VMware Fusion 2 Beta 2 Review

First let me say that my experience with Beta 2 has been much better than Beta 1. I guess it must be as it is still installed on my Mac.

The install process was straightforward and that went well. I did have a problem installing VMtools on 1 VM but so far it has just been 1 VM and I did finally manage to get the tools installed but on in “Typical” mode and not complete.

I would advise before doing the upgrade that you POWER OFF all your VM’s. The Beta cannot restart a suspended VM and it will power off the VM before powering back on and you could loose some data.
Some of the things in the new version that I like are

• Mirrored folders between a VM’s My Documents and Documents on the Mac
• This also works for Pictures, Music and the Desktop’s
• Virtual Hard drive expansion, this is very useful, see below
• The ability to add more Virtual Hard Drives
• The ability to add more Network Cards
• Shard printers between the host and the VM this will save me installing printer drivers on my VM’s
• Auto Protect Snapshots are nice if you have a VM you want to keep backed up
• You can set them to Snapshot every Half-Hour, Hour, Daily
• You can set the maximum number of snapshots to keep
• This feature will use a Minimum of 5Gb of storage
• The new Virtual Machine Library is much better

I did test extending one of my Virtual Hard Drives to see how well this worked

• First of the process can take some time, I extended a drive by 5Gb and it took about 30 mins.
• This does not extend your windows partition
• You will need to great a new Windows partition that will then look like a new Hard Drive with in Windows.

I guess that the benefits to this over adding a new Virtual Hard Drive would be keeping all your VM in 1 file; I am also guessing that this could hamper performance over adding a new Virtual Hard Drive.

The snapshot manager is much better in this version of Fusion and is more like VMware workstation with multiple snapshots

I now have copy and paste back between host and VM something I lost when I tried Beta 1 so I am more than happy about that.

So far I am happy with the install lets see how it goes going forward

Apple’s App store and App’s Review

The Apps store was a major part of iPhone 2.0 but I still think there is some work to do here. I have downloaded a number of Apps now and the initial install and setup worked well. The problem I am having is that the Update part of the App store doesn’t seam to work to well. A number of my Apps are now due for an update and when I checked on my iPhone it only found 3 updates to install. When I checked from with in iTunes it found 13 updates but would only download 1.

When I installed the updates from my iPhone the update was like a new install and as such put my update at the end of my App list, this was very annoying as I had my Apps in a certain order that made sense to me. The good news is when I did the 1 update that iTunes downloaded it put the App on the same page at least. I am still unsure if I have 9 other Apps that need updating as both iTunes and iPhone are now saying everything is up to date.

Again more work needed here Apple.

On to the Apps them selves, I have now downloaded a number of Apps and here is my review of the ones that I have found most useful.

Facebook – Great App for Facebook user and work with out a problem.
Twitterrific – Another good App that I have not had a problem with.
Pownce – This is a good App WHEN it works the problem is it crashed probably the most times of any App.
Evernote – As everything else with Evernote its great.
WeatherBug – This really is a great App especially when you live somewhere that the weather can change quickly like Chicago.
AOL Radio – This really is fantastic no more over the air radio for me.
Pandora – As AOL radio this is a great App to listen to the music you want to listen to.
SportsTap – I have found this App great for Sports information and results and I cant wait to see how it works with the English Premiership.
Remote – This has the potential to be the best App out there but as with everything else at the moment Apple has a lot of work to do. I have used this App a number of times with my AppleTV and 90% of the time it crashed the ATV and twice has made me resync everything to the ATV. Working with iTunes on the Mac however works very well.
AirMe – This is a good App for Flickr user’s. There is still some work to do and I am told the next version will be a lot better. (Updates Here) I love the GPS interaction of this App.
Bloomberg – A good App for keeping up to date with the financial markets.
WordPress – This looks good for reading my Blog. I am yet to write a blog post with it and will update when I do.
AIM – I believe that this will be better with the update that Steve Jobs talked about coming out in September.
Movies.app – A great App for movie information.
Google – Does what Google does and does it very well.

If anyone has any good infotmation on the Apps they are using then please let me know.

MobileMe Review

So it’s been over a week now since MobileMe was released and time for a review. We all know that Apple messed up and the release of MobileMe was very poor, we also now know that Apple’s “Push” service is no more at least for the time being, and we all get a free month of MobileMe.

I have far more issues than just these problems, first of all MobileMe is nowhere near “Exchange for the rest of us” here is a list of what the calendar is missing

•    No Sharing calendars WHY OH WHY IS THIS MISSING
•    Unable to invite people to an event from the web
•    Unable to invite people to an event from my iPhone
•    No Calendar search

My wife does not like using a mail client for her PC and uses the web and her iPhone and so cannot send out an invite for me to attend a meeting, this is just crazy and one huge over sight from Apple.
On top of this I often get events in the wrong calendars on my iPhone so if I just want to look at 1 calendar I am then miss events.

