The About This Mac screen

This morning, Apple completely unexpectedly announced OS X Mountain Lion. The announcement was odd for two reasons. 1. Apple usually holds an event for these announcements. 2. Major versions of (Mac) OS X are usually released every three years. Lion was released to the public last summer.

As for the name? You heard it here first. Five whole months ago, I predicted that the next major version of OS X would be named Mountain Lion. And what better day to find out I was right than today  yesterday (my birthday)?

Edit: I began writing this review on the 16th; my birthday, and the date of the announcement. However, I published the post a little under an hour late – on the 17th. Most of the post is intended to be read in the context of the announcement date as opposed to that of the publishing date.

Finally, my apologies for the nearly three-month hiatus I’ve taken from blogging. I’ve been busy playing Glitch. It’s fun. You should try it. Furthermore, there really just hasn’t been much to discuss lately. However, I have much additional content planned for the [very] near future, so I think I’ll more than make up for it.

Now, on to the actual review. For this review, I’ve upgraded my MacBook Air from 10.7.3 to the Developer Preview (I haven’t tested it thoroughly yet, but some apps indeed don’t work, and I wouldn’t recommend using it outside a test environment simply because it’s pre-release software; besides, I’m testing its suitability for day-to-day use so you don’t have to ).

The testing system: my trusty MacBook Air!

On first glance, Mountain Lion isn’t all that different from its predecessor. In fact, take a look at the desktop (click for a full-size view).

A 10.8 Desktop: Look familiar?

As a matter of fact, the only obvious difference from Snow Leopard is that little target icon in the upper-right corner, where the Spotlight icon (which is now immediately to its left) used to be.

Before we get into what the little target icon actually is, let’s summarize some of Mountain Lion’s major features: Messages, Notification Center, Game Center, Reminders, Safari 5.2, and Gatekeeper, just to name a few.

The target icon is for Notification Center, which, much like its iOS counterpart, and the name itself, suggest, is intended as a central place to view notifications.

When clicked, the target icon will display Notification Center, which is currently limited to Apple’s own apps. Third-party apps will most likely need to be updated using the new SDK in order to support new notifications. As iOS already had notifications, that just underwent a style change in iOS 5, no developer intervention was required. However, since OS X never had an official notification system, apps will require modification (and will hopefully move away from Growl, which has since become yet another example of Sonyfication, a topic I plan to revisit [again] in the near future).

Notification Center in Mountain Lion can be configured using options extremely similar to those available in iOS.

As in iOS, notifications have two styles, Banners, and Alerts. However, while these notifications look completely different in iOS, the two look fairly similar in OS X, with the only major difference being in their behavior: banners slip out of view on their own; alerts require confirmation.

This is a Banner (if the text of the message that caused the notification didn’t make it clear enough)

Above is an example of a Banner, triggered by the Messages app (which will be another main point of my review – covered shortly).

And this is an Alert

Next up: Messages.

Apple’s new Messages app apparently serves as a replacement of sorts for the old iChat app. It now supports Apple’s own iMessage service, as well as a couple of other instant messaging services.

However, this review will focus solely on the iMessage functionality of the app. For the purposes of this review, I’ll be sending messages to myself, on the same Apple ID, using my Air on one end, and my iPad on the other. As a result, all messages will seem to echo. Note that under usual circumstances, this would not happen.

An iMessage conversation. With myself.

You can also add media to iMessages (to do so, drag an image into the message text box). And as expected with iMessage, read receipts, as well as delivery and typing notifications are also present.

Interestingly enough, the emoji didn’t show up on my iPad. They showed up as the text “:-)”

I’ve been wanting iMessage on the Mac since it’s been introduced to iOS. But it does have one rather annoying and major flaw: its behavior when the app is closed.

This is all you’re getting

If the Messages app is closed, the only indication you’re given is the little red bubble on the app icon; assuming, of course, you have it in your Dock. Is that really expected to get my attention? Obviously, some push service is running in the background to activate that little red bubble, so why not give me a notification, like the ones I’m presented when the app is open? If notifications are to be truly useful, as they are on iOS, they need to be able to notify you even when an app isn’t open. Now I do realize something here: Messages is a chat/IM client, and most software of that type does have to be open in order to notify you of new messages. However, Messages and Notification Center take cues from iOS, and the expected iOS behavior is to provide notifications, even if the app is not running. Besides, the infrastructure already exists. Just make the push service trigger something a little more… substantial.

Moving on to Gatekeeper. Gatekeeper is a new security feature in Mountain Lion intended to protect the user from malicious software. It allows the user to allow only software from the Mac App Store to run (similar to how iOS devices work), software from the Mac App Store and Apple’s new developer identification program, and then the option that represents the way things have always worked: the option that allows the user to run everything.

If the option is changed to one of the other options, software that has not been signed with an Apple-provided certificate will not run (unless the application has always been run before, in which case it is “grandfathered in” and will run anyway).

If one attempts to run such software, they are greeted with this somewhat intimidating message:

I will personally keep this feature disabled.

Also in OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion is Safari 5.2, which brings with it a few interesting features.

Perhaps the most obvious is that it ditches separate address and search bars in favor of a combined bar in the spirit of Chrome’s Omnibar.

Justin Bieber, in my search bar? Gross…

Also among Safari 5.2′s new features is Twitter integration, once again, much in the style of its mobile counterpart (Tweet Sheets, as they are called, are also available in a few other apps, and will most likely be accessible to third-party apps via the SDK).

Also worthy of mention are the following changes:

1. The address bar will now highlight the domain of the URL, and lighten the remaining parts.

2. The Reader button is ever-present, even when not available for use.

3. Rather annoyingly, tabs will span the width of the window… even if there are only one or two. Looks a little tacky if you ask me.

Features I have not covered in this review include AirPlay mirroring (which is once again something I’ve always thought the Mac should have; and pushes me ever so slightly closer to considering an Apple TV, although I think I’ll still hold out for apps), Reminders, Notes, and Game Center. As I do not have an Apple TV, I won’t cover AirPlay mirroring. As Reminders, Notes, and Game Center are almost painfully identical to their iOS counterparts (furthermore, all but Game Center are painfully simple and borderline useless; and Game Center doesn’t do much thus far, for lack of compatible games), I’ll mention them briefly in passing; however, they do not really merit much attention.

