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Earlier this summer I found an old CD wallet with some CDs in it I thought I'd lost. And, I can't believe I'm saying this, but as I write this I am letting iTunes rip them in its proprietary AAC file format. The reason why this is so hard to believe, is because I used to insist upon all of my digital music being in MP3 format only, so as to be compatible with any software or device I wanted to play it in.
But I guess things change. As I've gotten older and my life has become more busy, I've simplified. I no longer DJ, nor do I spend hours on end at my computer dubbing my own voice into my favorite sing-along tracks. The truth is, the only way I listen to my own music, that is when I'm not just streaming from Pandora, is on my iPhone or in iTunes. I used to import my MP3s into games like The Sims so that I could listen to them in-game. Now I just mute the game music and play mine in iTunes, so that I can play, pause and skip using the media controls on my keyboard.
Even my most recent music purchases have been from iTunes, and I haven't even bothered to convert them like I used to. So, instead of hunting down the most up to date freeware tool for ripping these found CDs to MP3, I decided to keep it simple and let iTunes do it. If at a later point I decide I need any of the tracks in MP3 format, I can convert them as the need arises.
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It's been a while since I've blogged, and I still don't have the time nor the inspiration for a long post, but here are a few updates.
- The couch. Yes, it has been eleven weeks since we ordered it, and we still don't have it. We'd been getting the runaround, but finally got the truth yesterday: the fabric we chose was temporarily out of stock. We've now been promised that it will be delivered to the store on July 2, and to us the same day if it arrives early enough (the next day if not). If this is not the case, then believe you me, heads will roll.
- iPhone 4. Did you doubt for a second that I'd be getting it? Oh yes, I've suffered the 2G quite long enough. Got my new toy reserved for pickup at the Providence Place Apple Store next Thursday!
- Irony. Irony is finally finding an iPhone case you truly, truly love, one which is made to fit the 2G and 3G/3GS and not the iPhone 4, just weeks before you part ways with that old model phone. It's a false back, made to look like it's the actual back of the phone, complete with shiny metallic Apple logo... and it's purple. It snaps on and off the back of the phone so incredibly easily that you'd never believe it doesn't fall off when you don't want it to - but it doesn't. It doesn't cover the face of the phone at all, making it so much easier to clean the screen without leaving grossness in the corners. It is the perfect case I have been searching for the past two years, and in a week I won't be able to use it anymore. And sadly, the flat edges of the iPhone 4 mean that a case like this will probably not be possible for the new model.
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This blog has been quiet lately, because I've been spending all of my free time working on a new project. It's one of the new web sites I purchased the domains for early last year, but never really found the motivation to start seriously working on. And it's no wonder - this site is more complicated than anything I've ever done before, and the thought of trying to figure out how to do all the things I want to do with it gets overwhelming at times. I'm having a ton of fun learning all of these new tricks, but at the same time I often find myself ripping my hair out (proverbially speaking, of course).
It has even begun to haunt my dreams! Seriously, for the last two nights as I've tried to drift off to sleep, my mind turns to trying to solve the next step in getting this new site functional. It even wakes me up in the middle of the night. None of what's going through my head makes much sense, because I'm barely awake, but my subconscious seems to think it's important, because if I start to fall asleep I'll get one of my weird muscle tics and wake up again. I know these tics are directly related to what I'm thinking about, because if I am able to consciously shift my mind onto something else, they stop. Unfortunately that's sometimes easier said than done. Last night I had an especially difficult time doing so, and slept horribly as a result. 
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For quite some time now it has been my plan to replace my three year old original iPhone model when this year's model comes out. For the past few months Chris and I have been in an ongoing debate, as he has somehow convinced himself that Apple is not releasing a new model this year. I'm not saying I know for a fact that they are, just that there's no way he can know for sure that they're not - especially since it has been their consistent pattern for the past three years to introduce an updated iPhone model every June. It's only April, and Apple has given no indication that they plan to break that pattern this year.
But there's another reason why I think he's wrong. As shown by their continued advertising efforts, Apple would still like to convert more consumers into iPhone users. But someone who is looking to purchase a new phone this year is not going to buy an iPhone 3GS that is already a year old, when there are other newer smartphones out there... like the Motorola Droid and the HTC Hero. Apple would be stupid not to entice those people with a brand new model of iPhone that surpasses these phones in performance.
