iCloud To Avoid File Conflicts with Versioning

In the latest episode of The Talk Show with Dan Benjamin, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber hints at a basic versioning system that will be built in iCloud to avoid the file conflict dialog boxes that have been one of the major issues with the existing MobileMe service. In MobileMe, if things go wrong and the system thinks you have two different versions of the same file, a dialog box will ask you to manually choose one and resolve the conflict. According to Gruber, that will change with iCloud: rather than ask users to choose a file and resolve the conflict, the system will always decide which version of an item (Address Book entry, bookmark, and so forth) is the right one. Users won’t be asked to manually resolve an issue by picking the version they think is right. Furthermore, unlike MobileMe Gruber says iCloud will have a versioning system with an interface that will allow users to “go back in time” and choose another version – think of Time Machine or Versions, as implemented in Lion.

Here’s our transcript of the most important parts – make sure to listen to the full episode here:

Gruber: The new way does not involve merging and conflicts. […] It doesn’t mean that Apple has magically solved the tech difficulties of syncing. […]

You’ve got 3 devices let’s say. Server-side data stored somewhere on a server, and you’ve got an iPhone and you’ve got a Mac. All data is up to date, say Address Book. You have an entry for Dan Benjamin and all it has is an email address. In all three places it’s the same and I sit down at my Mac, I add your home phone # to your contact and then I sit down with my iPhone at the same time (say everything’s offline) and enter Dan’s home # manually, but I enter it wrong. What happens when you sync? You’ve entered two phone numbers in two places, and at the server there’s no phone number. As it stands now MobileMe often will offer you a dialog box telling you that there is a conflict. It presents it to you and you have to pick which one is right. […]

In iCloud I believe you will never be presented with such a dialog, no matter how much has changed in one of the instances while it was “offline”. The server-side iCloud, when there seemingly is a conflict, will make a decision and it will decide which one is the best (in Apple’s terms the “truth”). That is what Steve Jobs means when he says “The Truth is in the Cloud.” iTunes will decide which one is right and that’s it. iCloud will push that right one to any device that has this account that has a different version. But, here’s the trick - what happens if it’s not the right one? On the server side, it will remember all of the other ones, almost like versioning. There will be some sort of interface like “go and look at your contacts.” There will be some sort of way to say “show me previous versions and let me pick the one that is right”. You pick it and push it back up into the cloud and tell it “that’s the truth” and Apple will push it out.

Dan Benjamin: Whatever is the most recent change will propagate but here are previous versions to pick from if you want.

Gruber: Apple won’t reveal it but iCloud, on the server, will determine the truth when it detects a conflict that will never be published. It will act like a “black box”. Most cases it will go by the most recently implemented change – it will be undefined. The key is that if there is a conflict, they will remember the different conflicting versions. If it picks the “wrong truth” it will be able to go back and get the right one. That’s what I mean when I say no more merging or conflicts. iCloud will make its best guess at merging & conflicts other than having you pick it.

Dan Benjamin: Do you know this or is it just a theory?

Gruber: I know this. What I don’t know but I beleeve, again, is that I think iBooks is an example of this in action. If you have the same iBook on the iPhone and iPad and take them both offline and flip a couple of pages on the iPhone then flip a different number of pages on the iPad, and them put them both online and they go to sync their “read state” or “current page state” to iTunes servers, iBooks never presents you a dialog. […]

iBooks is and has been one of the testbeds for what Apple is now calling iCloud.

iBooks has indeed been capable of automatically choosing bookmarks, notes and read state for quite some time, even before iOS 5 beta and iCloud. Apple has made no official mention of iCloud web apps or versioning features yet, but the possibility of choosing past versions of a file seems to fall in line with Apple’s recent developments in basic, easy to use versioning for everyone as seen in the Lion developer previews.

Apple Details Lion Upgrade For Education and Business

TUAW reports an Apple Sales document released today details the upgrade process for business and education customers willing to purchase OS X Lion when it comes out in July. Apple has already outlined the Lion Up-to-Date program, which will allow customers who have purchased a Mac from Apple or authorized reseller to get the new OS for free, by filing a request within 30 days of Lion’s release. According to the Sales document, the upgrade path for business customers will be the following: by calling 1-800-854-3680 or using the Business Store, a minimum purchase of 20 license will cost customers $29.99 per license. With the same minimum purchase of 20 licenses, Apple is offering “maintenance contracts” (which will ensure a free upgrade to the next version of OS X) at $49.99 per license.

As for education, schools will get Lion at $39.99 per license with a minimum order of 25 licenses as part of the Apple Software Collection package, which includes OS X, iLife and iWork. TUAW also explains other licensing and deployment options:

Existing Volume License, Maintenance, and Apple Education Licensing Program customers will receive one redemption code for each contract that can be used to download Lion from the Mac App Store. That single copy of the Install Mac OS X Lion application is used to install Lion on other Mac systems at the school or business.

