Hey everybody and welcome to another edition of AppleTalk Thursday. We got quite a bit of news to cover here and some app reviews too. Let’s get started!
iOS 4.3
Yesterday iOS 4.3 was made available in advance of tomorrow’s iPad 2 launch. Among the new features in the OS update is the ability to AirPlay third party apps and videos within Safari to your AppleTV. I did this last night when I was watching the iPad 2 guided videos Apple put on its website, I found that I had the ability to stream them from my iPad to my AppleTV...super cool!!
Also of note is the ability to Home Sharing between your Mac or PC and your iOS devices. Once again I tried this on both my iPhone and iPad and found once I selected one of my Mac’s that it would display the entire library content on my iPhone and iPad. Now you can only select one computer at a type to display content, but this is super cool if you want to watch a movie stored on your computer on your iPad without having to install it on the iPad...both a huge time and space saver as it simply streams the content similar to the current AppleTV.
Another update is Safari, it is now a whole lot faster on my iPad and iPhone, pages load so much quicker now...big difference! The Safari update runs JavaScript twice as fast as it did before.
On the iPad they have restored the ability to make the slider switch on the side either a mute or screen rotation lock...THANK YOU APPLE!!! I hated it when they took the screen lock option away in 4.2 and made it a mute switch, now you have the choice on if it will be a mute or screen lock switch. I never mute my iPad so the choice is easy for me...screen lock!
Finally, the update brings Personal Hotspot to the iPhone 4. What this means is if you are out somewhere with your iPhone and MacBook for example and you need to use your MacBook to access the internet, you can turn on Hotspot on your iPhone to share the connection with your MacBook basically creating a mobile WiFi network using 3G for data. It is available for Verizon and AT&T but beware if you are an AT&T iPhone user that is grandfathered in on the unlimited data plan, you will have to switch your data plan to either the 250MB or 2GB data plan for that feature and you can NEVER get unlimited data back. So I will not be using it but with my iPhone and iPad, I am never really in a spot where I would need my MacBook. I have DropBox on my iPad and iPhone so my documents are within reach when needed. But if you are not in an unlimited data plan, AT&T is making it pretty easy to add on when necessary and turn off without a penalty.
AppleTV gets Sports
In addition to the 4.3 update, Apple also pushed out an update to the AppleTV version 4.2. With this update it brings 2 new channels to it, MLB.tv and NBA League Pass. What that means is if you subscribe to those services, you can now watch live baseball and basketball games right on your TV without having cable or satellite TV services. Those 2 services have been part of Roku for quite sometime as well. Now if the AppleTV could get Hulu Plus on it. Also of interest is Netflix has been updated to support 5.1 audio.
iPhone 5 Rumors
With the new iPad 2 supporting an A5 dual core processor, speculation is the iPhone 5 will sport the same chip when it arrives in the summer. Also another story making the rounds is the iPhone 5 will sport an aluminum backing similar to the iPad.
Tablet sales to Steamroll PC Sales
Another bit of news is that Gartner expects PC sales to be slower over the next 2 years than previously expected as tablets such as the iPad continue to sale like gangbusters.
Apple introduces JointVenture
Apple is making it easier to get small biz up and running with their new Mac equipment with a new service called JointVenture. Under the plan, Apple will setup Mac and iOS equipment as well as train employees how to use them, and offer dedicated support. The cost is $499 and supports up to 5 systems. If you do have a system that needs repair, Apple will even loan you a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air with Mail, iCal, iWork, iLife, and Microsoft Office pre-installed, while your system is being worked on.
Apple in Discussions with Record Labels to Offer Unlimited Music Downloads
Apple is said to be negotiating with record labels to allow users to download multiple times a song they bought once. This is similar to the App Store which you pay once and download an unlimited number of times at no additional cost. This would line up with their much anticipated mobile revamp as part of their North Carolina data center that will go live this spring.
Apple most Admired Company
Forbes announced that Apple is for the 4th straight year, the world’s most admired company thanks to its constant innovations of products. Take that haters!!
More iPad 2 News
So as I said earlier the iPad 2 will go on sale tomorrow both online and at Apple Stores everywhere in the U.S. Online sales will begin at 1am Pacific Time and in store purchases will begin at 5pm local time. When I first heard this I thought, “boy I hope the 2 Austin, TX Apple Stores have a good selection as South by Southwest (SXSW) starts tomorrow. But Apple is going to open a pop up store on Congress and West 6th St. It will be inside a 5,000 square foot building so should be plenty of space for iPad 2 purchasing and within walking distance of SXSW.
Also if you are a current iPad owner but are worried about losing your unlimited data plan from AT&T when upgrading to the iPad 2, worry not as AT&T will allow grandfathering in like they do with iPhone upgrades. If you are not signed up with either AT&T or Verizon and are getting an iPad 2, then you may want to check out their data plans to see which one fits you best than buy either the GSM (AT&T) or CDMA (Verizon) based model.
Finally some of the first iPad reviews are starting to come out. Great reviews for the most part with the only criticism being about the quality of the cameras.
iOS App Reviews
DirecTV iPad Remote (FREE) - Last week I mentioned how DirecTV had released an app for the iPad that allows you to control your receiver from the iPad. Well since then, I have my modem and router relocated to the living room and now have it wired to my DirecTV receiver and it works as advertised. You can setup favorite channels, and view your DVR playlist and select which show to play. My only criticism is that you can’t play the recordings on your iPad but I guess they can always add that feature later.
TweetDeck (FREE) - Another app I tried out this week was TweetDeck, they have a version for both the iPhone and iPod touch as well as the iPad. With the iPhone version you can set it to post to both Twitter and Facebook and view your columns for lists and mentions. The Facebook feature though tends to have a lot of errors which may explain why they don’t have it in the iPad version.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of AppleTalk Thursday. See you next week for another all things Apple report.
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