Pull up your favorite rug, or comforter ...

It was my turn to get a new phone, because my cellular contract had come around again. My woodburning flip phone was causing laughter and pointing whenever I got it out. Kelly had gotten a nice texting phone, and I'd found that I was texting a good bit. Quicker - limited duration. But, my phone was one of the "push four times for an R" versions.

OK .. so ... what's changed in the last fifty years .... .... well, moving the story along ... I got the iPhone G4.

And, I liked most of it very much. Only had it a few days. But, I could not get a mail program to run for me. Over the weekend, Jerry helped me, by house speaker phone ... as went thru it and thru it ... over and over again. By Sunday night ... ... I wasn't doing so well. Various programs would tell me I wasn't me. My birthday was no longer my birthday at i-tunes. My yahoo account was invalid too.

I texted Kent to see if he had any special brand of wisdom with this. And, it seems he did ... "Take it to the phone store". Yes ... me too. I could not imagine he was so quick to recommend I go line up with the quitters who had never even tried to figure it out! To which, he replied that they were "quitters with e-mail".

And so, this morning, I presented myself in line with the other quitters. Explained my problem. EASILY FIXED!!! I was told. And so; the techs there proceeded to try things. They tried what I had, and they were also told that the phone would not Sync. And so, it was determined that we'd set up a new bullet proof Gmail account. And, we proceeded to do so. That worked as a test from the mall store. And ... 90 minutes later ... it claimed my name and password were invalid again. So; I went via PC, and checked on it. That gave me a verification code to use ... and it seemed happy again ... until I tried to send something. At which point ... my name and password were again invalid.

Well, it took three times to the store. The first, was to begin the process, and ask why most people I asked for help were using an Android phone? Well ... that guy was all about gadgets and he thought the Android was sliced bread two. I considered trading. But - I didn't have all my "stuff" with me. So, I went for that. Second guy, when I got back, said they take back ALOT of Android phones ... hardly ever an iPhone. And ... the batteries on the Androids suck, and he just took one back this am complaining about the poor camera, even though it is 8 meg. But - 8 meg of poor pic is not special.

So; he suggested I get the iPhone up and running better and give it a go. So, he set up the first G mail (after going thru all the mess above). I get home ... it's not working with Gmail. Great. I call tech support a the store. He checks things I had checked. We fiddle with stuff. He'll have to see it. I go back in. Well., there, they have the same issues. And, they ACTUALLY tried, more than once, to send me to an Apple Store about an hour away ... at rush hour!! I suggested that that was not going to happen with a two day old phone.

They called the BIG Apple tech people. They suggested stuff. None worked. One of the other desk geeks there also had an iPhone. Over an hour, they tried things. And, the Apple phone people also tried to get me to go to an Apple Store. NO. So; eventually, they began to do things on the other guy's identical phone that worked, and on mine they did not work. Over a series of things ... they were finally convinced .. Yes ... this is Gary. If Apple EVER made a bummer of a phone ... Gary would be the one to get it. They replaced it. And all the stuff loaded fine.

Now - let's see if it keeps working. I like the product. Like using it as I have so far. And, the battery is supposed to last many times longer and the phone is supposed to be very strong and hearty. Speaker phone is great. We'll see. I don't need the toy stuff - might be happy.

But ... can you imagine going thru life ... knowing that EVERY TIME you do ANYTHING .... you will get the thing that slipped thru quality control, yours will fail early (you ever had ALL the head bolts shear off your FORD station wagon? AND ... be one of the ones who's salesman was pocketing the $100 which was supposed to be going to initiate the warrenty on the used cars?). No? Gee ... I have. hahaha. It's a different world. Maybe that is one reason I try to make the guns dependable. ;?)

And, that's my story.

Gary

Well ...

Hi Gary,

Sounds like you had an ordeal with that new phone. I purchased an iphone 4 for my wife whose old cell phone was going on 11 years of age. She loves the new phone. She hated texting before but loves it now. The built in camera isn't bad, 5 mega pixel. For the most part it is a good phone, even my dad got one and he isn't very computer literate.

I think I will stick with my Blackberry, its going on 5 years and but due for an upgrade. Waiting for the new generation of phones to be released. If they haven't improved some features then the iphone would be my next choice.

Being in the tool & die field, I am noticing a lot of failure with China made socket head cap screws. Heads pop off, threads break in half, its terrible. Never experiences this when using USA made fasteners. Now I have to watch for fragments stuck in dies that run at 240 strokes a minute.

Thanks for sharing your struggles with technology! At least we know we aren't the only ones who get bad products.

Have a good week,

Pedro G

Hello Pedro,

Hey - YOU get some too?? I thought I got them all ... hahah. I was thinking of leasing myself out as a quality control guy. Just stroll thru a factory. Let me pick anything that I can keep. Those will be the defective ones. All else is safe to ship. hahaha.

Thanks for posting.

Gary

flip phone? mine has the antenna that you pull out for better reception. hahah
steve

Oh dear Heaven!!!

