Dear Apple,

You really need to get your game together. 

Apple is a great company, but lately they have been falling behind par. These are some of the main problems with Apple's strategy and how they can be addressed. 

1

 MARKETING

Apple has been being attacked by Microsoft in every way. I can't believe the things that Microsoft has come up with. These new commercials about people picking out new computers and going with a PC because to them Macs are all about "the ascetics" or "there are not enough choices". Apple needs to attack these ads, and play up their reputation as the "fun computer", let people know how much better iTunes is as opposed to Windows Media Player; show the recreational programs that come standard. Show people that they aren't just all about fun too, Macs can run Microsoft Office! They need to launch some new commercials comparing the RAM and speeds of Macs versus PCs, play some Exodus Honey and compare start-up times; do side-by-side tests of internet speeds. Let people know that Windows actually runs better on a Mac

2

 SAME OL' SAME OL'

The people at Apple seem to have a phobia of come coming out with new computers. There are only three models to choose from. Yes, they are all fabulous, but PC users seem to be convinced that there is not enough of a selection. Steve Jobs has a "show the people what they want" attitude that is really getting old. If he can overcome this bad habit of not listening to consumer suggestions, then that is when some major Windows switching will be done. They need to release something that will completely re-define the way Apple is perceived. Just as MP3 players began to get popular, they released the iPod. Now a new fad is catching on, and it needs to be taken by storm. Yes, I'm talking about Net-Books. Apple needs to come out with a super-fast, super-slim touch screen tablet; a hybrid between the Macbook Air and the iPhone. Give it a nice 13" screen and guess what the new computing icon is?

3

 BOGUS HARDWARE, BOGUS PRICING

I can very much understand that Apple computers are perfection on earth, and who can put a price on perfection? I am not going to be another whiny person who lives in a trailer and can’t afford a Mac. Their high prices add to the feel of exclusivity. That’s not what’s wrong here. Having to pay $30 for something like a “Mini Display Port to VGA Adapter”, just to plug into a regular projector or monitor. Why don’t Macs already have that capability? It’s just not practical or cost efficient. Okay, now you need a new charger for your iPhone. First you have to drop $30 dollars for a USB connector, and then you have to spend another $30 for something to plug the USB into to plug into the wall. That’s $60. Or you could pay just $30 for a bar of plastic. Oh my bad, a “dock”. Why do these accessories cost so much when they are just plastic, and made in China by some five-year-old that only makes 50¢ an hour? I guess that’s just the price of owning a Mac.

And that’s just the beginning. People need to stop being blinded by Apple’s glamorous reputation and come back down to earth. I am not saying that they don’t have great products. Microsoft can’t hold a candle to the Leopard OS. Without apple we wouldn’t have all the breakthroughs in technology today, and hats off to you Steve Jobs. Apple has holes too, and they need some polishing until they reach perfection. 

If jail-breaking sounds like a good idea to you, please read this.

I recently watched a few YouTube videos on jail-breaking, and was inspired to do it myself. So I followed an instructional video, and it worked, easy and fast. Having a jail-broken iPhone was exciting and fun; and I could be creative with all the customization options. So I downloaded categories, to hide all my apps, so I could have a clean have a clean home screen. I put all of my apps in categories, but it was too much. There were too many apps! So, categories crashed. The only apps I was left with was Calendar and Notes. So, I restored, only to find that my contacts list was wiped clean.

If jail-breaking sounds fun, it is. I did a lot of fun stuff with Cydia. One day I got fed up with it all; the harder-to-use interface, and artificial layout. My iPhone felt damaged, and I became nostalgic. So I did a full restore, and once again, losing my contacts.                                                                                            

Jail-breaking is  unsafe, and it violates the warranty

jailbreaking?                                                                                                                         Read and follow these steps

Before…

Back Up! Think it over; make sure that jail-breaking is really worth the trouble. Before jail-breaking, make sure you sync your iPhone with a computer! If you never check you email on a computer, and just rely on your iPhone, confirm your login info. Check to see if your contacts and calendars have synced as well, just in case. This is important, don’t be lazy and say nothing bad will happen. Even writing down your contacts if you don’t have many, is a good idea.

 

Lingo…

Winterboard- Perhaps the most important jail-broken application of all. Scroll down to see more.

Springboard- The home screen of your device. It is called a “springboard” because when you switch home-screens, it ‘springs’.

Cydia-An application used to download other jail-broken applications, and themes for Winterboard.

