Category > Apple
Small, crunchy computers
Those who spoke on this:
Apples, Rhubarb & Custard
- 256MB DDR266 SDRAM - 2 SO-DIMMs
- 60GB Ultra ATA drive
- DVD/CD-RW
- Bluetooth Module
- AirPort Extreme Card
- Keyboard & Mac OS
- 1GHz PowerPC G4
- 14-inch TFT display
- Two USB ports
- One FireWire port
- Power Adapter
- Battery
Subtotal Apple UK store: 1,312.99
Subtotal Apple USA store: $1,648.00
$1 = 0.550618 therefore $1,648.00 = 907
1,312.99 – 907 = 405.99
Flight from London to New York: 187
405.99 – 187 = Total saving: 218.99
Amount of Rhubarb & Custard sweets this would buy:
P&P @ 3.99
Sweets @ 1.80/250g
(218.99 – 3.99) / 1.80 ~= 119
119 @ 1.80 = 214.20
P&P @ 3.99 = 218.19
119 0.25kg = 29 kilograms of Rhubarb & Custard sweets
Which is ~64 pounds, which is roughly the weight of the average 8 year old.
Basically, if I were to fly to New York, buy an iBook and fly back again, I’d save enough money to buy the weight of a eight-year old in Rhubarb & Custard boiled sweets.
Revised later to make the kg -> pounds conversion more obvious, upwardly revise the child (from two, to seven, to eight) based on more accurate data and fix broken links
Those who spoke on this:
Homicide:
However, they might ask you to pay VAT on it. Unless you bought it in the duty free of the airport or something.
Danny Shepherd:
To get the cheap flights you’d probably have to stay in NYC for a few days so you’ll have to factor in a few nights accommodation. That’s going to be at least £50/night for the budget end – £250/night to get out of the ghetto.
Also, does anyone know if NYC has a sales tax? If so, you’ll have to add that too.
Still, sounds like a good excuse for a holiday in New York to me :)
Castellan:
You’re meant to send these subliminal messages before your birthday.
Kevin:
Don’t forget the UK PSU if you want to do things properly, that’s only 65, plus expenses to and from the airports; so we’ll call it a round 100 you forgot about then.
I make it you could only afford a 3 year old’s worth.
Aquarion:
iBook PSU is actually almost standard, I’m told. Certianly not worth £65.
And that link is in pounds, not kilos (The original version of this article did say 2 year old, my co-worker (who has a two year old daughter) noted that a 2y/o who was 25kg would be as round as as high.
Those who spoke on this:
emma:
You’re in a twisted maze of Operating Systems, they all look alike.
MiniDoom
Yay! Cheaper doom!
Those who spoke on this:
Rory Parle:
Apple needs a way to link to individual products. That link has a session Id in it so it’s timing out the session and soft redirecting to the Apple store. I couldn’t find a quick way to get a link without session information. Bad Apple; no Page Rank for you.
Mac Mini Review
(Not mine, sadly. Though the office is getting one)
The Mini has got some built-in software for basic computer functions, but it cant do many common things as well as its grown-up brothers in the Windows world can. The little things can add up to big frustration for someone who might accidentally buy a Mini expecting it to be just like Windows. For example, there is no Outlook Express for email, but Apple includes a program called Mail, which is like a stripped-down email client that cant execute scripts or open attachments without user intervention.
Those who spoke on this:
Senji:
“Apple includes a program called Mail, which is like a stripped-down email client that cant execute scripts or open attachments without user intervention.”—it’s all features!
Pol:
Is that review serious?
It reads like something written by somebody who’s never used a machine that hadn’t already had all MS apps installed on it before they got hold of it.
MartynC:
You are very probably correct given the link to BarbieOS on that page, which is an even weirder article!
How to crash Safari
Can anyone explain to me how this page manages to reliably crash the latest version of Safari every single time?
