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Is iOS4 zapping older iPhones to sell more iPhone 4’s?

iOS4 kills iPhone 3G
iOS4 kills iPhone 3G

I woke up this morning with minimal goals and expectations for the day. Besides getting some work done I was also looking forward to updating the operating software of my iPhone 3G to the latest version known as iOS4. After updating iTunes to version 9.2 I checked to see if there was a new version of the iPhone software available, which there was, and I selected to update the phone’s software.

Then things got ugly and dead very quickly. As iTunes began the inevitable process of backing my phone up, something it had just done 5 minutes ago, my iPhone powered down. I pushed on the power up button, which fell off like a degenerates tooth a few months ago, well stub and got the Apple logo, but no more.

I turned the phone off by holding the power and home buttons at the same time for a few seconds and let it sit quietly for a while. I then pushed the power button on again and got the Apple logo but no further. I did this process at least 20 more times to make sure. Panic was well entrenched at this point.

So I made an appointment at the local Apple store and went in to see what the Geniuses down there could do. After looking at it for 2 seconds the Genius let me know that it was toast and would need to be replaced. Of course I am out of the warranty period so that means $200. Or I can get a new iPhone 4 for $199 on Thursday as long as I spend $18 with AT&T.

As I sit here now the phone is connected to my computer via USB cable with the Apple logo staring at my face. Every 10 minutes or so it seems to power down and reboot only to stay at the same spot as before. I am open to suggestions besides buying a new phone, because if thats what it takes then I am getting off iPhone and AT&T and going Android probably with Verizon.

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New Month, New Job, New Blog Theme and Plugins, Damn that was a good Vacation!

Well it is July 1st 2009 and the Sonoran Desert is heating up nicely. I had a nice little vacation for a couple months and now its time to get things rolling again!
kathryn and roger at 4 corners

New Job:
The first and most pressing news is that I am once again employed! The even better news about this is that I am employed by a very good company and am working with peers that are intelligent and trust my abilities.
My new employer is Member Solutions who have existed in a few forms over the last 15 years and specialize in Billing Services for the health industry. They have been successful in the Martial Arts market and are ready to expand. Since I have such a strong interest in Yoga I will be focused on that vertical but am in no way restricted. The services are centered around a full service billing solution that allows businesses to stay focused on providing their clients with their service while we make sure they continue to pay. Beyond that we offer scheduling, event management, and marketing services fully integrated and complimentary to the billing.
To top it off I am going to be working from my home office and am managed by a good old friend from my years at Godaddy. She trusts my abilities and has seen me in action so there is no micro management and I am encouraged to speak up when things are going poorly.
I am very excited about this opportunity and look forward to talking about it more here soon.

Updated Blog Version, Theme, and Plugins
I finally sat down and made it happen. I had to go and find an FTP client for my new laptop and rediscover how the heck WordPress works but in the end I made it happen and even more important it all works.
Yes indeed Desertstandard.com is now running on WordPress version 2.8!

Theme Update!
In honor of this miraculous movement of momentus procrastination I decided to update my theme. I found Scribblings and am quite pleased with the results.

To keep the ball rolling I also updated and added a few plugins:
IntenseDebate.The one I am most excited by is Its from the guys who came up with WordPress originally and basically ties my site into social networks without me having to get dirty in code, yuk! So now you can post a comment and tie it into facebook or any other site you are using. You can create a quick poll for anyone else to take, post a Seesmic Video comment, and other things that I wont bore you with just yet.

I have also pulled Twitpress and replaced it with Twitter Tools. Now my Tweets will also show up on my website. It looks like I threw up on everyone (twitteristically) when I implemented this, for that I apologize, but be warned that it could happen again. Please have mercy on my soul!


Finally I added WordPress Mobile Edition so that you can easily read all my important posts from your mobile phone.

So please leave a comment and let me know what you think!