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During the last few weeks I realized that my iPad mini wasn’t synchronizing any more. The error -1723 was shown.

At the Apple forums I found a couple of entries talking about this error and where it is coming from. Apple support gives the advice to

* change the USB cable and / or

* change the USB port to which it is connected to

* re-install iTunes

* re-install OS X (Mavericks in that case)

They also mentioned that Apple is telling them that the problem is hardware related and they should show up in a retail store to check.

Most of the people didn’t have luck with the suggestions Apple was providing – and I personally ran through some of them – but i didn’t re-install OS X – also with no luck at all.

Instead of doing a complete reinstall I tried to drill down the problem itself and recognized at some point that the media browser wasn’t showing photos any more – not in iTunes, but e.g. in Pages, Mail, Numbers…

That pointed me to the photo library and I started to have a deeper look at that. Knowing about the media browser issue in other applications I now checked the photo tab within iTunes when a iDevice is connected and found that there was only a spinning wheel shown… for hours. So for me this was now the indicator that something is wrong with the photo-libraries.

The setup I’m using here is:

MBP late 2008
Aperture 3.5.1
iPhoto 9.5.1 installed (but not in use)
iTunes 11.1.5

I started to test some settings and one was to setup a new Aperture Lib. I then opened iPhoto and selected this library there too.  Everything worked fine – but the media browser still was not able to show the content of the library (even if there was no content) –> spinning wheel.

My main idea then was, that maybe there was something changed with one of the last Aperture updates regarding the common use of the lib by both applications – Aperture and iPhoto.

As I didn’t use iPhoto any more I now decided to select a different Lib for iPhoto and Aperture. I opened iPhoto and created a new, fresh Library there.

After that I re-opened iTunes, selected the iDevice which should be synchronized and moved to the Photo Tab there.

And guess what – yes the spinning wheel was gone and instead of that I now was able to choose Aperture from the drop down list:

Starting from this point everything worked now like a charm – synchronizing wasn’t a problem any more 🙂

So it wasn’t a hardware issue at all – luckily!

 

Solution at a glance:

1. Open iPhoto
2. Create a new Library for iPhoto (File/Switch to library…/Create New…)
3. Close iPhoto
4. Open iTunes
5. Connect the iDevice
6. Open the Photos-Tab
7. Select the Aperture Library (because I’m using it as my primary lib)

 

From now on I’ll post on a not regular basis a short description about apps I like to use.

Today I want to show you the most used app on my devices – iPhone4, iPhone3, iPad and on my MacBook Pro – even on my USB-Sticks and the cloud: 1Password

Purpose of the app:

1Password stores your account / license / access informations;

Costs:

Mac & Windows: € 39.99
iPhone & iPad: € 11.99

Read more…

I wasn’t very worried about this GEO-tracking issue we heard these days – but It’s good to see that apple reacted immediately.

 

About Android I didn’t hear anything… so did they a update? Or is there a problem with their update process because of the fact that there are so many different versions (special one for almost each of the brands) out there?

User of Android mobiles should give them a kick like everyone did it with Apple 😉

As it turned out that iOS 4.2 / Mac OS 10.6.5 only allows printing on some special HP printers via AirPrint it was some kind of surprise for many users.

Discussions before the release showed the ability of iOS devices to print to almost every printer – it was clear that it wouldn’t work for every printer – but for more than only some HP printers.

For me it would have meant to wait for one of the next releases to print on my Canon 865i – which is clearly not an HP printer, and by the way really not a new one…

But I found a solution on the web today – tested it and was happy at all… It.simply.works.

What you will have to do to start printing is really easy – just create a little AppleScript and let it run under Administration permissions, delete the currently assigned printer(s), reboot your Mac and re-install the printer afterwards – don’t forget to share the printer to get it working.

1. Step – the AppleScript:
   

   AirPrint - On, The Script

   –> download here the complete script: AirPrint On

2. Step – Delete your current printer via the Preferences Pane:
   

   Printer Preferences

   • open the preferences pane via the ‘Apple / Systempreferences’ menu entry
   • select ‘Printer / Fax’ to show the installed printers
   • select the printer and click on the ‘-‘ button to delete the printer
   • close the preferences and restart your computer
3. Step – open again the System Preferences
   

   Share Printer in Network

   • click the ‘Printer / Fax’ icon
   • click on the ‘+’ button to add the connected printer (connect and switch the printer on!)
   • confirm the dialogs showing up (recommended: create new printer queue if asked)
   • select the ‘Share this printer on the network’ option and click on the ‘Sharing Preferences’ button
   • select ‘Printer Sharing’

From then on you should be able to select the printer via your iDevice as a AirPrint optional printer:



AirPrint Options on the iPad

Have fun!

Interesting story at AppleInsider showing that – if the iPad is put in – Apple is US largest PC seller:

Switched to the new iOS releases and / or using an iPad and getting this nice little alert box when trying to delete a mail?