It appears to be a JS issue, but without a copy of Safari (not being a Apple Person) I can’t really research the issue…
Those who spoke on this:
Jonathan:
Confirm it crashes Safari 2.0. Run through W3 validator. See errors. Move script inside head instead of between head and body. Close the unclosed form. Close the unclosed content div. Confirm it no longer crashes Safari. Have a nice day!
Jens Ayton:
Not very surprisingly, Xyle scope (also based on WebKit) crashes in the same way. And this is what I meant when I referred to the del.icio.us crashing bug a few days ago. I cant keep all your weird URLs straight
Side note: Xyle scope is cool.
Jens Ayton:
Addenum: am posting crash log to new public WebKit bug repo at bugzilla.opendarwin.org. (There are a few other crash reports, but they dont seem to be the same issue.)
Apple Sauce
So, having prevaricated, and perambulated the perimeter of the proverbial privet for long enough I have finally knuckled under and Switched.
Well, not Switched. I play too much City of Heroes, Far too much Boiling Point and Guild Wars to actually abandon my PC entirely – even if it is now almost 100% linux based (Damn Sims 2 and Guild-Wars) – but I have placed my holidays and future into hock to own a sliver of shiny doom.
The picture below this entry is Mirage.water.gkhs.net. It is my PowerBook. It rocks.
That is, literally, it rocks. The AMS means I can tip it from side to side and a window stays still. The world needs more cool functionality like this.
It bounces. That is, it fell of the desk, and is still fine. I, however, was slightly more damaged. Nearly had a fucking heart attack.
It Just Works. I turned it on, and it just worked. I drag applications into Applications, and they Just Install. I double-click on a .sit compressed file, and it launches Microsoft Word. Okay, it isn’t perfect.
I lock myself into an eternity of terror and evil by buying things from the iTunes Music Store. I then burn the tracks to CD with iTunes and then rip them to ogg with abcde on Linux. DRM? Where?
And it Works. There was no fucking around with drivers, no spending hours looking for the stupid bloody error message that meant I couldn’t log into the wireless network. Sure, it’s a honeymoon period, but it’s a pleasantly soft focus one.
It’s bigger than I thought it would be. I mean, it’s 15”, yes, because that’s what I ordered, but somehow I wasn’t expecting it to be this wide. Actually it means it doesn’t fit in my messanger bag, which is annoying.
But I got to watch CSI on the bus home. And I have a Powerbook, ffs.
I have joined the shiny light side, and I’m pretty happy with it, so far.
Those who spoke on this:
Tayra:
Hooray! Way to go Aq ‘n! Isn’t the dashboard lovely? I see you haven’t filled your screen with widgets yet. You must do this. They add more practically daily.
Now, can you get me one too? :P
MP:
Jhymn, Jhymn, Jhymn…
Remove DRM, leave music, no need to burn a CD. Perfect when your CD-R drive dies…
Jens Ayton:
So, does this mean youre going to track down the del.icio.us crashing bug (and file a bug report with Apple)? :-)
Also, congratulations on doing the Sensible Thing.
And, as MP says, Jhymn. Apart from that, you can rip those tracks straight back into iTunes as AAC. However, you can ‘t burn a given playlist with FairPlayed files more than a few times without modifying it, i.e. adding a song and removing it again. Awful, isn’t it?
The Vanishing Mirage
This is a tragady. It may also be funny.
One of the reasons it took me quite so long to buy a laptop was because I don’t trust them. I trust, to some extent, every machine on this network, because I built it by myself out of the very-expensive-lego that is the PC hobbiests stock in trade. Zephyr was built by me, Boilingpoint is made out of old bits of Reef is made out of old bits of Atoll is made out of old bits of Maelstrom, the circle of life.
I have owned, in my lifetime, three laptops. The middle one is Nemo. It’s a 486, it has no battery, no network, no memory. It’s single use is if all my other machines are dead and I need to vent in text format.
The first one is called “Despair”, and this is its story.
