Albert's Blog
My new IPhone 4S
I had an IPhone 4, and yesterday Apple swapped it out for an IPhone 4S. They did this because I had complained continuously (calling twice per day on average and going to the Apple store repeatedly) for four months, about the trouble with my IPhone 4. The 4S fixed the problem.
The problem I had was a simple one. When I was talking to someone, at random intervals, they couldn't hear me, for a random time (from a few seconds to a few minutes). I could hear them, and I would be talking, but they couldn't hear me. They would be saying "Hello... Are you there?" and I would be yelling "Hello... Can you hear me?" and eventually either they would hang up, or my phone would start working again.
At first I didn't realize that the problem had started after I upgraded from IOS 5 to IOS 6. I called Apple repeatedly and they walked me through endless lists of diagnostic steps but we couldn't fix the problem. Eventually they sent me to the Apple store to swap out my phone for a new one, but that didn't fix the problem. I swapped it out again; no luck. On the third swap, they told me to not restore my apps, because one of my apps might be causing the problem. I followed this advice and used my new IPhone 4 for a week or two as a new phone, and it worked fine. I realized that the problem must have been caused by my apps.
After a week or two, I plugged my IPhone into my computer, and the computer offered to upgrade it from IOS 5 to IOS 6. I agreed, and immediately after the upgrade I made a phone call and experienced the problem. At this point I realized that IOS 6 must be causing the problem. I had not installed any of my apps, just upgraded to IOS 6 on a new phone, and then the problem started. I called Apple and told them the good news. I asked them to help me downgrade back to IOS 5, and they told me that downgrading wasn't possible, and that I was mistaken about IOS 6 causing the problem. They told me that IOS 6 couldn't possibly cause that type of problem, and they started asking me to perform more lists of diagnostic steps. They started treating me with that "child having tantrum" attitude that Apple takes whenever a customer disagrees with their diagnosis, and when I asked for a supervisor I was transferred to a "Senior Support Specialist" who was obviously reading from a script which did not include canned responses for a customer who has figured out that IOS 6 has caused his IPhone 4 to break. They even made me call ATT twice to have my account "reprovisioned." The ATT rep both times told us that there was nothing wrong with the account and that it did not need to be reprovisioned, but they did it anyway, and it didn't fix the problem. After several more frustrating experiences with Apple Support, I googled "iphone 4 ios 6" and found thousands of results with forum posts, magazine articles and blog posts reporting trouble with the IPhone 4 after upgrading to IOS 6. I did some more research and testing and found that, when the problem occurred on my phone, my CPU was maxed out. Apparently the IPhone 4 CPU is not fast enough to run IOS 6.
At this point I realized that Apple had not been acting in good faith. It appears to be well-known that IOS 6 does not work correctly on an IPhone 4, but Apple played stupid for months and jerked me around with diagnostic tests that they should have known were a waste of time. The call center reps I spoke with may have been unaware of the problem, but that was because Apple did not inform them about this well-known issue. This was mid-January, and I quickly found that knowing the root cause of the problem was not as helpful as I had expected. Apple continued to jerk me around for a month. Finally I went to the Apple store again and insisted that they do something to fix the problem. I talked to the manager and repeated at least 20 times "I just want the problem fixed. I just want my phone to work." By now it was mid-February. The manager made some suggestions which I rejected; trying yet another IPhone 4 (but now they couldn't give me one with IOS 5, they only had phones with IOS 6); purchasing an IPhone 5 (yes, they really did suggest this). After I complained that refusing to let me downgrade to a working OS and then suggesting that I fix the problem by spending hundreds of dollars on new hardware seemed like extortion, the manager offered to replace my IPhone 4 with an IPhone 4S which has a faster CPU, and I agreed to try that. I got the IPhone 4S yesterday and have been using it all day, and the problem appears to be fixed. I restored all of my apps and it still works fine.
I don't want to seem ungrateful; I do appreciate Apple swapping out my IPhone 4 for a 4S, but overall I find their behavior bizarre and outrageous. I called them in October to report a well-known problem, and they played stupid for 3 months, then when I finally figured out what was causing the problem and told them, they still played dumb for another month, and then replaced my phone with a faster one, without ever admitting what had caused the problem.
