Faster Dock-action while in full screen

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Do you love using apps in full screen mode in Lion but wish that it was easier to get to the Dock? If you’re comfortable mucking about in Terminal’s command line, you’re in luck. You can type the following command to make the Dock instantly appear as your pointer hits that bottom of the screen.

defaults write com.apple.Dock autohide-delay -float 0
killall Dock

Don’t worry, that second line just restarts the Dock with the new setting in place. It doesn’t hurt anything or anyone.

Type this to get back the behavior as Apple intended.

defaults delete com.apple.Dock autohide-delay
killall Dock

The new iPad’s heat: no big deal?

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The new iPad is noticeably warmer than the two iPads that came before it. But, according to some in the press and on Twitter that isn’t a big deal. Or is it?

The iPad, so far, never gets warm. Browse a bunch of web sites. Play some video. Play a game. It still feels as cool to the touch as when it’s turned off. It is also dead quiet — no fan, no humming, nada. This is the future of computing.

That was John Gruber in early April 2010 right after the release of the original iPad. He wasn’t alone. Many people were pleasantly surprised by the fact that the iPad never felt warm—even under heavy use. It was a big deal!

However, today while responding to an article on The Verge about how the new iPad is noticeably warm John Gruber has the following to say.

That doesn’t make for a good Verge headline though, and neither would “5.3 degrees” (Celsius), so I suggest going with Fahrenheit — “Tests Show New iPad Runs Up to 10 Degrees Hotter Than iPad 2” — to maximize the sensational impact while still being technically true.

This is followed up by his translation of Apple PR-speak to “the new iPad can get warmer than the iPad 2 but that’s expected.”

I, like the Gruber of 2010, felt that the original iPad’s ability to keep its cool even during extended periods of use is part of what set the iPad apart. It’s part of what made the iPad the future of computing. The iPad proved that computers didn’t have to be hard to use, you don’t have to constantly top off their batteries, you needn’t worry about them scorching your lap or making your hands sweaty, etcetera, etcetera. It’s not sensational to talk about the new iPad being significantly warmer and it definitely shouldn’t be expected.

Let’s put this heat issue in a familiar context. On Twitter, MG Siegler quips that 116º Fahrenheit is “the temperature at which a Consumer Reports reviewer’s dainty hands burn.”  Consumer Reports writes that the new iPad can reach that temperature while running Infinity Blade 2 and that its temperature was measured at 12-13 degrees higher than the iPad 2 under the same scenario. People are playing these temperature differences off as minimal. But imagine how comfortable you are in a 72º room and then in an 85º room which would also be 13 degrees warmer. I’d be miserably hot. Now think about how someone’s forehead feels when they’re at the normal average temperature of 98.6º and when they have a 104º fever. That’s a huge difference and it’s only 5.4 degrees.

I hope that Apple is able to sort out these issues through either software updates or fixes to future iPads. If they can’t, and these iPads really are operating within Apple’s specifications then they have wrongly traded an aspect of the future of computing for “speeds and feeds” mentality.

PS—I’m in America and all of the temperatures in this article are in Fahrenheit. I’m sorry.

 

Hands on impressions of the new iPad

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I went to my local Apple Store yesterday to take a look at the new iPads. I arrived around 9:45 and the line for purchasing new iPads had already cleared. I walked in and took a look at the new iPads on display. An Apple employee approached me almost immediately and I asked him how long it took them to sell out. To my surprise, they hadn’t. They sold out of the 16 GB model but still had plenty of other capacity models in stock.

The first thing I noticed was that the new iPad is significantly heavier than the prior generation. Many people in the press have reported that the weight difference is negligible, but I have to disagree. Perhaps if you’re used to having your iPad in a case, it would be harder to distinguish the weight difference. I do not use a case. I only use the Smart Cover and typically remove it completely while using the iPad. You can feel how much heavier it is immediately. It is still lighter than the original iPad, though, and doesn’t really bother me.

