1-800-HOSTING Blog » iphone

The Truth Will Make it Free

Jonathan Curry — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 17:00:58 +0000

A few weeks ago at lunch I dropped my beloved iPhone 4 and shattered the back side glass. Fortunately I already knew the cost to replace it, as I had just been to the Apple Store the previous weekend with a friend who committed the same act of violence against his phone.

At $29 I thought he got away cheap – but I didn’t understand why my friend fabricated a ridiculous story about how the glass shattered on his phone. Later he told me it was to try to get sympathy from the Genius in order to replace the glass for free. Of course this lowered my opinion of him (not the lie, the fact that it was a terrible lie) and I knew it wasn’t going to work for me.

After recovering from my phone-dropped-glass-shattered induced heart attack, I scheduled an appointment with the Genius Bar online & was served by the very same Genius as my friend:

“How did this happen?” he asked.

I replied, “I dropped it in a parking lot.”

At that moment it felt like you could hear a pin drop in the store. All of the surrounding Apple employees looked toward me in shock & awe, not because I dropped my phone – but because I told the truth.

“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.”

~George Owell (or not)

Unbeknownst to me, a store manager was standing right behind me, came up to the service desk, and asked for more details about my phone tragedy. It seemed as if nobody ever told him “Yes, it’s my fault & it hit the pavement.” The manager took my phone with him to the back of the store & came back minutes later letting me know the glass was replaced and that the repair cost was on him.

Nothing more than the truth made it free.

My Name Is: Consumer, and I’m an Android

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:15:34 +0000

Recently I took the plunge and switched from the iPhone to the Android platform. The acclimation was a bit rough, slightly exhilarating, but ultimately rewarding.

I decided on the HTC Inspire because it was still about a month out for the Galaxy 2 release. Though at times I regret being hasty, because the Galaxy 2 is far better technology, I still am pretty darn happy with my Inspire.

Cases are easy to find, the interface is very technically oriented, so there is a lot you can do with it, and it is also largely intuitive. Setting up tethering was easy, adding music and images for things like ringtones and backgrounds is a breeze. I don’t even really miss the iPhone centric apps.

So far the Android platform and phones have been a pretty sweet experience to explore. Not that I don’t love the iPhone 4S that just came out, but I’ll leave the locked down interface and user friendly operating systems to my wife, who doesn’t like getting into the nitty gritty of devices.

I’m a happy Android user, and look forward to the technology advancing with time.

Disconnecting in a Connected World

John Cunningham — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 16:16:19 +0000

To a large percentage of the world’s population, the Internet couldn’t be more irrelevant or any lower on the totem pole of life’s necessities. However, I happen to live in the group that relies heavily on the Internet to conduct business, perform research, communicate with friends, family and of course, waste time.

If you are like me, you are plastered with Internet access 24/7 in your day-to-day life, especially at work or at home. While I’m out and about, I’ve always got my trusty iPhone which can do 90% of the things that I need to get done with relative ease. If my iPhone lets me down, I can use my iPad to tackle the other 9% percent. The last 1% are probably things I could do without anyway, so they can wait.

I’ve been traveling this past week so I have experienced a fairly consistent lack of Internet connectivity and as a result, have had to travel a short distance (less than a mile) to a local café with free WiFi or maybe I got lucky and bummed free WiFi off someone with an unsecured network.

When I’m thoroughly disconnected and have no Internet resources whatsoever, something strange happens to me. I tend to notice things that are around me more because I’m not bumping into them while checking the weather on my iPhone. I also find myself engaging in conversation with more people because I’m not busy deleting spam out my inbox or replying to a text message. Does any of this sound familiar?

Yes I need the Internet and no I don’t need the Internet. Let me try this another way.. if I had to choose between never having access to the Internet again for the rest of my life or.. well, I can’t think of anything that would be applicable for a trade. You can’t say television because the Internet provides television. You can’t say the music or radio because the Internet provides both of those. We pretty much can’t say anything that you can’t physically put your hands on because the Internet provides all of that too. But you can say anything that you can touch, feel, taste, and smell. I left “see” out because as we already know, you can see everything on the Internet. Especially the stuff you have no interesting seeing.

