I just wrote a pretty long news update on my fiction blog. If you haven’t noticed, the only two blogs of my F-O-U-R blogs that I actually keep up are this one and my writing blog/inphiltrate fiction, so yeah, the Lucid Dreaming project is on hold.
I think I may have called Fall Out Boy’s demise a little too early. It’s looking like they’re really on break, which is fantastic news.
Music news that isn’t so fantastic, however, is that I have a ticket to see Paramore in September and I have no idea where the ticket is. It’s very unlike me to lose things like that, and I really hope I can find it soon so I don’t have to worry about it.
Just in case anyone was wondering: yes, I’m probably getting the iPhone 4, and yes, the iPhone is the best smartphone on the market, despite what the haters may think.
We’ll be entering election season soon, and I just thought I’d throw this out there: I think Ron Paul is fantastic, but I’m actually sort of hoping he doesn’t run in 2012, because I really want (former) Governor Gary Johnson to run, and I don’t think he’ll run against Dr. Paul. One of Ron Paul’s biggest problems was that he wasn’t really that good with the media (in my opinion, at least), but Gary Johnson is. Pretty much the same ideals with a new face – well, I don’t think that could hurt the movement that Dr. Paul’s fans stand for.
I am posting this information for anyone that happens to be searching for this information, via search engine or whatever means.
There is a lot of confusion via lower-level Apple employees as to whether or not the RAM and hard drive are user replaceable parts in the 2010 Unibody MacBook Pro. I have spoken with employees at the Apple store on the sales floor, both of which said that it would void the warranty for me to take off the bottom panel of the computer. Each of them asked a Mac Genius and the geniuses also said that it would void the warranty. I called Apple technical support and the rep on the phone said that she doubted I could remove the panel without voiding the warranty, but that she would forward me to the tech support supervisor just to make sure.
This is where I finally got the answer that I was looking for, because I was certain I was right based on information in the user manual (page 36) and on Apple’s website. I can absolutely confirm that the RAM and the hard drive are user replaceable parts on the current generation unibody MacBook Pro and it does not void your warranty to remove the bottom panel of the computer and change either of those parts out, as long as you do not cause damage in the process.
If you get trouble for this at the Apple store, ask them to call in the question to Apple for the correct answer. I’d also recommend that if you do decide to change your hard drive or your RAM that you put the original parts back in the MacBook Pro before bringing it in for servicing for multiple reasons. It would likely be easier to not have to bring up the replaced parts at all, completely setting aside the fact that Apple usually removes third party parts and sends them back in a plastic bag when you depot a Mac. Furthermore, if they do detect that the case has been opened, you could always bring up the fact that if you call in a RAM or hard drive problem, Apple gives you the option of them sending you the RAM/HDD for you to install yourself rather than shipping the Mac to them.
On Sunday, my favorite TV show, Lost, ended. After thinking about it and reading other people’s interpretations and rewatching the last part, I’ve decided that the ending was beautiful and satisfying. Lots of questions were left unanswered, but I feel like the most important thing – the relationship between all of the characters – was resolved quite wonderfully. I must say that I’m very sad to see the show go after watching it for four years (I picked it up right before season three started; watched one and two on DVD).
I’ve been digging this song lately. Very cool synth stuff.
Melfina is awesome so far. Kalmiya was the best computer I’ve ever had, so I’m hoping this MacBook Pro will continue that trend. I’m going to wait for Q3/Q4 of this year when the next generation of solid state drives come out and then stick a sweet SSD in this thing so it’ll really fly. I apparently could’ve done that in my old MacBook Pro as well without voiding the warranty, but I guess it’s all been for the best.
And also, just for the record, the iPad is still amazing and I still use it every day. Crazy how I thought I had no use for a big iPod Touch, and now it’s integrated into my routine.
I bought my MacBook Pro (Kalmiya) in June of 2007. I absolutely loved it from the get-go. It had a few problems since then; had a lot of parts replaced, but it was only out of commission for a maximum of 10 days over the course of almost three years, so that’s not really such a bad thing.
It started having battery/power issues again a few days ago, and since my Apple Care expires in 17 days, I brought it in today for it’s final appointment, along with a small list of three minor issues and the one kind of major power issue. I explained to the Apple Genius what was wrong, and she told me she’d do some research and get back to me within a couple of hours, which is a pretty different response than I normally get, but whatever. I got in my car and started heading to Houma.
