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During the last few weeks I realized that my iPad mini wasn’t synchronizing any more. The error -1723 was shown.

At the Apple forums I found a couple of entries talking about this error and where it is coming from. Apple support gives the advice to

* change the USB cable and / or

* change the USB port to which it is connected to

* re-install iTunes

* re-install OS X (Mavericks in that case)

They also mentioned that Apple is telling them that the problem is hardware related and they should show up in a retail store to check.

Most of the people didn’t have luck with the suggestions Apple was providing – and I personally ran through some of them – but i didn’t re-install OS X – also with no luck at all.

Instead of doing a complete reinstall I tried to drill down the problem itself and recognized at some point that the media browser wasn’t showing photos any more – not in iTunes, but e.g. in Pages, Mail, Numbers…

That pointed me to the photo library and I started to have a deeper look at that. Knowing about the media browser issue in other applications I now checked the photo tab within iTunes when a iDevice is connected and found that there was only a spinning wheel shown… for hours. So for me this was now the indicator that something is wrong with the photo-libraries.

The setup I’m using here is:

MBP late 2008
Aperture 3.5.1
iPhoto 9.5.1 installed (but not in use)
iTunes 11.1.5

I started to test some settings and one was to setup a new Aperture Lib. I then opened iPhoto and selected this library there too.  Everything worked fine – but the media browser still was not able to show the content of the library (even if there was no content) –> spinning wheel.

My main idea then was, that maybe there was something changed with one of the last Aperture updates regarding the common use of the lib by both applications – Aperture and iPhoto.

As I didn’t use iPhoto any more I now decided to select a different Lib for iPhoto and Aperture. I opened iPhoto and created a new, fresh Library there.

After that I re-opened iTunes, selected the iDevice which should be synchronized and moved to the Photo Tab there.

And guess what – yes the spinning wheel was gone and instead of that I now was able to choose Aperture from the drop down list:

Starting from this point everything worked now like a charm – synchronizing wasn’t a problem any more 🙂

So it wasn’t a hardware issue at all – luckily!

 

Solution at a glance:

1. Open iPhoto
2. Create a new Library for iPhoto (File/Switch to library…/Create New…)
3. Close iPhoto
4. Open iTunes
5. Connect the iDevice
6. Open the Photos-Tab
7. Select the Aperture Library (because I’m using it as my primary lib)

 

Two years ago i prolonged my contract with t-mobile after they gave me a bonus after a few weeks of discussing with them. At the end now it turned out, that they didn’t tell me that they had extended my contract with another 6 month in addtion to the 24 month contract.

Today is now the day where I can start to prolong again for 24months… or not 😉

I’ve already canceled my contract as I realized the above mentioned issue with the additional 6months… but I was really interested what their offer would now be when asking for prolongation… and I got it today…

So what is the offer… it is 182,– € calling bonus… or a new iPhone 5 for 443,– €… by prolonging the contract with 40€ a month for additional 24months…

I’m really not sure if t-mobile is knowing what ‘subvention’ means… currently I have the feeling I have to subsidize t-mobile not the other way around.

That’s it – a clear no-go… thanks – no more t-mobile now….

From now on I’ll post on a not regular basis a short description about apps I like to use.

Today I want to show you the most used app on my devices – iPhone4, iPhone3, iPad and on my MacBook Pro – even on my USB-Sticks and the cloud: 1Password

Purpose of the app:

1Password stores your account / license / access informations;

Costs:

Mac & Windows: € 39.99
iPhone & iPad: € 11.99

Read more…

I wasn’t very worried about this GEO-tracking issue we heard these days – but It’s good to see that apple reacted immediately.

 

About Android I didn’t hear anything… so did they a update? Or is there a problem with their update process because of the fact that there are so many different versions (special one for almost each of the brands) out there?

User of Android mobiles should give them a kick like everyone did it with Apple 😉

As it turned out that iOS 4.2 / Mac OS 10.6.5 only allows printing on some special HP printers via AirPrint it was some kind of surprise for many users.

Discussions before the release showed the ability of iOS devices to print to almost every printer – it was clear that it wouldn’t work for every printer – but for more than only some HP printers.

For me it would have meant to wait for one of the next releases to print on my Canon 865i – which is clearly not an HP printer, and by the way really not a new one…

But I found a solution on the web today – tested it and was happy at all… It.simply.works.

What you will have to do to start printing is really easy – just create a little AppleScript and let it run under Administration permissions, delete the currently assigned printer(s), reboot your Mac and re-install the printer afterwards – don’t forget to share the printer to get it working.

