I won't bore you with a number of issues with tech support from both Apple Stores and the telephone support during a recent Xserv purchase for my company.
Now I have an iPod issue. I've had the iPod for eight months & the LCD screen suddenly stopped working. I brought it into my local Mac reseller & they thought they could put a new LCD screen in. Turns out they didn't have a 4th generation screen. So they charged me $25 to waste my time.
So they tell me to go online & register to send it in to Mac for repair. The online site leads me through about 15 pages before it tells me "can't verify serial number". I try again. No luck.
The site gives me a number to call for tech support. I ended up speaking to a woman who could speak very little english, but I beared with it. She told me my warranty was expired, that it was a six-month warranty (which is bullshit) and tried to sell me a two-year Apple Care plan. I said no, the warranty is one year and I didn't want Apple Care.
So then she tells me, yes, it's a one-year plan for online support, not for phone support. I didn't see anything about that in the warranty, and I told her the only reason I was calling was because the website didn't work. So she told me she could have it sent in for repair, but it would cost $30 for shipping & handling. I said that was fine. She again went into sales pitch about Apple Care which I said I had no interest in.
She then put me on hold for 10 more minutes (after originally being on hold twice that long) to "check" something. She then started to process the claim & told me a box would be sent to my house in 48 hours & I gave her my address. She then said she was having an issue with the serial number in the computer & that she would have to get back to me and hung up. She never took my phone number.
I then called back to try to speak with someone slightly more competent, waited another 15 minutes & some jackass picks up the phone doing the "pinched-nose-nasal-voice" thing---"Hello, this is Robert, can I start with your first name". I answered him and even spelled it out. His answer--"Hello, this is Robert, can I start with your first name". I repeated it, thinking he might not have heard me. Again he says -"Hello, this is Robert, can I start with your first name". So this time I just hung up on the fucking smart-ass.
So now the wait to see if I ever get the package. Sorry for the rant, but I don't know what the hell is going on with that company & I'm about ready to make "switch" back to PC.
― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:01 (nineteen years ago) link
WHAT DID HE EVER DO TO YOU??????????
― IRATE MAMA (Dan Perry), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:05 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Aaron A., Friday, 4 March 2005 22:07 (nineteen years ago) link
― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:09 (nineteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:11 (nineteen years ago) link
All too true.
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:11 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:13 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ed (dali), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:15 (nineteen years ago) link
― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:31 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:35 (nineteen years ago) link
― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:40 (nineteen years ago) link
― adam.r.l. (nordicskilla), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:41 (nineteen years ago) link
Apple replaced my new iBook's motherboard while I was in Japan. That's hundreds of dollars worth, at no charge to me. Of course, it shouldn't have failed within six months in the first place...
― Momus (Momus), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― Miss Misery (thatgirl), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― ffirehorse (firehorse), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:42 (nineteen years ago) link
― adam.r.l. (nordicskilla), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:42 (nineteen years ago) link
That's why they charge you double upfront!
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ed (dali), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:43 (nineteen years ago) link
― The Argunaut (sexyDancer), Friday, 4 March 2005 22:44 (nineteen years ago) link
Because I don't believe in a company making you pay for a warantee that should be offered for free upfront. I was under the impression that a one-year warantee meant that if something goes wrong in the first year, they actually fix the thing, not put you on the phone with several douchebags who are trying to sell you additional warantees.
Shit, when the first warantee doesn't seem to work, why would I want to buy another one?
― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Friday, 4 March 2005 23:53 (nineteen years ago) link
But it does sound like you have a problem with your serial number, Jay.
― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:00 (nineteen years ago) link
― cutty (mcutt), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:06 (nineteen years ago) link
― jbr (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:16 (nineteen years ago) link
tho when i was waiting there, i did see todd oldham.
― hstencil (hstencil), Saturday, 5 March 2005 00:20 (nineteen years ago) link
― biznotic, Saturday, 5 March 2005 02:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Saturday, 5 March 2005 02:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ed (dali), Saturday, 5 March 2005 06:51 (nineteen years ago) link
― TOMBOT, Saturday, 5 March 2005 20:08 (nineteen years ago) link
― amandasc, Saturday, 5 March 2005 20:38 (nineteen years ago) link
― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Saturday, 5 March 2005 22:12 (nineteen years ago) link
― Ed (dali), Saturday, 5 March 2005 22:21 (nineteen years ago) link
― Orbit (Orbit), Sunday, 6 March 2005 21:02 (nineteen years ago) link
My tech experience with Apple has been sensational. A friend called me today to tell me that his mini iPod was replaced in less than five business days, and he also got the new generation mini in place of his old one that had died. No charge.
I've dealt with Dell and Gateway and their CSRs are no better than Apple's. HPs can blow me, they've sucked.
