tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51863490625996789562024-03-13T16:49:26.350+01:00Pome-grenadeA Blog About Apple and Other ComputersPaul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-75612904679855154842013-05-17T11:01:00.001+02:002015-10-15T12:20:35.978+02:00How to Revert to iTunes 10.7<p>Apple just released a new update to its iTunes application. It is now iTunes version 11.0.3. The 11.0.3 update brings back to iTunes 11 what I think is one of the most important features of iTunes, namely the view of album art in List View. List View is the view in which you can still use the venerable column browser. However…</p>
<p>I think that iTunes 11 still is a total failure.</p>
<p>Luckily it is still possible to revert to iTunes 10.7.</p>
<h4>Why iTunes 11 is horrible</h4>
<p>Apple marketed the iTunes 11 update as a due and significant overhaul. Granted, iTunes 10.7 — the last version before iTunes 11 — was arguably somewhat bloated and many people wished for a technical update. But Apple took the app and <b>tweaked all kinds of thinks that did not need any fixing</b> and on the other hand <b>did not fix any of the issues that made people wish for an iTunes 10.7 update</b>.</p>
<p>iTunes 11 is still bloated in the sense that it still has to handle all sorts of things: music manager, music store, iOS device manager, sync manager, app store for iOS devices, e-book store, e-book storage manager (iTunes still can’t read those books stored in iTunes), video store, video manager and player… And iTunes 11 still feels technically a little behind with modal Mac-OS-9-like dialogues. So the technical underpinnings have not been touched as far as I can see. iTunes 11 has not gotten any faster than 10.7, it may be even a little slower.</p>
<p>And now iTunes 11 has also a complicated, inconsistent, unintuitive interface and a very much changed application behaviour. You don’t have a sidebar anymore by default. (At least you can bring it back via a menu command.) Playing songs works differently with an awkward and intransparent “Up Next” playlist. <b>Double-clicking a song now often won’t play the song but bring up a dialogue with barely comprehensible questions.</b> Search works differently and crams search results into a tiny menu. (You can change that if you find the right setting.) Coverflow and iTunes DJ have been removed. Thankfully Apple kept at least the traditional List View with the column browser. But all other views have very much changed, and not for the better. You can’t customize views. You can’t change the size of albums in album view. To change the volume in the Mini Player you have to open a pop-up. The way you are supposed to edit playlists is just awkward… I can’t list all of iTunes 11’s flaws because 1. there are so many, and 2. compared to version 10.7 iTunes 11 is so horrible that I haven’t used it much.</p>
<p>And by the way iTunes 11 is also ugly and does not fit at all into Mac OS X interface conventions including the design conventions of any of Apple’s other apps.</p>
<p>Simply put: iTunes 11 doesn’t do anything better than iTunes 10.7 and it does a lot of things worse than iTunes 10.7.</p>
<h4>How to Revert to iTunes 10.7</h4>
<p>First things first: To revert from iTunes 11 to iTunes 10.7 you have to use an old version of your iTunes library file. iTunes 11 “updates” the library file so it can no longer be used by older versions.</p>
<p>You may find a 10.7 version of your library in the “Previous iTunes Libraries” folder inside your iTunes Library folder (usually ~/Music/iTunes/). Of course all changes to the iTunes library made with iTunes 11 are not registered in that old library file.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a backup of your iTunes 10.7 library file and that file has already been modified by iTunes 11 you will have to create a new library file and reimport the music. That is not difficult. Simply put all your existing music in the iTunes Media folder of your newly created library and than drag the iTunes Media folder onto the iTunes 10.7 sidebar. (Before that you have to reinstall iTunes 10.7, obviously.)</p>
<div class="box">
<p>To reinstall iTunes 10.7 you will need:</p>
<ul>
<li>An iTunes 10.7 installation, downloadable from Apple: <a href="http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1576">http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1576</a></li>
<li>Pacifist, a shareware installation package manager that will enable you to reinstall old components, updated during the iTunes 11 installations process, that are not changed if you use the standard Mac OS X installer for the iTunes 10.7 re-installation. You can download Pacifist here: <a href="http://www.charlessoft.com">http://www.charlessoft.com</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Simply install iTunes 10.7 with Pacifist and choose “replace” if you are asked whether or not Pacifist should override newer components.</p>
</div>
<h4>Disclaimer:</h4>
<p>This has worked for me. Your mileage may vary. No liability assumed whatsoever. Be sure to always have at least one backup up to date before doing something that you might regret.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-26461554535691474532012-10-23T05:55:00.002+02:002012-10-23T11:21:17.472+02:00The Evils of DRM<p>Apparently Amazon reserves the right to delete user accounts and wipe Kindles remotely, as reported by the following blog post:</p>
<a href="http://www.bekkelund.net/2012/10/22/outlawed-by-amazon-drm/"><p class="einzug">Martin Bekkelund: Outlawed by Amazon DRM</p>
<blockquote style="margin-top: -10px">“A couple of days a go, my friend Linn sent me an e-mail, being very frustrated: Amazon just closed her account and wiped her Kindle. Without notice. Without explanation. This is DRM at it’s worst.”</blockquote></a>
<p>(Via <a href="http://daringfireball.net/linked/2012/10/22/amazon-drm">Daring Fireball</a>)</p>
<p>I suspect Amazon’s behaviour is illegal. But apart from legal considerations…</p>
<p>Does it need more to conclude that you should never even consider buying content “protected” with <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_rights_management">DRM</a>?</>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-19596468619873092732012-06-19T16:13:00.000+02:002012-06-19T16:35:19.373+02:00Microsoft’s “Surface” Preview Models Look Very Promising<p>I must say that <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/surface/">Microsoft’s new “Surface”</a> looks very promising. I have always wanted a combination between an iPad and a MacBook Air.</p>
