iPod Touch Wallpaper Not Changing
Chances are this is a stuck "LockBackground.jpg" file in your var/mobile/Library directory.
Delete that file and all should go back to normal.
This phenomenon seems to be related to the "Customize" app, but with emphasis on "seems". That is, the problem is likely to occur if you change your wallpaper via the Customize program. Avoid doing that and the problem should not come back.
You might be able to delete the file through MobileFinder, but this doesn't always work. You will definitely be able to delete it if you go in through SSH. Once you're in on SSH, do this:
# cd /private/var/mobile/Library
# rm LockBackground.jpg
If the first command doesn't work, try changing the 'L' in "library' to lower case.
That should do it. Becareful using 'rm', of course. That is the command for deleting files (rm = "remove").
Remember: don't change your wallpaper via the Customize interface. At least not for now.
iTunes - Yahoo! Sync Error Work Around
“iTunes could not sync with Yahoo! Address Book because an Internet connection is not available.”
For some iPod Touch and iPhone owners, iTunes will regularly throw an error while trying to sync with the Yahoo address book. It's a goofily incorrect error message in that it happens while you are patently connected to the internet. Arg! If you’ve been searching for a solution for this problem, I think I've found a way to get around it.
The root of the problem seems to be fairly simple -- with emphasis on "seems". What I found is that if I re-enter my Yahoo! password then the sync will go successfully. So; it seems that iTunes is forgetting or losing my Yahoo! password.
Part of the work around, then, is simply to re-enter your Yahoo! password. But why is it forgetting the password (if that's really the problem) and how do you make it stop losing it?
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Posted May 13, 2008 Permalink
iTunes "Hanging" Windows on Exit
If you use a Windows computer to manage your iPod library then chances are good that you've run into the frustrating condition where iTunes pretty much hangs, or freezes, your XP or Vista computer when you try to exit the iTunes program.
Search the web for "itunes hangs (or freezes) windows xp exit" and you'll plenty of folks looking for answers or work-arounds for it -- including on Apples support forums. You may also notice that these complaints go back for years and that there are zero ("zip", nada, none, nothing) responses of any kind from Apple. (Like Windows users aren't used to that from Apple; LOL.)
So, OK; here's the work around -- but please, do me a favor first. Please don't post this on other forums and blogs but instead please just link over to this page. I really will appreciate it very, very much.
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Posted April 30, 2008 Permalink
iPod Touch Lexicon
A Glossary of Terms in the jargon of iPod Touch
At the top are terms specific to the iPod Touch and to iPhones. Further down is a list of terms for iPods in general.- Specific iPod Touch and iPhone Terms
- Cover Flow
- Cover Flow is Apple's graphical user interface for navigating your music collection on your iPod Touch (or iPhone or Macintosh computer) by virtually "flipping" through pictures of album covers.
- Home Button
- That's the button on the face of the iPod Touch. If has several functions but the main one is that when you press the home button once it takes you back to the Touch's Home Screen.
- Home Screen
- The home screen is iPod Touch's and iPhone's equivlent of the "desktop" in Windows and OS-X. It is the home page of the Touch, from which you select and open Touch applications. Apple's term of choice is "home screen" but it is also called: "home page" or "springboard" (after the program called "SpringBoard" that builds and runs it.)
- Installer
- The "installer" application is the visible part of a "jailbreak'd" iPod Touch/iPhone. It appears as an icon on the Touch's Home Screen. As its name implies, it is used to install any of many useful and/or fun applications and tools in the jailbreak'd Touch.
- Jailbreak
- A method that lets Touch and iPhone owners install more useful and/or fun programs on their devices. Technically "jailbreaking" is a hack for getting around the restrictions and limits that are imposed on the standard-issue Touch and iPhone operating systems. Search the web for "jailbreak iPod Touch" for more info plus instructions and tools for jailbreaking.
(Note: For the most part when we say "Touch" or "iPod Touch" here read it as also referring to the iPhone. We'll avoid repeating "...and iPhone" over and over.)
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Posted April 24, 2008 Permalink
Things Missing From the iPod Touch
A to-do list for Apple of much needed features on the iPod Touch
(and presumably its iPhone cousin)
Because, as beautiful as they are, there are just a couple of things that (I think) could make it even better. The iPod Touch is a wonderfully sophisticated and beautifully crafted device. I hope that the acclaimed -- for good reason -- and obviously quite brilliant Apple designers don't mind me making these few suggestions.
Because the physical machine and its software function are so closely intertwined these are really all about software function. Some are closer to the operating system level and some are clearly within particular applications but most have to do with either the operation of the device or standard approaches to situations so that users can depend on the Touch to do what they need in the manner in which they expect it.
- Cut-and-Paste
- To copy bits from one place and paste them into another. Right now that "another" place would only be a form field or a search field in one of the Google apps, but my goodness would it be useful to be able to copy from one field to another or to copy from a webpage to a form field. Please!
- Sound Alerts
- "Sound Effects" settings on the iPod Touch are limited to "On" or "Off" (with options to hear them in the earphones or from the Touch or both.) This one setting effects all sounds that the Touch makes except for playing music including keyboard clicks (irritating as heck when you're trying to be quiet in bed.) and calendar alarms. Major bummer that to quiet the darn keyboard clicks you have to also loose the calendar alarms.
It would so handy to have separate volume settings and options for a set of different functional sounds. A set of options for calendar alarms and another, separate set for keyclicks and another for system alerts and application sounds. And maybe a choice of sounds for alerts too -- different people hear different things. And they hear them different ways.
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Posted April 20, 2008 Permalink
iPod Touch Safari Crashes
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Apple iPod Touch 8 GB (approx. 1,750 songs) Email, Maps, and widgets for weather, notes and stocks. Also in 16 GB & 32 GB. |
"Crash", in this case, means that Safari unexpectedly exits to the Touch springboard. It looks like an unseen finger pressed the home button.
It seems to be pretty well documented from the users' point of view but seems to have been missed at Apple over at least two revions of Touch code. (see, for example, these user forum reports including on the Apple support site: 3/8/08, 2/25/08, 1/7/08, 11/1/07, 3/15/07).
You'll want to note, by the way, that this bug only seems to appear on the iPod Touch (thru version 1.1.4) and does not appear on the iPhone. (I don't know if it is limited to the 8G and 16G ipodes.
Needless to say, it can be frustrating but there does seem to be a cure. Unexpected, to be sure, because it is the sort of thing that you have to do with Windows but a cure nevertheless. Here it is:
1. Reboot your iPod..
That's it.
If you're not familiar with rebooting your iPod Touch, this is how you do it:
1. Press and hold the "hold" button on the top edige of the iPod until the red "power off" slider appears.
2. Slide the red warning slider to the right.
3. Count to 10 or 15 just to let things settle in the circuitry then press the hold button to turn on your iPod again. You should see the silver apple logo as your ipod reboots.
That's it. Your Safari will stop crashing -- at least for a few days or maybe even weeks. When it starts doing the random crashing again, just reboot it again.
Posted April 19, 2008 Permalink
