Dave Metzener's Weblog

Really, what is the deal with you guys. Every time you update iTunes, the Maximize button/Keyboard Shortcut (Ctrl-Command-Z) works differently. At first, tapping Ctrl-Command-Z would toggle the user between the normal view and the Mini Player:

Then updates started showing up that when the keyboard shortcut is used would cause iTunes to “Maximize” it’s window to the full screen. Then with iTunes 9.0-9.0.2, the shortcut was toggling between normal and Mini Player again.

Now with iTunes 9.0.3, the Ctrl-Command-Z maximizes the iTunes window again. I now see that there is a “new” shortcut: Shift-Command-M. That toggles between the Mini Player and the normal iTunes window.

Apple, please, make up your mind and stick with it. You guys are so much better than Microsoft and Windows, yet with iTunes, I feel that you decided to give the project to a bunch of Windows developers you recently hired.

So is it safe to assume that “Shift-Command-M” is the toggle now and forever? Please?

No sooner than the iPad news is released than rumors of yet another “real” Mac Tablet computer are floating around again!

Don’t get me wrong here, I consider myself to be a pretty faithful Apple Fanboy. I have quite a few iPods (3G, 4G, 5G and an iPod touch), two iPhones (myself and my wife), and two Macs (MacBook and Mac Pro). I lust for the new Unibody MacBook’s, I would love to have that new trackpad. I would also love to get the new iPad when it comes out and I am pretty much planning on getting the next-gen iPhone when it comes out.

However, I think all this speculation and rumor business is totally over the top and ridiculous. For probably a year, there has been nothing but rumor, speculation, and lust over a nonexistent Mac Tablet that finally turned out to be the iPad. We still haven’t heard the end of that damn thing. Why does the 3G cost so much more than the hardware ($500 vrs. $630), will it be able to make phone calls?, will it be able to record movies?, etc… Not to mention all the humor that has arisen from the whole feminine product name: iPad.

Will Apple come out with a real Tablet computer? Who the F**K cares! Oh My God people? You all are worse than stalkers! Unbelievable! You monitor web log files for browser types that could mean that a new device from Apple is coming. You even figure out that there were 50 iPad devices in Apple with various types of applications on them before the announcement.

Do you people have lives? I used to work for a company that makes MMORPG’s. In one of the games, the GM’s created a vine that started growing outside the main cities gates. Once someone noticed it (about 10 minutes after it was put into the game), players started watching the vine to see what would happen next to it. They organized watch schedules so that there was at least a couple of people watching that vine ever minute of every day. We’re not talking a graphical MMORPG either here. We are talking text based, so they had to “Look” at the room and the vine repetitively over and over again. That went on for over a month!

With Apple, it seems that I am seeing that behavior all over again. When the store closes for 5 seconds, blogs post about the closure as if something wonderful is going to happen. If a store that sells Apple products make a mistake, the blogs post an image of the mistake within seconds, if Steve Jobs blinks out of pattern, he’s either going to announce something or he’s dying! Just look at the over analysis of the invitation to the iPad announcement. Every paint splotch was analyzed trying to make heads or tails of what the announcement was going to have in it. Because they all knew that one of the announcements was going to be an Apple Tablet. (Which it wasn’t)

TUAW, even scored themselves over the predictions they made and way over scored themselves. They pretty much had all the predictions wrong, yet the worst they did was 5 out of 12 or something like that.

My God people, get over it. Get on with your lives. As William Shatner once said: “Get a life!”

If Apple comes out with new hardware, you will hear about it when Apple announces/leaks it, not a moment sooner. You can speculate all you want, but that is not going to make Apple/Jobs create a device that you folks have been having wet dreams about for over a year.

Just be happy that your favoriate computer company is making money and doing pretty darn well for itself. They are not likely to die anytime soon, and a real Tablet will not put them over the edge and become the new Dell/HP.

Sheesh!

OMG!!! I can’t get over all the “speculation” that is going on with the Mac Blogosphere these days over the announcement that Apple is going to make on the 27th. There have been times when the anticipation of an announcement was pretty high and blogs were buzzing, but nothing at all like now.

Don’t get me wrong, I would love to see Apple come out with a tablet device. However, I’m not about to wet myself with anticipation. Maybe that’s because I’m unemployed and wouldn’t be able to afford the device. I really just think that I am sick to death of reading post after post about what Apple is going to announce on the 27th.

I’m going to be laughing my ass off when Steve comes out and announces new iMac’s and maybe some new iPods and that’s it.