Apple also had a poor selection of apps loaded onto the iPads for demonstration purposes. The only apps that had been updated to support the Retina Display were those from Apple. All other apps had noticeably low resolution icons with their tell-tale jagginess. I was shocked that Infinity Blade 2 had not already been loaded. It along with iPhoto and iBooks are probably the best apps for showing off the Retina Display. I did check out the Retina Display with iPhoto, iBooks, and Safari and it looks amazing. It’s just like the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S in crispness of text and detail everywhere else, but is just astounding that Apple was able to accomplish this on such a large display on a $500 device.

It took a while longer for me to notice that the new iPads in the store were noticeably warm along the bottom edge. If you’ve never used an iPad before it may be surprising to you that this is something that would stand out as odd. But, the original iPad and the iPad 2 never feel warm. There is just the pleasantly cool feeling of aluminum. The new iPad, however, feels warm along the bottom when holding it in portrait orientation and is warmer towards the bottom left corner. I actually picked up every new iPad in the store. Out of the ten new iPads on display, eight of them were noticeably warmer in the bottom left corner. The other two were harder to tell but this could be because the heat difference between the left and right sides was negligible —not because they were cool as I’d expect. After I was done man-handling all of the new iPads, I picked up the two iPad 2’s that were on display and they were both cool to the touch.

I hope that the heat is caused by charging the new iPad’s massive battery which has 70% more capacity. Since all demo iPads in an Apple Store are plugged in this is certainly possible. I do fear that it could be because the A5X system on a chip generates more heat than the iPad can dissipate. I initially thought it might be the extra power draw of the LTE chip, but I noticed the warmth on both LTE and Wi-Fi only models. The odd thing about the warmth being mostly on the bottom left is that according to what I can tell from iFixit’s teardown, the A5X is mostly centered along the bottom near the home button and the power-hungry LTE chip is at the bottom left. So, why were the Wi-Fi only models also warmer?

I’ve drawn two conclusions from my time with the new iPads. I’m going to wait a bit before getting a new iPad. Hopefully Apple can sort out whatever is causing the excess heat in later production runs or iOS updates. These issues could also put a damper on the next iPhone getting LTE or the A5X. If either of those components are responsible for making the iPad feel warm, just imagine what they’d do to the iPhone without significant advancements between now and next autumn. The iPhone’s small package cannot dissipate as much heat nor pack the insanely large battery of the iPad. I do still hold out hope that the heat is usually only generated while charging the battery and am anxiously reading reports from the early adopters of the new iPad.

Could the next iPhone ship with LTE off by default?

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On the latest episode of The Talk Show, Dan Benjamin asks if Apple could ship the next iPhone with LTE turned off by default to preserve battery life — since current LTE radios are so power hungry. John Gruber’s response was unsure but he didn’t think it would be the type of thing Apple would do. One possible precedent for Apple doing such a thing is Siri. The iPhone 4S ships with Siri off by default. Sure, this is probably because Siri is currently in beta, but the same line of thinking could apply to LTE as well. LTE is in a limited roll out. Apple could save power on everyone’s iPhone by having LTE support built-in but turned off by default. The minority of people that live in areas with LTE coverage could then turn on LTE if they feel the reduction of battery life is worth it.

It’s a content creation device

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“It’s a content creation device.”
Leo Laporte talking about the new iPad.

It’s amazing to me that only now after Apple releases iPhoto for iOS do people see the iPad as a content creation device. It’s as if fantastic creation apps such as Bamboo Paper, Keynote, Brushes, OmniGraffle, and Korg’s iElectribe haven’t been on the iPad until now. In fact, Apple released Pages, Numbers, and Keynote alongside the original iPad and are the sort of apps people generally think of when they talk about productivity apps.

