{"id":3025,"date":"2012-06-03T18:16:20","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T02:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/wordpress\/?p=3025"},"modified":"2024-12-14T21:38:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-15T05:38:50","slug":"369-linux-powerpc-gps-iphone-logitech-mini-boombox-jawbone-jambox-save","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podfeet.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/369-linux-powerpc-gps-iphone-logitech-mini-boombox-jawbone-jambox-save\/","title":{"rendered":"#369 Linux on PowerPC, GPS on iPhone, Logitech Mini Boombox, Jawbone Jambox, Save As"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knightwise from knightwise.com<\/a> teases us about how to run Linux on a PowerPC Mac, in Dumb Question Corner John Haller asks how to turn off GPS on his iPhone to save the battery. Review of the Logitech Mini Boombox<\/a> and a compare to the Jawbone Jambox including an audio demonstration by Steve<\/a>. In Chit Chat Across the Pond Mike Potter of For Mac Eyes Only<\/a> joins Bart and me to discuss the loss of Save As in Lion.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/nosillacast\/NC_2012_06_03.mp3<\/a><\/audio> \"itunes\"<\/a>
\n
\nHi this is Allison Sheridan of the NosillaCast Mac Podcast, hosted at Podfeet.com, a technology geek podcast with an EVER so slight Macintosh bias. Today is Sunday June 3, 2012 and this is show number 369. We have a really fun show for today, we get to hear from Knightwise, I do a review of the Logitech Mini Boombox with contributions from Steve, we have a dumb question, AND we have a fantastic Chit Chat Across the Pond with Bart and Mike Potter, host of the For Mac Eyes Only podcast. In Chit Chat we argue about the loss of Save As in Lion. yep, we managed to make an entire segment on that one subject. I think you’ll enjoy it – we even worked Isaac Asimov into the discussion! With that intro, let’s start with a recording from Knightwise.<\/p>\n

Knightwise on Loading Linux on a PowerPC Mac<\/h3>\n

Knightwise from knightwise.com<\/a> joins us to talk about his plan to put Linux on a PowerPC Mac, stimulated by a question from Professor Albert a while back. <\/p>\n

====insert Knightwise======<\/p>\n

If you’d like to hear how this experiment turned out, listen to Episode 4 of Season 3<\/a> to hear all his research and how “easy” it was. <\/p>\n

Dumb Question – Disable GPS on iOS by John Haller<\/h3>\n

We have another dumb question, this time from John Haller:<\/p>\n

Allison,
\nMy stupid question is how to kill the GPS function on an iPhone4. I was in New York City recently and realized that using my Maps app was killing my battery. So, what I want is to use it, then turn it off and then turn it on briefly but don’t see a way to do that easily. I had to turn off the phone entirely, then turn it on (and I assumed it turned off all apps previously used.) Does it? How can I turn off the GPS temporarily? Is there another way to use it a bit and not lose battery life?
\nThanks,
\nJohn Haller\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hi John – GREAT dumb question! As always, great is defined as a) likely to affect more than just you, and b) Allison knows or can find the answer!<\/p>\n

There’s a top level setting on iOS called Location Services. When you go in there you’ll see that location is an option for TONS of apps. Any of these apps could be chewing up your battery because they’re accessing the GPS. The nice thing is that you can selectively turn on and off location services by application so you actually don’t have to entirely disable the GPS. <\/p>\n

In location services you can disable Maps from accessing the GPS temporarily. You might want to see what else is accessing the GPS first before you do it though. One of the biggest culprits in battery burn down on iOS 5 is the Reminders app. It’s a terrific concept, you can tell reminders to remind you to take out the trash when you get home. Drive into your driveway and up pops up the reminder on your phone. It’s great because you don’t have to predict when you get home either. the BAD news is that your poor little iPhone is CONSTANTLY pinging the GPS saying, “are we there yet? are we there yet?” like an annoying 6 year old. <\/p>\n

Another reason it’s excellent that you can selectively turn off GPS access by application in Location services is that you want to make sure that Find my iPhone\/iPad is ALWAYS on, especially when you’re traveling. <\/p>\n

I keep a lot of apps off most of the time, like my photography apps because in general I don’t want people looking at photos of my friends and family and knowing where we are. Restaurant apps like to have access, and I allow that because if I’m using say GrubHub (thanks to my friend Chris Ashley of the Simple Mobile Review Podcast) to find a restaurant near my house that delivers ribs, it needs to know where I am. it doesn’t ping it constantly like Reminders, just when I ask it to look for me. I like to use the Speed Test app from time to time and that wants to know where I am for the statistics they collect over at http:\/\/speakeasy.net and I let them have that data because of the great service they provide.<\/p>\n

