Apple Nag

OK, I admit, I nag you Apple folks a lot. I’m just interested in you improving your products so they’re not so flaky and inconsistent.

Lately, I’ve been having problems with almost everything Apple-related that I touch. I’m sorry if I seem abrupt and short-tempered at times. It’s the constant problems and surprises that are like Chinese water torture.

This brings to mind an article I saw in the University of Alberta student newspaper from the mid-’70′s, author unknown, that I found particularly funny. My tolerance is being severely tested so I’m sure glad I don’t have an Old Betsey, or I’d have no more Apple products in recognizable shapes — or a house for that matter.

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Hey Apple, check out this posting by the publishers of 1Password for Mac, and 1Password and 1Password Pro for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Note the candor? Have you considered being as upfront about your own products? You rarely admit mistakes, and then only grudgingly when you’re caught with your pants down.

1Password was one of those applications that when I first heard of it, I didn’t really see the need for it. Eventually, I heard enough about it to check it out. Then I tried the demo. Then I bought it. Now I praise it and can’t live without it.

Hey, I’m the Apple Nag for a good reason. Almost everything you folks at Apple make that I’ve bought seems to be flea infested with UI inconsistencies that drive me crazy. Partially, it’s the “aura” I have resulting in even finely crafted software breaking, but your stuff is too flaky to qualify for supernatural phenomena excuses.

Lately, I’ve had all kinds of weird Leopard security issues. I’m thinking it’s time for an archive and install in the faint hope it will cure this insanity. I feel like I’m using Windows.

In the months that I’ve used Agile’s 1Password for the Mac and the corresponding app for my iPod Touch, I’m trying to think if I’ve ever experienced problems with it. Next to the OS, security software has to be the most rock solid software on your computer. Even backup software comes third. Leopard is a sickly cat that should crawl into the bush and die leaving Snow Leopard to rule. Fortunately, 1Password has never failed me.

So here’s the lessons you can learn from a small company. Be open and honest with your customers. Don’t be afraid to talk about the future. Don’t design software, craft it. Be self-deprecating, just a bit. Admit mistakes and make them right. Release bug fixes in a timely manner. Respond in a public forum to the concerns of your users.

Have you noticed that Agile has done a vastly superior job explaining why they’re now charging for their iPhone/Touch products than you’ve ever explained about your iPod Touch OS upgrade fees?

Did I upgrade to 1Password Pro even though I own the older free 1Password for my Touch? Did I trust them to come through with the extra features I’m paying a little bit for now that they’ll deliver sometime in the future. Of course! The app costs half of what I paid for an unsatisfactory lunch today, and it’s something that will stay with me even longer than the gas my lunch gave me.

As for trust? Well, I hate to say it guys, but I trust Agile more than Apple.

I started this discussion on Apple’s Support site, Little Snitch catches backup.backupdb trying to contact external IP.

My MacBook backs up to a Time Machine volume on a server on the same LAN. This has been working fine. Today, when I woke the MacBook, Little Snitch caught backup.backupdb (which is Time Machine I believe) attempting to connect to 65.200.200.47, which whois says belongs to Almar Networks.

Of course, I denied both attempts. A subsequent request for Time Machine to backup again was fine.

There is no web server at that IP address and a Google search is not too enlightening.

It happened again this morning. This time I got a screen capture, and it wasn’t backup.backupdb that was the cuprit, it was automountd trying to connect to backup.backupdb.

Click for image page then click image for full size.

So, does my OS X have some sort of infection or trojan?

I told Little Snitch to always deny the connection.

Dear Apple Support,

I see that I’m not alone in experiencing audio popping on my MacBook4,1 from August, 2008.

See this huge thread, and others on your support forum.

I just noticed it now because I’ve switched from a G5 to a MacBook as the forthcoming 10.6 will not run on my G5. Thus, I’ve got the MacBook front and center on my desk plugged into my large monitor and external speakers. Pop, pop, pop, all day long.

You’ve really got to do something about this as this is a long-standing problem. Please.

Thank you,

…Tom

P.S. Here’s an article from MacUser from two friggin’ years ago! Come on Apple, get your <bleep> together and get this fixed. I know you know how to do it. I’m at a loss to understand why you won’t.

Most of my small nags are on Twitter now. I only put larger articles on the blog because they require more work.

Since the Twitter updates are as important as the blog postings, I’ve moved up the Twitter widget in the side-bar to just below the logo. You can read a few of the most recent postings there.

The sum of Twitter and this blog indicates how much trouble just one person has with your venerable and exalted Mac OS X Leopard. To say I am looking forward to countless bug fixes and consistency work in Snow Leopard would be an understatement.

iPhoto is a bit rough around the edges. Take Places as an example. It’s a great feature idea that needs some more shaking out.

I visited a beautiful lake on a motorcycle ride yesterday and took some photos. Then, I used your iPhoto Places and tried to locate the photos using GPS coordinates of the form N45.24835 W78.89166 that Garmin’s Roadtrip software uses. That’s acceptable to the web version of Google Maps, even though it gets the position on the wrong side of the road and doesn’t show part of the lake. But, that coordinate format is not acceptable to iPhoto’s integrated Google Maps locator. When I enter the coordinates, I get the spinning gear and then — nothing. Nothing changes at all. Wouldn’t it be better to give an invalid coordinate format error message?

So I tried the format 45.24835, -78.89166. That works, but again shows a terrain without all of the lake. That’s a Google/Tele Atlas problem, not yours.

Once I got the pin, I tried to zoom in and set the circle diameter that controls the relevant area, but I could only zoom in so far and was not offered the circle controller. Yet, if I switched to Satellite or Hybrid modes, I could at least zoom in. We need consistency, guys!

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