Well, I’ve returned with a vengeance … oh, now that I’ve said that, it sounds a bit fierce. Well, I’ve returned at least. So what’s prompted this return, you ask? Well, apart from being fed up with seeing Steve Jobs’ face staring back at me every time I visit my blog, I’ve been rather busy this last 6 months. Lots of developments, and probably plenty to blog about, but there’s one thing in particular that’s on my mind at the moment: I’m moving house! Yay

With the pending move … err .. pending, I’ve taken the time to step back and review exactly we want to take with us. No, I don’t mean things like wardrobes, Star Trek place-mats and light sabres - of course they’re coming with us, but I’ve been thinking more along the lines of services, Sky subscriptions, broadband, servers and so on.

Crikey Oli, what percentage of that went into powering all those servers, gadgets and gizmos?
This all began when I started looking at exactly how much we’re paying for all the services our home uses, and trying to find ways to reduce out annual bills. The biggest saving I was able to make straight away was electricity, which was reduced from a whopping £2’900 per year to a still-whopping-but-less-terrifying-£1’900 per year. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Crikey Oli, what percentage of that went into powering all those servers, gadgets and gizmos?” Well, the answer is surprisingly low. Our enourmous electricity bill is mostly heating and hot water, and although I was able to reduce it by a staggering £1k a year, that was only through a revised meter reading, and transferring to a new tariff with a different energy provider. The bottom line is our house still costs a bomb to heat, and there’s very little we can do about that.

So we’ve fixed the problem by upgrading to a new house. Home 3.0, in fact. And it’s a house packed with 21st century gizmos, such as a hot-air reclamation system and – possibly the most exciting part – an electric garage door. Sweeeeeet Oh yeah, and it’s got nice big windows; it’s next to the canal, beautiful views across the valley, ya-da-ya-da. All that girly stuff … AND it’s got at least THREE good locations for those servers

But here’s the rub: The house is actually bigger than the one we’re in now. And as a consequence it costs more to rent, and has a higher council tax. So I bet you’re wondering why we’re moving to a more expensive house, when this all began with an attempt to save money? Well, if you knew me better, you’d know that’s precisely the messed up way I think.

However, jokes aside, while the house IS more expensive to rent, I have very high hopes for reducing the cost of running it (compared with our current home). It has as a class C energy rating, which is ‘acceptable’, but with a hybrid central heating and hot-air circulation and reclamation system, this 21st century home should, in theory, take all that lovely warm air we’ve paid for that’s merrily drifted to the top of the house, and draw it back down to the bottom of the house. In addition, the house has huge south-facing windows, which even on a cold day happily heated the house to around 19 degrees with the heating system turned off!

Don’t worry folks, I don’t normally get this excited about heating and air-circulation … it’s just a phase

The house has oodles of decent storage as well, not to mention a decent sized garage. I think I’ll finally have a home for our backup and media servers.

Now for the amusing part of this post: “So, Oli … where is this new house?”, ah well you see it’s … erm … it’s about 200yds that way <points ‘that’ way>. In fact, the photo above was taken through the windows of our current home.

Aren’t we adventurous!

We’re moving in about 4 weeks, so I apologise in advance for the deluge of gas- and hot-air reclamation system-related posts!

Oli

Here we are again. A few days ago, Apple used a rather cosy venue on their own campus to unveil the latest iteration of the iPhone, the iPhone 4S. Stepping back from all the hype surrounding this release, the iPhone 4S is a predicable incremental, or ‘evolutionary’ upgrade to the iPhone product line. They’ve obviously looked at the already very successful iPhone 4, and crammed a few extra goodies inside. All the usual upgrade features are on the list: It’s faster, it has a better camera, it has a better battery life (factoring in the increased speed); and it packs a few exclusive features – the most notable of of which is the ‘Siri’ voice assistant.

All in all, a reasonable attempt at an upgrade to an existing product. Well done Apple. You’ve ticked a few boxes, and shipped a ‘new’ product.

However, there were two problems with this product launch:

The Hype

The first problem, I feel, completely overshadowed the launch. Even before Apple announced that they were holding this event, the interweb and mainstream media was rife with rumours about the iPhone 5. Each day brought new rumours that seemed to contradict the previous rumours:

It’s going to have a bigger screen … no wait, it’s going to have a smaller screen … no wait, the screen is slightly bigger, and get this: It’s got a bevelled back! Oh, no wait … it doesn’t have a bevelled back – but it’s going to have a Pentium II processor! No, really! It is … this dude in Japan or Korea or Ohio or some place said so!

… and on it goes. The media hype around this launch was no different that numerous other Apple launches. Sometimes the guesses or tip-offs turn true, but many of them don’t. But it serves a greater purpose, which is to get everyone excited and optimistic about a new product launch. Apple isn’t unique in it’s approach to product launches: Many other companies aim to keep their development work secret, and their product launches mysterious and surprising. After all, it’s good business practice as it not only creates anticipation for the consumers, but it also keeps their competitors in the dark.

Where Apple excel at this fine art is in the theatrics. Their new product launches are carefully orchestrated dramas, usually in three acts (Apple are a company obsessed with doing things in threes!). Act 1 is the relatively boring statistics section … the ‘here’s why we’re great’ section … the warm up act. Now that everyone is in the mood, they move onto Act 2: the ‘Lets reintroduce a product you knew was coming, and remind you how great it is’ section. I this case, iOS 5 – the new iPhone operating system. Then finally, Act 3: The bit everyone is really there for – the surprise. The new product. The iPhone Fi … oh, no wait … the iPhone FOUR … oh, and they’ve stuck an ‘S’ on the end. Erm….

