Whykay's happenings

Apple labelled apples

A Japanese apple grower manage to create apple logos on his apples using stickers to block out the sunlight before they matured.

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(Source: Macworld)

Come on, Apple delivery!

Gaaaaah! Where is my MacBook?!?!? At least I am not the only one who is waiting. My MB only had 1 change, I bumped it up to 2G of RAM, that's it. And I also included an ipod (latest one) with it. The shipement is now two parts! According to my delivery status, both shipped 27th and 29th respectively, and delivery date is 11th/12th October. WTF!

And the only status the last 2 and a bit weeks was "Merge in Transit GB", which means that all 2 parts of it are on its way to a central UK depot before being bundled together and shipped out to little ole Ireland to me (my hubbie, as he is the recipient in place of me).

Maybe it's the Golden Week and typhoons in China that are causing this length delay. 11/12th Oct is the latest delivery date, and I was hoping to get both in a week or so.

I have 2 friends, one ordered an iTouch and got it in a week, another orders a MB with no changes and got hers with the new iPod Nano in just a week. Oh, just remembered, another friend (classmate) just got updates on her MBP delivery!!! Gah! This is SOOO not fair.

Google docs damn frustrating to use on my PB

All I am doing is trying to load up a spreadsheet and do some stuff for my up and coming wedding. I find it really frustrating that my PB is chugging, even with a gig mem on it. Then scrolling is bothersome, and the scrolly bar looks arseways onscreen. Of course, this all works fine on Windoze. Come on, even doing a select just have lines appearing instead of highlighting the fields. So half the time I don't know if the cells are selected or not. This happens on the latest version of Camino and less so on Firefox (but it still happens). What's worse, it freezes my browser window. Argh! \\\(;*A*)///

I was excited about Google Docs, espec with the fact of collaborating with folks, and sharing with others to view it. But I just wish it works properly on the Mac.

Ugh, the problem with...

... reading IRC entries is that you miss out the whole picture, when it's in regards to the keynote speech on Tuesday. I made a mistake that I thought the iPod and iPhone were 2 different things. How silly was I? For shame, ay? Of course, the iPhone is an iPod as well. Doh!

Apple then, Apple today

Hasn't Apple come along way since it announced its deal with M$.

But I have never heard booing like that from an tech crowd in such a venue before. The distaste, especially the bald guy shaking his head in disbelief near the end of the clip.

But today, what about today? For all macheads, it was the keynote speech today. I manage to miss it because I had a wedding dress fitting at that time! But I was getting SMS updates from a friend of mine (Thanks, Tom!).

Just did a quick rundown the IRC updates:

• Apple TV - Oooh, super sweet!
• Widescreen ipod with touch controls
• New mobile phone, the anticipate iPhone
• breakthrough internet communications device - need to find out more about this, only scanning through things really quickly (Update : see this)

More info, see all the links to the keynotes here.

Best reference with good pics is from Engadget.

No boom for me, fingers crx'd

Ok, finally got around to the battery exchange program to get my battery sent back, and hopefully get a new one that is not botched. From all the Dell's blowing up, Apple's battery recalls, LAX Thinkpad scare to the most recent Dell blowing up in Yahoo causing an evacuation, it really scared me. At least the one in my PB is my fiancé's one. His old PB is not used anymore (quite worn down at this stage), plus his spiffy MBP has all his attentions.

Apple delights

So, entertaining as it was to run back and forth to see what was happening in the keynote update on the IRC on Mick's MBP, with intervals of excited outburst from Mick when I am in the kitchen... Apple just released one heck of a monster. Plus a recovery feature called Time Machine. And Spaces... something that I missed coming from Linux/Unix background. And tabs in ichat, woohoo! Now it's more usable. Don't really care about fancy looking email messages. Create your own DB widgets, sweet. But since Apple welcomes folks to upload their widgets, imagine how many there would be on top of the 25,000 that are already there! Heh, tis sweet though. And their 30" display's price has been slightly reduced.... hmmm... so tempting.

Pimp my pod and top 30 oopsees by Mac N00bs.

Pimp my iPod.

Been meaning to put this up for ages, top 30 mistakes made by n00b Mac users".

MBP review

That's Mac Book Pro to you if you did not know. That's what my friend at work keeps referring to. He's just so silly and broke and still wants one! Well, I came across this review of the MPB.
It's a good newbie guide if you never used a Powerbook before. Most features stem from the Powerbook design. But it's so much nicer now. But what I liked about the article was the 2nd pargraph of the 1st page of the article...

