Category Archives: Tech!

Add and remove APP glitch in iTunes 10 sync

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I found a small hiccup in iTunes 10 when it comes to syncing and removing apps. Here’s how it’s triggered…

  1. Buy any app through your iPhone that is not in your library (free ones count)
  2. Connect your iPhone to your mac
  3. In iTunes, go to the iPhone and choose the APPS tab (“Sync apps” and “automatically sync new apps” should be checked)
  4. Choose a few apps that are currently on your iPhone to be removed from the APPS list (the program you just purchased on your iPhone will not show up in the APPS list yet)
  5. Press the APPLY button in the lower right corner
  6. The apps you selected to be removed from your iPhone will be removed, but then iTunes will add the new app you just purchased on the iPhone to your local library and then it will RE-LOAD the apps you had previously selected for removal. (It’s like you never selected anything for removal at all.)

Shouldn’t the “removal of apps” process come after the “copy new apps to the local library” process?

I posted this on the Apple forum and will update if I hear anything.

A big thanks to NASA for helping get the Chilean miners to safety

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I noticed that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden issued a statement at 10:44 this morning on the rescue effort for the Chilean miners, but no major website has posted his comments.

Sooooo here it is in its’ entirety!

“On behalf of the entire NASA family, I want to ask that our heartfelt thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the courageous miners, their families and friends, and the dedicated people who have been working to safely reach those who are still trapped underground.

“There is a lot of hard work ahead for rescuers, but the Chilean government and the people of that great nation should be praised for their steadfast determination. Their unwavering commitment is the reason we are witness to the joyful and emotional reunions today as the miners are returned to the surface one-by-one.

“I also want to express my personal thanks to the Americans who have assisted in this heroic effort, and specifically the NASA team that traveled to Chile in the early days of the crisis. For decades, the people of this agency have learned to live, work, and survive in the hostile environment of space. Our expertise in maintaining physiological and psychological health, and our technical and engineering experience in spacecraft design all proved to be valuable in a situation that is far from our traditional scope of work.

“I am proud of the people of this agency who were able to bring the experience of spaceflight down to Earth when it was needed most. As the drama of this recue continues to unfold before us, we pray for the safe return of each and every miner.”

NASA played a BIG role in helping get these men to safety. DISCOVERY and UNIVERSE TODAY have interviews about NASA’s efforts and details some of the ‘tech used in this crisis.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Science Rocks.

Google is making their awesome 411 service walk the plank

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Google is making thousands of phones cry this week by announcing they’re going to cut off their free 1-800-GOOG-411 service on November 12th of this year.

I mentioned this awesome service back in September ’09, and I’ve used it pretty much daily. It has been a lifesaver on my trips through the Texas yonderosa, and has consistently been on my top 10 speed dial favorites for over two years.

Google seems to be keel-hauling all ships that aren’t flying under the “Android” flag with this move, pointing out that you can still use Voice Input and Voice Actions on Android phones, but all other phones can suck it. (Actually, that “suck it” part was my interpretation of their press release about the Voice Input and Actions bit.)

Google still says “you can send a text message with the name and location of the business to 466453 (“GOOGLE”) and we’ll text you the information”, so that’s still something awesomely free.

I’m writing gblog@google.com to shamelessly plead for mercy myself.

Here’s the official press release from Google.

Stopthisbill and stopthatbill .org .net and .com are now retired

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Waaaaaay back in January, I set up a website called stopthisbill.org (along with stopthisbill.net, stopthisbill.com, stopthatbill.org, stopthatbill.net and stopthatbill.com)

The whole point of that website was that I didn’t agree with the healthcare bill as it was written. I preferred a well thought out healthcare bill that was more aligned with the president’s campaign promises, and took its’ time to come to fruition after a great deal of intellectual analysis and careful, reasoned debate by congress and the input of hundreds of existing health-based agencies in the national and state government.

I did not like the piecemeal train wreck that was rushed through congress, and I definitely don’t like the slapdash version that passed into law.

The stopthisbill/stopthatbill site gathered a few signatures on the online petition and it also generated some interesting debate. I really do appreciate everyone who took the time to visit the site and those who emailed me to offer their opinions (one way or the other!).

