XM SkyDock

To preface this review of the XM SkyDock, I should tell you that I wasn't happy with my XM unit that I had in my truck.
#1 - It was constantly falling off the dash, due to poor stickiness and the heat of Texas.
#2 - The stupid radio fell apart almost immediately, the buttons started falling off about a week after I got it.
#3 - The wires that were run for power and for the antenna were coerced through a piece of the dash that bowed the plastic and really bugged me.

So, a few months ago XM released an application for the iPhone that would allow the user to stream music from their online service, but it restricted certain talk radio stations due to copyright infringement I guess. Because of that, this wasn't an ideal solution for me because I really like talk radio and sports stations. Namely, I like listening to Baseball games while I am driving and I like catching Dave Ramsey if I am in the car. In addition to that, it requires that you have good cell phone signal to listen, and this isn't always the case where I drive.

But at the same time, they announced that they would be releasing a dock for the iPhone that would allow you to connect it to an antenna and receive all the XM stations just like you had a radio in the vehicle.

This weekend they released the SkyDock and I decided that I was going to give it a whirl.

My observations so far is that it works really well, and the interface is really good with the exception of a few features, which I will mention along with the good features.

The interface looks great and it works really well for channels that you know. I know the station numbers that I listen to for the most part. With this interface, I can just type in the station number and it goes there, and faster than any XM Radio unit I have had. Along with this it also allows you to save 20 preset favorite stations. This is handled really well because not only does it show you the station number of the station you are going to, rather than just having to remember which number each station is programmed to, but it also shows the name of the station in the little favorites box. To delete a favorite you go through the same process of deleting an application from the iPhone, tap and hold until it shakes then tap the x in the top right hand corner. It offers categories of music, which you tap and then it lists all the stations within that category, and that works great.

My one complaint about stations is that you can't just flip through stations. From time to time, I like to just skim the stations. Starting at channel eight and going up through 30. I just flip. And on this radio that isn't really possible.

The system also recognizes that it needs to mute the music when a phone call comes in. So you answer the phone and when you are done, the station you were on resumes.

Text messages are a different story. When a text message comes in, you get your notification noise, but when you go to read it the radio stops playing. After you are done reading/responding, you have to re-open the XM application to restart the music.

A few other features that are included:
- It will play from the iPod application on the iPhone, or you can plug in an iPod and play music.
- It has an audio out line, so if you have an auxiliary input, you don't have to use the FM transmitter
- It has a flexible shaft that can be mover around a little bit to position it where you want it and the cradle rotates so you can view it in landscape mode (which the application also supports).

I have one major suggestion though, and I am not sure if this is an application update or a hardware update. The application has to be open to be listening to the radio, which is why the phone works and not text messages, because the phone application doesn't really open, it runs behind the other application and resumes the other application when the phone call is finished. So here is my suggestion. The XM tuner is in the dock itself, not the phone. The phone is just how the user interface to see what you are doing. Since that is the case, couldn't the dock continue playing whether there was an iPhone connected or not? Or whether the application is open or not? If so, you would be stuck on what ever station was last chosen from the iPhone, but that would be better than having to have the application open all the time. And it wouldn't qualify as running an application in the background since the dock is really the thing playing the music. I think this would make this XM Radio/Dock/Charging Unit/Accessory one of the best all time accessories for the iPhone.

Final complaint: You can have a case on because it doesn't allow you to connect all the way with the dock connector.

iPod Shuffle

Either this was the worst iteration of the iPod ever, or Apple really mis-planned when they built them to sell, they built way to many.

iPod Shuffle Refurb

Apple TV

I wouldn't count on getting rid of any of the refurbished models under the new pricing.

Google Does Great on the iPhone

Google is apparently the #25 and # 26 most downloaded application from
the app store. Incredible!

MapQuest iPhone App

MapQuest released an application for the iPhone last week and it is awesome. The link at the beginning of this post links to the iTunes App page.

I really dig the application. The one thing that I really like about it, as opposed to the maps application that comes with the iPhone, is that it can mark the location of local points of interest. For me this is great because I just moved to a new area and I use it quite a bit to find restaurants. I am sure it can be used for other things too, like for instance, coffee shops or gas stations. It also includes a feature where one can turn directions in landscape view and flick through the directions as they menuever through the stages of their drive, thus acting much like turn by turn directions without the benefit of changing screens when the action is completed.

