Category: Apple

Essential Summer Gear

8/5/2024

We just hit August, so I thought I would talk about some of my most invaluable gear this summer. Of course, some of this is specific to my situation, but I am making this list long enough, so that it may give some an idea even if they aren't in my exact situation. Of course, some of the items are great in all of the seasons, so this should not always be considered mutually exclusive.

Note: I get paid commissions for purchases made through any links to Amazon products in this post

AirPods Pro 2 - I jumped on the bandwagon when these came down in price during Amazon Prime sales. My wife is a bird lover, so I usually don’t listen to my outdoor speakers when we are both out because she prefers hearing the birds chirp. Anyone else have a significant other that will all the sudden say, "I hear a Chickadee"? This happened in a Sprouts parking lot, recently. Personally, I like listening to music, but the transparent mode makes it easy to carry on a conversation as my music plays. In other words, she can listen to birds and I can listen to Byrds.

Roll n' Jack Jeep top removal - I bought this while it was still available. It seems to disappear for months on end. In my opinion, this is safer and more flexible than a hoist. I should know because I had a hoist installed by a local carpenter and it was great for a year. All of a sudden, I was pulling down my jeep top onto the Jeep and the screw anchoring it came out of the wall! Luckily, I wasn't hurt, but it left a small dent on my Jeep as a reminder. This device isn't leaving anything to chance.

Clearly Filtered Pitcher - Who knows the contaminants we are putting in our bodies by drinking water from the tap? Also, I don’t like adding to the plastic in the world, so this served two purposes. The water is cleaner and I don't have a need to carry around plastic bottles. I also added a LARQ bottle to carry around when we leave the house.

Apple Watch Ultra - obviously this works great with AirPods (I mentioned above), but it is also nice in the pool since it works with laps and it even tells you the temperature of the water… in addition to all the other features use on a daily basis.

Kindle Paperwhite - great little reader I can take anywhere.

Pool float - This is a necessity for my pool time. This was the least expensive model I have seen, but still does the same job as those costing $50 more.

Morning coffee - there is just something perfect about morning coffee on the deck before the day gets too hot! The photo below is from a trip. At home, we use a Breville Espresso Machine.

Ninja Blender - smoothies! Yum!

Alpine outdoor speakers - when out in the pool, these add some nice ambiance.

Canon Selphy Printer - so much fun to take photos and print them out as keepsakes.

Misting outdoor fan - too hot, this offers some relief!

Dolphin Pool cleaner - this makes the pool so easy to clean.

Salt water - softer water with no red eyes!

CRKT Squid Knife with Blade Assist - I often need a knife for opening salt bags, dirt bags, and many other things out in the yard. Love the easy action on this little fella.

Crocs/Birkenstocks - My at home shoe combo. When doing normal stuff around the house, I like the Birkenstocks and outside, especially in rain or when in the pool, I wear the always fashionable Crocs.

iPod classic 160gb - when I want to completely unplug and chill. I usually use with Ety ER4P earbuds or a pair of Grado SR60s with my 160GB iPod filled with Apple Lossless files.

Weber Spirit S-315/Big Green Egg - the combo of a gas grill and smoker is awesome!

iPhone - the camera alone is worth the price of admission. However, music, video, communication, etc. Around here, even the flashlight comes in handy.

Sony camera/Rokinon - I thought about adding a smaller camera this year, but went with a smaller, 35mm f2.8 lens instead. Love this combo for walking around during the summer.

Good Bags - for work, I carry a backpack. For other stuff, I carry a Billlingham Hadley 2020 Pro camera bag. I remove the insert if I am not carrying my camera.

Projector for movies - we have a projector for outdoors (below), but usually watch the 100 inch screen indoors. Summer movie nights are fun.

Butcherbox - for the grill, it’s a pleasure to have good quality meat and seafood. More food than gear, but its a necessity.

iPad 13 inch M4 - more vibrant than ever and easier to get stuff done outdoors. The pencil is great for photography edits and notes, as well.

Sunglasses - When I have my contacts in, my two main sunglasses are probably 20 years old. A pair of Raybans that wrap around the ears (great for bumpy Jeep rides, especially for hot days when the top is off) and below a pair of Persol sunglasses ( actually I have two pair - house and car).

Oakley glasses- when my contacts are out, I like having a pair of glasses that go indoors and out. These have progeressive lenses, so covered without needing a pair of prescription sunglasses (though I have a pair from the Shaq line I keep in the Jeep for a possible emergency situation..I also keep a pair of past year's subscription glasses). I need to be able to drive home if my glasses break or I lose a contact.

Cuisinart ice cream - make your own with less ingredients.

Fuji film camera - I have a film camera from 1965 that my dad handed down to me. I have never used it, but I have a roll of film on the way, so looking forwarded to seeing if it it works. I have a more recent Canon P&S film camera here if the Fujika is a bust. For summer, I always like to try something new and this year, one of those things is film.

Adidas - These are probably my perfect summer shoe for leaving the house. I bought a pair of Greats, that are better leather, but I still just prefer the iconic looks and the fit&feel of the Adidas.

Game Controller - I am not a big gamer or anything, but with all the retro games coming to iOS and iPad OS, I was happy to have a controller that would fit my iPhone (in case) and my iPad (via an augmentation to the controller).

Pets and wife - Summer isn't the same without my little companions.

I am sure I left something off this list. If I missed an essential, please let me know. Enjoy your final days of summer!

Note: I get paid commissions for purchases made through any links to Amazon products in this post

0 Comments

New Apple Stuff...my initial thoughts.

9/14/2017

2 Comments

As you probably know, Apple introduced new iPhones, a new AppleTV, and a new Apple Watch this week. Since I am often discussing Apple products, I thought I would give my readers some of my initial thoughts based on the September 12th Keynote.

