thomas fitzgerald

Some Recent Updates from my Other Websites

thomasfitzgerald — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 17:24:35 +0000

Ok, I know it’s been a while since I updated this site but as there are a few subscribes I thought I’d let you know what’s been happening on my other sites. On my Blog about Apple’s Aperture I recently posted a tip for using dictation in OS-X Mountain Lion to help when captioning photographs.

Over on my Photo Blog I have been posting a good few posts lately. Today I posted a brief write up about Retina Support coming to Adobe Lightroom. I also recently posted a gallery of photos and a photo essay from the streets of Dublin taken with a Sony Nex-7.

Speaking of Photography, I’ve added my Gallery of Images from Oslo in Norway to my stock image library. I’ve also updated my Tumblr Blog so that it’s now more of a focus on photography.

iPad 3rd Generation Pink Screen Problem

thomasfitzgerald — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Posted in Mac

I’ve been having a devilish time trying to get a flaw free iPad 3rd generation. I have been going back and forward on whether or not to share this story, because of the inevitable avalanche of trolls it will probably subject me too, but people should know what’s going on. Basically, I’m now on my 3rd iPad 3 and it still isn’t right. This isn’t me being picky or exaggerating. This is a real issue, confirmed by service engineers and it amazingly seems to be relatively widespread, yet it’s gone practically unreported. So what is this problem? Let me start at the start… ~ Me - on the TechnologyGeek.com

iPad 3rd Generation Pink Screen Problem

thomasfitzgerald — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 19:49:00 +0000

Posted in Mac

My Ridiculous Back And Forth With iTunes Technical Support Staff Because iTunes Won’t Let Me Enter The New Security Information

thomasfitzgerald — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:41:29 +0000

Re-published from my Tech Geek Blog

So, a few days ago Apple decided to add some additional security questions “to protect the security on your account”. You’ve undoubtedly seen it by now. I blogged about it the other day. The problem is, at least for me, after I attempt to set the (ridiculous) questions iTunes pops up an error telling me the request can’t be completed.

I tried again later but the same. I tried from my iPad, the same. I tried from the Mac App Store. The same. iPhone, the same.

So, anyway, since I can no longer buy anything from iTunes I went onto the support site and filled out a support request:

While attempting to purchase an item on the iTunes store, I was asked to enter the new enhanced security questions. However, after choosing the questions, and filling out the answers, I click on ok and I get the following error message “Your Request is temporarily unable to be processed, please try again later”. I have tried this several times now and It keeps giving me the same error. As a result I am unable to purchase anything from the iTunes store. I have tried this on my iPhone and iPad too both with the same result. Each time it says unable to process request. Please help as there is an app that I really need right now

Pretty straight forward, or so I thought. Here’s the response I got back….

Dear Thomas,This is [NAME REMOVED TO PROTECT THE INCOMPETENT] from iTunes Store Customer Support team and I’m glad to help you today.I understand that you are unable to purchase as you were prompted to answer 3 security questions. I can certainly appreciate your eagerness to get this resolved and I would be more than happy to help you out with this today.

Thomas, from time to time, Apple enhances the security of our valued customer’s iTunes Store accounts.

I do apologize for any frustration this may have caused. These changes are not meant as an inconvenience, but rather to further help safeguard your account details and activity.

Just so you know, when a purchase is attempted from a new device or computer, the store selects, at random, two of the three challenge questions for your Apple ID to verify that you are the account owner. If the questions are answered incorrectly several times, your account becomes temporarily locked.

When your account is locked, you cannot make purchases using any device that has not previously used the Apple ID. It also prevents you from changing your challenge questions.

You are still able to make purchases using a device that was previously associated with the account.

To re-set this feature, Apple has pre-set the questions on your Apple ID. As you are not able to access your account, I can clear the challenge questions for you.

Once this is done, you will be able to sign in and add your own challenge questions. You will also have the option to enter a “rescue” email address. This option will allow you to send a message to the rescue email, should you forget the answers to the challenge/response questions in the future.

Now, in order to clear the questions for you, Apple requires that you provide at least one of the following for your security:

- the order number of one of your purchases – the last four digits of the credit card used for your iTunes Store account

And two items from this list:

- your birth date – the billing address listed on the account – the phone number on the account

Upon receiving your response, I will verify your information and clear the pre-set challenge questions.

Thank you for your understanding and for being a valued iTunes Store customer. I look forward to your reply.

Have a wonderful day!

Ok, except that’s not the problem I was having. I wasn’t attempting to purchase from a new device. I can access my account fine. It’s not asking me for the answers to the questions, it’s asking me to set the the questions. Perhaps I wan’t clear. As it took 24 hours to get a reply, the next day, by the time I got this answer, the request to enter the security information had disappeared and I could purchase from the store again. Anyway, I responded back to clarify what I needed to do. I should also point out that I did a search on twitter and numerous people were having the same problem.