Source-The apps in Cydia don’t just appear, they are downloaded from the internet using your provided sources. Your sources are updated every time you open Cydia. Not all sources provided on websites will work on your device. To add a source, open Cydia. Then click on manage, sources, edit; and press the plus on the upper- left corner. Then type in the website.

iSpazio-A very important source. You could Google iSpazio sources. Be patient when trying to enter these sources! They are crucial!

SSH-The syncing of your device to download a Cydia app, it is hard and confusing. I don’t recommend it.

 

Software…                                   

QuickPwn. There are many choices of jail-breaking software. I had a pleasant experience with QuickPwn, use it. Go to their website and download the software, follow the steps. When using the software make sure you don’t select the “Use pineapple logo upon startup” Make sure that the Cydia box is checked, this is crucial. The Installer app is not that important, it is hard to use, slow, and unreliable.

 

3^rd Party Apps…

Dock is a very cool app, which you can use to clean up your home page, and quickly switch between them. There are sunbursts at the bottom left, and bottom right of the screen that can be used to make the apps expand out of the sunbursts.

Blank Is an invisible application that you could use to shape the applications on your home screen.

DockFlow Is a five icon dock that displays Safari, Text, Phone, Mail, and iPod in a cover flow format (available for iTouch too) the catch: they have to be those apps, in that order.

BiteSMS A free landscape texting application. (Might work on iTouch)

Stack Ever use stacks on a Mac? Well now it’s on iPhone! Just tap the icon and many apps will jump out!

 

Layouts…

**See below to preview layouts

Winterboard Is an essential layouts application; this should be the first thing you download from Cydia. Winterboard is used to manage all your downloaded themes, and widgets. To use Winterboard and select themes, tap the one you want to activate and press the home button. The home screen will freeze up for a few seconds; the springboard is resetting. The lock screen will appear, wait for the clock icon to appear on the upper right-hand corner. Then “Slide to unlock”!

Bez Is a kind of ‘grungy dressed up’ look. It has large icons and a dark color scheme. It is complimented very well by the blank application, creating a minimal home screen.                                                                      

iGlassSol is dark, and shadowy. It has a silver mesh background, which makes them pop, even with the dull colors. If you like Bez, you would like iGlassSol, they are pretty much long lost relatives.

Leopard Theme You can make the iPhone [or iTouch] look like a Mac. Use Blank and Stacks to create an OS 10 feel.

GlasKlart Makes all your icons transparent. So if you have a piece of art or photography that you really want to showcase, but not be obstructed by dense applications, this theme is for you. To make a picture your background, set it as your wallpaper in photos first. Then go to Winterboard and click “edit” then move “user wallpaper” to the very top. Then click “done”, and tap “user wallpaper” and “GlasKlart” press the home button and you’re set.

Rainbow Realize is a beautiful layout! It is minimal and colorful. This is the perfect layout for the artist, or quirky girl. Or if you’re gay.

reText is a very civilized and formal theme. It is so civilized in fact, it is almost boring; but not quite. It has a feeling of luxury and James Bondieness.

Damino has a transparent background, so you can change your wallpaper, and add a whole new feel to your layout. It has all-text icons, just like reText. I applaud this simplistic design.

Adomo to Air

Vista to OS 10

When it comes to mobile computing there was windows; or windows. That was only a few short months ago, now Mac brings something to the mobile table.

Only awhile ago if you wanted a computer for your on-the-go life, you had a selection of windows computers. Most of these computers featured small, cramped keyboards and small, cramped screens. This was once the height of technology, and people were amazed that computers even came this small. The largest mobile computing companies were Sony, and Dell. Sony has many small, slow, and cramped computers to satisfy your craving for technology, when there isn’t enough time to sit down. So why are we still hungry? With all the technological advances; everyone couldn’t stop wondering… why can’t developers come up with something that is mobile, but roomy.

Well, Apple did it. They created the Mac Book Air, it weighs only 3 pounds but has a 13.3” screen. Although it has no super drive, there is one that can be connected through USB, or wirelessly. The only output plugs are an audio jack, one USB port, and a mini DisplayPort; which are hidden behind a hatch. It has a built in AirPort Extreme, Bluetooth, and an iSight Camera. The Air is only .76” at its largest point, and .12” at its thinnest point. This makes it the thinnest notebook in the world. It may be small, but is still amazing. So amazing in fact, that Dell felt that it should launch a competitor.

                And so it did, Dell has constructed a new notebook called the Adamo. Their campaign displays their computer as a luxury notebook. The website clearly states ‘prepare to fall in love’. Not in a biased way, but this is very cheesy. Adamo’s shell can come in ‘pearl’ or ‘onyx’, and has an Intel Centrino with 2 Processor Technology. This notebook is .65” thin, but has a large bulge in the hinge. The screen is 13.4” wide; it seems that Dell is trying to trump everything that the Air has. Mac book air however, has the multi-touch track pad.

