2 days ago
Monthly Archives: July 2011
Bad Dream
We were in Paris. In a maze of airy industrial buildings full of large, light-filled atriums and long staircases. I was chasing someone so she wouldn’t chase me. I forced her into the sunlight and told her she was beautiful over and over again until she believed me.
We ran away, your black suit with its elegant cut making you a dapper figure among the Parisians who never looked at us. We ran to yet another flight of stairs with Jake behind us trying to keep up, but his claws gave him no purchase on the slick floor. I look back just in time to see him miss a step on a stairway that was suddenly rickety and swaying from side to side. He fell to the concrete floor far below at the bottom of the atrium.
I screamed as he fell, the long sound a mournful mix of surprise and horror. I heard the muffled crunch of his back breaking when he landed.
I rush down the broken stairway to the ground, seeing his legs twitch as I approach him. I’m crying.
I wake up with a gasp, the terror and sadness still bright in my heart. I sit up and look over to Jake’s bed on the floor to see him curled up nose to tail, snoring gently.
I can’t go back to sleep.
everythingiCafe: the show “Colorful Language”
Chris Meinck and I recorded episode 32 of the everythingiCafe podcast earlier this week and it’s now available for download through iTunes or you can listen to it here using the embedded player above (this player doesn’t work on the iPhone/iPad, unfortunately).
We talked about a lot about Lion and our first impressions of it, iPhone 5 and iPad 3 rumors, some fake Apple stores in China and the not-so-secret Facebook app for the iPad. My Teh Awesome for the week was Spotify (along with their iPhone app) and Chris chose the SGP Steinheil EX Ultra Fine Screen and Body Protector set for the iPhone 4 (I have an anti-fingerprint version of the Steinheil screen protector on mine and love it).
We’ve been a bit off our regular Tuesday evening recording schedule recently but hopefully we’ll be back on it next week. If all goes well, you can join us for the live broadcast at everythingicafe.com/live at 7:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, August 2.
Review: Mas Design Replacement Titanium Back for the iPhone 4
If you listen to the everythingiCafe podcast that I co-host or have caught a few of my blog posts here, you know that I think Apple’s decision to make the back of the iPhone 4 glass was a stupid one. I mean, really? An eminently-droppable portable device that costs at least $200 with a carrier subsidy made mostly out of glass? How was that a good decision, design aesthetics aside?
At any rate, I’ve been trying out metal replacement backs for my iPhone 4 almost as soon as they were available, starting with a very nice beveled one from cnn.cn that I still love. However, I found some new ones recently produced by Mas Design made out of durable and exotic titanium and simply had to try one out. Read the rest of my review after the break.
Angst (graffiti in the women’s bathroom at North Station)
I wanted to help you. You wanted me to kill you. In the middle of the river we made love.
everythingiCafe: the Show “Recycle”
Episode 31 of the everythingiCafe.com podcast that I co-host with Chris Meinck is now available through iTunes. If you don’t want to drag your virtual ass all the way to iTunes to listen to it, you can use the browser embedded in this post above to play it right now (unless you’re on an iPhone or iPad, in which case the embedded player no worky).
We talked about the upcoming release of Lion, iPhone 5 rumors and Apple’s promise to fix an exploit in iOS used by the latest jailbreak method.
My “Teh Awesome” last week was the Taxi Magic iPhone app, which lets you summon a taxi, track its progress while it’s on its way to you, pay for your ride and more (with participating taxi companies in certain cities only). Chris’s selections were the TiVo app (which is now compatible with the iPhone and iPad) and the Pixelmator photo editing app for the Mac.
Pictures of the Mas Elements Titanium Back for the iPhone 4
I’m working on my review of this replacement back and have taken some initial pictures – you can find them on my Flickr page here. If you have any questions about the back or if there’s anything in particular you want me to address in my review, send me a message through my Contact page.
everythingiCafe: the Show “Skinny Hipster”
Episode 30 of the everythingiCafe podcast I co-host with Chris Meinck is now available for download through iTunes, or as usual you can listen to it right here using the audio player embedded above.
We talked about the latest iPhone 5 rumors, focusing on the most recent one from the Wall Street Journal claiming a “thinner and lighter” iPhone 5 (not simply an upgraded iPhone 4 dubbed the 4S or something similar) will debut in September. We also talked about a dubious iPad 2 rumor, Verizon’s new tiered data plans and the recent release of a jailbreak for the iPad 2 and other iOS devices running 4.3.3.
My “Teh Awesome” items this week were 2 iPhone apps: Plants vs. Zombies by Popcap Games and the recently-revamped Starbucks app. I know – I’m always late to get to some very popular games (I didn’t try Angry Birds until it had already been in the App Store for more than a year) and apparently the wildly popular Plants vs. Zombies was no exception. It’s been far more entertaining than I was expecting. Not to mention that I love zombies. Well, not “love” as in “strong, affectionate feelings” – I will happily shoot them in Left 4 Dead or any other game that allows me to inflict damage on the brain-eating fiends so Plants vs. Zombies is right up my alley (even though pea-shooting plants are less exciting than auto-loading shotguns in the end).
We’ll record the next episode next Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET and you can join us live for the recording at everythingicafe.com/live. We also welcome questions about anything Apple-related – you can call 646-820-3431 and leave your name and your question and we’ll play it on the air and answer it.