What I’m trying to say is that I/we forget too often that the Internet is just a tool to help us do things and it’s not really very good at anything else. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with the internet? How about asking the internet on the date? Maybe go to dinner with the internet or make friends with the internet? Sure you can see the great pyramids on the internet but let’s be real, that’s no substitute for standing in front of them, smelling the air, feeling the sun reflect off of them or touching the stones. So I suppose it’s okay to be disconnected and in some cases, even therapeutic. It’s sad to say but I know people who would have a complete meltdown if they lost their Internet connection for a week or two. If you’re reading this blog post it’s very likely that I don’t know you, but it’s also very likely that he might be one of those people.

Not that you asked for it, but my recommendation would be to pick one day on the weekend to not use the Internet. That means disconnect the data portion on your phone as well because that would be cheating. You’ll survive an entire day without Google maps and even though your “real friends” on Facebook might be scratching their heads at your sudden absence, they too will survive. Just do it as a test and think about that day as it progresses. If you’re not an Internet junkie already, sorry to have made you waste another five minutes of your life on the internet.

Being Disconnected in a Connected World

John Cunningham — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 18:16:50 +0000

I’ve been traveling internationally the past couple weeks so I have experienced a fairly consistent lack of Internet connectivity and as a result, have had to travel a short distance (less than a mile) to a local café with free WiFi or maybe I got lucky and bummed free WiFi off someone with an unsecured network.

Yes I need the Internet and no I don’t need the Internet. What I mean is.. if I had to choose between never having access to the Internet again for the rest of my life or.. well, I can’t think of anything that would be applicable for a trade. You can’t say television because the Internet provides that. You can’t say music or radio because the Internet provides both of those. We pretty much can’t say anything that you can’t physically put your hands on because the Internet provides all of those too. But you can say anything that you can touch, feel, taste, and smell. I left “see” out because as we already know you can see everything on the Internet. Especially the stuff you have no interesting seeing.

What I’m trying to say is that I/we forget too often that the Internet is just a tool to help us do things and it’s not really very good at much else. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with the internet? How about asking the internet on the date? Maybe go to dinner with the internet or make friends with the internet? Sure you can see the great pyramids on the internet but let’s be real, that’s no substitute for standing in front of them, smelling the air, feeling the sun reflect off of them or touching the stones.

So I suppose it’s okay to be disconnected and in some cases, even therapeutic. It’s sad to say but I know people who would have a complete meltdown if they lost their Internet connection for a week or two. If you’re reading this blog post it’s very likely that I don’t know you, but it’s also very likely that he might be one of those people.

Not that you asked for it, but my recommendation would be to pick one day on the weekend to not use the Internet. That means disconnect the data portion on your phone as well because that would be cheating. You’ll survive an entire day without Google maps and even though your “real friends” on Facebook might be scratching their heads at your sudden absence, they too will survive. Just do it as a test and then think about that day as it progresses. You might surprised at what you experience.

The new iPhone brought to you by Gizmodo

John Cunningham — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 16:51:29 +0000

If you’ve lived in a bear cave with the Hip Hop Kids this past week, you might’ve missed the leaked announcement of the next-gen iPhone.

Gizmodo.com, a CNN for geeks, enthralled the Apple fanboy nation with the latest edition of the highly coveted iPhone series yesterday. Reportedly lost at a bar in Redwood City, Gizmodo broke coverage doing what they do best, a gadget review.

Though it may resemble the original iPhone at first glance, it looks as though Apple may have answered many recurring gripes from the growing number of users.

Along with a front facing camera (Chatroulette, here I come), the new iPhone seems to be sporting a higher resolution display and a larger camera lens.

The redesign itself has yet to be tested in the field; I will be curious to see how it survives the rounds users will put it through. I’ve seen instances of running, clubbing, toddler tantrums, and bathroom readings with these mini iPads. Hopefully, the new casing will endure the elements my original first gen iPhone could not.