<p>Hardware-wise Surface looks simple and well thought out. The idea of a keyboard integrated into the protective cover is just great. By having the keyboard separate it is also very easy to change the language of the keyboard. The computer itself (the Surface) is language-independant.</p>
<p>To provide stylus support (muting touch input when a stylus is near, providing a place to clip-in the stylus when not in use) is a good idea, too.</p>
<p>The ports are minimalistic but sufficient for most tasks: external display, USB for peripherals, SD card slot for photos. That’s much better than on an iPad.</p>
<p>One thing that could be a problem, though, is weight:</p>
<p>The small Surface (ARM processor, Windows RT) weighs 678 g. That's about as much as the iPad 1 without 3G connectivity (680g) and definitely more than the iPad 3 (652g). The “big” Surface (Intel processor, Windows 8 Pro) weighs 903g. That is lighter than a MacBook Air 11” (1080g), ok. But for a tablet to hold in your hands that might be a little heavy.</p>
<p>And – most importantly — we don’t know yet about…</p>
<ul>
<li>how fast the Surface will be, nor</li>
<li>how long its battery will last, nor</li>
<li>how warm the devices will be.</li>
</ul>
<p>However, it is a great approach. I can’t wait to see one in the flesh.</p>
<p>I am also very curious about Apple’s thoughts about that. I am sure they have been testing combined devices but have decided against them for now. Maybe this will change if the Surface is successful. And IMHO that is not totally unlikely. Unlike the “Zune” or Windows phones, Microsoft’s responses to the iPod and iPhone, the Surface has a unique capability: it is both, Tablet and PC. Just like Windows 8 aims to be an operating system for Tablets and PC’s.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-4726598856118633192012-05-17T18:43:00.002+02:002012-05-17T20:02:29.080+02:00How to disable Auto Quit under Lion<p>As <a href="http://pome-grenade.blogspot.de/2011/08/application-quitting-lion.html">mentioned before</a> Mac OS X 10.7 Lion introduced a new feature called “Automatic Termination” or “Auto Quit” for short. It basically quits applications after their last window has been closed. (See <a href="http://tidbits.com/article/12398">this article on TidBits</a>.)</p>
<p>IMHO Auto Quit is a major nuisance and probably the single worst feature ever introduced to the Mac OS. If I want to quit an app I can use the app menu, Cmd-Q or the Dock menu. Whereas normally closing a window does NOT mean that I don’t want to use the app anymore. It has always been a good Mac tradition that apps can run without any windows open so you can activate them quickly or even pass them commands via shortcuts.</p>
<p>That is particularly true for document based applications. Take TextEdit as an example. If I close all TextEdit windows and switch over to another app I may very well be wanting to switch back to TextEdit later to open or create another document. I also might want do to that using TextEdits Dock icon or the application switcher shortcut (Cmd-Tab). Auto Quit prevents all that by removing TextEdit’s icon from the dock and from the application switcher.</p>
<p>But auto quit is even bad for one window apps like iPhoto or Address Book. Quite often I work in some other app, say Word or Pages, but frequently want to switch back and forth to look up a photo or address. Auto Quit makes that very difficult. It forces me to lock the iPhoto or Address Book icons in the Dock and makes it that I have to always launch those apps again every time I want to look something up. It is almost as under Windows. So effectively Auto Quit is a multitasking preventer. It should not exist.</p>
<p>Now the good news: You can disable it. Yes!</p>
<p>Just open Terminal and type in the following command (and hit Enter):</p>
<pre>
defaults write -g NSDisableAutomaticTermination -bool yes</pre>
<p>To make sure the command takes effect, you should probably log out and in again afterwards.</p>
<p>Enjoy! Your Mac will feel like it has been reborn.<img class="smiley" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNWy4B8Jcftssx7_cZs4-YHI6uiY4tJVkGuzwKK0OFY_1OTwomBCxF9RJEq6YCyXtPMp4Ocn1l5eSEpW2YudNDnPK65w_TnQl7IugwGQXbFm3ziijPl-taEPUtTs3npkLu44O_Z6Y-P3hT/s200/grin.png" /></p>
<p>My thanks go to user <a href="https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3672427?start=30&tstart=0">Lemmy Caution in the Apple discussion forums</a>.</p>
<p><u>Addendum:</u></br>
The setting does not work for Address Book and iPhoto, only for document based apps like TextEdit and Preview. So it is a great help but there is still room for improvement.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-65770223644642457262012-04-06T18:32:00.046+02:002012-05-18T09:29:47.444+02:00How the “Loudness War” threatens Hi-fi music<h4>What is the “Loudness War”?</h4>
<p>One thing that makes me sad is the bad sound quality of some new music albums released on CD or on iTunes.</p>
<p>The problem with many late CD releases is that they are overly compressed. By “compressed” I mean dynamic range compression (which reduces the difference between loud and low parts of the music), not digital data compression (which reduces the size of digital audio data).</p>
<p>The main reason for overly compressed music is that the record companies want the music to be as “loud” as possible because they think consumers will prefer louder CDs over ones with lower levels. Hence the name: “Loudness War”.</p>
<p>Since the peak level of the music is controlled by the user the record companies try to raise the average level by making quieter parts louder. But if you make the quiet parts louder while the peak stays the same you reduce the difference between quiet and loud parts—you reduce the dynamic range.</p>
<h4>The Problem:</h4>
<p>The problem is: Overly compressed music sounds flat and lifeless. Transitions, e.g. between verse and chorus vanish, as does the sense of depth. The music has no real punch. My impression is that loud bass sounds (e.g. bass drums) appear muffled or mushy. Sometimes the music sounds harsh and distorted.</p>
<p>Over the years the average levels of CDs have constantly increased which has decreased the dynamic range. The loudness war has thus lead to the perverse outcome that older releases often have a higher sound quality than newer ones, and also that <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EScPiP2QjXM">LP releases often sound better</a> than CD releases (because on LPs there are technical limits to audio compression). In <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP_EXAHAqU4">the case of Metallica’s Death Magnetic</a> even the version in a computer game sounds better than the CD version.</p>
