iOS 11 Beta 4 almost bricked my iPhone 7

As usual, I have installed the beta version of the next iOS version on my iPhone 7.

As I was controlling my Apple TV 4 with my phone, using the shortcut in the Control Center, I had to enter a code ID for buying a movie on the iTunes Store.

All was going well, as usual, until the iTunes Store asked me to enter my 3 digit number from my credit card to confirm the transaction.  So I left to get my credit card and it took a few minutes.  Meanwhile, my iPhone 7 went into sleep mode as it was waiting for the keyboard input for the Apple TV...

When I came back, I unlocked my iPhone, as usual but the screen was all blurry and nothing was reacting to the touch events.  I pressed the Sleep button and it was the end.

The iPhone was completely unresponsive.  I tried to reboot it, call it with another phone, pressed several times on the button but nothing was happening and the screen stayed black,

Ultimately, I used the VoluneDown+Sleep buttons, pressed for a good 10 seconds and the device finally rebooted.

If you're stuck on your iPhone 7, the VolumeDown+Sleep buttons will save the day!

Note: The bug has been reported to Apple.

Windows 10 is much better than Android

I've had a few Android devices in the last few years even if I do prefer Apple products for their build qualities and their great interactions.

As a software developer, I am curious about what's new and I do enjoy investigating the new stuff that is available on the market. So curious that I even got my hands on a Playbook from Blackberry when the device was on sale a few years ago.

Remember that I have the point of view of a regular iOS user as I do own an iPhone 7, an iPad 4 and an old Macbook 2009.  My main OS on my main computer laptop is Ubuntu 16.04 and it's been like that for many years.

So why am I claiming that Windows 10 is better than Android?  User experience...

Last week, I bought a cheap  Windows 10 tablet to have a device to explore as I never used Windows 10 before.  It's the RCA Cambio tablet, with 32 Gigs of space and a detachable keyboard.  The price tag is around 200$ CAD as I am writing this post,  The hardware is far from premium, but not that bad.  The battery lifetime is around 6 hours, not quite on par with my iPad and the physical keyboard is a bit klunky but usable.

For Android, I had the Asus Memo 10 FHD, the Galaxy Tab Lite 1 and the first Nexus 7 generation.  A few others came along also from friends.  Nevertheless, I tried many brands and flavors of Android and found out that they are nice, but not perfect.  Aside the physical built quality, the experience was OK at best.  There is always a missing app or features and the major annoyance of them all, they lag...  From the cheapest one to the priciest I've bought, they all lag at some point.

Android friends told me that I had to buy a premium Android device tablet for a premium experience which will cost almost as much as a brand new iPad...

I've been longing for a Windows device since the launch of  Windows 10.  There is no need for Windows as I am a Ubuntu user on a computer.  But the attraction of the novelty was there.  After many months of torturing my self not to buy another device, I gave up last week and bought the RCA Cambio.  It's cheap, it's Windows 10, it's good enough to explore and maybe build some software on it,

After playing with it for a few days, even with few hiccups I got with the hardware, I find it far superior to any Android device that I tried.

The RCA Cambio hardware is almost decent.  You get what you pay for,  Windows 10, on the other end, is really great.  You have access to tons of apps from the store, and you can even install your favorite Windows software as you would do on any computer.

The Windows 10 features are still missing a few things compared to iOS.  Cortana is hard to setup, at least on this device.  I could not find the Instagram, Snapchat or Periscope app or equivalent as I do have access on my iPad.  But I was able to install Netbeans for developing ScreenStudio (on Windows...), iTunes to access my music and a few games to experiment.

I can say that Windows 10 is the best of both worlds.  It can behave as a mobile device and also as a regular computer.

There is no hesitation that I would recommand a cheap Windows 10 device over any Android device.  Of course, not too cheap as Windows 10 do need some basic requirements.

What about the iPad?  There may be not a next iPad.  I already have all the same features on my iPhone and I need a computer more than a tablet.  The next premium tablet device may be the Surface Pro instead of the next iPad.

Let's wait and see if I will grow tired of this new device and go back to iOS...

 Note:  Yes, I did try to boot-up Ubuntu on the RCA Cambio without success...

What about my iPhone 7 after 2 days...

I was one of the lucky one to get my hands on a new iPhone 7 last Friday.  When I say lucky, I mean that only two devices were shipped to my local Rogers reseller and I was chosen for one of them.

