Macintoshing

Done with iPhone 4 death grip hype

i’ll say it, i got sucked into the apple hating hype over the death grip. but now, i realized something. if the phone is giving you trouble, return it. wait, you don’t want to? why? oh that’s right, because you love the experience the iPhone brings as much as i do. that’s why, even if there is a slight problem with some phones that actually hinders the literal phone capability, you still want it because you enjoy all the features the iPhone brings. That’s how good it is.

i, for a minute, was looking at the other great phones that are out (specifically the new android ones) and while they do look great, i like what i see with the iPhone better.

Call me fanboy. no seriously, call me that because i’m a huge fan of the experience apple has introduced to my life and as long as the company acknowledge’s its mistakes and says we’re trying, then that’s all i need to hear.

 They’re not perfect, but what they do get right; they get that shit R I G H T.

Wow, i’m almost repulsed by the way Apple is handing this antenna issue

This is Apple’s response and “fix” to the dropped bars, calls, and data problem everyone’s been having with the left had grip.

Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display 4 bars when we should be displaying as few as 2 bars. Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.

To fix this, we are adopting AT&T’s recently recommended formula for calculating how many bars to display for a given signal strength. The real signal strength remains the same, but the iPhone’s bars will report it far more accurately, providing users a much better indication of the reception they will get in a given area. We are also making bars 1, 2 and 3 a bit taller so they will be easier to see.

We will issue a free software update within a few weeks that incorporates the corrected formula. Since this mistake has been present since the original iPhone, this software update will also be available for the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 3G. 
 
i’ve always loved apple and the experience i have with their products. The macbook allowed me to pursue my passion for making music, with only one software and a keyboard. the ipod gave me an easy and intuitive way to carry my music everywhere i wanted to go.

But this, this is not right. if it’s just a “bar display” software issue, then why is that a bumper fixes the problem? and how  does touching the side of a phone, change the way the software reacts?

and if it is just a generous bar counter, then nothing’s being fixed, only being revealed.

i really wanted to make this my first iPhone, but there is a line as a consumer that you cannot cross. and rewarding a company by buying their products knowing there’s an issue that they are avoiding, is one of them. 

Take it from somebody who runs a freaking apple blog, don’t buy this phone until Apple genuinely takes responsibility for it’s mistakes. because if you go and buy it, then nothing right is being done. you the consumers are being wronged because you’re getting a defective product, and the company itself doesn’t see anything wrong  because they get increased profit. which in turns leads to less innovation because they will be building on top of something that they think is fine to begin with.

i love apple, but this i cannot support or defend. 

Thoughts on the iPod in iPod Touch

The iPod has come a long way since the original, however; i feel that Apple is neglecting the ipod functionality in newer updates as if it’s perfect.

It’s certainly not.

One function that i would love to be able to have is an integrated ‘album artist’ option in the artist view. Because when i buy an album from iTunes, (for example, The Roots How i Got Over) there are many artist featured with the Roots so, if i go to “the Roots” in my artist menu, only select isolated tracks that were created soley by the Roots will show up under the album. i feel that that is ridiculous. if the desktop itunes version has it, why not the ipod?

Another function that would be great would be the ability to view an artist complete collection on your ipod from only one of the artist songs. let me explain it with an example. if Optimistic by Radiohead comes up on shuffle, there is no straightforward way to be able to tap a button and view all songs by Radiohead. you can switch to portrait view and look at separate albums, but not the complete collection.

And i know there are work around to these requests, but they seem so pedestrian and not apple. tediously navigating menus is the exact opposite of what the ipod represents; especially the iPod Touch.

there are more requests but i’ll stop there. Really what i want to see is that apple is not forgetting that the iphone, the ipod touch, classic, nano, shuffle all (were) ipods first; And without that, one could argue that there wold be no app store, no facetime, no vuvuzela app. so let’s hope that the iPod button on the iphone is still a member of apple’s family.

Made my first Apple script with Script Editor

It’s not much, but for what it does mixed with Quicksilver’s shortcuts makes it great for any situation similar to mine.

I use an application called Bowtie, which is a great way to have a mini player that displays album art or song title, or anything itunes related possible; in many different themes.

And the bowlet (a Bowtie theme) i use is called Classic Clean v2, Because it looks great and its size and functionality is exactly what i want in my desktop setup. However, sometimes it just freezes and i don’t have the Bowtie menu bar icon showing or displaying in the dock. So i have to click the mini player, quit bowtie, then relaunch it. now it doesn’t seem like a big chore, but it happens more often then you expect; so it gets a little tedious.

This is where Quicksilver and my script comes in. i made a script that says:

tell application “Bowtie” to quit

delay 2

tell application “Bowtie” to launch

basically this just quits Bowtie, waits 2 seconds and relaunches it again. combine that with Quicksilver’s Abracadabra (a way to launch applications by moving your mouse in a designated direction) and now, if Bowtie freezes like it sometimes does; i just swipe my mouse diagonally and it quits and relaunches just like that.

Brilliant.

Now, if you have a similar situation with a different app, you can copy that script, open Script Editor and paste it into there but replace what i have in quotation marks (“Bowtie”) with any app you want. Then go about how you want to launch that script whether it be Quicksilver or just using spotlight. i’m new to Script Editor but fortunately, if you open the app and click help, it gives you a list of commands and examples on how to use it so you can make your very own scripts. 

All in all, a very convenient  and powerful application that with practice, can make anyone start Macintoshing. 

Had my magsafe adapter (charger) for my macbook (Late 07) replaced for free

I’m not under apple care by the way either.

if any of you see any fraying in the wire you should be eligible.  In my case, the cord completely ripped off from the  four pin connector, and the connector actually started melting the plastic off my macbook.
 
if you’re having similar issues and want to see if you can get yours replaced here’s what you should do.

1. make a genius appointment at an Apple store (or if you’re not close to one, call apple)
2. Bring the cord and the serial number from your mac. (they need the serial number so don’t forget it)
3. get something free from Apple.