Reminders: It’s that built-in to-do list app you may or may not have always wanted

Reminders in Mountain Lion is basically the same as its iOS version, sans the really cool geofence feature. And without that, it’s generally a really basic to-do list app. I’ll most likely never use it, but I do give it props for looking cool.

Notes: Noteworthy, or not?

Snazzy-looking? Yep. Useful? Debatable. On iOS, Notes is a useful app. The user generally doesn’t want to mess around with files and their organization on a handheld device, so a note-taking app with its own internal database works there. But on the Mac, there already exists TextEdit. Do we really need this? Apple’s site mentions a feature that allows you to “pin notes to the desktop.” Not exactly. You still have to have the app running for them to show up, and they still retain the basic appearance of app windows, complete with the stoplight buttons.

Finally, of what are the three most seemingly direct iOS ports, the most significant: Game Center.

Just like Reminders and Notes, Game Center looks like a blown-up version of its small-screen sibling. And for now, serves the exclusive purpose of displaying games and achievements from those small-screened siblings. While Game Center’s cross-platform nature is its greatest strength, until it’s improved upon, in both its iOS and Mac forms, I don’t really see it altering my Mac/iOS gaming experience. Its use is somewhat limited as compared to something like Xbox Live. However, it would most likely be best to wait to pass full judgment on the OS X version of Game Center until games that support it are available (which most likely will be after Mountain Lion’s release this summer).

In conclusion, Mountain Lion is a minor release mostly similar to its predecessor. Notifications and Messages will most certainly be the most significant attractions, if Apple can work out the kinks. With the summer deadline they’ve given, they’ve got more than enough time to do so. The question is, can they polish these features enough to make their new “minor-ish major release every year” release schedule attractive to users and developers? Only time will tell.

Today, Glitch has announced that it’s “unlaunching.” That is, they are returning to a beta stage. As an end-user, and as a developer who understands (at least to some small extent) his responsibilities to the end user (oh, and let’s not forget, a huge fan of Glitch), I figure I have a few things to say about this.

Before I begin, let me make one thing clear: I am not comparing Tiny Speck (the developers of Glitch) to Sony, or to Spotify. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Tiny Speck, and nothing but the utmost of loathing for Sony and Spotify. Tiny Speck is not doing this unreleasing of Glitch for profit, but to make the world of Ur a better place (unlike Sony and Spotify, who clearly performed their actions as a malicious act of greed). I applaud their motive, but I’m worried that the results may still be disastrous. So I’m not entirely confident that the term Sonyfication is appropriate here. However, for lack of a better term, it’s what I’m using.

Quoted below is my comment on the Glitch forum topic on the issue, verbatim, and in its entirety (but with some formatting added):

I’m going to add myself to the list of “please no reset” people. As much as I’ve always wanted the honor of “being in the beta” and getting a pickle and all that jazz, I’ve realized something. None of that will make up the 99 hours I’ve devoted to accomplishing stuff in the last three-ish weeks. I’ve more or less renounced real life in favor of spending more time on Glitch, although if I lose all I’ve got on here, I may not come back. I feel really sorry for those who are up at levels 50-60. The amount of time they’ve had to spend doing rather menial tasks in the game (I’m looking at you mining) is incomprehensible to me. The previous resets (while I can’t actually speak for those who had to deal with them, as I had not yet signed up) made sense. If people sign up knowing it’s in beta, then they sign up expecting the worst. However, many people, myself included, signed up after this period, and expected smooth sailing (I’ve written about this kind of thing before; companies like Sony and Spotify have promised features then later removed them, in an act I’ve termed “Sonyfication”). While I’m a developer myself, and certainly acknowledge the fact that software can have bugs after launch, as I am also an end-user, I realize my responsibilities toward the end-user as a developer (e.g. making it a priority to cause as little disturbance to users as possible when there are indeed bugs).

One possible solution (I realize I’ve never developed anything on as large a scale as Glitch; so correct me if I’m wrong on this) would be something like what Chrome does. Have a “stable channel” (e.g. Glitch as it is now), and a “beta channel.” Then, completely informing them of the possible repercussions (resets included), allow them to opt into the “beta channel.”

That said, and to attempt to end on a somewhat positive note, I’m glad to see that things like housing and the ability for more player control over the world are being addressed. Remove the ability for players to kill each other by splank fight, and I think Glitch has the opportunity to become the perfect game (the lack of violence as a core gameplay element is key, in my opinion, and I applaud Tiny Speck for making such strides in this arena; also, I realize that the term “perfect” is subjective). For what it’s worth, I’m not offended by or opposed to violent games. It’s just not my cup of tea.

You already posted that there. Why repost it here?

A couple of reasons. First is visibility. My comment will quickly be buried in that forum post. Here, it will remain at the utmost level of visibility for, at the very least, the better part of a month. Second, is out of my respect for Tiny Speck. The Glitch forums are theirs, not mine. I have a bit more I’d like to say on the topic than what I said there, but I respect that the Glitch forums are their home turf, so I’ll instead post the extended version here.

So I’ve always wished I were in the Glitch beta, as I felt, until today, that in order to really be part of the community, it’s a prerequisite. Furthermore, and partially for the same reason, I’ve always wanted the Special Item That Only Beta Testers Get (aka Señor Funpickle). However, what I never really gave much serious thought, is that sure the pickle says you were in the beta. But that’s not much of a real accomplishment. It’s actually just a stroke of luck, being in the right place at the right time. What really struck me in light of this was my reconsideration of a Glitch who was level 59 for as long as I could remember, then finally accomplished reaching level 60 (by comparison, I’ve attained level 30 at the time of this writing), and another Glitch who was in the beta, but has only attained level 8. Let’s assume the level 60 Glitch wasn’t in the beta. Still, it’s obvious as to which one was more devoted to the game. So really, a special item doesn’t properly make up for resetting one’s level, as it isn’t an accurate indicator of the amount of effort and time one has put into the game. Upon giving this some consideration, my advice to Tiny Speck would be to provide an additional piece of information on each player’s profile, stating “Pre-Reset Level: [level number].”

