Category: Rant

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Rant

Rant: Importing scores from free versions

image by Steve Rhodes
Image by Steve Rhodes

I’m a big fan of free games.  I download lots of them to try out.  Some of them have paid-for versions and I’ve bought some of those because I’ve so enjoyed the free versions.  Two recent examples of this are Bubble Defense for android and Flood-it on iPod.

I’ve not yet found one paid-for ganme which loads high score data for the free versions.  I had a fairly enviable score on flood-it but I had to start again once I installed the paid-for version.

It’s not a big deal but I do wish that game developers would consider this tweak for the benefit of those they entice to pay.

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Rant

Rant: Apple Broke My AV Cable

My AV Cable
My AV Cable

A few weeks ago I bought an unofficial AV cable for my iPod Touch (2g) on Ebay.  I used the cable several times and it worked out just fine.

Now I find that – since the update to os3.0 (WHICH I PAID FOR – don’t get me started) – the cable doesn’t work any more.  The video cuts out after a few seconds (the audio continues) but a warning pops up on my iPod saying that it’s not supported.

Very annoying.  I’ve found several mentions of this online but nobody seems to be making a fuss.

I suppose there are 2 options

  1. This was broken accidentally, in which case there might be a fix in the upcoming 3.1 release
  2. This was broken accidentally, in which case it’s another step on Apple’s campaign to shut out third party accessory manufacturers, as seen with the recent iPod Nano headphone debacle

As a reluctant iPod convert I’m trying to love the big Apple, but incidents like this make it much harder.  I’ve considered buying an “official cable” but at over 4 times the price I feel that i’m being forced to buy something I don’t need.

And I’ll be clear that I blame Apple for this, not the guys who sold it to me on ebay.

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Rant

Rant: I want to control what I listen to!

Photo by flattop341
Photo by flattop341

While I’ve been experimenting with  lots of iPod applications I’ve come across what I think is going to be my number one bugbear. Some games handle it beautifully and some abuse their privileges completely.

You see I’m usually trying to review these apps while listening to something on the iPod.  I’d like to be cool and hip and be able to say it was the latest single from someone or other but the truth is, being me, it’s just as likely to be the Archers podcast.

SOme applications, when I start them, switch off my music and make me lsiten to theirs,  I’m sure they’re beautifully crafted (actually, often they’re not) but that’s not the point.  I wasn tot listen to what I want to lsiten to – that’s the main reason for having an iPod after all.

So this is my plea- don’t force me to listen to your music – let me listen to my own!