Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

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Five years ago

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Image courtesy of AP

Five years ago today, I left work soon after lunch and went to a local AT&T store to get a brand new iPhone, Apple’s first entry in the smartphone market. (I didn’t work in the technology journalism industry then and I wasn’t entirely truthful with my boss at that time about my reason for leaving early – I knew getting in line to buy a cell phone was not going to be acceptable). I was so excited to get my hands on it and immediately found it to be an improvement compared to the Treo 680 I had at that time.

Here’s a portion of what I posted about my purchase experience on my old blog on July 1, 2007 (I think I’ve since toned down my fangirl exuberance, at least a little):

By George, I’ve got it! My iPhone, that is. I waited in line for 2 hours at a local AT&T store (I thought an AT&T store would be less crazy than a local Apple store, and from what I’ve read, I was right) and picked up one of the last 8GB models they had. Luckily, I had no problems whatsoever activating it – within 3 minutes of plugging it into my Mac (I had downloaded iTunes 7.3 before I went to the store so I would be prepared to sync it immediately later), the SIM card in my Treo was deactivated and my iPhone was active. Syncing did take a long time the first time around, though I’m not sure exactly how much time since I left it alone after a few minutes and went to grab some dinner.

The iPhone is simply amazing and I absolutely love it so far. I’m getting some good use in and am working on my Treo 680 v. iPhone review each day. Already, I know that there a few things I miss from my Treo. One thing is searching for contacts via the keyboard – on the iPhone, you can only search by scrolling through all names directly or by using the alphabet shortcut visible on the right side. Another thing is to-do items. However, rumor has it that to-do’s may be in a software update when Leopard is released (along with an associated application on the Mac for Notes syncing). If this is the case, it looks like I’m going to be upgrading to Leopard sooner after it’s released rather than later.

Looking back at that post on my old site also reminds me that I’ve been blogging for more than five years now. It’s been an eventful five years, especially for Apple fans.

I don’t want to wax too nostalgic about a device that has changed so much for me but if you’re an iPhone owner, you probably already know what this is like. I’m definitely looking forward to the next five years of the iPhone and innovation in general in the consumer technology space.

everythingiCafe: the show “Plastic Dinosaur Magnet”

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Chris and I recorded episode 60 of the everythingicafe.com podcast a few days ago and it’s now available to download through iTunes. Of course, most of the items on the docket came from Apple’s announcements at the WWDC keynote on Monday.

First, I have to apologize for my audio quality on this one. Thanks to some sh*tty LogMeIn sound drivers, my iMac’s audio input was all jacked up and it was recording through my Mac’s microphone instead of the real Shure mic that it was supposed to be using (even though the audio input setting in the Sound control panel was telling me otherwise). Right now, my recommendation is to avoid using LogMeIn on a Mac running Lion if you’re doing anything audio-related until they fix these sound driver issues – turns out there are several posts in the LogMeIn forums about this.

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everythingiCafe: the show “Two Trains”

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I have been terribly delinquent in posting about new episodes of the everythingicafe.com podcast when they become available. Time has been getting away from me this week and I have been feeling a little bit under the weather, so please accept my apologies for not being quite on the ball recently.

At any rate, episode 58 of the podcast I co-host with Chris Meinck is now available in iTunes. In it, Chris and I talk about iPhone 5 rumors that have cropped up recently, including those about some Liquid Metal components it could contain (a brand name that always makes me think of  Terminator 2 and Robert Patrick impersonating a cop and chasing Sarah Connor) and what is claimed to be the next home button for the upcoming iPhone model. We also talked briefly about Apple’s quarterly results for Q2 2012, which were phenomenal as usual.

Also on our agenda was the latest teaser video from Samsung for the next Galaxy S phone in which the company essentially calls iPhone users sheep (you can see that video here). While I’m not personally offended to an extent to be really bothered by this, I do find it puzzling and worrisome that Samsung’s marketing folks think that making fun of the people you want to buy your product is a good thing. I can’t think that “mock your potential customers” is taught in any marketing class. At the very least, Samsung has turned me off from considering their Galaxy products by this alone.

My Teh Awesome for the week was the eBay app for the iPhone. Though it’s been around for a while, it’s an app that I use almost daily to browse for yet more gadgets, accessories and designer bags (my one girly indulgence) to buy and to keep an eye on the items I put up for auction to make room for new acquisitions. Chris’s Teh Awesome was the SmartFuel iPhone app that helps you find the best gas prices nearby to save a little money when you fill up your tank.

We have not yet recorded an episode for this week but we should squeeze one in within the next few days before I head out of town for a trip early next week. Once that episode is available, my plan is to post about when it’s in iTunes in a more timely manner. 😉

Review: Morris Lessmore DODOcase for the iPad 3

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Every time I get a new gadget, I am tempted to buy a new case or other accessory for it, and I usually succumb to this temptation. This was definitely the case (see what I did there?) for my new iPad 3 and I ordered the Morris Lessmore DODOcase for it. I’ve now had it for a few weeks and have been enjoying it quite a bit.

The Morris Lessmore case, which costs $64.95, was made in partnership with Moonbot Studios in honor of the Oscar-winning animated short film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. (You can buy the short film directly from the iTunes Store here and there’s also an interactive iPad book app for it here.)

The case looks and feels just like a hardcover book on the outside and is made by hand using traditional bookbinding techniques. The exterior of this particular model (DODOcase offers several different models with different materials and color combinations) is faux red leather and it has a cream linen cloth interior. As with all of DODOcase’s cases, it has a bamboo frame on the inside to hold the iPad, with rubber pads in the corner to grip it and cushion it within the frame.

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everythingiCafe: the show “Juicer Fanbois”

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I’m a little behind in posting about this one but a new episode of the everythingicafe.com podcast is available through iTunes. In this episode (number 57, in case you’re keeping track), Chris Meinck and I talk about some iPad mini rumors and some demands a consumer organization in Australia is making of Apple in relation to the new iPad.

We also talked about a couple legal issues Apple’s involved with, namely the Lodsys patent suit and a recent decision that allows Apple to intervene a bit in this suit on behalf of developers, and Apple’s response to the Department of Justice about the claims that Apple colluded with book publishers to set ebook prices.

My Teh Awesome of the week was Osfoora, a Twitter app for the Mac. I think I may have mentioned Osfoora for the iPhone and iPad in a previous episode but a recent update to the Mac app added Tweet Marker, a service that keeps your timeline position in sync across apps that also use this service, regardless of platform. Since I read Twitter on a variety of devices, this feature is incredibly useful for me. (On the iPhone and iPad, I use Tweetbot, which also makes use of Tweet Marker.)

Chris’s Teh Awesome was iTunes Match. He did a walkthrough of how to set up this service and he is very happy with how it lets him access his entire library from anywhere and lets you replace music you’ve ripped at a low quality with a higher-quality version from Apple. I also subscribe to iTunes Match and I’ve been pretty happy with it as well.

[frame]As I mentioned in this episode and the last one, I’ve got a review of the Morris Lessmore DODOcase for the iPad 3 that I ordered last month coming up. I finally recorded the video review this weekend and I’ll post it tomorrow, so stay tuned.[/frame]

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