FCHouse

New firmware for the Canon 40D

Posted by Carlo - 09/04/08 at 10:04:17 am

Today Canon has released a new firmware for the Canon 40D. I have downloaded and installed it, but I have to admit that it does not change anything substantial from my perspective. The firmware 1.0.8 fixes some Image Stabilization problems and some LCD issues, but in the end there is nothing new.

What was I expecting? Well, the new Canon implements a new connection system that makes every Tethering (live shooting from the computer) impossible, if not with the EOS Utility, that I consider a useless application. This was the most important thing for me. I will wait for it, maybe with a plugin for Aperture…

Latest Mac/PC add!

Posted by Carlo - 02/04/08 at 08:04:07 am

I have already seen the girl in some film, but I cannot remember exactly where!

iPhone and the glass crack

Posted by Carlo - 17/03/08 at 10:03:22 am

Yesterday morning I woke up and, amongst other things I normally do in the morning, I checked my phone. Everything was fine. I put the phone on a table and I got ready for the second day of the BarCampBrighton2. When I took up my iPhone again I noted a line of dirt on its glass. I tried to clean it, but the line was stubborn. This was my thought as long as I realize, with a little bit of horror, that the line of dirt was something worst: there was a crack on the glass of my iPhone.

I have to admit that I was quite shocked and, to be honest, quite angry. How can something like the iPhone have a crack like that one without any hit? And more important: there will be ANY technological device capable of resisting me?

For other reasons I had to run back in London quite early, loosing part of the BarCamp. On the train I decided to check if I could have popped into the Apple Store to understand if the damage would have been covered by the warranty, and luckily I found an opening.

The Apple Genius told me that the damage was covered by the warranty(there were no scratches and no sign of any hit). Later on he told me “It can happens. I have seen some cases like this… not many to be honest, but in these months we have been instructed to exchange the phone, because it simply can happens!”

Now, I am really grateful that the iPhone was exchanged for free,  but can I ask WHY in these months every single Apple representative are telling me that the problems I had are “Rare“? There are to solutions: they are lying to me OR I am quite unlucky.

For now I will not mind to answer!

AirPort Extreme: one of the WORST Apple Product!

Posted by Carlo - 11/03/08 at 10:03:03 am

I have tried, I have waited, I have tried again, and again and again, but in the end I have to admit it: the AirPort Extreme is one of the WORST Apple Products.

I can start telling you that the features that are advertised do not work. The “AirDisk” feature, that allows you to share a USB drive on the network, is completely unreliable. Initially it was a problem of the Hard Drive (sold in the Apple Store near to the AirPort BTW), then it become a problem of Firmware, then it was related to Leopard. Since September, when I bought the AirPort, the AirDisk has never worked well, unplugging the disk randomly. Simply an Unusable Feature!

This should have been enough to abandon that specific hardware, but I decided to give Apple another chance.

The problem is that the problems did not end there. If we want to talk about reliability, then maybe I should not mention the Wireless signal. Yes, because the super-fast 802.11 “n” signal plays nicely… until is suddenly disappear. The network is not available any longer or, worst than ever, it shown up in the available wireless networks, but does not work. And I mean it… the security key does not work, you cannot connect to the wireless and all these useless problems. These lost of signal can be temporary (the network start working again after few seconds/minutes) or definitive (you have to unplug the AirPort.

Now, I expect something better from a £120 wireless Access Point. I expect reliability, I expect something I can USE; because in the end I cannot use the AirPort Extreme.

The shame is that Apple does not answer to complain, does not care about the problems (there are Many Many threads of their forum) and does not release any patch. They are releasing new products, they are investing time and money on new SDKs and other toys… BUT WHERE IS THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT??????

I am losing confidence in Apple, I am watching a company I loved become the new Microsoft.

Apple releases Leopard 10.5.2

Posted by Carlo - 11/02/08 at 10:02:58 pm

I am installing the 10.5.2 right now…

I hope some of the problems of Safari will be resolved. In particular I hope the naughty cookies bug will be fixed!