Once the install app has been downloaded, administrators just copy it to the target systems and run the installer. Administrators can use the System Image Utility in OS X Lion Server to build NetInstall (link to PDF) or NetRestore images to assist in performing mass deployments.

Apple has announced OS X Lion will come out in July at $29 exclusively on the Mac App Store as digital download. More details on the upgrade process and re-installation options due to the lack of physical media will likely be posted soon after the launch of the OS.

Cupcases: Tasty Accessories for your iPhone and iPad

There’s nothing more delightful than a delicious cupcake to brighten up your day, and Cupcases has opened up shop to deliver the same joy of a homemade dessert to your family of iOS devices. Sporting three hand crafted cases for your iPhone and iPad, there’s certain to be something for everyone. While the leather iPhone wallet is great for stashing credit cards, and the cotton case – frosted with dark chocolate leather – would be an excellent companion for the winter months, I really like the stitched iPad sock that’s currently available for $9.99. While I hate to admit I actually love those little adorable socks for iPods, the giant iPad sock can keep an iPad warm and cozy (and keep your screen safe from nicks) as you carry your device and toss it in a bag. One of our writers has already purchased the green koozie, and I just might have to do the same.

Check out Cupcases’ range of products at Cupcases.com.

Video Of iOS 5 AirPlay Mirroring

One of the big features coming with iOS 5 on the iPad 2 is AirPlay mirroring, a new functionality that, using the AirPlay technology for streaming content introduced in iOS 4.2, will allow users to beam their iPad’s screens directly to an Apple TV without the need for a cable. In spite of the iPad being capable of mirroring its screen through HDMI to a TV, Apple has decided to step its game up and allow Apple TV owners with a decent local network to stream apps, games, and whatever it is people do on an iPad without anything but a WiFi connection and a control button in the multitasking tray.

TUAW points today to a video posted by Apple’n’Apps that details how AirPlay mirroring will work with the iPad 2. The setup is very easy: once you’ve made sure both the iPad and Apple TV are running iOS 5, all you have to do is enable AirPlay Mirroring from the switcher’s controls and check out the iPad’s screen on the TV right away. In the video, you can see the Springboard, as well as regular apps and games being beamed from the tablet to the Apple TV. Scrolling doesn’t look as smooth as it is on the device when you’re directly interacting with it, but we assume it depends on the kind of wireless connection you have.

In a similar post, Engadget shows AirPlay Mirroring with Angry Birds Rio HD for iPad and Real Racing 2 HD.

For this game (and we imagine many more to come), you use the iPad as the controller – both while navigating through menus and in race mode – while the game appears only on your TV (though the tablet does display some vitals, and a map of the track). There’s noticeable lag between the iPad and Apple TV when using AirPlay, which may be an issue for games where timing is important, such as Rock Band, but didn’t seem to set us back while playing Firemint’s racing game.

Firemint has announced that Real Racing 2 HD will support AirPlay Mirroring once iOS 5 comes out this Fall, and it appears that the feature is already enabled in the first beta of iOS 5 available now to developers. Check out the videos after the break. Read more

#MacStoriesDeals - Friday

In case you missed yesterday’s Deals, we kept them in today as well. Happy early Father’s Day! Here are today’s @MacStoriesDeals on iOS, Mac, and Mac App Store apps that are on sale for a limited time, so get them before they end!

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Dropkick Brings Its Task Cloud Sync To The iPad

Sure, Apple may have unveiled a gorgeous Reminders app at the WWDC that looks great, does location-based alerts and will come for free with iOS 5, but until then, those looking for a simple to-do list application that sync seamlessly over the air and runs now on iOS and OS X might want to give another try to Dropkick, an easy to use and useful app we’ve already covered a couple of times on MacStories. The big news today is that Dropkick finally has a native iPad counterpart, which is free on the App Store and, like the iPhone version, can be unlocked to enter unlimited tasks with in-app purchase. Whilst the iPhone app will set you back $2.99 (and the Mac app is also available as free trial on the developer’s website, paid app on the Mac App Store), unlocking the iPad app comes at $3.99.

The iPad version of Dropkick is really, really simple. You can create tasks and lists, delete them, sync back to the cloud with your account. You can move tasks around, and see them in the greater detail using the popover menu. That’s it - the interface doesn’t get in the way and everything’s kept super-accessible. As usual with Dropkick, tasks are pushed almost instantly to the Mac and iPhone, and I can’t wait to see this taking advantage of iCloud’s unified sync service for developers (and users).