AppleTV 4K

This was an obvious update and I would have been surprised if we did not see a 4K HDR AppleTV this year. With every other mainstream video streaming box including some version of 4K, Apple had to update their 1080p AppleTV 4.

While I already have 4k built into my Samsung TV apps, the Nvidia Shield, and a Roku, I still prefer the AppleTV and its interface over my other options. I rarely ever use the Roku because it has a huge ugly ad on the home screen and the Shield wastes too much of the screen on stuff I wouldn't prioritize like their suggestions and games. I do like a lot of the features of the Shield, especially the Plex Server, but I still prefer the AppleTV for most TV apps.

Probability that I get it: Very high probability!

Apple Watch 3

I have an Original Apple Watch and for my needs it is a huge time saver. I use it to control my music, change volume, check notifications, check the weather, set reminders, set alarms, add stuff to my calendar, add stuff to my Wunderlist, check sports scores, perform calculations, turn on and off lights at home, set timers, perform image searches, use the maps feature, opening apps like Overcast, tracking my activity for the day, start workouts, etc.

The thing is that there were things missing from the Original Watch that are now included. Actually, every single thing I wanted in the watch (other than an always on clock screen) is now available:

1. Cellular - being able to just bring my watch while out for a walk or at the beach would be awesome. It can now access Apple Music and 40 million songs without the iPhone. I am still wondering if AT&T will try to get $10 extra month for the feature or not.

2. GPS - This is another feature that allows you to leave your iPhone at home when exercising.

3. Water Resistance ("Swim proof") - I like swimming, so having a watch that can work in the pool is a great feature.

4. Siri that can speak to you

With these new features, I think all of the top expected features are intact. At this point, I think they will work on speed (which they have done with every new watch), health features, and coming up with new ways to use the watch. However, this was the Watch I wanted at the beginning.

Probability that I get it: Good (If they charge for cellular, I might hold out...not sure.)

iPhone 8, 8 plus, X

The iPhone has three new models. They are all great and the 8 plus is a nice spec bump over the 7 plus I have now. It is really more like a 7s Plus than an 8, though.

The X is where all the excitement is right now. It has a beautiful OLED screen, a high pixel count that they are calling "Super Retina", an edge to design, Face ID, new and better lenses with optical stabilization on both lenses, new camerafeatures like "TrueDepth" and "Portrait Lighting". In other words, if I were getting a new phone, I would get the one that looks and feels like a new phone.

That being said, the X starts at $999 for the 64GB version. I would need the 256Gb version which starts at $1149 before AppleCare and taxes. Not cheap!

Probability that I will get it: Improbable - While it is a better phone than the 7 Plus that I have now, I just don't feel comfortable spending that much money (even with the AT&T upgrade plan) on a first generation design. The Face ID looks slower than Touch ID, which is also a concern.

I may be getting to the point of diminishing returns on phones. I feel like the 7 Plus is great for all of my current needs and the "notch" in the top of the X is a bit of a distraction that I am hoping they solve by next year. As I told someone earlier today, if they gave me one, I would take it. But it is hard to rationalize $1149 (plus tax and AppleCare) on a new phone when the one I have now is still fantastic.

Should be interesting to see what my favorite tech is this year. Typically, it is the newest iPhone, but that will probably change for my list this year.

2 Comments

2016 MBP - Initial impressions

1/16/2017

0 Comments

I received a 2016 MBP for my birthday in December and I thought I would post some of my initial impressions:

1. The Keyboard is not as bad as I thought it would be. While it isn't the comfy feeling of my Das keyboard (Mechanical), it gives a nice clicky sound to let me know that I am typing. It isn't like typing on glass, either. Maybe I am just not that picky about keyboards, but I have zero issues typing on the MBP. I don't love it, but I like it.

2. #DongleLife - I would not have wanted the new MBP if it did not have thunderbolt 3 inputs. The 15 inch MBP, that I have, has 4 of them. The great thing about these ports is that they work with most anything if you have an adapter. Try hooking up a USB device to an HDMI port....you can't. However, you can use an adapter for USB or HDMI using this one port. It is also speedy beyond belief and that will make it more useful in the future. That being said, I wish we would have gotten and SD slot and one USB 3 slot, but I already had an multi-card reader for my CF cards, so the loss of SD wasn't a huge issue for my normal use. The lack of one USB 3 is more of an issue, but I bought a USB-C to USB adapter and I keep it near my MBP at all times.

3. Desktop use - I bought a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter so I could use the MBP with my Elgato thunderbolt dock. It works fine and give me access to my 4k monitors or my 27 inch 2011 iMac using target display mode. Since I just keep the adapter plugged into the old thunderbolt cable at my desk, it doesn't create any more of a problem than hooking up my old MBP.

4. Speedy SSD - the read/write speeds on the SSD is unparalleled.

5. TouchID - It is awesome. It isn't just handy when you log into the MBP, either. It can speed up some of the processes that would otherwise require you to type in a password.

6. Siri - It is snappy and comes in handy for launching apps, checking the weather, setting reminders, listening to music, finding photos, etc. It is very fast on the MBP, so asking for a picture of a mountain took only a second or so to pull up.

7. Touch Bar - While I am still figuring how to get it more ingrained into my workflow, I am already using it quite a bit for toggling between tabs in Safari, adding emojis to text messages, moving through a timeline in Quicktime or Youtube, adjusting volume, sliding through photos in the Photo app, etc. It comes in handy, but I am still not used to using it in apps like Photoshop, but I am sure that I will get the hang of it when I have more files to edit. The good thing is that I am just now picking up Final Cut Pro X, so my initial use of the app will be with the touch bar.

