By Graham K. Rogers

Opening Gambit:

Apple Stuff

On Friday there was some news of the sudden, unexplained removal of Airfoil Speakers from the iOS App Store. Quills were sharpened in the expectation that Apple had removed this because it conflicted with something unannounced in iOS 6. Within hours of the alarms being sounded, it was mentioned that, Yes, the app had been in the store for a couple of years, but that a recent update (version 3) had some APIs that were not right: breaking the rules, out you go. John Gruber on Daring Fireball looked carefully at this and there is a sort of "ah ha" moment as the plot unfolds.

He was right. In a fairly rare confirmation as reported by Chris Welch on The Verge, Apple confirmed that the use of non-public APIs was the reason for pulling the app. However, later information suggests that the developers disagree with the reasoning and are waiting to hear from Apple. Once there is a communication and confirmation on the specific API problem, this may be put right and the app returned to the App Store.

Last week I was happy to click on a Facebook page that was asking Apple to think a bit about the MacPro because it is in sore need of an update. It is actually considered something of a workhorse by professional photographers and some movie makers. Now Don Reisinger reports that by late Friday there were some 6,000 likes. I revisited the MacProsPlease page myself (very slow to load, but that seems typical Facebook these days) and this is now up to just under 11,000 likes. I also see there is a We Want Aperture 4 Community (28 so far), so I clicked on "Like" there too: 29 now.

I wrote last Friday about a new feature in Bump that allows the transfer of an image to a computer using the app on an iPhone and the browser. By accessing the relevant Bump page and allowing location services, once it is all set, we bump the iPhone on the spacebar and the transfer is done quite quickly. Nice work.

I have been looking recently at ways to focus my mobile computing onto the iPad in an effort to reduce the weight I carry about. Not there yet, so I am going to have to carry two bags for a while. I was interested to see an item on MacRumors by Jordan Golson of how a motor racing journalist, Dave Burns, has managed to do this. The background reminded me of how the late Denis Jenkinson (Motor Sport) had devised a notation system when navigator for Stirling Moss in the Mille Miglia. They won and the report (if you can ever find it) is a masterpiece of motor racing journalism. The notation system he came up with was used by rally drivers ever after, although the age of electronics has meant it has been updated.

This is what Burns has done as he saw the potential for his note-taking system the moment the iPad was released. The article outlines some of the apps he has used and the way he works with the iPad (including dealing with glare). One of the apps was Note Taker HD so I had a look.

I don't often watch demo videos all the way through, especially if they are 10 minutes long, but I was fascinated by this. When the presenter showed one feature, I thought there was a familiarity about the way this worked. The reason was that I had an early version of Note Taker on the iPhone. I had downloaded it when it was still new (version 2) and had had a lot of good mentions because of the way a user could keep writing even after coming to the end of the page on the screen. It may not have been right for the iPhone, but on the iPad the space to make this work, and the use of a far wider range of features, including keyboard as well as hand-written input, plus the ability to handle and make notations on PDFs, looks as if my quest took a step in the right direction. Note Taker HD Version 6.7 is now on my iPad.

That video showed the presenter using a stylus, and we know what Steve Jobs said about the stylus for the iPhone: if you have to use a stylus you have failed. I think that needs some revision as when he said that, there were none of the apps for the iPhone that we have now, and the iPad did not exist. While the presenter was able to write clearly on the iPad, my finger input is a mess. And so is my drawing when I try that on the apps I have for that. I know David Hockney can produce some great pictures on the iPhone and now the iPad; but I am not David Hockney. I think I am going to have to look at the stylus; but then the other part of Jobs' comment comes in: you have to get them out, you lose them. . . .

Oh, as a note, the developer of Note Taker HD is Dan Bricklin: the same man who came up with VisiCalc. This was the first spreadsheet application.

As an additional note, the iPad was in another room playing music, so I entered iTunes, made sure the Note taker HD app was on the right screen for me, and pressed sync, without leaving my chair. Now that I have wifi sync working, I will use it to the full. The only oddity is that I have to sync first to put the app onto the iPad and then rearrange the app into the location and screen I want.

Over the weekend I retried one imaging app that I have had for a while and tried another with mixed results. With the arrival of the Glif tripod mount for the iPhone I was at last able to make a reasonable use of the stop-motion app I have, iTimeLapse Pro. It has been on the iPhone forever, but I have not been able to make proper use of it as there was no stable base from which to use it. Now I can do this.

Another app came my way on Friday that produces an effect on an imaged like an old CRT TV. Black and white, lots of lines, some interference. You would think there was nothing to this, but it was the method that produced the image that I found the most intriguing: the app sends an image to the developer in Sweden, it is displayed on a CRT screen which is photographed, and the image is then returned. This takes varying times as each image is an individual production, so there is the occasional loss. But not 100%. That was what I had.