― don weiner, Sunday, 6 March 2005 23:22 (nineteen years ago) link
the desktop I have at work running XP has been up and alive for 2 years with barely any reboots. It does everything I want it to do, does it quickly, and I can navigate painlessly without ever touching the mouse if I feel like it.
I was raised on Apple and my first job was DTP on a Mac, followed by audio editing on a Mac, more DTP, and so on. OS 7+ had more than its share of problems and stupid quirks but the hardware was rock solid and at least its behavior was predictable.
Since getting my latest-edition powerbook I've put it through little more than I ever tried to do with my old OS
― TOMBOT, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:18 (nineteen years ago) link
...OS
― TOMBOT, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:21 (nineteen years ago) link
My old Quadra used to have a TV Tuner in it and be able to do image captures from live cable broadcasts, then I could import them into my cheap, incredibly easy to use paint program and do whatever with them. I believe it cost approximately half of what my laptop did! My laptop lets me chat and surf the internet. And rip CDs.
― TOMBOT, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:25 (nineteen years ago) link
― TOMBOT, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:49 (nineteen years ago) link
Well today it decided it wasn't going to wake up again, ever, as I'm being greeted with a totally white screen.
What's funny is that like doing searches on my own to try to figure out wtf this computer is doing right now (I mean not even the sad face x-eye Mac or the question mark Mac! NOTHING AT ALL! WHITE SCREEN! I know how to handle the other things!), everyone who is reporting similar issues to me is like bitching about how they have all this important blah blah blah they were doing with the Mac prior hand. Is it that no one who has this failure who is only using their Mac for chat, porn, and MP3s can be bothered to get in on the discussions, or is it because they don't die if that's all you use it for? Because yeah, it seems like my sleep problem increases tenfold whenever I've been using my iBook more for writing or photo work. If all I've done on the damn thing is use iChat for two weeks, no problems whatsoever with starting it up, back when it, uh, started up.
What does this imply??? Is there like some inherent instability in the majority of the "native" programs that come bundled with OSX or is this just really fucked up coincidence?
Also it seems that this particular issue with the iBook G3 was so bad they threw the whole "your warranty is expired, give us $500" shenanigans out the window, and searching on this same issue with "Powerbook" has not given me the same results--ARE IBOOKS PIECES OF SHIT? wtf?
― Allyzay, Monday, 14 March 2005 17:59 (nineteen years ago) link
*with the exception of my ancient PowerMac that I had when I was 14-15-16, which only died because my sister is a dick.
I am pretty close to deciding to become the female Punisher, except murdering computer firms, instead of bad guys.
― Allyzay, Monday, 14 March 2005 18:02 (nineteen years ago) link
And then kind of ran away????
That was pretty funny.
― Allyzay, Monday, 14 March 2005 18:10 (nineteen years ago) link
― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:24 (nineteen years ago) link
― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:41 (nineteen years ago) link
― nathalie barefoot in the head (stevie nixed), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:46 (nineteen years ago) link
― TOMBOT, Monday, 14 March 2005 18:47 (nineteen years ago) link
― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:49 (nineteen years ago) link
― RJG (RJG), Monday, 14 March 2005 18:50 (nineteen years ago) link
I saw someone point out they could make this a good advert by playing it in reverse.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 8 May 2024 20:05 (two months ago) link
Finally a replacement for "Lemmings" as the worst Apple ad ever.
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, 8 May 2024 20:12 (two months ago) link
Marques Brownlee reviews the new iPad, says...it's an iPad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T0MGehwWvE
― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Wednesday, 8 May 2024 22:12 (two months ago) link
Read max had a good piece on that guy as the last tech blogger this week.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 8 May 2024 22:26 (two months ago) link
I’m old and only recently noticed him but it’s nice to see someone who’s on the reviews beat who isn’t epic bacon or a weirdo devotee. Just letting me know if things work and are worth my time
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Wednesday, 8 May 2024 23:06 (two months ago) link
i liked that iPad review, seemed pretty honest and not overly dramaticand, thankfully he stuck the product placement at the very end
― Nhex, Thursday, 9 May 2024 13:12 (two months ago) link
Finally a replacement for "Lemmings" as the worst Apple ad ever.― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, May 8, 2024 4:12 PM (yesterday)
― Elvis Telecom, Wednesday, May 8, 2024 4:12 PM (yesterday)
Apple agrees...
https://adage.com/article/digital-marketing-ad-tech-news/apple-apologizes-ipad-pro-crushed-ad-it-missed-mark/2559321
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/09/technology/apple-ipad-ad-crush-apology.html
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/apple-apologizes-ipad-pro-crush-ad-criticism-1235895327/
― Lee626, Thursday, 9 May 2024 23:42 (two months ago) link
lol
― calstars, Thursday, 9 May 2024 23:46 (two months ago) link
I hate apple
― calstars, Thursday, 9 May 2024 23:47 (two months ago) link
In fairness, if an apple critic made that ad, I'd be thumbs up, so really can't fault apple for coming up with it first.