In addition to level number, the other thing I’m most concerned about is cubimal collections. I’ve, admittedly, only recently started collecting cubimals (for those who do not play Glitch, just know that a cubimal is a collectible in-game item, often of excruciatingly high value). However, I have a little over half the different kinds of cubimals in my collection (sadly, the more common half of the cubimal spectrum, in general). Of these, a couple were obtained from Cubimal Boxes, and the rest were obtained by trading with other players. This is cause for alarm. What if, after post-reset, these other players are no longer able to trade cubimals at the same prices I paid for them the first time?

At this time, I’d like to reiterate the ultimate moral of this post: the responsibility of developers toward users. Especially after launching my first paid iOS app, I’ve learned some of these responsibilities quite well. Like see that “App Support” link up top? In my opinion, it’s unnecessary clutter. It’s also the first time that my blog contains content that I don’t really want. But Apple requires that I offer a support page (maybe in the future, I’ll create a support page separate from my blog), so I have to put it there. Returning to Glitch, the subject of this discussion, I understand the previous resets. As far as I am aware, it was made quite clear to users that they were part of a beta, and that there would be resets. However, for those of us now, who signed up to what we thought was a finished product, the ethics of the situation have changed. A beta was not what we signed up for. Stuff like resets wasn’t part of the deal. So I leave Tiny Speck with this challenge: No more resets, please. And I do understand that you’re working for the good of the community (and I’m deeply sorry that I had to mention the likes of Sony and Spotify in this post along with the good guys). Even if you do have to perform a reset in the course of this (and I’d also like to remind the reader at this point that they said it’s extremely unlikely, and to apologize for my “the sky is falling” tone), I won’t lose any respect for you. Will it perhaps preclude my return after such a hypothetical reset? Yes. But that’s more so my fault than theirs. I simply can’t bring myself to spend the many hundreds of hours to get back to where I was. Ultimately, Glitch is a free game, and I suppose Tiny Speck doesn’t really have an obligation to go out of their way to avoid a reset. But I challenge them to go above and beyond what’s expected, as they’ve already more than proven that they can, and to ensure a seamless user experience by avoiding a reset. I have faith in them, and until some terrible reset comes, I shall continue to play Glitch in every possible minute I can find.

A little back story. Way back in June, I released version 1.0 of a tic-tac-toe Windows app. It only supported a two-player mode. At the time of release, I suggested that I may write a version 2.0, that will include support for playing against the computer. I finished that version only a couple of days after releasing the first version, and, as I said, have been waiting to release it.

I’m glad I did. Recently, I’ve learned Objective-C. Meaning now I can release version 2.0 for both Windows and Mac. Both versions support the ability to play against the computer.

The Mac version

I believe it will only run on Lion, but it should be capable of running in 32-bit or 64-bit mode (probably should’ve taken a better look at the build settings).

Download: http://justindaigle.com/files/ttt2mac.zip

The Windows version

Requires .NET Framework 2.0. If you could run the first version, you can run this one.

Download: http://justindaigle.com/files/ttt2win.zip

 No, I have no plans to release a Linux version. Ever. Okay, maybe if Linux ever actually attains a decent level of market share… although I guess that’s still never.

I do, however, intend to release an iOS version. It will have features not in the Mac or Windows versions, and will cost $0.99. It’ll be a universal app, and I hope to have it in the App Store by the end of next month.

People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.

- Steve Jobs, November 30, 2003

I know everyone else has already posted this same video, but there’s a reason for that. Amazingly inspiring speech.

It’s a given that Apple is going to announce a new iPhone tomorrow (October 4). Nobody doubts that. But for the last couple of months, I’ve been following this insane barrage of conflicting rumors that we’ll have an iPhone 5 with a four-inch screen, LTE, and even the kitchen sink; or that we’ll have an iPhone 4S with an A5 and a better camera. Or, we’ll have both. Or, we’ll have both, as well as a continuation of the iPhone 4. Or, as MacRumors has posted today, we’ll have all of this, in addition to the continuation of the iPhone 3GS. Most ridiculous of all, there are now rumors that the iPhone 5 will be exclusive to Sprint. It seems that these rumors have reached a fever pitch today, with all the sane rumors fading out in favor of the most absurd. So I thought I’d try to bring back the sanity by clarifying what will most likely happen tomorrow, going through some of the major rumors one by one, and providing my reasoning behind why a given outcome is to be expected.

Steve Jobs will not do tomorrow’s keynote.

We all want to see Steve Jobs perform tomorrow’s keynote. Let’s face it – he’s the best presenter in the world, and there will never be another like him. Furthermore, Steve Jobs was Apple. Without Steve, there will be no Apple. At least, that’s what most people, myself included, tend to believe. And that’s exactly why Steve will not do tomorrow’s keynote. Apple has to show us that we’re wrong on this, and that Apple can continue to exist without Steve. Tim Cook will be the major figure at tomorrow’s keynote, to better position him in the public view as a capable leader.

Sprint will not gain iPhone 5 exclusivity.

I shouldn’t even have to explain this one. One of today’s rumors says that the iPhone 5 will initially be exclusive to Sprint, and that AT&T and Verizon will meanwhile be stuck with the 4S. Sprint, as compared to the likes of AT&T and Verizon, is a relatively minor carrier. Why would Apple commit suicide by placing the fate of the iPhone in Sprint’s hands and turning their back on their already enormous consumer base? They won’t. This is just Sprint coming out in the open about their wet dream, and nothing more. Apple would never ditch the two largest carriers in the US in favor of a smaller one.

The iPhone 4S will be the only iPhone announced tomorrow.