So for me the Calendar App and MobileMe calendars have a lot of work to do before they are classed as a “good” calendar service.

On to contacts and online version does work well the problems start when you have them synced with your iPhone. I have noticed that when you go into the contacts app that this can be slow to bring up your contacts and some times doesn’t even bring up the contacts. When the iPhone does loss your contacts and then resync’s them I have noticed that it losses the individual ring tones and you have to reset them up. Again this is not good.

Mail is probably the only part of MobileMe that does work well apart from the whole “Push” issue that I am sure everyone is now aware of.

The galleries have so much potential yet are missing so much. First why have the picture albums now been limited to 500 pictures, as 1 friend said “Do Apple not want us to have too much fun on vacation.” Also with the addition of GPS on the iPhone why has this not been incorporated with in MobileMe galleries I know they show the GPS location but why not a button that links you to the location with in Google Maps, this is a great feature that Flickr as. Also has anyone tried to use the GPS location that Apple gives you? I couldn’t get Google Maps to understand it, yet when I do the same thing from Flickr Google Maps takes to me the exact location the photo was taken.

After using MobileMe for a week or so now it gives me the feeling that this was something that was rushed out and not really tested and it certainly isn’t something that “Just works”. This was one of the reasons I moved to Apple and away from Microsoft and I really hope in the future Apple does not continue this trend.

Apple needs to put a lot more work in to MobileMe before it becomes “Exchange for the rest of us”

iPhone 3G Review

I have now had my iPhone 3G phone for a few days so I think its time to write about my experience so far.

I decided that this year I would line up on Friday morning for the iPhone, I got a bit of luck in that the weather in Chicago on Thursday night was very bad rain so when I got to the AT&T shop at 7am there was only about 20 people in line in front of me. As there were a number of techy people in the line the time flew by. At 8 the store opened and the 1st 5 people were allowed in. 8:45 must have been the time that the systems started to go down and it was then the line started to move. I was in and out of the store with in 30 mins and back up by 9:30.

I was not happy when I got home, after the AT&T store telling us it was the “Store’s” computers that were down, to find that it was Apple yet again letting everyone down. At about 3pm on Frinday I finally got my new Phone working and it wasn’t until 10am on Saturday morning that my Voice Mail was working.

So how am I enjoying the new iPhone, well first the bad news.
The Battery – I have found that the battery is not as good as my old iPhone even with 3G turned, I have found that I need to charge my phone at least once again, my old phone was every other day.
The Camera – Although I believe that the camera takes a better photo its still only a 2Mb camera and this could have been a lot better especially with the New Apps and location services. Also still no Video.
SMS & MMS – Still no multi media messages and you are still unable to forward text messages.
IM- Still no IM apart for AIM that only works when the App is open, although this is to be fixed in September we are told.
Crashing – I have noticed that the iPhone does now crash at least once a day I am hoping this is going to be fixed in a future update.

Now the good!!!
GPS – This is one of the best parts to the phone and all the Apps that are now using location services is great, the fact that I can take a picture and upload to flickr and I can see a map of were it was taken is great.
3G – This is a definite plus to the phone and the Internet is faster when using 3G. I do however thing that there is still work to do as when I use 3G for calls I do get some dropped calls.
Push email – Push email is good but not great as only about 80% of my mails get pushed I guess this is more to do with Apple’s lack of infrastructure for MobileMe and will improve in time.
Apps – The Apps are one of the best things about iPhone 2.0 and I will cover this in another blog.
Settings -  I do like the fact that I now have more control over what I turn off when in Airplane mode I can now have wifi ON something I really wanted.

All in all I am very happy with the new iPhone, Apple still has a lot of work to do but I am sure this will be done soon. I hope so!!!

My MobileMe review can be found here http://delboycarter.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/mobileme-review/

My Apps/Apps Store review can be found here http://delboycarter.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/apples-app-store-and-apps-review/

Jardine Crib Recall and Babies R Us

OK so a couple of weeks ago, just before Terri went in to labor,  we received an email from Babies ‘R’ Us  informing us that the 2 cribs that we bought from them had been recalled and we should come in to there local store and they will do everything they can to replace the crib with an equivalent model.

The night of the email we decided to go to the store where we bought the cribs and ask them what we should do. There first reaction to us was Contact the manufacturer. I explained to them about the email that we had received and that I bought the crib from them and I would like to only deal with the store. After a small argument they agreed to deal with the problem and told me I had to bring in the side of the crib with all the codes on and they will replace it in the store.

Two days later we returned to Babies ‘R’ Us with the side of the first crib I wanted to return. I explained what I was told to do to a new assistant manager and she told me no problem and took me back to the furniture department, this is where the problems started. The manager of the furniture department told us that they did not have any cribs in store that are Cherry and in the same price range we said no problem we found a crib online that we liked and could they order us one. NO was the answer online is a different system and we can’t do that, OK is there another Cherry that they can order for us. Again NO we were told the only cherry crib the store now carry’s is $200 more but we are more than welcome to pay the difference. I did not like this answer as I liked my current cribs and it was not my fault that they are now faulty and I didn’t see why I should have to pay another $200 per crib.