See you in a Bit!

O2 and the new iPhone contract

Posted by Carlo - 29/01/08 at 04:01:49 pm

When I decided to buy the iPhone I was delighted by the hardware, but more than sceptical about the O2 contract. It was not a good contract, but in the end I decided to buy it.

I have to tell you that the iPhone is a superb piece of hardware, and the connection, even if it is not a 3G, works well. You get used to have a slow connection with EDGE, nevertheless you are on a mobile.

Today I have been delighted by the contract too, because O2 decided to be less greedy with minutes and SMS, giving us more of both. I have been pushed from 300 minutes (they were not enough for the price I paid) to 600 and from 300 SMS (more than enough for me) to 500. So every iPhone contract, the new ones as well as the old ones (like mine) will receive the same amount of minutes and SMS. Good thing the retroactive contract overclocking! :S

I do not have to tell you that I am happy as a pie because of this improvement. I hate O2 a little less :P

MacBook Air: a personal view.

Posted by Carlo - 27/01/08 at 04:01:10 pm

I was one of those who followed the MacWorld, few weeks ago, in any possible way. I was interested in the banner “There is something in the Air” but I am still undecided if I am one of the Lovers or the Hater of the new Apple laptop.

One thing is essential before starting to discuss about the MacBook Air: it is NOT a normal laptop, it is NOT a desktop replacement, it is NOT intended to break the market as the MacBook. The Air is something different, different target, different specs required and different power. I have read a lot of reviews, a lot of people trying to analize the MacBook Air as if it was a new version of the MacBook Pro. I am sorry, you cannot expect to have everything you need in such a small shell, let’s face the truth!

Battery: It is not replaceable! A lot of people I know, when hear the news that the battery is a non-replaceable, started to breath fire. Hell on Earth, a laptop where you cannot switch battery! Well, let me think how many people I know walks around with a spare battery… let’s see… Yes, I think ONE of them. One, indeed! one on hundreds I know. Being honest I had the need for a replaceable battery maybe once in six years… and I did not have one, therefore it was useless. The target of this laptop is to be compact and light, and if you want to travel as light as you can, you do not bring a spare battery with you!

No integrated DVD reader! ALLELUIA! Yes, I need the DVD reader, I use it… probably as much as I use the external Hard Drive that sits on my desk (and that never leaves the desk, BTW). Apple did not present a laptop without drive, but with an external drive! It’s the best solution! The more sceptic are bothering that you cannot use the external drive with another Mac, but it is because of the power consumption, that is three times the power a normal USB port can provide. The USB port of the MacBook Air is extremely powerful, and Apple decided NOT to provide an external power chord for it: you need to travel light, don’t you?

Only one USB and no Firewire! Shame! Well… A second USB port would have been advantageous, but in the end you can live without it. I have two USB and a firewire on my laptop, and I try not to use all of them together. It uses less power, and I have less cables around. Do you need an external Hard Drive? Plug it in and out! Do you need the DVD? Plug it in and out? Do you need to attach your Firewire camcorder? You do not need a MacBook Air!

What a tiny Hard Drive! Well, when I bought my MacBook, one year ago, the normal drive was 60GB. The Air does have a 1.8inch drive, not a 2.5inch like every other laptop. This is because it has to be light. Obviously it does not have 60GB, but 80. Do you want to have the fastest, next generation hard drive, being a Early Adopter? You pay to receive less, for more money! Your choice!

Price! It costs too much! Well yes, it costs a lot. Miniaturisation  has always been expensive. You can buy a normal MacBook for much less, receiving more features (more processor, HDD, etcetera) for some pounds and inch more!

In the end I think that the MacBook Air is spectacular, stylish and… fantastic. I cannot see the time to see them in the Apple Store! I also think that the MacBook Air is designed for specific applications. I will never keep into consideration one of them: it is not powerful enough to support my development and my photos (Aperture is slow on my MacBook).

