The World of Scott Mindeaux

A Week Later…

So the reality of me being laid off is still quite fresh in my mind. It is now a week later and I found myself freaking out yesterday, feeling overwhelmed at how I was going to deal with the mounting medical bills from this past summer, finding a place to live and more importantly finding a new job.

It’s never a “good” time to get laid off, but for me, I happen to be at the end of my lease and I can’t get a new place without proof of income. Furthermore, if I end up getting a new job in another city or state, I still have the problem of securing housing. I have asked my current  place if I can extend my lease a month or two and they were accommodating but want to increase my rent my $500 a month! Yikes!

Yesterday I got a call from the hospital asking how I was going to deal with the balance I had on my account. I informed them that I was just laid off and that if I had anything to give them I would be more than happy to set up a payment plan. I told them that as soon as I get employment, I would contact them to make arrangement for payment. They said they had to send it to a collection agency to handle. Oye.

I have called my parents and left them emails but I haven’t heard from them. I don’t know if they are at the other house where they have no internet connection. The only conniption I have to them is via a MagicJack number. If it’s not plugged in, I can’t get a hold of them.

I need to get my resume out there. I’ve been waiting for a major re-write of my work experience before I start sending it out, but that may be a few more days out.

Keep me in your thoughts and send good wishes my way!

To Cable or Fiber…

I have been a loyal Cox Communications customer for several years. Over the last four years, it has been at my place here in Mission Viejo. As you know, the only choice for cable is Cox. Your only other non-cable choices are Dish or DirecTV. Unfortunately, my apartment balcony faces the wrong direction, therefore satellite TV is out.

Recently AT&T announced that AT&T U-Verse was now available in my area. You’ve all seen the commercials on TV. Watch and record a show in one room and then watch in another.

So why do I care? Well over the last year or so I have been having problems with my service. My router locks up, that green light on the router blinking endlessly for hours on end. A DVR that freezes in mid-recording on countless occasions. Holding for long periods of time waiting for tech support to remotely access my box to tell me to just be patient, wait or the 12:00 to come on the display then it should be ok.

Over it. Three times in the last week, my DVR has fracked up three recordings this week! Not fun.

So let’s dispatch the “only choice” in town and try the new guy.

Have an of you switched to U-Verse? Are you happy?

To iPad2 or Not To iPad2?

That is the Question!

So it’s Tuesday night now. 4 days since iPad2 launch.

I have visited my Apple store about 7 times in the last 4 days. I have called about 4 Targets and 5 Best Buys. I even called WalMart.

I put my iPad up for sale on craigslist, but not willing to part with it until i have an iPad2 in my hands.

So for the 2nd day in a row, my Apple store has informed me that I can be in line for a 9am opening tomorrow (on Wednesday). They said that on Tuesday and they didn’t open at 9 today.

So, should I just place my order online and wait the 4-5 week window? If one comes in stock locally I can always cancel my order right? Do they charge your card before it ships? If I cancel, how long will it be before they credit back my card? I don’t know if current cash flow will allow me to have funds for two iPad2′s held in limbo.

Well, I guess I will get in line tomorrow morning and see what happens… stay tuned!

Are you a Lucky iPad 2 Owner?

Not me!

The lines were beyond what most people thought. Just here in the OC, iPad 2 lines at the Apple Stores at Brea, Irvine, Mission Viejo, South Coast and Fashion Island had lines with easily 400-650 or more according to reports. Just at the Irvine Spectrum alone, the line had wrapped around all the way to Sur La Table.

I wasn’t able to leave work until about 3:46. Drove by the Spectrum and saw the line by SLT. Then I drove over to Target and there was a line there in the Electronics department that already had about 25 people in it. The clerk working there wouldn’t say how many he had in stock, but according to reports from the East Coast stores like Target, WalMart and Best Buys, those store received minimal amounts, most just to fill their lockable display units which only hold like 15-20 units.

According to reports nationwide, many who were in line for many hours, walked away empty handed.

Online shipping times for the iPad 2 have now been pushed to the 3-4 week delivery window.

UGH.

This is probably one of the few first-day Apple launches that I didn’t walk away with product in hand. I wasn’t interested in any other unit other than a 16GB WIFI model. Not really interested in the 3G model from AT&T or Verizon.

I’m not sure why Apple chose not to do pre-orders or reservations to pickup at a store like their previous launches (iPad, iPhone 4, iPhone 3x). I should have gotten mine online the early morning hours of the 11th. That way I probably would have one in  my hand on Tuesday or so.

So if you’re an Apple Store employee or one of the cute Target employees in red and want to break protocol and let me know that you have a 16GB WIFI model in BLACK, please let me know…I’m on my way! (yes that was one long run-ion sentence!)

So it’s Been Over a Week…How’s the iPad?

