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Gowalla going nowhere, fast

This will be a short post because I could rant on Gowalla, its staff and decisions all day long. Gowalla is going nowhere, fast. Here is just a brief reason as to why.

Earlier today Gowalla tweeted the following: (which are exact copies from FourSquare’s features)

More fun: you can now add notes & recommendations to spots in your trips, plus create twice as many trips as before!less than a minute ago via webGowalla
gowalla

Now, I do not care about the above features, nor will I probably ever use them. However, back on March 17th, 2010 Gowalla tweeted (and shortly later deleted) the following tweet. Which when they first tweeted this, I laughed to Michael about because 2 weeks is more like 6 months to Gowalla when it comes to anything on the Android phone. Gowalla puts their priority into the iPhone and fails hard with the Android. However, just recently, Android passed iPhone users. Will anything change though because of that? No.

Anyhow, like I said already, there is a lot I can write about Gowalla and will save that for another time. But if Gowalla wants to succeed, they need to start making such easy features more wildly available and ready right away, not months later. It took Gowalla way too long to produce a working Gowalla app, after many failed promises it finally arrived and was dreadful. The mobile site was much better than the first initial releases (before beta). Finally they have a working app for the past 2 months but it lacks many features and design issues that the iPhone clearly does not have.

Initial Snow Leopard thoughts

Well first off, you will notice a speed improvements almost everywhere as well as lots of saved hard drive space. After installing I gained around 18GB of space, yes, AFTER installing Snow Leopard from Leopard.

There are a bunch of “apps” that do not work for me. Most of this is because of InputManagers have been removed by Apple. It will be interesting to see what will happen from this and how, if ever, this applications will work again.

So because of InputManagers being removed, one popular app that no longer will work is PlugSuit aside with aFloat. This allowed me to keep certain applications on top of others no matter what. While I barely use this anymore like I use to for my own reasons. I will be able to live without this I am sure.

iStatMenus also does not work and no update has been released yet even after all this time they had to update it. They are working on an update (2.0) and it is in beta already and should be released in the next few days the developer says.

Chax is another InputManager application that does not work. But do not fear as it is its own app now with iChat inside of it. Chax Alpha 1 is out that gives you bare minimum of the Chax features. A lot that you will miss and have to wait for as the developer has time to code and release updates. [UPDATE] Alpha 2 is out and released more missing features that you may of used that I used such as auto-accepting features and bug fixes to some features that did not work in Alpha 1.

Okay, aside from those applications. I have not really had much of a problem with others or have had a lot of time to check all of what I have. Moving on though, I am absolutely still loving Snow Leopard. Expose got a HUGE upgrade that is 10x better than before. Expose now includes minimized apps and even a better interface than before. You will notice some menus like long clicking dock icons look more iPhone-like too.

Overall, I am impressed with Snow Leopard even if some applications need to be updated or may never work again because of InputManagers being removed. Maybe we will see something different with this in the future from Apple or not. I do recommend the $30 or less upgrade. If you are upgrading from 10.4, you can upgrade to 10.6 from 10.4 so do not cave in and pay the even more increased price and save money by getting the $30 version as they are both the same.

Unresponsive Keyboard and Trackpad on MacBook Pro

Last month I finally fixed the unresponsive Keyboard and Trackpad issue I was having with my MacBook Pro. I was having this problem for a few months already, in January I ended up having to have my keyboard replaced because of a very odd issue that was unrelated to this issue. Hoping maybe to have fixed it, it did not.

Now I originally thought that this was due to an OS X update that came out, I believe 10.5.4. But it was definitely not an issue with any OS X upgrade and is a hardware issue. Apple is aware of this issue too and it is not an issue that comes with all MacBook Pro’s. It should not be with new models either as of 2009, mine is a 2008 model.

The problem with this issue is that you need your top case replaced, the problem lies underneath the trackpad and deals with the ribbon. There is no other way to fix this issue. You may be able to temporary fix it with tape but trust me, just take in the laptop to get it fixed. If you are not under warranty, I still recommend it but you can also buy a new top case yourself to and do it yourself but you might as well just have Apple do it unless you know what you are doing.

How can you prevent the issue from coming back? Well you can not, unless Apple themselves have fixed the issue but probably doubtful. It should not come back but I will suggest taking extra care of your MacBook Pro and trackpad especially. Do not apply too much pressure. If you want to be even more cautious, use a mouse if possible.