The Prince is the only person to have kept his psudonym from the days when I was writing in Opendiary as Ithen and was scared silly of real people reading my diary. He is one of the vanishingly small number of people that I’ve kept in touch with since pretty much playschool. He’s a very good actor, a very good friend, and we both gloss over the fact that we’re both too disorganised to meet up more than once every nine to twelve months or so. I have sung duets on stage with him, screwed up dance routines with him, and watched him wade deep into “Dude, that’s a bad idea” territory by asking one of our close-knit group of dramatists if the reason she’s so on edge (At the last rehersal before exam performance) is because she’s on her period. Okay, on that last occasion I remained as far away from him as was physically possible in the suddenly-awfully-small drama room, but – despite my desires – I was still there.
I was on holiday from university, and was wandering up to London to window-shop on Tottenham Court Road when I ran into The Prince at The Fictional Railway Station. Somehow I found myself a couple of hours later sitting on a couch in another actor’s apartment, fixing his computer. Actually, trying to get a P133 running windows 95 at 640*480 in 256 colours to access the Information Superhighway via the man’s Virgin.net subscription.
Geeks quite often find themselves in this situation.
There is a canonical Head and Shoulders advert that ran for many, many, many years on UK Tv, where they wash half a mans head in normal shampoo and half in Head and Shoulders. The man whose flat I was in was at pains to point out that he didn’t have black hair anymore, and never had dandruff anyway.
In return for getting his damned machine onto the New World, he gave me a laptop. I played Solitare on it for an hour or so until the battery started to go, so I plugged it in.
There was a series of entertaining crackling noises, then nothing. The power supply never spoke again, and neither did Despair. It was named later on.
I tell this story because my Powerbook power supply did exactly the same thing this morning. Blew the fuse on the lead that goes into it. So I tried my co-worker’s one (Recharging from his power supply worked fine) and it blew the fuse on that too.
I now have less than one hour’s charge left on my powerbook, and no way to recharge it.
Looks like I’m going to the Apple Store tomorrow.
Those who spoke on this:
stephen:
A friend of mine, who I like to call ‘offline steve’ for reasons that I hope will be obvious, bought a powerbook a few months back. then it broke. they replaced it with a fresh one, which broke. So he got his money back. now he’s back to regular books.
the bad powerbook experiences seem to be mounting up. Petty. OSX is purdy.
Using a Samsung Z500 with a Powerbook with Vodafone Live over Bluetooth
Gosh, isn’t networking easier when you just plug things in? Ah well.
You will require:
- The “Generic 3G Scripts” from Ross Barkman’s home page
- Your phone to be connected to Vodafone Live.
- A Powerbook with bluetooth.
Download the scripts, unsit them and dump them in /Library/Modem Scripts
The easy bit is getting the Powerbook to talk to the Z500. You turn on Bluetooth on both and then “Setup Bluetooth Device” from the Bluetooth system preferences.
You’ll need to tap in the security number the Powerbook gives you into the Samsung.
The settings are as follows:
Phone Number/APN: “internet”
Username: “web”
Password: “web”
(note, these are for the UK Vodafone Live service. Ross Barkman’s site has listings for many others on his site. He is a god within our midsts and should be bought beer)
The modem type is “Generic 3G CID #1”.
That’s it, it should just work now.
Those who spoke on this:
Will:
well said, I can ‘t understand why apple don’t include his scripts.
My Siemens S55 on Virgin UK worked first time. I was so surprised how simple it was. Couldn’t quite believe it. Trying to do the same thing in Windows XP was a major feat of engineering and clicking.
Karin:
Hi there! Will,is it possible to send me those settings for Windows XP please,please? Thanks
mike sadd:
Hi
Your webpage was made for me! I have a G4 running OSX 10.3.9 + Samsung Z500.
BUT!!! I cannot get the devices to pair – whilst they recognise each other (and provide an opportunity to put in the passcode shown) the next message simply says “pairing unsuccessful”.
Also, where exactly does one put in what you call “the settings” – how do I get to the appropriate dialogue box?