Either way, once we know for sure one way or the other, I intend to upgrade my phone to the newest iPhone model available, whether it's the 3GS or a brand new 2010 model.
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Ever since YouTube started offering higher quality and high definition versions of some of its videos, I have had a really hard time getting through to them that I always want to see the highest quality version available. As long as you were logged in to your personal YouTube account, you were supposed to be able to go into your account settings and set a preference. There were three choices: 1) always play the low quality version, for those with slow connections, 2) automatically detect the connection speed and play the best quality for the detected speed, or 3) always play the highest quality version, for those who know their connection can handle it. Since their automatic detection was always wrong, always playing low quality videos when I had more than enough bandwidth for the higher quality ones, I kept mine set to the third choice.
Now, it was bad enough that YouTube would "forget" my preference every couple of weeks, switching me back to choice #2 and its erroneous speed detection. But today, when I noticed it was again defaulting me to the low quality versions, I went in to reselect option #3 only to find that they removed it! Now I only have the choice to always see low quality videos, or to always have it mis-detect my connection speed and show me the low quality anyway.
Thanks a lot, YouTube.
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This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Boost Mobile. All opinions are 100% mine.
You all know that I am a die hard iPhone lover. I love its touch screen and on screen keyboard, and the fact that it responds to the lightest touch and I don't have to apply any pressure makes it so much easier for me to use. For some others, though, that's exactly what they hate about it. Some people like having a phone with a physical keyboard and buttons that they can feel and press down on. And some don't like signing the two year AT&T contract that comes with the iPhone. For those people, here's a new alternative.
It's the SANYO Incognito (model number SCP6760), a new smart phone offered by Boost Mobile. The Incognito flips open to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard with actual buttons, and features a 2MP camera with VGA video recording, a music and video player, and enhanced web browsing powered by EVDO 3G broadband technology. It also supports MMS (multimedia messaging), stereo Bluetooth, and is GPS enabled. Boost Mobile offers a $50 monthly unlimited talk, text, and data plan for the Incognito with no contract required. This phone is only $129.99 plus applicable taxes, with free shipping, when purchased through the link in this post.
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Since we got FiOS we've been very happy with both the TV and internet service, but the change must have awoken some dormant problem with my computer, because my connection to our wireless network gradually degraded until I just could not get online at all anymore (even though I was supposedly still connected with excellent signal). Other computers and networked devices in the house were working perfectly, so I knew it was a problem with my computer and not the FiOS service. The more I tried to fix it, the worse it got, so I finally got pissed off enough to pull the trigger on something I'd been contemplating for a while anyway.
I installed Windows 7.
My disgust with the situation did cloud my judgment, and I probably pulled the trigger a bit prematurely. My first mistake was that I did not run the hardware compatibility scanner provided by Microsoft. I was going to, but then decided to skip it, assuming all of my hardware would be supported. That did not turn out to be true. First I was unable to install a driver for my wireless card. Now, since this is what was acting up in the first place, it's entirely possible that the card was just dead. Either way, I have a new one on order. I also realized that my sound card was far too old to have a Windows 7 driver available, but this was not a huge problem since my motherboard has a built in sound card which works just fine. I also forgot to look to see which files and folders I was backing up with my online backup service, so that I could reconfigure it to back up the same data. Fortunately I was able to find this information by browsing the backup through their web site.
So, my haste didn't cause any problems that I wasn't able to fix, at least not so far! My system is up and running, and running very well at that. I'm using a USB wireless adapter until my new card gets here, and I also have some more RAM coming to make it run even better. I'm installing the software I need as I need it, and so far haven't had any problems with that. I am however anticipating needing to find a new graphic editor. I have been very set in my ways, running a quite old version of Paint Shop Pro which I don't expect to be compatible with this version of Windows (not to mention I can't find the install disc). My scalable copy of the confoozled.com logo is saved in PSP format, so I either need something which can read that format or I'll need to convert it to something else using my work computer. (I've already tried the GIMP; though it does read PSP format, it fails attempts to open my logo file.) But I'm not stressing too much about it; if I can't find anything that will open it, it will be a good excuse to design a new logo!
I am, so far, very happy with Windows 7 and its performance even without the extra RAM. I do feel like a fish out of water making the move to this from Windows XP, but I am getting the hang of it. Things work very differently, but I think I like most of the changes they've made.
Hooray for total frustration driving one to do what should have been done a long time ago!