Here’s my response

I’m not entirely sure that you have understood the problem that I have encountered. You said in your email…

To re-set this feature, Apple has pre-set the questions on your Apple ID. As you are not able to access your account, I can clear the challenge questions for you.

That is not the case. I can access my account fine. It was asking me to set the security questions for the first time, and when I had completed the questionnaire and set my answers for the chosen questions, and supplied the rescue address, iTunes was unable to connect to the server to send the answers.

This has been widely reported on both twitter with numerous people having the same problem.

This morning, I am able to purchase again as it is no longer asking me to set the security questions, so I suspect your engineers have realised that there is a problem. I can still log into my account from iTunes. I strongly suggest you contact your supervisors and ask for clarification on this issue as your solution does not seem to be for the problem I was having I can still send you the information you request if it is necessary, but I think you need to check that this wasn’t a widespread outage, because as I said, it was widely reported. I can currently make purchases, I can log into my account and iTunes no longer requests the additional security information.Yours Sincerely

Thomas Fitzgerald

And so another 24 hours passed. At this time I could purchase from iTunes again, and any request for the security questions had vanished. Here’s the email I got back this time:

Dear Thomas,Thank you for writing back. I appreciate your quick response.Thomas, I have consulted my Senior advisor, as per his advice, I would like to suggest you to sign out of your account and restart your device and then try again purchasing the app.

If the above suggestion doesn’t work, try purchasing the app on your computer and then you can sync the app to your device.

If you have further queries regarding this issue, please reply back to this email, I am more than happy to assist you.

Again, the “solution” appears to be for a problem other than the one I was having. Anyway, it was working again, so I was willing to leave it, but then, this evening sure enough as I go to make a purchase the dreaded “please enter the additional security questions” dialog pops up. Once again I entered the required information and once again I get the same error message. I tried logging out and back in again. I even tried jun a different location on a different internet connection, all to no avail. So furiously I wrote back to support again. This time I used my inner voice:

Dear Sir I am very upset with how this support request has been handled. Each time I have communicated my problem to you you have given me an answer that is completely unrelated to the issue I am having. I would really appreciate it if you read my emails properly and take time to understand the issue or If you are incapable or have language difficulties please pass this on to someone who understands the issue. I will lay this out as clearly as I can. Here’s the problem in a series of bullet points. 1. I attempt to purchase something from the app store or iTunes

2. I enter my user name and password

3. A dialog appears telling me I need to enter additional security information to protect the security of my account4. The store then brings me to a place where I can select a series of questions and enter my chosen answers

5. I enter the chosen answers and my recovery email address

6. I press OK

7. The store reports an error “Your request is unable to be processed – please try again later”

8. I wait several minutes and try again

9. Store continues to report an error

10. As I am unable to get past the request to enter the additional security information because it won’t process the information, therefore I am unable to purchase from the store. I have attached a screenshot of the error

The following are NOT problems I am having. 1. I have no problem accessing my account. I can log into my iTunes account no problem2. My Account is NOT locked. It is merely asking for the additional security questions3. The problem is NOT that I can’t purchase an app on my device but can on my computer. This problem occurs on every device I own whenever I try to make any purchase using my Apple ID

A little harsh, yes. The jab about english may seem rude but it really seems like they’re not understanding what I’m saying. Amazingly enough though, I got a response quite quickly:

Dear Thomas,

Thank you for responding back. I appreciate your quick response.

Thomas, if you continue to experience this issue with your account “XXXXXXX”, the iTunes Store Customer Support team will reset your password and test the account. For your security, Apple requires that you provide one of the following:

- the order number of one of your purchases – the last four digits of the credit card used for your iTunes Store account – the answer to one of your security questions

We also ask that you provide two items from this list:

- the day, month, and year of your birth – the billing address listed on the account – the phone number on the account

When we receive your response, we’ll verify your billing address, reset your password, and perform any necessary tests. Then we’ll email you the test results and your new password.

When you get your new password, change your password to one that only you know. It must also be a password that you haven’t used in the past 12 months.

I look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

It still just doesn’t seem like he understands what I’ve been telling him and is just picking the nearest response off a list, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt this time, and as this is going nowhere, I just gave in and sent him the information. The best bit though is that one of the requests is “the answer to one of your security questions” which is ironic since I CAN’T ENTER THE DAMN SECURITY QUESTIONS.

And, if you change the password on my Apple ID which is also my email, how am I supposed to receive the email with the new password in it as I won’t be able to check my email? Or would that go to the new recovery email address that’s in the security questions THAT I CAN’T ANSWER.

This is the worst ever experience I have had dealing with Apple customer service. In fact, it’s the worst Apple related experience I have ever had. I’m shocked and appalled at the way this is being handled and I’m only publicising the emails and responses because I suspect it may be the only way this gets resolved. Someone needs to get their ass handed to them in Apple over the way this security upgrade was rolled out because this is just nuts.

