Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

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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.

Mobile Maps navigation app – more first impressions

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I’ve started to use the Mobile Maps turn-by-turn navigation app that I mentioned the other day and it’s working out quite well so far. It runs smoothly and has gotten me to all of my destinations without any problems, though it gave me a more round-about way to get to one than I would have liked (and different from the route my TomTom Go 720 gives me for this same destination).

What I like so far:
  • Quick route re-calculation
  • Good graphics
  • Reliable – hasn’t lost the GPS signal or gotten confused at all
  • Tells me which side of the road my destination is on!
  • Highway lane guidance display
What I don’t like so far:
  • Voice guidance volume is too low, even at highest volume setting
  • No way to search all POI categories at once
  • No integration with contacts list
I’ll be testing it more to see how it handles incoming and outgoing phone calls and trips with more than one destination. I’m also going to see how it runs on my iPhone 3G compared to my iPhone 3GS.
To be honest, I expected it to make my iPhone run really hot, but it doesn’t. It gets slightly warm to the touch, but that’s it, even when I’ve got my iPhone plugged in with my car charger at the same time. Running it off the battery alone with the screen on all the time didn’t result in as drastic a decrease in my battery charge as I’d expected, to boot. Definitely good so far…

Dirty rotten developers

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I have 136 apps for my iPhone in my iTunes library, of which 72 are actually on my iPhone at the moment. Once I get a new app, I try it out for a while to see if I like it and if I’m really using it regularly. If not, it comes off my iPhone, and I try to write a review for the App Store on it. Unfortunately, I’m falling far behind in that last task, but what can you do?

At any rate, the point is that I love apps for my iPhone. I have tons of games, exercise and work-out apps, apps to help me track my finances, and much more. Up until now, I haven’t had any major issues at all with the apps I’ve downloaded – they either work or they don’t and they suit my needs or not. I have now, however, encountered my first issue with an app developer who has most thoroughly shafted his customers and I feel compelled to share it. Let me give you an overview of what happened with this particular app, Gazette:
  • Gazette, an RSS reader app by developer Matt Rajca, goes on sale in the App Store for $2.99 in October 2008.
  • Reviews are fair to middling for the app and subsequent .0X updates. Many reviewers, including me, noted that syncing many feeds can take upwards of 15 minutes (NetNewsWire took only a couple of minutes comparatively for the same number of feeds for me). Rajca stated that this would be fixed in Gazette 2.0, with an ETA in January 2009.
  • When asked if 2.0 would be a free upgrade, Rajca replied that it would be free to existing users, but would of course require a purchase to new customers.
  • Gazette 2.0 is not released in January.
  • In late March, Rajca posts that he’s still working on 2.0.
  • More than 3 months later, Rajca announces that Gazette 2.0 has been submitted to the App Store in mid-June. However, it is no longer a free upgrade for current users, but will cost $2.99 for all customers.
  • Gazette 1.0.4 has disappeared from the App Store, along with all of the reviews users had written about it.
To be clear, I know this isn’t the end of the world. It’s just an app and it’s just $3. But I think this behavior by a developer is deplorable. In my eyes, I had an app that was so slow it was unusable, and to get the improved app that does exactly the same thing, albeit purportedly faster, I have to pay for it again. Rajca had feedback from me via an iTunes review, completion of an optional survey he posted in a forum I frequent, as well as direct feedback from me in that same forum. I was not the only one who had the same issues with his app. (I should note that there are users who are perfectly happy with Gazette, though I must think they must only track about 10 feeds for this to be possible.) And, he had previously stated that 2.0 would be a free update to existing customers. Having a change of heart is one thing, but going back on your word to customers is another entirely. To parrot my mother, he should be ashamed of himself. And you can bet he’s lost me as a customer.
The official macgirl.net recommendation: Don’t buy Gazette and let developers like Matt Rajca think it’s okay to go back on their word and treat customers like crap. Behavior like this is right up there on my list of pet peeves, in between Close Talkers and customer service ineptitude (previous experiences with AT&T come to mind here).
Two RSS readers I can stand by are Byline and NetNewsWire. I started out with NetNewsWire but switched to Byline since it syncs with Google Reader, which became my primary RSS feed subscription manager. Both are speedy and have great features, and their developers don’t appear to feel the need to shaft their customers.

My near-naked iPhone and a quick look at the first Google Voice app

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The wonderful folks over at Proporta have sent me a few items to review and first up is their Maya case for my iPhone 3G (it will fit the iPod Touch and other products as well). My iPhone in its Incase Slider won’t fit into this case, which made me realize that my iPhone would need to be naked in order to use the Maya case enough to review it. I couldn’t bear that thought one little bit so I ordered a DecalGirl skin to give it at least some protection. This is not the first time I’ve used a DecalGirl skin, and while this brand wasn’t my first choice since there are others that cover more of the iPhone, they had the design I liked the best (courtesy of DecalGirl’s site):

While I’m at it, I’ll do a review of this skin as well shortly.
If you’ve ever checked out the About page on my site, you’ve probably seen my Google Voice contact button (it used to be a GrandCentral button). If you have a Google Voice number and an iPhone, you might be interested to know that there is currently an app available to let you use your Google Voice account to make calls, and there’s another one with more features due out soon. The one currently in the App Store is called GV Dialer – I mistakenly purchased this thinking it was the first Google Voice app I’d heard of, GV Mobile. GV Dialer works, but it does not offer the ability to use the text messaging feature now available in Google Voice, which GV Mobile does. Fortunately, GV Dialer was only $2.99, so I didn’t waste too much money on it – I’ll most likely ditch it for GV Mobile once it’s available in the App Store.
A few quick thoughts on GV Dialer:
  • I had a small glitch setting it up – it wouldn’t let me scroll down to the email address field after entering my Google Voice number. I can make calls still, so the missing email address didn’t affect its operation.
  • I never needed to enter my password to start making calls with the application. UPDATE: At first I thought this was a major security issue in that someone else could easily use only your Google Voice number to make calls on your account, but it turns out that your iPhone’s phone number must be registered with your Google Voice account, which makes it more secure.
  • You can use this application instead of the original Phone application all the time – you can set it to ask you before making a call to use your Google Voice account or make the call through your cellular provider just as you would in the Phone app. 
Here are a few screenshots:
The Ask on Call setting in action
Settings


Shortcuts


Dialing a number



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