In a strange turn of events the UK iTunes Store has updated it's listings for new items a day early. Typically this happens on early on a Tuesday morning. In fact the only time that doesn't happen is when an iTunes related event has been announced by Apple for that Tuesday. On those occasions the iTunes store stays the same until after the announcement has been made and any new features have been announced.
It's probably nothing more than someone decided to flick the switch early for a change... but maybe not.
Monday, 29 September 2008
iPhone apps not working? Your clock settings might be to blame
Have you've noticed some bizarre behaviour with apps on your iPhone recently? Things like odd crashes and passwords not saving? Turns out that the solution might be to change your clock setting from the 12 hour option to 24 hour option.
For the longest time now it hasn't been possible to use the 12 hour clock on the iPhone in the UK. But that all changed with iPhone firmware 2.1. If like me you'd been looking to use the 12 hour clock on your iPhone since launch then you've likely already changed your settings to now make that a reality.
In my situation though I also started to notice strange behaviour with some of my apps, eBay and PayPal to name a couple. They would both crash and the eBay app would flat out refuse to store my password. After becoming increasingly frustrated with this behaviour I decided to do some digging around online to see if there problems were bugs with the latest releases of the apps themselves. That's when I found out that it has to do with clock settings and changing back to a 24 hour clock on the iPhone solves the problem.
Seems like there are one or two developers out there that assumed if they asked the iPhone what time it was it would answer them in a 24 hour format, of course we know that isn't always the case. So at least for the time being, if you want to track your auction on your iPhone you'll have to maintain a 24 hour clock. Let's hope that the developers will sort this bug in their apps out soon, else I will have to quit adding hours on with my fingers and really learn the 24 hour clock.
For the longest time now it hasn't been possible to use the 12 hour clock on the iPhone in the UK. But that all changed with iPhone firmware 2.1. If like me you'd been looking to use the 12 hour clock on your iPhone since launch then you've likely already changed your settings to now make that a reality.
In my situation though I also started to notice strange behaviour with some of my apps, eBay and PayPal to name a couple. They would both crash and the eBay app would flat out refuse to store my password. After becoming increasingly frustrated with this behaviour I decided to do some digging around online to see if there problems were bugs with the latest releases of the apps themselves. That's when I found out that it has to do with clock settings and changing back to a 24 hour clock on the iPhone solves the problem.
Seems like there are one or two developers out there that assumed if they asked the iPhone what time it was it would answer them in a 24 hour format, of course we know that isn't always the case. So at least for the time being, if you want to track your auction on your iPhone you'll have to maintain a 24 hour clock. Let's hope that the developers will sort this bug in their apps out soon, else I will have to quit adding hours on with my fingers and really learn the 24 hour clock.
Saturday, 27 September 2008
Apple's 802.11n Enabler won't install on my MacBook
Since I bought my MacBook on eBay I've had trouble with it not connecting to an 802.11n only network. Initially I thought that purchasing the Airport Extreme 802.11n Enabler from Apple would fix this problem. The problem was it just won't install on my MacBook while running Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, all I get is a message telling me that the volume I want to install to isn't compatible with the enabler.
After a lot of research and doing the obvious checks listed over at the Apple Support pages, I found a Macworld UK article that stated that Apple confirmed to them that the 802.11n Enabler was built-in to Leopard and no longer needed unless someone was still using Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
With this information in hand I contacted AppleCare to further diagnose this issue two weeks ago now. So far they've had me collect a bunch of data from my system and had their engineers go through it. At this point they still do not know what the issue is and are still looking into it. I'll let you know once I hear anything else on this issue, my personal opinion at the moment is that the Airport Extreme board in my laptop is faulty or isn't capable of 802.11n as it should be. I believe it'll come down to replacing this in the end, only time will tell if my diagnosis is correct.
After a lot of research and doing the obvious checks listed over at the Apple Support pages, I found a Macworld UK article that stated that Apple confirmed to them that the 802.11n Enabler was built-in to Leopard and no longer needed unless someone was still using Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.
With this information in hand I contacted AppleCare to further diagnose this issue two weeks ago now. So far they've had me collect a bunch of data from my system and had their engineers go through it. At this point they still do not know what the issue is and are still looking into it. I'll let you know once I hear anything else on this issue, my personal opinion at the moment is that the Airport Extreme board in my laptop is faulty or isn't capable of 802.11n as it should be. I believe it'll come down to replacing this in the end, only time will tell if my diagnosis is correct.