Apple: Last MacWorld Expo and no Steve Jobs

This coming January, 2009, will be the last MacWorld Expo Event that Apple throws. Not only that, Steve Jobs will not even be there to attend the show and give us not only the last MacWorld Event, but the last time we see what is going to be coming out that day, next day or coming months.

First off, I understand that Apple is getting much bigger than they were years ago. They have many, many new stores now with more stores to open up. Also the fact that their website is much better and to buy from. So they no longer really need to get out to the world on what is new or going to be coming out and when. Especially with how many blogs there are today and newspapers that report on new Apple products and such.

Now, that being said. I am still sad to hear this is the last MacWorld. I have always enjoyed not only watching it when they come out (I have not watched them all..) but I have always been there to watch live blogger posting pictures and text of what Apple is announcing at the time for them being there. I do not think it would be such a big deal though for them to cancel it, if Steve Jobs would actually be attending the last one. You would only think he would do that for the Apple Fan Base. But I guess not.

Apple Let’s Rock Event – Sept. 09

Today Apple introduced some awesome new or updated of their products or applications at their San Francisco event, Let’s Rock.

iTunes 8.0 was the first update to be introduced. A new feature ‘Genius’ was introduced. Which is just an awesome feature that I can not wait to play with. One part of it, is that it picks similar artists and songs related to what you are listening to that you may like that you do not own. It also will create a playlist for songs similar to what you’re playing that you may love too. I highly suggest checking this out and playing with it yourself! All of this information is sent to Apple anonymous, so there is no need to worry if you were.

Next, new iPod nanos! Yes, Kevin Rose got another thing right too. Not only did he first mention this and later iTunes 8.0 coming on his video rumor. The new iPod nano is very slick. Thank god they learned that no one liked the design they just came out with. They have a very nice design now, sporting a slightly bigger screen, too. New price is $149 for 8GB and $199 for 16GB. You will get 24 hours of music and 4 hours of video, typically. The Genius feature is included as well and can be used by simply pressing and holding the center button.

New in-hear headphones. They ship with 3 earbuds and have 2 drivers each, a subwoofer and tweeter. They will sell for $79.

Updated iPod Touch coming out! It will have the same display but also be even thinner. It will have a contoured stainless steel design (like the new iPod nano). They’ve integrated volume controls to the side now and now comes with a built-in speaker. Steve Jobs even mentions that it was hard for them to do that with the iPod Touch being even thinner now. App Store is now built in and of course, comes with Genius feature that is in iTunes 8.0.

Continuing with the iPod Touch, they enhanced the UI and better artwork on albums. They’ve built-in Nike+ now with the Touch. So the receiver is built-in but you will need the transmitter in your shoe. You will get around 36 hours while listening to music and 6 hours of watching video. The 8GB will sell for $229, 16GB for $299 and 32GB for $399.

iPhone firmware 2.1 was introduced. Steve Jobs says this is a big update and fixes lots of bugs. Fewer dropped calls, big battery life improvements and no crashes with Apps. Backing up is also faster too. This update will be free to all owners this Friday, September 12th, 2009.

That ends what was shown and talked about at this Apple Event minus some additional talking of statistics and such.

Fake Steve Jobs Unmasked

The Fake Steve Jobs has been unmasked. I as others are doing the same, will not reveal who he is. Even though you can easily search Google now or go to another Apple Fan site to find out who he is. Though I will continue to read Fake Steve Jobs if he continues to write, I think it was better that we did not know who he was nor did I care.

iTunes Category and Fix Request

I wish there was a “Videos” Library category. Yes, there is already Movies and TV Shows but I have just Videos that do not fit in either category that I would like to add to my iPod.

I will not resort to creating an ugly playlist for this but for the meantime I am going to have to deal with storing them in Movies.

Also, Apple needs to fix, what I imagine is a bug, “Get Info” from any of the Movies or Videos that I add so I can edit their name and all the other information for the them. It just will not bring up the box when I right click get info.

NOT more iPhone news

iPhone News Articles (from NetNewsWire RSS Reader)
I absolutely LOVE Apple but you can now add me to the list of people that are sick of seeing 50+ news stories on the iPhone daily. The only news I’d rather hear right now is the iPhone working with T-Mobile (US) but even then I would rather wait for the iPhone 2.0 to come out first before I invest.

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