Take Photos of the Current Time in Safari

First, you’ll need a photo of the current time taken from each camera whose internal clock is out of sync. Be sure to disable the flash to avoid screen glare before you complete these steps:

1. Launch Safari on your Mac and open the URL of an established “time authority” that will display the current time  (http://www.time.gov/ for example).
2. Using each camera, take a photo of Safari as it displays the correct time.
3. Import the photo of the correct time from each camera into your iPhoto Library.

Create Smart Albums for Each Camera Model

Now that you have photos of the correct time imported into your iPhoto Library from each camera you own, you will need to isolate the photos for each camera:

1. From the File menu on iPhoto, create a new Smart Album (one for each camera).
2. Use the drop down list to set the “Camera Model” condition of the Smart Album to match the relevant camera model for each album you create.
3. Keep creating Smart Albums until you have a unique Smart Album for each camera.

More Than One Camera of the Same Model

If you happen to have multiple cameras of the same model, then you must add a second field, “Any Text”  to the conditions of the Smart Album and set the value for this field will be set to the serial number of the camera as follows:

1. Select one of the photos for each camera of the same model.
2. From iPhoto’s File menu, select “Reveal in Finder” to show where the original photo is located in the Finder and open the photo using the Preview application.
3. From Preview’s Tools menu, select the “Show Inspector” menu item and navigate to the EXIF tab to find the value of the serial number.
4. Enter the serial number as the value for the “Any Text” condition of the Smart Album.
5. Again, keep creating Smart Albums until you have one unique Smart Album for each camera.

Determine the Time Adjustment for Each Camera

By comparing the time represented in the photo to the time stamp on the picture itself, you can determine the amount of the adjustment that must be made.  To determine the adjustment for each camera:

1. Select only the photo of the correct time as it was displayed in Safari within each Smart Album.
2. From the Photo menu in iPhoto, select the “Adjust Date and Time…” menu item and copy down the time difference between the time shown in the photo and the time stamp of the image file.
3. Click cancel, and repeat for each camera’s Smart Album.

Adjust the Time for Each Camera

Now that you have a unique Smart Album defined for each camera, and you know the exact time adjustment required for each camera, all that’s left to do is adjusting the time for all photos in the iPhoto Library for each camera.

1. Select one of the Smart Albums you created and select all of the photos in the same Smart Album.
2. ‘From the Photo menu in iPhoto, select the “Adjust Date and Time…” menu item and modify the date/time of all of the photos in these Smart Library, using the interval you discovered when comparing the time displayed in the image to the time stamp of the photo from that camera.
3. Be sure to check “Modify original files.”
4. Click Adjust, and repeat for each camera’s Smart Album.

It may seem like a lot of work, but once you’ve done it once, it should hopefully help keep your iPhoto Events in chronological working order for a long time to come, without requiring you to make manual changes each to the metadata of each photo you add.

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A recent blog post from Secret Lab developer Jon Manning has finally shed some light on the time mystery, but try not to get to excited as the reasoning behind Apple’s mysterious love for 9:42 is a rather dull and functional one.

According to Manning’s blog post, while taking a recent visit to his local Apple store he bumped into senior VP of iPhone software, Scott Forstall. During his trip to the busy store Manning decided to ask Forstall about the time conundrum and settle the debate once and for all. Forstall replied by explaining that when a keynote is taking place the product reveal always happens around 40 minutes into the presentation.

So a simple explanation, as others did previously speculate, now clarifies the puzzle. When the product is first shown at a keynote, the time will roughly match the time the product is announced.

Mystery solved.

The report, which, you’ll remember, appeared in the WSJ itself, cited “a person familiar with the matter” as the source of the information that the Journal would be charging $17.99 per month for iPad subscribers when the device launches next month. No, that’s not a typo where I accidentally switched “per month” for “per year.”

I realize that the Wall Street Journal is among those choice few who’ve been given a pre-production piece of iPad hardware upon which to develop its app, but I doubt very much that anything it can put together, no matter how spectacular, will make me want to pay $18 a month for the privilege of using it. People switched to online news sources because they were cheaper, not significantly more expensive than traditional paper outlets.

While the WSJ seems to have gone well off its rocker regarding iPad pricing, other companies are offering more sane and reasonable deals. Esquire, for instance, which is the magazine the furthest along in the Hearst family with regards to iPad development, plans to offer its iPad issues for only $2.99 an issue. That’s $2 off the standard newsstand price, which is cheaper, as one might expect.

