Pathetic nerd day. Spent day obsessively loading songs and videos onto new toy. How obsessive? Took time to make sure all album titles were correct on ripped albums, and tried to get all album art ported over. (Didn't work on all albums, for some reason, even albums that are definitely there on iTunes. Issue goes on The List.)
How obsessive is Doug? Spent time changing "Weather" display. Spent time modifying world clock to list favorite cities. That's obsessive geekdom, ladies and gents. When wife gets home, she will make fun of me. If not, another 100 relationship points.
Downloaded a bunch of TV episodes from iTunes; watched an episode of "Monk" and an episode of "Kim Possible." Yes, I'm pathetic. Battery life quite impressive. Next up: I can finally watch Heroes.
Sent text message to sister the Apple fanatic to brag. She didn't answer. What's the point in bragging if you can't create envy?
Spent time Web surfing. Had to tweak home network issues a little bit; always forget my password is Hex. Download speed impressive. Web surfing is very nice; experience is much superior than that on my Archos 604 wifi; sorry, Archos. Two reasons: Safari on the iPhone is better than on the Archos, and the iPhone screen is simply vastly superior. Also, the zoom in/out function rocks.
Spent time setting up email, which was a pain only because it meant I had to set up email on yet another of my laptops (I have three). Oy. But when it was done, it works fine on the iPhone. I can see why the BlackBerry addicts get, um, addicted. Doubt I will, though; most of that account's email is junk.
Bought a slip-case for the gadget. Pretty bogus that Apple doesn't include one. C'mon, Steve; 600 clams and not even a cheesy leatherette job? Lame.
Finding the two-thumb typing method useless; turns out I'm (wait for it) all thumbs. On other hand, single-finger method works fine, and 'way faster than old cell phone key-pad hunt-and-peck method. I'm fine with it.
Current wants: eReader, games. I still can't believe there are no games, not even Solitaire, for cryin' out loud.
Currently researching DVD ripping-and-conversion tools for m4v format; all my knowledge in AVI/DivX area. Oh well, back to drawing board! Keeps me out of trouble.
Fun new toy. Fun fun fun.
Note on price: read lots of complaints about the price. Reviewers are boneheads. PDAs cost between $200-$1000 (the HTC Universal retailed for $1200). The iPhone is selling for half what the HTC Universal retailed for, it's 'way better, weighs half as much, and does a lot more. People keep forgetting it's a PDA and a phone.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
iPhone Diary 6/29-2
Late. Late late late. Obsessively setting up iPhone. Still haven't had dinner. Did have Mt. Dew, however. Not a healthy diet. Reverting to hard-core geekdom of college years. Glad my wife can't see.
Minor hassle with AT&T/iTunes setup. Turns out phone account had "tax ID number" associated with it, precluding signup through iTunes. Who knew? Certainly not me. Nice AT&T phone support guy removed tax ID number, and iTunes signup proceeded smoothly thereafter. (First bottled water, now this. Good press from Doug!)
Sent text message to forebearing wife. "Cool," notes wife. 100 relationship points to wife for not making fun of geek husband. Call wife on voice line. Voice connection clearer than with old Motorola v180; cool indeed!
iPhone not wanting to sync to more than one computer at a time. Hm, odd. iPods can do it; why not iPhones? Bad boy, Steve! Signed up iPhone on wrong computer; now have to move all my PDA info to other system. Bummer being me. Good thing all music and videos backed up on external hard disk. Ha ha ha!
iPhone not wanting to hook into house wireless network. Gonna have to call tech support on that one; can't live with Edge speeds in my own house. I mean, geez, the Archos 604 can do it, Apple!
Wow; quick charge! Now listening to soothing tones of Miles Davis: "All Blues". Blow that horn, Miles.
Want to download next episode of "Heroes" to watch before I fall asleep. 500Mb. 60 minutes. Real bummer being me. Oh well; I needed to eat and watch Keith Olbermann, anyway.
Minor hassle with AT&T/iTunes setup. Turns out phone account had "tax ID number" associated with it, precluding signup through iTunes. Who knew? Certainly not me. Nice AT&T phone support guy removed tax ID number, and iTunes signup proceeded smoothly thereafter. (First bottled water, now this. Good press from Doug!)
