Quote of the day - Ease of use

"Everything syncs without us having to think about it." - Apple CEO Steve Jobs, 2011-06-06, on introducing iCloud

Hey Steve!  How about coming to my house and think about syncing my iPod and MacBook Pro?  I have spent I don't know how many hours trying to restore dropped calendars and contacts or remove duplicate entries in either.

Maybe it's Microsoft's fault.  These problems seem to have started when I switched from Office 2008 to Office 2011.  Microsoft replaced Entourage in the former with Outlook in the latter.  Similar software, but as usual, the new improved version can be several steps backward.

I don't know how many times I've searched in Apple's and Microsoft's support pages.  Lots and lots of people report the problem, but few people, if any, answer with a solid long term solution.  I've tried some, and some have worked for a while.  But like the infamous cat, it always comes back.

I've called AppleCare and got some advice that sort of helped. But the cat came back.

I looked in Apple's support pages and did find a more detailed solution.  It sort of seems to have worked, but I had duplicates going back to 2002, like 20 Christmas days on the same day and six voice lessons on the same day.  I've spent well over an hour eliminating the duplicates in 2002.  At least for the holidays I won't have to delete duplicates in later years, but all those other activities, it remains to be seen.

Also, I don't know what the side effects of deleting ALL the files in the cache folder.  There was stuff for TurboTax, Google Earth, Adobe, and I've forgotten what else.  At least they are backed up on my Time Machine.

Ah!  Time Machine, that marvelous hourly backup in the background.  Background? Hah!  When the backup is busy for over an hour, lots of other things slow down and certainly make me think about it.

No, I'm not going to go over to the dark side.  Microsoft Office is enough.

But I certainly wish you would run a company that is more efficient than the IRS, which contrary to Republican doctrine, does a nice job of co-operating with private companies to make reporting and refunds quick.

P.S. Thanks to the messed up composing page in Google's Blogger, I couldn't post this right away.  Or maybe it was because Apple's instructions to delete the cache.  I fixed the problem by quitting and restarting Firefox.

I bought an obsolete product!

Last week I bought a low-power FM transmitter and auto charger for my iPod. I really wanted to have it before our ski trip for when we couldn't get a good public radio signal. Just having a passenger click on a selection is easier than recognizing that a CD is starting back at the beginning. Besides, I think I have more CDs and podcasts on my iPod than we could put into the console between the seats.

After I bought it I was musing about replacing our pickup truck with a van. I'm getting a bit too stiff to climb into a pickup truck. As I read through specs, I found out that some new vehicles have USB ports. One can just plug an iPod or other MP3 player into the dashboard and have the sound come out the car speakers! What will they think of next?

Hm! I don't think $85 dollars for the transmitter and a thousand or so dollars a year in repairs really compares to twenty to thirty thousand for a new vehicle.

But, if I had had the transmitter when we left on our ski vacation, I would have never heard Clay Jenkinson doing his impersonation of how Thomas Jefferson would react to today's events. If I remember correctly, old Tom didn't care for the stimulus packages. See "The Thomas Jefferson Hour".

I have already downloaded four episodes of the Jefferson Hour. But first, I have catch up on "To the Best of Our Knowledge" and "PRI's The World: Technology Podcast".

iGrandma

Today is my wife's birthday. This week I was pondering making her a card or buying her a gift. For the latter I wondered about some digital photo gadget to carry photos in her purse. I thought it would be bulky and clumsy. I wound up doing neither for her. I bought a store card that expressed our relationship perfectly.

However, today in preparation for her first high-school reunion meeting, I started putting photos on my iPod touch. Migod! That's it! Hundreds of photos! Organized in folders! Show a trip! Show a grandchild! Show a particular event!

She says we can share my iPod. But will we?