iOS 5 is coming… get ready!

Ian | Cool Tips | October 10, 2011

We are not far now from what is probably Apple's biggest day of software releases ever.

On the face of it, there seems to be little that is groundbreaking in iOS 5 over iOS 4, however the impact is in the details. Although the look and the feel of Apple's OS for the iPhone and iPad stays the same bar the new Notifications or tabbed browsing in Safari, what goes on underneath the surface changes dramatically.

For the first time, iOS will be independent of umbilical cord to iTunes. You'll be able to buy an iPad and just start using it without connecting to a Mac or PC. This goes further, it will no longer need to be plugged in to get software updates, a luxury Android and Blackberry users have had for some time. Ok so this is quite geeky, but the biggest impact will be from Apple's cloud computing initiative: iCloud

iCloud is hugely significant. For a start it will take the responsibility away from all of us to back up our data. If you have plugged your iOS 5 device into the mains and it's on WiFi, it'll backup without your intervention. Unlucky enough to kill your iPad? Then when you buy a new one, you can just log into your Apple ID and it will restore it exactly how you last used it over WiFi. It'll keep your photo's synced over your devices. Apple will roll this out to OS X and will provide Windows support too, along with most of the previous features of Mobile Me, but without charge.

So this means not only an update to iOS, but also to OS X Lion, to iPhoto, in fact a whole range of Apple's software. See, it's bigger than it seems.

So how should you get ready for this? Well it's simple. Make sure you have plugged in all your devices lately and sync them with iTunes. Every time you do this, iTunes makes a backup itself. In the unlikely event that your upgrade to iOS 5 goes awry, then you can easily restore from a recent backup. As we always preach though, a backup is only ever good if it is that: recent.

So it's about to get a hell of a lot easier to keep your data safe on your iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S or iPad, even if you don't choose to use iCloud for your email or calendars. You don't need to, but you can still take advantage of all the backup infrastructure. So will any Apps you use that support it such as Pages or Numbers.

So make sure all your devices are recently synced before October the 12th. Then you can get updating to the latest version of iOS 5, iTunes, iPhoto and Lion 10.7.2 with full confidence. It's going to be a big upgrade!

Review: OS X Lion – Part 2

Ian | The UsedMac Blog | August 16, 2011

The start of the OS X Lion installation process

Upgrade Time: We take the plunge with Lion

So after taking the plunge Lion is now installed and I've spent the last hour loading my regular Apps and just using it as normal.

I'm pleased to say it was completely painless on our older Black MacBook. It didn't warn us about any conflicting software nor run into any problems. The Lion Upgrade App that the App Store puts in your Dock was simple and just asked me to Agree to the Software license. It then worked away busily for 3 minutes before rebooting itself into the proper install. Some 29 minutes later and it booted in the new darker iOS style login screen. My Account picture was even in a circle rather than a square. I felt like I was about to be today's PlayBus stop!

So at first look it's not a massive departure from Snow Leopard but clearly there are lots of enhancements. I like how the Email setup of iOS has been bought over and I'm looking forward to getting to grips with Mission Control.

Oh and I think I am beginning to get used to the reverse scrolling. Not going to just give up and switch it off. Yet.

Next time we'll take a look at the updated Mail and iCal apps. How are you finding it? We'd love to know your Lion experiences in the comments!

Review: OS X Lion – Part 1

Ian | The UsedMac Blog | August 16, 2011

Now that Lion has been released for a while and we have our Time Machine up to date, it's time to upgrade it from 10.6.8 Snow Leopard to the latest version of OS X: Lion.

We've just kicked off the download of the 3.74 GB install and luckily the rush to Apple's servers for it appears to have calmed down as we are halfway through and only have twenty minutes or so left to go on it:

As we are on a pretty aged Black MacBook with 2GB of RAM, we are going to try an upgrade first to see how it fares. Keep reading the UsedMac blog to keep up with our Lion experience!

OS X Lion

Ian | Latest News | July 21, 2011

It's here. You'll need to already be running Snow Leopard 10.6.8 to install it so make sure your up to date with Software Update. More importantly before any major upgrade: make sure you have an up to date backup. If you don't already use Time Machine then do so. It's easier than phone hacking.

What else? Well it's a few pence over £20 and it will only run on Dual Core 2 Mac's as its 64 bit only.

Get downloading from the Mac App Store.

In the meantime we'll try to resist making any big cat related puns. Like the Lion Ships Tonight. Or Lion is not on roarware. Or (That's Enough. Ed)

Steve Jobs to announce iOS 5, OS X Lion and ‘iCloud’

Ian | Latest News | June 4, 2011

Here's a sentence you don't expect to write very often: It's a very exciting time in the world of computer operating systems.

We are but 2 days away from the start of WWDC - Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference where the people that make software on Apple's products come to discuss and learn the next direction for their platform.

We already know that Steve Jobs himself will be on stage to announce 3 major new releases: iOS 5, OS X Lion and the hotly rumoured 'iCloud' that's expected to update Apple's cloud computing offering: Mobile Me. Over in PC world, Microsoft have teased us about Windows 8.

