How a bad hard drive changed everything for me

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

I made the switch to from a PC to Mac back in early 2009, when I got my mac mini. Later that year I sold it and got a Mac Book Pro. It’s been my primary computer and work horse for the last 3 years. With it I’ve developed 10 iPhone apps, several web applications and spent countless hours surfing the web. I’ve never had an Issue with it…. until a few months ago.

While using the computer, I would randomly get “the spinning beach ball of death“, and it would last a few seconds to a few minutes. I started to notice that it would happen most frequently when I opened an app, a document, or if I tried to save a file. That made me instantly think it was a hard drive issue.

Opening the macs console app and looking at the system logs, it was clear there was a coloration between the times I saw an issue, and log entries for I/O Errors on the hard drive. Knowing that the drive was going bad, I booked an appointment at the local Apple store. I also created a time machine back up of the computer.

This was the first time I ever needed any service on my computer, so I didn’t know what to expect. This is how it went down:

Apple Genius: Hi, what’s the problem with your computer?
Me: The hard drive is failing. Lots of read / write errors.
Apple Genius: What makes you think the drive is failing?
Me: (*Opens computer lid, points to the console logs*) These error logs entries reporting I/O errors and bad sectors.
Apple Genius: Oh! OK, so yeah, you know know your stuff. That’s a bad drive. Let me check something… yup your computer is covered by Apple care.
Me: Sweet!
Apple Genius: Ah, this has a 320 GB drive. Sorry, we are out of stock on those. But I can replace it with a 500 GB drive, if that’s OK.
Me: OK, whats the price difference to upgrade from the 320 GB to the 500 GB?
Apple Genius: (*confused look on his face*), ummmm you have Apple Care, there is no cost. It’s free.
Me: Even the for upgrading the drive, it’s free?
Apple Genius: (*still confused*), yeeeeahhhh, you have Apple Care. It’s free.
Me: Sweet! How long will it take to get my computer back? (I’m thinking at least a week)
Apple Genius: Do you have a backup at home?
Me: Yeah, a took a time machine snapshot before I came in.
Apple Genius: OK good, It’s still going to be a while, we’re really back logged right now. It’s going to take at least 15 – 20 minutes. You might want to get a coffee and come back.
Me: Wow! So less than 30 minutes, and the parts and labor are free? You are just going to swap out the drive right here?
Apple Genius: yeah…. you have Apple Care, it’s free.

20 minutes later

Apple Genius: Here you go, all done. The new 500 GB hard drive is installed. I’ve also extended your Apple Care for another 3 months since you had an issue with the drive.

I took it home, plugged in the time machine drive and started the restore process. 3 hours later, I was back up and running. No data loss, no issues. No money spent!

Sure Apple computers are expensive, but the level of service you get when you need help is the best that I’ve ever seen. The tech didn’t try to fight me and tell me that it was a problem I caused or that it was out of warranty, or I had to pay a deductible to use the warranty. He didn’t try to up-sell me on other services, hell he didn’t even try to sell me anything, I was ready to pay money for the upgraded drive! The turn around time was unreal. Less than 20 minutes, and he apologized for taking longer than normal. He even extended my warranty because I had to go to the trouble of bringing it to the store, and because I had an issue. All of this FOR FREE. I guess free can be argued, because it’s built into the computers price tag.

Overall the experience was amazing. So good that I’m making a post about it here. In a world where anything can be bought over the internet and price comparisons happen on a global scale, the only thing left to compete over is service. Apple realized this, and delivers such a good experience, they turn customers with problems into evangelists for the company. This is exactly what Gary Vaynerchuk outlines in his book, “The Thank You Economy“.

As a business owner, this experience has opened my eyes as to why customer service really matters. I guess I was just so used to bad service (I’m looking at you Best Buy!), that I was delivering that same bad experience to my customers. I saw customers interactions as problems instead of opportunities to create an evangelist for my brand. Since this experience and revelation occurred to me, I’ve launched two Shopify.com apps (SEO Meta Manager and Order Lookup App). Both have been very successful. Sure they are great products, but my attitude about customer service has changed and I think it has made a huge difference in how I conduct business. Yes, there are products that are technically similar to mine, but they don’t offer the white glove customer service I do. That’s my true advantage.

To wrap this up, thank you Apple and thank you Gary Vaynerchuck. Your words and application of a Thank You Economy have changed the way I do business and treat customers.

Jackson Highland – Hello World

By Josh Highland in fatherhood

On March 11, 2012, My wife, @AmyAbernathy, gave birth to my son – Jackson Highland (aka Josh Highland 2.0). It was one of the most defining moments of my life. If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, most of my updates have been about Jackson.

It’s been an interesting transition into fatherhood for me. I’ve slowed down on creating apps, and writing code to help Amy out, and to spend more time with Jackson. He’s hands down the coolest thing I’ve ever helped create. I really look forward to watching him grow up. I hope he also has an interest in tech! I’m sure that I will have many more blog posts about him in the future.

