Missyisms

TechCom

I spent about an hour and a half "TechComming" with a friend of mine. I say "TechCom" because I don't really know what else to call it.

• We started with Skype. I was transmitting with both audio and video, but she didn't have a webcam and was only sending audio. We had a very poor connection, so I dropped the video. We were having a telephone conversation using our computers and the Internet (but you already knew that).
• Then we added Instant Messaging (IM) to our Skype communication. We didn't chat as we have in the past with IM, because we were Skpe'ing, but we employed IM to send some Internet links that we were discussing.
• We were also Twittering. Neither of us are prolific or even steady users of Twitter, so we couldn't figure out why my replies to her twitters (and other Twitterers) were not displaying on hers (or their) page(s). We eventually got it working sometimes, but agreed we weren't certain what we'd done and that the interface is annoying. What good is replying to somebody's twitter if it doesn't show up on his or her page?
• When she started discussing Torchwood, a show I don't know but read about this morning, so I directed her to a blog and then Facebook album to see pictures of a Torchwood sight.
• We also debated online-ordering tickets to the Harry Potter Exhibition. There's been a lot of press about the exhibit lately, so we're discussing going in early September when the kids will back in school. 
• And now I'm using a blog to discourse about it. 

This would have been rather expensive in the past. Now it was no extra charge other than our already existing broadband connections. "Charming, simply charming!" 

But I don't know what to call this type of social interaction. We were using several technologies for communicating...thus I said TechCom. Did I coin this term or did I hear/read it somewhere? Is there another term I should be using? It's late Saturday night and the brain has checked out for the day. Somebody rescue me.

Writing Tips and Wikipedia Blunders

Here's a post about the Top 100 Creative Writing Blogs...no, Missyisms isn't on the list but that's ok. I've only glanced a few of these, but want to look at more.

And if that isn't your cuppa, how about Wikipedia's Blunders. Number 19 made me laugh (partly because of what it's about, but also because it has a blunder itself) and look at the last line of number seven. Nice.

Tech Ugh

I spent a lot of time today trying to resolve techie issues with computer equipment or services...nothing resolved.

UGH.

Animation

Somebody showed me how to do some animation in PowerPoint today. I've never done animation in PowerPoint, but I have done it in Keynote. Here's an example (only it doesn't look the greatest on YouTube):

This is part of a bigger project that I haven't had time to finish. It plays too fast on YouTube, but it isn't meant to be slow either. There are over 25 animation steps in this...I just wish it wasn't so choppy. Oh well. Enjoy the biker dude.

USB Plug Covers

The puppet-finger monster in the above image represents my annoyance at USB devices that don't come with covers! Hello! Metal scratches things! And, the plugs are not protected from dust without lids. Why can't they provide covers?!?!?! It can't cost that much more to make a cover/lid! 

Why does one end of the cable have cover, but not the other? The lid on the flash drive won't stay on the other devices. Yes, I could put them in bags, but other things in the bag can still get scratched.

Has anyone come up with some simple, universal cover? I wonder if I wonder around the hardware store if I'd find something? I did find these on the Internet (just now), but I've never heard of this company and wonder if they work. They look like the right idea. Hmm.

Pride and Prejudice...Facebook Style

Missy is a fan of Pride and Prejudice Facebook style.

Well worth the reading. A few of my favorite lines from the above link:

Elizabeth Bennet and Caroline Bingley are attending the event Take a Turn about the Room.

Fitzwilliam Darcy is proposing to Elizabeth Bennet. It is not going well. :-/

Mrs. Bennet KNEW that single men with good fortunes would want wives.

It's all funny. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Socializing

Those of you that know me know that I've been "tottering on the brink" (to borrow from the 1940 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice) of sanity for some time. Today I went over the brink...I signed up for Twitter and Facebook.

I suspect I'll fade on Twitter fairly quickly, but until then you can check my twittering at http://twitter.com/missyisms. See what a boring life I have. ;-) Any of you twitters?

I've signed up for Facebook, but haven't spent time learning it yet. Maybe now as the Closing Ceremonies are on. I guess I have to start looking for friends so my profile won't be so lonely.

Keeping Up with the iTunes App Store

More and more applications are being added to the iTunes App Store each day. I've read that there are over 800 applications available now, but I haven't counted them. I've downloaded nine of those 800...one of the heavy hitters I'm sure. ;-)

Here's a list and a review of what I've downloaded:

• AIM: This is for chatting with buddies, but I haven't tried it. My friends and I used to IM a lot, but none of us really do any more. Which begs the question...why did I download it? I don't know. It was free.
• Light: This free app turns your iPhone or iPod touch screen white to use as a flashlight. Surprisingly, there were a few of these apps, but when the store opened this was the only free one. I figure it might be handy someday, but I certainly wouldn't have paid for it.
• Remote: This is an app from Apple that turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a remote control for iTunes on your computer. It actually works and is pretty cool. You can change songs, adjust volume, choose another playlist, skip tracks, etc. from anywhere you can access your network. Pretty cool, except when the iPhone or iPod touch goes to sleep, you can't double tap Home to access the controls up. Instead, you have to press Home, slide the awake gadget, re-open Remote (if you're in another app) and then access the controls. Other than this design flaw, it's a decent app...especially since it's free. Apple should thank Hedy Lamarr for the idea that gave this app a birth.
• Tap Tap Revenge: Apparently, this is GuitarHero for the iPhone/iPod touch...and I'm bored. Fortunately, it was free. (Notice the trend, I've paid for very few apps.)
• Texas Hold'em: I've never been a poker player, but I do like Texas Hold'em. I've played various computer versions for pseudo-money, but never played in person or for real money...probably because beyond 3-of-a-kind, I can't remember what hand beats what. Not a good memory issue when playing a variation of poker! This version of the game is slick and fun, but there are too many players when you are playing against the computer and it's annoying to have to tap the stack to see the value of the current pot. They display each player's current stack, so why not the pot? It would also help to have some tutorials with this game so you know to drag your cards to fold, drag your chips to go all in, tap two corners to pause, etc. This was $4.99, and I've played several times.
• The Thirty-nine Steps: There are a few e-readers available in the App store, but I haven't tried any of them yet. One is free and well liked, but you can only download books specifically designed for that reader...so if you already have e-books, tough luck, even if they are from the same company. And they charge for all their books, so of course their reader was free. The old Kodak Brownie business method. Another reader is $9.95 and will work with several different types of books, including free ones, but the reader is getting bad reviews...so I'll wait on that.
  Instead, another company has uploaded a slew of books from the public domain. Each book has it's own little reader and costs $.99. I decided to give this a try...once...with The Thirty-nine Steps. I've never read this book, but have seen Hitchcock's adaptation. The reader is very basic, but works. However, it only displays in one font...at least the size is adjustable, is in portrait instead of landscape view, and scrolling is choppy. Instead of scrolling, I've found it's easier to tap the lower half of the screen to page down when I reach the end of the screen. It would also be nice to have notes and bookmark features (it does re-open where ever you close it, but no bookmarking). I won't download many of these because each download brings the app down too and that's annoying even if it is small. I wonder how many of the 800 applications are books from this provider?
• Trism: This is a game a long the lines of Bejeweled. Instead of matching jewels, you drag and tilt rows to match colored triangles. It's very addictive and harder than it sounds. My top score so far is 1,117,714...which shows how bloated the scoring is, not how good I am. My best move was a 7 chain, 63 trism match, for 545,018 points. I don't think that was in my million-point game. Trisms comes with a tutorial that is helpful, but they don't explain the star tiles so I've been figuring that out on my own. I need to get better at planning several moves instead of just taking the obvious move. I was also shocked during my million-point game when I ran out of matches and instead of ending the game, Trism shuffled the tiles! It then planted a bomb that I couldn't clear, so the game ended only a few moves after the shuffle. There are a few other games, one only allows tilting, no moving rows, but I haven't tried these yet. I paid $4.99 for this and have really had fun with it. (Speaking of Bejeweled, there's a version in the App Store for $9.99. There's also a version for older iPods in the Game section of iTunes for $4.99 and it's free via Apple's WebApps...so why should I pay $9.99 in the App Store? If there are new and improved features, they don't list that in the description...so I ain't buyin'!)
• TypePad: SixApart, the owner of TypePad, has come out with three "applications" for TypePad lately. First was the WebApp for iPhone and iPod touch. This is accessed via the Internet on Apple's WebApp site. It has some helpful tools, like comment moderation and editing, but I rarely use it. Then they released a new Compose editor to be used on a computer. This was a staged release to all TypePad users...I was in the first stage. This means the old editor was gone and the new, full-of-bugs-editor had to be used. They are slowly fixing things, but the editor still has flaws and is still very slow. Since they can't fix the slowness, they've created something else called a "Simple View" which I haven't looked at, but I guess takes away some of the new features. And yes, they did add several nice things, but these don't outweigh the bugs.
  Then, as if they weren't busy enough...they released TypePad for the App Store. It allows the creation of new posts and adding photos to the posts...but NO editing of existing posts, no comment moderation, or stats. It also has bugs...my categories won't display for me. They should have focused on getting one new application correct instead of doing several. Well, they'll be nice if they ever get everything working. And they are free (except, there's a monthly charge for the service so they should be free).
• WeatherBug: As implied by the name, this app provides weather information. You can choose up to three locations for detailed weather information such as temp, wind direction and strength, current conditions, highs and lows, humidity, dew point, alerts, forecasts, radar, and live camera shots. In other words...this app has a lot more information than the Weather app that came on the iPod touch. It's free. It's cool.

There are a lot of social networking applications on the App Store, things for Twitter, Facebook, etc., but I don't use any of those, so I've ignored those apps. I was shocked that some of them cost money! (So, do I not bore you enough? Do you want me to Twitter you to death also?) Even ebay has an app on the App Store...I'm pretty sure it was originally $2.99, but is now free. Several apps have dropped in price once they saw the competition and heard the complaints.

