macgirl's blog

It's ALIVE! My iPhone car set-up has been perfected

2010-02-05T16:29:00.000-05:00

Well, this may not be perfect according to everyone's standards, but it's damn near close for my needs.

The hardware:

1 BMW X3 (with built-in OEM Bluetooth car kit)
1 OEM iPod-your-BMW kit
1 ProClip adjustable tilt + swivel iPhone mount
1 Scosche passPORT Firewire-to-USB charging converter
1 6-foot CableJive iPod/iPhone extension cable

I've had this OEM iPod kit in my car since I bought it and it's worked flawlessly with an old iPod nano that permanently resided in my glovebox. However, now that GPS apps are now widely available for the iPhone, I wanted to hook up my iPhone to my car so I could hear the navigation guidance audio over my car's speakers and charge my iPhone at the same time with the same cable. Yet there were a couple of obstacles to overcome first...

The iPod cable in my glovebox was not quite long enough to reach the place on my dashboard where my ProClip holder resides, so I needed an extension cable for this. 3GJuice makes a 24-inch one that sells for $24.95 on Amazon. It's black and would have been a bit less obvious against my black dashboard, so I went for it. Unfortunately, it didn't work. Next, I tried a similar extension cable from USBFever. No dice with that one either. I half-heartedly ordered a CableJive cable, expecting to see the same result. But it worked! God bless CableJive!
The iPod-your-BMW kit charges via Firewire only, so if I wanted my iPhone to get a charge – particularly important when using power-intensive apps like GPS ones – I needed a charging converter to work with my iPhone 3GS. Scosche sells one, and I got it from Amazon
for $24.99.

I do have a Belkin iPhone car charger but my cigarette lighter/charging port for the front seats is inside the ashtray, and it's not the prettiest thing to leave this open all the time when I want to charge my iPhone, and it's a bit of a pain to keep digging the charger out of the center console as well. Hence my desire to make sure I could charge my iPhone using the cord for the connector kit that is in my glovebox.

I've had the ProClip mount almost as long as I've had this car as well, albeit with different holders for the different phones I've had. The current holder is an iPhone 3G/3GS-specific one that accommodates a naked/skinned iPhone (I have a Gelaskins skin on it at the moment - my review of this skin is here). It also tilts and swivels so I can switch my iPhone to landscape orientation and adjust the viewing angle, with an additional arm that will prevent it from falling out when swiveled on its side or even upside down - you can find it on ProClip's site here. I can't say enough good things about ProClip mounts – they require no modification to your dashboard since they just pop into existing seams and they look far more professional than the air vent and windshield mounts I've seen. They are a bit pricey, but definitely worth it in my opinion.

Honestly, I do not like the look of wires hanging about my dashboard, but I was hesitant to drill through my dashboard to make this a little cleaner. However, since it's just one black cord that peeks out of the back of the glovebox and drapes only 12 inches or so over my also-black dashboard before hitting the side of the passenger footwell, I'm not *too* bothered by this (this picture actually makes it look more obvious than it does in person).

To avoid the cable from dangling into the passenger footwell and the plug end from flopping around on my dashboard when my iPhone is not connected, I used some wire clips (kindly procured by my husband) and velcro. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with velcro, but it works very well for this, including keeping the dock connector end stuck to my dashboard in a place that makes it easy to grab when I need it and quick to store yet out of the way when I'm done.

In the end, if not aesthetically flawless, my set-up is is spot-on for what I need:

Incoming calls are already routed via Bluetooth through my car's speaker. I can accept and end calls using a button my steering wheel. I can initiate calls using my car's voice command system, or I can browse my contacts list on the stereo's display using buttons on my steering wheel. Music playing through the stereo or iPod app fades out and in with incoming and outgoing calls.
Music playback from the iPod app works flawlessly, though it is limited a bit by the iPod-your-BMW kit. I have to set up special playlists labeled BMW1-Playlist1, BMW2-Playlist2, etc. for the kit to see the playlists and play music from them. It's not the greatest and requires advanced planning, but it works and I'm used to it. I am considering changing this kit out for an after-market one that offers more functionality, but that's not in my budget at the moment. If I really want to listen to something I just downloaded that's not in a specially-made playlist that the system will see, all I need to do is start playing it before I plug it in and it will automatically pick up playing where it left off – I think this is a bit of a glitch with the iPod kit, but it's a handy one.
Audio from GPS apps plays over my car's speakers. Depending on the app, music will fade out before the navigation guidance and fade back in afterward, or guidance will simply play over the music. With the TomTom app (my review for work), this means music stops and starts abruptly when voice guidance is given. With the Navigon (my review) and Sygic (my review) apps, music fades out and back in nicely before and after voice guidance.

The only downside (aside from the limitations of the iPod-your-BMW kit) is that I must plug in my iPhone each and every time I get in the car if I want to listen to music from it. If I'm lazy and don't do this, I can still listen to FM radio or a CD, of course, and my calls will still be routed via Bluetooth and all of those functions remain intact. However, I've found myself plugging my iPhone in as soon as I get in the car all the time, even for short rides to the gym or post office. I really dislike FM radio (too much chatter and advertising) and I haven't made a new CD in ages with more recently-obtained music that I usually want to listen to.

Overall, I'm very pleased with my set-up. If you have any questions about any of the products I've mentioned in this post, please don't hesitate to contact me via email or by posting a comment.

Why so much iPad hate?

2010-02-01T10:23:00.002-05:00

Even as an Apple fangirl, I will be the first to admit that the iPad isn't for everyone and that the iPad lacks features that would make it more appealing and useful for many. But why all the hate? It's one thing to legitimately define why you don't like the iPad (and I think Gizmodo has a great article here comparing the iPad to other tablets and its shortfalls are clearly evident) but it's another to completely bash it simply because it isn't for you. Why bother? Do those who bash it simply because they don't like or want it hope to change the minds of those who do? Or is there some other chest-beating and roaring message behind this behavior that I'm just missing?

I really like Apple products for the most part (if you couldn't already tell). I don't own everything they've ever made and I don't make it a point to buy everything they put out. Yes, I have 2 Macs, 2 iPhones, an old iPod laying dormant in a drawer (which reminds me that I need to sell it) and some peripherals. I don't have an AppleTV, a Mac Pro, Aperture, and a whole bunch of other things that Apple makes. Not everything that Apple makes is perfect but the products I do have work for me. That's the key thing right there – I have all of these things because I like them and they function (most of the time) in the way that suits my needs the best.

If you've been reading my blog regularly, you see that I don't bash Windows products. I have used them (I used to own Windows-based computers up until 2003 after leaving my very first Mac from college behind for my dad to use) and have always had to use them at work. I admit that I may get snarky about them sometimes (I recently complained about having to install Vista on one of my Macs simply to use one application that I couldn't get to work under CrossOver and has no Mac equivalent) but that's usually out of bitterness when something does does not work as it should. I've owned phones made by RIM, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, and Palm. Consumers have tons of choices out there. I make my choices based on what I need and the features of what's available. If I don't like something, I don't go around crying that a product sucks, will never sell, or that it's stupid just because I don't like it. And I certainly don't insult people who will buy a product that I don't want or need, which is what I've been seeing a lot of in the Mac-related forums I visit, unfortunately.

I know that Apple is one of the most prominent companies in the consumer technology space now – the iPhone, the success and growth of its retail store chain, and the overall performance of the company in relation to its checkered past prior to Steve Jobs' most recent return, all make it an easy target for pundits and consumers alike. Apple is a company that likes control – they want their products to work a certain way and provide a specific user experience and they do limit and close down their products to ensure this. If you don't like it, buy something else. Bitching about it certainly won't change how Apple does things – it's certainly been working for them with a stock price hovering around $200 per share and $24 billion in the bank.