Men’s Health, on the other hand, is going the route of equally priced digital and print editions, and will be charging $4.99 per issue, and other offerings like Time and People are said to be priced close to the newsstand editions. Advertisers are reportedly flocking to the magazine publishers in droves in order to be part of the first wave of iPad editions, owing partly to the marquee value of the highly anticipated launch, and partly to the innovation in interactive ads possible thanks to the new medium.

So the question is, what’s the pricing sweet spot for iPad users when it comes to magazine content? Personally, I wouldn’t pay any of the prices I’ve mentioned, but that’s only because I’m not interested in the content. If National Geographic or Popular Science offered iPad apps priced the same as their print editions, I’d go for it, even though I don’t buy those in print now. I wouldn’t pay $17.99 a month for anything, even a magazine for which I was the sole target audience called “Darrell Monthly.”

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Get your spoon and prepare to swallow a whole tub of awesome because we’ve got the freshest picks from the App Store to stuff in your mouth.

Before we get in to the latest releases, I’ve got a couple of interesting picks from the week’s Apple news.

First big thing, file sharing has been activated for MobileMe. Great news for users of the service, although when it comes to sharing files I’m a big fan of Dropbox – it’s packed with features, more so than MobileMe’s option, and integrates with OS X seamlessly.

Next up, Microsoft is joining the high street retail fray. Fresh from Wal Mart, David Porter is now onboard as Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Retail Stores.

A potentially profitable suggestion came from JB in TheAppleBlog’s comments: “They could put a McDonald’s inside to attract customers!” If that does happen, I’ll take my Windows Vista with a large cola and a side-serving of disappointment. Only joking, I don’t drink cola.

In this week’s roundup I’ll be looking at Harvest Time Tracker, Room, Kern and Flickit.

Harvest Time Tracker (free)
Being a freelancer I’ve got to keep track of my time, particularly which of my clients are making use of it — Harvest is a fantastic tool that keeps the brain-ache out of this task. The iPhone Web App does the job for me, but now there’s a streamlined native iPhone app dedicated to keeping track of time and tasks. Plus it’s totally free, so users of Harvest and those looking for such a tool should grab it now.

Room (free)
I’ve stayed in an array of hotels this year, tweeting my adventures across Europe, and yet for all the comforts that come from being a globe-trotting freelancing journo, I’ve hit on a major problem: there comes a point when the ever-changing rooms become a bit of a blur. This aptly-named app solves that problem, allowing you to enter a room number which — and here’s the excellent feature — is displayed as a badge on the app icon. A clever solution to a recurring problem.

Kern (99 cents)
I instantly fell head over heels for this game, created by U.S. design-studio FORMation, the folks behind color-matching iPhone dueler EYE vs. Eye. Kern is kind of a typographical take on Tetris as you slot individual letters in to different words while the leading rapidly shrinks. A super smart concept for a game which fellow designers in particular will adore.

Flickit (free)
This is the iPhone Flickr uploader to beat all others. The app has all the essential features — shoot within the app, batch upload, tagging and more — plus it really does look like it could have come straight out of Cupertino: designed purely with the user in mind. It’s totally free and I don’t know why — this is the sort of app that most Flickr users would certainly shell out a few bucks for.

That’s all for this week, I’ll see you next Saturday for more apps and more chat. In the meantime, drop by the comments and let me know which apps you recommend.

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The iPhone is indeed a wonderful little device and, for some of us, a game-changer in terms of managing our digital lives from the palm of our hands. There are, however, some essential features that Apple neglected to implement.

Regular GMail and Google Calendar users will have noticed the glaring lack of a Calendar synchronization option, making the native iPhone calendar app somewhat less useful.

All is not lost though! Enter NuevaSync, a web-service that enables two-way synchronization between your Google Calendar and the iPhone Calendar app. NuevaSync is secure, easy to use and painless to set-up…and most notably, it’s totally free.

So, it’s time to grab your gear and follow this ten minute guide to setting up NuevaSync. You’ll need your computer, a Google Account and your iPhone, with the latest firmware update. And by the way, iPod touch users can also get in on the syncing fun.

TAB Disclaimer: Before we begin, it’s worth noting that NuevaSync is still in beta, so if it all goes a little Steve-Jobs-circa-1985 (i.e. everything goes wrong and stops working), it’s not our fault. Nevertheless, the service has worked smoothly for us since sign-up and we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it.

