Mac|Life - November 2011

A Lion of a Refund I didn’t think I would have an experience with Apple like I did with Microsoft for years— software full of problems. I have used a Mac for nearly five years and have enjoyed that it always just works. Lion doesn’t work, and it’s been filled with “improvements” that should be set to be turned on by the user, not the other way around. I’m extremely disappointed in this release. I did manage to get a credit for the purchase, but I also got a suggestion that I work with support to struggle through the problems. Sorry, not my job. I will say, to Apple’s credit, that they didn’t give me grief when I asked for a refund. But the lingering question in my mind is, why replace a perfectly functioning Snow Leopard with a wounded Lion?—Joe Dianda We’re as surprised as you are by the number of issues that persist in Lion, and we don’t remember a past OS X release that launched so unsteadily. While we love a lot of Lion’s new toys—AirDrop, all the gestures—we’re frustrated by its hiccups on a daily basis. We’ll keep posting solutions and workarounds on maclife.com as we find them, and please keep writing to ask@maclife.com to let us know of any stumpers you encounter so we can take a crack at resolving them for you.—Ray

The Way to Celebrate My grandmother recently held her 101st birthday celebration in Taiwan. During one part of the celebration, she was given an iPad to play with, which she greatly enjoyed. She and the iPad were singing in Mandarin. Is this the future that Steve Jobs had in mind? —Jean Linsavage We sure hope so! And if we may be so bold, we kinda think Steve would agree. Great story, and happy birthday to your grandmother!—Florence

DIY FTW

I was excited to see your review of the treadmill desk in “Better Tech, Better Health” (Aug/11, p44), but I was blown away at the price! I looked into buying a treadmill desk last year and ended up building my own because of the prices I was seeing, although none approached $4,400! The setup I put together was much cheaper: just a used treadmill (that happened to have arms at the right height for a keyboard), a wall-mounted monitor, and a spare keyboard and mouse. My husband built a nice shelf for the keyboard so I could have other stuff close at hand. Although I still have my sit-down desk, I spend anywhere from 2

to 5 hours a day on the treadmill, strolling at a leisurely 1. 9 mph while I work. I’ve walked over 400 miles since I started keeping track in January and feel great! It really keeps away that afternoon slump!—Lee Ann Obringer We’ve always known a treadmill desk would be an amazing way to keep moving while working, but between the price tag and getting our cubicle neighbors to scootch over to squeeze the treadmill in, it’s never come to pass. Way to do it yourself!—Nic

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