I definitely don't advocate not speaking up when you think something is wrong or when you feel a company has not delivered what has been promised in a product or service. But the iPad isn't even available yet and you don't have to buy it if you don't want it. It does look like a large iPod touch and it doesn't have a camera or any USB ports. It doesn't multi-task and it appears that it won't show Flash so far. Does these facts really make you angry? Do you really feel the need to ridicule those who want to buy it? If you answered yes to either of these questions, the only useful and polite suggestion I have for you is to seek a some therapy from a professional. If a single product that's not being forced on you in any way, shape, or form causes you to act like a schoolyard bully, well, I think that says a quite a bit about the type of person you are, and I have no desire to make your acquaintance, to say the least.

Oh, and the sanitary napkin iPad jokes were lame about 5 minutes after the tablet's name was announced. I can't believe that the word that has this definition according to Merriam Webster titillates so many people:

Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1570
1 a : a thin flat mat or cushion: as (1) : a piece of soft stuffed material used as or under a saddle (2) : padding used to shape an article of clothing (3) : a guard worn to shield body parts against impact (4) : a piece of usually folded absorbent material (as gauze) used as a surgical dressing or protective covering (5) : a component of certain brake systems (as disc brakes) consisting of a plate covered with a frictional material b : a piece of material saturated with ink for inking the surface of a rubber stamp 2 a : the foot of an animal b : the cushioned thickening of the underside of the toes of an animal 3 : a floating leaf of a water plant 4 : a collection of sheets of paper glued together at one end 5 a (1) : a section of an airstrip used for warm-ups or turnarounds (2) : an area used for helicopter takeoffs and landings b : launchpad c : a horizontal concrete surface (as for parking a mobile home) 6 a : bed b : living quarters

Really? I thought I left the obnoxious boys who giggled anytime they heard the word "bra" or anything else related to "girl stuff" in my 7th grade class far behind.

/rant over. Now it's time to search through my stash of gadgets that I no longer use to see what I can sell to help fund my iPad purchase. First on that list is that old iPod nano...

Yes, I'm going to buy the iPad and it may even replace my MacBook Air...

2010-01-28T17:15:00.000-05:00

Of course, I was glued to my computer yesterday watching multiple sites providing live coverage of Apple's event. From the overwhelming number of rumors in the past few months, everyone pretty much knew what was going to be announced, though the actual design of the tablet and detailed specs hadn't been pinned down. I actually screamed like a sweaty teenaged girl at a Jonas Brothers concert when Steve Jobs first held up the iPad on stage. Fortunately no one but the dog saw this bit of highly undignified behavior. And the dog was not amused.

Could this be my new Preciousssss?

As I mentioned on Twitter yesterday, I am going to buy an iPad. No, I don't need really need one given that I already have 2 Macs. For me, it will probably be an ebook reader first (I had been toying with the idea of getting a Nook recently and I used to own a first-gen Kindle). It *could* replace my MacBook Air (my secondary Mac I use when traveling or to spend the day working at a cafe or the library) if a few things happen:

1. Easy access to my iDisk and MobileMe OTA synchronization

Now, I can't see Apple *not* making the MobileMe synchronization happen. Plus, the iPad should already be able to use Apple's existing iDisk app anyway, so the iDisk access should be a non-issue. However, what will be key for me will be the ability to open and edit documents stored on my iDisk (I've previously ranted about how this isn't possible on the iPhone, which still drives me crazy). This is how I already use my iDisk – I store work documents exclusively on my iDisk so that I can access them from my desktop or my MacBook Air without needing to worry about document version control. (Before you start to worry, my iDisk is backed up regularly in case Something Bad happens on Apple's end.)

2. Excellent document editing capabilities

I know Apple demo'ed iWork for the iPad yesterday, but I'd really need to get my hands on it to see how well it worked for me. However, iWork may not even be an option for me since I use some relatively complicated Excel spreadsheets for work and I'm not even sure that Numbers could handle them without losing some of my formulas and macros. I'm hoping that Dataviz (the developers of the Documents to Go app for the iPhone and other platforms) will optimize their app for the iPad, AND that Apple allows 3rd-party apps to access iDisks (or some file storage on the iPad itself).

3. Decent text entry functionality

I saw the on-screen virtual keyboard and it looked like it was pretty quick, though those announcing the iPad and demonstrating it at the hands-on event afterward had the benefit of getting used to it for a good while, I bet. I definitely do not expect to be able to type 90+ words per minute on the iPad as I can on a full-sized mechanical keyboard, but I'd like to be at least as fast on it as I am on my iPhone, on which I'm about half as fast as I am on a regular keyboard.

I'm sure I won't be patient enough once the iPad is released to confirm these things before I go ahead and buy one. I am, after all, an Apple fangirl.

I'm eyeing the 64GB version with 3G. I had expressed hope yesterday on Twitter that I could use my existing SIM card from my AT&T 3G modem in it to avoid paying for yet another internet connection, though the iPad will only take "micro* SIM" cards (I have never seen one of those in person) and my 3G modem's SIM card is a standard sized one. Now, if AT&T will give me a micro SIM version of it and I can get a regular-sized SIM adapter for it, that might work, though I don't think AT&T will be nearly that cooperative in my devious plan to avoid giving them more money.

I'll head to my local Apple store to see an iPad in person as soon as they're available. I already know it will be VERY hard for me to not buy one of the Wi-Fi only versions but I will try to stay strong.

Will you get an iPad?

*I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple did this merely to make it hard for people to use their existing SIM cards from an iPhone or other device.

More Apple tablet thoughts: Will it have free 3G connectivity?

2010-01-15T11:52:00.001-05:00

I was just listening to last week's MacBreak Weekly podcast (my favorite Mac-related podcast) and Leo and company were speculating about 3G connectivity in the rumored Apple tablet. They also mentioned the Kindle, discussing it as a dedicated device and how reading on its e-ink screen is preferred by many over reading on an LCD screen as would appear on the tablet. This got me thinking about the Kindle a little more and its Whispernet connectivity that offers free 3G connectivity - no sign-up required, no contract, and it's free for as long as you own the Kindle (at least Amazon hasn't said anything to the contrary).

A little light bulb then went on above my head: What if Apple will offer free 3G connectivity - like Amazon does with the Kindle - with their new tablet? Here's what makes me think that this is very possible:

In my view, it's unlikely that Apple wouldn't offer a portable device like a tablet – which will presumably be a device meant for media consumption and maybe as a partial laptop replacement – without 3G connectivity. So far, Apple hasn't offered any laptop computer with a built-in 3G modem, unlike almost every other computer manufacturer. They are overdue in offering this. Plus, seeing the success of the iPhone with it's 24/7 internet connectivity via 3G/EDGE or wi-fi has probably got them thinking about what this could mean for future products. More connectivity = more media consumption = more App Store/iTunes sales.
Most iPhone users already pay for an unlimited data plan (some carriers offer limited data plans, though they still charge an additional fee for this on top of the voice plan) and adding another data plan for another device on top of that would be highly-unattractive and most likely unfeasible for many. Apple wouldn't want to automatically drive away iPhone users who don't want to foot yet another bill for internet access. Offering this for free would mitigate this issue.
Apple recently purchased Quattro, a mobile advertising network. *I can't see Apple using this network on the iPhone for their own apps, of which they have relatively few at this point: Remote ($0), iDisk ($0), MobileMe Gallery ($0), Texas Hold'em ($4.99) and Keynote Remote ($2.99). It wouldn't make sense for them to put ads in their free apps – Apple is not hurting for cash and these apps simply augment the functionality of existing Apple products (MobileMe and any Mac). They could place ads in their paid apps, but Apple didn't purchase Quattro simply to add revenue from 2 apps. But, their own mobile ad network on a wildly popular tablet device could probably easily fund 3G connectivity for the lifetime of the device.

