A vote for me is a vote for me not asking you to vote for me anymore
Hey guys. Thanks to you, I am now in FIRST PLACE in the iPhone contest, so thanks a lot! You guys rock!
Click above to vote for me.
However, as seemingly insurmountable as my lead looks, it is by NO MEANS a lock, so let’s not get lazy. My primary competition seems to be mounting a last-minute effort with 5 hours left to go, so I need your help. Please let everyone on the planet you have ever met know that the fate of the free world depends on me winning that iPhone. At this point, it is really almost as much about me avoiding the embarrassment of losing than actually winning. I really didn’t expect to be able to catch up so quickly in such a short time, but now that I have, it would really be kind of embarrassing to lose such a lead.
So please, tell your super popular friends, brothers and sisters to take 5 seconds out of their busy day and vote for my video. It will save me from entering a downward depression spiral which might cause me to forget where I placed all those Mac Chick of the Month entries…
When you get so good at a game you love… that you hate it
As anyone who’s ever spent an extended period of time with me will attest, “familiarity breeds contempt”. And while I am used to this saying applying to human interactions, I never thought it would sum up my relationship with some of my favorite iPhone apps. Yet here I am with a score of 528 in Flight Control, and I practical dread playing it now.
So, what’s turned me sour on what was at one point my favorite game? Well, quite frankly I’m just too good.
Yes, I know I am not even close to being the top Flight Control player (I have seen scores of 20,000-plus) but a 528 score is apparently still good enough for me to be placed in the top 4% of Flight Control players worldwide. And while Flight Control still holds a coveted spot on my first page of iPhone apps, my finger rarely seeks its soothing, blue embrace. Why? Well, what started as a wonderful casual game has now turned into a serious time commitment. I have calculated that it takes me a little over 5 minutes to land 100 planes, meaning that in order to break my record, I’m looking at laying out about 30 minutes or so of my not-so-valuable time. Faced with the near certainty that my attempt will end in frustrating failure in the 400’s, I more often than not will pass on Flight Control for a more casual, compartmentalized game like Peggle or Puzzlings.
I had a similar issue with the pie-wedge-placing game Frenzic, where in order to beat my 2300 score (again, nowhere near the top score) I would have to devote quite a bit of time, and invariably not reach my goal. Frenzic is similar to Flight Control in that both are fast-finger games, and although both have pause buttons, resuming a game a day later usually ends in disaster as you invariably forget your place.
Addicting, but not fun
To me, Flight Control and Frenzic both suffer from the same underlying problem Read more
Help Build the Ultimate iPhone Feature Request List – Part Deux
Filed under: Photos, Slow News Day, design, iPhone, whining
It was about 2 years ago that Apple first released the iPhone – widley heralded as the most technologically advanced phone anyone had ever seen, save for the fact that it was missing almost every “must have” feature that phones 5 years older had had forever. At the time we decided to create a wish list of things we all wanted our iPhones to be able to do, and over the years Apple has filled in most of the more glaring holes, like a better camera, MMS (sort of), Exchange support, Push notifications (OK, that wasn’t the goal but we got it), an app store, and so much more. Still, there is ALWAYS room to complain. So, with that in mind, we are starting round TWO of our iPhone feature request list.
We invite you to add your ideas in the comments below, and we’ll add the ones we think are the best to the master list. We’re not really looking for things like “add more storage” or “add a faster network”. We’re more looking for things that can be added via software/hardware to improve the way the current iPhone functions.
I will start the list with two things I miss from my jailbroken iPhone days:
SBSettings: Apple needs to rip off SBSettings in some form.
image via TheAppleBlog
If you are unfamiliar, SBSettings allowed you to swipe your finger across the iPhone’s status bar (where the time and battery life are) and a drop down would slide into place which allowed you quick access to a bunch of features such as adjusting the iPhone’s brightness, turning on and off WiFi/3G/EDGE/Bluetooth, enabling SSH, etc. It was customizable, and while we realize Apple wouldn’t allow some of those features in a similar version (SSH, most notably) it was way more convenient to adjust my iPhone’s brightness at night that to go into settings.