The thing that really pisses me off is that, based on my last conversation with the Apple supervisor who was handling my case, I am 99% certain that Apple intends to continue encouraging IPhone 4 users to upgrade to IOS 6, and to treat customers who experience this problem the same way they treated me. They will continue to refuse to allow downgrades, leaving IPhone 4 users trapped with a broken phone, and they will continue to use the problem to force customers to purchase new hardware, while only greasing the loudest squeaking wheels. I will not be buying any more Apple products.
If you have an IPhone4 on IOS5, I recommend against upgrading. If you have already upgraded your IPhone4 to IOS6, please post your experience in the comments.
The problem I had was a simple one. When I was talking to someone, at random intervals, they couldn't hear me, for a random time (from a few seconds to a few minutes). I could hear them, and I would be talking, but they couldn't hear me. They would be saying "Hello... Are you there?" and I would be yelling "Hello... Can you hear me?" and eventually either they would hang up, or my phone would start working again.
At first I didn't realize that the problem had started after I upgraded from IOS 5 to IOS 6. I called Apple repeatedly and they walked me through endless lists of diagnostic steps but we couldn't fix the problem. Eventually they sent me to the Apple store to swap out my phone for a new one, but that didn't fix the problem. I swapped it out again; no luck. On the third swap, they told me to not restore my apps, because one of my apps might be causing the problem. I followed this advice and used my new IPhone 4 for a week or two as a new phone, and it worked fine. I realized that the problem must have been caused by my apps.
After a week or two, I plugged my IPhone into my computer, and the computer offered to upgrade it from IOS 5 to IOS 6. I agreed, and immediately after the upgrade I made a phone call and experienced the problem. At this point I realized that IOS 6 must be causing the problem. I had not installed any of my apps, just upgraded to IOS 6 on a new phone, and then the problem started. I called Apple and told them the good news. I asked them to help me downgrade back to IOS 5, and they told me that downgrading wasn't possible, and that I was mistaken about IOS 6 causing the problem. They told me that IOS 6 couldn't possibly cause that type of problem, and they started asking me to perform more lists of diagnostic steps. They started treating me with that "child having tantrum" attitude that Apple takes whenever a customer disagrees with their diagnosis, and when I asked for a supervisor I was transferred to a "Senior Support Specialist" who was obviously reading from a script which did not include canned responses for a customer who has figured out that IOS 6 has caused his IPhone 4 to break. They even made me call ATT twice to have my account "reprovisioned." The ATT rep both times told us that there was nothing wrong with the account and that it did not need to be reprovisioned, but they did it anyway, and it didn't fix the problem. After several more frustrating experiences with Apple Support, I googled "iphone 4 ios 6" and found thousands of results with forum posts, magazine articles and blog posts reporting trouble with the IPhone 4 after upgrading to IOS 6. I did some more research and testing and found that, when the problem occurred on my phone, my CPU was maxed out. Apparently the IPhone 4 CPU is not fast enough to run IOS 6.
At this point I realized that Apple had not been acting in good faith. It appears to be well-known that IOS 6 does not work correctly on an IPhone 4, but Apple played stupid for months and jerked me around with diagnostic tests that they should have known were a waste of time. The call center reps I spoke with may have been unaware of the problem, but that was because Apple did not inform them about this well-known issue. This was mid-January, and I quickly found that knowing the root cause of the problem was not as helpful as I had expected. Apple continued to jerk me around for a month. Finally I went to the Apple store again and insisted that they do something to fix the problem. I talked to the manager and repeated at least 20 times "I just want the problem fixed. I just want my phone to work." By now it was mid-February. The manager made some suggestions which I rejected; trying yet another IPhone 4 (but now they couldn't give me one with IOS 5, they only had phones with IOS 6); purchasing an IPhone 5 (yes, they really did suggest this). After I complained that refusing to let me downgrade to a working OS and then suggesting that I fix the problem by spending hundreds of dollars on new hardware seemed like extortion, the manager offered to replace my IPhone 4 with an IPhone 4S which has a faster CPU, and I agreed to try that. I got the IPhone 4S yesterday and have been using it all day, and the problem appears to be fixed. I restored all of my apps and it still works fine.