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Okay, so I'll weigh in on the iPad. I wasn't one of those people who went into the announcement with my mind already made up to hate it and to hurl insults at those who don't, but in the end I was less than impressed. In terms of functionality it isn't much better than an iPhone or iPod Touch, except for the bigger screen size. However, I feel you can get that screen size along with much better functionality, for about half the price, with a netbook. The iPad seems to me more like an iPod/Kindle hybrid than a "tablet" - when I hear "tablet" I expect it to behave more like a computer, but this thing doesn't even multitask. If you don't already have an iPod Touch (or iPhone) and/or a Kindle and have been thinking about getting one, this may be the product for you. But it's not for me.
That said, here are some of the tech products I am lusting after these days.
Netbook
I like being able to surf the web and get a little work done from the comfort of the couch. My iPhone makes this possible some of the time, but its small screen and lack of Flash support makes viewing certain web sites impossible. Not to mention that no multitasking means a lot of waiting for apps to launch, close, and relaunch. My initial interest in the iPad was as a solution to this, but since they chose not to address the multitasking issue, and it still might not support Flash (the answer to this question being unclear right now), and given the price tag, a netbook still seems to be the right option for me. Here are a few models I'm interested in.
Digital Photo Frame
I live far away from my family, and have several siblings, not to mention nieces and nephews who are growing and changing every day. I have a few picture frames on my desk at work, but there's not enough room for everyone, and the pictures I have in them are really out of date. A digital frame would solve all of my problems. One frame to cycle through photos of everyone I want to keep close, and easy to keep up to date as my family members send me new photos, even when they are too low resolution to print - not to mention not having to struggle with opening and closing stubborn frames. I'm currently looking at these two models.
RAM Upgrade
I want to upgrade my desktop PC to Windows 7, and in order for it to run well I need more RAM. Need I say more?
LCD HDTV + TiVo HD
I'm getting tired of the dinosaur TV set we have in the bedroom, not to mention the creaking sounds I hear sometimes make me think it's going to one day fall through the top of my dresser! We use the old Series 2 TiVo in the bedroom as an overflow for when we have three shows to record at the same time, but we've definitely become spoiled by HD and hate watching those recordings in boring old standard definition. We don't have the money right now, but an HD upgrade for the bedroom is definitely on the wish list.
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I'm again amused by how things change in just a few short years. Here are some more examples!
Almost exactly three years ago, I posted a blog survey that was geared toward us geeky types. Rereading it today, I laughed out loud at the first question and my answer.
- Did you not only sigh the biggest sigh of relief ever once you saw that Apple had introduced the iPhone, but you also thought it was totally the coolest phone ever? More like rolled my eyes. Yet another gadget that Chris will insist he must have, but will never use (like his iPod).
One part of my prediction came true: Chris had to have one. But that's the only thing I was right about. Not only is the thing glued to his hand, but so is mine to my hand!
Here's another item from the same quiz that I thought was interesting... and timely.
- Did you tell your Broadband ISP to take their Cable Modem and shove it and go buy your own (a real one!)? Yup, and eventually we'll be telling them to take their whole service and shove it when Verizon's FiOS becomes available in our neighborhood.
Finally, three years and one day after writing that, this Saturday, it's happening. We're getting FiOS. I am so excited, and can't wait to tell Cox Cable "goodbye and good riddance!"
Also about three years ago, I participated in Friday's Feast, a weekly five question meme - each question a "course" in a five course meal - which sadly doesn't appear to be around anymore.
- Appetizer
Which television shows do you just refuse to miss?
Well I can't give you my entire Season Pass list off of my TiVo, so let's see if I can narrow it down to just the ones that I will insist on watching again if I fall asleep. 24, House, ER, Heroes, The Office, Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Jericho, Brothers & Sisters, Grey's Anatomy, and Lost.
All of those shows remain on the "can't miss" list, with exception of a couple which have been canceled. But now, I can show you the entire TiVo list, because just last night I took twenty photos to document the entire list just in case we have to rebuild it after the FiOS switch on Saturday. Now, I don't watch all of these shows: some are Chris' shows and some are just filler material we keep a couple of episodes of for those times when there is nothing else to watch. I'll leave it to you to figure out what's what.
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It's kind of fun to dig back in my blog and see how things have changed over time. For example, this meme I did about five years ago, where one is supposed to go through the alphabet and see what comes up first in their web browser's auto complete list for each letter. I don't even remember some of those sites! (And many of them no longer exist.)