<p>The effects of the loudness war are well demonstrated in the following two videos (one short, one longer video).</p>
<hr />
<p class="klein"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ">1. “The Loudness War”</a> by Matt Mayfield on Youtube.<br />
A high quality version of this video (20MB Quicktime) can be downloaded from <a href="http://www.digido.com/loudness-war-explained.html">this page</a>. (Here is the <a href="http://www.digido.com/images/stories/Loudness_War-small.mov">direct link</a>.)</p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="387" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3Gmex_4hreQ" width="515"></iframe>
<hr />
<p class="klein"><a href="http://vimeo.com/16835917">2. “The Loudness War: Background, Speculation & Recommendations”</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user527298">Earl Vickers</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/16835917?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="515"></iframe>
<hr />
<h4>Comparison Between Strong and Weak Compression: Examples</h4>
<p>If you have a good stereo (such as <a href="http://www.abacus-electronics.de/110-1-A-Box.html">this</a> one) you will really appreciate music with a high dynamic range. But even on my laptop speakers I can hear the difference.<br />
Here are links to comparisons between more compressed and less compressed versions of three songs:</p>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEFyNdB13vg">Radiohead: Nude</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQyPF3TwNT4">The Smiths: How Soon is Now?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0G4PZ1HnlEk">Massive Attack: Unfinished Sympathy</a></li>
</ol>
<h4>Measuring Dynamic Range</h4>
<p>The dynamic range of an audio file can be measured. The “<a href="http://www.pleasurizemusic.com/">Pleasurize Music Foundation</a>” provides a Dynamic Range Meter software that will calculate for any given song a DR value. The software can be downloaded from the <a href="http://www.dr.loudness-war.info/">Dynamic Range Database</a> (following the link look in the top right corner).</p>
The DR value is not only dependent on audio compression but also on the type of music or audio. And of course the dynamic range is just one element of audio quality. Nevertheless generally you can say that the higher the DR value the better or at least the more hi-fi the audio material.</p>
<h4>Addendum:</h4>
<p>Apple’s iTunes Music Store has some guidelines for mastering engineers regarding dynamic range in their “<a href="http://images.apple.com/itunes/mastered-for-itunes/docs/mastered_for_itunes.pdf">Mastered for iTunes</a>” program. Hopefully the music in this program will have a higher dynamic range than the music released on CDs.</p>
<h4>Addendum 2:</h4>
<p>I think “Mastered for iTunes” is generally a good idea and some of the releases have exceptional sound quality. But unfortunately that label is not a guaranty for good sound quality. All depends on the record producer. If the producer delivers a bad master then also the “Mastered for iTunes” release will be bad.</p>
<p>For example Red Hot Chili Peppers’ album “I’m With You” is labelled “Mastered for iTunes” but some of its songs (e.g. “Monarchy of Roses”) have a dynamic range of <b>DR3</b>. That is an abysmal value. Of course it also has no headroom and horrible clipping. It seems that Apple does not reject songs if they are not mastered according to their guidelines but accepts them blindly and labels them “Mastered for iTunes” as long as they get the data in 24Bit/96kHz. The CD version can’t be much worse if there is not only noise to hear. If you want to buy that song, I would recommend buying the LP. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsMpHDc7sGE">The version on vinyl is better.</a> It seems absurd that in the digital age you have to buy analogue LP’s to get a reasonably decent sound quality. But in some cases that is the sad truth.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-22307878515384883762012-02-04T21:48:00.010+01:002012-02-04T21:57:14.160+01:00People Are Citizens on the Internet Too<a href="http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2508"><br /><img src="http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20120202.gif" style="width: 510px"></a>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-38224190099275359802011-12-28T06:58:00.033+01:002012-01-29T16:55:59.860+01:00Steve-Jobs-Biografie: Typografievergleich Original vs. deutsche Fassung<p>Mir ist schon oft aufgefallen, daß englische und amerikanische Bücher oft geschmackvoller und technisch besser gestaltet bzw. gesetzt werden als deutsche Bücher. (Oder auch umgekehrt: Die Typografie deutscher Bücher ist oft schlecht.)</p><p>Die Biografie von Steve Jobs ist ein solcher Fall.</p><p>Die Umschlaggestaltung der deutschen Ausgabe ist gegenüber dem Original in sehr unvorteilhafter Weise verändert und wäre von Steve Jobs selbst bestimmt nicht gebilligt worden. Das Bild ist verzerrt, die Typografie häßlich. Siehe dazu den folgenden Blog-Eintrag (der leider einen nicht besonders selbsterklärenden Titel trägt):</p><p class="einzug"><a href="http://www.fontblog.de/warum-steve-jobs-ein-kontrollfreak-war">„Warum Steve Jobs ein Kontrollfreak war“</a></p><p>Auch die Rückseite des dt. Covers ist viel schlechter als die der US- bzw. UK-Ausgabe. Im Original besteht die Rückseite vollständig aus einem Bild von Steve Jobs in jungen Jahren, das als Gegenstück zum Titelfoto dient. Auf der <a href="http://www.weltbild.de/media/sb/1/040/464/040.464.311.jpg">Rückseite der deutschen Ausgabe</a> wurde das Bild in einen kleinen Kasten gezwängt und ein nicht besonders schön gesetztes Barack-Obama-Zitat auf die Seite geklatscht.</p><p>Die schlichte Schönheit, die die Originalausgabe hervorhebt, wurde bei der deutschen Ausgabe durch ein vulgäres, gewöhnliches Buchdesign ersetzt. Das ist einfach traurig. Es ist auch völlig schleierhaft, weshalb man nicht einfach das Design des Originals übernommen hat. Das wäre nicht nur deutlich besser, sondern auch einfacher gewesen.