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My iPhone 3.0 upgrade is not going well (Updated 3x)

Update 3 (6/19/09 3:45p): It's a feature, not a bug. I hate that…

Apple - Support - Discussions - Double contacts? … shows people with similar symptoms. Why I had trouble getting iTunes to disable local syncing, I now don't know — but I will no longer be spooked by the option to enable local syncing remaining visible. And I will notice the new text which used to say "Over-the-air sync settings can be changed on your iPhone" now says "You can also choose to sync contacts/calendars with this computer."

I guess Apple removed the either/or restriction on MobileMe syncing. I suppose this could allow you to sync with a home-based MobileMe account while also syncing with a work-based desktop account.

Update 2 (6/18/09 5:46p): I think I've fooled iTunes. It's not "fixed", but here's what I did to get back on track:

  1. I created a blank new Calendar and a blank new Address Book group.
  2. I deleted all mail accounts on my phone, along with all their data.
  3. This left a bunch of calendars and contacts *still* on my phone, so
  4. I unchecked "Sync Mail Accounts" (for now).
  5. set my phone to sync Calendars and Contacts to those empty groups I just created, and checked the corresponding Reset buttons. (The idea being that I reset all my data to nothing, the only way I could find to erase just the Calendars and Contacts.)
  6. Then, after the Calendar/Contact sync finished (erasing all Calendar/Contact data on the phone), in a separate sync I re-added the Mail Accounts.
  7. I ejected the phone and disconnected the USB cable.
  8. On the phone, in the Settings for my MobileMe account, I turned on Contacts, Calendars, and Bookmarks sync. I also had to launch the Contacts and Calendars apps to initiate the data being pulled in from the MobileMe cloud.
  9. After that all finished and I had the correct data on my phone, I deleted the blank Contact group and blank Calendar from my Mac (sync cable still unattached) to verify the Push connection was alive and working.
  10. Only once the blank group and calendar disappeared from my phone via a true MobileMe push did I then reconnect the cable to my phone for another sync. iTunes does not show the MobileMe override for Contacts and Calendars, but at least it knows enough and disabled the local syncing.

Let's hope they address this, altho a quick scan of the Discussion Forums and other online notices seems to suggest I'm the only one on the planet having this issue. Lucky me!

Update 1 (6/18/09 3:09p): Apple Discussion forums are back online. Weird they would go offline right as the download started. Saving bandwidth, or what else…

Original Post
I'm 2 hours into my upgrade and having problems.

Also, why are Apple's discussion forums (http://discussions.apple.com/) closed? Is it to squash the possibility of an onslaught of negativeness about anything that goes wrong?

My specific problem is that my phone shows MobileMe sync is enabled, but iTunes' "Info" tab does not agree. As a result, iTunes resyncs my entire Contacts and Calendars every time, despite MobileMe push sync being enabled. I also end up with two sets of Contacts and two sets of Calendar events — one for On My Mac and the other for my MobileMe account.

Notably (or not?), after the upgrade finished, my phone was renamed to just "iPhone". Developing…

posted by brent - June 17, 2009 in Apple and iPhone. 0 Comments
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Advance press for D.C. "Darkly", part 2

More advance press at metroweekly.com for the Washington D.C. performances of Mike's "Through A Glass, Darkly".

Tickets and performance info at gmcw.org.

posted by brent - June 4, 2009 in News and Through A Glass, Darkly. 0 Comments
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Overheard in the Theatre

Overheard at Billy Elliot, Imperial Theatre, 5/28/09
During intermission, right rear orchestra, seat Q9:

$4 for water. That's crazy!

posted by brent - May 28, 2009 in Overheard in the Theatre. 0 Comments
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Snowferno.com is live

The website for our upcoming iPhone game collaboration with Ben Britten is now live. Check out snowferno.com for details, screenshots, development blog, and hear some clips from the soundtrack.

You’ve heard the saying — but where did it all begin?
Who was that snowball, and what exactly was it doing in Hell?

Snowferno is a new take on the classic marble roller game - set (very) loosely in the 9 rings of Dante’s Inferno, with 20 puzzle challenges & starring the original “Snowball-in-Hell”.

Programming and artwork are by Ben. Mike and I are writing the music and designing (most of) the levels. We are nearing a beta release and hope to hit the iTunes App Store early July.

posted by brent - May 11, 2009 in News, Snowferno, Software and iPhone. 0 Comments
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Advance press for "Darkly" in Washington DC

Dan O'Neill writes a great article for the upcoming production of Mike's "Through A Glass, Darkly" by the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington DC.

posted by brent - May 11, 2009 in News and Through A Glass, Darkly. 0 Comments
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"Survivor: Live" opens today

Our Live Entertainment projects for this year include "Survivor: Live", created by two longtime partners of FatLab Music — RWS & Associates Entertainment, Inc. and Joey Wartnerchaney of Manhattan Creative Group — and scored by me.

RWS, under agreement with CBS Television, is producing the first-ever live entertainment adaptation of the Emmy Award-winning television series, and I was thrilled to contribute the music.

The show centers around physical challenges with audience volunteers. For the show, I wrote an expanded theme song adapted from Russ Landau's iconic "Ancient Voices", plus arranged all-new tribal/hip-hop versions of "369", M.I.A.'s "Galang", and Destiny's Child's "Survivor".

Two parks open their productions today — Denver's Elitch Gardens and Oklahoma City's Frontier City — with Buffalo's Darien Lake to follow May 23. Performances are four times daily thru the end of each park's summer season.

Related:

posted by brent - May 2, 2009 in News. 2 Comments Tags: .
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Airfoil Speakers Touch app is a great tool for iPhone devs

As I wrote previously, Rogue Amoeba's just-released iPhone app "Airfoil Speakers Touch" is a slightly baffling piece of software with limited use in practice. I don't think much of the criticism it is getting on the iTunes App Store is their fault tho, and the upcoming 3.0 SDK features may let Rogue Amoeba finally create what users think this app will do (and what they really want — Airfoil for iPhone!). But, for now, it's baffling.

As a composer embarking on scoring my first iPhone game, however, I now see a tremendous use for this. Our audio system has great studio speakers, but iPhone music has to be optimized for audibility over the tiny phone speaker as well. Instead of the laborious "export, mp3, copy to iTunes, sync, iPod play" routine, I can simply hijack Live or DP and beam the audio to my phone. Tweaks made on-the-fly are immediately heard.

A phone call will still interrupt the audio with no option to resume, and I still can't control the host from within the app… but it did just make my workflow much simpler.

posted by brent - May 1, 2009 in Apple, Reviews, Software and iPhone. 1 Comment Tags: .
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