Not only have my web browsing habits changed drastically in five years' time, so has the way auto complete works in modern browsers. Here's today's list.
- A: American Greetings
- B: online banking for the bank where my accounts reside
- C: online banking for the bank where Chris' accounts reside
- D: my DailyBurn nutrition log
- E: Ebates
- F: Facebook
- G: Joe's Goals
I use this site to keep track of how many days I have succeeded in staying under my daily calorie limit. It hasn't been used much lately.
- H: Holey Donuts
Don't worry, these are low fat, low calorie donuts. Expensive, but delicious. You'd never know they were diet friendly.
- I: Instapaper
A tool for temporarily saving web pages you want to come back to later. I always forget to go back.
- J: Rhode Island Holiday Tweetup 2009 (#jollytweetup)
An event I went to in December to meet some of my nearby Twitter friends.
- K: an accounts payable spreadsheet on my work Google Docs account
- L: Logical Media
This is one of the affiliate networks I belong to.
- M: my Movable Type dashboard
- N: Netflix
This might not stay on the list much longer, considering their poor decision to make a deal with one of the major movie studios to refrain from renting that studio's DVDs for the first twenty-eight days after release. The studio thinks this is going to make people buy the DVD instead of renting it. They are going to find out that they are sadly mistaken.
- O: Outbrain
The power behind the little star rating widget you see at the bottom of every confoozled.com post. Which, by the way, I wish people would use more!
- P: the same spreadsheet triggered by K
- Q: a budgeting spreadsheet on my personal Google Docs account
- R: Google Reader
- S: SwagBucks' shopping page
- T: Twitter
- U: the administration site for my employer's healthcare plan
- V: Google Voice
- W: the login page to pay Chris' car payment
- X: that accounts payable spreadsheet again
- Y: YouTube
- Z: Zenbe Lists
A list making site where I make up our shopping and chore lists, which can be synchronized to both of our iPhones.
Want to play along? Post your list to your own blog, Facebook (be sure to tag me), or here in the comments (if you include links it might get snagged by the spam filter, but be patient and I will rescue it). If the result for any particular letter is private, obviously don't post a link, but at least give a vague description of what it is, like I did for a few of mine.
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Mondays can go jump off a cliff. Especially the ones that follow a long weekend.
Today's misery aside, I had a pretty awesome Christmas. I totaled up $330 in cash and gift cards toward my new camera - the one thing I wanted this year. I went Saturday and got a Canon Powershot SD980. It's a sweet little camera. It's a member of Canon's "Digital ELPH" series, super compact for what it does, but not too small for me like many of these cameras tend to be. 12.1 megapixels, touch widescreen, and shoots HD video.
One of the main reasons I wanted a new camera was so I could use a gift I got last Christmas from my sister Dana: my 2GB Eye-Fi SD memory card. This thing is awesome. It's wi-fi enabled, and uploads your photos to your computer wirelessly as soon as you power your camera on within range of your wireless home network (or wherever you choose to set up the software). For a $10/year subscription, it will also automatically upload to any photo sharing web sites you choose out of the thirty or so that are available (this is a free feature with the more expensive versions of the card). With Eye-Fi I will almost never need to fiddle with manually connecting the camera to my computer, unless I need to upload video (something else the more expensive cards do but this one does not).
Apart from the camera, Santa also brought me some clothes, the "World Adventures" expansion for The Sims 3, and Wii Fit Plus (just the software as I already own a balance board). Chris got a TomTom GPS and a Griffin PowerDock 2 (a dual charging dock for both of our iPhones), clothes, cologne, and lots of underwear. His parents gave us some money to put toward a new couch at some point in 2010, and our crazy friends Joe and Sandra got us a toaster oven.
Even Brooskey and Vixen made out. Brooskey got a new bed from us, and two new toys from Auntie Dana and Nana (Chris' mom). We got Vixen a soft, plush blanket to cuddle up in, Dana sent her a pretty pink coat/harness, and Nana got her a rawhide bone almost as big as she is - just the size she likes them.
I hope Santa was as good to you as he was to us! What was the best gift you received this year?
(FTC Disclosure: Product links are affiliate links which will generate a commission payment to me if purchases are made through them. My opinions on these products are not influenced by this compensation.)
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You might know that the one main thing I am wishing for this Christmas is a new digital camera that will be easy for me to use and shoot good, quality video with clear sound (the feature that is most lacking in my current compact camera). After all, I've got to work on that winning entry to America's Funniest Home Videos! 