</p><p>Und auch im Inneren ist die Typo der dt. Ausgabe einfach nur häßlich (<a href="http://www.amazon.de/Steve-Jobs-autorisierte-Biografie-Apple-Gr%C3%BCnders/dp/357010124X/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1">den Inhalt kann man bei Amazon über Look inside begutachten</a>), wohingegen die Typo bei der US- bzw. UK-Ausgabe weitgehend einwandfrei und insgesamt ziemlich schön ist.</p><p><b>Nachtrag:</b></p><p>Das Buch scheint auch noch unglaublich schlecht übersetzt zu sein. Der eigentlich unfaßbare Fehler, <a href="http://www.amazon.de/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/357010124X/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_1?ie=UTF8&index=1">“Silicon” mit „Silikon“ übersetzt</a> zu haben, scheint mittlerweile behoben zu sein. Das war aber wohl auch nur die Spitze des Eisbergs. Gleich zu Beginn des Buches, wird so schlecht übersetzt, daß es weh tut.</p><p><u>Original:</u> <i>“Introduction: How this book came to be”,</i></p><p><u>Übersetzung:</u> <i>„Einleitung: Wie dieses Buch zu mir kam“.</i></p><p>„Zu mir“?</p><p><u>Original:</u> <i>“In the early summer of 2004, I got a phone call from Steve Jobs. He had been scattershot friendly to me over the years, with occasional bursts of intensity, especially when he was launching a new product that he wanted on the cover of Time or featured on CNN, places where I’d worked.“</i></p><p><u>Übersetzung:</u> <i>„Im Frühsommer 2004 erhielt ich einen Anruf von Steve Jobs. Er war über die Jahre hinweg auf eine oberflächliche Art freundlich zu mir gewesen, zuweilen aber auch recht ungehalten, insbesondere wenn er ein neues Produkt auf den Markt brachte, das auf dem Cover der Time oder von CNN – ehemalige Arbeitgeber von mir – präsentiert werden sollte.“</i></p><p>Ja, nee, is klar. Steve Jobs war ungehalten, wenn er Walter Isaacson dazu bewegen wollte, ein Produkt auf dem Cover der (sie?) Time … zu „präsentieren“? Hallo?</p><p>1. Kennt der Übersetzer das Time Magazine? Weiß er, daß dort keine Produkte „präsentiert“ werden?</p><p>2. Wäre es logisch, „ungehalten“ zu sein, wenn man jemanden zu etwas bewegen will? Oder könnte es möglicherweise so gemeint sein, daß Steve besonders freundlich (!) war, wenn er daran interessiert war, daß es ein neues Produkt auf den Titel des Time Magazine schafft?</p><p>Was mutet man da den deutschen Konsumenten zu?</p><p><b>Nachtrag 2:</b></p><p>Hier eine weitere Kritik an der dt. Umschlaggestaltung: <a href="http://reklamehimmel.typepad.com/reklamehimmel/2011/10/die-leichensch%C3%A4nder-von-bertelsmann.html">»Die Leichenschänder von Bertelsmann«</a>.</p><p>Und noch eine: <a href="http://www.qxm.de/gestaltung/2644/geschmacksverirrung">»Geschmacksverirrung«</a></p><p><b>Nachtrag 3:</b></p><p>Mittlerweile <a href="http://www.google.de/#q=steve+jobs+biografie+%C3%BCbersetzung">spricht es sich herum, daß die Übersetzung schlecht ist</a>.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-7660850394613848112011-11-24T02:15:00.007+01:002011-12-28T06:58:20.539+01:00Analysts<p>John Gruber (Daring Fireball) picks apart a market “analysis” of the “tablet market” by NPD-group (a market research corporation):</p><p class="einzug"><a href="http://daringfireball.net/2011/11/fun_with_numbers">“Fun with Numbers”</a></p><p>Honestly, what is wrong with these guys?</p><p class="klein">B.t.w. NPD-group is a name that’s really bad for the German market.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-43375767002889730802011-10-13T11:23:00.003+02:002011-10-13T11:27:29.941+02:00Riding the Lion<p>Good news: Mac OS X 10.7.2 is out in the wild and it is wonderful.</p><p>FileVault 2 works and I must say that encryption in the background is very impressive.</p><p>The "scramble my icons" bug has disappeared, at least as far as I can see.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-83602348162918316522011-09-28T16:39:00.014+02:002011-10-13T11:30:35.867+02:00Beware of the Lion<p>OK, after a certain period of testing I have to renew my recommendation:</p><p class="einzug"><del>Do not upgrade to Mac OS X Lion<br />(unless a significant update is released)!</del></p><p>Lion is simply not ready for daily use. The reason I am saying this is mainly the “<a href="http://www.google.de/search?q=mac+os+x+lion+preferences+not+saved">Lion won’t remember preferences</a>” bug which also leads to the “<a href="http://www.google.de/#q=mac+os+x+lion+finder+icons+randomly+moved">The Finder in Lion won’t keep icons in their place</a>” bug.<p><p>I suspect both symptoms are related to a bug in Lion’s new Autosave and Versions features. I don’t know and frankly I don’t care. Autosave and Versions are not too useful in the first place. But first and foremost a bug like not saving preferences is just unforgivable, and it continues to persist after the 10.7.1 update and there is no remedy in sight. I will try to stick to Lion because I already use full disk encryption (and even that does not work an all drives) and I am not willing to reformat. But it is not an easy task.</p><p><b><u>Update:</u></b><br />Mac OS X 10.7.2 seems to have removed the bugs mentioned.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-27433184429912365322011-08-08T12:30:00.004+02:002012-05-17T19:45:55.744+02:00Automatic Application Quitting in Lion (Is a Bad Thing)<p>Mac OS X 10.7 (Lion) is a beautiful OS but, alas, features a new application quitting behaviour. Many apps will quit if no windows are open and the app is not the frontmost. That is definitely a change for the worse. Tidbits has a good article about this:</p><p class="einzug"><a href="http://tidbits.com/article/12398">“Lion Is a Quitter”</a></p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-35663206324199055872011-07-30T20:32:00.029+02:002011-08-06T22:36:04.016+02:00Taming the Lion<p>My recommendation: Do not upgrade to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion prior to the release of a significant technical update.</p><p>Here is why:</p><ul><li><p><u>FileVault:</u></p><p>The first thing Lion did to me was killing 3 of my accounts (data loss!), including the admin account for the machine. This happened during my attempt to turn on FileVault. On the first attempt I managed to turn FileVault on. But due to the loss of the admin account I had to do a clean install, requiring me to erase the whole disk and restoring all data from backup.</p><p>After the clean install I was not able to turn FileVault on again. Every time I tried, the system would reboot twice and FileVault would remain turned off. The reason is somewhat unclear, but it seems that on startup the encrypted drive produces errors and will therefore be reverted to plain HFS+.