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Becoming an Independent

December 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

All would agree that our current political system is broken – the recent payroll tax holiday debate being a prime example. It seems our leaders now legislate through the media; ever careful in making there talking point comments while never directly answering the question. I’m a big fan of the House of Commons in the U.K. It’s refreshing to see questions being asked and answered – sometimes with the sarcasm each ‘honorable member’ disserves. If you have two hours ( yes, learning requires buy in), I encourage you to watch this:

We must not forget that these people are our servants – put there by us to work for us. With some Senators and Congressmen serving entire careers in elected government, I think they elevate themselves to celebrity status. They consider their service in the House or Senate a talent like singing or a skill like woodworking. Politics was supposed to be about service and patriotism.

I now consider myself an independent voter of a conservative nature. That way I can feel free to grumble and jeer my Right Honorable members from the back benches without, in their eyes, betraying them.

Filed Under: Politics

So long Steve Jobs … you badass!

October 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I must admit I was a little taken aback when I heard the news about Steve Jobs passing. For the record, I was playing XBOX in my living room when the text came in (on my iPhone, of course). I quickly pulled up a few news services to confirm. I never thought he would go so quick after his resignation as CEO but that was foolish thinking on my part.

I wasn’t sad but I have since experienced a feeling of remorse. The remorse comes from the knowledge that this man, a consummate perfectionist and unapologetic asshole – the only business leader in the world whom I truly admire – won’t be around to continue the narrative. Apple’s renaissance is over, its beloved King is dead and far too young. A glorious dictatorship cut ridiculously short. I had hoped he would be introducing the iPhone 10 (iPX ?) to my 2 year old daughter several years from now when we finally give in and get her her own phone. What would you expect from a tech geek like myself?  I’m sorry that I won’t have the pleasure of his existence to directly and indirectly benefit my life. The world is ‘mourning’ the loss of Steve Jobs and for whatever reasoning people use to explain why Steve mattered, it is enough to say he was a badass ninja in a world gone soft.

Plenty has been already written about the mans life, passion and commitment to the user experience – I wont regurgitate that here. Nor will I place flowers outside an Apple store or hold up a flickering candle iPad app since I’m pretty sure Steve would have thought such gestures to be a little silly. Still, people project grief in all sorts of different ways – to each their own.

It’s all about your legacy and most importantly - will the planet miss you when your gone? For most of us the answer is a solid no. Very few of us have that level of impact; especially on a global scale. Most, like myself, just want their kids to be proud of them one day. Steve has that plus a whole legacy that will echo on into the ages.

Make no mistake, Steve Jobs wasn’t Mother Theresa nor was he Mahatma Gandhi – a Saint didn’t die yesterday –  but a quote from Gandhi does seem to sum up the very successful, yet all too brief , life of Steven Jobs.

“A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes”

Steve thought he was always right and drove the point home. In my opinion, the world would be a better place if people ‘thought’ a little more because we seem to be running short on badass ninjas.

As I wait for 3AM EST to order a new iPhone 4s – I have some thinking to do. Don’t you?

 

Filed Under: Apple, iPad, iPhone

Steve Jobs Resigns – Spartacus lives !!!

August 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Steve Jobs is dead – or at least that is how the press is writing about his resignation. In my substantially uninformed opinion, Apple has prepared for this eventuality for some time now yet the media seems to paint a cautious picture of Apple’s future once the pipeline runs dry of products created via Steve Job’s voodoo spells. Complete nonsense.

The reason Apple is so cool, hip and lusted after is based on more than the dictatorship of one man. True, Steve rules with an iron fist and his products are sprinkled with the magical dust of crushed unicorn horns, but the company’s bench is very deep with Cook, Forstall (googly eyes) & Ive still in the dugout.  Mr. Job’s role at Apple seems to be Chief Soul Breaker. A quintessential example being his displeasure over the performance of  the 2008 iPhone 3G/ Mobile Me rollout.

Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?” Having received a satisfactory answer, he continues, “So why the f*** doesn’t it do that?

The point is, Mr. Jobs is the 600 pound gorilla in the room. He’s unapologetic in his opinions and doesn’t care what you think. He’s right and that’s the end of it unless he changes his mind and then again, that’s the end of it – go screw yourself! Every company needs a Steve Jobs yet so few have one with his style.

So what does this mean for Apple? As a fan boy, consumer and cheerleader, I say … it depends. All they need to do is find someone within Apple this is willing to say, “no – not good enough. Try again.” Someone who’s a fan of Progressive Improvement in the most basic way. Someone who thinks of the user experience, above all other considerations, because its how Apple products ‘feel’ that drives emotion and yes, sales. Someone who’s willing to be an unapologetic A-Hole. While Apple has failed in their limited social media efforts ( i.e. PING), I say it’s more social than a Twitter /Facebook love child. Be the only person in the room with a new iPhone and your know what I mean – everyone will want to get with you. Apple is as much a multinational corporation as it is a feeling. A consumer love fest that is fueled by very social advocates with a rabid devotion to God and Jobs.