Some general comments about the new iPhone/iPod touch OS and the App Store:

• OS 2.0 seems to be harder on the battery than the old version. I'm having to charge a lot more even when I'm the same things I used to before I upgraded the OS.
• The App Store shares a search feature with all of iTunes and that's annoying.
• But the biggest pain with the App Store is that there are no trial or demo versions of the apps. Many of the product descriptions are too sketchy, or they promise too much, and there a lot of user comments from people that are unhappy with their purchases. I've avoided several apps that might be interesting, because I don't want to pay for them and then not like them. I really think Apple needs to build in time-limited trial versions...shouldn't be too hard...then I'd be willing to try more apps.

If you're wanting to know what new apps are being added to the App Store and which are being updated, check out the blogs here.

Apple...Wrong Food Group

Apple, the U.S. computer, iPod, and iPhone manufacturer, has the wrong food name today. Egg, as in on their face, would be a better food-appropriate name.

Apple attempted several upgrades and new product releases today: none of them have gone smoothly well.

1. MobileMe is a day late, is crashing, and, when up, is not working well. For example, after waiting more than 30 minutes for my emails to display...they never did...I had to shut down the browser to get out of the service.
2. The new iPhone 3G was released today, but most users can't activate them. Some blogs report that stores near them ran out of phones this morning while they had customers waiting.
   
3. A new operating system was released today for existing iPhone and iPod Touch users, but most users can't download it. NOTE: Blogs more techie than mine are reporting that 1^st gen iPhone users will have their phones deactivated if they only get through part of the upgrade...so better to wait till the issues are resolved so you won't lose phone service.
4. Since the new OS can't be downloaded, the new App Store is simply a tease...we can see the new offerings, but we can't download or install them without the new OS.

These all seem to be caused by a common problem: Apple's servers. Some blogs and articles report that Apple's servers are completely down now. Whether they are down or not, they are not working as needed.

I didn't purchase an iPhone today, but I can't get MobileMe to work, I can't update my iPod, and I can't download new apps. I'd say Apple was batting zero with me today. In fact, I think Humpty Dumpty is a better name. I hope they get it all fixed soon. I wonder, but doubt, if they'll offer a compensation of some sort. (Speaking of the new apps, why are they promoting their new Remote app with an Olsen twin look-alike? See picture to the right.)

But the issue stretches even further...I've been meaning to call AT&T for several days to change or completely drop long distance from my home landline. I finally remembered to call today to determine exactly what constitutes long distance from my phone...oops. AT&T is Apple's partner in crime. The recorded voice that answered my phone call said they were experiencing extremely long delays and suggested calling back at another time. My guess is AT&T has pulled most of their customer service reps to their wireless support phone lines to handle the barrage of angry calls. This means delays to their other phone support areas as well. I hung up. As irritated or angry as we customers are today, AT&T must be furious with Apple. The two companies had agreed that the phones must be activated before a customer walks out of a store, but this is not happening according to the reports I've read. If I understand the technology correctly, this means people can take the phones they purchase today and try to hack them over to other services. Since AT&T is subsidizing the phones, having them hacked over to other services means they are paying money to Apple for each sold phone, but not earning any money from its use. Clearly, they are not happy campers if that's happening today. I would prefer wireless service from most any other company, but I'm not the type to hack the phone either. I wish Apple would let other U.S. carriers sell the iPhone also, but that's another story.

You know, for all of Apple's ads poking fun at Microsoft about how Vista doesn't work...Apple's meltdown today is a bigger publicity gaff than Vista. In the long run, Vista is a bigger gaff, but Apple's got more publicity damage because of all their claims of superiority. Look who's laughing now.

UPDATE: About 11:30 this evening the 2.0 OS update started downloading and installing on my iPod Touch (after one false start that I hope I won't be charged for). The update takes about 30 minutes and all my data, etc., was backed up and then re-installed as part of the process. It was so late when it finished that I only downloaded a few free applications from the App Store. Since the iPod Touch January Software update was removed before I purchased it, I got to see those apps tonight for the first time. Google Maps on the Touch is cool, but I need to figure out how to save directions. I set up Weather with my home town, but ignored Stocks (it's the middle of the night!) and Notes. I also didn't try the Mail program as that will take a little setting up. But, YAY, got the update successfully installed...only 15.5 hours after my initial attempt...and look forward to playing with it more. I noticed a few other bloggers are now saying they've finally activated or downloaded too, and TL got through about the same time as me. Hopefully Apple's server woes are over.

The Ughs

I decided to rant about all the irritating things of my recent past. I recommend all readers skip this post. It's mainly here for posterity for me to re-read in the future for stupid reasons. I think everyone else should simply pretend it isn't here. I could spend more time on the post and make it a hysterical rant, but that's more energy into the blah of it all...too much time already wasted. So skip on by...don't linger here. You've been warned. I hid it behind the extended entry.