Mountain Lion Is Coming

Today, Apple released the first developer preview of the next step in OS X, Mountain Lion.  First, let me say that Apple has once again proven it can work on software for months without a peep, then just let it loose to the surprise of everyone.

It brings more iOS features to the desktop. Messages replaces iChat, Calendar replaces iCal, Contacts replaces Address Book, and adds Notes and Reminders as separate apps.  All of this is consistent with Apple's push to integrate the computer and the mobile.  All of these apps (as well as new document-creation apps) will use iCloud to sync between computers and mobiles.

In Mountain Lion, Reminders are taken out of the calendar and Notes are taken out of Mail.  They are separate, just like they should be.  New App Store apps on the Mac will have the choice to save in traditional file system folders, or in a simplified iCloud interface.

One thing bothers me, as Gruber points out:

I’m interested to see how developer support for Mac App Store-only features plays out. Two big ones: iCloud document storage and Notification Center. Both of these are slated only for third-party apps from the Mac App Store. Many developers, though, have been maintaining non-Mac App Store versions of their apps.

 This could get very expensive.  I am a HUGE user of the Omni Apps.  I use OmniFocus, OmniOutliner, OmniGraffle, and OmniPlan extensively and daily.  I bought these apps long before the Mac App Store existed.  Thankfully, the fine folks at OmniGroup keep update in parity between App Store and in-the-wild versions of the software.  By Apple only allowing iCloud and Notification Center to App Store Apps, I will need to re-purchase $400-$500 in Apps so that notifications show up on my desktop.  This seems a bit anti-consumer and anti-developer, especially when alternate notification systems, like Growl, are available for nominal cost.

Happy Birthday, Macintosh!

The Macintosh ( /ˈmækɨntɒʃ/ mak-in-tosh),^[1] or Mac, is a series of personal computers (PC) designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a graphical user interface rather than acommand-line interface.

I know Macs have been my computer of choice since the beginning.  Like many, I strayed into the Windows world during the early 90's when Macs were damn near unusable, especially in "real world" jobs.  Since OS X was released in 2002, I've been all Mac, all the time.

Except when I'm on my iPad...

The Crazy One.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
We make tools for these kinds of people.
While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Steve Jobs died this week. I'm not going to get all touchy-feely sad about it. I never met the man. But the world lost an innovator who changed the way we do things.

We use a computer mouse because of him. Hell, we probably use a computer because of him. We buy music online because of him. We carry that music around in our pockets because of him. We touch, swipe, pinch, and zoom because of him. We enjoy amazingly lifelike animated movies because of him. We create wonderful works of literature, art, and goofy fun on pencil thin slabs of glass because of him.

Whether you use Macs, iPods, iPads and iPhones or not, you can bet whatever you are typing on or listening to, it was influenced by Steve Jobs.

Thanks, Mr. Jobs.

OSX Lion Is Here! Sort Of.

I woke up this morning after an unusually restful night. I was ready to take on the world, hit the gym, install Apple's operating system upgrade, and order a new laptop for my upcoming tour.

As a loyal Apple citizen of the world, I launched the App Store on my MacBook Pro and clicked the Lion upgrade. It downloaded quicker an I expected, considering the 4 GB file was probably being downloaded by thousands of people, and away it went. I let it do it's thing while I cooked breakfast, then that's when my day got bad. Real bad.

First, a little background: I am not a typical user. I live on the bleeding edge of all things tech. I run developer betas on my iPhone and iPad. I've swapped my MacBook Pro's primary hard drive out with a super-fast SSD using a kit.  The DVD drive is gone, and I shoved a terabyte hard drive in the slot instead. This is probably the root of my problem.

I've been having SSD issues for a while. Sometimes, OSX will just not boot, and I have to repair permissions to get it logged in. That's not a huge deal. The time saved by the SSD's speed more than makes up for weekly Disk Utility visits. But now, oh now, things are just plain janky.

Lion rebooted fine. It looks good. I love the new Mission Control and even like the "natural" scrolling (I'd been using Scroll Reverser for a while, so it wasn't really a change for me). Launch Pad is a great way to see your apps (and a reminder that you really don't use some of them...), and the new app-switching gestures are a real time saver.  Then I tried to open stuff...

• Safari launched fine.  I love the full screen UI, but wouldn't load https secure pages.
• I ran Software Update, which downloaded everything, then gave me a terribly unhelpful "Unable to update applications at this time" message.  Then crashed.
• The App Store would launch, but not connect.
• Dropbox had me locked out.
• I couldn't access my Address Book.
• Mail crashed immediately.
• iTunes wouldn't launch because Lion thought I didn't have access to the disk the iTunes Library is on.
• Upon reboot, the command-R Recovery trick loaded the screen, but the touchpad didn't do anything, so it's worthless.

