This Week's Sponsor:

Direct Mail 7

Professional Email Marketing Built Just for Mac Users

Kickstarter: Pebble, an E-Paper Watch for the iPhone

People love to fit their iPod nanos with a super sweet watch band. With its nice watch face and music on the fly, it’s a very attractive piece to add to your Apple nerdware. The Nano “iWatch” could be improved when it comes to its wrist functionality though. Pebble Technology from Palo Alto, California, is not only improving wrist technology but incorporating our smartphones with the Pebble watch, “it’s infinitely customizable, with beautiful downloadable watch faces and useful internet-connected apps.” Pebble connects to our iPhones via Bluetooth and sends information through silent vibrations for incoming calls, emails, messages, and more.

Pebble can easily be customized by adding apps (via the iPhone Pebble app) to be used for cyclists, runners, controlling music, a golf rangefinder and infinitely more apps via the SDK that they have also developed. The Pebble also has customizeable watch faces (much like the iPod nano) to fit each owner’s unique style. The watch will also come in 4 colors - arctic white, jet black, cherry red and one to be voted on my Kickstarter backers.

Video after the break. Read more

Scanner Pro Combines “Post-PC” and “Paperless” In A Single App

Scanner Pro, a camera-based scanning application for iOS devices by Readdle, has been updated to version 4.0, which adds a number of engine optimizations and new features, as well as support for the iPad. I was able to test the latest update to Scanner Pro, and I’m thoroughly impressed by the degree of independence and reliability Readdle achieved with Scanner Pro 4.0.

Let me explain. Until today, I have exclusively relied on a large, heavy wireless printer/scanner or my portable Doxie Go to scan, manage, and organize documents. In order to achieve a seamless paperless setup that required zero, or at least very minimal effort to be maintained and consistently used, I thought that the Doxie Go would be the solution for all my needs, as it offers a portable and lightweight device that outputs images at great quality in PDF. More often than not, however, the new devices and apps we have available nowadays bring new questions for issues we thought we had already figured out; as I began using the iPad as my primary computer, I realized how the Doxie, albeit well-designed and extremely usable, would still require me to use a computer to import scans, organize them, delete the ones I didn’t like, and upload the rest to Evernote.

I asked myself whether the iPad could even become a scanner. After all, the new iPad got a solid camera update in its latest version, and whilst not on par with the iPhone 4S’ camera, an iPhone 4-like lens – I assumed – could probably be a decent alternative to physical scanners, even the portable ones. The difference was mainly in the software: I wasn’t looking for an iPad accessory to turn the device into a scanner, I was scouting around for great scanner apps that would a) work reliably on the new iPad and Retina display, and b) support various online services, have basic document management features, and an “Open In” menu. Fortunately, Scanner Pro 4.0 by Readdle fits all these requisites, and it does so in a way that allows me to say this is the scanner app to try if you own a new iPad, and plan on going paperless using it. Read more

MacStories & Everyme Giveaway: Win an iPod touch

Yesterday we posted a review of Everyme, a new social app that aims at allowing users to communicate with friends and family through Circles. Everyme wants to help people keep in touch with friends, co-workers, family members, or high-school friends they actually care about. The developers want its users to be able to easily share with a private group of people, without all of the manual effort it takes in the way that Google+ does it. They are leveraging data from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the address book.

Everyme wants to give one lucky MacStories reader a way to keep in touch with their Circles. To enter, simply follow the rules below and if you haven’t downloaded Everyme yet, give it a whirl after reading our review. Check out the giveaway rules below.

Giveaway

Thanks to Everyme, we’re able to give away to one lucky MacStories reader a shiny new black 8GB iPod touch. Contestants must be a US citizen (we’re not shipping outside the US).

To enter the giveaway, tweet the following message before 11.59 AM PDT (April  13th):

Win an iPod touch on MacStories: http://mcstr.net/HxJ3WP

We will search Twitter.com for tweets and retweets and randomly pick up the winners.

Make sure to follow @macstoriesnet on Twitter so we can get in touch with you once the giveaway is over. If you want to increase your odds of winning, you can also leave a comment to this post.

Winners will be announced on Saturday (April 14th).

 

UPDATE! The winner of a black 8GB iPod touch is Emily Caffrey. Congrats!