I took the time to explore the new toy as I already had an iPhone 6.  Basically, they look the same with a few differences...

The buttons are a bit smaller on each side and the finish is as always very smooth.  They both weight the same and have the same size.  The only difference I could notice was the camera that is not exactly that the same place as the iPhone 6.  They are so alike that the iPhone 7 does fit (almost) perfectly in the iPhone 6 case.  I had to be creative and carve the camera hole to fit the iPhone 7.

Apple should remove some stock apps

I do enjoy the latest version of iOS released this week, iOS 10.  The upgrade process went flawlessly on my iPad 4 and on my iPhone 6.

While doing some cleanup in old apps I had on my iPad, I was shocked to discover that Photo Booth was still there, hidden in one of the folders...  Some stock apps should be removed from iOS, at least, merged into other apps or functionalities...

Photo Booth

Seriously, who has even ever used this app.  With today's better alternative like Snapchat or Instagram, there is really no need to maintain this app on iOS.

iBook

I do like to read, but not on the iPad or iPhone.  I much prefer use my Kobo Glo device as it does a much better job and prevents my eyes from itching.  This app should be downloadable, like Pages or iMovie.

Podcasts

Listening to podcasts is not really my thing.  The feature itself should be integrated into iTunes and the Music app as a sub-section instead, making audio listening merged into a single place.  The same functionality should be also integrating into the Videos for video podcasts.  Basically, download from iTunes and listen in Music, watch in Videos...

Learn programming with Human Resource Machine

Yesterday, I started playing a really neat game on my iPad called Human Resource Machine.

It's not just another puzzle game as we are used to find on the iOS stores.  This game does involve a lot of logic and a new notions of software programming.

The story gos like this: You are a new employee in a big corporation and you are asked to take documents from the "Inbox" and put them in the "Outbox" using pre-defined actions (commands).

The first few levels are quite easy but as you progress, you'll encounter some basic programming challenge like making a modulo calculation and event doing a sorted bubble algorithm.

The game is really enjoyable and anyone can play.  If you are into software programming, the levels will put your knowledge to the test.

For kids, this is a great way to explain what is a computer program and they can explore and learn some basic algorithm by themselves.

Human Resource Machine is available on the Apple Store: 
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/human-resource-machine/id1005098334?mt=8

And available for your PC:
https://tomorrowcorporation.com/humanresourcemachine#getitnow

Note: At the time of writing this review, the game was only 0.99$ in the Canadian Apple Store...


Have fun!

Security researchers are trying too hard?

There is a lot of research done about security these days. If you follow tech news daily, there is always an article about some new ways to hack a computer or your mobile device.

Personally, I'm not that paranoid about security issues. I do update my passwords regularly and I stay alert when someone is sending me an unknown link. I do share some data with Apple and Google as I consider that this is not such a terrible problem trying to improve their products.

Security researchers have found that by listening to the sounds of a hard drive, hackers can steal your passwords and sensitive data...

http://www.techspot.com/news/65959-sounds-hard-drive-makes-can-used-steal-data.html

This is technically possible but so impractical to put in place. There are so many hoops to go thru that it is hard to consider this a security threat.

Basically, anything that can produce a signal of some sort can be used o transmit sensitive information. My Pebble Time watch could be used to transmit data by flickering some pixels colour. Any smartphone could embed sensitive data while playing music in such a way that it is inaudible for the human ear.

Transmitting can be easy but there is a big catch: There must be a receiver listening. So you need to "infect" the transmitting device which can prove to be difficult. Then you have to find a way to receive the information. When there is proximity factor involved, such as a 6 feet range, it's hard to consider the issue as a major security concern.

Research is essential, but let's keep our paranoia to a reality level...


Patrick Balleux
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https://twitter.com/patrickballeux
https://youtube.com/patrickballeux
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YouTube works better in iOS 10 public beta

I've been having fun with iOS 10 public beta on my iPhone and iPad in the last few weeks. Apple has finally fixed an issue I had with iOS 9: Whenever I was browsing the web with Safari, any links to YouTube was forcing opening the YouTube app instead of viewing the website.

The YouTube app is great but when searching the web, it does not mean that I want to switch to another app just to read the comments on a video.

With iOS 10 public beta, this issue is no more. I quite happy!





