I fired up iTunes the other day and realized that my iPad hadn’t backed up in almost a month. I wondered how could this be since I have WiFi sync enabled and I have both devices on the same WiFi network. Then it dawned upon me that I probably haven’t had both my computer awake and iTunes open while the iPad was connected to power long enough for this to happen automatically. I initiated a manual sync right then and there and it got me to thinking that it’s probably time for Apple to separate out iOS device management from iTunes. I would backup the iPad to iCloud, but I don’t have enough free space on iCloud.
In the beginning…
When Apple created the iPod it made perfect sense to have it sync and be managed directly with iTunes. After all that’s where all your music was and pretty much all your entertainment that you downloaded from the iTunes store. However, does that still make sense today? Sure your music, movies, TV shows, podcasts, etc. are probably in iTunes and of course you want the ability to have this content on your iOS devices. However, your photos are in iPhoto, Aperture or a folder and you can sync those just fine. So why does the iOS management have to be in iTunes? I think it’s time that Apple create a dedicated iOS utility that would sync in the background at the OS level without requiring a dedicated App to be opened. Think about it like the Mac App Store. It’s a dedicated App just for managing your Mac Apps. Perhaps Apple could make an App Store App that would manage all Apps and devices. This could also end a lot of user confusion around music libraries, playlists, etc. when you have multiple users wanting to sync to the same computer, but with different photo, music, contacts, calendars and Apps. Perhaps iTunes could still manage the Apps, but the New iOS Utility would be configurable as to where to get the content from for each user and work across multiple user accounts of the same computer.
Here’s a test for my theory
If you think things are just fine the way they are, ask yourself this question. If Apple was building the first iOS device today AND it wasn’t an evolution of the iPod, would it be managed via iTunes? I’m going to guess that the answer would be no. They would make a slick new App for their slick new device.
Perhaps it just time for an iTunes overhaul
Maybe iTunes is the right App, but perhaps it’s iTunes itself that is starting to show its age. Maybe it’s time to tear down iTunes and build it back up from the ground up again. The name iTunes alone lets you know how old it is because back then it was just about music.
The Bottom Line
In any case I think it’s time Apple takes another look at the growing number of iOS users and ask the question, is iTunes the right first experience for those users to manage their new devices? Granted much of it’s moving to the cloud anyway and perhaps in a year or two you won’t really need iTunes to do anything to an iOS device anyway, but for now as long as backing up locally, system restoring and certain other functions can only be performed via iTunes, it would be nice to have a dedicated utility that is separate from iTunes sort of how there’s a separate AirPort Utility.
No one knows how hard it is to always make it to the MacGroup meetings more than me. I’ve been doing it for over 25 years and there have been times where I wished that there wasn’t a meeting today! However, life goes on and I do my best to make every meeting. However, if you can’t make it to the meetings there’s a cool way to watch the meeting replay on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch via the MacGroup TV App. We’ve been podcasting our meetings for years now and they are available in iTunes. However, our dedicated App offers one stop shopping with a great interface. You can stream the meetings right to your device or mark them as favorites so that they are downloaded to watch offline. There’s also a social media tie end to share the content and follow us online.
Check out the MacGroup TV here on the
A Better Typing Experience on the iPad?
I am aware that the intent of the iPad is that it be a self-contained device. And more times than not, I use it that way. No stylus, your finger is supposed to do. No external keyboard, the one that pops up at the bottom of the screen should suffice. But, at times, those devices are needed.
So, I have the Apple wireless keyboard and a Dagi stylus that travel around with me along with my iPad. Before I got this external wireless keyboard, I looked at lots of keyboards. Some were mounted into leather cases. Aside from adding extra bulk and weight to the iPad, the keyboards seemed to make you hold your hands in awkwardly-tight positions. They were noticeably smaller.
I like my Apple wireless keyboard, but sometimes, I wish it could fold it into my iPad when I’m on the go with it, keeping everything compact and together. Seems like someone was listening to my thoughts.