I immediately called my local Apple store who was very trivial with giving me a true answer until I asked them for the 2GHz Intel Core Duo MacBook Pro. Once I asked for that specific model he told me, "Sir I have only received one MacBook Pro and the one you are asking for is the model we have". I immediatelty jumped into my car and drove (a little fast) to the Apple store [...]

A little fast... teehee.

Jumping apples on high!

Just look at this guy's setup ... it is so sweet! Someone's loaded.

Little Gamers and da Mac

Heh, I like this strip from Little Gamers. Ha! Folks tried to spec up the Dell Dual Core machines to compare to the Mac Book Pro to get an excuse not to buy it! Macs are soo expensive, but hang on... Mick also specced the Dell, and on par with Mac Book Pro, it's only minutely cheaper! So much for that.

Oh and check this tune buckle out! What will they think of next... ok.. maybe this (that is just ridiculous).

iPod and Levi's

You know when Levi's are really in trouble (well, if you did not, where have you been in the last decade!?!). They have announced on Tuesday an iPod ready jeans called Levi’s® RedWire™ DLX Jeans and don't try to google for it (well tonight anyway, got some dodgey link as its first hit!). And there are no images at the writing of this blog.

It's just so funny seeing this after camping at the macrumours refresh page to see what Job's has to say in his keynote at Macworld. I have to say, it was a nailbiting moment up to the point he confirmed the end of Powerbooks, and the beginning of Macbook Pro (dual core intel macs!). OMG, I have to say.. not to the machine, but what if my fiancé finds out.. well, I had to text him as he was enroute to meet up with friends. I was also providing scissor assistance to a collegue of mine who had his VISA sitting on his keyboard! I kid you not, boys will be boys. But the hold back, after the initial rush of oo-soo-shiney-and-fast-machine thoughts , the price. And in paying for it, will it be as good or hold true to its promises. That means experience of another person. Hmm, a bit of a wait this.

All I am hoping that The Apple Store around Dallas does not have any in stock, Mick is heading over to PyCon! Is there a beyond melting point to a credit cards? Probably my pair of scissors.

More
* And an article from Reuters)

Update

I see that Gabe and Tycho from Penny Arcade cannot resist the MacBook Pro. And I like Gabe's thinking, will WoW run on this?

Sometimes, I just don't know

Lunch with collegues who brought up the subject of their hatred of macs. Apparently of years of discussion. I never used Mac OS earlier than Mac OS 10, so all I know that Mac OS 9 was crud. It was so awful, that Apple developers threw it out the window to develop a completely new OS. And in-keeping with their fabulous look and feel, and really good usability platform. I don't find many issues with it. UNIX is on it, so I am comfy enough with that.

So it could be forgiven that lots of ye oldie tech heads who used Mac OS9 hated it, but have they even considered trying out the Mac OS X before their torrent of hatred directs smack into my newbie Mac face? (But they stopped it very early on, or else lunch would have been long.. for me.. since I as I said before, I am a n00b).

So... as I said. Sometimes, I just don't know.

Etcha-PB

Some laser-etching on a PB. That really looks good. But I still like mine as it is... no matter how much I want to put a cute sticker on it!

Just an update on the nano

My bro received it this morning. 5 working biz days, on the dot! Engraved and all.

Nano, nano, where are you? 2

15 Sep 2005 17:21 Arnhem Hub Consignment Received At Transit Point
15 Sep 2005 17:19 Arnhem Hub Consignment Passed Through Transit Point
Tis the weekend, so will get it on Monday! Although I have 2 friends who have got it from shops last week since I ordered.

Nano, nano, where are you?

14 Sep 2005 15:46 Hong Kong Consignment Received At Transit Point
14 Sep 2005 03:22 Shenzhen Shipped From Originating Depot
13 Sep 2005 03:59 Shenzhen Consignment Received At Transit Point

iPod Nano winging its way!

Ok, here is the situation, the USB part of the shuffle broke on my bro, so I wanted to get it fixed. Problem, have Visa receipt, but where the hell is the actual receipt.. this was way back in March. Sigh.... anyhoo... ordered a black iPod Nano for my bro. Looks so cool tho, and now the reason for this blog.. it's shipped!

So, here is the update so far:

14 Sep 2005 03:22 Shenzhen Shipped From Originating Depot

Pick-up date is 14th Sept. Yay...

