TidBITS#933/16-Jun-08
=====================
Issue link: <http://db.tidbits.com/issue/933>
The iPhone has captured much attention in our world, but it's not
the only smartphone on the market. Mark Anbinder looks at the $99
Palm Centro and discovers there's still some life in Palm. Also in
this issue, Sharon Zardetto looks at the state of font
auto-activation under Leopard, and Adam cleans up his system with
Service Scrubber. Getting back to the iPhone, Glenn Fleishman
provides more details about the upcoming iPhone 3G, and Mark pines
for SlingPlayer Mobile for the iPhone, while Adam crunches the
numbers and discovers that the iPhone 3G will cost U.S. buyers more
than the original, despite its advertised lower prices. We also note
the releases of QuickTime 7.5, iMovie 7.1.2, iDVD 7.0.2, Iris 1.0,
AirPort Utility 5.3.2, PopChar X 4, Mellel 2.5, Opera 9.5,
BlogAssist 2.2, InterMapper 5.5, and updates to The Missing Sync for
Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile.
Articles
QuickTime 7.5 Addresses Security Concerns, iMovie and iDVD Updated
Take Control News: Ebooks about Screen Sharing and Back to My Mac
Service Scrubber Cleans Services Menu
Font Auto-Activation Still Broken in 10.5.3
iPhone 3G GPS Details, Power Adapter, and Industrial Design
SlingPlayer Mobile Would Drive Slingbox Owners to iPhone
iPhone 3G Actually $160 More Expensive
Palm Centro: Another Look at the Original Smartphone
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 16-Jun-08
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/16-June-08
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QuickTime 7.5 Addresses Security Concerns, iMovie and iDVD Updated
------------------------------------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9654>
While the iPhone 3G and Snow Leopard grabbed everyone's attention at
the Worldwide Developers Conference last week, Apple also released
security and bug-fix updates to QuickTime, iMovie '08, and iDVD '08.
QuickTime 7.5 tackles several security issues dealing with
maliciously crafted media: PICT images, AAC-encoded media, and Indeo
video. It also changes the behavior of handling URLs by revealing
files in the Finder or Windows Explorer instead of launching them.
(For more information on recent QuickTime security issues and how
Apple is addressing them, see "QuickTime Security Enhanced with
Anti-Exploitation Technologies," 2007-09-07.)
<http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1991>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9579>
QuickTime 7.5 is available via Software Update or as stand-alone
downloads for the following operating systems: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
(56 MB), Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger (52.8 MB), Mac OS X 10.3 Panther (51.39
MB), and Windows XP and Vista (22.67 MB).
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forleopard.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75fortiger.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forpanther.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime75forwindows.html>
Apple's updates for iMovie and iDVD only state that each addresses
"general compatibility issues, improves overall stability, and
addresses a number of other minor issues." They're also available
via Software Update (once QuickTime 7.5, which is required, is
installed), or as stand-alone downloads: iMovie 7.1.2 (17.9 MB) and
iDVD 7.0.2 (20.27 MB). They also require Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later.
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/imovie712.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/idvd702.html>
Take Control News: Ebooks about Screen Sharing and Back to My Mac
-----------------------------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9656>
Leopard brought us oodles of new features, including built-in screen
sharing and a theoretically seamless way to connect back to your own
Macs for both screen sharing and file sharing. With screen sharing,
you control the mouse and keyboard of one computer while you sit at
another computer across the room or on the other side of the world.
It's great for providing remote tech support for family and friends,
for configuring and managing remote servers, and for collaborating
with colleagues in real time. To help you better work with screen
sharing and Back to My Mac, we are pleased to announce the release
of two ebooks, both by TidBITS contributing editor Glenn Fleishman.
Each title is $10 by itself or you can buy them together for $15:
* In "Take Control of Screen Sharing in Leopard," Glenn documents the
new screen-sharing capabilities in Leopard. Screen-sharing
applications have been available for the Mac for many years, but
Leopard makes screen sharing accessible to normal Mac users. Apple
has piled on the options, enabling screen sharing via iChat,
Bonjour, directly by entering an IP address or hostname, and Back to
My Mac. All these choices bring complexity, and this book helps you
figure out which type of screen sharing to use when, how to share
screens with people who are not running Leopard and even with
Windows users, and how to get the most out of Leopard's hidden
Screen Sharing application. The 88-page book also includes
troubleshooting information and assistance with configuring routers
for screen sharing.
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/leopard-screen-sharing.html?14@@!pt=TB933>
* In "Take Control of Back to My Mac," Glenn changes gears to focus on
the Back to My Mac service also introduced in Leopard. With Back to
My Mac, you can connect from one of your Macs to another for file
and screen sharing, making it possible, for instance, to snag a
forgotten document or to control your Power Mac G5 from your MacBook
while on a trip. Or at least that's the theory, since in practice,
people have had huge trouble in getting Back to My Mac working. In
this book, you'll find essential details on configuring common
routers to work with Back to My Mac, learn about the security
implications of using Back to My Mac, and discover handy features in
the hidden Screen Sharing application. The 100-page book even covers
the latest significant improvements to Back to My Mac in Mac OS X
10.5.3.
