When I updated from an iPhone 12 Pro to an iPhone 14 Pro* a few months ago, something apparently went wrong and the connection (aka “Visual Voicemail”) to the voice mailbox with the carrier broke. One of my contacts asked whether I had received their voicemail — I hadn’t and surprise, when I manually dialed in to the voicemail, I had 17 new messages. That sucked, because there were obviously some important messages among them.
apple
Zuckercrybaby
So Meta’s stock keeps on tanking because the whole idea of a “Metaverse” might just be a bit ahead of its time, because people don’t like the idea of a fake world with Mark Zuckerberg as a ruler, or because it’s just plain bullshit. Be it as it may, Zuckerberg has found a culprit and it is, once more, Apple of course: not only did they put some roadblocks into the relentless surveillance-based business model of his and other social media companies, no! They also take a cut when someone sells something, on their platform. Shocking.
Converted
As a “former IT guy” and someone who has, after 20 years on Windows, switched to Apple (in December 2019), I can’t help but occasionally compare the two systems because inevitably, solving one or the other computer riddle is part of my job too when I work with clients on their photography, and help them with Lightroom.
Tech: Migration (Impressed)
In my previous post about my switch to the iPhone 12, I mentioned that it doesn’t have any new features that really impressed me over my old iPhone 7 Plus. One thing did impress me though: the switch itself, and the migration of everything from my old iPhone 7 Plus to the new one.
Tech: RIP, Home Button
The inevitable has happened – I have a new iPhone. My iPhone 7 Plus is/was four years old and still working quite well actually. The latest iOS 14 runs smoothly on it… but some things were beginning to get in the way.
Movie/Tech: Wolfwalkers and Apple TV+
We got a free AppleTV+ subscription when the service was first launched, and were thus able to watch the animated “Wolfwalkers” recently. A wonderful movie from the same production company that also made “Secret of Kells” and it’s easy to see-feel some similarities.
The Switch (from Windows to Mac)
Near the very end of December Santa Claus came to my door (disguised as a FedEx guy – clever) and delivered a new computer. After 20 years of using Windows, I have now switched to a Mac (before Windows, I was a die-hard Amiga fan and user – until the year 2000, when I began to work in IT in Germany).
Apple Earbud Fix
If your ears are like mine and you’re an Apple user, you’ve been struggling with the flawed design of Apple’s earbuds*: their odd shape only fits the ear rather loosely (switching the left and right earbud helps) but without any cushioning that would provide a little more friction, the bare plastic doesn’t prevent the entire thing from slipping out of the ear sooner or later. Because of the loose fit, the sound is also rather poor, in particular the low frequencies.
Siri Voice Quality in iOS 11
The voice quality of Siri was really shitty after I updated to iOS 11*. The voice sounded highly robotic and not natural at all, when it was supposed to sound more natural according to a number of news articles I found. That was particularly annoying for driving directions, where the low quality voice is really annoying over the car’s stereo system.