Tag: Apple

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I’m not sure I like the new AppleCare Plans

Got this little notice saying the AppleCare on my phone was expiring and that I could renew it. 

“Okay, that’s neat,” I thought.

Then I checked out the plans. I can cover my phone for another $99 a year, billed yearly. There’s a monthly option as well.

Or I can cover 3 devices for $239 a year, billed yearly or $19 bucks a month.

These AppleCare plans are automatically renewing until cancelled.

But what if you have more than 3 devices? You can add them for an additional fee. 

The thing is, I don’t believe I’ve used AppleCare more than 2 or 3 times for an actual repair in decades. Mostly I keep AppleCare on one or more devices which covers my one call every two years (on average) to apple technical support.

AppleCare has always been expensive. But this seems really pricy. The AppleCare includes theft and loss coverage too, so it’s even more like insurance. But my homeowners policy also includes theft and loss. 

I’m not sure that this is a value, at least not for me. I tend to keep pretty tight reign on my stuff. I suppose if I was always in a high crime urban area where the likelihood of getting mugged was higher, it might be useful.

With the newer generation of Apple Watches and their gesture controls, there’s really no reason to have your phone out (exposed) while you’re walking in a public space. 

Apparently you can answer a phone call with a gesture. If you’re wearing newer AirPods you can set it up to answer or reject a phone call with a nod or shake of your head. Again your high ticket phone stays in your pocket.

The newer watches have phone capabilities directly built into them. So, for me the price seems a bit high since I’m not one of those people that walks around with my face glued to a screen. I tend to be looking around and keeping an eye on anyone approaching me. Even when wearing AirPods in a potentially crowded environment I turn off noise cancelling. I want to be able to potentially hear someone coming up behind me.

Even on my dog walks, I’ll wear AirPods if I’m not going through wooded areas. In wooded areas, typically I put the AirPods away, I don’t need music or podcasts playing that might distract me from the sound of a predators approach.

I suppose these days, most people call that paranoia. 

I call it proactively defending myself.

I’ll have to chat with my insurance agent to see exactly what the homeowners policy covers. I’m not sure the ROI on the AppleCare plans is high enough to justify the cost in my particular situation. 

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Interesting. The rush for new iphones & watches doesn’t seem as fevered this year.

Something I watch after each Apple iPhone release is the backlog.

I had to wait for weeks when I wanted to get an iPhone 12. It was almost 2 months when I got my Apple 5s.

I had to wait for almost a month to get my Apple Watch Ultra. They just weren’t available. I got my ultra because I happened to duck into a store to look at their display model and found they had a few in stock. It wasn’t the band color I wanted, but I had the unit in hand and bought it knowing I had a collection of bands at home from previous Apple Watches.

This year, yes, there are shortages in some stores but nothing like in years past. It looks like I could head down to my local Apple Store, or my preferred Apple Store in Orange County & pick up a new watch and phone today if I was of a mind to.

We’re less than one full week out from the release date. In years past, no-one would have stock.

I see two possibilities. 1) Apple is better anticipating the demand, 2) Folks aren’t running out to drop a ton of money on the new products.

Perhaps it’s a combination of both.

I might replace my current Ultra, I’m thinking about it. My watch is 3 years old. My phone is 2 years old. Technically I could replace both without thinking too much about it. The watch battery is showing signs of age but it still gets me through a day and then some, more or less.

Apple Watch Ultra on Wrist Pocket My phone is showing signs of normal battery degradation but it’s not annoying me, generally speaking it does what I want it to do, with power lasting until bedtime.

In both instances, I’m intrigued by the new features but not enough to be drooling or demanding Apple take my money.

The trade in values do tend to make upgrading a tad more attractive. I wonder if other people are in the same boat?

Maybe people are starting to question the yearly rush to get the new “shiny”. Or maybe people are seeing that the products are kind of iterative and that waiting multiple years between upgrades gives them more value for their dollar.

I’m interested in the AirPods Pro 3. I’ve really enjoyed my version 2s and an update in that area would be welcome.

It’s just interesting to note that the rush doesn’t seem to be as intense as it’s been in the past.

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For the first time in a very long while…

I’m actively considering downgrading from an Apple update.

IOS 26 is pretty on my phone. It’s also pretty on my watch. But it’s very annoying.

Notifications half the time don’t show up on either my watch or my phone. Sometimes on one but not on the other, and sometimes on both. There’s no rhyme or reason to it.

I’ve checked and rechecked the settings and all the troubleshooting steps I can think of, and those suggested by Apple. Even turning off the “New” features doesn’t help.

How they could fuck up something that worked so well, is beyond me. I mean phone calls, and messages from known contacts not ringing? REALLY? That’s kind of basic stuff.

Thing is, it’s not any glaring “This is IT,” issue. It’s death by a thousand cuts. It’s little things.

For example, when starting a workout on my watch. In IOS18 I’d hit the action button on my ultra, that would take me to a list of workouts I’d done in the past. It was logically sorted by most frequent. I could tap the workout I was going to do and be off.