These are just a few examples from my devices that I thought might help you think about how you want to tailor your iPhone to access the GPS. Thanks for the great question John, that one was fun!<\/p>\n

ScreenSteps<\/h3>\n

At work I have to use Camtasia Studios to do screencasting, and as I’ve mentioned here and about 236 times on Twitter, I can’t stand this program. But, I manage to muddle through while swearing under my breath I wish I could use the Mac so I could use Screenflow. I make pretty good looking videos, but it’s SOOOO harder than it needs to be. anyway, one of the things I do is embed a picture-in-picture of myself (you know, the fans always want to see me, right?) I then add some text above my head for the name of the screencast in 48 point font, then to the left of my picture-in-picture I put my name. Yeah, I’m all about the branding! <\/p>\n

At the end of the screencast, I put another in picture-in-picture with completely different text and sizing on screen. I bring all of this up because I’ll be darned if from episode to episode I can remember all the settings. To do all this I have to change the PIP from 320×240 to 512×384 (because Camtasia REFUSES to record the PIP at the resolution I request), I have to remember that it’s 48 point above my head, and 36 beside my head. then I have to remember exactly what text I put at the beginning and end. When you drop in text, it’s a callout, and it always assumes I only want that callout on screen for a short period of time. I have to drag both ends of EVERY callout to last the length of the PIP. then I have to change it from fading in and out to starting right at the beginning of the scene.<\/p>\n

How on earth is someone supposed to remember all of that? Why of course they were smart enough to put it all into ScreenSteps! Every time I make a new episode, which takes me a while because I dread using Camtasia on Windows, I whip open ScreenSteps and look at the screenshots, check every item off I have documented and I get the consisten branding and formatting I wanted. If you do complex things on the Mac or Windows that are hard to remember, or hard to explain to people, treat yourself to a copy of ScreenSteps to document all the necessary steps. You’ll save HOURS by helping yourself, and not repeating the same answer over and over again to your co-workers, family and friends. Check it out over at BlueMangoLearning.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Logitech Mini Boombox<\/h3>\n

Back in January on episode #348<\/a> I told you all about the Jawbone Jambox, a super cool little bluetooth speaker. I got it for Steve for Christmas and he loves it. the Jawbone Jambox runs $150 on Amazon. But there’s a new kid in town.<\/p>\n

\"top<\/a>This week I got my hands on the Logitech Mini Boombox. Where the Jambox is a perfect rectangular parallelepiped, (look it up, means a rectangle in 3D), the Logitech is shorter and more bulbous with rounded sides. It fits comfortably in the palm of your hand. When I first took it out of the box though I was horrified – it had BRIGHT red indicators for stop, fast forward\/reverse, volume and pairing. Truly gawdy. I then realized that it was a sticker on top to show you where the buttons would be when they begin to glow when it’s powered up. What a relief. The pairing button has a high dot on it – that’s a little raised piece that lets the blind (and the lazy) feel where a virtual button is. On the back you’ll find a mechanical switch to power on the device, and like the Jambox, an audio jack if you don’t want to use or can’t use Bluetooth, and a micro-USB charge connector.<\/p>\n

When I first powered up the Logitech Mini Boombox, I opened up my iPhone, went to Bluetooth in Settings and there it was. Tapped to connect and in just a few seconds I was playing audio through the device. I was amazed at the deep rich sound that came out of this tiny little box. I tapped on the glowing plus sign on the top and it got louder than I was comfortable hearing, and when I hit the limit it actually beeped at me to let me know. I really liked that.<\/p>\n

\"sideI’m not the audiofile in the house, so I had Steve run a comparison test between the Logitech Mini Boombox and the Jawbone Jambox. We paired one iPhone each to the two devices, brought up the theme song to Armageddon, “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing<\/a>” and alternated playing them on the two boxes. Steve tried really hard to find fault with the Logitech Mini Boombox, but in the end he had to admit that it was really good, on par with the Jawbone Jambox. It killed him to admit that. I should mention that the Logitech Mini Boombox has a sort of flat top and then a gap in the back between that top plastic and the bottom part of the devices. That appears to be a resonant cavity that helps it to produce such good sound.<\/p>\n

