I absolutely hate the word “blog”

So I don’t mean to be one of those people. Really, I don’t. I’m just in love with the fact that I finally have a gadget that’s gloat-worthy. But the last thing I want to be is one of those iPhone snobs, ya know? (Too late, I know.) So one of the first things I did when I got my phone (besides drink heavily and belt out ballads in Rock Band — it was a *birthday* gift, after all) was delete the “Sent from my iPhone” email signature.

But believe it or not, I’m finding I need to put in some kind of signature, so I can more easily create a Gmail filter that will allow me to sort the iPhone photos I email to myself. And because Gmail likes to over-filter and/or under-specify a bit, I have to come up with a signature that makes my phone-sent emails recognizable from my non-phone ones. So back to Signature Square One.

Once I figured out that I needed a phone-specific signature, I got stumped. The only real-life person I know who has an original signature is Hen, but I don’t wanna be the lame kid that copies the idea too late in the trend. (Hers says “iPhone love may result in typos”. So true, so succinct, so cute, so HEN. Not mine for the taking.) So being the witty, original, thoughtful, humorous writer that I am, I immediately started Googling for ready-made iPhone signature suggestions I could use.

Read the rest…

I’m still struggling with iPhone car charger stuff, but I thought I’d post an update since my first whinings on the subject. Just an FYI that the continuation of the saga is in the comments section of that first post, since that’s where all the relevant info lies. Thanks again to you helpers!

I’ve been attempting to purchase a vehicle charger for my iPhone ever since I first got it, and so far, no luck. I’ve bought and promptly returned three different models (two Griffins from an AT&T and an InCase model from an Apple store), and ALL of them cause screechingly terrible interference with my car stereo. (Said interference completely disappears as soon as I unplug either the charger or the phone.)

Next up, I’m trying out the InCharge Travel set, per a recommendation from an Apple employee.

The thing that kills me is, Apple has to be aware of this problem. All the reviews of these chargers on their website are very vocal about this — I’m definitely not the only one. And yet, there only exist shitty third-party chargers that cause massive and weird interference. (Some people even get FM radio interference. From a CHARGER.) And a call to their tech support pretty much resulted in the guy browsing the Apple store online, like I’ve already spent MANY HOURS doing. Thanks, buddy. (I know he probably just wanted to help, but what I really wanted was for the issue to get escalated to someone who might actually know something about this phenomenon. No dice.)

So why hasn’t Apple come out with its own superior, interference-free charger, instead of selling tons of shitty third-party models that everyone bitches about? Is it because they can’t find a solution to this problem? That doesn’t seem very Apple-y, but who knows. A friend who’s tech-savvier about this sort of thing than I am basically said there was no way around this problem, since the iPhone just sends and receives way too much data and essentially winds up functioning as a giant receiver whenever it’s charging.

But I’m not giving up yet, oh no! I just have to go out of my way to make sure every vendor I shop at has a liberal return policy. Input welcome if any imaginary readers/iPhone users out there have found a non-sucky car charger!

So this iPhone thing is pretty damn cool. But I have to say, I feel pretty damn slow on the whole “über-intuitive Apple interface” thing. Given that I’ve never owned an iPod, or even a decent MP3 player or a complicated phone, I feel pretty behind. I only even touched iTunes a few months ago, and I managed to royally screw up all libraries of all music in a few short hours.

That said, I’m damn proud of how well I’ve done so far! Apple’s pedantic but clear videos helped some, and fellow iPhone owners also weighed in with some good tips. I managed to get some great apps, like a Wikipedia button and of course Bejeweled. I’m bummed to learn that the iPod version of Peggle doesn’t work on my phone, but perhaps it will someday soon.

And OH MY GOD, I can listen to MUSIC and write EMAILS and TEXTS and NOTES and APPOINTMENTS and look up DIRECTIONS and take PICTURES, ALL WITH THE SAME DEVICE. I know this is old news for many, but it’s brand-spankin-new for me, and I friggin’ love it. I can’t get over how functional and efficient I am! Read the rest…

HOLY SHIT.

MY BOYFRIEND IS AWESOME.

And soon, the image quality on this blog will improve.