Restoring an iPhone that has been remotely wiped

My wife and I were at a St. Paul Saints ball game last night. It turned out to be a wet and stormy evening. Being in an open air ball park, we got pretty soaked from the showers. I became concerned that my iPhone would get wet in my pocket so I gave it to my wife to put in her purse for safe keeping. We left the game early in a downpour. When we got home, I asked her where she put her purse so I could retrieve my iPhone. She started to panic when she couldn't find it. It must have been dropped by the car in the parking lot. The purse contained everything you would expect including both of our phones. My first fear was that someone was going to get my personal information off of my iPhone. So I quickly logged into my .me account and performed a remote wipe of my iPhone. It would have been nice to be able to locate it with the "Find my iPhone" feature but I had never turned it on.

Fortunately, there are still many kind and honest people in this world and we received a phone message that arrived via email (a feature of our Vonage home phone service) from a woman who found the purse sitting in a puddle beside her car as she was leaving the game. (Thanks so much Cheryl). She informed us that she was leaving it with the stadium police who would hold it for us. As we rushed back down to the stadium in an ongoing downpour, I was appreciating the cool features of the iPhone and anticipating an easy restoration of my data of which I had just made a recent backup. When we finally got the purse and inspected my phone, I was surprised to see that not only was my phone wiped of all personal data, but the only thing it displayed was the Apple logo and it would not turn off! When we got home I plugged it into my MacBook to begin the restoring process. Nothing happened. By then my phone's battery was dead and all I saw was a dim charging icon. After about 10 minutes charging, the Apple logo came back but nothing else. The phone didn't show up as a device in iTunes. I tried to turn it off and on again multiple times but still nothing. Doing a google search on the subject led me to a couple of posts where people found the remote wipe action nearly bricked their phones. There wasn't much to be found that explained clearly how to get past where my phone was stuck. So trying different sequences of holding the power button and home button, I finally was able to get the screen to display the icon instructing me to plug the phone into the computer to restore from back up and the process began. As I recall, the sequence was 1.) Power down. 2.) Power up and hold the home button until the Apple logo changes to the plug into iTunes icon. After that it was a short amount of time until my iPhone was completely restored.

I am thrilled with the iPhone and all the well-thought-through features. The only downside of the experience was that I was very close to having to upgrade to the 3GS version and will have to wait out my AT&T contract on my first generation iPhone. "Just kidding, honey!"

Me on a Boss Hoss

via tweetree.com

This is the Boss Hoss I just got to ride at Chopper City Sports Boss Hoss Power Tour. If you are a motorcycler over 30 and live in the Twin Cities, you gotta go up and try one. You've never experienced anything like this, I guarantee it!

Posted via web from denmarjo's posterous

Boss Hoss Cycles : PowerTour

via bosshoss.com

Just got my first experience riding a Boss Hoss at the Powertour being held at Chopper City Sports just a couple blocks from here. All I can say is "WOW! That's a lot of power between the legs!". Go to my next post to see the one I rode. Over 400 horsepower V8 engine. Base price of $35,000.

Posted via web from denmarjo's posterous

trikke - Bing Video

Check out this website I found at bing.com

One feature I really like about Bing.com is their video search. Go to this link ( http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=trikke&go=&form=QBVR&qs=n) to see a video search on Trikke and hover your cursor over a video. Really cool.

Posted via web from denmarjo's posterous

Screenjelly - Video

"I really like viewing tweets in Tweetree. Take a look at what I see when viewing my feed."

via screenjelly.com

This demonstration was created with Screenjelly. Check it out at Screenjelly.com.

Posted via web from denmarjo's posterous

Two Thumbs Up for Pixar's UP!

I had a wonderful Father's Day. One reason is because my wife took me to see the new Pixar movie, UP in digital 3D. She knows that I am a Pixar fan and a kid at heart and that I love all the Pixar movies. I also have dabbled in 3D for years. I even have a 3D photo app on my iPhone. I can't believe that I haven't gone to see a movie in digital 3D until now. Up! was the perfect movie for this technology. The clarity and detail were stunning. The story line was packed with emotion. My wife actually was crying in a couple parts. It did seem a little scary in places for younger children so take that under advisement. We were thoroughly entertained and highly recommend going to see UP. Be prepared to duck when stuff flies out at you. The 3D effects were very realistic and added incredible depth. You will be impressed. The glasses were comfortable and even fit over my own glasses which added to the clarity. I think it would be nice if theatres would charge less the next time I go to digital 3D movie if I bring this pair of glasses. It would be a very "green" thing to do. I'll try that next time.

I won't go into the storyline of the movie as there are many other excellent reviews. I just wanted to give the movie my two thumbs UP!

Trikking the Dakota Rail Trail

Today Mary Joyce and I trikked the Dakota Rail Trail from Wayzata to Saint Bonifacius and back again for a total of 26 miles, our first Trikke marathon. It was a picture perfect day for our scheduled vacation day to be alone together. We started out with clear skies and temps around 60 degrees. The sites and sounds around the Lake Minnetonka area were soothing to the soul.

As is our habit when we Trikke, I brought a handful of business cards to give to folks who ask us about our Trikkes. And as usual, we stopped frequently to entertain questions. I gave out all the cards I had. Everyone comments how fun it looks and asks "What do you call those?"

One of our favorite stops was at the Minnetonka Drive In owned by Dave and his wife. This 50 year old drive-in is right out of the 50's and a favorite hangout for drivers of old classic cars and 50's music. The food is great. We highly recommend that if you go experience the Dakota Rail Trail, you must stop at the Minnetonka Drive In to make it complete.

The Dakota Rail Trail was completed last year and has it's grand-opening festivities scheduled for June 20. (See article from Minneapolis Star Tribune)

I think we were very lucky to have this opportunity to enjoy the Dakota Rail Trail when we did. I understand that the weekends are very, very busy. Someone said it's like driving on 394 during the rush hour. I hope it's not that bad. We had it pretty much to ourselves today. I don't think that will happen often. This is going to be a very popular destination for biking, trikking, roller blading, running and walking. It is definitely one of our favorites.