I don't want to seem ungrateful; I do appreciate Apple swapping out my IPhone 4 for a 4S, but overall I find their behavior bizarre and outrageous. I called them in October to report a well-known problem, and they played stupid for 3 months, then when I finally figured out what was causing the problem and told them, they still played dumb for another month, and then replaced my phone with a faster one, without ever admitting what had caused the problem.
The thing that really pisses me off is that, based on my last conversation with the Apple supervisor who was handling my case, I am 99% certain that Apple intends to continue encouraging IPhone 4 users to upgrade to IOS 6, and to treat customers who experience this problem the same way they treated me. They will continue to refuse to allow downgrades, leaving IPhone 4 users trapped with a broken phone, and they will continue to use the problem to force customers to purchase new hardware, while only greasing the loudest squeaking wheels. I will not be buying any more Apple products.
If you have an IPhone4 on IOS5, I recommend against upgrading. If you have already upgraded your IPhone4 to IOS6, please post your experience in the comments.
Intuit
Some have asked why I stopped writing about Intuit, and stopped updating my Facebook page, and I have to confess that I just got bored with it. I was sitting here in my chair typing on the computer, working on my Facebook page, and I looked out the window, and the sun was shining out there, and it was a beautiful day, and I got up from the computer and went out into the garden and haven't touched Facebook since. I am still mad at Intuit for stealing my benefits, and I want to tell you the funny story about the secret meeting and how I ruined it, but I spent most of the day looking into a computer screen at work, and I am done for today.
Smelling a rose
I was at home tonight after work, and I was listening to music and making some food, and I happened to walk into the living room past a vase on the piano in which some roses from my garden are drying. I stopped and smelled the roses, and they smelled so nice that I stopped thinking and just experienced the joy of the moment. I felt so grateful and so happy that I couldn't imagine anything better than being in my house with my friends' art on the walls, listening to music that I like, smelling roses from my garden, and it seemed like time stopped for a minute, or maybe just ceased to exist, and I was energized by a wave of, um, energy. The smell of the roses entered my mind and turned into a kind of rose-scented clarity where I saw and knew all and accepted it and I realized that this is what I wanted, and what I worked so hard all my life to get, and if I would just take the time to stop thinking and enjoy it, I could feel like this all the time.
Feeling grateful is a trick that I use to make life better. I learned this trick years ago from the Reiki principles, and it works. At first I had to practice it, but now it just happens. Gratitude is a very happy feeling. It is hard to be grateful and unhappy at the same time. Gratitude is also a powerful source of energy.
What is this energy that I get from plants and other people, or from the smell of a rose, or from gratitude? I'm feeling it more as I learn more, but I still need to know more. I started an Aikido class last month, and for the first time I see it being taken for granted. They talk about energy as if it were light or sound, and they use it, and even though I don't understand what I'm doing yet, I use it too and I feel it more every day.
Feeling grateful is a trick that I use to make life better. I learned this trick years ago from the Reiki principles, and it works. At first I had to practice it, but now it just happens. Gratitude is a very happy feeling. It is hard to be grateful and unhappy at the same time. Gratitude is also a powerful source of energy.
What is this energy that I get from plants and other people, or from the smell of a rose, or from gratitude? I'm feeling it more as I learn more, but I still need to know more. I started an Aikido class last month, and for the first time I see it being taken for granted. They talk about energy as if it were light or sound, and they use it, and even though I don't understand what I'm doing yet, I use it too and I feel it more every day.
Intuit stole my benefits
I've been working for Intuit for a few years now, and I always thought they were an honest company. They are always talking about integrity and telling us employees to be honest. We even have yearly honesty training classes that we take on the computer to help us be honest. I know that lots of companies pretend to be honest, but Intuit really seemed like they meant it. Their motto is "Integrity without compromise." As long as I was useful to Intuit, they treated me very well.
On a recent Tuesday I received a meeting notice titled "Meet Endurance and receive Offer Letter." 15 minutes later I found that my division of Intuit had been sold to a company called Endurance and that we could either accept an offer from Endurance by Friday or be fired with no severance or unemployment.