Sent text message to forebearing wife. "Cool," notes wife. 100 relationship points to wife for not making fun of geek husband. Call wife on voice line. Voice connection clearer than with old Motorola v180; cool indeed!
iPhone not wanting to sync to more than one computer at a time. Hm, odd. iPods can do it; why not iPhones? Bad boy, Steve! Signed up iPhone on wrong computer; now have to move all my PDA info to other system. Bummer being me. Good thing all music and videos backed up on external hard disk. Ha ha ha!
iPhone not wanting to hook into house wireless network. Gonna have to call tech support on that one; can't live with Edge speeds in my own house. I mean, geez, the Archos 604 can do it, Apple!
Wow; quick charge! Now listening to soothing tones of Miles Davis: "All Blues". Blow that horn, Miles.
Want to download next episode of "Heroes" to watch before I fall asleep. 500Mb. 60 minutes. Real bummer being me. Oh well; I needed to eat and watch Keith Olbermann, anyway.
iPhone Diary 6/29-1
Back to AT&T store. Doors open for iPhone distribution at 6. Did a drive by at 4:30. Not much of a line; that's the advantage of being in a non-geek area and hidden from the road. Swing by McDonalds to choke down some Fud. Back to line. Only about 50 people or so ahead of me. Odds look good.
Line commences moving promptly at 6pm. Moves along at decent pace. Rain has abated, but temperature and humidity in Austin combine to make it feel like it's about 95 or so. Deploy giant, black umbrella, brought along for rain or sun. Mac fanatic next to me is very thankful for shade; shares Mt. Dew. Doug thankful for caffeine. Line lurches along.
Friendly AT&T folks have taken pity on line standers and left bottled water outside. Thank you, friendly AT&T people; friendlier write-up assured.
Salesperson chats with me, notes they have about 15 8Gb phones for each 4Gb phone. I opine that, given the lack of an expansion slot, getting a 4Gb phone seems a mite silly. He notes that in an affluent place like Austin that might be true, but other places, maybe not so much. I concede the point.
6:30pm: Door in sight. Folks let into store in groups of 10. Finally inside. Stand under a/c vent for a minute or two, waiting for body temperature to drop back into normal range. Sheriff's deputy--there for crowd control, one presumes--gently points me at correct place in line; dehydrated, I had wandered. Thank him, pull head together, get back in line like good little ant.
At counter. Small hitch: my phone number is 408; this is a 512 area code. Oh no! Will they sell to me? Trauma! No; more experienced salesperson takes care of problem. (One would think this would never be a problem--these are cell phones, after all--but never mind.) Crisis averted. Money exchanged for shiny gadget. (Well, Doug hopes shiny gadget is contained in black box with pretty picture on it.) Box put in bag. Bag clutched tightly in hand, Doug heads for exit and home. And more Mt. Dew; dehydration problem very bad.
Go to Gear Diary for unboxing and pictures, coming soon.
Line commences moving promptly at 6pm. Moves along at decent pace. Rain has abated, but temperature and humidity in Austin combine to make it feel like it's about 95 or so. Deploy giant, black umbrella, brought along for rain or sun. Mac fanatic next to me is very thankful for shade; shares Mt. Dew. Doug thankful for caffeine. Line lurches along.
Friendly AT&T folks have taken pity on line standers and left bottled water outside. Thank you, friendly AT&T people; friendlier write-up assured.
Salesperson chats with me, notes they have about 15 8Gb phones for each 4Gb phone. I opine that, given the lack of an expansion slot, getting a 4Gb phone seems a mite silly. He notes that in an affluent place like Austin that might be true, but other places, maybe not so much. I concede the point.
6:30pm: Door in sight. Folks let into store in groups of 10. Finally inside. Stand under a/c vent for a minute or two, waiting for body temperature to drop back into normal range. Sheriff's deputy--there for crowd control, one presumes--gently points me at correct place in line; dehydrated, I had wandered. Thank him, pull head together, get back in line like good little ant.
At counter. Small hitch: my phone number is 408; this is a 512 area code. Oh no! Will they sell to me? Trauma! No; more experienced salesperson takes care of problem. (One would think this would never be a problem--these are cell phones, after all--but never mind.) Crisis averted. Money exchanged for shiny gadget. (Well, Doug hopes shiny gadget is contained in black box with pretty picture on it.) Box put in bag. Bag clutched tightly in hand, Doug heads for exit and home. And more Mt. Dew; dehydration problem very bad.
Go to Gear Diary for unboxing and pictures, coming soon.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
iPhone Diary; 6/28/07
Visited local AT&T store today. Store still has "Cingular" sign outside. Workmen frantically removing "Cingular" sign and putting up "AT&T" sign on top of building when I went in, no doubt in anticipation of the Ravening Hordes coming tomorrow. As building is not visible from the road due to local ordinance, why this matters, I have no idea.