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/back-to-my-mac.html?14@@!pt=TB933>
In case you're wondering, we've confirmed with Apple that the
functionality of the Back to My Mac service will not be changing as
Apple transitions .Mac to MobileMe (Back to My Mac currently
requires that you have a .Mac account). However, some aspects of
using Back to My Mac will obviously be changing; for instance,
you'll likely be turning on the service in a MobileMe system
preference pane in Mac OS X 10.5.4, not in a .Mac preference pane.
Meanwhile, we know there are folks who want help with screen sharing
and especially Back to My Mac right now, so we're excited to be able
to make these books available.
(If you own the second edition of "Take Control of .Mac," you can
purchase "Take Control of Back to My Mac" for $5 off; to access the
discount, open the PDF of the second edition and then on the cover,
click Check for Updates. Scroll down a little on the resulting Check
for Updates Web page.)
Service Scrubber Cleans Services Menu
-------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9643>
Not long ago, I downloaded a copy of MacGourmet, an excellent recipe
database and menu management program that I wanted to test for a
review. After playing with it briefly, I returned to Eudora to get
some work done. But the first time I selected some text in a message
and pressed Command-Shift-R to reply quoting the selection,
MacGourmet immediately tried to import the selected text as a
recipe. Needless to say, it wasn't a recipe, so the "import" failed,
and I had to hold down the Shift key and choose Reply Quoting
Selection from Eudora's Message menu to finish the message I wanted
to respond to.
Irritated, I whipped off a snippy message to Michael Dupuis of
Advenio, admonishing him for setting a default keyboard shortcut for
MacGourmet's Import Recipe service that was so likely to conflict
with another program's keyboard shortcut (sorry about that,
Michael!), and then went to find the latest version of Service
Scrubber.
**At Your Service** -- First, a little background. Since the early
days of Mac OS X, there has been a hierarchical Services menu that
appears in the application menu of all applications (that's the menu
with the name of the application). The Services menu contains
further hierarchical menus that either provide quick access to a
feature of some other program or provide a way to transfer
information from one program to another. For instance, if you wanted
to put a bunch of text from Safari into a BBEdit window for editing,
you could select it in Safari, copy it, switch to BBEdit, open a new
window, and paste the text (five steps). Or, you could simply select
the text in Safari, and then choose Safari > Services > BBEdit > New
Window with Selection (two steps). Neat, eh? Here are a few other
tasks simplified by the Services menu:
* Put the selected text in the body of a new message in Mail, or
create a new message addressed to the person whose name is selected.
* Start or stop speaking the selected text, even if the application
containing the text doesn't have a normal Speech menu.
* Start a Google search in Safari for the selected text.
Lots of applications register services with the Services menu - I
have over 30 items in the Services menu on my MacBook, and nearly 60
on my Power Mac G5, which has many more applications installed. This
leads to two problems. First is simple overload - the Services menu
becomes much harder to navigate when it contains items you'll never
use (Chinese Text Converter? ISA Reference?). Second, applications
often assign keyboard shortcuts to their services, in part because
the Services menu is so long and cumbersome. But those keyboard
shortcuts sometimes take over for keyboard shortcuts in other
applications, which is maddening - that's what happened to me with
MacGourmet's service stealing Eudora's keyboard shortcut.
**Clean the Services Menu** -- The solution to this mess is Service
Scrubber, a donation-ware application from Many Tricks (418K
download). Service Scrubber displays both the contents of the
Services menu and all service providers (applications that put
submenus in the Services menu). With Service Scrubber, you can
disable a service provider entirely, if you seldom use the program
and don't want it cluttering your Services menu, or you can turn off
individual services within service providers, if you have no
intention of using those functions. A little triangle button next to
a service provider indicates that you've made changes to it; click
the triangle button to re-enable disabled services inside. Service
Scrubber's help implies that the triangle button will also bring
back original keyboard shortcuts, but that doesn't seem to be the
case for me. No loss. Another minor restriction is that Service
Scrubber cannot currently edit signed applications, which Apple
introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.
<http://www.manytricks.com/servicescrubber/>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-06/Service-Scrubber-window.png>
<http://www.manytricks.com/blog/?id=30>
More important is the capability to change the keyboard shortcuts
for individual services by clicking them in the Key column. If you
anticipate using the service a lot, you can assign it a keyboard
shortcut that makes sense to you and doesn't conflict with other
application shortcuts. The only limitation is that you cannot use
the Control key in shortcuts. Annoyingly, although you can use the
Option key, Service Scrubber displays the character associated with
Option-N, for instance, instead of showing you
Command-Shift-Option-N (for this screenshot, I stuck with the more
obvious Command-Shift-N). For less commonly used services, it may be
easier to delete the keyboard shortcut entirely.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-06/Service-Scrubber-inspector.png>
Once you're done making changes, click the Save button at the top of
Service Scrubber's window, enter your administrator password, and
you're done. For a quick visual demonstration of how to use Service
Scrubber, see my short screencast.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-06/Service-Scrubber-screencast.mov>
I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I never use the Services menu, and
this article is a bit of repentance, since I think services have the
potential to make me more productive. In my defense, I think Apple's
basic implementation of services is still clumsy, hard to find and
use, and occasionally irritating when keyboard shortcuts conflict.