Tablet users would need to agree to the terms of use of the free connectivity, which would include viewing ads. Perhaps Apple will even offer ad-free connectivity if you pay for the 3G connectivity yourself with an eligible carrier.

One more thing: Apple purchased Lala, a streaming music service, in December. Leveraging this with a tablet (that will probably sell like hotcakes) with free 3G connectivity (plus the iPhone, given the data plan users are already paying for) would be a smart move to establish a large customer base right from the start.

*The New York Times speculated that Apple purchased Quattro to compete with Google and offer app developers advertising for their apps, providing an all-in-one experience for developers who want to show ads in their apps to earn revenue. While this is possible, I don't think this is why Apple purchased Quattro. Apple isn't in the business of selling ads. They sell hardware and software melded together to give a specific customer experience, plus content through iTunes which is also presented in a way to enhance the customer experience. Apple won't push ads simply for the sake of revenue in established channels – this feels vastly out of character for them in my view. Apple is smart, and if they're going to offer anything free to a large number of customers, they'll have a way to stay in the black to satisfy shareholders that works for them with minimal fuss.

As a former Kindle owner (I had a first-gen Kindle for a few months before I changed my mind about having a dedicated device for reading that cost $200 when reading on my iPhone with the free Kindle app worked just as well for me), I can attest that having free 3G on a device meant for media consumption is absolutely fabulous. In fact, that was my favorite feature of the Kindle - instant access to browse for new books, or to even browse the web with its experimental browser is a killer feature and it has led the Kindle to be the foremost ebook reader on the market today. I think it's a formula for success for an Apple tablet that can be a mobile media hub for users.

So, that's my prediction. What do you think? I haven't seen anyone put all of these pieces together like this so far though I admit I haven't read the entire internet to confirm this, but I haven't gotten this idea from anyone else. I totally call dibs on credit for this prediction if it turns out to be true. ;)

(See my previous blog post for more Apple tablet thoughts.)

CES 2010 and Apple Tablet thoughts

2010-01-14T16:56:00.006-05:00

It's been a while since I've blogged. The holidays thoroughly kicked my ass this time around, though I'm not quite sure why. In some ways, I was more organized than I had been in previous years - I didn't need to go shopping on Christmas Eve and the majority of our Christmas cards arrived before Christmas day. Frankly, those two accomplishments are damn nearly miracles in and of themselves. Despite this, I found little time for "fun" writing from around Thanksgiving until now. It's been a few days since I've been back from CES as I write this, having covered the expo for work (my job is awesome!). There wasn't all that much Mac-related there and it was far less stressful than last year's CES working for my previous employer. However, I was still exhausted toward the end of the week. I'm quite the introvert and meeting new people and being in large crowds regularly over several days at a time is tiring for geeky little me, not to mention the general craziness of CES and the evening activities that followed full days on the show floor.

On a personal note, I stayed at Excalibur on the strip in one of their newly-remodeled "plasma rooms." It was my first time staying there and the room wasn't bad, though without HD cable feeding the plasma, the experience wasn't as good as it could have been. Also, I did get a chance to get lunch at In-n-Out - my favorite fast food burger chain - with Chris Meinck of EverythingiCafe.com, which was great (both the food and the company)! We had tried to meet for lunch at last year's CES but I didn't get a chance since I was working crazily on a Palm Pre first impressions review on that day. Oh, and the Excalibur has a pretty good gym though I didn't get there as much as I'd hoped to. A cab driver tried to convince me that having kids was the greatest thing a person could do (he did not succeed and I'm not quite sure why he tried - do I look like I need to have kids?) and I didn't gamble once, even though I had intended to. I had a great risotto dish at at restaurant at the Wynn one night and avoided the free lunches provided for the press by the expo at all costs. And I finally met my boss in person (we had only spoken by phone, IM, and email before)!

I spent a good deal of time on the show floor on the first and second days of the expo and was focused on finding accessories and products related to the Mac, iPhone/iPod, and other Apple products. I didn't really see that much that thrilled me and made me clap my hands together in anticipatory glee. While I read about Samsung's transparent OLED screen, I never hunted it down on the floor to see it in person, though I think that's one cool product that I look forward to seeing in mass production soon. Though I've had my eye on the Barnes & Noble Nook for a while now, I finally got a chance to see one at the Digital Experience event at CES and it was nice enough to solidify my decision to buy one, though there is one snag in that plan: the rumored Apple tablet. No Nook - nor any other dedicated ebook reader, for that matter - for me until the Apple tablet is revealed. Of course, as I'm sure you can guess, I'm buying that Apple tablet no matter what. How can I not?What's the tablet going to be like? The rumors are flying, as usual. Here are a few of my favorite ones:

The interface part is where I have the most trouble picturing the tablet. At CES, I saw a few of the new tablets with the NVIDIA Tegra 2 chipset that ran Android and they just felt like large cell phones. The on-screen keyboards were pretty much impossible to use with your thumbs since the device was too wide to be able to reach the middle keys, and the lines of letters were offset, making them impossible to type on with 10 fingers as you would on a normal physical keyboard. Of course, I'm not an Apple interface designer (and for good reason since conceiving of an elegant tablet interface eludes me) and I'm sure the bright minds of the software engineers and UI specialists at Apple have figured this one out. Well, at least I hope they have. Though I'm sure that Steve Jobs would never let a product that didn't work elegantly out the door to begin with.

John Gruber made an interesting blog post on the tablet, most pertinently addressing this question: If you already have an iPhone and a MacBook; why would you want this?

This is a question I struggle with as well. What will the tablet do that's new and unique enough to differentiate itself from my iPhone and my ultra-portable MacBook Air? If Gruber is right, the tablet may be functional enough for me to sell my MacBook Air. However, my reaction may not be that of the typical Mac user/convert since my MacBook Air is now my secondary Mac – my Mac mini is now my primary Mac. Technically, I don't need a second Mac, but I have it since it's useful to me anyway and I have no burning urge or need to sell it. Still, I really hope Apple nails text entry on the tablet. While I'll almost certainly still buy the Apple tablet if I can't type as well on it as I can on my MacBook Air, it may indeed be a "surplus" device for me, with only my Mac fangirl status prompting me to buy and keep it.

At any rate, the rumored announcement (January 26 or 27) will be here shortly, so hopefully we'll all know more soon.

Do you think that an Apple tablet is on the way? What do you think it will look like and what will it be able to do? Will you buy one?

400+ kills and counting. Eliminate Pro has me by the...

2009-12-10T16:53:00.000-05:00

I don't know what it has me by, but it's not the body part that normally completes that expression since I'm a woman. I frankly can't think of a female equivalent that has the same oomph without making me cringe, but I'm sure you get the picture so let's just move on, shall we?

Eliminate Pro (link opens iTunes) is one of Ngmoco's most recent game releases for the iPhone. It's free to get from the App Store and, technically, you don't have to spend any money to keep playing it either.

Ngmoco has an introductory video to show how the game works:

I just love the overly-enthusiastic tone of the narrator - it's like an HR employee in chirpy robot mode that puts you in the perfect mood to shoot someone. (Apologies to any HR people reading this - I used to be one so I give myself a bit of license in this area.)

Noticed how she talked about "energized" suits? You can still play while your suit isn't energized, but you won't earn any credits playing like this. Credits are the currency used to buy new weapons and armor and upgrades, so you'll want to earn credits at some point. To energize your suit, you can wait for a free recharge, which can take up to around 3 hours. Or, you can buy power cells from the App Store from within the app. It takes 15 power cells to give your suit a full charge. If you go to buy cells through an in-app purchase, you'll only get 3 options and you may not get the package you want. If I were buying power cells, this would get on my nerves, but I understand that any app can only show up to 3 in-app purchase options at a time, so it's not Ngmoco's fault.

