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string(2820) "<p></p><h4><a href=\"http://kiwi-app.net/\" >Kiwi 1.1 is a stunning upgrade →</a></h4>
<p><div class=\"tweetmeme_button\" ><a href=\"http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F\"><img src=\"http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F\" height=\"61\" width=\"51\" /></a></div><a href=\"http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/kiwi-mac-review/\">Remember Kiwi</a>? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user</p>
<p>First of all, it brings in a slick inline image viewer for twitpic, Ember and yFrog links, where the image zooms in as you hover over—very cool. It also supports viewing images in a HUD (but sadly, no support for img.ly). Greatly improved notifications support, including a per account menubar notification system much like Tweetie does (terrible icon though), as well as Growl support and Dock badges. It can remember your scroll position as new tweets arrive, or take you back to the top, mark them as read as you scroll by. It can even mark tweets as read across views so long as you’ve seen it in one—nice!</p>
<p>Most importantly, the Kiwi theming community has grown, and I’m totally in love with the ‘industrial’ theme style. Anyone can make themes using HTML and CSS, and you can submit and browse them at <a href=\"http://kiwithemes.com/themes/\">Kiwithemes.com</a>. I’m going to try it out for a while and see whether I can finally make the switch from aging Tweetie. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to put up with its ridiculous icons.</p>
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<a href=\"http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?\"><img align=\"left\" hspace=\"5px\" src=\"http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png\" alt=\"Touchpad\" /></a>
<a href=\"http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?\">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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Remember Kiwi? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user
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<a href=\"http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?\">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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<p>First of all, it brings in a slick inline image viewer for twitpic, Ember and yFrog links, where the image zooms in as you hover over—very cool. It also supports viewing images in a HUD (but sadly, no support for img.ly). Greatly improved notifications support, including a per account menubar notification system much like Tweetie does (terrible icon though), as well as Growl support and Dock badges. It can remember your scroll position as new tweets arrive, or take you back to the top, mark them as read as you scroll by. It can even mark tweets as read across views so long as you’ve seen it in one—nice!</p>
<p>Most importantly, the Kiwi theming community has grown, and I’m totally in love with the ‘industrial’ theme style. Anyone can make themes using HTML and CSS, and you can submit and browse them at <a href="http://kiwithemes.com/themes/">Kiwithemes.com</a>. I’m going to try it out for a while and see whether I can finally make the switch from aging Tweetie. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to put up with its ridiculous icons.</p>
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<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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First of all, it brings in a [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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<p>First of all, it brings in a slick inline image viewer for twitpic, Ember and yFrog links, where the image zooms in as you hover over—very cool. It also supports viewing images in a HUD (but sadly, no support for img.ly). Greatly improved notifications support, including a per account menubar notification system much like Tweetie does (terrible icon though), as well as Growl support and Dock badges. It can remember your scroll position as new tweets arrive, or take you back to the top, mark them as read as you scroll by. It can even mark tweets as read across views so long as you’ve seen it in one—nice!</p>
<p>Most importantly, the Kiwi theming community has grown, and I’m totally in love with the ‘industrial’ theme style. Anyone can make themes using HTML and CSS, and you can submit and browse them at <a href="http://kiwithemes.com/themes/">Kiwithemes.com</a>. I’m going to try it out for a while and see whether I can finally make the switch from aging Tweetie. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to put up with its ridiculous icons.</p>
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<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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First of all, it brings in a [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
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string(2842) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://kiwi-app.net/" target="_blank">Kiwi 1.1 is a stunning upgrade →</a></h4>
<p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div><a target="_blank" href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/kiwi-mac-review/">Remember Kiwi</a>? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user</p>
<p>First of all, it brings in a slick inline image viewer for twitpic, Ember and yFrog links, where the image zooms in as you hover over—very cool. It also supports viewing images in a HUD (but sadly, no support for img.ly). Greatly improved notifications support, including a per account menubar notification system much like Tweetie does (terrible icon though), as well as Growl support and Dock badges. It can remember your scroll position as new tweets arrive, or take you back to the top, mark them as read as you scroll by. It can even mark tweets as read across views so long as you’ve seen it in one—nice!</p>
<p>Most importantly, the Kiwi theming community has grown, and I’m totally in love with the ‘industrial’ theme style. Anyone can make themes using HTML and CSS, and you can submit and browse them at <a href="http://kiwithemes.com/themes/">Kiwithemes.com</a>. I’m going to try it out for a while and see whether I can finally make the switch from aging Tweetie. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to put up with its ridiculous icons.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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string(725) "Kiwi 1.1 is a stunning upgrade →
Remember Kiwi? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user
First of all, it brings in a [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
["atom_content"]=>
string(2842) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://kiwi-app.net/" target="_blank">Kiwi 1.1 is a stunning upgrade →</a></h4>
<p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div><a target="_blank" href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/kiwi-mac-review/">Remember Kiwi</a>? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user</p>
<p>First of all, it brings in a slick inline image viewer for twitpic, Ember and yFrog links, where the image zooms in as you hover over—very cool. It also supports viewing images in a HUD (but sadly, no support for img.ly). Greatly improved notifications support, including a per account menubar notification system much like Tweetie does (terrible icon though), as well as Growl support and Dock badges. It can remember your scroll position as new tweets arrive, or take you back to the top, mark them as read as you scroll by. It can even mark tweets as read across views so long as you’ve seen it in one—nice!</p>
<p>Most importantly, the Kiwi theming community has grown, and I’m totally in love with the ‘industrial’ theme style. Anyone can make themes using HTML and CSS, and you can submit and browse them at <a href="http://kiwithemes.com/themes/">Kiwithemes.com</a>. I’m going to try it out for a while and see whether I can finally make the switch from aging Tweetie. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to put up with its ridiculous icons.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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["title"]=>
string(42) "Postbox, now with improved Mac integration"
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["pubdate"]=>
string(31) "Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:54:48 +0000"
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["guid"]=>
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["description"]=>
string(807) "Postbox 1.1.1, now with improved Mac integration →
I had reviewed Postbox a while ago. It’s a great feature rich client—so if you’re missing something Mail there’s a high probability Postbox has it—but it wasn’t as integrated with OS X as I liked. The new release brings:
Full Apple Address Book integration
bi-directional communication with iCal
Spotlight search for [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
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string(2004) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://postbox-inc.com/?/blog/entry/new_and_improved_support_for_mac_os_x/" target="_blank">Postbox 1.1.1, now with improved Mac integration →</a></h4>
<p>I had <a href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/post-box-not-just-another-mail-replacement/">reviewed Postbox</a> a while ago. It’s a great feature rich client—so if you’re missing something Mail there’s a high probability Postbox has it—but it wasn’t as integrated with OS X as I liked. The new release brings:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Full Apple Address Book integration</li>
<li>bi-directional communication with iCal</li>
<li>Spotlight search for mail and attachments</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>It still reeks of non-nativeness. For instance, the new release has a “Look up in Dictionary” feature, but you can’t ‘Cmd+Option+D’ on a word and expect to see the dictionary pop up. It’s still a Carbon app. Perhaps <a href="http://twitter.com/lettersapp">Letters</a> will be the one that weans me away from Mail. </p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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string(807) "Postbox 1.1.1, now with improved Mac integration →
I had reviewed Postbox a while ago. It’s a great feature rich client—so if you’re missing something Mail there’s a high probability Postbox has it—but it wasn’t as integrated with OS X as I liked. The new release brings:
Full Apple Address Book integration
bi-directional communication with iCal
Spotlight search for [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
["atom_content"]=>
string(2004) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://postbox-inc.com/?/blog/entry/new_and_improved_support_for_mac_os_x/" target="_blank">Postbox 1.1.1, now with improved Mac integration →</a></h4>
<p>I had <a href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/post-box-not-just-another-mail-replacement/">reviewed Postbox</a> a while ago. It’s a great feature rich client—so if you’re missing something Mail there’s a high probability Postbox has it—but it wasn’t as integrated with OS X as I liked. The new release brings:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Full Apple Address Book integration</li>
<li>bi-directional communication with iCal</li>
<li>Spotlight search for mail and attachments</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>It still reeks of non-nativeness. For instance, the new release has a “Look up in Dictionary” feature, but you can’t ‘Cmd+Option+D’ on a word and expect to see the dictionary pop up. It’s still a Carbon app. Perhaps <a href="http://twitter.com/lettersapp">Letters</a> will be the one that weans me away from Mail. </p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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["title"]=>
string(59) "About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India"
["link"]=>
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["comments"]=>
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["pubdate"]=>
string(31) "Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:21:04 +0000"
["dc"]=>
array(1) {
["creator"]=>
string(7) "preshit"
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["category"]=>
string(48) "IndiaOpinionApple Indiacustomer carerotten apple"
["guid"]=>
string(33) "http://smokingapples.com/?p=14475"
["description"]=>
string(751) "I write this frustrated, annoyed, dejected and pretty much at a loss for words. Apple, which, among many things, is known worldwide for their exceptional support to their customers, just broke one of its most loyal customers. I have, on plenty of occasions, bragged about the exceptional customer support Apple provides for their products. But [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
["content"]=>
array(1) {
["encoded"]=>
string(12631) "<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://smokingapples.com/india/apple-support/" title="Permanent link to About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India"><img class="post_image aligncenter frame" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/idontcare.jpg" width="521" height="246" alt="Post image for About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India" /></a>
</p><p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Findia%2Fapple-support%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Findia%2Fapple-support%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div>I write this frustrated, annoyed, dejected and pretty much at a loss for words. Apple, which, among many things, is known worldwide for their exceptional support to their customers, just broke one of its most loyal customers. I have, on plenty of occasions, bragged about the exceptional customer support Apple provides for their products. But today, I feel terrible. While one may argue that it still holds true in many cases, I, for one have been going through a very odd experience.</p>
<p>The story begins somewhere around the second week of December 2009. I notice some odd, random, dark discoloration/patches in the bottom left corner of my 24” LED Cinema Display, purchased only 4 months ago in August. Though not <em>too</em> prominent, they were impossible to resist since most web-pages, apps, wallpapers etc use a light background. A few days pass as I slowly get used to the fact that something’s tainted my display, but it’s hard to bear anything alien on a large gorgeous LED display, so I pick up the phone, dial up 1800-425-0744 and speak to Apple’s Technical Support (<em>Orlando</em>), who takes down the case and registers the case ID. He gives me a list of <strong>Authorized</strong> Service Providers, from which I choose the one closest to my house. <span id="more-14475"></span></p>
<p>On January 20th, 2010, I take the display to Unicorn Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd, one of Apple’s Authorized Service Providers in Andheri. Upon preliminary check-up, it is clear that the LED panel needs replacement, which unfortunately the Service Provider does not have in stock, so one has to be ordered and will take a while to be shipped. “How long before one ships?”, I question, to which she says, “Usually about 10 days”. </p>
<p><strong>*Cue fast-forwarded footage of a busy city life in between 10 sunrises and sunsets.*</strong></p>
<p>It’s the 11th day (January 30th) since my dear display has been in the “<em>hospital</em>”, but I still haven’t heard from the doctor about its health. So I make the phone call, only to be told that the status of the order is still <strong>not</strong> showing as shipped and I’m told that I should give a call to Apple’s support line and follow-up for the reason of the delay. I dial up 1800-425-0744 again, only to realize that they’re closed and I should call back on Monday.</p>
