tech trends, specifically from Apple, Inc. So I do. As well as my favorite sports teams. And a few other things I like to follow.

As great as this is, the downside to this way of getting the news is that you miss the stories that the news editors would find and “rank” for us by their position in the news paper. While the obvious flaw of this method of distributing news is the influence of the editors biases, there still was at least a broader swath of news available this way.

And so sites like the Drudge Report arose, with links to the latest headlines. But since Matt Drudge (the guy who runs the site) is one person, he obviously is susceptible to the same biases that an editor of a newspaper or media station would have. Perhaps a team of writers like the Huffington Post would limit the influence of biases? Not in that case, as the person who assembled the team of writers has very clear biases. Even a site like Newsvine offers news written by you (with a splash of articles pulled from the Associated Press) but there are biases evident there as well.

So then there are sources like Google News and Yahoo News and other search engines that theoretically pull news from every source, robotically. Even culling “news” from the “blogs” (which are typically more like “opinion columns”) and mixing that in with results from more established, traditional news agencies.

I found a website today, NewsandJava.com, that pulls in the top headlines from just about every source—with every bias—that I know of (including all I have mentioned above, and more.) That seems like a pretty good place to read the morning’s news. It’s always good to hear from every side. The truth is usually—but not always—somewhere in the middle.

And I haven’t even mentioned the social networks. Now Twitter and Facebook (and a smattering of others) are just as likely a source of news (even the exclusive source) for many folks.

Where do you get your news? What sources do you trust? Is anyone still watching TV news for their main source of the daily news? Do you not even care at all?

I would really like to hear from you readers on this one, so leave your comments below!

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iPad: Coming April 3rd

Greg — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 22:57:15 +0000

I have received a couple promo emails from Apple today, and thought perhaps I’d pass it along here.

The iPad will be shipping April 3rd.

Some of you can’t wait. I am going to wait. I am excited to play with it, but I really think that this will be a bit like the iPhone, and version two will be much improved. Early adopters and tech lovers should definitely pick up the first gen edition (the one coming April 3rd…) but it’s not a bad idea to wait, either.

That said, I definitely know where I’ll be on Saturday, April 3rd.

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Fan Boy?

Greg — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 05:34:28 +0000

On the half-hour drive home from celebrating our daughter’s 6th birthday, we somehow remembered the famous Get A Mac ads that Apple has so brilliantly done for the past several years. I think it started with our oldest son and I quoting from one of them. Well, from there we remembered that the complete library of those ads is in fact stored on our iPod, so when the kids were asked if they’d like to watch them there was a resounding, “YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

So they did. All the way home!

Does that make us the ultimate “Fan boys?” I think it might.

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iPad: Apple’s Most “Magical” Device?

Greg — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:02:41 +0000

Well it is finally here. The long-awaited, oft-rumored Apple tablet. It’s called the iPad. (iPad? Is that really the best name for it?)

Though Apple calls this new gizmo “magical,” I must admit, I’m still not impressed.

I’ve never been one calling for the tablet. I just don’t get it. I don’t need such a device. Granted, it looks amazing, and seems like it’s a lot of fun… but I don’t need it. Why was/is there such a demand for this?

Some basics:

9.7″ display, Multi-touch interface
10-hour battery life
Mac OS and iPhone OS combined, runs iWork suite, iPhoto, Mail, iCal, iTunes, etc
Runs all applications from the App Store (for iPhone/iPod Touch)
iBook app (and store) for reading ebooks (akin to Amazon Kindle)
Wi-Fi and 3G models, from $499 to $829.
Unlimited data from AT&T for $29.99/mo. (Or other plans, incl. free Wi-Fi access at AT&T hotspots.)
DOES NOT have phone, camera, multi-tasking (using multiple apps at once)

So, one thing I will give them is the price. I think that’s lower than most people expected, and a tad lower than I did. A ton of functionality (including some accessories) and the great multi-touch interface, only better.

But I still don’t get it.

Check out the video demo at Apple’s site. (Maybe that will help me understand?)

The device will be available in 60 days (and 90 days for the 3G models).

I will at least be planning to test drive one at our local Apple store…

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Is The Apple Tablet Rumor About To Become Reality?

Greg — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 21:54:22 +0000

If you’ve followed this blog for very long, you know that I am a huge fan of all things Apple. In previous years (with fewer kids? fewer jobs?) I would follow the Apple rumor sites (like this one) and report diligently on the speculation of others, and even my own. (That was a pretty good one, actually… that I still think they will do… you just wait!)

Well, over all those years… a few rumors have persisted even though the rumored product or service never actually appeared. For example, the Apple phone was a long-rumored device before we were introduced to the iPhone in 2007. There are still a few unanswered rumors out there… the Beatles on iTunes… iTunes subscription service… my Apple TV… (OK, maybe that’s just my rumor.)

One that will apparently come true tomorrow is the verrrry long-awaited “Apple tablet” computer. It seems to be a perfect blend of laptop and iPhone, with the touch-screen interface and a super-portable design. Seems like it could be pretty amazing. (See leaked photo above…)

Tomorrow at 1PM ET (10AM PT, local time) Steve Jobs will be announcing the next great thing from Apple. I believe the Apple invite says, “Come see our latest creation.” Neat. I believe I will!

Follow along tomorrow at:
macrumorslive.com
live.gizmodo.com
engadget.com (probably… though can’t find direct link)

For a good “roundup” of the rumors, check out this article.

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