The new iPad and iPhoto have apparently killed the perception by some people that the iPad is a content consumption device. People that have in the past appeared willfully ignorant of what makes the iPad so popular for so many different uses and the pundits and analysts that come up with convoluted terms like “media tablet” to discuss the iPad and clones of it. Welcome to the future.

Grading myself on iPad predictions

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The speculation is all over now. We now know what the next iPad is going to be when it’s available in a few short days on Friday, March 16. Let’s see how I did with my predictions.

Retina Display

“The iPad is going to have its resolution doubled… It will be a revolutionary display.”

Ding! We have a winner. I get a star for this one. But, to be honest, a lot of people got this right. Pay attention to people that didn’t think this would happen and take whatever they say with lots of salt.

The name

“There are some rumors swirling about that Apple will name it the iPad HD. They won’t. In doing so, Apple would be under-playing their hand. The iPad has always been capable of displaying the 1280×720 variation of High Definition and HD video maxes out at 1920×1080. The Retina Display of the next iPad will pump out 2048×1536 pixels.”

Another winner. Not only did I call that it would not be named the iPad HD as many of the rumors were reporting and people were talking about on Twitter (I’m looking at you, Gizmodo) but I also telegraphed what Apple’s talking points would be during the event regarding the Retina Display iPad and HD. Apple had slides and video demonstrating how the iPad’s resolution is superior to 1080p HD.

A new app

“Along with an insanely high resolution display comes an app for organizing and editing photos and that means Aperture for the iPad. This puts me against John Gruber and agreeing with most of Gabe Glick’s points in a MacStories piece.”

OK, I got this one wrong. I thought the new app would be Aperture instead of iPhoto. Gruber was right. In retrospect, it makes sense that Apple would want to complete the iLife suite of apps on iOS by adding iPhoto to GarageBand and iMovie. I’d like to give myself half a star for knowing that Apple would release a new photo editing app, but that doesn’t seem right. No star!

LTE

“The Wall Street Journal published an article stating that the next iPad will have support for the faster LTE cellular networks. Their sources have been very good lately with respect to Apple. That combined with the timing on this one makes it a good bet.”

I got this one right too. I don’t think there is much too say about this one. But, it is a good sign that the next iPhone will have LTE. Notice how I didn’t call it the iPhone 5?

Messages

“To go along with Apple’s merging of iChat on the Mac with Messages from iOS, Apple will bring video conferencing from the Mac to the iPad.”

Totally wrong! Well, maybe this will be part of iOS 6.

iOS

“Like the original iPad, the next iPad will be released with a bespoke version of iOS that enables features that are unique to the iPad. Unique, at least, until Apple merges them with the rest of iOS later this year.”

It looks like I got this one wrong too. If so, Apple has improved their process for integrating changes specific to a new product into their main line of iOS. This is one that I am glad I got wrong.

It’s a given

“It’ll also have improved cameras front and back with the front facing camera being upgraded to FaceTime HD.”

Wow. I can’t believe I got part of this wrong. Apple put all of their effort into improving the rear camera which can now shoot 1080p video and 5 megapixel photos.

One last thing

“Oh, and they’ll continue selling the iPad 2 of the 16 GB variety starting at $349.”

Partially right. It’s actually $399 so all of the cheap tablets aren’t putting as much pressure on Apple as people think.

Siri

“I’m probably in the minority on this, but I hope that Apple doesn’t include Siri on the next iPad. That’s not because I don’t think it has a place on the iPad – I do. But, Siri is still in beta and appears to be overloaded at times. Including it on new iPads will be even more stress for Siri. Let’s wait until it’s ready before spreading it out to other Apple devices.”

I’m not going to grade myself on my other hopes because they were just that – and sadly weren’t fulfilled. But, I am going to give myself a bonus point for getting this right. Apple left Siri off of the new iPad for now since it is still in beta and they still have some issues to work out. Instead the new iPad will get a voice dictation key on the keyboard like the one the iPhone 4S has.