<p><strong>*Cue footage of deranged guy ripping his hair apart*</strong></p>
<p>It’s the 13th day (February 1st) since I’m display-less and I call up Apple’s Technical Support and speak to one <em>Eli</em>, who escalates the call to Apple’s Customer Relations with <em>Michelle</em> on the other end. Michelle tells me that she does not know the status of the order, in spite of me providing her with the Case ID and the Order No. for the replacement parts. She says she’ll find out the status of the order for me, but she needs “<em>24 to 48 hours</em>” to do that. A day or two, to find out the status of a shipment from Apple from somewhere in Bangalore towards Mumbai. I could personally track down the container faster than that, with one eye closed.</p>
<p><strong>*More hair ripping occurs.*</strong> Coming back to the issue…</p>
<p>It’s the 15th day (February 3rd). I hear back from <em>Michelle</em> (and the Service Provider) that the parts have arrived and that I can collect the display about 4 hours later. I’m delighted. My favorite company had finally awaken 15 days later. Four hours later, I get a call from the Service Provider that the replacement of the LED panel was done and I can come down and pick up the display. My heart does a <em>Wiipee</em> dance as a head to Andheri to pick up the display. Once there, I ask the technician to connect it to a MacBook so that I can test it. To my horror, careful scrutiny of the new panel reveals that there’s a little dead pixel on the screen, and is a nasty place that it’s very easy to make out. </p>
<p>Does the Service Provider not do some testing of their own? Were they really expecting me to not notice a dead guy on my screen? The technician, after running back and forth in the room and trying to click a photo of the dead pixel, comes and tells me that they’re going to pronounce the panel DOA. “Okay…”, I say, “But what next?”. I was brought to the sad realization that they’re going to have to order another replacement panel from Apple. This only meant <em>one thing</em>.</p>
<p><strong>MORE DELAY HOORAY!!!!!!!</strong></p>
<p>I head back home and decide to speak to Customer Relations again, because I wasn’t ready to wait another 15 days for a panel to ship. It’s about 1600 hours IST on February 3rd, 2010 and <em>Roger</em> on the line tells me that the Customer Relations department (in Australia) is closed for the day. I ask why I’m not being transferred to their departments in Singapore or Ireland and I’m told that the case is with them already, so it cannot be answered by the other one. “Yayy!”, goes my heart as it points at me and laughs. I’m told I should call up between 0800 hours and 1530 hours. </p>
<p><strong>*I don’t want to rip apart my hair any more, so I go get a haircut instead.*</strong></p>
<p>The next day, February 4th, I wake up 2 hours earlier than usual and call up again, but this time I speak to <em>Ryan</em> from Customer Relations because “<em>Michelle isn’t available at the moment</em>”. Ryan, just like Michelle, has no idea about the status of the new order, so he’s going to need another 24 hours to find that out. Ryan tells me I’ll hear from me the next day. (Sidenote: I’d really like to know what tools/methods are employed here to “find the status” of something that it takes this long for them.)</p>
<p>It’s 1700 hours on February 5th now and I haven’t heard from Ryan yet. Calling up the Service provider doesn’t yield anything either. So I dial up 1800-425-0744 again, which is on my speed dial by now, and I’m speaking to <em>Sayyed</em>, Apple’s Technical Support. He connects me to Alan from Customer Relations, who after much back and forth, implied the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>He apologizes for Ryan not calling me back, but the probable reason for that is because he hasn’t been able to find the status of the order (<em>Oh! How surprising!</em>)
<li>The Service Provider works as a business unit of its own.
<li>If the Service Provider doesn’t have something in stock, it’s pretty much their look out.
<li>It was my (the customer’s decision) to choose that particular Service Provider and I should go to a different one if this hasn’t provided a service that I like. Even though it’s an <strong>Authorized Service Provider</strong>.
<li>I should just refer back to the Service Provider for the status of the order, since he isn’t in a position to answer that at the moment.
</ol>
<p>Alan pretty much came across as someone who <em>just</em> wasn’t ready to understand or listen. While acknowledging the delay in the shipment and Ryan’s failure to call me back, he still insisted that I should just speak to the Service Provider, since I was the one who had chosen to go there and I could find the status of the shipment only from them.</p>
<p>I call the Service Provider up again, but this time they’re able to tell me that the product shows a shipment date of February 15th, 2010. If you don’t have a calendar around that’s another 11 days from today, or the 26th day since I’ve admitted the display at the service provider. I also made a couple of other calls to other service providers in the city, but none of them store the parts in stock, so taking Alan’s recommendations and going to another service centre won’t help either.</p>
<p>I <em>tried</em> asking for a complete replacement, but Alan insisted on point #2. The service provider on the other hand is functioning like any typical Indian business. Their replies pretty much imply that the delay in shipping is from Apple and that there’s nothing they can do about about.</p>
<p>It’s 1120 hours on February 8th, 2010 and I just got off the phone with Apple. I called up requesting to speak to Michelle, who was the Customer Relations exec to first attend to my case. Similar to previous conversations, I’m told that she isn’t available, so I request that the call be transferred to someone else (since I called in wanting to ask for a replacement unit altogether). Shannon from Customer Relations comes on the line, sounding just as arrogant as the others. He tells me that they 1. Have been extremely busy and 2. Have had to speak to number of people, but they have been successful is pulling the shipping today, so the replacement parts are supposed to ship out today. Asked when shall I expect the parts to arrive at the Service Provider here, I’m told that he doesn’t have that information and he is arranging for a callback from the person responsible for my case, which happens to be Ryan. I remind him that Ryan, who was supposed to get back to me 5 days ago, still hasn’t given me a call. Shannon responds saying that he can’t comment on that, but he’s going to arrange for a call back and <strong>that he’s disconnecting the call</strong>. I tell him that I’m not done speaking to him, but he goes on and <strong>hangs up the call</strong>. </p>
<p>So here I am, stuck, without a display, in the middle of a multi-billion dollar company that is known for its exceptional support, but apparently can’t do much without it’s retail presence and a typical Indian business unit that raises its hands helplessly. I’ve had to make numerous calls while wasting plenty of time on hold. I may not be a super businessman, but I’ve had to cancel a bunch of my appointments on the day I was supposed to collect the display. All this while, my father hasn’t stopped poking me about how other tech companies are still bearable and how, even though their support isn’t all that great, they don’t take this long to service a product.</p>
<p>So what did I learn from all this?</p>
<ol>
<li>I wish Apple had a presence here even more now. We really need those Genius Bars around here.
<li>I’m not going to Unicorn Infosolutions again. This may be subjective, but I’ve had better service from Maple Technologies in Powai.
<li>Even though I <em>want</em> to buy the iPad for my dad, he isn’t so keen on spending money on it anymore.
</ol>
<p>So what are the options before me now?</p>
<p>[Header img via <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockergnome/193238415/">Chris Pirillo</a>]</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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string(751) "I write this frustrated, annoyed, dejected and pretty much at a loss for words. Apple, which, among many things, is known worldwide for their exceptional support to their customers, just broke one of its most loyal customers. I have, on plenty of occasions, bragged about the exceptional customer support Apple provides for their products. But [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
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string(12631) "<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://smokingapples.com/india/apple-support/" title="Permanent link to About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India"><img class="post_image aligncenter frame" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/idontcare.jpg" width="521" height="246" alt="Post image for About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India" /></a>
</p><p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Findia%2Fapple-support%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Findia%2Fapple-support%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div>I write this frustrated, annoyed, dejected and pretty much at a loss for words. Apple, which, among many things, is known worldwide for their exceptional support to their customers, just broke one of its most loyal customers. I have, on plenty of occasions, bragged about the exceptional customer support Apple provides for their products. But today, I feel terrible. While one may argue that it still holds true in many cases, I, for one have been going through a very odd experience.</p>
<p>The story begins somewhere around the second week of December 2009. I notice some odd, random, dark discoloration/patches in the bottom left corner of my 24” LED Cinema Display, purchased only 4 months ago in August. Though not <em>too</em> prominent, they were impossible to resist since most web-pages, apps, wallpapers etc use a light background. A few days pass as I slowly get used to the fact that something’s tainted my display, but it’s hard to bear anything alien on a large gorgeous LED display, so I pick up the phone, dial up 1800-425-0744 and speak to Apple’s Technical Support (<em>Orlando</em>), who takes down the case and registers the case ID. He gives me a list of <strong>Authorized</strong> Service Providers, from which I choose the one closest to my house. <span id="more-14475"></span></p>
<p>On January 20th, 2010, I take the display to Unicorn Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd, one of Apple’s Authorized Service Providers in Andheri. Upon preliminary check-up, it is clear that the LED panel needs replacement, which unfortunately the Service Provider does not have in stock, so one has to be ordered and will take a while to be shipped. “How long before one ships?”, I question, to which she says, “Usually about 10 days”. </p>
<p><strong>*Cue fast-forwarded footage of a busy city life in between 10 sunrises and sunsets.*</strong></p>
<p>It’s the 11th day (January 30th) since my dear display has been in the “<em>hospital</em>”, but I still haven’t heard from the doctor about its health. So I make the phone call, only to be told that the status of the order is still <strong>not</strong> showing as shipped and I’m told that I should give a call to Apple’s support line and follow-up for the reason of the delay. I dial up 1800-425-0744 again, only to realize that they’re closed and I should call back on Monday.</p>
<p><strong>*Cue footage of deranged guy ripping his hair apart*</strong></p>
<p>It’s the 13th day (February 1st) since I’m display-less and I call up Apple’s Technical Support and speak to one <em>Eli</em>, who escalates the call to Apple’s Customer Relations with <em>Michelle</em> on the other end. Michelle tells me that she does not know the status of the order, in spite of me providing her with the Case ID and the Order No. for the replacement parts. She says she’ll find out the status of the order for me, but she needs “<em>24 to 48 hours</em>” to do that. A day or two, to find out the status of a shipment from Apple from somewhere in Bangalore towards Mumbai. I could personally track down the container faster than that, with one eye closed.</p>
<p><strong>*More hair ripping occurs.*</strong> Coming back to the issue…</p>
<p>It’s the 15th day (February 3rd). I hear back from <em>Michelle</em> (and the Service Provider) that the parts have arrived and that I can collect the display about 4 hours later. I’m delighted. My favorite company had finally awaken 15 days later. Four hours later, I get a call from the Service Provider that the replacement of the LED panel was done and I can come down and pick up the display. My heart does a <em>Wiipee</em> dance as a head to Andheri to pick up the display. Once there, I ask the technician to connect it to a MacBook so that I can test it. To my horror, careful scrutiny of the new panel reveals that there’s a little dead pixel on the screen, and is a nasty place that it’s very easy to make out. </p>
<p>Does the Service Provider not do some testing of their own? Were they really expecting me to not notice a dead guy on my screen? The technician, after running back and forth in the room and trying to click a photo of the dead pixel, comes and tells me that they’re going to pronounce the panel DOA. “Okay…”, I say, “But what next?”. I was brought to the sad realization that they’re going to have to order another replacement panel from Apple. This only meant <em>one thing</em>.</p>
<p><strong>MORE DELAY HOORAY!!!!!!!</strong></p>
<p>I head back home and decide to speak to Customer Relations again, because I wasn’t ready to wait another 15 days for a panel to ship. It’s about 1600 hours IST on February 3rd, 2010 and <em>Roger</em> on the line tells me that the Customer Relations department (in Australia) is closed for the day. I ask why I’m not being transferred to their departments in Singapore or Ireland and I’m told that the case is with them already, so it cannot be answered by the other one. “Yayy!”, goes my heart as it points at me and laughs. I’m told I should call up between 0800 hours and 1530 hours. </p>
<p><strong>*I don’t want to rip apart my hair any more, so I go get a haircut instead.*</strong></p>
<p>The next day, February 4th, I wake up 2 hours earlier than usual and call up again, but this time I speak to <em>Ryan</em> from Customer Relations because “<em>Michelle isn’t available at the moment</em>”. Ryan, just like Michelle, has no idea about the status of the new order, so he’s going to need another 24 hours to find that out. Ryan tells me I’ll hear from me the next day. (Sidenote: I’d really like to know what tools/methods are employed here to “find the status” of something that it takes this long for them.)</p>
<p>It’s 1700 hours on February 5th now and I haven’t heard from Ryan yet. Calling up the Service provider doesn’t yield anything either. So I dial up 1800-425-0744 again, which is on my speed dial by now, and I’m speaking to <em>Sayyed</em>, Apple’s Technical Support. He connects me to Alan from Customer Relations, who after much back and forth, implied the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>He apologizes for Ryan not calling me back, but the probable reason for that is because he hasn’t been able to find the status of the order (<em>Oh! How surprising!</em>)
<li>The Service Provider works as a business unit of its own.