So how did Gizmodo get their hands on this newest piece of tech porn?

Much like any American worker after a hard day’s grind, Gary Powell, an Apple software engineer, left his cellular device at the bar after a few beers.

With the nation still feeling the wake of iPad madness, this new development out of Cupertino has certainly kept Apple in the headlines. I hope Steve Jobs is kind to Gary and his momentary lapse of contractual agreements. And on that note, I’m off to the local watering hole to research ‘upcoming emerging technology.’

Cheers!

More iPhone pictures and videos at Gizmodo.com

Apple’s new iPad

John Cunningham — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:48:47 +0000

“Last time there was this much excitement about a tablet, it had some commandments on it.” – The Wall Street Journal

This long awaited tablet has been speculated since the first waves of netbooks swept the world in 2007, leaving Apple and their intrepid leader, Steve Jobs, with no answer to the mini notebook domination.

Today, Apple finally announced their answer to the netbook call, officially named The iPad.

The Hardware – Almost a Macbook
With an iPhone-esque interface, the iPad will sport the same look and feel as a flattened iPod Touch. At 9.7 inches and a familiar capacitive multi-touch screen, the overall viewing size is significantly smaller than the smallest Macbook, but noticeably larger than the iPhone. The silver finish bevel also mimics the iPhones, a mistake in my opinion. Be prepared to buff out scratches for the entire short life of your device.

Much like the iPhone/iPod Touch, screen orientation auto adjusts to portrait or horizontal using the built-in accelerometer. More of a 4:3 aspect ratio than 16:9, a widescreen would have been nice, but understandable for the various types of media it will be equipped to handle (pdfs, e-magazines, e-books, etc).

At 1.5 pounds and a half-inch thick, this tablet will be quite easy to carry. And with a battery life of 10 hours during constant use (says Apple), I feel this will be an appropriate hybrid for students and business people alike.

Apple touts that the 1GHz A4 chip will process HD video seamlessly. Okay, but 16gb, 32gb, and 64gb are the only options? This sounds very familiar. Apple has the capability of going bigger, but delaying the size bumps for a couple months to reignite interest in July Apple? Dirty. Very dirty. This won’t be replacing my iAnything anytime soon : \

Data – the iPhone pitfall
The 3G equipped models, have both 3g and WIFI, unlike their sans-3g counterparts. How much is connectivity worth to you? $15/ month for 250MB or $30/month for “unlimited” data via AT&T. The upside? No contracts. If you’ve sold your car and engagement ring to get your geek fix, you can cancel your service whenever you want – right after apologizing to the spouse and weeks on the couch.

The Software – An iPhone on steroids Vitamins
With a beefed up iTunes, browser, and OS, the iPad will be a middle-of-the-road device placed in between a full fledged notebook and the ultra portable iPhone. Even the Email adds a couple of neat features like message previews and pull-down menus.

The touch screen keyboard is almost life size, but only time will tell if it is tactile enough for the power users out there. The iPhone did a decent job with predictive type, but a real keyboard seems to be a deal breaker for most netbook users. Naturally, there will be a keyboard dock to add to your purchases during your next Apple store visit.

The Apps are really what makes this device robust. With plans to develop specifically for the iPad, this tablet will come to life because of the power of the people, not Apple. The original iPhone SDK has been expanded for tablet development and can even run current iPhone apps, though crudely expanded to fit.

Ebooks will continue to flood the market and has now entered the iTunes arena. iWork will be updated and designed specifically for tablature. Expect new versions of the entire suite to hit stores soon.

Things I would’ve liked to see:
- Front facing camera
- Smaller bezel
- Flash?!
- Multitasking
- Live music performance by The Roots featuring Steve Jobs

The iPad ships in 60 days for the WIFI only version, and 90 days for the WIFI/3g version.