I would really appreciate any help on this
Thanks
Mike
mike sadd:
Hi again
All sorted but would suggest clarifying your “settings” paragraph in relation to the relevant dialog box format (the bluetooth mobile phone set-up box) in OS 10.3.9
Should read:
User name – web
Password – web
GPRS CID String – internet
Mike Sadd
Bash one-liner of the day
Mirage:~/Data/CD aquarion$ find . -name *.m4p
| sed -e"s/m4p/mp3/g"
| while read FOO;do BAR=$(basename "$FOO");locate "$BAR" | tail -1; done
| while read FOO ; do cp $FOO .;doneOkay, so I need to do the rm *.m4p afterwards, but still.
So, question one, what does it do, and question two, what is it for?
Those who spoke on this:
Pol:
It would appear to try and locate all of the MP3s on your system which also exist as AAC and then copy the MP3 to the current directory.
I’d guess you use it for copying the converted elements of your ITMS for upload to a portable MP3 device.
Marathon Runner
So, Bungie, who are the people who made Halo and are owned by Microsoft, cut their teeth on a series of games for the Mac called Marathon.
They’ve recently released all three for free download (Free as in beer, though they are supporting an Open Source conversion of the engine). This is how I got them to work on my Powerbook.
One, Mac Classic
The Marathons are old software, so you’ll need a Mac Classic (that is, OS9) environment to run them in. Fortunately Apple supply you with an install of OS9 on the second OSX install disk you got with the laptop. Dig it out, set up a 1 Gig disk image somewhere on your system, and install OS9 to it by clicking the icon when you put the install disk in.
Then, go to System Preferences and then Classic, and when it finds your new Classic install, click Okay.
Two, Marathon.
- Download Marathon.
- Extract it.
- Double-click the icon
Controls
You’ll need to redefine the controls, as they default to a number pad the Laptops don’t have.
That’s it.
For shits and giggles, now attempt to run a game released 11 years ago under Windows XP without resorting to Dosbox
- 2005-10-27 21:20:48
- By Aquarion
- From Evolving Media, Bedford
- More Journal Entries
- Filed under Apple & Computer Games
Those who spoke on this:
Wafer:
Oh dude. I totally didn ‘t know they’d released them for free. I was still bemoaning that you couldn’t buy them anymore! Time to stick those babies into AlephOne!
Cheers!
Jens Ayton:
To be fair, Classic, like DOSBox, is a virtualisation environment. And, of course, you can run Marathon 2, Infinity and M1A1 under Windows XP using Aleph One. :-)
Those who spoke on this:
AdrianO:
Just in case you’re not reading the comments on the LJ feed:
Breakfast Machine from the soundtrack to Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.
mrben:
It appears to have been removed – seen a copy anywhere else?
Audions
So, with my new, black, shiny personal backup device I have been listening to Podcasts.
These are some I’m enjoying:
- The official TMBG podcast – Tracks that wouldn’t make an album, and the occasional long sketch I’m thankful I could skip. [iTunes Link]
- Ask a ninja (Video) A ninja asks all your questions [iTunes Link]
- G4 TV Game reviews and such. Making fun of larpers from the unasilable position of being addicted to WoW. [iTunes Link]
- iMadeitup Music by Adam Rabin, previously lauded here as the music group Mailbox. [iTunes Link] [RSS Link]
- del.icio.us Mashups [RSS Link]
- LUGradio The occasional good bit buried within screeds of high handed bigotry against other people’s choice of operating systems. [iTunes] [RSS]
Geek
Levels of Geekness:
- Watching Anime DVDs
- Watching Anime DVDs on your Laptop
- Watching Anime DVDs on your Powerbook
- Watching Anime DVDs on your Powerbook, which is displaying them on the TV screen
- Watching Anime DVDs on your Powerbook, which is displaying them on the TV screen, and using your bluetooth mobile as a remote control.
Win
Those who spoke on this:
pol:
Watching Anime DVDs on your Powerbook which is displaying them on your Bluetooth mobile while using an internet enabled TV as a remote control for the powerbook.
