Alright, so I’m at the Apple Store again. They are going to replace my phone. Again.

Check back to this post for updates…

I give up. I’m never buying an Apple product again.  I’m sorry friends, those of you that work at Apple.  I tried to give Apple another chance, I really did.

Anyone in the market for an iPhone 3G with an intermittent speaker?

Well, here’s that update I promised you…

I’m at the Apple Store right now, restoring my data from a backup to the new iPhone.  Actually, it’s a refurbished iPhone.

Much to my surprise, I was not hassled by the “Genius” at all.  He was a little brief with me, not the best people skills… but he replaced my phone, no questions asked.

Lets hope this iPhone doesn’t have any issues!

Alright, this is absurd… I got my iPhone 3G two weeks ago.  Out of the box, it had a dead pixel.  As I suspected he would, the guy at the AT&T store told me that I’d have to talk to Apple about it.  Given my previous experience with Apple support and customer service (http://www.spoontwisted.com/apple-support-apple-care-apple-retail/), I decided to just deal with the dead pixel.  After all, who wants a refurbished iPhone for the price of a new one?  Not I.

Yesterday, I noticed a relatively short battery life on my phone.  Charged it up (second time in a day), and waited.  6 hours later, it was dead again.  Mind you, this is with 1 phone call and 4-5 text messages.

Even now as I sit here at my desk at work, my phone has been off the charger for less than an hour, and the battery indicator is already creeping down.  That’s not a good sign, folks…

So now, I know what I must do.  I will now have to go to the Apple Store and talk to a “Genius” about my issue.  He/she will most likely insult me for using Windows, and try to blame the problem on me.  I may have to make more than one visit to the Apple Store, or worse, call AppleCare’s 800 number (-shudder-).

I’ll keep you updated on the bulls**t I will likely face with the “support” that Apple renders…

Only a day after Google’s first beta release of their upcoming Chrome browser, people are already road-testing it.

Have a look at this Lifehacker post, where the current beta of Chrome, the current beta of the upcoming Firefox 3.1, and the current beta of Internet Explorer 8 are compared for Javascript & CSS performance, startup times, and memory usage.

From what I’ve seen across the web and in my own experience, the new Google Chrome sits right next to Firefox 3. Take that, Microsoft.

http://lifehacker.com/5044668/beta-browser-speed-tests-which-is-fastest

Eep! Google has released their own web browser. Watch out Microsoft!

I took a look. It’s pretty nice. Not a lot of extra crap in the window to crowd your browsing experience. Very clean, and simple. It’s a little shabby on the png transparency, and some of the CSS3 features, but for their first Beta, it’s not bad.

You go Google!

Okay, this one falls on you, AT&T.

I am in the market to switch to AT&T, in order to get an iPhone 3G. Now, I have T-Mobile. I have had them for nearly 4 years, after switching from AT&T around the time of the Cingular merger.

I have not had a single problem with T-Mobile.

Reluctantly, I walk in to the AT&T store to inquire about switching, and getting the iPhone. AT&T wants a $750 deposit from me, just to establish service! Now, I don’t have polished credit, so I can justify them asking for a deposit, but $750?!

That’s almost 2 car payments. That’s more than double the deposit ON MY APARTMENT. Now, not only will they explain to me why the deposit is so high, but they also will not back off of it.

Does anyone else find this unreasonable?

Apple, you would have sold an iPhone to me if AT&T had a more reasonable policy on deposits for service. Maybe you should consider asking them to change their sales tactics. After all, you’re losing money on this, too.

Here are some other examples of people unable to get the iPhone because of AT&T’s deposit policy:
http://www.nickstarr.com/2007/01/10/the-iphone-to-cost-1349/
http://consumerist.com/tag/iphone/?i=5020924&t=help-att-wants-a-750-deposit-but-i-really-want-an-iphone
http://consumerist.com/381767/att-fails-to-provide-service-holds-750-deposit-hostage-for-two-months

Fair? I think not.

Hey guys, I’m finally pushed my new design live. What do you think?

I’m still working on the resume and portfolio. My old design was alright, but I know I can do better (even if I am only a developer).

So, in preparation for the release of the iPhone 3G (which comes out tomorrow, July 11, 2008), Apple has released an update to iTunes to add support for the new features, and some more.

At the leaast, they’ve added the App Store and a new feature that allows you to control your iTunes remotely from anywhere with a wi-fi connection.  That’s cool and all (okay, so it’s REALLY cool), but I still use Windows Vista, and Apple still hasn’t been able to make iTunes work correctly with the Vista Aero interface…

Since Windows Vista came out over a year and a half ago, iTunes has had this problem (see screenshot below).  C’mon Apple, will you fix it?  Pretty please?  With a cherry on top?

Okay, so I know this isn’t tech related, but I wanted to blog about it anyway.

I ride the bus to work about twice a week. It’s cheaper, easier, better for the environment, and only takes a little longer.  Tuesday of this week was one of those days.

On my morning bus ride on the Capitol Metro 338 Crosstown, a man boarded 7 or 8 stops after me.  He was probably in his mid to late 40’s, long hair, jean shorts, and rode a bicycle.  He sat in the seat right in front of me, the first row of the upper section of the bus.

I noticed after a few minutes that he was staring at other people on the bus.  Normally this wouldn’t be anything to point out, as bus rides are very boring and looking around is pretty much the only entertainment you get, but he seemed to be staring at these people in ways that made them very uncomfortable.  At the time, I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, as he was sitting in front of me, facing forward.

Slowly these people all got off the bus at their appropriate stops (or maybe just to get away from this guy), and it was down to just him and myself.  About 5 minutes before my stop, he stands up (while the bus is moving), looks back at me and stares for a few seconds, then walks down to the lower, front section of the bus, and stands up.  Over the next few minutes, I notice him looking back at me a few times.  Same creepy stare as before.

Finally he reaches up and pulls the “Stop Requested” cable, and as the bus stops, I notice that in one of his hands he’s holding one of those little yellow disposable Kodak cameras.  The bus stops, he looks back at me one more time, takes a picture of me, and gets off the bus.  He goes and gets his bike off the rack, and starts riding down the sidewalk in the opposite direction as the bus.  He slows down when he gets to my window, stares right in at me, and spits on the window!  And I’m not talking a little saliva here, I’m talking a big snotty hunk of phlegm.

What was this all about?  Needless to say, I’m still a little worried to ride the bus again.  I do have a theory though…

This man was God, and I am going to die soon.  That’s it.  That’s my whole theory.

Thoughts?