Perhaps the most pesky next-gen iPhone rumor is that the redesigned iPhone 5 will have a bigger screen. Two things:

A. The iPhone always has had, and always will have, a 3.5-inch screen. While up until 2010, there was nothing to ensure this, there is now the iPad. The primary difference between the iPad and the iPhone is screen size. Apple wants owners of iPhones to also purchase iPads. How do you make sure this happens? Keep the devices radically different. And since screen size is the only real difference, it will remain so. If Apple gave the “iPhone 5″ a 4 or 4.5-inch screen, it would then become satisfactory for many of the iPad’s purposes (books, full-time web browsing, productivity, HD video). The iPhone 5 would then begin to cannibalize iPad sales. While I would still purchase a hypothetical upcoming iPad 3 after owning this hypothetical big-screen iPhone 5, I am not the average consumer. I’m an Apple geek. I blog about Apple, and code for Apple’s platforms. I need a large range of Apple devices to do these things well. If Apple makes it, I have to have it. The average consumer… not so much. They buy a device that meets their needs, and most likely won’t buy an overlapping device.

B. Screen size aside, there will not be a redesigned iPhone 5. It will be the iPhone 4S. Notice that there have been no leaks of parts for a redesigned iPhone 5. All the parts indicate an iPhone 4S. Furthermore, the name has even appeared in recent iTunes betas. As much as I’d like an iPad 2-like design for an iPhone 5, what motivation would Apple have to do this? Once again, Apple still wants to sell iPads, and wants the iPhone and the iPad to remain differentiated.

The iPhone 4S will basically be as the more sane rumors have described it.

It’s more or less a given now that the iPhone 4S will have a dual-core A5 processor, as seen in the iPad 2, and an eight-megapixel camera. It will keep the design of the iPhone 4. I’d also say that Assistant is more or less a sure thing. However, Assistant won’t be this huge revolution everyone’s making it out to be. Remember how much Apple hyped up FaceTime, saying it’s the future of calling? Now, how many people actually use FaceTime, apart from trying it out when they first get a device that supports it? Assistant will be the same thing. It’ll be cool. It might even work well. But nobody’s really going to use it much because the way we interact with our phones today works and works well, and speech recognition just really isn’t as great as people make it out to be.

Perhaps more debatable is network support for the iPhone 4S. I can see the world phone thing from two different sides. From one viewpoint, you have the fact that Apple would just have to manufacture one model. From the other, you have the fact that most iPhones sold are still carrier-locked (and the carriers will never have it any other way), so it still doesn’t carry any other real benefits. LTE’s not gonna happen though. I believe only five US cities have it on AT&T. The technology simply isn’t widespread enough to be of any real value. Furthermore, it’s still too much of a battery whore. Until new, more efficient, LTE chipsets are out (supposedly next year), Apple won’t put it in an iPhone. Plus, about that time, LTE may be widespread enough to be of some actual use.

Then we have HSPA+. I’m expecting it. Why? I guess it’s because why shouldn’t I? HSPA+ is far more widespread than LTE (in fact, the town I live in, which is by no means significant in any respect, has it). 3G is getting a bit slow to do a few things, and with iCloud about to be released, more speed certainly helps Apple provide a better experience with their devices and services. Plus, as far as I know, HSPA+ is far less of a battery whore than its LTE cousin.

The lineup will be as follows: 8GB iPhone 4, 16GB and 32GB iPhone 4S.

I’ve already explained why Apple will not be releasing an iPhone 5. The next thing to answer is why the 3GS will be no more. I myself am a 3GS owner, and trust me when I say it’s beginning to grow long in the tooth. It’s running iOS 4.3.3, and it’s starting to get pretty slow. No doubt iOS 5 will make this even worse. Not only will Apple not want to sell a device that feels slow (seriously, that’s Android’s thing), but it’s inevitable that the 3GS will not support iOS 6 next year. And Apple won’t want to be selling a device that won’t be able to run the OS announced the day after it’s finally discontinued for good. Anyone remember Windows XP, that really old OS that just won’t go away? If Apple kept the 3GS around any longer, it would be Apple’s XP. It would be something supported far past its useful life.

I hope this helps sort out the endless stream of iPhone rumors that have been going around. I know I didn’t touch on things like NFC (but really, read the bit on LTE and apply the same reasoning), and I know it’s possible that I could be wrong, but I’m reasonably sure of everything I’ve written here. Go ahead and bet on it. As for me, if Apple allows pre-orders tomorrow, I will be pre-ordering my iPhone 4S promptly. 

Edit: Apparently I had more to say on this topic than I thought I did.

A few minutes before I began writing this, a person I follow on Twitter (@arkon) suggested that OSX will soon become iOS. And this is by no means an original thought; it’s a fairly widespread rumor, which is why I now feel the need to debunk it.

I’m not saying these rumors have no basis; the incorporation of many iOS-like features into Lion would indeed seem to suggest such a merger of OSX and iOS. I’m simply going to provide the other side of the story, reasoning why such a thing won’t happen.

The conversation went something like this:

@justindaigle: Leopard -> Snow Leopard. Who wants to bet we’ll go from Lion to Mac OS X 10.8, Mountain Lion?

@arkon: @justindaigle More like Lion Cub.

@justindaigle: @arkon Your reasoning behind that is…?

@arkon: @justindaigle I’m kidding, since it doesn’t seem like it’ll be very powerful, but instead move more towards the simple iOS-like stuff.

@justindaigle: @arkon OSX will never “become iOS.” My explanation’s too long for Twitter, but too short for a blog post, unfortunately.

Ultimately, I’m not satisfied with any solutions between a tweet and a blog post, so I’ll go ahead and explain it here.

Why will OSX never become iOS?

Simple. If OSX became iOS, we wouldn’t have a development environment for either.

Consider how iOS development is done. One obtains a developer subscription from Apple, then develops the application in Xcode on a Mac, then installs the application on his developer device(s).

But what if one doesn’t have a developer subscription, and wants to test the waters of iOS development (using an Apple-provided solution; obviously, the better solution is to bypass the need for a developer subscription by jailbreaking)?

The developer (assuming for the purposes of this post that the developer in question does not jailbreak) would then use the iOS Simulator.

Okay, so where are you going with this?