And this is where the trouble started.

The hype had gotten so carried away that pretty much everyone – the rumour sites, bloggers and even main stream media – were convinced they were going to announce a radical, revolutionary iPhone ’5′. Sure, the name ‘iPhone 4S’ kept cropping up in their sources – but by the end many of them had just dismissed that as some kind of cheap, cut down version of the iPhone – and not as important as the iPhone 5.

So Act 3 of this drama began with a little disappointment, until everyone began nodding in that knowing way. Yes, it’s obvious – Apple are extending their traditional Three-Act play with an encore. Steve Job’s infamous ‘One More Thing …’ – a trick used to amazing effect in the past as the late former-CEO Steve Jobs seemingly ‘forgets’ all about their amazing new product, and adds it at the end as an after thought. Everyone watching the launch anxiously waits – patiently listening to Tim and Phil talking about some unimportant iPhone 4GTS with go-faster stripes. We all wait for the BIG moment.

And we wait.

And wait.

And we begin to think, ‘Wow. They’re really milking this.’

The audience – desperate to applaud something find themselves spontaneously clapping at the phrase, ‘We even have Koi swimming in the pond’.

And then it begins to dawn on us. The momentum of the presentation begins to ebb. They begin to wrap up and summarise. Things are not looking good.

And then, with the wave of Tim’s hand, it’s over.

But what exactly is over? Why is everyone so disappointed? Apple just announced three new products. Sure, they’re all incremental updates – but they all value to the product line. It seems that most people had forgotten about the iOS 5 release date by the end of the presentation – an upgrade to existing iOS devices that really does add a lot a value. I should know – I’ve been using it for the last few months!

It seems that everyone is disappointed and some even angry at Apple for not releasing the product that Apple themselves have never even mentioned. Apple, it seems, is guilty of not releasing a product worthy of the excessive hype … which seems a little unfair doesn’t it?

The Upgrade Dilemma

Which brings me onto the second problem: Who is the iPhone 4S aimed at? Granted, the iPhone 4S is undoubtedly a better phone than the iPhone 4. But many will feel that the new features don’t justify upgrading and committing to a new 2-year contract. I had the same problem with the iPad, as only six months after I purchased my iPad (1), Apple brings out the iPad 2 … yet a year later I’m still happily using my original iPad. There just isn’t a big enough difference between the two products to justify the upgrade, and I fear this is the same for the iPhone 4S.

Undoubtedly the ‘killer’ feature of the 4S is Siri, the voice assistant technology. But if you were take that feature away, there really isn’t that much more to get excited about … at least from an upgrading perspective.

I imagine a lot of folks, no doubt still coasting on the recent hype, are thinking they’ll skip this update and hang on until next year when that elusive iPhone 5 will make an appearance. I’m certainly in that camp, as I’m tied into my iPhone contract for about another 9 months. I guess my mobile carrier is forcing me to wait for a better phone

Then again, there will always be a better phone. There will always be something that’s just around the corner. There will always be people dispensing helpful advice like ‘Oh, you’ve not just bought an iPhone 4 have you? They’re brining out the iPhone 5 like – next week … or next year … or some time soon anyways’. Yes, that is true. But those of us who’ve owned Apple hardware for many years now know that you’re guaranteed to become jealous of some minor or even major update to the product you bought within six months. That’s what makes Apple so successful.

So, in wrapping up, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the iPhone 4S to anyone looking to buy a new phone, or upgrade their existing iPhone. However if – like me – you’re stuck in a contract for a little longer, then just brush away any thoughts of owning the 4S, and lets see what 2012 brings.

A little note

I wrote the final paragraph of this article the moment the sad news about Steve Jobs started streaming in, so I held off posting this. In many ways, I think the news of his death, and the fact that Apple were very aware of his worsening condition this week goes a long way to explaining the subdued atmosphere at the 4S product launch. I’m sure the iPhone 4S will prove very popular, particularly as many perceive it to be the last iPhone that Steve was physically involved with. All eyes will be on Apple in 2012 to see what direction the company takes without it’s spiritual leader watching over them. I have no doubt they will succeed.

Steve, and the company he helped create, have been an inspiration to millions – myself included. He is partly to blame for where I am today – and the passion I have for technology and design. He has helped make Apple one of the most prominent and exciting technology companies in the world, and while I’m sure his legacy will live on – and although the passion and enthusiasm he’s inspired in others will sustain that – it just wont be the same without him.

If you have a few moments, I recommend you watch his 2005 Stanford University commencement speech. It’s sad to hear him talking about death, and his hopes – but his speech is truly inspirational.

Thank you Steve, and may you rest in peace.

I’ve been wanting to experiment with long exposures with my Nikon D90 for a while now, but never really had the patience. I’ve had plenty of experience with long exposures in the past, but with a digital SLR there are other factors to take into account – such as noise.

A few months ago I made my first attempts at capturing the night sky over Ilkley in the UK – and very quickly realised that traditional long exposure techniques are not what was needed. I just pointed my camera into the night sky, and used a manual shutter release to take a series of around 25-minute exposures. I was actually surprised at the results (inset), because while they didn’t capture as many stars as I would have liked, I was surprised by how clean and noise free the images were.

Having said that, DSLRs are not at their best when taking 30 minute long exposures, and the images that had inspired me on Flickr and other web galleries were clearly in a different league than mine. There must be something I was missing – clearly doubling my exposure time was not going to help -and was going to lead to extremely long nights of trial and error. I like to think I’m patient, but I’m not THAT patient!