Well, maybe I can win a new camera! For the Love of 2 Cents is hosting a giveaway, sponsored by Samsung Imaging, of one of Samsung's new dual touchscreen cameras. Though the shutter button is still a physical button on top of the camera, all of the other controls have been moved to a highly responsive touchscreen like the one on the iPhone. Getting rid of all of those tiny buttons would sure make my life easier. The second screen on the front of the camera helps frame self portraits, displays a countdown for timer shots, and can even display colorful images designed to hold a small child's attention so you can catch them looking at the camera. That's helpful to just about anyone. And the camera shoots high definition video at 720p resolution and 30 frames per second.
I'm generating as many entries into this drawing as I can - wish me luck!
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Drama of the Week: I woke up Monday morning to find a gray stripe down the left side of my iPhone screen, along with some squiggly gray lines at the top. I rebooted and reset it, but the rogue pixels would not go away. It had been just fine when I had used it before going to bed Sunday night, and now it was not.
A friend who works for Apple told me it was likely my LCD was torn and I just needed the screen replaced. The problem: this was a first generation (2G) iPhone, and they don't do screen replacements for them. I've been avoiding buying a newer model, even though I could get a refurbished 3G for just $49, because I want to be able to buy next year's model at upgrade pricing when it comes out. Buying an upgrade now would lock me out of doing so again for eighteen months (unless I want to pay full price - i.e. my first born).
Big sister Dana to the rescue! It seems my timing could not have been better. She had passed her original 2G along to my brother-in-law when she got her 3G last Christmas, and it just so happens that he just upgraded himself... so now that phone is in the hands of its third owner - me! I found it on my doorstep when I got home last night, and promptly began the activation and data transfer process. Now I'm back in business; everything transferred perfectly and it's like the same phone, except the screen isn't borked. Here's to keeping our fingers crossed that this one holds out until the 2010 iPhone release!
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She builds a URL shortening engine, of course.
It's not something that I really needed to do. I just wanted to. It's what I've been doing to relax during my free time for the past week or so. Writing HTML, CSS and PHP code, and learning all sorts of web server tricks to make things work the way I want them to, is my way of zoning out.
And hey, now I don't need to worry about my shortened and encrypted links disappearing when other URL shorteners experience database failure or go out of business. As long as I have any web sites online, I'll have foozUs. It only cost me a couple of bucks for the domain name, and my existing web hosting account allows for up to ten additional domains at no extra charge.
Ahh. That was fun.
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As you begin your online holiday shopping, I hope you'll remember to support your favorite bloggers and purchase through their affiliate links whenever possible. For confoozled.com, you can shop my affiliate mall. There are not a lot of stores listed yet, but if you're looking for a specific store you can always let me know and I will find and apply for their affiliate program. You can also sign up to receive e-mail when I add new stores, and optionally, when stores I'm affiliated with have special deals and coupons available.
And speaking of coupons, here are a couple of codes for AccessoryGeeks, which is a great place to get stocking stuffers for the gadget freak in your family. Enter coupon code AGEEK1010 at checkout to get 10% off your order of $10, or use AGEEK1050 to get $10 off of $50. Hurry, these coupons are only good through October 31!
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I got a few suggestions over the weekend on how to fix my Adobe AIR problem, but nothing worked. So, I took the plunge and created a new administrator account for myself and began the long process of moving all of my settings, files, etc. from the old account to the new. And in that process, I finally found the real cause of the problem.
I should have been more diligent in my troubleshooting. It would have saved me a lot of unnecessary work. Well, the troubleshooting itself would have been a lot of work, but it's work I ended up having to do anyway even after the account migration, so... well, you get the point. I was just so frustrated and impatient that I made some mistakes. When I used Process Explorer to compare the running processes on the two existing accounts, it was after I had already closed some applications I had believed most likely to be causing a conflict. I mistakenly assumed that these applications, once closed, could not continue to affect AIR, so when it still crashed after closing them, I ruled them out.
It wasn't until the very last step of moving to my new administrator account, copying all of my startup applications, that I realized one of these applications had to be the problem - because AIR started crashing again. So, I removed all five programs from my startup, then added them back in one by one, testing AIR, rebooting and testing AIR again, in between each one. It was the fourth one that caused the crashes to come back.
The fourth application was IndieVolume.
