Latest Posts in Editors' Notes

Apple's fall notebook classic

As the baseball post season gets underway and the presidential election marches steadily closer, everybody and their sidekick has a prediction about what’s going to happen in the next couple of months. Nor is the rarefied air of the Apple community immune to this disease of predictionalisis. With the announcement that Apple is planning on rolling out new laptops on October 14th, what kind of changes can we expect to the portable lineup that bears the name MacBook?

In recent years, the notebook computer segment has increasingly become one of Apple’s strongest performers, outselling desktops every quarter for the last two years—in the most recent quarter by more than 50 percent. It’s also one of Apple’s most visible faces: Mac laptops abound on television shows and in cafes and colleges across the country.

So as we go into the holiday season, it’s no surprise that Apple wants to bump up its portable line to incorporate faster, shinier technology. The company’s done the same thing for the past several years, and this year will likely be no exception. So let’s delve into what we can expect to see when the spotlight falls on notebooks.

iTunes and media file organization

In a recent Mac OS X Hints blog entry, I explained how to prevent iTunes from changing filenames (in the Finder) when adding items to your iTunes library. As this is something I don’t normally pay any attention to myself, I included a disclaimer, to let everyone know that I don’t use this hint myself, and as such, may not be able to answer many questions about it. I wrote:

Now, I’ll admit that this particular preference change was meaningless to me—I really don’t care, nor do I even know, what iTunes names my songs when it imports them. I use iTunes to make listening to music easier, and not having to care about filenames is a key part of the “making it easier” bit.

I’ve now heard from a couple of readers that the above could be construed as insulting for those who do care about filenames on imported music. In re-reading what I wrote, I can see how it could be read that way. For that, I’m sorry, as that wasn’t the intent at all. However, these e-mail exchanges got me thinking about the broader question at hand, which is simply…why do you care what iTunes names your tracks, or how it organizes the files in the Finder?

For me, the filenames and folder structures for my media files are irrelevant, because iTunes manages all those details for me. I use iTunes to play, tag, track, and otherwise handle all the mundane aspects of managing my music and movie collection. Using iTunes’ built-in tools, the actual filenames (and storage locations) of the songs or movies being managed are invisible. iTunes presents all the information I need to know—song or movie title, artist, purchase date, etc.—within the iTunes interface, and without having to show me each file’s name or storage location. If I ever want to see one of my songs in the Finder, I just Control-click on it in iTunes and pick the Show in Finder option from the contextual menu. (I use iPhoto in much the same way, only rarely bothering to title images—I do, however, spend lots of time with keywords and Smart Albums to keep my images organized).

An array of audio offerings at AES

Over the weekend, I visited San Francisco’s Moscone Center—home of Macworld Expo every January—to check out the annual AES Convention, put on by the Audio Engineering Society. Think of it as Macworld Expo for the music and audio industry.

Most of the products on display around the show floor were aimed at pro audio users: producers, recording techs, and the like. But I did see a few products—or hear about some upcoming ones—that will appeal to a more general audience:

Audio-Technica AT2020 USB microphone

More credit for Apple

Recently, my colleague Chris Breen offered up some kind words for Apple regarding some of the company’s contributions to his multimedia life. In his piece, Chris noted that he’s never at a loss for words when Apple does something stupid, but also believes that the company should be recognized for the things it does right.

Like Chris, I’m also usually never at a loss for words when Apple’s done something that doesn’t seem quite right—such as with the original iPhone 2.0 software release. Also like Chris, though, I feel that Apple deserves kudos when it does something right. In this case, that something right is the recently-released iPhone 2.1 software update.

As noted in our first look, iPhone 2.1 brought a number of new features (mostly relative to the iPod portion of the iPhone), as well as fixes for bugs that “caused hangs and crashes on systems that use lots of third-party applications…” It was this claim that most interested me—my original rant about the iPhone 2.0 software was based on the number of times my iPhone had been left in an unusable state after doing something as simple as installing or updating an App Store program. (I discussed this problem in our Troubleshooting iPhone and iPod touch issues article.) Like other users, I also had problems with programs quitting repeatedly, and certain programs not even launching. In short, the sum of these experiences turned using my iPhone into a most-unpleasant experience—so much so that I recommended people hold off on buying a new iPhone until the software issues were sorted out.

Apple and old equipment recycling

Given my profession (and avocation), I go through Macs relatively regularly—typically, the hardware lasts two to three years in my hands before being passed on to a family member for additional use. Over the years, though, there’s actually one Mac model that’s never made an appearance in my home: an iMac of any sort. All that changed last week, however, when we invested in (sounds better than “spent a bunch of money on”) a new 20-inch iMac. This machine will be our family workhorse—acting as the kids’ educational/gaming machine, holding our music and photo collection, and handling everything from budgeting to holiday card preparation to the occasional Final Cut Express project.

As noted, most of my old machines go to relatives when I upgrade. But sometimes, I find myself with a “leftover” Mac (or the occasional PC), and I then try to find ways to get rid of it while keeping it out of the local landfill. If you’d like to put your old machine to use, of course, there are many ways to do so. But what if you want to do the environmentally responsible thing and recycle your old Mac? Or if your new Mac is your first Mac, you may want to recycle your now-useless PC or Linux machine.