Power cells can also be converted to credits so you have another funding source (outside of picking up dropped credits while playing in an energized suit) to use if you want to buy new weapons and armor.

I am doing a little bit of an experiment by playing regularly (waiting for the free recharges) and not spending any money at all to purchase power cells to energize my suit. I only use credits I earn during matches to purchase my weapon and armor upgrades. And, I'm only using the standard armor and upgrading it when I can. I am using the standard-issue auto rifle as my main weapon, but I purchased a plasma cannon early on with some earned credits before I made my decision to play with only the standard-issue stuff, and I use it occasionally. I have stopped upgrading the plasma cannon, though, and any credits spent on weapons go to upgrading the auto rifle.

I have good matches where I spank everyone else and bad matches where I get my ass handed to me by players at lower levels with fewer skill points. As the Jeffersons would say, I'm movin' on up slowly yet surely without spending a dime. I'd like to try to make it to the (previously) highest possible rank - 50 - without making use of the Amex card to which my iTunes account is linked. I'm at rank 18 now and usually make it to the next level every other day when playing daily. At this rate, it will take me just over 2 weeks to hit rank 50. If I keep playing at this pace and hold my own as I play better and better players, that is. I claim no extraordinary prowess at FPS games, but they are my favorite game genre and I've taken quite a shine to Eliminate Pro (it's the first game I've ever put on the first page of my iPhone's home screen).

If you are used to a mechanical controller to do your fragging and find the touch-only interface on the iPhone to be daunting, I feel your pain. I was very frustrated with the controls at first, but I got used to them so don't give up.

If I can hit level 50 without spending any money, I will gladly make up for my cheapness at that time and buy lots of power cells to help compensate the developers for creating a fantastic and addictive game.

I'm usually online and playing around lunch time and in the evening though I don't usually play unless I have energy (me need credits). If you want to add me as a friend so we can have private matches, my Plus+ ID is BadAngel. BRING IT ON.

P.S. I started writing this post before Eliminate Pro was updated to version 1.1. I want to note that I still enjoy the game, but I'm getting my ass kicked by other players who have paid money to upgrade their armor and weapons to the maximum amounts possible (it takes me longer since I have to wait to earn credits to make these purchases, and a recent change to the game made these upgrades more expensive). I will say that the matching engine isn't all that great - it matches by rank and skill points but does not take equipment into consideration. Unfortunately, my skill points are taking a dive as I get beaten up by players in Tank armor with Rocket Launchers. I hate Rocket Launchers. My standard issue armor is no match for those. /me makes sad face.

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2009-11-24T16:12:00.001-05:00

Don't mind me - just publishing a code to claim my blog on Technorati...

Heads up - 20% off at Ideal-Case.com

2009-11-16T17:13:00.004-05:00

Remember that cute little Demon case I reviewed last month? If you thought about buying one, now is the time to get it since the company that makes them - Ideal-Case.com - is offering 20% off all purchases using the promo code "iPhoneGen01" (without the quotation marks). This isn't limited to the Demon case for the iPhone but applies to everything they sell, and they have a variety of products for iPods and devices by Blackberry, HTC, Nokia and more. The promo code will be valid through the end of this month (November 2009).

I don't usually post publicize sales or promo codes like this, but I thought that Demon case was so cute and I don't mind helping them out. The link to their site above isn't a referral link and I won't earn anything from any sales they get from this. I just wanted to pass it on in case any of you are interested. :)

Latest Genius Bar experience: iPhone 3GS replacement

2009-11-13T10:37:00.000-05:00

You may recall that the ring/silent toggle on my iPhone 3GS stopped working a little while ago and I endured it long enough to finish my review of Navigon's MobileNavigator app (since the app was tied to the UDID of my iPhone and I couldn't install it on a replacement iPhone). As soon as I could after that, I made an appointment at my local Genius Bar and brought my iPhone in, hoping for an exchange. All in all, the experience was good with only a few worrisome moments.

The dreaded white box of the refurbished iPhone

(Courtesy of halfbyteproductions via Flickr)

The Genius who was assigned to my appointment asked me what was going on with my iPhone and he was able to verify for himself that the ring/silent toggle worked only sporadically and gave no tactile feedback when moved. He said he should be able to replace it and started on some data entry to begin the process. He then examined my iPhone a bit more - I couldn't see exactly what he was doing from across the counter, but I'm guessing he was checking my firmware version and making sure my iPhone wasn't jailbroken (which it wasn't - I save those shenanigans for my spare first-generation iPhone). He then took out a device that looked a lot like a doctor's otoscope and checked the moisture indicator in the headphone jack. I almost broke into a cold sweat at that point. I took very good care of that iPhone but hoped that a stray drop of water or sweat hadn't tripped that sensor and I silently cursed myself for not checking it myself before I came in. Fortunately, he declared it eligible for warranty coverage and went to get a replacement for me in a nearby cabinet as I sighed in relief.

The replacement came out of a white box and did not come with any accessories, though I did bring in mine in case I needed to do a complete swap. I asked him if it was a refurb and by the mildly irritated look on his face - complete with a near rolling of the eyes - he got that question a lot and said, "It's as good as new," and prompted me to check it out as he finished documenting the exchange. My quick visual inspection did indeed show it to look like a brand new device and I really had no grounds for asking them to open up a brand new iPhone box, though I've read accounts that some do in similar situations. Later, looking at its serial number confirmed that it is indeed a refurbished unit (it starts with "5K"as indicated in this post over at EverythingiCafe.com) but it takes over the warranty period of my first iPhone 3GS and is covered until June of next year, so I can't complain.

I keep a lot of personal information on my iPhone, about which I'm a bit paranoid. I take that back - I am very paranoid about it. I enable the passcode lock and the setting that will erase the iPhone completely if it's entered incorrectly 10 times. I also have the SIM lock enabled and the iPhone tracking feature through MobileMe set to on. The Genius was about to put my iPhone in a box and I stopped him and asked him if I could wipe it first. He seemed a little surprised and said I could if I wanted to but they would be doing it anyway. I have read accounts where people have received refurbished iPhones with data still on them from the previous owner, so I didn't have total confidence in what he said and did start the "Erase All Content and Settings" process and handed it back to him. I took my "new" iPhone and went on my merry way, buying a new anti-glare screen protector for it before I left the store.

It is quite nice to be able to silence my iPhone so easily again. Also, the sleep/wake button on my last iPhone was crooked, its left side sitting lower than the right side and my new iPhone is pretty much flawless in comparison. I ended up setting it up as a new device after the back-up I'd restored to seemed to be acting up and it's been absolutely great since. I've put another Gelaskins skin on it and am going case-less, using only the screen protector and the rear skin 90% of the time. I'll pop it into an iSkin Solo FX or the Ideal-Case Demon skin occasionally if I want some more protection temporarily. I finding that I rarely use my Incase Slider anymore even though I still really like it and will still recommend it to others.

Here's to hoping I don't have any problems with this iPhone!

My upcoming donations to Apple

2009-10-26T14:58:00.000-04:00

Apple announced some product updates last week which will cause me to make a donation to Apple in the very near future. Of course, this will not be a completely unwilling donation and I do expect something in return for it - one Magic Mouse, to be precise. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to make a much larger donation in exchange for one 27" iMac as well, but that would put one significant strike down against me in the Mac inventory tally my husband keeps, and no good would come of it. Unless "good" in your book means "I now have enough proof to show my wife is crazy and should be institutionalized."