However, I suspect that it will be more than that. There will probably be an announcement of an iPhone OS 4 (it’s due), it won’t be ready for a few months after the announcement though since developers haven’t seen anything yet.

I suspect that there will also be an announcement of a tablet device of some kind. Since if there is a new iPhone OS, it would make sense to keep it secret if it works with a tablet device.

Still, the blog post that cracked me up the most was the deep analysis of the image that came with the invitation to the announcement. Almost each paint spatter was analyzed to justify the rumor of a tablet device.

Its great that Mac enthusiasts get excited about upcoming products and announcements. You really don’t see that with Windows products. Still, I’m almost tempted to unsubscribe to the blogs I read until after the 27th just to get some relief from all the tittering.

Holy Crap! Apple is loosing it’s collective mind!

OK, a few months back, there was a big uproar over several game applications being removed from the AppStore because they used a game engine that acquired “your” phone number for identification purposes. Mind you, thats what the UDID (Unique Device IDentifier) number is that is assigned to each and every iPhone/iPod touch made. So, Apple removed the applications from the AppStore until the engine developer fixed the problem.

Now, I learn that Apple has “knowingly” approved Dragon Dictation when it captures your contact information directly off your iPhone/iPod touch! I say knowingly because it’s right in the applications description:

PRIVACY: In order to improve recognition accuracy, Dragon Dictation will only upload names from your address book… no emails, addresses, phone numbers, or other personal information are uploaded. This information is not used for any purpose other than improving the usability of the application. All data is stored in secure data centers according to stringent privacy and security standards. For more information, please view our corporate privacy policy at http://www.nuance.com/company/privacy/

So, why has Apple allowed Dragon Dictation to be approved to the AppStore when other applications were pulled for similar reasons? Was it because they were “up front” about the acquisition?

I have AppAdvice.com to thank for spilling the beans for me. There were probably other blogs that reported this information, but I read it first there.

Their claim is that having that information makes it easier for Dragon Dictation to dictate names you might speak when using their software.

Now, to be fair, Nuance Communications did post that they were doing this in the application description and I didn’t read that part of the description when I downloaded and used the software. However, I feel very violated by this and am very surprised that, in this day and age, the “option” to disable the sending of this information wasn’t put into the software in the first place. You don’t have to be a psychic to know how people are going to react to news that their private information is being acquired without their knowledge.

I guess I should have realized that there would be a “catch” for being able to use Dragon Dictation for free when desktop versions of the software cost from $50 to $900 depending on the version. Still, I would have preferred to be told that I can’t use the software without the capture of my contacts.

Mind you, acquiring my contacts was not a stipulation of being able to use their software. It feels like it was since that information was “stolen” from me.

Well, the lesson I learned here today is that I need to read the entire description of every application I download from the AppStore to make sure I’m not being screwed over or my privacy is being abused just so that I can use what I just acquired.

A developer has come up with an iPhone/iPod touch application that allows it’s patrons to purchase virtual items with real world money. With Little World Gifts, you can purchase a “virtual” Merry Christmas Elvis and send that virtual gift to someone. If that someone doesn’t have the application, you can send them a Facebook message which tells the recipient that they can download Little World Gifts to accept the gift. This allows Kisky Netmedia the ability to acquire more and more users that could potentially spend more real world money on useless virtual gifts. (Can you tell how I feel about this?)

Mind you, the virtual gifts that you get are not just pictures. They are 3D objects that can be rotated and animated… Wow, now that makes it all worth it, doesn’t it.

According to reviews of the app, gifts cost anywhere from $0.99 to $3.99. Those prices don’t seem all that much, but can add up really quickly since it’s so easy to purchase. I should know. I have over 1,000 apps that I have downloaded from the AppStore. Quite a few of them were not free.

I would expect that all purchases are final and you can only send the gift once. Once sent, it can not be “re-gifted” to someone else.

I’m actually surprised that this idea hasn’t been done up until now. The idea of virtual items for real money has been around for quite some time. Usually associated with MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Gmaes) in the form of virtual weapons, armor, etc… The game itself is free to play, but in order to do well in them, you are encouraged to spend real money.

Second Life is also a game/social networking program that lets you spend real money for Linden Bucks. There are some AppStore applications that have started doing this too. ngmoco, Inc. allows you to spend real money to purchase Dog Food (for Touch Pets Dogs) or Energy Packs (for Eliminate Pro) for the ability to play longer in those games. Mind you, you don’t have to purchase those items and in the long run, you don’t really get a virtual item. Sure, dog food and energy packs, but those items are “consumables” and don’t stick around forever.