And that's after six revisions of Mac OS X! Here's hoping Apple puts
more thought into making services more discoverable in the next big
cat, and until then, I strongly recommend that you use Service
Scrubber to make the Services menu work the way you want.
Font Auto-Activation Still Broken in 10.5.3
-------------------------------------------
by Sharon Zardetto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9655>
Perusing the Apple Discussions board several weeks ago, I was
surprised (and, okay, pleased) to find my name, and one of my books,
mentioned in passing. But the thread was talking about how the font
auto-activation feature wasn't working for TextEdit in Mac OS X
10.5.2, and the mention was "interestingly, the book by Sharon
Zardetto, 'Take Control of Fonts in Leopard,' has a section on auto
activation, and there is no suggestion that it doesn't work." And
that's true: except for stipulated problems with Microsoft Word
2004, I didn't say, or even intimate, that auto activation might not
work - because it worked when I wrote the book. Since the Mac OS X
10.5.2 update, however, its performance is patchy.
<http://www.takecontrolbooks.com/leopard-fonts.html>
Fair warning: this article only describes the font auto-activation
problem; there's no solution available. When I started writing this
article, I hoped that Mac OS X 10.5.3 would provide a solution, but
that has not turned out to be the case.
**Not-so-auto Activation** -- The auto-activation feature in Leopard's
Font Book (turned on and off in its preferences) checks a document
as you open it; if the document uses a font that's not currently
active, you get a dialog asking if you'd like it activated. The
extra-special aspect of this feature is that you don't need the font
in Font Book at all - if the font is anywhere on an attached drive,
Font Book finds it and offers to activate it for you; the font stays
available inside the application until you quit it. This is
invaluable for people who use different fonts for different projects
but don't want them all on, or even installed in Font Book waiting
for manual activation; it used to be a feature only in third-party
font management software.
In Mac OS X 10.5.2 and 10.5.3, however, this feature just doesn't
work. Look for the auto-activation notice for a Pages or Keynote
document, and you get the insipid "Some warnings occurred. Would you
like to review them now?" dialog, and the "review" unhelpfully
states that a font is missing. In TextEdit, you don't get even that
dialog: the document just opens with the default font substituted.
As if to make up for its lackadaisical behavior when opening a
document with a missing font, TextEdit occasionally overcompensates.
Leave its Font panel open, disable a font in Font Book, move back
into TextEdit, and you might get an auto-activation dialog asking
permission to activate the font. And you're not allowed to refuse:
click the Don't Allow button, and you get the dialog again. And
again. It doesn't give up until you give in and click Allow.
Word 2004 never played well with Font Book's auto-activation
feature, but now the feature doesn't want to come out and play at
all. Word 2008's relationship with auto-activation is squirrelly at
best, and schizophrenic at worst, with auto-activation dialogs
sometimes popping up while the program is starting up, or well after
you've opened a document that doesn't even contain the font you're
being queried about. InDesign CS3 does what it did under earlier
versions of Leopard: it ignores Font Book's auto-activation and
reports missing fonts in its own way.
That said, we can't complain about the third-party products that
don't work with auto-activation, since there's obviously something
broken on the Font Book end of things.
But is it a Font Book problem, or a Mac OS X problem? Since there's
no way to control font auto-activation except through Font Book, I
can't experimentally confirm or deny which is the culprit.
(Third-party font managers have offered auto-activation in versions
of Mac OS X before Leopard, so it's unlikely they're hooking into
any system component of Leopard to perform the trick.) So, I don't
know which is the problem, but I don't think the distinction makes a
lick of difference to users. The special auto-activation feature
that made Leopard's native font handling a boon to fontophiles who
don't otherwise need a more full-featured font management utility
has gone missing through two Leopard updates now, and might push
some of us back to a non-Apple solution if it doesn't return soon.
We're not waiting for Snow Leopard, Apple.
iPhone 3G GPS Details, Power Adapter, and Industrial Design
-----------------------------------------------------------
by Glenn Fleishman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9652>
The initial outpouring of information from Apple about the iPhone
3G, iPhone 2.0 software, and .Mac's metamorphosis into MobileMe left
us dazed. Here are a few additional details that we glossed over at
first.
**Touch Me, 3G** -- In an Apple briefing, I was able to play with an
iPhone 3G briefly, and I can report that it does, in fact, feel
better than the original iPhone, which I have owned since the night
they were first released. The plastic back feels good, and is
clearly going to be more scratch- and damage-resistant. (My aluminum
back is dented from a bad fall, and looks a bit shabby.)