The Logitech Mini Boombox has a blinking light surrounding the small Logitech logo. This light when blinking blue means it’s charging, solid blue means it’s fully charged, solid red means it’s getting low and blinking red means you’re just about out of juice. Blinking red to blue means it’s in pairing mode. Instead of these cryptic lights, the Jawbone indicates battery status and pairing in a different way. Here’s Steve to show you what the Jawbone has to say.<\/p>\n

========insert Steve=========<\/p>\n

Is he easily amused? Moving on. As I mentioned, pairing was easy peasy with the Logitech Mini Boombox, at least on my iPhone. I tried it on the iPad, and by then the Logitech Mini Boombox made me hold the pairing button for a while until they would pair. not a big deal but not sure why I didn’t have to do that the first time. Next up I tried it on my Mac. I was in a highly congested area with lots of devices nearby and when I opened the pairing preference pane I could see tons of devices. The mac nicely showed the names of the devices, like “bob’s blackberry”. I picked through them all and found the Logitech Mini Boombox and paired up easily.<\/p>\n

Ok, next to try Windows 7. I opened the Bluetooth control panel and it said, “searching for devices”. And that’s all it said. so I started poking around, found the two drivers for Bluetooth, asked for updates and was informed they were up to date. Walked around complaining to my Windows-loving friends and they just giggled at me that I thought this would work.<\/p>\n

\"imageOff to the Googles next. Found tons of “helpful” tutorials and message boards saying, “make sure your device is in pairing mode.” Duh. Finally I found a message where the guy found the root cause. Get this, you have to launch the Services menu (which I’ve never seen anyone but the geekiest people open). In there, it turns out that Bluetooth is disabled by default in Windows 7! Sheesh. So I enabled it. Of course that doesn’t mean I can actually USE it, after all this IS Windows we’re talking about. After you enable the service, you have to START the service. Sheesh. Ok, it’s enabled, it’s started.<\/p>\n

Back to the control panel for Bluetooth and suddenly I see three whole devices. I realize then that Windows does things a little differently, not sure if it’s better or worse, but it categorizes the devices. so instead of showing you the 28 devices near you, it says Cell Phone, Computer, and Headset. You then pick a category and then it will show you all the devices in that category. I clicked on Headset and there was the Logitech Mini Boombox! Yay!<\/p>\n

When I selected it I was finally rewarded with the announcement that I was paired. That glee was INSTANTLY followed by a message telling me that the drivers aren’t installed properly. WHAT DRIVERS??? It’s a SPEAKER for cryin’ out loud! From then on I did everything I knew how to do and everything my silly Windows-loving friends had to suggest, but again they mostly giggled that I thought this would actually be possible. I’m wondering whether Windows 7 doesn’t have A2DP built in, which is the technology behind these Bluetooth audio devices. Anway, I still can’t believe people choose<\/em> Windows.<\/p>\n

Ok enough about Windows. When Steve and I were first playing with the two devices side by side, we were pairing them side by side and we got a little bit confused. I mentioned earlier that the Jambox actually talks to you, well suddenly the Jambox said in her dulcet tones, “who would you like to call?” what the heck? and then she said, “Justin Byrne?” We’re still baffled, and suddenly she says, “initiating FaceTime call with Justin Byrne”! Now we had to scramble around to try and figure out WHICH device she was using to do this. Was it my iPhone? Steve’s? Mine? one of our Laptops? Eventually we figured out it was my iPhone happily trying to wake up Justin in Ireland in the middle of the night. now we adore Justin dearly of course, but we have no clue why the Jawbone Jambox decided to FaceTime him right then.<\/p>\n

As I said at the beginning, the Jambox from Jawbone is a lovely device, produces fantastic sound and has a very nice form factor for $150 plus it makes all those neato sounds and voices that entertain Steve so much. The punch line to this Logitech Mini Boombox review is that it matches the Jambox for sound, has a nice formfactor of its own, and works with every device except my Windows box, and it’s half<\/em> the price of the Jambox, coming in at a measly $80 on Amazon<\/a>. This is an incredible buy and I’d recommend it for anyone looking for a nice portable Bluetooth speaker. If you’re blind, I’d definitely recommend the Jawbone over the Logitech even at twice the price because all those sounds would be invaluable!<\/p>\n

Chit Chat Across the Pond<\/h3>\n

Security Light<\/h4>\n

Noteworthy Security News:<\/strong><\/p>\n