The Mac Screencast Guy

Whilst I was over at WWDC, I was lucky enough to spend a day visiting the TWIT cottage and was delighted to guest on an episode of MacBreak Weekly. Hosted by Leo Laporte, my co-panellists for the episode were Andy Ihnatko, Alex Lindsay and Lisa Bettany.

Once a secret location, the TWIT cottage has now become a bit of a pilgrimage for TWIT fans visiting the San Francisco area. Obviously, not everyone can make the trip so Lisa decided to create a quick video tour of the cottage so you can see where the action happens!

I make a fleeting appearance (which took me somewhat by surprise).

I'm not camera shy - honest!

If you're viewing this on an iPad - use this link to get to the HTML5 version of the video

I received the email below from a ScreenCastsOnline viewer (Thanks Floyd) with what looks like some important information for BusyCal users. As I did a show about BusyCal a short while ago and I'm an active BusyCal user (as I know a lot of ScreenCastsOnline viewers are), I thought it would be useful to publish it here and on the ScreenCastsOnline forum:

The new MobileMe calendar beta uses CalDAV for syncing calendars. BusyCal does not currently support CalDAV and is not compatible with the MobileMe calendar beta. We are working on CalDAV support in BusyCal and expect to release a public beta that is compatible with the MobileMe calendar beta later this summer. You can learn more here:

http://blog.busymac.com/blog/2010/07/busycal-and-the-new-mobileme-calendar-beta.html

If you're already using the new MobileMe Calendar beta, it will not work well with BusyCal. As part of the MobileMe Calendar beta upgrade process, all of your calendars are moved to MobileMe and deleted from Sync Services. As a result, all of your BusyCal subscribed calendars will be orphaned on MobileMe and no longer syncing with the host. Further, the MobileMe hosted calendar will be read-only in BusyCal.

You have two choices:

1. If you prefer to use the MobileMe Calendar beta, you should reset BusyCal and use iCal for the time being. You can reset BusyCal by selecting Help > Reset > Reset BusyCal.

or

2) Switch back to the old MobileMe Calendar and continue using BusyCal. You can do so by clicking the following link:

http://www.me.com/calendar/downgrade/

After you've done that, you will have to reconfigure your BusyCal Publish and Subscribe settings. There may be some duplicate orphaned calendars that exist both locally and on the host that you were previously subscribed to with BusyCal (on the LAN or on Google). In which case you should delete the orphan local calendars in BusyCal, and resubscribe to the calendars on the host.

Apple have just kicked off the iPhone 4 Bumper Case program following on from the press conference last week.

The program is very slick, with all those who have already bought an Apple bumper case already, receiving an automatic refund (mine's been processed already with no action required). You can check the progress of your refund from the website, even just using your credit card number.

To order a new case, they've developed an App to download that takes care of all the selection and ordering.

The issue some people may have now is knowing which case to order!

I can only give you my experiences with the Apple bumper case, but one thing is for sure, It's not just a piece of plastic wrapped around the iPhone.

Pros

• The bumper gives the iPhone more grip both in the hand and also when placed on a surface.
• It also allows the iPhone to rest on a surface without either glass face touching it.
• It's engineered very precisely. All the opening are machined perfectly and it exudes a quality build.
• The power and volume controls are replicated in metal embedded into the bumper. Once it's on, they feel exactly like the original buttons.
• It's fairly easy to get on and off.
• Once on, it feels like it's part of the iPhone.
• I never used a case with the 3GS, however, the iPhone 4 does feel a little more vulnerable with all that smooth glass. Using the bumper is a bit of a half way house as it doesn't really feel like the iPhone is in a case, but it feels a lot less vulnerable.

Cons

• The silencer switch is a little harder to flick.
• The hole for the dock connector is not big enough for some older dock connector cables. The iPhone one fits perfectly as you might expect.
• Don't expect it to fit in any standard iPhone dock

In summary, I've been extremely pleased with the iPhone Bumper and would recommend it. Of course, I've nothing else to compare it with!

Gruber made an interesting (and slightly unexpected) post yesterday, about how the iPhone 4 press conference is going to play out:

Sounds crazy, I know, but I think something big, or at least biggish, is going down tomorrow.

Daring Fireball

He makes a point of emphasising it's a "proper" hunch and not based on inside information, but John is a pretty smart cookie, and always worth listening to.

I've felt for a couple of days now that Apple needed to take the heat out of the ridiculous escalation of the current "Antennagate" situation. Sure, they need to fix the root cause of the media frenzy and do something to fix the actual problem, but I've felt they've needed some diversionary tactics to reset the agenda.

Visions of Apple bringing forward some big announcement or doing something off the wall to refocus all the misguided attention away the iPhone 4 reception issues.

How come it's taken them three weeks to decide on the course of action?

There won't be a recall but they may give away free bumpers (three weeks to ramp up bumper production?)

I really can't see Steve Jobs sitting down at a press conference, repeating what he said in his open letter from a couple of weeks ago and announcing the fix which was issued yesterday.

That's it?

Surely, there has to be more to it than that?

So what will go down in the press conference to take our minds off "AntennaGate"?

I wonder....

Update on Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 8:10AM by Don McAllister

OK, So Gruber (and I) were wrong and Apple kept pretty much on message about the antenna issues. The main distraction ploy was the heavy usage of the "other smartphones do it too" and including the videos was a smart way to convey this. I for one, had always had an issue with attenuated signals when holding my 3GS at home, an area of low signal. I never gave it a second thought.

The contempt for the media was palpable during the press conference and I wonder just how uncomfortable it made some attendees sitting in the audience.

Hopefully we can move on from "Antennagate" now but I fear we've still not heard the last of it.

At least I'll get a refund for my Apple bumper purchased a week or two ago!

If you follow my good friend Allison Sheridan's blog or podcast (NosillaCast), you may be aware that she and her husband Steve (my equally good friend), are undertaking a European road trip later in the year.

The road trip will take in the UK (Liverpool), Ireland and Belgium.

We'll be putting up the Sheridan's for a couple of days here at ScreenCastsOnline Towers and showing them the sights of the North West for a couple of days.

As it's a fairly rare sighting of a US based Mac podcaster on these shores, we thought it would be great idea to arrange an informal TweetUp. It would be a great chance for any of Allison's Nosillacastaways to pop along and say hi to Allison and Steve during their stay here.

So what I'm trying to arrange is a TweetUp on the evening of Tuesday, 24th August in Central Liverpool.

The venue is to be arranged but I'll need to get a feel for numbers before taking the plunge. Probably the best bet would be to setup a mailing list of people who are interested, and I'll keep you informed by email as to arrangements a bit nearer the time.

So if you'd like to register an interest in popping along on Tuesday, 24th August and saying hello to Allison and Steve (and me too!), please leave your name and email address below and I'll be in touch.

Look forward to seeing you on the 24th!