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.

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.

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.

Cats Love Apple
Originally uploaded by MorrowLess.

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

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…

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.

I have read in various forums that average battery wear and tear is 80% health at 300 cycles. As you can see from the photo, I’m at 244 cycles and 70% health. If I sit and watch my unplugged portable, I can see the battery percentage shrink as the minutes pass. It’s as fun as charades, only completely depressing.

I purchased AppleCare on my MacBook Pro because I have a tendency to have expensive things go wrong. I called the AppleCare phone number (1-800-APL-CARE [1-800-275-2273] as of December 2007) and endured about a half hour of troubleshooting by a rather nice fellow who was reading the script the computer was showing him. The possibly unnecessary steps I was forced to take:

1. Ensure that I am using BatterUpdater version 1.3. This is done by navigating to /System/library/SystemConfiguration/ and Get Info on BatteryUpdater.bundle. Of course, I have the latest version.
2. Shut down my machine, unplug the power adapter, and check the battery’s serial number and model number. This is to ensure that you battery is not in the defective range as detailed on the corresponding Apple Support page.
3. Replace battery, plug computer back in, start machine, only to restart to zap the PRAM. This is accomplished by holding the key combination Command+Option+P+R on restart, and waiting for the second chime. (Apple Knowledge Center reference)
4. Open Apple System Profiler (Apple menu > About This Mac > More Info…), and read off to my helpful assistant the information under Power > Battery Information.

After much ado about nothing, my helpful assistant concluded that my battery was defective and promptly mailed me (in less than 48 hours, mind you) a new battery, under the stipulation that I return my depressed chargeless power device.

The moral of the story is, my AppleCare has just nearly paid for itself by replacing my battery that I was using every day. Now I get another two years of peace of mind in case anything else breaks down.

The Lost Counter by skia.net.

At 104 minutes (1 hour and 44 minutes), a familiar alarm will sound, you will have 4 minutes (bringing the total cycle to the familiar 108 minutes) to enter the code “4 8 15 16 23 42″ (The Numbers!) and hit “Execute” (a.k.a. “return” on your Apple keyboard), else face the end of the world (or, hieroglyphics where the numbers displayed).

Not only is this immensely fun, but you can use it as a sitting-timer for the workplace. Every 108 minutes, you will have a fun reminder to get up and take a walk to avoid unsightly computer-posture and deathly blood clots.

Currently, the timer still counts down even if the user is logged out or the computer is asleep. This can be quite annoying; once the timer has expired without entering the code, the only way to reset it is to delete that instance of the widget and plop a fresh one in its place. This is fine if going for the Lost experience, but makes it cumbersome to use it as a desk tool.

Proposed modifications:

1. Make the timer pause when the user is logged off or the computer is asleep
2. If not the above, if the timer expires, allow a force reset in the info view of the widget

The widget is freeware, but if you wish to support skia you may buy his wares at cafepress.

Other Lost related widgets:

• LOST Season 5 Countdown
• Lost Season 4 Premiere Widget

I am yet to uncover a decent Safari Web Dev toolbar. A simple option, however, is the Debug menu. The Debug menu features User Agent spoofing, JavaScript console (not quite as good as Firefox’s), and a view of the DOM tree, among other things.

To enable the Debug menu, first launch OS X’s Terminal. Then type the following:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1

To disable the Debug menu, simply replace the 1 with a zero:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 0

Relaunch Safari and view your new Debug menu, next to the Help menu. Read a short bit of the JavaScript Console at Apple’s Safari Dev page.

Have you found useful Safari development tools? Leave a comment and let me know.