Let us add 5 icons to the dock
Yes, I know it throws off the beauty of the 4 icons you have going now, yet there are at least 6 icnos I would like to have in my dock at all times, and while 6 is pushing it, 5 icons actually fit nicely.
Enable Disk Mode as with a regular iPod (Dillon Brown)
This one has baffled me as well, as Apple apparently has no problem with 3rd party apps transferring files to and from the iPhone, yet for some reason we cannot use the iPhone as a makeshift USB Thumb drive out of the box. Apple should add the “enable disk mode” check box to the iPhone in iTunes, and let a connected iPhone appear on the desktop.
Share directions in Maps (Kelly Croy)
While Maps is technically a Google app, we have no say as to whether or not it appears on our iPhones, so Apple should take heed of it’s failings. We would like to be able to e-mail directions to people. Currently copy and paste does not work in Maps, so we can’t even do that.
Holy appendix, Batman!
Faithful Macenstein reader Batman writes:
“Hey! It is now June 18 and you still have stuff at the top of your site from the 14. WTF? Are you dead or what? Do something!!!!!”
Yes, as many of you who follow my Twitter feed know, I had to have my appendix taken out, so it was NOT, I repeat, NOT the 2 three scoop sundaes I got at Friendly’s that were ripping my stomach apart earlier this week, and no, I did not get a virus (we all know people who use Macs do not get viruses).
Looking back I realize that over the past 3 or 4 years or so I have posted something almost every day, which is really quite amazing, as well as quite sad. Anyway, I hope to be posting in a day or so, but it’s certainly nice to see that even a busy crimefighter such as the legendary Batman finds time to read Macenstein, although being a REAL man, (well, an imaginary REAL man…) I am sure he laughs at an appendix stopping anyone from doing their job.
Media Temple sucks, Part 2
Filed under: Not Cool, Opinion, You Bet I'm Pissed, whining
Well, THAT sucked…. Our outage today was (for once) not directly related to Media Temple, other than we finally got so fed up with them that we moved the site to a new host. Unfortunately, things did not go all that smoothly (for some reason the database was merged with that of another site we have on Media Temple). We’re not sure why that happened, but in the end we are now about 50% sure we are now up and running. So let us know if you notice anything weirder than usual.
And death to Media Temple (well, at least until we find out our new host is just as bad and go crawling back to them).
Why does adding RAW support for 4 high-end digital cameras to iPhoto require a system restart?
I’m as big a fan of the RAW format as anyone (ok, actually I have never used the RAW format) but why does adding 4 camera’s RAW profiles to OS X require a system reboot? It just doesn’t seem right…
Where the F$#% is my 2.1 iPhone Update?!? [UPDATE: IT'S HERE!]
It’s 12:01 AM. What’s the frigging hold up here?
No, it is NOT and you know it, iTunes!
6:20 AM: Damnit.
8:04 AM: C’mon Apple, I gotta get to work!
8:51 AM: Well, now I’m at work, so who gives a crap.
9:10 AM: It’s out
Where the #$%@ is the iPhone 2.0.1 firmware?!
Filed under: Not Cool, Opinion, WTF, You Bet I'm Pissed, bugs, iPhone, whining
In the first 13 months of owning an iPhone I restored my iPhone ONE time, and it was a voluntary act I performed to see if it would get rid of a little sluggish behavior (which it did). Since upgrading to the iPhone 2.0 firmware, however, I have had to restore my iPhone six times, in just 8 days. And this 6th iPhone restore really hurt.