1. Step – the AppleScript:
   

   AirPrint - On, The Script

   –> download here the complete script: AirPrint On

2. Step – Delete your current printer via the Preferences Pane:
   

   Printer Preferences

   • open the preferences pane via the ‘Apple / Systempreferences’ menu entry
   • select ‘Printer / Fax’ to show the installed printers
   • select the printer and click on the ‘-‘ button to delete the printer
   • close the preferences and restart your computer
3. Step – open again the System Preferences
   

   Share Printer in Network

   • click the ‘Printer / Fax’ icon
   • click on the ‘+’ button to add the connected printer (connect and switch the printer on!)
   • confirm the dialogs showing up (recommended: create new printer queue if asked)
   • select the ‘Share this printer on the network’ option and click on the ‘Sharing Preferences’ button
   • select ‘Printer Sharing’

From then on you should be able to select the printer via your iDevice as a AirPrint optional printer:



AirPrint Options on the iPad

Have fun!

The iPhone is still missing a view within the calendar app to show events in a week-view – and that’s really bad…

But – as we all know – ‘there’s an app for’ almost everything.

Week Calendar (for € 1.59 in the app-store) allows you to manage all your calendar-entries which you setup with your standard cal-app and you can of course setup new events. It’s using the standard cal-app as source. And if you create new entries in the week calendar app they are also available then in the standard cal-app – so you won’t miss any entry.

There are many shortcuts used within WeekCal to get it more convenient to use – e.g.

• double clicking toggles the view from weekly to daily and back,
• tapping and holding creates a new entry,
• swiping moves you forward or backward in the timeline…

Many possibilities to setup your ‘personal’ calender – so a highly recommended app… a must-have!

Many of the 3G users out there have a problem – after upgrading to iOS 4 (4.0.1 / 4.0.2) their iDevice didn’t act as expected anymore. It got slow – painfully slow.

The reason so far is clear – there is a new hardware on the market, the iPhone4. And this device is much faster than the 3G. So Apple restricted the functionality of iOS4 on these devices to a lower level (no multitasking, no background image… but the device was still slow. Sometimes it really is hard to believe that this piece of SW found it’s way out of the holy rooms of Apple to our 3G devices…

In the meanwhile Apple picked up the issue and it seems that they are really working on this issue to get it solved – iOS 4.1 is on it’s way… if we can believe in all the posts on twitter / blogs over the last days. But what can you do if you need NOW a solution for your problems?

First way:

• restrict the amount of downloaded mails to a minimum (if you are downloading e.g. 200 mails – shrink it to 25 mails)
• stop spotlight searching / indexing your stuff on the iPhone by deselecting all checkmarks in the spotlight search preferences (located at ‘Settings’, ‘General’, ‘Home Button’, ‘Spotlight Search’)

These tips works without touching your iOS4 installation – just setting it up in a different way. But – if this is still not working for you, you will have to revert to the good, old ‘iOS 3.1.3’.

Second way:

• download the iOS 3.1.3 version here
• connect your iPhone to your computer and open iTunes
• put the iPhone into the maintenance mode by pressing the ‘power on/off’ and the ‘home’-button for several seconds.
  The display will show the  ‘Slide to power off’ message – but keep holding the buttons here until the display switches to black;
  Now release the ‘power on / off’ button – but keep holding the ‘home’-button
• iTunes will show you that your device is now in ‘Maintenance mode’ – release now the ‘home’-button and confirm this by clicking ‘OK’
• Load now the downloaded iOS 3.1.3 image by clicking on the ‘Restore’-button while holding the ‘Alt’ key on your keyboard (Mac / PC);
  select the downloaded ‘ipsw’ file in the displayed file-dialog
• downgrading will start and goes ahead for several minutes – during this time a error ‘1015’ will be displayed but can be ignored
• after finishing the downgrading process you will have to exit the ‘maintenance mode’ – therefor use this little Mac application ‘RecBoot‘
  I don’t know if there’s a version for windows – google for it, I’m on a mac 😉
• after downloading RecBoot you have to start the app ‘RecBoot Exit only’ within the RecBoot folder
• click the ‘Exit Recovery Mode’ button
• Finished

Don’t restore a backup if it’s not a 3.1.3 backup! Use this opportunity to clean up your device 🙂

This way of restoring the older version is only available for the iPhone 3G – the 3GS is using special keys and therefor going back to a prior version is not so easy for these devices.

As always on such a guide: use it / do it on your OWN risk!

Switched to the new iOS releases and / or using an iPad and getting this nice little alert box when trying to delete a mail?

Well – here’s the simple solution:
1. Go to the ‘settings’ app on your device
2. Open the ‘Mail, Contacts, Calendars’ tab
3. Select the account in the list which has this issue
4. Open the ‘Advanced’ tab
5. Open the ‘Deleted Mailbox’
6. Select ‘Trash’ in the section ‘On My xxx’ where ‘xxx’ stands for your device

Yes I know that this is already preselected – but it has to be selected manually so that it’s recognized.