So alot of readers have been emailing me this past week asking how I like my iPad so far. I wanted to spend at least a week with my iPad before I started putting my thoughts on paper (or on the pad in this case…)

After waking up late on Saturday, April 3, I can still say 10 days later that I’m still a happy iPad owner. Here’s what I have to say so far:

1. Since I got my iPad, I’m using my iPhone for just phone calls now. The experience on the iPad is so much richer. It’s not just the larger screen. Working with iPad developed apps, you find yourself in a different world from your iPhone/iPod.

2. What are my main uses? Email, browsing, note taking and watching movies. When I’m at work it supplements my laptop. I take the iPad to meetings and use that for taking notes. When at my desk I find that I have the mail app open 80% of the time. In addition to Exchange support, I have my MobileMe, GMail and Pop accounts on there. I can check all my email in one place. I don’t have any personal email on my work laptop, so this is perfect. Before the iPad, I had all of these capabilities on my iPhone. Exchange support on my iPhone has allowed me to stay in touch with the office even when I”m at home. There are still many people out there that say that reading email on the iPad can’t be so much different that on the iPhone. That’s probably true. But, I like that I can read my emails without having to resize every time. The speediness of the iPad also allows me to flip thru emails and scroll much faster.

3. Let’s talk about speed. This thing is FAST! Upon the first swipe of your fingers across the screen you know that this is wicked fast. Pull up Google maps and your swiping and pinching and expanding in lightning speed! Its like those multitouch screens on NCIS Los Angeles and CNN.

4. But it’s just a huge iPod Touch right? No. I can’t say enough that this is MORE. Yes, it can run the thousands of apps already written for the iPhone/iPod. But that isn’t where the magic is. The developers that have already written apps specifically for the iPad know where we want to go. I would say that the majority of iPad developers did it right by re-writing the app and taking advantage of larger real estate on the screen. Those that simply “exploded” the app miss the ball. It’s only a matter of time before those same iPhone apps are re-written for the iPad.

Some of my favorite iPad written apps?
WeatherHD - for the simplicity that it is. The subtleness of the videos is awesome
Epicurious – Recipes, recipes – need I say more?
The Elements – the way the Chart of Elements was meant to be shown. I would have taken more interest in science if I had this in high school.
GoSkyWatch – hold your iPad up to the sky and see where the constellations and other heavenly bodies are.
Zinio – my portal so some of my favorite magazines including Macworld and Saveur.
Asphalt5 – I’m not much into games, but I like this driving game as I race against the clock, using my iPad like a steering wheel
Autodesk SketchBook – drawing, layer support. It’s not Photoshop, but it can export to it. Tons of brushes, effect and the ability to have up to 6 layers. WHen you’re done you can export it to Photoshop thru a special interface in iTunes.
Netflix - movies, shows all streamed to my iPad.
ABC Player - all my ABC shows like V, Brothers and Sisters and Flash Forward all streaming to my iPad.

There are so much more! I can RDC into our servers, I can VNC into my Macs at the office. I can stream non-DRM videos from my MacPro at home over the net. Another nice app? Craigsphone. See Craigslist in a way you never have.

So battery life? I can make it thru an entire day on my iPad and still have some room before I plug in at night. It’s nice to know.

So what don’t I like about my iPad?

1. Where is the damn TAB key?
2. It’s hard to hold when its not in a case, its slippery
3. When you have to hold it in a grip in your hand for long periods, it can be taxing.
4. When you hold the iPad like a pad of paper, your thumb is on the “screen”
5. When in landscape mode, you have a close to full size keyboard. Problem is that you want to lay your fingers on the “keys” like a regular keyboard. It took a couple of days to learn to “hover”
6. Some of my favorite iPhone apps haven’t been Padisized yet (is Padisized a word?)

Wishlist?

1. Tab key
2. SD Slot for storage of files
3. There are others, but most will be addressed in 4.0 of the next OS release.

So I mentioned that I don’t use my iPhone that much anymore. That’s not true. I don’t take my iPad everyone I take my iPhone. So when I”m in line at the grocery store or stuck in traffic or out having dinner, the iPad is my bag or at home. Do I wish I had 3G? Sure, but I don’t need it, it would be a nicety. Where I need to get a quick data fix while out n about, I have my iPhone.

There is still so much more to say about the iPad, but my head hurts and my recent sleeping habits make it hard for me to concentrate. I’ll get more of my thoughts down over the next few days.

So overall on a scale of 1 to 10 where do I rate my iPad. I’ll say an 8+. I use it everyday, so it has become a productivity tool for me. App developers are just hitting the tip of the iceberg on what the potential this device can have. I can’t wait!

AT&T Visual Voicemail Sucks!

So for the last two months I thought it was interesting that I haven’t had any voicemails. But, it actually was there, but wasn’t showing up in Visual Voicemail. I have never manually entered my voicemail box other than thru my iPhone.

So…I kept getting messages via sms or email that my voicemail box is full. So I would hit the voicemail button on my iPhone and it is empty. No messages, right?

WRONG!

So technical support at AT&T had no clue how to help me. They kept trying to reset my voicemail box, but couldn’t. Ugh.

So I decided to call myself and hit *. OMG, there were like 40 voicemails in there since October.  What the hell?!?