Thirty minutes later I hadn’t gotten too far on the interstate, since there was a lot of traffic, but I got a callback from the Apple Genius.
“I’ve got some good news. I talked to my manager, and we’re going to replace your computer with an entirely new machine.”
Apple, I’ve criticized you before for bewildering business practices and closed products, but I have never and will never be able to criticize you for your customer service.
I got a brand new, $1800 MacBook Pro simply for paying ~$250 for Apple Care three years ago. I love it (named it Melfina), and Apple has officially made a customer for life.
Thanks, Apple, for taking such good care of your customers.
Anyone that follows me on the Internet knows that I didn’t think too highly of the iPad as of exactly a week ago. The problem with the iPad is that it is a giant iPod Touch. Essentially, what I mean by that is that the iPhone OS is the problem. It’s a single-window, single-threaded device. This, however, begs the question: how important is that when most of what we do these days (that’s meant to be done on a small, portable device like the iPad) lives in the cloud?
It turns out, the iPad being a giant iPod Touch is actually the best thing about it. Using it feels very natural, and even though the iPhone/iPod Touch came first, the more obvious device is the iPad. The iPhone/iPod Touch now seem like shrunken down versions of the iPad rather than the other way around.
The first thing that attracted me to the iPad was the screen. I picked it up and held it, and the screen drew me in. The display on this thing is gorgeous. The colors are bright and beautiful; it completely outdoes the iPod Touch.
So if you’ve read this far, you may have a question on your mind: what use is there for an iPad if you’ve got a MacBook Pro and an iPhone? This brings me to what the iPad does best – web browsing. This thing is meant to browse the web. Content isn’t the only fun part about the web on this device; it’s actually fun surfing and clicking on things and zooming and moving around. The actual process of navigating through a web page is somehow made fun by the iPad’s touch interface. It’s simply incredible. Even though it’s just a big iPod Touch, the experience is completely different. The same goes for browsing your pictures; the touch interface makes it so much more fun to interact with your content.
Typing on the iPad has a learning curve just like with the iPhone. On a normal computer keyboard, I can type ~100 words per minute. On the iPhone in landscape mode, I can type ~60 words per minute, but I had to relearn how to type on a handheld device. The crazy thing is, I love the iPhone keyboard and I could never go back to a phone with physical keys. So how does the iPad fare? Just like with the iPhone, I find that I prefer typing in landscape mode. You can type in portrait mode with your thumbs, but only if you have really long fingers, and it’s still a stretch. I tend to hold the iPad with my left hand and walk the fingers on my right hand across the keyboard, and that works pretty well.
What’s funny about the iPad being a big iPod Touch is that the iPad’s iPod application is actually better than the iPod Touch’s. Essentially, the iPad is a better iPod, except you can’t put it in your pocket, which really defeats the purpose of an iPod unless you’re just using it at your desk or something.
Other things:
-The battery life is incredible. The claims of ~10 hours are pretty much true, and that’s at full brightness browsing the web and whatnot.
-It is very fast. Insanely fast, really.
-The screen isn’t oleophobic like the iPhone 3GS (as far as I can tell). More fingerprints, but not a big deal.
-Despite it saying “Not charging” when you plug it into a computer with a USB 2.0 port…it’s actually charging, just really, really slowly.
-Even with the WiFi fix, I find WiFi connectivity to be very buggy. It’s not a big deal, just a minor annoyance that I’m sure will be fixed in a forthcoming software update.
-iPhone apps look like crap on the iPad. Apps are pretty much iPad versions or I delete them, unless they’re really, really useful.
All of that said, the device is not innovative at all, but I mean that in a more positive way than it sounds. It is tech we know and love, and it is implemented in an amazing way. Sometimes a revolutionary device doesn’t venture into the unknown, but rather, it takes what we know, changes it a little bit, and makes it better.
These are my predictions for next week’s Apple event, and also announced in this order.
-New version of iLife/iWork.
-iPhone OS 4.0. Won’t be available until June for current iPhone users, will be included on new iPhone released in June/July.
-iPad. It won’t be called iSlate or iTablet. The names aren’t “Apple” enough. A slate is an too unrefined to be associated with an apple product, and tablets are pretty much defined as those awful things with a stylus running Windows XP Tablet Edition. Apple will not use either of those names. That’s why I believe iPad is the name, or, at the very least, it won’t be iSlate or iTablet.
