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Say what you will about the new social features that Apple baked into its venerable iTunes software, most would agree that it has a lot of potential. But Ping’s suffering from some growing pains right now. For starters, there’s the FaceBook flap. On launch day it had FB integration, but Ping’s API access was blocked after Apple refused to agree to FaceBook’s “onerous terms.”

Then theres Ping’s buggy “Invite Your Friends By Email” feature which hasn’t worked for me yet. I tried it multiple times on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The form submission is simple enough:

…but I get this error when I click the Invite button:

The invite feature must be working for some people though, because I’m getting occasional invitations.

The third — and most troubling — problem for Ping is the onslaught of spam. The Guardian’s Josh Halliday notes that Ping has succumbed to spammers, “showing a curse of social media â even inside proprietorial walls.”

If you launch iTunes and click on Ping in the left pane, or click on “Recent activity” under the Ping area in the right navigation, you’re greeted by a “wall” page (of sorts) that displays recent activity of people you follow.

Here’s mine:

Because I follow Coldplay I see all of the comments that people make under the band’s posts. And the first one is a spammy “Free iPhone” offer (URL obfuscated). If you click on “Show more comments” link many more “free iPhone” come ons are in the comments.

It looks like iTunes’ 160 million user accounts are a “siren call to spammers” indeed. And if that weren’t bad enough people are creating fake People pages on Ping, like one for Ben Folds, which the he tweeted wasn’t set up by him.

After recent waves of phishing, royalty and credit card fraud Apple has to be vigilant to protect the integrity of its iTunes, it’s goose that keeps laying golden eggs. For now, the best thing to do is to report spammy comments (via the “Report” link along the top in blue).

Let’s hope that Apple nips this problem in the bud soon.

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Like any self-respecting Machead, I rushed to download the iTunes 10 release last night so that I could play with its new social networking feature, Ping. I downloaded it directly from the iTunes Web site and skipped the the Software Update version.

To my dismay I can’t launch the software and am getting this bizarre error message.

“iTunes quit unexpectedly while using the Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in”

“Reopen” doesn’t work (same error) and I’m left high and dry without my iTunes library.

The bizarre thing is that I’ve never installed the “Sonix SN9C201 WebCam plug-in” nor can I understand why iTunes 10 would need to access a WebCam plug-in.

A little searching revealed that others are suffering from the same bug. This thread on the Apple Discussion boards has 32 replies and 3 pages (at press time). An Apple Employee (Roy B) is asking afflicted customers to email him their crash logs — which I did.

Are you getting the same error?

Update: iTunes 10 is now running for me in Safe Mode (no extensions). Hold down Command and Option when launching the app.

Update2: Removing “Sonix SN9C201 WebCam.component” from HDD/Library/QuickTime folder allows iTunes 10 to launch and run normally for me. Some in the Apple thread have reported that removing ”DesktopVideoOut.component” from the same folder fixed the problem for them. The Sonix SN9C201 WebCam.component may have been installed by Skype (which I use regularly) but this hasn’t been confirmed.

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For the first time in a long time Apple yesterday streamed live video from its iPod announcement in San Francisco. Apple announced a new raft of iPods, a second-generation Apple TV and demo’d iOS 4.1 and 4.2 but an interesting rumor surfaced about the video stream itself.

The rumor was that Apple decided to stream the event to test its new new data center in Maiden, North Carolina. The $1 billion data center is one of the largest ever built.

Update: Twitter user @WildCowboy confirms that Akamai provided the video stream of yesterday’s event — not Apple.

The video stream worked fine for me in Safari on my i7 MacBook Pro with decent performance and minimal artifacting and lag, but when I switched to my iPhone 4 (running on AT&T 3G, outside Philadelphia) things went immediately down hill. While I was able to watch video for about 1-2 minutes, the connection was choppy and the video would slip out of sync. Then the video dropped completely and I received this message (below)

“Due to your current limited bandwidth connection this stream is audio only.”

But even the audio-only stream frequently dropped and I had long gaps of silence punctuated by occassional blips of random audio. It picked up again when Thom Yorke was into his second song close to the end of the event.

• On the Mac I give Apple’s video stream a B+
• On the iPhone I give it a D-

What about you? How would you grade Apple’s video stream?

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Apple held its highly-anticipated press event today, and for the first time in recent memory, streamed it live via the Web. Cult of Mac reports that Apple decided to stream the event to test its new new data center in Maiden, North Carolina, slated to go into full operation later this year. (The $1 billion data center is one of the largest ever built).

