Ipod Fanboy - Canada

Apple TV 2.4 software update avialable.

2009-06-25T01:59:00.002-04:00

When I got home today, my apple TV informed me that a new update was available. This new update, version 2.4, was made available. Below is a table summarizing the new features made available in this release. The remote control from iphone is interesting, I played with it and its to use. The updated transport is a good fix, as during playback the clicking right used to accelerate (annoyingly) to a new chapter instead of fast forwarding. I hope to make use of this during the upcoming weekend.

Feature	Summary
Remote app directional control	Control your Apple TV with simple finger gestures via the Remote app. This feature requires Remote 1.3 running on an iPhone or iPod touch with iPhone OS 3.0.
Flickr Search	Search Flickr photo tags to find recently updated photos of interest. Save searches to quickly find new photos or use as a screen saver for Apple TV.
New view options	View movies By Genre, By Movie, or Unwatched. View TV Shows and Podcasts By Date, By Show, or Unwatched.
Updated transport and chapter modes	During video playback, click right or left to fast forward or rewind. Additional clicks increase the speed. Click down to show chapter markers.

blogger hates iphone

2009-06-18T12:54:00.002-04:00

I tried, for fun, to post a new entry via my iphone this morning. the site worked for the most part, but creating a new post was not possible as the text area that edits posts must be something special the iphone can't handle.

iphone 3.0 firmware - updated

2009-06-18T12:51:00.002-04:00

so at last, around 7pm last night, my iphone finally updated. wasn't painful at all once the activation server was available. It download the carrier specific features with no fuss either. i sent an mms message this morning, have searched content and used the under reported shake to shuffle feature that was part of the last ipod nano feature last fall.

since I cant upgrade on htis release, I get to sleep in while all the n00bs get to line up early at rogers tomorrow morning to get the new 3gs.

iPhone 3.0

2009-06-18T12:15:00.000-04:00

activation server unavailable

2009-06-17T17:12:00.002-04:00

So. I went out for the afternnon with my folks who are visiting me from the US to distract me from the iPhone 3.0 release. I got home this afternoon expecting to update my phone. I fired up iTunes and was greeted with the joyous message "iphone 3.0 firmware is availabe"!

Joy!!!

So I confirmed the update and watched it download at highspeed. I clicked ok, to accept the new terms and conditions and watched it unpack. Next thing I know, the sad message "The iPhone cannot be updated at this time because the iPhone activation server is temporarily unavailable".

Dermo!!! No iPhone joy for me!

I tried again and again to install but no joy for me. I will try again after supper, but I suspect this will take until tomorrow to have the traffic jam solved. I hope Apple learns from this and adjusts for Fridays launch of the 3Gs.

iphone 3.0 firmware

2009-06-17T08:13:00.003-04:00

So today is the day. The 3.0 firmware should be out later today. After the huff (including yours truly) over the upgrade pricing for the 3Gs I realize that the 3.0 firmware on my current phone will be a big step forward. It will be interesting to see how well the world wide launch will go.

iphone 3g uses whine about upgrade

2009-06-09T22:51:00.003-04:00

so there is an article over at Gizmodo telling iphone 3G owners to stop whining about the iphone upgrade price. Apparently in the US you could get the iPhone 3G on a 2 year deal. I would love that - but when I got my iphone last year it was 3 years or nothing. I have no qualms with paying the $299 price for the new phone, it's the contract part that frosts my lizard. At this rate, I won't be able to get a new phone without penalty until iphone 5 is released in 2011. This of course assumes that Apple pumps out a new model of these wonder devices each and every year.

no upgrade for iphone 3g users

2009-06-08T23:50:00.002-04:00

So Apple's shiny new iPhone 3Gs ships 19 june in Canada. However, Rogers has stated that there is no upgrade or plan extension possible for existing iPhone 3G users. The upgrade is only possible for persons completing the second year of their contract. well since we only got our phones a year ago, this is just impossible. Unlike our cousins in the US who could had the opportunity to pay a higher price for the phone to get a 2 year contract and thus an upgrade opportunity this year, we are frozen out until next year.

