Admittedly I don't do much printing these days. Also I'd have to say that i can't think of too many times that I was looking at something on my iPhone and thought "I'd like to print this." However, with the iPad things are a little different. I'm not saying that I suddenly have the need to print, but I can certainly see someone making the case for needing to print from an iPad more so than from an iPhone or iPod touch. In many cases the iPad has become a laptop replacement for a lot of people and no one would think twice about being able to print something from their laptop. Apple also sells iPad Apps like Pages and Numbers and certainly you might want to print a word processing document or spreadsheet. Apparently Apple got lots of requests for printing too and they added printing support in iOS 4.2.
The iOS AirPrint built-in printing support is severely limited!
Although iOS 4.2 now includes printing support (AirPrint), the current implementation is VERY LIMITED. Out of the box you can only print to select HP printers. That's right! No Epson printers, no Canon printers, no other printers are currently supported. So unless you're willing to go out and buy a specific HP printer, you're out of luck. Rumor had it that Apple was going to support AirPrint "sharing" in Mac OS X 10.6.5 and the support for whatever reason got pulled out of the final release. That's not to say that we won't see it in 10.6.6 or 10.6.5.1 or whatever Apple decides to call it, but for right now it is what it is. Don't worry though, I found a way to do it now!
FingerPrint to the Rescue!
There's an App for that! If you're on a Mac with a shared printer you can download and test Collobos Software's FingerPrint App for Mac OS X 10.5/10.6. This App aims to bridge the gap between AirPrint and your existing printer. You can download the App and test it for a week at no charge. As a matter of fact they encourage you to test it first before paying for it to make sure that it works with YOUR printer. Yes that means that even with this software there's a chance that your printer won't work and that's exactly what happened to me. Although I don't have any real interest in Printing from my iOS devices, I still want the option if I can have it. So I downloaded FingerPrint and within a couple of minutes I had it up and running and ready to test. It saw my Xerox Phaser 8550DP printer and so did my iPad! Woohoo! However, when I brought up a page in Safari on the iPad and attempted to print it nothing happened. Nothing was ever sent to the printer. I figured, "oh well I guess I will continue to live without printing." Then Collobos updated FingerPrint with a new option. This new option allows you to not only print directly to a "compatible" printer, but also send the print job to the Mac that's running the App as an Adobe PDF. You can either "Send to Mac" or "Send to iPhoto". I tried the "Send to Mac" option and it worked! My PDF ended up in the ~/Documents/FingerPrint folder and immediately launched in Preview. So at a minimum I could at least hit print from there and get the printout that I wanted.
That's not good enough!
my FaceTime chat with my friend and Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak (this was Mac to Mac)
One of the things Apple introduced in their "Back to the Mac" event last week was a public beta of FaceTime for the Mac. I'm very pleased to see this happen as many of were scratching our heads as to why this wasn't introduced as a feature of iChat. I'm actually glad that Apple chose to make it a stand alone App. Why? The reason is I've had very hit and miss luck (mostly miss) with connecting with people over iChat over the years. To the point that I completely gave up on it. Whereas FaceTime almost always works for me. Actually FaceTime was one of the reasons I upgraded my immediate family to iPhone 4s. I'm on the road for work all the time and I have a kid away in school, so FaceTime was a great solution for keeping in touch without having to sit in front of a computer. With that said, there are some that will NEVER buy an iPhone or even an iPod touch. Now we can FaceTime with those folks from iPhone to Mac, Mac to Mac, Mac to iPod touch, etc. This makes FaceTime even more useful than it was before.
How does it make calls if it's not a phone?
FaceTime on the Mac, like the 4th gen iPod touch doesn't have a phone number associated with it. Therefore it relies on your registered email address. When you setup FaceTime on the Mac for the first time you log in with your Apple ID and then you can set it to use any email address(es) you want. By default if anyone tries to FaceTime you with that email address your Mac will "ring" and you can choose to accept the call or decline it. FaceTime still monitors for incoming calls even if the app isn't running. You can of course disable this feature.
How well does it work?
In my first test I was setting it up and I actually accidentally clicked on my daughter's name and it started to place the call. I quickly disconnected as it was a mistake and I wasn't trying to call her in that moment. However, she called me right back and we were FaceTiming. (yes that's a word now). She just tapped the call back feature on her iPhone without even thinking about it and since that call originated from my MacBook Pro at first, it (she) dialed me back to that location. The video and voice were very clear and of course the call was FREE!