After a bit of research I realised the trick I was missing. DSLRs performed very well at taking shorter exposures, and the results are captured digitally. So why not take a series of shorter exposures and composite them together? Well, it turns out that’s exactly what I needed to do. Luckily, I’d already purchased a intervalometer for my D90 (a remote shutter release that automatically takes a series of photos). I’d bought it with timelapse photography in mind, but it would serve it’s purpose here too.

About a month ago I was fortunate enough to be on holiday high in the hills of Umbria, Italy. The light pollution was extremely low, and it seemed a perfect opportunity to have another go.

The result is the photo you see featured at the top of this page. It was pretty much my first and only attempt on the holiday, and I’m quite pleased with the result. It amounts to a exposure time of around 80 minutes, split into 10 separate exposures of around 8 minutes each. I used a 24mm prime lens set to f2.4, and with ‘low noise’ in mind, I set the ISO to 200.

The images were captured RAW, and imported into Photoshop as individual layers. Then, starting at the top, I simply set the layer mode to ‘Lighten’, and worked my way down – seeing the star trails extend with each step. Neat

Why 8 minutes? Why ISO200? No real reason, they just felt right. Unfortunately, the noise floor of the resulting image was higher than I expected. It turns out that ISO200 wasn’t the best choice, and I see many other photographers using relatively high ISOs (1000-3200) for their photographs. I’m keen to try again, and I’m just waiting for the crisp, cold winter months to arrive here before I try again. I think the key next time will be a higher ISO, a much shorter exposure time (~1min), and many more photographs.

Stay tuned.

The very basic idea is that I will take 365 photographs; one for each day of the year. It sounds pretty simple, but it’s actually quite challenging when you factor in some of the rules I’ve set:

• Each day’s photograph must be taken and uploaded ON THAT DAY.
  I’m already regretting that rule, as I have a 2-week holiday in Italy coming up! But, I’m going to try and stick to that rule as best I can.
• Each photograph must represent something unique to that day.
  This is the challenging part! Anyone can just snap a photo and say, ‘yeah – I took that photo on that day’ … but I’m aiming to take photographs that represent something about my day: Something that happened, something memorable, etc.

I’ve tried to do this before, and failed. Mainly because I set the standards too high, and wanted to take all the photos with a heavy Nikon D90 DSLR. That clearly wasn’t going to work. The only camera I have with my AT ALL TIMES is my mobile phone. In previous years I’d have never considered even using it – the quality of the photos of all my phones has been offensive! But I’m beginning to change my mind with the iPhone 4′s camera. Whilst not the latest and greatest of mobile phone cameras, it’s adequate and with a bit of skill can produce very pretty photos. In addition to the camera, there’s a plethora of apps to allow me to process and upload the photos directly to Flickr. The offical Flickr app also gives me the option of tweeting my new photos at the press of a button, so I really dont need to do anything other than take the photos! Genuis

Obviously, the project is evolving each day – and to be honest, if I stick with it, there’s no reason I’ll stop at 365 photos! I’ve chosen not to overload my blog here with photos, so the images will be posted directly into my Flickr set for the project. You can even subscribe to the RSS feed if you like. The 12 latest photos will also appear in my sidebar to the right >>

View the photos on Flickr
Subscribe to RSS Feed

I’m not expecting you to be wowed and amazed my every photo I post – many of them wont mean anything to you. Some of them may just be plain crap, and not mean anything to even me! Either way, they’ll represent a year of my existence – so I hope you find them at least amusing.

Enjoy!

OSX, like Windows, has a scripting utility built into the OS that allows you to automate common tasks. On the Mac that tool is AppleScript, and you can use it to instruct the OS or certain applications to carry out tasks. Not all applications can be directly controlled by AppleScript – but some of the most useful ones can be. In this post I’ll show you how to create a basic workflow to scale an image file down to a suitable size for uploading to a WordPress blog, and then convert that image to a PNG file. I’ll then attach that workflow to a specific folder, so that any files that are dropped into that folder are automatically converted by the workflow we setup.

The first hurdle is to learn how to write AppleScript. Luckily Apple have thought about this, and have created a tool that saves you having to write ANY code whatsoever. That tool is an app that ships with OSX called Automator. Search for it using Spotlight – or look for it in your Applications folder – and when it launches you’ll see this interface:

We’re going to create a workflow for files in a particular folder, so select the ‘Folder Action’ template and press ‘Choose’.

Now you’ll see the automator interface where we can begin to build our workflow of actions. There a a large number of scripts, referred to as ‘Actions’, already defined in the Library. If you know what you’re looking for, you can just search using the text box at the top. Or you can select the various categories of scripts depending on the kind of workflow you want to build.

For this example I need to have any image I’ve dropped into a specific folder resized to a certain resolution, and then converted to a PNG file. So the first script I need is one that will scale or resize the image. Click on the ‘Photos’ category, and you’ll see a ‘Scale Images’ script. Just drag it across into the workflow area on the right. You may see this warning pop up when you do:

This warning is important! What Automator is telling us is that if we don’t do anything at this point, these scripts or actions will be performed directly on the files we drop in the folder. In other words, the original files will be changed and overwritten. In this example, that’s ok. I want the workflow to operate like a dropbox. But in other workflows this will probably not be a good idea. If you click Add, it will add a ‘Copy Finder Items’ action which allows you to select a location to create copies of the files that this workflow produces. For now, click ‘Dont Add’, and continue.

Next we need to add an action that will convert the images to PNG files. This action is sometimes a little tricky to find as it’s named ‘Change Type of Images’. Look or search for it, and drag it into the workflow below the ‘Scale Images’ action.

Now that we have the two actions we need to complete our workflow, make sure the paramaters are set correctly. For this example, I know I want to scale the images to ’1024′ pixels, which will make sure the longest side of any image is scaled to this size. The image type needs setting to ‘PNG’ in this case.