How did I do? Out of eight predictions, I got three right, and two half right. When you include bonus points for getting one of my hopes right, that is five stars.

Apple may release an iPad that feels different

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Here’s an interesting idea for a great new feature Apple could announce for the iPad today. It’s touch-feedback that inventing company Senseg says turns a touchscreen into a feelscreen. It uses electrostatic fields to make the smooth glass surface feel like other surfaces with varying textures and Matthew Panzarino of The Next Web has put together his case for why Apple could talk about it later today.

Predictions and hopes for the next iPad

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Apple has scheduled a show and tell event about the next iPad for tomorrow on March 7, 2012. Here’s what I think Apple will announce at the event followed by some things that probably won’t happen, but would make me very happy if they did.

Predictions

Retina Display

This one seems a bit obvious. MacRumors and iFixit have even published some evidence that the next iPad will have a Retina Display. But, the writing has been on the wall ever since the iPhone 4 was released with its Retina Display. The iPad is going to have its resolution doubled – it is just a matter of when. Right now still feels like a bit of a push to sell a device so densly packed with pixels for about $500. It will be a revolutionary display.

The name

There are some rumors swirling about that Apple will name it the iPad HD. They won’t. In doing so, Apple would be under-playing their hand. The iPad has always been capable of displaying the 1280×720 variation of High Definition and HD video maxes out at 1920×1080. The Retina Display of the next iPad will pump out 2048×1536 pixels. That’s like… ultra definition. I don’t know what Apple will name it, but I do know that on the back of the actually iPad it will simply read “iPad”. It’ll be interesting when (or if) the iPad goes to the “Early 2012″ style naming convention that Macs have but is really only mentioned in support documentation.

A new app

Along with an insanely high resolution display comes an app for organizing and editing photos and that means Aperture for the iPad. This puts me against John Gruber and agreeing with most of Gabe Glick’s points in a MacStories piece. The iPad already has many of iPhoto’s features with the new organizing and editing features of iOS 5. Aperture’s time is now on iOS. Advanced editing of photos through touch combined with non-destructive editing and Aperture’s flare for supporting the profesional photographer’s workflow will be a force to be reckoned with.

LTE

The Wall Street Journal published an article stating that the next iPad will have support for the faster LTE cellular networks. Their sources have been very good lately with respect to Apple. That combined with the timing on this one makes it a good bet. It’s all a matter of how much current LTE components affect battery life. If Apple can’t meet or beat the iPad 2′s outstanding battery life, LTE will be tossed out.

Messages

To go along with Apple’s merging of iChat on the Mac with Messages from iOS, Apple will bring video conferencing from the Mac to the iPad. This new feature will most likely require the new iPad or a Mac to be the device hosting the conference since extra processing power will be needed. iPhones and iPod touches will be able to join the conference. And the future versions of those devices will be able to start them as well.

iOS

Like the original iPad, the next iPad will be released with a bespoke version of iOS that enables features that are unique to the iPad. Unique, at least, until Apple merges them with the rest of iOS later this year.

It’s a given

We know, of course, that it’s going to be the fastest iPad Apple has ever made. It’ll have improved central and graphics processors. Apple will speak about how much better this makes playing games, watching movies, and using power-hungry apps. It’ll also have improved cameras front and back with the front facing camera being upgraded to FaceTime HD.

One last thing

Oh, and they’ll continue selling the iPad 2 of the 16 GB variety starting at $349.