Getting a Magic Mouse would free me from the wireless Mighty Mouse I currently use for my left hand (my right hand uses a Logitech trackball - I switch mice hands throughout the day in a vain attempt to minimize repetitive motion injuries). The Mighty Mouse is a great concept and it's kind of cute, but I will say that it regularly causes me to envision doing horrible things to the engineers who designed it, usually involving a frantic, pants-less game of musical chairs and lots of really sharp thumb tacks. The damn ball in the damn thing keeps getting gummed up so that I can't damn scroll down - scrolling in any other direction always works. If they'd worked out a way to easily disassemble the mouse so it could be cleaned thoroughly, I wouldn't be so upset. But they didn't, and I do. Regularly.

The next Apple product that will join my collection

I am still coveting another Mac of some sort. That 12" PowerBook I mentioned recently may still be for sale and I'm going to make an offer. :( I really should save my money and wait until January or so to see if a tablet is released, which would change my whole game plan, anyway. In the meantime, I do want to buy the AppleCare extended warranty for my MacBook Air, which I have only a few weeks left to do at this point. I think that will help greatly with its resale value when I get around to selling it.

Speaking of the game plan for early next year, it's shaping up thusly:

Buy a Mac tablet for portable use (but only if it has a usable keyboard or I can connect a Bluetooth one to it easily)
Buy an iMac for desk at home (27" if possible, but that's highly doubtful unless I win the lottery)
Sell current MacBook Air and 20" Apple Cinema Display ~~plus husband and/or firstborn child~~ to fund new purchases/appease husband
Keep iPhone (duh)

Do you have any Mac purchases planned in the near future?

Review of Ideal-Case's Demon silicone case for the iPhone 3G/3GS

2009-10-16T19:12:00.000-04:00

I succumbed to the allure of yet another case for my iPhone - this time it's a selection that's perfect for Halloween, to boot. It gives my iPhone teeth. Yes, teeth! It's the Demon silicone case from Ideal-Case and you can see my review of it here.

Backing up is (not) a bitch

2009-10-12T16:22:00.000-04:00

I complained most vociferously about Time Machine recently when it up and quit on me without any real warning, as well as Tweeted about my husband's own failure-to-back-up issues when his MacBook's hard drive went boobies up in the water a little while ago. Since my MacBook Air is now the center of my work and personal life, backing up religiously is now top of mind for me and I'm considering adding one more back-up option in case Something Really Bad happens.

I've been researching some on-line options - the kind that offer unlimited storage and automated back-ups for about $5 per month - like BackBlaze and Carbonite. I think I will be trying Carbonite first, since they currently have a promo going as a sponsor of TWIT's MacBreak Weekly podcast (which is my favorite Mac podcast) that gives you a couple of months for free with the "twit" promo code, though I just noticed on their site that compatibility with Snow Leopard isn't coming until November. Hmmm. I am now hoping Something Really Bad does not happen between now and then.

Regarding my husband, the one good thing about the hard drive disaster that he suffered through is that he is now a fan of backing up. I took care of finding him a new hard drive (a Western Digital Scorpio 320GB 7200 RPM drive, bitches!) which has more space than he will ever need since he uses my iTunes library on my Mac and only uses his Mac for internet surfing, emailing, and storing a few documents here and there. We installed Snow Leopard on his Mac and I set up him to connect to the external hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme Base Station, making a partition I'd previously set up for him there is Time Machine drive. He was a little miffed at me since I'd recently re-partitioned that drive and made his part smaller, but he hadn't been using it at all before the infamous drive failure and I thought the space would go to better use for my Time Machine back-up. You snooze, you lose, little buddy! Now that his Mac is back up and running, he wanted to get a larger drive for us to share and we are going to split a 2 TB (TB!) Western Digital My Book Studio Edition drive between us for our Time Machine back-ups. It arrived last week, so I'll be setting that up shortly and will retire the other drive for desktop use - I'll probably turn that one into my weekly cloning drive and free up the portable drive I'd been using for clones for other stuff.

I hereby dub thee "The Knight of Schultz Back-ups"!

Forgive me for the unkind and mildly-evil thoughts I'm about to write down. When the hard drive in my husband's MacBook crashed, he vilified Macs, saying that I always told him that they were supposed to be more reliable and easy to use and just look at what happened, dammit! Of course, it somehow became my fault (my husband excels at boogerheadedness from time to time) and he ignored my claims that hard drive failures are independent of the operating system and can happen to any machine. Anyway, in near-karmic retribution, the hard drive on his trusty Dell laptop that he uses for work - a computer which is incidentally newer than his MacBook - failed about 2 weeks after his MacBook's. I would not have wanted to be the IT guy who helped him with it at work - he spent countless hours trying to retrieve his files (yeah, no back-ups at his company either - bad IT!) and was only able to salvage some of them in the end and move them to a new hard drive. While I don't wish hard drive failure on anyone (well, maybe one or two people), my husband has now learned that hard drive failures can happen in any machine. And he hasn't said one bad word about Macs since. ;)

My new pet: Snow Leopard

2009-10-08T17:00:00.000-04:00

Fortunately, it's not a real Snow Leopard or my Great Dane would have some serious issues with it – as would we, since I'm quite sure humans can be considered exceptionally convenient fast food snacks for Snow Leopards, always ready to give a good chase to kick in that predator instinct before being gulped down at a piping hot 98.7º.

Silliness aside, I finally installed Snow Leopard two weekends ago, backing up my hard drive twice (via Time Machine and Carbon Copy Cloner) before erasing my hard drive with Disk Utility and doing a clean install. I didn't transfer any settings from the clone of my Leopard installation, only copying my music, photos, and emails directly. I did let MobileMe take care of mail settings and rules, my Safari bookmarks, and my contacts and calendars, which it handled without any problems. I've been slowly re-insalling apps from scratch and have been trying to pare down what I use. I was particularly frustrated with Adobe's Photoshop Elements 6, which installs a bunch of other useless crap that I'd rather forego, but the installer doesn't offer the ability to customize the installation to do this. Why does Adobe think I want an extra 345MB of my hard drive space for this Adobe Bridge CS3 crap? Hint to Adobe: I don't want it. Space is at a premium on my 128GB SSD, thank you very much.

64-bit, baby!

My MacBook Air's processor is 64-bit capable so I did a minor bit of system file modification to enable 64-bit by default. I didn't do any scientific testing to time how long it took to do common tasks before enabling this, but my inner clock informally tells me that there really hasn't been much of a difference in speed. I use Safari as my primary browser and I'm sad to say that it still gets bogged down and is not as responsive as I'd like it to be even when running in 64-bit mode. The new access features in the Finder (new Expose and Stacks capabilities) are nice, but not earth-shattering. I no longer have problems with Bluetooth acting up, which is great since that usually got me mad enough to pound on my poor Bluetooth keyboard in frustration. Time Machine operates less obtrusively before - I rarely even notice when it's running anymore. And, I'd say that my MacBook Air is running a bit cooler - the fans don't seem to run as much as they did on Leopard.

All in all, I see very subtle changes but nothing spectacular. So far, it still seems worth the $25 (thanks to Amazon and their slightly lower price for it) I paid for Snow Leopard and I have no complaints about it at all. Plus, the clean install I did really made me feel better about my Mac though I still have some cleaning up to do to get back some more hard drive space. My next major move is to install Parallels to run one measly application that won't work with CrossOver, though I may see if I can get my husband to do it on his Mac (he has a shiny new 320GB hard drive in his MacBook now and has the room to spare) so I won't have to. Muahahahahaha...

Interlude: A Porsche nearly killed me. And I loved it.

2009-10-04T20:55:00.000-04:00

In addition to being a Mac geek, I love speed. I used to ride motorcycles, and even raced very briefly, but a bad accident several years ago (and my inability to get back on that horse well enough afterward) slowly made it less fun over time and I've since turned to track driving in my car as a replacement. My car isn't the sportiest or fastest and frankly earns me a few funny looks at the track driving and club autocross events I go to, but it does me just fine to drive as fast as I can, leaving hot little bits of my tires on the track as vicious mementos of my passage.