8. Light and thin - I know Apple's obsession with thin and light devices drives pros nuts. I don't use the MBP for my profession, so I like the combination of speed and power in a light, thin body. I spend most of my time with the MBP on the couch, so any loss in weight is great from my perspective. I know some people say there is already the MacBook for that purpose, but I want a 15 inch screen and more power for Photoshop and (eventually) Final Cut.

9. Bye-bye magsafe - For me, it is a much bigger deal to be able to charge the MBP from either side. My old MBP has the Magsafe on the left, while my favorite spot on the couch has the power outlet on the right. This means I had to have a cable across my lap. Also, I wore out 2 separate Magsafe cables because they are fragile. The real kicker is that I have been using laptops for many years now and I have mainly used Windows. I have never, not even once, tripped over the power cable and dragged my laptop onto the floor. Does that mean it will never happen? No, but the fact that I can actually charge from the side of the computer next to the plug means it will be less likely that the power cable will get in my way.

10. Space Gray - I love the new look. Yep, that is superficial, but anytime Apple adds a new color, it feels special. I do miss my glowing Apple logo, but it is a small price to pay for the smaller footprint.

The Wrap Up

All in all, this is a huge step up from my 2011 MBP. As I said, my main gripe is the lack of SD and a USB 3 port, but I love the versatility of the USB-C ports. I also love the overall speed of the MBP in comparison to my old Mac. I would still like to see Apple make a hybrid device so I can use Apple Pencil with Photoshop, but I don't need that feature enough to switch off the Mac at this point. Right now, at least I have Astropad or my Wacom tablet if I really want Pencil access to Photoshop. However, I find the mouse to work for my needs, even if it is not ideal.

I should mention that I am not discounting other people's complaints. If they really need 32GB of RAM (which is a rarity), then they have the right to complain. I just think a lot of complaining is related to specs that aren't really all that important for the way MOST people use their computers.

0 Comments

The 16GB MBP Fiasco

11/5/2016

0 Comments

There are a lot of folks complaining about the fact that the current MBP is maxed out at 16GB of RAM. However, while I have had my concerns, as well, I am sticking with Macs, for now.

I saw the video below a while back and wanted to link it here because it is one of the many reasons I am getting the new MBP rather than moving to Windows:

The other thing is that I have read articles this year discussing the amount of RAM most people will need and the consensus is 8GB of RAM. While I use more taxing applications like Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, I still think that 16GB will be more than enough to do what I need for years to come.

If I was a person that had high end needs and was concerned about future use, I would simply upgrade it when 32GB becomes an option or move to another OS. When we make tech decisions, rarely are we looking at a product that will solve all our problems for a decade. Sometimes you have to use a short term solution, then sell that product to help pay for something new when they have something that fits your needs better.

Here's how much RAM your PC needs to run smoothly
How Much RAM Does Your Computer Need for PC Games?

According to the article, "on a computer that stores massive databases, virtual machines, and other huge things in memory, even 32GB of RAM may not be enough." So, if that is you, I would pass on the new MBPs and move to another solution.

Why Apple? Why?

Apple's answer:
"To put more than 16GB of fast RAM into a notebook design at this time would require a memory system that consumes much more power and wouldn’t be efficient enough for a notebook. I hope you check out this new generation MacBook Pro, it really is an incredible system."

A more thorough explanation (Reddit):

"The true reason behind the lack of 32gb or ddr4 is intel. Skylake does not support LPDDR4 (LP for low power) ram. Kabylake is set to include support, but only for the U category of chips. So no LPDDR4 support for mobile until 2018 I think."

Is it "Pro"?

The most ridiculous thing I have been reading in the comments is that the new MacBook Pro is no longer for the professional. There isn't one unified professional that uses Macs. The "pros" that use Macs are in many different jobs across many different spectrums. For a huge majority, 16GB of RAM will be more than enough for years to come. In the state I reside, there is a professional privilege tax. Therefore, if you're profession is not listed below, this state does not consider you a professional.

If a "pro" is less exclusive and simply means "making money using a Mac", that is much larger group that has very different needs. I think the MBP is not the laptop for every single job, but if that is the criteria, Apple has never had a "pro" computer.

Other "Pro" concerns

I have also read that this computer isn't for the pro because it doesn't have any ports that aren't USB-C. I have actually seen people say it isn't pro because it doesn't have an SD slot. That is ridiculous.

Wanting to use devices without adapters has never been a pro requirement for a computer. I have a thunderbolt 2 dock that I have been using with my 2011 MBP and it made the laptop no less "pro" than before I got the dock. Actually, it made the 2011 MBP much more "pro" by expanding the ports to include USB 3, which the computer did not have.

Like it or not, the USB-C/Thunderbolt connectors are a HUGE step forward in capabilities. You can use an adapter to get backward capabilities, but you can't make a slow port that is built into the computer faster. Here is an article I wrote about Thunderbolt 3 over a year ago that explains why I like the port.

On the other hand....

Please don't confuse my defense of the 2016 MBP as being "pro" as being happy with every decision Apple made with the new laptops. I just think the way people are complaining about is ridiculous and hurts their credibility. One guy was claiming it was no longer "pro" because it lacked MagSafe!! While that is also ridiculous, mark my words "Griffin Will Make a Break Away cord for the new MBP, just like they did for the MacBook".

I do feel bad for the people that need a 32GB option right now, but it just doesn't fit Apple's design philosophy and I don't think it is rational to think that they would have come out with an 8 pound laptop that has 2 hours of battery life. They can barely update the stuff in their line up now (which is a more common and legitimate complaint), so adding a laptop to please a small percentage of Mac users really doesn't make a lot of sense. If I had your specialized needs, I would try to find some way to move to Windows where you can get a laptop to your specs.