There is a small issue now showing up: the top banner in the YouTube app is sometime not showing the icons. I've seen this behaviour in a few other apps so it's probably a glitch from iOS. The icons are still there as you can press on them, but you cannot see them.






The new iOS 10 is a great update. The new widget screen does look a lot better than iOS 9.

The first public beta of iOS 10 was slow on my iPad 4. Since the second public beta, its back to a more enjoyable experience.

The next update should iron out the last annoyances.

iOS 9.3.1 small bug: Round folders

Just found out that if you use a specific wallpaper for your iOS 9.3.1 device, you will end up with round folders in your homes screen.

If you want to try it out, just follow this link and save one of the image to be used as your home screen wallpaper.  You will then have all your folders in a round shape instead of the default shape.

Here's the link: http://heyeased.weebly.com/round-folders.html

There's not a lot to choose from, but it's fun to try.  Oh yeah, no jailbreak is required...

How to install Ubuntu on a MacBook

I do own an old MacBook 2009 at home.  It's age is showing up mostly with the latest version of OS X, El Capitan.

As an experiment, I wanted to try out Ubuntu on the MacBook.  I already use it on my old PC Laptop and it works like a charm.  So I took my already formated USB drive with Ubuntu 16.04 on it and booted the old Mac...  Nothing happened...

After some research on the web, I discovered that I had to create a bootable USB drive specifically for the Macbook.  I don't know why as as bootable drive is a bootable drive, but I followed these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/How%20to%20install%20Ubuntu%20on%20MacBook%20using%20USB%20Stick

The key is to convert the ISO file into an IMG file.  Then you need to copy the IMG file to the USB drive using some strange command from a terminal in OS X.

sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.img of=/dev/diskN bs=1m

If you follow the instructions, step-by-step, it's really easy.  The convertion from ISO to IMG does take a few minutes and "burning" the IMG file onto your USB drive can take around 30 minutes.

Once that done, insert your USB drive into your Macbook and reboot.  Make sure to press and hold the ALT key to invoke the bootable options.  Select your USB drive when it shows up and Ubuntu should start booting.

I skipped the installation of a multi-boot selector like ReFit (http://refit.sourceforge.net/doc/c1s1_install.html).  I find it easier to select the OS to boot using the ALT key trick than install another custom tool.

Of course, I tried the Live version first to ensure that my hardware would be properly supported.  All was working as expected beside the fact that I had to install a propriatary driver for my wifi card.

After the initial testing, I went back to OS X to resize my hardrive partition to make some room for a 20 drive and a swap space.  You can do this by using the Disk Utils tools in OS X.  Then another reboot to return to the Live version of Ubuntu and start the installation process.

Usually, partitioning is done automatically by Ubuntu.  In this case, I had to create the partitions manually, select the proper mount point before completing the installation process.  30 minute later, I was rebooting the Macbook in Ubuntu, from the newly created partition.

The main issue I faced was that I needed again the Additional Drivers to enable my Wifi connection.  I had to manually copy the Debian package from the USB drive using "sudo dpkg...".  If I remember well, I had to install "dkms.deb" before installing the package drivers found in the USB installation drive.

Once I got the Wifi working, everything was working well.  Actually, it felt like a brand new computer as it was so fast and so smooth.  The only issue I am currently facing is using the iSight webcam with "ffmpeg".  The webcam does work with Cheese...  Oh yeah, make sure to install all updates from 16.04 before continuing...

I almost forgot, you need to install another package to enable your iSight webcam (search for isight in the repositories).  There is a small procedure to follow but it quite easy to follow.

The installation process was not as easy as on my PC Laptop, but considering the benefits, it was worth it. My Ubuntu MackBook is running perfectly, much better than under OS X.

By default, the computer is booting directly into Ubuntu.  When I want to switch to OS X, I reboot it while pressing the ALT key and then select the OS X partition.  For some strange reasons, I have to do a complete shutdown to reboot into the other OS.  Just restarting seems to keep the last OS used even when using the main partition using the ALT key.

If you feel that your old Macbook is good for the scrap, try it with Ubuntu first.  It does give a new live to your old pal.

Transform your old Android device into an Apple TV 4

Did you know that you could use your old Android device as an Apple TV 4 alternative in your living room?

