Apple Store's Customer Service A-Okay

Although I occasionally rant on here about some of Apple's inexplicable actions, you can see that I don't give up on Apple or their products. Quite frankly, they're second to none, even with the occasional tendency of Apple to avoid admitting fault at all costs. Well, I'm going to sing their praises right now.

My shiny, new iPhone 4S developed a short or glitch in the audio output of the Dock Connector. Everything else would work--charging, data. Just garbled or mono audio. So I made an appointment at the MacArthur Center Apple Store in Norfolk, VA. They were prompt, helpful, and friendly. Above all, they immediately REPLACED my iPhone with a brand new one at zero cost. Problem solved. So, in some respects, their customer service is second to none, especially at the local level. Way to go Apple. Thanks for taking care of me!

Adobe Blocking HTML5 To Save Flash

What do you do when you're a major software company with a huge investment in a buggy, cumbersome technology (that's expensive for users to implement and maintain) that's being directly threatened by a better, lighter-weight technology that's open-source (and thus free)? You act like Microsoft, of course.

Long live HTML5 and down with Flash!!! I truly believe the iPhone and iPad will drive the eventual adoption of HTML5 that will supplant Flash. The sooner it happens the better for us all.

Larry Masinter, Adobe, quoted in the minutes of yesterday's weekly phone status report for the HTML working group: do I need to repeat objections?

Net result: the latest publication of HTML5 is now blocked by Adobe, via an objection that has still not been made public (despite yesterday's promise to make it so).

[From Hixie's Natural Log: Consistency]

iTunes 6.0.2. goes clandestinely adware with MiniStore

Okay, there’s a lot of hoopla out there about iTunes 6.0.2 software having the new “MiniStore feature,” which, if open, will send info to Apple about what songs you click or listen to in your library and then present songs in the MiniStore pane similar to those songs clicked or listened to in your library.

First of all, you can disable this feature easily by clicking the button below the Mini-Store pane or select Edit > Show MiniStore (↑-⌘-M) to turn it off. No data are sent out once it’s disabled. Remind others who use your computer and have their own accounts to also disable this feature, because it will open for them as well; I’m sure Apple is counting on someone in the household not knowing how to turn the crap off.

The problem with this mess is that Apple doesn’t explicitly state anywhere they’re going to monitor your habits; they’re not forthcoming with information on turning it off; and they have it set to activate automatically when you first open iTunes after upgrading, which means until you figure out what the hell is happening you’re being watched. Regardless of whether you’re staunchly defending Apple (like many of the zealots over at the Apple Discussion boards), Apple has been less than honest by sneaking in this “new feature.”

I’m really not too concerned if Apple knows what I’m listening to (as I’m a faithful customer who has bought many tunes on iTMS--and I own 3 Macs, an Airport Express, and an iPod), but they’re also sending data to some 3rd party company called Omniture, Inc. Apple unofficially has claimed to dispose of data instantly (info used to target the advertisements to you in iTunes), but what does Omniture have to do with it? Why are they also getting the data? Are they also instantly disposing of the data? Something in me says NO!

Others on the net have found that your Apple ID is also sent with this data if you’re logged in, and though Apple may not store any data sent, there are some cookies and other info stored on YOUR computer. So in this regard, it is arguably spyware and at the very least adware. So users be-WARE!

Other reads on the subject:

http://since1968.com/article/154/itunes-update-update

http://www.boingboing.net/2006/01/11/itunes_update_spies_.html

http://www.plasticbag.org/archives/2006/01/cynicism_and_stupidity

http://www.rc3.org/2006/01/spytunes.php

10.4.4. update is big crash-bang-boom!

I just made the mistake of loading this update via Software Update without backing up first. Let’s this be a lesson to everyone. Don’t do it! Backup, backup, backup!

Remember when I said that a Safe Boot was getting me out of trouble in 10.4.3? Well, I’m stuck at the gray Apple screen of death again, and I can’t Safe Boot or boot into Single-User mode. I can’t even do an Archive and Install...I tried and the stupid thing still doesn’t recognize the file system. All the usual troubleshooting steps were ineffective. The only real option is to blank the drive and start over, and I don’t have the time anymore. I’ve spent a week trying to get running with Tiger and it has been a waste of time.

Sticking with Panther for now, which is rock solid for me at 10.3.9! Maybe Apple with fix this crap eventually instead of breaking it.