You poor, poor man. You must have to wear a bag over your head in public ... What's the term ... "Phonosaurus" ... hehehe.

Well, AFTER you get your gun off ledger ... you can get a new one. hahaha.

Gary

Doesn't your plans up there provide a new phone every two years? There are always a choice of several that are free, and then a few that are available at about 80% discount from retail. Curious now....

i was .... joking about the antenna phone. but.... for years i didn't have a phone and it was ony the time a pin slid out of my " mechnical fuel pump" on my old car and left me stranded 5 miles from home that i decided to reluctantly join the crowd. my updated is the flip phone.... funny story, when i tried to answer my wifes phone which is a modern whtever you call it. my kids were cracking up when i opened it and held it ackwardly to my ear. you guys can have fun with your phone and i'll keep busy with airguns, cars, tractors.
guess i'm anti social haha
steve
btw, when i'm done with the reverse ledger i may start another. just start listing things on Gary' gun room and you'll see what drives me... hahah

See, now had you not taken my advice you would still have a lemon. My Droid still has the annoying habit of a delay of many seconds before it rings thru. This is an unsolvable problem, my solution was to get rid of the voice mail as it would go to mail before I could answer. So if you call, let it ring, let it ring, let it ring,.... as sung to "Let it snow"

Glad it's working better for you now!

Kent

Yeah ... it's neat. Hey - you want me to call, text, or e-mail? Maybe all three. "Hey Kent, this is Gary, I texted about my e-mail, but hadn't heard back yet ... " hahaha.

Gary

Boy, Jobs takes a little vacation and Apple gets all wormy. You are right Apple was always ahead of the curve. Now they have viral attacks, recalls, and hackers. I blame their board of directors....OK, I'll narrow it down to one...Al Gore. Yah, no joke, he invents the internet and now he's on the board of Apple. That kind of connection probably keeps the feds of your back, right Microsoft, Gibson Guitars, and Joe the plumber.

Oh I digress, now what were we discussing...ahh yes, solar panels

Kent

When they start making Iphones waterproof, I'll think about it.

My Casio flip phone has been through the washing machine and halfway through the dry cycle with no ill effects (the thumping noise finally got my attention). Of course, it's MADE to be waterproof, so it's not too surprising that it survived.

Don't tell me that Apple can't do it, the frickin things have what...one button? I wouldn't be surprised at all if "went through the wash in jeans pocket" is a line item on their business plan.

Repeat customers, you know.

Hi Sean,

Well, all the input, power, usb, and phone jacks would need big brass hatch covers. haha.

ya know ... I like to give things a chance. Another issue has arisen. Yeah, you are not surprised ... are you? haha.

This is not with the phone ... but my PC mail started asking endlessly for my username and password.

You recall that, a couple years back, my site was hacked. Great fun. Love the hackers. What a funny bunch of guys. Well ... when I first set up the phone .. I went to the mail at my ISP, and saw a bunch of several year old work on the mail. Hummm. So; I went via my PC ... entered in, to delete that old crap off the server. When I did that ... the inbox was full of Russian e-mails.

I notified the ISP. They promptly told me I was full of Cabbage ... and that was not there. Said I logged on the wrong way (as I used to do while on the road via their front page). They fussed a bit about the phone, told me to take it to the store. Everybody tells me to take it to the store ... hummmm. hahah.

Well ... thru a series of e-mail ... not all flowers ... we began to get the story. When my desk PC went on strike .... they started looking more. And ... lo and behold ... well ... here's this old server here ... still has your OLD mail on it ... and that's the one that was hacked .... and all the mail is screwed up there. AND seems you can just log on to that off out front page! Golly.

So; my PC is reset to go to the correct server. It's been working for two or three years this way ... at the old settings ... no explanation given. But - now it's all reset. The new phone is all smiles. I like it very much. In fact ... I had to use it's Gmail program to send a long detailed mail to my ISP sorting this out.

I feel like a bear has been chasing me ... but I'm expendable. Just as long as the digital stuff is working. haha

So - the final question remains ... was the orig. phone corrupted by touching that old server? And, was my PC also infected? No security flags were tossed ... but .... it's all ..... Veeeeery Sussssspicious .....

Gary



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/13/2011 05:02PM by barnespneumatic.

I'm just waiting for the first fatal airplane crash that's going to be attributed to a computer virus. It'll probably be an Airbus, they're mostly software-driven already. The Frenchys trust their computers so much that they don't see a need for any of that old-fashioned stuff like mechanical backups.

Myself? Not so fast, I don't think we're really ready for that just yet. Pilot are already PLENTY good at crashing planes all by themselves, we don't need any more "help" from the computers for that.

rotorhead,

The amount of money being spent on "anti-tamper" plans and mandates suggests you are not alone in worrying about virus or malicious code causing crashes or mission failures...

I'm glad that people are dealing with the issue. It's becoming painfully evident that the average pilot is NOT the master of his/her flightdeck software suite even when things are functioning as intended, let alone when something goes T/U.