At today's club autocross event, I took a ride with a fellow club member who owns a Porsche 996 GT3. I wasn't enamored of its color (lime green) but it's a Porsche, so I let that slide. The driver was an older gentleman and I fully expected that he would be fast but not horribly aggressive in flinging it around the track. I mean, who wouldn't be a little careful with a sports car that costs over $100,000? I was wrong. HOLY JESUS MOTHER OF GOD WAS I WRONG.

The fastest I'd ever gone on a motorcycle (if there are any Maryland state troopers reading this, please avert your eyes now) was 155 mph on my old Honda F4 on a deserted stretch of highway. I was trying to keep up with some riding buddies. I was the only girl. And I couldn't keep up with them even at 155 mph (they were on liter bikes while my sweet little red and black Honda was only a "mere" 600). I survived that (mind-numbigly stupid) escapade and shortly stopped riding on the street and restricted myself to riding on racetracks only. Regardless, speed in a car doesn't bother me. I've had past boyfriends try to impress me with their fast cars, but I never squealed and pleaded with them to slow down in the way they expected. Why would I have? They were going slowly compared to what I was used to.

So, color me surprised when I got in that Porsche today because that grandfatherly-like-yet-wickedly-fast man scared the ever-loving crap out of me. I was clinging to the door handle and the seat, eyes and mouth wide open inside my helmet, and I'm pretty sure the high-pitched screeching sound that I heard throughout the ride came from me and not his brakes. It was highly undignified but I could do nothing to stop myself. Fortunately, I don't think he even noticed as he worked to keep that beast of a machine shiny side up and heading in the right direction. He didn't have an in-cabin video camera as some drivers do. There will be no videos of me drooling and screaming in a Porsche on YouTube. Yay for me.

This is what I need. Yes. Yes, it is.

I'm proud to say that the Porsche gentleman made his fastest run of the day with me in the car - he said I was a good luck charm. My knees nearly buckled when I stepped out of that lime green monster. I've never met a car that made me feel like that - not even the Maserati Quattroporte I had the good luck to flog a little under the most unlikely circumstances (on a job interview a few months ago - that was the best hiring manager EVER) or my cousin's BMW M3. I really need to get me a Porsche.

Review of Navigon's MobileNavigator turn-by-turn navigation app for the iPhone

2009-09-27T17:44:00.000-04:00

I’ve finished my latest iPhone GPS app review - this time of Navigon’s MobileNavigator app. I rarely gush positively about anything I review, but I have to say Navigon has done a fantastic job with this app. With that said, I must note that it still has a few issues that really bother me. You can get the details in my review here.

I also recently reviewed the TomTom app for work - you can read that review here. To give you a very high-level summary of the TomTom app: don’t waste $99 on it – TomTom is well behind Navigon and Sygic in terms of features at this point.

Someone may need to stop me

2009-09-25T10:40:00.000-04:00

My first Mac laptop was a 12" PowerBook G4 that I bought in 2003. Prior to that, I'd been on the Dark Side for a while, owning PCs for a few years after having my very first Mac, an LC40, at university. My 12" PowerBook was absolutely perfect, if a little hot on the lap, at just the right size to make it very portable yet with specs that made it powerful enough to do everything I needed. I sold that lovely little beast when I bought a black MacBook and regretted it despite the upgrade in processing power. I've come across a mint last-generation 12" PowerBook for sale in a forum I frequent and I'm .35 millimeters away from making an offer on it.

Why? I have no idea. I have a MacBook Air which does quite fine as my main computer. I don't need another Mac. If anything, I should be saving up for the rumored tablet that may or may not make an appearance early next year. I have such fond memories of that 12" PowerBook, though. Maybe it was more Tiger than anything, but I don't seem to remember as many glitches with it – it went to sleep on its own reliably, didn't get bogged down by invisible processes, and was small enough to carry around in a bag that looked like a purse. I still miss the damn thing and it makes no sense.

Gah! What is wrong with me? Am I moving into the Collector stage in my Mac obsession? If I started at the Mac N00b stage and moved through the Mac Snob stage (the Fangirl/Fanboy status is not a stage - it is a permanent state of mind once one enters the Mac Snob stage, by the way), I must indeed be into the Collector stage where I will begin to obtain older Macs and reminisce about them fondly. I still have the urge to buy new Macs, so I must not have lost my Excited Mac Nut status (combined with the standard card-holding Geek rank I have held for many years now) yet either. Well, let's just hope that I don't go overboard in this stage. If I start talking about getting a Mac Mini and changing it into a Cube, someone plan an intervention, please.

Geeky girl rant: Companies who over-charge for shipping

2009-09-18T11:40:00.001-04:00

Allow me to rant for a moment. This issue first hit my radar via eBay a while ago where I quickly found that many sellers charged more for shipping to make up for a lower item price, since eBay assesses fees based on the items final price and not shipping costs. I quickly decided to avoid sellers who did this, and have avoided doing this in my own auctions. And then I started noticing sellers and companies who charged more for shipping no matter what the price of the actual item was. I first got a taste of this on eBay from a seller who offered only Priority Shipping for the item. When I received the item, I saw immediately that it had been shipped via First Class mail only and the seller had pocketed the extra I'd paid to have it shipped faster. Now, I didn't lose a lot of money at all in this transaction, or in others where this also has happened to me, but it's the principle of the thing that bothers me. I have left neutral feedback, at best, for all sellers who have done this to me on eBay (and always gave them a chance to respond before I left the feedback).

When it comes to manufacturers, I find this practice to be particularly deplorable since it's almost always so obvious. You find something on a manufacturer's site and then compare it to Amazon or another source and find that you can pay far less for shipping if you get it from somewhere else. I know Amazon is a bit of an anomaly here, but it still demonstrates that it's not necessary to over-charge for shipping and still earn a profit. One company I've noticed who does this is Incase. Every time I've gone to order an Incase product for my iPhone or Mac, I've always turned to Amazon or another site to buy it. Entering my shipping information in Incase's check-out page has always prompted a charge of $10 or more for the cheapest shipping option. $10 for an iPhone case? What the hell? My own experience in shipping iPhone cases when I've sold them on eBay or through a forum has been around $5.00 with Priority Shipping and delivery confirmation. The padded envelope costs me around $.50, if that much. Incase will remain on my sh*t list until they start charging actual costs for shipping their products, until which time I'll keep buying them elsewhere (and often with a better price on the item itself anyway).

I recently came across another company that does this in researching a skin my husband wanted for his new iPhone. The specific design he wants is only available from one company, Digital Camo Skins. I was browsing their site when I noticed that their FAQ indicated that shipping for a single skin costs $10. Wait a minute. $10 to ship a single skin? What the hell? Comparatively, DecalGirl (review here) charges $2.00 and Gelaskins (review here) charges $3.95 to ship one skin. How on earth is $10 competitive in light of this?

I wrote to Digital Camo Skins asking about this and here's the response I received:

Dear Marianne,

We use Fed Ex as our main shipping provider. I understand that you may feel 10$ to ship 1 cell phone skin is too much. However, we have used cheaper shipping methods with undesirable results. For example, USPS is cheaper... much cheaper. But there is no means of tracking the package and even more so if the package is lost USPS does not reimburse us for the lost product. If we ship something to you USPS and it gets lost (due to USPS losing it or for some other unforeseeable problem) we have to re-produce your skin and send it to you again at our expense. When that scenario happens we end up losing money. Or, at the very best we break even. In addition all our skins are "made to order" due to their custom nature. Since, on our site, we give the customer the ability to add his or her name and/or choose specific colors, your skin is made specifically for you rather than pulled from a shelf (so to speak). Therefore we feel it necessary to use a more secure shipping method. When you compare our shipping costs to those of other skin companies, it is not a fair comparison. You are comparing shipping via regular postal service (envelope and stamp) offered other skin companies... to our shipping method (FedEX) which allows tracking ability, email notification to the customer, and is insured against a lost or undelivered packages. We hope this information is helpful and we hope you are happy with your skin no matter what company you choose to get it from.

