Today, I decided to upgrade my Toast 9 Titanium software to the latest release 9.0.5. I always dread these updates as you never know if your currently functioning application will still function after you’re done. But still, I forge ahead.

After downloading the latest update and unzipping, I received a message “There may be a problem with this disk image. Do you still want to open?” I pressed on.

When I dragged the update to the application folder, I received a message that I did not have access rights to make this change. Well, I do. There are no other users of my laptop. And now Toast Titanium was missing from the applications because it deleted the old one. The main reason I bought Toast was for the TiVoToGo function to transfer recordings from my TiVo to my mac.

After several unsuccessful attempts to fix this, I had to delete the entire Toast 9 Titanium folder in my applications and start again. I got my original Toast 9 install disc, and installed it. Then I downloaded the update again. I got the same error message “There may be a problem with this disk image. Do you still want to open?” Again, I said yes. But this time, it installed correctly. However, there was no TiVoToGo in the menu anymore. There may have been a few sighs and expletives at this point.

Finally, I went to the Roxio site and did a search on “TiVoToGo” and was directed to this page where I learned that since the Snow Leopard upgrade, TiVoToGo is no longer working as a part of Toast 9. Good news is they have a stand-alone solution. I provided my CD Key and was able to download this new TiVoToGo and now we are back up and running.

It really should be easier than this!

I’ve heard a few people ranting against the iPhone recently. I can’t help but wonder, how can anyone be “against the iPhone”? Is it jealousy? A desire to go against the trend? Or a bid to sound cool? It’s ok to like another product, I won’t hold that against anyone. I used to be a Blackberry fanatic. Until something better came along.

The iPhone is taking the world by storm and it’s not because of gimmicks, marketing scams, pyramid schemes or anything else suspect. It’s because it is a fine product, has incredible word-of-mouth, and a very large support system of developers who continually add value to the product itself. And it’s just pure joy to use.

The iPhone itself as hardware feels great in the hand (and lies quite nicely under the pillow while you sleep). The graphics and user interface are beautiful and nothing less than expected from an Apple product. The most obvious value is the combination of the phone, iPod, address book, email, calendar, GPS maps and camera. And then there are the apps. Oh, those wonderful applications that are multiplying like bunnies. Aside from the multitude of games, there are apps for all sorts of purposes imaginable and more growing every day. So it never gets old. You merely choose what fits your lifestyle.

So why hate something that is good? Why expend that energy? It’s not normal. Can you truly hate sunshine? Or the sound of waves crashing on the shore? Or the sight of cute puppies playing together? Only if you’re in a really, really bad mood. Get over it already.