Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Gawker Screws Up Website Again

I like to read Lifehacker & Gizmodo. But a few months ago the geniuses that run those sites eliminated Blog View which allows you to scroll down the page to read articles. Instead you have access only to 3 or 4 articles. Now why would you do that?

Firefox has an add-on called Gawker Blog View that resolves the issue. Or at least did until recently. Now I can't get blog view. I still don't see why Top Stories is better. It only gives you access to a few stories. the rest are listed on the right & you have to click on them one at a time. This is an improvement?

I seriously believe webmasters get bored & feel they have to change sites just to justify their jobs. This exists in every company. Not just websites, but there is always one jerk who will purposely ruin something just so he can come in & "fix it". I call these people "losers".

There is really no justification for changing the coding of a site that works just so you can screw around with Firefox extension users. Go work on IE9/10/11 whatever. I just want to read. And if I can't, I will find another site that lets me.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Why My Printer Wasn't Working

My printer stopped printing a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't sure why, but I wondered if the ink level was that low. It had been telling me that for a while, but I don't use it that much.

Now ink is expensive, & my printer is a color one. So a double cartridge is $32 at Target. but I broke down & bought one today. And low & behold, it works now! Fortunately I don't print much. I have this computer a year & a half, & the printer probably a year, so buying ink once a year isn't too bad.

Now I could have gone to Costco & simply had the cartridge refilled, but I just don't want to deal with that mess right now. Once the holidays are over I'll go back to Costco, but not right now.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Christmas Songs On YouTube

They play Christmas songs at work. But they are on a tape, & this year they're only playing a single tape over & over again. Last year was different. You would hear Bing & Frank & U2 & others. This year it's Mariah, Britney (yeah, ug) & Swifty, as I call her.LOL. At least they play Run Rudolph Run by Chuck Berry.

So what to do? Answer: You Tube. Go on there, & type in the name of any song you can think of, & a video or 3 will show up.
I just spent about an hour on there. Here's what I heard:
HappyXmas (War is Over)/John Lennon(my favorite Christmas song)
Do they know it's Christmas/Band Aid. This was the original all-star charity single. George Michael, Boy George, Sting, Bono, Phil Collins (some of them look weird like Bono with a mullet. Hey it was 1984)
Santa Baby/Eartha Kitt. At work I have to listen to Madonna's godawful version or Taylor Swift. Kitt's is brilliant.
White Christmas/The Drifters. A cool doo wop version
Have yourself a merry little Christmas/Judy Garland (The video is from Meet me in St. Louis)

For laughs I also recommend 12 days of Christmas by Alan Sherman (early 60's) & for the win-Santa Claus & his old lady by Cheech & Chong. maybe the funniest thing I have ever heard. I listen to this at least once every year (for the last 30), & bust up .

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

My New Headphones

A month ago my less than two year old Sony headphones went kaput. Well, at least the left one did. No matter what I did, i couldn't get it to work. So I went back to my Apple buds. Not great. So I decided to get new ones. but this time I would get over the ear headphones.

So I headed to Best Buy & got Sennheiser HD 419's. Well, it will take me some time to get used to the feel, but they sound great. One thing about full sized headphones is that you really feel like you are inside what you are listening to.

I'm interested what music sounds like, but right now I'm listening to an audio book from Audible. I had finished the Steve Jobs biography while using the Apple ear buds, but now I'm using these new ones to listen to "The girl with the dragon tattoo" by Stieg Larrsen. This is a well known & very popular swedish crime novel (1st of 3) by an author who died before any were published. All 3 have been made into swedish language films, & the one I'm reading is about to be released as a Hollywood film with Daniel Craig.

Using these headphones really makes you part of the story. no outside interference. Except for having to get used to the weight, & figuring out how to wear them so they are at least not uncomfortable, they are an improvement. When I get back into music I will give a review. but I just downloaded a history book which I will listen to after this is done.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Why Don't Headphones Last?

I listen to my iPod through headphones, just like most people. I hate the Apple earbuds that don't fit in my ears because of the shape. So I bought Sony buds that fit in the ear & had superior sound.

But they stopped working a couple of months ago. Why? I have no clue. they didn't even last 2 years. No sound out of the left ear.  So I have started researching again. And while reading reviews, what do I find? That even the most expensive seem to have the same issue. 