Some nice dashboard widgets

• Dilbert everyday

For me personally who is always interested in Hong Kong related stuff:
* HK weather
* HK news (can be viewed in English)

Google image search widget

Using google image search DB widget, I can see this going horribly wrong! Why? Cos this just reminds me of a work collegue looking up "waterfall model" via google. (He was looking up buzzwords!) Well, he was finding a hard time trying to find the "technical" information from the searches...

You know when you've been schtickered

Schtickers for PB. Cute, and it's says it's easy to apply and remove.

PB batteries recall

And I just missed the range of model numbers! Phew! Here is the article.

HD trailers

With QT7, one can view some HD trailers at the Apple site. Way kewl! Heh, and Serenity is there as well, in all its HD goodness.

Tiger... here kitty, kitty

Well, Tiger is installed. Since my machine is still quite new, it was easy to back up and re-install from screatch. Heh! iPods are handy for backups. In keeping with the Tiger theme, this comic reminds my of a Apple-closeted friend. Teehee.

For the first time...

...ever since I start using the Mac OS X, I had to force quit an application. Everything was hunky dory until I started to install Openoffice for Mac. Bad idea, it hung, and is a well known problem! (Oh dear, is all I can muster at this stage.) Well, I could not wait (it was minutes at this stage, does it really take that long?!?). So I chucked it out the window (ok, in the trashcan), and just downloaded NeoOffice/J instead, and it installed in a few seconds, and works.

My PB is here (again)

Yup, arrived safe and sound at work. First things first, was to do the hardwware check before I do anything else! And everything went well. So got the software updates done, a few customisation here and there, and had to leave it till home time. So got demo subethaedit, and Mick showed me how we can work together. Got quicksiilver, iterm. Heh, well, the list goes on! Well, it's finally here, and it is very nice to use. I need to get another 512MB RAM for it though, World of Warcraft sort of glitches (not too badly), but other then that, it is playable... Heh, I was online with it for 3 hours! (Again?!?) It's such a good game. My PB is great!

My new PB journey (again)

Ok, so I only check once to twice a day now. But so far the update is on hold; aircraft/truck failure on the Mar 5th and at this moment Flight Booked on Mar 6th in Singapore. Ooh, come on...

**UPDATE**Flight departed from Shanghai Mar 7th. So, it's getting closer.

iPod Shuffle issues with Dell

Got an iPod Shuffle for my bro as a b-day present. And since I am down with my BF, we are all excited to see it in action. After the "ooh, it's so small and nice" comments, we commenced to get it to work with the home pc, which is a Dell Dimension 8100 (yeah, yeah, it's a bit old now).
Now, gee whizz, what is this? The Shuffle is not working? Can't read/write to device, or unknown USB device. Huh? Well, lots up updating of our BIOS (since we are up-to-date with MS SP), any new drivers for the system. Well, the system is much nippier, and the advice we kept getting from google-searching was "If you have MS SP1, that should have your USB2.0 support", crappy. So much for that. And it was getting really late.
So this morning, I decided to google-search some more, and finally made progress after finding that 2 top ports at the back of the Dell is for keyboard and mouse and most importantly (and how could I now know!), Dell uses crappy components, and also may not provide enough power to Shuffle. So some hope. Out to town today then, to acquire ourselves a USB PCI card, and take if from there.
Oh, just to note, plugged the iPod Shuffle into my BF's PB, and it works, and even uploaded music to it. Go figure!

UPDATE Got ourselves a Belkin USB PCI card. And works a dream after installing it on the system. Yay! Music to Shuffle no problem now.

It's shipped! (Again)

It said that the shipment of my PB won't be till 8th March, but I got my shipment notification email this morning! I am not complaining. This is great! Although I would like to be able to see the status of my order via the status page though. So back to Apecode's appletracker.

And here is the current status (a much saner one than last time):

05 mar 05 departed from product source Apple Shanghai
05 mar 05 boxes scanned Kuehne & Nagel Shanghai
05 mar 05 Data received from supplier Apple Shanghai

My 1st PB contd...

TNT rang me yesterday evening. Pick-up for my PB due Monday (early) afternoon.
Sigh... was waiting all morning. Rang at 5pm, very last minute. Typical isn't it sometimes?

UPDATE : Box was picked up on Monday evening from work. Did alot of packaging, but I did not have my PB box, so I asked around and found an Alienware box.

My PB went bye-bye after a few hours!

