Today Rob Jones Tech Support turns two years old. While I've been doing tech support since 1995, I Incorporated RJTS in 2005.

Today I started by celebrating my anniversary. That is of course if you consider celebrating starting your anniversary with two tech support jobs.

But that afternoon we had our anniversary party. That is of course if you consider partying inviting girls for a sleep over with your daughters while you update your website.

That evening my wife and I went out for a nice anniversary dinner. That is of course if your consider dinner sharing a bag of jalapeno chips while watching a movie on TiVo.

While it might not have been a celebratory day, it was significant. It's my understanding that a lot of small businesses like mine never make it to year two.

I love working on computers, so spending my two year anniversary doing what I enjoy is a huge plus.

Thank you to all of my clients who put your trust in me to keep your computers running and have helped RJTS to be a success.

Tags: Anniversary

You've seen the Helio commercials "Don't call it a phone." Helio would have you believe their devices aren't phones but much more.
On the other hand you have the iPhone. A device that markets itself as a phone and has the word "phone" in it's name but in reality is very much a handheld Mac.

My MacBook's hard drive died (7/3/2007) two days after getting my iPhone. Fortunately, I had synced my calendars, contacts, bookmarks, some pictures, music and movies to my iPhone. Because of the timing with the holiday and weekend, I went a full week without my computer waiting for a new hard drive from Apple. Some people would have panicked, but I saw it as an opportunity to put the iPhone through it's paces. So that's what I did.

Can you live for a week without your computer and only an iPhone? Yes. But, expect some catching up when you get your computer back up and running. For instance, invoicing, something you can't do with your iPhone. As a tech support person I took my wife's computer with me (just in case) on two different jobs and only needed it once and was done within one minute.

Activation:
I got my iPhone 2 days after they were released and I did have activation problems. After 3 or 4 phone calls and 9 hours my iPhone was working as expected. I recently activated a client's iPhone in 4 minutes with no problems. It looks to me as though AT&T has worked through the problems they were having.

Safari:
You've heard Steve Jobs say that the iPhone isn't the watered down web but a full web browser. I can confirm that it's certainly not the watered down web, but it's not the complete web either. Flash playback is missing. That's probably the biggest omission that most people will notice when surfing. It's possible that Flash playback just wasn't ready by the release date of the iPhone and will be added later. Downloading audio and video files directly into the iPod or available memory is something I'm looking forward to in a possible future update.

Hardware:
iPhone 1.0 hardware seems very impressive. It's like Apple built the best piece of hardware they could, knowing they would be building on it through software updates for some time. Software can greatly improve the device; anything missing will be added later. Problems with be corrected through updates. The iPhone that was released on July 29th won't be the same iPhone we're using 6 months or a year from now. After a few updates it will receive fixes and new features. I love devices that can be updated with new features. I wrote an article about gaming consoles and how they change through software updates. A year and a half after I bought my Xbox 360 they added H.264 and MPEG-4 video playback which allows me to stream videos from my Mac to my Xbox 360. That's awesome.

It's nice to no longer have a need to carry multiple devices around. Before I had my phone, iPod and computer. Now in many cases I can get away with just having my iPhone. And the camera is nice to have since I never had a camera with me before.

Applications:
The built-in applications are the only ones you're going to be able to use for a while. Apple will add more later and may even let 3rd parties in the future. There are those web based apps you may have heard about but if you're in Airplane mode (no internet connection) you won't be able to use them. This doesn't bother me because I know Apple wants the iPhone to be as stable as possible.

Syncing:
Using iTunes to get all your data makes perfect sense. I haven't had any problems. It's very easy to add what you want.

Keyboard:
I love it. I don't even realize how often it corrects my typing. Only one application allows for horizontal use; expect an update to add horizontal keyboard use to other apps. I took all of the notes for this article on my iPhone while I was without my computer.

Apple, please include the same spell correcting the iPhone has into Leopard. I like the corrected spelling hovering below the word I'm typing and the space bar activation. This is brilliant. It will help me on my desktop and laptop Macs as well.

Wireless Networks:
Unlike a lot of the tech articles you may have read online where the reviewer blasts the EDGE network for being slow, Edge network is acceptable when Wi-Fi is not available. Especially to those of us users who went from the cheapest mobile phone with no data plan at all directly to the iPhone.
Wi-Fi works great. It's always going to be faster than EDGE, so use Wi-Fi when it's available.

Address Book:
It's easy to find what you need, but it can be slow if you have 600 addresses in your Address Book like I do. A little work needs to be done for some quick searching, but it's the first time I've ever had my entire Address Book with me.

Calendars:
Calendars do not sync without a computer. So even if you have a dotmac account the iPhone won't update your calendar through the internet like your Mac does. This is probably to keep feature parity with Windows users. While I appreciate having YouTube on my iPhone I've used the calendar far more.

Calendar combines all checked calendars into one. I've confirmed that it actually stores them separately. Maybe a future update will allow viewing calendars separately on the iPhone.

Camera:
Camera works well. You need to hold it steady and the subject must be well lit. Video recording - I believe the hardware can support it so it's just a matter of a software update.

Email:
It works the same as your computer's email. I have no complaints. It's easy to use and works well. No more traveling from one job to another wondering what email I might have missed while my MacBook was in it's case without an internet connection.

Touch Screen:
Finger wiping becomes a requirement. I will wipe the tip of my index finger on my sleeve or pants before using my iPhone. This removes that tiny bit of finger oil that would have otherwise ended up on my iPhone screen. So I don't have to clean my screen as often. The screen itself is brilliant, even if I had to clean the screen 10 times a day, I would still prefer it. I currently only clean the screen twice a day. Use the cloth that came with the iPhone or a microfiber cloth and your breath to get the best clean without any potential for scratching.

