Apple is a major reason the bar is set so high for my scale of good product design. The effect also transfers to any product used alongside Apple products. I am always amazed at the level of craftsmanship that the independent accessory manufacturers aspire to. Case-in-point, Twelve South; who’s motto is: “We’re not just Mac friendly – we’re Mac only.” Not only are they a homegrown company based in Charleston, SC but, everything they create is beautiful. The tradition continues with their latest creation, the ‘Compass‘ mobile iPad stand. A very sleek design while still being quite practical. I love how the stand will accommodate any case you might already be using.
Be sure to drool over the gallery. Added bonus: order now and get free shipping. I have placed my order and will update this post with photos and a review.
This story begins June 15th at 6AM. After months of hype, an orphaned prototype and a keynote that got everyone excited again; I was hooked. Twitter (like always) broke the news that people were pre-ordering Apple’s version of geek crack as early as 5AM EST. I threw down my now lame duck of a 3Gs and fired up the MacBook. Apparently I was not the only one as people descended on Apple and AT&T’s websites like a horde of zombies. Mayhem ensued for twelve hours until AT&T finally tapped out. We all read the same news reports of servers crashing, users data being leaked and the whole experience being written of as FUBAR. Although, selling over 600,000 devices in half a day had to have lifted Apple and AT&T’s spirits.
What was I doing during the chaos? Hopeless trying to get my purchase completed. Once Apple and AT&T stopped taking pre-orders I resorted to a back-up plan: pre-order through Best Buy. I strolled into my local store around six with no fuss or fanfare. Pre-ordered a 32GB and a 16GB iPhone. Walked out with my gift cards and receipts in hand as proof that I would have two beautiful iPhone 4′s under my name come June 24th.
Jump to the following week and Twitter (again) breaks the news that a few lucky SOBs were receiving their pre-orders from Apple a full two days early. There I was stuck with only my Best Buy giftcards to console me since Best Buy could not sale iPhones even if they had them in stock. Dumb. The official release day finally arrive and I make my way to Best Buy. As expected, there was a wait but only for 20 minutes or so. The sales associate, that will remain nameless, informs me that they only held one iPhone for me – get this – since they were confused by two separate transactions under the same name. Its called a family plan. There are two numbers. So I wanted two iPhones. Easy right? Apparently not. So I begrudgingly accepted the error in hopes that my 32GB model would come in soon. Otherwise I would have to try again to order from Apple who had now pushed back new order delivery dates to mid July. Not all was lost though. They had the 16GB for my girlfriend’s number.
Wait. What’s this? Best Buy didn’t inform their sales associated that AT&T had expanded customer eligibility so that anyone with an upgrade date in 2010 could get the iPhone at the full contract discount. You’ve got to be kidding me. The register was asking for $400! At this point I had spent over an hour with this associate and was not getting anywhere. Not knowing what else to do I activated the iPhone under my number to get the $200 price. Then I drove straight over to the AT&T store in hopes that their associates would be aware of their company’s own upgrade policy. The store had a few stragglers from the day’s rush and the employees were worn out. Fortunately Sade was still in an upbeat mood and called me to the customer service counter. I explained the mess Best Buy created and pleaded that she help resolve it. With a frown she dished out the truth. 1. They could not sale any iPhones that were not already reserved. 2. The oh-so-generous upgrade offer was only available to current iPhone owners. My girlfriend had a Blackberry. There I stood. Screwed. Again.
Sensing my frustration Sade offered the only alternative she could. Move my new iPhone of ten minutes over to my girlfriend’s number and order the 32GB I had originally wanted. Not knowing what else to do I agreed. However, the switch was made with another dose of bad news. By giving my upgrade to my girlfriend I would not be able to get an iPhone at full discount until mid August. Also, the associate at Best Buy got rid of my grandfathered unlimited data plan so I am now stuck with the $25 / 2GB per month plan. Damn them!
So the moral of this story? Do NOT buy or pre-order any mobile device from a third party vendor. Go straight to the manufacture. So my apologies to @marccardwell who won’t get my 3Gs just yet and @rybo who was going to use @marccardwell’s old first gen iPhone on T-Mobile. I promise to get those guys the iPhones I promised them as soon as I can find a temporary AT&T phone. [Anyone have one I could borrow for two months?]
The optimist side of me could not let this post be a complete “debbie downer”. Some upsides: I will be able to get a white 32GB and the quality of cases will be far superior to the quick to market models out now that were based off of to-scale images of the iPhone 4.
Some years ago I subscribed to many niche magazines to feed my geek addiction. As time went on I found myself questioning the value of a print subscription when I was reading all the content weeks earlier online. Even my beloved Macworld and MacLife were cut. Then I got my hands on a Kindle, hoping it would revolutionize how and what I read. Well… not quite. While the Kindle gave me the ability to store hundreds of books and magazines it was still restricted to text. For me, reading a post online with video, photos and links made the material much more engaging.
Now fast forward to present day… the beginning of the iPad era. Apple claims their new device will change the way we interact with books, newspapers and magazines. I may be a confirmed fanboy but, I was skeptical of such a promise after my disappointment with the Kindle. That was until I saw the new Wired Magazine app. Today Wired released their iPad app (iTunes, $4.99). To quote a fellow geek, Alex Albrecht – “Ah-Mazing!” This is exactly what I dreamt of: the ability to interact with a magazine in a whole new way. I would actually pay attention to the ads if they had video or something. The possibilities are endless.
Now on to the reason many of you are reading this… the giveaway. To enter your name for the chance to win one of three copies of the new Wired Magazine iPad app follow these simple steps.
If you were able to watch that video and not laugh, something is wrong with you. Seriously. Even zombies laughed at it. I found out about it from Gaming Bolt‘s Jim Girgenti.
You won’t be seeing this version of this commercial for Modern Warfare 2 on television as it has been deemed to dirty for TV. An edited version has been seen running on TV but the only place to catch the unedited version of the ad is right here on the internet. The ad is entitled ‘Everybody’s Doing It’ as you will see why.
The guys at Minimal Mac were kind enough to share my Mac’s desktop setup with the world. I was shocked by the interest. The original Flickr upload got 2,000 views. I thought it would only be fair to share the details of the setup with a few blog posts.
This is the first one where you can download the background image. It is a pattern I found during one of my late night trips through the intranets. Be sure to ’tile’ the image and it will look great on any size monitor. It currently covers my 23″ Cinema Display and helps me keep the desktop organized by making all the scattered items easy to identify. Once a week I make a point to file everything and get back the ‘blank canvas’ look.
Here is the grey texture image for your own use. If your friends ask where you got it, would you be so kind and send them back here? Thanks.
I’m always looking for other cool Mac desktops, wallpaper and full setups. Feel free to add a link to your in the comments.