<li>If the Service Provider doesn’t have something in stock, it’s pretty much their look out.
<li>It was my (the customer’s decision) to choose that particular Service Provider and I should go to a different one if this hasn’t provided a service that I like. Even though it’s an <strong>Authorized Service Provider</strong>.
<li>I should just refer back to the Service Provider for the status of the order, since he isn’t in a position to answer that at the moment.
</ol>
<p>Alan pretty much came across as someone who <em>just</em> wasn’t ready to understand or listen. While acknowledging the delay in the shipment and Ryan’s failure to call me back, he still insisted that I should just speak to the Service Provider, since I was the one who had chosen to go there and I could find the status of the shipment only from them.</p>
<p>I call the Service Provider up again, but this time they’re able to tell me that the product shows a shipment date of February 15th, 2010. If you don’t have a calendar around that’s another 11 days from today, or the 26th day since I’ve admitted the display at the service provider. I also made a couple of other calls to other service providers in the city, but none of them store the parts in stock, so taking Alan’s recommendations and going to another service centre won’t help either.</p>
<p>I <em>tried</em> asking for a complete replacement, but Alan insisted on point #2. The service provider on the other hand is functioning like any typical Indian business. Their replies pretty much imply that the delay in shipping is from Apple and that there’s nothing they can do about about.</p>
<p>It’s 1120 hours on February 8th, 2010 and I just got off the phone with Apple. I called up requesting to speak to Michelle, who was the Customer Relations exec to first attend to my case. Similar to previous conversations, I’m told that she isn’t available, so I request that the call be transferred to someone else (since I called in wanting to ask for a replacement unit altogether). Shannon from Customer Relations comes on the line, sounding just as arrogant as the others. He tells me that they 1. Have been extremely busy and 2. Have had to speak to number of people, but they have been successful is pulling the shipping today, so the replacement parts are supposed to ship out today. Asked when shall I expect the parts to arrive at the Service Provider here, I’m told that he doesn’t have that information and he is arranging for a callback from the person responsible for my case, which happens to be Ryan. I remind him that Ryan, who was supposed to get back to me 5 days ago, still hasn’t given me a call. Shannon responds saying that he can’t comment on that, but he’s going to arrange for a call back and <strong>that he’s disconnecting the call</strong>. I tell him that I’m not done speaking to him, but he goes on and <strong>hangs up the call</strong>. </p>
<p>So here I am, stuck, without a display, in the middle of a multi-billion dollar company that is known for its exceptional support, but apparently can’t do much without it’s retail presence and a typical Indian business unit that raises its hands helplessly. I’ve had to make numerous calls while wasting plenty of time on hold. I may not be a super businessman, but I’ve had to cancel a bunch of my appointments on the day I was supposed to collect the display. All this while, my father hasn’t stopped poking me about how other tech companies are still bearable and how, even though their support isn’t all that great, they don’t take this long to service a product.</p>
<p>So what did I learn from all this?</p>
<ol>
<li>I wish Apple had a presence here even more now. We really need those Genius Bars around here.
<li>I’m not going to Unicorn Infosolutions again. This may be subjective, but I’ve had better service from Maple Technologies in Powai.
<li>Even though I <em>want</em> to buy the iPad for my dad, he isn’t so keen on spending money on it anymore.
</ol>
<p>So what are the options before me now?</p>
<p>[Header img via <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockergnome/193238415/">Chris Pirillo</a>]</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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["title"]=>
string(48) "iPad’s tiny SIM is just there to mess with you"
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string(758) "iPad’s tiny SIM is just there to mess with you →
Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired, on the iPad’s unconventionally small SIM card:
It appears increasingly likely that this decision was driven not by space considerations (after all, the iPad is much larger than the iPhone), but rather by AT&T’s business strategy. This way, they can charge [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
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string(2162) "<p></p><h4><a href="" target="_blank">iPad’s tiny SIM is just there to mess with you →</a></h4>
<p>Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired, on the iPad’s unconventionally small SIM card:</p>
<blockquote><p>It appears increasingly likely that this decision was driven not by space considerations (after all, the iPad is much larger than the iPhone), but rather by AT&T’s business strategy. This way, they can charge customers twice for 3G wireless data: Once for the iPhone, and once for the iPad.</p></blockquote>
<p>Hardly. Does Eliot actually think physically swapping SIMs with your iPhone is an elegant solution that anyone would want to put themselves through? Apple thinks of the iPad as the start of future computing, and as history has shown, they’re not afraid to take bold steps. Apple is making every effort to keep the size and weight down to the minimum possible, including in this case, the marks created by opening slots on the device. Besides, the 3FF ‘micro SIM’ is not a proprietary format. It’s the exact same SIM with less plastic on the sides. It’s a standard that will that will eventually make its way into all mobile devices. Apple is giving it a much needed push.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
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string(758) "iPad’s tiny SIM is just there to mess with you →
Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired, on the iPad’s unconventionally small SIM card:
It appears increasingly likely that this decision was driven not by space considerations (after all, the iPad is much larger than the iPhone), but rather by AT&T’s business strategy. This way, they can charge [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
["atom_content"]=>
string(2162) "<p></p><h4><a href="" target="_blank">iPad’s tiny SIM is just there to mess with you →</a></h4>
<p>Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired, on the iPad’s unconventionally small SIM card:</p>
<blockquote><p>It appears increasingly likely that this decision was driven not by space considerations (after all, the iPad is much larger than the iPhone), but rather by AT&T’s business strategy. This way, they can charge customers twice for 3G wireless data: Once for the iPhone, and once for the iPad.</p></blockquote>
<p>Hardly. Does Eliot actually think physically swapping SIMs with your iPhone is an elegant solution that anyone would want to put themselves through? Apple thinks of the iPad as the start of future computing, and as history has shown, they’re not afraid to take bold steps. Apple is making every effort to keep the size and weight down to the minimum possible, including in this case, the marks created by opening slots on the device. Besides, the 3FF ‘micro SIM’ is not a proprietary format. It’s the exact same SIM with less plastic on the sides. It’s a standard that will that will eventually make its way into all mobile devices. Apple is giving it a much needed push.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=7KKkoXZfGVM:MhUbaC0ch9U:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=7KKkoXZfGVM:MhUbaC0ch9U:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=7KKkoXZfGVM:MhUbaC0ch9U:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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string(82) "http://smokingapples.com/asides/ipad-discussion-on-the-charlie-rose-show/#comments"
["pubdate"]=>
string(31) "Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:25:19 +0000"
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string(6) "Asides"
["guid"]=>
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["description"]=>
string(740) "iPad discussion on the Charlie Rose Show →
Walt Mossberg, David Carr and Michael Arrington discuss the iPad on the Charlie Rose Show. It’s flash video, and 23 minutes long.
Touchpad - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
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string(1244) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://mossblog.allthingsd.com/20100205/mossberg-ipad-on-charlie-rose-show/" target="_blank">iPad discussion on the Charlie Rose Show →</a></h4>
<p>Walt Mossberg, David Carr and Michael Arrington discuss the iPad on the Charlie Rose Show. It’s flash video, and 23 minutes long.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(740) "iPad discussion on the Charlie Rose Show →
Walt Mossberg, David Carr and Michael Arrington discuss the iPad on the Charlie Rose Show. It’s flash video, and 23 minutes long.