Natch
Of course, when one of the two 512mb memory sticks in my powerbook decides to fall over and die, it’s not the 3-years-guaranteed crucial upgrade stick, is it? No, it’s the Apple branded official stick, which ran out of warrenty – along with the rest of my Powerbook – in June.
I hate computers.
Those who spoke on this:
Podcast Subscription List in iTunes
A simple question:
Where does iTunes store my list of Podcast Subscriptions?
Whilst at LUGRadio Live there was a wireless network in the main area, which I connected to. Unfortunately it was one of those which automatically redirected you straight to a login page for every request you put though it. It did this with 302 headers.
So when iTunes decided to update my podcasts it went up to the network, requested the URL, got a redirect and then decided this redirect was the new URL for the Podcast, so now I’m subscribed to a dozen podcasts at wirescanner.wlv.ac.uk.
I could unsubscribe and then resubscribe to the casts, but that will involve losing my archive, a lot of which aren’t in the feed anymore. The feeds don’t appear to be kept in the iTunes xml file, and I’m currently running a grep -R wirescanner / over my entire hard drive to see where the hell it could be. Google is being no help either.
Since I can see my next answer being “Use Free Software”, I shall start my defense now by saying that I use Banshee at work, and I’ve tried rhythmbox, juk and all of the others. None of them do all I need them to.
Those who spoke on this:
Debugging Ajax
One of the problems with Ajax is that the server side of it becomes invisible. You send a request to the server with an ajax request object, and you can get output from the JS by firebug, or alert boxes, or whatever, but for the script running on the other side, there's no visible place for the output.
There are many ways around it, but my current favourite is Growl.
Growl is a notification system for OS X, where programs send messages to the central demon, and it pops up a little dialog message that eventually fades away. They're nice for debug, so I have this:
<?PHP
require_once 'Net/Growl.php';
$growl =& Net_Growl::singleton('Net_Growl', array('Messages'), '[Password]');
$growl->_options['host'] = '[MyIP]';
$GLOBALS['growl'] = $growl;
function debug($message){
$backtrace = debug_backtrace();
array_shift($backtrace);
if (is_array($message) || is_object($message)){
$message = print_r($message,1);
}
$title = sprintf("Debug - %s - %d", $backtrace[0]['function'], $backtrace[0]['line']);
$GLOBALS['growl']->notify('Messages', $title, $message);
}
Those who spoke on this:
Tom Allender:
I think it sounds very clever and suitably OSX-fluffy.
Powerbrick
The latest OS X Tiger update appears to have bricked my friend’s final generation PPC Powerbook (Won’t boot, hangs in grey on white apple screen forever), so you might want to not install it for a couple of days.
Those who spoke on this:
Matthew Walster:
Did it on my C2D Macbook Pro, no problems, however I’ve not done it on my final gen Mac Mini – will wait a week or two before I do it now you’ve said…
iPhonetics
O2, who happen to be my mobile provider already, have won the rights to be the iPhone provider in the UK.
This is interesting, because O2 are also one of the only UK ‘phone networks without an “all you can eat” data rate available.
Those who spoke on this:
Artela:
Interesting they have chosen the provider with just about the suckiest coverage :-/
iPhonetics II - The Revenge
O2 are denying the reports that they will be the iPhone provider.
I have an idea, and I’m going to say it here because if it’s true in six months time I can point here and say “Called it”.
This is my Idea:
The phone network in the US is pretty much locked down. If you want to do anything to do with mobile phones, you pretty much have to deal with get into bed with one of the big companies.
In the UK, that’s not true. That’s how companies like… well, Hotxt get their (er, our) app onto your phone without having to sign a pre-nup with Orange. (Three is a slightly different thing, it’s trying to run a US-style “Sign. Here.” system, and it doesn’t appear to be doing that all that well. I digress).
One of the big problems Apple has/had in the US is with AT&T not keeping up with registrations, with the division of understanding between an “Apple Product” and a “AT&T Product”, and generally with associating it – and co-labeling with – another major brand.