Went in to make sure there was no magic "waiting list" or other insanities that I needed to be on. Was assured that all I needed was a body (mine) and a credit card. Salesman informed me store will be open until 10, and everyone who doesn't get an iPhone will be ordered one, although with no guarantee as to how long fulfillment will take. Or you can just order online, wait, and hope for the best. (What, delayed gratification? As if! I'm an American! Want Toy Now!)
Commiserated with salesman, who already looks punch-drunk and weary. Asked if he was stuck with sales duty tomorrow. Told me, "We all are." Bought new earphone for my trusty v180 (just in case; washed old one in cargo shorts by accident) and departed.
No people waiting outside. Yet. Cannot line up myself until 2pm at earliest, due to childcare issues. Just as well; monsoon season here in Austin, and I have no kayak. Preparation problems: wear Humphrey Bogart-style fedora? (Too hot for trench coat.) Bring ginormous umbrella? Hibachi grill? Bottle of tequila? Bong? (Hey, it's an Apple product; you never know what kind of people will be on line! Especially in Austin. Motto: "Keep Austin Weird.") Cups-o-soup? Wait until 9:55pm and hope for the best? Who knows what Doug will do.
Went in to make sure there was no magic "waiting list" or other insanities that I needed to be on. Was assured that all I needed was a body (mine) and a credit card. Salesman informed me store will be open until 10, and everyone who doesn't get an iPhone will be ordered one, although with no guarantee as to how long fulfillment will take. Or you can just order online, wait, and hope for the best. (What, delayed gratification? As if! I'm an American! Want Toy Now!)
Commiserated with salesman, who already looks punch-drunk and weary. Asked if he was stuck with sales duty tomorrow. Told me, "We all are." Bought new earphone for my trusty v180 (just in case; washed old one in cargo shorts by accident) and departed.
No people waiting outside. Yet. Cannot line up myself until 2pm at earliest, due to childcare issues. Just as well; monsoon season here in Austin, and I have no kayak. Preparation problems: wear Humphrey Bogart-style fedora? (Too hot for trench coat.) Bring ginormous umbrella? Hibachi grill? Bottle of tequila? Bong? (Hey, it's an Apple product; you never know what kind of people will be on line! Especially in Austin. Motto: "Keep Austin Weird.") Cups-o-soup? Wait until 9:55pm and hope for the best? Who knows what Doug will do.
Our Constitutional Work is Clear
It wasn't that long ago, when the fanatics were once again pushing an anti-flag burning amendment (trust me: don't get me started), that I was thinking that there weren't too many things left we needed to do to the Constitution. "If Congress is seriously considerings such silly things to tack onto the Constitution, we must be running out of important things to have in there," I thought.
How wrong I was.
It's clear from Dick Cheney's shenanigans, and many of the more heinous activities of the Bush Administration, that some additional Constitutional clarity is in order. Not that I think any of our Representatives are reading this blog (certainly not mine--it's Lamar Smith, for crying out loud), but this is my blather, after all:
I'm probably going to have another whole post about the Supreme Court's latest rulings, but one note that's a follow-on to one of my earlier posts: the ruling against the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" guy, and particularly Scalia's concurring opinion (where he feels the Court didn't go far enough) , is a perfect example of Scalia being perfectly happy to throw out his "strict interpretationist" cred when he runs into an issue that bugs him (in this case, "Drugs! Evil evil evil!"). I do no have a problem with conservatives; I do have a problem with spectacularly hypocritical ones.
How wrong I was.
It's clear from Dick Cheney's shenanigans, and many of the more heinous activities of the Bush Administration, that some additional Constitutional clarity is in order. Not that I think any of our Representatives are reading this blog (certainly not mine--it's Lamar Smith, for crying out loud), but this is my blather, after all:
- The line of succession needs to be tightly defined. For one thing, if no non-native born American can be President, then the current line is obviously bogus. For another, the current line of succession can leave you with a President from the other party in a split government, which is really not okay. This obviously needs to be fixed.
- A very clear set of definitions on what the Vice Presidents powers and authorities are needs to be enumerated. I don't think all the things a V.P. can do needs to be listed, but in the fine tradition of the Constitution, a nice clear listing of what he or she can never do would be a good idea. Especially in light of recent events.