Yes, you read the heading right... my PB is dead. Just recieved it in the afternoon, did not register as I was not online. Brought it home. Was in the midst ot setting things up. Changed the power settings to never to go to sleep on ac power, and about 1minute later. the fan kicked in (really loudly), and it went into hard sleep! Unplugged the AC supply, took out the battery and unplugged the USB optical mouse. And tried to boot it up, no joy.
Held down the power button, nothing. Did all the apple commands, like hold down Apple-key+p+r and then power on,fan kicked in loudly in an instant, heard the 2 Apple chimes, and got to login screen and it went to sleep. Went into single-user mode, and the kernel message came up :

Power Management received emergency overtemp signal. Going to sleep.

Wierd thing was, the laptop did not feel like it was overheating at all! And ran the system test from the disk supplied with PB, and it failed on the following error :
2STH/1/2 : CPU BOTTOMSIDE and was told to contact Apple support. Left if overnight unplugged, and tried again the morning, situation was still unchanged.
So I rang Apple support. The tech support guy was really helpful, since I called early, PB support engeers were quite numbered, but I was 1st on the queue. After explaining my situation, he tried to find a resolution with the engineers via chat, I was directed to our closest reseller, and troubleshooting folks (in Dublin). Was given the case # to refer to my issue with PB. And I was also given an address of Streamline in Dangon (I think), and I thought I misheard the biz park name, it was "Galway Business Park"! That's miles away.
Anyway, I was given the customer# and phone# to call. Got through to a really helpful girl, who went through some troubleshooting with me, and was recommended to get a replacement from Apple. And Apple can contact her if they wished wrt to my issue with the PB.
So back to ring Apple again, and finally got to another tech support person. Confirmed the replacement, and was forwarded to aftersales. Double-confirmed the tech support#, and PB issue, and put down a replacement for me.
So TNT will contact me, I was to write the return number on the box, and I am on the next shipment from the factory (as I got a faulty PB, I am high on the priority list), and that ships out on March 8th! And that is the earliest they can get to me. I am really happy with Apple support, but was very disappointed that after a month and 2 days wait, I ended up with a broken PB, and now I have to wait again.

Oh, and just got my Apple order confirmation. Now I am waiting for TNT to call...

Posted by whykay at 01:13 PM | Comments (2)

It's here!

It's finally here! My PB, that is. Got a phone call at 12:30pm that it would be another 1/2 hour before it arrives. Only got the call because TNT was not given the full address! But it made it, and funny thing. I was being stealthy, and opened my prized package. And the engineers next to me knew something new was being opened, something shiney. And all because of the smell of fresh polystyrene! But it's here, currently updating the software on it. Can't wait to work on it. Here is the final status of the last leg when it touched Irish soil...

Date Time Location Status
24 Feb 2005 13:04 Dublin Delivered
24 Feb 2005 08:40 Dublin Out For Delivery

And I shall wait a wee bit more...

Yes, I finally picked up the phone and rang Apple Ireland. Apparently it has arrived in Dublin, so I was given the "consignment" number (so that was the Apple tracking number via Apple status page! How obvious was that, since I am using another site to find out where my PB is!). And I was given the TNT Ireland number to ring. A helpful lady told me when I rang TNT, that my PB is due for delivery on 24th. Yipee. So, the trek is nearing its end.

So close

Man, I am getting all excited now. It's now on its last leg to Ireland. It's finally arrived to Europe. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

There's going to be one thing in my mind the next 2 days.

Arrive Terminal LUXEMBOURG, LU, LU 21 Feb 2005 14:14
Depart Terminal LUXEMBOURG, LU, LU 21 Feb 2005 17:08

Update - It should be in Europe by now

According to Apple site, my PB has Departed the terminal on Feb 17th @ 08:10. Now on the Apecode apple tracking site, it has also been updated that the flight has departed on Feb 17th. It must be a batch job of some kind, as the details were only updated this morning, I have been check last night, hence update on my last entry. It should be somewhere in Europe, or on its way to Dublin.

Grr, correction to last post.

It was picked up by KN High Tech Logistics (Dutch company), and apparently, it's still in Shanghai!?!

14th Feb - shipment on hold due to cargo exceeding daily space allocation

And the flights from Shanghai was only booked on 17th Feb!

Well, they did say...

The expected delivery time for your order is 6 - 7 days.
Please note that these are business days and that this is an estimated lead-time only.

