This weeks episode should be titled iPad redux, as for most of the show that was what we talked about the most. But in addition to the iPad we also discussed, the Google voice app coming to the iPhone. We did a how to to post your iWeb site to an FTP server, and the free file was Cyberduck the FREE FTP client. Enjoy!
Some people know that Command-Shift-3(or 4) will give you a screen capture. 3 for the whole screen, while 4 gives you crosshairs to capture the part of the screen that you need. Then your snapshot is saved to the desktop. What most people don’t know is that if you add the Control key to that scenario it will save your screenshot to the clipboard so that you can paste it wherever you need it. So: Command-Shift-3(or 4) screenshot to desktop Control-Command-Shift-3(or 4) screenshot to clipboard
Many Mac users are fond of the Mac startup sound that chimes on system boot, but there are definitely times when booting that you’d rather just be quiet, say a library or coffee shop. If you want to temporarily stop the Mac startup chime sound, just hold down the Mute button on your Mac keyboard, this will silence the boot sound for that particular system boot/reboot. If you want a more permanent solution to shut your Mac boot sound up, there’s a preference pane that does just that. WIth StartupSound you can adjust the volume of the startup chime or mute it completely.
Price: Free
With free Google Voice account (invite only right now)
This week Google released the Voice iPhone “application” for the iPhone. This was done through the magic of HTML 5. We have discussed HTML 5 on the show, but if you want to find out more, click here. First. a little background, a few months ago, Google submitted the voice app to the Apples App store for review. Apple refused the app, under some cloudy reasons. After several attempts to get the application added and an FCC ruling the app was disallowed. Fast forward to this week. Google rewrote the app using HTML 5, thereby bypassing the app store all together. Luckily for Google, the Safari browser built into the iPhone is HTML 5 compatible, so in order to use the “application” all you need to do is go to this website: http://m.google.com/voice. The iPhone allows you to save websites as apps by clicking the “+” button in Safari after loading the site and selecting “Add to Home Screen”. You now have a fully functioning application on your desktop.
How Well does it work?
From the testing I have been doing with it, it works surprisingly well. I was able to use it to make calls, send text messages, receive texts, voice mail, and all for our favorite price of free. The only issue I can see with it is the need for more invites. This is just another example of the cautious (read slow) way that Google rolls applications. Similar to the slow way they are rolling out the Google Wave invites.
The Bottom Line:
If you have a Google Voice Account (or a friend that can hook you up) and an iPhone, run don’t walk and start using the Google Voice Website Application.
I firmly believe that Apple is the biggest marketing monster on the planet.
Of course I’m talking about the recent iPad unveiling. They had the media in a frenzy, speculating on the outcome of this event. Everywhere you turned on the internet, someone was talking about this leak, or that probability. It even caught me in it’s crush. Normally I am not overly concerned with these events. Interested, but not to the fevered pitch that the media was driven. Jobs will announce some cool gadget that won’t be available for a while, so I have plenty of time to research before I buy.
This time I watched, and waited. When the day of the event arrived I scoured the web to find that streaming video, even though it was horrible. Watching multiple feeds from anywhere I could find them, Twit.tv, GDGT.com., any and all. And the truly sad part of all this is that I was not let down.
How do they do it? With all of the speculation, the insider info, the mass hysteria, Apple did not disappoint. How, with such high expectations, were they able to announce a product that everyone knew would be announced and still astound everyone watching?
Many will say that it’s the way Steve Jobs presents his material. I agree to a point, but that isn’t all of it. His timing, visual aids, and delivery have been scrutinized and dissected numerous times, but that’s only half of it.
Let’s look at the device. It is an iPod Touch on steroids. It’s bigger, faster, more responsive. It has a great look that we are all familiar with. It has an interface that we are all familiar with. Is it ground breaking, earth shatteringly new? Not really. Everyone had it nailed down in the speculation department. It has new features. Some of which I find very cool. Nothing that blew me away from a new gadget standpoint. And I think that Apple knew that.
The thing that really got me was the price. In watching the presentation over and over, trying to find that moment, it was the price. Most of the time was spent leading up to the falling $499 graphic. Showing what the product can do, how it makes surfing the web easier. The integration of the calendar and address book. The new iWork suite built just for this piece of hardware. It was all cool, but nothing that made me go “Wow!” Well , maybe a little.
It was the price. That was the climax of the event. Apple gave us another great product that we can bring into our homes. This time it wasn’t as momentous as the iPhone, but the price is. It undercut what everyone was thinking, by hundreds of dollars. The entire audience was stunned. They fell into a brief moment of silence before erupting into applause and cheers that were deafening.
And Apple knew it.
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