The tablet will be 10.1″ with a multitouch display, of course, and it will run a kind of hybrid OS X/iPhone OS that will be somewhat locked down. It will allow syncing with a bluetooth keyboard/mouse, but will not have a USB port for legit installation of a real OS (like full-fledged Snow Leopard or Windows 7) on it.
Steve Jobs will say “it’s just fantastic” and “we really love it” and “it will revolutionize the touchscreen computers as we know it.”
In 2006, I decided that I wanted an Apple tablet very, very badly. Four years later, the closest thing I have is an iPhone. However, there are lots of rumors going around about an “iSlate” that Apple will be announcing later this month, and I can pretty much guarantee that I won’t be buying one.
The iPhone/iPod Touch platform is amazing for what it is: a small, extremely portable device that fits in your pocket. It’s not meant to replace a computer, but it performs many of the functions of one pretty well. I think, however, that the control Apple has over this platform is dangerous. It sets a precedent that, if followed by others, would destroy the open nature of the personal computer.
The iSlate, in all likelihood, will mimic the iPhone/iPod Touch platform, but in a larger form factor. This is not the kind of device that an Apple tablet should be. An Applet tablet should be in the likeness of an iPod Touch, but run the best operating system in the world: OS X. It definitely should not run the crippled, mobile version of OS X that the iPhone and iPod Touch run.
I don’t need a tablet device, but my love of gadgets wouldn’t let me pass up a really cool multitouch notebook. If Apple can’t do it, maybe someone else can.
Plans for tonight: Community, The Office, then V for Vendetta. However, I have to sit through Parks and Recreation in the middle, so that’s kind of lame.
Anywho.
Lately I’ve taken to trying to memorize useless things, like a massive amount of the digits of pi and famous movie quotes. I don’t know why.
I really miss fixing computers sometimes, which makes me want to try to start a little side business, but I know I’ll never do it. :/
I reinstalled Snow Leopard and it fixed the issues I was having. Overall, it’s a much better experience, but still not all that much different from Leopard. I guess I can’t complain, since what is different only cost me $30.
Actually, I meant for this to be longer, but I’ll finish my thought process some other time.
Getting older feels so weird. Well, I guess it’s more of a passage of time thing thing aging, but the point is that it’s so weird how things change.
I used to go through so many of my friends blogs and LiveJournals every day that it was hard to keep up. Now I’m lucky if there’s one or two updates a week on my friends’ sites. Heck, I remember when inphiltrate kind of used to be a big deal, and now most of my readers are people that are reading the posts imported on my Facebook feed.
I used to have a lot of people to talk to on AIM. We’d have big chat rooms and I’d have 5 IM windows open all of the time. Now I go up and down my buddy list for people to talk to and find it difficult to find anyone to which I have anything to say.
Perhaps I’ve been feeling this way lately because I’ve been listening to a lot of Creed. I know that sounds ridiculous, but the majority of my Creed-listening days were 2000-2005. Of course, I still listened to them regularly after that time, but it was 2006 that brought me into a completely different world of music (pop-punk), so listening to Creed is kind of like a time warp, especially their first album. I didn’t listen to it when it came out since I didn’t know they existed, but it’s from 1997 and it has such an amazing (post) grungy sound, as characterized of late 90’s rock music. Going from synth-laced pop and energetic pop-punk (rock) back to this stuff just puts me in a different mindset, I guess.
Anywho, on Sunday at about 7:20 P.M., I decided I felt like going to church, so I did. I went to the Refuge on campus, which is where I used to go sometimes. It felt nice to be around a bunch of people my age, and I even signed up to do some video production work (utilizing my skills that were developed making videos for my communication studies class, and then subsequently for Team IS the Movie 1-4 ). I’m not sure of the details, but I like video editing, so hopefully it’ll be fun.
I think there’s a small crack in the plastic on the back of my iPhone near the dock connector. Not too happy about that. Does anyone have any experience with getting a crack like that fixed at the Genius Bar? And on that note, is there anyone else that upgraded Tiger to Leopard to Snow Leopard and never had problems before Snow Leopard? I’m thinking a wipe and reinstall will fix it, but it’s kind of sad to see this installation I’ve been using for over two years get blown away.