Best regards,

Digital Camo Skins

Now, I can understand when a company wants to ensure their products reach customers reliably and safely. But I'd like to note a few things:

An iPhone skin weighs less than 1/2 ounce. Tacking on another 1.5 ounces for an appropriately-sized stiff envelope to protect the skin brings the First Class Mail shipping cost to $1.05. Shipping it via Priority Mail would cost $4.95. Adding delivery confirmation and insurance for the price of the skin brings the total to $7.40. Still less than $10, non?
DecalGirl and Gelaskins ship their skins in ultra-stiff envelopes, and both arrived in PERFECT shape. All for $2.00 and $3.95 in shipping, respectively.
Digital Camo Skins offers skin customization, offering to add your name or other text to a skin for an additional $4.99. Yet even if you don't choose a custom skin, you are still charged $10 for shipping.
iPhone skins from Digital Camo Skins cost $9.99. Then you pay $10 to get it shipped to you. Just thinking about that makes my head hurt.

I've responded to Digital Camo Skins describing the points above. I doubt I'll hear a response, but who knows? I just hate it when companies rip you off for shipping. At the very least, give customers a choice to get their item shipped more cheaply (and clearly stating the risks if a customer opts for no insurance and/or a method without tracking available). Until this is available, I won't be buying anything from Digital Camo Skins and wouldn't recommend anyone else buy from them either (unless you don't mind being gouged for shipping).

Ode to Snow Leopard - a.k.a, Snow Leopard looks cool and I'm a horrible poet

2009-08-31T10:34:00.009-04:00

Thou still uninstalled OS of loveliness,

Thou upgrade of smaller size and faster speed!

Yes, yes, I'll stop. No more horrid Apple-inspired attempts at regurgitating poetry I last studied in high school. I promise.

Are you talkin' to me? Are YOU talkin' to ME?

You're probably wondering how I like Snow Leopard so far, right? I hate to disappoint, particularly since I dub myself "macgirl," but I haven't installed it yet. I was out of town all last week, and while there was an Apple store nearby, I did not go out to buy it on release day because a) it was over 100º where I was and I despise going outside when it's assured that I'll break into a sweat the moment I step out the door, and b) I did not have all of my gear nor enough time to do a clean install then. So, I've since ordered Snow Leopard from Amazon (and saved $5 over the price from Apple directly - woo hoo!) and should get it shortly.

I plan to do a clean install (i.e., wipe my hard drive before installation and transfer documents, media, etc. manually afterward) which takes a bit of work but makes me happy. Why? Because I'm paranoid and like to start with a "clean" set-up on my Mac once a year or so. Plus, there's less of a chance of having some corrupted file/setting/whatever act up and cause some unexpected chaos.

I'm still very impressed that Apple priced Snow Leopard at just $29, though I'm not quite sure how the math works out for them to make any money on it with the hundreds of software engineers they've had working on it for over a year now. I won't worry too much about them, though, since I'm quite sure I'll be buying yet more stuff from them in the near future to make up for any shortfall.

There are already multiple reviews of Snow Leopard up, including this one from Macworld magazine and this one by Engadget. There's also this entertaining blog post/rant by Merlin Mann about his experience upgrading. From what I've read so far, it is faster most of the time and includes some nice tweaks and I'm looking forward to some 64-bit goodness. Unfortunately, it sounds like Mail is still the opposite of robust, but I suppose I need to wait for a major OS upgrade to get something meaningful there.

I expect to spend several hours one day this weekend doing the upgrade, complete with rolled-up sleeves, hair in disarray from frequent pulling, and vile curses sullying the air around me. I'm hoping that if I expect that, it will actually go much better. Reverse Murphy's Law, perhaps? No? Damn.

How to devastate a geeky girl: break her iPhone

2009-08-28T18:00:00.000-04:00

I know I'm being a little dramatic here, but you know how my iPhone is the center of my geeky digital life, right? Well, the booger is broken. Not so broken I can't use it, mind you. It's the damn silent/vibrate switch. It stopped working suddenly a few days ago. Of course, it has to happen during the week when I need to go out of town to attend a funeral, where not hearing a cell phone go off during the various related events would be really nice, if not required if I don't want my mom to take a swing at my head with her 20 lb. purse. So, yeah. Stupid broken switch.

"Well, why don't you just turn the iPhone off when you need it to be silent?" you ask. Good question. However, it is one that clearly demonstrates how little you know me and the extent of my geekiness. An iPhone turned off is not an option. Period. Now please don't think I'm a total boor who has loud cell phone conversations in public, blatantly ignores others while they're speaking to me by checking email on my iPhone, and other sordid acts. I turned the volume down to the lowest setting, selected the Sonar ring tone, and turned every other sound alert off. I did not expect any phone calls – everyone who normally calls me knew where I was and that calling during the funeral was definitely not acceptable – and didn't receive any at inappropriate times.

Of course, I'm definitely taking my iPhone to my local Apple Store when I get back home to get it swapped. From what I've seen so far, getting a replacement with this issue shouldn't be a problem. I know that this isn't true for everyone, but I've had 7 iPhones throughout the years (3 first-generation iPhones at various times, 2 iPhone 3Gs, and 2 iPhone 3GSs) and this is the first one I've had with any hardware problems. Must be luck or the geek gods looking over me...

Dear Apple: How to make my MobileMe iDisk more useful

2009-08-24T16:48:00.001-04:00

My dearest Apple,

While I'm quite sure I singlehandedly boost your in-store and iTunes sales in the Northeast by at least a couple of percentage points every year, you probably don't notice little old me at all. Though you may not know it, I am one of your biggest fangirls. Not big as in circus freak exhibit, but big as in "Oh, I must buy every new Apple product that comes out within a maximum of 24 hours of its release!" Just to be clear. However, fangirl status aside, there are times when I literally want to throttle your stubborn virtual neck. When I ponder my iDisk and its relative uselessness in relation to my iPhone, that is one of those times.

Let me explain. I have been a .Mac/MobileMe subscriber for about 6 years now. And I must confess that I have rarely paid the full $99 for my subscription each year, thanks to Amazon and eBay. However, you may be happy to know that I have become iPhone crazy and have more than made up for my cheapness in scouring for MobileMe deals with the number of iPhones and iPhone apps I have purchased. Anyway, my point is that I am a long-time MobileMe subscriber and an iPhone user. I love the ability to sync my contacts and calendar over-the-air between my Mac and my iPhone via MobileMe, and I've found my MobileMe email to be more or less reliable over the years, even through the MobileMe transition that was disastrous for some.

You recently put out the iDisk app, allowing iPhone and iPod touch users to access the contents of their iDisks while on the go. While this is nice, it is incredibly insufficient. While I can view files on my iDisk, move files to the Public folder to be shared, and email them to others, I can't edit them or create new files on my iPhone and save them to my iDisk. Why does this frustrate me? Because I have the ability to create new documents on my iPhone (through Dataviz's Documents to Go, or even Notes, if you want to count that) and to get them on my Mac, I have to use a special application to transfer them via Wi-Fi (or sync via iTunes for Notes, and then copy and paste the contents somewhere else if I want them to be truly useable). I have this lovely 20GB bit of storage in the cloud and I can't even use it directly from my iPhone to save a document. Does this not sound ridiculous? Does this not boggle the mind with its insanity?