The difference between the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G is
nowhere near as large as that between the nice-but-boxy
first-generation iPod and its smaller, rounder successors that
switched from a mechanical to touch-based scroll wheel. It's much
more like the difference between, say, a third-generation iPod and a
fifth-generation. It's all about refinement.
The iPhone 3G definitely feels faster overall - it's unclear whether
this is due to iPhone 2.0 software optimizing the phone, or a faster
processor. Apple declined to talk about processor speed.
**More Power, Scotty!** During the briefing, Greg "Joz" Jozwiak , the
marketing head for the iPhone and iPod, slid a small plastic and
metal object over to me without comment. I put the thing in my hand
and thought, "Huh. Metal prongs on one end - clearly power. A slot
on the other side. Looks like a USB port. Plug, port. Plug, port."
My brain took a moment and then told me, "It's a power adapter,
dummy, just one smaller than you've ever seen before."
And so it is. Exceedingly tiny, the adapter seems like it can barely
contain the metal necessary to provide conductivity. It's another
aspect of Apple's overall design philosophy. Even if another maker
could design the iPhone's industrial look and feel, they would still
send you an ugly black brick to go with it.
<http://tidbits.com/resources/2008-06/specs_charger20080609.jpg>
**Tag, You're It** -- Jozwiak said that while the camera is
essentially the same in the new iPhone, the image handling and
processing is improved, and the availability of the GPS chip will
allow photos to be geotagged: marked with the GPS's idea of the
current latitude and longitude.
Using industry-standard photo metadata, uploading a geotagged image
lets services that support location-based marking put your photo on
a map. Flickr wasn't the first, but was the first big service to add
geotagging support.
<http://www.flickr.com/help/map/>
I also extracted some detail about how the GPS will work in relation
to both battery life and permission. A GPS can be a dangerous thing:
What if you don't want your location to be known? It can also be a
battery drain. Jozwiak said that the GPS function is active only
when you're using it; this is part of the whole philosophy of no
unnecessary background activities to preserve battery life and
functionality.
When you use the Maps application, you'll be able to choose whether
or not to use the GPS location and tracking features. Likewise, if a
program wants to use the Core Location capabilities available to
developers, the iPhone (any model) will ask your permission first.
Core Location uses GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell-tower location. (Separately,
I'm not sure if GPS routes can be transferred from the iPhone, or if
you can only view your routes within Maps itself, as Steve Jobs
showed.)
SlingPlayer Mobile Would Drive Slingbox Owners to iPhone
--------------------------------------------------------
by Mark H. Anbinder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9659>
At a coffee shop near Moscone West, where Apple's Worldwide
Developers Conference took place last week, representatives of Sling
Media showed me a proof-of-concept version of their SlingPlayer
Mobile video placeshifting software on an iPhone and an iPod touch.
The software, already available for Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and
Symbian handhelds, enables users to watch video from their Slingbox
devices while away from their televisions.
<http://www.slingmedia.com/go/spm>
The iPhone and iPod touch are great devices for watching television
remotely, especially when on a fast Wi-Fi connection. Sling Media's
proof-of-concept application was a joy to watch, with crisp video
and only brief delays in using the software's remote control
features - not noticeably worse than similar delays in the
SlingPlayer desktop software when it's running on a fast Internet
connection. Overall, the iPhone app was noticeably polished, and
Sling's developers are cleverly taking advantage of WebKit to use
HTML and CSS to overlay viewing controls, channel favorite icons,
and other features in front of the live video.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-06/SlingPlayer-Mobile.jpg>
Oddly, while Sling Media says they've gotten enthusiastic reactions
from their Apple contacts, the company is not one of the 4,000
developers Apple announced it has accepted into the iPhone developer
program. As a result, Sling can't say when, or if, SlingPlayer
Mobile will be available to iPhone users. For now, the
proof-of-concept software runs only on a hacked iPhone or iPod
touch, and isn't being distributed outside the company.
There have been many more applicants for the iPhone developer
program - about 25,000 - than Apple has accepted, so Sling Media is
by no means alone in this boat. The most likely reason for Sling not
being accepted is Apple simply limiting the accepted developers to a
manageable number (for more on this, see Paul Kafasis's comments
about Rogue Amoeba also not being accepted). I certainly hope that's
it, since I'd hate to see Apple making a conscious decision to leave
Sling out in the cold to avoid competition with iTunes video sales
and rentals. AT&T could also be concerned about the bandwidth usage
if lots of iPhone users started watching their Slingbox video
streams over the cellular network instead of using Wi-Fi. But that
ship has already sailed; customers of AT&T and other carriers are
currently watching TV wirelessly thanks to other versions of
SlingPlayer Mobile.