As it stands, the Apple-endorsed solution for testing iOS code without a developer subscription is the iOS Simulator. What would happen if OSX were indeed to merge with iOS, as the rumors in question suggest? There goes the ability to practice Mac development. If you had to purchase a developer subscription to develop Mac apps, how would you try out Mac development first? Using a Mac Simulator? But what would be the point of simulating a device on that very device? My point is that unless Apple radically changes their policies on iOS development (which they probably never will), it would be completely unreasonable to merge OSX and iOS. As long as the iOS development system remains as it is, iOS (along with its development processes) and OSX, while built on the same Darwin core, will remain radically different operating systems.

Developer tools are a requirement for any mainstream operating system. An operating system is only useful if it can run third-party software. If Apple did indeed plan for Macs to run iOS, this would mean that they would have to allow Xcode for iPad, along with the ability to build and run apps created with it on-device. As Macs would be “just another iOS device,” Apple would have no reason not to at that point. As much as I dream of Xcode for iPad (and Apple’s current “PC-free” ethos being promoted with iOS 5 would seem to support this, as they stated that many people are choosing to buy iOS devices without owning any other computer), I just can’t see Apple ever doing this. I don’t think Apple is going to give up the $99/year fee, or the App Store as the sole iOS application distribution platform. Ultimately, merging OSX and iOS would require Apple to allow the execution of unsigned code on both platforms. While this is the way it’s always been on the Mac side, doing so on the iOS side would require that Apple allow what happens on the Mac side (applications distributed by means other than the App Store) to happen on the iOS side. And believe me, if it were allowed to happen, it would happen. At first, I was somewhat perplexed at the lackluster adoption of the Mac App Store. But developers simply don’t want to fork over 30% of their profits to Apple, and if given another option, they generally will take it. I suppose Apple always has the option of requiring a developer subscription to develop and test Mac apps at all, but I highly doubt this will ever happen. First of all, the enterprise would be extremely unhappy. Many firms have thousands of computers, and if a larger one were suddenly required to have provisioning profiles for every Mac in their organization, just to run apps that for any reason must remain in-house (whether because they contain sensitive internal information; or because the application, while absolutely necessary to the organization, would not be approved for the App Store), an incredibly over-complex situation would result. Furthermore, some developers (like Adobe) will never hand over 30% of each sale to Apple, because it would simply be too much of a loss. And no Photoshop on OSX… err, Macs running iOS, would cause a lot of Mac users, myself included, to seek an alternative platform. So ultimately, if Apple would ever merge OSX and iOS, making Macs just another iOS device, they would be faced with two extremely undesirable options: making OSX more closed, or making iOS more open. And while it seems this is where things are headed, Apple has ultimately come as close to this goal as they possibly can without having to make this incredibly difficult choice.

In summary, Macs will always be Macs, and iDevices will always be iDevices. 

That product is the Apple TV.

I’ve already criticized this product almost a year ago, however as the time for a refresh, or as I’ve read on MacRumors this morning, no refresh, comes nearer, I’ve decided it’s probably time to discuss it again, and to discuss why it isn’t living up to its full potential.

The most prominent rumor that currently exists is that the Apple TV won’t get a hardware refresh this year. This goes against previous rumors that it would be getting an A5.

Why does it matter that the Apple TV won’t be getting an A5?

Big-screen gaming takes a lot of horsepower. This more or less confirms that the Apple TV won’t be getting an App Store any time soon.

This is an example of the classic fable of the tortoise and the hare. You know, the one where the tortoise challenges the hare to a race, the hare quickly advances past the tortoise in the race, then grows over-confident and proceeds to take a nap, only to wake up and find that the tortoise has won.

While it may not seem like much, this children’s story paints a perfect picture of the TV set-top box market.

Apple is accepting the fact that it’s “winning” the set-top box market, so they’ve simply decided that they’re not even going to try to accomplish anything further. They’re doing better than everyone else, for now, so they’re happy that their product is the best, even though it isn’t really even good.

As an example of by how much Apple is currently ahead in this market, returns of one of its competitors, the Logitech Revue, have actually exceeded its sales this quarter.

However, while the hare sleeps, I expect the tortoise to make its comeback.

Here’s why.

The Logitech Revue is a flop for two reasons:

A. Its exorbitant price tag ($249).

B. It does the exact same stuff the Apple TV does. Just like everyone else in this situation, when two products do the exact same thing, I’ll go with the Apple option, especially when it’s quite a bit less than half the price of the alternative.

However, Google TV/the Revue is stepping up its game. They’re slashing the price of the device to $99 (the same as that of the Apple TV), and bringing an app platform to it. And an app platform (primarily for gaming) is exactly what people want. The current consoles suck (see my last post), and the market’s ripe for the picking, by a new kind of “console,” one that isn’t designed explicitly for gaming, but does it as an auxiliary function. The era of FPS after FPS after FPS is over. People are ready for the rise of casual gaming on the TV, as has already been seen on the smartphone and tablet platforms. Ultimately, this is the finish line in the metaphorical race of the tortoise and the hare.

So hasn’t the Roku won the race? It brings Angry Birds to the big screen.

Don’t kid yourself. Yes, the Roku brings Angry Birds to the big screen, and as much as I’ve used that as the example of what people (myself included) want to do, that really made me rethink what I want. Yes, I want Angry Birds on the big screen, but if that’s the only thing I can do, I’ll finish it pretty quickly, and then have nothing to do with the device for the two months until the next update. What we really need is a proven application platform (therefore the only real potential competitors are Apple and Google) on the big screen (hopefully including Angry Birds). Unfortunately, Apple seems to be resting on their laurels here and not acknowledging what they could unleash on the Apple TV platform. Then again, Steve Jobs did call it a “hobby,” and maybe he doesn’t want it to become anything more than that.

What of AirPlay mirroring?

