Ain't A Geek

Tapping And Holding Keyboard On iPhones Can Do List

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:31:37 -0500

Tapping And Holding Keyboard On iPhones Can Do List

“Loser!” Some about.com writer’s photo had a...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:01:01 -0500

“Loser!”

Some about.com writer’s photo had a link, and I just noticed the “link icon” makes a “loser” symbol! Hahaha… JbB

My iPhone 4's Mic Won't Switch To External Mode No More

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:42:21 -0500

This means that I can’t do speakerphone or record audio for videos or do my awesome Talking Carl. There’s something physically wrong inside my phone that’s causing the mic to stay on the “hold the phone up to your face to speak” mode. It ain’t software as I’ve done a complete reset of all data and the phone still does it. Didn’t happen from damage or nothing as it happened one day just chilling on my desk, one hour the speaker phone worked and the next it didn’t.

What are my options? Well I took my phone to the Apple store, which is (of course) still under contract, and they said they wouldn’t do shit because it’s out of the one year warranty. When I mentioned that numerous people got their phones fixed after warranty if they were still within their two-year contract if the problem effected normal operation of the phone, then they mentioned they’ll do that “30 days out of warranty”.

I’m too early to get an iPhone 4S (which I really don’t want to, I want to wait for the iPhone 6, aka “iPhone 5”), so I could either pay the half-upgrade price (my iPhone 4 is a 32 GB, so an iPhone 4S 32GB would cost $549!), pay $150 for Apple to fix the problem… or pay a local company to fix the issue (which I doubt they’d even know where to look).

None of those options really work for me. And for those who think buying Apple Care is a smart thing and would “prevent” this issue, it wouldn’t. You’d pay $99 up front and then pay $50 for a “complete replacement!”. So $150 total? The same price I’d have to pay? No, Apple Care’s a waste of money.

What’em I gonna’ do? Shit… I’m just gonna’ try to live with it until the end of this year when I can upgrade to the next model. Upgrading to an iPhone 4S so late would really screw things for me. And if anything, I’d want to get a 64 GB (because of the increase in video and photo files), so that shit would be just too damn expensive without a full upgrade. Na, it’ll either be an iPhone 6 32 GB or 64 GB or nothin’ at all. JbB

Petition Demands White House Investigate SOPA Supporter

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:56:36 -0500

Petition Demands White House Investigate SOPA Supporter:

Wow, wow, wow… Chris Dodd’s comments have backfired on him.

“Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”

He meant for his comments about the Obama administration to strike a cord into his reelection campaign, but ironically it’s the Obama administration’s “We The People” open petition system that’s being used against Dodd. Good job internet, good job… JbB

Encrypting Your Hard Drive No Longer Works Against Federal Prosecutions

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:37:31 -0500

Encrypting Your Hard Drive No Longer Works Against Federal Prosecutions:

This is a major milestone in computer forensics. JbB

"many SOPA opponents were confused and even shocked when they learned that the very power they feared..."

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 14:55:00 -0500

““many SOPA opponents were confused and even shocked when they learned that the very power they feared the most in that bill — the power of the U.S. Government to seize and shut down websites based solely on accusations, with no trial — is a power the U.S. Government already possesses and, obviously, is willing and able to exercise even against the world’s largest sites””

MPAA's Chris Dodd Shows How Corrupt Politicians Are Used

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:59:19 -0500

MPAA's Chris Dodd Shows How Corrupt Politicians Are Used:

To anyone who believed politicians aren’t corrupted by lobbyists who buy them out, this… JbB

SOPA Is Inevitable

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:38:37 -0500

SOPA Is Inevitable:

parislemon:

Marco Arment has this exactly right. We may have beaten these variations of SOPA and PIPA, but the sad fact of that matter is that they — or something like them — will eventually pass.

Obviously, all things being equal, such bills should never pass. But all things aren’t equal. As with most things, this is actually all about money. The MPAA and the other content lobbies are going to continue to pump money into this until they get what they want.

And again, they will. Consider this: SOPA and PIPA came this close to passing with MPAA head Chris Assclown Dodd banned from direct lobbying. Why is he banned? Because there’s a law that requires politicians to be two years out of office before they can lobby.

Dodd vacated his U.S. Senate seat on January 3, 2011. In a year, he’ll be able lobby all he wants. He’ll be able to directly buy the support of all his former colleagues. He spent 36 years in Washington as both a Senator and Congressman. You think that doesn’t matter? He’s going to be the best lobbyist ever. Which is exactly why the MPAA picked him.

Arment’s hope that people stop supporting the MPAA by stopping watching films clearly isn’t going to happen. But the idea of supporting campaign finance reform to eliminate bullshit lobbying is a good one.