Because we chose to attach this workflow to a folder, the top of the workflow pane asks us to select the desired folder:

I simply created a folder in my Pictures folder called ‘Converted images for blog’.

Now simply select ‘Save’ from the File menu. Because this is a folder action, it wont ask you where to save the workflow – but simply ask you for a name for the action. I simply named it ‘Convert and overwrite images for WordPress blog’.

… and that’s it. You can quit Automator now, and try out your new folder action. Just drop an image file into the folder you created, and within a few seconds later you should see the image automatically resized, and converted to the PNG format. It’s that easy!

If you need to manage your folder actions, simply CMD-Click on the folder in question, and choose ‘Folder Actions Setup…’. Here you can see what actions are already in use, and even select from some common built-in folder actions. You can also select an action to edit from this window, so if the workflow needs tweaking that’s easy too!

This is just the beginning, of course. Automator gives you a very quick and easy way to build workflows to process files. You can attach them to folders, as we have done in this example – but you can also run the scripts directly from within Automator, which is handy for one-off batch conversions. You can also create standalone applications from your workflows, which you can use to drop any file onto to begin processing.

Take the time to explore what Automator can do for you. The number of features available increases if you have compatible applications installed – and there are plenty of free and commercial actions you can download from Apple’s Automator website. Automator workflows can be as simple or as complex are you like, and if you want to take the next step you can even insert AppleScript code directly into your workflow.

If you ever find yourself repeatedly doing some common task on your Mac, take a few minutes out of your day and see if Automator can help you work that little bit smarter. Automator’s workflows are completely portable, so anything that works for you can easily be shared with your team or friends.

Go automate yourself!

For many years I was PC based, and was very happy using Adobe’s Lightroom (also now at version 3). Lightroom is very similar to Aperture in terms of functionality, and is a great tool for anyone already familiar with Adobe Photoshop, as the terminology used in the Develop module is identical.

However, I always looked longingly at Aperture’s clean, simple UI and envied it over Lightroom’s boxy, web-like interface. I understand the design choices made my Adobe when they created Lightroom, but for me it’s just ugly and industrial – and not at all the UI I want wrapped around my photographs as I work on them. Aperture was designed by Apple with the usual attention to detail, and as soon as I had the opportunity to switch I did.

Non-destructive

Aperture differs from the basic photo management tools such as iPhoto and Picassa in that it’s a true non-destructive editor. It’s a subtle difference on the surface, but under the hood it makes a world of difference. When you import your images into Aperture, they are (by default) copied into the Aperture Library, and once there they are never altered by Aperture itself. When you make changes to your images, such as cropping or altering exposure, you are effectively working with a virtual ‘version’ of that file. The changes you affect on an image are stored in the Aperture database, and calculated on the fly as you browse your image library. The benefit of this way of working is that your library doesn’t start to grow as you process your images (which does happen with iPhoto and Picassa, as ‘edited’ versions of images are created alongside the originals). It also makes it possible to quickly create additional versions of the same image which you can process to your hearts content without having to worry about changing the original file or version.

Aperture also treats all image types equally. This is becoming increasingly common in other editors, but it makes working with both RAW and JPEG files so much easier. As with Adobe Lightroom, RAW image files can be viewed and processed alongside JPEG and TIFF files with ease. All the same features are available, regardless of the file type, and Aperture’s RAW processing engine is as robust as Lightroom and Photoshop. In fact, I’ve found I’ve switched almost exclusively to shooting in RAW, given how easy it is to work with the files. Granted, there are all sorts of reasons you may prefer to shoot JPEG’s, and Aperture now includes support for RAW+JPEG shooting modes, and helps you manage both files in the library.

Organisation

In terms of organisation, Aperture offers a very flexible hierarchy  of ‘Projects’, which are virtual containers for photographs. Within Projects you can organise your images further into the albums, and organise those albums into folders if you choose. You can also create ‘Smart Albums’, which is similar to the smart playlists available in iTunes: You define a set of paramaters to search for images and then display them in the album. I found I much preferred the UI of the organiser over that of Lightroom’s, which was difficult to read and cumbersome once you started creating many folders.

Aperture 3 brings the Faces and Places features of iPhoto to the app. I’ll admit, I’ve not had a huge amount of success with the faces feature in either application – and it consumes a huge amount of memory when processing an existing library for faces. However, the feature has it’s uses from time to time.

More useful perhaps is the Places feature that supports either the manual placement of images on a world map, or the importing of GPS data from image files. Aperture even supports the taking of a reference photo on the iPhone, then matching the GPS data from the phone with the timestamps of your DSLR images to automatically ‘sync’ the location of your imported images. A novel idea, but it worked very well when I tried it, and is certainly easier than buying a GPS module for my camera.

Processing

Possibly my favourite features, and the main reason I’m sticking with Aperture, is the image processing features. You can make just about any adjustment to you can think of to your images without ever needing to leave the application, and the quality of the filters is superb. Working with RAW photographs, Aperture allows for the most subtle of adjustments with a great degree of control. Version 3 also adds the ability to quickly brush-in or brush-out an adjustment, which allows you to make changes to images previously only possible in an image editor like Photoshop. Along with a set of repair and clone tools to paint directly onto your photographs, there really is no need to leave the application! My only wish is that they add a gradient filter tool for tricky landscape exposure work.

The Aperture UI has now been updated to allow you to do pretty much everything in full screen mode. Simply pressing ‘F’ to toggle at any time from the full UI to a minimalist, black UI allows you to really focus on the images.