It’s a glorified VNC client. No really, it is. Okay, so it’s not technically using the VNC platform, but why wait for iOS 5? Just install Veency on your iPad and port a VNC viewer to the Apple TV, and you have AirPlay mirroring. It’s not the same thing, but it does the same thing. Yet AirPlay does sound kinda stupid when its significance is compared to such a simple hacked-together solution, doesn’t it? Plus, this raises the price of the Apple TV from $100 to $600, considering you need an iPad 2 to use it. Yes, I have an iPad 2, but I want to run its apps on the device they were designed for, not on my TV. The only solution here is native apps.

So who wins the race?

The tortoise, of course. The Apple TV might be a vast expanse of space ahead of Google TV products such as the Revue now, but with the Revue’s new-found lower price tag, along with the promise of the Android Market within a couple of months, all while Apple puts no real effort into improving the Apple TV, the status quo isn’t going to last.

Android Market? Yuck.

Yes, I know. But Java apps are better than no apps, and Angry Birds is Angry Birds, regardless of the language it’s been ported to.

Still, it’s quite unlike you to be critical of Apple. Why the change of heart?

It isn’t a change, it’s a one-off thing. I still have a general dislike of Android, but I still have to respect its occasional merits.

You should really be asking, “It’s quite unlike Apple to rest on their laurels. Why the one-off change of principles?”

Look at the iPad. It dominated, and still dominates, the tablet market. Yet Apple didn’t stop with the original. They brought out the iPad 2, with a dual-core A5 processor, significantly thinner and lighter form, and dual cameras, while still managing to deliver the same excellent battery life. I bought both the original iPad and the iPad 2, yet I’m still not sold on the Apple TV, and at this rate, never will be.

I guess the difference is that not only was the iPad the best product in its class, relatively speaking, it was also an awesome product, absolutely speaking (as is the iPad 2). The Apple TV, on the other hand, while currently the best in its class, relatively speaking, is a lackluster product, absolutely speaking. Apple said it’s only a “hobby,” and they’ve made that not only their goal, but their limit, for the product.

So a few weeks back, my Xbox 360 failed with the Red Ring of Death – strike one, your product sucks.

The Xbox 360 has a hardware failure rate of slightly over fifty percent. I dunno how anyone finds this sort of thing acceptable, but it’s easily the highest failure rate ever of any gaming console.

I called my friend up and had him try to fix it. However, he couldn’t get it to work again. He later told me I can get MS to fix it for free. So I ship off my Xbox (using packing materials that cost me nearly $20), expecting to have it repaired. I thought it was admirable of MS to offer a three-year extended warranty on the consoles, until I realized they’ll try to get out of it by any means necessary. I proceed to get an e-mail (well actually two e-mails for some reason) informing me that they’ve detected tampering with the console and won’t repair it.

So I call up their tech support to try to get them back in line. I tell them that I know someone who had also attempted to have my friend repair his 360, and MS serviced it anyway. They called BS on this, even though I’m completely sure my friend was telling the truth. They then proceed to pitch me on some $120 out-of-warranty repair service. They seriously think I’m dumb enough to be paying $120 for something I’m supposed to be getting for free. As if this wasn’t outrageous enough, I only paid $80 for the console. Yeah, people complain about Apple being pricey, but Microsoft are a bunch of outright scam artists. Okay, I give up on getting my console serviced. If you want to be a bunch of thinkheaded douchebags, so be it. Strike two, your service sucks.

Remember that I paid almost $20 for the materials I had to ship the thing off in. I thought it was a worthy investment, because I expected MS to actually service my Xbox. I proceed to demand that they refund me this money, as it was obviously a complete and total bust. I spent $20 for nothing. Once again, they refuse. Strike three. You can’t even make basic amends to your customers.

Anyway, MS sent me a survey a few days back, and I’m quite glad I waited until today to answer it. I forgot to mention in it, that this was by far the worst tech support experience of my life. Wait times of an hour or more? I can deal with it. Foreign accent I can’t understand without hearing the statement repeated a million times? I can deal with it. Treat your customer like crap and tell him “Screw you and your investment in a console, its accessories, and the many games you have for it”? I can’t deal with it.

As far as I know, the jobs of these people depend on answers to surveys like those. I put in highly negative answers fully well knowing that the customer support representative will probably lose his job, and I feel absolutely no remorse about this. If he chances to read this, I offer him this advice. Tech support (or any job where you deal with customers) isn’t the job for you. Until you learn that age-old motto, “The customer is always right,” you won’t last five minutes in such a setting. Harsh, yes. True, also yes.

Not like it matters, since I don’t have the money for a game console anyway, but all the current consoles suck and I give up on the concept for now. I’ll wait for a new player (cough cough Apple… please?) to enter the game console market. The Xbox 360 is a poorly made POS, and the PS3 steals people’s credit cards. I think there’s some third console on the market, but its general unimpressiveness causes me to always forget about it.

The moral of this story is that you shouldn’t buy a Microsoft product. They don’t care about the customer. At all.

Also, thanks to comex for creating the jailbreak, and thanks to the leakers for putting it in our hands.

Followed by a “screw you” to comex for disabling the jailbreak, forcing me to spend hours coming up with these hacks.

A quick edit, so the comments don’t get flooded with the crap I’ve seen on other sites that discuss the leaks: No, I’m not removing the links. Hate on me all you want, the links aren’t going anywhere. If you proceed to ask, I will ridicule your inability to read, and troll you incessantly.

Edit, again: I actually removed the links. Why? The official JailbreakMe 3.0 is out now, and there’s no reason to use these beta files anymore.

Okay, now for a few assumptions. First, I assume you have access to an Ubuntu install (or any other Linux you can stick Apache on). Second, I assume you can obtain (by any means) Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 (or know how to set up a DNS server on Linux; I don’t). However, these directions will assume you’re using Ubuntu for the web server portion, and Windows Server 2008/2008 R2 for the DNS portion.

1. Go into Synaptic Package Manager in Ubuntu and install the apache2 package.

2. Assign a static IP to your Ubuntu box.

You can do this by clicking the network management icon at the top of the screen, selecting Edit Connections, and double-clicking the interface you want to configure.

If you’re like me and don’t have an Ubuntu box lying around, you can also do all of this in VMWare. Just make sure the VM has access to a bridged network connection, so that it has direct access to the network along with its own IP.