</p></li><li><p><u>Spotlight:</u></p><p>Lion lost the Spotlight index and therefore tried to reindex the drive all the time so I could not search and it slowed down my machine.</p><p>I reset the Spotlight index and now Spotlight works fine. (To reset the index I put the disk in the “privacy” [i.e. do not index] section in the Spotlight system preference panel for a short time.</p></li><li><p><u>Time Machine</u></p><p>I tried to use an encrypted backup. Unfortunately the backup disk failed to mount after a restart. I found that suspicious and checked the disk. Disk utility found severe, irreparable errors. I had to reformat the drive, this time with no encryption.</p><p>However even on an unencrypted drive Time Machine seemed to be unusable because it was slower than the slowest snail. For example Time Machine told me that the remaining time for a full backup would be about 40 000 days.</p><p>I decided to ignore these estimates and the full backup actually took much less time. Now Time Machine does its job normally.</p><p>I suspect that if you interrupt the first backup Time Machine has to check all files backed up so far for changes. During this check almost no data is copied but Time Machine will calculate the remaining time based on data throughput during this check. </p></li></ul><p>Well, now it seems everything is working fine except from FileVault 2 and encrypted backups. But it was a bit of a hassle. So my recommendation: wait for 10.7.1.</p><p><u>Addendum:</u><br />Thinking about it, all my troubles with Lion seem to be related to CoreStorage and encryption.</p><p>I have now running all my Macs under Lion. Everything works fine. Spotlight show its reindexing message occasionally, but all drives are actually searchable during the process. (Maybe it is a feature not a bug.) The Time Machine issue seems to have been just a miscalculation of the remaining time of the initial backup.</p><p>So I feel I have to restate my recommendation: Unless you want to use FileVault and encrypted backups it seems quite safe to upgrade. (Well, of course, if you use applications not compatible with Lion such as apps compiled for the PPC-architecture then you might not want to.) If you count on FileVault full disk encryption my recommendation is to wait with the upgrade or stick to legacy FileVault (FileVault 1 – user folder encryption). You can continue to use FileVault 1 under Lion, you have to activate it under Snow Leopard, though. So you can’t use it on a clean install system.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-58337170086010242812011-07-22T17:37:00.002+02:002011-07-22T17:43:15.727+02:00John Siracusa’s Lion Review<p>Like always John Siracusa has written an excellent review of the latest iteration of Mac OS X:</p><p class="einzug"><a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/07/mac-os-x-10-7.ars/1">Mac OS X 10.7 Lion: the Ars Technica review</a><p><p>P.S.: Well, obviously I was a little <a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/reviews/2011/07/mac-os-x-10-7.ars/19#recommendations">hasty</a> with <a href="http://pome-grenade.blogspot.com/2011/07/sick-lion.html">my update</a>, but of course I did do a backup before. ;)</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-91110171723978565502011-07-21T06:26:00.019+02:002011-07-22T17:42:37.676+02:00The Sick Lion<p>I just tried to install Mac OS X Lion (10.7) on my Macbook. It was probably the worst installation I have ever experienced. Lion crashed and killed my admin user so I could only log in as a normal user with no rights. There is basically no way of a clean install unless you format the entire disk. The @«€&-?! installer has to be downloaded every @«€&-?! time which takes forever. It was more fun to install System 7 off floppy disks.</p><p><u>Update:</u><br />
After having wiped my disk, I am no longer able to activate FileVault because the recovery partition has also been wiped and not been reinstalled by the Mac OS X Lion Installer. The whole process is so unbelievably stupid. Does anyone at Apple even have tested this? I am currently downloading the installer for the 4th time... Un-@«€&-?!-believable...</p><p><u>Update 2:</u><br />
OK, it was not the recovery partition. It is there. But FileVault just does not work. I reinstalled the system. I reset the PRAM. I checked file system integrity. I checked and repaired (there were errors!) file permissions. All to no avail.</p><p>I must say this is one of the worst experiences I have ever, ever had with any Apple product.</p><p>These problems are probably related to FileVault. Apart from FileVault the clean install system seems to work <span class="eingefuegt">just fine</span>. But… I’ll stick with Snow Leopard <span class="eingefuegt">until I get FileVault to work.</span> <span class="geloescht">And, frankly, I would like my money back.</span> <span class="eingefuegt">That’s why you should not run a .0-release if you want things to just work. Apple’s software is no exception here. I should have known better.</span></p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-49387247285032922142011-05-23T22:27:00.016+02:002011-07-17T15:24:01.565+02:00Trivial Patents<p>After <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1-Click">“One Click”</a> now <a href="http://www.macworld.com/article/159868/2011/05/ios_developers_threats_legal_action_in_app_purchasing.html">“In App Purchase”</a>. A patent system that grants such obviously trivial patents is seriously flawed and is hurting economic activity.</p><p>I mean, seriously, who can deny that anybody could come up with the idea of making it easy to buy something in a shop. Likewise anybody could come up with the idea that you can buy updates though an application itself. This is blatantly trivial.</p><p>A patent on this is a bad patent. It takes away from society something society already had, instead of giving society something new. Claiming money for “the use” of that idea is parasitic. A society that accepts—or even promotes—that kind of parasitic behaviour is doomed to fall behind.</p><p>The Lodsys case is one more good reason to not grant patents on software at all. Software patents mostly just take trivial real world ideas and claim them to be new when used via a computer. Additionally, those patents do not claim the implementation but the idea.</p><p>Maybe, even quite surely there are certain technical implementations that are theoretically worth to be granted patent protection. It’s just that the misuse or abuse of software patents is already so bad that I am currently totally opposed to software patents.</p><p><u>Addendum:</u><br />