For the record, I would have preferred one USB 3 slot and one SD card slot (more for future storage expandability than for dropping files). It is a preference. That doesn't mean that it is something that makes the laptop useless for my needs, or less pro, it just means that there will be some slight inconveniences in the short term.

0 Comments

Apple is doomed! If....

6/5/2016

0 Comments

First let me say that I am a fan of Marco Arment and I listen to ATP on his app Overcast nearly every week. However, he has an often referenced post that has lead to panic by many in Apple forums. (Note: I am not just talking about trolls that have nothing better to do than hang out at Apple forums and proclaim Apple is doomed with each rumor or product release)

Sometimes the panic is so high that it reminds me of that guy on the street corner with the sign proclaiming "THE WORLD IS ENDING!!"

The title of the article is: If Google’s right about AI, that’s a problem for Apple

The premise of his article is that Apple could suffer the same fate as Blackberry because they don't collect people's data and, in turn, can't use that data for artificial intelligence. Here are a couple excerpts from the article:

"But if Google’s right, there’s no quick fix. It won’t be enough to buy Siri’s creators again or partner with Yelp for another few years. If Apple needs strong AI and big-data services in the next decade to remain competitive, they need to have already been developing that talent and those assets, in-house, extensively, for years. They need to be a big-data-services company. Their big-data AI services need to be far better, smarter, and more reliable than they are.And I just don’t see that happening. Becoming a major big-data AI services company doesn’t happen completely in secret and suddenly get released to the world, completed, in a keynote. It’s a massive undertaking, spanning many years, many people, and a lot of noticeable interaction with the world. It’s easier to conceal the development of an entire car than a major presence in AI and services."

There are a lot of disclaimers about "if Google is right or Google is wrong", so he is just pointing out that if gathering tons of your data becomes necessary to keep customers, then Apple is too far behind to catch up. Duh! If people simply decide to stop buying anything iOS, the that would be bad for Apple, too.

If Google is Wrong

Look, it is hard to talk about the ramifications of giving up all of your information to a private company without getting political (which I have avoided like the plague on this site). So I will just say that if the government exploits this kind of data and possible overreach happens to people/institutions, that the media cares about, the concern over personal privacy could turn on a dime. All it takes is one big story that is covered non-stop by the big networks and Google's data collection practices might get a second look by consumers.

Personally, I think this is as probable as people flocking in mass from a service that respects their privacy to a service that wants to put a three thousand pound parrot on their shoulder that watches their every move twenty four hours a day.

Below is a video of the type of thing that many people currently shrug off that could be very damaging to Google's brand in a different political environment:

If Apple is Wrong

Apple is not done with Siri. There are articles about VocalIQ making Siri a lot better. Also, there are rumors that Siri will be opened to third parties soon. I don't know anyone that thinks Apple is finished fine tuning and improving Siri.

However, if people decide that they need features that can only be obtained by giving away all their privacy, then Apple will fall behind, assuming that the rest of the features Apple offers aren't more important than these specific AI features.

No two ways around it,Apple has been harping on the fact that they don't want your personal data and are willing to work around it to accomplish their goals:
"Our business model is very straightforward: We sell great products We don’t build a profile based on your email content or web browsing habits to sell to advertisers. We don’t “monetize” the information you store on your iPhone or in iCloud. And we don’t read your email or your messages to get information to market to you. Our software and services are designed to make our devices better. Plain and simple."

My Opinion

One thing that is often discounted by tech bloggers is Apple's ecosystem. When you buy Apple products, you aren't always just buying an iPhone. You are buying an entire ecosystem that works together and Apple has been making huge strides in making things more cohesive. Picking up calls on your Mac, iPad or iPhone, seeing your messages on all their products, using the hand off features that allow you to put down your phone and pick up where you left off on another device using Safari, mail, calendar, etc. The list goes on and on.

I have been using the iPhone since the 3Gs came along. I wanted a phablet phone like Samsung offered for over a year, but I waited it out for one reason...Apple's ecosystem. The ability to use so many apps on the iPad or iPhone and not needing to repurchase all of them (many aren"t even available) on Android was a huge factor. Airplay is another factor because there is nothing similar to it on Android (I havecompared Casting to Airplay in an older post, but Airplay is simply more versatile on iOS than Casting is on any platform).

In other words, I, like many others, would need a very compelling reason to leave Apple at this point. I am not saying that Google won't come up with that very compelling reason, but nothing I have seen so far makes that move worth it. Trust me, I am quite aware that there are useful features on Android phones that we are missing on iOS (some are waterproof, widgets, customization, etc). However, it just isn't compelling enough to leave the at this point.

The question is how much giving up privacy in exchange for AI would change current lifestyles? Personally, I just don't think it can provide a drastic change. Let's say I searched for Phillips Hue lights on Google this morning. They now have that information. What can they do to make my life easier? Maybe suggest a cheap place to buy it? Can't they do that from the search engine?

Let's say that I was texting with my girlfriend about eating streak for dinner, do I really need them to butt into our conversation (which I believe could get really annoying) and ask if we want to make reservations at a restaurant between where I am and where she is? I don't think it would help because both of us are heading home after work and we are more likely to eat at a place near home. Maybe it knows that and suggests a place near our home? Guess what, I already know the places around the house and most of them don't take reservations. Then what? In other words, what are they learning about me that helps make my life so much easier that I am willing to throw away the Apple Ecosystem and my privacy?

It is an interesting subject for sure. At the end of the day, I am simply more comfortable with the way Apple does things right now. I am not saying Google is bad, but it just makes me feel slightly less comfortable, so I will stick with iOS until a huge change takes place ( something of the magnitude that had me switch to the iPhone from the Palm Treo). I am betting that it won't happen, but you never know...Google could be right! Of course, monkees could fly...