The first thing you need to check out is if your device has an HDMI port to connect to your TV set.  This is quite essential as we want to display the content on the big screen.

If that's the case, install the Kodi app, available in the Google Play Store.  Don't worry, it's free. Kodi is an amazing app to play multimedia content from your local storage or from a remote NAS drive.  For remote controls, look for the official Kodi remote app available on the Google Play Store or the Apple Store.  Install the remote app on your smartphone and your almost ready to go.

In Kodi, on your Android device, go into the settings and activate the remote controls.  Open the remote app and add a new server linking to your Android device.  If all goes well, it will be detected easily.

All you need to do now is add content in Kodi as you need.  Movies, pictures and music.  Finally, connect your Android device to your TV set using an HDMI cable.

That's not all...  Since your Android device can also runs others apps than Kodi itself, you will be able to play games, browse the web and so on.  Of course, you need some devices to control your Android device remotely.  Almost all Android devices do support Bluetooth keyboards and mouse.  If you have a Bluetooth gamepad, you can then transform your Android device into a fully fledged game console.  As good as the Apple TV 4 itself.

Let's recap:
- Apple TV 4 + game controller : 250$ (179$ + 69$)
- Old Android device + game controller : 50$ if you did not have already a game controller.  Add 10$ for a micro HDMI adapter if needed...

It's a neat way to recycle your old Android devices.  As a bonus, your already purchased apps and games will be available on the big screen.

Let's not forget that you can connect your device into an available USB port on the TV set for power.  And why not set it so the camera can see you to make a video call using your TV set.

Have fun!

Record your screen on an Asus Memo FHD 10

In a previous post, I was showing you how to root your Asus Memo FHD 10 tablet.  This will be required if you want to record the display of your tablet.

http://hotcoding.crombz.com/2015/01/how-to-root-asus-memo-fhd-10.html

Once that is done, you'll be able to screencast your apps into videos in no time...  Actually not.  Even if the tablet is rooted, almost none of the screen recorder will work on the Asus Memo 10.  That's a really sad situation and nothing will change as Asus is not providing any update for this device anymore.

There is one app that is working...  SCR Pro!  A while ago it was listed in the Google Play store but for some strange reasons, it was pull-out by Google.  The author, iwobanas, created a thread to share his app for free on XDA (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2422061).  I had already bought the app while it was listed on the Google Play store so I was happy to retrieve this amazing recorder when I had to reset my tablet.

The video quality is really good and you can even play some Minecraft while recording your screen.  Optionally, your webcam can be display as an overlay.  Internal sound does not seem to work but the microphone does.

Give it a try and if you like SCR Pro, please make a donation to the author.

You can download SCR Pro for free here: http://www.scr-screen-recorder.com/

Another scam to get your Apple ID

Today, my girlfriend received an email from "Apple" about validating her identity.  The email do look amazingly legit and was referring to a recent change on her Apple account.

We were sceptical and I made this simple check before going any further.  To ensure that the email is coming from Apple, just press and hold the sender address on your iPad/iPhone.  The real email address will show up.

Again, with links contained in the email, just press and hold until the URLs will be shown by your device.  As you can see in this screen capture, the sender is definitely not Apple.

Youtube! Do something!

I am still waiting on Youtube to release the false copyright claim on my Youtube video...  It's been almost a week now.

Technically, the company Avangmusic is claiming a copyright on the audio of my video.  This video was created with iMovie and using the free-of-anything soundtrack provided by Apple.

The current status is that Avangmusic is "reviewing" my dispute over their claim and they have 30 days to reply back.  That means that my video is currently on-hold until Avangmusic releases the claim or that the 30 days period is reached.

Even worse, they could refuse my dispute and I'll have to fight back with another dispute with Youtube.  This has happened to me on another video but I eventually won my case (Twitter is a powerful tool).

For now, my content is hold hostage of that ridiculous process.  The copyright holders should prove that they have a case before Youtube takes any action on blocking contents.  In some cases, it can be obvious that there is a copyright issue but if their is any reasonable doubts, Youtube should wait before taking any actions.

This copyright claiming process is hurting the community of Youtubers and some of us are actually losing real money because of that.

Are you facing the same issue?  Make your voice heard by using #stopstealingmyvideos in your social media networks. It's time to end this madness!

You can follow me on twitter: @patrickballeux and on G+.

I'll post more as soon as I get new information...

iPhone overheating: Here's a fix!