                From what you have just read, the aesthetic specs, it appears that the Adamo wins. Well, let’s compare internal specs. The Adamo has 1.2GHz Dual Processor standard; The Air has a 1.6GHz Core Duo Processor standard. The upgraded versions would include 1.4GHz for the Adamo and 1.86GHz for the Air. The speeds include 120GB hard drive standard for the Air, and 128GB solid-state hard drive standard for the Adamo. Upgraded speeds include 128GB solid-state; Air, and still 128GB solid-state for the Adamo. They both feature illuminated keyboards! The Mac Book Air weighs in at 3 pounds, and the Dell weighs 4 pounds; needing a diet.

                So, by now you probably have already made up your mind- but this could be the deal breaker. The standard price of the Adamo is $1,999, while the Mac Book Air is only $1,799! The upgraded prices are $2,699 for the Adamo and $2,499 for the Air. The only difference between the standard and upgraded versions of the Adamo is 2GB and .2GHz. While the Mac’s upgrade brings in only 8GB, which is an upgrade to the solid state drive. These two notebooks are nearly twins. The Adamo seems better, but with the hefty price tag, and Vista it disappoints. The Air is a Mac, it is minimal and most of all; it works! (and it can even run XP or Vista through Boot Camp). These two may be twins, but they are definitely fraternal.   The Dell is luxurious, mysterious, it is Executive Chic, the Mac is refined, intuitive, and it is Rec. Tech.

Little Tricks That Will Ease iPhone Users

1

How to Reset/ Force Quit.

1When your iPhone crashes or locks up, you need to reset it. To do this, hold the sleep/wake button and the home button at the same time for about 10 seconds. When the screen goes black, and the Apple logo appears, like upon start-up, you did it right. 2Sometimes when you get a buggy application, or the app is running very slow/ froze you will need to force quit, saving some time. To force quit simply hold the home button until it closes, and the home screen reappears.

 

2

How to Create FREE Ringtones.

So, you’ve bought a song from iTunes, because it would be a great ringtone, only to find out that you would have to pay extra to create one. Well here is a free alternative, and it is just as good. It even works on songs that wouldn’t usually be compatible to be made into a ringtone, and you don’t need an internet connection to do so!  First, open iTunes. Then, find the song that will be made into a ringtone, and secondary click on it. Click “Create AAC Version”, a second version of your song will appear underneath the previous song in a few seconds. Secondary click on the new song, and select “Get Info”, then click on the “Options” tab.  Select the part of the song you want, and enter the time of start, and end into the boxes. If you want the ringtone to start at the beginning of the song, click in the “Stop Time” box, Command+A> Backspace. The type ‘0:20’, and hit “OK”. Okay, almost done. Secondary click on that edited AAC version song, and click “Show in Finder”. Secondary click on the file and click “Rename”. Change the extension to “.m4r” and click enter. Maximize iTunes, and click on “Ringtones”. Then simply bring up the Finder again, and drag your new ringtone into the box!

 

3

How to Put Your iPod on Sleep.

If you have a habit of falling asleep with your iPod playing, and when you wake up it has taken a toll on iPhone’s battery?  Did you know there was a sleep feature for you iPod? If you don’t, then the reason you don’t is because it cannot be found in the iPod app, it is in Clock. To activate the Sleep, go to “Clock”, and tap timer. Set how long you want the iPod to play before going to sleep, and click “When Timer Ends”. Then select “Sleep iPod” and you’re done!

 

4

ENABLE CAPS LOCK!

Have you ever been trying to type something in total caps? If you have you probably discovered that you’re playing finger twister… and the ‘a’ and ‘s’ keys don’t work. Well there is a solution! To enable Caps Lock, go to the settings app in your home screen (Settings› General› Keyboard› Enable Caps Lock) Now, when the keyboard is up, you can double tap the shift button, and it will turn blue; now caps lock is on! To turn it off simply press it again, and no more finger twister!

 

5

The Home Screen/ Button

1Do you have so many apps, that your home screens are in the double digits? Do you find yourself getting a work-out by scrolling to the left so many times your thumb is going to get carpel tunnel?  Well youre in luck! When you are on any home screen but the Main home screen, just tap the home button once, and you will return. 2 Not only is the home button used to return to the home screen from any app, but it is also a useful shortcut tool. Double-pressing the home button can take you to the iPod, or your Favorite contacts. Customizing the home button is easy. Just go to Settings› General› Home Button; and select iPod, or Phone Favorites. If you don’t want anything to happen when double-tapping the home button, select Home.