0 Comments

Essential Classical Albums: Mastered for iTunes

5/20/2016

1 Comment

This is the eighth entry of an ongoing series to list (via screenshots) the "Mastered for iTunes" albums that Apple Music has spotlighted.

So far, we have the following links:
Essential Rock Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Jazz Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Metal Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Pop Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Country Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential R&B Albums: Mastered for iTunes
Essential Alternative Albums - Mastered for iTunes

1 Comment

Apple Music - Mastered for iTunes

2/2/2016

1 Comment

I have mentioned that Apple Music is my favorite app of 2015, but I wanted to talk about "Mastered for iTunes" and what it means for Apple Music.

The Mastered for iTunes program was implemented by Apple to give artists and sound engineers the best opportunity to provide iTunes with the highest quality masters available in Apple's 256k AAC format.

Loudness Wars

The program has the ability to actually give you a better sounding file than the CD you have owned for years. The reason is the "loudness wars". This was a technique that was popularized (it was around before CDs) during the CD era that had engineers pushing up the levels to make the song/album sound louder on the radio. This process can lead to dynamic range compression, clipping of the peaks in the audio wave, audio distortion, and lower sound quality.

The upside was that when you were listening on the radio, your ears might perk up because the song was louder than the last song that was played. I am not saying that this dynamic range compression was all bad because it did allow you to listen to albums in the car without making you turn up the radio to hear the lower volume parts of a song over road noise, while also making you turn down the louder parts because they were blowing out your speakers. However, I will say that when this process is abused, which is a huge portion of CDs, especially in the 90s, it made it less tolerable to listen to the music on a decent system. In other words, decent sound quality was surrendered to loudness.

Mastered for iTunes

As a result, the "Mastered for iTunes" albums could actually sound better than that CD you bought back in 1991. To quote Bob Ludwig (famous mastering engineer):

"Apple has begun a new initiative called "Mastered for iTunes" which greatly improves the sound of iTunes AAC encodes without changing a single piece of hardware on the 250,000,000 players in the field. It can be so dramatic you can easily hear the difference between the new and old technology on your little laptop speakers.

Instead of ingesting the music from a CD rip or 16-bit file, the new system uses 24-bit master files for the encode. The AAC encoder can make use of bits 17-24. An important addition is the realization that the act of AAC encoding can cause clipping where there was none on the original PCM .wav or .aiff file. In classical music this encoder induced clipping can occur at the occasional climaxes or in a typical over-compressed pop/rock recording, many times a second. Apple has created tools to log the number, severity and time of each clip so the mastering engineer can lower the level of the 24-bit master by fractions of a dB and the clips and resulting distortion from them is eliminated.

It is a complicated answer,but a 24-bit AAC encoded file can thus sound better and measure better in certain cases than a normal 16-bit Compact Disc, which unfortunately has been regarded as the gold standard for sound in these comparisons."

While I believe Apple still gives the artist/engineer enough rope to screw up an album, in the end, most of the albums I have heard in this format sound very good. Steve Hoffman's forum has some of the most finicky sound quality fanatics on the planet, and overall,it seems that they are pretty happy with"Mastered for iTunes" releases.

So how does this fit into Apple Music?

There is good and bad news in this respect. Apple Music has a lot of "Mastered for iTunes" music. The bad news is that there is no easy way to know which albums got the special mastering. However, the good news is that "New" section has an area at the very bottom of the page that features "Mastered for iTunes" albums. They have had everything from Classical, to Christmas, to Singer Songwriter, to Alternative Rock, to Pop and more already. To be honest, I look forward to this section more than the new releases these days. Here is an example from this month:

As you can see, even this month's "oldies" have some fantastic, all time great albums. There are some great soul and rock albums that make it worth trying out all of them. Today, I have listened to Otis Redding, Elvis, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, and the Rolling Stones.

I have read that most albums on Apple Music that have been remastered in the last few years are probably "Mastered for iTunes". The album page typically has the date that the album was mastered. However, I don't think that the mastering date absolutely guarantees that it was mastered for iTunes.

To Wrap Up:

Personally, I would love to see Apple provide lossless albums over Apple Music that take advantage of similar techniques. However, the current process has the possibility of providing better sounding music despite the fact that the music is compressed. For me, the fact that they aren't charging twice as much to hear better sound quality makes this music more obtainable that Tidal (which offers lossless audio for double the price). I just wish they would make it easier to find these albums via the search option. Also, I think the artist page would benefit from a special "Mastered for iTunes" section. However, I don't want to complain too much because I am happy that Apple is providing them to us without raising the price for access.

1 Comment

Top 10 iPhone Apps of 2015

1/2/2016

0 Comments

I have written about my favorite apps in the past, but I thought I would discuss my 10 most used iPhone apps over the last year.

1. Apple Music

Apple Music was my app of the year. With Siri integration on the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and AppleTV, it is just more convenient than any other app. If you haven't tried it, they have a 3 month free trial and it is easy to turn off auto-renewal.

I would just recommend making a copy of your iTunes library beforehand (make sure you have a recent version of the iTunesLibrary.itl file) and also making a backup of your music. I would also recommend those things even if you weren't trying out Apple Music. When Apple updates iTunes, there is always a chance that something bad can happen.

NOTE: iTunes generally makes a backup of your "iTunes Library.itl" file before it you upgrade iTunes. So navigate to ~/Music/iTunes. Find the "iTunes Library.itl" and make a copy of the most recent file. Rename the copy so that you can find it later if something goes wrong. If all hell breaks loose and you lose everything, you can just go back to the Original iTunes file. Just remember that you can leave "iCloud" off an use Apple Music without loading your files to the Cloud. Personally, I didn't have any issue with Apple Music and turning on and off iCloud, but I was a Boy Scout, so I am always prepared for the worst.

