Stolen iPhone Saga, Part Deux

Wow!

Apple iCloud pricing revealed in developer beta

Apple has revealed its pricing structure for its iCloud service in a beta launch for developers

More here.

Core Duo Not Supported by Mac OS X Lion

So, I plugged my Macbook to the network, thinking I'd download and install Lion via the App Store (by going to Store --> Purchased (since I'd already bought and installed Lion on the iMac), but found that Core Duo machines aren't supported:

WTF...

It looks like my Macbook now has one foot in the grave.  I'll have to stick with Snow Leopard, but eventually, that will be unsupported.  It's not a huge deal, I guess, since Lion just came out.  I wonder when Leopard goes end-of-life (if it hasn't already)...

This is a rather large bummer.  The laptop isn't THAT old.

Well, there's one other Macbook in the house...my wife's.  It is a Core 2 Duo machine.  I don't even know if she wants the upgrade but it is available to her if she'd like to give it a shot.

It looks like I've a good excuse to buy me a new Macbook next year with whatever bonus I get.  If I do, I'll go Pro this time, more than likely...so I can game on it.

May as well back up with Time Machine since I've got it set up beside the iMac, though.

OS X Lion Brings Major Security Overhaul To Apple Users

OS X Lion Brings Major Security Overhaul To Apple Users

I haven't yet fully read the article, but it will definitely be on my weekend hitlist!

OS X v10.7!

Yep yep!  I got the big Lion!  I'm using it on my iMac and once I get used to it, will be putting it on my Macbook.

I'll update this post as I discover issues and/or things I like.

[EDIT (7/23/2011):


So, I'm finding --


1.  That I like Mission Control...a lot.
2.  I like that I can side-scroll the desktops.
3.  FaceTime looks cool.  I'll have to give it a shot soon.
4.  I like the fact that I can use the Magic Mouse like the touchpad on my Macbook...even if I can't do everything the demo video shows on the Apple pages).
5.  I read in an article that I posted here that security in Lion has improved drastically.  Good job, Apple!
6.  My Macbook (Core Duo) is NOT supported in Lion, so I can't install Lion on that machine...not good!
7.  Full disk encryption will secure your data if your Mac is lost/stolen.]

Doubletwist and More Phone Things

So, I finally finished importing my iTunes files to my Thunderbolt.  Only, now I've a ton of duplicates.  This is a known issue with Doubletwist, unfortunately.  Well, at least I've all my files imported now.  I'll have to go through the SD card and manually remove the duplicates.

I also went to Manassas today and was able to pick up a strong 4G signal...ran a quick speed test using the Speedtest.net app.  I got speeds greater than my home wifi.  Latency is higher, though.  Upload is lower, also.

See below:

Based on those screenshots, I can't wait to have 4G where I live, which is like 4-5 miles down the road from Manassas.  4G is JUST out of reach...AAARRGH!!

Also, we lit some fireworks last night and I tested the phone's camera and HD capability (@ 720p):

Non-HD video footage:

One Less Reason To Have Me.com

So, I found out that the Thunderbolt won't synch with Me.com (what used to be .Mac and MobileMe).  While it's not a surprise, it is rather irritating.  I used to rely on it to synch with my phone, as well as my wife's phone (and all the Mac systems in the house, of which there are four).  Well, I still have my iPad also.

What am I using now, on the Thunderbolt?  Google Calendar, which appears to be simpler (fancy that...something that's simpler and more intuitive than an Apple-grown app).

I'll still use my Me.com account for other things, such as photo sharing and archiving, extra e-mail accounts, and tracking my iPad (if I lose it) and daughter's iPod Touch.  As I said, I still have Mac systems in the house.

Also, this phone is a power hog!  I have a car adapter for charging and use my work's Blackberry charger to charge my Thunderbolt at work (I also have a micro-USB cable that I can use and plug into my laptop when I need to charge both the BB and the Tbolt).  Still, I find it consuming lots of energy, and I'm barely on a 4G network throughout the day (I touch it maybe once or twice for 10 minutes at a time).

I'm still drooling over the HD videos it records, too.  I recorded some fireworks that we set off tonight and the video turned out very well (once I found out how to adjust focus).

AT&T called me last night wanting me to participate in a survey once they found out that I cancelled my service with them.  They called me on my Tbolt and asked if I was on a cell or landline (WTF?).  When I told them I was on my phone, they told me they'd call me at my home phone, which was rather odd.  When I later told my wife, she said, "they were afraid the call would be dropped".  I almost snorted my lunch out of my nose when she said that!