1. To start, you’ll need to create a fresh account on NuevaSync. Before you make the account, plug your touch or iPhone in, boot up iTunes and run a quick sync to make sure you’re all backed up (it’s good practice and will make you feel all warm inside). While the device is backing up, go create your NuevaSync account on this page.
2. Now that you’ve got a new account, visit the configuration page. You’ll notice that there are four options on this page — Calendar, Contacts, E-mail, Tasks. We’re just syncing our Google Calendar today, so ignore the others. It’s also worth noting that the clever folks at NuevaSync still haven’t implemented Mail sync for the iPhone/touch, this feature is in development though.
3. Click change to the right of Calendar and, on the resulting page, click the Google button then click the Change button. By doing this, we’re basically telling NuevaSync that we’d like to sync our Google Calendar with their service. NuevaSync will tell you that your changes have been saved. Clicking through to the next page will take you through the service setup options. When prompted for your Google Account ID, enter your GMail address and then click Request Account Access. If you’re not logged in to your Google Account, you’ll be sent to the standard Google log-in screen before continuing.
4. Once you’re logged in, you’ll be presented with the standard Google Access Request page. If you’re super-security conscious, read the blurb, once you’re all done, click Grant Access. This tells Google that you’re happy for them to send your Calendar info to NuevaSync (and vice-versa). Back on the Status and Setup page, you’ll see that there’s a big red light next to Calendar – this is a good thing, you’re halfway home and it’s time to grab your iPhone.
5. We’re now going to add NuevaSync as an account on your iPhone. NuevaSync works using the Exchange options on your iPhone. Open up Settings on your iPhone, then go through to the Mail, Contacts, Calendars page. Select Add Account and then tap Microsoft Exchange.
6. For your e-mail address, enter the same one you used for your NuevaSync registration. NuevaSync has mentioned that your device might warn about a certificate being invalid. This isn’t NuevaSync’s certificate, so it’s no reason to be concerned. It’s actually Apple’s auto-config feature trying to guess the appropriate server name based on your info. For your Username and Password, enter your NuevaSync account details. Finally, enter a Description. For instance I use, “Olly’s Calendar”. Now tap Next.
7. You should see a quick message stating Verifying Exchange account information. Incidentally, we got an error message doing this the first time and the service still worked. If that happens and it all goes a little pear-shaped, don’t worry, there are some trouble-shooting tips at the end of this guide.
8. When the Exchange account verification process has finished, a new field will pop-up called Server. Enter www.nuevasync.com and then tap Next. On the resulting page, turn off Mail and Contacts – we only want to sync the calendar today. Then just tap Save and we’re almost done.
9. The final step is to turn off Time Zone Support. So back on the Mail, Contacts, Calendars settings page, scroll to the bottom and then tap Time Zone Support. Then switch Time Zone Support to Off and exit.
10. We’re all done! You’ll want to test and make sure that everything works — make sure your WiFi or 3G connection is enabled and then open the Calendar App on your iPhone or touch. It should auto-update and, if you’ve got stuff in your Google Calendar, you should see it here.  Try adding something to your Calendar and then go check if it appears on your computer’s Google Calendar (and vice-versa too, so add something to your Google Calendar and then go open the Calendar app to see if it appears there).

If everything is working, it’s time to celebrate. Organise a party to celebrate how wonderful NuevaSync is, add said party to your Google Calendar schedule and then watch it magically synchronise with your iPhone.

Troubleshooting Tips

Maybe there was a problem in the setup process or maybe everything ran smoothly but it’s just not working. Whatever the issue, here are a few tips to ensure you get yourself synchronised:

1. Make sure you’re only syncing Calendar. Remember that Mail doesn’t work. You can try Contacts, but we haven’t given that a go yet (and this guide only covers Google Calendar synchronization).
2. NuevaSync have a well-written Troubleshooting page. Visit it here and see if that solves your problem.
3. If all else fails, drop NuevaSync an e-mail. They’re a helpful bunch, very friendly and surprisingly prompt: support@nuevasync.com

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As someone with a large media collection (around 550GB), I’m always looking for inventive new ways to store, backup and stream all my content.

One of my main annoyances with simply storing media on an external drive is that you obviously need to have the device physically plugged in. My Lacie Drive worked well, but was bulky, heavy and impractical for watching media anywhere other than at my desk.