Requirements drive technology!

And the requirements the MacBook Air fulfil are clearly more dedicated to those who travels with their own computer everywhere, whitout the need of power. I think about Managers, Professional Bloggers, Journalists etcetera. I cannot stand those who are overcritic just because they cannot play the latest game on it, or because it is the last item from Apple.

Let’s see that shiny thing for what it is: a small, stylish, lightweight (in many senses) brand new computer.

I will not buy it, because the next laptop should be able to deliver a little more power than my MacBook, but I do not think the MacBook Air is a bad thing. I am one of those who needs his entire world with himself on his laptop. I need my laptop to be the Desktop replacement. I am not a MacBook Air user!
Last thing: do you know why there has not been so much hype on it? Because the target of the Air is different, smaller and more silent!

Cheerio!

Some more thoughts about Flock and Blogging

Posted by Carlo - 05/12/07 at 11:12:01 am

Some more first impressions about blogging with flock… In these months I have been quite busy, and blogging was something slow. I started using Twitter just to post my thoughts: it is faster and easier!
More than this, Safari does not support wordpress rich content editor, so I had to use Camino or Firefox. I know that now I am using Flock, but the difference is that it allows you to write your post on a separate interface. You are not required to be on your blog to write, and from a point of view this makes blogging more similar to writing a thought on your laptop…

By the way: does anyone of you know if there is a small Mac App (or a Dashboard App) to do the same thing (writing a post locally)?

Cheerio

Tags: flock, mac, dashboard

Apple to be blamed for the lack of customer service!

Posted by Carlo - 02/12/07 at 11:12:09 am

This time I will not spend any single good word for Apple, I would not praise them; on the contrary I will tell you that they should be blamed for releasing a product that does not do what it it supposed to do, for not answering to email and to complaints.  This time Apple really let me down, showing an absolute lack of care for the customers.

Some history…. I bought an Airport Extreme more than two months ago, in combo with an external disk. My plan was to have a network disk in order to store all my documents. The good thing (I thought, what a stupid) was that the airport would allow me to use the disk exactly in the way I need, calling it Airdisk, everything with a 802.16N wireless (faster than a normal wireless).

AIRDISK DOES NOT WORK!

Beware, everyone of you, the solution so much advertised does not work, or at least this is what happened to hundreds of users (check here).

I called Apple more than two months ago in order to raise a ticket for my case. Well, after more than sixty days my case is still there, without any further news. This is not the worst thing, because when the two months of waiting were over, some weeks ago, I decided to send a complaint.

APPLE DID NOT ANSWER IN ANY WAY TO MY COMPLAINT!

HOW COME? WHAT KIND OF CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THIS!?

We spend a lot of money for their product (that in this case does not work), so we should be given a little bit of attention!!!!! What is this kind of treatment? Are we the least important thing in Apple’s commercial strategy?

Apple support is worst than its own 1984 ads!

I feel that the bite of the juicy market share has turned Apple definitely away from their customer. Does this mean that we will have to deal with another Microsoft?

SHAME APPLE!

The iPhone is here!

Posted by Carlo - 12/11/07 at 10:11:15 am

Hi everyone! In the end I decided to buy an iPhone, but it has not been an easy choice.

In the past days I have thought a lot about it, mainly because of the contract: it is total crap! It is extremely expensive and it offers you very limited minutes every month. It will last 18 months and I fear I should not have done it…

Overall I am extremely happy with it: I was used to use a US model and the connectivity I was lacking is a great added value. The visual voicemail is nice…

No, I am not jumping around for the happiness of having in my hands this little jewel (mind… it remains the best phone I have ever used. I am not so satisfied because of the network loking and the theft contract.

So, the tagline of the UK version of the iPhone is: the Best Phone with the Worst Contract I have ever seen!

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Carlo Nicora is at home in London.