With the second iPhone 3G launch on Friday, I wonder how the heck is Apple going to resolve the auto-correction issue. You’ve never heard of any issue with auto-correction? Let me explain then. As of now, there is no option not to use auto-correction. That’s it. That’s the issue. You have to use one of the provided keyboard language dictionaries at all times. I have only one question: how difficult is it really to add an empty keyboard language (format)? The solution is so simple it hurts.

Auto-correction is certainly helpful when using English (or any other supported language of your choice). John Gruber arguments that iPhone keyboard without auto-correction would become utterly useless. I wish it could actually. Is Apple assuming everyone is typing in one of the supported languages? I wonder how that could be possibly true even in the US, not to mention UK/Europe.     

I for one switch my typing duties between English and Slovak. I twitter in English. I write most of my SMS messages in Slovak. I write emails in both. And I switch between them frequently.

Nowadays you can turn on multiple keyboard formats and switch between them on the fly (provided you selected so in the International Keyboards settings). Well first of all, current list is far from being complete. Perhaps it’ll change with the updates, but I’ve heard Telefónica O2 Czech Republic is not going to have the Czech keyboard available on launch date and it seems they’re are too aware of the problems (that is plenty of hysterical customers) it’ll bring. And I bet not only for them. I’m also afraid that once Slovak and Czech languages are added, they’ll use words with diacritics, which are rarely used in everyday communication (SMS and emails), and therefore pretty useless anyway.

The only option I have is to type with one of the dictionaries active, hence I have to reject every suggested word. Which is very frustrating. John Gruber about typing without auto-correction in MagicPad:

“Half the words I type are misspelled, some beyond recognition.”

Now double that count and you’ll know how many misspelled words I end up with, because iPhone simply refuses to remember any of my own words. After month’s use! Simple example: we have two essential prepositions, one character each: s (with) and z (from), both dangerously close to a (which by the way means and):
  

Apple, please, just add an empty language (one that doesn’t suggest any words or only the ones that iPhone remembers – functionality I have yet to see working anyway).

Incidentally, I found out that words Obama an McCain are present in English (UK) keyboard dictionary. I wonder what these two, no matter how important they might become for the future world politics, have to do with the British dictionary? I would expect having at least Churchill in there too then.

I just went through a funny ordeal: had a DVD stuck in an optical drive. It couldn’t be ejected and had to be physically removed from a dismantled drive. Sounds cool now but I warn you not to try it at home. Surgery can change into autopsy any second.

I was watching a DVD movie the other day and once I finished I was to eject it from my MacBook Pro’s SuperDrive. Hitting the eject button, DVD disengaged and after few seconds engaged again, disappearing and reappearing as a mounted device on a desktop. Obviously, my Mac enjoyed the movie too and decided to keep it for itself.

Funny, thought I. Something’s going on. Tried over and over to same results, fighting the film. Tried to restart and hold the trackpad button. Nothing, or rather the same again. At this moment, normal people call technical support and give up. But since when am I normal?

The very first thing I did was to search Internet forums. How to get a jammed DVD of the drive? People come up with different ideas, they use credit cards, paper clips, tweezers, turn computer upside down, or whatever else, just to trick the drive to release the offending movie. So I tried all of these, slowly coming to a sad conclusion: I will have to dismantle the whole bloody thing!

Love Actually running on a fully functional, yet semi-dismantled MacBook Pro which still has the SuperDrive top casing removed.

What can I say. Got repair guides from the Internet (www.ifixit.com and powerbookmedic.com are a great source), all necessary screwdrivers, summoned my two assistants (one of whom took photos) and conquered the Mac. It takes roughly 30 screws to get to the drive.

However, once I had a drive, I still didn’t have a movie. So even the SuperDrive had to be dissected into pieces. Then, finally, I had my beloved DVD back. It was brand new few hours ago and now looked at me beautifully scratched by a credit card (which I rendered useless, too) and punctured by tweezers (they survived).

Now, talking about autopsy is one thing and trying to operate without qualification is the other. Yet, I put it all together. Drive was a bit tricky though with proper pressure applied to its screws it engages and releases discs far better now than before. I know ‘cos I let the laptop run while still on a slab, adjusting the screws for the best performance.

This is me enjoying a glass of bourbon while Peter is admiring my precise work.

The rest was a piece of cake. Top casing with keyboard, screws, memory, battery, more screws and ready to fire! All good.

And what was that movie, you might ask? I answer very quietly, OK? Notting Hill. You won’t tell anybody, promise?!

Steve Jobs in his thoughts on music wrote that Apple would embrace DRM-free music in a heartbeat. On the other hand, as it appears to me, he doesn’t see current course as a big problem for customers either:

It’s hard to believe that just 3% of the music on the average iPod is enough to lock users into buying only iPods in the future. And since 97% of the music on the average iPod was not purchased from the iTunes store, iPod users are clearly not locked into the iTunes store to acquire their music.

Well, this is all nice, but somehow, I just can’t buy this argument. Those 3% (or whatever number that really is) are most likely favorite music one has and wants to listen to right now (i.e. on an iPod).

On the whole, I honestly don’t know what to think of his essay.