Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Just got my iPhone 4 - first impressions
I just got my iPhone 4, along with two "bumper" cases. They're not really cases, but that was all that was available...
First impressions:
First impressions:
- The speakerphone is MUCH louder (and therefore better)
- The screen ("retina display") is absolutely phenomenal, but... it looks funny through my polarized Ray-Ban sunglasses. This WILL grind on me, and unfortunately I'll probably end up buying some new sunglasses.
- It's MUCH faster to do everything.
- The camera is quite improved, although I think the digital "zoom" is worthless.
- FaceTime is great. I only know one person who has an iPhone 4, so the value of this feature is minimal for now.
- It feels solid, but so did prior generations.
- No rugged cases are available yet, and the nearby Apple and AT&T stores are sold out of most iPhone cases in general. I've been using an Otterbox Defender case, which has a holster clip. Until they (or another company) come out with something, I'm stuck with the bumper, and then putting it in a generic (sideways) holster pouch.
- Internet Tethering will require that I give up my "unlimited" data plan... I'm not going to do it yet, since I haven't had much use for that anyway.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Senators propose granting president emergency Internet power
Really? Is giving Obama (or any one person) a "kill switch" for the internet a good idea?
Senators propose granting president emergency Internet power | Politics and Law - CNET News
Senators propose granting president emergency Internet power | Politics and Law - CNET News
Thursday, June 17, 2010
AT&T borked the iPhone 4 pre-orders
As you may be aware, AT&T's servers were not ready for the massive demand for the iPhone 4.
Like a good fanboy, I was all ready to pre-order an iPhone 4 on the morning of June 15th. I started on Apple's Online Store, and noticed that it kept hanging when it would try to verify my eligibility for the upgrade. So after about 50 attempts (and re-entering my info that many times), I figured it was worth trying to do it on AT&T's site. After about 20 attempts, it appeared to go through. Or so I thought.
Because I was doing so much at once, right after the order went through, my browser crashed. This prevented me from printing the order confirmation. So I had no order number, no confirmation of any kind. I only remembered seeing "Thank you for your order."
Because I didn't trust the way it happened, I decided to try the Apple Online Store again. After about 4 attempts, that worked as well. Unfortunately, by that point it was saying that pre-orders would be delivered by July 2 as opposed to June 24. :( Of course, if both orders go through, that means I'll have spent around $700 after taxes as opposed to $350. :(
I got an email confirmation from Apple almost immediately, but nothing from AT&T. I therefore resigned myself to having to wait another 2 weeks. I also assumed that the AT&T order just didn't go through. Later in the day I got an email from AT&T saying there was a problem with the credit card, and that the order would be canceled if they didn't get new/correct credit card info. I called the number in the email and waited 35 minutes on hold before the system told me basically "sorry, we're too busy, call back later". I tried several times after that, for a grand total of about an hour-and-a-half on hold. This morning I actually got through - to a human being!
There's nothing wrong with the card - it's a debit card and the balance is more than sufficient for this purchase. However, for some reason their system kept rejecting it. So I gave the rep my business debit card, which worked. She told me that from what she could see on the system, it looked like my order would in fact arrive on June 24. I thanked her and hung up.
So now I just wait and see. Will I receive an iPhone 4 from AT&T on June 24? Will Apple send me one on July 2? Will I end up with two? Time will tell.
Like a good fanboy, I was all ready to pre-order an iPhone 4 on the morning of June 15th. I started on Apple's Online Store, and noticed that it kept hanging when it would try to verify my eligibility for the upgrade. So after about 50 attempts (and re-entering my info that many times), I figured it was worth trying to do it on AT&T's site. After about 20 attempts, it appeared to go through. Or so I thought.
Because I was doing so much at once, right after the order went through, my browser crashed. This prevented me from printing the order confirmation. So I had no order number, no confirmation of any kind. I only remembered seeing "Thank you for your order."
Because I didn't trust the way it happened, I decided to try the Apple Online Store again. After about 4 attempts, that worked as well. Unfortunately, by that point it was saying that pre-orders would be delivered by July 2 as opposed to June 24. :( Of course, if both orders go through, that means I'll have spent around $700 after taxes as opposed to $350. :(
I got an email confirmation from Apple almost immediately, but nothing from AT&T. I therefore resigned myself to having to wait another 2 weeks. I also assumed that the AT&T order just didn't go through. Later in the day I got an email from AT&T saying there was a problem with the credit card, and that the order would be canceled if they didn't get new/correct credit card info. I called the number in the email and waited 35 minutes on hold before the system told me basically "sorry, we're too busy, call back later". I tried several times after that, for a grand total of about an hour-and-a-half on hold. This morning I actually got through - to a human being!