- The recent use and abuse of Presidential "signing statements", aside from being a clear violation of how the founders envisioned the separation of powers, has been spectacularly confusing for the poor schmoes who are trying to implement the laws Congress has enacted. Recent studies have shown that a significant percentage of laws that have had "signing statements" attached are not being followed. Is this due to confusion, or nefarious purposes? Who the heck knows; it just makes it clear that this whole "signing statement" nonsense needs to be taken care of. I would propose an amendment outlawing them altogether. I don't think that would ever fly, but I think it would be more in line with the separation of powers that the founders had in mind. This "signing statement nonsense is clearly and obviously a case of the Executive just legislating; Jefferson must be spinning in his grave.
I'm probably going to have another whole post about the Supreme Court's latest rulings, but one note that's a follow-on to one of my earlier posts: the ruling against the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" guy, and particularly Scalia's concurring opinion (where he feels the Court didn't go far enough) , is a perfect example of Scalia being perfectly happy to throw out his "strict interpretationist" cred when he runs into an issue that bugs him (in this case, "Drugs! Evil evil evil!"). I do no have a problem with conservatives; I do have a problem with spectacularly hypocritical ones.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Richard Lugar's "Defection"
A lot of folks--Dan Froomkin, The Post, The Chronicle, The Times--are making a lot of Richard Lugar's "defection" from the Republicans over the Iraq war because of his speech yesterday in the Senate.
No offense, but all you people are fooling yourselves if you think it means a damn thing.
Lugar spoke out "forcefully" before, too: right before he voted for the Iraq funding bill a couple of weeks ago. In other words, he's perfectly happy to sound tough, but when it comes to actually doing something, he wimps out.
So I think Tony Snow, in the White House press "gaggle" (a profoundly stupid word for the daily press gathering that reduces the status of the White House press corps to the equivalent of geese) was absolutely right to literally shrug off Lugar's comments. Until Lugar actually gets off his bloviating duff and submits a vote that actually counts, I think we can all safely assume that Snow is right to not take Lugar's words into account. After all, the Republicans, led but such stalwart all-talk-and-no-action weenies like Arlen Specter, have been doing this regularly for the last six years.
Personally, I think Dana Millbank of the Post--who was on Keith Olbermann's show last night--has the right idea; believe it when you see Lugar actually do something, and not just talk.
No offense, but all you people are fooling yourselves if you think it means a damn thing.
Lugar spoke out "forcefully" before, too: right before he voted for the Iraq funding bill a couple of weeks ago. In other words, he's perfectly happy to sound tough, but when it comes to actually doing something, he wimps out.
So I think Tony Snow, in the White House press "gaggle" (a profoundly stupid word for the daily press gathering that reduces the status of the White House press corps to the equivalent of geese) was absolutely right to literally shrug off Lugar's comments. Until Lugar actually gets off his bloviating duff and submits a vote that actually counts, I think we can all safely assume that Snow is right to not take Lugar's words into account. After all, the Republicans, led but such stalwart all-talk-and-no-action weenies like Arlen Specter, have been doing this regularly for the last six years.
Personally, I think Dana Millbank of the Post--who was on Keith Olbermann's show last night--has the right idea; believe it when you see Lugar actually do something, and not just talk.
Warning: Heavy Geekdom Coming
I'm going to be trying to get an iPhone this Friday (along with seemingly every other gadget-hungry geek in America). In the main, I am not an early adopter. I didn't get a TiVo until last year; I still don't have an iPod (although I do listen to music on my PDA--an HTC Universal); I waited quite a while to buy a DVD player; and so on. I like to let other people live with Release 1 bugs. Hell, I don't even like to get Release 1 cars, and cars are pretty stable technology.
But every once in a while, I make an exception. The moment I saw my first decent PDA, I literally rushed right out and bought one (it was the Pilot 1000, which I still have). And this is another such case; I can hardly wait to get my hands on this durn gizmo. Will I be able to? I dunno, but I'm sure going to try.
My official "review" of the iPhone--again, presuming I get one of the damn things--will be appearing in Gear Diary. But I wanted to warn the three or four of you who actually read this blog that for the first few days after I get it, this blog will probably be filled with iPhone minutia. I might pop in with my usual blather about politics and whatnot, but You Have Been Warned.
But every once in a while, I make an exception. The moment I saw my first decent PDA, I literally rushed right out and bought one (it was the Pilot 1000, which I still have). And this is another such case; I can hardly wait to get my hands on this durn gizmo. Will I be able to? I dunno, but I'm sure going to try.
My official "review" of the iPhone--again, presuming I get one of the damn things--will be appearing in Gear Diary. But I wanted to warn the three or four of you who actually read this blog that for the first few days after I get it, this blog will probably be filled with iPhone minutia. I might pop in with my usual blather about politics and whatnot, but You Have Been Warned.
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