2. Overcast/Downcast (tie)

Overcast is my favorite podcast app, but until they support subscription services, I will also have a need for Downcast. Overcast has some nifty features like "smart speed" that shortens silences, "vocal boost", adjustable speeds and now the nifty chapters so you can now skip over stuff you aren't interested (like coding talk in one of my favorite podcasts) and it also makes it easier to go right to something you want to hear or hear again. One other upside to Downcast is that it works with Casting (for Chromecast) and Overcast doesn't.

3. Twitteriffic/Twitter

I have Twitteriffic because they were the first to take advantage of landscape mode on the iPhone 6+. It also looks great with larger photos. I also use the main Twitter app because it has a bit more flexibility. Luckily, it also works in landscape mode now.

4. Arlo

I have some wired cameras around my property, but I wanted to get cameras into places that I can't easily provide power. These little Arlo cameras did the trick. With the Arlo app, I can now jump to any of my cameras and see a live feed and it sends an alert when motion is detected in any of the zones around the property. The app will also let you schedule events so certain cameras will only come on at certain times of the day. I don't have a steady schedule from day to day, but they make it easy to create "modes" where you can group certain cameras together. For example, when I get home, I don't want the Arlo in the kitchen to be on, so I can create a group that doesn't include that camera and easily select it when I walk in the door (or before).

Note: I get paid commissions for purchases made through any links to Amazon products in this post.

5. Lastpass

I am still using the Lastpass app for passwords. It has everything stored in the cloud, but you can setup multifactor authentication and/or easy access using TouchID. The only caveat is that it was recently bought by Logmein, but so far, nothing has been changed for the worse. I may look at Dashlane and 1Password this year, but Lastpass still works great, so I am hesitatant to change.

6. SimpleControl ( new name for Roomie Remote)

I use numerous remote apps (enough to have a top ten list), but SimpleControl is the best and controls everything in my media center like a much more expensive touch screen control panel. For example, I have my main system feeding a receiver in my office via a long HDMI cable (the rooms share a wall). The app will let me sit in my office and control everything in my living room at the touch of a button. They have changed a few things since my Roomie Remote app review, but I am hoping SimpleControl doesn't set things back.

7. Flickr

Flickr automatically loads up all my iOS photos to their server (up to a terabyte), allows me to view comments and favs on my photos, and allows me to comment and fav other photos. I also loved Google photos for backups, but I just don't feel as compelled to visit it.

8. Refine AdBlock

Refine kills off annoying ads and let's you keep a list of sites to whitelist. For me, this is ideal. I still want to support sites that I frequent that don't have hyper-annoying ads. However, when they cross that line, I will just pull them from the whitelist.

9. iDevice Connected

I have a couple “iDevices" that plug into the wall and then you plug a lamp or something you want to control wirelessly into the device. They can work with Siri ( which is amazing) or you can set a schedule for the device to come on and go off. We have a Himalayan Salt Lamp in our living room that I have scheduled to come on as a night light (a beautiful orange glowing night light), but I can also just say "Hey Siri, turn on light" and it just comes on. I also know more iDevices are in my future, I just got something called an iGrill 2 that is an iDevices product that uses bluetooth to monitor the temperature of my Big Green Egg Smoker and food on the grill using probes.

10. Feedly

I use apps like Flipboard and News, but I ended up going back to Feedly this year. I use a Gmail account to sign in and I can access the same feeds from my iPhone, iPad, Mac and it will even show recent articles on the Apple Watch. It also has more flexibility about sites that you can add than apps like Apple News.

Wrap Up

Obviously, Apple native apps are always on my list of most used apps. Safari, Mail, Phone, Messages, Camera, Photos, all get tons of use, but you knew that already. I want to also mention that Siri has finally become much more usable this year since it added untethered "Hey Siri" control. If it was an app, it would have topped my list.

Anyway, these were my most used apps this last year. Hopefully, this article will introduce a few of these apps to people that aren't aware of them. Have fun and have a great 2016!

0 Comments

The New AppleTV: Why not 4k?

9/13/2015

0 Comments

The New AppleTV: 4k or not 4k? That is the question.

The long awaited AppleTV 4(th generation) has been announced. The biggest and most obvious thing missing was 4k capabilities. I have seen arguments for and against 4k, and I thought I would address some of the arguments against it in this post.

No one owns a 4k television

Is Apple a company that sits and waits for a future technology to be popular before they adopt it?

Let's just look at a bit of their history:

1. MacBook - how many people owned USB-C before they made this the only none headphone port on thus computer?

2. Thunderbolt/FireWire - don't tell me these were ever mainstream.

3. Tablets - where was the large tablet market when the iPad was introduced?

It is obvious that Apple is usually the company that kicks us in the behind and tells us to move on to bigger and better things.

There is no 4k content

There isn't a ton of 4 k content on the commercial market, unless you count YouTube, that I agree with. However, content follows the technology. When I bought my very first 1080i HDTV ( a huge 57 inch Hitachi console TV), about the only thing to watch with it was "Hogan's Heroes" reruns on HDNET. If equipment makers had sat around waiting for content, we would still be be watching old standard def programming. If Apple supported 4k with this box, they would push the studios to provide more content.

There is no benefit to 4k

That is the worst argument. I saw the same argument about HDTV and Blu-Ray. Let's be clear, more pixels equals more detail. Yeah, if you sit too far away to see the extra resolution, then the benefits shrink. However, that has always been the case. It is one of the reasons many people have 65 inch TVs instead of 27 inch TVs these days.