Exporting

As mentioned before, Aperture is a non-destructive tool – so the only way to use your images outside of Aperture is to export them. This is the point your photograph is rendered out to a file, using one of the many built in presets. There are options here to cover most eventualities.

In addition to file-based export, Aperture has built-in support for sending images directly to Facebook and Flickr, which is fantastic for me, as thats where most of my images end up. Aperture’s support for this has improved over the last few updates, and it’s now possible to view all your albums within Aperture. You can add and remove images, and sync metadata in both directions.

Aperture also has a host of other features such as printed book design and printing; automatic web journal creation and slideshow modes.

Conclusion

This wasn’t really supposed to be a review of Aperture – there’s plenty of those on the web – but really to talk about why I prefer it over Lightroom. The one thing not mentioned above is the performance. When Aperture was first introduced, I tried using it on an ageing G5 Mac, and it was a disappointing experience. Lightroom was far superior back then when it came to rifling through thousands of images quickly, and seeing your image adjustments in realtime. My initial impression of Aperture was not great – with UI performance problems, and a sluggish lag when making image adjustments. It was enough to send me back to Lightroom until things improved. Well, we’re now at Version 3, and combined with a relatively modern iMac, the change is dramatic. The software is a pleasure to use, and remains very fast and responsive no matter what you’re doing. I even find the performance of the image adjustments to be better than the Mac version of Lightroom!

I don’t really think you can compare Lightroom and Aperture as like-for-like. They ARE very similar pieces of software, but ultimatiely it depends on who you are, and how you work with your images. Aperture for me offers me all the pro-grade tools Lightroom does, but without wrapping that functionality up in a UI that’s clearly designed for studio use. The interface is easy on the eyes, and uncomplicated.

Granted, it has it’s failings. The Faces feature feels very underwhelming, and very resource intensive (even with 12Gb of RAM installed!). Thankfully, I rarely use it anyway – but it would be nice if it worked the way you expect it should. The performance of the Flickr and Facebook integration tools also seems mysteriously slow – but I can’t really complain as they save so much time anyway.

Other than that, I really can’t fault the software. Apple seem to be taking the product seriously, and each software revision brings new and genuinely useful features – so the future looks bright.

Quite possibly the best feature this software has is it’s price … since the intoruction of the Mac App Store, you can now pick up Aperture for a mere £44.95!

If you have a modern (2009+) Mac with a decent amount of RAM (2Gb+), then this is a must have product. Go buy it!

UPDATE August 2011: I don’t seem to get multiple calendars working via this method any more – maybe it’s just me, but I did manage to get everything working by following the instructions below – but instead of selecting ‘GMail‘, I set up a ‘Microsoft Exchange‘ account just for my Google calendar (Tip: The server name is ‘m.google.com’). 

iOS 4 (iPhone 4 and new iPod Touch)

First of all, if you’re using either an iPhone 4 or have upgraded your device to the new iOS4, setting up the calendars couldn’t be easier.

Simply follow these steps:

• Open your iPhone settings menu
• Select ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars’ and choose ‘Add Account …’
• From here, select the GMail option, and simply login using your GMail or Google Apps credentials.
• You now have the option of syncing Mail, Calendars and Notes with your GMail account.

It’s that simple.

OK, so we’re not entirely done. If you have multiple calendars, they won’t sync by default. This is where Google have added some features to make things easier:

Either on your phone or from a desktop computer:

• Click on this link FROM your iPhone: http://m.google.com/sync
• Follow the instructions to sign into your Google account
• Alternatively, if you’re a Google Apps user, follow the links to sign into your GApps account, and then click the SYNC icon.
• Here you should see a list of your available calendars (including ones shared from other account). Just tick the box next to the calendars you want, and hit save …

And that’s it. Next time your phone syncs with Google, you’ll see those extra calendars pulled into automatically.

Google has a slightly clearer explanation of the above on their website.

iOS 3.2 (iPad and non-upgraded iPhones)

Even if you’re still using iOS 3.2, these features are still available. Just follow the steps above – however you’ll discover that the GMail account you’ve setup only gives you access to your email – not the calendars. To setup the calendar sync, you’ll need to do the following:

• Goto ‘Settings’ -> ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars’ on your iPad/iPhone.
• Select ‘Add Account …’
• Choose ‘Other’ at the bottom of the list.
• Select ‘Add CalDAV Account’
• Enter the following details:
  • Server: www.google.com
  • User Name: [Your Google Account Username]
  • Password: [Your Google Account Password]
  • Description: [Anything you like ]
• Press NEXT, and you’re done. You’ll need to follow the additional steps above to select any additional Google calendars you want syncing.

And that’s it. So much simpler than all that copying and pasting calendar ID’s!

Conclusion

The new features (well, OK – not that new!) make setup a lot easier than before – particularly Google’s Sync settings to allow multiple calendars to be selected. It also allows shared calendars to be synced with your phone, which is a superb feature.

I’m assuming the iOS 4.2 update for iPad due next month will bring this setup process in line with the iPhone 4.

The main thing missing from both iOS 3.2 and 4.0 is the ability to sync your Google contacts. This can currently be achieved by connecting to Google’s Exchange server instead of using the GMail option mentioned above (instructions here), but this method has it’s drawbacks. It handles your mail slightly differently, in that you can only select a time period for your mail to be synced (such as ’3 days old’ or ’1 week old’, as oppose to just saying ‘the first 50 emails’). This may or may not be a problem for you – but I’m not so keen on it. The other drawback is that you loose the ‘Archive instead of Delete’ feature, which means all deleted mail will end up in the trash instead of the archive folder. Again, it’s a preference thing. Finally, the Exchange approach doesn’t sync your notes.