When it comes down to it, what we love about Apple is more than the personally traits of one man. It’s a feeling that Apple really cares about how we relate to their products on an emotional level. We’re proud of our iPhone and iPad (who’s proud of their brand new Dell? Hmmm?) and if you insult Apple it’s akin insulting our mother.

I really hope Steve is around for another 20 years (he is remaining as Chairman), being the straight shooter that we need him to be. If not, I’m sure someone will take his role. The soul breaking will surely continue.

Finally, the real reason not to worry is that we’re all Steve Jobs – we (the consumers) won’t let Apple become Microsoft – not that MSFT was ever Apple. In essence, I am Steve Jobs – formally Spartacus.

Filed Under: Apple Tagged With: ,

AirPrint scaled back – Printopia Review

November 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Printopia Config Panel

No-brainer setup

I’ve just installed iOS 4.2 on my iPhone 4 and iPad. For me, AirPrint was the one and only missing feature of  iOS 4 that was a ‘must have’. Since I watch MacRumors.com, I knew that Apple had recently scaled back support of shared printers leaving just a few special HP printers with built in AirPrint capability. I haven’t even bothered to look for the supported printer list since I know my 3 year old HP LaserJet 2605 is unlikely to be on it. Apple’s press release on today’s update had a brief note about AirPrint:

AirPrint is a next-generation Wi-Fi print architecture that dramatically simplifies printing by completely eliminating printer drivers. A selection of AirPrint enabled printers including the HP Photosmart, HP LaserJet Pro and HP Officejet will be the first to support printing direct from iOS devices. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to any printer that supports AirPrint.

It’s doubtful that most of us will run out to buy yet another printer just for this feature. I don’t have the desk space for another printer even if I was so inclined. Anyway, I knew it was time to find a good third party solution and Printopia (based on the buzz) seemed to fit the bill.

Al Gores' NightMare - iPad email printing!After visiting ecamm.com and downloading the 7 day free trial, I was up and running (i.e. printing) in under two minutes. The control panel installs in the ‘Other’ section of your Mac’s System Preferences. You then select which printer(s) you wish to make available to AirPrint and the software does the rest – it even picked up that my HP has duplex (double-sided) capabilities and displayed the option. Simple is an understatement. I immediately tested Pages on the iPad and what, for me, is the holy grail of iPad printing – email! So many more trees are going down with the power I now have. The green part of me, a part buried deep within the recesses of my mind,  was also pleasantly surprised to see DropBox support – ok, so I don’t have to print everything. A quick visit to my iPad photo gallery confirmed that it was dead simple to send something to DropBox. Awesome! Of course, there is a DropBox app. that does the same thing but now I can stay in Mail or Safari and send it along.

Printopia is $9.95 and works with all AirPrint supported apps. It’s important to note that this program only runs on your Mac – nothing is installed on your iPhone or iPad. Until Apple comes up with their own solution, Printopia certainly fills the gap. One wonders why Apple themselves didn’t try to do the same.

[ UPDATE 12/10/2010 ]

HP had released firmware updates for 6 additional printers to enable AirPrint support. See the complete list here: AirPrint Support Schedule 2010

Filed Under: App. Review, iOS, iPad, iPhone Tagged With: ,

Find my iPhone – Oh hell yeah I did!

September 8, 2010 By 5 Comments

So I was an idiot (I make up for it) and left my iPhone at the movies on Monday night – the last show and I was the last out of the theater. By the way, “The American sucks”!

The little guy wasn't where I'd expected him to be. Obviously, I had a big problem with that.

I realized that I forgot my phone the next morning but I wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t in the house somewhere – it wouldn’t be the first time I’d misplaced something, thought it was lost, only to find it in the couch cushions. I had an appointment at our new office that I couldn’t miss but before I left the house, I tried to locate the phone using “Find my iPhone” through Me.com. Nothing – no location found! Next I tried to ‘Ping’ the phone which does two things. First, it causes the phone to emit a loud tone for two minutes that can’t be turned off unless the phone is unlocked. Second, the phone confirms it’s playing the tone by sending an email. The problem was, I didn’t get the email confirmation. I figured the phone was dead or turned off and probably sitting in the theaters safe or even still in the cup holder.

So I went to the office, met the vendor and then headed up to the movie theater around 11:15am. When I got there I found a sign saying that the theater didn’t open until 12:30pm. Crap! There was a Barnie’s coffee shop so I decided to grab my laptop and do some work until the theater opened.

