Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

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How to devastate a geeky girl: break her iPhone

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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

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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

I don’t need another Mac, but I *want* one

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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.
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.

Dirty rotten developers: minor reformation

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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

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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.

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Image courtesy of GelaSkins.com

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