Macworld | Create good queries in Spotlight: “… if your search involves multiple terms, or if you need to narrow down your results to dig up a particularly elusive file, knowing how to put together a good search query will pay off.”

In addition to rumors that Apple has already ordered the manufacture of 3G iPhones, consider that all 3 of Apple’s New York stores are sold out of iPhones, and even Apple’s online store quotes a ship date of 5-7 days instead of the usual “within 24 hours.” Maybe much ado about nothing, but you never know…

Terminal Tip: Safari 3.1 brings true one-window mode - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW): “Apple has added a hidden preference to Safari 3.1 that allows you to tell Safari to stick to one window. “

Finally!

Bottom Line: This Frankenstein-esque merger of Apple’s standard iPhone headphones with higher quality earbuds combines the best of both worlds.
Verdict: Highly recommended

Apple’s earbud headphones supplied with iPods and iPhones are a common target of audiophiles. While inexpensive and compact, they are not renown for their high fidelity. I, like many others, never really had too much of a problem with the basic buds, but this may have been because of low expectations rather than any intrinsic quality.

What drove me to consider an upgrade from the standard set on my original iPod was listen to audio in the subway. The background noise was so great that that the limited sound insulation provided by Apple’s headphones forced me to either turn up the volume to ear-damaging levels or seek new headphones. I turned to a moderately priced Shure in-ear set, which proved excellent at blocking external noise when properly fit, though it took some work to make them fit properly.

The iPhone presented a new challenge. It’s recessed headphone jack meant that my Shure headphones wouldn’t fit without an adapter. Furthermore, even if they had fit, the headphones don’t have an integrated microphone like Apple’s standard fare, which is a major disadvantage since the goal is to use them on a phone (it makes for a rather one-sided conversation). Shure makes a music phone adapter, an extension cord that fits into the iPhone headphone jack and adds a microphone and call answer/pause/track forward button much like that found on Apple’s own headphones. Unfortunately, the combination of headphone cable and Shure’s lengthy adapters makes for a spaghetti-like mess that ruins the otherwise elegant experience of the iPhone.

A friend recommended a site called Ultimate Buds. While this sounds like an internet marijuana purveyor, it’s actually a company that has found a creative solution to the iPhone headset problem. They takes Apple’s otherwise well-designed headphones and remove only the questionable earbuds, replacing them with high quality versions taken from popular headphones that normally lack microphone functionality. The original model used the popular Etymotic ER6i earbuds, which are reported to have a high degree of clarity but are a bit thin on the bass.

I instead opted for the fusion of Apple’s headphones with the Futuresonics FS1 earbuds (the UB7EB), which reportedly offer a fuller bass than the Etymotics. I can’t speak to the how the two models compare, but I can say that UB7EB does have a nice full sound that’s well balanced and compares favorably to my bulky over the ear Sonys.

The buds come with several replaceable rubber earpieces - you can select the size that best fits your ears, and it’s important to try to find the ones with the best fit. It’s only with a good seal that you’ll obtain the maximum sound quality and best isolation form external sounds. The blacking of external sounds is just about right: enough to obviate the need to make volume adjustments in different environments, but not so much that they imperil your safety.

The buds are not cheap, with a currently listed price of $119, but they are really an excellent alternative to the standard Apple fare if you spend a good deal of time in noisy environment or just want an upgrade in sound quality.

Like many people who are technophiles, I tend to spend a great deal of time and energy investigating options before any major purchase. As the HDTV juggernaut grew increasingly prominent, I realized I had to upgrade or…gasp..be left behind. After months of forum browsing, review deconstruction, literature perusal, and aisle roaming, I made my decision. After weeks of waiting, the TV arrived the same day my wife went into labor. Though I enjoyed the first few months with both my son and my new plasma, the former soon edged out the latter in my confined schedule. Netflix was cancelled, then cable, and my lovely plasma become nothing more than an energy-efficient piece of furniture.

That has all changed. Not due to any reduced demands from my rapidly developing toddler, but due to the addition of one small piece of equipment: the Apple TV. The original concept of the Apple TV, introduced in early 2007, was to allow iTunes media (TV shows, movies, music, etc.) to be enjoyed on a TV or home theater system. Photos could also be transferred over, much like on the iPod.