Simulated "found' page from my iPad with the important points. Click for full size image.

My iPad was sitting on the passenger seat and as I was putting it in my bag a couple of emails came in. I decided to give them a quick look. Behold, a message from Me.com that my phone was now playing the tone so it must be on! I fired up the “find my iPhone” app and got a location. The problem was that the location wasn’t at the theater. It was about one half mile north at a small motel. Wrut wrow shaggy!

Over the next few minutes I repeated the process of having my phone ‘found’ and duplicated the initial results – my iPhone wasn’t at the theater. Someone moved it!

Without thinking about it for another second, I headed north to the motel to reclaim my phone. Yes, I should have taken backup or contacted the cops but I was on a roll. Besides, I had a Durango and an iPad – Mickey Spillane wasn’t as set up as I was!

Arriving at the motel I found two men cleaning up the parking lot. I called one over to the truck and asked him if he cleaned the Epic theater. He replied no but, “the two Mexican guys in 11 are cleaners and walk that way every night and comeback after 3:00am”. Bingo!

I asked if they were around and my new friend said that one of the men had just walked around the back of the motel with his laundry. “Can you take me back there?”, I asked.

“Sure, we don’t like those two guys anyway”, he said. I grinned.

So there I go, walking back behind a motel on a dirt path with a stranger in pursuit of my ‘relocated’ iPhone. I thought, “maybe I should have a gun for this?”. Hmmmm.

There he was, “The Mexican”, sitting in a lawn chair with a phone and listening to music. I walked right up to him and said, “Give me the phone”. He did just that without hesitation. The problem was it wasn’t my phone.

I told him that this wasn’t what I was looking for and that I knew he cleaned the Epic theater last night and ‘found’ an iPhone in theater 9. He initially denied it. I persisted.

“Listen, this can go two ways. You can give me my phone and I’ll walk away or I call the cops and they’ll toss your room.” Actually, I had no idea what the cops would do but it sounded good at the time. Your tone is everything. Sound confident and that’s how you’ll appear. I didn’t have to fake this though. I was pissed and it showed.

“I don’t have your phone”, he said in broken English. “Does your friend have it?”, I asked. “Ummmmm. Maybe”, he replied. “Take me to your friend!”.

So back on the dirt path we go to room 11. He opens the door and there are 4 more men sitting in the room watching TV. Numerous phones were sitting on the TV and the dresser from what I could see. “The Mexican” says something in Spanish to a guy laying on the bed who leans forward to see me standing in the door way. Without breaking eye contact, he reached for my iPhone sitting on the nightstand by the bed and hands it to “The Mexican” who hands it to me. “We was [sic] going to turn it in”, he says. “BULLLLSHITTTT!”, I replied. “I doubt the movie theater policy is to have you take stuff home with you and bring it back the next day”. Blank stares from all 5 guys who were undoubtedly wondering how I showed up at their door less then 20 minutes after they turned on the phone.

As I backed out of the doorway, my friend was standing there giving me a thumbs up. He asked me how I found them as we got back to my truck. I showed him my iPad with the location still on the screen. He was amazed! I drove across the street to a mini-mart to check the phone out and get a $20 for my informant. After two minutes of inactivity, my phone locks and requires a 4 digit PIN to use the phone. Make 10 incorrect attempts to unlock the phone and it locks you out for 15 minutes. The phone still had 11 minutes of lockout on it meaning they were trying to get into the phone as I was arriving at their room. NICE!

After returning with the $20 for my informant, leaving him happy and smiling, I went back to the theater and told the manager about what happened. She said, “I guess we’ll be getting new cleaners”. I told her there were ‘lots of phones’ in that motel room. She promised to ask the cleaning companies manager about it.

So, what’s the takeaway on this?

First, if your going to ‘hit’ a room with 5 immigrant cleaners in it, tell someone where your going. Although they were small, I was seriously outnumbered and I didn’t have Chuck Norris with me.

Second, most modern phones with GPS have some sort of geo-location service. Buy it and make sure its turned on. I thought about canceling me.com before it renewed this past February to save the $99. I’m SO glad I didn’t.

Third, lock your phone! Say it with me, “I will lock my phone!”. As phones get more advanced, people are storing all sorts of personal information: contacts, passwords, pictures, bank account numbers, past text messages, etc. Look at the information on your phone and ask yourself if you would be ok with a complete stranger having access to it? That extra two seconds spent unlocking the phone each time you use it could be important one day. That day for me was Sept. 7th, 2010.

Finally, don’t be an idiot and leave your expensive phone in a movie theater so the cleaners will take it -  requiring a solo visit to motel room occupied with 5 immigrants.

Just sayin’.

Filed Under: iPhone