Despite communication with the developer of InstaCRT, I could not figure this out until I went to bed. Because of the problems, I turned off the wifi, having decided I would try it all again in the morning, but while laying there, I thought, What about 3G? And it worked first time. The next morning it was not so good, and the wifi still gave 0% success. Later out shopping, I tried again with 3G and was successful: from the camera and the Photo Album. The difference? 3G is DTAC, my wifi is True.

Half and Half

I see that YouTube has announced a service like Instagram for video; and it is called Frontrow. Wait a moment: doesn't Apple own that name? There was Frontrow with older versions of OS X that was not included with Lion, but the moment I saw the name, I thought of that lost application (Natalie Apostolou, The Register).

Other Matters

And what happened to Patrick Spence? That comments made when he left (resigned, ran from, jumped) RIM appear now to mean that he already had a landing spot as Tom Warren reports on The Verge that Spence is now heading for Sonos.

Google may not have got away with the software tracking that was built into the Google Street View system as some lawmakers want the DoJ to have another look Steve Musil reports. Google was sort of forgiven with its claim that, well this is what engineers do, and fined $25,000 but there are now thoughts concerning management oversight: so many were aware of what the system could do -- a sort of data vacuum cleaner -- that the company can hardly claim innocence. There is some more on this in an item by Kevin Rawlinson in the UK's Independent and the idea that there should be an investigation in the UK too. The article throws some doubt on Schmidt's recent comments about innocent Google. Almost everything Eric Schmidt says these days needs to be re-examined.

More on the Facebook Behemoth: having bought Instagram, then released its own app, it is now reported by Sam Laird on Mashable that the Opera browser is in the company's sights and that might mean a FB browser. A pity that, I rather liked Opera. This is all rumour so far but the report suggests this would be another way for Facebook to go head to head with Google who are slavering over the data FB have, but will not let Mountain View near. All somewhat a dirty side of online activity.

We also read that Facebook is hiring former Apple engineers and the expectation is that there will be a FB Phone (FacePhone, Zuckophone?) next year: might that be related to the Opera rumour (above)? It has the codename, Buffy -- Vampire killer -- we are told by T. C. Sottek on The Verge who adds that they are doing this with HTC as FB could not figure it out on their own. That figures: if you can't buy it, get someone else to make it for you.

Just after writing that, I found an amusing re-Tweet (Federico Viticci - the MacStories man): "If the "Facebook Phone" is anything like the Facebook App, even blackberry has nothing to worry about".

I caught the tail-end of a BBC program on Saturday evening and there was an analyst on there who was expressing the same ideas as we have put in this column: early days with Facebook, many IPOs see a fall at the beginning as there is profit-taking, and we should wait and see. If the share price falls to (say) $5 in 3 months time, I would worry; if it is still hovering around the mid-$30s then, there is some stability and with a massive user base, there will be some income generated. They just need to figure out how and without alienating the users.

An effect of the problems surrounding the Faceboook IPO, is that Formula One which was to follow suit in Singapore has put the idea on hold for a while, according to Jonathan Noble on Autosport: perhaps just to let the dust settle.

The internet is a double-edged sword for many governments and that is why they try to control it. None more so than China whose Great Firewall has caused problems for internet users there and outside companies, such as Google. Apple too has to make allowances for this and there is talk that Baidu (the search engine there) is to be incorporated into Safari. But inside the country the ability to use the internet has given some the ability to express opinions, which is causing some local officials problems: they used to be able to control things, but the internet lets cats out of bags so easily.

I read about a good example of this on the BBC News site on Sunday when it was reported that a a former Communist Party official was arrested for rape (of at least 10 girls), after widespread outrage among web users. By acting on such public outrage, the government is able to show that it does listen, it does act, and will deal with those who are wrong. Let us hope that this trend continues.

In the United States, there is a report that a non-profit, start-up company is to build super fast networks for certain communities, of around 100,000 people in small towns, Brendan Sasso writes on The Hill. The purpose is to create a situation in which investment in the community is seen as more attractive, like some pop groups who give their music away but make money on merchandise and live concerts. Imagine that happening here. Anyone remember the special software zone in Phuket that collapsed under red tape and special interest interference?

I am not a lover of modern light bulbs with the glaring light they emit and until recently used incandescent ones. I have now changed (except for lighting photographs), but there is a new twist on the softer light that I prefer with the concept of a wooden light bulb that has been created. Christopher MacManus writes about this device, which has LED lighting inside so is cooler and environmentally friendly. The images with the article make this look rather desirable: a much kinder light.

Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs.