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For the designer in you and for those those interested, Adobe has announced the immanent release of Adobe Creative Suite 4 (wasn’t version 3 just release a year ago?). MacWorld has a pre-release review and so does Apple Insider here with videos.

Well, it isn’t from Space, and not from the mind of Ed Wood, but from those at Google. Yes folks, the Android, Google’s foray into the Smart Phone market was officially announced today. Due out October 22nd, it will not be available in Canada at the moment. T-Mobile in the US is hosting the device which will cost $179 with a two-year contract. Rollouts in the UK and the rest of Europe are to follow.

Why is this an important device? One reason is because Android is an open-source project. Developers from around the world can contribute to it’s evolution. It will have an App store like Apple’s except it won’t put limitations on what is available. At the moment, Apple reserves the right to refuse or delete any application which it finds to be in conflict with any of it’s own application features or functions of the phone it doesn’t want developers tampering with. This approach is limiting very useful applications and causing some bitterness among developers. 

Is Android an iPhone killer? No, but I’m glad it’s here. Apple pushed the industry forward with the iPhone and although I feel it’s a superior device to anything that’s out there Apple needs to be pushed as well.

Android takes many of its queues from the iPhone – It is a 3G device, has WiFi, motion sensors, touch-screen, GPS – for a full feature list and more details check out this PC World article. One of things it hasn’t taken and a feature sorely missing from  the iPhone is Copy and Paste functionality. I love Android’s implementation of this. It’s simple and I don’t understand why Apple is so slow to introduce this important feature. 

Check out some of the links provided and share your take on Android or other topics touched upon here.

For those who follow this blog you will know that I was away for a week on Manitoulin Island. It was very relaxing and peaceful (the picture is taken from a wonderful trail called the Cup and Saucer) – I highly recommend it for people who like to do nothing and just take in clean air, quiet days and starry nights (there actually are stars in the sky – so easy to forget). And now, back into the breach.

As many know, I’m a stickler for backup. I seem to always be writing about it and I do so because it is just so critical now to any computing experience. When a client consults with me on purchases a good backup plan has to be part of the mix. Even with a good backup structure we all tend to let it lapse from time to time. The worst situation arises when we’re feeling secure – ‘I’ll run the backup tomorrow’ – and then suddenly, without warning, with very little or no symptoms (this has happened to me and many of my clients and others) your hard drive fails – oops! I forgot to backup the last week’s work!

That’s where SMARTutility comes in. I love a great utility and this is a very useful one. To quote from their overview SMARTutility is:

an application to scan the internal hardware diagnostics system of hard drives. SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a system built into hard drives by their manufacturers to report on various measurements (called attributes) of a hard drive’s operation. The attributes can be used to detect when a hard drive is having mechanical or electrical problems, and can indicate when the hard drive is dying. This allows time to hopefully backup, and then replace the drive. Run this utility once a week or more to ensure your HD, and your data, are okay.

The best defense against drive failure is always a good backup plan, but a utility like this can give a critical warning of a drive’s immanent failure and a window for running that backup or quickly copying your important work, pictures, music – whatever – to your external drive. This is not a free application (there is a 30 day trial period), but it may just save a lot of headache and worry. Also, it works only with a computer’s internal hard drive – it does not monitor the health of external drives.

It seems the USB chargers that come with the iPhone 3G have a potential electrical hazard associated with them. The prongs of the adapter can get stuck in an outlet creating an electrical danger. Apple is recalling ALL of these adapters including those purchased separately. The program/exchange information details and process can be found here: Apple Ultra-Compact USB Charger Exchange Program. In the meantime, Apple advises charging the iPhone through a computer using the USB cable that came with the unit as noted here:

Note: Apple USB power adapters supplied with original iPhones or supplied with iPhone 3G units sold in other countries are not affected. Customer safety is always Apple’s top priority, and therefore we have voluntarily decided to exchange every ultracompact power adapter for a new, redesigned adapter, free of charge. 
  Users with ultracompact power adapters should immediately stop using them until they exchange them for a new, redesigned ultracompact adapter. 
  In the meantime, they should charge their iPhone 3G by connecting it to their computer with the USB cable that came with their iPhone or by using a standard-sized Apple USB Power Adapter (with fold up prongs) or with a third party adapter designed to work with the iPhone, such as a car charger.

The fallout from the recently released 10.5.5 system software update continues to grow with user experiences varying from speed and stability improvements to some serious display issues. I suggest checking out the various reader reports on the update at Macintouch.

Also, and here is the reminder, please Back Up any important information before running the update. The best is to have a cloned copy of your drive backed up to an external device. You can use a utility such as SuperDuper ($30) or Carbon Copy Cloner (free). I will provide a How To… video for cloning a drive soon. Although Apple’s Time Capsule offers excellent day-to-day backup it is time-consuming to perform a total recovery from if one needs to restore a system quickly.