My guess is that the new iPhone will flop in Canada. All the apple fanboys who wanted one, bought one during the frenzy last year. new iphone 3gs contrcts will be incrimental at best - especially with current 3g being $99. I also predict that in another year when we can upgrade, we will take the opportunity to take the "next" iphone.

online order...asif

2008-07-12T21:01:00.002-04:00

so last nite. home. tired. iphone-less. I returned back to my lair. My wife said that she she could order it online. No Way. I would have done that if I knew that it was available. incredibly, I signed onto rogers.com. joy! I can set up a delivery date so that I can get my phone. started the process and when I got ot the new number section the site died with technical difficulties. I hope its fixed soon because chasing the delivery of phones is going to be a huge waste of time.

For the life of my I cannot understand why Rogers and Apple would not take pre-orders or simplify the online delivery process. you get a batch of orders, know what needs to be delivered and minimize the inventory problems. not to mention, I would have been totally happy knowing that my phone that I have waited nearly 2 years to materialize was on its way. sigh

more on the launch day shortage

2008-07-11T12:34:00.000-04:00

seems we arent the only ones getting shorted. http://www.jkontherun.com/2008/07/iphone-3g-day-.html . Somewhat comforting to know that we aren't the only ones.

Shortage as predicted

2008-07-11T12:14:00.002-04:00

Well the shortage was as predicted. The Rogers plus in Kitchener got 24 units total. 6 were 16GB. the Rogers video outlets got 6 units 2 16GB. In the area there are 7 vide stores meaning they got 42 units, and 3 Plus stores receiving 72 units for a grand total of 114 units for a city population 350,00. Scaling that it seems that Canada received just 10,000 launch day units.

And yes, the activation problems are woeful. The first in line customer was still awaiting activation at 11:00am. uh oh.

Ipod 3g getting closer

2008-06-22T13:11:00.002-04:00

I noticed that Rogers took some of the mystery out of what was comming July 11. Previously, we had a comming July 11 monolith. This image has no been replaced with the real iphone images and a link for more information. following that takes you to Apple.Ca, but when you want to buy it, it takes you back to Roggers.com. Inifinite Loop Way, indeed...

Still nothing firm on prices (though I think the $199/$299 are going to be held) and absolutely zero information on the plan, pricing, data. I am scheduled to be off of work on the 11th so that I can camp out the night before. Who knows where it goes from there.

iphone 3g pre-orders. no. supply tight ? likely

2008-06-19T09:16:00.003-04:00

A lot has transpired since my last post. Tv on iTunes. check. Movies on iTunes. Check. Steve Jobs announced iphone 3g. check. Rogers announced that they are the 3g carrier for iphone in Canada. Check.

That's where the enthusiasm winds down. The website shows something comming on July 11. They dont say anything about iphone but its the date that Steve J. gave us at WWDC 2008. I went to the Rogers Plus store to find out more.

Here's what I found out:

Pre-order not possible.
Voice and Data plan information? none.
Plan conversion if you are on an existing constract. none.
They rep wasnt even sure that any of the stores in K/W would get units.

It's 22 days to launch. I am beginning to suspect that there is going to be tight supply. The best way to manage the situation where you dont have them to sell is to make sure the sales team doesnt have information to fuel demand. Couple this with Rogers legendary support and I predict some very very unhappy fan-boys on 11 July.

iPhone priced reduction and customer relations

2007-09-06T20:26:00.000-04:00

I already posted a testament to Apple and its handling of customer care. But in the wake of the rebate offered to existing customers after the price slash yesterday I am floored. Really. That is simply amazing. A great thing to do.

As an early adopter you know you are going to pay the highest price for a new technology. It will get cheaper or do more for the same money a bit later on. We just have to get used to the fact that the pace of change means that is compressed from what used to be a 6months to a year to just a couple of months. At least iPhone buyers got something...

I bought a 46" samsung 1080P LCD TV in early june for just over $2700 on sale. A steal compared to where 1080P sets were at christmas. last month I saw the same unit on for $1900 - ouch! and a view sonic 1080P 46" unit for $1400. I dont care how good a talker you are, a 50% reduction in price for what the wife calls a fancy TV is hard to explain. I see no cheque in the mail for this or anything else I have bought from any other vendor as prices went down in time from DVD players (remember the early ones were $1000) to computers and all the price changes - as CPU's got faster, monitors got bigger, drivers gained capacity I never expected this to to better.