To quote Apple:

"The 27‑inch iMac with Retina 5K display has four times as many pixels as the standard 27‑inch iMac display. So you experience unbelievable detail. On an unbelievable scale."

As you can see from the Apple photo below, 4k represents a huge benefit over 1080p.

Apple simply isn't ready for 4k yet

The amazing thing is that they are already touting 4k video for their new iPhone 6s. To quote Apple:

"It takes brilliant 4K video, up to four times the resolution of 1080p HD video"

4k video recording will already be part of Apple's best selling consumer item by the time the AppleTV 4 hits the market. So are these "brilliant 4k videos" supposed to only be seen on 27 inch iMac displays or would it make more sense to enable us to watch them on the much larger displays in our living rooms?

4k is too expensive to implement at under $200

That would make sense if it wasn't for the fact that the Nvidia Shield does 4k in a similar device for less than $200. In fact, it comes with a gaming remote with a headphone port, 2 USB3 inputs for adding devices like cameras and external drives, has 24/192 high resolution audio included, and 3GBs of RAM. It has Google Voice search, an App Store, and does more than the new AppleTV.

The only place they cut corners is that they only provided 16GB of storage, where the AppleTV at the same price has 64GB. However, that is countered with the fact that the Nvidia has a microSD slot that can provide more onboard storage for games and movies. As an example, Apple sells the 64GB AppleTV for $50 more than the 32GB version. For around $20 you could add 64GB to the onboard 16GBs (giving you 80GB of storage). That makes it slightly more expensive if you need exactly 64GBs, but it scales up nicely because you could add a 128GB card to it later when you need it. With Apple, you are stuck with 64GB until you buy a new AppleTV.

In any event, if Nvidia can offer all that at $200, Apple should be able to offer it even cheaper thanks to the economies of scale. Note: Since I wrote this article, Amazon has announced a new 4k FireTV and Alexa that costs...wait for it.....$99!

So why isn't there an AppleTV 4k?

That is the 4 million dollar question. If I were to speculate, my guess is that there are two reasons.

The first is that Apple likes large margins. It isn't that they could not make a profit by offering a 4k AppleTV at $200. It is that they have a formula that says they need to make X amount on every unit sold or it isn't worth their time.

The second reason is to give them an obvious upgrade path. It is the equivalent of not including a camera in the first iPad or a speaker in the first iPod Touch. Apple, in this area, isn't trying to push us to 4k because they have no dog in that fight. If they had a 4k TV, they would be more interested. In a year or two, don't be surprised if Tim Cook gets up on stage and tells us about the magical, brilliant detail offered with their new 4k AppleTV.

You must hate Apple or be an Android Fanboy

Nope, I own several AppleTVs and love the platform (see my article "In the Defense of the AppleTV" for proof). In fact, I may end up buying one of the 4th gen models down the road if new apps are added that take advantage of Homekit or integrate in a compelling way with iOS.

It is nice that they gave it a spec bump and Siri ( although I would have preferred it to be implemented in a way that made it more similar to the Amazon Echo, but that is an article for another day). I also look forward to seeing the new apps that developers come up with.

Final Thoughts

It may surprise you, but I don't currently own an 4K HDTV. Right now, I own a 32 inch, 4k monitor, though. Unfortunately, at this point, I don't even own a 4k video source to push to the display. I plan to get a new laptop next year when Skylake (that has USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 that will drive two 4k displays simultaneously) is available. In other words, I am buying things now to prepare for the obvious 4k change that is coming. I don't update tech every year, so I always try to plan ahead.

To that end, I waited for Apple's announcement, and since the AppleTV does not support 4k, I went ahead and ordered the Nvidia Shield (it was just delivered, so I will review it soon). I will run it with my 4k monitor until I get the new laptop, and at that time, I will put it in with my 1080p living room system (one of the benefits of having advanced specs is that they are backwards compatible). Then when there is enough content, I will update my living room TV.

As I mentioned, I may also end up with a new AppleTV, 4 but I want to wait and see what it can offer me that I can't get with the combination of the AppleTV 3 and the Nvidia Shield. Right now, nothing I saw in the demonstration is thrilling me, but the spec jump and Siri alone may be enough to sway me since I use so many Apple devices and anything that expands that ecosystem and makes it more user friendly has to be considered.

0 Comments

Why I am switching to Apple Music

8/1/2015

0 Comments

I have already written an article about the 20 things I would like to see Apple change with Apple Music, but I have decided to switch subscription streaming from Rdio despite the current issues.

First off, I should mention that I mainly use iOS (iPhone 6 plus and iPad Air 2) for listening to music (Airplay or Dragonfly DAC at home, Bluetooth at work and in the car), so the switch from Rdio is mostly related to how the app works with iOS. I do use iTunes on the Mac on occasion and don't have a major problem with it, although I feel the iOS makes better use of the service if only for Siri.

Below are the main reasons for switching:

1. Siri - When I was itemizing all of the things Apple Music was missing, I came to the realization that some features are just much more important than others. There are many features on Rdio that I prefer to Apple Music (continue play, artist radio slider, and the ability to sort albums by different criteria, just to name a few). However, Siri has made my life so much easier when I don’t want mess with the interface at all. For example, I may be listening to sports radio in the car because the Griz just signed Marc Gasol. However, three minutes in, they decided to discuss fishing…yes, fishing. I decide to listen to music, but I don’t want to mess with the app. I simply hit one button on the Nav control unit to change to bluetooth audio and one button on the iPhone. Siri then comes up on my car’s bluetooth, I tell "her" to shuffle all of my music and my music starts to play.

