Like most everyone suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous iPhone 3G fortune, I downloaded and installed iTunes 8 and the iPhone 2.1 Software Update last week.  As of today, I am T +4 Days and counting.  This is just a check point for everyone, as I’ve had at least 3 people (in the office…& I work in one of the lowest tech IT departments in the world…the kind in a hospital) ask me IF I had updated my iPhone, AND how things were going if I had.

Just to remind everyone, officially, the update included…

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After weeks of developer seeds and updated releases, Apple has finally released OSX 10.5.5 to the public.  Complete release notes can be found here; however, here are the highlights

Includes recent Apple security updates.
Addresses stability issues with video playback, processor core idling, and remote disc sharing for MacBook Air.
Addresses an issue in which some Macs could unexpectedly power on at the same time each day.
Resolves a stability issue in TextEdit that could be found when accessing the color palette.
Improves Spotlight indexing performance.
Fixes an issue in which contacts might not sync properly with PalmOS-based devices.
Improves iPhone sync reliability with iCal and Address Book.
Includes improvements to Active Directory (see this article for more information).
Improves Speech Dictionary.
Fixes Kerberos authentication issues for Mac OS X 10.5 clients that connect to certain Samba servers, such as Mac OS X Server version 10.4.
Includes extensive graphics enhancements.

Updates to Address book
Updates to iCal
Updates to Disk Utility and Directory Utility
Updates to Mail
Updates to MobileMe
Updates to Time Machine

So what are you waiting for??  Just an FYI, though… The update is about 140MB, give or take a few.  If you’re the Mac Type, then you need to fire up your ‘puter and either let it tell you there’s an update or click the Apple menu and select, “Software Update” and get all that Apple-Cinnamony goodness!

Hi Everyone. I’ve posted a few times for Gear Diary & you all know about my love of my iPhone and Apple products. That is until this past weekend. We’ve all heard the Mobileme horror stories. Add mine to the list…

This past Friday: (Been a .Mac member since the Spring. My 3G iphone has Mobileme with syncing for contacts and calendars) Waiting for my girlfriend for lunch in Central Park, I’m adding contacts to my favorites on my iPhone when suddenly, right before my eyes, the contacts screen moves from contacts to the listing of my groups and then back to my contacts, but my iPhone is suddenly showing a blank contact list!!! Where are my 659 contacts?

I calmly switch back to groups and back to all contacts. Nothing. I shut down the iphone and turn it back on. Not one contact. Now I’m really upset.

I call my brother and leave him a message: please help me get a Mobileme support phone number; all my contacts are gone from the iPhone…

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Mike Cane has just posted about an issue that I think we all need to pay attention to: one of the drones at the Apple App Store has taken it upon himself to reject a comic book. I’ll let Mike set up the scenario…

Recently I raved about a revolutionary new program called Comic Reader. This program was to be used to premiere a comic book called Murderdrome.

From the title alone, you expect it not to be all bunnies and unicorns and rainbows.

But this is a comic book. A work of drawing and word balloons. It is imaginary. It is fiction.

It was submitted to the Apple App Store and the publishers received notice that it was being rejected for violating terms of the Software Developer Kit which states:

Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.

Well now wait a minute here.

Murderdrome is not an “application,” Comic Reader is. Murderdrome is content that can be read via the Comic Reader application.

Murderdrome is a book.

Apple has just banned a book.

Mike’s right. And you know what? I have a huge problem with the banning of any book…

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I tote two different laptops between locations these days, switching them out (or sometimes bringing both) depending upon what my needs will be once I’ve arrived. For the most part, I’ve been content to slip my MacBook Air into a bag, a sleeve, or the Agent 18 shell that Dan recently forwarded to me, but I hadn’t yet found a similar slim and protective MacBook Pro shell. Bear in mind, the type of transport I usually do involves grabbing my laptop, throwing it into my Louis Vuitton Alto tote (along with a couple days’ worth of clothing), and then driving to my destination (and back). This is what I do days when I am traveling as lightly as possible, and I don’t want to bring a full-sized laptop bag.

When I first saw the DecoCases EcoDesign Case for MacBook Pro, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the hard-shell aluminum cases I have long enjoyed on my PDAs. I’d never really thought about using something similar on a laptop, but I would soon have the opportunity to see if I’d like it…

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I am not having a “Happy Apple Week”.