One of my favorite sites to check out, Kickstarter, recently posted a new item that is trying to get funding.
The “Brydge.”
The Brydge is a full-sized bluetooth-enabled keyboard, with hotkeys for iPad functions, a speaker, with clamp/hinge to attach an iPad, allowing it to open, tilt and fold closed.
To see more about Brydge http://thebrydge.com and on http://Kickstarter.com
As long as I have to flexibility to detach the keyboard and still have it function in the same manner, I think my present keyboard might be replaced in the near future.
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When the iTunes Store first opened it was pretty simple to understand the rules of “Authorization.” However, now with the App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes Match, Apple TV, etc. it can be really confusing. There are also different rules depending on the type of content in question. For example, if I bought a song back in the day when Apple used Digital Rights Management (DRM) aka “Protected”, then I was limited to only being able to play that song on up to 5 Authorized computers and an unlimited number of iPods. Luckily Apple no longer sells DRM’d tunes, so this problem/limit goes away for any new purchases of “music”. However, other content, such as movies is still DRM protected and therefore still has the same rules enforced.
Authorizing your Mac or PC to play your DRM protected iTunes content
You can have up to five authorized computers (Macintosh, Windows, or both) at a time. To play a purchased item on a sixth computer, you need to deauthorize another one (from that computer). An iPod, iPhone, iPad, or Apple TV doesn’t count as a computer. When you go to play this content on your computer you will be prompted to “Authorize” your computer to play the content. This basically means signing in with the SAME Apple ID that was used to buy the content. Let’s say one of your computer dies or you sold it and forgot to deauthorize it first. You have no way of selectively deauthorizing computers that you no longer have access to from iTunes. The only way to deauthorize those computers is to Deauthorize All of your computer from your iTunes account and then Authorize the ones you want Authorized again from each computer’s iTunes App.
Automatic Downloads and Re-downloading content
Apple now allows you to re-download more than just Apps. You can now re-download music, TV shows and some movies that you’ve purchased in the past. This is great because it means that you can download content directly to a device such as an iPad while you’re out and about without having to return to your computer. However, this comes at a price as you have a restriction on the number of devices that you can “Associate” with an Apple ID:
When you turn on Automatic Downloads or download past purchases on an iOS device or computer, your device or computer will be associated with your Apple ID. Your Apple ID can have up to 10 devices and computers (combined) associated with it. Each computer must also be authorized using the same Apple ID. Once a device or computer is associated with your Apple ID, you cannot associate that device or computer with another Apple ID for 90 days. You can view which devices or computers are currently associated, remove unused devices or computers, and see how long before they can be associated with a different Apple ID from the Account Information page in iTunes on your computer:
iTunes Match
I love iTunes match, but it also has limits:
When you add a computer or iOS device to iTunes Match, your computer or device will be associated to the Apple ID being used for iTunes Match. Your Apple ID can have up to 10 devices and computers (combined) associated with it. This means computers, iOS devices and Apple TVs. That means it will be a lot easier to hit this limit since it includes everything!
iTunes Match is limited to 25,000 songs.
iTunes Store purchases made with the same Apple ID being used for iTunes Match do not count towards the 25,000 song limit.
Unmatched content will be uploaded as is; upload time varies depending on the amounts uploaded and local network speeds.
Song files over 200 MB will not be uploaded to iCloud.
Songs containing DRM (Digital Rights Management) will not be matched or uploaded to iCloud unless your computer is authorized for playback of that content.
iOS Apps
Luckily the policy is a little more generous when it comes to Apps. There is no limit on the number of iOS devices that you can install the Apps you associated with your Apple ID. Also since the very beginning Apple allows you to delete and re-download iOS Apps. In other words once you own it, you own it for life. You can always re-download an App that you deleted or got wiped out due to a crash.