When I am at home and just want to hear an album, I just pick up the iPhone and say "play the album Way out West by Sonny Rollins" or "play something by Sam and Dave" and music just starts playing. It is great for home, the car, work, etc.

Having Siri integration is a major game changer!

2. iTunes Match integration - I have been using iTunes Match for years. The problem is that I would be in the Rdio app, then want to hear The Beatles, and I would need to leave one app and start another. It was a pain. Apple Music mingles my music collection with Apple Music and gives me the ability to easily listen to The Beatles or Prince without leaving the app.

NOTE: Please do not delete your local library after you put your music in the cloud. That is not a smart thing to do.

!!!ALWAYS!!! Keep more than one local copy of all your files. If Apple somehow messes up every file in the cloud or on iTunes, you can simply delete them and import the files from the backup again (after you create a new backup from the old backup assuming the worst case scenario and all of your old iTunes files are ruined). I thought this was academic, but I see well respected tech bloggers that haven't figured it out. Maybe I need a post on that subject ? Actually, I have written about how I backup up files a couple of times. Link 1, Link 2.

3. For You - The recommendations are outstanding for when I don’t know what I want to hear or I just want to explore. I prefer this particular page over any suggestion page available on any other service.

The playlists introduce you to new artists and they also mingle artists' albums they know you like with albums that they think you will like. The playlists they recommend are often fantastic with suggestions like "ON SAX:BOBBY KEYS"....that includes The Stones, Clapton, BB King, Harry Nilsson, and John Lennon. I would never have the ability to easily put this playlist together myself.

In fact, I rarely ever use playlists. I have mainly been more album oriented which is why I like artists like Radiohead, Sinatra, Pink Floyd, etc. However, Apple has the ability to put together compelling playlists that not only include artists and songs that I would theoretically put in a playlist, but new artists and songs that I may not even know. This leads to new discoveries, and in short, it is AWESOME!

4. Car integration - I mentioned Siri above, but there is more. In fact, I may create a video on just how great this works in my car (2014 BMW). With Rdio, I had the ability to use Bluetooth audio, album art, and the ability to skip songs (Spotify didn't work properly at all..which is one of the reasons I dumped them).

With Apple Music, I get several new features like the ability to search for albums, artists, genres, right from the navigation screen. It has all of my music and any album or song I have moved to my library from Apple Music. It also keeps the playlists that I save and radio stations I have saved. When I play an album, I can see and select any song on the album from the nav screen or from the heads up display with just the steering wheel controls. Keep in mind, this is the first version of the app and it is much more integrated than the services that have been around for years.

5. New - this fits my needs better than other services, as well. The ability to see a page with new releases from all genres combined, but also with the ability to find new releases based on genre is perfect for my needs. If I want to hear new blues albums, I know exactly where I need to go to find the newest releases.

The "New" page for each genre also contains recommended Playlists like "Blues for the Modern World", "Best of Chicago Blues", etc. (to give you a couple examples from the Blues genre). Song charts for the genre are also here along with video and album charts in the Top Charts section.

6. The other features like Radio and Connect aren't game changers for me, but I wouldn't remove them if I had the option. Sometimes I want to hear ECM Selected Recordings, Mixtape, or other stations I created recently and the Radio section is the place to find them. I use the Connect page to keep up with new entries from Apple Music genres like Apple Music Jazz, Apple Music Country, Apple Music Classic Rock, etc. and Beats 1 creators ( even though I rarely ever listen to Beats1).

Final Thoughts

While I am not saying that Apple Music is perfect, I do feel that even right out of the gate it is the best service for my needs. Since I use iOS at home and away, the integration with Siri alone could have been enough to get me to switch. Those that are complaining about the many features and confusion could just as easily hit one button and tell Siri to play something. It is so easy a 5 year old could do it.

The complexity comes from it having so many features and the way we interact with the app determines whether we think those features are worthwhile. Personally, I would keep all of the features, including Beats1 that I could live without. The reason is that I have always preferred having options available over not having them available. Maybe I will hit that Beats1 button out of boredom one day and be introduced to an amazing artist. I just don't want to throw away that option.

In short, I spent months deciding on which service to switch to when MOG was first bought by Beats. I compared Rdio to Tidal, Spotify, and Beats and it won in so many categories that I was very happy with the service. However, Apple Music beats Rdio right out of the gate with convenience (Siri), recommendations (For You), music selection (I have easy access to The Beatles, Prince, and Neil Young albums I own), and it works better in my car (Bluetooth Audio integration with the navigation screen in my car). Apple isn't perfect at this point, but we are essentially talking about a beta, even if they didn't call it that. Of course, there are bugs, but I have been using the service for a month and the bugs just aren't enough to make me want to switch back to using Rdio, so I cancelled the Rdio subscription service.

0 Comments

<<Previous

AppleTV 4K

Apple Watch 3

iPhone 8, 8 plus, X

The Wrap Up

Why Apple? Why?

Is it "Pro"?

Other "Pro" concerns

On the other hand....

If Google is Wrong

If Apple is Wrong

My Opinion

1. Apple Music

2. Overcast/Downcast (tie)

3. Twitteriffic/Twitter ​

4. Arlo

5. Lastpass ​

6. SimpleControl ( new name for Roomie Remote)

7. Flickr

8. Refine AdBlock

9. iDevice Connected

10. Feedly

Wrap Up

The New AppleTV: 4k or not 4k? That is the question.

No one owns a 4k television

There is no 4k content

There is no benefit to 4k

Apple simply isn't ready for 4k yet

4k is too expensive to implement at under $200

So why isn't there an AppleTV 4k?

You must hate Apple or be an Android Fanboy

Final Thoughts

Final Thoughts

About me:

Archives

Categories

3. Twitteriffic/Twitter

5. Lastpass