While I think the security questions themselves are stupid, I appreciate the need for it and I have no problem entering the information, if it would let me. I don’t know how widespread this issue is but I”m definitely not alone as others have reported the same problem. So, this latest exchange will probably be a wild goose chase, and on top of everything, I’m going to have to change my password across all my devices and on my email which is a royal pain in the ass at the best of times. So thanks Apple for possibly the stupidest customer support experience I have ever had to put up with.

[UPDATE]

I finally managed to solve the problem, entirely on my own I might add. It seems that entering an email address in the optional field was causing it not to connect to the server for some reason. I have emailed back support to tell them to stop the request to change my password and examine the account, but I’m not optimistic. Here’s hoping!

The Problem With Journalism

thomasfitzgerald — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:03:00 +0000

Posted in Mac

something is fundamentally wrong with journalism. Some people will argue that social media is the answer, but I have to disagree. in fact I think by rushing to compete with, and embrace the world of social media, the bastions of journalism have failed themselves. To be true to the ideal, they should make sure that they are the antithesis of what social media is. They should be doubling down on their core principles, not abandoning them. In the excellent Documentary about the New York Times, “Page One”, there is a segment where the director interviews Nick Denton of Gawker. Denton describes how they track what is being talked about on social media and across their blogs, and the topics that people are most commenting on, no matter how banal are what they write about. He touts this as their advantage over the mainstream press. The problem is, that’s not the job of News. It’s not up to journalists to give people what they want to read, its to give them the truth. And that I believe is why journalism has lost its way. ~ Me, on The Technology Geek

Part of a piece I wrote on the controversy surrounding the revelations that Mike Daisey made up much of his diatribe about Apple. Related posts:

The Story That People Should Be Writing About Apple

thomasfitzgerald — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 10:13:00 +0000

A piece I wrote over on “The Technology Geek“:

The Apple story is the epitome of the American dream: two guys in a garage start a company that becomes bigger than the GDP of many countries. They should teach its success in school. What people should be writing about is that even in economic darkness, you can succeed no matter how the odds are stacked against you. Instead the story of the week was that the company is doomed because of Tim Cook’s untucked shirt

Embrace Your Inner Fanboy

thomasfitzgerald — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:55:00 +0000

A personal rant from me, about the state of the technology press when it comes to Apple, and how it has affected my own writing on the subject.

By the way, if you like what I’ve written here in the past, please head over to the technology geek and subscribe to the RSS feed. Most of my technology blogging will be done from there for now on.

By Focussing On Apple, The New York Times Sidelines Bigger Issues With Manufacturing in China

thomasfitzgerald — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:52:00 +0000

My take on the whole Apple / Worker’s Conditions article from the New York Times

Simon’s Cat: Snow Buisness

thomasfitzgerald — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:40:00 +0000

Gorgeously simple animation. And very funny.

About those Samsung Ads

thomasfitzgerald — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:12:18 +0000

There has been a lot of press over the last few days about Samsung’s latest Apple bashing ads. If you haven’t seen them, they basically poke fun at Apple users for being mindless sheep following the whims of Apple’s marketing. There are some specific claims, but the point of the ads seems to be to play on the stereotype of the Apple fanboy and fan girl. It suggests that if you want real substance you should go with Samsung. The commercials may win kudos with the tech nerds out there and those who dislike Apple but as an advertisement it fails miserably, and here’s why:

If the ads are trying to win over Apple customers, which, one would assume is the intention, then the commercials are deliberately insulting their intended market. I’m not sure what genius at the ad agency thought it was a good idea to try and humiliate the very customer they are trying to win over? Did they think that you would embarrass them into believing that they really should buy Samsung to save face? I get what they’re trying to do, but given that a very large percentage of the population owns an Apple product of some description, telling them “you’re all a bunch of sheep” hardly seems like an approach to win new customers.

If, on the other hand, the ads are targeted at those who would never buy Apple anyway, then they’re just preaching to the converted, and are completely pointless, because in this case, the main competion for Samsung isn’t Apple but other Android handset manufacturers. Perhaps they think that by sharing in the hardcore android fan’s collective hatred for all things Apple they will endear themselves with them, but unfortunately, that particular demographic is probably much smaller than reading the likes of Gizmodo would have you believe. In fact, the whole commercial looks like something you would come up with if gadget blogs were your primary source of information as to the feelings of the general public with regard to gadgets and technology.

I know there are those out there that will say that I’m just another apple defending sheep, but then those people will never be convinced as to anything else anyway. They are the target audience for this commercial but as they don’t need convincing, it’s just a big waste of money. The ads might be humorous and well produced and they might serve to validate existing purchases or beliefs, but as a tool to sell products, in my opinion they fail miserably.

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