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The David Boles Blogs Verizon Wireless Apple iPhone 6 Plus Review

Our Verizon Wireless iPhone 6 Plus phones arrived early this morning via FedEx, and here’s the quick David Boles Blogs review of our experience with the new iPhones.  After our initial ship date of 9/19 changed to 10/14 and then 10/7 and then back to 9/19, all in the span of three hours yesterday, seeing our FedEx guy show up with both iPhones in hand — one had shipped from Pennsylvania, the other From Tennessee — was a delight.

My FedEx guy told us he had thousands of iPhones to deliver today and that he was called in early this morning at 5:00am to start loading his truck; and then they held him an extra 90 minutes after his usual departure time to keep loading him up.  He also said the FedEx hub in Moonachie, New Jersey had the most iPhone deliveries today of any FedEx hub in the USA.  I reasoned the answer was likely because so many people who work in New York City live 50% cheaper right across the river in New Jersey — and they can better afford to buy a new iPhone every year!

The iPhone 6 Plus camera is improved from the 5S as you can see in this image.  The shot was taken in a darkened room with the light from the iPhone as the main source of seeing.  I used the bundled Camera App to claim the shot and did a “finger focus” on the screen to tap direct the source of important light.

Continue reading → The David Boles Blogs Verizon Wireless Apple iPhone 6 Plus Review

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How John Biggs and Tech Crunch Blew Up the Boles Blogs Network!

This has been a wild week with Apple threatening me with takedown notices and Tech Crunch riding to the rescue and then reflecting on what it means to be a blog publisher and dealing with threats from Apple Fanbois and lessons in legality from anonymous amateur Copyright commenters.

One lesson I learned this week, is that if you contact Tech Crunch for feedback and advice — as I did when I wrote asking if they’d ever seen a Takedown Notice like the one Apple sent me — you better make sure you tell your story first, or Tech Crunch will beat you to the publication punch — and that’s precisely what happened to me, and I couldn’t be happier about it!  Here’s why:

Tech Crunch’s John Biggs took my inquiry and ran with it and published the Apple threat letter and I was amazed by the power of that simple article.  Bigg’s story currently has 44 comments, 192 Facebook Likes, 609 Tweets, 153 LinkedIn Shares and 41 Google+ mentions.  However, those numbers only begin to tell the story of the real Tech Crunch muscle in the marketplace.

Continue reading → How John Biggs and Tech Crunch Blew Up the Boles Blogs Network!

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Apple Threatens Go Inside Magazine with Article Takedown Notice

EDITORIAL NOTE:  February 2, 2012 — My, there’s an Apple Chill in the air this morning!  I posted the this update to my original article and, as I did there, I have done here:  Removed any and all Apple quotations…

UPDATE: February 2, 2012 — 24 hours have come and gone since Apple gave me 24 hours to remove this entire article from publication.

Apple Supervisor James finally called me back this morning to confirm the Takedown Notice was real — bad grammar and all — and that it came from Apple. He asked me if Apple did anything to me for not taking down the article and I told him, “No.” So far, all my Apple IDs and developer access and iTunes Match and such were still active.

Then James then told me I could risk doing nothing with this article and see what happens next, or I could just remove the quoted responses from AppleCare support in this article and that should be enough.

When I told him removing the quotes would not put me in compliance with the Takedown Notice because Apple demanded the removal of the entire article, James said I could wait and see if the Apple legal department contacted me again or not and then decide what to do.

He said Apple “didn’t want me to feel more threatened than you already are.”

I asked him to send me an email confirming that removing the quoted email would legally satisfy Apple’s Takedown Notice, and he said he’d check on that and get back to me.

In the meantime, and in the spirit of Apple Fellowship — and, more importantly, of not wanting to deal with this all day every day any longer — I have removed the Apple email responses from this article. If you want to read the full text of the Takedown Notice — you can still read it on Tech Crunch — at least until Apple forces them to take it down.