<http://blogs.oreilly.com/iphone/2008/06/a-broken-system.html>
Here's hoping Apple approves Sling Media's developer application
soon; these folks have done an outstanding job producing software
that looks wonderful on the iPhone and iPod touch, and that makes
these handhelds an even better choice for road warriors.
iPhone 3G Actually $160 More Expensive
--------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9653>
The Reality Distortion Field is starting to wear off, and I'm
getting a bad feeling about the iPhone 3G. Don't get me wrong - my
complaint isn't about the iPhone 3G itself or how much it costs, but
about how much _more_ it will end up costing U.S. customers than the
original iPhone thanks to higher monthly fees, and how Apple and
AT&T are hiding that price increase from potential customers. (It
appears that things are different in other countries, where plans
for the iPhone 3G are little changed.)
Apple's tag line for the iPhone 3G is "Twice as fast. Half the
price." And indeed, the price of a new 8 GB iPhone 3G is now $199,
down from $399. However, the 16 GB iPhone 3G drops from $499 to
$299, also a $200 drop, but not half the original price. I'm willing
to grant a certain poetic license for marketing slogans - if one of
the two models is half the price, that's good enough to warrant the
tag line.
Things start to smell worse when you realize that the 3G cellular
networking that gives the iPhone 3G its name both reduces battery
life and costs more. As I reported in "Apple Announces iPhone 3G to
Ship on 11-Jul-08" (2008-06-09), an unlimited personal data plan
will cost $30 per month, up $10 from the original iPhone plan, when
coupled with a voice plan that starts at $39.99 per month.
(ZDNet.com has a list of rates for individual and family voice
plans; note that you must add $10 per line to the family plans.
Business data plans will cost $45 per month, and must also be
coupled with a voice plan.)
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/9647>
<http://blogs.zdnet.com/gadgetreviews/?p=240>
So buying an iPhone 3G may cost $200 _less_ than before, but paying
the monthly bill will set you back $240 _more_ over your 2-year
contract with AT&T, for a total of $1,680 in subscription fees
instead of $1,440 (previously, the lowest monthly voice+data plan
cost $59.99 per month). How exactly is that cheaper?
Wait, it gets worse! Om Malik, in an interview with Ralph de la
Vega, president and chief executive officer of AT&T Mobility,
learned that SMS messages are no longer included in the data plan
either, so you'll have to pay extra for them. Previously, the data
plan included 200 SMS messages per month. AT&T's Messaging 200 plan,
which includes 200 SMS messages, costs $5 per month, so it would
seem likely that the iPhone 3G's SMS plan would be similar.
<http://gigaom.com/2008/06/09/att-mobility-ceo-new-3g-iphone-game-changer/>
(The iPhone 3G's SMS rate details aren't yet disclosed, and AT&T's
live chat customer assistance person was either unwilling or unable
to reveal how much they'd be. An AT&T spokesperson told us that the
company would discuss the specifics of SMS pricing closer to the
iPhone 3G release date.)
So now the minimum monthly cost of an iPhone 3G is up to $75,
raising the cost across 2 years by another $120, to a total of
$1,800, and bringing the total cost of ownership and service of an 8
GB iPhone 3G to an even $2,000. That's $160 more than the total cost
of ownership and service for an original 8 GB iPhone (after the
first price cut), which totals out to $1,840.
What about AT&T's prepaid GoPhone plan, something that Apple
reportedly required as an option for the original iPhone?
Unfortunately, PhoneNews.com is reporting that AT&T has tentatively
confirmed that GoPhone plans will not be available for the iPhone
3G.
<http://www.phonenews.com/new-iphone-says-no-to-prepaid-3584/>
It looks like you're stuck with a 2-year contract, although it won't
be added onto existing contracts for current iPhone owners (the 2
year contract will simply restart). It's unclear what will happen to
the iPhone hacking community, which has proven capable of unlocking
each successive version of the iPhone software so you could use it
with other, possibly less-expensive, carriers. Apple's international
push will remove much of the desire for unlocking in other
countries, and in the United States, there will apparently be some
sort of penalty for people who don't activate their iPhones within
30 days of purchase.
In the past, you could purchase an iPhone and activate it online
through iTunes, which made it easy to avoid activation and instead
unlock. However, in a major shift, the iPhone 3G can be purchased
and activated only in person at Apple and AT&T stores, which not
only takes 10 to 12 minutes, but will make it nearly impossible to
avoid activation. The lines are going to be awful the first few
days, with each transaction taking far longer than at the iPhone's
launch in 2007, when purchasers could head home and activate online.
(Perhaps this will be an easier process for an existing AT&T
customer transferring her current phone number, or for a current
iPhone owner - could the phone's SIM card simply be swapped in and
the plan updated?)
The reason for this change is the way AT&T's contract with Apple has
been renegotiated. Gone is the revenue sharing deal that gave Apple
a portion of your monthly fees (as much as $18 per month by some
estimates). In place of that, AT&T will pay Apple more for each
iPhone, thus subsidizing the lower initial cost to customers. AT&T's
press release says that this revised agreement "is consistent with
traditional equipment manufacturer-carrier arrangements," and "both
iPhone 3G models will be offered at attractive prices to broaden the
market potential and accelerate subscriber volumes." So AT&T
believes that lowering the initial price of the phone and raising
the monthly fees will - by 2010 - generate more income than the
previous revenue sharing approach. AT&T backs this up by noting that
"average monthly revenues per iPhone subscriber are nearly double
the average of the company's overall subscriber base."