I prefer the simplicity of the GMail account setup over Exchange. If you’re desperate for over-the-air contact sync, then why not setup the Exchange account to just sync your contacts – and use the GMail account to sync the rest? Personally, I find the ‘Sync with Google Contacts’ option in iTunes sufficient for keeping my contacts up to date.

OK, pen and paper at the ready again. My careful language selection has confirmed my country of origin, and therefore the laws unto which I am held … so some more legal jargon appears, apparently listing further things I must not do with this title. I’m beginning to feel sorry for those guys on the oil rigs – they always seems to get excluded at this point. There’s so much text on the screen, but they only ever seem to give you enough time to read the first sentence before the next slide appears. Of course, I could press pause – but oh no – they’re overridden every single button on my DVD remote at this point, so trying to press anything simply presents me with a friendly “FORBIDDEN!” message. Nice. I’m feeling all warm and cosy now. Does my movie start now?

Ah, oh wait. Another slide of text appears – I reach for my notepad not wanting to miss any fine details that may land me in jail. This one appears to be a disclaimer telling me that every word that any of the cast of crew utter is complete nonsense — a work of fictional — and not in any way endorsed by the mighty Paramount. Gotcha. I’m about to be lied to. I’m ready …

Now the Paramount studio ident appears. Normally I’d sing along, but Paramount’s is an eerily silent experience. I reach for the remote and press NEXT, and my DVD player shouts “FORBIDDEN!“. I bow my head in shame, and review my notes. There must have been something in there I missed about premature remote control usage.

I hear sound; my peripheral vision detects bright light. Hurray! My movie has started. I look up. Ah. “Coming soon to Theatres”. 5 seconds into the trailer, I realise I’ve seen this movie already. NEXT! — “FORBIDDEN!” — MENU — “FORBIDDEN!!!!“. Fair enough. Even the DVD player is getting upset at this point. I guess it’s only doing what it’s been told. I sigh, and sit back. I look at my watch – it’s been 4 minutes now. The trailer ends, and another one starts. I’ve not seen this one, but it’s got Will Ferrell in it. I don’t want to see this one, but I’ve grown wise now. I don’t reach for the remote. Instead I return to my notes. I check that only myself and private, non-paying, invited guests are present, and that the TV volume is not so loud as to constitute ‘illegally broadcasting’. I think I’m safe on these points. Finally, the trailer finishes. My movie awaits!

“Coming soon to DVD …”

Oh, for *&^$’s sake! There are literally thousands of movies made each year. Why do they think I’m going to be persuaded to buy the seemingly random selection of titles they’re forcing me to watch right now? NEXT! — “FORBIDDEN!!!!!!!“. Ah, crap. In my momentary burst of frustration, I forget myself. I careful return the remote to the coffee table, and listen for approaching footsteps; cars; helicopters … but I appear to be safe. For now. I look at my watch. 10 minutes have passed now.

Finally the trailers finish, and I’m presented with the foreboding Paramount studio ident again, presumably in case I’d forgotten which Movie Deity I had to give thanks to this evening. Now what’s going on? It looks like a menu … but it’s not fully resolved yet. There’s a fancy animation going on, with cheap 90′s montages drifting past in the background. I wait a moment, and decide that this is going to go on for a little while. I use this opportunity to get an extra cushion from the other couch. Ah, that’s better, I think to myself as I settle back into my “primary film consuming position”. I look up, and a wave of euphoria hits me. THE MENU IS HERE! HURRAY! Now, what movie am I watching again?

♦ ♦ ♦

OK, so that little story got a little carried away, but we all know that’s a typical experience, with Paramount and Disney being some of the worst culprits in this forced DVD experience. The thing is, you have to begin to wonder why they bother. What is their thinking behind some of these carefully constructed DVDs? Being a video professional, I’ve authored plenty of DVDs, many with complex menu structures and programming. You really need to go out of your way when you’re creating a DVD to prevent the user from being able to do anything. Prevent them from skipping past studio idents … why?! Prevent them from skipping past or pausing on grave copyright warnings … but then only display them for a few seconds. WHY?! I’ve even watched DVDs that get to the end of the film, and then start reiterating the copyright warnings in every conceivable language – preventing me from getting back to the main menu and accessing all those ‘special features’ where they promised the cast and crew were going to lie to me about everything!

The fact is watching many DVD or BluRay titles is a needlessly painful experience, and as a consumer who has just forked out £14.99 for a new film, I feel the movie industry really is preaching to the converted with it’s threats and warnings. The reality is that anyone who wants to illegally rip and copy a DVD will never see those messages. They’ll never get caught up in all those trailers or studio idents. Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful proposition – to be able to sit down and just watch the movie? Well, it certainly an option – either illegally downloading movies, or sticking with the legal alternatives such as iTunes.

In a way, the ease by which we – just everyday folk like you an I – can copy a DVD is incredible, to think that when it was first introduced the region protection and CSS encryption was thought uncrackable. The fact is this is where we are. The DVD encryption system was cracked quite some time ago (by a 14 year old, no less!). The industry fought back with RPC protection, and some got so desperate they even started riddling their discs with errors in the hope that it would befuddle and confuzle those pesky pirates. Both failed, and ended up causing more problems for paying consumers than it did for the ‘pirates’.

The upshot of this loss of control has seen studios turning to actual content – filling discs to the brim with extra features; creating upwards of a hundred title tracks in the hope of upsetting the ripping software; splitting the film across many tracks, and jumbling up the parts … the list goes on, and not a single one of them have stopped the ripping.