And on that note, no, I still haven't had a dropped call and it's been almost a week since I've had the new phone.  If I were using my iPhone, I'd have had at least 4-5 dropped calls already.

Mac OS X - how to disable auto logouts

How do you disable automatic logouts in OS X?

System Preferences -> Security -> There's a checkbox for auto-logout.


I don't know why I haven't done this (until now).  I guess I just got too tired of coming back to my system after being diverted and finding that I got logged out.


Now, that being said, still, I'd like to be able to lock my session without using the GUI.  I guess my research isn't yet done!  :)  [EDIT:  Here it is, and I've implemented it...it works!   http://hints.macworld.com/article.php?story=20090831093941225]


EDIT:  Wow...on that same page, in the comments section, someone mentioned using ctrl+shift+eject...that works...so, maybe I can remove the edits I did?

HTCing

A few things:

1.  I've installed Prey on my Thunderbolt.  I've run it on my Dell Mini but wasn't aware that they made it so that it can be used on Android phones (which is Linux at its core).  On a side note, they also now make versions for Macs and Windows.

2.  Noted that there's no Zinio for Android versions below v3.0.  That's a huge bummer.  I'd wanted to use it on this phone but this phone is using Android v2.2.1.  I might not ever see v3.0.  I don't even believe there are many phones using v3.0.  I've no idea why they didn't focus on what's being used broadly.  I guess I'll have to continue to use Zinio on my iPad and Macbook.

Some of the apps I've installed so far:

androidVNC
AutoKiller Memory
Delicious
doubleTwist
Dropbox
Facebook
JuiceDefender
Linode Android
Lookout
Motorcycle.com
mSecure
Prey
Speed Test
Tapatalk
Unit Converter
White Noise
Zedge

Some of these were suggested to me, but most of these I either used on my iPad or iPhone.  I haven't used them all yet.  I need to, because some of the UI on these apps have quite a different layout than their iPhone versions.

I also have gotten a taste of 4G LTE, but only at work, and even then it's sporadic, since where I work is at the fringes of coverage.

I've noticed I haven't dropped a call yet, and I've tested in the places where I used to constantly drop calls when I used the iPhone.  This is good!

I also got my 25% employee discount enabled on this phone's account...can't wait for that to kick in.

Tried the speaker phone today, also...I love it.  I do notice that the speaker sounds a bit muffled when the kickstand isn't pulled out, but the speaker is way louder than what I had on the iPhone.

It also feels GOOD to have REAL Bluetooth again!  :)

Got a New Phone!

Bought a new phone yesterday.

Yeah.  I went Verizon.  This is the first time in years that I'm not using an iPhone.  Since I've done a lot in the last 24 hours with the new phone, I've a bit to discuss.

The wife wouldn't let go of her vacation and stretched it to the limit yesterday.  She took the kids to the water park and I was positively done with vacationing, so I opted out.  I took the boy with me and decided to drive around Massanutten/Luray/Harrisburg in Virginia.  Then I got to thinking that maybe I should go look at phones at the closest Verizon Wireless center.  After driving around for a bit, I went to Harrisburg, looked around, and asked them if they had HTC Thunderbolts.  They did and I began to ask questions.  I looked at other 4G Verizon phones but had all issues with them.  The Droid X2 had a BIG screen but wasn't 4G.  The Revolution and Charge were OK but again, they weren't meeting my requirements, which I explained in my last post.

So, I ended up getting the Thunderbolt.

My 24-hour impressions are below.

1.  This phone is HEAVY.  When I say this, I'm comparing to my current iPhone 3GS.  My wife's Samsung Infuse makes the T-bolt seem like a boulder.  But I do like the solid feel.  I do like the heft, though...it doesn't seem fragile and is probably more durable than my iPhone.

2.  The screen is brighter than I thought.  It was blinding my wife when I was in bed reading.

3.  Voice clarity is incredible.  I called my mom and could hear everything going on in the background.

4.  Still getting used to the Android Market.  There's a LOT of junk apps...seriously.  I'm not used to that.  I was trying to find a free and GOOD free screenshot app but couldn't find one (and all want you to have a hacked phone (for root access).  I'm still looking for a good screenshot app, too.

5.  I had to find some critical apps that matched what I was using on my iPhone, such as mSecure.  They had mSecure for Android phones but it was a real pain to get a backed up copy imported onto my T-bolt.  At first, I mailed a backup to myself, but the phone wouldn't let me copy the encrypted backup (it was several pages long and the phone wouldn't let me copy AND scroll down).  So, I used mBackup and my Macbook to get a copy onto the T-bolt.