Touchpad - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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<p>Walt Mossberg, David Carr and Michael Arrington discuss the iPad on the Charlie Rose Show. It’s flash video, and 23 minutes long.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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I’m gonna let you folks in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in a metal band. That’s about all I did. I listened to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Pantera albums, poured over metal head mags, and dicked around for hours on end with my guitar. But alas, my [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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string(6070) "<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://smokingapples.com/iphone/app-store-iphone/voice-band/" title="Permanent link to Garageband in Your Pocket: Voice Band for iPhone"><img class="post_image aligncenter frame" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/voice-band.jpg" width="521" height="246" alt="Post image for Garageband in Your Pocket: Voice Band for iPhone" /></a>
</p><p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fiphone%2Fapp-store-iphone%2Fvoice-band%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fiphone%2Fapp-store-iphone%2Fvoice-band%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div>I’m gonna let you folks in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in a metal band. That’s about all I did. I listened to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Pantera albums, poured over metal head mags, and dicked around for hours on end with my guitar. But alas, my dreams of playing guitar in a metal band were dashed when I couldn’t get a real metal band off the ground, and going to Japan didn’t help. Metal bands here are about 25 years behind America, and dressing up like a girl isn’t limited to Poison cover bands. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried out Voice Band for iPhone, and rocked the shit out of my lonely one-room apartment.</p>
<p>To be honest, when our fearless editor asked me to review <a href="http://www.wavemachinelabs.com/voiceband/">Voice Band</a>, I took one look at its goofy UI and almost told him to stick Voice Band where the sun don’t shine. I was a little taken aback when he didn’t seem to be bothered by the idea, but he made it clear that he really wanted to hear what I had to say about Voice Band. So after choking down my “OMG HOW COULD YOU USE THIS UGLY FONT?” rage, I tried to give Voice Band a fair shake. And I’m happy to say that if you give the tech a chance, you’ll be happy as well.</p>
<p><img src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/voice-band-review.jpg" alt="" title="voice-band-review" width="542" height="480" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14514" /></p>
<p>Voice Band’s a really fun app. While most people will probably just use it to make goofy songs, it could also be used to whip up a draft of a song you have floating around in your head. You can lay down a bunch of tracks using rhythm and lead guitars, bass, drums, two kinds of synthesizers, organs, saxophones, and vocals. You can adjust octaves and time signatures, and when you’ve laid down all the tracks you want, you can save your “Stairway to Heaven” and email it out as an mp3 to the rest of the world can hear it. It was a little hard to get the music-making process down at first. I’m a “dun-dun-dun” guy when I’m humming, but Voice Band seems to respond best to “ba-ba-ba”. They do make mention of this in the lengthy (read: so long no one’s ever gonna read it) help section. I would’ve never figured that out if I hadn’t watched the introduction video on the app’s website. Also included is the ability to pull up any song on your iPhone to listen along to (use headphones for best results), and you can plagiarize till the cows come home. <a title="Marker Felt Font Metal" href="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/markerfeltfont.mp3">It’s really easy to make pretty decent sounding songs once you get the hang of it.</a></p>
<p>But that does not excuse its UI. It’s God awful. The icon you see on your iPhone looks like Eddie Vedder with a spray-on tan and peroxided hair. The icons for the instruments in the app were designed by Word 97 graphic designers, I believe, and for Christ’s sake, what are you doing using a cartoony font like this in 2010? Who do you think you are, Apple? It’s like Comic Sans and Marker Felt both jizzed in a Dixie cup, swirled it around, and then threw it in your face. I’m advocating the creation of a good old fashion letter-writing campaign in order to put a stop to cartoony font use. And it needs to start with Voice Band. Because I’m betting you that a bunch of design snobs are passing Voice Band up because it looks like that homely girl you took to the Fall Formal in junior high school but ditched behind the gym so you could hang out with the cool kids by the punch bowl.</p>
<p>Overall, the app’s abilities are impressive, and if you would like to record your musical ideas even when you don’t have access to your instruments, Voice Band makes a good musical notepad. Pick it up in the App Store for <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voice-band/id347859797?mt=8">$2.99</a>. Just don’t let its UI get in the way of what could be the start of a beautiful relationship that will ultimately end with Voice Band sleeping with your girlfriend and refusing to give you back your lovingly curated collection of signed hipster indie-band guitar picks.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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I’m gonna let you folks in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in a metal band. That’s about all I did. I listened to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Pantera albums, poured over metal head mags, and dicked around for hours on end with my guitar. But alas, my [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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string(6070) "<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://smokingapples.com/iphone/app-store-iphone/voice-band/" title="Permanent link to Garageband in Your Pocket: Voice Band for iPhone"><img class="post_image aligncenter frame" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/voice-band.jpg" width="521" height="246" alt="Post image for Garageband in Your Pocket: Voice Band for iPhone" /></a>
</p><p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fiphone%2Fapp-store-iphone%2Fvoice-band%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fiphone%2Fapp-store-iphone%2Fvoice-band%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div>I’m gonna let you folks in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in a metal band. That’s about all I did. I listened to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Pantera albums, poured over metal head mags, and dicked around for hours on end with my guitar. But alas, my dreams of playing guitar in a metal band were dashed when I couldn’t get a real metal band off the ground, and going to Japan didn’t help. Metal bands here are about 25 years behind America, and dressing up like a girl isn’t limited to Poison cover bands. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried out Voice Band for iPhone, and rocked the shit out of my lonely one-room apartment.</p>
<p>To be honest, when our fearless editor asked me to review <a href="http://www.wavemachinelabs.com/voiceband/">Voice Band</a>, I took one look at its goofy UI and almost told him to stick Voice Band where the sun don’t shine. I was a little taken aback when he didn’t seem to be bothered by the idea, but he made it clear that he really wanted to hear what I had to say about Voice Band. So after choking down my “OMG HOW COULD YOU USE THIS UGLY FONT?” rage, I tried to give Voice Band a fair shake. And I’m happy to say that if you give the tech a chance, you’ll be happy as well.</p>
<p><img src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/voice-band-review.jpg" alt="" title="voice-band-review" width="542" height="480" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14514" /></p>
<p>Voice Band’s a really fun app. While most people will probably just use it to make goofy songs, it could also be used to whip up a draft of a song you have floating around in your head. You can lay down a bunch of tracks using rhythm and lead guitars, bass, drums, two kinds of synthesizers, organs, saxophones, and vocals. You can adjust octaves and time signatures, and when you’ve laid down all the tracks you want, you can save your “Stairway to Heaven” and email it out as an mp3 to the rest of the world can hear it. It was a little hard to get the music-making process down at first. I’m a “dun-dun-dun” guy when I’m humming, but Voice Band seems to respond best to “ba-ba-ba”. They do make mention of this in the lengthy (read: so long no one’s ever gonna read it) help section. I would’ve never figured that out if I hadn’t watched the introduction video on the app’s website. Also included is the ability to pull up any song on your iPhone to listen along to (use headphones for best results), and you can plagiarize till the cows come home. <a title="Marker Felt Font Metal" href="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/markerfeltfont.mp3">It’s really easy to make pretty decent sounding songs once you get the hang of it.</a></p>
<p>But that does not excuse its UI. It’s God awful. The icon you see on your iPhone looks like Eddie Vedder with a spray-on tan and peroxided hair. The icons for the instruments in the app were designed by Word 97 graphic designers, I believe, and for Christ’s sake, what are you doing using a cartoony font like this in 2010? Who do you think you are, Apple? It’s like Comic Sans and Marker Felt both jizzed in a Dixie cup, swirled it around, and then threw it in your face. I’m advocating the creation of a good old fashion letter-writing campaign in order to put a stop to cartoony font use. And it needs to start with Voice Band. Because I’m betting you that a bunch of design snobs are passing Voice Band up because it looks like that homely girl you took to the Fall Formal in junior high school but ditched behind the gym so you could hang out with the cool kids by the punch bowl.</p>
<p>Overall, the app’s abilities are impressive, and if you would like to record your musical ideas even when you don’t have access to your instruments, Voice Band makes a good musical notepad. Pick it up in the App Store for <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voice-band/id347859797?mt=8">$2.99</a>. Just don’t let its UI get in the way of what could be the start of a beautiful relationship that will ultimately end with Voice Band sleeping with your girlfriend and refusing to give you back your lovingly curated collection of signed hipster indie-band guitar picks.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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D. Salmons:
Ah, but you say that the Google brand will carry Android to a strong position. I have heard this argument before, but let me remind you of a fact earlier in this article – the Google Nexus One has sold less than competing Android phones [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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<p>D. Salmons:</p>
<blockquote><p>Ah, but you say that the Google brand will carry Android to a strong position. I have heard this argument before, but let me remind you of a fact earlier in this article – the Google Nexus One has sold less than competing Android phones in its initial week of sales.</p>
<p>This could indicate that the branding is being watered down thanks to the different places you can find an Android phone. The Nexus One is being marketed as “an” Android phone, not “the” Android phone. The typical buyer is confused, and they are left comparing technical notes without a kindly dictator assuring them that this particular unit is the latest and greatest you can find.</p></blockquote>
<p>In addition to this, Android phones outdate each other every month or so. Compare that with my three year old first generation iPhone which pretty much runs all of the software features of Apple’s current generation iPhone.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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D. Salmons:
Ah, but you say that the Google brand will carry Android to a strong position. I have heard this argument before, but let me remind you of a fact earlier in this article – the Google Nexus One has sold less than competing Android phones [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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<p>D. Salmons:</p>
<blockquote><p>Ah, but you say that the Google brand will carry Android to a strong position. I have heard this argument before, but let me remind you of a fact earlier in this article – the Google Nexus One has sold less than competing Android phones in its initial week of sales.</p>
<p>This could indicate that the branding is being watered down thanks to the different places you can find an Android phone. The Nexus One is being marketed as “an” Android phone, not “the” Android phone. The typical buyer is confused, and they are left comparing technical notes without a kindly dictator assuring them that this particular unit is the latest and greatest you can find.</p></blockquote>
<p>In addition to this, Android phones outdate each other every month or so. Compare that with my three year old first generation iPhone which pretty much runs all of the software features of Apple’s current generation iPhone.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(752) "How to compete with iPad →
Matt Gemmell writes an open letter to potential iPad competitors, giving some sound advice:
I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
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string(2694) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://mattgemmell.com/2010/02/05/how-to-compete-with-ipad" target="_blank">How to compete with iPad →</a></h4>
<p>Matt Gemmell writes an open letter to potential iPad competitors, giving some sound advice:</p>
<blockquote><p>I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. That’s fine in itself; that’s how business works. I just think you’re misinterpreting both why people are excited about the iPad (even if they don’t realise it), and what exactly you need to copy. I think you might be on a dead-end track without even realising it. […]</p>
<p>Competition is good, but only as long as it’s <strong>good competition</strong>. A flood of second-rate imitations doesn’t help anyone; not the customer, and not even your bottom line. The better you compete, the more marketshare you’ll have and the more choice the consumer will have. I’m trying to take a long-term view of this burgeoning market, because it’s the responsible thing to do given that I care about empowering people in general, rather than enriching one specific company (whichever company that might be).</p></blockquote>
<p>When people complain about the iPad is going to dumb down our future generations by inhibiting creativity, they don’t take into consideration that this is an open competitive market, and the best product wins. The iPad may fail and remain a hobby, but if it succeeds in winning hearts over, it actually is a better product. </p>
<p>Recommended reading; and if you happen to know anyone who’s making an iPad competitor, pass it along.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(752) "How to compete with iPad →