I am having a hard time thinking of anything more absurd and ridiculous than Lodsys’ claims. I mean, read this: <a href="http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=100387">»OMG! Cross promotion in "More Games" violates Lodsys' patent too!«</a><br />
Well, maybe the <a href="http://www.google.de/search?q=hyperlink+patent">Hyperlink Patent</a>.</p><p><u>Addendum (2):</u><br />
Apparently, the EU offers better market conditions for app developers than the US just by not granting software patents (as yet, knock on wood): <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2011/jul/15/app-developers-withdraw-us-patents">“App developers withdraw from US as patent fears reach ‘tipping point’” (Guardian)</a><br />
[Via <a href="http://daringfireball.net/">Daring Fireball</a>]</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-21127829417588417812011-01-24T13:30:00.007+01:002011-01-24T13:43:17.583+01:00007<p>Interesting piece about Terence Young creating the James Bond movie character with actor Sean Connery:</p><p class="einzug"><a href="http://www.hmss.com/films/young.htm">Terence Young: James Bond’s Creator?</a><br /><p>Personally I only like the old Bond movies with Sean Connery up to “You Only Live Twice” and I really like the Young pictures (“Dr. No”, “From Russia with Love” and “Thunderball”) best; Thunderball, despite its quirks, being one of the most stylish movies of all times.</p><p>Via<a href="http://daringfireball.net/"> Daring Fireball</a>.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-30549384179407099412010-11-23T15:38:00.041+01:002010-12-05T00:56:53.128+01:00Check Your Feeds! (Issues With NetNewsWire and Other Mac RSS Readers)<p>I actually really like <a href="http://netnewswireapp.com/">NetNewsWire</a>. It is the most beautifully designed newsreader for the Mac, IMHO. Unfortunately it has some severe flaws in its basic features. I missed some news entries recently just because for some feeds …<p><p class="einzug"><u>… NetNewsWire is not able to update the feed correctly, so it won’t show the latest entries.</u></p><p>For one feed NetNewsWire even claimed the latest entry to be about a year old, while the feed actually was up-to-date.</p><p>This kind of behaviour of course renders the app almost completely useless. The whole point of an RSS reader is to get the latest news. So I can’t but call this a catastrophic bug (for a newsreader, that is).</p><p>I have switched to <a href="http://www.vienna-rss.org/">Vienna</a> for the moment. It is a pretty good replacement (and free).</p><p><u>Update:</u><br />It is even worse. Although Vienna (unlike NNW) gets the latest feed entries, both apps – NNW and Vienna – sometimes do not load updates to feed entries. So if a blog entry gets changed, you won’t notice unless you visit the blog website. That is totally inacceptable! I am currently evaluating <a href="http://www.newsfirerss.com/">NewsFire</a>.</p><p><u>Update 2:</u><br />Though NewsFire does not notify you of changes (like the other apps) it at least gives you the correct (i.e. updated) text when you read an entry. So I am sticking with NewsFire!</p><p>Safari does not update rss entries as well. Maybe it is PubSubAgent that sucks and all three apps (NNW, Vienna, Safari) rely on it. I do not know but it is bad! Luckily there is at least one working newsreader left.</p><p><u>Update 3:</u><br />Well at least the Safari issue almost certainly has something to do with PubSubAgent. If the feed is bookmarked entries will not get updated. If the feed is just reloaded it is completely refreshed, including any changes to feed entries. So, Safari users, don’t bookmark your RSS feeds or you might read outdated news!<img class="smiley" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvGrMJxd5Eo1E7T7bQSNzgR5Vg3K8SLEqnfRzAYi51u4g5gqY1_kRCo2Tz8OmAClqRmWQGmAEPCpPgtkJOOmkpcVWGeNlVHjTMG0YrS93V8ikTqRpKmMlGiiecGCu_LZ58JZv3Nl32r70/s200/wink.png" border="0" alt=";)" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326544364226409682" style="cursor: pointer; width: 18px; height: 18px; " /></p><p><u>Update 4:</u><br />NewsFire has two minor flaws. Firstly it does not notify changes of entries. Secondly it was not able to load one feed I had on my list. So, unfortunately I had to conclude that it was very difficult to find any fully functional RSS reader for the Mac. Fortunately I found the following listing: <a href="http://email.about.com/od/rssreadersmac/tp/top_rss_mac.htm">»Top 9 Mac RSS News Feed Readers and News Aggregators«</a> and right the first entry <b>is a hit: <a href="http://www.utsire.com/shrook/">»Shrook«</a></b>. It is not a beauty and has a funny name, but it does it all: find new items, notify changes and — most importantly — display the up-to-date version. It even keeps a change log. I guess my RSS nightmare is over.</p><p><u>Update 5:</u><br />Vienna is actually capable of checking for updated feed entries but it is an option that needs to be set. To enable the function do the following:</p><ol><li>Quit Vienna.</li><li>Open Terminal.<li>Enter the following command:<br /><pre>defaults write uk.co.opencommunity.vienna2 CheckForUpdatedArticles -bool yes</pre></li></ol>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-51348113917571786722010-10-30T11:17:00.006+02:002010-10-30T23:39:19.817+02:00This is the Dawning of a New Era…<p>The HTML5-era is rising:</p><ul><li><a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2010/10/adobe-demos-flash-to-html5-conversion-tool.html"><del>Flash</del> – <u>HTML5</u></a></li><li><a href="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/10/27/more_than_half_of_online_h_264_videos_are_now_in_ios_friendly_html5.html"><del>Flash Video</del> – <u>HTML5 + H.264</u></a></li><li><a href="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/10/29/apples_ios_pushes_microsoft_to_dial_down_silverlight_for_html5.html"><del>Silverlight</del> – <u>HTML5</u></li></ul></a><p>Thanks, <a href="http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/">Apple</a>, for pushing!</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-23782769334757526962010-10-28T15:13:00.008+02:002010-10-29T11:39:53.403+02:00The iMac and Noise<p>I actually really like iMacs. They are beautiful and sufficiently powerful machines that can do pretty much all that you want to do with a computer. But…</p><p>One fundamental problem of the iMac is (or at least can be) the noise it produces.