I have no problem with any of this so far. I've been through mergers and acquisitions before, and my experience has always been good. I don't carry a lot of debt, so I can adjust to changes in my income if necessary. After an acquisition moves my job to another company, I can either get a promotion, find a better job, get severance, get unemployment until I find a better job, or possibly get severance and unemployment, and a better job. Any of those outcomes are OK, and if Intuit had handled this like a normal spinoff, I wouldn't mind, but they stole our unvested benefits.
They stole all of our unvested RSU's, stock options and 401K matches. I only lost a few thousand but some of my co-workers lost $50K or more. People who were hired recently lost their entire hiring bonus. I've been here long enough so that my hiring bonus had vested and I only lost some yearly bonuses, but I'm one of the smallest victims and just my RSUs losses are over $7000. I haven't calculated how much they are stealing out of my 401K because it is too depressing to think about. They probably stole between $5-10 million from all 200 of us. They can legally do this, but it is not normally done by reputable companies. When a division is spun off, the employees are usually compensated in full for all unvested benefits. When I worked at Waller Creek and El Paso Energy bought us, they compensated the employees very generously for our stock options even though Waller Creek never went public. Unvested benefits are normally only lost when the company is bankrupt or being gutted. Intuit is a profitable company and they should not be stealing our benefits.
I'll write more about this as time permits. I want to tell you about the secret meeting that I attended and how I accidentally ruined it, and my missing confidentiality agreement, and Intuit's responses to my inquiries.
On a recent Tuesday I received a meeting notice titled "Meet Endurance and receive Offer Letter." 15 minutes later I found that my division of Intuit had been sold to a company called Endurance and that we could either accept an offer from Endurance by Friday or be fired with no severance or unemployment.
I have no problem with any of this so far. I've been through mergers and acquisitions before, and my experience has always been good. I don't carry a lot of debt, so I can adjust to changes in my income if necessary. After an acquisition moves my job to another company, I can either get a promotion, find a better job, get severance, get unemployment until I find a better job, or possibly get severance and unemployment, and a better job. Any of those outcomes are OK, and if Intuit had handled this like a normal spinoff, I wouldn't mind, but they stole our unvested benefits.
They stole all of our unvested RSU's, stock options and 401K matches. I only lost a few thousand but some of my co-workers lost $50K or more. People who were hired recently lost their entire hiring bonus. I've been here long enough so that my hiring bonus had vested and I only lost some yearly bonuses, but I'm one of the smallest victims and just my RSUs losses are over $7000. I haven't calculated how much they are stealing out of my 401K because it is too depressing to think about. They probably stole between $5-10 million from all 200 of us. They can legally do this, but it is not normally done by reputable companies. When a division is spun off, the employees are usually compensated in full for all unvested benefits. When I worked at Waller Creek and El Paso Energy bought us, they compensated the employees very generously for our stock options even though Waller Creek never went public. Unvested benefits are normally only lost when the company is bankrupt or being gutted. Intuit is a profitable company and they should not be stealing our benefits.
I'll write more about this as time permits. I want to tell you about the secret meeting that I attended and how I accidentally ruined it, and my missing confidentiality agreement, and Intuit's responses to my inquiries.
Movie reviews
Is this guy a con artist, a conspiracy nut, or a visionary genius? Or all three rolled into one? His detractors have a point when they complain about David Icke being included in the movie without any mention of his infamous "lizard" theory, but there are a lot of interesting ideas here, including a lot of handwaving about free energy (still waiting to see a working free energy generator). I can't recommend not watching it just because it doesn't rigorously back up every single claim.
Foster Gamble's Thrive
Max Igan has similar ideas. He doesn't really back up the stuff he says about human evolution, but I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one feeling a change.
Max Igan's Awakening
Foster Gamble's Thrive
Max Igan has similar ideas. He doesn't really back up the stuff he says about human evolution, but I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one feeling a change.
Max Igan's Awakening
Comment on a blog post
I have a bunch of stuff I want to post, but it's not going to happen tonight. I want to post some pictures of that thing that I made, and some of the stuff I've been thinking about, and pics of the garden; maybe tomorrow. Here's my comment on a blog post about Obama's big endorsement.
