My rambling weblog of things and...stuff

2 weeks ago, amidst all the hype surrounding the iBookstore and the business model chosen by Apple to allow people to sell iBooks on the iBookstore, I asked the following question:

When I publish something through the iBookstore, am I the copyright holder of the book’s content?

Why was this question so important? Because, If the creator of the iBook is in fact the copyright holder of the book’s content, he/she can then publish the same book in other formats to reach out to other “readers”. If not, that’s a more serious issue because then authors are “stuck” with Apple’s format and cannot publish their books in more “widely-accepted formats”.

At the time, this was not clear in the iBook Author’s EULA. Rather, the wording in the EULA suggested that Apple was not only the owner of the format of book (.iBook) but also of the book’s content.

This raised several concerns to authors (as pointed out above), which is only natural, but now Apple has decided to make the EULA quite clear and stated the following:

If the work is provided for a fee (including as part of any subscription-based product or service) and includes files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author, the work may only be distributed through Apple, and such distribution will be subject to a separate written agreement with Apple (or an Apple affiliate or subsidiary); provided, however, that this restriction will not apply to the content of the work when distributed in a form that does not include files in the .ibooks format generated using iBooks Author. You retain all your rights in the content of your works, and you may distribute such content by any means when it does not include files in the .ibooks format generated by iBooks Author.

I think authors can relax now. Basically, Apple is saying: if you want to sell iBooks, you can only do it through the iBookstore. If you want to sell your own e-book (with the same content as the iBook as long as you don’t use any of the same files in the iBook) somewhere else, you’re free to do so.

It’s quite interesting how you can get so much out of a touch-based interface in terms of delivering a more natural page-turning experience with just a few simple gestures. Check out the video from KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) Institute of Information Technology Convergence:

Source: The Verge

That’s right, the iPhone was “born” 5 years ago and I think this may be a good time to remember how it was unveiled in 2007:

So I was at a concert in Lisbon last night and when I picked up my phone to take some pictures of the show I noticed the iPhone was using the wrong time. It said it was 05:30 when it was actually closer to 22:30. Since I know the iPhone uses location to automatically set the time-zone and adjust the clock, I quickly opened the Maps app and to my surprise I was “located” in Vietnam.

Yes, Vietnam, and I have the tweet to prove it.

When I opened Foursquare to make a quick check-in in some Vietnamese location (to freak out my friends), I noticed that it was now locating me somewhere near London by showing nearby locations. I quickly changed back to the Maps app and sure enough I “was” now in London.

Yep, I also have the tweet to prove it. And this time I was able to check-in at the Apolo Theatre :)

A few minutes later, I noticed I was back in Lisbon as if nothing happened. At first I thought my iPhone’s GPS antenna just had a meltdown (since my wife’s iPhone still displayed Lisbon as her location) but then I came to know the same happened with other people at the concert and not all of them were iPhone users.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? Is there an explanation?

You’re watching A New Invention on ‘30 Rock’ 02/03/11 - TV Replay.

With the arrival of iOS5, I finally decided to make the change to Mac OS X Lion and although I had to make some adjustments afterwards, the whole thing went quite smoothly.

“Relax, I got this”

First up, the installation process. I fired up the install file and it stated that it needed about half an hour to finish. So I went on with my chores (like bathing the kid and preparing dinner) and about half an hour later I peeked and there it was the new and improved login screen ready to be used.

The obligatory warning about the reverse scrolling thingy was up but in my case, as previously stated, it didn’t bother me… at all.

First impressions

The upgrade process was quite painless. My documents and apps were all there ready to be used and apparently nothing was affected with process of changing to Mac OS X Lion (10.7), including my macbook’s speed and responsiveness. Some people have reported that Lion has transformed their macs into sluggish machines but I’m glad that my previous ward speed upgrade was good enough to make the change to Lion without compromising performance.

I love the new look and feel of Lion and especially the way it resembles iOS. Since I’m also an iPhone and iPad user, the way the two operating systems merge actually feels natural when switching between devices. This makes the whole Apple experience even more interesting.

Is the screen bigger or are you just happy to see me?

With Lion came full-screen apps and for my 13-inch Macbook this upgrade was very much appreciated. Now that there’s no waste in screen real-estate, the screen actually looks bigger and I feel like I got a new machine. And since switching between apps has become so simple with the new gestures, full-screen apps are really a great addition to the Mac OS. The only problem is that I now get really annoyed when a third-party app doesn’t have full-screen support.

Now that you mentioned gestures…

…yep, the new gestures in Lion are great but there’s one particular gesture that was ruined for me. I got used to using the three-finger right swipe to go back on the browser and other apps (like Finder, Twitter and others…). Since changing between spaces is now done through that three-finger swipe, to get access to that previous behaviour you now have to add the Option key to the swipe.

Talking about annoyances…

…what about NTFS? Sure, Lion has native NTFS support but only for reading not writing, which makes sharing an NTFS drive between a Mac and a Windows machine a real hassle. But worry not, as in most things, it is most likely that someone has already had the same problem on the Internet as you have and this case is no exception: I present you a free solution for getting NTFS working on Lion. I tried it, it works like a charm.

Other annoyances and their solutions

TRIM Native Support also comes with Lion but alas only to Apple-branded SSDs, which is quite ridiculous considering how easy it is to change that. Do not use this previously-mentioned solution since it is not adequate for Lion.