If I were Apple in the UK then, and I had people on-hand who knew how this kind of shit worked (Which I don’t, obviously), I’d do what Virgin Mobile do, and be a “MVNO” – a Mobile Virtual Network Operator – the mobile equivalent of all those “Free Dialup” offers late last decade, running their branded stuff on other people’s networks.
It’s not as if they don’t already have the ability to take subscription payments (.mac & iTunes) and everything already.
Apple Mobile. Coming autumn 2007.
Iphones and spices
There are questions yet to be answered about Apple’s newest product. Will the .eu version have 3G? Who will carry it in the UK? Will it ever support flash? But the most important question has now been answered, and answered well.
Those who spoke on this:
Supermouse:
Thank you for putting my mind at rest.
Mac Question And Answer
Okay, first, the answer:
Q: How do I open HQX files in Tiger, since they’ve dropped native support?
A: Open it in Safari. Not even kidding.
And the question.
Internet! Answer me!
What does it mean when, on a G4 powerbook, the green light around the power adapter is pulsing on and off?
Note: I do not remotely expect this to be a good thing.
Those who spoke on this:
tamara Rigg:
My power cord started doing that almost a year ago…
In my case I think it’s a contact problem, because when I twiddle with it it settles on either off or just green/orange.
Charges fine and works well even without a battery inside, so I haven’t bothered replacing it (or even checking if it’s the cord’s contacts that are troubled or something in the case itself).
Those who spoke on this:
Kian Ryan:
Well, somehow that doesn’t surprise me.
iPhone
Being a mobile company, it’s vitally important we get to test the new and shiniest phones, which is why I will never buy a Motorola, don’t think the N95 is as shiny as many people appear to think, and how I got to borrow the Office iPhone for a while.
The Office iPhone was bought when we launched last autumn and is a US model with the hack so we could use it in this country and install applications on it. I didn’t use many third party apps, simply because doing so was more complicated than I could be bothered to do. I look forward to the day we can develop for it easily, though.
The Good
The interface is shiny and spinny and nice. It is one of the nicest phone UIs I have had the pleasure of using. Things transition between states – often ignored in interface design – rather than instantly changing to other things.
The SMS interface, which is laid out roughly like an IM session, is a revolution someone should have thought of years ago, it’s a very simple threading implementation, but makes dealing with SMSs as a form of conversation – rather than alert – much easier.
The orientation-aware interface is very well done. It flips only when its obvious that you want it that way up.
Safari works very well, though the inability to edit (You can only append or replace) URLS was a bit annoying. Google Maps was very nicely done, and I do like the use of the multitouch interface for pan and zoom, I think they could have done more with multitouch, though.
The less good
On the opposing side, the SMS interface makes dealing with SMSs that are actually alerts rather than conversations – daily updates, calendar tasks, SMS warnings, Twitter – a little less intuitive, and I’d like the ability to say “display messages from this contact individually”.
I didn’t get on with the keyboard very well, possibly it takes practice, possibly my fingers are too big.
The iPod bit… sucks. I hate to say it, but it does. The new interface makes the way I use playlists more difficult (I tend to flip though my oversized music collection adding stuff to an “on the go” playlist. Previous iPods let you do this from any playlist, artist or album list. In the new interface you can only add to On The Go from a dedicated full track list), the recessed headphone socket is incompatible with my headphones. You can’t operate it while its in your pocket, because there’s no tactile feedback for the volume or track changing interface, you have to bring it out and look at it. Coverflow’s useless unless you have art for everything. As a replacement for my 5th generation iPod, it wasn’t wonderful.
The ugly
I will, however, be buying one. Not because I want one, although it’s a nice enough device I don’t believe it’s worth £300 and a new contract.
No. I will be buying one because some enterprising bastard pinched the borrowed iPhone from my pocket on the tube home on Monday night, and it falls to me to replace it. Which is, of course, the big problem with having and obviously shiny, obviously expensive device that you have to bring out of your pocket to operate.