I should have known. IndieVolume has been the cause of nearly every mysterious software problem I have ever had for as long as I have been using it. That's not a testimonial against IndieVolume; its author is usually very good about fixing these obscure conflicts quickly once they are brought to his attention. There's just no way for him to test every possible combination of software people might be running, and the nature of his product and what it's designed to do is something that some other programs just might not like very much. (IndieVolume is used to control the volume of sounds produced by each application individually, so that for example you can set instant message alerts to a barely audible level without affecting your music or other more important alerts... or mute applications which have a nasty habit of playing unwanted sounds without the option to turn them off.)
I have sent an e-mail off to IndieVolume's author describing the problem and included a copy of one of the crashes from my event log. Hopefully he will get it fixed soon, and in the meantime I am doing my best to get along without IndieVolume, because after much painful deliberation (yeah, not really) I decided the AIR apps I wanted to run were more important.
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I have been lusting after a laptop for quite a while. Besides being completely unable to justify the cost in the current economy, I have one very specific requirement for any laptop I purchase, something which is extremely difficult to find, making it even less likely that I will buy one any time in the near future. Because of my limited reach, laptops which have a 4"-5" gap in front of the keyboard to accommodate a touchpad are extremely difficult for me to type on. Adding to that the fact that I hate touchpads with a passion, if I ever spend money on a laptop it will be one without a touchpad (I would simply use a wireless mouse instead).
 But... if the laptop were free, I would take whatever I could get! I would either learn to live with it, considering that it didn't cost me anything, or I would sell it and use the money to get something that works better for me. And so, yet again I have to wipe away a tear for the fact that the awesomely generous Charter Communications does not service the area I live in, making me ineligible to enter their Laptop-a-Day Sweepstakes. A while back they gave away one high definition television a day to customers who purchased a new Charter service; now, those who sign up for a new service between July 15 and September 15 could win a 15" HP 550 Notebook and a NeoTec Compu Backpack to carry it in.
In addition to entry in the sweepstakes, your service subscription will come with a free gift card to your choice of participating merchants, ranging from $25 to $100 depending on how many services you purchase ($25 for one, $75 for two, or $100 for three).
Be sure to visit Charter on Facebook and/or follow Charter on Twitter!
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For the last two days I have been trying to solve a software problem on my PC at work that has me tearing my hair out. It's just weird, and I'm running out of ideas to fix it.
It all started when I tried to install an application that runs on the Adobe AIR runtime. I couldn't get the application to install, as the AIR application installer would crash every time I tried. I decided to try uninstalling and reinstalling AIR itself, but I couldn't do that either, as AIR's own installer would crash on all attempts both to uninstall and to reinstall on top of the existing installation.
I next attempted to uninstall AIR in safe mode. While it doesn't crash in safe mode, the uninstall still fails, producing the log below. Maybe an Adobe guru can interpret this, but to me it's useless.
UI SWF load is complete
starting uninstall
Beginning install
Uninstalling product w/ GUID {A2BCA9F1-566C-4805-97D1-7FDC93386723}
Error occurred; beginning rollback: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="1601" errorID=0]
Rollback due to error complete
error during install: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="1601" errorID=0]
runtime install entering error state: [ErrorEvent type="error" bubbles=false cancelable=false eventPhase=2 text="1601" errorID=0]
begin quitting
It occurred to me to try running an AIR application on the other Windows (XP) administrator account on the machine. Lo and behold, it worked! I installed the application I had originally wanted to install, and it installed and ran just fine. Switching back to my account and trying to run the app just produced more crashing - all occurring in AdobeAIR.dll just as the installer crashes did. I tried reinstalling AIR, uninstalling and reinstalling again, from the other account where such tasks actually complete successfully, but it still will not function on my own account at all.
Thinking maybe there was a conflict with something I was running on my account, I used Process Explorer to compare the processes running on each account. They are identical. I again confirmed, with the same processes running on both accounts, that AIR functions on one but not the other.
I know I could probably solve this whole problem by moving to a new administrator account. But that would be a huge pain in the rear, since in this small office my computer also functions as a server for the printer/scanner, QuickBooks, our external backup drive, and a ton of shared files. And it wouldn't be so much a solution as a band-aid, really. I want to know what is wrong, and fix it! If what is wrong is that my account is hopelessly corrupted, and a new account is the only solution, then that's fine - it happens. But I want to be sure that is the problem before taking such a drastic measure.