After more questions to the furniture manager she turned round and said to me “Well you get what you pay for” a great attitude I thought, funny when we bought the cribs we were told they were a good crib. The manager then told me she would try and put the value on a gift card and then I can order the cribs from the online store. When the manager returned she told me that she could not give me a gift card, and tried again to sell me another crib. This time she told me that she can give us 15% off so we would only have to pay about $100 per crib. Again I said NO I don’t want to pay more money. Then I was told that I could buy 2 new cribs off from the online store bring in the receipts and they will refund me. Again I didn’t like this idea and I was told “What’s wrong its only $600 just put it on a credit card” What great service I thought.

After this I asked for her managers number and the number for corporate. I called both numbers that night, I left a message for the regional manager. I did speak to a corporate help desk person who told me if I buy the cribs online the store CAN NOT refund me unless they carry the cribs, They didn’t so I am glad I didn’t agree to that.  I was also told that they have been told to tell people NEVER to put there kids in the cribs again, I said I would love not to but I have no other crib.

Later that night Terri went into labor and we all know what happened there, Caroline was not well and rushed to Loyola.

While in the hospital I received a call from Babies ‘R’ Us corporate I told them the whole story and just how I was treated at the store to my surprise the girl from corporate told me to contact the manufacturer and it was nothing to do with them. I told her I bought the crib from them and they emailed me and they would fix it, again I was told it was nothing to do with them and to contact the manufacturer. For what its worth the manufacturer’s web site tells you the new crib would take about 3 weeks and in that time you have to send parts of you old rib away so you are without a crib for 3 weeks. When I told corporate this she told me to buy a new one and they would refund me when the manufacturer sent me a voucher (3 weeks later).

Later that week the regional manager phoned me up and I told him my problem it was then I decided to tell him that due to the argument in the store my wife went in to labor early and my baby was rushed to Loyola Hospital, it was at that point that he told me he would take care of it and with in an hour he emailed me a gift voucher for the cost of 2 new cribs and shipping so I could order from the online store. The cribs are now ordered and should be delivered later this week.

I would first like to thank the 1 manager at Babies ‘R’ Us that realized how to fix the problem and how to treat a customer properly. After this experience I will never shop at Babies ‘R” Us again and I would recommend everyone thinks twice incase there is a problem with anything they buy. I would also like to point out that 1 of these cribs was just 6 weeks old.

Caroline is Home

Well after a very, very long week Caroline has arrived home from the hospital and is doing well. As you can see in the photo I don’t think granny will put her down.

I would like to say a very big thank you to all the doctors and nurses at Elmhurst Hospital and Loyola Hospital.

Mozy Redeem Themselves

Late last night I received the following email for Tom Metge of Mozy.

“I’ve been postponing an answer until I’ve had something concrete to give
you.  My apologies for the silence- unfortunately, we’re still buried in QA.
Anyhow, until you get back on your feet, there’s no point paying for the
service.  I’ve taken the liberty of refunding your last payment… That will
hold you out until 5/28/09.

I do have some good news for you- from your last log, I can see a number
connection errors and other network interruptions, but Mozy seems to be
plodding along, getting the job done.  You have 1.1TB backed up right now,
which is no mean feet

Hopefully the refund will help us keep things moving.  I’ll try harder to
keep you up-to-date as we get a fix out on this.  Believe me, we’re making
it a priority.  As soon as I’ve got even an alpha build of a client that
addresses this, I’ll fire it off to you.

Nice blog post, by the way.  Let me know what I can do to help turn your
opinion around.  We have nearly 1 million users, so I can’t say I’m
surprised to hear that you’ve found people having a few problems.  What may
not have come across (and that is my fault and I offer my apologies) is
that, regardless of the number, we have a vested interest in solving every
single one of those problems.

Let me polish this off with a personal promise- until we have this fixed,
you won’t pay a penny to Mozy.  That refund stands and will stand until May
of next year, at a minimum.  As we work through this, I will also make sure
that your help is appropriately rewarded, beyond the refund.  Helping us to
push the boundaries of what Mozy can and was designed to do is enormously
valuable to us.

Thanks again for the help and the patience.  Once more, I offer my apologies
for the silence.  My intention was to have a solid answer for you.  I hope
the refund and renewed commitment will stand until I can hand that solution
to you.”

I now feel that Mozy has done the correct thing and does care about me as a customer. I will continue to recommend Mozy as a god backup option as until this problem I had no issues and I now believe that Mozy IS doing everything they can to fix my problem. I still do have an issue with the current version but I am able to get some backups done using an older version of the software. I would like to thank Tom for the update and I will update my blog once I get the new version of the software.