6.  I had a difficult time figuring out how to get my iPhone pictures onto my T-bolt.  Finally, I plugged my T-bolt into my Macbook with a USB cable, which mounted the phone as a drive.  Then I just copied the pictures onto the micro-SD card.

7.  I had to repurchase my highly desirable apps.  Apps such as Tapatalk and Motorcycle.com (as well as mSecure).  That was undesirable but unavoidable.  I found that I'd invested a bit into the iPhone, enough to where it was a bit painful for me to repurchase these apps.  I left alone such apps as Angry Bird, especially since I'd have to start all over with playing it (I don't believe Angry Bird saves game progress to the level that I can continue from the same place I'd left off on the iPhone).

8.  I love the speaker phone.  It is loud.  I love the fact that the speaker is big (it is behind the side stand).

9.  My bill should be the same as what I had with the iPhone, with the exception of the activation fee, which is $35 and will only show on the first bill.

10.  Data plan usage is NOT unlimited, but the salesperson swears that most people don't bump into the limit.  He insisted that 2GB is fine for most people.  We will see, as I do sometimes use data (at work when I can't reach the wifi hotspots).

11.  The voice plan I selected was the 450 plan.  Lately, with AT&T, I'd been bumping into my limit but what was saving me was the rollover minutes (I have a TON of them).  I'll have to watch my usage very closely.  No more speaking with mom for 1+ hours in the middle of the day!

12.  The seven (7) virtual screentops may not be enough for me.  Or, maybe I need to reconsider what I place on those screentops.  I'm used to the IOS's way of grouping screentop icons.

13.  The FriendStream app is NICE!  The wife also has it on her phone (but she doesn't use it...I'm going to push her to try it, as it is VERY cool.

14.  The front-facing camera on this phone is wicked.  It rivals my wife's Infuse (that statement would be scandalous to some).  The flash is bright, also.  The clarity is good.  The rear-facing camera is decent, also, but I would like to test it with apps such as Skype.  Sadly, Skype isn't ready for this phone yet.  Yahoo might work, though.

15.  I love the way I can kill running apps and have an app manage battery consumption.

16.  The micro-USB cable is a life-saver.  No more proprietary cabling.  I HATED the iPhone's cable and the fact that I couldn't do crap with it without iTunes.

17.  The 32-gb micro-SD card is a lifesaver...and it is rather large in storage capacity.  Too bad that you can only access it by removing the battery.

18.  This phone pretty much flies when asked to do something.  I rarely see it running slowly.

19.  I had a few large software updates waiting for me.  It's nice to have these loaded directly to the phone instead of relying on iTunes.  Word of advice, though, some updates can be large...it would be wise to use a wifi connection when updating.  Also, I preprogramed the phone to get the updates while I was sleeping (so it wouldn't interfere with me doing other things...plus, the phone gets hot when downloading large files).

It's going to take me awhile to get used to this phone, especially since I'm coming from an iPhone.  I'm ready for a change, but I'm not going to lie when I say that the iPhone is the phone to have if you just want crap to work.

Loving it so far!

EDIT:


Still need to import my iPhone contacts and music to my Thunderbolt.  I'm currently in the process of importing my contacts.  What I had to do was save all of my contacts in my address book on my Macbook into a vcard formated file.  I then placed this file on the micro-SD card, then I imported the file into my People app.  It looks like it worked fine.  The real test may be my music, especially my iTunes-purchased music.  :(


EDIT 2:


Tried using ITMW (itunemywalkman) to get my music into my Android but it was cumbersome, but I remember a phone salseman mentioning Doubletwist.  I installed that and my music appears to be synching.  It will be awhile, as I've 29GB of stuff to transfer.  I suppose I can do this a few hours every day for a few days.  Most of it is podcasts, I think, so I could maybe remove all the podcasts (I don't listen to them anymore anyways).  We'll see how it turns out.

So, I'm on vacation...

I now have some time to geek out.  I suspect it will involve something with Apple products, whether it be the iPad or the Macbook.  The wife has her Macbook with her, also.  Maybe I'll take a look at hers to see how she's doing on disk space.  I may delve in some scripting on mine.  Or, play with web serving.

Regarding the iPad, I forgot to bring the charger, but I do have my standard iPhone synching cable with me, so I may have to slow-charge the iPad (when I'm sleeping or something, but that means I'd have to put the iPad to sleep).  I'm charging it now as I type, and it charged 2% in 10 minutes, so that's actually not bad, especially since it was at 92% to begin with.

