I queued for 6+ hours to be one of the first to buy an iPad 2 in the UK on Friday 25th March. Waiting itself was a more pleasurable experience than I had anticipated. The company was good and the atmosphere fun. We were of course ridiculed by passers by (who would probably not hesitate being first in the queue for a sale at Next). But when my time came I picked up a black 64GB/3G+WIFI iPad 2 and hurried out of the shopping mall, painfully aware that my iPad could be seen clearly through the white Apple bag, raising my chances of being mugged considerably. After spending a few days with the iPad 2 I have jotted down some initial observations…

• At first glance the form factor of iPad 2 looks very similar to it’s predecessor. But once held in your hands the differences become apparent. It feels implausibly thin yet both rigid and solid. The flat back makes it feel less awkward. I remember my first two weeks with the first generation iPad. It took a while for my wrists to get used to it’s weight and for me to work out how best to hold it. For someone purchasing an iPad 2 as their first tablet I suspect this would be much less of a factor. Although only a little lighter, iPad 2 feels more like an oversized Kindle than a first generation iPad.

• The overall experience is much improved by the increased CPU performance. There is no lag when flicking through pages of app icons and no noticeable redraw (AKA the chequerboard effect) when scrolling quickly through long Safari pages. Third party apps that were previously a little slow are also more pleasurable to use. Tweetmag and Zite spring to mind.

• The extra RAM greatly improves the multitasking experience. For example, a previously closed Safari tab rarely has to refresh itself when switching back to it.

• I purchased both the leather and polyurethane Smart Cover. The leather marks easily but feels better in the hand and smells better too. The polyurethane seems more durable but on reflection I think the leather case will have more character as time passes. If I had a criticism of the Smart Cover it would be that a few more magnets could have been added. Specifically a couple of magnets on the back of the iPad itself would have helped prevent the cover flapping around when folded back on itself when held one handed.

• The back of the iPad 2 is as vulnerable to scratches as the first generation model. I picked up a nasty scratch on my old iPad by placing it down on a coffee table that had a grain of sugar on it. Beware. Aluminium is no where near as durable as it sounds. I will be picking up a BOOKback ASAP.

• As widely publicised, the cameras are a disappointment if you intend to shoot stills. For Facetime and the odd video clip they are fine. I think Apple would have been well advised to remove altogether the ability from the Camera app to take stills.

• Battery life seems better than my first gen iPad. This may well be due to degradation with the older iPads battery. It has been heavily used since its purchase a year ago and charged/discharged almost every day since.

• A new dock is available for the iPad 2. But it is possible to use the old style dock. Inserting the iPad 2 into the first gen dock is a little tricky the first few times, but it becomes easier with practice. Once sat on the dock it looks fine. I will likely save myself some money and stick with the older docks (of which I have three).

• I occasionally use a stylus to take notes in apps like Penultimate and Notes Plus. There seems to be more drag when using the stylus on the iPad 2 screen. This makes it a less pleasurable experience. I am not sure why this is. Maybe a new coating on the glass?

• There are some potentially confusing changes to the Sound preferences. Because the iPad 2 can accept incoming Facetime calls, it has the ability to ‘ring’ much like a phone would do. By default the volume rocker does not affect the ringtones or other system sounds (incoming mail, device lock, calendar alerts etc). It only alters the volume the audio originating from video and music apps. This behaviour can be altered within the Sound preference pane.

1. Some of the more taxing animations (e.g., app switching), are smoother and glitch free.

2. The sound preferences bug has been squashed. However, a new one has been introduced. iBooks will no longer sync your position in an ebook between devices because iOS 4.2 won’t accept your iTunes password.