I get a scary feeling that Little World Gifts is going to go over really well. Possibly to the extent that we might hear about someone who can’t afford their credit card bill because of it. Mind you, not right away since there are not that many gifts available yet. However, I can see someone going crazy.

OK, maybe not. I do know that this is the first of many more applications like to to show up in the AppStore. That you can take to the bank.

WTF does Langdell have against Mobigame anyway! This guy is a huge ass! I can’t believe Apple took down Edgy (for the 4th time).

I was seriously considering buying Edgy (Edge and Edgy are separate apps so if Edgy were to get updated, owners of Edge wouldn’t get the updates) just to support Mobigame in their battle against this asshole Langdell that seems to have a huge grudge against Mobigame.

Us gamers need to support Mobigame in order to get people like Langdell put behind bars. Its clear that no matter what Mobigame does to make Langdell happy, Langdell just takes the next step to torture Mobigame.

Please, if you haven’t purchased Cross Fingers from Mobigame in the AppStore, do so. It’s a great game and I’m sure that they can use every penny they get to fight this bum.

Daring Fireball: Regarding WordPress and Security:

… Is WordPress poorly-designed, security-wise? Is it just a matter of WordPress being phenomenally popular? Or is it both? I don’t know. The same argument continues to rage, 15 years after it started, regarding Microsoft Windows. WordPress has much to offer, starting with its large, generous, active developer community. But I can’t recall any widespread security attacks against Movable Type or Expression Engine, or against hosted services such as Squarespace, Posterous, Tumblr, or, yes, even WordPress.com (a hosted service, rather than software you host yourself). …

First off, I call BullShit to the statement that Movable Type or Expression Engine have not been attacked by hackers. I know of several people that host/hosted those applications and were hacked in one form or another. As far as the attacks on those user-hosted sites being “widespread”? All I can say is the same thing I say about Windows vrs. OS X viruses. There are way more attractive WordPress sites than there are other blogging application sites.

Now, I can’t speak for why Daring Fireball hasn’t been attacked more frequently than it has assuming it has at least once. Mr. Gruber certainly posts articles that rub folks the wrong way at times. (The above quoted article comes to mind…)

As to the need of having “constant vigilance” when running WordPress, if you run a weblog, no matter what blogging application you use, keeping it up-to-date is an important process. Just like Operating Systems, Windows or Mac, if you slack off keeping the OS up-to-date, you are running the risk of being hacked/getting a virus.

WordPress has always been extremely easy to keep up-to-date. Even before the semi-automatic process that is in place now. I have run WordPress for many years and upgrading to the latest version was never more complicated than uploading the latest files to my host, and running the upgrade script. Five minutes (at most) later, I was up and running again.

I have tried other blogging applications like Movable Type and Expression Engine. My impression was that none of the tools were as easy to update as WordPress was. In fact, I have made several attempts to “install” Movable Type and have never been successful in the last two years. The process is way more complicated than it should be, in my opinion.

So my sympathy goes out to the folks that have had their sites hacked/destroyed in this latest attack of WordPress installations. However, I don’t feel to sorry for them since it takes a just a few minutes out of anyones busy schedule to upgrade WordPress, no matter what version they are running prior to the latest version.

A while back, Apple told a developer to either take out some offensive words from their dictionary application (Ninjawords) or be removed from the AppStore. This prompted Apple’s Phil Schiller to write to John Gruber at Daring Fireball to respond to the accusation that Apple was censoring the dictionary app.

I felt that Apple finally had an idea that they needed to take a good long look at their process and make some changes.

Well, I’m afraid that either they are still taking that “long look” or they decided that nothing was wrong with their process because sure enough, developers seem to be getting shafted more and more since.

Case in point: iStat from Bjango. Originally, iStat had a great feature that allowed its users to “Free Memory” on their device so that they could play a game or run an application that might otherwise crash to the SpringBoard due to memory issues. Apple sent Bjango a letter stating that their software was causing confusion with it’s iPhone/iPod touch users and that they needed to remove the Free Memory feature from the software or have their iStat program removed from the AppStore.

Bjango capitulated and has since been updated with new features like a battery status display and process list.

Now Apple has sent a letter to the folks over at Vanilla Breeze telling them to remove the “Broken LCD animation” from their iSurprise application or be removed from the AppStore. When asked why, Apple responded saying that they were getting too many phone calls from their customers telling them their devices have become broken by using iSurprise.

Now, I understand that the iPhone is a great device and that its designed so that even a small child can use all the features of a cell phone without having to dig into it’s manuals. However, this is getting ridiculous. Apple is actually saying that their users are so stupid that they can’t tell the difference between an application bringing up a picture of a broken screen and an actual broken screen?

