Today was a big day.
I committed to buying a laptop sleeve. The battle came down to memory foam vs. neoprene for protection and I finally bought the Isis Dei 13″ Memory Foam MacBook Sleeve
. Memory Foam? From the Isis Dei website:
Made from the stuff NASA engineers created in the 90’s, memory foam is a high-tech, super shock-absorbant, polyurethane material. Our memory foam sleeves are covered in a knit, polyester fabric and have zippers ¾ around the sides so you can use your laptop while it is sitting in your Isis Cover. In relationship to its bulk, memory foam provides perhaps the best shock protection for your laptop.
The choice was between the Isis Dei and the Case Logic Reversible Neoprene Sleeve
. 
While the Case Logic is appealing for its style and snug fit, it has a one major flaw. The top flap is cute, but makes it impossible to slip your laptop in without pulling the sleeve all the way out of your bag. It also prevents you from safely inserting your laptop while, say, sitting at a table or standing. With normal zippered sleeve, you:
- Unzip to open the sleeve
- Place laptop down inside open sleeve
- Zip closed
In this way the laptop never leaves the safety of whatever it is sitting on. The Case Logic sleeve, in contrast, requires a different type of insertion. I found myself holding the sleeve up in the air with one hand, using my fingers to hold the flap open, and bringing my laptop over in my other hand. I would then grab the corner of the laptop with the hand holding the sleeve (sock puppet style) while i transfered my second hand to the other corner, where it stretched out the sleeve and let the laptop drop down.
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By Steve |
August 19th, 2009 in
Accessories |
No Comments
Scenario: You are listening to streaming music with an app like Pandora when you get a text message. You click reply and go to the Messaging App. But what happened to the music?
The problem lies in how the iPhone OS handles processes (applications). In the default behavior, pressing the Home button closes an application and exits the process. Hence, Pandora can’t play music while you switch applications. There are only a few exemptions to this rule. The iPod app, for example, can continue to play music in the background while you use other apps.
While Apple stubbornly refuses to allow 3rd party applications to run on the background, developer gaizin blesses us with a solution.
His app Backgrounder allows you to send an application to the background without quitting the process. Background Pandora and stream music while you browse the web, get directions in Maps, send texts, anything. Background your favorite twitter app and get live updates. Better yet, background Skype so your friends can ring you for free at any time!
My favorite use for Backgrounder is to send Fstream, my favorite free audio streaming client, to the background so that i can listen while following directions from Maps in my car.
By Steve |
August 17th, 2009 in
iPhone |
2 Comments
Well, we hope that all of you happy iPhone owners out there didn’t try to restore your iPhones today, because if you did, you won’t be using it for the next couple of hours.
After restoring my iPhone today (I was advised to do so by a Genius in order to try and fix a faulty battery meter) iTunes was not able to re-activate my phone with AT&T since “iPhone activations are not currently available due to scheduled AT&T system maintenance.”
The text continues to explain: “We apologize for the inconvenience this causes. To activate your iPhone, please connect it again after 3pm EST Sunday.”
Excuse me, but are you kidding me? For years we’ve been making fun of Microsoft and its rigorous activation policies for Windows and now we’ve become a victim of it ourselves?
Activation in itself always presents an annoyance, but the least AT&T and Apple could do is to make sure that customers don’t ever need to spend hours without a working phone. Activation should NEVER be down for maintenance. A backup has to be in place. Alternatively, the iTunes store should maybe check BEFORE restoring your iPhone if activation is available or not. Afterwards it really doesn’t help much any more.
Either way, this sucks. Bad Apple. Bad AT&T. You’ve really screwed this one up.
Thank you for cutting me out from the world.
By Philipp |
July 15th, 2007 in
iPhone |
36 Comments
I just wanted to congratulate all of you happy iphone owners out there. You did well. We hope you like your little friend as much as we do.
Enjoy!
Ps: of course this entry was written from my iphone. Typing isnt all that bad. 
By Philipp |
June 30th, 2007 in
iPhone |
6 Comments
Here comes an update from TAP correspondent Armen Katchiguian, who’s holding down the line in Sin City:
According to Armen, his line is one of the heavyweights, with a herd fat sweaty nerds 300-400 strong. The store manager has made an appearance stating “I don’t think the people here will go home disappointed,” indicating a large iPhone shipment waiting inside!
Also of note, Armen reports a man offering up to $2,000 dollars for a spot near the front of the line! Expect a detailed report of this later.
By Steve |
June 29th, 2007 in
Apple Inc. |
No Comments
I wonder what could be in those FedEx boxes… iPhones maybe?
By Steve |
June 29th, 2007 in
iPhone |
No Comments
See us and a collection of other streams on our Round-Up Page! And don’t forget to go to our live chat!
Update 11:27pm: We’ve added two more live streams to our page, ZOOOMR TV and SHOOBY on Justin.tv
Got a stream we aren’t covering? Let us know in the comments!
By Steve |
June 28th, 2007 in
iPhone |
2 Comments
As of 6:00pm PST, the entire staff of The Apple Press has taken their place in line for the iPhone.
As long as our batteries and internet connections hold out, keep your eyes glued here for continuous updates throughout the night.
If YOU are currently in line, drop us a note in the comments!
By Steve |
June 28th, 2007 in
Apple Inc. |
1 Comment
Check it out on the Apple iPhone page for yourself!
According to the video, users will be able to activate their iPhones from home using iTunes. Incredibly, you can do everything you could do at the AT&T right inside of iTunes, including:
- Signing up with AT&T
- Choosing a plan
- Getting a credit check
- Number porting!
Even with all the other hype, this seems to be a HUGE deal. I am not aware of any other cellphone provider that allows its users this much independence.
After all, how can a salesman pressure you into buying the insurance when you are sitting on your own couch?
Will this be yet another way that the iPhone changes the way people use cell phones? According to AT&T:
iPhone’s user-driven activation is another example of how AT&T and Apple have partnered to bring innovative new features to our customers,” said Randall Stephenson, chairman and CEO, AT&T. “iPhone’s innovative activation and sync is just one example of how this is going to be a real industry game-changer.
One has to wonder how users will be able to take advantage of discounts and other services provided by AT&T during the home activation. Users must be able to activate in-store as well for this very reason, unless there is no plan to honor any existing deals.
With the amount of thought that has gone into this product and its launch, I’m willing to bet that things will go smoothly on Friday, so long as the monkey handling you at the AT&T store can keep the poop on his side of the cage.
By Steve |
June 26th, 2007 in
iPhone |
1 Comment
Get ‘em while they’re hot folks! Step right up and observe the eighth wonder of the world!
It’s Amazing!
It’s Terrifying!
It’s The Singing Bearded One-Eyed iPhone Pricing Plan!
What? You didn’t think a little showmanship was in order?
After plunking down that fat cashwad for the phone, happy iPhone owners have the privilege of choosing from six different plans, ranging from $59.99 to $219.99.
Every plan includes Visual Voicemail, Unlimited Data and 200 SMS messages. Almost all of the plans include unlimited nights and weekends, with only the cheapest $59.99 plan left out.
See the plans for yourself right here
By Steve |
June 26th, 2007 in
iPhone |
No Comments