Yesterday I went on a trip into NYC with the family to see Miley Cyrus perform in Bryant Park (not exactly my idea of fun). The 4am trip involved quite a few headaches, but we made it, and despite the concert, we had a great time. We went to the top of the Empire State Building, we went to Jim Hanley’s Universe, The Disney Store, Mars 2112 (well, that sort of sucked), FAO Schwarz, and of course, the 5th Ave Cube. And all along the trip, I took pictures with my (formerly) trusty iPhone camera. We brought along a real pocket camera too and took some shots, but I grabbed quite a few stills on the iPhone of some of the more bizarre Apple stuff I saw, some of which I planned to use in upcoming articles here and at Son of Macenstein.
Well, needless to say, after such an exhausting day, I did not pull off those pictures when we finally got home around 8PM, and thanks to this morning’s iPhone crash I lost them. I had gone a solid 3 days without a crash, and perhaps had been lulled into a false sense of security, but needless to say, I am now more or less viewing my iPhone as simply a phone and iPod that may or may not work. The idea of traveling alone to the city or even being on a long car ride now gives me pause, as I know if I want to do something crazy, like, oh, I don’t know, rearrange my icons, or play the $10 game of Scrabble I bought, it could mean I am without cell phone service until I get home.
I realize for many the iPhone 2.0 firmware has been working flawless, but I also know I have seen an amazing amount of horror stories that mimic my own. Having a buggy version of iPhone software runs a very close second to having a buggy Mac OS on my computer on my list of things that screw up my life (a rather long list, btw), and in some ways it is actually more annoying. Perhaps it is time Apple widen the beta testing pool a bit on the iPhone so not so many of us feel like beta testers ourselves when the final release comes. I want my (thoroughly tested, of course) 2.0.1 firmware, and I want it NOW.
Mo’ Apps, Mo’ Problems. Whose iPhone 2.0 migration has gone smoothly?
Filed under: Not Cool, Users Helping Users, iPhone, whining
Not mine, I’ll tell you that much.
While I love the iPhone, and the Apps, I do not love the “rickety” feeling my gen 1 iPhone has now, as if I must handle it with kid gloves or risk crashing it. Not that it matters, kid gloves or not, it crashes. And don’t get me started on those hour-long syncs…
Mo’ Apps, Mo’ Problems
At first the migration seemed to go well. I upgraded my firmware Friday morning, downloaded/bought a few apps, played some games – everything was going swell. Then sporadically, once in a while using an app, or surfing the web, the iPhone would either quit that application, kicking me back to the home screen, or reboot entirely. This only happened maybe twice on Friday, 3 or 4 times on Saturday, but by Sunday I had about 6 such scenarios, leading up to a real scare Sunday night. That was when I had my first “unrecoverable” crash. Read more
OK, now this is just getting embarrassing
Filed under: Not Cool, Photos, Slow News Day, You Bet I'm Pissed, iPhone, whining
Remember a couple weeks ago when I accidentally washed and dried my iPhone headphones?
Miraculously, despite being somewhat crinkly, they appeared to work just fine. Well, for about a week anyway. After a week or so the left earbud began emitting a horrible static sound about 80% of the time, so it was off to the Apple store for another $20 pair of earbuds.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, lightning has struck twice, and my brand new set of earbuds have followed in the in the thrill-seeking footsteps of their predecessors – taking the death-defying trip into the washer/dryer. Unfortunately, this set did not have the luck of the last pair, and are somewhat more horribly disfigured.
Probably the closest thing we humans can equate to the experience would be to take a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or rather, being FORCED into a barrel and thrown over Niagara Falls, as I doubt my earbuds were looking for a thrill.
Well, once again, despite the exposed wires and such, this pair also seems to still work just fine, but being a fairly shallow person, I think a trip to the Apple Store is once again in my immediate future. I don’t know what my problem is here – I have never washed any iPod earbuds, and I tend to keep all my gear immaculate. I think in order to feel better about myself, this time I will have to blame the Bride of Macenstein for this, as I had mentioned to her that my earbuds were missing and to keep an eye out for them.
Women! Am I right fellas?!
