- Can’t sort or search emails;
- Takes two extra steps to search contacts (due to lack of physical keyboard);
- Can’t sync notes or task list;
- Slow and spotty 3G connection (probably AT&T problem);
Archive for the ‘Toy’ Category
iPhone Software Deficiencies
Monday, December 22nd, 2008iPhone 2.2 Firmware
Saturday, November 29th, 2008iPhone 2.2 Firmware upgrade is a big dud for me. 10 minutes after I agreed to upgrade, my iPhone (3G, less than 2 months old) was completely unusable. So the entire Saturday was almost all wasted on trying to fix this issue. The symptom:
- iTune will try to connect to iPhone, but report “Can’t activate iPhone, … insert correct SIM card or type in PIN code to unlock SIM card”;
- iPhone has only emergency calling capability, nothing but the connect to iTunes picture is displayed.
First made a couple of tech support calls to Apple. The first rep suggested the usual reboot, hard-reset, reinsert Sim card steps; the second rep suggested restoring to factory default setting. None of these made any change. Finally Apple tech support concluded that the 2.2 firmware probably disabled/corrupted the SIM card. So a trip to the AT&T store ensued.
AT&T store determined it wasn’t the SIM card, as a new card and restore process failed to make any difference.
So finally to the Apple store. After some paperwork, a replacement iPhone works just fine with the SIM card and the new 2.2 firmware.
Total cost: $0;
Time spent: 4 hours.
Black Friday Wish List
Thursday, November 20th, 2008The economy is pretty bad, but we can all dream. So here is my Black Friday wish list:
- Nikon D90 below $850;
- A bunch of nice iPhone Apps on sale;
- Metal Gear;
- Maybe one of the big-three auto maker will go crazy and sell cars at 1/2 price?
- A second Wii remote;
Nikon 18-200mm VR lens
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008Just got my Nikon 18-200mm VR lens. It replaces the 18-70mm and 70-300mm so that I only need to carry one lens. The 70-300mm has 1.5X more magnification, but switching lens is a pain not worth the extra zoom.
Furthermore the VR lens promised to reduce hand shake by as much as 4 stops. I’ve tried it and it worked very well especially in the “Active” mode. This works really well for scenaries and eliminates the need for a tripod for most cases.
Both of these reasons are time saving reasons. For me, saving time is everything. That’s how I justify all my purchases.
DIY memory upgrade
Saturday, October 27th, 2007Hey I just got a new shiny aluminum iMac 24inch. Now my desk has become the picture of Apple commercial: space-age quality aluminum/glass iMac with no extra box, almost no wire next to the PC with a dozen wire hanging out from the back of the ugly black box to underneath the monitor. In fact, the entire iMac looks thinner than the 24 inch Dell monitor.
Well, you pay a high price for such beauty, unless you know a few tricks. For example, the base system is actually priced very competitively against similarly equipped PC systems. However, Apple charge a huge premium for any upgrade especially memory upgrade. For example to go from 1GB to 2GB costs $150 extra and to 4GB costs an additional $850. I bought a 2GB memory stick and put it in the bottom of the iMac. The whole process takes less than 2 minutes:
1. Disconnect iMac (3 wires) – 10 seconds;
2. Flip it around on my bed – 10 seconds,
3. Unscrew the bottom panel with one screw (last year’s iMac has 2 screws) – 15 seconds;
4. Put in the memory stick next to the original 1GB stick – 15 seconds;
5. Put everything back in and reconnect – 25 seconds;
Boot it up, it shows 3GB of memory, very happy. The total cost: $75.
DIY not only is satisfying, it also saves money.
Mac Envy
Friday, August 17th, 2007More and more PC users have developed Mac envy. I’m one of them. Apple simply designs more beautiful looking machines. Case in point is the latest upgrade to the popular iMac line. Side-by-side, the whole iMac machine looks thinner than a normal LCD monitor and not a lot bigger (the bottom portion is longer in order to hold the guts of a powerful desktop computer).
OS Debate
Friday, August 10th, 2007The funniest quote about Windows vs. Linux I’ve seen is from Scott Granneman, an author, entrepreneur and adjunct professor at Washington University in St. Louis:
“To mess up a Linux box, you need to work at it; to mess up your Windows box, you just have to work on it.”
For me, I have already got rid of Windows from home. I now run a Linux on a desktop PC and another OSX on the Mac Mini G4 serving as the entertainment center. The question next is whether to upgrade to OSX Tiger and Intel based iMac, or to upgrade to a better Linux desktop. I’m leaning toward the iMac.
Mac Mini as an entertainment center
Friday, March 2nd, 2007Right out of the box, the Max Mini has almost everything an entertainment center needs to have:
- A decent DVD player;
- High definition output via DVI;
- Music (iTune), Video (Quicktime or MPlayer) and Photo (iPhoto);
- Integrated media control via Frontrow;
On top of that, you have all the glamour and functions of OS X and networking capability to pull content from the web or your other PC/Mac boxes. And with the famous Apple polish and a size smaller than your lunch box, it looks right belongs to your newly decorated living room.
So why pay $2000 for a media center PC or even expensive custom job, when you can get all this for as little as $600. I’m going to try it next week when my new HDTV arrives.
iSight Followup
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006Just after yesterday’s search for a video conferencing client that can use iSight to talk to WinXP users, Skype published the 1.5.0.2 beta for OSX – which includes a beta test for video conferencing.
I found it is working but the quality is lacking behind that of iChat or Skype for Windows. Main problem seems to be the inefficient compression which results in heavy CPU usage and very low framerate. I hope those highly paid programmers at Skype-eBay can fix it soon
iSight camera
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006Can’t resist the temptation and finally got me an iSight camera from Apple. Again, it is a thing of design beauty. It’s probably the only webcam that uses a 3-piece glass lens system with auto-focus, auto-exposure, and 1/4 inch CCD instead of the cheap plastic and CMOS stuff.
One firewire cable provides audio, video link as well as power. Three types of mounting device covers just about every possible senario – laptop, flatscreen, and desktop. I just used the magnetic mount to sit the iSight camera very securely on top of my 20 inch Dell LCD.
Other nice little touches include the “on-air” LED and rotating lens cover plus on/off switch. You got to love it – even with a steep price of $149.
OK, enough glow about my implusive splurge. Here comes the problem. The iSight camera works out of the box with my Mac Mini with the iChat software – that’s it. Since very few (none) people on my buddy list owns a Mac, and iChat doesn’t work quite as well with other Windows clients, I feel like the first guy with the Fax machine.
After one sweaty night, here is my discovery:
- iChat video works with other iChat or AIM 5.9. But AIM 5.9 video is a fixed smallish window and the quality sucks.
- iChat video doesn’t work with the new AIM version called Triton.
- MSN Messenger has OS X client, but it’s text-only;
- Skype has an OS X client, but it is only version 1.5beta, no luck with Video. Video was introduced as a beta since V2.X on Windows side only;
- iSight doesn’t have a driver for WindowsXP. There’s actually a bounty offered for the first hacker to create a driver for it.
Windows can still recognize iSight as a 1394 desktop webcam. The built-in noise-suppression microphone won’t work. And the auto-exposure and auto-focus functions won’t work quite as well which requires manual adjustment. - Finally, for now the best option seems to be using Skype 2.5 on Windows and plugin another $10 cheapo microphone for the audio. Skype does a good job of allowing full-screen video conferencing. Not quite as fansy as iChat to iChat, but works with most of my buddies.