Abulsme.com: iPhone

Abulsme on Grandma S meets Alex:
Now added to my Netflix queue…
matt on Grandma S meets Alex:
it’s like the potato-face people from Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
Abulsme on Ouranos is Coming:
From SM via Facebook: @JS: Which action, the old ones, the new one, or both? @JD: Yes, yes, yes it is. (2 seconds ago)
Abulsme on Ouranos is Coming:
From JD via Facebook: Nice! (8 hours ago)
Abulsme on Ouranos is Coming:
From JS via Facebook: I think I have some of that action in my basement. (9 hours ago)
Abulsme on I Said Don’t Lick Me!:
From SM via Facebook: He did tell ‘em! But he also reaches out to pet Roscoe whenever he gets the chance. (2 seconds ago)
Abulsme on I Said Don’t Lick Me!:
From RMB via Facebook: You tell ‘em, Alex! (Fri at 4:10am)
Abulsme on Ray’s Mystery Trip:
From SM via Facebook: Yeah, one of the big reasons Yucatan hasn’t happened yet is there a big difference planning a trip for one as compared to planning a trip for three… now four…...
Abulsme on Ray’s Mystery Trip:
From ER via Facebook: Now we all need mystery income to support the mystery trip habit. (6 hours ago)
Abulsme on House: Season One: Disk One:
From SM via Facebook: Yes, I think there may well be a shark just waiting for the right opportunity. (2 seconds ago)

Abulsme.com: Four Months in the World mentioned Alex at Three Months saying: with last month, I’ll let Alex share a few of his thoughts on this milestone. This time his comments were
Abulsme.com: Four Months in the World mentioned Four Years in the Jungle saying: on Four Years in the Jungle: From SM via Facebook: @RMB: Thanks! And I hope the same for yours as you approach your four years.
Abulsme.com: Kindle Ratio for 5 Dec 2009 – 40% mentioned Speaker for the Dead saying: Speaker for the Dead
Traditional Halloween Recipes mentioned No Laser Etched Fruit saying: The death penalty is best invoked with guys like John Allen Muhammad who not only killed innocents in cold blood but did so while terrorizing an entire region. The...
Abulsme.com: Doctor Who: The Rescue mentioned Amy the Redshirt? saying: Amy the Redshirt?
Abulsme.com: Bright and Shiny Again mentioned Problem with the New Phone saying: Abulsme.com: Problem with the New Phone mentioned Bright and Shiny saying: Abulsme.com: Bright and Shiny mentioned Wired Wireless saying:...
Abulsme.com: Problem with the New Phone mentioned Bright and Shiny saying: Abulsme.com: Bright and Shiny mentioned Wired Wireless saying: (9)Most of the Whole Family (9)We are in the OR… Here we go (8)Back in his Hat...
Abulsme.com: A Stepmom on an AIDS Funding Scandal mentioned A Cousin on Foreign Policy Pundits saying: A Cousin on Foreign Policy Pundits
Abulsme.com: Bright and Shiny mentioned Wired Wireless saying: (9)Most of the Whole Family (9)We are in the OR… Here we go (8)Back in his Hat (6)Heading Home (6)Wired Wireless (6)Hello world! (5)Recent
Abulsme.com: 13879.2036 Days mentioned Introducing William Alexander Minter saying: Popular PostsIntroducing William Alexander Minter (17)Scheduling Alex's Arrival (10)C-Section this Weekend (9)We are in the OR… Here we go...

Cars and Books and Apps, Oh My!

In the latest Curmudgeon’s Corner…

Sam and Ivan talk about:

Ivan’s Ebay Experiences
Parental Facebooking
Apple App Store Restrictions

Just click to listen now:

Recorded 22 Feb 2010

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Finally Time to Sling!

Given that they had started to let on VOIP over 3G I’d hoped this would be coming soon…

SlingPlayer iPhone App Gets Go-Ahead to Stream over 3G
(Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker, 4 Feb 2010

If you’ve got a SlingBox and an iPhone, you could previously fork over another $30 to get the SlingPlayer app and watch your home TV and recordings … over Wi-Fi, which kind of defeated the whole purpose of mobile watching (aren’t you usually home already when you’re on Wi-Fi?). But Sling and AT&T have reached an agreement on 3G streaming, so the SlingPlayer will get an upgrade to truly mobile TV streaming as soon as Apple approves the upgrade. Existing SlingPlayer owners will get the upgraded version free. …

Of course, despite promising myself I wouldn’t spend the $30 until it did 3G, I broke down and bought the app a few weeks ago, and have indeed been using it sometimes just between rooms in my house. But it will be much more useful this way.

Do Phones Cause Global Warming?