A few days ago, I installed the latest iOS 9.1 public beta on my iPhone 6.  It's a bit risky, I admit but I like it.

My iPad 4 and iPhone 6 both got iOS 9.0 (public beta) a few weeks ago and everything worked without any problems.  When iOS 9.1 public beta came out, I was eager to try it out and discover what was new.

Overall, nothing much compared to the prior version 9.0 beside a major issue with my iPhone 6:  Overheating issues!

On the first night, I plugged in my iPhone as usual and in the morning, discovered that it was warm.  Usually, the iPhone is cold as ice, even after having spent the night on its USB charger (the stock one from Apple).  So I rebooted the device, assuming it was a glitch...

Later on that day, I found out that the battery was draining really fast.  Usually, the battery will last easily 2 days on a single charge but I have kept the old habit on charging it when going to bed.  On a normal day, the battery level will drop to 75% at most.  But after iOS 9.1, the battery level was already at 40% only a few hours after disconnecting from its charger.

Again, I rebooted the device, re-check all settings, closed all apps from the app switcher...  I tried everything and I was considering reverting to IOS 8.4 until the official 9.0 comes out.

On the second day, after a second full-night charge, the iPhone was still warm and the battery level was at 45%.  A real nightmare was at the door...

Again, I reviewed everything, all settings, rebooted many times with no luck.  The battery level was dropping fast at a rate of 1%, each 2 minutes...

So I tried something different.

First, I activated the "Low Power Mode" and switch back to the "Normal mode" in the general settings (available on iOS 9.x only).

Then, I deleted the Apple Beta Certificated from the General Settings expecting an "update" reverting me to the official iOS 8.4.  Nothing happened actually so I decided to re-install the Apple Beta Certificate to get the next iOS 9.1.x public beta version just in case.  I was willing to wait another full day, preparing a full recovery to iOS 8.4 if the problem would still show up.

It's been 24 hours since then and the overheating issue seems to be resolved.  I don't know if flipping the "Low Power 'ode" did the trick or simply re-installing the certificate for the public beta did the job but something got fixed along the way.

One thing is sure, rebooting the device did not fix anything as I had already rebooted many times.  For now, I can assume that one of those two operations fixed the overheating problem on my iPhone 6.

As a side note, nothing happened on the iPad 4, still working like a charm with iOS 9.1 public beta.

Did you fix your overheating problem with this tip? Let me know.

Bye bye Nintendo, new AppleTV is coming...

I just watched the latest Apple event about their new products for this year.  There was a lot to see but mostly, the new AppleTV is the one that got my attention.

As I watched the features of the new device, my mind was also on Nintendo.  The new AppleTV will do to Nintendo what the iPhone did to Blackberry.  It's a game changer, it's more than a multimedia device.  It's fantastic!

As usual, the AppleTV will let you watch movies and listen to music as it did in previous incarnations.  But apps will be available, in a full HD display in your living room.  It's not just apps, it's games that are as beautiful as you can have them on your iPhone or your iPad.  

You can also get interactive content while watching tv shows, sport events and more.  It has remote voice control, multiplayer capabilities,  great graphics and a lot of content to offer.

One really cool feature is movies and tv shows are not only available on iTunes from the main screen.  The AppleTV will let you search and browse movies, and offer you to watch them from iTunes, Hulu, Netflix and other services eventually.

The AppleTV is not a PS4 or XBox killer, but surely a Wii U killer...  If Nintendo does do something about it, they will fall into oblivion as Blackberry did a few years ago...

From Ubuntu to Windows 10

Ubuntu has been my main operating system since 2004.  I've been a big fan and a long time user.  Of course, I had to work with Windows at work, but at home, I've always preferred Ubuntu over Windows.

My laptop came pre-installed with Windows 7 and it didn't take time for me to format everything and put my good old pal, Ubuntu.  It's not that I hate Microsoft, but I always felt that something was missing and I was more into figuring out what was going wrong than simply using the operating system.

Windows 7 was good even if over time, more and more issues were rising on my computer.  Drivers were hard to find for some devices and often, apps would not work or would crash unexpectedly.  Ubuntu was more convenient, had more power tools integrated and gave me access to some amazing apps to develop.

When Windows 8 came out, I didn't even bother trying it.  The new interface was confusing and made me look the other way.