<http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=25791>
I don't have a problem with Apple and AT&T making moves to increase
market size or profitability. And I don't even really have a problem
with the overall cost of the iPhone 3G, which seems roughly
comparable with similar smartphones and their associated service
plans (as Gizmodo's chart shows).
<http://gizmodo.com/5015540/iphone-3gs-true-price-compared>
What does bother me about all this is how both Apple and AT&T are
making a big deal about the iPhone 3G being cheaper, Apple with the
"Half the price" tag line and AT&T with its "$199 Starting Price
Significantly Expands Mass Market Appeal" line in the press release,
along with the bare-faced statement that lowering the initial price
will "accelerate subscriber volumes." That initial purchase will
indeed be cheaper, but anyone who doesn't take the higher monthly
fees into account is either being deceived or is just plain stupid.
I know it's standard marketing practice to take advantage of the
math-challenged with tricks like this, but it still feels
underhanded.
And yes, I realize that Apple is just the manufacturer now,
especially given that the revenue sharing plan has been dropped, but
we're talking about a cell phone that's essentially useless without
a voice and data plan, for which there is only one source - AT&T. So
any discussions of cost must include the monthly service fees in
addition to the initial purchase price.
Palm Centro: Another Look at the Original Smartphone
----------------------------------------------------
by Mark H. Anbinder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9644>
It's pointless to talk about cell phones or smartphones without
bringing up the 800-pound gorilla in the room, so I'll get that out
of the way right now and say that the $99 Palm Centro is no iPhone.
But at a fraction of the price of Apple's just-announced iPhone 3G,
Palm's latest smartphone is a slim and capable update of their PDA
line with one key advantage over the iPhone for some users - an
actual keyboard.
<http://www.palm.com/us/products/smartphones/centro/>
Available already on the AT&T and Sprint wireless networks, and
newly available for Verizon Wireless, the Centro joins the Palm Treo
family of cell phones as a slimmer, sleeker entry, one we can more
reasonably imagine carrying around for daily use. It's been a long
time since the Motorola MicroTAC Elite seemed svelte, and many
smartphones are clearly eating too much and not getting enough
exercise. By contrast, the Centro is narrow and easy to grip,
similar in width to Motorola's more recent offerings, such as the
RAZR and ROKR.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-06/centro_tungsten_layered.jpg>
**The Keyboard Is Where It's At** -- The only drawback to the Centro's
narrower design is that it sports the smallest keyboard Palm has yet
offered on its handhelds. Having used a Palm Tungsten C for a while,
I was used to the idea of teensy keys placed close together, but at
a full inch wider than the Centro, the Tungsten has room for bigger,
much more widely spaced keys. The difference is clear with sustained
typing; only those with relatively small hands will be comfortable
with much typing on the Centro. Even the extra fifth of an inch
(about half a centimeter) of width on the Treo seems to make a
difference in typing ease.
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-06/centro_tungsten_side.jpg>
But, if you have relatively small hands or you're dexterous with
your big fingers, having a keyboard makes all the difference when
composing email and text messages. I found that, after a few
minutes, I was pretty adept at punching out a few sentences at a
time - also true with the iPhone, but even with the iPhone's
adaptive typing recognition, which guesses what you meant to type
even if you miss every third letter, lots of users have said they
prefer a real keyboard.
**Purely Palm** -- Another key advantage for the Centro is its
familiarity for those who've used Palm handhelds, often for many
years or across several models. Detractors say the gradually updated
and incrementally refined user interface has fallen way behind, but
I have to say that the Centro's Palm OS offers a clean simplicity
that shouldn't be underestimated.
Anyone who used the original Palm user interface will immediately
recognize what it's evolved into; there are more icons on the
Applications screen, but a few iterations ago, Palm made them
sleeker and colorized them, as well as grouping them into (optional)
categories for easy navigation.
As with other recent Palm handhelds, the Centro has an idiosyncratic
relationship with Mac OS X. The Palm Desktop software hasn't been
updated in years, but if you want to use it to manage syncing of
your contacts, calendar, and other info between handheld and Mac,
you can. Or, Palm's HotSync software can now collaborate with iSync
to allow users to stick with Apple's Address Book and iCal. We
suspect most Mac users will take this approach, especially if they
don't have a long-standing Palm habit.
(A more modern and feature-rich sync approach comes from
Mark/Space's $39.95 The Missing Sync for Palm OS, though I've
personally found that the included Palm HotSync software has met my
needs. See Jeff Carlson's "Missing Sync for Palm OS 5.0 Modernizes
Palm Interaction" (2005-11-07) for more details on what the software
can do, even though that article covers an older version.)