― Philip Nunez, Thursday, 9 May 2024 23:56 (two months ago) link
rip https://adage.com/article/digital-marketing-ad-tech-news/apple-apologizes-ipad-pro-crushed-ad-it-missed-mark/2559321
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Friday, 10 May 2024 00:41 (two months ago) link
“In fairness” are you really putting the customer on equal footing with apple corporation
― calstars, Friday, 10 May 2024 00:44 (two months ago) link
Fourteen years ago, many members of another community I was involved with saw the iPad as a huge innovation. For me, I felt that it was simply a consumption device to sell more content from the App Store.
I win.
― fajita seas, Friday, 10 May 2024 03:32 (two months ago) link
Conclusive
― calstars, Friday, 10 May 2024 04:07 (two months ago) link
I hate Apple and I don't think I've ever bought any of their products, but I can see what they were trying to do with the ad and it's actually quite funny how literally it sums up what the smartphone is right now, culturally and technically. I'd say it's a bad ad because it provides no illusion, just an uncomfortable brutal truth. Making music, films, pictures, drawing... what isn't done on the iPhone ?
― Nabozo, Friday, 10 May 2024 13:12 (two months ago) link
I barely touch an actual laptop or desktop outside of work and do pretty much everything at home on my iPad. Tablet good imo
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Friday, 10 May 2024 16:32 (two months ago) link
Don't feel like scrolling up to see if the following two things have already been mentioned:1) the fact that there is no default installer so you have to use something like homebrew2) the fact that there are often old or acient versions of things there by default, especially bash, but even Pythoon
― Billion Year Polyphonic Spree (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 May 2024 01:37 (two months ago) link
Heh at misspelling
― Billion Year Polyphonic Spree (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 23 May 2024 21:22 (two months ago) link
It’s quite terrifying how even a small amount of tinkering can lead to a proliferation of multiple unpatched instances of pythooon across one’s Mac.
― Ed, Friday, 24 May 2024 02:04 (two months ago) link
― Billion Year Polyphonic Spree (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:39 (two months ago) link
You speak from personal experience?
― Billion Year Polyphonic Spree (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 24 May 2024 17:40 (two months ago) link
I'm working on a project called Typhoon, I'm going to suggest any python bindings be called pythoon
― default damager (lukas), Friday, 24 May 2024 20:48 (two months ago) link
I have an iPhone 5C in a drawer that I thought I might do something with. Like, turn it into an iPod, or use it as a backup burner or something. But it's stuck on iOS 10, won't show up on my Mac when I plug it in, and won't let me login to iCloud because iCloud requires at least iOS like 15 or something. I just want to use it as a dumb device, I don't even want any iCloud or phone functionality. Really lame! By the way i LOVE how small it feels in my hand. Almost miraculous.
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 26 May 2024 22:11 (two months ago) link
What color 5c do you have
― calstars, Sunday, 26 May 2024 22:55 (two months ago) link
blue
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Sunday, 26 May 2024 22:57 (two months ago) link
Oldest one I have is a 4s, heavy af
― calstars, Sunday, 26 May 2024 23:24 (two months ago) link
My 4S plays the role of DJ Flan, a music repository in my car glovebox whose shuffle play picks are sly and mercurial
― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 27 May 2024 05:38 (two months ago) link
> By the way i LOVE how small (the iPhone 5c) feels in my hand. Almost miraculous.
My current phone is an iPhone 12 mini that I bought refurbished several months back, which I bought because it's only slightly larger and heavier, yet is reasonably up to date and runs the latest version of iOS. The follow-up 13 mini was the last of the Apple small phones (same size but a bit heavier than a 12 mini). My ageing eyes don't care for the smallish screen though, and I'm having way more difficulty typing on the small keypad than on the larger phone it replaced - odd since I don't recall having that problem with the first-gen SE I had a few years back, which is the same size as a 5c or 5s. I'll probably go back to a larger phone when the 16 ships presumably this autumn.
― Lee626, Monday, 27 May 2024 07:10 (two months ago) link
Yeah the keyboard feels very cramped.
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Monday, 27 May 2024 08:35 (two months ago) link
https://hackaday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/visionOS-bug-bats.gif
Release The Bats!
BATS CAN NO LONGER HAUNT APPLE VR HEADSETS VIA WEB EXPLOITby Donald PappJune 26, 2024Bug reporting doesn’t usually have a lot of visuals. Not so with the visionOS bug [Ryan Pickren] found, which fills a user’s area with screeching bats after visiting a malicious website. Even better, closing the browser doesn’t get rid of them! Better still? Doesn’t need to be bats, it could be spiders. Fun!The bug has been fixed, but here’s how it worked: the Safari browser build for visionOS allowed a malicious website to fill the user’s 3D space with animated objects without interaction or permission. The code to trigger this is remarkably succinct, and is actually a new twist on an old feature: Apple AR Quick Look, an HTML-based feature for rendering 3D augmented reality content in Safari.
