Apple's Siri voice control system is already available in iOS 6 for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, but don't expect to see it show up in OS X 10.9. That's according to Ezra Gottheil from Technology Business Report who thinks Apple will have to update Mac hardware before OS X can support Siri. Apple…
Jeff Gamet
Jeff Gamet is the Mac Observer’s Managing Editor, and co-host of the Apple Context Machine podcast. He is the author of “The Designer’s Guide to Mac OS X” from Peachpit Press, and writes for several design-related publications. Jeff has presented at events such as Macworld Expo, the RSA Conference, and the Mac Computer Expo. In all his spare time, he also hosts TMO’s Daily Observations podcast, co-hosts The iOS Show podcast, and makes guest appearances on several other shows, too. Jeff dreams in HD.
Articles by Jeff Gamet
iOS & OS X: Locking Down Location Services
It's no secret that apps on your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch can track your location, but you may not realize Mac apps can do the same, too. You can, however, control which apps know where you are on both platforms, and it's easy to do. iOS Location Services To see which apps are using…
iPhone Alert Flashes without Jailbreaking
I was asked over the weekend to jailbreak a friend's iPhone so they could use the camera flash for alerts. There was a time when hacking your iPhone was the only way to use the camera flash for visual alerts, but times have changed. Now that's just another system setting. Here's how to use your…
Want a Cheap iPhone? Don't Hold Your Breath
Apple needs to make a cheaper iPhone. That's what analysts are saying, which tells me they still don't understand Apple's market. The company has proven quarter after quarter through sales that consumers are fine with its price structure, and that it has no interest in following the overall market's make-it-cheap mentality. Don't look for a…
Apple Doubles Quarterly Stock Dividend Investment
Along with earnings that hit US$43.6 billion, Apple reported on Tuesday that it is more than doubling its investment in returning capital to investors. The company is adding $55 billion to its shareholder returns, bringing the total up to $100 billion, and includes a 15 percent increase in the quarterly dividend. Apple expands its capital…
ITC Drops Motorola Proximity Sensor Patent Claim Against Apple
The U.S. International Trade Commission gave Motorola Mobility a tough pill to swallow on Monday when it invalidated the company's proximity sensor patent. The ruling killed the last remaining patent in Motorola's 2010 infringement lawsuit against Apple, and shot down Google's hopes of eventually winning an iPhone import ban. ITC says Motorola's proximity sensor patent…
iTunes: Streaming Video to your iPad
You have a Mac and an Apple TV, but sometimes you want to watch your movies and TV shows on your iPad. How do you do that without syncing videos to your iPad? It's pretty easy once you enable Home Sharing. To enable Home Sharing on your computer, launch iTunes, the go to File >…
Verizon iPhone Sales Hint at Missed Estimates
Verizon announced during its first fiscal quarter earnings report on Thursday that it activated 4 million iPhones, which comes in above Wells Fargo analyst Maynard Um's 3.5 million unit target. The cell service provider's activations were down compared to last quarter, but are up year over year. Still, Apple's quarterly iPhone numbers may come in…
Building Your Own Status Board for iPad Module
Panic's Status Board for the iPad lets you see all kinds of information at a glance, but its real power comes into play when you start building your own modules to see your own customized information. Sure, that opens up opportunities for coders to design custom modules, but the Panic team also made it fairly…
Ambrosia: Still Alive & Kicking
Mac users turned their attention to long time Mac app developer Ambrosia Software Wednesday night when the company's coders posted messages on Twitter saying they lost their jobs and that the business was shutting down. Despite what the word is on Twitter, however, company president Andrew Welch says that's not what's really happening. Ambrosia Software:…
Think Starbucks is Ditching Free iTunes Cards? Think Again
Starbucks announced a change to its iTunes Pick of the Week program on Tuesday that pushes customers to the company's mobile app for free downloads, which had some people thinking the cards they're used to seeing next to the cash register were going away, and soon. Turns out that's not the case, and what Starbucks…
OS X: Make Your Own Printer Pool
Have a couple printers you'd like to get more use out of, or maybe you don't want to have to ask which printer is available? No problem. Just make your own printer pool from your Mac. A printer pool is a collection of printers that your Mac can automatically choose from whenever you need a…
OS X: Quick Print from Finder
Despite the promise long ago of the paperless office, we still need to print documents from our Macs at times. The usual launch an app to print a document routine works fine for that, but you can save a little time by printing your files directly from the Finder. You can print documents from the…
USPTO Now Mostly OK with iPad mini Trademark
The US Patent and Trademark Office has revised its stance on Apple's request for a trademark on the iPad mini name. The agency has resolved most of the issues it had with granting the trademark, and so far Apple hasn't had to do anything to make that happen. USPTO: iPad mini trademark isn't so bad…
iOS 7: It's Time to Clean House
It's no secret Apple is working on a new iPhone model and a new version of iOS. Apple is always working on a new iPhone and new version of iOS. What's different this time is that there's been a changing of the guard with industrial designer and Apple Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Jonathan…
Hearing Aid Maker Sues Apple Over EarPods Name
Apple has been hit with yet another lawsuit, although this time it's over the EarPods trademark and comes from hearing aid maker Randolph Divisions. The lawsuit alleged that Apple's EarPods headphones that ship with the iPhone 5 infringe on the HearPod trademark and product. Hearing aid maker sues Apple over EarPods name Randolph Divisions claimed…
Hiding App Purchases in iTunes
Typically when someone says “Do you know which iTunes feature I like?” I get ready to hear a long list of complaints. Occasionally, however, I get surprised when they mention something they actually do enjoy — like the ability to hide App Store purchases they no longer want to see. Your iTunes account still tracks…
Create OmniFocus Tasks from Apple's iOS Mail App
OmniFocus is a great tool for keeping track of your tasks, and on the Mac it's easy to take an email and turn it into a to-do. On the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, however, there hasn't been an easy way to do that — until the clever team at The Omni Group figured out…
T-Mobile Media Event May Include LTE, iPhone Announcements
U.S. cell service provider T-Mobile will be hosting a media event in New York City Tuesday morning where the company is expected to talk about its LTE network plans, and possibly even some news about bringing the iPhone to the network. T-Mobile is the only big carrier to be left out of the iPhone game,…
Apple Buys Indoor GPS Company WifiSLAM
Apple has purchased WifiSLAM for about US$20 million, hinting that indoor location tracking and navigation may be coming to iOS. WifiSLAM specializes in indoor mapping based on WiFi signals — a feature that Google offers in some locations through its own map apps, but so far isn't available in Apple's Maps app. Apple gets deeper…
Using Siri with OmniFocus for iPhone & iPad
Siri is great for controlling your iPhone or iPad with your voice, and OmniFocus is a fantastic task management and organization app. How do you make them better? By making them work together, of course.
Paris Kills Late Nights for Apple Staff
Apple can't make its Paris store employees work past 9PM, and to back that up a Paris court has ordered the Mac, iPhone and iPad maker to pay €10,000 fine to unions for working its staff after closing their stores at night. The fine came as part of a lawsuit brought by labor unions, and…
Taming Spotlight's Indexing Problems
Spotlight is a great tool for sifting through the files on your Mac's drives to find exactly what you need. It isn't so great, however, when its Index file get corrupted and you don't see all of your files — or your Mac's fans start spinning incessantly. If Spotlight is having trouble indexing your hard…
Save Your MagSafe Charger: A Better Windup
Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air charger is great because it includes a built-in way to wind up its MagSafe cord. The problem is that it's kind of easy to bend and fray the cord over time where it goes into the power supply, even with the extra reinforcement Apple added. Thanks to a quick…