There's nothing wrong with the card - it's a debit card and the balance is more than sufficient for this purchase. However, for some reason their system kept rejecting it. So I gave the rep my business debit card, which worked. She told me that from what she could see on the system, it looked like my order would in fact arrive on June 24. I thanked her and hung up.
So now I just wait and see. Will I receive an iPhone 4 from AT&T on June 24? Will Apple send me one on July 2? Will I end up with two? Time will tell.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Gary Coleman
Like Michael Jackson, this guy was exploited by everyone around him from an early age. Even in his 40's, he was surrounded by people who didn't really give a damn. Even after his death, the jackals continue to feed - his ex-wife sold this picture of Gary on his deathbed to the Globe "Magazine":
Picture source: http://www.globemagazine.com/story/511
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Dennis Hopper - R.I.P.
I just became aware of Dennis Hopper's passing. I'm deeply saddened.
I briefly met him in 1988 or so. I was probably about 17 years old. I was driving in Pasadena, CA and he pulled up next to me. I was driving a Hyundai; he was driving a Cadillac. He asked for directions. I was so star-struck that all I could get out was "Blue Velvet
was f**king rad!" Thankfully, my companion was able to provide him with directions, but he genuinely seemed to appreciate my praise and was a good sport about it.The world lost an interesting and talented thespian today.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The times are a-changing...
A client sent me this in a forwarded email - so I can't take credit for writing it.
Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come!
1. The Post Office. Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.
2. The Check. Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.
3. The Newspaper. The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.
4. The Book. You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.
5. The Land Line Telephone. Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.
6. Music. This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem.
The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalog items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."
7. Television. Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing all lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator.
Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.
8. The "Things" That You Own. Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.
In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.
9. Privacy. If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. And "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.
All we will have that can't be changed are memories.
Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come!
1. The Post Office. Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.
2. The Check. Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.
3. The Newspaper. The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.
4. The Book. You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages. I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.
5. The Land Line Telephone. Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.
6. Music. This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem.
The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalog items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."
7. Television. Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing all lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator.
Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.
8. The "Things" That You Own. Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider.
In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.
9. Privacy. If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits. And "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.
All we will have that can't be changed are memories.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
KFC Double Down - Review
I had to try it. And truth be told, it tasted good, but something was bothering me. The picture shows real bacon. The advertising says "two pieces of bacon". Unfortunately, the "Double Down" I received did NOT contain real bacon, but rather FAKE BACON. That's right - IMITATION BACON on quite possibly the most decadent sandwich sold by a chain restaurant. It was kinda like Turkey Bacon - it was okay, but it wasn't bacon.
Gripes about advertising fraud aside, the whole thing went down quite nicely, and in eating it I couldn't avoid being aware that I was doing something bad. And it felt good.
Monday, April 5, 2010
iTunes 9.1 remaining issue
I got iTunes 9.1 to work, and connected my iPhone to sync it.
Guess what appeared:
Of course, I usually synchronize "Notes" with my computer, but it's the first time I did so in German... ;)
Guess what appeared:
Of course, I usually synchronize "Notes" with my computer, but it's the first time I did so in German... ;)
iTunes 9.1 on Windows 7 (64-bit) is BROKEN
Just updated my iTunes to 9.1, and now it won't start.
Apparently I'm not alone:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=150&start=45#threads
No error messages, no apparent problems during installation. :(
UPDATE: TURNS OUT IT'S A PROBLEM WITH BONJOUR - WHICH IS USED FOR APPLE TV. I REMOVED IT AND ALL IS WELL WITH THE WORLD.
Apparently I'm not alone:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=150&start=45#threads
No error messages, no apparent problems during installation. :(
UPDATE: TURNS OUT IT'S A PROBLEM WITH BONJOUR - WHICH IS USED FOR APPLE TV. I REMOVED IT AND ALL IS WELL WITH THE WORLD.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
This is a member of Congress...
It's astounding to hear how dumb this man sounds, especially once you find out that he's a congressman:
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