Then TNT site was useless, the tracking number (whether it was consignment or reference), keeps turning up "Not Found"! I am not the only one having issues with this. Seems to be an issue with Apple European customers. Found Apecode Apple order tracking tool and that was where I found what happened to my order. According to Apple, it's happily and merrily around Europe (since it says it was picked up by TNT Netherland, well, that's what it looks like to me).

So, Apple can't give me up-to-date information, TNT won't tell me, and I had to go through some 3rd party site to find out. Sheesh! They really have to get their delivery sorted. Even Dell always deliver on time!

On the hindsight however, the iPod Shuffles are back in town! I got them for b-day pressies. Plus iLife and iWork for my cutie! He's having so much fun with creation of presentations at the moment!

Update on my PB shipment

Picked up in Shanghai @ 13 Feb 2005 20:05.
Picked up in Netherlands by TNT @ 14 Feb 2005 05:06.

Come on Apple truck!

From Tiger... to Kitten

I saw this comic and I laughed outloud. But it's so not true, we don't fall for cute furry things like kittens... um... ok, ok, I admit it... it's SO true!! Very good comic though.

Shuffled out till next week

Now where have all the Shuffles gone? Tsk, tsk... I like them but it's not for me. They are suppose to be quick b-day pressies, but of course, they are all sold out (laughing at myself as I asked the silly "Do you have the 1 gig iPod Shuffles in stock?" question...). Anyway, hopefully as the days countdown till my PB reaches me, this comic somehow will come true (right, Mick?).

You never know, the Shuffles maybe plane buddies with my PB.

Ah! There it is!

Ok, the notification with the big regret word in it was just received in my mailbox.
(I only mailed them twice, once yesterday and again today.)

Hmm, as suspected, I am actually a day off from the guy who I quoted in the previous post. At least my mind is put at ease... (And keep Valentine's worry free )

We trust you received our email indicating a revised ship date for the product you ordered. We regret to inform you that we must revise the ship date once again, as demand for the product remains beyond our expectations. We now expect to shipyour order by February 15th, 2005.

Sigh, where oh where has my PB gone?

Apple Ireland just couldn't care less, mailed them yesterday, as the status of my order was still open.

Order Date : 20/01/2005 09:59 PM GMT
Est Ship On or before : 01/02/2005

Granted the order was cancelled for the upgrade (last blog entry on PB), but the new order still had the same info wrt to the dates... "Est Ship On or before : 01/02/2005".

So I did a bit of searching and found many folks got theirs already. And finally I saw this comment from powerbookcentral.com :

"I ordered a top of the line PB 15"/1.5 GHz from the UK Apple Store on January 20th to replace a dropped Ti PB 500. The shipping date I was given at that time was on or before 1 Feb. On Jan 31, I learned it was upgraded to a 15"/1.67 GHz model to ship on or before 7 Feb. Today, I was notified that due to overwhelming demand it would ship on or before 14 Feb. At least they're letting me know."

Dates are the same as mine, and exact situation where the order was upgraded. But I never got update or any notifcation of any delays... until I was doing a bit of soul-searching! This is sooo annoying!

Woohoo

I am soo lucky!

So, I have been checking my order day in and day out, and nothing. Last night, the apple order status page was out of commission for some upgrade. And since I was out of the country today, I did not get a chance to check my order. My BF commented on the PB upgrade news when he collected me at the airport, and was wondering if I was one of the lucky ones! Well, would you believe it, I was!

A snip my my Apple order status mail I opened just now:

Today Apple unveiled a new Powerbook. Accordingly, we are pleased to revise your recent order by substituting the original product you ordered with the new Powerbook at no extra cost to you. The new product's configuration either matches or is better than the configuration of the original product you ordered.

So here's the updated PB stuff. My BF is a wee bit jealous! lol And what's more, I get to save €100.

This Applegeeks comic reference is most suited to this occasion. Although I am not sure I can "kick" my BF far enough away from my new toy when it arrives!

A start list from my BF for my Mac

(When I receive it, that is!)

1. iterm
2. Desktop manager
3. quicksilver

I see that I will have a powerbook...

Heh, good ref comic! Just so happens I am currently under the process of acquiring a 17" Powerbook before the speed bump. Just taking advantage of the price slash I suppose. Just need to clear my credit card, add a secondary delivery address to my credit card, and finally order it through my work discount. And hopefully, by end of Feb, I would have a new laptop. I have a name that is especially cute, already picked out. Heh, maybe both Mick and I will have our own couples bubble when we visit the Apple store in London in the near future!