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Personal note:
No one was in line today at the security checkpoint at LAX Terminal 2. It was blissful. I’m sitting at the NWA WorldClub in LAX, which is probably one of the worst WorldClubs in, uh, the world. Fallout shelter comes to mind when thinking of words to describe the lounge.

MacBook Air Update Update:
Still haven’t gathered enough courage to run the update since I love CoolBook too much. Seems like Apple has limited the proc speeds to 800MHz during heavy load to prevent overheating and eventual core shutdown. Can’t say that solution sounds too appealing to me.

Olevia Woot
The Olevia 65″ LCD HDTV for $2300 from Woot looks like such a sweet deal. Do want. Badly. Just not sure about the support… The whole bankruptcy thing kind of scares me. Still, I’ve heard nothing but good things about Olevia and was seriously considering picking up an Olevia back in the day. Not enough time for me to do adequate research. I’ll have to pass and wait for maybe a woot-off or a super deal at Sam’s Club.

iPhone 3G battery life…
…sucks. Yes, I do have bluetooth/wifi/3G turned on which does drain the battery, but isn’t that the point? “Hey, my iPhone 3G with 3G/wifi disabled gets 1,000,000 hours of battery life.” After about 9 hours, I drop down to 20% battery life. The dreaded red. From there, it just gets worse. And that’s with pretty normal usage. No videos, no music. Just occasional web surfing. The bluetooth connection must be staying active and just killing the battery…
UPDATE 11:09PM: I must say, the iPhone 3G has charged pretty quickly. I went from the dreaded red (10%) to fully charged in around 2 hours. I was using it during that time, too (voice calls). I’m GTG for my flight which is taking off in one hour. Maybe it’s time to look at a battery pack.

Dial-a-human
Saw this on Lifehacker today. It’s just a list of phone numbers and the key prompts to press to connect to a real-life operator. I’m just throwing this link on here to bookmark for myself. Hopefully you’ll find it useful, too.

Dial A Human via [Lifehacker]

That’s all for today.

Hopefully YES, as Apple has released MacBook Air Software Update 1.0 which “addresses issues with video playback and processor core idling.”

I discovered the problem after playing YouTube videos (or any videos, really) or just using my computer on my bed, thus blocking the air vent on the bottom of the computer. Basically, one core out of the two would shut down to prevent overheating and as a result, my MBA would become super slow, as in unusable. To remedy this problem, I picked up CoolBook which undervolts the processor. I used Rob Randtoul’s (via Paul Stamatiou) settings to undervolt the MBA. Since that time, I’ve experienced no core shutdowns. Seems like Apple has fixed the problem, while also recommending the uninstallation of CoolBook. While not mentioning it by name, Apple does include this tasty morsel:

Third-party software that modifies processor operating characteristics such as frequency and voltage is not supported and should be removed before installing this update.

Normally, I love playing guinea pig and trying out these new updates, but since CoolBook has been so effective, I think I’m going to wait this one out and see what the other MBA owners have to say.

I’ve been iPhone-less for the past month or so. In the meantime, I’ve been using the Nokia N95 and having a great time. I love using Skyfire and the Sling app. But I have missed the iPhone so dearly. Since I have a FAN account on AT&T, I haven’t been able to go to the Apple Store to wait in line and pick one up. My only option has been the AT&T store which has been sending its allocation of iPhones to direct fulfillment customers (people that come into the store and order the phone and wait for it). I’ve read on various forums that the wait time for direct fulfillment dropped down to a few days. Plus, the Boy Genius report stated that AT&T stores were to begin receiving shipments to sell in-store which means that supply is finally meeting demand.

I walked in to the AT&T store on Monday and ordered an iPhone for my sister and an iPhone for me (one white 16GB and one black 16GB). My sister’s white iPhone arrived the next day (yesterday) and my black iPhone arrived today.

Both came loaded with the 2.0.1 firmware. Now I have to get rid of the N95… Sling, please release an iPhone client ASAP!

I received an email from Apple today regarding a MobileMe extension. I’m sure all MobileMe members received this email but in case you haven’t checked your mail yet or didn’t receive the email for some reason or another, Apple is offering a 60-day extension to all MobileMe users in addition to the 30-day extension we received earlier. I’ve definitely had some problems with MobileMe service, specifically accessing MobileMe webmail, in the beginning days, but it has been much better in recent weeks.

This is a nice gesture to hopefully appease some of the users who have been more seriously affected by the rocky MobileMe launch.

The Apple Knowledge Base article is located here.

I’ve copied the FAQ after the jump, if you’re feeling lazy.
Read the rest of this entry »

I am flying through Memphis today (thanks to Northwest) and decided I’d make the most of it by trying some Memphis BBQ.

Stopped by Jim Neely’s Interstate BBQ and ordered a chopped pork shoulder sandwich. I thought “pulled” was the way it was supposed to be, but who am I to argue? This place knows BBQ. You can choose to get coleslaw on the side or on the sandwich (I went with on the sandwich.) I was really tempted by the BBQ spaghetti which is apparently pasta topped with chopped pork.

The sandwich was huge. Seriously, it was one of those sandwiches where half the meat falls off the sandwich and you still feel like the sandwich in its half-meated capacity is still hearty enough. The only complaint I had was that the bread had started to soak up some of the BBQ sauce, making it a bit soggy, but maybe I didn’t eat it quickly enough. I would have taken a picture, but I was too hungry. Sorry. Next time. It looked something like this picture from the website, only better.

Neely's Interstate BBQ MMmmMmm

Next time I’m in Memphis (knowing Northwest, it will be too soon), I also plan on stopping by Corky’s, which is also in the airport and supposedly has amazing BBQ as well. Where’s the best BBQ you’ve had?