Time for a Reset

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Tom

I’ve moved some things around and updated my hosting, and I plan on trying to use this a bit more in the future.

I’m going to start blogging a bit more about what I do for a living on my own here, comment on industry trends, that kind of stuff.

Posted in On the Web | Comments Off

Starting Off on the CLEARly Wrong Foot

Posted on July 6, 2010 by Tom

Well, as the game Gauntlet would say ‘That was a valiant effort’.

Hoping to get some shipment information I tried to access my Clear account information I was told I would be getting sometime soon.   Today it finally let me log in and see how things were going.   They’re not going well.

First off, when I completed my transaction it told me that I would be getting a charge of of $59.76 for the first two months, and then $80 something and change after that.   The first charge to my account was a whopping $107.72.  A huge discrepancy.   That’s *after* the ‘discounts’ were applied for free activation.  The $80.98 I was told my internet would cost is now $129.71.   Another huge problem.   $80 for mobile/home internet was a bit steep to begin with but tack on another $49.71 and I have a big problem.

Of course, you can’t talk to a person on a phone.  You have to fill out a form.   There is a forum customers have access too that is full of nothing but complaints about it not working, being hard to cancel, and all sorts of junk.   Not getting the warm fuzzies now.

Posted in On the Web | 1 Comment

How Not To Make a Mobile Gaming Platform

Posted on June 28, 2010 by Tom

Back around Christmas time my kids decided that since we had a Playstation 3 that I needed a PSP Go.  At first, it looks pretty slick.   But after six months of owning it, along with a lot of time it has spent sitting gathering dust the last few months, I’ve got a lot of thoughts about how much of a fail the platform is.

Continue reading →

Posted in Video Games | Comments Off

iPhone 4

Posted on June 25, 2010 by Tom

I have so far purchased a single iPhone 4.  It came via Fedex on Wednesday and I got it setup and gave it to it’s owner, my wife.  She had an iPhone 3G and it was ready for an upgrade.   My plan is to upgrade myself after I find out what my employer provided iPhone will look like.  If it’s a 3gs, or the new model.

I’m also debating waiting to see what the next iPod Touch looks like.   It’s possible I could just get one of those, save myself about $39 a month by not having a mobile phone that is personal and use the Clear Spot that is coming as its network connection when I’m out of the house.   I could use Google Voice or the Skype App for any voice I needed if I wanted to not use my work stuff for personal calls.

Still debating it.   The key would be if the iPod Touch gets the Facetime support as I really would have loved to had that the month of May while I was stuck on the road for a month.

Posted in Apple Bits | Comments Off

How Not to Manage Your Computer

Posted on June 21, 2010 by Tom

Since the iOS v4 was officially published I was doing some maintenance of pre-release code and cleaning out some directories.

When Mac OS X asks if you’re sure or asks for a password hit cancel. You just might be deleting a private folder from the root of the hard drive making your system unstable and unusable requiring a restore. A 66 hour restore if my time machine display is of any accuracy.

Posted in Apple Bits | Comments Off

I Can See Clearly Now

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Tom

So for about six months or longer I’ve been obsessing a bit about WiMax offerings that were in the area.   A company called ‘Clear‘ has been offering WiMax service in my area, and I almost pulled the trigger on it when it first appeared.

I sometimes regret not doing it, as their pricing went up slightly especially for the mobile devices where there isn’t a WiMax network yet.   However a friend of mine did get the device for his house in Seattle and hasn’t been all that excited about it.  The ‘up to 6Gb down’ and ’1Mb upload’ speeds they advertise he has never been able to achieve.  Of course they disclaim the heck out of their claims int he fine print

However, with the introduction of a mobile wireless devices called Clear Spots I decided to enter the fray and give them a try.  They do have a 14 day return policy after of course a restocking fee I’d have to eat.

They’re taking pre-orders now for the Clear Spots and it was a difference of $20 to add a home modem as well.   So I went ahead and got the whole package for home and remote.   I can use remote for work any time I wish which will be nice, as long as WiMax can penetrate IBMs thick walls when I’m on site there.

I’ll post an update once the equipment arrives in July when the new modules are available.   I’m cautiously optimistic.

Posted in On the Web | 1 Comment

The iPhone 4 Order Fiasco

Posted on June 17, 2010 by Tom

It’s always a zoo when it happens, but the new iPhone 4 order window opened on June 15th, 2010 and as usual, there was a mongrel hoard worth of people waiting to push the button to upgrade / purchase the next new thing from Apple.

First, and most importantly.  I have an order confirmation from Apple, and it says it’ll be here June 24th.  So, my persistence paid off for me.  Sadly, based on sources from other sites out there that it was a mess.   The mess seems to be caused mostly by everyone’s favorite punching bag, AT&T Wireless.

I saw that session expired window from Apple a ton while trying over and over.  I started out pretty early that morning, and as reported else where you got to the part where it went to check your existing plan out and then would get messed up pretty nice.   I probably went through that window about 20 times before it finally added to the cart.   My problem became that I had some stuff in my cart I didn’t want at the moment and needed to remove them.

That part, took me probably another 30m of refreshing and retrying.     Finally I got the order in, it said it was accepted and I got an order number.  I checked my credit card and there was a pending authorization for the full amount on it.   Late that night I got an email finally confirming my order.   So hopefully Angi’s new phone will show up on the 24th, as I didn’t order mine just yet.

Continue reading →

Posted in Apple Bits | Comments Off

On the Road with iPad

Posted on May 31, 2010 by Tom

I spent from May 2nd until May 27th on the road.   I visited such locations as Budapest Hungary, London England, Glasgow & Greenock Scotland, Copenhagen Denmark, Costa Mesa and San Francisco CA before finally coming home again.  I brought the iPad with me in an effort to figure out how best I could use it in a situation like this

 

Continue reading →

Posted in Apple Bits | Comments Off

iPad Thoughts

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Tom

Not like I’m a professional reviewer but after getting an iPad on Saturday (16GB Wifi model) I thought I’d comment on the experience so far and a couple of applications that I’ve used. Any link after this will be to iTunes Store links (if avail)

First and Foremost I think that in my use case 16GB isn’t enough. I think 32GB would be nice, and 64GB is plenty. This is because of my habits and how I want to use things. I have been trying to load it for being stuck somewhere for >12 hours. So this would be Movies, TV shows, and video podcasts such as Stranger Things or Digital Photography Tips from the Top Floor‘s video segments. The ones from MacBreak were formatted for Apple TV and apparently aren’t compatible with the iPad (Too hires maybe).
Continue reading →

Posted in Apple Bits | Comments Off

the iPad cometh

Posted on April 3, 2010 by Tom

So like anyone expecting a new toy I got up at the crack of dawn got some coffee and sat on the front porch waiting. Not.

It arrived around 11:30 and I got it all synced up and the first thing I did was give it to Calvin and let him view the read along Toy Story application that I got off the store. He was enthralled more because it was Toy Story than the fact it was on an iPad.

So far I’ve checked out a few apps. Netflix is a killer app. Perfect companion for any subscriber and the quality of Bones episode I watched is excellent. I’m typing this up on the word press blogging tool and works ok. It’s no MarsEdit though and I hope one comes soon.

Posted in Apple Bits | Tagged | Comments Off