Dropkick for iPad doesn’t have all the fancy features and graphics of Reminders for iOS 5, but it’s available now and it’ll help you stay focused and get things done. Go download it here.

Apple amends complaint against Samsung, asserts more intellectual property rights against more products→

Apple amends complaint against Samsung, asserts more intellectual property rights against more products

Florian Mueller on amendments that Apple made to their complaint against Samsung yesterday,

Many of the changes are designed to portray Samsung’s alleged infringement as an incredibly outrageous act of copying. The original complaint already accused Samsung of “slavishly copying” Apple’s designs. The amended one stresses that Samsung “has been even bolder” than other competitors emulating Apple’s products and has created “products that blatantly imitate the appearance of Apple’s products to capitalize on Apple’s success.”

In their amendment Apple significantly expanded the complaint from 38 to 63 pages and are now asserting more patents and other intellectual property rights than before, and onto an extended list of Samsung products that Apple claims are infringing.

One of the amendments emphasized how similarly the Galaxy Tab 10.1 mimicked the iPad 2. Apple goes so far as to pull quotes from recent reviews of the tablet, citing Eric Franklin of CNET in one of their examples. “Taking another page from the iPad 2’s school of sexy tablet building, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has one of the cleanest designs we’ve seen in a tablet.” I don’t disagree with Apple that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was purposely built to copy the iPad in form.

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Alien Blue Reddit Client Coming To The Mac

Alien Blue, the popular Reddit client for iPhone and iPad, is coming to the Mac with a native version that will be released on the Mac App Store. For those who haven’t tried Alien Blue, it’s an unofficial Reddit application that’s been very successful on the App Store thanks to its clean design, possibility to create shortcuts for subreddits (categories) to reduce the number of taps to navigate the website, as well as inline media viewing for pictures and video, undoubtedly a huge part of Reddit’s success. Alien Blue for iOS (an app that I’ve personally enjoyed using over the past months), is a full-featured Reddit client with login features to check on your Reddit account and leave comments, Read It Later, Instapaper and Readability integration and many more functionalities including a “search” feature to look into Reddit’s archive of posts.

The Mac version of Alien Blue, teased on the app’s website today, looks very elegant and falls in line with the iOS counterpart’s minimal, yet powerful approach to the social sharing / commenting website. Alien Blue for Mac will have a three-panel interface with a column on the left to switch between front page, subreddits and your account’s sections. The mid panel will be used to scroll posts, or check on your messages and notifications. The right panel, the larger one, will allow you to see the actual posts, images and videos. As you can see from the screenshots, everything will be reformatted and redesigned to fit Alien Blue’s aesthetics and color scheme. From a first impression, the app seems to be slightly inspired from Reeder, Sparrow and OS X Lion in general in the way it makes use of monocrome icons, large rounded buttons and a compose window similar to the one seen in the alternative mail client. It looks very intriguing overall, but of course some things may change come the final release.

The developer also writes on the website Alien Blue for Mac will integrate HTML5 technology for YouTube and Vimeo videos, implement Readability to elegantly lay out webpages, and folder for groups of subreddits.

To follow the development of Alien Blue, you can check out Reddit’s dedicated section, or follow the developer on Twitter.

Survey Claims iTunes Has 10% Market Share Of Online Video

In a survey based on the results of a poll of an unspecified number of “Web users” over the last week, Citigroup analyst Mark Mahaney says Apple’s iTunes Store has roughly 10% of market share for online video. In the poll, the usual suspects are mentioned by users: YouTube leads with 69.2%, and surprisingly enough Facebook comes at #2 with 27.1%, leaving Netflix in the third spot with 24.5%. However, as the analyst notes, if you’re paying to watch web video, you’re using Netflix; neither YouTube or Facebook have premium subscriptions for videos in place, although Google’s video platform has tried several times in the past to expand to other possible profitable segments like live streams and movie rentals. However, the standard YouTube experience remains free and users are able to upload high-quality, HD videos without restrictions of sorts. These videos are then consumed on YouTube.com or connected devices such as the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Android handsets, thus making YouTube the leader of online video, without a price.

The “Hulu” seen in the graph above sits right below Netflix, but it’s worth mentioning that most of its visits come from free subscribers, and not Hulu Plus accounts. Similarly, Apple’s iTunes at 9.8% doesn’t include streaming options like its competitors – unless we consider the second-generation Apple TV as part of the reported 9.8% market share, but it’s unclear how many Apple TV units Apple sold since September 2010, and it’s also not clear which devices the users polled by Mahaney own. Apple was rumored to be planning an expansion in web video with the launch of a Netflix-like service, an Internet-connected television and a massive upgrade for iTunes video storage, though recent announcements at WWDC put the focus on iCloud as a delivery platform for iOS devices, rather than a video service. [via All Things Digital]