After repairing permissions, verifying disks, and resetting every setting I could find, I went the reinstall route.

I tried reinstalling iTunes, but because I run a developer version of the software, I had to re-download from the Developer Site, which is secure, so it wouldn't load.  So, I switched to trusty Google Chrome, which crashed immediately, as well.  Guess what?  The Google Chrome download page is https as well.  

I'm currently reinstalling Lion, and will let you know how it goes.  I'm sure all of these problems are due to me upgrading my hard drive to an unofficial SSD/hard drive combo and Lion having trouble linking the application files on the SSD to the data and Library files on the hard drive.  I may have to go back to the single hard drive set up, then re-migrate to SSD using the process I used last time.  

Am I worried?  No.

I'm not in any way in danger of losing data.  I'm a hawk about backing up, using a combination of Dropbox, Google Doc's fantastically cheap file storage, Chronosync, Time Machine, and Carbon Copy Cloner.  In addition, all of my data is on a completely separate hard drive from the OS and the Applications, which are on the SSD.  Lion could hose the entire drive and my data is safe and sound over on the east end of the MacBook Pro.  Worst case scenario, I'll have to reinstall some apps, but I need to clean my apps out, anyway.  I upgraded this machine first, because it is the least critical.  I use my iPad for travel, mostly, and just ordered a new MacBook Air for the road.  All the podcast recording and developer work is done on my iMac, so having my MacBook go down for a day or two isn't convenient, but won't kill me.

Lesson of the day:  

Back Up.  A Lot.  And if you decide to tinker with your hardware, expect the worst from your software.

Update on Wednesday, July 20, 2011 at 3:17PM by jimmy

After re-running the Recovery Thing, and letting it load (about 5-6 minutes!), I ran disk utility and repaired/verified everything.  All seems to be working now!  

WWDC 2011

So here we are again, waiting and watching and hoping for that magical thing to be released by Apple at this year's World Wide Developer's Conference (WWDC).

Apple sent out a press release a couple days ago confirming what all of us Apple Nerds have been saying for weeks — iCloud, iOS5, and OSX Lion.

No New Phone

This will apparently be a software-heavy WWDC, no new iPhones or anything. Quite frankly, that's fine with me. My wallet and gear bag can't handle another gadget right now. If Apple gets off the historical yearly refresh of the things they make, I may tend to be more selective with what I buy. Or not.

Back to WWDC... And my semi-annual probably-gonna-get-it-all-wrong pundit-a-thon!

That is a trademarked phrase, so don't try to steal it.

Let's go step-by-step. Ooh baby... (sorry, that was an NKOTB throwback) Starting with

OSX Lion

A ship date will be announced and someone who is not Steve Jobs will do a way-too-long demo of how nifty it is. ("Look, a new Finder icon!") Despite developer NDA's, there have been hundreds of screenshots of what's new in Lion. Really good stuff, but not all shiny-excitedy. Just search Flickr for OSX Lion and you'll see. It is a major update, and should cost $129. But they'll probably sell it for $49.
I think $29 is too low. That is what the Snow Leopard update was, but that was a minor update. Lion is a major overhaul. Apple likes to make sure that everyone is on the same page, Borg-style. So, they make things like OS upgrades dirt cheap.

Let's get to the good stuff.

iCloud

Rumors have been swirling about iCloud. Apple's North Carolina Data Center is finally done being built, and now we know why. iCloud is known (according to the invite to WWDC) to be a streaming service. The question is what will they stream? Apple has signed deals with all the major music labels, so that's a no brainer. Will movies and TV shows follow? Google and Amazon already have streaming services. I actually switched to buying mostly Amazon mp3 tracks long ago. Their Cloud Storage streaming is a nice free bonus. The problem with Google and Amazon's offerings is that they just did it with no record label deals. They treat their clouds as a giant hard drive. You have to take the time to upload whatever you buy or already own to the service. Chris Breen calls this a "passive locker". I agree with Breen and others that Apple's will be an "active locker". You don't have to do anything. The service is the active one. You just put in your iTunes password, and Apple will know what you own based on your iTunes library's XML file. The XML file uploads in seconds and is basically a list of what you have, the ratings and playcounts, and that sort of info. Not the actual song file. So in a matter of seconds, your "locker" is populated with everything you own, assuming Apple already has a copy of it. With the proper licensing in place from the record labels, Apple's copy of the song could stream to anyone who can prove they own it through iTunes. That's a sweet deal.

Today's latest round of speculation circles around a new Time Capsule. Remember those? Yeah, nobody else does either. The Time Capsule is an Airport Extreme wifi router with a built in hard drive for Time Machine backups. The problem is, it is terribly slow and the first batch had a terrible habit of dying and losing all your data.