Are these users so stupid that as soon as the screen appears broken, they pick up their landline and call Apple claiming that the application iSurprise broke their phone? They don’t notice that the “glass” is broken only to the edge of where the display is and not to the upper and lower edges of the phone? That pressing the Home button “fixes” the break and then tapping the iSurprise icon then tapping the screen again causes the screen to break again?

Seriously?

Are they saying that they get calls when someone’s iPhone shows a broken screen but when they have a similar application running on their iMac and the iMac’s screen shows a graphic of a broken screen that they are not confused by this, but are by the iPhone app?

Something has to be going on at Apple above and beyond confusion by 0.001% of Apple’s iPhone/iPod touch users (assuming 400 people are calling complaining about this application, and that is being generous). It would take 400,000 users calling complaining about this problem for it to even show as 1% of their user base. What that something is, I just can’t even speculate on. It’s just too damn strange for me to figure out.

Apple needs to fix this AppStore problem, or they are going to have absolutely no developers for their precious phone/ipod as all the developers move to other platforms that don’t act like dictators.

OK, what the hell is the matter with you Apple! This blackmail tactic of threatening to remove an application from the AppStore because you don’t like a feature is really getting very very old!

I just learned that Apple is threatening to remove iStat from Bjango if they don’t remove a feature in the application that attempts to free up memory that is otherwise not being used.

As you can see from the screen shot to the right, the first section of the applications data is a pie chart of memory usage. Wired and Active is memory that is currently being used by applications, Inactive and Free is memory that is not being used. The “FREE MEMORY” button to the right of the pie chart allows the user to attempt to free up memory that is not being used at the time.

For this example, tapping the FREE MEMORY button would probably free up about a quarter of the memory currently being colored in the pie chart. This has been my experience with the app. It probably attempts to fill the device with used memory by allocating as much memory as it’s allowed, then freeing it up. This will force the device to “Page Out” memory, freeing up some memory for other apps.

Typically, the Mail, Phone and iPod apps don’t quit when you press the Home button. So they take up memory that may not be needed if you are not listening to music. You don’t need Mail in memory if you are not reading messages and you don’t need “most” of the Phone app in memory either.
The news hit Twitter just a few hours ago directly from Bjango. Here are the tweets from their Twitter account: http://twitter.com/bjango

We’ve been asked to remove iStat’s free memory feature. This leaves us with two choices. Resubmit with free mem gon (cont) http://tl.gd/dme8 You all know who asked Keep the replies coming. User feedback is a VERY important part of this decision. Those who want more info: we simply don’t have any. It is exactly what it is. All the detail we have: iStat will be removed from the store unless the free mem feature goes. If you don’t update iStat to version 1.1, then yes, you get to keep 1.0 as is, free mem included. On the plus side: If we remove the free mem feature, we will be able to update iStat with all the features we’ve been wanting to add. We haven’t made a decision yet but it seems like people would rather have updates even if it means free memory is gone.

Now, there were a lot of folks chiming in with suggestions including myself. I would personally like to keep iStat as is, and purchase a new iStat app that doesn’t have the free memory feature, but has the new features that Bjango is promising. Were not talking a huge amount of money here. If I paid full price for the app, it was $1.99. I would gladly eat that for a way of freeing memory other than turning off my phone, then back on. That is so annoying and is just because there is no memory free to run the application I am attempting to run.

I have seen symptoms in several apps I run. With PandoraBox, I’ll see application entries with all blank data, meaning that there wasn’t enough free memory to load the app description and icon into memory to display. I’ve seen apps shutdown seconds after starting. After I free the memory, the applications work fine.

I have to wonder what in the world Apple doesn’t like about the ability to “Page Out” memory not being used presently by other applications. It’s what a Paged Memory Management system is designed to do. If the “embeded” version of OS X is not capable of PMM, I would have to question Apple’s saying that the iPhone/iPod touch uses an Embeded OS X.

As usual, Apple is not stating way Bjango has to remove the feature from its app. Just that they remove it or the app is removed from the store. I’m actually surprised that Apple actually gave Bjango a warning that they would remove the app if they don’t comply. We have clearly seen examples of Apple pulling the plug on an application and surprising the developers with the news after the fact.

So, come on Apple, get your head out of your collective asses and fix this AppStore problem, or you are not going to be seeing the applications you would like to see in your wonderful AppStore in the future. Just hundreds of thousands of “Bulk” apps that we all enjoy so much right now. (You know what I’m talking about, don’t you Brighthouse Labs?)