3. Video playback in Safari now acts as expected (BBC iPlayer now works etc).

4. Some changes have been made to ‘Airplay’. In previous betas, Airplay was available in any apps that used the systems audio/video playback GUI API’s. However, many have noted that the Airplay icon is now missing from the YouTube and Videos apps. Much of the commentary I have read seems to suggest that the reason for Airplay removal is pressure on Apple from content providers. I have a less sinister theory…

Until beta 3, the Airplay controls were visible in all media apps regardless of whether a compatible Airplay device (say an Airport Express of Apple TV) was on the same local network as the iPad/iPhone. However, beta 3 seems to check for AirPlay compatible devices. If one is present it shows the controls. If no device is found it hides Airplay from view. Which brings us to the YouTube and Videos apps. To the best of my knowledge the only device capable of receiving a video stream over Airplay is a second generation Apple TV. And there is a good chance that even they will need a software update around the time AirPlay is ready for primetime (Apple says November 2010). If the Apple TV is not yet advertising its Airplay video service over the LAN, I suspect iPads/iPhones running beta 3 will hide the Airplay controls in all potential video streaming apps (like YouTube and Videos).

5. The resolution of the default wallpaper (droplets on glass) has been increased. It now looks very crisp and sharp.

6. On a side note, new SMS alert tones have been added to the iPhone version of beta 3. Personally I think they are horrendous. But visit this link and make up your own mind… http://gizmodo.com/5662382/the-new-iphone-sms-ringtones

7. Safari’s GUI seems a little more responsive to me. Under 3.x and the previous two 4.2 betas I would often tap on the address bar only to have to wait a few seconds before the onscreen keyboard would slide up and allow me to type a URL or execute a Google search. Beta 3 solves this issue.

8. Twitter for iPad issues still persist. I have come to the conclusion that the inability of the app to save its authentication state is a problem that can only be solved by an update from the app developer. It seems that under iOS 3.2 Twitter for iPad saves its state when home button is pressed and the app is closed. However, 4.2 introduces multitasking to the iPad for the first time. As a result the app is never shutdown (and the state is not saved) when returning to the home screen. The only situation where Twitter shuts down is when the operating system itself decides to purge the app from RAM when memory becomes constrained (which evidently happens often and does not trigger the app to save its authentication state).

9. The hardware slider switch continues to mute the device rather than locking the screen orientation a la iOS 3.2. The onscreen feedback overlay has now been changed to represent a muted speaker. Under the previous two betas Apple used the ‘muted ringtone’ overlay found on the iPhone since its launch in 2007. The speaker is far more appropriate for the iPad.

More to come…

1. A new app switching animation has been introduced. It is a marked improvement over the original implementation which mimicked the iPhone. Switching apps feels quicker and smoother. The new animation seems to better convey the concept of switching between apps. Very nice.

2. Compared to Beta 1, general performance seems slightly better. That’s not to say that Beta 1 was a slouch. But some of the minor glitches have been ironed out.

3. Still no sight of Airplay compatibility with older Apple TVs. Boo!

4. A particularly nasty bug has been introduced to the Settings app. Selecting the Sound pane causes the app to crash. I have also seen it lock the iPad up completely on one occasion.

5. There are no improvements with some of the video playback issues in Safari (BBC iPlayer for example). The authentication issues with Twitter for iPad persist too.

6. Some subtle graphical changes have been made to the keyboard. Keys now seem to have more pronounced drop shadows.

7. Both Wifi and 3G networking seem more stable. Beta 1 had a tendency to crap out at least once a day, leaving the iPad with no connectivity. So far so good with Beta 2.

8. Airplay will now push audio to Airport Express connected speakers more reliably, with less stuttering and skipping. It now seems on par with it’s predecessor, AirTunes. I have not been able to experiment with video over Airplay.

9. The ability to manually configure cellular data settings on the device is back.

1. Folders are a god send. 6 pages of apps can easily be condensed down to a more manageable two home screens. Whereas under iOS 3.2 I am much more inclined to show restraint when installing apps, 4.2 is likely to encourage wild App Store binges. Good news for Apple.

2. Performance appears largely unaffected; a pleasant surprise given the iPads somewhat anaemic 256MB RAM. That’s not to say that everything with Beta 1 is plain sailing. Video playback is problematic in Safari. The more graphical RSS readers (Pulse and Flud for example) tend to crash on launch and Twitter for iPad refuses to maintain a persistent connection. All of these issues should be resolved when 4.2 goes primetime in November 2010.

