Category Archives: Reluctant Geek

iOS4 Features on an iPhone 3G Without iOS4

August 25, 2010 – 12:03 pm

I wish I had more inspiration these days to post something that would be so funny you would either launch your oatmeal through your nose, or possibly pee yourself.  Or, maybe a treatise on a brand new bassoon related discovery that would literally revolutionize the playing of the double reed beast.  Unfortunately, I have neither.  Instead, all I have is yet another long-winded geek related post.  Useful?  Definitely.  Geeky?  Dripping with it.  (This seems to be a greater theme of life for me, these days, but that’s for another post.)  Oh well.  Let’s get started.  Feel free to jump to any section, or read straight through.

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Did It Myself iPhone Dock

February 18, 2010 – 1:27 am

As it happens, I had a little time this evening, a sheet of card stock, a printer, and a knife  – all the ingredients necessary for the do-it-yourself iPhone Dock I mentioned in my last post.  So, I tried it, and in about ten minutes, it was done.

What were the results, you ask?  At first, not quite as good as I had hoped.  The first thing I tried was setting the iPhone in the dock vertically, and was disappointed to find out it didn’t support the weight of the iPhone.  I guess I didn’t use a thick enough card stock.  It did support the weight of the iPhone in a horizontal position, though.

Not wanting to give up quite yet, I cut another panel of card stock, and glued it onto the back of the dock, let it dry a bit, then tried setting the iPhone vertically in the dock again.  Presto!  The combination of dried glue and an extra card stock layer did the trick!

So, there you have it.  Not the strongest piece of equipment in the world, but it works as advertised (with thicker cardstock, or some glue), it’s quick to put together, and the price is certainly right.

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Do It Yourself iPhone Dock

February 17, 2010 – 1:24 pm

Now that I’ve posted on how I fear the ubiquitousness of the internet, I’ll post something about making it even more convenient to access.

Eh, go figure.

At work, I tend to use the iPhone as a secondary device, for things like IM chats, and music.  Unfortunately, it’s a little awkward to try and stand up with the cord plugged into it, so it usually just sits flat on the desk.  Not ideal.

Apple’s Universal Dock is kinda neat, but it does stuff I don’t need it do, and it’s pretty pricey – $60 – just so I can sit my stupid iPhone at a nice angle during the day.  No thanks!

Enter this handy do-it-yourself dock, which you can cut, fold and use without the $60 investment.  Cool! Check out this post with the video and the link to download the template.

I think I’ll try this sometime this week.  I’ll let you know if it works, or not.  If you decide to try it first, let me know how it works for you.

By Kent | Tagged , , | Comments (2)

What Has Tweeters but No Woofers?

February 16, 2009 – 10:03 pm

Riddle me this…

It has tweeters, but no woofers.

It’s totally where it’s “@”.

Brevity isn’t just recommended.  It’s required.

Twitter LogoGive up?  I’m talking about the Twitter service.  You know, the website that gives you 140 characters to “tweet” what you’re up to, what your latest thoughts are, or why exactly you hate pot-holes.

What?  You don’t know what I’m talking about?  Well, that seems to be the problem.  A lot of people who I ask about it have no idea what I’m talking about, which is kind of a shame, because I kind of like the idea of Twitter.  It’s like only having to read and write status updates on Facebook without having to duck the latest “Shmoopsy threw a llama at you”, or “Mandy challenged you to a movie quiz”, or “Johnny joined the group Fans of Facebook Fans”. (Honestly, I think 90% of Facebook is spam, these days, but that’s another story.)

Like I said, the problem is nobody I’m aware of seems to know much about it, which is too bad, because that means that I’m not following too many people, and vice versa, which, of course results in very little reason for me to keep my Twitter updates current.

Anybody here actually use Twitter?   What do you think about it?

Anybody just been dying to try it?  Let me know.  I may not follow you just anywhere, but odds are, I’ll follow you on Twitter.

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iParadigm Shift

February 13, 2009 – 12:42 am

My wife and I had been eyeing the iPhones for a while, but two things always held us back.  First, we would have to ditch our cell service, which we’d been quite happy with, and sign up with AT&T, of which we’d heard mixed results at best.  Second, it meant finally forsaking subscription music, as iTunes – and therefore the whole iPod/iPhone lineup – didn’t offer a plan.  (As I’ve raved plenty about subscription music in the past, I won’t go into it now.)

In the end, neither of those reasons stopped us.  We both ended up at the Apple store about a week ago, emerging with two shiny new iPhones.  So far, AT&T has been fine – at least in the Boulder area, and I’m coping with not having subscription music tracks available.

I won’t bore you with an in-depth review of the iPhone, since pretty much everyone knows what it is, what it does, and whether or not they like it.  I would, however, like to occasionally point out interesting applications I find for it.  Already, I’ve found two such applications that, by themselves, pretty much justify an iPhone, and assuages any misgivings I had about leaving subscription music behind.

Simplify Media for iPhone

Simplify MediaI’ve talked about Simplify Media before, and how it allows you to share iTunes libraries among friends by streaming music over the internet.  I even had a couple friends of mine try it out with me.  It was simple to use, and a nifty idea.  Over time, though, we simply forgot about it.  That is, until I got my iPhone.  You see, one of the problems with the iPhone is that it only comes with either 8GB or 16GB of space – not enough storage for most peoples’ music libraries, these days.  I grudgingly accepted that, from now on, I would be picking and choosing the music I take with me.  I was glad to find out I was wrong.

This is where the Simplify Media application for the iPhone steps in.  This amazing little app brings the streaming libraries to your iPhone, meaning that, wherever you are, whether you’re connected via wi-fi, or 3G, you have access to your entire library of music stored on your home computer.  That includes albums, artists, and playlists you’ve created, along with things you may not have in your library: artist info and song lyrics.  Who cares whether you have 8GB or 16GB when you can listen to your entire home library wherever you happen to be?