Matt Gemmell writes an open letter to potential iPad competitors, giving some sound advice:
I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
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string(2694) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://mattgemmell.com/2010/02/05/how-to-compete-with-ipad" target="_blank">How to compete with iPad →</a></h4>
<p>Matt Gemmell writes an open letter to potential iPad competitors, giving some sound advice:</p>
<blockquote><p>I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. That’s fine in itself; that’s how business works. I just think you’re misinterpreting both why people are excited about the iPad (even if they don’t realise it), and what exactly you need to copy. I think you might be on a dead-end track without even realising it. […]</p>
<p>Competition is good, but only as long as it’s <strong>good competition</strong>. A flood of second-rate imitations doesn’t help anyone; not the customer, and not even your bottom line. The better you compete, the more marketshare you’ll have and the more choice the consumer will have. I’m trying to take a long-term view of this burgeoning market, because it’s the responsible thing to do given that I care about empowering people in general, rather than enriching one specific company (whichever company that might be).</p></blockquote>
<p>When people complain about the iPad is going to dumb down our future generations by inhibiting creativity, they don’t take into consideration that this is an open competitive market, and the best product wins. The iPad may fail and remain a hobby, but if it succeeds in winning hearts over, it actually is a better product. </p>
<p>Recommended reading; and if you happen to know anyone who’s making an iPad competitor, pass it along.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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Remember Kiwi? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user
First of all, it brings in a [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(2842) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://kiwi-app.net/" target="_blank">Kiwi 1.1 is a stunning upgrade →</a></h4>
<p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div><a target="_blank" href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/kiwi-mac-review/">Remember Kiwi</a>? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user</p>
<p>First of all, it brings in a slick inline image viewer for twitpic, Ember and yFrog links, where the image zooms in as you hover over—very cool. It also supports viewing images in a HUD (but sadly, no support for img.ly). Greatly improved notifications support, including a per account menubar notification system much like Tweetie does (terrible icon though), as well as Growl support and Dock badges. It can remember your scroll position as new tweets arrive, or take you back to the top, mark them as read as you scroll by. It can even mark tweets as read across views so long as you’ve seen it in one—nice!</p>
<p>Most importantly, the Kiwi theming community has grown, and I’m totally in love with the ‘industrial’ theme style. Anyone can make themes using HTML and CSS, and you can submit and browse them at <a href="http://kiwithemes.com/themes/">Kiwithemes.com</a>. I’m going to try it out for a while and see whether I can finally make the switch from aging Tweetie. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to put up with its ridiculous icons.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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Remember Kiwi? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user
First of all, it brings in a [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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<p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div><a target="_blank" href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/kiwi-mac-review/">Remember Kiwi</a>? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user</p>
<p>First of all, it brings in a slick inline image viewer for twitpic, Ember and yFrog links, where the image zooms in as you hover over—very cool. It also supports viewing images in a HUD (but sadly, no support for img.ly). Greatly improved notifications support, including a per account menubar notification system much like Tweetie does (terrible icon though), as well as Growl support and Dock badges. It can remember your scroll position as new tweets arrive, or take you back to the top, mark them as read as you scroll by. It can even mark tweets as read across views so long as you’ve seen it in one—nice!</p>
<p>Most importantly, the Kiwi theming community has grown, and I’m totally in love with the ‘industrial’ theme style. Anyone can make themes using HTML and CSS, and you can submit and browse them at <a href="http://kiwithemes.com/themes/">Kiwithemes.com</a>. I’m going to try it out for a while and see whether I can finally make the switch from aging Tweetie. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to put up with its ridiculous icons.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(807) "Postbox 1.1.1, now with improved Mac integration →
I had reviewed Postbox a while ago. It’s a great feature rich client—so if you’re missing something Mail there’s a high probability Postbox has it—but it wasn’t as integrated with OS X as I liked. The new release brings:
Full Apple Address Book integration
bi-directional communication with iCal
Spotlight search for [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(2004) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://postbox-inc.com/?/blog/entry/new_and_improved_support_for_mac_os_x/" target="_blank">Postbox 1.1.1, now with improved Mac integration →</a></h4>
<p>I had <a href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/post-box-not-just-another-mail-replacement/">reviewed Postbox</a> a while ago. It’s a great feature rich client—so if you’re missing something Mail there’s a high probability Postbox has it—but it wasn’t as integrated with OS X as I liked. The new release brings:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Full Apple Address Book integration</li>
<li>bi-directional communication with iCal</li>
<li>Spotlight search for mail and attachments</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>It still reeks of non-nativeness. For instance, the new release has a “Look up in Dictionary” feature, but you can’t ‘Cmd+Option+D’ on a word and expect to see the dictionary pop up. It’s still a Carbon app. Perhaps <a href="http://twitter.com/lettersapp">Letters</a> will be the one that weans me away from Mail. </p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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Full Apple Address Book integration
bi-directional communication with iCal
Spotlight search for [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
["atom_content"]=>
string(2004) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://postbox-inc.com/?/blog/entry/new_and_improved_support_for_mac_os_x/" target="_blank">Postbox 1.1.1, now with improved Mac integration →</a></h4>
<p>I had <a href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/post-box-not-just-another-mail-replacement/">reviewed Postbox</a> a while ago. It’s a great feature rich client—so if you’re missing something Mail there’s a high probability Postbox has it—but it wasn’t as integrated with OS X as I liked. The new release brings:</p>
<blockquote>
<ul>
<li>Full Apple Address Book integration</li>
<li>bi-directional communication with iCal</li>
<li>Spotlight search for mail and attachments</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>It still reeks of non-nativeness. For instance, the new release has a “Look up in Dictionary” feature, but you can’t ‘Cmd+Option+D’ on a word and expect to see the dictionary pop up. It’s still a Carbon app. Perhaps <a href="http://twitter.com/lettersapp">Letters</a> will be the one that weans me away from Mail. </p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=jVQbZ4u8pdw:YWPVq2tjviM:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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string(751) "I write this frustrated, annoyed, dejected and pretty much at a loss for words. Apple, which, among many things, is known worldwide for their exceptional support to their customers, just broke one of its most loyal customers. I have, on plenty of occasions, bragged about the exceptional customer support Apple provides for their products. But [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
["content"]=>
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string(12631) "<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://smokingapples.com/india/apple-support/" title="Permanent link to About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India"><img class="post_image aligncenter frame" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/idontcare.jpg" width="521" height="246" alt="Post image for About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India" /></a>
</p><p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Findia%2Fapple-support%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Findia%2Fapple-support%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div>I write this frustrated, annoyed, dejected and pretty much at a loss for words. Apple, which, among many things, is known worldwide for their exceptional support to their customers, just broke one of its most loyal customers. I have, on plenty of occasions, bragged about the exceptional customer support Apple provides for their products. But today, I feel terrible. While one may argue that it still holds true in many cases, I, for one have been going through a very odd experience.</p>
<p>The story begins somewhere around the second week of December 2009. I notice some odd, random, dark discoloration/patches in the bottom left corner of my 24” LED Cinema Display, purchased only 4 months ago in August. Though not <em>too</em> prominent, they were impossible to resist since most web-pages, apps, wallpapers etc use a light background. A few days pass as I slowly get used to the fact that something’s tainted my display, but it’s hard to bear anything alien on a large gorgeous LED display, so I pick up the phone, dial up 1800-425-0744 and speak to Apple’s Technical Support (<em>Orlando</em>), who takes down the case and registers the case ID. He gives me a list of <strong>Authorized</strong> Service Providers, from which I choose the one closest to my house. <span id="more-14475"></span></p>
<p>On January 20th, 2010, I take the display to Unicorn Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd, one of Apple’s Authorized Service Providers in Andheri. Upon preliminary check-up, it is clear that the LED panel needs replacement, which unfortunately the Service Provider does not have in stock, so one has to be ordered and will take a while to be shipped. “How long before one ships?”, I question, to which she says, “Usually about 10 days”. </p>
<p><strong>*Cue fast-forwarded footage of a busy city life in between 10 sunrises and sunsets.*</strong></p>
<p>It’s the 11th day (January 30th) since my dear display has been in the “<em>hospital</em>”, but I still haven’t heard from the doctor about its health. So I make the phone call, only to be told that the status of the order is still <strong>not</strong> showing as shipped and I’m told that I should give a call to Apple’s support line and follow-up for the reason of the delay. I dial up 1800-425-0744 again, only to realize that they’re closed and I should call back on Monday.</p>
<p><strong>*Cue footage of deranged guy ripping his hair apart*</strong></p>
<p>It’s the 13th day (February 1st) since I’m display-less and I call up Apple’s Technical Support and speak to one <em>Eli</em>, who escalates the call to Apple’s Customer Relations with <em>Michelle</em> on the other end. Michelle tells me that she does not know the status of the order, in spite of me providing her with the Case ID and the Order No. for the replacement parts. She says she’ll find out the status of the order for me, but she needs “<em>24 to 48 hours</em>” to do that. A day or two, to find out the status of a shipment from Apple from somewhere in Bangalore towards Mumbai. I could personally track down the container faster than that, with one eye closed.</p>
<p><strong>*More hair ripping occurs.*</strong> Coming back to the issue…</p>
<p>It’s the 15th day (February 3rd). I hear back from <em>Michelle</em> (and the Service Provider) that the parts have arrived and that I can collect the display about 4 hours later. I’m delighted. My favorite company had finally awaken 15 days later. Four hours later, I get a call from the Service Provider that the replacement of the LED panel was done and I can come down and pick up the display. My heart does a <em>Wiipee</em> dance as a head to Andheri to pick up the display. Once there, I ask the technician to connect it to a MacBook so that I can test it. To my horror, careful scrutiny of the new panel reveals that there’s a little dead pixel on the screen, and is a nasty place that it’s very easy to make out. </p>
<p>Does the Service Provider not do some testing of their own? Were they really expecting me to not notice a dead guy on my screen? The technician, after running back and forth in the room and trying to click a photo of the dead pixel, comes and tells me that they’re going to pronounce the panel DOA. “Okay…”, I say, “But what next?”. I was brought to the sad realization that they’re going to have to order another replacement panel from Apple. This only meant <em>one thing</em>.</p>
<p><strong>MORE DELAY HOORAY!!!!!!!</strong></p>
<p>I head back home and decide to speak to Customer Relations again, because I wasn’t ready to wait another 15 days for a panel to ship. It’s about 1600 hours IST on February 3rd, 2010 and <em>Roger</em> on the line tells me that the Customer Relations department (in Australia) is closed for the day. I ask why I’m not being transferred to their departments in Singapore or Ireland and I’m told that the case is with them already, so it cannot be answered by the other one. “Yayy!”, goes my heart as it points at me and laughs. I’m told I should call up between 0800 hours and 1530 hours. </p>
<p><strong>*I don’t want to rip apart my hair any more, so I go get a haircut instead.*</strong></p>
<p>The next day, February 4th, I wake up 2 hours earlier than usual and call up again, but this time I speak to <em>Ryan</em> from Customer Relations because “<em>Michelle isn’t available at the moment</em>”. Ryan, just like Michelle, has no idea about the status of the new order, so he’s going to need another 24 hours to find that out. Ryan tells me I’ll hear from me the next day. (Sidenote: I’d really like to know what tools/methods are employed here to “find the status” of something that it takes this long for them.)</p>
<p>It’s 1700 hours on February 5th now and I haven’t heard from Ryan yet. Calling up the Service provider doesn’t yield anything either. So I dial up 1800-425-0744 again, which is on my speed dial by now, and I’m speaking to <em>Sayyed</em>, Apple’s Technical Support. He connects me to Alan from Customer Relations, who after much back and forth, implied the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>He apologizes for Ryan not calling me back, but the probable reason for that is because he hasn’t been able to find the status of the order (<em>Oh! How surprising!</em>)
<li>The Service Provider works as a business unit of its own.