Comment on a blog post
My take on Obama's embrace of the uhh... gaze... is this. "The System" requires various levels of underclasses which everyone (usually including the underclass at some level) agrees will live far below their potential to preserve property (land as well as non-land property) and privilege for others. Women were an underclass for a long time, and are still disadvantaged by a patriarchal system after 100+ years of struggle. Race has always been and still is a source of class assignment. Some underclasses are openly abused with all kinds of outrageous constraints that would never be accepted by the public without years of desensitization. Sex offenders were a good example of this for a long time; there was and still is nothing so bad that it can't be done to sex offenders, but now terrorists have raised the bar, from "civil commitment" that kept sex offenders imprisoned after they finished their sentences, to "Obama's list" of people who will be murdered without a trial.
For a long time the "war on drugs" has been used to justify violent military-style police attacks on citizens' homes; now the "war on terror" justifies even more intrusion against an underclass that any of us can join in an instant by saying something that the government doesn't like. The available pool of "underclass" victims now includes Muslims, pot smokers, peace activists, Occupy participants, and numerous other groups being increasingly criminalized by the terror state. Whenever one group escapes from underclass status, the system creates one or more new underclass groups.
Gays are being let out of the underclass because they are fighting their way out. They survived centuries of discrimination, fought for civil rights for decades here in the US, and they finally are winning some major battles. I find it depressing that they have fought so hard for so long, and still are working to escape from the underclass that our corrupt system requires, while young people today are finding it so easy to become trapped in an underclass.
One thing that gives me hope is the sense of community that I saw at the Occupy camps, and that I am seeing more and more all around me. It seems as if the human race is going through some kind of spiritual evolution, and every day more people see through the false values of our system and start growing food and thinking about dropping out of the system (or just being ready for it to die). If enough people worldwide stop participating in the system, it will fade away. I am growing a garden.
Comment on a blog post
My take on Obama's embrace of the uhh... gaze... is this. "The System" requires various levels of underclasses which everyone (usually including the underclass at some level) agrees will live far below their potential to preserve property (land as well as non-land property) and privilege for others. Women were an underclass for a long time, and are still disadvantaged by a patriarchal system after 100+ years of struggle. Race has always been and still is a source of class assignment. Some underclasses are openly abused with all kinds of outrageous constraints that would never be accepted by the public without years of desensitization. Sex offenders were a good example of this for a long time; there was and still is nothing so bad that it can't be done to sex offenders, but now terrorists have raised the bar, from "civil commitment" that kept sex offenders imprisoned after they finished their sentences, to "Obama's list" of people who will be murdered without a trial.
For a long time the "war on drugs" has been used to justify violent military-style police attacks on citizens' homes; now the "war on terror" justifies even more intrusion against an underclass that any of us can join in an instant by saying something that the government doesn't like. The available pool of "underclass" victims now includes Muslims, pot smokers, peace activists, Occupy participants, and numerous other groups being increasingly criminalized by the terror state. Whenever one group escapes from underclass status, the system creates one or more new underclass groups.
Gays are being let out of the underclass because they are fighting their way out. They survived centuries of discrimination, fought for civil rights for decades here in the US, and they finally are winning some major battles. I find it depressing that they have fought so hard for so long, and still are working to escape from the underclass that our corrupt system requires, while young people today are finding it so easy to become trapped in an underclass.
One thing that gives me hope is the sense of community that I saw at the Occupy camps, and that I am seeing more and more all around me. It seems as if the human race is going through some kind of spiritual evolution, and every day more people see through the false values of our system and start growing food and thinking about dropping out of the system (or just being ready for it to die). If enough people worldwide stop participating in the system, it will fade away. I am growing a garden.
Back from vacation
I'm back from vacation, just in time to water the garden while my neighbors take their vacation. This may have been my best vacation ever, starting with getting my motorcycle stolen the first night, out of the motel parking lot. I ended up renting a huge 4-wheel-drive truck which came in handy when I went camping out at the end of Matagorda Island. I made an art thing out there which you can see on my bambuser account. I will post some pictures later.
My bambuser channel
I also recorded the Ron Paul rally which was interesting. The other politicians were empty suits but Ron said the word "Revolution" a few times and I think he meant it.
My bambuser channel
I also recorded the Ron Paul rally which was interesting. The other politicians were empty suits but Ron said the word "Revolution" a few times and I think he meant it.