So what is the problem? Why do they suddenly stop working, or as in my case, one side goes dead. Apparently the technology isn't as perfect as in other tech products. Cords that get tangled up, wires that detach, whatever. i can't even find a reason why mine stopped. No frayed wire or cord. The buds themselves look fine. Just no sound. So I'm back to using the white Apple buds that refuse to fit properly in my ear. 

So tomorrow I hit Best Buy. The price on Amazon doesn't seem that much cheaper than just going to the store to buy a new pair. I just hate having to pay another $50 after only 2 years.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Bay Area News Group Cuts Monday Delivery

In one of the stupidest, most arrogant decisions by a newspaper company, Denver based Media News has announced they will stop Monday delivery of 3 east bay papers, including the venerable Oakland Tribune.

The paper will still be printed, but you will have to go to a store to buy a copy. So Raider fans won't be able to read about the game the next day, no first of the week news articles, etc.

I'm not that surprised. When this company bought the San Jose Mercury, the first stories out were about what a bad company this was. A month ago, they were going to count all the issues bought of all the different papers as Mercury News sales.

Three other papers won't be published at all. the company is calling it "Digital Monday". Meaning you want the paper, go online. Well, not everyone has access to a computer at home or at work. It's just an arrogant decision that disregards the customers desire for information. I'm sure the Republican Party backs the decision, but it is not something a democracy should be embracing.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Did Technology Kill KGO's Ratings?

For over 30 years KGO was the highest rated, most listened to radio station in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was a hybrid station, with a 4 hour block of all news from 5-9AM, an hour at noon, & another 3 hour block from 4-7PM. The rest of the time it was a talk station.

This was not talk ala the right wing screamers who don't allow alternate positions. No bashing the President, calling him names & lying about his positions or his politics. Since it was a news station, it had to be accurate. The talkers were moderate, & allowed differing opinions.

But Friday it was announced that all but one talk show would be cancelled. All hosts were fired, & it will now be solid news from 2PM-Midnight. The ratings have gone down, with only listeners over 60 staying with the station.

It would be speculation, but one has to assume the younger listeners, now used to the vitriol now on most talk stations have decided that the more moderate tone employed by KGO is not for them.

Plus the web is out there. Meaning those that would participate have an easier chance to do that on computer message boards, whether the boards accept both sides of an argument, or rather the more aggressive stance that wouldn't be acceptable by this venerable station.

People want to vent nowadays. As for news, a second all news station will probably not work. If LA can't support 2, why would the smaller SF market be able to? It is also assumed that satellite radio has had an effect, with a wider range of views & hosts to choose from. KGO was a rarity in that the talk shows were local, not syndicated shows from LA or NY. This is what will most be lost. The news web sites are national or international, meaning what is being lost is local interest. This is not a good thing.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Listening To Audio Books

As everyone who reads this blog knows, I am a regular viewer/listener of Leo LaPorte's TWIT podcast, & others on his site. he makes money through advertising, & has deals for his fans. One of his advertisers is Audible, the audiobook website/software owned by Amazon. The deal is 2 free audiobooks using a special TWIT code. It's for 2 books & you can then cancel & not pay anything!

So after thinking about this for awhile, I decided to try it out. You have to download the download manager & what is called the Audible Manager, which is the player. You can put them on iTunes, but I hadn't done that to begin with.

First of all, you find a book to get. Naturally I chose the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. It's a 600 page book that comes out to 25 hours. They make it a little simpler by cutting it up into 3 parts. Each is around 8 hours, & the total size is about 300 mb. Not too bad. Took about 15 minutes to download.

Then, I swear, it took me a half an hour to figure out how to listen. There is no way to listen through the website. You need the manager. Finally I found the shortcut on my desktop & voila!

I don't think the reader is that good, but it's an easy way to read a book. I've already listen to over 2 hours today. I don't know how many pages that is, but after an opening that covers his adoption, his grammar school & high school years, his meeting with Woz, & traveling around India, I'm now getting into the time about when Apple was founded.

Since the first section isn't in iTunes, I can't put it on my iPod, but the 2nd & 3rd parts can. So I can listen that way. I also can get a second book. What do I go with? Keith Richards bio? Something fiction? History? I will look through the list, & then try to remember to cancel, unless I want to get more books. that could happen. Who knows.

I still say, Audible could make it easier to use. I had trouble figuring out the system. Especially transferring to iTunes. It was saying I couldn't, but the later sections do show up under books in iTunes, so something must have been fixed. The regular cost for the platinum plan is $25 a month, which includes 2 credits, which generally means 2 books. Not that bad, especially since the Jobs book is $35.

