Friday, November 9, 2007

Another iPod update... I've had an iPod Touch for a couple months. Other than being a video capable iPod (that also does Wi-Fi and lets you use it to view videos on YouTube and purchase music from iTMS (iTunes Music Store)) it's been more promise than anything else. Sure, you could edit contact info and sync that with Outlook or Mac OS X (and Yahoo at some point) and you could download your calendar from Outlook or iCal to it. And surf the internet... But basically, it's an iPhone without the phone, camera, or bluetooth parts. An internet capable mini tablet. Like one of those Nokia things if they made iPods but from Apple Adventurous people have figured out how to hack them. How to do non-Apple things to them (the iPhone and iPod Touch are running a version of OS X so there is a lot of potential.). How to write software for them. Unsupported/discouraged by Apple. (Personally, I'm waiting for the mythical Apple iPhone SDK before I jump in THAT pool. I have some ideas for interesting things to do with an iPod touch but... I would rather not play the 'oops, an update killed my iApp' game the iPhone/touch hacking crowd is in the middle of. We'll see what happens here. ) Okay... last night/today, Apple released a firmware/software update for the touch and iPhone. V1.1.2. It fixes the security hole in the iphone/touch that the hacker-types were using to get "into" the gadget. (But they've figured out a way to get around that - assuming you apply the hack ( "jailbreak" in the vernacular) to V1.1.1 before updating. Or downgrade to 1.1.1 first. Anyway... What did iPhone/touch firmware V1.1.2 give us? It enabled the data entry feature of the calendar (so it is like the iPhone's calendar. Mostly.) Fixed the TIFF security patch (see above) Added an ability for iTunes to know the battery state (It shows up next to your iPod's name). Unknown bug fixes. The calendar thing... is probably the only thing I would hack my iPod touch for. Nice to have it officially supported. What's left to make me happy? I want an eBook reader. (PDF,html,Palm) Something better than the Safari bookmark hack you have to use now to read eBooks offline. Integrate it with iTunes and make me happier. Some kind of text entry - something better than the notes fields in the Contact/Calendar applets. (Even better, bring back iPod Notes and allow me to edit THOSE.) Those are the basics. Other things that would be nice that I don't see happening: An iPod dock to USB adapter+software that lets me use one of those cheap USB GPS units that don't have their own display. An iPod dock/memory card adapter that fits "under" the touch.(it could even have an extra chargeable battery in it.) 7:57:55 PM    Notes [] Banking.. using electrons There are times when it can be "fun" to do the on-line banking thing. And then there's today. It's been an expensive week. Car got a tune-up (spark plugs and gas line filter), new rear brakes (rotors and pads), new fan belt, and tires. It got an oil change 2 weeks ago. Approx. $1,000 when it was all done (and that was actually cheap - I was expecting $500 more but the tires were cheaper than expected and the rear rotors were much cheaper than the last time (fronts)). One of the perils of owning a BMW is high maintenance costs. Some years I spend more on my car than myself. Happened to be checking one of my credit cards today (on-line). I used it for the majority of the cost of the tune-up. My credit card company has that one transaction listed as both "pending" and approved/paid. So it figures into both my current balance and pending transactions. Which affects the available credit. Argh! Not a huge deal... except I went to an optometrist this morning, and ordered new glasses at the friendly store next door. Oh, the choices - of both glass, glass coatings, and frames. And then I also ordered prescription sun glasses (I've been planning on doing that for years. I hate clip-ons.). So basically, 2 sets of lenses. And two pairs of frames. By the time I'd gotten out of there? I'd spent almost as much (85%) on glasses as I did on my car two days before. Boy am I gullible. Of course a store like that would have 'designer' frames for a little more than I paid 5 years ago in NH. Actually, it was the lenses that were the $$$ killer. On sale at 50% they cost as much as the frames. All together... my little adventure in eye-care cost me twice, per pair, what I paid 5 years ago. But I don't think I'll get 5 years out of these. Hopefully two - if I'm lucky. Feeling kind of poor right now... and I haven't even bought ANY Christmas presents yet. 6:54:19 PM    Notes [] A true WTF moment Ordered a couple camera things from Amazon today (a cheap lens, a UV filter for the lens, and a cheap camera bag.) The camera bag, not really from Amazon, is shipping from some camera store on Long Island. I paid extra $$ to get it by the end of next week (Extra = 50% of the cost of the bag. Can't believe I did that... good thing the bag was cheap.) Not sure when it'll show up. When I ordered it, Amazon said it would ship on Monday. When they "confirmed" my order they said it would ship on Tuesday/Wednesday (Either way... I should get it by next Friday.) The filter and the lens... are a different story. Note - I paid for 2nd day shipping. - The filter, a cheap thing I could have gotten for the same price at the local Best Buy, was supposed to ship today. I ordered it from Amazon 'just because it made sense at the time'. - The lens (a low end Canon 50mm f1.8)... was supposed to ship Monday. Show up by Wednesday. Okay... so 2 hours later... I get a shipping notice from Amazon.... They shipped the LENS this afternoon, not the filter. BUT they shipped it UPS Ground and it'll show up next Friday. Maybe. Why am I paying extra for 2 day shipping when the one thing I really wanted, the lens (I'm not a fan of the 'kit' lens that came with my Canon DSLR - wanted a non-zoom lens) -- is going to take 5+ days to get to me? WTF!?! (as the saying goes...) Oh... I know... that UV filter ($9.99) is getting the 2 day shipping so it shows up before the lens or the camera bag. Argh!!!! (Maybe if I'd ordered Dr. Who Season 3 also they might have rushed it?) There's a reason I only buy things from Amazon once or twice a year (and since I buy things so infrequently... they tend to cancel my account and I have to re-register every time.) Their brand of customer service? So not worth the hassle.... 6:38:48 PM    Notes []

© Copyright 2009 Andy Stoffel. Last update: 7/19/09; 10:25:49 PM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.