Methinks Apple is a little TOO hip with the kids
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Awesomeness, Girls, Not Cool
There’s little doubt that Apple’s recent hardware updates are sure to be a hit with the kids, but I must say, I think they might have gone a little overboard in some of their new web copy…
I don’t know, is it just me, or when a major corporation tries to act hip, it just comes off like Betty White telling someone to “take a chill pill”?
Thanks to (what I can only hope will be) faithful Macenstein reader Sofia Fontes for pointing this out.
My wfe’s iPhone stolen: Anyone know how to have Find My iPhone “auto refresh” the location?
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Not Cool, Theft, Users Helping Users, You Bet I'm Pissed, iPhone
Well, this evening the Bride of Macenstein’s iPhone was stolen. While I was of course pissed, I was also thrilled at the prospect of using Find My iPhone to find the thing. We’re in a relatively wussy, crime free town, so I figured it would be kids who took her bag and it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Long story short, we tracked the iPhone down to a restaurant, but were of course unable to actually go around shaking down the help and patrons, even with the police helping. Since Find My iPhone really only gives a ballpark location, the cops said there wasn’t much they could do. And while I am now 90% positive it is one of the kids who works at the place who has it, I can’t prove it, and with us and the cops walking around (and one of the cops telling two of the more unsavory employees that I was able to track the iPhone to this location) whoever had the iPhone apparently turned it off, and my location updates stopped.
So, my question is, does anyone know of a way to have Find My iPhone, via the app, or via MobileMe, do some sort of “autorefresh” of the location search, so if they ever DO turn on the iPhone, briefly to wipe it or such, I can get a new bead on the location? Right now it appears I have to relaunch the app on the iPhone to get it to update locations, and the same with the MobileMe page. (Can I make an autorefresh Safari url automator action somehow? Will it keep me logged in to MobileMe if it runs every 30 seconds?) Any ideas would be helpful, thanks.
Update: I got my autorefresh script going, so we’ll see…
- The Doc
RIM responds to Apple’s “But they’re doing it too!” campaign
Filed under: Apple Bashing, Apple Fanboyism, Glitch, Not Cool, Opinion, design, iPhone
RIM’s Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie issued an official response to Apple’s press conference yesterday. I won’t comment on it, for risk of further angering my fanboy readers, except to say, they’re completely right.
“Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.” – Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie
via Crackberry
Apple: No White iPhone for you!
All of you who are waiting for the white iPhone 4 to appear before placing your order better get used to your current phone. Apple PR today released the following statement:
“CUPERTINO, Calif., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — White models of Apple’s new iPhone® 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July. The availability of the more popular iPhone 4 black models is not affected.”
Apple has a fairly horrible track record when it comes to making sturdy, scratch proof “white” products that don’t discolor, so let’s hope this delay helps minimize class future action suits for fingerprints and scuff marks.
Apple begins (trying) to take Pre-orders for iPhone 4
I don’t want to blame AT&T for EVERY iPhone problem, but it DOES seem suspicious that I get this error when Apple checks my iPhone eligibility with AT&T, and the new App Store iPhone app just plain crashes during the same step…
The difference between Steve Jobs and Randall Stephenson
The differences between Jobs and Stephenson are Black and White.
Odds are one could find hundreds of differences between Apple CEO Steve Jobs and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, but the most obvious difference, as of today, is that if you email Steve Jobs with a genuine concern, odds are he’ll ignore you, but there’s a slight chance he may actually respond to you personally with one of his trademarked one-liners. Yet, according to one Giorgio Galante, if you email Stephenson you’ll be threatened with legal action.
After sending an email to Stephenson outlining his displeasure with the newly announced AT&T data plans for the iPhone (and including the requisite threat to leave AT&T forever), Galante received a voicemail from AT&T’s executive response staff (link to audio) thanking him for contacting them, but then going on to say if he continued to email Stephenson, he risks being sent a cease and desist letter.
Wow. Well all I can say is after all the wildly inappropriate things I’ve written to Steve Jobs over the years without any hint of a lawsuit, I can only say God Bless Steve for having a thick skin.
(To read Galante’s email to Stephenson, and to hear the resulting voicemail, click here).