First I bought an app from the iTunes App Store that I wanted to review over on WhatsOniPhone that just plain didn’t work. My attempts to contact Apple to get a refund have been nothing short of absurd. I’ve documented it in a small rant here.

As if that wasn’t bad enough my email stopped working for a few hours today. Yup, MobileMe was down- shocking isn’t it????

So I (finally) found the information to get on a Support Chat. (Why do they make it so impossible? I know, also shocking.) I don’t know about you, but I had nothing better to do today than wait for 64 minutes- yes 64 minutes- to get a support person. (Actually, come to think of it, “lack-of-support person” is more accurate.)

I’ve included the transcript below for your amusement but took the liberty of removing the Rep’s name and putting the more “significant” pieces in bold. Continue Reading

[Note from Judie - Stan sent this opinion piece in while I was at the ranch this weekend. I think it is still relevant, so here you go...]

Hey iPhone owners-in a phrase, Apple today has screwed up. Call it as is. And I love my iPhone, my MacBook Air and just about everything Apple (see my previous posts on my love of the iPhone). Even if you have one business model that produces a widget with a fabulous end to end user experience based a beautifully married hardware & software, you can still screw up big time on huge promises that lack the back office capability to execute as planned. How many thousands of new iPhone owners are right now sitting at home with bricked iPhones?

This is not a good situation. Unlike last year’s original iPhone debut, this one had a 22 country worldwide rollout. If you promise thousands of people worldwide to sell them an iPhone on July 11th, shouldn’t you plan to have the technology available to close the deal? Apple expected long lines so they should of planned for thousands of activations today.

An Apple employee running crowd control said they were staying open until 11pm tonight to sell people iPhones. This line looked to be about 150 feet long with over 100 customers at about 7:30pm EST.

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I suspect that this is a scene which will be played out in cities across the country today: reader David Barton sent in this photo with the following comments…

When I was typing this message on my phone, I realized the spell checker on my BlackBerry doesn’t even know what the word iPhone is…  No need to, I’m sure on of these 80 people in line at 8:00 this morning can spell it.  I’m on the way to work. I’ll check back later to see if you can get near the AT&T store at The Greene in BeaverCreek, Ohio.

Have you noticed any lines in your city? Are you in one of them? I have to admit that I am totally off the hook, seeing as San Angelo has neither an Apple store nor an AT&T store that is shown as stocking iPhones; I got to sleep in until 8am this morning.

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From now until September 15, 2008 Apple is offering up to a $299 iPod rebate to Students and Faculty who purchase both a qualifying Mac (MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and iMac all qualify) and iPod (8GB Nano and 8,16 & 32GB Touch qualify). Unfortunately you’ll have to shell out money for both the Mac and iPod and wait to claim the refund for the iPod. However, if you’re lucky enough to live in Connecticut or Rhode Island, the rebate is instant - so there’s no waiting for them to send your free iPod!

Link: Apple Back To School Promo
Link: Apple Rebate FAQ
Link: Apple Promo Terms & Conditions (PDF)

There has been an issue which has been bugging me for the last couple of days, and tonight Mitchell and I found a solution. I thought I had better post about it, as I’ll bet that others have run into the same…

When I bought the MacBook Air I restored it to the MacBook Pro backup copy I had stored on Time Machine, and the restore went without a hitch…but for one exception: I had an empty wireless cone in my menu bar. Instead of showing a wireless signal indicated by bars, the cone was completely empty - even when the wireless network was definitely on.

If I would restart my laptop or even just shut the lid, the wireless network would disconnect. I would click on the wireless cone icon and it would then report that the Airport was not configured. Opening the airport configuration panel would bring up the Open Network Preferences option, and I would then have to manually configure the network…each and every time. The only high point to the process was that it did at least remember my network password, but it was otherwise a true PITA.

Mitchell and I did some searching tonight, and we found this post by Dave Marsh in the Apple Support Forums:

Hi, I just received my MacBook Air today and after setting it up and migrating my environment over from my old PowerBook G4, everything seems to be working, except…

the AirPort icon in the menu bar is displaying the empty/open pie with no signal strength, although I’m connected to the Internet just fine as I type this reply.

If I click on the icon it reports AirPort: Not configured, and displays only the Open Network Preferences… option in the menu.

I’ve tried going into Network Preferences and disconnecting/reconnecting, deleting my configuration and re-entering it, to no avail.

Anyone else experiencing this issue?

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Me!

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