Neatly Sliced

I looked at my phone and saw a missed call and a text message from a blank phone number. I was incredibly confused!

Soon thereafter, I checked the voice mail, and I got another text message from blank phone number, with blank content!

It looked a little something like this:

December 31, 1969 5:59 PM? September 4, 2012 6:10 PM? I feel like I’m being given a secret code!

I googled to no avail. But, I searched MacRumors, and according to a post in a thread regarding this very topic:

The network sends a notification from the tower to the phone to send a v-mail notification and then when you check your voice mail it sends another notification to your phone and then it would say on your iPhone that you no longer have a new vmail. but because of the fact thats its not a TMOBILE PHONE that the signal is sent differently to there exclusive phones. So not only the iPhone will be affected other unlocked phones will have similar problems.

Update:
A user at the hackint0sh forum called T-Mobile in a thread:

Apparently they have been making updates to their software in the T-mobile system over the past few weeks. Part of the updates they did were to the speed up the internet on the network, but in the process they screwed up the voicemail notifier settings. They told me it is not a priority to fix it since the problem is only happening on phones they do not currently offer.
…
The only solution for the time being is to have T-mobile disable the voicemail notification. In this case you will no longer receive any text messages or a dot indicator when you receive a voicemail.

Apparently, T-Mobile is working on this issue. Ack! Hope this helps, and that they can fix it soon!

Have you had any fun messages or a different timestamp? Have you found another thread mentioning this issue? Have you called T-Mobile? Let everyone know here in the comment section!

Continued confusion Current lifestamp: April 28, 2009, 9:20PM. Awaiting future self to discover content based texts, rather than blank whispers into the void.
We know that December 31, 1969 is the birth of UNIX timestamps (corresponding to the UNIX timestamp “1″). But what is the significance of September 4, 2012? My precise timestamp above converts to 1240971028. I’ve continued to receive Voicemail texts – all for September 4, 2012, but at more times: 7:14 PM, 10:04 PM, 11:16 PM – with no correlation to the actual time of either receipt of voicemail or checking. And, my initial message is the only one from 1969.

It also seems that if you had a voicemail red dot prior to the text messaging weirdness, you cannot get rid of it. Whatever voicemail state you were, you continue to be. This is because these blank texts are your voicemail notifications – and your iPhone doesn’t know how to process the new T-Mobile notifications. Anyone know how to get rid of the red dot, just for the sake of aesthetics? Let us know.

A quandary, no doubt. Lots of conspiracies in the comments. Any to add?

Good news!
I received missed call and voicemail at 11:52AM Central Time on April 30, 2009, and I received a Voicemail dot! That means no text message! And the Voicemail dot went away when I checked it. So looks like situation normal. Everyone rejoice.

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A while back I wrote that MacHeist 3 began. It didn’t. They just released another package of software.

Now, MacHeist 3 really has kicked off. They initiate the con by prompting the user to log in. By simply logging in, the heister earns loot worth $39: Process. Process is an organizing/outlining/collaborative app. I’m not sure I’d actually use it, but hey, it’s free. Why not.

The first mission is briefed in the forum. A girl with a thick accent comes on a video informing the user to check thegardenofforkingpaths.com for information gathering.

They’ve already debriefed the team, telling us all to wait for another communique.

I must say that I’m a bit irritated. I got the original email while I was at work, and checked it on a whim just now, knowing that I wouldn’t have time to work on it until tomorrow. For the mission to be solved in just a few hours is pointless for working individuals.

Let me know updates you find, and I’ll post my thoughts and findings.

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MacBook Pro Unboxing
Originally uploaded by neatlysliced.

Lincoln got a new MacBook Pro and let me tell you, I am drooling in envy. That machine is so slick and streamlined. I almost regret repairing my own MacBook Pro rather than replacing it after my prior water fiasco (regarding which I am, at this very moment, on the phone with AppleCare regarding random power fluctuations).

The glossy screen is a lot nicer than I imagined. Due to the brilliant architecture, it seems a lot thinner, as the edges bevel from closer to the center. The older MacBooks were far more squared off.

The magnetic closing mechanism is much nicer than the button on the old MacBook Pro. It feels more secure, and is resistant to damage. My button has marking damage from where my nail has worn away the finish.

The speaker quality seems much nicer than my MacBook Pro. The entire case feels more solid, due to the new design – all cut from one piece of aluminum!

Apple even moves forward with a green screen – LED backlighting to cut down on energy draining. Expected battery life? Five hours. Highly recommended.

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Cats Love Apple
Originally uploaded by MorrowLess.

Awwwwwww this appeals to my inner mac-lover and my inner cat-lover.

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Last night, after having taken a sip of water from my 1-liter SIGG water bottle, I spilled about half of my almost full container on my bed, on which also rested my laptop. I’m not sure how much water was absorbed by my sheets and how much by my computer, but there was enough in the computer that when I went to shut it down, it started thinking forever until I held down the power button, although at this point my screen had already gone black. Putting my ear up to my sad sad machine, I could hear the sizzling of water inside. Oh noes.

I removed my laptop’s battery and tilted my computer at an angle to the sight of water dripping out the crevices.

It is now sadly sitting at home on its side, open, and in front of a fan, where my brother tells me it needs to stay for the following 7 days if I want to maintain any morsel of hope of recovery.

I am quite forlorn. I have never experienced such laptop calamity before; I was hoping some or any of you would have a laptop tale to share that ended with hope and not tears. I’m not sure my laptop has any hope, but any at all would be nice.

PS: Do you think this is covered by AppleCare? I’m still under my 3 years…

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Update:
This post is quite old and I have posted an official update with my thoughts on the first mission. Hello, did anyone get to solve it besides kiddies staying home from school?

Back to the original post…

Sometime this weekend, MacHeist 3 started selling its latest bundle. Note, there is no heist game portion this round, but the bundle is for sale.

The MacHeist bundle was introduced last December, 2006, to huge success within the Macintosh community. The software bundle offered 10 of the Mac indie development community’s best offerings, and was available at the end of the MacHeist promotion for one week.

The bundle was called the greatest Mac software deal in history, and has never been available since then. Customers snapped up over 16,000 copies, and donated 25% of their purchase to various charities.

Apps:
Awaken, Cha-Ching (a fun Quicken-like app, $40 value), CoverSutra, DEVONthink Personal, iClip (Hardcore clipboard, $29 value), Overflow (dock remanager), Wallet (account info aggregator, $14.95 value), WriteRoom, XSlimmer (removes parts of Universal Code that do not apply to your machine, $11.95 value), Enigmo (game, $19.95 value), Bugdom 2 (game, $29.95 value), Nanosaur 2 (game, $24,95 value).

Altogether, it is over $250 worth of goodies for $49. An absolute steal. An added bonus – some of the funds are donated to charity and you can choose which charity your portion will support. If you do nothing, just register for a free MacHeist account – you get WireTap Pro for free ($19 value) and some other goods that collect to $54 for free, and a $2 discount from the bundle.

My computer will be so brimming with software that it won’t know what to do with itself.

Support Neatly Sliced and purchase through this link to give me points leading to a discount on my purchase. Thanks in advance.

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The cat’s almost out of the bag… Say whaaat? Any guesses on the mystery product?
Via Josh.

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