I’ll stick to my Z310i for now.
Those who spoke on this:
Peter:
Actually, you can edit the URL in Safari by tapping the place where you want to edit. If you not only tap but keep your finger pressed to the screen for a while you will get a magnifying glass which you can use to better hit the place where you need to edit.
iTunes Store Links
If you use a mac, and iTunes, you’ll know about the little arrow links on the currently playing track that take you to the iTunes store search for that artist/track.
I’ve never used these, and I don’t like them. But now I know about this:
defaults write com.apple.iTunes invertStoreLinks -bool YES
This makes all the little arrows search your internal library instead. So clicking the arrow beside “Hello City” takes me to the album, and clicking “Barenaked Ladies” takes me to my entire collection of canadian bands with a double-bass in them.
Those who spoke on this:
Phonetic
Today, I got an iPhone.
This sounds deceptively simple, but really wasn’t, so here’s how it went. I had an 18 month contract with 02, ready to run out in September. But last month they phoned me up, and when I said I was waiting for the new iPhone, they recommended I switched to the Monthly Sim Only “Simplicity” contract, shaving three months off my contract (since Simplicity is a rolling monthly agreement) meaning I’d be able to get a new contract come July 11th.
This morning at 08:45 I was waiting outside Walthamstow’s O2 shop, on the reasonable basis that it would be quieter than Oxford Street, and there was a couple of dozen people queuing at the time. At 08:55, I moved to Carphone Warehouse on the basis that swapping being 24th in line for being 5th in line seemed sane. So I was the fifth person to get into Carphone Warehouse, the other people selling the iPhone today.
CPW had 24 iPhone 8 gigs, and two iPhone 16 gigs. The first four people wanted 16 gig ones, and it became a race against the (heavily overloaded) computer system as they went though the upgrade process. Two didn’t make it, and left the store. The other two were on hold for credit checks.
Switching to the simplicity tarrif was the wrong thing, because it meant I’d shifted from being a normal O2 contract user, to a non-trusted base-level user, meaning to get an upgrade I’d also have to pass a credit check. Which was fine, but O2 had apparently been recommending the Simplicity route for lots of people, and so the national queue for credit checks was loooooong.
At 10:20 – almost an hour and a half after I arrived – I left the shop to get to work, late but salvageable. Today was a deadline day.
At 11:30 CPW phoned me (I’d left a card) to say my check had gone though, and they had a phone for me, but I would have to collect it by 12:30. Since I’d got in at 10:50, I felt that leaving at 11:30 for my lunch hour was taking the piss slightly, but left dead on 12. Kings Cross to Walthamstow takes exactly 26 minutes, I have found, if there’s a train when you get to the platform and it’s the middle of the day (so stops at stations to exchange passengers are brief). I ran. I don’t run often, but I ran today to get an iPhone.
I got it. It’s shiny. I bought insurance for it after what happened to the one I borrowed.
This doesn’t end here, though.
First, my shoes were not built for running, because they dissolved by my running though the rain. By eight this evening (when I left the office) the soles were falling off.
Second was trying to migrate contacts.
One of the really cool features about OS X is the phone support. For 10.4 it supported the latest Ericcsons, and would bluetooth sync to them, and when they got a text message it would appear on your desktop. For the brief period I had a compatible phone (a few months, the on-call phone for Those Who Evolve was one) it was great. However, it’s not been updated to support any phone since then, so it falls to feisar who provide plugins for many phones.
My first attempt was to sync the old phone to the mac, then the iPhone to the mac. But for some reason whilst my old z310i would sync quite happily with the Feisar plugin, the newer one won’t (I suspect it’s because of the newer one’s Orange replacement firmware), and in attempting to fix this plugin (they’re all scriptable) I ran the unit te
Senji:
Why not? :)
ruthi:
It costs too much?
ruthi:
It costs too much?
Kimmi:
Okay, don’t, then. :-)
Castellan:
Of course not, you’re waiting for the G5 PowerBook.