Why is the cloud element important? Syncing is the new black. From Chrome to webOS rivals to Apple are showing users how syncing their accounts to the cloud make it easier than ever to move between devices whilst retaining their saved passwords, bookmarks and files.

So the fact that Apple will announce its mobile OS, Mac OS and its cloud service together potentially means some joined up thinking. We already know that many iOS features are making their way into Lion. iCloud could be the missing link to join your MacBook up with your iPad or iPhone to enable Wi-Fi syncing and a seamless experience moving between devices.

We expect Apple to catch up with rivals such as Dropbox by improving its iDisk offering and for some time now there has been hungry speculation on the web that iTunes will launch a music streaming service in the style of Spotify. We'd like to see iCloud bring syncing to Safari to catch up with Google Chrome. It should expand on the capability of Mobile Me and allow your iPod or iPad to update iTunes or Apps without needing a physical bit of copper in the way of the USB cable.

What do we know about iOS 5? Well speculation points to Twitter being heavily integrated into the experience. Notifications are in need of an overhaul in order to not fall behind the improvements that Android and webOS have made in this area. Background syncing is long overdue and could enable you to wake up with your Apple Store subscriptions of Newspapers or Podcasts waiting for you.

This is of course just our wanting. We'll find out what is in store from Steve himself soon.

The WWDC commences on the 6th June at Moscone West in San Francisco

Upside down: OS X Lion

Ian | The UsedMac Blog | May 23, 2011

Lion: Upside Down. Yep, I know. A cheap gag.

So I'm sat typing this on the latest Developer preview of OS 10.7. Yep this will be the next version of Apple's operating system, OS X Lion. It's perfectly usable so far. I've even installed Google Chrome to get all my bookmarks and saved passwords back from Chrome Sync.

So what's my immediate thought of using this yet to be finished OS? Is it the lack of stability? Speed improvements? The iOS style Launchpad? No. It's all gone a bit upside down.

Fear not, the desktop hasn't flipped around, but the Touchpad has.

Yep scrolling is all a bit odd. Whereas normally I'd pop my two fingers on the Touchpad of my MacBook and swipe up to go down, I now have to swipe down to go, well, down! Reverse Scrolling on your Mac is here.

At first thoughts I wondered if this was a bug popped in on purpose. This is after all essentially a Beta of unfinished software and often developers will break a few regular features to prevent these beta versions being too annoying to use instead of buying the finished product.

However it seems this isn't the case. Why? Well one of the core themes of Lion is 'Back to the Mac'. iOS going back to be precise. With all the attention recently being on iOS 4, iPhone's and iPad's, Apple have decided it's time to sprinkle some of the features that we are used to on our iOS devices like Full Screen Apps and auto-restore into OS X.

Multi-touch hasn't escaped this. Think of how you scroll with your fingers on your iPhone, you go up to go up and down to go… well, you get the point. This is the opposite behaviour to what we are used to on our regular Mac's so OS X developers have switched it around.

This is a brave move. People often find change difficult, even in the tech world. Just look at the complaints on your FaceBook timeline every time they launched a new page design, or how many people grumbled about the new 'teletubby' world of Window's XP after Windows 98. It's not like Apple to look for bad PR after all.

Am I finding the change difficult? To be honest: no. It's a bit odd at first, but once you are used to it you don't really notice it after 10 minutes or so. It only gets a bit odd when you switch back to another Mac not running Lion.

So I think I'll get used to it. Will others though? I've put this to my flatmate Matt, another long term Mac user and he isn't happy: "I won't be installing Lion until

comes out with a fix for this. Why break something that doesn't need fixing?".

I suspect many will be asking this. Perhaps it will go the way of tabs on top on Safari.

Apple kills off XServe

Ian | Latest News | November 6, 2010

XServe: retirement beckons.

Apple has killed off their dedicated line of servers for the business sector. The Xserve, which comes in a 1U rack mounted form factor for use in Server rooms, has been faded out to black. Large companies will have to move away from XServe now, with Mac Pro 'Servers' being the only option for those wanting to run OS X Server edition.

This will be a blow to companies that want to run large scale networks on OS X Server, unless they are happy to have standalone Mac Pro's sat in their server rooms. This is unlikely without the traditional 'rack mounted' approach (when servers are housed in racks in dedicated rooms en masse) being available.

Although this will not have much resonance with most of us home users, it does signal a change in direction for Apple. They have not made great inroads into the Server business. The XServe, which despite being typically Apple in its lovely design, was underpowered compared to rival rack mounted servers from the likes of HP and Dell.

So after 8 years in the Enterprise sector Apple is leaving. It is unclear whether there will be any new versions of OS X Server when the next version of OS X: 10.7 Lion is released for consumers next year.

Perhaps Apple has seen their lucrative future in iOS and consumer devices, deciding to leave Enterprise to Linux and Windows Server? (Apart from the Smartphone market of course. Blackberry can only dream of that.)

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Latest Safari update blocks insecure Flash

by Ian on May 13, 2012 - 0 Comments

Apple have released a minor update to Safari that amongst other updates and bug fixes will now disable any older versions of Flash that Apple deem insecure. ...

We are not far now from what is probably Apple's biggest day of software releases ever.

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