My Ridiculous Back And Forth With iTunes Technical Support Staff Because iTunes Won’t Let Me Enter The New Security Information

By on April 27, 2012 in Apple

Re-published from my Tech Geek Blog

So, a few days ago Apple decided to add some additional security questions “to protect the security on your account”. You’ve undoubtedly seen it by now. I blogged about it the other day. The problem is, at least for me, after I attempt to set the (ridiculous) questions iTunes pops up an error telling me the request can’t be completed.

Request completed

I tried again later but the same. I tried from my iPad, the same. I tried from the Mac App Store. The same. iPhone, the same.

So, anyway, since I can no longer buy anything from iTunes I went onto the support site and filled out a support request:

While attempting to purchase an item on the iTunes store, I was asked to enter the new enhanced security questions. However, after choosing the questions, and filling out the answers, I click on ok and I get the following error message “Your Request is temporarily unable to be processed, please try again later”. I have tried this several times now and It keeps giving me the same error. As a result I am unable to purchase anything from the iTunes store. I have tried this on my iPhone and iPad too both with the same result. Each time it says unable to process request. Please help as there is an app that I really need right now

Pretty straight forward, or so I thought. Here’s the response I got back….

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The Problem With Journalism

By on March 19, 2012 in Mac
something is fundamentally wrong with journalism. Some people will argue that social media is the answer, but I have to disagree. in fact I think by rushing to compete with, and embrace the world of social media, the bastions of journalism have failed themselves. To be true to the ideal, they should make sure that they are the antithesis of what social media is. They should be doubling down on their core principles, not abandoning them. In the excellent Documentary about the New York Times, “Page One”, there is a segment where the director interviews Nick Denton of Gawker. Denton describes how they track what is being talked about on social media and across their blogs, and the topics that people are most commenting on, no matter how banal are what they write about. He touts this as their advantage over the mainstream press. The problem is, that’s not the job of News. It’s not up to journalists to give people what they want to read, its to give them the truth. And that I believe is why journalism has lost its way.
Me, on The Technology Geek

Part of a piece I wrote on the controversy surrounding the revelations that Mike Daisey made up much of his diatribe about Apple.

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The Story That People Should Be Writing About Apple

By on March 11, 2012 in Mac

A piece I wrote over on “The Technology Geek“:

The Apple story is the epitome of the American dream: two guys in a garage start a company that becomes bigger than the GDP of many countries. They should teach its success in school. What people should be writing about is that even in economic darkness, you can succeed no matter how the odds are stacked against you. Instead the story of the week was that the company is doomed because of Tim Cook’s untucked shirt

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Embrace Your Inner Fanboy

By on February 6, 2012 in Mac

A personal rant from me, about the state of the technology press when it comes to Apple, and how it has affected my own writing on the subject.

By the way, if you like what I’ve written here in the past, please head over to the technology geek and subscribe to the RSS feed. Most of my technology blogging will be done from there for now on.

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By Focussing On Apple, The New York Times Sidelines Bigger Issues With Manufacturing in China

By on January 30, 2012 in Mac

My take on the whole Apple / Worker’s Conditions article from the New York Times

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Simon’s Cat: Snow Buisness

By on December 13, 2011 in Entertainment

Gorgeously simple animation. And very funny.

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About those Samsung Ads

By on December 12, 2011 in Advertising, Apple

There has been a lot of press over the last few days about Samsung’s latest Apple bashing ads. If you haven’t seen them, they basically poke fun at Apple users for being mindless sheep following the whims of Apple’s marketing. There are some specific claims, but the point of the ads seems to be to play on the stereotype of the Apple fanboy and fan girl. It suggests that if you want real substance you should go with Samsung. The commercials may win kudos with the tech nerds out there and those who dislike Apple but as an advertisement it fails miserably, and here’s why:
 
If the ads are trying to win over Apple customers, which, one would assume is the intention, then the commercials are deliberately insulting their intended market. I’m not sure what genius at the ad agency thought it was a good idea to try and humiliate the very customer they are trying to win over? Did they think that you would embarrass them into believing that they really should buy Samsung to save face? I get what they’re trying to do, but given that a very large percentage of the population owns an Apple product of some description, telling them “you’re all a bunch of sheep” hardly seems like an approach to win new customers. 
 
If, on the other hand, the ads are targeted at those who would never buy Apple anyway, then they’re just preaching to the converted, and are completely pointless, because in this case, the main competion for Samsung isn’t Apple but other Android handset manufacturers. Perhaps they think that by sharing in the hardcore android fan’s collective hatred for all things Apple they will endear themselves with them, but unfortunately, that particular demographic is probably much smaller than reading the likes of Gizmodo would have you believe. In fact, the whole commercial looks like something you would come up with if gadget blogs were your primary source of information as to the feelings of the general public with regard to gadgets and technology.  
 
I know there are those out there that will say that I’m just another apple defending sheep, but then those people will never be convinced as to anything else anyway. They are the target audience for this commercial but as they don’t need convincing, it’s just a big waste of money. The ads might be humorous and well produced and they might serve to validate existing purchases or beliefs, but as a tool to sell products, in my opinion they fail miserably.

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Farewell Steve Jobs, And Thank You

By on October 6, 2011 in Apple

With the sad news last night of the passing of one of the world’s great icons, today has been a day of remarkable sadness. Steve Jobs was one of those rare people who touched the lives of those whom he influenced so profoundly, that even though they may not have known him personally, they feel his loss on a deeply personal level. His energy,drive and passion burned so brightly for too short a time and the world is a little darker today having lost one of its brightest lights.

I spent much of today reading the numerous tributes and stories from people all over the world in sort of a stunned remorse. Like many others I wanted to share what Steve had meant to me, but I had trouble finding where to start. People have often accused me of being a mac fanboy or some such derisive term because of my affection for Apple, but the truth is I would not be doing what I do today were it not for Apple and Steve Jobs. My career to date, and much of my life has been shaped by my first encounter with a shiny multicolored apple logo many years ago.

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