Directv HDDVR Software Upgrade.

There was a software upgrade distributed today to Directv HD DVR boxes. The upgrade took over an hour to complete and promises 1080P.
The more useful feature is alpha input using the number keys (a-la cell phone). It works as advertised.
Also, I can now see my Directv box as a media device on the PS3. PS3 won't play any of the recorded shows, as they are in the format (or format envelope) not supported by Sony PS3.
My attempts to download DIRECTV2PC were not successful: DirecTV.com is down for the maintenance.

I haven't notice any improvement in the unit responsiveness, despite the anecdotal testimonies of some users that it is the case. Placebo effect, perhaps.

AT&T Full of Shit.

I had a guy from At&T ring my door bell today. He was going door to door trying to sell AT&T fiber optics U-verse. He told me that in 2009 my TV, Internet and the phone service I have from AT&T will stop working, because government is forcing them to switch to digital fiber and stop servicing analog [!] copper wire connections I have.

I was not sure I was actually hearing what he was saying correctly. I asked him if he was sure that he is not talking about February analog TV broadcast cut-off. I told him I would not be influenced by it, because it has nothing to do with the phone service or the internet service I get from Astound. To which he replied that my phone and my internet will stop working because government of the United States of America switching everything to digital in the February and that my analog [!!!!!!!!] internet and my phone will stop working.

I told him that he was lying in order to make a sale, he said that he was not.
I could not believe my ears! OK, so I understand that he was full of it, but what about people who are less informed about the technology? I told the guy to get off my property or I will call cops.

I am rather curious if what he told me is what the AT&T teaching their sales people to say, or was he telling lies on hes own to boost his sales.
I just hope that this AT&T U-verse scam sales practice is an isolated occurrence (in Walnut Creek, Ca area) and not a company's official sales strategy.

iTunes 5002 Error Message. How to Fix It.

In the iTunes click on the Applications in the side bar, without your iPhone/Ipod Touch connected.

 Double click on any of the apps that have a generic app icon instead of the proper icon. You will be presented with the option to locate a missing file.

 Navigate to your iTunes library folder into the Mobile Applications folder and choose an app. 

If the application is missing, then erase it from the iTunes and re-download it.

How to Avoid a Lengthy iPhone Back-up Procces Without Messing With Terminal? Easy!

Lately you could see a lot of posts on the Apple support forums and wonderful sites like Boing Boing and Mac Os Hints about what to enter into a terminal window to disable iPhone (and I assume iPod Touch) back-up process. The back-up might take up to an hour or longer in some severe cases.
There is an easier way that doesn't involve tinkering with the Terminal.app.
Just click the "x" next to the progress bar.
The back-up will stop and the sync will continue.

Do let the iTunes to create a backup from time to time in order to have a copy from wich run a restore in case it might be needed! Also, never cancel a backup that is a part of software update process.

Follow Up: iPhone Syncing With iSync

Anna asked in the comments to my iPhone syncing with iSync post, how it actually works.

The software version of iSync on my PowerBook is 2.4 and I am running Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.11.

The procedure as follows:

• Disable automatic iPhone Syncing in iTunes,

• Start the iSync utility and go to the preferences.
• Make sure that Enable syncing on this computer and Show status in menu bar boxes are checked.
  
• Quit iSync utility.
  
• In the menu bar click the iSync icon and chose Sync Now
• Your connected iPhone will now sync, even though there will be no indication on the iPhone screen. The iSync icon in your menu bar will rotate. This will only synchronize non-iTunes items.

This will not work if you try to sync from the mane application window of the iSync utility.

Hope it helps.

New Genius Feature is NOT Like Pandora!

I keep hearing that the new Genius feature in the new iTunes 8 works just like Pandora radio.
That is not true. From the user point of view: when use Pandora I do not need to pay for tracks Pandora suggests. With the iTunes, I do.
The principle of the way Genius runs is more reminiscent of Netflix, where the recommendations are based on what other users that rated the same movies you did the same way you did, say about those movies that you haven't rated yet. Pandora, on the other hand actually knows what the artists or songs specifics and unique features are.

My App Updates Goes Crazy.

The saga of malfunctioning iTunes software/iPhone continues.
I plugged in the iPhone to download 2.0.1 , and was informed by iTunes that there is 1 (!) update available for my installed applications.
When I clicked the link to check what new joys the app developers have for me I have gotten a page with 41 updates available.
Unfortunately those 41 updates were for just 4 apps: 21 updates for AIM, 4 updates for Break Classic, 8 for Dial O, and 8 for Jirbo Jive.

Check out the screen captures.




After I clicked install all of the updates, iTunes has downloaded only 4 updates.
Upon syncing the iPhone iTunes has informed me of not being able to install the updates: error code 0xE800002E




Update: Tuesday Aug 5, 2008, 1pm. I have uninstalled the apps in question by disabling them from the Apps bar during the iPhone syncing, and then enabling them again. This have seemed to fix the 0xE800002E issue. The multiple apps updates still show up in the iTunes store though.