3. The hardware orientation lock slider now becomes a mute button. I don’t have a problem with this per se, but I am hoping that the final release of 4.2 steps away from using the ‘mute ringtone’ onscreen overlay to signal when mute has been activated/deactivated. A more appropriate overlay would be the one used in Mac OS X (the stylised speaker icon).

4. Activating the multitasking app switching bar when holding the iPad in portrait orientation feels awkward to me. Doing so on an iPhone feels much more natural because the device is designed to be held in one hand. Double clicking the home button on the iPad requires an intentional stretching of the hand so the thumb can reach the centrally positioned home button.

5. The changes to the signal stretch indicator bars on iPhones running 4.0 onwards have been carried over to the 3G iPad models in 4.2.

6. The ability to manually configure the cellular carrier settings on the device itself appear to have been removed. 4.2 Beta 1 seems to rely solely on the automatic carrier updates pushed from iTunes when syncing the device.

7. Mail.app plays nicely with Gmail. The left-to-right swipe gesture will now archive, rather than delete, a message. The old trash icon previously found on the right of Mails toolbar has now been replaced by Googles ‘archive’ icon (the very same one found in the Gmail tablet compatible web app).

8. Airplay can be found everywhere. Every app capable of media playback that I tried displayed the new Airplay icon next to the playback controls. It is possible to push any audio to a compatible device. It currently works with Airport Express, although the audio playback can get a little choppy. It doesn’t work with the soon to be replaced, older models of Apple TV. I will be pissed if Airplay compatibility is withheld from Apple TV early adopters purely to force sales of the newer model. The first gen Apple TV is capable of serving as an AirTunes client. I doubt there is a technical reason why it can’t also receive and play Airplay content. We will see…

9. The Calendar app loses it’s bright, saturated colour scheme in favour of a more muted iCal-esque tone.

The Enemy Within

• Customers tied into pay monthly contracts with O2 can unlock at any time free of charge. However, they are still obliged to continue paying the monthly tariff until their contract expires.
• Customers with pay-as-you-go accounts are able to get their iPhones unlocked after owning the phone for 12 months and upon payment of a GBP £15 unlocking fee. 

The unlocking procedure is said to take up to a fortnight. Confirmation that unlock has been successful is sent to the customers phone by SMS message. 

Stepping into the gap is a application called Jitouch. Taking a slightly different approach, Jitouch adds a number of new gestures but doesn’t allow customisation of existing ones. Its icon sits in the menu bar rather than the dock, allowing for the program to be activated/deactivated and for access to its preference pane. It currently supports seven new gestures of varying complexity.

I have been running the app on my MacBook Pro for the last week or so. Several of the gestures have become second nature (particularly those used to control tabs within the browser). The others I am finding less useful mainly because I find them particularly tricky to pull off. All are demonstrated on the Jitouch page. More gestures are promised in the future. Indeed the Jitouch web site already details a new gesture used to navigate multiple spaces that will be available as part of the next point release.

Lefties take note. Make sure you opt for left handed gestures using the apps preference pane. Not doing so can cause unexpected results!

Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts on Jitouch. I am particularly interested to hear whether others also struggle pulling off some of the gestures.

Apple proudly sings the virtues of using Time Machine as a backup solution for Mac OS X Server 10.6. However, while I had no problem restoring the system, I was left with some unexpected issues once the server was rebooted. Most services worked as advertised but upon launching the company wiki and blogs within Safari, I was presented with a ’503 error’ page. 

After nearly 4 hours of scouring support forums, knowledge bases and mailing lists I finally got the bottom of the issue. Time Machine automatically skips over caches and log files when creating a backup. Usually this is no problem but it seems that the ‘teams’ service that powers the wiki and blogs feature in Mac OS X Server requires the presence of its log file to operate correctly. This discovery finally led me to a knowledge base article on Apple.com that gives step by step instructions on recreating the necessary files and restoring the correct permissions to the wiki directory. 

By following the instructions below I was able to restore wiki functionality…

To restore the Web service (server):

1. Open Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities).
2. Execute these commands, each on its own line, followed by Return. Note: When using these commands you will be prompted for an administrator’s password.

   sudo mkdir /var/log
   sudo mkdir /var/log/apache2

3. To restore the Wiki service (server), run the following commands in addition to those above:
   
   sudo mkdir /Library/Logs/wikid
   sudo chown _teamsserver:_teamsserver /Library/Logs/wikid
   

After running these commands restart your server.