<http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_palmos.php>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/8317>
The Centro includes a Web browser and email client; neither is a
spectacular example of its genre, but both are capable as handheld
applications go. The Web browser can display graphics but not much
in the way of page layout; Palm Web browsing hasn't changed much in
the several years it's been around, though the Blazer browser is
surprisingly adept at displaying a variety of pages.
**No Surprises** -- There's not much else to say, if you're familiar
with using cell phones and you're familiar with using Palm
handhelds. (I suspect relatively few users are jumping on the Palm
bandwagon for the first time by picking up a smartphone, though
certainly some are.) The audio quality is fine, the reception
strength is reasonable even in fringe areas (easy to test in my
basement, where the iPhone and my Verizon Wireless phone also have
trouble), and the battery lasts one to three days of off-and-on use.
(You'll probably want to charge daily.)
What's the best feature of the Palm Centro? I think it's the
capability to use the Palm OS version of SlingPlayer Mobile, the
handheld version of Sling Media's placeshifting video viewing
software. With my Slingbox hooked to my TiVo, I was pleasantly
surprised at how watchable both live TV and pre-recorded programs
were. The delay in sending remote-control signals from the Centro to
the TiVo via cellular connection wasn't even significantly worse
than using Sling's desktop software via broadband.
<http://www.slingmedia.com/go/spm>
<http://www.tidbits.com/resources/2008-06/centro_sling.jpg>
**Do You Want One?** There's no question that the Centro is a capable
phone, and a worthy successor to a decade of Palm handhelds. In a
world with no iPhone, Palm's Centro and Treo smartphones would be
the clear alternative to the quirky Windows Mobile and the walled
garden of RIM's BlackBerry. But with Apple's category-killer in the
game, the Centro will be most attractive to those with an attachment
to the Palm way of life and those who just need a small dose of
smartphone, i.e., those for whom the iPhone is overpriced overkill.
The Centro is most attractive of all right now, with a $50 rebate
making the phone $49 instead of $99 through 06-Jul-08. Voice (450
minutes) and data plans start at about $75 per month, though there
are slight differences between the three carriers.
<http://www.gizmolovers.com/2008/06/06/palm-centro-for-4999-and-other-palm-specials/>
TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 16-Jun-08
---------------------------------------------------------
by Adam C. Engst <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9658>
* Iris 1.0 from Nolobe is a new image editing application for Mac OS X
10.5 Leopard. Iris uses a single-window interface to provide tools
for painting and drawing, plus compositing of text, images, and
effects on multiple layers. Iris also offers powerful color
correction tools and supports a wide range of import and export
formats. ($79 new, 3.5 MB)
<http://nolobe.com/iris/>
* AirPort Utility 5.3.2 from Apple probably has some changes from the
previous version, but they're a closely kept secret and Apple's not
telling. (Actually, what Apple says, in the What's New in this
Version section, is: "Wireless networking that works with most Wi-Fi
enabled devices, including Mac, PC, iPhone, iPod touch, and more."
I'm so glad to hear that "wireless networking that works" is new.)
Versions of AirPort Utility for setting up and configuring the
AirPort Express Base Station, AirPort Extreme Base Station, and Time
Capsule are available for Leopard ((8.8 MB), Tiger (9.3 MB), and
even Windows (10.3 MB), or you can just let Software Update give you
a new version.
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportutility532forleopard.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportutility532tiger.html>
<http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/airportutilitysetup532forwindows.html>
* PopChar X 4 from Ergonis Software is a major upgrade to the
long-standing tool for finding and inserting special characters.
Most important among the new features is a new "All" view that lets
you search for special characters across all installed fonts,
eliminating the need to search each font individually. Other
enhancements include a new command for copying the selected
character's Unicode name, support for Unicode 5.1, an improved
appearance under Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, the capability to list
undefined Unicode characters that may be present, improved
compatibility with Butler and CopyPaste Pro, and more. (29.99 euros
new, upgrades are free for 2 years after purchase and then 14.99
euros, 1.8 MB)
<http://www.ergonis.com/products/popcharx/>
* Mellel 2.5 from RedleX brings an elegant cross-referencing
capability to the increasingly powerful word processor. Mellel's new
cross-reference feature lets users create complex reference formats
that can include page numbers, page ranges, and even position in the
text (above, next page, etc), and it updates all cross-references
live, so there's seldom a need to regenerate references. When a
deletion causes a reference to point at a non-existent target,
Mellel provides a tool to track those broken references, and it can
even allow references to targets that haven't yet been created
(upcoming chapters or screenshots, for instance). And even better,
these references become internal links if the document is printed to
PDF. Mellel also now supports bookmarks, includes the Spotlight
plug-in in the application bundle, and fixes a variety of bugs. ($49
new, free upgrades for purchases since May 2006 or $19 otherwise,
30.2 MB)
<http://www.mellel.com/>
<http://www.mellel.com/releasenotes.html>
* Opera 9.5 from Opera Software brings to the multi-platform Web
browser a variety of new and interesting features, including Opera
Link, which synchronizes bookmarks and notes between Opera and Opera
Mini (a free mobile phone browser). Other notable features include
