The Hum

May 29

[video]

Mar 29

[video]

Mar 19

(via skateboardingcr)

Mar 07

(via skateboardingcr)

[video]

Feb 19

Apple Should Provide Ubiquitous Data

My Apple TV broke a couple weeks ago. It was Apple’s fault. The update broke it somehow. I noticed when I searched for other people having problems with the most recent update that there were quite a few people affected.

After the update the Apple TV showed a screen telling of the new features of the update, but that’s all it did. Pressing menu on the remote did nothing. None of the buttons on the remote did anything anymore.

I unplugged the power, let it sit for 10 minutes and restarted the Apple TV. After a very long wait I finally got to the main menu screen but the only apps available were Computers and Settings. So I entered settings and did a reset. This brought it back to the same state. I did a restore. This re-downloaded the most recent update. After waiting for a long time I eventually returned to the same situation: a menu with only Computers and Settings available.

Do I carve out a few hours of my day to go to an Apple Store? Do I call Apple Care? I called Apple Care and said I wasn’t paying $19 for single instance support because I didn’t cause the problem. The support guy agreed and waived the charge. He said it was a network issue. The next step would be go and buy a micro USB cable to do an Apple TV restore from iTunes whilst connected to a Mac. I don’t have such a cable and did not feel like buying one to do this process once (hopefully). So I rebooted the router and modem of my house’s wifi to try one more time. The Apple support guy was right. It was a network issue and restoring the Apple TV over wifi again after the network reboot brought it back to life.

The thing is, it seems like the Apple TV is a long way from being a standalone device. There’s no way to expect people who only have an Apple TV to get reliable performance from it. It needs to work out of the box, by itself. No Mac should be required and it usually works that way. But ideally, it should be like a regular TV. No wifi network, no Mac, no nothing but the Apple TV.

It makes me think that Apple should get into the data delivery business. They’ve solved their OS issues. They’ve solved their factory supply chain issues for the most part. (The iPad Mini did sell out, but the wait for units to start shipping after initial release sell-outs is getting shorter and shorter.) Now, the only issues I have are usually with the data providers. AT&T service is unreliable and the support is crap. Verizon is better, but not by much. The cable companies are probably the most reliable ISPs but it’s a hassle to get Internet-only service from them. And still, there multiple bills for data at home and mobile data. I want to just pay for one ISP, one bill for data with no distinction between mobile and home-based data. (I know I’m asking a lot, but dammit! This is the 21st Century!)

Once Apple resolves their issues with cloud computing all that’s left to address is the one weak link: data delivery. One bill through my iTunes account that pays for everything - downloads of songs, movies, TV shows and apps and the data service to deliver it all plus the regular old Internet - that would be great. What I really want is the iPod Touch with a data plan, that’s what I’m getting at. I have very little use for the phone these days. I guess that’s where the iPad Mini comes in. Too bad I bought the big iPad just before the Mini was released. But still, Verizon support is a pain compared to Apple’s. I’d rather be absorbed in a system that works seamlessly almost all of the time. And when it does break, I want to be up and running again quickly, and Apple has always done that for me.

Feb 14

[video]

Feb 07

cjwho:

Maracanã House by Terra e Tuma

(Source: cjwho)

Feb 03

cjwho:

Casa Cubo- The Staircase

(Source: cjwho)

[video]

Jan 17

Hypercritical: CES: Worse Products Through Software -

siracusa:

Watching the CES coverage out of the corner of my Internet eye, I’m reminded of exactly how bad most hardware makers are at writing software. Mat Honan summed it up nicely last month: No One Uses Smart TV Internet Because It Sucks. Amen to that. But it’s not just TVs. Who really likes the…

(Source: siracusa)