When Time Capsule was released, my first thought was that it could make a great way to store content on a network disk and stream music/video to iTunes, and photos to Aperture. This would allow me to access all my media from anywhere around the house — freeing me from the confines of a desk.

This guide will take you through that very process and explain what works well and what simply won’t.

A note on performance

The first thing to consider is how performance will be impacted. At present, your external drive will have a fast USB or Firewire connection, which poses no problems for streaming video (a fairly intensive operation). There are a few things to consider and words of caution with moving this to a networked device.

• Will you be wired or wireless? – If you have a few wired network points around your house, performance should be just fine. Gigabit ethernet — while not as fast as USB or Firewire — can easily support streaming video and other operations at the same time. Wireless works brilliantly for music, but depending upon reception can cause some ‘jumpy’ video performance. If you have an excellent signal there shouldn’t be a problem.
• Do you have 802.11n? — This is the latest standard for wireless. All new Apple machines have support for it, but it may be worth checking if yours does. It can help to mitigate some of the issues with wirelessly streaming video.
• What do you use the external drive for? – If you store applications or large amounts of frequently used data (such as Photoshop files or large database files), you’ll probably benefit from a wired network connection.
• Do you have an Apple TV? – If you want to stream media to your Apple TV, you’ll need to ensure that your Mac is connected to the Time Capsule via an ethernet wire. Otherwise the video is being sent from the Time Capsule to your Mac wirelessly, then again wirelessly to the Apple TV — a recipe for disaster!

Setting up iTunes

If you’ve decided to go ahead, the first thing to set up is iTunes. You’ll need to create a folder on your Time Capsule to store all your iTunes content (I use ‘Media’). Proceed to connect the Time Capsule to your Mac via an ethernet cable and copy the whole content of your current iTunes folder across. This could take anywhere from 5 minutes to 20+ hours depending upon how many gigabytes need to be transferred.

Once this process has completed, you need to open iTunes and change the folder of your music library (Preferences > Advanced). iTunes will spend some time attempting to re-organize and point to the folder, but this process rarely works. Instead, you’ll need to ‘Consolidate’ your library:

Once this process has completed, you should (all being well) have a functioning wireless iTunes library. Go for a trip around your house and see how it performs!

Setting up Photos

My photo application of choice is Aperture, and I’ve found that it works fairly well through a network drive. Startup time is a little slower but, once the application is running, performance is great. Set up is as a simple as copying your Aperture library to the Time Capsule, heading into preferences and updating Aperture’s location. Upon launching the application again you’ll be working from the remote copy. Easy!

If you use iPhoto for managing digital photos the process is equally simple:

1. Quit iPhoto if it is open.
2. Open your Pictures folder. Drag the iPhoto Library folder to your Time Capsule.
3. Hold down the Option key on the keyboard and open iPhoto. Keep the Option key held down until you are prompted to create or choose an iPhoto library.
4. Click Choose Library.
5. Locate and select the iPhoto library on the Time Capsule.

You’ll be able to edit your holiday snaps and frustrate your family with a lengthy slideshow from anywhere in the house!

iMovie… Not Just Yet

At present, iMovie isn’t able to work from a network drive. It is a limitation imposed by Apple, probably rightly so, as the application wouldn’t work without a very fast connection to the data it is working from. Scrubbing through video is a very intensive process and, without a USB or Firewire connection, iMovie would likely be unusable.

Backup Implications & Conclusion

As someone who likes to back up regularly, I use the aforementioned Lacie disk to regularly mirror the Time Capsule to. This has the advantage of backing up both my media library and Time Machine backup files at the same time.

If you give this walkthrough a try, please do let me know how it goes. I’m really interested to hear how you find the performance of wired vs. wireless connections, and any other applications which benefit from having a centrally stored library.

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Last week, my article on farting iPhone apps presented the question, “Where should Apple draw the line or should they draw a line at all?”. Comments ranged from “Apple needs to lighten up” to “You seriously think Apple should have let a farting iPhone in the store?” (as well as a “how is this more important that war, life, and death?”, but I digress). 

Then this week a “legitimate” application, Podcaster, was rejected. This time it was on the basis that “it duplicates the functionality of the Podcast section of iTunes.” Basically, it competes with Apple so back off.

The issue here is not one of application quality and it is not one of usefulness or utility. It is an issue of a fair and thriving marketplace where iPhone/iPod touch users get the best quality applications and the developers get an honest opportunity to make some dang money.