To combat this trend, content creators are deploying new tactics in the form of “embedded RSS advertising”. These adverts are displayed within the RSS feed (usually at the bottom of each post). While there are numerous ways to block ads in the browser window, there hasn’t been an easy way to tackle RSS advertising.

Enter Glimmerblocker, an open source project that takes a new approach to adblocking. Instead of being application specific, it intercepts online ads systemwide using an http proxy to capture all network traffic entering your Mac. This affords Glimmerblocker a few advantages over more traditional ad blocking techniques. Firstly, any ad blocking carried out in this way affects every app of the system whether they be a browser, an email client or an RSS reader. Secondly, because Glimmerblocker doesn’t rely on hacks like input managers or application enhancers, programs can be safely updated without running the risk of breaking the ad blocking tool and/or the application in question.

Glimmerblockers default settings already block many of the most insidious ad networks like Doubleclick and Mediaplex. By adding a few more domain names to Glimmerblockers blacklist you can banish the majority of embedded RSS adverts. Of course, different users have different interests and therefore subscribe to a wide variety of feeds. My own personal experience has taught me that by adding the following domains to the blacklist, 95% of embedded ads are successfully blocked…

*.feedads.googleadservices.com
*.pheedo.com

Adding new domains to the blacklist is relatively easy (although I hope in the future that the developers behind Glimmerblocker will simplify the UI a little).

- Once installed access the Glimmerblocker settings from the preference pane in Mac OS X System Preferences.
- Select the ‘Filters’ tab and using the top left pane add a new filter group.
- Then, using the bottom pane, add each of the domains list above.
- Finally, turn on Glimmerblocker by selecting the ‘Setup’ tab and then checking the ‘Activate Glimmerblocker’ checkbox.

This should go a long way towards removing adverts from your RSS reader.

However, hardware problems are much more difficult to overcome and it has been a hardware issue that has ruined my experience with my new MacBook Pro until now. It seems that some users (including me) are bothered by the click action of the new trackpad. When pressed it emits a loud, hollow sounding click that becomes extremely irritating in quiet environments. It feels cheap and nasty when compared to the trackpad button on my MacBook Air and even my old first generation white MacBook.

Looking for a solution I came across a few blog posts suggesting the rather drastic solution of stuffing the space between the battery and the underside of the trackpad with Kleenex. This seemed a little half-baked and maybe even dangerous (given Apples recent track record with batteries its probably not advisable to place sheets of combustible material on top of the battery).

However, after flipping over the MacBook Pro and popping out of the battery, the user can access the underside of the trackpad where they will find one tri-blade screw. Although these types of screws typically require a special tool, this particular one is easy to turn with the edge of a small flat blade screwdriver. Turning the screw clockwise reduces the travel required to execute a trackpad click and dampens the sound emitted. Turning the screw counterclockwise increases the travel and force required and increases the noise made when the trackpad is depressed.

From experience I would advise turning the screw clockwise an eighth of a turn, testing the trackpad button and repeating until the desired trackpad button action is achieved. Turning the screw too far results in an inability to click the trackpad at all. If this happens, back off a little by turning the screw counterclockwise an eighth of a turn.

After successfully adjusting my own MacBook Pro I can report that the trackpad button is now as quiet as my MacBook Air resulting in a much more pleasant day-to-day user experience.

The day after the announcement I hopped on a train to London and visited the Apple Store on Regent Street where I picked up a new 15 inch MacBook Pro. I have been using it for 5 days now and feel I have learnt enough to share some of my feelings about the new hardware design.