The Bottom Line
Luckily none of the above is a concern for your own content, content you ripped from CDs or movies from DVDs or iTunes Plus content. However, if you bought Protected content from the iTunes Store then you’ll have to play by the ever changing rules above. In Apple’s defense these rules were more than likely brought to us by the authors, labels, movie studios, etc. Heaven forbid that you have more than 5 computers or 10 devices! 
One of the less touted features of iOS 5 is the NEW Shortcuts Feature. I’m a fan of TextExpander on my Mac and even TextExpander on my iDevices, but on iDevices TextExpander only works in Apps that directly support it. However, since “Shortcuts” is built-in to iOS that means that it works everywhere and in any App. The concept is simple. You can create Shortcuts that allow you to key in a few letters, but expand into full sentences. For example, if I receive a SMS message while in the car I don’t wan’t to have totype a long response. I have a shortcut setup so that if I type “drv” it expands to “I’m driving now. Will respond as soon as I can.” Granted you shouldn’t txt and drive under any circumstance, but If I have a second to respond while I pull over I’d rather do it with 3 characters instead of having to compose a long message. However, it’s not just for texting. You can use these shortcuts for kinds of things including email and other Apps. I get asked for things like my photography rates all the time and perhaps the address to my studio. I have shortcuts for those. If someone is making a Starbucks run and they want to know what I want I can just key in “shl” for Grande Skinny Hazelnut Latte”.
You can create your own shortcuts by going to Settings, General and Keyboard. Just tap Add New Shortcut… to create the ones you want. Be sure not to use abbreviations for actual words. For example, “drv” instead of “dri” because I wouldn’t otherwise type a word with those letters and I don’t want shortcuts popping in for normal things that I’d type during the course of my correspondence.
Give Shortcuts a try. It’s built-in!
TextExpander has been around for years. I knew about it but never really took the time to check it out. Recently I got the iOS App – TextExpander Touch. Like my love for 1Password, I started using TextExpander on my iPhone and then figured it would be great to also have it on my Mac. Recently TextExpander for Mac was on sale and I couldn’t pass up that deal.
What is TextExpander?
TextExpander allows you to create shortcuts that expand out to the full text that you type on a regular basis. For example, let’s take “MacGroup-Detroit, Inc.” I type that all the time in email, web forms, word processing apps and graphic design apps. With TextExpander I setup a shortcut called “mgd” and now whenever I type “mgd”, it expands to “MacGroup-Detroit, Inc.” It’s not just for simple one liners either. TextExpander can expand a typed shortcut to full paragraphs of formatted text as well. This is great for instant access to your price lists, directions to your location and just about anything else you can think of.
Besides being able to expand basic text, formatted text, text with images and current date/time, TextExpander also has a cool “Fill In” feature. This is where you can create a snippet of text that when it expands it will have fields for you to key in the relevant info for that particular text. I didn’t realize how much I would use this feature until I setup one. Now I’m using it all the time.
Syncs with Dropbox
Like I said, I started with TextExpander Touch and I had already started creating some snippets on my iPhone and iPad. Of course when I got the Mac version I wanted to use those same snippets. The good news here is that TextExpander for Mac and TextExpander Touch all sync with Dropbox. If you create or edit a snippet in one place you’ll have it on all your other devices too.
How does it work with iOS Devices?
While TextExpander is pretty universal with your Apps on your Mac, it’s limited to the Apps that support it on iOS. Here’s a complete list of supported iOS Apps that work with TextExpander Touch. While the built-in iOS Mail App and Message App don’t support TextExpander Touch, you can create new email messages and SMS messages directly within the TextExpander Touch App so that you can take advantage of your snippets
iOS 5 promisses to bring similar functionality to the OS itself. This will be handy as it will be supported in the built-in apps, but like most built-in features it won’t be as robust ast TextExpander Touch. It will be great to have both!