Now, hitting the action button takes me to the last workout I did. FULL SCREEN, No list, with a “Play” button.

If I want to select something else, I’ve got to roll the crown to see other selections.

They added an un-necessary complication to the process. The previous way was clean, direct, and simple.

It’s a minor thing, but it’s annoying. Then on the phone side you’ve got live activities which is fine and maybe even useful. But if you open the fitness app even after you’ve completed a workout and stopped it using the watch, there’s a screen showing the summary of that completed workout with a green check in the upper right hand corner.

Okay, but what I wanted out of the fitness app was something completely different, and now I’m forced to press the green checkmark to get to the underlying data screens in the fitness app.

Again another unnecessary step.

The whole of the OS is filled with extra, unnecessary steps that make working with my phone like answering 50 questions at a damn gas pump.

I just want gas! Take my money and turn on the fucking pump!

I’m not having a battery drain issue with my phone as so many others are, Because I’m not using it. Really, I’ve noticed I’m going to my computer for even the slightest bit of information.

Maybe this is just settling in stuff. Maybe I’ll get used to it. But I don’t need an interrogation from a device that is supposed to be my assistant, every time I interact with it.

Maybe this is just the age we live in.

Even researching the roll back process is annoying. I entered a search on how to roll back then found an article from Macobserver, fine. I tapped on the link, then Macobserver wanted age verification. WHAT? Then they wanted me to click on a check box the proved I was human. Then cloudflare pops up with a “Verifying” dialog and I still hadn’t gotten to the fucking article.

Why does everything have to be so complicated? I bailed on their page and made a different selection. Even then I was pounded with cookie notifications, an AI chat box to help answer my question, a Google login prompt, and some EU notification. ALL OF WHICH prevented me from reading a text article related to the question I asked. I couldn’t even see the title of the article to verify if it was what I actually wanted.

I bailed on that page, and went to the next listing in line. Finally! There was an article describing the process without all the bullshit!

Maybe I’m just cross.

Then again, maybe I’m just sick of bullshit at every turn of my existence.

It looks like downgrading from IOS 26, while possible, has a rather high risk of fucking up my phone, and data. I’ll have to reach a much higher level of annoyance before I undertake that project.

It’s got me thinking though.

I’m convinced that dumping the web hosting and this blog entirely, is in fact the right thing for me to do. It’s become such a headache I’m not interested anymore.

Between endless demands from the EU regulators to verify the owner and contact information on every single web domain, and them telling me that they’re implementing new rules to protect the delicate sensibilities of their members. I’m over it.

Gee Thanks Obama! You fucking moron! Turning over the domain registration to the EU was a fucking brilliant idea!

Well, the internet was a good idea, while it lasted…

I wonder if I can still get a print version of Encyclopedia Britannica? Why yes… it’s 2K on Amazon.

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WHY? Wednesday evening my phone offered to suspend my alarm for Juneteenth.

Really? 

Why would my phone offer to disable my alarm for that? It’s never offered to suspend any other alarms for other holidays.

Martin Luther King’s birthday – Jan 20, 2025 was on a Monday
Presidents Day – February 17, 2025 another Monday
St Patrick’s Day – March 17th 2025 another Monday
Easter – April 20th 2025 a Sunday
Memorial Day – May 26, 2025 a Monday

But, I get a notification to modify my daily alarm about Juneteenth on a Thursday? What the hell?

I’ll be interested to see if a notification appears for Independence Day July 4th 2025, that’s on a Friday. How about Labor Day September 1st 2025? That’s a Monday

I like the idea of my phone offering to turn off the alarm on a Federal holiday to allow me to sleep in, but wonder if this is just pandering on the part of Apple.

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The first two episodes of Murderbot got me hooked.

Murderbot action figure.The show is well done and Murderbot’s inner dialog is hysterical.

Of course I’d identify with Murderbot, my inner dialog is a lot like his. 

“Humans are idiots!“

“Oh what now?“

“Eye Contact? I should have gone with the acid bath“

Alexander Skarsgård in the first two episodes was great. Simultaneously playing an android that is generally annoyed by people, and portraying an innocent fear of being found out.

The premise is that he’s managed to hack his governor programming and now has free agency. He doesn’t have to obey humans anymore, yet the alternative if he’s found out, is termination.

Technically he’s a “Rogue” android, but rather than slaughtering humans who have technically enslaved him, he’d rather watch soap operas from the corporate satellite feeds.

Being a security android, it turns out, he can do both. Generally keeping an eye on the idiotic humans at the same time as he’s watching his shows.

And if the humans figure out that he’s rogue, well, he can kill them later.

Apple had better have Murderbot action figures in their stores by Christmas! In the opening sequence for the show, the Secunit factory looks like they’re already have the necessary ray tracing for a 3D printed action figure.

Hell, I’d pay for a Murderbot voice and personality for Siri. Especially if it was voiced by Skarsgård.

Obviously, I’m looking forward to the next episodes.