This sounded nice, but was not compelling enough to lead me to buy the Apple TV until a recent price drop and software upgrade, which added the ability for the box to connect directly to the internet for media downloads and movie rentals. My TV has gone from useless to nearly constantly in use while I am home, but not for the reasons you might think.

I have not actually taken advantage of any of the new features of the Apple TV, such as movie rentals, which most reviewers agree make it a much more interesting purchase. Rather, the Apple TV has become the conduit to get my home movies (now exclusively digital) to the big screen. Though I could certainly watch the same movies in HD on my computer screen, it’s really not the same experience (and just looks better on the plasma). Furthermore, the ability to play photo albums with Apple’s “Ken Burns” zoom effects turns my plasma into a giant photo frame which is a real pleasure to have running (assuming that there are good photos to see). When the Apple TV is unused for a few minutes, a mesmerizing cascade of photos flies by on the screen.

It’s hard to convey this experience in words, but it has really redefined how I think of a TV’s purpose in the living room. I’m sure with time I’ll take advantage of the other features as well, but for now, I’m more than happy with replaying memories on this giant tableau. My son seems to enjoy it as well (I’m still working on getting him to use the iPhone).

I’ve been a big fan of the Apple’s Aperture software for digital photo management and editing since version 1.5. Though other programs have arguably had an edge in fine-tuning images, nothing I’ve seen has matched Aperture’s ability to organize photos and share them with other applications. Version 1.5 was getting a bit long in the tooth, and many have been thinking about jumping ship to something like Adobe’s Lightroom due to the lack of recent updates. Hot on the heels of yesterday’s substantial update to Leopard is Aperture 2, now available from the Apple Store. Details are scant. As of this writing, Apple has not yet updated the Aperture page, but I’m looking forward to seeing what they have done with this program.

I finally had the opportunity to try out the MacBook Air at an Apple Store yesterday. I came away quite impressed. The most striking aspect to me was not the thinness, which is evident from the numerous pictures around the net, but how solid the laptop feels. The construction is really first rate, and it seems that it would be quite easy to close, pick up, and go without a second thought. When I had my 17″ PowerBook (weighing in at nearly 7 lbs), it required some “activation energy” when making the decision to pick up the beast and move to a new location.

The drawbacks of this laptop seem fairly minimal, particularly if you have access to a desktop computer for really intensive tasks and large volume data storage.

The Apple Store was out of stock, so I’m able to resist the instinct to snap one up…at least for the moment.

Macworld is always a traumatic time for me. So many new toys, so little time (and money). Let’s take a look at what Stevie J announced:

1. Time Capsule - I’ve been holding off on buying an 802.11n wireless router, well, largely because my laptop doesn’t support this faster speed. Time Capsule basically merges a router with a hard drive, ostensibly for backup. Prices are reasonable, but I worry a bit about the non-replaceability of the drive. If the HD dies, I’ll have to replace the whole thing. On the other hand, at the rate I upgrade these sort of devices, it probably is not an issue. Verdict: probably what I’ll get when I need both more space for backup and faster wireless.
2. iPhone update - Well, I already have an iPhone, so this is a no-brainer. While the update is not Earth-shattering, this free software update adds some nice new features including:
   • The ability to find your current location in the maps application based on nearby cell towers and Wifi base stations. This has already proved useful to me, since I am highly skilled at getting lost. Maps gets a better interface as well, but this is the biggest change.
   • The ability to send an SMS to multiple people. I don’t really do this, but I can see how some people might find is useful, at least once in a while.
   • The ability to have multiple “home screens” of icons is useful now that you can create icon shortcuts (”webclips”) for websites. It will become considerably more useful once 3rd party software is available starting next month. Rearranging icons is nice, but again, doesn’t mean much until 3rd party apps appear.
   • Lyrics - Should have been there in the first place, since older iPods had this. Good they finally added it. I don’t think songs generally include lyrics, so you’ll have to enter your own in iTunes (you can easily copy/paste from the web).
   • Simultaneous key presses - There are some subtle changes to make two-thumb typing easier, but the most obvious effect is the ability to hold down the shift key while typing to get capital letters (previously you had to push shift before each capital…a pain for typing acronyms.
3. iTunes Movie Rentals/Apple TV update - For me, this was the biggest announcement of the conference. Basically, Apple is getting into the video on demand market, and the Apple TV becomes a critical tool. Instant rentals are tremendously appealing in the same way Netflix was more appealing that going to local video store. With Netflix, the idea was that you could always have a few movies around that you would want to watch. That was fine most of the time, but if you want to watch a specific movie, you’d still have to wait for it to arrive in the mail. The next step has been video on demand. Some cable companies offer this, but with limited selection. Competitors like Netflix allow you to rent movies on your computer instantly, but you still have to pay a monthly subscription fee (not good for those who only watch occasionally) and you have to be sitting at your computer to watch. Some folks hook their computer up to their TV, but this is small group of people. Apple raises the game by allowing you to transfer movies to your iPod/iPhone or to your Apple TV (essentially a small computer that connects to your TV). The Apple TV is improved now in that you can not only use it to watch content, but also rent or buy content directly over the internet. Plus, HD movies are now an option. This is fantastic and I will be getting an Apple TV. The only downside is that you only have 24 hours to watch a movie after you start it. This is fine for living room viewing, but for iPod viewing a longer viewing period would be better. I usually have a small amount of downtime each day to watch something. If I could spread my viewing over several days, I might actually be able to watch a whole movie. With a 24 hour limit, it’s a bit harder.
4. MacBook Air - This is a pretty sweet subnotebook. It’s the classic Apple package where the specs are all wrong, but you still want it anyway. My mind tells me that it’s slower than my current laptop, is missing many ports, has no optical drive, a too-small hard drive, and is not expandable. That said, it is very sleek and the sacrifices are almost worth it. I think it will be a great machine in the next revision, and is fine for most people, but I’m already straining with my MacBook. Most of the limitations are actually no big deal in my mind. If I got one, I’d probably buy the DVD drive anyway for convenience, but it’s nice not to have that extra bulk all the time for the rare occasion you’ll need it to install software. I’m a big fan of the MacBook keyboard (I find the MacBook Pro keyboard too mushy, unlike some people), and I’m glad to see the Air carries on this trend. What I really like is the SSD drive option, but it’s just too expensive at this time.

For Apple followers, there is one day of the year more important than any other. No, it’s not their birthday or Christmas (though that may be up there), it’s the keynote speech at the Macworld Expo in January, also known as the “SteveNote” (after Steve Jobs). For those outside the “inner circle” the excitement may seem a bit odd. I’m aware there is an expanding base of Mac users, so I thought I’d give a basic breakdown of how things work.

12:00 PM EST - Steve takes the stage and welcome’s everyone to MacWorld. He talks about how he’s very excited about what he has to tell us.

12:00 PM-12:30 PM EST - Steve goes over Apple’s recent financial performance, products we already know about, and will probably throw in a demo of something like the Mac Pro’s announced last week.

12:30-1:30 PM EST - Steve announces new products and invites Phil Schiller and others to demo them. There will probably be a video interview with Jon Ive on how one of the new products was designed, interviews with “celebrity” or “pro” users, depending on the item. Expected products this year include the MacBook Air, a compact laptop computer, an updated Apple TV with iTunes movie rentals, and an updated iPhone.

~ 1:30 PM EST - You log into the Apple store and place an order for the latest Apple gadget.

Now you’re all set for tomorrow.

Spaces is a great feature of Leopard, as I’ve previously discussed. Often I’ll find myself needing to access a Finder window in another space (e.g. top open a file in a certain app, to attach a file to a mail message, etc.). Though you can easily switch spaces while dragging a file, it’s more convenient to have access to your Finder windows in every space. Here’s a tip frommacosxhints.com on how to do just that. Basically, you just go into the Spaces panel in System Preferences and add the Finder as an application by looking in /System/Library/Core Services/Finder.app. Then choose “Every Space” for it’s space.