Watch the official iPad video at Apple.com. (Notice how they use their index finger to hit the space bar. Weird)

Using Mac as a Work PC, the First 6 Months

John Cunningham — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 18:05:28 +0000

Around four years ago, I migrated to a Sony Vaio notebook running Windows XP so I could be equally effective at the office, on the road, or at home. In the last six months I’ve been using a new 15″ Unibody MacBook Pro and am glad to say that, contrary to conventional thinking, they do make excellent work PCs. Since roughly 99.999% to 100% of our work is done in a browser anyway, it really doesn’t matter what I use. Microsoft Office for Mac is available, and for hardcore Mac guys, there’s always Open Office, which is free and works quite well. My notebook has a variety of applications and I can do so much more on this thing than I could do on a Windows PC. It’s not only funny, it’s eye opening. In all fairness, I suppose that you can do almost everything on a Windows PC that you can do on a Mac, it just takes more patience and clunkier software. Here are a few examples:

Photos
Since I only have one work computer, I obviously have some personal photos and music on my Mac as well. While I never really tried that hard to arrange photos in Windows, it’s a snap in iPhoto. It also syncs with my iPhone perfectly and allows me to organize photos for personal and work-related uses with incredible ease. You might say, “Well that’s not a work function,” to which I would reply, “Says who?” Photos are a big part of our marketing, web sites, branding efforts and the interactions we have with co-workers on a frequent basis. When I can snap a quick pic from my iPhone, sync it with my Mac and upload it to this blog, I just did a work-related task with my Mac and iPhoto. On Windows, you can do the same thing but it just takes longer. You need a separate application to edit photos (like Photoshop) and I’ve had difficulty with Windows discovering certain memory cards, not to mention the ambiguous method in which Windows uses to arrange photos.

Creating Content for Social Networking & Viral Marketing
Aside from the included software that comes with a Mac, I also have Final Cut and Logic Studio, which can be used to create, edit, and master anything from radio spots to a full blown movie. They fit into the workflow fluidly, making it easy to kick around ideas for viral videos or audio spots.

Presentations
This is not a fair fight because you can create a killer presentation in KeyNote, connect your MacBook to a projector, close the lid and control the entire presentation from your iPhone running the free Remote app. Windows, on the other hand, will crank out a mediocre looking PPT file and will have to be controlled at the PC. (Again, in all fairness, there might be a better way that I’m not aware of.)

I’m not much of a gamer but I understand Windows has a leg up in that department and is the clear winner there. But since gaming is a personal activity that should be done on your own time and not on work-related PCs, that’s a moot point.

Yes, I have Microsoft Office installed. Yes, we have a bazillion servers running Windows Server, and yes, we have a plethora of Windows workstations at both of our locations. It’s hard to get away from Windows even if you wanted to and Macs are expensive. It’s all relative and things to take into consideration but for me, it’s a no-brainer. I can’t recall the last time my MacBook required a reboot and I seriously cannot remember ever having an application crash. Even if it did, you would rarely have to reboot the Mac like Windows requires often times just because a program crashed. We’ve even kicked around the idea of integrating some Apple XServer servers into our upcoming Cloud Hosting offering.

Another Final Thought to Consider
As I have migrated from PC to PC, I have never been able to successfully carbon copy the entire Windows operating system from one hard drive to another without a bunch of stuff breaking or it simply not working at all. Shortly after I bought this MacBook, the new 7200RPM, 500GB notebook hard drives came out and I had to have one. One Saturday afternoon I stopped by the store, picked one up, took it home, made sure Time Machine had run a recent backup, removed the old drive, installed the new drive (no tools required and it took 30 seconds), popped in the Leopard disk and it asked if I wanted to restore from Time Machine. Within two hours it was finished with no errors and everything worked perfectly. In the past when I’ve tried that with Windows, I knew my entire weekend was shot and I would eventually just have to install a fresh O/S, reinstall all applications, rebuild my preferences and then get my data back on there somehow. What a mess.

In my opinion, Mac is great for work environments and by the way, I’m not the only person using a Mac in our office. We also use them in our Marketing and Development departments.

1-800-HOSTING Blog » iphone

The Truth Will Make it Free

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