I don’t like the way this is going…the most recent posts on this blog about Apple technology have been negative, but I feel obligated to discuss the problems I am having.  I am on my second iPod Classic 160 and the second one is plagued with problems as well.  My first one would not update and would not sync.  I thought I had a bad device, but I am faced with the same problem with the replacement (though it currently still syncs with issues).  I am thinking it is something in my library, but what?  I have 140GB of content, so how do I identify a problem file?  In addition, while this one still syncs, it is losing its sync database frequently and tries to sync songs it already has.  Also, in addition to telling it that it should not sync podcasts, it is syncing them all.  They don’t show up in the Podcast section, but if I search for “TWiT”, the 3 most recent episodes are on the iPod.  I think there is something buggy with the Classic’s software, but I can’t update as all attempts to update or restore all fail.  My other iPods (Video 80, G2 Nano 8GB, G1 Nano 4GB, Gen 3 iPod, and Gen 1 Shuffle) and iPhone sync to this computer with no problems as does my Apple TV.  The fault lies somewhere with the Classic it would seem.

On the other end of the spectrum, I updated both my Nokia N95 and N800 last night without a hitch.  Both updates introduced better performance and new features.  My N95 now has a Sling Player and it is a killer feature.  I watched High Fidelity in bed last night streaming over wireless and the video quality was pretty damn good.

I really hope we see a series of updates from Apple in January that improve performance on these devices and fix the bugs in Leopard.  At this point, I’d take a month of stability and performance updates over some new hardware announcement at MacWorld.

Nothing unites the world like Jack Bauer. Since releasing the CTU ringtone for the iPhone, I’ve had over 10,000 visitors from 85 different countries. It has now topped my SpamHaus post as the top visited blog post of all time.

Given that the magazine 24 once referred to my company as the “Real CTU” (see image), it seems appropriate that this blog serve as ringtone central….

(Update Dec 20, 2007 - Now up to 15,000 visitors from 106 countries)

I’ll admit to conducting vanity searches. I do so for the obvious vanity reasons, but also to keep tabs on what people are saying about me, especially given the fact various elements have threatened myself and my family over the years.

For about 5 years, my website www.devost.net has been the top Google result for the keyword “devost”. A few weeks ago, I noticed I moved from #1 to number #50+. This was odd given nothing had changed about my site and there was nothing on the site that should have triggered the wrath of Google….no paid content, no spam in my on my comment pages, etc.

I emailed Google and the problem was fixed in 48 hours. However, two weeks later I am back in the Page Rank gutter. I have no idea why this keeps happening to me. Nothing had changed on my site, and I had introduced a site map to help the Google bots with their analysis of the blog part of my site. I did have that negative post about Google’s stock pricing closing at $666, but I like to think they have more important things to do than censor harmless snickering. I do post a bunch of product reviews, but those products are bought with my personal funds and I give my honest assessment.
I’d still argue that my site is one of the most relevant sites to return for the keyword “devost”. I’ll happily concede the top spot to singer Melissa Devost, but to not be in the top rankings seems absurd. I’d welcome any thoughts on why the Google Page Rank is working so poorly on this issue. It certainly begins to evaporate my blind trust in Google as if I wonder if they are screwing this up, what else are they screwing up?

Pages that rank higher than my own site:

• My Digg profile
• My Sourcewatch page
• My Georgetown page (I am an Adjunct Professor there)
• A four day old post at Haft of the Spear that links back to a paper on my site!
• My Amazon profile
• My Muckety relationship analysis (WTF?)
• Search results about me on the Washington Post web site
• A bunch of stuff about books I’ve written

My gift to all…Merry Christmas.

Just download the file and copy it to your iTunes ringtone directory.

Enjoy!

[RIGHT CLICK HERE (and select SAVE AS) TO DOWNLOAD THE RINGTONE]

Haft of the Spear found this gem. Which is only funny in the context of this paper “Information Terrorism: Can You Trust Your Toaster?”

Can you imagine a toaster hacking a computer? That’s true. In fact any kitchen appliance can be used for attacking your computer system, said Dror Shalev, a hacker from Israel, during the international convention of hackers ‘Clubhack 2007’ held recently.

In his demonstration at the convention, Shalev left the audience amazed by actually hacking a computer with a toaster. Shalev, who is a security expert at Check Point Software Technologies in Israel, was one of the foreign speakers at the international convention.

He said that any home device could be connected with a software prototype to hack a computer. “I read a senior scientist from Google saying there was no need to be afraid of a toaster at home,” Shalev told The Indian Express. “But as a hacker I came up with a toaster that could actually hack a computer. I call it a ‘Crazy Toaster’.” [Link--->]

Having just written a glowing review of the Kindle which I was going to post on the blog and on Amazon when I landed, I decided to relax and read for a little while. I was five pages into my book when I noticed that in the upper left hand corner of the page several words seemed to be “printed” on top of each other. Hitting the next page button crashed the reader and has since rendered it useless. I can browse the device and select a book or newspaper, but trying to read it brings up a dialog box that says “Unexpected Error” and a close button. I can still see my newspaper subscriptions showing up in the directory (including a note from the San Francisco Chronicle about being late today), but nothing can be read.

An email to the Kindle support team resulted in a reply the next day saying to call them. When I called, I was transferred around and literally told they did not know what to do with me. They needed to discuss at Amazon and determine if my device needed new software or if they would have to send me a replacement. They offered that they would call me back within 24 hours. If I need a replacement, I am hoping they retained some stock so that I don’t have to wait until after the holidays. I had planned on using the Kindle a lot to read papers and books while away for Christmas. I also hope they credit me for my newspaper subscriptions as the three I subscribe to are worthless to me if I can’t read them the day they are released.
Ironically, in a few weeks of owning the Kindle, this is the first time I was really relying on the device as I am on travel to the west coast. My Sony eReader was unstable enough I used to pack a real book as backup, but I didn’t do that with the Kindle. I hope I hear this is something that can be fixed with a remote software or firmware push so that I don’t have to buy a book at the airport for the trip back.

If anyone else has had this issue, please leave me a comment.

Update:  It turns out that posting about my troubles on Twitter and the TWiT channel on Jaiku is better than calling Amazon support.  They had the problem solved by the time I woke up.  Thanks all!

I am a huge Apple fan and am typically pretty forgiving of their shortcomings, however, I must admit to being very frustrated by the Apple brand recently.

First, Leopard is not stable. I’ve had more issues with one month of leopard than the last year of Tiger. Funky wifi, lots of gray screens of death and it still isn’t able to authenticate to network attached storage devices (the same devices worked brilliantly with Tiger).

Second, I just bought a new iPod classic. Aside from initially hooking it up to my mac, the iPod is unused. Tonight, I am trying to prep it for a plane ride to the west coast and it won’t sync. It won’t update. It won’t restore. I’ve tried with different cables and different USB ports. I restarted iTunes and performed the assortment of steps one would go through to solve this problem. iTunes sees the iPod with no problems, it asks to update it, but then the update hangs and fails. A restore results in the same issue and syncing just doesn’t work.

I have some content on the device, but not want I want, so it is basically worthless to me for my trip. Come on Apple, let’s get your act together please.