<li>If the Service Provider doesn’t have something in stock, it’s pretty much their look out.
<li>It was my (the customer’s decision) to choose that particular Service Provider and I should go to a different one if this hasn’t provided a service that I like. Even though it’s an <strong>Authorized Service Provider</strong>.
<li>I should just refer back to the Service Provider for the status of the order, since he isn’t in a position to answer that at the moment.
</ol>
<p>Alan pretty much came across as someone who <em>just</em> wasn’t ready to understand or listen. While acknowledging the delay in the shipment and Ryan’s failure to call me back, he still insisted that I should just speak to the Service Provider, since I was the one who had chosen to go there and I could find the status of the shipment only from them.</p>
<p>I call the Service Provider up again, but this time they’re able to tell me that the product shows a shipment date of February 15th, 2010. If you don’t have a calendar around that’s another 11 days from today, or the 26th day since I’ve admitted the display at the service provider. I also made a couple of other calls to other service providers in the city, but none of them store the parts in stock, so taking Alan’s recommendations and going to another service centre won’t help either.</p>
<p>I <em>tried</em> asking for a complete replacement, but Alan insisted on point #2. The service provider on the other hand is functioning like any typical Indian business. Their replies pretty much imply that the delay in shipping is from Apple and that there’s nothing they can do about about.</p>
<p>It’s 1120 hours on February 8th, 2010 and I just got off the phone with Apple. I called up requesting to speak to Michelle, who was the Customer Relations exec to first attend to my case. Similar to previous conversations, I’m told that she isn’t available, so I request that the call be transferred to someone else (since I called in wanting to ask for a replacement unit altogether). Shannon from Customer Relations comes on the line, sounding just as arrogant as the others. He tells me that they 1. Have been extremely busy and 2. Have had to speak to number of people, but they have been successful is pulling the shipping today, so the replacement parts are supposed to ship out today. Asked when shall I expect the parts to arrive at the Service Provider here, I’m told that he doesn’t have that information and he is arranging for a callback from the person responsible for my case, which happens to be Ryan. I remind him that Ryan, who was supposed to get back to me 5 days ago, still hasn’t given me a call. Shannon responds saying that he can’t comment on that, but he’s going to arrange for a call back and <strong>that he’s disconnecting the call</strong>. I tell him that I’m not done speaking to him, but he goes on and <strong>hangs up the call</strong>. </p>
<p>So here I am, stuck, without a display, in the middle of a multi-billion dollar company that is known for its exceptional support, but apparently can’t do much without it’s retail presence and a typical Indian business unit that raises its hands helplessly. I’ve had to make numerous calls while wasting plenty of time on hold. I may not be a super businessman, but I’ve had to cancel a bunch of my appointments on the day I was supposed to collect the display. All this while, my father hasn’t stopped poking me about how other tech companies are still bearable and how, even though their support isn’t all that great, they don’t take this long to service a product.</p>
<p>So what did I learn from all this?</p>
<ol>
<li>I wish Apple had a presence here even more now. We really need those Genius Bars around here.
<li>I’m not going to Unicorn Infosolutions again. This may be subjective, but I’ve had better service from Maple Technologies in Powai.
<li>Even though I <em>want</em> to buy the iPad for my dad, he isn’t so keen on spending money on it anymore.
</ol>
<p>So what are the options before me now?</p>
<p>[Header img via <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockergnome/193238415/">Chris Pirillo</a>]</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(12631) "<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://smokingapples.com/india/apple-support/" title="Permanent link to About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India"><img class="post_image aligncenter frame" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/idontcare.jpg" width="521" height="246" alt="Post image for About Apple’s Customer Support (or lack thereof) in India" /></a>
</p><p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Findia%2Fapple-support%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Findia%2Fapple-support%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div>I write this frustrated, annoyed, dejected and pretty much at a loss for words. Apple, which, among many things, is known worldwide for their exceptional support to their customers, just broke one of its most loyal customers. I have, on plenty of occasions, bragged about the exceptional customer support Apple provides for their products. But today, I feel terrible. While one may argue that it still holds true in many cases, I, for one have been going through a very odd experience.</p>
<p>The story begins somewhere around the second week of December 2009. I notice some odd, random, dark discoloration/patches in the bottom left corner of my 24” LED Cinema Display, purchased only 4 months ago in August. Though not <em>too</em> prominent, they were impossible to resist since most web-pages, apps, wallpapers etc use a light background. A few days pass as I slowly get used to the fact that something’s tainted my display, but it’s hard to bear anything alien on a large gorgeous LED display, so I pick up the phone, dial up 1800-425-0744 and speak to Apple’s Technical Support (<em>Orlando</em>), who takes down the case and registers the case ID. He gives me a list of <strong>Authorized</strong> Service Providers, from which I choose the one closest to my house. <span id="more-14475"></span></p>
<p>On January 20th, 2010, I take the display to Unicorn Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd, one of Apple’s Authorized Service Providers in Andheri. Upon preliminary check-up, it is clear that the LED panel needs replacement, which unfortunately the Service Provider does not have in stock, so one has to be ordered and will take a while to be shipped. “How long before one ships?”, I question, to which she says, “Usually about 10 days”. </p>
<p><strong>*Cue fast-forwarded footage of a busy city life in between 10 sunrises and sunsets.*</strong></p>
<p>It’s the 11th day (January 30th) since my dear display has been in the “<em>hospital</em>”, but I still haven’t heard from the doctor about its health. So I make the phone call, only to be told that the status of the order is still <strong>not</strong> showing as shipped and I’m told that I should give a call to Apple’s support line and follow-up for the reason of the delay. I dial up 1800-425-0744 again, only to realize that they’re closed and I should call back on Monday.</p>
<p><strong>*Cue footage of deranged guy ripping his hair apart*</strong></p>
<p>It’s the 13th day (February 1st) since I’m display-less and I call up Apple’s Technical Support and speak to one <em>Eli</em>, who escalates the call to Apple’s Customer Relations with <em>Michelle</em> on the other end. Michelle tells me that she does not know the status of the order, in spite of me providing her with the Case ID and the Order No. for the replacement parts. She says she’ll find out the status of the order for me, but she needs “<em>24 to 48 hours</em>” to do that. A day or two, to find out the status of a shipment from Apple from somewhere in Bangalore towards Mumbai. I could personally track down the container faster than that, with one eye closed.</p>
<p><strong>*More hair ripping occurs.*</strong> Coming back to the issue…</p>
<p>It’s the 15th day (February 3rd). I hear back from <em>Michelle</em> (and the Service Provider) that the parts have arrived and that I can collect the display about 4 hours later. I’m delighted. My favorite company had finally awaken 15 days later. Four hours later, I get a call from the Service Provider that the replacement of the LED panel was done and I can come down and pick up the display. My heart does a <em>Wiipee</em> dance as a head to Andheri to pick up the display. Once there, I ask the technician to connect it to a MacBook so that I can test it. To my horror, careful scrutiny of the new panel reveals that there’s a little dead pixel on the screen, and is a nasty place that it’s very easy to make out. </p>
<p>Does the Service Provider not do some testing of their own? Were they really expecting me to not notice a dead guy on my screen? The technician, after running back and forth in the room and trying to click a photo of the dead pixel, comes and tells me that they’re going to pronounce the panel DOA. “Okay…”, I say, “But what next?”. I was brought to the sad realization that they’re going to have to order another replacement panel from Apple. This only meant <em>one thing</em>.</p>
<p><strong>MORE DELAY HOORAY!!!!!!!</strong></p>
<p>I head back home and decide to speak to Customer Relations again, because I wasn’t ready to wait another 15 days for a panel to ship. It’s about 1600 hours IST on February 3rd, 2010 and <em>Roger</em> on the line tells me that the Customer Relations department (in Australia) is closed for the day. I ask why I’m not being transferred to their departments in Singapore or Ireland and I’m told that the case is with them already, so it cannot be answered by the other one. “Yayy!”, goes my heart as it points at me and laughs. I’m told I should call up between 0800 hours and 1530 hours. </p>
<p><strong>*I don’t want to rip apart my hair any more, so I go get a haircut instead.*</strong></p>
<p>The next day, February 4th, I wake up 2 hours earlier than usual and call up again, but this time I speak to <em>Ryan</em> from Customer Relations because “<em>Michelle isn’t available at the moment</em>”. Ryan, just like Michelle, has no idea about the status of the new order, so he’s going to need another 24 hours to find that out. Ryan tells me I’ll hear from me the next day. (Sidenote: I’d really like to know what tools/methods are employed here to “find the status” of something that it takes this long for them.)</p>
<p>It’s 1700 hours on February 5th now and I haven’t heard from Ryan yet. Calling up the Service provider doesn’t yield anything either. So I dial up 1800-425-0744 again, which is on my speed dial by now, and I’m speaking to <em>Sayyed</em>, Apple’s Technical Support. He connects me to Alan from Customer Relations, who after much back and forth, implied the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>He apologizes for Ryan not calling me back, but the probable reason for that is because he hasn’t been able to find the status of the order (<em>Oh! How surprising!</em>)
<li>The Service Provider works as a business unit of its own.
<li>If the Service Provider doesn’t have something in stock, it’s pretty much their look out.
<li>It was my (the customer’s decision) to choose that particular Service Provider and I should go to a different one if this hasn’t provided a service that I like. Even though it’s an <strong>Authorized Service Provider</strong>.
<li>I should just refer back to the Service Provider for the status of the order, since he isn’t in a position to answer that at the moment.