Simplify Media is $3.99 for the iPhone, but, in my opinion, well worth it.

(Actually, seeing how well this app works makes me a little greedy.  Why can’t LaLa take this one step further, and create their own iPhone app that streams all those 10 cent web songs you’ve bought?  Hmm… )

Pandora for iPhone

Pandora BannerA lot of folks have heard of the Pandora Radio website – the one that plays music based on songs you’ve rated and allows you to save “stations” of similarly styled music.  What’s the iPhone app like?  Well, think of the functionality of the website crammed – quite neatly – into a tiny interface, and you have the idea.

One of the things I liked most about subscription music services was being able to discover new music without having to buy albums that I might end up not liking.  I’m finding that Pandora does this quite well, with the ability to bookmark songs that it plays, create new stations based on specific songs or artists you like, rate music as you listen to it, and even being able to purchase the track in iTunes. It doesn’t quite have all the features that Rhapsody has, but then again, it also doesn’t have the monthly subscription fee that Rhapsody does.  The most important part – the discovery of new music – works as well or even better than Rhapsody ever did.

Pandora is a free app.  I’m guessing the small ad banner they include, and maybe cuts from iTunes purchases made from the app helps pay for it, but I could be wrong.  Whatever – it’s a great app.

Anyone here own an iPhone?  Have you tried either of these apps?  Let me know what you think of them.

By Kent | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

More Thoughts on the Lala Music Service

November 21, 2008 – 1:32 am

Lala Service LogoA few weeks ago, I reviewed the new Lala Music Service.  At the time, my first impressions were that it was an interesting concept that was done well enough to continue with a more thorough test drive.  As I’ve continued to use it, I’ve formed a few more opinions about it, which I will be only too thrilled to talk about now.

What Were Those Features, Again?

To quickly recap the standout features of Lala:

  • A free online “music locker” with an iTunes-like interface to store your entire your music library online, giving you unlimited access to your library anywhere there’s an internet connection.
  • If you want to add to your library, there are 6 million music tracks are available, any of which you can listen to once for free before buying it.
  • Buy “web songs” for 10 cents each, which basically means buying the rights to listen to a track online unlimited times.  Or, download DRM free MP3 files for 79 to 99 cents each.
  • Social networking features to allow you to follow other users, and vice versa, letting you see their playlists, music they’ve listened to recently, etc.

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Trying the Lala Music Service

October 24, 2008 – 6:11 pm

Lala Service LogoI found out about a new service called Lala this week.  This is a service that seems to have two major purposes:  First, to provide a way for you to access your entire music library anywhere with an internet connection, without having your iPod, or your computer, or your massive external hard drive with all of those MP3’s.  Second, like Rhapsody type services, to provide a way for you to discover and buy new music through a few social networking features.  There is no monthly service fee to use Lala, and using it only to store and access your existing music library is free.  I’m guessing they hope to make their money when you start poking around their catalog, and buying tracks.

The service sounded interesting to me, so I gave it a shot and signed up.  From just a little use, including getting my music all setup online, using its interface, and exploring some of its catalog, I can say that I like the idea a lot.  Here’s a few words about what I’ve found so far.

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Beginning PHP on a Mac

September 10, 2008 – 1:05 pm

PHP LogoWith the presence of highly robust web applications such as Joomla, and WordPress (powering this very blog) making a real case for the power of PHP, I’ve decided to take the plunge and learn it.  This means three things:  I have to figure out how to get it running on my Mac OS X Leopard machine, I have to figure out a good editor with which to write code, and, of course, I have to learn to write PHP.  Fortunately, I’ve begun to tackle each of these steps.

All the links I mention are listed at the end.  So, if you like, you can skip my long-winded yet clever and witty editorial, and just get right to all the links.

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New iPods, New iTunes, No Subscription Music

September 9, 2008 – 7:24 pm

New iPod TouchAs reported by Apple blogs and news sites such as Macworld and TUAW, Apple unveiled new iPod Touches, new iPod Nanos, and new iTunes 8.0, along with the new Genius Recommended tracks and playlists, HD content to watch on your computer, as well as the return of NBC programming.  New toys, new shows, new games, bla bla bla.  Yay for Apple.

Whoop-de-crap.

What’s the one feature I’ve been waiting for since I got my Mac two years ago?  What’s the one feature people had been predicting with more certainty than ever?  What’s the one feature that didn’t get unveiled today?

That would be the iTunes Unlimited Subscription service.   That was a no-show today, leaving my hopes dashed and my Parallels-Windows-Rhapsody setup firmly in place, and not going anywhere.  I would love to go “all Apple”, but I remain enamored enough with the concept of subscription music that I won’t get a shiny new iPod until they decide to try subscriptions.  And no, I don’t think the new Genius feature is any sort of substitute.

Oh well.

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iTunes Subscriptions Finally a Reality?

September 7, 2008 – 4:35 pm

Among other things predicted by this post,  TUAW is suggesting that on September 9, Apple may introduce a subscription model to their iTunes software.  I’ve posted plenty of times about what I think of the idea of subscription music (see the Related Posts below if you want to see for yourself), and any of you who have read any of them know that I think the concept is a great idea.  I still use Rhapsody, and I still complain about having to boot up Windows on my Mac through Parallels so I can sync music to my non iPod media player.

Rumors like this have been circulating for years, but this time around there seems to be definite evidence that Apple has actually been negotiating with record labels for such a service.  If this rumor proves true, here’s one guy that will be running out to buy an iPod as soon as he can afford one!

Anybody else heard anything about this?  Do you have any opinions about subscription music?

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