Code Monkey Happy Ninja Banana Surprise!

I’ve always wanted to know how things work, especially electronically, so whenever I have a chance to destroy dismantle something, I relish the thought. Many of you probably do not. And yes, frankly, depending on what you’re doing and what you’re working on, it can definitely be a time-consuming affair.

However, should you happen to own a Mac and should the day ever occur that you find yourself needing to replace or swap out a hard drive in anything older than a MacBook, or you need to really dig around and see if the display cable is pinched, or something like that, I have the site for you.

ifixit.com is an awesome, awesome resource of information, guides, and parts. And, they also service gear themselves, so if you feel daunted by a particular task, then just have them do it. Or your local Apple store. Either way, you will end up paying quite a lot of dinero just for the time spent. And that’s when I look at things and say “I can do that, I just need a guide.”

Like this past weekend when I swapped logic boards on some old iBooks. First of all, the iBook was designed to induce a certain level of pain and suffering into the mind of whoever decides to open it up and do anything other than change RAM. It is a ridiculous piece of Rubik-like puzzlement and definitely falls under the category of “Let’s play operation!”. Seriously. You have to nearly dismantle the thing just to swap out hard drives. And then, if you’re like me, and you put in a drive that’s too “hot” for the board, you get to do it again. Yeah. (I put in a hard drive that had too high spin speeds and the board/os wasn’t built to keep it cool enough.)

All of iFixIt’s guides are online in a clear, photo-enhanced step-by-step process. They are all also available as PDFs, which you can then download and access at your non-online leisure. On top of that, they include a sheet you can print out to track all the tiny, microscopic screws that will very soon pile up and become a disorganized batch of metal during the taking apart process. Handy!

However, even with these guides, there are some loverrrly little tools you must have in order to finish the project. Just like a surgeon needs some specific tools for different operations, one must have some specific tools in order to really crack open a laptop. Especially an iBook.

Over the years I’ve discovered that Belkin makes what you need (mostly) and packages it in a nice and tidy zip up pouch. I have this toolkit from them, and have used it for about four years now. I have definitely gotten my money’s worth. But wait! THERE’S MORE!

Yes the Belkin toolkit has Allen wrenches of the tiny variety. However, Allen wrenches, as standalone wrenches, suck ass in terms of really getting some leverage, aka torque, when using them. So I have a folded set of Allen wrenches, like this one here. I’ve had this since my skating days, and it rocks because when you flip out the size you need, you have the body of the whole thing to use as a grip. Really good for the things that are stuck – especially when trying to loosen virgin screws. They’re usually reallllllllly tight. Giggity giggity giggity! And now we can all get back onto street level out of the gutter. HA!

The other set of wrenches that you MUST have is a set of Torx wrenches. Again, I have a folded set, like the one found here. Torx looks similar to Allen wrenches in shape, but it is NOT THE SAME. [singing] Which one of these….. is not like the otherssssss… [end bad singing]

And there you have it. Now all you need is a little time, a little patience, and you can really swap/fix/replace anything you need!

This post is short and sweet because I’m a bit slammed on the work side. And it’s late. Two days late. Eeek! Let’s get down to it:

I only Twitter from my iPhone. It’s too damn laborious (and doesn’t make sense) to tweet from a desktop. I mean, really? Twitter is all about the moment, random finds, random questions, random rants, random this random that everyday life yee ha. You get the idea.

I like to tweet from my iPhone, and here’s what I’ve obvserved from using different apps over the course of the past four months about Twitter applications: I hate waiting, I hate apps that crash, I dislike not being able to delete things, I really dislike not being able to follow someone new from my iPhone, and I like cleaner interfaces. So.

To be succinct, this is what I need from a Twitter App on iPhone:

• Fast
• Easy
• Read tweets (OBVIOUS)
• Add new users
• Delete (I know, simple enough, right?)
• Trends (not absolute necessary)
• Favorites (handy)
• Multiple accounts (more handy)

There’s only one app that fills all those needs in a Good Way™. And by Good Way™, I mean, price, and intuitiveness. Those two intangibles make a huge difference.

The Twitter App that I use for iPhone is Tweetie. And it rocks. There’s only one other app that does what it does, but it costs a buck more AND it’s not as user-friendly: Twitterlator Pro.