I can almost hear the movie heads in their boardrooms; brandy in one hand – cigar in the other saying, “There’s nothing for it. We’ll have to add more text to the warning slides … and use a bigger font … and force them to watch the trailers … ha! That’ll stump them!” The sad reality is all of this only ever effects the vast majority of the honest consumers.

The DVD and BluRay encryption, for all intents and purposes, is a form of DRM – and DRM is becoming a dirty word for consumers. Newer content delivery systems, such as VoD services and video download services are generally all DRM coated, and even the delivery infrastructure is becoming infested with DRM in the form of HDCP, a copy-protection system built into most HDMI devices.

All this aims to achieve one thing: control. The movie studio or broadcaster reserves the right to choose where and how you can watch their content, and for how long. Many studios even take the view that you don’t ‘own’ the content, but you are in fact ‘renting’ it. This is a cycle that started a little earlier with the music industry, and while not completely resolved, there was a consumer uprising which has led to many services (iTunes included) to remove DRM from their content.

The fact is, we’re the consumers. We consume content, and without us none of these industries would survive. Yet it seems little consideration is given to this. I want to choose where I want to watch a movie – and above all I want it to be simple. If something is complicated, then people simply wont do it. A clear example of this is a copy of Star Trek X I have on a collector’s USB stick. The packaging talks about the ease of use, as the movie is available in friendly ‘file’ format. The reality is that it’s a protected WMV file that will only play on a Windows Vista or 7 PC, and in order to obtain the key to unlock it I need to register with Paramount, enter a 25-character code from a scratch card; hand over my personal details; confirm my email address, and only then will they give me a key … so that I can play it on one PC, and only one. WHY IS THAT BETTER!?

The movie industry would rather take the view that everyone in the world is a pirate; an illegal downloader or ripper of their precious content. In doing this they miss the point … why is piracy so prevalent? Is it because they need a better DRM system, because the latest one has been cracked? Surely that’s not sustainable.

I think the reality is that the more they tighten their grip, the more these star-systems will slip …. ah, erm … what I meant to say is that the more they shove DRM down our throats, and the hardware and software vendors battle with competing, incompatible formats – the more tempting the ripping of DVDs, or even illegal downloading becomes. In a way, consumers are saying, “Hey – look at this. THIS is how I want to consume your content.”

The problem is that the industry responds by promptly suing the person who made those remarks.

HDCP is the latest craze that’s beginning to worry me. One too many times recently I’ve had two devices that simply refuse to talk to each other. You’d think a Panasonic HD LCD screen would have no problems connecting to a Panasonic HD BluRay player, but you’d be wrong. What’s even more confusing is that the HDCP protection system isn’t always active – particularly with games consoles and cable receivers. You could be happily watching TV when suddenly your LCD screen announces that it’s fallen out with the Sky+ box, and they’re not speaking to each other any more. It’s yet another layer of confusion and frustration aimed at ‘pirates’, but affecting only consumers.

The HDCP system also carries a worrying feature that reeks of megalomania: A kill switch. That’s right – if Hollywood decided that the particular LCD screen or BluRay player you were using wasn’t playing to their rules, they could activate a kill code which would, in time, completely deactivate your device. It sounds like something out of a James Bond movie, but it’s actually true. The fact that the studios would probably never use it is not the point – the very fact it exists is proof that this is really all about control.

Oh, and what’s that I read in the news this week: The HDCP master key has been cracked. Oh heck. There goes another one.

As consumers we really get a raw deal when it comes to content, and it doesn’t surprise me at all when people turn to unorthodox methods to obtain or view their content – not our of anger or resentment, or because they have a burning desire to be a pirate, yarrrr! No, because they simply want to watch a frickin’ movie – and ONLY the movie – when they want, and on a device of their choosing.

DRM may not be the cause of piracy, but as long as it’s forced down our throats, it’ll fan the flames nicely.

Amen.

So then. Why am I buying an Apple TV? No, it’s not just because I’m an Apple fanboy who must own the very latest Apple gadgets – although I can’t deny there’s a small amount of that involved!

Actually, I already have an Apple TV, and I’ve been happily using it for several years now. The problem is that’s it’s getting a little long in the tooth; the fan and hard drive is noisy, and it’s recently started overheating which has made it unreliable to use as much as I’d like. At that time, Apple hadn’t given any hints they were reworking the Apple TV – in fact I, like many other Apple TV users, have felt a little abandoned by Apple with this particularly product. I started investigating hopeful alternatives such as Boxee and XBMC, both of which were available on a hacked Apple TV, but were better established on PCs and Linux boxes. Personally, I like XBMC for it’s functionality – but not much else. Boxee certainly has character, and has a nice clean look (until you start using the Apps!) – but it seemed like it was trying to do too much. All I really want is a way of using my iTunes content on my TV, with the ability to access additional content (such as rentals, iPlayer, etc).

Nothing really stuck, so I’ve ended up persevering with my Apple TV and it’s quirky problems.

That was until Apple announced the new Apple TV in September. Quite a few people grumbled at the specs, but I for one agreed with every new design decision they’ve made. Gone is the hard drive and fans – thank goodness! The HDD was pointless – I never kept anything on it, since my movies and TV shows take up several hundred GB’s of storage – and it seems wasteful to duplicate those files if they can be streamed from their existing locations.

What I did have was mixed reactions to the “new” user interface:

Deep down I was hoping, particularly with the new A4 processor, that the new Apple TV would somehow look iOS-ish. It doesn’t. In fact, there’s nothing new about the UI. Its exactly the same as the old Apple TV, but with some tweaks to make accessing shared media a lot easier. Then again, if it’s not broken – don’t fix it. The thing I love about my current Apple TV over Boxee and XBMC is it’s easy to use UI – it’s easy because it’s simple – and consistent. If it’s easy to use, then I’ll use it.