Some of the announcements:

• 230,000 new iPhone activations per day – this doesn’t include upgrades (jab at Android with that one)

iOS 4.1:

• Fixes proximity sensor, Bluetooth, iPhone 3G performance bugs
• HDR photos standard in iOS 4.1
• Upload to YouTube
• TV Show Rentals
• GameCenter for end users
• to be released next week

iOS 4.2 (sneak peek):

• all the features of iOS 4.1, plus
• Wireless printing via Print Center app
• AirPlay (formerly AirTunes), stream audio, video and photos over WiFi
• Coming out in November (free update)

iPods

• 275 million iPods sold
• all new iPods, biggest change in iPods ever

iPod shuffle (fourth generation)

• buttons
• voiceover
• playlists
• Genius mixes
• $49 – 2GB
• four colors

iPod nano

• multitouch-based clickwheel
• 46% smaller, 42% lighter
• clip
• Volume buttons
• VoiceOver
• FM Radio, Pedometer, Nike+
• Six colors
• $149 – 8GB, $179 – 16GB

iPod touch

• number one game player in the world (50+% marketshare worldwide)
• even thinner
• Retina Display (4x amount of pixels, 326 ppi, 24-bit, LED)
• Apple A4 chip
• 3-axis gyroscope
• front-facing camera and FaceTime (over WiFi)
• rear camera with HD video recording
• $229 (8GB), $299 (32GB), $399 (64GB)
• Available next week (pre-order today)

iTunes 10

• New icon ditches the CD
• New social feature called Ping
• Ping also available on iOS devices

Apple TV (second generation)

• one quarter of the size
• includes a remote
• Music
• TV shows
• all HD
• rentals only, no purchases
• $4.99 first run HD movies (day and date releases)
• $0.99 HD TV show rentals from ABC and Fox (commercial free)
• Netflix streaming
• streaming from a computer
• AirPlay (coming in November in iOS 4.2)
• $99, available in 4 weeks, pre-order today

What do you think of the new announcements?

See more coverage:

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Apple announced that — for the first time in recent memory — it will provide a live video stream of tomorrow’s music event, but there’s a catch. You’ll only be able to watch it on a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or iPod.

In the first sentence of its press release, Apple says (emphasis mine):

Apple® will broadcast its September 1 event online using Appleâs industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards.

…then in the next sentence it says:

Viewing requires either a Mac® running Safari® on Mac OS® X version 10.6 Snow Leopard®, an iPhone® or iPod touch® running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPadâ¢.

CNet notes the peculiarity:

To our knowledge, this is the first time that viewing of a company’s Web event has been restricted to hardware sold by that company. Some observers say the move effectively excludes the majority of Web users, since Safari commands only 5 percent of the browser market, compared with Internet Explorer’s 60 percent, Firefox’s 22 percent, and Chrome’s 7 percent.

If you don’t have an Apple device, don’t fret ZDNet will be live-blogging the event.

Ever noticed how photos taken on camera phones (including the iPhone) notoriously blow out the sky and/or leave the subject in the foreground in dark shadows? Sure, “touch to focus” helps, but it usually can’t compensate enough in high contrast settings.

A colleague and fellow-PPUG member Bob sends along this great tip for an app that I purchased immediately after seeing the results.

My wife and I received our new iPhone 4s on Monday. The built-in camera does well in low light, but seems to blow out the highlights pretty badly in high contrast situations. The angle of view is quite wide for a camera phone.

Here is a photo taken with the iPhone’s built-in Camera app.
The second photo (below) is the same subject photographed using the Pro HDR app ($1.99, App Store) in just two exposures, in automatic mode and processed completely in the iPhone 4.

The last photo (below) was taken with the Pano app ($2.99, App Store) with five photos, stitched in the phone while you wait. Pretty cool.

What is your favorite camera app?

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According to Patently Apple, our favorite Cupertino computer company is considering a new audio input port configuration for the iPod, iPhone and iPad. If a patent application filed this week is any indication, Apple is trying to limit the amount of holes in its devices, because each ”breaches the barrier that protects components inside the housing.” Translation: less holes are better. Paul Marks at New Scientist writes:

Apple’s answer is to reduce the hole count by making them multifunctional. It proposes removing the need for a separate microphone aperture by making it part of the socket the headphone jack plugs into. This adds only a couple of milllimetres to the socket length – the mic fits behind the tip of the jack plug. The result: “A microphone can be added to a mobile telephone without the need for an external aperture.”

While its only a patent and it remains to be seen if, when and how it would be implemented, Apple appears to be considering combining multiple jacks into one smarter jack. It makes sense too. For starters, less holes mean less physical parts to manufacture (and potentially fail) and Apple is already heading down this road with the iPhone 4 which features two microphones and noise cancellation.

The first mic is for phone calls, voice commands and memos. The second mic is for FaceTime calls and for making your calls better.

The other potential direction could take is to use the new port for beamforming — where the audio input of the two microphones is used as an amiable directional input. Patently Apple thinks this could be advantageous for the iPhone in speakerphone mode or video camera mode when projecting or recording a sound source at some distance from the device.