Although you can setup a Favorites list you still have to scroll up and down your contacts or start to type a name. I would really like to see a standard Search box at the top of the window in the next version. Will there be a Windows version? Your guess is as good as mine. However, if you think about it Apple never released their own iChat client. iChat uses AOL and therefore a Windows user can just use that. They may do the same for FaceTime (as they have published the protocols used) and let someone else do the Windows client. Again, just guessing.
Like most "betas" this product is still under development and therefore there could be bugs in using it and we could see more features come along the way. My assumption is that Apple will roll the final version into Mac OS X 10.7 Lion in the summer of 2011.
Snow Leopard (yes it requires Snow Leopard) users can download the FaceTime Beta here.
One of the most popular features of MacGroup-Detroit and one of the things that sets us apart from most other groups is MacGroup TV. MacGroup TV is the monthly broadcast of our meetings. It allows our members to see the meetings they missed pretty much on any device they choose. While it was already possible to download the meetings or stream time to your iOS device. However, MacGroup-Detroit is pleased to introduce a dedicated App for MacGroup TV.
How does it work?
Like I said, you could already subscribe to MacGroup TV in iTunes and the episodes will download to your computer automatically and sync over to your device the next time you sync. You could also go to the show in the iTunes App right on your device and start watching a meeting stream over the internet or download one. With the App you have a one tap button that takes you right to the show and shows you the most current meeting. You can "Star" your favorites to get to quickly to watch over and over or download them right in the App for offline viewing. Any meeting you start to watch and then want to finish later will pick right back up where you left off. Also unlike iTunes, our App allows us to easily include Bonus Content such as PDF notes/handouts from the meeting as well as bonus clips that only appear in the App. As we move forward this will allow us to distribute even more content besides the movie itself.
The MacGroup TV App is $1.99 and you can get it here from the 
One of the most exciting things about the NEW 4th generation iPod touch is the addition of both a front facing camera and rear camera. As you would expect with the rear camera you can shoot stills and HD video. However, with the front facing camera you also get to use FaceTime to make FREE video calls over the internet to other iPod touch and iPhone 4 users. Let's face it, there are people that will never buy an iPhone. The reasons people usually give are things like "I hate AT&T", "I'm happy with my current carrier", "I'm happy with my current phone", etc. However, in more cases than not those same people usually buy iPod touch devices to use the thousands of Apps out there. Now if you buy a NEW iPod touch you're that much closer to having an iPhone without a contract or monthly fees. There were already a slew of ways of using an iPod touch as a phone while in a WiFi area with various VoIP apps. FaceTime on the iPod touch now gives you a native way to do it with video to boot. Although I have an iPhone 4, I use the iPod touch as my "iPod" when I want to dock it and listen to music while still using my phone for other things. I was happy with my 2nd generation iPod touch and saw no reason to go to the 3rd generation, but when I saw all the new features on the 4th generation I decided it was time to upgrade. While I love the Retina display, new slimmer body, 32GB capacity (my old one was 16GB), faster processor and HD video camera I'm most excited about FaceTime for friends and family members. Let's take a look at how it works:
FaceTime is an App
Unlike the iPhone 4, there is no "Phone" app to integrate FaceTime into on the touch. Therefore on the iPod touch FaceTime is a dedicated built-in App. When you want to make FaceTime calls you launch the App. If there are people you FaceTime with on a regular basis you can add them to the App's Favorites for quick access. Also the App does NOT need to be running to receive calls. When someone calls you, the iPod touch will detect the incoming call and start ringing no matter which App you're currently running.
If you have an Apple Mobile Device (iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch) it's actually possible to sync it with multiple computers. You just have to understand the rules. Apple groups things into four categories:
Data – the data or info category consists primarily of things like your contacts, calendar, bookmarks, notes, email accounts, etc. This information can either be sync'd via iTunes or wirelessly via MobileMe or Microsoft Exchange (although Notes currently can only be sync'd via iTunes).
Media – the media category consists of your music, movies, music videos, TV shows, podcasts, audiobooks, ringtones, iTunesU and now iBooks. This content can either be sync'd or managed manually.
Photos – well this category is pretty self explanatory. It's your photo library and all of your photo albums. Your photos can either be in iPhoto or simply in a folders and subfolders.
Apps – last but certainly not least is your Apps that you've downloaded from the App Store.
Now that you know what the four categories are the content from these four categories can live on one, two, three or four different computers. In my house I sync my iPhone, iPad and iPod touch between two computers. I have a MacBook Pro that is my main everyday computer and we have an iMac that is our "iTunes media server". Of the four categories above I sync my Data, Photos and Apps with my MacBook Pro and I sync my media with my iMac. This works great for me because it means that I don't have to keep every song, movie, TV show, etc. that I own on my MacBook Pro.
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