This…

Fantastic… just fantastic. staff: Two days ago, you guys...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:14:19 -0500

Fantastic… just fantastic.

staff:

Two days ago, you guys stepped up once again to show the world just how much we care about protecting the Internet. Together, we generated more than 140,000 calls to Senators, spent more than 4,200 hours on the phone with their staffers, and blacked out 650,000 of our blogs to make our point and inspire others to get involved. And what’s more, this was on top of the 90,000 calls we sent to members of the House of Representatives a month ago. Incredible.

It’s now becoming clear just how much impact our action is having. On January 18th, only 31 members of Congress opposed these bills. Just one day later, 101 members of Congress publicly stood with us in opposition. We are being heard.

And as of today, it looks like both the Senate PIPA and House SOPA bills have been shelved, for the moment. It seems pretty likely that the bills won’t pass as written—a big first win. We now hope that Internet companies, the creative community and the content industry join together to innovate and devise new partnerships to combat online piracy. We’re confident there are effective ways to do this without damaging the Internet or diminishing our freedoms.

You’ve made a big difference in keeping the Internet a safe and open place for creators. Thank you again.

My iPhone 4's External Mic Is Messed Up

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:11:35 -0500

Damn, my iPhone 4 (the Neocell) developed a problem today. The external mic is muffled (damn near not working). Noticed it today when trying to use the speaker phone. Ugg. It ain’t from no damage or nothin’, just started outta’ the blue.

Gonna’ head down to the Apple Store to see what’s up, but apparently they’ll turn me away as their “genius bar” is all booked up or some shit. Ugg…

Apparently, as my phone’s still in contract and if it has an internal hardware defect (yo), Apple will repair it.

Poor ‘ittle Neocell 4… I’m’a get you fixed, don’t you worry. JbB

On Kodak's Bankruptcy: Good Riddance

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:50:49 -0500

Good riddance…

But na, on a more serious note… good riddance.

I kid, I kid… In all seriousness… good riddance Kodak. Your had your moment in the sun for decades upon decades and you drove countless camera start-ups and competitors out of business with dirty tactics and your name brand alone and were hanging around long after your usefulness was clearly obsolete. Your latest patent attacks on smartphone manufactures just proved you were as evil of a corporation as you were then. Good riddance. JbB

The RIAA Gets The Feds To Shutdown Megaupload

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:48:00 -0500

The RIAA Gets The Feds To Shutdown Megaupload:

Oh the irony. Right when it looks like our blackout movement has defeated, or at least crippled, the RIAA and MPAA’s SOPA and PIPA pet projects, the RIAA managed to get Megaupload shutdown!

Thank goodness for Anonymous yo, they did a denial of service attack on the RIAA causing their web site to be temporarily “shutdown”. Good job Anonymous. JbB

Looks Like We May Have Defeated SOPA And PIPA

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:36:34 -0500

Looks Like We May Have Defeated SOPA And PIPA:

The way the MPAA talks and acts, it sounds like it! JbB

Supreme Court Says Congress May Re-Copyright Public Domain Works

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:38:05 -0500

Supreme Court Says Congress May Re-Copyright Public Domain Works:

This is a completely separate issue from SOPA and PIPA. Just check this out… This ain’t right at all. JbB

parislemon: The Assclownification Of The MPAA

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:32:02 -0500

parislemon:

The Assclownification Of The MPAA

This is why anyone who’s job requires them to send out...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:53:00 -0500

This is why anyone who’s job requires them to send out emails to multiple people needs to be educated on how to properly use BCC. You know… so that this list of what looks like 150 people don’t see every other person’s PERSONAL email address. (This isn’t the first time this has happened from the same person.) Otherwise, this would be a good recipe for…

JbB

How Google Has Lost Control Of Android

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:02:04 -0500

How Google Has Lost Control Of Android:

Pretty insightful post. Don’t agree with every facet, but the picture painted is pretty clear. What’s not clear is what will happen to Android once the “point of no return” has been reached. Instead of “Google has lost control”, I actually see it as “How Google is now stuck designing Android for life” type of thing. Even if… at some point, Google sees Android as a burden that isn’t worth continuing (meaning Android is helping everyone else but Google), Google’s stuck to keep designing the OS. JbB

"After Wikipedia Blackrout, somewhere, a student today is doing original research and getting his/her..."

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 01:17:48 -0500

“After Wikipedia Blackrout, somewhere, a student today is doing original research and getting his/her facts straight. Perish the thought.”

- Jonathan Lamy - RIAA

I’ve hated the RIAA for years… Glad to see my hatred is still unbridled and pure. JbB

This dude is crazy, offensive, uses curse words and hates SOPA...

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:58:34 -0500

This dude is crazy, offensive, uses curse words and hates SOPA with a passion… My kinda’ guy, haha. JbB

Google says 4.5 million people signed anti-SOPA petition today

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:44:41 -0500

Google says 4.5 million people signed anti-SOPA petition today:

Google clearly is doing this for self-serving purposes, which I’ve outlined before… but I gotta’ say I’m so proud of you Google right now. 4.5 million is a shit load… *whistles* Google, ya done good. …Ya done good. JbB