Elliott C. Back: In Aere Aedificare

If you’ve ever thought about getting a Pink iPhone for yourself, look no further than Colorware PC, who will let you pick out a custom paint job for your iPhone in the colors you want. For example, a classic AdSense like blue/green/white job looks like this:

The cost? Just $200 and 2-3 weeks of processing time, plus additional time to ship it there and back. Looking at their gallery of samples, the painting appears extremely high quality, precise, and on-color. They even off pantone matching for those colors you absolutely need to have. Behind the scenes, they use a custom UV resistant plastic coating they call “X2″ and (probably) paint robots to precisely paint your device.

They also can paint notebooks, macbooks, iPods, PC computers, the Sony PSP, your blackberry, an xBox or PS3, and a host of other commercial products.

I bought a pair of Shure E4c-n earphones about 6 months ago from Amazon, and I have to say they are the best I’ve ever owned. They have a 4/5 star review on Amazon with 50 reviews; their newer cousin the SE420 has similar reviews. Here’s what they look like:

The sound isolation is orders better than any other headphones I’ve tried, and the frequency response is excellent. My coworkers, two of whom bought similar or identical Shure earphones, also swear by them. You can be sitting on the worst part of the NYC subway line with them on, and not hear the pain of the wheels screeching on ill fitted metal tracks.

A reviewer on Amazon praises the sound quality better than I can:

These IEMs sound absolutely incredible. They sound is so clear and detailed that I notice new details in songs that I had listened to dozens if not hundreds of time. In a complex musical passage it is easy to follow every note of a single instrument which is not an easy feat with most headphones.

As for Customer Service, it’s the best. My earphones started wearing out in 6 months at the cord junction where it meets the plug, and they are sending me an advance replacement (against my CC) of the SE420s. When I get them I’ll send back the defectives to the Customer rep who took my warranty replacement and they’ll reverse the charge. Another customer had a similar, great experience:

As for Shure customer service–I had a suspected loose wire in one of the E3 earphones (used for 8 months) leading to dropouts when I would move my head. I got a return form off the Shure website–filled it out and sent it along with a copy of my receipt to Shure. Within 10 days, they had sent out a completely new pair at no charge.

Even Apple doesn’t offer this level of personalized customer service. I’m extremely impressed, and with their 2 year warranty, I’ll definitely buy again!

I give iTunes a gold star for this little gem:

Dear Elliott,

A few weeks ago, you downloaded “What About Bob?” from The Dresden Files, Season 1. The item you received may have had some noticeable quality issues.

Please note that this is an older episode, but we wanted to make sure you had the correct file. I have placed a new copy of this item in your download queue at no charge. To begin downloading, click this link:

phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZFinance.woa/wa/checkForPurchases

Or, you can open iTunes and select Check for Purchases from the Store menu.

We want you to be completely satisfied with your purchase, so we’ve issued one free video credit to your account. This credit will be used as payment for the next $1.99 TV show, music video, or short film you purchase from the iTunes Store. Your free credit amount appears next to your account name once you’re signed in. If you do not see it, sign out of your iTunes account and then sign back in to refresh. The sign out and sign in functions are found under the Store menu of iTunes.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our customer service team by replying to this email.

Sincerely,

Kevin
iTunes Store Team
www.apple.com/support/itunes/ww/

How often does a big company go way out of its way to do something like this? Not too often, I wager.

When I see the following well-produced Apple iPod Shuffle knockoffs, I wonder why anyone cares? If they’re half as expensive and do the same thing, it’s just an example of foreign innovation:

This stack of iPod shuffles was sold on ebay to a poor Frenchman. He complains, “while browsing eBay, I spotted a seller proposing iPod shuffle (with a 40 units stock). He was reporting to have them bought in China, so I assumed he must have had a good deal.” Appleinsider reports that Apple has released a guide highlighting some noteable differences between faked iPods and real genuine ones:

For example, here are things to check:

• Nonstandard headphone jacks
• No dock connector
• The serial number 6U545TK2TJT
• No included USB cable
• Slightly longer screen than the real nano
• Play/Pause symbol on the middle button
• No repeat option on the on/off switch
• No battery or status light

If you’ve experience trouble with fake Apple products, leave your story in the comments. I’d love to hear what’s really going on out there.