My iPhone is about to be replaced.  I'm not even sure I'm going to stay with AT&T, as I'm tired of dropped calls.  I also work for Verizon and will get a pretty substantial discount (15%) if I switch.  The only Verizon phones that catch my interest are the Droid X2 and the HTC Thunderbolt, which are both LTE/4G phones.  The AT&T phones that interest me are the Samsung Infuse and the Motorola Atrix (the Atrix has a dual core CPU, as does the Droid X2), and both of those are considered 4G phones, even though AT&T doesn't yet have a "true" 4g network...they have that HSPA+ crap that isn't quite on par with 4G but insist that it is equivalent to 4g

My wife has the Samsung Infuse and it is a great phone, IMO.  The screen is 4.5"...huge!  And the clarity of the screen is typical Samsung.  It has front- and rear-facing cameras, also, which is another one of my requirements.  The camera at the back of the phone is 8MP, and the front camera is 1.3MP, I believe.  It is an Android phone.  My wife doesn't like it, but she's coming from an iPhone 3GS (which I have right now), which she loved.  The Infuse isn't as intuitive as her old phone.  I told her if she didn't like the phone, she should return it before the 30-day satisfaction guarantee expired.  In the end, she kept it, as she liked the clarity of the screen and the cameras.  I'd have taken it off her hands if I wasn't still tied to my phone number...we could've swapped (and no, you can't swap the SIM cards from one to the other, between the iPhone and Infuse).  But, she complains of dropped calls and bad reception at work, while Verizon phones tend to get good reception inside buildings.  I've friends who say they can make/take calls when in the subways...can't really beat that.

Comparing both the Infuse and the Thunderbolt, they appear to be very similar in hardware.  What I like about the Thunderbolt is that you get a 32gb micro-SD card with it, out of the box!  The cameras are the same.  The screen on the Infuse is larger, though.  The Thunderbolt is true 4g.  The Infuse has super screen clarity.  The Samsung captures video at 1080P, while the HTC does it at 720P.  This is going to be a hard decision.  Also, I'm still under contract, although I'm seven months out.  I'd have to pay something like $80 as an early termination fee (which isn't bad).  A comparison of the two phones is here.

Why am I not getting an iPhone 4?  I see no need to continue to be tied to any iPhone, as intuitive as they are.  My main complaint about my current iPhone is the fact that I can't customize it the way I want.  I sometimes wish I could have some of the Android apps, as they tend to let you do some pretty awesome things.  I want more screen area, also.  I want the option of having my data stored on external media such as an SD card (no, Dropbox doesn't cut it).  I want real 4g (and 3g will no longer cut it).

I've yet to decide if I'll migrate to Verizon.  I've yet to decide what phone I want, but I want the Thunderbolt pretty bad.  I've seen it on display and it is a nice piece of work.  About the only thing I haven't done is actually used one on the LTE network.  It is pretty much either the Samsung or the Thunderbolt, right now, but I haven't even looked at Sprint's phones.  I'm going to have to do that, also.  I refuse to look at T-mobile, since they are pending a merger with AT&T, with AT&T buying them out.  AT&T will get rid of a lot of things that make T-mobile good.  I do not want to buy a T-mobile phone and find that I'll have to get another phone in a year...that would piss me off.  I hope that merger doesn't go through, either, as that would mean there are only three major players (Verizon, AT&T, and Sprint). 

I do want to check out Sprint's phones, though.  It will have to be a top-of-the-line Sprint phone, though.  HTC's EVO 4G would be the Sprint phone I'd probably look at first.

Smartphones NOT So Smart!

Me: If I don't move for 5+ hours, my phone should be aware and quit polling for nearby wifi hotspots. Not found in 10 min, try again in 10 min.

Friend: I just turn wifi off

Me: I turn it off too, but by the time I remember, it's already used 25% battery life. I use wifi at home, otherwise I'd turn it off altogether. They make this crap seem like its innovative, but they stop just to make the phone look pretty. Apple: Fix the software and make it more intelligent...THEN beautify!

Ugh!

I'm beginning to HATE iWeb. I can only post things if I use my MacBook or iMac. I can't create iWeb content using my iPad or a Windows machine (WTF). There's also the issue with my Macbook having an older copy of iWeb...I'm trying to prevent having to spend $70 to get the latest version of iLife. Yeah, its only $70, but factor in that I have to use the word 'only' every time I purchase software or computer supplies...that stuff adds up (seriously).

So, coming back to Blogger seems to be the logical solution. I can access Blogger from any system while I can't with iWeb. I don't have to pay for Blogger to ensure compatibility, either. I think iWeb has become an afterthought for Apple. The Apple mindset of "we know better than the user/consumer" gets old after awhile...