Out of curiosity and because it is free, Windows 10 got my attention.  Since I had a genuine Windows 7 licence on my laptop, I decided to give it a try.  I wiped Ubuntu and reinstalled Windows 7 on my laptop.  Once completed, I downloaded the upgrade for Windows 10 and waited... and waited... and waited...

The upgrade process took several hours and I was getting prepared to wipe everything again to put back Ubuntu.  But everything worked as expected and Windows 10 was ready to run on my old laptop, 12 hours later.

I've been playing with my new toy for the last hours, discovering the Windows Store, the new apps that are now integrated into Windows 10 (Mail, Calendar, etc.).  I've installed Twitter, Facebook and played Candy Crush for a few minutes.

I must say:  Microsoft got it right this time!

It's a bit early to say that everything is perfect.  Sometimes, it feels a bit slow but that could be related to the age of my laptop (a Samsung RV515 with 4 Gigs of ram).  Not the most powerful beast but it does the job.

I am so impressed as I am writing this that I will give it a try for a few weeks.  The new look is gorgeous, apps do feel more integrated and there is surely a lot more to discover.

Even if I am currently quite happy about Windows 10, the infamous keyboard switching that has been plaguing me for ages is still present in Windows 10:  I do set my keyboard to support French Canadian and English (USA) as french is my native tongue.

For some reason that I cannot understand, I eventually end up with a French (France) keyboard appearing out of nowhere from time to time.  This has annoyed me since Windows XP, and I had to reconfigure my keyboard settings, again, just after a few minutes of usage.  

Let's assume that this was just a reminder that this is a Microsoft product and hope that the next few days will worth the upgrade... 

Yes, Windows 10 is a real upgrade this time.  I would not go back to Windows 7...  Maybe Ubuntu... Time will tell.

Chromecast versus Apple TV

I've been a long time Apple  user.  I do own the iPhone, the iPad and of course, the Apple TV 2.  My girlfriend bought the Apple TV 3 a while ago before we started living together.  In our home, we have mostly Apple products and a few PC with Ubuntu installed.

Even if I do prefer Apple products, I do also have an Android Tablet for development purpose, the Asus Memo FHD 10.  It's a neat device that I like to thinker with.

As I wanted to be able to stream movies on our TV's bedroom, this was a great opportunity to get a new toy: the Google's Chromecast.  One Apple TV is hooked in the living room and the other one is the kid's bedroom.  As my main usage for another streaming device was only to watch a few movies one in a while, the Chromecast was a good choice, considering the low price of 40$.

How does it compare with the Apple TV?  It does the job at streaming movies on the TV and that's about it.

I wasn't expecting much more than that for this price.  The Apple TV is around 100$ and the Roku 3 is selling at 120$ (Canadian).

So how does the Chromecast compare with the Apple TV?

Pros:

1. It's small, really small
2. It's can be hooked directly in the USB TV port, thus no need for an external power outlet
3. It's easy to use
4. Image quality is good, at least on my bedroom TV

Cons:

1. There is no remote.  You need your phone/tablet to interact with it
2. There are not apps.  The device is driven by the apps on your phone/tablet
3. Not all apps are supporting Chromecast
4. You cannot play your favorite games like on iOS/AppleTV.  
5. You need specific apps to stream photos/videos on your TV
6. Initial setup can take more than 5 minutes... 

Overall, the Chromecast is a great little device.  Having to search for compatible apps is a bit annoying.  Major apps do support it like Youtube, Netflix or Google Movie.  But if you want to show a photo from your Facebook profile on the TV set or mirror a game on the big screen, you'll be facing some issues.

The thing is that iOS/AppleTV are meant to work together.  The support for Airplay and AirPlay Mirroring is native in iOS, making the streaming process so easy, you take it for granted.

On Android, it's not as easy.  It kind of me reming the first days of the Apple TV.  It took a few trials and errors to find the proper app to stream movies from my NAS to the Chromecast.  Sometimes, movies in MP4 format will not work with the Chromecast even if they are compatible with the Apple TV.

If you are on a limited budget, the Chromecast is great.  But if you can manage for a more expensive device, you should get the Apple TV or the Roku 3 as you will get more for your money.

You get what you pay for: 40$, a remote display...

iOS 9 Public beta glitches

I've been testing iOS 9 public beta for the last few days on my iPhone an iPad.  Overall, the latest and greatest from Apple is doing great but some glitches are showing up from time to time.