Calculator:
Just that and nothing more.

SMS:
Never used it. With email I have no need for it.

Phone:
It works well, and the headphones add to it's clarity. I have no complaints about the phone. It's very cool to be listening to music or a podcast and have them pause and fade to the background while you answer the call, then un-pause and fade back in when the call is over.

Time Shift:
From useless time to productive or entertaining time.There's nothing like being stuck at Sam's Club and grabbing a soda, sitting down in the food court, surfing the web and answering emails, while they rotate your tires. Now the most boring places (doctors offices, tire store and any place that you're required to wait) can be like your office by simply getting out your iPhone and doing some work or having some fun.

There are things on the iPhone that I didn't address, simply because they are there, they work well and as expected.

Since this is the first iPod with a speaker I was able to sit on my deck with my wife and enjoy the cool breeze while playing a little 80's music that we could both hear.

Final Thoughts: I believe the iPhone is a Trojan Horse for Apple. It puts a Mac in the hands of people who simply thought they were buying a cool phone. Should you get an iPhone? I certainly recommend it. If you're in need of both a new iPod and mobile phone it becomes more reasonable. For me it was a must, I was at the point of needing something that would allow me to take notes and create calendar events while talking on the phone. The iPhone has literally made me a better tech support person. Now I just need to get my wife one.

Tags: Apple, iPhone, Review

Today a person named Mark left comments on my The iPhone and your IT Department article. The problem I have with comments is they are directed at me, a living breathing person.

So many people on the internet use their anonymity to say what they want with no regard to the recipient. Like Marks comments many of them are rude and sarcastic. Can I handle rude and sarcastic, yes of course I can. As a matter of fact, there is very little anyone can say that will actually bother me. Part of the problem I have with these types of comments is they are a waste of my time. They are not trying to engage me in an intellectual conversation, they are simply hiding behind the internet so they can be rude and mouth off.

Like Mark, I call him Mark because that's the name he left in the comments section of my article, so many people will not provide a name and or last name (in Mark's case) or an email address with their comments. Why, my best answer would be because they would never do that in person and therefore don't want take credit for being so rude.

If a person has a legitimate disagreement with something I've said or written I am more than happy to hear them out because I'm aware I might learn something. I'm also willing to agree to disagree when a middle ground isn't in sight. Always being polite and respectful to the person I'm conversing with.

I turned off most Comments in my YouTube page because people say the meanest things for no reason. So for that very same reason I'm turning off comments on my Blog.

They will remain off until email authentication becomes available to me.

If you would like to contact me about one of my articles, please use my contact form. Thanks

I've written several articles about the similarities between TV shows, LOST and Earth 2, Kyle XY and John Doe, including a few small ones. Today's article is about two video games that have too much in common for it to be just a coincidence.

One of my favorite games of all time is Fable for the original Xbox. I loved the atmosphere of the game, the music, the mystery. It might not have been everything they originally intended it to be but that didn't concern me. The game is very much an Action RPG. Since I don't care for your typical RPG I was surprised how much I like it.

So a couple months ago I picked up Crackdown for the same reason most people picked it up. What I didn't know was that Crackdown was an Action RPG. But not any Action RPG, an Action RPG that was separated at birth from Fable.

There are so many similarities that I can't believe no one has written about them. So let me provide a few similarities and differences.

Similarities:
1. Central hub of the world, (F) The Guild, (CD) The Keep.
2. Several cities to explore, with different missions for each.
2. Killing enemies releases glowing experience orbs that follow you and are used to level up.
3. As your character levels up they physically change in size.
4. Attacking Guards or Peace Keepers will have all of them attacking you.
5. Use Cullis Gates and Supply Points to move from one locations to another.
6. You level up several major areas of your strength, skill, agility and will.

Additional Similarities:
First - In both Crackdown and Fable, your character never had a definitive persona to him. Roughly speaking, neither of them carried an actual "name," but instead were referred to as the "Hero" (Fable) or "Agent" (Crackdown). In addition, although each character shared the exact same personality or skills as every other "character," you could alter their appearance without changing overall gameplay or story.

Second - There were a variety of mini-games that despite not adding or subtracting to the game's storyline, they offered a larger scope to overall gameplay that aided in boosting your stats to make progression through the game easier or quicker.

Third - Both characters neither talk nor show a certain degree of individuality among the environment and other characters (NPCs), more so in Crackdown than in Fable.


Let's discuss the differences:
First - In Fable, there were several NPCs and essential characters that furthered the story and provided a deeper involvement in the overall gameplay, common in the RPG genre. However, in Crackdown, there was little to no association with any NPC or other character that contributed to the plot.

Second - In Fable, you could choose a path to follow that changed the scope of the game in either a hero or villain fashion depending on your general choices throughout the game as a person. However, in Crackdown you had no choice as to what path to follow, but were confined to a more linear gameplay, in which you played the "bad cop" or "antihero."

Third - In Fable, you had a two-weapon scheme, in which you carried one melee weapon and one long range weapon, albeit their are more archaic variations to more modern armaments. In Crackdown, you still retain a two-weapon scheme, but are not limited as to what should be carried and, thus, more modern weapons are utilized with a more long range combat tone to the overall gameplay.

Well there you have it, these games actually have a lot in common. I would like to thank Stephen Jenkins for his help on the Similarities and Differences. Since we both played each game a lot I knew he would be able to provide accurate info.

If you have any additional Similarities and Differences please send them through my contact form.

Tags: Fable, Crackdown, Xbox, Xbox 360