Casing

Apple has placed great emphasis on the construction techniques used to manufacture the new MacBook Pros casing. During the announcement, Jonathan Ive (Apples Vice President of Industrial Design) made a rare appearance on stage to preach the virtues of the new aluminum ‘unibody’ which is produced by carving the casing as a single part from a solid block of aluminum. In doing so, Apple has hit a home run. The new casing is incredibly rigid, with a truly staggering fit and finish. The laptop itself will continue to look pristine many years after the internal components are obsolete. Make no mistake, this marks a new gold standard in laptop case construction and puts every other notebook I have come across (with the exception of the Macbook Air) to shame, including the previous generation MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

Trackpad

I have found the trackpad to be a true Jekyll and Hyde. The new glass surface is a true joy to work on. It provides just the right level of friction to ensure your finger glides to the desired spot accurately. I am sure it will also prevent the age old problem of the users finger polishing areas of the trackpad over time, which in turn should help boost resale value. A few commentators have reported that the glass surface is painted. This is not the case. The trackpad is constructed by laying a thin plane of etched transparent glass onto a metal base (which itself is the same color as the notebooks aluminum shell). This helps ensure that the glass is not cracked by heavy handed users whilst providing the illusion that the trackpad is the same color as the rest of the machine. Either way, your finger is in direct contact with the glass which leads me to wonder… If my finger cannot polish the glass trackpad over time, can the glass trackpad polish away my fingerprint?

The second innovative new feature of the redesigned trackpad is the complete absence of a separate button. For years people have bemoaned the absence of the right button found on PCs. In typical Steve Jobs fashion, Apple has given those complaining the middle finger and removed the one button they did have. Sort of.

Instead of having a separate trackpad and button, the redesigned trackpad is the button itself. The whole surface can be pushed down to register a click. For me at least, this has taken some getting used to. Firstly, the level of pressure needed to successfully click on something is not uniform. The trackpad is hinged at edge closest to the keyboard, so while it is easy to click in the bottom half of the pad, clicking in the top half requires a great deal of force. Secondly, compared with my previous MacBook Pro and my current MacBook Air, the click action requires more pressure and offers a very audible click which I find distracting. I am hoping this will resolve itself after a few months of use when the button mechanism has been broken in.

I have also run into problems because of the way my hand rests on the trackpad. I find the most natural poise for my hand is to rest my thumb on the button and then use my index finger for the majority of the trackpad work. But with no button at all my thumb naturally rests on the bottom third of the trackpad. This prevents me from successfully registering a click by tapping my index finger because the trackpad recognizes this as a two finger click. Very annoying. Nevertheless I have managed to retrain myself to use the trackpad differently over the past 5 days and this has become less of an issue as time has passed.

Display

The most controversial aspect of this refresh is the glossy display, or rather the lack of the previously available matte display. The new screens are adorned with a sheet of glass which stretches to the exterior edges of the black bezel that surrounds the LCD panel. This glass is extremely shiny and bumps up the level of glare even in comparison to recent glossy notebook screens sold by Apple (which had a plastic rather than glass coating on the screens surface itself).

This is a real deal breaker for some, especially if you belong to the print design community. As the MD of a graphics design studio I sympathize with the concerns over glare and reflections on the new glossy display. However, I have never found it to be much of a problem for me. In fact I tend to prefer the glossy display as it adds vibrancy to colour and produces deeper blacks. That said, my job role has morphed from a designer to a more conventional manager over the last few years so I tend to spend more time answering email and carrying out tasks within the browser than I do creating and editing artwork in Photoshop or Illustrator.

Putting aside concerns over glare and reflections, the 1440×900 panel is super bright and has a very wide viewing angle. It uses LED backlighting which is more energy efficient than the superseded cold cathode lamp backlighting and is not prone to yellowing or diminishing brightness following prolonged use. I do feel its time Apple stepped up the resolution of their screens a little but I cannot fault the quality of the panel itself.

While the lid assembly is thinner than previous models, it feels rigid and appears to have good torsional strength probably helped by the glass panel. It is worth noting that a black rubber bumper which runs around the entire perimeter of the display has replaced the tiny rubber stops of the older model. This is intended to ensure adequate clearance between the keyboard and screen when the lid is closed. However, sadly this is still not the case. The keys do still touch the display when the lid is closed. On older models this eventually caused permanent marks on the display. Whether this remains a problem with the new model is less clear. It maybe that the harder glass resists such markings more effectively. But as someone who has suffered this problem in the past I don’t intend on finding out. Instead I will be laying a microfiber cloth over the keyboard before closing the lid. As a side note, the hinge mechanism feels improved, with a more fluid feel than previous models.