After this you shouldn’t see the alert box again 🙂

First of all – i’m editing this post with my MB Pro. I tried to do it with the iPad… but the article was too long and there are issues. Issues like the keyboard… read more:

The beginning:
Unboxing was a little bit suprising because the box was much bigger than the iPad itself. Unlike for Apple because they try to avoid too much packaging material these a days. In the box there’s of course the iPad itself and a little paper wallet containing the warrenty certificate and a sheet with infos how to proceed. And there’s the charger with the USB connection cable… But the charger wasn’t needed because of the fact that the iPad was charged fully.

Next step:
Contacting iTunes – so i had to startup my MB pro and connect my iPad via the USB-cable.

Setup:
Setting up the iPad is easy at all. After connection iTunes automatically starts up and the first backup of the device takes place. Select the content you want (don’t forget to get iBooks from the iTunes store!) and organize the apps with the designated tool in iTunes. Really easy – and for those of us already owning a iPhone / iPod – nothing new.

Content:
Yes – that’s the point i stick to. iBooks only shows up FREE books which are Project Gutenberg related – nothing else. But I’ve heard that ‘Random House’ already has a signed up contract with Apple for their books  to be available within the Austrian Apple-Store. We’ll have to wait..

Movies? – No movies there, no TV-series. Only podcasts.

Alternative contents:
You are able to put your own videos into iTunes – this is what I’ve done before the iPad – this is what I’ll do now 🙂
Books? Well – use Stanza – this app allows you to add ePub documents which are available through the internet. And of course PDFs. But PDFs are not so nice to be handled within the iPad as eBooks are.

Differences to the iPhone:
There are differences.

Safari. There’s no ‘Search within this page’ feature as you have on the MB Pro. I’m missing it really.

But:
I – and my family – love the iPad. For reading. Surfing. Watching movies. Using Apps.
It’s so easy to browse the content you want. Flash? Not missing at all. Most of the internet sites I’m used to visit already switched to HTML5. Videos are available… Ads are not missed.
You’re able to write emails – if they aren’t too long. You’re able to post on your blog – if the article isn’t too long. There are things you can do with the iPad perfectly – others are… well – not horrible… but simply not convenient.

Give it away again? No. Never. 🙂

Update:
All the issues I had are solved by giving the iPad settings a closer look. Settings I’ve done month’s ago on the iPhone 🙂

My contract for the current iPhone 3G is on it’s end and so I’m able to prolong it beginning with 1st of september.

I checked T-Mobiles homepage and found their promise for being customers to get the new iPhone4 for a BETTER price… well, not only a better price:

So I contacted T-Mobile by phone and got a operator. I asked about the details of the prolongation and was finally very suprised.

The offer was: give us all your bonus-points, prolong the contract for 24 additional months (beginning with March 2011), pay us monthly 39,– EUR (as I pay currently) and in addition the special iPhone4 price: 199,– EUR.

What???

That’s exactly what EVERY user has to pay when he comes to them and sign a contract with the same conditions – but remember: new customers DON’T have bonus-points! Ahhh, yes. Sorry didn’t understand… the special price is that existing customers have to pay the price as all the new customers and ON TOP give their bonus-points…

Btw: I would have to switch my current contract to a new version… with 1GB only instead of 3GB!

But this is not the end of the story – one more thing…

I’ve two contracts and on the second one are also many bonus-points; so I asked what the price for the phone would be when using ALL the bonus points (almost the double points then).

You won’t believe what the answer was: EUR 650,–

Remember: the unlocked iPhone could be purchased cross the Border in Switzerland for EUR 565,– and in Italy for EUR 659,– WITHOUT ANY CONTRACT or bonus-points…

So every time you give bonus-points the price for the device goes up…

Update:

T-Mobile told me now that the benefit for existing users is the fact that they receive the new iPhone4 on the same price a new customer would get it. They also told me that I’ll save 50€ in comparison to a new customer.

Dear T-Mobile!

This is only the half truth. Yes – I’ll save 50€ if I calculate it on the base that a new customer get’s his iPhone4 via a local store – but if he’s ordering via the online store he get’s a rabat of 39€… so I would get it at least 11€ cheaper then a new customer?
In addition you want to force me changing the current contract what in detail means that my free traffic would shrink from 3GB to 1GB.

Wow – what a deal!!!

Keep in mind that a new customer at Orange get’s 25€ Webshop Bonus and in addition 50€ Switching-Bonus… and the contract even contains an roaming-feature with 300mins for free within EU-calls.
So – thank you for the fish. I’ll get a contract with Orange later on. Bye, bye T-Mobile…