YouTube 

In the YouTube app, when an ad is displayed, the countdown is showing "ad.skip_in_seconds" instead of the actual time for skipping the ad.

Blogger/Keyboard

Switching keyboard language leads to a strange resided keyboard in the Blogger app.

Mail

In the Mail app, the top of an email is not showing up occasionally.  

Others

Other glitches that cannot be shown visually are:

- keyboard is a bit slow and unresponsive when writing a long text (like this post)

- opening apps is a bit slower 

- wallpaper orientation does not follow the device orientation once in a while

- keyboard sound feedback is dropping randomly

Most issues are happening on the iPad 4th generation.  If you plan to upgrade to iOS 9 public beta on your iPad 4, you wait a bit for next release.  It's not that bad, but annoying nevertheless.

The iPhone 6 is working like charm for now.

Should you install iOS 9 public beta?

This week, Apple made is next iOS version available to the general public.  iOS 9 beta can be installed on your iDevice easily by regetering your device at https://beta.apple.com.

Is it worth it?  Remember, this is a beta version and may contain some major issue affecting your daily usage.  I've upgrade my iPhone and my iPad yesterday and I must say, I like it... For now.

There are a few quirks like as I am writing this post, the keyboard is not resizing properly for some odd reason.  Nothing dramatic but a bit annoying.  Other issues I've found is the top of some webpages is not visible from time to time.  Restarting Safari seems to fix the issue.

On my iPad 4, iOS 9 is a bit slower than iOS 8.4.  Animations when switching apps is a bit sluggish and do not feel as snappy as it was.  I've red ducked the animations to avoid the issue.  Probably this will be fixed in a future version so I am not worried.

On my iPhone 6, all is working as expected.  I haven't found any issues for now.

Beside having the latest and greatest features on my devices, there are a few notable features that I do really enjoy.  Mainly, the new keyboard and the new Control Center.

They keyboard has been updated with a few minor feature for copying and pasting or selecting text by using two fingers.  The best new feature is a simple thing:  uppercase and lowercase mode are now showing on the keyboard, making it a lot easier to figure if I will write in uppercase or lowercase.  This was a minor annoyance but it was about time.  I also find that the keyboard is a bit more responsive than before.  It maybe an illusion or just me having visions but as I'm writing this post, I do feel like keys are more responsive than the keyboard in iOS 8.4.

The News app is still not available but the new Notes app is another great improvement over the previous one.  You can now add formatting and doodles into your notes, making them more useful than before without relying on a third party apps.  Again, it was about time...

Since my iPad is a bit old, I cannot test the multitasking features but I hope that Apple would at least provided the picture-in-picture feature as I do enjoy watching a movie while browsing the web at the same time.  Crossing my fingers...

iOS beta 9 is not for everybody.  It's a risk to take.  In my case, I am pleased for now.  I keep my files and important stuff on my NAS so it's not an issue if I have to reset everything.  If you are relying heavily on your iDevice in your daily usage, you should wait for the final version instead.  It's fun to discover the new features but not at the cost of preventing your normal usage.

If you have the urge of testing iOS 9 public beta, make sure to backup everything using iTunes on a computer before upgrading.  The whole process will take about 45 minutes, depending on your bandwidth and device generation.

I'll continue testing out iOS 9 and post as I make discoveries.  

Apple is moving to Open Source!

I just watched the WWDC 2015 from Apple and as usual there was a lot of great stuff and less great stuff.

Everywhere, everyone is talking about the new music service, the multitask feature with apps side by side or the performances improvement that Apple made in in OS X and iOS.

But something major happened today. Something bold and surprising.

Apple is open sourcing its new development language Swift. This is big news, bigger than Microsoft this time. I was surprised when Microsoft released Visual Studio for Macs and Linux a few weeks ago. I wondered if this was the day that "Hell is freezing over".

As soon as saw that Swift was moving into the Open Source World, I understood Microsoft's move. Love it or hate it, when Apple is tackling a new market, they usually get it right and build a strong community.

Is Apple just releasing the specs or will it commit and contribute to the open source community? It's one thing releasing the source code but if Apple is dedicated to developers as they are to the music industry, great things could happen.

The future will tell us more...

Patrick Balleux