3. Download these files: [files removed, see above]

Assuming you’re on Ubuntu, with Apache 2′s default documents path at /var/www, do the following after extracting the files, since you have to be root to deal with that folder. This assumes you extracted the archive to the default folder of /[pathtoarchive]/www.

sudo su

Enter password when prompted.

cd /[pathtoarchive]

Where [pathtoarchive] is the path where the folder you just extracted (probably named “www”) is located.

cd www

It is very important that only the contents of this folder are moved to the document root (/var/www), NOT the folder itself. At the end of this section of the tutorial, /var/www should contain two folders, along with PDF’s and other files.

cp -r * /var/www

4. Test your setup. In a web browser, go to http://localhost and make sure you see the files, and two folders, “d” and “saffron,” in the file listing for the site (Actually, I think the “d” directory is completely unnecessary, as are a lot of the duplicate files. But if you want to be absolutely sure it’ll work, leave them.) If you don’t see the contents I described, ask somebody competent to help you.

What you should be seeing

5. On a Windows server (or Linux if you know what you’re doing; not covered here), install the DNS Server role. If the Windows server install is running in a VM, make sure it’s on a bridged connection as well. Regardless of whether it’s in a VM, make sure it has a static IP.

6. On the DNS server, create a new zone called qoid.us

7. In this zone, create an A record pointing to the IP of the Linux server hosting the files. Then create CNAME records for the www.qoid.us and a.qoid.us subdomains, pointing them to the A record for qoid.us.

Please note that the IP for your A record probably won’t be 192.168.2.162. That’s only an example.

8. Go into the Wi-fi settings for your iPad 2. Access the settings for your network, and set the DNS server to the IP address of the DNS server you just set up.

9. Browse to qoid.us. You should now see the folder listing you saw earlier when testing your web server setup.

10. Open the PDF for your device and firmware combination. Safari will close, and Cydia will begin to install.

Enjoy! 

Apple claims iOS 5 includes over 200 new features, previewing ten of them yesterday.

Let’s look at a few of these features, as well as a few of the bugs that I hope will be fixed by the next beta release.

Warning: iOS 5 betas supposedly cannot be downgraded to iOS 4.x, particularly on devices that have a baseband (iPhone, and iPad 3G). While I have not tested this, and I have written an article about how to downgrade betas in the past, there is no guarantee that my method will work this time. Download and run the iOS 5 beta at your own risk.

With that in mind, I’ve only upgraded my iPad 2 to the iOS 5 beta. My iPhone remains on iOS 4.3, and as such, this post will only cover iOS 5 as seen on the iPad.

The iOS 5 home screen, as seen on my iPad 2

There are a few things to notice here. First, a new app called Reminders (no, it’s not an App Store app, it’s built-in; I have no need for a to-do list app and would never install one =/). There is also a new app/folder called Newsstand. I’m not entirely sure which one it is, as it appears in the multitasking tray (probably a bug), but it opens like a folder.

My Social folder, containing the new Messages app

In iOS 5, Apple is introducing the new iMessage service. Apple is also adding the Messages app to the iPad and iPod touch in order to allow usage of this service (however, iPads and iPod touches still cannot send regular SMS messages). iMessage is an instant messaging service provided exclusively to users of iOS devices, that gives SMS-like messaging, with the ability to send media, receive read receipts, and see notifications that indicate when the other user is typing. It feels a lot like the old iOS Messages app, while adding a lot of features similar to those found in Windows Live Messenger.

Game Center in iOS 5

In iOS 5, Apple has enhanced Game Center, adding the ability to have an avatar for your profile. Furthermore, they are also adding official support for turn-based games, which will probably bring many promising offerings once iOS 5 is released this fall. Until then, games that leverage this functionality most likely will not appear in the App Store, as Apple does not accept apps written using a beta version of the iOS SDK (much like how Game Center was utterly useless in the iOS 4 betas since no games supported it).

Newsstand

Much like the new functionality in Game Center, there isn’t much to see here either. No apps support the functionality offered by Newsstand yet, and the Store button is disabled. Newsstand is supposed to be a collection of newspaper/magazine apps. It is also supposed to be capable of pushing updated content to these apps. Most likely, there won’t be much to do with this until after the official release either.

A couple of screenshots of the Reminders app

In what I consider to be a questionably stupid move on Apple’s part, iOS 5 now includes a built-in to-do list app called Reminders. Considering something of the sort could exist perfectly fine on the App Store (and, in fact, many things of this sort already do), I’m really wondering why Apple bothered with this one. Nonetheless, you can see a couple of screenshots of it in action above. You set up tasks that the app can remind you about either by time, or, in what may be the one interesting thing about this app, by place. Supposedly, when you’re at a certain location, it can deliver a reminder. Anyway, the first screenshot above shows my list of reminders, and the second shows those tasks which I have completed (even though I just threw that up on the spot, it’s pretty accurate about what I do and don’t get done).

The emoji keyboard on iPad… finally!

As seen above, Apple has finally enabled the emoji keyboard for iPad (well, they’ve enabled the ability for you to enable it). Just go into your keyboard settings, and add the Emoji keyboard like any other. Then annoy your fellow iOS users to death with emoticons. 

The split keyboard

While on the topic of the keyboard, Apple has added the ability to split the keyboard in iOS 5. Hold the keyboard dismiss button to access the option to do so. Some people I’ve spoken to love this feature. I, however, find it dismally annoying. It makes me really prone to typos, by both making the buttons smaller, and by putting them in unusual locations. I hate it, and will still be using the regular keyboard, but your mileage may vary. Also of note, you can undock the keyboard to move it up or down the screen as you wish, while keeping both halves attached and the buttons their usual size. This feature may be useful for some, but I will be leaving the keyboard in the tried and true location of the bottom of my screen.

The About menu in General Settings

Okay, there’s a few important things to notice here. First off, the build number of this beta is 9A5220p. Second of all, there’s an option to change the device name… on the device itself. In addition, there is a Diagnostics and Usage menu, which gives you the ability to turn the option to send such data to Apple on or off (something normally done in iTunes).

