Tag Archive for apple

Apple Software Update looking for old update server

05/03/2013 All, Mac, Tech Stuff No comments

I have had a mac that was looking for an old OSX Software update server that has been offline for the past Christ knows how long!

Needless to say anything i have tried (deleting preference files, The software update app) and a whole bunch of other stuff didn’t work!

Until i searched and found this - http://blog.rtwilson.com/how-to-reset-the-software-update-url-in-os-x/

The Blog itself was something I had tried before. But – The comment by Jacob was a winner!

sudo find / -type f -name com.apple.SoftwareUpdate\* -exec rm -f {} \;

This worked for me, but if you try it yourself – please not it is at your own risk! 

 

Rants

27/02/2011 PC, Phones, Rants, Tech Stuff No comments

*Warning* my first post for a month and it’s going to be a big long and full of rant’s! *Warning*

PART1 – Fucking Vodafone Rant

#1 – Vodafone – Where on earth do I start? After posting this http://www.richardhickson.com/2010/06/08/vodafone-sure-signal/ and then following it up with a post here http://www.richardhickson.com/2010/12/04/mobiles/ how much can things change in the space of six months?

My sure signal stopped working almost as I hit submit on the latest post. I contacted Vodafone about this first of all via twitter; they told me to log the problem on the support forum. Which I did, the support forum asked me a few questions, and then they told me to email support using the contact form on the website. This I also co-operated with and did.

I was expecting a quick turn around on this bearing in mind I have been passed from pillow to post. But no! I am now receiving an email from Vodafone about once a week asking me either some more questions or just fobbing me off.

Adding the shit service I’ve received personally to the awkwardness Vodafone gave us at work in moving 150 numbers from Vodafone to o2. I will not be renewing my contract with Vodafone when it finishes in July.

PART2 – IT Rants

Now I am meticulously tidy with my computer, some may even say a *slight/massive case of OCD (as posted here http://www.richardhickson.com/2010/10/23/window-sizes-in-window-7/) However a few things are really pissing me off lately.

#2 – iTunes – Thee most annoying heap of shit software on the planet. Really fucks me off that you have to manage an iPhone using this software. When you update iTunes it changes your shortcuts (for example try pinning it to the start menu) Once you run the update its gone, now I don’t have only a few apps installed on my machine so to try and find the application again is a complete pain in the arse! Pinning a program to the start menu is just another fucking shortcut. Why not leave it there?

#3 – Adobe – This includes Reader and Acrobat! They are both a complete c*nt. Why on earth would you create programs that automatically create a shortcut on your desktop? Who on earth loads up adobe reader and then opens a pdf? Next to nobody I bet! That’s not to mention all the start-up entries and services they put into MsConfig.

#4 – Microsoft Word 2010 – Now this is one that is driving me mad when writing this post especially (I write all posts in MS word for spell checking.) The zoom, if you have word maximised and want the zoom at 100% it shows you two pages at once side by side, which I find very distracting. To get one page on its own at 100% you need to shrink the word window down. This is equally distracting if you have something open in the background that changes on its own accord – For instance TweetDeck, Facebook or even the windows 7 Wallpapers set to change of their own accord!

Now I know the first two may only be small rants, but when you’re so meticulously tidy with your computer, they need to be sorted out before I can carry on using it!

*Delete where appropriate

Mobiles

04/12/2010 Phones, Tech Stuff No comments

Now it’s coming to that time of year again, when I can allow myself to start thinking about my next mobile upgrade. I currently have the iPhone 3gs 16gb. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great phone. However apples reluctance to let you do anything with it that they don’t want you to do, as well as the crap battery life is driving me insane!
I honestly have to charge the phone up every night, sometimes even twice a day.

This past week due to snow I have barely been out the house for longer than an hour whilst I fight with the crowds at Swanley station to get on SouthEastern’s non-existent Contingency service. Yet, despite having full Vodafone signal, and not using the phone due to being in front of my pc the whole time, I’m stull charging the phone twice a day!

Now; I close all my apps when I’m finished with them, I never Ever leave anything running. I run the battery down (not through choice I might add!) at least once a week so it’s completely flat as they recommend. It’s always running the latest version of IOS as soon as it’s released.

Ok, yes, I do have 3g on the whole time, but I have a Vodafone SureSignal in the office and at home, so I do have full mobile signal. I also have Wi-Fi on the whole time as well, although I will add Wi-Fi doesn’t appear to be doing anything until you unlock the phone.

But what’s the point in having this technology on a phone if you have to switch them off for the phone to last longer than six hours? I mean I have been out of bed since eleven o’clock, I’ve sent four text messages and taken one, two minute phone call and the battery is now down to 50%!

So the way I’m looking at it, I need a phone with:

• Fairly decent battery life (or the ability to change the battery)
• It needs to be on Vodafone with 3g
• I use the GPS/Google Maps a lot when I’m out the office.
• Wi-Fi is a must.

From what I’ve read on different sites and from what’s available. I think I’ve managed to whittle this list down to a few handsets. The choices are mainly HTC and Blackberry. But I’m almost certain that it will not be another iPhone.

• Blackberry Pearl 3G – Nice Size, weight. And I loved the original pearl! Although not as feature rich as the others.
• HTC Desire – Nice size, nice weight, running android. So very feature rich.
• HTC Desire HD –higher spec then the HTC Desire although it I feel it’s too big.
• HTC Desire Z – Don’t know an awful lot about this phone, Looks to be lower spec then the HD but higher than the Desire.

There are some others which I will read up some more on. Still I’ve got 2 months before I can upgrade. There may be something out there that I’ve not seen coming out!

iPhone OS4 (or IOS4) Follow Up

29/06/2010 Phones, Tech Stuff No comments

Ok, I’ve been using IOS4 for a week now. I’m not overly impressed with the fact the battery life seems to be far worse than it was before and that’s with the so called “task manager” empty.

The task manager is more like a recently used program list, as when you load up an app from there it seems to start it from the beginning. This maybe that some apps have not been updated to work with the task manager though. Time will tell!

The good side is I like the red squiggly spell check line when writing emails which is identical to MS Office (fig1). Then if you click on the line you get a list of possible options. (fig2)

The folders is the most obvious addition and I love it! It took a while to get used to after I OCD’D them. However know I don’t understand why they wasn’t an option in previous versions.

The camera changes haven’t really been used, as I very rarely use the camera at all!

As for the problems I mentioned in the first review, Google fixed these the very next day. So my email, Calender and contact sync’ing is now all back up and running flawlessly.

That is about it for my thoughts on it!

(fig1)
IOS4 Fig1

(fig2)
IOS4 Fig2

Will It Blend? – iPad

06/04/2010 Funny, Mac No comments

Haha Quality!