</ol>
<p>Alan pretty much came across as someone who <em>just</em> wasn’t ready to understand or listen. While acknowledging the delay in the shipment and Ryan’s failure to call me back, he still insisted that I should just speak to the Service Provider, since I was the one who had chosen to go there and I could find the status of the shipment only from them.</p>
<p>I call the Service Provider up again, but this time they’re able to tell me that the product shows a shipment date of February 15th, 2010. If you don’t have a calendar around that’s another 11 days from today, or the 26th day since I’ve admitted the display at the service provider. I also made a couple of other calls to other service providers in the city, but none of them store the parts in stock, so taking Alan’s recommendations and going to another service centre won’t help either.</p>
<p>I <em>tried</em> asking for a complete replacement, but Alan insisted on point #2. The service provider on the other hand is functioning like any typical Indian business. Their replies pretty much imply that the delay in shipping is from Apple and that there’s nothing they can do about about.</p>
<p>It’s 1120 hours on February 8th, 2010 and I just got off the phone with Apple. I called up requesting to speak to Michelle, who was the Customer Relations exec to first attend to my case. Similar to previous conversations, I’m told that she isn’t available, so I request that the call be transferred to someone else (since I called in wanting to ask for a replacement unit altogether). Shannon from Customer Relations comes on the line, sounding just as arrogant as the others. He tells me that they 1. Have been extremely busy and 2. Have had to speak to number of people, but they have been successful is pulling the shipping today, so the replacement parts are supposed to ship out today. Asked when shall I expect the parts to arrive at the Service Provider here, I’m told that he doesn’t have that information and he is arranging for a callback from the person responsible for my case, which happens to be Ryan. I remind him that Ryan, who was supposed to get back to me 5 days ago, still hasn’t given me a call. Shannon responds saying that he can’t comment on that, but he’s going to arrange for a call back and <strong>that he’s disconnecting the call</strong>. I tell him that I’m not done speaking to him, but he goes on and <strong>hangs up the call</strong>. </p>
<p>So here I am, stuck, without a display, in the middle of a multi-billion dollar company that is known for its exceptional support, but apparently can’t do much without it’s retail presence and a typical Indian business unit that raises its hands helplessly. I’ve had to make numerous calls while wasting plenty of time on hold. I may not be a super businessman, but I’ve had to cancel a bunch of my appointments on the day I was supposed to collect the display. All this while, my father hasn’t stopped poking me about how other tech companies are still bearable and how, even though their support isn’t all that great, they don’t take this long to service a product.</p>
<p>So what did I learn from all this?</p>
<ol>
<li>I wish Apple had a presence here even more now. We really need those Genius Bars around here.
<li>I’m not going to Unicorn Infosolutions again. This may be subjective, but I’ve had better service from Maple Technologies in Powai.
<li>Even though I <em>want</em> to buy the iPad for my dad, he isn’t so keen on spending money on it anymore.
</ol>
<p>So what are the options before me now?</p>
<p>[Header img via <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lockergnome/193238415/">Chris Pirillo</a>]</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=ELPaWFvNvcA:SPlTBomCdlA:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
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string(758) "iPad’s tiny SIM is just there to mess with you →
Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired, on the iPad’s unconventionally small SIM card:
It appears increasingly likely that this decision was driven not by space considerations (after all, the iPad is much larger than the iPhone), but rather by AT&T’s business strategy. This way, they can charge [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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<p>Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired, on the iPad’s unconventionally small SIM card:</p>
<blockquote><p>It appears increasingly likely that this decision was driven not by space considerations (after all, the iPad is much larger than the iPhone), but rather by AT&T’s business strategy. This way, they can charge customers twice for 3G wireless data: Once for the iPhone, and once for the iPad.</p></blockquote>
<p>Hardly. Does Eliot actually think physically swapping SIMs with your iPhone is an elegant solution that anyone would want to put themselves through? Apple thinks of the iPad as the start of future computing, and as history has shown, they’re not afraid to take bold steps. Apple is making every effort to keep the size and weight down to the minimum possible, including in this case, the marks created by opening slots on the device. Besides, the 3FF ‘micro SIM’ is not a proprietary format. It’s the exact same SIM with less plastic on the sides. It’s a standard that will that will eventually make its way into all mobile devices. Apple is giving it a much needed push.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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string(758) "iPad’s tiny SIM is just there to mess with you →
Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired, on the iPad’s unconventionally small SIM card:
It appears increasingly likely that this decision was driven not by space considerations (after all, the iPad is much larger than the iPhone), but rather by AT&T’s business strategy. This way, they can charge [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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<p>Eliot Van Buskirk for Wired, on the iPad’s unconventionally small SIM card:</p>
<blockquote><p>It appears increasingly likely that this decision was driven not by space considerations (after all, the iPad is much larger than the iPhone), but rather by AT&T’s business strategy. This way, they can charge customers twice for 3G wireless data: Once for the iPhone, and once for the iPad.</p></blockquote>
<p>Hardly. Does Eliot actually think physically swapping SIMs with your iPhone is an elegant solution that anyone would want to put themselves through? Apple thinks of the iPad as the start of future computing, and as history has shown, they’re not afraid to take bold steps. Apple is making every effort to keep the size and weight down to the minimum possible, including in this case, the marks created by opening slots on the device. Besides, the 3FF ‘micro SIM’ is not a proprietary format. It’s the exact same SIM with less plastic on the sides. It’s a standard that will that will eventually make its way into all mobile devices. Apple is giving it a much needed push.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
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string(740) "iPad discussion on the Charlie Rose Show →
Walt Mossberg, David Carr and Michael Arrington discuss the iPad on the Charlie Rose Show. It’s flash video, and 23 minutes long.
Touchpad - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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<p>Walt Mossberg, David Carr and Michael Arrington discuss the iPad on the Charlie Rose Show. It’s flash video, and 23 minutes long.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(740) "iPad discussion on the Charlie Rose Show →
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Touchpad - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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<p>Walt Mossberg, David Carr and Michael Arrington discuss the iPad on the Charlie Rose Show. It’s flash video, and 23 minutes long.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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I’m gonna let you folks in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in a metal band. That’s about all I did. I listened to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Pantera albums, poured over metal head mags, and dicked around for hours on end with my guitar. But alas, my [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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string(6070) "<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://smokingapples.com/iphone/app-store-iphone/voice-band/" title="Permanent link to Garageband in Your Pocket: Voice Band for iPhone"><img class="post_image aligncenter frame" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/voice-band.jpg" width="521" height="246" alt="Post image for Garageband in Your Pocket: Voice Band for iPhone" /></a>
</p><p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fiphone%2Fapp-store-iphone%2Fvoice-band%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fiphone%2Fapp-store-iphone%2Fvoice-band%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div>I’m gonna let you folks in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in a metal band. That’s about all I did. I listened to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Pantera albums, poured over metal head mags, and dicked around for hours on end with my guitar. But alas, my dreams of playing guitar in a metal band were dashed when I couldn’t get a real metal band off the ground, and going to Japan didn’t help. Metal bands here are about 25 years behind America, and dressing up like a girl isn’t limited to Poison cover bands. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried out Voice Band for iPhone, and rocked the shit out of my lonely one-room apartment.</p>
<p>To be honest, when our fearless editor asked me to review <a href="http://www.wavemachinelabs.com/voiceband/">Voice Band</a>, I took one look at its goofy UI and almost told him to stick Voice Band where the sun don’t shine. I was a little taken aback when he didn’t seem to be bothered by the idea, but he made it clear that he really wanted to hear what I had to say about Voice Band. So after choking down my “OMG HOW COULD YOU USE THIS UGLY FONT?” rage, I tried to give Voice Band a fair shake. And I’m happy to say that if you give the tech a chance, you’ll be happy as well.</p>
<p><img src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/voice-band-review.jpg" alt="" title="voice-band-review" width="542" height="480" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14514" /></p>
<p>Voice Band’s a really fun app. While most people will probably just use it to make goofy songs, it could also be used to whip up a draft of a song you have floating around in your head. You can lay down a bunch of tracks using rhythm and lead guitars, bass, drums, two kinds of synthesizers, organs, saxophones, and vocals. You can adjust octaves and time signatures, and when you’ve laid down all the tracks you want, you can save your “Stairway to Heaven” and email it out as an mp3 to the rest of the world can hear it. It was a little hard to get the music-making process down at first. I’m a “dun-dun-dun” guy when I’m humming, but Voice Band seems to respond best to “ba-ba-ba”. They do make mention of this in the lengthy (read: so long no one’s ever gonna read it) help section. I would’ve never figured that out if I hadn’t watched the introduction video on the app’s website. Also included is the ability to pull up any song on your iPhone to listen along to (use headphones for best results), and you can plagiarize till the cows come home. <a title="Marker Felt Font Metal" href="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/markerfeltfont.mp3">It’s really easy to make pretty decent sounding songs once you get the hang of it.</a></p>
<p>But that does not excuse its UI. It’s God awful. The icon you see on your iPhone looks like Eddie Vedder with a spray-on tan and peroxided hair. The icons for the instruments in the app were designed by Word 97 graphic designers, I believe, and for Christ’s sake, what are you doing using a cartoony font like this in 2010? Who do you think you are, Apple? It’s like Comic Sans and Marker Felt both jizzed in a Dixie cup, swirled it around, and then threw it in your face. I’m advocating the creation of a good old fashion letter-writing campaign in order to put a stop to cartoony font use. And it needs to start with Voice Band. Because I’m betting you that a bunch of design snobs are passing Voice Band up because it looks like that homely girl you took to the Fall Formal in junior high school but ditched behind the gym so you could hang out with the cool kids by the punch bowl.</p>
<p>Overall, the app’s abilities are impressive, and if you would like to record your musical ideas even when you don’t have access to your instruments, Voice Band makes a good musical notepad. Pick it up in the App Store for <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voice-band/id347859797?mt=8">$2.99</a>. Just don’t let its UI get in the way of what could be the start of a beautiful relationship that will ultimately end with Voice Band sleeping with your girlfriend and refusing to give you back your lovingly curated collection of signed hipster indie-band guitar picks.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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I’m gonna let you folks in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in a metal band. That’s about all I did. I listened to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Pantera albums, poured over metal head mags, and dicked around for hours on end with my guitar. But alas, my [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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["atom_content"]=>
string(6070) "<p><a class="post_image_link" href="http://smokingapples.com/iphone/app-store-iphone/voice-band/" title="Permanent link to Garageband in Your Pocket: Voice Band for iPhone"><img class="post_image aligncenter frame" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/voice-band.jpg" width="521" height="246" alt="Post image for Garageband in Your Pocket: Voice Band for iPhone" /></a>