Bug reporting doesn’t usually have a lot of visuals. Not so with the visionOS bug [Ryan Pickren] found, which fills a user’s area with screeching bats after visiting a malicious website. Even better, closing the browser doesn’t get rid of them! Better still? Doesn’t need to be bats, it could be spiders. Fun!
The bug has been fixed, but here’s how it worked: the Safari browser build for visionOS allowed a malicious website to fill the user’s 3D space with animated objects without interaction or permission. The code to trigger this is remarkably succinct, and is actually a new twist on an old feature: Apple AR Quick Look, an HTML-based feature for rendering 3D augmented reality content in Safari.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 27 June 2024 11:27 (one month ago) link
I didn't plan to get a Keychron Q6 keyboard today, but so far I'm not regretting the decision
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 18 July 2024 00:04 (one week ago) link
That looks dope except for … maybe the rounded edges on the keys? I’d prefer more square
― calstars, Thursday, 18 July 2024 00:16 (one week ago) link
there's hundreds of different key styles you can get once you get into this. The /r/MechanicalKeyboards community wikis were helpful and can help zero you in depending on what yr doing. The Q6 is expensive as fuck - it's joining the mechnical keyboard cult at the 33rd degree - but after a couple of hours my wrists and arms are less fatigued maybe? It's definitely forcing me to keep my typing position better.
― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 18 July 2024 01:53 (one week ago) link
i wanted to like the old Apple A1016 I found in a thrift store, in great shape. Could not believe how much force it took to type on, compared to my cheap mechanical.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 18 July 2024 02:20 (one week ago) link
Yeah I just sold my old one - it was like typing on hard peppermints after years of being coddled by the butterfly mechanisms.
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 18 July 2024 05:44 (one week ago) link
lol that puts it well. So pretty tho. Dah well.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Thursday, 18 July 2024 12:53 (one week ago) link
I wish these had Touch ID :(
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 18 July 2024 12:58 (one week ago) link
we have an A1048 which i think is similar to the a1016. probably the worst keyboard i've ever typed on
― 龜, Thursday, 18 July 2024 13:13 (one week ago) link
The A1048's were around when I was IT manager back at the UCI Department of Ed (around when I just started posting to ILX). The one-piece plastic tray those keyboards sit in were a perfect trap for any kind of liquid spill. Pretty sure you could fit a most of a 12oz coffee in there. I suppose it's noble to sacrifice yourself by containing the spill...
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 19 July 2024 01:58 (one week ago) link
Day two with the Keychron. Still not missing the A1843.Really like programming the knob on the Q6 to control volume. Not missing Touch ID either, but I can approve stuff with my watch so it isn't a great loss.
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 19 July 2024 02:03 (one week ago) link
i wish they’d license touch ID or even create a standalone physical widget
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 19 July 2024 07:44 (one week ago) link
an ostensibly “fun” company would partner with keychron on a limited edition collab
― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Friday, 19 July 2024 07:45 (one week ago) link
My 2013 Macbook Pro is finally becoming difficult to maintain because so many apps have stopped updating that far back. Annoying. It's still got a perfect screen, good sound, works fast. But every day I have to close pop ups telling me about updates I can never use.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 19 July 2024 11:58 (one week ago) link
Windows 10 on my 2011 Air going just fine.... (of all days to say this)
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 19 July 2024 14:55 (one week ago) link
Linux Mint would be super fine
Three days later, I'm now seriously all-in with this thing. My hands are happier, but I think the sheer 3D size of it forces you into better posture once you've figured out how to type most efficiently with it. YMMV of course, but if I worked onsite somewhere that involved typing all day long I'd take it with me and use it there. The Q6 Max is also hefty enough (4.9lb / 2.2kg) that you will successfully threaten anyone keeping you from doing so.
― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 21 July 2024 03:22 (six days ago) link
was sorta considering a (relatively quiet) mech for work but they are just too noisy. I'm not terribly close to anyone but typing (and stretches of non typing) would be noticeable. I settled for swiping a quiet chiclet board from a vacant cubicle. Good, like a laptop from 20 years ago.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Sunday, 21 July 2024 11:44 (six days ago) link
I have a keychron k8 pro. I changed the switches for https://www.keychron.com/products/keychron-silent-k-pro-switch and that's fine in an office.
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Sunday, 21 July 2024 15:29 (six days ago) link
https://i.imgur.com/OWJhOTd.png
― calstars, Sunday, 21 July 2024 22:42 (six days ago) link
keep us posted!
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Monday, 22 July 2024 15:18 (five days ago) link