Monday 19 November 2012

My new motorbike

Well I finally outgrew my little Suzuki Intruder 250. I have to say it was a fantastic bike to learn on. Easy to ride and very forgiving. We had many good rides together around the back roads of the Manawatu and a couple of trips to Wellington.

With summer coming, I wanted a new bike that would let me commute to work in Wellington, have my weekend adventures and, most importantly, let me explore the gravel and dirt roads I see on my wanderings.

After much investigation and blog reading, I settled on the BMW G650GS which I picked up last Friday. My plan was to ring back on Monday and book my 1000km service as I was due to do a 400km ride with a group called the Back Road Riders on Sunday. However the wind, the rain, and my wimpy nature meant I didn't do the ride. Next time though.

I rode the bike back from Wellington to Palmerston North on Friday and I loved it. Good power (remember I have stepped up from a 250 cruiser), great handling and a very comfortable seating position. I love it. Rode to work in Wellington this morning with a smile on my face all the way.

The one thing I would criticize is the wind buffeting. The windshield pushes the wind into my neck which gets to be a bit of a pain after a while. I have done a bit of research and I have just ordered a Touratech windshield adjuster. I am going to try and adjust the current stock windshield so it pushes up just a little. This may do enough to send the wind over my head. I had the taller seat fitted so think this is what is causing the problem.

Had a few farkles fitted when I bought the bike and will see what else I need. I had fitted the high seat option, engine protector, Scott Oiler and a set of Givi Trekker 33lt panniers and top box. I am now all set to go! I will post updates as I put my baby through her paces.

 

 

Sunday 11 November 2012

IOS6 3G Data Leakage

Like a good little Applebot I upgraded my iPad2 and iPhone 4s to IOS6 a couple of weeks after IOS6 was released. 3 days later and my iPad had gone through 10GB of 3G data on a 2GB plan.

It appears as though the "Use 3G Data" setting being turned on meant "always use 3 G data" even when on wi-fi. 64 pages of 3g data use and $800 later I was left with no option but to turn off 3G data to stop running up even bigger bills.

Rang Telecom New Zealand to see if they could help. They put me through to some "special investigation's team". Gotta love honest nerds. The person I spoke to told me that they knew that this was a problem affecting some devices and they had been asked by Apple to monitor affected users if they rang up.

A couple of weeks later I got my bill with nothing done about my $800 of excess data usage. Went into a telecom store to get assistance.They rang the telecom billing department who said they would look into it. On hold for 20 minutes, they came back on and told the telecom person I was dealing with that they were not aware of any data issues with IOS devices. I don't think they realised that they were on speaker phone. The telecom assistant then told them what he could see on the notes, to which they replied "the notes are wrong".

If I was a gambling man, I would say that it looks like Apple are making sure that any hint that there could be a problem is being "disappeared". After all, the usage of data is not telecoms issue, it is an Apple issue. However telecom could have handled this better by at least giving me any info they had instead of stonewalling and denying.

I have no chance of getting anything back from Apple, I will try though, but am not holding out hope. What I will be doing however is hopping off the Apple Fanboy bandwagon. My next phone will be a Nexus 4 and my next tablet, will not be an iPad but a Windows 8 device. I will keep the MacBook Air going as still think its the best non hardcore techie machine on the market.

Back on an iPad

I last had an iPad in 2016, an iPad Air 2. When it broke, I never replaced it, I just used the MacBook Air and my iPhone. This year for Fat...