Tag: Apple

iPhone Sadness

The iPhone 6 Plus is dead.  Long live the iPhone 6 Plus.

A while ago I had a problem with my iPhone’s headphone jack.  A little ball of lint got stuck in it and I couldn’t plug in.  I took it in for service and they pulled out some fuzz and life was good.  The next time I plugged in headphones the same thing happened.  The plug went in a little further, but nothing connected.  I vowed to go back, but months went by with nothing.

Until today!  Last night I booked a service appointment and backed up the phone on my desktop.  Today I was at the store for less than five minutes before the Jack was clean.  I asked them for a pair of headphones I could test with and the plug clicked in sweetly.  When I got to the car I plugged into the stereo and… Nothing.  The music came through the phone’s built in speaker.  I got out of the car and went back in to the store.

They don’t fix broken headphone jacks, the just replace the phone.  Sad face.  I had a few minutes to wait so I started frantically signing out of everything.  iCloud first, then my work email, then as much as I could get to.  They brought out a new phone and swapped the SIM card (never seen them do that before), and let me paranoiacly test the headphones.  Then off I went.

Now I’m updating the OS to iOS 8.2 so that I can restore from last night’s back up.

The moral of the story?  Always keep an up to date back up of your devices!

Google Domination

Google has come one step closer to World Domination!!!

Well, maybe not world domination, but definitely apps-on-my-iPhone domination.

They have released an iOS version of their Google Calendar app.  Add it to the list of Google apps I chose to use over the native Apple apps.  Calendar, Gmail, Chrome, Maps… And counting.

And no, I have absolutely no interest in switching to an Android phone.  Zero.  None.

Bad Apple

It doesn’t happen often, but it’s happening right now.

I’m using iTunes Radio to listen to Christmas music (I wanted to listen to the new Smashing Pumpkins, but my iTunes was totally hijacked by people who actually have Christmas spirit even though it’s only December 12th) and all of the holiday music channels I’ve picked have just plain sucked!

It doesn’t happen often, but every now and then Apple actually does let me down.

Stupid Apple.

But wait! Elvis’ Blue Christmas!

Redemption!

Oh No!

My brand new iPhone 6 Plus has a problem! Either there is something stuck in the headphone jack (highly unlikely) or the jack is broken on the inside. I have an appointment at the Apple Store for tomorrow. In all of my apple gadgets and computers, this is the first actual hardware issue I’ve had. I hope my poor little baby is okay.

iCloud Drive

I just made my first practical use of iCloud Drive.

For most of the past year I have been recording new music using GarageBand for iPad. I’m not sure why, exactly. I think it’s because it’s portable. I don’t have to carry a lot of stuff around with me. Just the iPad, the adapter I use, and either a guitar or a microphone. Mixing demos on the iPad kinda sucks though. GarageBand on iOS is pretty limited in that respect, so I port the files over to my Mac and mix them in the full OS X GarageBand.

Prior to today I would export the iOS file to iTunes and pull it to my desktop, then open it in the full GarageBand. The two programs are not interchangeable though so I would save a copy as an OS X file and mix that.

With the latest updates though, I can now upload the iOS files to iCloud, and then import them directly from there to the OS X GarageBand. I still have to save a new copy, but I can eliminate the iTunes middle man, and get the whole thing done without having to plug the iPad into the Mac.

I just did it with NaSoAlMo song #1 which I finished recording today, and will mix tonight… if I can stay awake.

Happy iOS 8 Day

Today is a big day for Apple geeks.  Today is the day iOS 8 is supposed to be released onto the unwashed iPhone/iPad/iPod masses!  Let’s celebrate!

As is usually the case with software updates, Apple told us what day but not what time.  I checked to see if the update was available a couple of times throughout the morning and my phone has always been told it was up to date.  Now, however, when I check for an update it tells me that the update server cannot be reached.

Something is afoot out West in Californy, me thinks.

Command-Option-W

My new absolute favorite thing about MacOS is this:

Command-Option-W

Last night some red haired moron accidentally popped open 220 finder windows at once and needed a way to close them all before he lost his mind in a seething rage.

Command-Option-W

Done and Done.