Gravitational Pull: A blog about tech and other stuff.

  • Getting iTunes to sync standard def videos to your iPad

    We’re big fans of the recent PBS Masterpiece series Downton Abbey and bought the high-definition version from iTunes to watch on the big TV that is connected to our Mac mini media server. But when my wife asked me to load the series onto her iPad recently, I ran into an annoying syncing problem based…

  • Leaving Mozy’s online backup and switching to CrashPlan

    What do you think you’ll do then I bet that’ll shoot down your plane It’ll take you a couple of vodka and tonics To set you on your feet again Maybe you’ll get a replacement There’s plenty like me to be found Mongrels who ain’t got a penny Sniffing for tidbits like you on the…

  • The future of Apple computing isn’t all led by Apple

    There’s a great video up on Macworld’s site of a conversation between four highly knowledgeable Mac pundits about the “future of the Mac.” The participants were Daringfireball’s John Gruber and Tidbits’ Adam Engst along with Jason Snell and Dan Moren from Macworld. The discussion was interesting and worth the 48 minutes or so of my…

  • Just when I got off AT&T, Motorola’s Atrix 4G tries to lure me back

    (Update 2/3/11 — oops, Motorola seems to be way overpricing the laptop dock) Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in -Michael Corleone, The Godfather III A couple of weeks ago, I ended a long and tortuous tenure as an AT&T mobile phone customer in the Boston area. First on a…

  • How to get rid of iTunes ugly new blue icon

    The most recent versions of Apple’s overstuffed iTunes app made an almost universally hated change by switching to a boring, blue icon. I was among the masses who wanted to figure out a way to switch the iTunes icon to something better. It’s not as easy as it used to be to swap icons. There…

  • What a year – more ideas and more clicks

    It was another year of growth for the GravitationalPull blog in 2010, with total visits up about 25% to 45,000 and total page views rising 23% to around 54,000 according to Google Analytics. I wrote 45 posts, up slightly from the 42 you got in 2009. As per the last few years, traffic spiked dramatically…

  • Not so simple way to grab screenshots on the Nexus S

    As I’ve noted a few times, unlike the iPhone, there is no simple way to grab and save a screenshot on the Nexus S phone, or on any Android phone that hasn’t been rooted. There is a complex work-around, however, that delivers beautiful screenshots. Credit to this post from Androidcentral for getting me started. To…

  • Cool and useful Android apps that aren’t on the iPhone

    I’ve only been an Android phone convert for a few days, but I’m coming to appreciate the Google portable OS more and more on my new Nexus S. The notification system, the widgets and the far greater opportunity for customization are all welcome changes from my iPhone. Integration with Google Voice and my Google contacts…

  • What it’s really like to switch to the Nexus S Android phone from an iPhone

    My just-out-of-warranty iPhone 3GS has been acting a little wonky for a couple of months now but last week it started randomly turning itself off and then it wasn’t charging anymore. Given that I’ve been trying to wait out my AT&T contract and switch to a Verizon iPhone sometime next year, the choice of Apple/AT&T…

  • Why can’t anyone compare iTunes store video to Android’s offerings?

    The other day, Josh Topolsky at Engadget published a lengthy and detailed review of the new Samsung Nexus S smartphone which runs the very latest version of Google’s Android operating system. The 3,300 word review seemingly runs through every feature, includes a dozen or more pictures and generally appears to be the most thorough run…

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