Saturday, 20 September 2008
Ejecting a disc that's stuck in your Mac
Have a CD or DVD stuck in your Macs optical drive that will not eject via normal methods? Just hold down your trackpad or mouse button while powering on or restarting your Mac. This will tell your Mac to eject the disc that's currently in the drive before it starts Mac OS X.
If this doesn't solve your problem then you may have a hardware issue that is preventing the CD or DVD from ejecting, in which case you may need to get a professional to have a look at your Mac.
If this doesn't solve your problem then you may have a hardware issue that is preventing the CD or DVD from ejecting, in which case you may need to get a professional to have a look at your Mac.
Saturday, 13 September 2008
iPhone 2.1 software
Apple have released their iPhone 2.1 software as promised this past Friday. While I haven't had much time spent with it yet there are a few changes I've noticed.
First up is a change in icons for different data types. 3G and EDGE still retain the E and 3G symbols they had before, but now when neither 3G or EDGE is available a small circle appears. Also sporting some changes is the MobileMe mail setup options, before you couldn't set advanced settings for what folders on the server MobileMe accounts used but now you can. Also changed in mail is the ability to setup multiple SMTP servers for outgoing messages and select which ones you want to try sending mail through for each mail account.
That's all I've discovered so far, that wasn't listed as a new feature at least. One problem I did notice though was that after my first restore and then turning on 3G on my iPhone I received no service. I'm in an area that receives no 3G service most of the time but still get a decent signal through non-3G and EDGE methods. To correct this no service issue I had to power off and then power on my iPhone. Once I'd done that I was returned to a full non-3G signal as I had before turning 3G on.
Have you noticed any issues or new features with the 2.1 software? Let me know in the comments.
First up is a change in icons for different data types. 3G and EDGE still retain the E and 3G symbols they had before, but now when neither 3G or EDGE is available a small circle appears. Also sporting some changes is the MobileMe mail setup options, before you couldn't set advanced settings for what folders on the server MobileMe accounts used but now you can. Also changed in mail is the ability to setup multiple SMTP servers for outgoing messages and select which ones you want to try sending mail through for each mail account.
That's all I've discovered so far, that wasn't listed as a new feature at least. One problem I did notice though was that after my first restore and then turning on 3G on my iPhone I received no service. I'm in an area that receives no 3G service most of the time but still get a decent signal through non-3G and EDGE methods. To correct this no service issue I had to power off and then power on my iPhone. Once I'd done that I was returned to a full non-3G signal as I had before turning 3G on.
Have you noticed any issues or new features with the 2.1 software? Let me know in the comments.
Monday, 8 September 2008
Getting things done
I've always been one to put things off, well that's not strictly true, more I've always been one to forget things I'm supposed to do. So that being the case, in the last year I've tried out many different Getting Things Done (GTD) apps on the Mac. Most of these worked for a time but then just became too overwhelming. In fact I always found it easier to return to a notepad and a pen than I ever did using an app.
Since that time the iPhone came along and I've now tried to GTD with it instead of a notepad and paper, after all it's something I always have on me so no matter when I think of something I need to do, I'll always have the means to make a note of it.
Things is a great GTD app. It's simple enough to not overwhelm but powerful enough to still provide all the functionality you could need. So if you too are looking for a good app to help you get things done, iPhone or otherwise, then give it a try. If you've any suggestions for other GTD apps then please let me know in the comments section.
Since that time the iPhone came along and I've now tried to GTD with it instead of a notepad and paper, after all it's something I always have on me so no matter when I think of something I need to do, I'll always have the means to make a note of it.
The first iPhone app that I tried for this is OmniFocus. OmniFocus is what you might call the ultimate GTD application and is available in both Mac and iPhone flavours. While OmniFocus might be fine for a lot of people, I loved it's ability to list things I could do where I was at any given moment on the iPhone, it just was too much for me. I just don't need to categorise my tasks to that fine a level of detail.
So having found that OmniFocus isn't the GTD app of choice for me it was time to try something else. As luck would have it Steven Sande of The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) just did a review of Things which is also available on both the Mac and the iPhone.
Things is a great GTD app. It's simple enough to not overwhelm but powerful enough to still provide all the functionality you could need. So if you too are looking for a good app to help you get things done, iPhone or otherwise, then give it a try. If you've any suggestions for other GTD apps then please let me know in the comments section.
Still a MacBook
I finally found another Mac. This time it's a white MacBook 1.83GHz with 2GB of RAM and a 200GB 7200RPM HDD that I've just installed. Thankfully this MacBook is in a lot better condition than the last. Admittedly I was somewhat concerned about buying again from eBay but this time it was a great buying experience. So much so that I thanked the seller for restoring my faith in buying on eBay.
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