Category Archives: tech

Major iPhone Touch Bug – Playcount = 0 ad infinitum

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I may push the iPods a bit more than most, but I find all kinds of bugs in them. I could consistently crash my nano when I first got it. After one software update, that was fixed. After a few more, most of the non-crash bugs were gone. I was left only with interface annoyances – that’s how it was designed and they ain’t gonna fix it.

Now with my new iPod Touch, I’ve noticed one whopper! I thought it was only a “not updating the smart list on the iPod” problem, which plagued the Nanos when they first arrived as well. But, it’s worse. (5900584)

Any podcast that I listen to entirely doesn’t get its play count updated! How am I supposed to keep track of the hundreds of podcasts I have and listen to when they don’t get marked as being played? Podcast support – ever stepping backward. I have many smart playlists with “playcount = 0” as one of the filters, and now they’re all screwed – or it’s back to the Nano.

They really should fix it before the June release, and do it for free. But I’d bet that doesn’t happen. Alternately, when the iPhone/iPod becomes an open platform, someone should develop an application that actually supports podcast management!

I could provide you with a lengthy list of the many ways I want to handle my podcasts, if someone out there needs some specs to build to.

(Another pet peeve of mine: Apple doesn’t maintain a publicly accessible database of known bugs.)

iPod Number 4

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I bought another iPod recently. An 8GB iPod Touch. It’s my fourth.

Here’s the rundown of the iPods:
IPod_Touch_1.1.3_New_Apps.jpg

  1. 20GB 4th Generation Classic iPod Color (model# PA079LL, serial# JQ5263A7TDU) – I lost it at some point several years ago and was so jonesing to have an iPod I bought on eBay a….
  2. 2GB 1st Generation iPod Nano – it served me well, but I traded it to TG who needed an older iPod to give to someone with an older Mac, and she gave me a…
  3. 8GB 3rd Generation iPod Nano (model# PA980LL, serial# 7J736XLSY0R) – This tiny fabulous iPod handles video and has an amazing screen. I use it daily in my commute for podcasts and watch video at lunch time at work. But, I’ve been wanting to program with the new iPod SDK, which requires and iPhone or an…
  4. 8GB 1st Generation iPod Touch (model# MA623LL, serial# 9C8012GU14N) – which I just received on tuesday. There is bound to be a new version comin out in June, but I just couldn’t wait. These are listing for $300, but I managed a used one on eBay for $188.50 – I may resell it if newer ones do come out.

Merry Mac-mass

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macbookair2008.jpgApple rolled out it’s January surprises today. The MacBook Air is fabulous and super pretty, but I’m not so much of a mobile computer, so I’m not really tempted.

The new AppleTV at $230 is tempting. And the iPod Touch now with Mail is also tempting.

What I’m really wondering is if the MacBook or Mac Mini are up for an update any time soon. They’ve both had minor upgrades recently, but no real redesigns (which the MacBook is due for).

Next month’s iPhone Software Development Kit will be interesting.

The Inflated Worth of MySpace

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Why doesn’t myspace want me to block spammers?

  1. I get an email from a new “friend” and have to click the link.
  2. MySpaceMustBeLoggedIn.pngI have to log in manually, because myspace is too stupid to provide me with a link in the email that will log me in and/or keep me logged in from last time. The link already has “id=901C2C3E- C4C7- 4B01- 8C3A- B8E67467D47F” in it, and it still couldn’t log me on.
  3. I’m shown the invitation and have to click through to the profile.
  4. I click “block user”.
  5. Java script pops up a confirmation panel and I have to click “OK”. Yes I really want to block this user. If I did it accidentally, I could always go unblock them.
  6. Another page reloads to re-confirm that yes, I really want to block this user. I click “block this user”.
  7. Back on the invite page, I take one more click to “mark as spam”.

There could easily have been a “mark as spam and block user” button there, and with auto-login, it could have taken me two steps. Why doesn’t myspace do this? Because they’re stupid? Yes, that’s true. But I think the reason they don’t is they like spam users. It drives up their “usage” stats, and makes them look somehow still relevant.It’s January 1 – and I have one spam friend invite. Come December 31 2007, I’d wager I’ve had 200 more. And hopefully, the slow to the party print media will have pronounced “MySpace is Dead”!

Thursday Games

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Thursday night I left work and went straight to the Sharpstown Mall – Houston’s Premier Urban Mall (mostly out of a need to avoid the Galleria – the other mall on the way home from work). I had quite fun with the cultural experience. Did a little shopping, and have been humored by the people who literally think i was in imminent danger by going there.

From there I went straight to Greg’s house for game night, where he Peter and I were the only attendees. (Paul showed up as I was leaving – and I think he and Greg continued gaming).

RaceForTheGalaxyLogo.jpgWe played 4 games. Race for the Galaxy (2007) was ranked #31 on BGG! An interesting colonization themed card-based game. It takes most of your first play to get the mechanics down enough to pay attention to any strategy. I wasn’t wowwed, but would certainly play it a few more times to determine if I liked it or not.

If Wishes Were Fishes (2007) GBB Rank 988 – a very light fish market themed game. I liked it more than I thought I would. It would be easy to tech to kids, and has nice fun purple worms as part of the game.

HansaView.jpgHansa (2004) BGG Rank 159 – TG recently acquired this at an Internet fire sale, but I hadn’t yet played it. So, Greg taught this one and it is a nice shorter length game but with some interesting mechanics providing for some definite strategies with a variety of levels of antagonism. I have sine played it with two-players (with TG) and with three again. I definitely like it. Minimal, but good.

Aqua Romana (2005) BGG Rank 638 – This was a nice closer to the evening. Not too long, interesting mechanics. Building aqueducts with tiles that are determined by men moving about the field of tiles. Definitely worth a place in the rotation.

I got home around midnight to find my DSL disconnected. The phone repair guy had come to fix the dead phone – which had fixed itself already – but he saw there were “wiring problems” from outside so the disconnected the “upstairs line” so the other phones would work. What he actually did was disconnect the DSL.

Many days talking to many idiots finally payed off and this morning a competent repair man replaced many parts of the 10 year old DSL wiring – and hopefully it will remove the static I’ve had on my phone for over a year.

I also get DHCP directly fed from AT&T/SBC. Apparently no one else in Houston is like that. I was one of the first ADSL customers to get hooked up (working software design out of my house – paid by the company) and they’ve maintained it for those who have stayed. I’m one of the last.

I remember when it used to feed an unlimited number of IP addresses (because they didn’t know what they were doing). That lasted a few years, but they finally figured it out and now will only feed one IP address per DSL connection.

twitter

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twitter logoDoes anyone out there twitter?  Do you know anyone who does?  I guess since I’m cell phone-less that it’s of limited use for me.  (Though if I had an iPod Touch I could use that, perhaps.)