Sync, Shmync.

One of the other seemingly useless features of the original Apple TV has also gone: Sync’ing. Previously, you had to nominate one of your computers to act as ‘master’, and from there you could choose to sync content from your iTunes library – very similar to an iPod. The problem with this is it didn’t make sense. You might choose to sync a couple of movies, but when you sit down at your TV you’d see ALL your movies. You then might start watching one you hadn’t synced, and halfway through shut your computer off without thinking … suddenly, blip! The Apple TV would grind to a halt and only start listing the content you’d synced. It was confusing, and because it was tethered to one particular machine  I ended up not using the feature. The new ATV seems much more sensible – they’ve scrapped the sync option – and in doing so forego the need for masses of storage – and have opted for a far simpler ‘Computers’ menu item. From here you can easily access ANY computer on your network that’s sharing media. There’s no news yet on whether the ATV will support streaming from a NAS or linux box with a streaming server, but I hope so. The idea of this tiny little box being a gateway to a server full of content, as well as easy access to our iTunes libraries …

Rental Model

Another shift Apple have made is to refocus the ATV to a rental model, rather than offering the ability to purchase and download films, TV shows and music. In some ways people may see this as a reduction of features, but I’ve been looking at this idea for some time: I rarely buy music on my ATV – it just isn’t the best interface for that sort of thing – and the only times I’ve bought films or TV shows is because I’ve been impatient, and they’re not available for rent. On the other hand, I’ve rented quite a few films on the Apple TV, and it works like a charm. It’s already paired with your iTunes account, so you just select the movie, hit confirm, and within 10-seconds I can be watching a movie. It really works, and it works well.

I currently have a subscription to LoveFilm, which costs me £10/month. I switched to LoveFilm a few years ago as I was fed up with paying almost twice that amount for Sky’s movie channels. My issue with Sky was that they never had anything on I actually wanted to watch – so £20/month was a lot of money to pay if I was only watching a few movies a month at best. LoveFilm were a good idea at the time, as you can build your list of desired movies – so whatever you get, it’s something you want to watch. Well, that’s the theory at least. In practice I find it frustrating not knowing what you’re going to get next, and I’ve lost count the number of times a LoveFilm DVD has sat on our coffee table for weeks until we watch it.

This is where Apple TV seems an attractive alternative. The movie rentals generally cost £2.49 (a bit more for a new release). This means I could watch four movies a month for the same price as a LoveFilm subscription. Admittedly, LoveFilm’s library is a little bigger than iTunes – but sometimes less choice is better! I’ve rented quite a few films before now just because I’ve HAD to add something to my list, not because I’ve a burning desire to watch that title. With Apple TV this spins around, and it’s ME choosing what I want to watch … WHEN I want to watch it. I like that idea – and if it costs about the same as a DVD rental subscription, then what’s to lose?

TV No-Shows

In my mind, one of the failings of this rental model is the TV Shows. Currently, Apple is trialling TV Show ‘rentals’ in the USA only. TV show rental makes even more sense than film rental. If I’ve watched a film I’ve been blown away by, I’ll probably buy the DVD. The same isn’t true for TV – I don’t want to own a TV show episode. I just want to watch it, and be on my way. The problem with the UK’s iTunes store is that is only lets you buy TV shows … and prices start at a ridiculous £1.89 for a single 30 minute episode, with season passes for a TV show costing sometimes almost twice as much as the DVD version! Clearly, the TV networks are as greedy as the film industry, and the BBC is no exception. In fact, in my view they’re the reason TV show purchasing wont take off in this country – we all have to pay our licence fee whether we’re watching live TV or not, so I’m loathed to pay £2.99 for an episode of Top Gear that’s available for free on iPlayer!

As an experiment, I recently caught up on the last 10 epiosdes of Big Bang Theory using episodes bought from the iTMS through the Apple TV, and the experience is superb – right up until the bill for £19!

It seems there’s still a fair way to go, but the rental model is an odd one to tackle in the UK. The problem is that the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 all offer their programming for free via their VoD services. This makes purchasing or even renting an episode of, say, the BBC’s Top Gear an unnecessary expense. My hope is that the new A4 processor in the ATV, along with the rumours about an Apple TV “App Store” and the announcement of the YouView project, we’ll soon have access to these services directly on the Apple TV.

AirPlay

Finally, a feature that has me thinking about the possibilities is AirPlay. In a nutshell, I’ll be able to pick up my iPhone or (should I ever own one, an) iPad – start playing a video or a music track, and then with the click of a button stream this directly to my Apple TV. While not a feature I’d use every day, it certainly gives me an extra use for my iPhone and iPod once I’m in the house. There’s also a possibly the iPhone will be able to stream BBC iPlayer videos to the TV – thus filling the gap mentioned in the last section.

So, there you have it. Those are the reasons I’m buying an Apple TV shortly after posting this article. There are other media players out there, and Boxee certainly looks like the closest competitor, but it’s currently only a software solution – until the BoxeeBox comes along … and why not have a box that’s tied into the iTunes Store? Paying for movie rentals isn’t as scary as it sounds – in fact it’s probably cheaper than you think. I think many of us forget about how much we pay for TV, satellite and film subscriptions. It’s a seemingly unrelated amount of money that just automatically comes out of our account each month … whereas choosing to rent a movie for £2.49 is more tangible, and it makes you think “that seems a lot!”. It really isn’t when you look at it … unless you’re a movieholic, of course.

All these features for only £99? A bit of a no-brainer, really!

Now, if you’ll excuse me I have to get my credit card …