Apparently, they're working on a new one that is connected to iCloud and also caches software updates. You know that little pop-up you get every once in a while that says you have updates available? Those will go away. The Time Capsule will automatically download system updates (and presumably updates from Apple software and things bought through the Mac App Store) and just push them to your Lion-equipped computer next time you connect. I'm guessing it will do the same for iOS5 equipped portables.

I can't decide whether iCloud will be part of MobileMe or a separate service. My first thought is that MobileMe will go free and iCloud will be $25-50 a year. I've been a MobileMe user since 2006 when it was .Mac. It's a credible way to keep all my Macs (4 at the moment), my iPhone and my iPad all in sync with contacts and calendars and what-not. But Google does all that for free. Apple should too.

iOS5

Disclaimer:  I am a registered and active iOS developer.  I have no inside information and have not seen iOS5 or anything related to it.  I'm just reading the RSS like you.

Notifications:  If Apple does nothing else but fix notifications on iOS 5, I will be happy. Here's a common scenario: I'm watching Dr. Who on Netflix and I get a notification that someone on Twitter started following me. @jimmylittle if you're wondering. I love new followers, but don't tell me now! The pop-up pops up, which causes the video to pause. In order to get back to what I was doing, I have to hit "Cancel" on the pop-up, tap the screen to bring up the Netflix controls, tap "Play", then tap the screen again to make the controls disappear. That's 4 taps to dismiss a notification and get back to what I was doing.
Here's another one: I'm typing my little heart out with my thumbs. I can hit about 40 words per minute on an iPhone, by the way. All of a sudden, I get a notification. Unfortunately, my lightning-fast thumbs have hit the "Cancel" button because it popped up right over the keyboard. Now, the notification went away before I could even see what App it was. I have nowhere to go check for missed notifications, so I have to stop what I'm doing and swipe through my home screens looking for a little red dot. All this to find out somebody checked into the taco cart on FourSquare. I don't care about that now. Let me work.

I really like this concept video.  Just turn off your sound.  The background music is asinine.

Here's more of what I'm looking for in iOS5:

Better Search and Widgets: Making it more Dashboard-like.  I never use Dashboard on the Mac, but it can be really useful on a phone.  I saw a rendering of a concept that I really liked. I wish I'd bookmarked it so I could link it.  At the top of the screen was a search box, and the screen was filled with Widgets.  You can swipe right to get to your home screens, left to get to the widget screens.  Search is available on any widget screen.

UPDATE:  That concept video on YouTube

Better Task Switching: Bring on the Exposé!  A 9-thumbnail grid of live views of your apps is available if you Jailbreak.  It works wonderfully and is great when you can't remember if you were typing in that notes app or that other notes app.  A live preview tells you a lot more than an icon.  While you're at it, put a search box on the top of that screen, too.  A search will never be more than a double tap of the home button away!

Wireless Syncing: I know it's tough. I know it's slow. But it is so useful! With MobileMe and iCloud working together, I shouldn't have to plug in to get app updates or to backup. It should just happen when I'm on my home network. Even if I have to buy one of those new Time Capsules to enable wireless sync, I'll do it.

Twitter/Facebook Integration: Now that Twitter has announced it's own photo sharing service, it'll be a lot easier to upload. It sucks for third party services like yFrog and Twitpic, but now Apple and others can just add a "Tweet This" button to the photo app. Maybe send to Facebook, also. But I hate Facebook, so I digress... 

Podcast Subscriptions: They're called PODcasts, for pete's sake! They were invented for the iPod! So tell me why, in 2011, I can't subscribe to and update podcasts on my device. I want to hit "Update All", just like in the App Store, and download my podcasts. Even better, I want to tell my iThing to download podcasts every night at 3:00 AM if I'm on wifi.

Messaging App: Apple has Push Notifications. Apple has hundreds of millions of mobile users. Apple has a ton of cash. They can side-step the cell industry all together and build a data-only messaging app. I know what you're saying, "The carriers would never allow it! Blasphemy!!" But I say to you: BBM. That's right. RIM's Blackberry Messenger is huge and does not use SMS at all. SMS is a huge rip-off. Apple can make it's own Messaging network, but make it better. Integrate Twitter DM's, SMS, and Apple Messages. Hell, even Windows Phone can integrate Twitter and SMS.

There are 50 more things I'd like to see in iOS5, but some of those things I'm working on Apps for, so let's hope they don't take it too far.

Let's see how it goes. I may be blogging or tweeting the WWDC Keynote on June 6. Maybe not. A lot of people already do that better than me.  MAybe just a snarky comment or two...

Redundancy is just superfluous.