Hopes

Shape

I bought both an original iPad and the iPad 2 as soon as each was released. I love the speed of the iPad 2 and being able to use some of the things that require its extra power like iMovie and AirPlay Mirroring. But every time I pick up the original iPad, it feels wonderful in my hands in comparison. I mostly chalk this up to the thick side edges on the original iPad that are similar to those on the iPhone 4 and 4S. The very thin, tapered edges on the iPad 2 just aren’t comfortable. Some of the original iPad’s great feel could also come from the slightly curved back – a feature that also makes it much easier to spin around to share something with people sitting at the same table. I really hope that the shape of the next iPad is more like the original for a better feel while retaining the light weight of the iPad 2.

iPen

“If you see a stylus, they blew it.” I think what Steve Jobs really meant is that if you have to use a stylus, they blew it. But, that doesn’t mean a stylus cannot be optional. Apple could release an iPen that gives pressure sensitivity to the iPad through sensors in the pen itself and a Bluetooth connection to the iPad. It’d be even better if they provided an API that would allow other companies like Wacom or Ten One Design to release their own styluses for the iPad that work with all apps. This would be a boon to artists using apps like Brushes and could also be a tool for advanced editing of photos with Aperture for the iPad.

Siri

I’m probably in the minority on this, but I hope that Apple doesn’t include Siri on the next iPad. That’s not because I don’t think it has a place on the iPad – I do. But, Siri is still in beta and appears to be overloaded at times. Including it on new iPads will be even more stress for Siri. Let’s wait until it’s ready before spreading it out to other Apple devices.

Tweetbot now available for iPad

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Tapbots released Tweetbot for the iPad today. It’s a great release of their existing Tweetbot app reimagined for the larger iPad screen. It has the same rich design but makes use of the additional space to fit more tweets on the screen at once and to provide clarifying elements to the user interface. As I type this, Tweetbot for iPad is currently the second app on iTunes’ Top Paid Apps chart. My only complaint is that it isn’t a universal app. You’ll need to buy (and manage) it separately, but it’s well worth it if you like using Twitter on your iPad.

Its immediate popularity was probably assisted by the 2.0 release of Tweetbot for iPhone earlier the same day. Tweetbot 2.0 is better looking, faster, and even easier to use. The iPad version debuts with the same refinements.

Addressing some misconceptions about the Nest

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I will be writing a full review of the Nest Learning Thermostat in the future. This short piece is intended to correct some misconceptions about the thermostat that I’ve read on Twitter and heard on podcasts – notably Marco Arment’s Build and Analyze #62: Frustrated by the Invisible Person.

Some people don’t understand how the Nest learns a schedule. They think it simplisticly looks at settings at the about same time on two days in a row to learn patterns. It actually has several different ways it learns the schedule so that it can get itself up and running quickly before settling into a long term learning mode. On the first day it works just like a non-programmable thermostat. You turn the temperature up or down as you like and it stays that way until you change it. It takes all of these changes and makes them the schedule for the next day. Then it starts building the schedule for each following day based on the changes you make during the current day. After it thinks it has learned your schedule (they say about a week) it becomes less sensitive to changes you make and will only adjust the schedule based on trends that it sees. It looks for two changes that fit a pattern such as changing the temperature at about the same time two days in a row or two changes on the same weekday two weeks in a row. It even takes weekends and weekdays into consideration. It also ignores one-off temperature changes that aren’t part of a trend, so that you can make adjustments for unique situations and not affect the learned schedule. Nest has a great article that explains how learning works in further detail.

If the Nest does learn a new temperature setting that you don’t like, it’s very easy to go into the schedule and remove the accidental setting. Or you can simply adjust the temperature manually with the dial and it will unlearn that setting over time.

People have also complained that they just want a nice programmable thermostat. They even suggest that Nest should make one. Nest already has. You can pause the schedule learning feature of the Nest and it becomes a programmable thermostat. It becomes the best programmable thermostat I’ve ever seen because you can program it to adjust itself once every 60 minutes if you wanted to go crazy. That’s much more than the four different periods most programmable thermostats handle. And you can copy and paste settings from one day to the next to quickly make changes to your entire week.

Copy & Paste a Schedule on Nest

My review will have more information about installing and using the Nest Learning Thermostat as well as my impressions on how the Nest works for me. I’ll also cover how well I think it will work for most people.