“But what does that mean Josh?,” you ask. Well, gather ’round.

What we can agree on

Let’s start with what I think we can all agree on. At the end of the day, what you and I would like out of the App Store is to be able to drop in to the store and be given a choice of only the applications that we want or that we might be interested in. If I don’t like sports, I don’t care about an app to track baseball scores. If politics bore me, I don’t care to see an app that shows the latest poll data. Seeing only applications that would interest us, is obviously an ideal situation.

The problem with that particular want is that it doesn’t exist. Simple as that. Apple can’t read your mind and they can’t analyze your buying trends well enough to do more than simply suggest applications you might like. “So what,” you say. The majority of users take the stand that Papa Bear Jobs knows best and that Apple using their discretion on what we get to pick and chose is a good enough solution for them. If that means the occasional gas-passing application doesn’t make it, who cares.

For most, that’s the end of the argument. If the majority of decent apps makes it through, then the majority of users will be happy.

Unfortunately, there is an issue here that’s deeper than users missing out on a few apps. The bigger issue here starts at the root of all apps…the developers (cue the thunder clap and lighting strikes!).

The Outcome

What ultimately will happen (as magnificently pointed out by Fraser Speirs) is that investment won’t be made in development for apps. Why should a developer spend literally hundreds upon hundreds of hours building a complex application if there’s a chance Apple will flat out refuse it? Why should a company invest their resources in to research and development time if Apple will just say no thanks? They shouldn’t and they won’t.

So what you end up with is a huge saturation of developers who are kicking the proverbial tires learning how to develop for the iPhone and you get a huge influx of sub-par products that Apple chooses to accept. That right there is why this issue is very important to you. Not to mention the harm done by the fact that Apple’s recent rejection of Podcaster based on “duplicating functionality” is extremely anti-competitive.

Unless something changes, what we’ll end up with is a marketplace that serves Apple’s needs more than the user’s needs, which is completely unsustainable.

Some Solutions

The current flaw in the system here is that Apple doesn’t publish any real rules or guidelines for exactly what is or isn’t acceptable in the store, leaving developers completely in the dark and forcing them to make an extremely big risk in developing something. As John Gruber states, as long as Apple’s process for approving applications stays completely vague, they need to make their market inclusive instead of exclusive.

The argument to an all inclusive market is that you get an onslaught of really, incredibly low quality apps from a bunch of hax0rs with nothing better to do. The solution there is to have a high initial fee to get a developer license (say, maybe $500). That in itself would be enough to keep out the majority of the low quality cruft, but the side effect would be that some legitimate developers who want to put out a free app would have a hard time justifying the cost.

Alternatively, Apple could just open up where apps can be sold and make the iTunes store one of the many places to get apps, thus mitigating the risk that all of their work would be completely in vain.

A third alternative is to let any and all apps in to the iTunes store, assuming they pass some sort of security audit. This would require a bit of an overhaul with how Apple currently organizes their library of apps and would also require developers to do more work promoting their app outside of the store, but in the long run it creates a competitive marketplace that ultimately creates top quality products for the user and significantly reduces the risk developers have in creating something.

At the end of the day Apple is clearly free to do as they please. But the reasons given so far for app rejection (limited utility, duplication functionality) really just hurt users and developers and even Apple. Decided what apps have “utility” implies the user can’t think for themselves and rejecting based on duplication functionality of one of Apple’s own apps is simply anti-competitive behavior…which is always, always a kick in the teeth to the end user and never a step in the right direction.

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The main new feature is the ability to display/present timelines in (no surprise) 3D mode. The best way to see what this looks like is by viewing the demo video Adam has put together.

While I’ve touted Bee Docs’ Timeline in the past, Timeline 3D really makes it very easy to “wow” folks during a presentation and also makes it very straightforward to really focus the attention of your audience on each timeline event (always a good thing). I will warn you, tho, that rendering timelines with a large number of elements and graphics will take some time (this is an area that I have to say needs some work).

Another great thing about indie developers (like Adam Behringer) is how they interact with their userbase. Adam chronicled the development of Timeline 3D on his blog and even hired one of his customers (Gary C Martin) to help with the 3D design.

$25 USD buys you an upgrade to the product from the crufty ol’ 2D Timeline “standard edition”, and $65 USD gets you a shiny new copy for those who do not currently use Bee Docs’ Timeline.

If you’ve used the new 3D product or give it a try, let us know your thoughts & experiences in the comments.

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