Category: Technology

Looking back on yesterday's presser

The way I see it, with the iPhone 4 antenna issue is there’s an existing (perceived or otherwise) that the antenna issue is the worst thing to hit the tech market since Windows ME. Apple’s response is needs to hit two key points: what we are going to do about existing users; and what we’re going to do about future models.

Apple’s giving out free cases solves the problem with the existing users. There was no way Apple was going to issue a recall.

Apple was hedgy on the future plans. During the Q&A Jobs said, “we’re keeping an eye on it.” Frankly, I didn’t expect much. The last thing Apple wants to do is get people to wait on a hardware revision.

I get the feeling people were thinking Jobs’s conference was addressed to users. I don’t think it was. This whole presser to me was directed squarely at Wall Street. Even the timing was for Wall Street; it was timed to be over before the market closed.

In full disclosure: I don’t have an iPhone 4. Due to when my contract expires, It’s unlikely I will ever own one — I’ll just get the iPhone 5. My statistical data is from a very small sample set. The two people I have talked with that own an iPhone 4 both have the signal drop issue.

Jobs went out of his way to explain this problem affects all cell phones. I’ve had my iPhone 3GS since March and I’ve never been able to replicate the problem. Once I heard about the problem I’ve gripped my iPhone every way imaginable and can’t make the problem happen.

I tend to believe Apple’s numbers on returns and calls to AppleCare are true, with one caveat — Jobs said 0.55% of all calls to the AppleCare line are about this issue. Now, you can really spin this: does this involve all calls to the AppleCare line, or just the iPhone 4 support line. If Apple is really spinning that number based on all calls to the AppleCare line (i.e. people calling in MacBook issues, etc.), that number affects a larger number than Apple is letting on. Update: Jobs indeed did say 0.55% of iPhone users. Nothing to see here.

Jobs went out of his way to denigrate the tech press. It was pretty clear he holds the tech press with disdain, and I don’t blame him; I hate us as well. The problem with the tech press it this: some site comes out with a half-sourced or patently false story. This story gets grabbed with “so and so is reporting that…” and then a major news site grabs the story, which then gets circulated with “so and so is confirming…” and when you track down the story line, the original story is one that won’t stand up to a basic fact check. Which then leads to “It’s not our fault; we’re bloggers, not journalists.”

I do believe this is issue — for whatever reason — has gotten blown way out of proportion in the press. I do not believe it’s the gigantic problem that it’s being lead to believe. Twenty four hours later, when I ask if I feel the presser was satisfactory, I’m inclined to say yes. Apple was addressing the existing issue. I would not be surprised to see this brought up again during the Apple September iPod Event.

Satire: My predictions for tomorrow's Apple presser

  1. Steve Jobs will show us the proper way to hold the iPhone.
  2. Apple will single out Brian Lam and say “this is why we can’t have nice things … or at least test phones.”
  3. They will give out free Bumpers to everyone, but they will be of the “purple polka-dot bikini” variety.
  4. Apple will blame AT&T saying, “their More Bars; More Places” advertising campaign was behind the code that was overly generous on reporting signal strength.
  5. Steve Jobs will say, “It’s not a big deal. People just don’t use phones anymore”

WWDC 2010 Predictions

iPhone News

  • New iPhone and OS 4.0 shipping imminently. It appears they are already ramping up production. I might even go out on a limb and say 4.0 will ship within a week of WWDC
  • AT&T to allow tethering
  • More tech details of 4.0

iPad News

  • Sales update
  • OS 4.0 new announcements: better file management, better iCal. Bluetooth tethering and greater bluetooth connectivity options, including 3rd party presenters tools, ability to manipulate Photo library, removal of iTunes initial sync requirement. Apple will begin marketing the iPad as a stand alone device.

Mac news

  • Sales update
  • Mac Pro refresh
  • No OS/X 10.7 details except “we’ve got great new things planned”

Cloud news

  • Apple will roll iWork.com out of beta with better collaboration tools
  • MobileMe syncing and cloud backup will be free for iDevices. Possible free MobileMe for Mail/Calendar. iDisk to remain premium.
  • Apple will begin to focus more on cloud storage and syncing.

App News:

  • Possible: new iWork and iLife with cloud storage.

Thoughts on Mobile Me

My e-mail is hosted on Google Apps, as is my calendar. I also use Google Reader for my RSS feeds. I’ve also been a serial abuser of Mobile Me trial. My blog is hosted on WordPress. I use Dropbox for cloud storage.

I don’t generally get political about my technology choices. I use Apple gear because it works the best for my workflow. Over time, I’ve become very integrated into the Apple infrastructure, and while every computer I use has the Apple logo on it, — and I write about Apple professionally — I don’t really consider myself an Apple fanboy. Apple for me is the best choice for me. It may not be the best choice for you. I’m not going to judge.

The one holdout for me as been Mobile Me. I try it and cancel it. I try it and cancel it. There just never seemed to be a hole in my life Mobile Me would fill.

That’s starting to change.

The Google buzz fiasco has started change how I view Google. I’ve been leery of Google’s motivation; they are in the search business and probably know more about what I do on the Internet than the NSA. I’m starting to have qualms about entrusting my email, calendar, etc to Google.

I’m very happy with Dropbox and have considered upgrading to the 50g plan. However, there is one problem with Dropbox: it’s an all-or-nothing sync. Without putting too fine a point on it, there are things I’m ok with syncing to my work computer and things I am not. However, living as a digital nomad and needing to get access to certain documents when I need them, and not just when I’m at home is crucial. As an example, I told a friend if mime I’d send her something I wrote. Now I have to remember to email it. If the file was in the cloud, I could have just shared it with her.

Now that I own an iPad, iPhone and my Mac, simple things like bookmark syncing become important. I don’t usually bookmark — I use Instapaper and Evernote for a lot of my read later needs. I’ll still run across a site I want to bookmark for later on a mobile device.

Which has lead to yet another Mobile Me trial, only this time I think it’s going to stick. For the short term, it’ll let me have a work-pc-friendly cloud storage device without worrying about my freelance writing stuff getting synced over.

I’m not sure what to do about the e-mail thing. I love that Mobile Me lets me have up to five aliases, which is great for creating throwaway accounts. I can’t, however, host the writersmark e-mail there. One alternative is to simply find a place to park the MX record for writersmark and forward it over. For now, I’m just going to keep it hosted at Google until I give it more thought.

My iPad Purchase

So, today was iPad day, where we could blindly throw money at Apple for a product few of us have seen or touched, and only heard about through media briefings.

And, yet, there I was at 8:30 AM today clicking refresh on the Apple Store with a credit card in hand. While I’ve written about deciding on an iPad with the 3G connection or just wifi , in the end I chose the 64 Gb wifi. These are the factors that went into decision:

1: If I was going to settle, I was going to settle on the 3G not space. I plan on consuming a hell of a lot of media on this thing. I need 64 Gb more than I needed 3G.

2: Today I got a new iPhone 3G S. Since my data plan was going to jump a lot with this upgrade, I didn’t want it to jump even more.

3: My iPhone will be my “always with me” Internet device, making the need for an ipad 3G redundant.

4: I wanted it sooner than later. There are a few things happening in early April that an iPad would be damn handy for.

5: The iPad is also on AT&T. If I’m going to spring for a second data plan, I want it to be on a second carrier for a fail safe.

My predictions for tomorrow's event

In the spirit of my post on the last event, I bring you these. five, five Commandments predictions for tomorrow:

  • In keeping with the paintball motif, when the AT&T CEO takes the stage, Tim Cook will come running out with a paintball gun and a walkie-talkie and call in an airstrike.
  • Steve Jobs will descend from the lighting rig in a black, mock turtleneck robe clutching two tablets, and say, “Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Windows Users, The Android Users, and those heathens still using a fucking Blackberry.”
  • Steve Jobs will report it was not the care of the transplant surgeons who saved his life, it was this Tablet. To prove his point, he will bring Stevie Wonder on stage, hand him the tablet and Stevie will proclaim he now sees the light.
  • Phil Schiller will demo the new version of Faces in iPhoto dubbed the “No, it really works, version of Faces” However, in a tragic mishap it will think Steve Jobs is a cadavar given to science and Phil is the bearded lady from a circus.
  • Steve Jobs loses the drinking game for how often Phil says “Great. Amazing. Great, It’s that great” during an app demo and is rushed to Betty Ford.

How I didn't want to spend my Friday

This semester, I’m taking a six-week intensive class, and I have a standing date with my parents on Sunday afternoons. Friday is usually game night. I was looking forward to it tonight.

I’ve been working on my MacBook at work a lot and was in the middle of working on a presentation when OS X started acting weird. I’d get little freezes and lockups, even though my processor and memory utilization were low. It felt like I was getting hard lockups every 10 min or so.

Since the Mac was in an unresponsive state, I hit the power button. Usually, OS X springs back to life and everything is wonderful. This time, it took forever to clear the startup gray screen and it hung at the blue screen, alternating showing a gray spinning wheel and not. Trying the usual suspects did nothing. I reset the PMY, NVRAM, and tried a safe boot. No joy. I was able to boot into my Windows 7 partition so I knew it wasn’t likely a hardware fault. A quick Google showed this wasn’t uncommon, and an Archive and Reinstall usually fixed it.

The problem was game night, and my on going belief that Murphy has a sense of humor. If I didn’t go to game night, I’d come home and the reinstall would work. If I went, tomorrow it’d be a nightmare of a reinstall, and I’d probably end up at the Apple Store on a Saturday. So, I sent my regrets.

Naturally, the reinstall went fairly well. There were a few post-install issues, but for the most part everything worked well. I just wish I could have made game night.

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