I’ve also tried and used (and tried to use) Twitterrific, iTweets, and Tweetsville. Twitterrific was good for a bit, iTweets actually crashed often, and Tweetsville was pretty good, but again, costs more, and doesn’t allow multiple accounts.

The bottom line is, Tweetie is FAST, it handles multiple accounts, is user-friendly, and cheaper than the others. As always, download direct to your phone, or go get it from iTunes.

As a true Chicagoan, one knows that the weather changes pretty much like clockwork. If you consider that the clock is run by a crack-riddled monkey who thinks choosing random numbers is his forte. In other words, like late last night into today, I felt comfortable with no extra layers on and just my leather jacket to freezing to the bone and just ok in a Marshmallow Surprise™! parka-esque coat. The ice was melting on everything last night around midnight last night and waiting for a bus was just fine, headphones cranking and all. Today was disgusto raino and now snow. Headphones don’t block out the chill. Meh.

So I like to know what’s gonna hit me in the next five minutes. Hopefully it’s not Brian Urlacher. I also have discovered in my travels that I like a GPS-enhanced weather app, and I especially appreciate a radar feature. And, because I have friends/relatives overseas, I like to see what’s up in their neighborhoods as well, and as I’ll be traveling next year, I’d like to be able to have an updated heads up on what I should I wear.

Here’s what my base needs are, then, for downloading/employing a weather app on the iPhone:

• GPS capability
• Fast loads times
• Radar
• International capability

Here’s a list of not necessary, but highly appreciated:

• Zoom in to within 1 mile or less radius of chosen location
• Animated radar
• Feels like temperature compared to degree temperature
• Good UI design
• Five – seven day forecast

I have yet to find the perfect combo of these feature lists in any app for the iPhone. (And if you know of it, TELL ME) I either find that there’s radar that’s really nice, but it’s not animated. Or no radar at all, but international capability. Or really nice, intuitive, organized interface, but again, no international capability. Or it’s just too damn slow/erratic or has incorrect, improperly updated data.

Here are the three I like most:

The Weather Channel iPhone App

This one is ALMOST good. SO CLOSE to having everything that I want. It’s fast, intuitive, organized, and can show international and current GPS locations.

It’s radar is static. This is primo important living in Chicago. When it’s windy, and you’re downtown, the wind does not come from any particular direction. Due to the weirdness (at least to me) of tall buildings “pulling” air down around them in (I think) a clockwise manner, wind comes from “every direction” when downtown. If it’s windy, you must be inside in order to be out of the wind. So determining which way the storm front is moving is near-impossible. Hence, an animated radar would show that.

I really like the layout, the style of the radar and everything else.

And it’s free.

MyWeather

My second choice is MyWeather, which has been running steady for quite some time now. They have updated it a couple times and improved it each time. However, the BIG con with them is they don’t allow international or don’t have access to international data. And they’re the most expensive one of these three. Lame, lame, LAMMMMMMMEEEEE.

When I type in Paris, I first think of Paris, Texas (while laughing, of course) and then I think of Paris, France. I *want* to view Paris, France. I could care less about Paris, Texas (been there), Paris, Kentucky (maybe?), Paris, Illinois (drive-by), or Paris, TN (close!). Why the hell this one weather app is US-specific is beyond me. It’s STUPID for being that way.

Otherwise, the pros – wicked cool interface, nice design, good speed, AND AN ANIMATED RADAR. This was WAY cool on a couple of my road trips because I could what was happening with the storms that were crossing my paths, one of them being pretty nasty for a bit.

Fizz Weather

This one gets my smile for pretty graphics, random funny terms for the weather (I swear one day it said “kinda chilly”) (this graphic shows “nippy”), and speed. It also has an airport feature, which came in handy this summer when I was picking couch surfers and one of my girls literally flew in the night of the tornados. I knew how much she was delayed, and I felt her pain. In the airport cell lot. Radar is fine, but again, STATIC. And again, this one has the international city capability.

There are my top three. And, unfortunately, I use them all pretty consistently because of certain features of each one. If I could combine them and quickly make a SuperCoolIt’sGotItAllYourWeather app, I would. But I can’t. So thppt.

Happy rainy foggy snowy Tuesday.