Is there anyone out there in Bloggyland that can help me?
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A couple of weeks ago I entered to win a free year of MozyHome unlimited online backup. And guess what - I won! As far as I can recall, this is the first time I have ever won a blog giveaway, at least the "grand prize", and what a cool one to win! I'm so excited to get home and get all of my precious files backed up.
By the way, the giveaway was sponsored by Offers.com - check them out for more free stuff and lots of other money-saving deals.
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My friend Adam, a new iPhone owner (yay! welcome to the dark side!), asked me what apps I recommend, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to share my favorites with everyone. These are in no particular order, other than useful apps first, followed by games.
Evernote - FREE
I use this in place of the built-in Notes app. It lets you create text, photo, and voice notes, and syncs them up with an online account which is also accessible via your web browser or their desktop client.
AccuWeather - FREE
This is my replacement for the built-in Weather app. Store as many cities as you want, and you can use location services (or GPS) to have it automatically pull up the weather for your current location. In addition to current conditions, it gives daily forecasts fifteen days out, as well as hourly forecasts for the next fifteen hours, severe weather alerts, an animated radar map, and video forecasts. I find their info to be more accurate than the conditions and forecasts provided by Yahoo! to the built-in app.
Air Sharing - $4.99
This was free when I downloaded it, but I think it's well worth the five bucks they want for it now. Basically it turns your iPhone into a wireless flash drive you can mount to any Mac, Windows or Linux PC via Wi-Fi. Great for those of us who have difficulty plugging in a USB flash drive. It also views many document types right on the iPhone. There's also a pro version for $9.99 which has the added ability to e-mail files and print them to a network printer directly from the iPhone.
Lose It! - FREE
The app I use to track my calorie intake and weight loss. My review of this app continues to be one of the most popular posts on confoozled.com.
DVR Remote - $2.99
TiVo Series 3 DVRs have a feature whereby they can be controlled directly over a home network. With that feature enabled on the DVR, and your iPhone connected to the same network over Wi-Fi, this app turns your iPhone into a remote control for your TiVo. It's somewhat of a novelty, but the real usefulness comes in two other features. On TiVo text entry screens, such as when searching for programs, instead of using the remote to manually move from letter to letter, you can type the text you want to enter on the iPhone, press go and it very quickly sends all of the commands to enter the text for you. It's a sanity saver, plus pretty funny to watch the cursor fly around the screen while hearing the rapid "boop-boop-boop-badoop" coming from the TiVo. The other useful feature is the ability to pull up your Now Playing List (the list of recorded programs) on the iPhone screen without turning on the TV (or interrupting the currently playing program) to see if you have anything to watch.
MailPhotos - $0.99
When you e-mail a photo from the iPhone's camera roll, it is resized to 800x600 pixels. But with this app, you can not only e-mail a photo in any resolution from 320x240 up to full size 1600x1200*, you can even attach multiple photos to the same e-mail message. (*It does not yet support the new, higher full size resolution of the iPhone 3GS. I'm sure that will be fixed soon.)
Midomi - $4.99
Identify songs either by holding the iPhone close to a speaker playing the song, or by simply singing or humming the melody. Hear a preview clip to make sure you have the right song, buy it from iTunes right away, share it with a friend, or bookmark it for later. You can also search for songs by speaking the artist or song title, or by traditional typing.
HP iPrint Photo - FREE
If you have an HP printer on your network, you can print your iPhone's photos directly over Wi-Fi without using a computer. It prints 4"x6" and you will lose a little bit off the long edges of the photo. Printers with a 4"x6" photo tray will select that automatically.
MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition - $4.99
Okay, so it's been modernized (monetary values have all been multiplied by 1,000) and the properties are locations all over the world. Monopoly purists bitch about this. I say, "Who cares?" The gameplay is the same. Play with friends over Wi-Fi, or solo against the AI (be prepared: the AI does cheat, but this has been true of every computer version of Monopoly I have ever played).
UNO - $4.99
Great rendition of the classic card game. Customizable with all kinds of rule variations which can make for an absolutely crazy game. Play solo against AI, locally over Wi-Fi, or on the internet.
Phase 10 - $2.99
Another highly addictive, UNO-like card game. This game is to Rummy what UNO is to Crazy Eights. Unfortunately no multiplayer functionality to this one - you're stuck playing against three AI players and can't even choose your character. I still love the game, though, and hope they will fix those complaints at some point.
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