You can get TextExpander for Mac for $34.99 here from the 
You can get TextExpander Touch for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch for $4.99 here from the 
One of the 1st things those of us who were upgrading from the iPad to the iPad 2 and had been grandfathered into an unlimited data plan wanted to know was how to transfer that unlimited data plan over to the iPad 2? AT&T setup this website allowing you to make the switch very easily. However, I recently found a reason to keep using that site. I gave my sister an iPad as a Chrismas gift and I also pay for her data plan. I recently wanted to switch to a different credit card for the montly billing. Although I was going to see her in the next few days and remind her to bring her iPad, I wondered if I could do it from the web? The answer is yes.
From this same site you can log in with the same email address and password that you used to setup your 3G account directly on your iPad and change your billing info, upgrade/downgrade your plan, add international roaming, and see your usage history. While it's great to be able to do this directly on the iPad, I actually prefer to do it on the web if for no other reason than I can have the site or 1Password remember my login credentials. On the iPad you have to key in your email address and password each time.
Keep this site handy for when you upgrade to your iPad 3
Our MacNews site is powered by WordPress. While the experience is good on a destop browser and pretty good on the iPad it wasn't really optimized for the iPad. You could always use our iPhone/iPod touch App, but that App wasn't designed for iPad either. With an update to our WP Touch Pro plug-in MacNews is now a bonified "web app" too.
What's the difference between a web app and a native iOS app?
For those of us old enough to remember when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone back in 2007 he touted "web apps" as a way to get custom Apps onto the iPhone. That didn't go over too well with developers that wanted to access native functions (APIs) of the device. So Apple opened the doors to native App development for those wishing to create Apps using Objective C and distribute them on the App Store. Hundreds of thousands of Apps later, that was definitely the right thing to do. However, the fact of the matter is that web apps are still useful when the task isn't as complex as some native apps. With a web app you now can get the "feel" of a native App but without the need to actually write a program using Objective C. Web Apps are built with HTML, Javascript, CSS, and JQuery Mobile. These open standards not only mean that anyone can develop an App (using tools like Adobe Dreamweaver CS 5.5) it also means that the App doesn't have to go through Apple's (or anyone else's) App Store approval process. The other advantage of a web App over a native App is that the developer only has to write one App that will work across all platforms including, dare I say it, your desktop/laptop too.
What's the difference between a web app and just adding a website to your home screen?
In iOS you can go to any website in Safari and add an icon (bookmark) to that site right on your homescreen. This will give you a one tap access to load that site in Mobile Safari. That's great, but all it really is is a button that accesses a bookmarked URL. With a web App you navigate to the site first in Mobile Safari as you always did, but when you save that site to your homescreen and launch it from that icon it launches like a regular App and you don't see the Safari interface around it. It functions like a true App with the ability to remember things like where you left off in the App and you get the same kind of animations during navigation that you would in a native App. Also the Web App can take advantage of things like a different layout for horizontal viewing vs. vertical viewing and even some of the hardware (ie. camera, acelerometer, etc. just like a native App.
Try it for yourself
Load MacNews on your iPad (or iPhone/iPod touch) in mobile Safari. Then tap the share icon to Add it to your Home Screen. At this point you can also name the App whatever you like ie. "MacNews". Now go to your Home Screen and launch it like you would any other App. I am still tweaking the performance, but otherwise it should be good to go. Keep in mind if you don't like it you can always access the site via mobile Safari as you always did. In Mobile Safari just scroll down to the bottom of the page and turn off the mobile theme and you'll be back to the regular site.
As a photographer I love to "geotag" my photos when I travel. Not only do I think it's a neat technology, I just like the fact that I'll be able to more easily answer the "where was that photo taken?" question. I've given this tip a number of differnt times during presentations and in other posts, but I thought it was time to update it and give some additional tips.
The Problem: Your camera doesn't have a built-in or external GPS
If you're shooting with a regular point and shoot or DSLR camera, chances are it doesn't have a built-in GPS chip. Although there are a few cameras out there that do have them, the vast majority do not have them. On the other hand the cameras in your iPhone and WiFi+3G iPad do have actual GPS chips in them. This means that by defualt every picture you take is tagged with Location Information in the metadata of the image. Your various desktop applications like iPhoto, Lightroom, Aperture, Preview, etc. can use this information and display a map pointing out where the photo was taken. The question becomes how do you get this Location information into the shots that you took with a camera that doesn't have a GPS chip in it?