A combination of SuperDuper and Time Machineon a single drive is the best defense against data loss in my opinion at this time (SuperDuper understands Time Machine drives and can back up to the same volume without deleting any data). If you’re using an Intel-based Mac the drive must have a GUID partition which is configured using Apple’s Disk Utility (this is done during the initialization phase of formatting a hard drive for use). Again, I will cover this in a video.

Yes, I’m actually blogging from Manitoulin Island – it’s silly, I should know better, but there it is. My Telus adapter is actually working although the coverage map led me to believe it wouldn’t.

Anyway – lots going on in the Apple world. For iPhone 2.1 comments check out Mac Rumours here. Whispers abound suggesting that Apple’s new Aluminum MacBooks are shipping which means an announcement is close. The rumours also suggest the price point on these units will be ‘aggressive’. We’ll see.

Also – Apple Released a 10.5.5 update today. Details concerning the update are on Apple’s support site here. I highly suggest you back up any important information before applying this or any major update to the system. Please read the details from the link above.

That’s it for now from Manitoulin – the sun is shining, the air is cool – it rained all day yesterday but I didn’t care – very cozy and relaxing. There should be a wonderful carpet of stars to marvel at this evening as the skies will be clear.

As I leave the city for Manitoulin Island Apple decides to release it’s 2.1 iPhone software! Of course I had to apply it before leaving. The apps seem zippier. Searching for contacts is quicker. Downloading and installing App Store applications seems much more efficient and leaves the icons in place instead having to move them again after installation. Support for the ‘Genius’ playlist is present. The 3G logo seems to have changed from a white text with blue box around it to a simple white 3G text. The actual iPhone backup feature within iTunes is supposed to be faster. Here’s the small list of tweaks and features the update is to have addressed and added:

iPhone version 2.1 contains many bug fixes and improvements, including the following:
* decrease in call set-up failures and call drops
* significantly improved battery life for most users
* dramatically reduced time to backup to iTunes
* improved email reliability, notably fetching email from POP and Exchange accounts
* faster installation of 3rd party applications
* fixed bugs causing hangs and crashes if you have lots of 3rd party applications
* improved performance in text messaging
* faster loading and searching of contacts
* improved accuracy of the 3G signal strength display
* repeat alert up to two additional times for incoming text messages
* option to wipe data after ten failed passcode attempts
* Genius playlist creation

That’s all for now – gotta go! Remember to back up your important files before upgrading (calendar, address book etc… – see the How To.. section of the blog).

Even the MacMedic must take a little time off now and then. It’s been a long summer and it’s officially still on until September 21st as far as I’m concerned. So my wife and I are heading to Manitoulin Island. The leaves will be turning and the scene is gloriously quiet. We’ve gone there quite a few times over the years and I highly recommend it. There’s very little to do. We tend to focus on making music, art, reading, a little hanky panky, sleeping – the usual. I’m going to test out my mobile internet device from Telus that I use so I may be able to stay somewhat connected, but I’m not totally optimistic looking at their coverage map. I know, I know, it defeats the purpose. But if you’re the one with an emergency then you’ll appreciate the effort. Anyway, for all or anyone that reads this blog – have a great last week of summer even though it probably feels like it’s over. I may be blogging from the designated dark sky preserve Island of Manitoulin.

The Tuesday announcements concerning the new iPods and firmware for the Touch and iPhone as well as iTunes 8 may not have been the really big news the rumour mills were hoping for (although new laptops are expected for October – heh heh) it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Given the recent flak Apple received over doing too much (MobileMe, new iPod 3G, App Store etc..) I would expect we should be happy that they’re going a bit slower. The following link will take you to an interesting interview by CNBC’s Jim Goldman with Steve Jobs on the iPod, the why of the music-centered announcement as well as the state of the Mac and it’s current momentum.

Apple held a media event (watch the video) today and announced the release, as expected, of new sleeker iPod designs and a new version of iTunes 8 as well as new software/firmware for the iPod Touch (available immediately through iTunes) and for the iPhone – available on the weekend. Unfortunately, no new laptops were hinted at today, but these will probably be coming later in the month or in October. 

So, what’s new? Fall colours – 9 of them – what else? The iPod nano got re-re-makeover – what was short is long again. The new nanos sport motion sensors so it can now be turned on it’s side for better album coverflow support. It also supports the new ‘Genious‘ technology which is like Pandora for iTunes which automatically creates playlists based on songs that go together well (Michele, ma belle). 

Also announced were new headphones with independent woofers and tweeters for better sound. The new iPods support the iPhone headphones which can record audio. This opens up the possibility for VOIP (voice over IP) services on the new video-enabled iPod Touch over WiFi. 

Oh yeah, and Steve Jobs seems to be alive alive and well and running Apple Inc..

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