Monday, November 28, 2011

iPad Vs PC & Overteched TV's

Sunday I was at my cousin's house for a belated Thanksgiving (I worked on Thursday). He showed me his iPad. This was my first experience using one for an extended period of time. I tried one at the Apple Store near my house when the original first came out, but that was five minutes.

Yes, I'm a little late giving a review so I won't try. It's an interesting device to use. No sense in denying that. But I still prefer using my desktop. Trying to figure out how to use the virtual keyboard isn't that much fun. Plus it has these little icons that I could never figure out what they were for. I would click one & then it would be "well, what do you do?".

One of the issues I came across is it's issue with not closing applications. I thought I closed something & then would find out that there were like 4 separate programs open. How did that happen, & how come I don't remember opening that program to begin with? This is something that doesn't happen on my PC. Plus any program opened I would see on the status bar.

Now maybe if this was my personal one, it would be different since I would be using it regularly. After all, I have no problems with my PC or my iPod.

The other piece of tech I saw in action (I didn't use it myself) was their flat screen. It's hooked up to the internet & has stuff like Pandora & Netflix on it. All set up through the Blu-Ray player.

Now I have satellite TV (Directv). But this was way to confusing for me. Because of the set up being through the Blu-ray player, you had to first choose what you wanted to do. The TV didn't automatically come on. Even my cousin's wife had an issue with that. There is such a thing as making things too complicated.

Pandora also had issues. It worked for a while then just decided to shut off. No one knew why. I speculated that maybe the site went down. You know, server issues. I also wondered if the cable had gone out. Who knows. Netflix also seemed a problem. Especially finding stuff by using the remote control to find stuff rather than a keyboard like I do on my PC.

Then again, Netflix has so little to stream, that I don't see the point. Now I would like to get a flat screen at some point, but I don't want a confusing mish mash of things to do like my cousin has. I wonder how many people with these TV's have these issues. i just want to sit down, click the remote & start watching. Is that really asking too much?

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Retailers Phony Tech "Deals"

It was highly amusing this morning looking at the post thanksgiving flyers for all the brick & mortar retailers. The sales prices for some of the items were not sales prices at all.

I especially got a kick out of the "cheap" price for Kindles from Best Buy, Office Max & Target. Target was referring to their price as a "big deal". Never mind that it was the price that Amazon set for the device when they introduced the new ones a couple of months ago. And, of course, it's the same price regardless of where you buy it, including Amazon. It's not bait & switch. It's just dishonest, suggesting that this is a special holiday sales price, when in reality it's the everyday price.

This isn't as bad as stores that raise an items price, then drop it claiming its now on sale. This has been a discussion on action line in the San Jose Mercury for several months now. Retailers keep playing these games hoping we won't notice, but we're not as dumb as they would like to think. My suggestion is check all stores including the online ones for discrepancies.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Are Newspaper Aps the Future?

I have a problem. My newspaper carrier didn't want to work this week. So I didn't get a paper on Thanksgiving & today's was late. I work on Saturdays & leave the house at 6:30 AM. I can't call that the paper is late because they don't answer that early on the weekend.

I'm thinking that sometime in the future the business is going to decide that either you subscribe to a newspaper app, meaning no delivery, no problem. Just turn on your iPad or Kindle Fire or whatever.

This is a bad idea. Not everyone has a tablet or wants one. I don't. Why should I? I have a full size desktop. The tech industry is creating a tech ghetto. Not wealthy enough to have an iPad-too bad, no newspaper for you. This is backwards thinking. those of us in the working class have more need for news than the 1%

What is happening however, is that its harder to find people who want to deliver the paper. Most of my carriers the last few years have been anything but reliable. You probably have the same experience. But I am sure this has caused some in the industry to wonder if they should shut down publishing & just go online. Except that online ad rates are lower. The future should be enlightening in how this works out, & how informed the public will be.

Monday, November 21, 2011

PG&E Site Changes Remove Bill Estimates

After being unavailable for weeks, PG&E finally puts online the new "My Energy" pages. What a disaster!
The reason I liked the old site was that it told you how much you were using & what your estimated bill would be.

I don't mean at the end of the month. All sites do that. I mean day by day you could see your costs. So in the middle of the month I knew what my bill was going to look like. This allowed me to change things. "Hmmm. If I keep using this much a day, I will have a $100 utility bill. I need to cut down". That is now gone. Now all you have is average kwh hours per day & average cost per kw (example: $0.13/kw). What this means is I have to get out a calculator & do the math myself.