F-Secure’s Automated Flashback Removal Tool

F-Secure Flashback Removal Tool

F-Secure Flashback Removal Tool

Talking about Apple’s upcoming Flashback removal tool and F-Secure’s guide on how to check whether you’ve been infected, reader Phạm Duy Nguyên pointed us to a free tool F-Secure put out this morning that automatically checks for the infection, quarantines it if found, and lets you delete the malware from your system once it’s trapped in an archive on your desktop. The free removal tool takes the trouble or fear out of using the command line by providing a simple point-and-click utility. If you or friends and family are looking for easy solutions before Apple releases their removal tool, point them to F-Secure’s Flashback Removal Tool.

[F-Secure via @nguyenhimself]

iTunes Manglement→

iTunes Manglement

Craig Hockenberry has a good counterargument about changes needed in iTunes (mine was a follow-up to Jason Snell’s piece at Macworld):

Much of iTunes functionality is based around content that Apple or the user doesn’t own. And as we all know, the media companies that own the content are particularly paranoid about how digital assets are managed. In the 10+ years that iTunes has been in existence, I’m sure there’s a tangled web of legal obligations that makes improvements a huge technical headache.

Many have asked the question “What’s keeping Apple from innovating in iTunes?”. Legal obligations to media companies may be the reason, though I wonder if such obligations are really keeping Apple from at least reworking some parts of the interface and syncing architecture.

Surely it is in the best interest of media partners (and app developers) as well to have a better iTunes experience for customers – the people who actually buy content? And more importantly, if this is the reason behind iTunes stuck in its own limitations, can Apple untangle the web of legal obligations, and come up with new ones that fit a new iTunes vision? As Craig points out, developers at Apple have to think about iTunes legal terms for other parts of the world, too.

In the past day, however, several readers also offered another possible explanation: iTunes for Windows. I don’t know why, on a technical level, it wouldn’t be possible for Apple to produce a great new iTunes experience on Windows, but I agree: when iTunes changes, it would make sense for it to change on Windows too.

Permalink

Apple’s London Stores Prepare For Olympic Visitors And Journalists

Apple is beginning to  prepare its London retail stores for an onslaught of international visitors and journalists when the city hosts the 2012 Olympics in a few months time. TUAW learnt from a “high level Apple retail employee” in London that the stores will be stocking international replacement MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and MacBook keyboards. It’ll allow the retail stores to quickly repair any damaged laptops with the correct international keyboard, particularly for journalists from overseas, where time is of the essence. Traditionally such replacement keyboards for a non-UK MacBook would have to be ordered in.

As my source told me, “London is going to be overrun by an onslaught of journalists when the games begin. We want to be prepared should they need help with their equipment during the time they are here.”

As TUAW notes, the Olympics will bring in about 325,000 extra visitors to London during the event, as well as over 10,000 print journalists as well as photographers, TV and radio reporters. The source also noted that Apple may potentially also stock new MacBooks that feature American, Asian and other international keyboards - but this is apparently only under consideration at this point.

[via TUAW]

Apple to Provide Flashback Removal Tool

This evening, Apple has announced that they will be developing a tool to remove the Flashback trojan horse that has infected over half a million Macs. While Apple responded by releasing an updated version of Java on April 3rd (for both OS X 10.6 and 10.7), users who haven’t ran Software Update on their Macs are still susceptible to becoming infected if they visit a website with a malicious Java applet. According to Macworld, Flashback harvests usernames and passwords from web browsing activities.

In response to the widespread infection, Apple is working with ISPs to shut down the servers Flashback uses to communicate with its authors and perform its commands. In addition, Apple is developing and will be releasing a special removal tool focused on removing the Flashback trojan from infected systems. A release date is not known at this time, but in the meantime, you can follow this guide from F-Secure or use this handy tool to see whether you are infected. Instructions are given to remove the malicious program manually. Apple’s solution will likely be automatically included in a future Software Update that takes care of the infection for the user.

[Apple Support via The Loop | Flashback info via Macworld]

It’s Time To Change iTunes

Jason Snell makes the case for a new, better iTunes over at Macworld:

If Apple’s going to embrace the cloud wherever possible, it needs to change iTunes too. The program should be simpler. It might be better off being split into separate apps, one devoted to device syncing, one devoted to media playback. (And perhaps the iTunes Store could be broken out separately too? When Apple introduced the Mac App Store, it didn’t roll it into iTunes, but gave it its own app.)