But today, I decided it was time to pull the site down and move on to other projects. I am keeping the domain names, though. Just in case something comes up later.

iTunes allows paid app downloads even though a credit card they have on file has changed

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I found out something pretty interesting today. iTunes allows paid app downloads even though a credit card they have on file has changed.

A quick prologue… my corporate AmX card got compromised last week. Apparently a local Chinese restaurant I liked to go to had a dishonest waiter who copied the front and back of my AmX card when they were supposedly running it in back to pay for a business dinner. I saw false charges pop up, called AmX customer service, AmX immediately refunded the charges the thief/thieves made, and sent a new corporate card overnight UPS. (FYI, AmX corporate customer service is the best customer service I’ve ever experienced.)

So fast forward to today, when I was downloading some business apps from iTunes…

iTunes Credit Card Glitch 01


…and I remembered only after I pressed the YES to the purchase button the credit card iTunes has on file is my no-longer-valid AmX card. But the download for the $14.99 paid app had started anyway!

iTunes Credit Card Glitch 02


The app finished downloading, and I saw it in my app list in iTunes. I went to see if it cleared in my purchase history…

iTunes Credit Card Glitch 03


…and sure enough, there it was. Tax and all.

iTunes Credit Card Glitch 04


I went ahead to the edit payment information button to update the AmX card…

iTunes Credit Card Glitch 05


There were no errors at all in the screens that followed. Only after I had updated my credit card information did iTunes finally say something was wrong.

iTunes Credit Card Glitch 07


“A previous purchase failed to successfully authorize, because the credit card used for that purchase was declined. Please provide working credit-card information and press done to clear the outstanding amount from your account and enable your account to continue purchasing.”

And at the bottom of the page was a small addendum about the outstanding balance…

iTunes Credit Card Glitch 08


I pressed DONE and that seemed to be it.

I think it’s kind of strange Apple allows a full app download before a credit card can be confirmed. Shouldn’t the charge amount go through first before the download is authorized? And I wonder what would have happened if I never updated my credit card information?

50 free prints from Snapfish with new HP Officejet 4500s

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I was installing a new HP Officejet 4500 at a branch store location earlier this week when I found this little card in the middle of the instructions and warranty papers…

HP Officejet 4500 02 photo


Nice bonus!

I looked on the outside of the box and didn’t see any mention of this bonus being inside, though.

HP Officejet 4500 01 photo


A “50 free prints” card wouldn’t have made me choose one printer over another, but it would have been nice to know this coupon was part of the package.

iPad + 1 gallon Ziploc bag = emergency waterproof case! [PHOTOS]

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I was catching up on some of my magazine reading when I saw this ad in the latest edition of Southern Boating (September 2010 page 33)…

iPad Case Ad


It says… “Rain, Spray, Waves, and iPad. While you want your iPad with you at the helm, water, and particularly salt water, has been known to destroy electronics right before your eyes. A small investment, however, may prevent this. The Trendy Digital iPad Case ($20) is, in effect, a large, heavy plastic bag. The iPad is fully operable when sealed inside. Yes, it makes the music a bit hard to hear, but even a direct wave will not send your investment to Davy Jones’ Locker if you tie it down using the included strap.”

Hmm. I thought that was a pretty good product idea. Something to keep the iPad safe from water and let you take it with you to an area you know it will be constantly “splashed” on. But as soon as I read the “large, heavy plastic bag” part of the ad, I wondered if the iPad would fit in a Ziploc bag, and would an iPad be safe from water splashes in a giant Ziploc bag?

There’s only one way to find out!

Fortunately I found a few of the giant Ziploc bags already in the home pantry…

iPad + Ziploc 01


…and the one gallon size at that!

iPad + Ziploc 02


I was a little worried about the fit, but after opening the Ziploc bag, the iPad (with the Apple case still attached) dropped right in and had plenty of space left!

iPad + Ziploc 03


I flipped the iPad around so the Ziploc logo would be on the other side of the screen, and then sealed the top of the bag.

iPad + Ziploc 04


The fit wasn’t snug, and there was a lot of Ziploc left on the left and right sides of the iPad, but I was able to swipe to unlock the iPad, and all the applications I launched responded to my touch just fine.

iPad + Ziploc 05


Typing wasn’t any problem either! The iPad registered every single touch just fine through the Ziploc, whether the bag was pulled tight or left loose.

iPad + Ziploc 06


iPad + Ziploc 07


So far, so good! The iPad still functions when sealed in a one gallon Ziploc bag.