In the latest Curmudgeon’s Corner…

Sam and Ivan talk about:

The Google Phone
Apple vs Google
Copenhagen

Just click to listen now:

Recorded 14 Dec 2009

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Bright and Shiny Again

So, after the last issue, I took it back to the Apple Store. They replaced it again. Seems normal this time. Maybe a degree off or something, but I’m guessing within tolerance. Definitely close enough that I haven’t noticed while playing games. So looks like I’m all back in business again. Woo.

Problem with the New Phone

Bleh, it seems the replacement phone they gave me, despite being “Bright and Shiny” has this problem. Basically the accelerometer’s notion of “down” is off by about five degrees from the real “down”. Which makes using any app that relies on knowing how the phone is oriented somewhat more difficult than it should be. OK, fine, this means mostly games. I realized something was amiss when I tried to play a game or two of Doodle Jump and it kept not going straight when the phone was straight. It made it really hard to play. Of course, there are also some serious and important reasons why this is a problem, like, well, like… well, I’m sure there is something.

From what I’ve found online, the only fix here is to take the phone to be replaced. Since they just gave me this one less than 10 hours ago, I presume that won’t be a problem other than the annoyance of taking it in and then having to restore from backup yet again.

But still. Bleh. Guess I’m making another trip to the Apple Store sometime in the next 18 hours or so. Sigh.

iPhone Shuffled Podcasts Bug Fixed

I have been neglectful. Way back in June I made a post titled “iPhone 3.0 Bug with Shuffled Podcasts“. In a subsequent iPhone software update I noticed that they had fixed part of the problem, but didn’t post. Then in a second update, they seemed to have fixed almost all of the problem. (Although I still notice that my playlist full of podcasts doesn’t retain the order I have it in on the iTunes side.) Basically, it all works again. Although on a couple of occasions I’ve noticed it not seeming to work, but I think that may be when I’ve had syncs that got stopped before they were done. Anyway, the last update which seemed to have an effect on this was just after Alex was born, so I was a bit distracted and never posted about this. Anyway, thank you Apple for fixing this. Much appreciated.

Bright and Shiny

So in regard to the iPhone problems I described here… we finally went to the Apple Store Genius Bar about 40 minutes ago. After doing a full system restore to factory state first to make sure it wasn’t a software problem… it wasn’t, duh… the problem showed it’s face again in under 10 minutes… they decided to call it a battery issue and swapped me out with a bright shiny (OK, probably refurbished, but brighter and shiner than what I went in with) replacement phone. They charged us $79, which was less than I expected.

So as soon as I get home and do a restore from my last backup, my phone should be in better shape than it has been in a long time. Woo. I can live with that.

Wired Wireless

My iPhone 3G now only works when it plugged into a power source. The rest of the time it reboots every few seconds (not long enough to actually finish booting) until it runs out of battery.

Sometimes after having been plugged in for awhile it will be ok for up to half an hour before it starts the rebooting thing. Sometimes. Not usually.

But it works fine as long as it is plugged in. Joy. I always wanted a cellphone that only worked when attached by a cord to a power source. Wonderful.

Of course I went out of warentee a couple of months ago and had neglected to get AppleCare. Bleh.

Maybe it will magically fix itself if I bash it a few times with a rock.

Or not.

Five by Ten

In the latest Curmudgeon’s Corner…

Sam and Ivan talk about:

Iranian Developments
Foreign Policy Schmorgesborg
California Elections
Senatorial Selection
iPhone Issues

Just click to listen now:

CC recorded 28 Sep 2009
or

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Israel Playing Games With American Lives 11 March 2010
The idea that they’re still pushing settlements now is amazingly ludicrous. Thankfully the vice president apparently made that clear. People who heard what Biden said were stunned. ‘This is starting to get dangerous for us,’ Biden castigated his interlocutors. ‘What you’re doing here undermines the security of our troops who are fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan […]
owillis@gmail.com (Oliver Willis)
11-Year-Old Asks Members of Congress to Support Reform: "The health care system is broken and it caused my mother's death." 11 March 2010
As members of Congress ready for a vote on health reform, today they heard from 11-year-old Marcelas Owens, whose mother died in 2007 because she lacked health insurance.Tiffany Owens suffered from pulmonary hypertension, which forced her to stop work, and in turn, she lost her medical benefits. She spent the final part of her life fighting for health insura […]
Erica Sagrans
To Move, or Not to Move? 11 March 2010
Since Wolfram|Alpha’s launch in May 2009, one of its most talked-about features has been its ability to compute specific answers to questions about math, chemistry, economics, demographics, and much more. But as its knowledge base continues to grow, it’s also able to highlight interesting and useful connections between data sets, and to reveal information th […]
C. Alan Joyce
SitBy.Us 11 March 2010
Speaking of SXSW, if you’re going, you’re going to love SitBy.us, an iPhone-optimized web app from Weightshift. As they describe it: If you’ve ever been to SXSW Interactive, you know that it can be difficult to find where your friends are sitting in a panel, particularly in the massive auditoriums and the notorious 18BCD. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to le […]
John Gruber
The Return of the Hard Rock Cafe 11 March 2010
www.hardrock.comOn the readerboard: "HELLO SEATTLE WE ARE READY TO ROCK" If you call the new Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Seattle, you might get this answer: "Hard Rock Cafe, this is Pete—how can I rock you?" Each and every Hard Rocker—this is what employees are called, according to a sign in the bathroom directing them to wash their hands— […]
editor@thestranger.com (Bethany Jean Clement)
Set your alarm clocks, iPad pre-orders begin 5:30 AM PST 11 March 2010
According to an Apple PR rep, customers can pre-order online at apple.com at 5:30am Pacific time on Friday, March 12. That's 8:30 AM for you East Coasters. All models will be available for pre-order and wifi models will arrive on April 3rd, 3G models in late April. We'll have a link as soon as it becomes available. via TUAW. […]
Mark Gurman
The new Apple Remote and its unibody construction 11 March 2010
Apple’s new remote for MacBooks and Apple TV is nothing revolutionary, but its construction is impressive for a remote. Apple gave it the unibody treatment: besides the three button areas, the IR transmitter, and the battery door on the bottom, there are no glued seams or screws anywhere. It is truly a unibody Apple Remote. […]
David Chartier
Grammar Police 11 March 2010
Ezra Klein: Like most bloggers, I'm not too fond of e-mails correcting my grammar. Really? I like getting emails about grammar and spelling. I mean, don't be a dick or anything, but if there's a mistake to be corrected or a usage issue to be debated, bring it on. We strive for linguistic greatness around here.15 Comments | Post Comment […]
Kevin Drum
How Your Twitter Account Could Land You In Jail 11 March 2010
But the protesters had their own crowd-control methods, and that's what had brought the state troopers to the CareFree Inn. What they found when they broke down the door were a couple of middle-aged housemates from Queens, New York. Elliott Madison sat at a desk with a laptop and a cell phone. A police scanner lay nearby. Michael Wallschlaeger was at th […]
The Huffington Post News Editors
Aerogel chunks in Boing Boing Bazaar 11 March 2010
Now in the Boing Boing Bazaar: chunks of aerogel! $50 buys you a pair of aerogel discs. Silica aerogel, the infamous and ethereal material comprised of up to 99.98% air, can be yours at last. Known for its superinsulating abilities, ultralow density, and its use on the Mars rovers, silica aerogel is just one member of the amazing class of materials known as […]
Mark Frauenfelder

Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-03-01
Sam and Ivan talk about: * Climate Change * Health Care Summit * Chile Eathquake * Impending Computer […]
Samuel Minter / Ivan Bou
Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-02-22
Sam and Ivan talk about: * Ivan's Ebay Experiences * Parental Facebooking * Apple App Store Restrictions […]
Samuel Minter / Ivan Bou
Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-02-15
Sam and Ivan talk about: * Angry Wife * Keyboard Fun * Cheney/Biden * Cloud Lock-in * Google Buzz * Facebook Login […]
Samuel Minter / Ivan Bou
Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-02-07
Sam and Ivan talk about: * Economy Revisited * Demon Sheep * Sarah Palin * Political Mailings * DADT […]
Samuel Minter / Ivan Bou
Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-02-01
Sam and Ivan talk about: * The iPad * The SOTU * Question Time * Toyotas […]
Samuel Minter / Ivan Bou
Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-01-26
Sam talks about: * Corporate Political Speech * Stoopid Democrats […]
Samuel Minter
Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-01-18
Sam and Ivan talk about: * No Space * Haiti Earthquake * Google China * Massachusetts Senate * Conan/Leno […]
Samuel Minter / Ivan Bou
Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-01-11
Sam and Ivan talk about: * Polite Language * Terror Reactions * 3D HDTV at CES * Tablets Everywhere […]
Samuel Minter / Ivan Bou
Curmudgeon's Corner 2010-01-06
Sam talks about: * Properly Proportinate Reactions * New Computer Migrations * Never Enough Time […]
Samuel Minter
Curmudgeon's Corner 2009-12-28
Sam and Ivan talk about: * Underpants Bomber * Security Overreactions * Missed Warnings * Apple Tablet Rumors […]
Samuel Minter / Ivan Bou

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