Apple iPhone Alarm doesn't work In New Years 2011

Happy New Year everyone, I slept in rather late this morning. Which isn't too bad I suppose I had no appointments to be late for. I just assumed I had just slept through the alarm, Then I started reading on Twitter then there was in fact in a bug in the iPhone alarm.

Surely this is madness I thought, It can't be, something as simple as an alarm wont just stop working because its New Years. I mean its not like its Y2K or anything. An alarm is a relatively simple thing, if its the pre set time make noise.

if ( time = timeAlarmSet )
{
     makeNoise();
}

Granted the actually code is probably a little more involved, but an alarm is still a relatively simple function. I'm a software engineer so I have some knowledge on the subject. But I think what has happened here is that in an effort to be smart and awesome like all Apple products ( cause they always succeed right? ) Someone thought they should try something clever instead of just make the alarm simple as it should be, and just moving on to the next exciting part of iOS development.

So now the iPhone alarm wont work until the 3rd of January 2011, alarms set to recur will still work fine. But somewhere along the way a bug has crept in that makes single alarms a kind of moot point. I'm sure nothing major will happen because of this, just a lot of people sleeping in the next few days, a lot of people will be late for work, hopefully without any repercussions. But its something that was so totally avoidable, it makes the second  time that an oversight on something that should be very simple on Apple's part has resulted in great inconvenience.

Its just mind boggling to me as a producer and tester of software, that something like that get past testing, even more boggling is that it's from Apple and on devices with such crazy saturation. Its not like they aren't making money of this thing, or they have competition with similar market share. Granted I know making the alarm function may be boring compared to working on the Retina Display or FaceTime functions, but that is no excuse for this, you still have your job to. 

I just wanted to make people aware, for whatever good it will do for the next three days.

In closing I just want to put out there. Imagine what might have happened if Apple iOS (whatever version is was) was the majority of the market share when Y2K or the "millennium bug" happened. Probably nothing would have happened. But when this like events like this, and that can get through it gives me pause, and makes kinda grateful for Windows. Maybe not, but hopefully it makes someone think.

I'm not Apple bashing, just ranting. Apple is here to stay and provides useful technology and services. I still plan on using their products for the foreseeable future, Just getting this off my chest.

See you next time, and Happy New Year again, especially to those people who will not be woken up for three days.

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes Episode Guide 06 Meet Captain America

This is the forth mini-episode compilation, this one is Captain America.

So I noticed that each episode has different characters assembled before it fades to silhouette, depending on what characters appear in the episode. So ill be adding a new section that lists who they are.  

For an index of all episodes go here

Original Air  Date: 24/10/2010 Production Code:004

14 Meet Captain America

15 The Red Skull Strikes!

16 If This Be Doomsday!

18 Lo, There Shall Come a Conqueror

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

The last few days I've been tweeting about a my latest discovery, the amazing new Marvel Animation Production  The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. I knew it was in the works for a while and didn't really care, the last few Marvel shows weren't that entertaining Iron Man:Armored Adventures, Super Hero Squad etc and while were at it, most carton shows produced in the last ten years or so haven't been up to scratch. There were a few exceptions like Justice League/Justice League unlimited and Batman Beyond.

I know these shows are aimed at children, but the comics they are based on are mostly purchased by older teenagers all the way up to old age adults. So I feel the show should be equally entertaining and enjoyable for those fans too. When I was young the shows I watched, while aimed at children, could be enjoyed by adults in fact I can still watch a lot of those shows today and be entertained, Batman: The Animated Series, 1990's Spiderman, X-men and many more.

"Avengers Assemble!"

The Benefit and Detriment of Trophies

As I was playing Transformers War for Cybertron, Levelling my classes, I was wondering why am I doing this? Is it to get the classes to max level or am I just doing it to get the Trophy/Achievement? (my primary gaming platform at the moment is PS3 so I will probably cite trophy more that achievement, but for the purposes for this the terms are interchangeable)

Back in the day before trophies, I tended to play games longer, granted I had less games to play but still. I rarely find myself just getting lost in the world any more, just exploring or seeing what's out there.

For example;

Metal Gear Solid - Love this game. I've actually purchased it three times, The Original Release, The Gamecube Release and recently again on PSN. I have no idea how many times I've completed this game, on all difficulties, unlocked all items. I used to do speed runs for fun. Listen to the codec conversations all over again. Today would that happen I wonder? unless there was a trophy for it?

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - I actually purchased an N64 just to play this game, Again i've purchased this one twice, Original release and the Gamecube "Master Quest" version. This game might possibly be my all time favourite game ever! Every detail is still ingrained in my memory even today Twelve years later ( has it been that long?) What would happen if this had trophies? would it have gotten the same love? Would it still have gotten its Perfect scores 10/10 from Edge, Famitsu, IGN and many others? The Fanboy in me shudders to even ponder this one.

Grand Theft Auto III - Possible one of the biggest time sinks I've ever played, My first taste of sandbox. I have great love for this game, I must admit though that I haven't played it in a long time, My copy was stolen so I don't own it any more. So I am unsure how it has held up to the test of time. I don't really need to elaborate on this one, even before trophies this game lived a long time, I remember it having an almost permanent position on Gamefaqs Top 10 games on the front page, while for me at least Grand Theft Auto IV has all but faded from memory.

Have trophies put a shorter life span on games? perhaps but maybe on "sub par" games it give them an extra incentive to be played, Some games have an increased popularity due to the sheer easiness to complete and get your Platinum Trophy, while others have trophies that are literally impossible to achieve.

From my personal experience, The Saboteur my first Platinum in fact. While a wholly under-rated game I would recommend everyone go out and get. I enjoyed it immensely, It recaptured the feelings I had playing Grand Theft Auto III and maybe even Grand Theft Auto (for those of you old enough to remember) Wide area to explore, weapons and vehicles to collect, Nazis installations to take out, The main character even shared my first name what more could I want. I had gotten most of the trophies without even really trying for them, just popped us as I was normally trying to complete things. But alas when that platinum appeared on the screen, I didn't realise at the time but something changed inside me. I kept playing, but after a day or two I felt I had no reason to keep going, So I moved on to the next game. So The Adventures of Sean Devlin is now up on my self and sadly will probably never be played again.

"I was unprepared for the power you would have over me"

Another example, soon after getting my PS3 I was online looking for an RPG to play I stumbled upon Agarest: Generations Of War, not only that it was a collectors edition ( I had no chance ) When it arrived there was lots going on in real life and I hadn't really enough time to fully immerse myself in the game and it has since been relegated to the backlog pile, and gets closer to the bottom all the time ;( I can't help but wonder that if it has trophies would this have been different? would I have made more time for it? Actually I recently learned that the US Version (Digital Download Only) has trophies and for a minute there I considered it but managed to slap some sense into myself.

It was these games that made me realise the power and significance trophies have come to play in gaming. They are no longer (if they ever were) a way to track what you played and could brag about online. They have a power over what, when and how you play. 

So gentle reader I urge to think about something next time you have a controller in hand, Are you playing this for you? or are you playing for trophy completion either consciously or subconsciously or is there even a difference?