I’ve been playing a little bit of BioShock and Halo (the first one) on my computer ever since I got my SSD (which is crazy fast, can’t wait to put one in my MacBook Pro next June). Fun games right there, I don’t know why I always stop playing BioShock when I pick it up, but I’ve played Halo enough for a few lifetimes, which is probably not that surprising since it’s my favorite game.
“Unity took a back seat, sliding further into regression.” – Stapp/Tremonti
In my long, hard years of life, I think my infinite wisdom has finally come up with the recipe for a successful joke:
1) Steal a line from a T-Pain song
2) Success!
I went camping this weekend with Becca, Joseph, Joseph’s brother Kenneth, and Sam (boy). It was pretty awesome, and if I were to hold true to everything I said on Sunday and Monday, I’d owe them each about twenty “dranks.”
If you have no idea what I’m talking about, here:
The lyrics are hilarious if you, like me, appreciate good lyrics. Sometimes while listening to this song, I just burst out laughing at the sheer prospect of buying someone a “drank.”
In other news, I found out if I get to River Road from work by about 4:35, I will see a red 2010 Camaro, and if I get to Brightside fast enough from there, I will see a black 2010 Camaro with gunmetal racing stripes.
Yes, I am obsessed with this car. I absolutely cannot wait to own one. Srsly.
My iPhone battery got down to 3% on Monday. That’s the lowest it’s ever gotten and that’s the only time I ever had to stop using my phone for nonsense stuff (playing “I’m on a Boat” with the iPod, playing “Don’t Trust Me” on Tap Tap Revolution, Tweeting pictures of destroyed hamburgers…) for fear of not being able to have enough battery life to make calls with it should I need to. The point of this is that I’m pretty happy with the iPhone’s battery life, since this is the first time it almost died on me. It suits my lifestyle pretty well.
On a completely opposite note, I had a pretty awesome experience with Microsoft tech support today (can you taste the sarcasm?). Not just any Microsoft tech support, no. This was Microsoft professional tech support.
I submitted a help request on Thursday via their web form for an email response. This is supposed to take one day. The support engineer that gets the request emails me back and pretty much says, “I’m not coming to work tomorrow, if you want this resolved before Tuesday, call into the queue tomorrow.”
Okay, so why did you even take my help request? Whatever. I called the queue on Friday at about 10 A.M. My problem is diagnosed as Severity C and I’m supposed to get a call back within 8 hours. I explain that we close at 4:30, and this is noted in the ticket.
I didn’t get a call on Friday at any point during the day, even after I left. Fine, whatever, thanks Microsoft.
I called back today. Same crap. “We’ll call you back within 8 hours.” Wonderful. I called the guy from Thursday back twice, no dice. I called back a few hours later and explain that I need to get this taken care of today. The lady tells me she can put me in the call queue, but she has no idea how long it will be until someone will be able to answer. My boss is getting pissed at this point that Microsoft is giving us the runaround, so he called, got our problem escalated to Severity A (it was definitely not Severity A, but apparently that’s the only way to get service when you pay Microsoft millions of dollars for enterprise support), and finally, after about 30-40 minutes of being on hold, a very helpful man answered and helped me. The support quality at that point was top notch, but everything before that was completely ridiculous.
I got faster support for having a Joe Blow 3-year warranty with Dell and for paying a couple hundred bucks for Apple Care with Apple (also, Genius Bar is FTW). In fact, I can probably name half-a-dozen companies I’ve gotten faster support from. I really expected better from Microsoft’s *Professional* Support line.
Now, I wasn’t calling about a broken computer or anything – it was a real enterprise level support request dealing with updating Active Directory schema and deleting an old container in a production environment (scary crap if you can’t test it, for those not in the know). This, of course, isn’t an excuse for them not calling me back in two days when they said it would be less than 8 hours; rather, it’s just to let you know that I wasn’t calling to ask how to uninstall w32.backdoor.trojan or anything like that.
I would also like to thank the awesome cashier at Express, who let me use a $20 off of $60 coupon on a $59.50 purchase without making me buy something else to fill in the 0.50 I technically had to buy since tax doesn’t count. I love that kind of service.
I apparently could’ve done that in my old MacBook Pro as well without voiding the warranty, but I guess it’s all been for the best. 