Heat Dispersion

Older MacBook Pros were notorious for the heat they kicked out. On many occasions I have had to either stop using my older model or move it from my lap to a table because of the discomfort caused by the heat radiating from its underside. So how do the new MacBook Pros stack up?

While they can indeed still get quite warm, the heat is dispersed over a wider area probably as a result of the new aluminium unibody. In addition this machine is much quieter. In normal operation the fans are virtually silent (you have to press your ear against the machines only cooling vent running along the display hinge to hear them). But even when stressing the CPU the machine is significantly quieter than previous models. This seems to be achieved by using fans with more blades, allowing for adequate cooling at a lower RPM. Slower fans equal quieter fans.

Keyboard

Taking cues from the MacBook Air, the new Pro uses a chiclet style black keyboard. This seems to have polarized the mac community with many people complaining that the black keys are more visually jarring than the old silver keyboard which blended into the notebook casing. Personally I like the black keyboard. It brings back fond memories of my 2001 Titanium PowerBook.

While the keyboard may look a lot like the MacBook Air’s, it feels quite different. The travel of the keys themselves feel more in keeping with the old MacBook Pro design and less like the more ‘clicky’ action of Apples consumer line.

The backlighting of the keyboard is bright. Sometimes a little too bright. While the characters on the keys light up nicely, there is a lot of light spilling out from around the edge of each key. Coupled with the glossy screen which reflects the keyboard back at the user, the results can be a little distracting in very dark situations. Thankfully the backlighting can be toned down or turned off altogether.

These are my initial thoughts on the redesigned MacBook Pro hardware. I will endeavor to post about the machines performance once I have had an opportunity to really put it through its paces.

I have been running a newly patched MacBook Air for a few hours now. During that time I have had three flash videos running simultaneously along with Activity Monitor. I have yet to see a CPU core shutdown leading me to believe, that after a six month wait, the Apple update resolves this issue once and for all.

The MacBook Air update 1.0 is available through Software Update.

This can be tested by setting Mail to check for new messages manually and then sending yourself a message from another account. They seem to be showing up in Mail within 3-5 seconds.

I am guessing that the MobileMe team have activated the IDLE function of IMAP on the servers (although I don’t claim to be an expert with IMAP protocols).

Like me, Jason has seen a marked improvement following the installation of Coolbook‘.

Since my original post I am happy to report that I have seen no real side effects to the underclocking; certainly no kernel panics or OS instability. Battery life was waned a little and ranges anywhere between 3.5hrs to 4hrs. This maybe because my MBA battery has now been cycled 251 times and is no longer keeping an optimal charge.

But after 4 months use I can say with certainty that it’s one of the best $10 I have ever spent. If I hadn’t discovered Coolbook I would have had no choice but to return my MacBook Air to the Apple Store for a refund.

Step up MultiClutch. A donationware preference pane that may very well become my favorite app of 2008. MultiClutch allows you to assign keyboard shortcuts to gestures at a global level and in third party applications. It also brings a few new gestures to the table, namely ‘swipe up and swipe down’ as well as combinations of stock Apple multitouch gestures.

So, for example, I have used MultiClutch to customize trackpad gestures in Safari like so….

Rotate left = Back
Rotate right = Forward
Swipe left = Switch to tab on left
Swipe right = Switch to tab on right

This is combined with customized gestures at a global level….

Swipe down = Minimize window
Swipe up = Hide window
Pinch = Close window
Stretch = Quit application

After a few hours of using the trackpad in this way it’s difficult to go back to Apples limited multitouch implementation. In particular, swiping down to minimize a window to the dock feels satisfyingly natural.

There are very few drawbacks to Multiclutch. The most apparent limitation of the software is it’s inability to control Carbon apps (ruling out Finder and iTunes). I have also yet to find a way of assigning keyboard shortcuts that don’t use the command key. But these are small gripes that take nothing away from what may be the most useful app I have installed since discovering Quicksilver two years ago.

Behold. The first Grand Theft Auto.

Get it here.