As the iPhone Turns
Thursday September 6, 2007 at 1:37 pm | Filed under Gadgetry, Mac
What drama! Steve Jobs just released an open letter about how he’s received hundreds of emails from sissies who want a refund because they paid for an iPhone in the last 10 weeks. The letter is typical from Jobs. It’s written in words that would come right out of Steve’s mouth, that clearly show his opinion, and gets right to the point about what’s up and how Apple is reacting to these letters. He does a great job of explaining what buying new technology is about:
This is life in the technology lane. If you always wait for the next price cut or to buy the new improved model, you’ll never buy any technology product because there is always something better and less expensive on the horizon. The good news is that if you buy products from companies that support them well, like Apple tries to do, you will receive years of useful and satisfying service from them even as newer models are introduced.
In the end there’s a refund for us poor unfortunates who had no idea what we were getting into when we bought this phone. I mean, obviously we’re entitled to money back, right? Lame.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m gonna take that $100 credit and spend it on more stuff that’s probably overpriced, that’ll teach’em! But come on people, be grown up about this. Apple is trying to take hold of a new market with an amazing device and in order to do that they need to be aggressive. You were among the first to be able to enjoy it. Go use it to call someone who cares.
The Early Adopter Blues
Wednesday September 5, 2007 at 10:53 pm | Filed under Mac
The iPhone’s price was dropped a giant $200 today! Yowsers! How do I feel about that? Well, this stuff happens. It’s the price (literally) I pay for being a crash test dummy for you people who ask me for tech advice. Whoever thought that the iPhone would never be replaced, or that the price would never drop would be kidding themselves. Since I’ve had the phone I’ve enjoyed the heck out of it, using it to listen to tunes on my Glendale commute, to catch up on Curb Your Enthusiasm, to announce to folks that we’re having a baby, to find my way her and there, and to give everyone and their brother a demo of the cool new toy. Oh, and it’s a phone too. I’ve even come really close to picking up another one for Monique! I would be pretty mad if I had the thing tucked neatly away in a drawer for the last 10 weeks, however. After 10 weeks I can saw that it’s right up there with Tivo for the coolest gadget I’ve ever used, and I can’t wait to see everything that’s still to come.
So while it sucks that it seems my time with the iPhone has been more expensive that it was supposed to be so far, I’m excited that the price came down so we could afford to get Monique one. I went out and got her’s at lunch after the announcement this morning. She’s all configured and ready to go!
If any of you have considered an iPhone, it’s a great time to get one, as the 4GB versions were dropped by $200 too making them a steal at $299. Also, for those of you dead to the world that don’t already have an iPod, you may want to put one of those new Nanos on your Christmas list. They’re amazing, and they’re priced right at $149 and $199 for the 4 and 8GB versions respectively.
*STOMP*, Ketchup!
Wednesday August 15, 2007 at 3:06 pm | Filed under Entertainment, Family, Mac, Me
Good grief… over the past few weeks the Sharks get a new logo, Apple announces a new iMac/iLife/iWork/etc, our TV breaks, Monique and I drive halfway across the country and back for my family reunion in Colorado, and we get to go to a great concert at the Greek where we saw Squeeze and Fountains of Wayne. Oh yeah, and we also found out that we’re having a girl! I’ll tackle these one at a time:
The San Jose Sharks get cartoony! This new logo was unveiled in late July. I still haven’t seen any new uniforms, but those are on the way too. I don’t mind the new look, it’s really using the same colors as before but it’s a more aggressive style. Change is weird so far, but I’m sure it’ll grown on me.
Apple made a few announcements on August 7th where they introduced the new iMac, which looks like a giant iPhone, and the new iLife and iWork. The iMac is really nice, and comes with a new apple keyboard that I’ve ordered to replace my keyboard. The new ones have much less travel in the keys and are really nice to type on, plus they’re super thin!
As for iLife, it always seems to be packed with enough features to more than justify buying the new version each time it comes out. This time around there’s a ground-up re-write of iMovie, which I think will do wonders for those who have been shy about making movies because they were scared off by complicated software. Not that the older iMovie was complex, but this new interface is ridiculously easy. The downside of the new easy goodness is that some of the more advanced features were removed. So I’ll be keeping my old copy of iMovie ‘06 (which the install kindly keeps for you in a separate folder). iWork is better than ever, and now there’s a new alternative for Excel called Numbers which seems really promising so far.
What’s next on the list? Our TEE-v done broke-ded! Yeah, we noticed a couple of weeks ago it was turning off from time to time on its own. Turns out it was trying to tell us that its lamp was nearing the end of its life. So tonight, after waiting and waiting, the dude is supposed to come out and fix it for a small fortune. Fun! It’ll be nice to have our idiot box back in action!
We took a mother of a road trip, me and the pregnant lady, to Greeley Colorado to meet up with a ton of family at my tri-annual Family Reunion. I still haven’t posted all of the pictures for this one, but they’re coming.
Lastly, we went to a great great concert on Monday night, had a friend with some last minute free tickets (Thanks Cary!) and we got to see Squeeze and Fountains of Wayne at the Greek! I am always weary of seeing bands that may be past their prime, but wow, Squeeze delivered! Those guys are getting up there in age and they still sound as good, or BETTER than they ever have.
In closing, I’ll throw a little baby update in here. We’re so excited to be having a girl. We’ve been shopping for stuff, we’re starting to go to checkups more frequently now (another one tomorrow morning), Monique’s got showers coming up, I’ve gotta get a lot of things done with the nursery before the big moment, and I really need to be posting to this here site more!