Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

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I got an unlocked iPhone 3G!

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Call me a little obsessed, but I wanted an unlocked iPhone 3G to be able to use local SIM cards with my iPhone when traveling abroad. I got the bright idea to get one when contemplating people I knew who either lived in a country where they’re sold, or who would be traveling to one soon. One of my co-workers is from New Zealand and still has family there, and he kindly offered to arrange to get me one (thanks, Tim!). So I am now the proud owner of an *officially* unlocked iPhone 3G that will remain unlocked through any firmware update Apple throws out. Woo hoo!

If you’re wondering, I plan to sell my 3-month-old AT&T-locked iPhone 3G on eBay, where they appear to be fetching upwards of $500, even when locked to AT&T. Isn’t that crazy? All in all, I won’t be out of pocket too much for my little obsession. Well, maybe it is a lot, but I don’t need to think about that too hard.

I still haven’t gotten the Dots Gloves I mentioned in my last blog post. I hope they arrive soon – I’ve already broken out some gloves for my morning commute, which is getting increasingly chilly, and they could have come in handy already.

I’m still working on getting a new MacBook Air with a discount – I’ve got one definite way lined up (thanks, Kim!), but I’m hoping I can find an alternative that will yield a larger discount, though that may require some additional waiting and I don’t think I’m up for that. Me wants shiny new MacBook Air now, must get rid of plasticky MacBook.

Upcoming review: Dots Gloves

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Oh, I forgot to mention that I recently ordered a pair of Dots Gloves in preparation for the cold weather that’s heading my way. Last winter, it was a minor inconvenience to need to remove my gloves every time I wanted to use my iPhone while waiting for the train, and these gloves got on my gadget wish list as soon as I heard about them. I’m thinking they’ll probably end up being a little big for me – they only offer 2 sizes, Regular or Large, and I am most definitely a small with hands proportional to my 5’3″ height, but we’ll see. Once the weather officially hits gloves-required levels and I get some good use out of these, expect my detailed review!

MacBook Air or Bust

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My wish came true! The MacBook Air did indeed see an update at yesterday’s Apple event, and I am definitely planning to get one. My initial plan has been to get the base $1799 version, but I think I’m going to spring for the top model with the 128GB SSD. My only disappointment is that they don’t have the new fancy glass trackpad that the updated MacBooks and MacBook Pros have, but my guess is that they couldn’t fit this into the Air without requiring an enclosure change. But I’m sure I’ll live without that.

Now, I’m simply scheming to get one at the lowest possible price – I do have some connections (wink, wink). I just have to figure out who will mind me using them as a connection the least.

I have to say that I am somewhat tempted by the aluminum MacBooks – they do weigh 1/2 pound less than the current version. But that still doesn’t make them nearly as svelte as the Air, so I don’t think I’ll be swayed too much even after seeing them in person, which I hope to do this weekend.

I’m a little bummed that there was no iPhone news since I’m really looking forward to the push notification service Apple promised, as well as the GPS enhancements that were rumored. I’m keeping busy with downloading more apps than I can handle, however. I’ve taken to syncing only selected apps now since I’ve found that there are some that I really just never use, including AIM, which is useless to me without the ability to be “online” even when the app is closed. Come on, 2.2 firmware!

Anxiously awaiting October 14…

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Is it just me or is it taking forever until 10/14? With one more week go to, I am soooo looking forward to some product updates, particularly to the MacBook Air. Recent rumors seem to focus on updates to the MacBook Pro and MacBook lines, featuring changes to the enclosure with thinness as key trait in comparison to current models. But I’m still holding out, in typical stubborn geek fashion, for MacBook Air updates to be included.

There have been rumors about something called the “Brick” and 9to5Mac appears to have clarified this rumor, describing that it references a new manufacturing process that allows enclosures to be laser-cut whole from blocks of aluminum. That sounds pretty cool and I’d love to see that in action since these sorts of processes fascinate me, but I’m quite sure I’ll never get to see a demo from Apple unless I do something drastic involving very good disguises, a trip to Asia, and some secret agent skills I currently do not possess.

Regardless, I am poised to run to an Apple store and buy a new MacBook Air and say goodbye to my current MacBook afterward. I think I’ll put it up for sale on Craigslist first before trying eBay. I have been quite unhappy with eBay lately – their policy change that prevents sellers from leaving negative feedback for buyers was an incredibly poor decision, in my opinion. And their fees continue to go up to the point where even an occasional seller like me hesitates to use eBay to sell stuff. I used to love eBay, but no longer. Craigslist FTW.

So far, so good with 2.1, iPhone AC adapter recall, October 14 hopes

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I’ve been running 2.1 on my iPhone since the day it was released (after a long and painful back-up and a restore to get around the ALoD issue) and it’s been pretty good so far. Battery life seems to have improved, except for a couple of days when my battery has drained alarmingly quickly as if something big was still running when it shouldn’t have been. As promised in the list of improvements in the release notes, syncing and back-ups have been far quicker than they used to be, and it’s really nice to not have to plan syncing well in advance so I don’t get stuck waiting for it to finish when I’m trying to head out the door. I do like the new Genius feature and have been using it pretty frequently. I do tend to listen to certain songs and genres based on my mood and Genius puts together playlists together well enough for me on the fly. 
I’ve had one or two apps close down immediately when I open them, but a reboot has fixed those. That damn New York Times app still locks up every time I use it, though I don’t blame this on Apple since it’s been SOP for this app almost since day one on 2.0. The New York Times has great writers, but it feels like they could augment the hiring and performance standards for their programmers. 😉
I filled out the online form the other day to request my replacement iPhone AC adapter. If you don’t know about this recall, check out the details here.  I always wonder about these sorts of situations – is it caused by a design flaw or did the manufacturer do something wrong? I’m sure no one at Apple wants us to know the full details of this or any of their past recalls.
Recent rumors have indicated that October 14 will bring some product line updates. I’m hopeful that the MacBook Air will be included and see a hard drive bump to at least 120GB, because I’ve got some money set aside that’s burning a hole in my pocket (well, my checking account, anyway) to buy one. I’m frankly not going to be fussy about processor speed since I don’t do anything power-intensive except for some light photo editing occasionally. See, I at least do put in some effort to make the pictures with my reviews look better than my poor photography skills can manage alone. Really. Anyway, fingers crossed for a MacBook Air update. And it couldn’t come any sooner since it appears that my primary admin account on my current MacBook is corrupt and is the root of the issues I’m having with my site development software. Fixing permissions repeatedly has not helped, and it seems to work just fine on another admin account I have set up, so I’m looking forward to a clean start on a new computer rather than a re-install of Leopard on my current MacBook. Go ahead, call me lazy. I triple dog dare you. 😉
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