These next two observations are quite significant. Why would Apple give you the option to do these things on the device itself?

Apple has finally dropped the requirement of having a PC or iTunes. iOS devices are now completely independent. When you open the box of an iOS 5 device, it will no longer greet you with the familiar “Connect to iTunes” screen. It will instead prompt you to set up the device… on the device itself. As pointed out in the keynote, this is the logical conclusion to their theory that we are living in a “post-PC era.” To enhance the independence of the device from iTunes, you may also delete music directly from the device in the Music app. There is also a Usage menu in General Settings that provides an overview of the amount of storage used by a given app, along with the ability to delete a given app outright, or to dump its data (I greatly appreciate this feature; I commonly download videos using Terra Web Browser then have it open them in VLC. VLC can play the videos just fine, but it gives no way of deleting the copy of the video that Terra dumped in its documents folder. And considering some giant douche forced Apple to pull the VLC app, that’ll never be fixed either).

Over-the-air updates

As seen above, Apple has also introduced over-the-air updates in iOS 5. Supposedly it will also be more efficient than the previous update mechanism, as it will only download that which has changed, as opposed to an entire firmware image. It does, however, seem to be somewhat buggy at this point. While I don’t know if it’s even really enabled in this beta, or if it’ll allow you to update between betas, it claims I’m not connected to Wi-fi, even though I am.

As a side note, as much effort as Apple has put into removing the dependency on iTunes, I wonder why they’ve also added Wi-fi syncing with iTunes now.

While I think it’s broken in this build as well (either that or the iTunes 10.5 beta is broken), there is an iTunes Sync option in General Settings that allows you to sync over Wi-fi, although it claims that iTunes is never available to sync to.

iCloud

Furthering the theory that we are living in a “post-PC world,” Apple has introduced iCloud, their cloud storage service. As seen in the Mail option above, Apple is now giving away @me.com e-mail addresses for free. It also includes the former MobileMe service of Find My iPad. It also introduces the ability to sync your bookmarks, notes,contacts, calendars, and reminders, as well as Photo Stream, a way to store your photos in the cloud (why it gives Photo  Stream a separate menu, I don’t know; the only option that menu gives is yet another on/off slider). By the way, did anyone notice that Apple changed the slider images? Personally, I liked the old ones better. As seen immediately above the big red Delete Account button, you can also back up your devices straight to iCloud. However, this disables automatic backup with iTunes, so I left it disabled.

Twitter integration in iOS 5

iOS 5 now features direct integration with Twitter, allowing single sign-on for all Twitter apps, a most welcome addition after Twitter’s basically made developers of Twitter clients bend over and take their crappy web-based authentication. Apparently iOS will be spared the awful experience, as you can add accounts directly in the Settings app.

Posting to Twitter from Safari

You can also post to Twitter directly from certain apps, including Safari (pictured above) and Photos. However, photos tweeted from Photos seem to be in highly reduced quality.

While I find this functionality both well-implemented and convenient, I’m slightly worried about the precedent that it’s setting. If Apple is this accepting of third-party software out-of-box, this may eventually introduce Facebook support in iOS. Considering I do not use Facebook, I would find this to be unnecessary bloat. And for those that do, if I really need to scare you with what may happen, this could lead to crapware in Macs down the line. What I’ve always enjoyed about Mac OS X is that Apple makes both the hardware and the software, therefore wants to make both work well together, not loading a ton of crapware onto Macs out of box. While this is somewhat different, it is setting a precedent that I’m concerned may lead to such things.

A notification in iOS 5

As was probably the most (over-?)hyped feature of iOS 5, Apple has included a revamped notifications system. While I’ve never used MobileNotifier, I’ve seen screenshots/videos, and the fact that Apple has hired its developer, Peter Hajas, is apparent (while talking about Apple hiring a jailbreak developer, let me add a bit to my rant on Sony by saying Apple is setting an excellent example of how Sony should’ve handled their argument with Geohot).

Notification Center

Apple has also provided Notification Center, a summary of recent notifications. It allows you to open the app that created them, or to clear the notifications created by a given app.

Lock screen notifications

Notifications on the lock screen have also been improved. You can swipe across one to go to the app that created it, and it now handles multiple notifications better.

Notification options

Notifications in iOS 5 are also incredibly customizable. You may select whether they appear in Notification Center, whether they appear on the lock screen, and even how many messages appear in Notification Center. Furthermore, it is also of note that Apple has not completely removed the old notification system. You can configure an application to use the old notification style by setting it to use “Alerts” instead of “Banners.”

Thank you for reading my review of some of the many changes in iOS 5. While not pictured, a couple of other things are of note, such as the music app having been split into two on all devices. The music app on iPad has also been redesigned. The one thing that really, really peeves me about iOS 5 thus far, and I really hope is a bug that Apple plans to address, is the “lock out of device upon X incorrect passcode attempts” functionality. For one thing, syncing with iTunes no longer resets this lockout. Furthermore, even if it did, if Apple really plans to cut the cord and sell to users who don’t own a PC or a Mac, they’ve gotta at least make that functionality an option. My password would take millions of years to bruteforce, and I’d rather some stupid kid playing with my devices not prevent the person intended to access the device (me) take millions of years to get into the device owned by the person who actually knows the password. I don’t need a software-enforced lockout to keep my stuff safe. Besides this (hopefully once again a bug that will soon be addressed), my only real disappointment with iOS 5 is that it hasn’t provided a unified way to access files across apps (as opposed to the Open in… functionality that gives me a mild measure of trouble in VLC). Storage space is finite, and having to make a copy of a large movie just to watch it, as opposed to being able to just watch the copy that I downloaded from its present location, is quite annoying.

In summary, while iOS 5 has a couple of critical bugs, and lacks one feature I really wanted to see, it’s certainly moving even further in the right direction. The best mobile OS on the market today, and most likely for the entire foreseeable future, has gotten better with messaging across devices, sexy new unobtrusive notifications, finally gaining complete independence from the PC, and built-in free cloud backup and syncing.