iPhone 2.1 SMS Reminder Annoyances

By Josh Highland in hardware, iPhone, mac, software

There was a new feature introduced with the iPhone 2.1 firmware update that is driving me crazy and making me curse apple an my iPhone daily. I am talking about the SMS multi reminder.

The SMS multi reminder is designed to notify you with an alert if you have an unread SMS (text) message. Sounds good in theory, but trust me, it horrible in practice.

When you receive a new SMS message to your iPhone, the first few lines are displayed in what I can best describe as a pop up box. Often if the message is short, “hey I’m running late”, you see the entire message. This is where the trouble lies. If you get an SMS message and you don’t unlock the phone, open the SMS app, then open the specific SMS thread, the iPhone thinks you haven’t gotten the message, so it will remind you 5 minutes later, and 10 minutes later that you have an unread message, for a total of 3 alerts in 10 minutes for a message you might have already seen.

Example of why this is annoying:
I’m sitting here working on my blog, “PING!”, ah I have a new SMS message on my iPhone, the screen is lit up and the preview box is showing. “From TWITTER: xFLORIDAx – I look like a shaved ape”. Ok, no response needed, I set my phone down. 5 minutes later “PING!” ah! I must have a new SMS message… strange my screen isnt lit up, turn on the screen. no new SMS messages, weird. 5 minutes after that, “PING!”…. so in 10 minutes, I have been alerted 3 times for a message I have already read. ANNOYING! I don’t want to unlock my phone for every little message that is sent to me.

I understand how this could be useful for someone who gets 1-5 text message a day… I average over 200 a day. Most messages come from twitter and don’t require a response. I would disable the multi reminder if I could, but apple doesn’t allow you to change the setting for it. It’s just on, like it or not. The only way to prevent the SMS multi reminder is to disable text notifications all together, and I’m not going to do that. I like getting one and only one notification when I get a new message.

If im in a meeting, should my pocket buzz 6 times in 20 minutes to let me know I have 2 text messages? GTFO! I should only be notified two times.

I really hope that Apple allows people to turn the SMS multi reminder on and off in the next update. I can’t imagine it’s to hard to do.

Spore fever

By Josh Highland in Josh's Rambling, software, video games

Yesterday spore was released. I have been waiting for this game for years, literally. Mostly because I wanted to see what the hype was about. I am a casual gamer. I got into computers through games, but I don’t have time to play them for days on end like I used to.

If you dont know what spore is:
Spore is a multi-genre massively single-player online game. It allows a player to control the evolution of a species from its beginnings as a unicellular organism, through development as an intelligent and social creature, to interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture. It has a massive scope, and is very open-ended. Basically no two people will ever have the same expience with this game, and its completely different frm any other game you have played before.

Riding on the hype of the game, I secured a copy and installed it. Before I could start playing spore, it made me update my nvidia graphics card drivers. Odd, but ok. After a quick reboot, I was up and playing. Instantly was blown away with the visual intensity of the game. It was very easy to figure out and learn to play right away with out any primers needed.

I selected to be an herbivore (I am a vegetarian you know!). I started off as this little swimming creature, hanging out and sucking up plant particles in the water. After I ate a few, I grew, well… actually the world got bigger. Everything that was around me in the water got smaller, and faded to the background. I was in a larger class of organisms now. This continued until I had acquired enough points to mate. This is where the game gets wild. I was able to design a new creature, selecting the body shape, orientation of the tale and mouth (In my case I had 2 mouths and 3 tales!). I also grew horns so I could ram other creatures trying to eat my veggies! Once the design was done, I got to play as that creature. Amazing.

After being in the water stage for a while, you grow legs and come onto land. I could go on and on about this game, but to sum up the land stage of the game, I grew taller, got gnarly claws and spikes. I had a sissy mouth (duck bill) for biting things because I was an herbivore (a decision i had made in the micro organism stage). I grew thick skin to protect me. I started to hunt in a pack, and I killed everything that was in my path. I could have made friends and built up relationships with the other creatures, I actually did that once, then I ripped them to shreds with my gnarly claws and duckbill.

Now I have the ability to start using tools and forming tribes with my duckbilled herbivore velociraptor rhinos

That’s how far I am in the game right now. I’m totally amped on it. From my understanding my tribe will become a society, and keep evolving and eventually be able to travel through space to other planets to set up trades and relationships with other cultures, or most likely in my case, freely handout beatdowns with my duckbill and raptor claws to anyone who wants some.