There are a few ways to do it
iPhoto – chances are as a Mac user you already have iPhoto. iPhoto is a photo management tool and whether you use it to manage your photos or not, you can use its easy ability to "copy" location information and "Paste Location" information into other photos. The tip is to simply take at least one iPhone/iPad 2 photo at each location and then go ahead and shoot with your regular camera. When you get back to your computer, import both the iPhone shots and your regular shots into iPhoto. Now just highlight the iPhone shot and choose Copy from the Edit menu. Select all the photos taken at the same location with your other camera and right-click on them and choose Paste Location. iPhoto will add the location information to each of those photos. Aperture can do this too.
HoudahGeo – While the "free" iPhoto option works fine, I actually prefer to do this with HoudahGeo. I don't use iPhoto to manage my photos. i use Lightroom. Importing and exporting the shots into iPhoto adds too many steps to my workflow just to get Location Information into my DSLR shots. HoudahGeo is a stand alone application that can add Location information to your images from a vareity of different sources including other images. This means that I can import images into Lightroom as I always do, then I can drag those same images into HoudahGeo. I can choose one of my iPhone shots and copy and paste the coordinates from the iPhone shoot to all my RAW (DNG) files. Once I go back to Lightroom I just tell Lightroom to update the metadata from the images. Done!
the shot above is being displayed in Lightroom with GPS info. Click the image to see it on the map!
Check out HoudahGeo here
Geotag as you shoot – My favorite method is to simply geotag my photos as i take them. As a Nikon DSLR shooter I have the benefit of having GPS "support" built right in to my Nikon DSLRs. The only thing that's missing is the actual GPS unit. Nikon doesn't build the actual GPS modules into their DSLRs yet. Instead you have to plug in an external module. There are several to choose from and no matter which one you go with, you can then just shoot! Just like with your iPhone, your Nikon DSLR images will be tagged with Location Information as you take them.
Here are some Nikon Compatible GPS units. Here's one that let's you use your iPhone's GPS via Bluetooth and another that uses a separate small GPS unit as you shoot with your DSLR. Pretty Slick!
Once those photos are geotagged now what?
Once you get the Location Information into your photos chances are you'll be ready to display this information. There are several ways to do it. First off and back to iPhoto. iPhoto can display your photos on a Map. That's what the Places feature is. Not only that iPhoto can use this in your slideshows and photo books too. This is also built-in to your iOS devices Photos App too. In Lightroom you can click the little arrow next to the coordinates and it will fire up your browser and show you the location on Google Maps. If you upload the photos to Flickr (and adjust your privacy settings) your photos will automatically be mapped as well. Even the Preview App can show you a map of your photos and show them to you on Google Maps. Those are just a few ways to see where your photos were taken.
While I love the new Smart Covers for iPad 2, the one thing that they don't cover or offer any protection for is the back of your iPad 2. I wanted to protect my iPad 2's back from scratches. Since I was already a fan of Gelaskins, I ordered one on day one for the iPad 2. However, there are some out there that don't want to commit to a design or photo. Jim Nichols turned me on to the Zagg InvisibleSHIELD. While the picture above looks like a naked iPad on the left, it's actually sporting an InvisibleSHIELD. Both of these products are Smart Cover compatible and offer scratch proection for the back. Now keep in mind that the corners are still exposed and they offer no protection whatsoever for a drop or hard bump. If that's the kind of protection you need then you're better off getting a case. However, I love the thinness of the iPad 2 with Smart Cover and for my iPads I'll be sticking with skins.
You can see the Gelaskin skins here (for more than just iPad).
You can see the Zagg InvisibleSHIELDs here (for more than just iPad).
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