</p><p><div class="tweetmeme_button" style="float: right; margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fiphone%2Fapp-store-iphone%2Fvoice-band%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fiphone%2Fapp-store-iphone%2Fvoice-band%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div>I’m gonna let you folks in on a little secret. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being in a metal band. That’s about all I did. I listened to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Pantera albums, poured over metal head mags, and dicked around for hours on end with my guitar. But alas, my dreams of playing guitar in a metal band were dashed when I couldn’t get a real metal band off the ground, and going to Japan didn’t help. Metal bands here are about 25 years behind America, and dressing up like a girl isn’t limited to Poison cover bands. So I was pleasantly surprised when I tried out Voice Band for iPhone, and rocked the shit out of my lonely one-room apartment.</p>
<p>To be honest, when our fearless editor asked me to review <a href="http://www.wavemachinelabs.com/voiceband/">Voice Band</a>, I took one look at its goofy UI and almost told him to stick Voice Band where the sun don’t shine. I was a little taken aback when he didn’t seem to be bothered by the idea, but he made it clear that he really wanted to hear what I had to say about Voice Band. So after choking down my “OMG HOW COULD YOU USE THIS UGLY FONT?” rage, I tried to give Voice Band a fair shake. And I’m happy to say that if you give the tech a chance, you’ll be happy as well.</p>
<p><img src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/voice-band-review.jpg" alt="" title="voice-band-review" width="542" height="480" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-14514" /></p>
<p>Voice Band’s a really fun app. While most people will probably just use it to make goofy songs, it could also be used to whip up a draft of a song you have floating around in your head. You can lay down a bunch of tracks using rhythm and lead guitars, bass, drums, two kinds of synthesizers, organs, saxophones, and vocals. You can adjust octaves and time signatures, and when you’ve laid down all the tracks you want, you can save your “Stairway to Heaven” and email it out as an mp3 to the rest of the world can hear it. It was a little hard to get the music-making process down at first. I’m a “dun-dun-dun” guy when I’m humming, but Voice Band seems to respond best to “ba-ba-ba”. They do make mention of this in the lengthy (read: so long no one’s ever gonna read it) help section. I would’ve never figured that out if I hadn’t watched the introduction video on the app’s website. Also included is the ability to pull up any song on your iPhone to listen along to (use headphones for best results), and you can plagiarize till the cows come home. <a title="Marker Felt Font Metal" href="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/markerfeltfont.mp3">It’s really easy to make pretty decent sounding songs once you get the hang of it.</a></p>
<p>But that does not excuse its UI. It’s God awful. The icon you see on your iPhone looks like Eddie Vedder with a spray-on tan and peroxided hair. The icons for the instruments in the app were designed by Word 97 graphic designers, I believe, and for Christ’s sake, what are you doing using a cartoony font like this in 2010? Who do you think you are, Apple? It’s like Comic Sans and Marker Felt both jizzed in a Dixie cup, swirled it around, and then threw it in your face. I’m advocating the creation of a good old fashion letter-writing campaign in order to put a stop to cartoony font use. And it needs to start with Voice Band. Because I’m betting you that a bunch of design snobs are passing Voice Band up because it looks like that homely girl you took to the Fall Formal in junior high school but ditched behind the gym so you could hang out with the cool kids by the punch bowl.</p>
<p>Overall, the app’s abilities are impressive, and if you would like to record your musical ideas even when you don’t have access to your instruments, Voice Band makes a good musical notepad. Pick it up in the App Store for <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/voice-band/id347859797?mt=8">$2.99</a>. Just don’t let its UI get in the way of what could be the start of a beautiful relationship that will ultimately end with Voice Band sleeping with your girlfriend and refusing to give you back your lovingly curated collection of signed hipster indie-band guitar picks.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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D. Salmons:
Ah, but you say that the Google brand will carry Android to a strong position. I have heard this argument before, but let me remind you of a fact earlier in this article – the Google Nexus One has sold less than competing Android phones [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
"
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<p>D. Salmons:</p>
<blockquote><p>Ah, but you say that the Google brand will carry Android to a strong position. I have heard this argument before, but let me remind you of a fact earlier in this article – the Google Nexus One has sold less than competing Android phones in its initial week of sales.</p>
<p>This could indicate that the branding is being watered down thanks to the different places you can find an Android phone. The Nexus One is being marketed as “an” Android phone, not “the” Android phone. The typical buyer is confused, and they are left comparing technical notes without a kindly dictator assuring them that this particular unit is the latest and greatest you can find.</p></blockquote>
<p>In addition to this, Android phones outdate each other every month or so. Compare that with my three year old first generation iPhone which pretty much runs all of the software features of Apple’s current generation iPhone.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
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D. Salmons:
Ah, but you say that the Google brand will carry Android to a strong position. I have heard this argument before, but let me remind you of a fact earlier in this article – the Google Nexus One has sold less than competing Android phones [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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<p>D. Salmons:</p>
<blockquote><p>Ah, but you say that the Google brand will carry Android to a strong position. I have heard this argument before, but let me remind you of a fact earlier in this article – the Google Nexus One has sold less than competing Android phones in its initial week of sales.</p>
<p>This could indicate that the branding is being watered down thanks to the different places you can find an Android phone. The Nexus One is being marketed as “an” Android phone, not “the” Android phone. The typical buyer is confused, and they are left comparing technical notes without a kindly dictator assuring them that this particular unit is the latest and greatest you can find.</p></blockquote>
<p>In addition to this, Android phones outdate each other every month or so. Compare that with my three year old first generation iPhone which pretty much runs all of the software features of Apple’s current generation iPhone.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(752) "How to compete with iPad →
Matt Gemmell writes an open letter to potential iPad competitors, giving some sound advice:
I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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<p>Matt Gemmell writes an open letter to potential iPad competitors, giving some sound advice:</p>
<blockquote><p>I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. That’s fine in itself; that’s how business works. I just think you’re misinterpreting both why people are excited about the iPad (even if they don’t realise it), and what exactly you need to copy. I think you might be on a dead-end track without even realising it. […]</p>
<p>Competition is good, but only as long as it’s <strong>good competition</strong>. A flood of second-rate imitations doesn’t help anyone; not the customer, and not even your bottom line. The better you compete, the more marketshare you’ll have and the more choice the consumer will have. I’m trying to take a long-term view of this burgeoning market, because it’s the responsible thing to do given that I care about empowering people in general, rather than enriching one specific company (whichever company that might be).</p></blockquote>
<p>When people complain about the iPad is going to dumb down our future generations by inhibiting creativity, they don’t take into consideration that this is an open competitive market, and the best product wins. The iPad may fail and remain a hobby, but if it succeeds in winning hearts over, it actually is a better product. </p>
<p>Recommended reading; and if you happen to know anyone who’s making an iPad competitor, pass it along.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(752) "How to compete with iPad →
Matt Gemmell writes an open letter to potential iPad competitors, giving some sound advice:
I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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<p>Matt Gemmell writes an open letter to potential iPad competitors, giving some sound advice:</p>
<blockquote><p>I’m a little worried about you, though. Your usual tactic is to simply copy the industrial design of the most successful product, reduce the price, then adopt a pump and dump strategy until your next quarterly financials. That’s fine in itself; that’s how business works. I just think you’re misinterpreting both why people are excited about the iPad (even if they don’t realise it), and what exactly you need to copy. I think you might be on a dead-end track without even realising it. […]</p>
<p>Competition is good, but only as long as it’s <strong>good competition</strong>. A flood of second-rate imitations doesn’t help anyone; not the customer, and not even your bottom line. The better you compete, the more marketshare you’ll have and the more choice the consumer will have. I’m trying to take a long-term view of this burgeoning market, because it’s the responsible thing to do given that I care about empowering people in general, rather than enriching one specific company (whichever company that might be).</p></blockquote>
<p>When people complain about the iPad is going to dumb down our future generations by inhibiting creativity, they don’t take into consideration that this is an open competitive market, and the best product wins. The iPad may fail and remain a hobby, but if it succeeds in winning hearts over, it actually is a better product. </p>
<p>Recommended reading; and if you happen to know anyone who’s making an iPad competitor, pass it along.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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string(30) "Kiwi 1.1 is a stunning upgrade"
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string(2772) "<p></p><h4><a href="http://kiwi-app.net/" >Kiwi 1.1 is a stunning upgrade →</a></h4>
<p><div class="tweetmeme_button" ><a href="http://api.tweetmeme.com/share?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F"><img src="http://api.tweetmeme.com/imagebutton.gif?url=http%3A%2F%2Fsmokingapples.com%2Fasides%2Fkiwi-1-1-is-a-stunning-upgrade%2F" height="61" width="51" /></a></div><a href="http://smokingapples.com/software/reviews/kiwi-mac-review/">Remember Kiwi</a>? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user</p>
<p>First of all, it brings in a slick inline image viewer for twitpic, Ember and yFrog links, where the image zooms in as you hover over—very cool. It also supports viewing images in a HUD (but sadly, no support for img.ly). Greatly improved notifications support, including a per account menubar notification system much like Tweetie does (terrible icon though), as well as Growl support and Dock badges. It can remember your scroll position as new tweets arrive, or take you back to the top, mark them as read as you scroll by. It can even mark tweets as read across views so long as you’ve seen it in one—nice!</p>
<p>Most importantly, the Kiwi theming community has grown, and I’m totally in love with the ‘industrial’ theme style. Anyone can make themes using HTML and CSS, and you can submit and browse them at <a href="http://kiwithemes.com/themes/">Kiwithemes.com</a>. I’m going to try it out for a while and see whether I can finally make the switch from aging Tweetie. I’m just not sure I’ll be able to put up with its ridiculous icons.</p>
<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
<div class="feedflare">
<a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:yIl2AUoC8zA"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.smokingapples.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?a=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:D7DqB2pKExk"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/Smoking-Apples?i=p0LFx0SYt84:R6DIzpg7Fh0:D7DqB2pKExk" border="0"></img></a>
</div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Smoking-Apples/~4/p0LFx0SYt84" height="1" width="1"/>"
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string(725) "Kiwi 1.1 is a stunning upgrade →
Remember Kiwi? Great start for a 1.0 twitter client, but was missing some crucial features. Well it turns out the developers were serious about their app. With the new 1.1 release, Kiwi is almost a complete package compelling enough for any twitter user
First of all, it brings in a [...]<p><hr />
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?"><img align="left" hspace="5px" src="http://smokingapples.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/edovia_tp_rss_48x48.png" alt="Touchpad" /></a>
<a href="http://edovia.com/touchpad/u1=bp_tp?">Touchpad</a> - Transform your iPhone or iPod touch to remotely control your computer through WiFi. Extended keyboard, Multi-Touch Trackpad and Apple Remote.
</p>
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