All in all it is a pretty cool application that I have been using in the place of the maps application for almost a week now and haven't had any regrets about changing, though I am sure with the addition of the compass, that the maps application is pretty cool right now.

If someone out there is works for MapQuest and is reading this, I hope you add the driving direction deal (map switching direction based on your direction of travel) into account when you release subsequent versions. I would also like to see some new Points of Interest added like Furniture Stores or maybe music stores or possibly even Historic Locations/Points of Historical Interest.

If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch and haven't already gotten this app, I reccomend you at least download and try it.

Google Contact Sync

For everything that Google does well, for everything I say "Google is the coolest" about, I have finally found something that I hate that Google has done.

Contact Sync sucks. I had a feeling that it was going to great problems, but when I finally got to it, it created huge problems.

I did a lot prior to starting the sync up so that I wouldn't run in to too many problems.

1. I made sure that my address book on my computer included everything from my google contacts.
2. I made sure that I had a backup of my address book so that if anything went wrong, I could restore it.
3. I deleted my entire google address book, thinking that if I start from everything on my computer, it would create fewer problems.
4. I uploaded my current address book to google.

At this point, my Google contacts and my address book were identical; same names, same numbers, same addresses, etc.

I then synced my iPhone to Google. You can only sort them with the first name first. I don't like that. Also, it creates 2 address books. One from your computer and one from Google. I don't like that.

Then I plugged my iPhone in and it downloaded my Google contacts into my address book, with the names reversed, so then I had 2 of each contact, on that read first name first and last name last, and one that read last name first, first name last.

Wonderful.

I deleted the duplicate contacts and turned syncing off.

New Microsoft Advertisements

. . . and why I don't think they work.

Its pretty easy really. I don't think they work because of a lack of actual advertising. One thing that I don't think Apple does and it seems all that Microsoft is doing is attacking the opposing platform. It seems that Apple attacks Microsoft by pointing out what they have and Microsoft doesn't. The new Microsoft advertisements don't even mention anything about Microsoft.

The most recent commercial only mentions two brand names, Dell and Apple. It mentions Apple to say how expensive the 15" laptop is, and then she goes on to purchase a Dell that has a 6" screen or something stupid like that. So, I guess my question is why not compare like devices at least? She could have easily gotten a new Macbook for her $1700 budget, but instead settles on a Dell?

To end this post I will say that anyone who has used a Dell for work, which is probably the large portion of Americans at this point, would never purchase one for personal use. They suck, and companies spend a lot of money on them. So, I can say that she has probably never had a job.

iTunes

Reviewing my iTunes purchases from the beginning.

The first thing I bought from iTunes back when I started using it 5 years ago was a Ben Folds EP. But it wasn't until 2006 that it looks like I started to use it as my primary source of music purchases.

Boxee

Pretty cool program. I might have to get an Apple TV at some point so I can use it on my television.

I will certainly use it to watch a lot of my HULU programming and maybe a few other shows.

A Forgotten Bill

I guess about 5 or so months ago, right after I moved to Dubai, I signed up and started paying for Audible. It is a audio book site that offers, for 15 dollars a month, a ton of titles and allows you to download 3 a month. I just signed up to test it and downloaded one book.

I liked it, so I didn't cancel it, but I somehow forgot about it.

I was checking my bank account today and noticed a charge to Audible, which refreshed my memory that I had in fact signed up for it. So I am downloading the balance of the books from the last couple of months since the carry over from month to month.

All in all, I should have a lot of listening materials for the office and for long flights, particularly the flights to Paris and Buenos Aires next month.

The Saga of the Mac Wouldn't Sleep Part 6

Alright, let me first say this, BACK UP YOUR COMPUTER REGULARLY.

I picked up the computer on Thursday morning. I got in and hand to wait a couple of minutes to get the computer. I opened it up and tested it to make sure that it worked. The final count was 3 new fans, 2 logic boards, and a new track pad. I don't know why the track pad was replaced, but it was. I got home later that afternoon and had to re-setup the computer. I haven't decided yet whether I will load everything back onto this computer or not. I kind of like have a computer with not much on it and using the desktop as a storage place for all my music and photos.

I am looking forward to being able to take my computer down to Starbucks or some other coffee shop to hang out in the evening and not be confined to the house for computer use.

Also, a great program that Mark suggested to me allows me to listen to music from my desktop from anywhere using my computer or iPod Touch, as long as there is a network connection. It is called simplify. I bet this is pretty cool on the iPhone when you always have a connection.