My Goals For 2012

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

Every year I posts a list of things I want to accomplish in that year. I have a feeling 2012 is going to be a big year for me. Here is a list of some of the goals that I have for myself:

  • Reduce the amount of “stuff” that I have. I need to make room for my new son (due in march!)
  • Delegate responsibilities and tasks better. I have too many projects and not enough time, I need to let other people take over a few things, (4-hour work week style of course)
  • Automate more of my life (income / shipping / bill payments / etc)
  • Launch a Shopify.com app
  • Promote my clothing line Wolves Clothing more
  • Launch my first iPad application and get my 10th iPhone app into the store
  • Continue to improve my fitness (strength & muscle mass)
  • Move more of my projects / data to “the cloud”.
  • Improve my SEO skillz (nothing fancy, just gain a better knowledge of what I should be doing as best practices)
  • Build an app that uses the instagram API
  • Promote my design company, MerchDesign.com, more aggressively
  • Contribute more to charitable causes

 

2011 Year In Review

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

 

For the last few year I list the goals that I would like to achieve for the year (2011, 2010, 2009). With this post I’d like to take some time and see how many of my 2011 goals I managed to achieve.

  • Speak at more tech conferences and user groups

I only managed to speak at 1 tech conference this year, OC WordCamp. I tried to get on the speaking list for BlogWorld Expo, but my topic, “Optimizing  the performance of WordPress” was too awesome for them, so it was rejected. Their Loss. I love public speaking, so I imagine this will continue to be one of my goals in the future. Since I only spoke once this year, I’m going to give myself a #FAIL

  • Travel more, possible out of the country

Well, I managed to spend a week in Kentucky camping with my friends. It was an amazing time. I had plans to visit @JasonXKeller in Prague, in the Czech Republic, but he moved back to America before I made my trip. At least I have my passport now, and I’m glad I get to hang out with him on the reg. #FAIL

  • Rehab my leg back to 100% strength
  • Work out more, get into awesome shape

I grouped these two goals together because they are very closely related. A bit of a back story in case you are new to following me… in January 2008 I destroyed my left knee and had to have major surgery.  The Doctor and physical therapist told me that the only way to get back to 100% strength was to hit the gym really hard for the next 2 years due to the massive damage and muscle atrophy that happened to my leg.

One thing I can say is that 2011 has been the year of #getBig. I hit the gym 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. I’ve also gotten really into sport nutrition and bodybuilding. My brother is my lifting partner and we push each other. Having a vegan diet has made weight lifting an extra challenge, but I love it. My leg still has a ways to go, but I have been able to stack on an insane amount  of muscle. I’m finally starting to develop a body builder physique. 17 inch arms… #EpicWIN

  • Develop more iPhone apps

This is a simple answer, I was able to release 4 iPhone apps this year. That’s a #WIN

  • Get an android phone to test / develop with

Nope, didn’t happen, but I’m ok with that. #noCareEver

  • Do more community service

This year I hooked up with a great group of guys from South Orange County called WSB (We Still Believe). I helped out a few times cooking and distributing food to the homeless. WSB also organized a few food drives and concerts that raised money for homeless shelters in the Inland Empire. It’s super rewarding and something I want to continue with. #WIN

  • Pay off more of my debt

Well, I’m not 100% debt free, but I’m closer then I ever have been before, so yeah thats a #WIN. It’s a good goal for us all to have.

  • Automate more of my income

This year, I was able to increase my automated income through iPhone app sales, Google Adsense, and Shopify referrals. It’s a far cry from being able to live off it, but its a start and its inspiring to see what I was able to accomplish. I’m giving myself the #WIN for this, but I’m going to be working on this moving forward.

  • Get more tattoos

I got two new tattoos this year, both from my buddy Marc Jackson at Tattoo Revolution in Redlands Ca. Bonus points for you if you understand why I got the first tattoo on St. Patrick’s day. If you don’t know, watch this video. Marc Jackson and I actually got matching “Leprechaun” tattoos. The second tattoos is my 5th Straight Edge tattoo, and reads “Cradle To The Grave”, and is based on lyrics from “Path of Resistance”. It was featured in a tattoo book, “With the light of Truth“. So yeah, an internet meme tattoo, and a straight edge tattoo, total #WIN

Dennis Ritchie: Forgotten Tech Legend

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling

This year we lost two great tech founders, Steve Jobs and Dennis Ritchie.

Steve Jobs death was plastered all over the news and media, and it should be. Steve Jobs was a great visionary who changed the world. I’m typing this on my MacBook Pro with my iPhone sitting right next to me. I love Apple.

Dennie Ritchie was also a great man of technology. He was less public than Jobs, but in my opinion more influential than Steve Jobs. Dennis Ritchie created the programming language C, which is foundational to almost all modern programming languages, including Objective-C, the language that all iPhone apps are written in. Ritchie is also the father of Unix, the operating system that powers most of the internet, and all Mac computers. Macs are known for their stability. That stability comes from it’s operating system, a modified version of Unix. Without Ritchie, Apple wouldn’t exist. Despite how influential Dennie Ritchie was, I didn’t see a single news story on his death.

I respect both of these men and honor the things they created. Without them my life would be much different. In a perfect world the people behind the scenes, like Dennis Ritchie, would get true attention and notoriety they truly deserve.