Steve – dude – I really can't believe that you would let something like this continue. The iPhone is all about having easy, intuitive access to so much in the palm of your hand. This level of connectivity is only reinforced by the mandatory data plan required on AT&T's network with an iPhone and its Wi-Fi connectivity. You guys make MobileMe and the iPhone. Make them work together better, please.

Forever yours,

a geeky girl

A small confession: I have hoarded silly @me email addresses

2009-08-19T16:51:00.000-04:00

If you were a .Mac subscriber before Apple re-branded it to MobileMe, you are probably aware of the fact that Apple committed that existing users could maintain their existing email addresses ending in @mac.com and that new addresses under the @me.com scheme would be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis. Well, I definitely kept my @mac.com address and I decided to have a wee bit o' (very geeky) fun and kidnap a few cute @me.com address aliases as well (spaces added to try to evade spam bots):

whyarentulooking @ me. com

throwthecat @ me. com

throwthedog @ me. com

Yeah, I know. I need to get out more. And I'm not quite sure why I felt that throwing animals was amusing to begin with, but there you go. I said I was geeky, which does not necessarily imply sane at the same time.

I don't need another Mac, but I want one

2009-08-17T17:19:00.001-04:00

I currently have only one Mac, which is not out of the ordinary for me since I have almost always had a second computer (usually a PC) through work with my Mac at home for personal use. However, my MacBook Air has become my primary computer for work and home and I've been recently toying with the idea of getting an iMac to be my "main" computer and keeping my MacBook Air as my – you guessed it – mobile computer for when I work off-site and travel. No, my MacBook Air hasn't let me down and does everything I need it to do. But have you seen the latest iMacs? Can you say pretty?

I already have a MobileMe account, which would make it easy to keep things in sync between both of them. I have a 20" cinema display which I could sell to help raise funds to get one. My husband would have a conniption and ask me why I need two computers and I wouldn't be able to have a good reason except to say that I just wanted one and that they're pretty. Which, unfortunately, would not fly. Not one little bit. Though I suppose if I asked him why needs 3 complete sets of fairings for just one of his motorcycles (at about $1,000 per set), 2 portable generators of the same model (when he only uses one regularly), and a garage full of other mechanical goodies that have slowly assimilated every one of my own tools and mechanical gadgets, he might ease up a little. Maybe. Dorkface.

Of course, the more I keep thinking about this, the more I remind myself that I really should wait for this tablet that keeps popping up in the rumor mills. What if Apple really does put out one of those and it somehow makes sense for that to be my mobile computer over my MacBook Air? Then I could sell my MacBook Air and display and get an iMac and the tablet, which would make more sense for the use I have in mind.

Image courtesy of Gizmodo

If this tablet does come to fruition, I'll be really interested to see how text entry on it works. I'm pretty speedy on a regular keyboard at around 90 WPM. I'm fast on my iPhone but it's still far less comfortable to type on than a regular keyboard if I have the choice. Of course, Apple would probably not intend for it to be like a stand-alone computer that could cannibalize MacBook sales. I could see it as a large iPod touch-like device with the ability to connect to your home computer remotely to view media and files. However, if that puppy comes with a pop-out stand to keep it at a good viewing angle and can connect to a Bluetooth keyboard, I still might consider that a worthy purchase. Oh, who am I kidding? If Apple puts out a tablet, I'm getting one whether or not I really need it. I'll get you my pretty! And your little dog, too.

Dear Apple: There is such a thing as too simple

2009-08-09T17:37:00.006-04:00

I love Time Machine in Leopard. Well, I used to love it until this weekend, anyway, when a pop-up error unceremoniously let me know that it had not backed up my hard drive for the last 21 days. Yep, 3 whole weeks without a back-up and Time Machine only deigned to let me know now. What an arrogant, pig-headed little sneak.

This is my Time Machine. It is empty.

I wouldn't call myself a back-up freak. I like to ensure I have a back-up of my hard drive's contents and I was ecstatic to learn that Leopard would make it a no-brainer activity that didn't require any input from me. I stood in line on release day to get Leopard right away, did a clean install of it as soon as I got home, and did a happy Mac dance (which involves an odd sort of humming as well, by the way) afterward.

Fast-forward to the present where, after delving into troubleshooting mode after the oh-so-timely warning I received, Time Machine stays in "Preparing" mode forever and never gets to start a back-up. So far, I've employed basic trouble-shooting tactics, such as repairing permissions, connecting the external hard drive to my Mac (it normally stays attached to my Airport Extreme Base Station) and using Disk Utility to repair it. However, this has had no effect yet and Time Machine isn't working still. I'm going to have to roll up my sleeves and dig a little deeper and I may need to just re-format and re-partition the drive and start over.

If there are any Apple execs or software engineers, or even genies in magic bottles who have a spare wish or two to pitch in reading this, my gripe is this: making Time Machine so simple and invisible that it won't tell me until 3 weeks have passed that my back-ups aren't working is NOT GOOD. I know you want everything to "just work" and all that, but for the love of God, tell me a bit sooner so I can try to fix something before it's too late. Seriously. 3 weeks? That defies all common sense for a feature that's supposed to save me some teeth gnashing and rending of garments in case my computer goes tits up suddenly.

Bad Apple! Bad!

Dirty rotten developers: minor reformation

2009-08-06T10:28:00.000-04:00

I wrote about Matt Rajca, a developer who released an update to his Gazette RSS feed reader app but made it a paid update requiring users of the previous version to pay yet again to get the newest version of the app, a little while ago. At that time, Rajca held firm against the criticism of his actions in that forum thread, stating "It's just $2.99! Maybe the App Store wouldn't full of crap [sic] if people would be willing to pay a decent amount of money for quality products" in response at one time. However, he's since made a vague attempt at amends that I wanted to note.

Matt is now offering promo codes for the latest version of Gazette to those who purchased Gazette 1.X. However, the major catch is that this offer is only valid for MacRumors.com forum members. In order to get the code, he's asking for a screenshot of your iTunes purchase history showing your previous purchase of Gazette 1.X and your iTunes account email address so that he can have proof of purchase and know where to send the code.

First, I do want to say that I appreciate that he's making this offer. However, I have not seen him apologize anywhere for his poor treatment of the customers who bought Gazette 1.X, nor does this promo code offer seem to apply to any other customers but those who happen to be members of that forum, and chances are that there are still many forum members who purchased Gazette 1.X and have not seen this offer. I would have hoped for a better, more thorough attempt to reach out to unhappy customers to make things right, as well as some sort of acknowledgement that he didn't make the best decision to shaft his customers to begin with.

For the record, I have not taken him up on his promo code offer, nor do I plan to do so. As I said before, I am perfectly happy with ByLine as my RSS reader app and I think I'll even go back to NetNewsWire once the transition to Google Reader synchronization is complete since I found it to be a very competent RSS app as well.

Review of the GelaSkins skin for the iPhone 3G/3GS

2009-08-05T17:44:00.000-04:00

Of course, in the midst of working on my iPhone 3GS v. iPhone 3G v. first-generation iPhone review, I get side-tracked by a new iPhone accessory (and Sygic’s Mobile Maps navigation app as well), though I have a perfectly good excuse for it. See, I just got this shiny new iPhone 3GS, and after becoming quite used to using a DecalGirl skin on my old iPhone 3G paired with a Proporta Maya pouch, I wanted to put a skin on my new iPhone ASAP though I wanted to try a different one this time. I came across GelaSkins and got my hot little hands on a couple of skins and screen protectors to try out (thanks, Solveig!). I'm happy to report that the Gelaskins skin performs perfectly as a svelte protector of my iPhone, though there is one concern you should be aware of – read my review for all of the glorious details.

Image courtesy of GelaSkins.com