SOPA and PIPA certainly stung — but there’s nothing quite like having Apple directly slap you in the face.

I was having such a good day today.  Then Apple threatened me in a nasty email and the next thing I know, my world is exploding on Tech Crunch:

Continue reading → Apple Threatens Go Inside Magazine with Article Takedown Notice

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Warning: Check Your AppleCare Support Profile!

UPDATE: February 2, 2012 — 24 hours have come and gone since Apple gave me 24 hours to remove this entire article from publication.

Apple Supervisor James finally called me back this morning to confirm the Takedown Notice was real — bad grammar and all — and that it came from Apple. He asked me if Apple did anything to me for not taking down the article and I told him, “No.” So far, all my Apple IDs and developer access and iTunes Match and such were still active.

Then James then told me I could risk doing nothing with this article and see what happens next, or I could just remove the quoted responses from AppleCare support in this article and that should be enough.

When I told him removing the quotes would not put me in compliance with the Takedown Notice because Apple demanded the removal of the entire article, James said I could wait and see if the Apple legal department contacted me again or not and then decide what to do.

He said Apple “didn’t want me to feel more threatened than you already are.”

I asked him to send me an email confirming that removing the quoted email would legally satisfy Apple’s Takedown Notice, and he said he’d check on that and get back to me.

In the meantime, and in the spirit of Apple Fellowship — and, more importantly, of not wanting to deal with this all day every day any longer — I have removed the Apple email responses from this article. If you want to read the full text of the Takedown Notice — you can still read it on Tech Crunch — at least until Apple forces them to take it down.

SOPA and PIPA certainly stung — but there’s nothing quite like having Apple directly slap you in the face.

***

EDITORIAL NOTE: February 1, 2012 — Be certain to read the update to this article — Apple Threatens Go Inside Magazine with Article Takedown Notice — for the latest on this silly saga!  Email headers included!   AppleCare responses in the comments included!  Read on, MacDuff!

On January 14, 2012, my Apple Thunderbolt display died.  Apple did the right thing and gave me a new display, but now, 12 days later — 12 “24 hours” later — Apple cannot get the AppleCare warranty transferred from the dead display to the new one:

Matthew also warned me to get in touch with AppleCare to make sure my service plan gets transferred to the new serial number of my replacement Thunderbolt display.  He made a note on my account explaining everything that happened.

Continue reading → Warning: Check Your AppleCare Support Profile!

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My 27-inch Thunderbolt Display Died Today!

It’s never a good thing when something you love betrays you — and when my less-than-90-days-old 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt display died — I felt as if I’d be down this long road before only a few months ago when my 24-inch Apple Cinema Display burned out.  I dutifully made a Genius Bar reservation at the 14th Street Apple Store in New York City for early this morning and hopped into an SUV and sped into the Meatpacking district and paid my $80.00USD fare to get me there — all with dead Thunderbolt display in hand and tucked under my arm.

Continue reading → My 27-inch Thunderbolt Display Died Today!

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The Morning of the Day Steve Jobs Died, Apple Support Did the Right Thing

Steve Jobs died yesterday at 56, and while I am terribly saddened by his passing, I can’t get over the feeling of euphoria I had earlier in the day with AppleCare support before he died.  Perhaps Steve’s greatest legacy is the people he led and then left behind to help us find our way in his absence.

Continue reading → The Morning of the Day Steve Jobs Died, Apple Support Did the Right Thing

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My 24" LED Apple Cinema Display is DEAD!

I thought Apple LED Cinema Displays were supposed to last forever.  Or, at least much longer than a measly 2.5 years.  Yes, I’m ticked.  My $1,000.00USD, 2.5-year-old, 24″ Apple Cinema display — previously lovingly reviewed here — went resistors up yesterday afternoon.  It’s dead, Jim.  Is this Cinema Display problem brewing to be the next Apple Time Capsule fiasco all over again?

Continue reading → My 24" LED Apple Cinema Display is DEAD!