Apple could even do away with invasive “breach” type ports altogether and convert its audio/microphone ports into surface contact ports that attach via a magnet — like the popular MagSafe power adapter found on its MacBook Pro notebooks. I just hope that Apple retains backward compatibility with the millions of 3.5mm stereo headsets that are out there, changing to a new jack entirely would alienate too many customers in one fell swoop.

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AppleInsider is reporting that a new sixth-generation iPod nano could shrink the device to less than half of its current size, as pictured in the mockup above.

People familiar with the matter indicated that the size and shape of the device, revealed this week through photos of third-party cases, will be more akin to the iPod shuffle than the current-generation iPod nano. Even with this small size, however, it is expected to have a traditional iPod dock connector, allowing compatibility with the existing iPod accessory ecosystem.

The new iPod nano could use the tiny 3 x 3cm display that surface in part form as an Apple-branded component earlier this summer.

It makes sense from a manufacturing perspective. Smaller means less materials, components and cost, so Apple can charge the same price, add features and reduce costs at the same time.

Leaked case designs for the new iPod nano also support the smaller, squat industrial design.

My only question: if this is indeed the new iPod nano, what on earth is going to happen to the iPod shuffle? Will it be reduced to the size of a paperclip? (iPod invisa anyone?)

Stay tuned, the new nano could arrive at Wednnesday’s Fall iPod event.

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On Wednesday I posted a piece about Kai Krause, the most mysterious man in the world. Long time Mac users will remember the fantastically psychedelic interfaces that he designed for Kai’s Power Tools (KPT) — a set of powerful image tweaking filters for Adobe Photoshop.

Despite researching the post and hunting for his contact information I wasn’t able to reach the mysterious interface guru since he appeared to be “hidden in a towering castle in Germany working on a mysterious project.â A wee bit of hyperbole? Probably.

Kai reached out after seeing a link to my post.

If I may say hello from afar… before this thread spirals towards unnecessary flame wars: this is a greeting from Kai, with hatliftinggestures to Jason.

Not all that mysterious, really – I am not a recluse hermit, (and no, don’t really see myself as part of the “mega-rich” set. And certainly I am not retired, sitting by some pool with umbrella drinks is just not my thing

The intro text you quoted, Jason, was written over ten years ago, not five – and at the time I simply wanted to say “we are not doing some quick startup web thing” but rather just quietly work and design and think and play and live…. It was meant as the opposite of Hype, really.

But I fully understand how it can seem odd from the outside – all I wanted to say is: there was a little more to the story, once you look closer.

I would probably read that today just like kwabinalar and get a bit cynical – but at the time it was nothing more than an honest wave “hey they are some people who are NOT in this for a quick buck, will not sell their soul just to be on Nasdaq, but really like to think about where this is all headed…”

When I found this old place above the river, the first visitor was Douglas Adams – we were on each others boards at the time. And lots of plans were made for projects – not just software (he had moved next to us in Santa Barbara to do the Hitchhiker script)…and when he died soon after, that was just one of many changes in focus and goals which led me to morph my initial idea of a small incubator and focus on longer time cycles and deeper issues.

In other words: I lost interest do do “one-more-software-thing” and I never looked back

I did write an essay about that very topic: the fleeting nature of software, on the Edge site you mentioned at first:

P.S. Thanks Astra for the suggestion on Google Translating my writings in German, but that is a little bit like reading Woody Allen autobotted into Mongolian – all the wit and fun will be mangled out of it…puns become nuns… : See, it starts when they take my name “Kai Krause” and it comes out transliterated as “Dock Ruffle”…lol ( Kai = quay = dock, krauses Haar = ruffled hair.. All true, but…. Such is the plight of technology in the early third millennium, eh

Some more writings in English are here.

As it turns out, Kai is a lot like Thomas Panchon and rational and sane human being. And you can tell by his classic smirk that he doesn’t take this “business” too seriously. He’s got several projects brewing and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with…

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Episode 142 of the PowerPage Podcast is now available. You can either download it from the iTunes Store or directly (18.5 MB, MP3).

Panel: Jason O’Grady and Rob Parker

Topics: We review the torrent of rumors leading up to Apple’s September 1 event, including: the fourth-generation iPod touch, iOS 4.1 and how a new Apple TV with FaceTime, GameCenter and the App Store could be a huge game changer — and we play “What’s on your Mac.”

Here’s what’s on our Macs this week:

Jason

• VMWare Fusion 3.1 ($80)â Run Windows on your Mac with great 3D performance.
• Droid2 ($199 w/contract) â The best Android and Verizon phone out there right now and a worthy challenger to the iPhone.

Rob

• Apple’s Magic Trackpad ($69) â I’ve replaced my mouse with it and love it.
• Pro HDR ($1.99) â Excellent HDR photography app for the your iPhone.

Follow us on Twitter

• @jasonogrady
• @parkerdigital

Subscribe to the PowerPage Podcast in iTunes or add the Podcast RSS feed to your RSS client. Our theme music is generously provided by The Tragically Hip their new release “We Are The Same” is available on iTunes.

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