Well – here’s the simple solution:
1. Go to the ‘settings’ app on your device
2. Open the ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars’ tab
3. Select the account in the list which has this issue
4. Open the ‘Advanced’ tab
5. Open the ‘Deleted Mailbox’
6. Select ‘Trash’ in the section ‘On My xxx’ where ‘xxx’ stands for your device

Yes I know that this is already preselected – but it has to be selected manually so that it’s recognized.

After this you shouldn’t see the alert box again 🙂

First of all – i’m editing this post with my MB Pro. I tried to do it with the iPad… but the article was too long and there are issues. Issues like the keyboard… read more:

The beginning:
Unboxing was a little bit suprising because the box was much bigger than the iPad itself. Unlike for Apple because they try to avoid too much packaging material these a days. In the box there’s of course the iPad itself and a little paper wallet containing the warrenty certificate and a sheet with infos how to proceed. And there’s the charger with the USB connection cable… But the charger wasn’t needed because of the fact that the iPad was charged fully.

Next step:
Contacting iTunes – so i had to startup my MB pro and connect my iPad via the USB-cable.

Setup:
Setting up the iPad is easy at all. After connection iTunes automatically starts up and the first backup of the device takes place. Select the content you want (don’t forget to get iBooks from the iTunes store!) and organize the apps with the designated tool in iTunes. Really easy – and for those of us already owning a iPhone / iPod – nothing new.

Content:
Yes – that’s the point i stick to. iBooks only shows up FREE books which are Project Gutenberg related – nothing else. But I’ve heard that ‘Random House’ already has a signed up contract with Apple for their books  to be available within the Austrian Apple-Store. We’ll have to wait..

Movies? – No movies there, no TV-series. Only podcasts.

Alternative contents:
You are able to put your own videos into iTunes – this is what I’ve done before the iPad – this is what I’ll do now 🙂
Books? Well – use Stanza – this app allows you to add ePub documents which are available through the internet. And of course PDFs. But PDFs are not so nice to be handled within the iPad as eBooks are.

Differences to the iPhone:
There are differences.

Safari. There’s no ‘Search within this page’ feature as you have on the MB Pro. I’m missing it really.

But:
I – and my family – love the iPad. For reading. Surfing. Watching movies. Using Apps.
It’s so easy to browse the content you want. Flash? Not missing at all. Most of the internet sites I’m used to visit already switched to HTML5. Videos are available… Ads are not missed.
You’re able to write emails – if they aren’t too long. You’re able to post on your blog – if the article isn’t too long. There are things you can do with the iPad perfectly – others are… well – not horrible… but simply not convenient.

Give it away again? No. Never. 🙂

Update:
All the issues I had are solved by giving the iPad settings a closer look. Settings I’ve done month’s ago on the iPhone 🙂

I’m back from Greece – and no, I was not affected by their strikes 🙂

iPad 16GB WiFi only

Being back I did what I’ve decided during my vacation – I ordered a iPad at the Apple Store. MediaMarkt – where I checked in for the iPad first didn’t have one any more. They are out of stock… and the shopmen there are really not happy about this situation…

Well – Apple told that they will deliver it on Aug. 11th, so that it’s in my hands on Aug. 16th – but todays ordering-status tells me something different:

So hopefully I’ll have it early next week 🙂

Steve Job’s response to a user about the higher iPad prices in germany:

Blame your government. Germany just added a new copyright levy for computers.

If this response is really from Steve – it’s more than other got over the last weeks / months 😉

Update:

Prices reduced on the same day – now it’s 499 € for the smallest one. Only the 64GB version has now that fee included – but I think this is still a fault because the fee shouldn’t be applying to such a device…

Update 2:

Apple now reduced the price for the 64GB too…

The eagle has landed – and is not called iSlate. I always did not like the rumored name for the new apple device and I was happy to see that it is now called ‘iPad’.

It’s – as already blogged by many others – something between the iPhone and the MacBook(s) (Pro). It’s nice, it’s shiny and of course it’s NOT new.

Many competitors already tried to give an tablet a chance – but they wasn’t very successful up to now. What they made wrong? Well – as always during the last years Apple made it (or will make it) by a perfect setup of two things: design & usability.

Usability within this content means for me not only the haptic of the device and / or the OS which is driving it. It’s more the content which makes it some kind of usable.

This device seems to be a ‘Super-Kindle’ – it’s not monochrome, it’s not only showing up with eBooks: Apps (the iPhone / iPod Touch ones AND a new cat. of Apps just for the iPad), Business-Framework (iWorks), Fun (Movies, Photos, Games…) and a intelligent setup of accessories (Cover, Doc, Keyboard, Camera Connector…) right from the beginning AND a pricing where it’s worth to think about buying one 🙂 – amazing, again.

The Kindle is a great device – yes. But it’s usage is restricted to ‘reading’… this won’t be enough I think.

So what about? Simple: I WANT ONE – NOW! And I’m happy with the Wifi only only one… don’t need 3G!
update: did I mention that it’s shiny? Well this is one really big advantage of the amazon Kindle – it’s not shiny… and therefor you can read your ebooks at the beach for example – would be hard with the glossy iPad I think…