</p><p>It’s not that an iMac is particularly loud or noisy. But they do have fans and hard drives and some of them are plagued by display noises like a high pitched tune or a crackling or buzzing sound.</p><p>The screen noise problem could be the same with every other computer. (In fact I have already returned two other displays because of their whining noises.)</p><p>With the noise that comes from fans and hard drives however the iMac has a particular problem because the fan and hard drives are standing right in front of the user, behind the display. Thus an iMac has to be particularly silent to not be heard by the user. And that is a problem. You can hear the iMacs I know quite clearly. A modern and silent »normal« PC in contrast cannot be heard at all because all components that make noise are located behind or under the desk.</p><p>So personally I would like Apple to produce an ordinary headless PC: cheaper than the PowerMac, faster and more capable than the Mac Mini. An iMac with a separate display, so to say.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-60907798847376073912010-08-05T12:30:00.013+02:002010-08-05T23:06:24.703+02:00Wave’s Google Problem<p>Google has <a href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/08/update-on-google-wave.html">announced</a> that it will axe its <b><a href="http://wave.google.com/">Google Wave</a></b> product due to insufficient demand. Wave is a real-time communication system that could potentially replace e-mail, instant text messengers and collaborative text editors. It also has a plug-in system to include further functionality.</p><p><a href="http://db.tidbits.com/article/11490">Some think</a> it is the extended or mixed functionality that lead to Wave’s lack of success. IMHO Google Wave has an excellent feature set.</p><p>I think Google Wave basically <b>lacks just one thing: a native client</b>.</p><p>You just can’t replace native app functionality and system integration with browser pages. HTML 5 won’t change that fact either. John Gruber is right when he says <a href="http://daringfireball.net/linked/2010/08/04/google-wave">Wave is a very Google-y product</a>. In this case Google’s browser-centric approach was just the problem.</p><p><span class="unterstrichen">Addendum:</span><br/>To prove my point, just ask yourself: Would you use <a href="http://twitter.com/">Twitter</a> without a <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/php/qs.php?mode=basic&action=search&str=twitter&srchArea=macosx&submit=Go">Twitter client</a>?</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-67148604917690520592010-06-27T20:10:00.007+02:002010-06-27T20:14:54.480+02:00So true…<a href="http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2010-06-27/" title="Dilbert.com"><img src="http://dilbert.com/dyn/str_strip/000000000/00000000/0000000/000000/90000/2000/700/92768/92768.strip.sunday.gif" border="0" alt="Dilbert.com" width="510px" /></a>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-80700884352625152672010-06-08T11:27:00.011+02:002010-06-10T13:56:58.918+02:00The New iPhone’s Camera: Sensor Size and Pixel Count<p>The just announced <a href="http://apple.com/iphone/">Apple iPhone 4</a> has a <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/camera.html">new 5 MPix camera</a>. Now, 5 MPix cameras are not uncommon but Apple did not do what most other manufacturers do. They did not just stuff more pixels into the same sensor size. No, Steve Jobs even took the time in his <a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/wwdc10/index.html">iPhone 4 presentation keynote</a> (00:51h) to explain the fact that if there are more pixels on the same sensor size, this means a smaller sensor area per pixel, and that means each pixel can capture less light (less photons).</p><p>The website <a href="http://6mpixel.org/en/?page_id=32">6mpixel.org</a> explains this phenomenon.</p><p>So Apple did not only increase the pixel count but also increased the sensor size to keep the sensor area per pixel the same. This is just one of the reasons why I love Apple products.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-30656933765526267622010-04-30T23:04:00.022+02:002010-05-28T12:29:21.507+02:00Videos on New Features in Adobe CS5<p>This is something for designers! <a href="http://terrywhite.com/techblog/about">Terry White</a> presents new CS5 features on <a href="http://tv.adobe.com/">Adobe TV</a>. Some of the new features are really cool and Terry is an awesome presenter. I watched:</p><ul><li><a href="http://tv.adobe.com/watch/illustrator-cs5-feature-tour/illustrator-cs5-feature-tour/">Illustrator</a> (Best feature: new line-width/stroke options.)</li><li><a href="http://tv.adobe.com/watch/photoshop-cs5-feature-tour/photoshop-cs5-overview/">Photoshop</a> (Best feature: new selection/edge tools)</li><li><a href="http://tv.adobe.com/watch/indesign-cs5-feature-tour/indesign-cs5-overview/">InDesign</a> (Best feature: new Illustrator-like layer/elements palette.)</li></ul><p><span class="unterstrichen">By the way:</span><br />A good part of the new features concern Flash and interactive electronic content. Though I don’t like Flash and can understand some of <a href="http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/">Apple’s motives to not let Flash run on iPads/iPhones</a>, it is very interesting to see Adobe’s very design centric approach to user interfaces created in CS5/Flash. I can imagine Adobe’s tools to be attractive to print publishers who want to put their content on mobile devices. Apple and Adobe might eventually become direct competitors as software platform providers for an <a href="http://pome-grenade.blogspot.com/2010/02/ipad-will-revolutionize-publishing.html">emerging market for electronic publishing</a> on iPads and other slate devices.</p><p><span class="unterstrichen">Addendum:</span><br />Obviously Adobe is already working on a native publishing solution for the iPad:<a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalpublishing/2010/05/introducing_wired_magazine_on_ipad.html"> »Introducing WIRED Magazine on iPad«</a>. IMHO that looks much more promising than any Flash-based approach.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-29389585174670099242010-04-17T10:53:00.009+02:002010-04-28T05:52:31.468+02:00Apple Still Can Blow It<p>As mentioned in recent posts: With the iPhone OS, the App Store and the iPad Apple has a huge potential to change how people will use computers and read books and magazines.