In March 2010, a few days ahead of the original iPad’s release, I wrote:

iTunes is obsolete,and so is the concept to use iTunes as a centralized hub for music, videos, photos, settings, backups, calendars – basically, everything. Think about it: all the stuff you have on your iPhone was either created on the iPhone itself or synced via iTunes. You can’t transfer information from your computer to the iPhone without iTunes. And thus I think Apple has been very lazy in these past years, not willing to update iTunes or finding another solution for our needs.

To which I followed-up in September 2010 after the introduction of Ping:

iTunes is a bloat. Slow. Unresponsive. Clunky. A huge piece of software with thousands of features in it, a couple of online Stores and now a social network, too. A few times in the past I wrote that Apple needed to move this stuff out of iTunes, or at least re-imagine the whole purpose of the app. Many said that would happen with the 10 version. Not so fast. Apple doesn’t want to change iTunes. Thus, the feature creep. Not only they left the Stores, apps, books and sync options in iTunes – they thought that adding a completely new layer of social networking would be a good idea. Again, I’m not criticizing Ping: I’m talking about iTunes as an outdated container of features.

I’ll tell you what’s wrong with iTunes: in the age of iCloud, iTunes is a weirdly old-fashioned desktop software to organize media and manage devices in the same way we did 10 years ago. Only with more features and content types. iTunes is the epitome of old interfaces and interactions trying to hold onto the present.

iTunes works, but it doesn’t work simply. It’s not just complex, it’s complicated and not intuitive: I can’t tell you how many times I was asked by less tech savvy friends about backups, syncing apps, music playlists, video conversions, iOS folders, Address Book contacts, and even software updates. Jason makes some great points in his article – it’s time to simplify. People don’t “get” iTunes anymore. Is it a music app or a media manager? Or is it a device management tool? A Store? A social network? A horse? A radio?

iTunes tries to do so much while doing so little to help users understand its features and differentiate between computer content, cloud content, and device content. Worse, because iTunes is so full of preferences and dialogs, sometimes it’s not clear what it is trying to do, and this often leads to deleted apps, corrupted music libraries, and ever-downloading podcasts. It’s not that Apple hasn’t educated users over the years; but there’s just so much help documents and subtle UI refreshes can do once hundreds of features have users confused and frustrated.

More importantly, iCloud has shown that a better way to manage media and apps for Apple’s devices is possible. And that is, no management: songs and movies downloaded from the iTunes Store are stored in the cloud and they don’t have to be converted; apps are stored in your Purchases and they are downloaded instantly on all your configured devices. Third-party podcast apps that have implemented iCloud sync are infinitely better than podcast support in Apple’s apps. iCloud keeps your bookmarks, notes, contacts, and emails in sync. iTunes Match even keeps your entire music library in the cloud, available at any time. iCloud is the future of Apple’s ecosystem.

So why are we still using iTunes? This is the question we should be asking. And admittedly, the majority of us are doing so for the extra convenience of media on our desktop computers. iOS devices aren’t always connected to a WiFi network, and they are limited in storage. It’s more convenient to keep large libraries of songs, movies, TV Shows, apps, and books on a computer. At least for now.

Is a world without iTunes possible? Maybe, but not today. People still need to be able to keep all their apps locally, alongside their music and movie files. In an ideal world, everyone is buying music and movies from iTunes, but in the real world people use web browsers to download media, and they want iTunes for that. Not to mention the features that iTunes sports on the desktop, which still haven’t been brought back to iOS. The way forward, however, clearly brings us to iCloud: with time, people will get used to iCloud even more, and Apple will improve its infrastructure in terms of reliability and functionalities. The fact that Apple is drifting away from a centralized desktop hub to a persistent hub in the cloud is also confirmed by the direction Apple is taking with Mountain Lion: aside from general iOS resemblances, the Notes app will be coming to the desktop, syncing its content with iCloud, no need for iTunes. And if the “iTunes in the cloud” initiative is of any indication, perhaps iCloud will really become the fundamental backbone of media management and syncing in the future – because, in theory, it needs no management.

But until that day, the stopgap solution to manage and sync content locally needs to be better than iTunes. Maybe it’s about splitting iTunes into multiple apps that execute their functions clearly, naturally, and reliably. Maybe it’s about offering a dedicated App Store app outside of iTunes that lets you easily switch between iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps. iBooks for Mac might help in getting the books out of iTunes. Perhaps separating media playback from device management, while making everything easier to use would come in handy, too.

I hope that iCloud, as the company’s next big insight for the next decade, will help Apple provide a better solution for its users, so that in 10 years today’s iTunes will be a distant memory.