Lion is now a full 64 bit operating system and if your Mac is recent, Lion will boot in 64 bit mode. This is painless for most cases but for particular cases like my own, in which I’m stuck to using the Cisco VPN Client that only works in 32 bit mode, this becomes a problem. Sure, there’s a simple solution: when you boot your Mac just hold the keys “2” and “3” at the same time and it will boot in 32 bit mode. But if you want a more permanent solution (or simply because you can’t get around to remember pressing 3 and 2 every time your mac boots) here’s an hack for that. I tried it and works just fine and my VPN is now working on Lion.

Lion also introduced a new mechanism, called Local Snapshots, that keeps copies of files that you create so as to act as a local Time Machine. Considering that these backups are placed in the same disk as the original files, they do not constitute a reliable backup solution. Plus, it fills your disk and sometimes it will feel like the computer is sluggish (especially if you have a slower hard disk solution) because it is updating those backups. If you feel like this is not that useful for you (because you have a regular backup solution like Time Machine already working) you can turn it off. But this is a decision that only you can make since it may involve loosing information that is important to you. I recommend reading this post on this subject since it is quite complete and very well explained.

More hints on Mac OS X Lion (10.7)

If you need to know more, Macworld has a great compilation of 10.7-related hints here. Enjoy

Today is the first day of a post-Jobs era. A man that has been praised, loved and hated by so many but that has never been indifferent to anyone with the bit interest in technology.

It’s pointless to try to make a heart-felted and deep post about the man whose professional achievements are well-known but whose private life was so, indeed, private. What I can only testify is the way his legacy has affected my life.

I’ve been an avid user of all things Apple for a few years mainly because of the way their vision of technology makes sense to me. Everything seems to be connected around a simple concept: to offer the best products that just work the way people expect them to. Sure, there are a lot of people that disagree but one thing is undeniable: the man has spurted a movement in the technology world that very few have done in such a profound and lasting way.

And it was not only technology that was affected by him. In 1986, after been thrown out of his own company just a year before, Steve Jobs bought Pixar and changed the way animated movies were made.

I still remember the day I went to see Toy Story. I was with some friends at the mall (which at that time and age was probably the most interesting thing one could do) and we decided to go to the cinema and we ended up seeing Toy Story, even though many of my friends (and myself, I have to admit) were not so keen about going to watch an animated movie. Remember, at that time, the only reference for animated movies were the Disney movies that were mostly musical-based love stories. But since the cute girls that we were with wanted to see it, we conceded and ended up leaving the cinema with that feeling of wanting to run back in and watch it all over again.

And as I was watching Ratatouille with my son this morning before taking him to school, I realized that I was probably right one month ago when I wrote this: “his legacy is strong enough to endure for years after he’s gone”.

Let’s hope it’s true. To a great visionary.

There’s something special when a music that has the same BPM (beats per minute) as my current running pace starts playing on the iPhone while I’m jogging. Especially, if it has a strong beat or rythim. It feels like a jolt of energy going through your body and it gives you that extra push for the next kilometre.

Now imagine if at the same time a narration would kick in, by mr. Morgan Freeman (who else?), to make you feel as if you’re inside your very own documentary with a text like: “The avid male jogger starts his journey early. He chooses his equipment wisely, he sets his ambitious goals and he plans his route to new territories as part of his self-discovery path. No cold rain, gusting wind or hot summer day will stop the jogger’s epic journey to sculpt his body to please his female partner.”

It would be epic, indeed.

I think I just got a great (and probably profitable) idea for an iPhone app. Now if I could only get in touch with mr. Morgan Freeman…

About 4 months ago, I posted about Apple’s decision to reverse scrolling in the new version of Mac OS X. But now that Lion has been released, people are starting to complain a lot about this and contesting the decision. Well, if people read my blog they could have gotten used to the idea by installing and using Scroll Reverser, which I’ve done ever since I first knew about this decision.

But the discussion is only natural considering that Apple has decided to change something that has been the standard for years. So, evidently, the question remains: why do it and why now?

Why do it?

Because our way of interacting with our devices is changing. I got used to the new scrolling direction quite quickly and oddly enough it felt natural. And then I realized it was because I also own an iPhone and an iPad and this is the natural way of scrolling with your fingers.

Naturally, you may reply: “But the iPhone and the iPad have been around for awhile, so…”

…why now?

Up to now, people have been using the scrollbars to go up and down pages of information. In that sense, the traditional scrolling direction makes sense. But ever since the advent of more capable trackpads and Apple’s introduction of two-finger scrolling, people started using the natural touch-based scrolling that defies the conventional scrolling direction.

With the iPhone and the iPad, Apple introduced us to a more natural way of scrolling in the screen… the touch. Devices such as the magic mouse and the trackpad are slowly doing the same for laptop users. Which brings us to the new version of Mac OS X, which is nothing more than the first step in the ladder of unifying Mac OS X and iOS. The new multi-gesture capabilities introduced by Lion shows us that the touch-based interaction may very well be the future, which in turn leads to other changes such as the removal of the traditional scrollbars (except when you’re actually scrolling) that are now less useful and allows to regain some screen space back.

It’s true that this is a change that will not be welcomed by a large part of Mac users, especially those that do not own Apple’s touch-based devices. But I’m guessing Apple’s decision will prevail and people will slowly understand that this is actually the way to go.