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Friday, May 22, 2009

Simplify Your Life



Start with the cables on your freaking desk, man.

Note the two iPod/iPhone connectors (one is going into the back of the iPod dock). Why? Because you can't charge the iPhone adequately from the USB hub of your laptop while you are doing things, like playing Sudoku, as the power out (particulalrly for the screen) is greater than the power in. So if you want to actually CHARGE the iPhone, you have either not use it while it is connected, or unplug it from the laptop and charge it seperately from a power outlet.

Can you buy an iPhone dock that takes power from the outlet AND lets you connect to your laptop? No, of course not, what the fuck are you thinking? That might be useful, that might be how people actually operate. I looked in the eStore last night, the closest thing was part of a mini-speaker set and it was on special too, for $120. Hey, just turf the no doubt crap speakers! But of course it didn't accept the iPhone 3G, only the iPod. Sigh.

So, yes, you noticed. Despite its frustrations, I'm back on the iPhone for the moment. The Nokia E71 is great but the freaking font is so small I can hardly read it. Man. Deaf, blind, aching feet, somebody shoot me. I took the iPhone in to Singtel to complain about the battery life and they tested it, found a corrupt file in my Contacts and said, "There you go!" How does a corrupt file drain battery power?

On the desktop (the real one, not on the laptop), notice also the two portable HDDs. I broke one by pushing the small USB plus into it upside down! Whoops! Had to buy a new case, but it doesn't support all the Seagate back-up functions, etc... It was only 80GB too, so I grabbed a 320GB one for like, nothing, and I will put all my songs from my iMac on it and make it my secondary iTunes library to share between the iMac and laptop when I travel. I got halfway with this once before, and decided just to use the iPod, remember?

Other cables are the network cable, USB hub cable (which has the wireless mouse and keyboard dongle otherwise there'd be even more cables), the USB cable to the fan of the laptop cooling stand's fan, the power jack for the E71, some headphones (using the fucking Sony pod things I bought in Bangkok for next-to-nothing after all that shite about fancy ones from America) connected to the iPod, speaker cable to the ALtec-LAnsing desktop speakers...

Sigh. Why do you care? Are you mad? Why am I telling this? Am I mad? Or am I just trying to distract myself?

Maybe I should just get on with those three presentations I have to give for the training week after next.

Ah, no, it's lunch-time. Down tools. Let's get sushi and pay bit-time!

E@L

8 comments:

Istvanski said...

Sorry E@L - I got distracted over at the online iPod shop.
Now, what were you saying?

Lost in Melbourne said...

What the!?

Now I understand why you bought 2 seats when you only have 1 bike. The rampant gadget consumerism of life in a wealthy south east asian shopping-state has totally taken over.

Anything you do not need to use for more than a few weeks should get listed on ebay. Clear up your life mate.

expat@large said...

Scott: yes, bang on target. Too much money, not enough sense. $100? Whatever... $1000, Sure...

I just have this idea that it could be possible to buy something that does what you want it to do. Then comes the desengaño moment. It's a piece of shit. Whatever it is, it's a piece of shit that is designed to disappoint. Forget about inbuilt obsolescence, everything has ground up frustration designed all the way through. EVERYfrackingTHING.

Problem is. I am an optimist. (Stop laughing you in the back.)

Which is why I temper myself with gagdet purchases by trying to send equivalent amount to a reliable charity, such as World Vision or OxFam. This effectively doubles the price of each purchase and makes me think agan. It may not stop me, but it slows me down.

The article on distraction is good too, did you read it? or did you, like me only get to page 2 and then get distracted?

The two seats story: a glad I bought the double ring Spiderflex one, it's a charm so far. The smaller one, the Comfort Seat (as recommended by the CDC OHS people) has less positional flexibility and really makes me throw my weight forward through my arms to the handlebars. Forearms are still aching from a 10 min trial.

I couldn't find the shopping cart page for the Comfort seat at first, so I ordered the Spiderflex. It was the left-field purchase.

I rechecked the Comfort Seat site next day and found my way to their on-line shop - hey, wtf, what if the other one is crap?

Remember I had to buy these on-line, I couldn't test them out here to choose one over the other in Singapore.

Going for a ride now.

Momentary Madness said...

Ah yes, the joys of connecting. Compatibility- to be or not to be that is the question.
Quite frustrating, but when you have a market pretending to be interested in “user-friendly” products when really it couldn’t give a shit unless it’s an advantage or disadvantage to making a profit.

Anonymous said...

You need more blue-tooth enabled techno bits! :D

expat@large said...

Dude: Induditably. And iPhone handles Bluetooth so fracking well...

Unknown said...

And iPhone handles Bluetooth so fracking well...Bwahahahahahahaha! Oh, wait, that wasn't a joke.

expat@large said...

Jay: crying sound...

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