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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. 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. 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. :-) Along the same lines as my last post, my dad sent me a note recently letting me know that my stepmom Cathy has been contributing lately to a site called Suite101.com. You can see all of her articles here. Here is a bit from the most recent: AIDS Funding Scandal in Washington, DC: City to Investigate Waste and Abuse by AIDS Groups (Cathy Sunshine, Suite101.com, 5 Nov 2009)
I’ve of course added the RSS feed of her articles to my Google Reader subscriptions. Looks like she is writing on a variety of topics, from restaurants to the zoo to AIDS to the Peace Corps. Should be interesting to read. :-) I try to point out when I see items by relatives or friends. Here is one from a cousin of mine on Huffington Post: Note to Assignment Editor: Not Your Dad’s National Security Establishment (Heather Hurlburt, Huffington Post, 5 Nov 2009)
I saw this on Facebook from Heather, then I saw it in Google Reader from my Huffington Post RSS feed and marked it as something I wanted to post later, then after that I got a note from my mother also pointing me at it. So I figured I should go ahead and get it posted. :-) One question though… Heather, where are you twittering? I couldn’t find you with a simple search on Twitter. :-) 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.
Be scared. This stuff has been bubbling under the radar for awhile. The DMCA passed in the late 90’s with broad bipartisan support in congress (it was actually unanimous in the Senate). It has been overall a horrible thing. If this ACTA stuff ends up getting into law in anything resembling these leaks, it will be much worse. So far though, I haven’t seen any of the revulsion at these kinds of things that one sees online translate into any actual resistance to these sorts of things by the people in government who will actually end up deciding what happens. Leaked ACTA Internet Provisions: Three Strikes and a Global DMCA
Still waiting to see actual Pirate Party candidates on any of my ballots. They will probably instantly get my vote as long as they aren’t otherwise complete nutjobs. Which knowing small third parties in the US, they probably will be. But I can hope. |
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