the capability to search for any text in visited pages, a modernized
look-and-feel (with multiple skins), fraud protection technology,
and performance improvements across the email client, RSS feeds, and
the browser itself. (Free, 15.6 MB)
<http://www.opera.com/>
* BlogAssist 2.2 from Dejal Systems is a neat tool that makes it
easier to create blog posts and comments in HTML by providing a
variety of formatting options for selected or copied text. It can
make links, create a list of links, insert an image, format text
with all the standard HTML styles, create lists, and insert
variables like the date and time. But what's really impressive is
that you can add your own operations, making BlogAssist highly
customizable for individual situations. BlogAssist can be invoked
via hotkey, from a system-wide menu item, from the Services menu, or
from a floating window. ($9.95 new, free update, 2.1 MB)
<http://www.dejal.com/blogassist/>
* The Missing Sync from Mark/Space sees a number of updates to the
independent synchronization software for a wide variety of mobile
device operating systems, including a public preview version of The
Missing Sync for Symbian (specifically for the Nokia Series 60
devices), version 4.0.3 of The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile, and
version 6.0.4 of The Missing Sync for Palm OS. Updates to the
Windows Mobile version include improved Bluetooth connectivity and
synchronization, improved performance of devices mounted on the
desktop under Leopard, improvements to the SMS and Call Log
applications, and better compatibility with Apple's firewall in
Leopard when connecting via Wi-Fi. ($39.95 new, free update for
owners of 4.0, 39.8 MB) The updated Palm OS version of The Missing
Sync adds support for the Palm Centro and fixes synchronization
problems with Yojimbo from Bare Bones. ($39.95 new, free update for
owners of 6.0, 40.1 MB)
<http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_symbian.php>
<http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_windowsmobile.php>
<http://www.markspace.com/missingsync_palmos.php>
* InterMapper 5.0 from Dartware enhances the network monitoring and
mapping utility, which can create live maps of large networks;
monitor devices, servers, and applications on those networks; and
alert you to problems. InterMapper 5.0 adds support for testing
devices with IPv6 addresses and for IPv6 client connections. It also
features enhanced Nagios plug-in support, support for folders in the
Map list, and a technology preview of the InterMapper Database,
which can collect data from networked devices in an SQL database for
querying and reporting. (Pricing is based on the number of devices
monitored.)
<http://dartware.com/network_monitoring_products/intermapper/>
<http://dartware.com/network_monitoring_products/whatsnew.html>
Hot Topics in TidBITS Talk/16-June-08
-------------------------------------
by Jeff Carlson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
article link: <http://db.tidbits.com/article/9657>
**Service Scrubber Cleans Services Menu** -- A reader points out that
the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane can also remap keyboard
shortcuts. (1 message)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2022>
**Are Time Capsule backups encrypted during transmission?** Calling on
the TidBITS Talk community for help, wondering about encrypted
backups to a Time Capsule as well as backing up one machine to
multiple drives using Time Machine. (1 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2023>
**Dealing with Doppelganger Folders in /Volumes** -- Adam's article on
file weirdness sparks a question where a reader's system seems to be
hiding more than 50 GB of files (or otherwise using that space on
disk). Poking around using Terminal may reveal the cause. (6
messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2024>
**MobileMe Oh My (or, Apple Breaks Record in Making My Book
Obsolete)** -- Readers speculate on what the switch from .Mac to
MobileMe will bring in terms of synchronization and Apple's new
push-data model. (6 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2025>
**Apple Announces iPhone 3G to Ship on 11-Jul-08** -- Readers react to
the iPhone 3G announcement, bringing up questions of whether to
upgrade to the new device and how Apple is marketing it around the
world. (24 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2028>
**GPS misconceptions** -- Does the GPS circuitry in the iPhone 3G
drain power as much as automobile GPS units, or will the drain be
negligible? Readers also discuss whether the GPS feature will be
able to help route around traffic problems. (13 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2029>
**iPhone 3G Actually $160 More Expensive** -- The pricing of iPhone 3G
cellular plans is more expensive than existing iPhone plans in the
United States, but is that the case in other markets? (19 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2030>
**GyazMail** -- Readers discuss this email software, specifically
comparing it to Apple's Mail. (3 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2031>
**Computer cleanliness** -- Is your older Mac acting up? The problem
could be dust accumulated on the fans and internal components (made
worse by cat hair!). (11 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2033>
**iPhone 3G - can it be used as a modem?** Unfortunately, the iPhone
3G can't be used as a tethered modem. (4 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2034>
**Back to Back to my Mac** -- A new option in the Back to My Mac panel
in System Preferences can help diagnose problems under Mac OS X
10.5.3. Readers also suggest other ways to get the feature working.
(3 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2035>
**Quicken equivalents...** -- Quicken isn't the only money manager on
the block, but alternatives often don't get much attention. Readers
share their experiences with others. (3 messages)
<http://emperor.tidbits.com/TidBITS/Talk/2037>
$$
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