Why do this? Isn't it obvious. Most people won't make the effort, meaning your bill goes up, & PG&E makes more money. Surprise, surprise, surprise!

NY Times Article On Headphones

Today there is an article that is mostly about the expensive "Beats by Dr Dre" headphones. these are really expensive buds that cost up to $300! Are you serious?

I've seen these in stores & on Apple's website. I ask myself "$300 WTF". I can't see spending $100 let alone $300. Plus according to the article, they are not very good. They emphasize the bass, but distort the overall sound. Why am I not surprised?

Today's young music fan isn't really interested in good music, just a loud beat. that's why most modern music is bad or unlistenable. Rap/Hip Hop? That isn't really music. The current state of rock. Awful. The only bands I can stomach are U2 & Arcade Fire. Coldplay is NOT a rock band. They are a pop outfit. And most alternative is mostly yelling.

Now we have 50 Cent & Ludicris also promoting their own brand of overpriced headphones. Again I assume with lots of bass. Meanwhile Koss & Sennheiser continue to manufacture old schooltype phones with good frequency response & the impedence. I want some bass (Apple phones are weak probably because they are free with your iPod), but I don't want distortion like the fools who blast their car stereos so loud you only hear booming, no actual music.

But this is the future. Some of us are not buying.

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Tablets For Christmas


As we get ready for Christmas, it’s time to check the tech options out there for gifts. This year it seems to be tablets. It all started with the iPad sometime ago. But now everybody is getting into the game.
Samsung has a tablet. A bunch of no names have low end tablets that Frys is selling & are advertised nowhere  else. And now we have the e-reader war. Amazon started with its Kindle Fire & now Barnes & Noble has answered back with the Nook Tablet.
Of course the difference with these two is the price. Every other tablet is essentially the same price as an iPad, around $500 to $800. The Fire is $199 & the Nook is $249. Problem is the Nook Tablet apparently isn’t as good as the cheaper Fire. Hmmm. Wonder if that will affect sales?
But there’s another issue. What exactly makes these better than a desktop or a laptop? I say: nothing.  An actual computer comes with a real keyboard, not one of those monstrous “virtual” keyboards. I hate those things. They are hard to use, & it’s hard to find special characters. Needless to say, I’m writing this on an actual computer using a real keyboard.
Plus a tablet doesn’t do the things a real computer can. They are consumption devices. They are for surfing the web, listening to music & watching videos. They are not for balancing your checkbook or creating projects for business.
As for using them like an e-reader, the public has already said no. Yes, the iPad is extremely successful, but the iBook store isn’t. The reason? Because tablets have backlit screens like a computer monitor. Those are very hard on the eyes. Believe me, I know. After a couple of hours my eyes get tired. Regular e-readers like the very successful Kindle line, which has gotten cheaper, use what’s known as e-ink. It’s like reading a book. Not hard on the eyes at all. At least that’s what I’ve heard. I don’t own one.
The alternative is to use Audible audio books. You don’t need a special device. You can listen on your computer or put them on your iPod, a device I already own. I’ve thought of doing that but wonder if I would get distracted & not hear all the book or maybe have problems with whoever is doing the reading.
So you can see what is out there & I would be interested in what actually happens this year.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Scribe Fire Fails

I am always surprised when an organization or company decides to change something that works. In this case it's the Firefox extension Scribe Fire that allows you to post to your blog without having to actually log in to it. Plus being able to have a webpage open at the same time.

Well that option is gone. The people that make that extension have broken it. That forced everybody into something called Scribe Fire Next. Next stop: deletion of extension. It wouldn't let me post to this blog. And when I went on the Scribe Fire website guess what? Lots of complaints about that very issue.

I really don't understand why a company would ruin a perfectly good blog editor. Do they not want people to use their program? I guess not.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

PG&E Screws Up Website

One of the main reasons for Smart meters is the ability to keep track of energy consumption through a utility's website. I did this all last winter. It allowed me to know where i stood, & if I could afford to use the heat in the middle of the day. Otherwise I would just bundle up until evening.

But of course PG&E couldn't keep that up could they? What they did was change the website by creating a new format called "My Energy", which has not been available for at least a week.