The Saga of the Mac that Wouldn't Sleep Part 4

I called last Thursday to find out the status of my computer. The status???

It will be finished by Tuesday next week. Please call us then and we will let you know for sure.

Today I called what is the status today???

The status today is that they replaced the logic board over the weekend and everything worked perfectly. Man I was glad to hear that. I was half way out the door running to get in the elevator when the guy added "but" to the end of the sentence.

The new logic board had failed too. The fan was running continuously and they need to work on both problems before it was done. This is great. I was hoping to go another 2 weeks without my laptop. Thank you Apple for providing me not one, but two, logic boards that were faulty.

They are hoping to have it done by this time next week. I am hoping there isn't a third logic board problem.

iTunes Movie Rental,

Thanks for stopping by, I wanted to send you this quick note to let you know why I like your service so much.

I have really been enjoying your service for the last couple of months. It is really nice to rent movies in my home for a couple of dollars. It is especially nice to just open iTunes and be able to browse without the hassle of going out and being in a store with tens of other people looking to rent the same movie as I am, but there is only 2 copies of the movie, so who gets them? I don't have that problem anymore, because there is a copy for me and anyone else that is interested in renting from you because it is a digital download.

You were even nice enough to give me 30 days to start watching the movie, so I could actually rent it today and not watch it for a full month. I could rent a movie tonight but get caught up in something else and still have 29 more days to watch it.

You were also nice enough to give me 24 hours to re-watch the movie, or finish watching the movie from the time that I started it. Man that is a great feature because what if something happens tonight. Maybe I fall asleep while watching it and then I . . .

Wait, no, you apparently take the movie away as soon as there is not enough time to watch the movie in that 24 hour period. That is crap, don't tell me 24 hours and then take it away at 22.5 hours. I wanted to watch the end of the movie, so why did you take it away? I don't understand your methods iTunes Movie Rental. I mean, you told me that you would be here for 24 hours, and I counted on that, so whats with leaving early? Is that something you do? Maybe you had something more important going on, but if that were the case, you could have called ahead of time and told me you were leaving, or at least emailed me to tell me that you were taking off early.

All I am asking is that you give a guy a heads up if you are going to change the policy, maybe a quick note, not hand written or anything, but at least a little something telling me that I don't have time to watch you again, then I would be a little happier with you methods.

I guess I will see you again soon,

Nick

The Saga of the Mac that Wouldn't Sleep Part 3

Just got an update from the service center. They are still testing to see what the problem actually is.

MobileMe

I signed up for a test account with MobileMe so that I could see what the programs look like and how it works. The experience I have had with it so far does not make me want to spend 99 dollars a year on the service as Google is pretty much providing the same services for free at the moment.

The programs are nice and the mail application works like a desktop program, which is nice. It does however not work incredibly on the Windows machine at work. It slow down Firefox a lot and sometimes freezes it for 30 seconds.

The calendar is not as good. On my computer, I subscribe to my Google Calendar so that I have all that information open all the time without having an extra tab open in my browser. Google Calendar syncs with my Outlook Calendar at work and from that I get a digital hard copy on my home computer, all three calendars have the same information. The only problem with this on the home machine is that I cannot update the calendar because it doesn't sync with Google Calendar, it just subscribes to it. The problem with MobileMe and this feature is that it won't sync calendars that you subscribe to. There is not even an option in the Calendar application to subscribe to a calendar, which makes it even more annoying.

Contacts works just like I thought it would and syncs really well to my iPod Touch. Again, it is a great looking program and works just like a desktop application.

I have no need for the Photo Gallery application because I think Flickr does a great job already, so I haven't played with it.

iDisk remains the same and works well.

The big feature that I am interested in trying out, but can't due to my laptop sleeping issues, is Back to My Mac. Once I get my laptop back in my possession I will try it out. I have been using screen sharing with my parents a little bit and assuming that Back to my Mac works in a similar fashion it should be a good feature. In fact it would be nice to use in conjunction with iDisk because if you had forgotten something you can just log into your computer at home, drop it into your iDisk and then download it on the machine you are on. Though with connection speeds over here, I don't think I will be using it for streaming music to my laptop.

UPDATE: Mobileme is now blocked at my office. Seriously getting ridiculous with the whole blocking thing.

Apple's Apology

I am amazed that such a large company has the integrity to stand up and admit a mistake.