Well, that’s ONE way to slow down iPad demand
Filed under: Apple Fanboyism, Not Cool, WTF, design, iPad
If Apple’s looking for a way to slow down demand for its perpetually out-of-stock iPad, they need look no further than the iDress and iTee, by the iClothing fashion company. I can’t imagine anyone wanting an iPad after seeing these.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Mike for the tip!
[via TechEBlog]
The dude who found the iPhone 4G was a PC user
Original image via Wired
That’s right people. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – a PC user will steal ANYTHING that isn’t nailed down.
According to a new report from Wired which highlights some key parts of a recently unsealed document outlining the details of the ongoing investigation against 21 year-old Brian Hogan:
“Warner [Brian's roommate] directed the police to the nearby Sequoia Christian Church, where the cops recovered Hogan’s black desktop PC and flatscreen monitor outside an administrative office. “
Black… desktop… PC.
iPad game pricing is gonna suck
Filed under: Cynicism, Games, Not Cool, Opinion, iPad, iPhone
Macrumors managed to get a peek at the iPad app store main page and was able to snag the following pic showing some of the upcoming prices on the new iPad-specific “HD” games.
Now, admittedly I have not played any of these games, but from the screen shots I’ve seen I have not seen a whole worth paying 5 times (or more) for any of the games I already play on the iPhone. I suppose developers think people are used to paying more for something with the words HD in the title, so they’re going to come out of the gate at least TRYING to charge more for the iPad versions of their games, but I must say seeing this screenshot has given me yet another reason to double think an iPad purchase.
I certainly support developers making money from their efforts, but if I am going to be re-buying a game I already own (and quite frankly in my mind, only recently bought), basically only to get a slightly higher-resolution version of the game so it looks nice on a larger screen, I’m not sure I’ll be laying down $5 for the likes of Flight Control (despite its Crack-like addictive qualities). In speaking with developers, it appears the process of porting a game from the iPhone to the iPad is FAR from a total rewrite, so this large a price increase seems a tad on the high side.
Perhaps developers are trying to make up for under-pricing their games on the iPhone originally, and odds are these games might sell well initially to those people who blindly pre-ordered iPads and will be desperate to get some sort of content on them, but I think it would be wise for these developers to remember many of the most successful games on the iTunes charts are priced UNDER $3, and have made their developers millions. Of course there’s always the chance these “enhanced” games have a ton of new bells and whistles in them, but for the most part they simply appear to be reformatted for the larger screen, and quite frankly a game like Flight Control does not need bells or whistles – it’s the simplicity of the game that helps it be so addictive.
I suppose time will tell how the iPad pricing eventually shakes out and whether there is any real added value in the iPad games to justify their cost. The initial batch of iPhone games started out priced about 50% higher than the average now as well, so there is some hope, and odds are there will be weekend sales and the like on iPad games just as there are for the iPhone versions, so reasonable prices may be had for those patient and vigilant enough to watch for them, but for the moment I’m not loving the HD prices.
Plane kills beach jogger listening to his iPod
You know how they say “When it’s your time to go, it’s your time to go”? Well, I can’t help but feel that a hell of a lot of people’s “time to go” might be extended if a couple of these bored ass-wipes stopped trying to fly their experimental planes.
From The Associated Press
A 38-year-old jogger from Georgia is dead after a single-engine plane making an emergency landing hit him as he ran on a South Carolina beach listening to his iPod.
The coroner said Tuesday that Robert Gary Jones of Woodstock, Ga., apparently did not hear the troubled plane that struck him from behind on Hilton Head Island The plane had lost its propeller and the pilot’s vision was blocked by oil on the windshield.
Beaufort County Coroner Ed Allen says he plans to conduct an autopsy. He says Jones was married and had two children.
Hilton Head fire and rescue spokeswoman Joheida Fister says the identities of the pilot and a passenger on the Experimental Lancair IV-P plane were not released. They were not injured.
I was going to make some lame joke about “this is exactly why I don’t jog”, but the man had two small kids (as do I), so it’s kind of a sad story that hits close to home. Besides, the real reason I stopped jogging is because I was almost killed by a totally unafraid, 50-horned male deer early one morning, and there is no way I want my kids to remember me as the guy who got killed by a deer.
Thanks to faithful Macenstein reader Jonro for the tip!
