Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

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everythingiCafe: the show “Cheese Whiz”

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Chris Meinck and I recorded episode 37 of the everythingiCafe podcast this week and it is now available for download through iTunes. As always, you can use the embedded audio player here (unless you’re on an iPad or iPhone) to listen to it if you’d rather not go all the way to iTunes to get it.

We talked about a lot of iOS 5 and iPhone 5 rumors, which all point to releases in October for the latest version of Apple’s mobile device operating system and the new iPhone model. I don’t know about you, but I am more than ready for a new iPhone model – although I’m still pretty happy with my iPhone 4, I’d really like to get past the never-ending rumors and get to real news. Hopefully Apple will announce its press event to unveil the iPhone 5 soon.

We also talked about a funny observation made by the acting president of HTC’s American division who doesn’t believe that iPhones are “cool” anymore following a visit to his daughter’s college.

Chris’s Teh Awesome earned him a little teasing from me since he selected a flashlight app for his iPhone 4. Surpax Technology’s Flashlight saved his bacon during the power outage caused by Irene a couple of weeks ago.

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

My Teh Awesome was the SAS Survival Guide app for the iPhone. I have some paranoid leanings, particularly related to any Zombie Apocalypse (and any t-shirts referencing said apocalypse) that may occur, and the SAS Survival Guide provides a ton of information on how to survive in a variety of environments should all hell break loose and civilization shudder to grinding halt in the face of a catastrophic event. If you’ve ever wanted instructions on how to trap and kill wild game, field dress their carcasses, and use every last bit of meat, bone, and fur to help you survive in the wilderness, this is the app for you.

(For the record, I’m also getting a survival guide in paper form since I’m quite sure that electricity to power my iPhone will be scarce during the Zombie Apocalypse.)

We usually record the podcast every week on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET though our schedule for the next few weeks is a bit tentative at this point. See this thread in the everythingicafe.com forum or the site’s Twitter feed to get the most up-to-date information about our recording schedule.

Review: Adonit’s Jot Pro Stylus for the iPad

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Image courtesy of Adonit

I’ve now spent a couple of weeks with the Jot Pro stylus and like it a lot – enough to get rid of the other styli I’ve collected over the past year and a half or so since the iPad first came out. It offers more precision than the other rounded-rubber-thing tipped styli currently on the market. And it has an ingenious hidden feature: a magnet that lets you attach it temporarily to your iPad 2 to prevent it from rolling way if you need to take a break from writing for a few moments.

The Jot Pro’s tip is metal with a clear plastic disc over it. You can see where you’re writing more easily and it writes very smoothly, feeling almost like you’re using a pen on paper.

My detailed review is now up on YouTube – it’s embedded here after the break.

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everythingiCafe: the show: “Mario’s Pizzeria”

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Episode 36 of the everythingiCafe.com podcast is now available through iTunes (or you can listen using the embedded player right here as long as you’re not visiting my site on an iPad or iPhone – sorry!).

Chris Meinck and I talked about Steve Jobs stepping down from the CEO position at Apple (which I also wrote about in a blog post) as well as the purported iPhone 5 prototype lost in San Francisco and the dubious involvement of the SFPD to locate it. So far, it sounds like the SFPD may have acted inappropriately in assisting Apple. Chris and I also talk about what either one of us would do if we found a prototype iPhone.

Of course, the most recent iPhone 5 and iPad 3 rumors were on the agenda as well. We also chatted randomly about our experiences with hurricane Irene (Chris’s was much worse than mine since he lost power for nearly a full week and experienced some flooding).

Chris’s Teh Awesome for the week was actually a Teh Suck involving the requirement for an internet connection for iTunes to authorize computers and transfer rental movies between devices. He had a bad experience trying to watch a movie rented through iTunes during the power outage caused by Irene.

My Teh Awesome was the iOS game I am currently addicted to:

It has guns, more guns and aliens. What more could you ask for?

We usually record the podcast every week on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. ET though our schedule for the rest of September is a bit tentative at this point. See this thread in the everythingicafe.com forum or the site’s Twitter feed to get the most up-to-date information about our recording schedule.

Review: Mas Design Replacement Titanium Back for the iPhone 4

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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?
Installed 3

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.

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I just ordered one of these babies

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In my seemingly never-ending quest to find the ultimate replacement metal back for my iPhone 4, I stumbled across these beauties by Mas Elements in the forums at MacRumors. While they’re still not officially taking orders from the general public yet, I was able to order one of them today – I chose the Black Titanium one in the picture above.

I’ve tried several replacement metal backs for my iPhone and have been most happy with a beveled one from cnn.cn that looks just like this. However, it does produce a little vignetting with the camera lens and it makes the iPhone 4 a tiny bit thicker, which means it won’t work with any fitted cases. The flat backs I’ve purchased from eBay have all been flimsy and cheaply-made.

I think the iPhone 4 is a beautifully-designed device overall but I am quite disappointed with Apple’s materials selections here. Who in their right mind makes a highly-droppable piece of expensive electronics primarily out of glass? Really, Apple? Really? With that said, I take very good care of my iPhone in general and do my best to make sure it doesn’t get scratched, dropped or abused in any way (I have often sacrificed other items I was holding in order to not drop my iPhone).

The Mas Elements back should ship to me this week and I’ll thinking a review is in order for it so stay tuned.

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