From Apple's letter to MobileMe users.

"Another snag we have run into is our use of the word “push” in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe “cloud,” changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word “push” until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too."

Time Capsule Review

When I moved into my apartment I went to purchase a wireless access point for the internet. I was thinking that I would most likely just get an Airport Express, but when I got to the store here, I was quickly persuaded to by a Time Capsule as a backup disk and wireless access point. I was convinced because I now have quite a bit of stuff on my computer and I wanted to make sure I didn't lose any of it. My options were, buy and external HD and connect it when I want to back up and buy an Airport Express, or buy a Time Capsule and have it serve both functions.

I got it home and got it set up. By far easier to set up with passwords and such than any other brand or wireless router I have encountered. By the time I was done, Time Machine was asking me if I wanted to use it to back up my computer. I turned on the automatic backups and just a few minutes later it started its first wireless back up. It finished 3 days later. I was baffled by the amount of time it took, but I guess sending several hundred Gigabytes of data over a wireless connection can take some time. A suggestion to all, if you get a Time Capsule, do your first back up while wired.

I made the decision after the first backup to neglect my iTunes videos. I figured if I did buy something new, that I could just turn that part back on and back them up less frequently since I haven't bought much in the way of television shows lately.

As a router, it works perfectly and praise to Apple for making a backup software that actually makes me want to back up my computer. On top of that, my computer now backs itself up every hour and archives daily, weekly and monthly as those times come up.

The final note on this is that I am glad I started backing up because I am in the process of losing my Gigabytes from my Macbook Pro due to those pesky sleep issues I have mentioned multiple times. Recovering from the backup image was a breeze.

The Saga of the Mac that Wouldn't Sleep Part 2

Part one of the story is here.

I have taken my Macbook Pro into the service center. In part one of the story I went through all of the solutions that I have already taken. There are many things that I had already done, and I explained all of these solutions to the support people at the store. They then offered me a couple of other problems that could be causing the computer not to sleep properly and also take 5 or more minutes to boot up now. Out of that list they suspect a few things, all of which are hardware related. If it is an easy hardware solution, for example the hard drive, they can have it done in 3 or 4 days. If it is a more complicated issue, for example the logic board, it could take them a month to get it done because they have to wait for parts.

The story so far has upset me as I have never had a problem with any Apple product before, short of an iPod that I creased in a car door.

In the meantime look forward to some other Apple product reviews coming soon as well as part 3 and possibly 4 of the story as I get more information. For now I am Macbook Pro-less.

The Ongoing Saga of the Mac that Wouldn't Sleep (properly)

Steps I have taken to correct the issue:
1. Re-set power management
2. Re-set sleep image
3. Deleted power management setting (reinstalled after restart)
4. Deleted widget with known issue
5. Removed programs that I thought could be causing the problem (programs I had borrowed)
6. Swapped out RAM (Upgraded in the process)
7. Changed screen saver setting

I have looked into this quite a bit and tried anything I can to correct the issue. Changing the screen saver setting actually seems to have worked, but as with the other fixes, they all seem to work and then it goes back to failing. Since I changed the screen saver setting 2 days ago (to not come on ever), I haven't had a recurrence of the issue. I think my next step might be to re-install OSX from scratch. I would prefer to not have to do this, but I am running out of ideas.

I Am Not a Happy Apple Fanboy

I have been seriously peeved as of late with Apple. The new computer I bought has been having problems over and over again, and each time I think that I have resolved the problem it comes back a day later. Every solution I have found for the problem works over night and then it starts again. Today I tried two new solutions and one of them worked for 20 minutes, the other did something really funky though.

My battery was 91% charged and when I did this new solution, the computer was telling me that it was going to take another 2.5 hours to finish charging. That seems like a really long time for such a small amount to charge.

On top of that, I did purchase a Time Capsule to use at home as a wireless access point and back up deal for my computer. It took days to do the first backup, and when that was complete . . .

Time Machine doesn't even recognize that the machine has been backed up. Perfect, right?

I really wish I were in the States right now so that I could at least go to the store for some support.

At this point I am suspecting the memory that Apple installed when I bought the machine, so that will be the next thing that I replace. If that doesn't work, then I am going to look into backing up the machine and buying a new hard drive. Kind of a lot of money to spend on a new computer, but Apple has no presence in the UAE, and iStyle, the official reseller here is staffed with a bunch of useless idiots.