Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

Musings of a geeky girl. About | Contact

Social

iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store

Categories

Farewell, sweet MiFi!

by Leave a Comment

I sold my MiFi via eBay this week and shipped it out today to its new owner. I had the MiFi for about a year and really enjoyed it but it was usurped by my iPhone 4 and the Personal Hotspot feature that debuted earlier this year in iOS 4.3.

So far, my iPhone has replaced several other things, both digital and analog, in my life. For example, I no longer own a separate iPod (I used to own a 5th-generation iPod video, a 1st-generation nano and an old Shuffle) since my iPhone is my dedicated music player – I have it with me everywhere I go (even at the gym thanks to the Armpocket armband holder).

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

Bad Dream

by Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With:

I just ordered one of these babies

by Leave a Comment

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.

App Developers: How to get your app reviewed (or, how not to irritate an app reviewer)

by 36 Comments

Note: These are my own opinions and observations and this is not the official stance or guidance of any of the sites for which I write.

About half of my day job consists of keeping tabs on new iOS and Mac apps, including writing features or full reviews of ones that catch my eye. Now, there are hundreds of thousands apps in the App Store and I know that it’s hard for you developers to capture the attention of the blogosphere to get a bit of love for the most recent by-product of your sweat, blood and tears. To help you out (and to vent a little frustration about what happens far too often, frankly), I’m posting this guide on what to do and what not to do to when submitting your app for consideration for review on a major site.

[Read more…]

Verified by MonsterInsights