Now for the “splash” part!

After triple checking I had sealed the top of the Ziploc bag, I decided to go all out, and put the iPad in the middle of the sink and moved it slowly in every possible direction with the faucet on full blast. I did this for 5 minutes.

iPad + Ziploc 08


The Ziploc held on tight to the iPad!

After moving it around and seeing no damage, I decided to leave the iPad flat in the sink and let the water hit it straight on. (I did incline the iPad about 10 degrees so that the water would drain and the Ziploc/iPad would not become submerged.) I did this for one minute.

Little did I know this whole time that the water faucet was trying to communicate with me!

iPad + Ziploc 09


Fortunately, “Tcuxuc77/7 . Ruhhh” was just a random result of the water on full blast hitting the iPad and pressing on the keys. (I hoped!)

I stopped the water after a minute, pulled the iPad out of the sink, dried the exterior of the Ziploc, and opened the top.

iPad + Ziploc 10


Dry as a bone! Wonderful! It worked!

And just to make sure the iPad typing was OK, I pressed a few keys to see what would happen.

iPad + Ziploc 11


Success! No problems at all!

I figure if the Ziploc bag can withstand a full-blast from a sink’s water spigot, then it shouldn’t have any problems keeping the iPad safe in light spray or the occasional “hi there!” ocean wave smack.

I wouldn’t want to subject the Ziploc bag to too much stress, though, as it is only held closed by that little click-seal on top. I wasn’t brave enough to completely submerge the Ziploc with the iPad in it either, so I have no idea if this would keep the iPad safe in a 100% underwater environment. Also worth mentioning (again) is that the Ziploc bag allows sufficient water pressure to register as input.

But overall, it’s good to know that a one gallon Ziploc bag (retail price about .12 cents each), does seem to work as an emergency waterproof iPad case!

10 more iPads and 10 more cases! [PHOTO]

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I just got in 10 more iPads in and 10 more cases. Config time!

Another 10 01


Another 10 02


The more I mess with the iPads, the more things I am thinking of that have to be added to make them corporate-worthy.

As is, they’re good devices, but not great devices.

And iTunes needs some major big-time steroids-in-the-eyeballs corporate enhancements. That or there needs to be some other way to manage so many iPads without Libra/iTunes!

Right. Back to work!

760-705-8888 is a Google Chat Phone calling you

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With the rollout of a live domestic-call phone capability in Google Chat, everyone should expect a lot of calls from 760-705-8888 to start appearing in to their caller IDs.

760-705-8888 is the generic Google Chat Phone number all Google chat users are assigned as caller ID, and it is the same number no matter what Google account a person is calling you from.

Just remember that a call from a 760-705-8888 number may not be from the same person as the last person who called you from 760-705-8888!

Also of note, Google kept the Grand Central numbers “live” for all us original beta (alpha?) testers. So everyone who has/had a Grand Central account that was absorbed into Google Voice and is now Google Chat still has the same phone number as before, and not the generic 760-705-8888 number.

Thanks Google!

Are you getting a plugin error in Google’s new CALL PHONE link? Here’s the fix!

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I was having some problems using Google Chat in my Google account through the Firefox browser. Every single time I went to the CALL PHONE link, I got the error that I needed to “please download the voice plugin to make a call”, even though I had already installed the plugin multiple times!

What was even more interesting was that the CALL PHONE feature worked in Safari. Firefox was the only one having problems with it.

Nobody on the ‘net seemed to have a solution, but after messing with the browsers for a few minutes, I think I got it.

Here’s how I got the CALL PHONE feature in Google working for me in Firefox….

  • Go to TOOLS and ADD-ONS
  • Click on PLUG INS
  • ENABLE both GOOGLE TALK NPAPI PLUGIN and GOOGLE TALK PLUGIN VIDEO ACCELERATOR
  • QUIT Firefox and relaunch it
  • CALL PHONE will work!

Here’s what you’re going to see before the fix…

Google Talk Fix


Just click on the greyed out icon and press ENABLE. Restart Firefox and you’re set.

Apparently either Firefox doesn’t enable the plugin on the initial install, or the install code from Google doesn’t hit the right switch along the way.

I also assume a similar trick will work in Internet Explorer through MANAGE ADD ONS and making sure everything with a GOOGLE prefix is enabled.