</p><p>But …</p><p>Apple still can blow it</p><p>… if they do not change their admission policy to the App Store and/or allow users to install other software than apps delivered via the App Store.</p><p>On the publishing side the main problem is <a href="http://www.niemanlab.org/2010/04/mark-fiore-can-win-a-pulitzer-prize-but-he-cant-get-his-iphone-cartoon-app-past-apples-satire-police/">political censorship</a> by Apple. That of course should be totally unacceptable for any newspaper or magazine publisher.</p><p>On the software development side the main problem seems to be the <a href="http://daringfireball.net/2010/04/not_the_control_the_secrecy">vagueness and/or obscureness of Apple’s criteria for the rejection of software from the App Store</a>.</p><p><span class="unterstrichen">Update:</span><br />If Apple just continues to behave like <a href="http://www.newser.com/off-the-grid/post/451/creepy-steve-jobs-may-not-want-you-to-read-this-or-will-break-down-your-door.html">this</a>, they can have the best system in the world technologically (IMHO they have), but will still loose against their competitors.</p>Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5186349062599678956.post-68080871608160966802010-02-05T20:48:00.073+01:002010-04-11T11:01:56.357+02:00The iPad Will Revolutionize Publishing (And That’s Not All)<p>Despite the iPad’s negative reception in the tech blogoshere (for example <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/27/editorial-engadget-on-the-ipad/">the Engadget team’s reaction</a>, or compare <a href="http://gigaom.com/2010/01/31/fake-steve-jobs-on-ipad/">this »Fake Steve« video</a> or <a href="http://davidappleyard.net/post/357680363/in-response-to-the-ipad-criticism">David Appleyard’s somewhat feeble defence of the iPad</a>) …</p><p>I am convinced that the <b>iPad will not only revolutionize modern computing but also will revolutionize publishing</b>.</p><p>Today there are printed journals, HTML-web-pages and—already—iPhone (and iPod) <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-everything/keepingcurrent.html">apps for many journals</a>, which have their own native interface. Since iPhone screens are very small those native clients are an addition to regular printed journals or web pages but certainly no replacement.</p><p>Now imagine those <b>native journal clients optimized for the iPad</b>!</p><p>That is a whole new world for publishing. Journals will have full multimedia capabilities, no restrictions due to HTML, CSS or Javascript limitations (although those clients will almost certainly use these technologies), and most importantly …</p><p>they will be able to use <b><span class="unterstrichen"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micropayment">micropayment</a></span> via the <a href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/apps-for-iphone/">AppStore</a> and <a href="http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/sdk/inapppurchase.html">In App Purchase</a></b>.</p><p>Thus Publishers will eventually be able to earn money with their electronic publishing just like the can charge for their printed journals. Even more, they can easily introduce new payment options like time-based subscription, pay-per-article, pay-per-quota, you name it! They can even create opt-in or opt-out models for advertisement. People who despise most ads (like me) can pay for ad-free publications. Or people who don’t care or even like ads might be able to pay a budget price for publications with ads.</p><p>Apart from that I still think that the iPad shows us today how computing for the masses will work tomorrow. Apple IMHO has just released the most important electronic device of the new century. Just watch the revolution take place!</p><p><span class="unterstrichen">P.s.:</span><br />I surely didn’t come up with this; check Om Malik’s article from back in February 2009: <a href="http://gigaom.com/2009/02/27/can-apple-please-kick-start-micropayments/">»Can Apple Please Kick-start Micropayments?«</a></p><p>Or read the following article by the German news magazine <a href="http://zeit.de/">»Die Zeit«</a>, with a more skeptical undertone but recognizing the iPad’s potential: <a href="http://www.zeit.de/2010/06/Apple">»Symbol der neuen Ordnung«</a>. Google translation: <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=de&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zeit.de%2F2010%2F06%2FApple">»Symbol of the new order«</a>. Or view this pro/con discussion: <a href="http://adage.com/digitalnext/article?article_id=141817">»Is the IPad (sic) Publishing’s Saviour?«</a> or watch this video on Forbes: <a href="http://video.forbes.com/fvn/tech/apple-ipad-the-publishing-savior">»Apple iPad: Publishing Saviour?«</a>.</p><p><span class="unterstrichen">P.p.s.:</span><br>I must say that I wrote some of the above in some sort of naïve ardour. Much depends on how strong the momentum (i.e. market share) of the iPad will be. Paying options depend on Apple’s terms for the App Store. But I still think that to a large extent the future of reading is electronic, now that I have seen a device that, both, aesthetically and in terms of usability, can compete with books and journals.</p><p><span class="unterstrichen">Update:</span><br />The CEO of Axel Springer, a German newspaper publishing corporation, says the iPad is starting a new era, says Steve Jobs is saving the publishing industry:</p><ul class="absatzintern"><li><a href="http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Springer-Chef-Beten-und-Steve-Jobs-danken-973673.html">Article on Heise Online</a> (German).</li><li><a href="http://www.charlierose.com/view/interview/10952">A video of the interview</a> (English). Note: You should ignore the second half of the interview in which the CEO expresses his right wing conservative political views, although it is interesting, almost funny—and a little frightning—how fond this self-proclaimed defender of democracy and freedom is of China’s non-democratic version of capitalism (“It’s a very interesting version! You don’t have to discuss. You just do. You’re very efficient!”).</li></ul><p><span class="unterstrichen">Update p.s.:</span><br />Of course the content industry can always screw up, also on the iPod. It seems the first Axel Springer newspaper app is terrible: <a href="http://netzwertig.com/2010/04/09/die-welt-die-erste-deutsche-medien-ipad-app-enttaeuscht/">Article on Netzwertig.com</a> (German).Paul Schächterlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03600145735645940104noreply@blogger.com0