The old Apple, in the dark times between the reigns of Steve, wouldn't have batted and eye or cared no matter how much people whined about the change in price or capability. It shows how much Apple values us as customers. I am sure I will never see a big cheque from Dell or Microsoft....

iTunes 7.4 a refresh for next gen ipods

2007-09-06T09:30:00.000-04:00

With the quiet launch of the video store in the UK last week. I clung to hope upon hope that the release of iTunes 7.4 was finally going to make my iPod video (aka classic) and Apple Tv useful. The hints and signs were there in the summer when somone noticed that there were video ratings settings for UK, Australia and Canada. But alas, as the install completed and I hit the iTunes store there was still no joy in Canada. Alas the release is only to enable features found in the new iPods that will soon fill our 2007 Christmas wish lists.

For Canada and the rest of the world, you can skip this update as there is nothing to see here.

iTunes 7.4 is ready!

2007-09-06T02:47:00.000-04:00

Well I will give Steve Jobs this. if he says iTunes will be out tonight. it will be out tonight. at 2:45 EDT (11:45 PDT) iTunes 7.4 popped up as ready to download. good hunting...

Christmas in September

2007-09-05T22:11:00.000-04:00

Too much iPod news today. His Steveness came down from Cupertino and gave us much iPod goodness today. So much to tell but in short : shuffle got more colours including the socially conscious (Product)^red version. Nano now does video, HD ipods are now known as classic ipods. the iPhone with out the phone is now known as iPod Touch. More on this in another post. oh and you can buy content from iTunes via wifi. very very cool.

iTunes Music Store Customer Service - Brilliant

2007-09-05T20:55:00.000-04:00

Just a note on how great iTunes customer service can be. Usually when you talk with customer service its hell. Customer service for most providers of anything is painful, gutwrenching and filled with dread even before you start because of the impending sense of incompetence and indfference you expect to receive. Not so with iTunes Music Store. Read on.

I was rifling through the store when I realized an artist I liked had their catalog up on iTunes. I looked at the prices. 0.99. DRM! such is life. so I purchased them. The next day I was surfing iTunes Plus and there was the album with the tracks I had purchased the day before. Cool. my paradigm speakers will be much happier with the 256k iTunes plus versions. No Dice. No upgrade available. I confirmed there were both sets available but the store wouldnt upgrade them. So I wrote to customer support asking about the problem. they said the DRM version was owned by one corp and the DRM free ones another. Because of this the store couldnt link and figure out to upgrade them. However, they would refund my account for the purchases so that I could purchase the DRM Free ones instead. they even included a link so that I wouldnt make the same mistake twice?

Are you kidding me???!?! thoughtful and helpful ? They could have told me to spend the $3.39 to buy the DRM free versions in addition to my DRM versions. I am sure Apple spent more than the original $2.97 to process the return, answer the email etc, but this certainly made me an avid customer. For life.

3 billion songs. How bad is your iTunes habbit?

2007-09-05T20:32:00.000-04:00

A while a go. there was a post from Apple saying that the leading iTunes purchaser (a music reviewer) had spent almost $40,000.00 on iTunes. I think I have about $7,000 in so far as I have been averaging about $100/month since the ipod Video (60) became available. A lot of my collection became DRM free when iTunes Plus came out and I upgraded. I realize I might be eccentric (actually I know that I am) but I wonder how many others are actually collecting from iTunes. I haven't been inside an HMV in over 2 years. I wonder how many in the 30+ crowd are in the same boat.

Addicted to Ipod

2007-09-05T20:26:00.001-04:00

Yes. I am addicted to my iPod. My 60 GB iPod Video follows me just about everywhere possible. It survived Hurricane Wilma and has been on 3 continents with me. iTunes is the most used application on my computer. So I thought I would share my thoughts on my favourite toy since for Apple, Canadians using seems to be a forgotten afterthought.

I wonder how long it will be before I get a cease and desist...