The best choice relative to recycling is to find someone who can put your Mac to use locally. By reusing equipment locally, your old gear will go to a good use, and it won’t have to be shipped somewhere to be recycled. The way I find local companies who reuse older computers is via a Google search: Computer recycling your_city, where your_city is, obviously, the name the city where you live (or the nearest large city). Running this search for Portland, Oregon, I found a number of good candidates for used computer gear. Note that a number of these programs will require a small payment, or ask for a donation, to cover their expenses.

Introducing the Macworld Daily News newsletter

We publish a lot of stories each day at Macworld.com—usually in the neighborhood of 20, give or take a review or two. If you’re a Mac news junkie, you want to stay on top of all the headlines, but you can’t just sit in front of your Web browser all day reloading Macworld’s Browse All Stories view repeatedly. (Though if you really want to, who am I to dissuade you? Refresh, away!)

Macworld Daily News newsletter

If you’re looking to strike a balance between comprehensive coverage and convenience, then Macworld’s Daily News newsletter may be just what you’re looking for.

Adobe’s CS4 message

As part of this week’s Creative Suite 4 launch, Adobe taped a launch event Monday night that it broadcast on the Web to conicide with the announcement of its 13-product, six-suite package. And the takeaway message from that launch event—which the company says was watched live by 200,000 people on the Web—was this: CS3 was slow and tedious to work with, while CS4 will save you time, money, and repetitive strain injuries.

OK, maybe I’m paraphrasing a bit, but the bulk of the hour-long presentation—which had the feel of an infomerical mixed with a late-night talk show, with phrases such as “pushing the envelope,” “bleeding-edge,” and “monetization”—was focused on features that let users do things more quickly than before.

After warnings from stage hands to not stand up lest we audience members be conked on the head by moving camera booms and some practice applauding on cue, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen gave a quick intro in which he talked about Flash Player 10 and apps built on Adobe’s AIR technology, and then handed the show over to John Loiacono, one of Adobe’s senior vice presidents. Loiacono, in turn, turned over a good part of the next 45 minutes—after making the point that CS4 was a “major overhaul of CS3” with hundreds of new features and more than 1,700 person years of work—to several customers who use CS applications in their daily work.

The indestructible Apple Store?

Apple opened up five new brick-and-mortar stores this past weekend, bringing it ever closer to its goal of having 242 stores operating by the end of this month. But in the comment thread for our news brief on the latest round of Apple Store openings, one of our forum members asked an intriguing question about the company’s retail efforts.

Has an Apple Store ever closed? Not just relocated to a better spot in the mall, I mean really closed down for lack of sales.

It’s an intriguing question—for me, at any rate—because I don’t know the answer off the top of my head. I put in a call to Apple’s PR department, and once I get an answer, I can post it here.

But while I’m waiting for that phone call to be returned, I can do a little detective work of my own. A series of Google searches using variations of terms like “Apple Store” and “closes” or “shuttered” proved fruitless—I came across an article or two about stores closing early in advance of product launches and a couple notices about the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York temporarily closing its doors to film a TV commercial but nothing along the “We’re closing our doors forever! All merchandise must go!” scale.

Practice good online password security

As you may have read by now, someone recently broke into a Yahoo e-mail account belonging to Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and posted pictures and several of the messages found there online. Could the same thing happen to you?

Perhaps, and it’s worth paying attention to your possible exposure. The break-in occurred with surprising ease—there were no complex hacker tricks involved in getting into Governor Palin’s e-mail account. Here’s how it happened, why you should be somewhat concerned, and what you can do about it.

How security was compromised

Although Palin has an official e-mail address in her gubernatorial capacity, she also has at least one Yahoo address. Like any online service, Yahoo needs a way for its users to reset their passwords—preferably an automated solution that doesn’t require (expensive) human involvement. With Yahoo, the way this is accomplished is by answering a previously designated “secret question” correctly. Once you’ve answered the secret question, Yahoo then allows you to reset your password using an online form. Once reset, you can then log in with the new password, and you’re back in business. If you’re a user who has forgotten your password, this is a nice time-saving feature. Unfortunately, for a hacker looking to get into someone else’s account, it’s also a great time-saving feature. (Note that this feature isn't particular to Yahoo; many online services offer identical password reset functions.)

A market opportunity for Apple Remote Desktop

As noted in my deeper look at OS X 10.5.5, our hint on adding more power to 10.5’s screen sharing is now only partially functional—you can still enable the Bonjour browser, but you can’t put the oh-so-useful extra buttons (screen capture, full screen mode, and so forth) on the toolbar.

Removing these buttons is completely within Apple’s rights, of course—they weren’t really supposed to be there in the first place. The OS X 10.5 screen sharing feature is based on Apple’s Remote Desktop 3, and the code for the buttons was simply left in the initial release of 10.5’s screen sharing. For whatever reason, Apple decided to remove them in OS X 10.5.5, and although I’m not thrilled with that decision (I used the screen capture button a lot), I do respect it.

However, due to this change in 10.5.5, I’ve found myself in a bit of a technical bind. I use screen sharing a lot, given that we have four machines spread around the house, and I really enjoyed the extra power those buttons brought to my remote control sessions. As of today, though, to get those buttons back will cost me $299—that’s the cost of Apple Remote Desktop 3 with a 10-machine license. Unfortunately, that’s the smallest Apple Remote Desktop license you can buy; the other alternative is $499 for the unlimited managed machines version. As a home user with a total of four Macs, neither of these really meets my needs—or more importantly, my budget.