No. Don't "thank me for my patience". Just put the site back up. If this has been down for over a week, that's not a small issue. That's a plan to prevent me from accessing my energy consumption. After all, we are talking about PG&E, not the most honest or responsible utility in the nation. For the record, the website seems only interested in allowing you to make payments now. Saving money-not so much. I find it hard to believe that haven't been able to fix this issue in all this time. Looks more like they don't want you to know how much energy you are using. An investigation would be in order.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Facebook Suspends Salman Rushdie's Account

The real name police have struck again. Salman Rushdie's Facebook account was suspended because of the policy of not using pseudonyms. Rushdie doesn't use his first name Ahmed. Google+ does the same thing. Rushdie got his account back by posting a rant on Twitter.

This policy is a problem because in certain countries (the middle east) using your real name could get you arrested or killed. But sites like Facebook & Google+ don't seem to understand this. They are too busy trying to lock people into using their site in connection with other sites, like Spotify requiring a Facebook account for access.

Obviously this is a problem for people not known by their real names. Who is going to go on Stefani Germanotta's Facebook page? Only fans who know that's Lady Gaga (thank you Wikipedia). And again, requiring people in the middle east who were using Facebook to organize their protests might have gotten lots of people killed. But Mark Zuckerberg only cares about how he can increase usage of his site, & how he can make obscene amounts of money.

Monday, November 14, 2011

TWITTV Website Failing Viewers

After watching This Week In Tech religiously through first YouTube & then through the revamped TWITTV website, I now find myself having to download the large video podcast through iTunes. Why you ask? Because all of a sudden the site is unable to stream the podcast. It freezes constantly.

Now why all the buffering recently? Are more people watching it? That would be nice, but there's a core that would watch this. I can't imagine it suddenly spiked. At first I thought it was Firefox which just jumped to version 8, but I switched to IE9 & it's doing the same thing.

Now since I watch other stuff online, like episodes of David Letterman & Jon Stewart, I can tell you it isn't my computer. Those stream fine. So I can only assume that a tech site is having technical problems streaming & replaying video. Isn't that ironic?

I hope this is soon resolved. I have decided to download Sunday's episode which I will watch tomorrow, & I guess I will subscribe to the video version. I could listen to the audio version which I did for over a year, but it is more entertaining to be able to see the people talking, plus they do show technology on the show sometimes meaning it would be good to see what they are talking about.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

iPod Earphones Stop Working

I've had my iPod nano for a little over 2 years. I had to use the included Apple earphones for about 6 months. Not very good.  First of all because they are flat earbuds they don't fit well in my ears. There's always trouble with the left ear, which I guess has a different shape opening. Then the sound isn't really all that good. Not much bass to speak of.

So when I could I bought a better pair. In my case, Sony in-ear phones with lots of bass & a volume control on the cord. These were great. Only $40 at Best Buy. So yesterday I'm sitting inn a chair at home listening to some Beatles (Past Masters Volume II). I've just listened to Paperback Writer & now on comes Rain, a lesser known John Lennon number. All of a sudden I have no sound coming out of the left ear. I remove them, clean the wax out, poke a hole, nothing. I have to resort to connecting the iPod to my stereo.

I have no idea what happened. Apparently it decided to short out at that point. I had not touched anything, so I have no idea why it happened. This morning I hunted down & found the original white Apple earbuds that came with the unit. Like I said, it takes a long time just to get them to fit in my ears, & the sound isn't as good as the Sony's . So one of these days I will have to look for new ones. I really don't want to, but what can I do?

I spent a lot of time looking for those buds. I even looked at the Koss Porta Pro on ear phones. yeah they look kinda dumb, but I never wear my iPod out of the house anyway. The price doesn't seem to have changed in 2 years (imagine that), but why I have to do it is still a mystery.  Anyway let's see what happens. I have other things I want to get, headphones is definitely not #1 on my list.

Monday, November 7, 2011

Robots Reading My Blog

It's interesting to read Blogger stats. Unlike Statcounter which only counts actual views through an ISP, Blogger counts stats from the search engine bots. So the stats are always a lot higher & from all over. For instance, in the last week the most searches for this blog were from here, Germany & Russia. Also there were searches from England, Latvia & Singapore.

My sports blog had searches from Russia & Bangladesh. Now I'm smart enough to know that there's probably no one in Bangladesh who knows who the 49ers are, so that's how I know it's a bot. Yeah some poor muslim beggar making a couple of pennies a day is interested in how many yards Frank Gore got yesterday. LOL. And I'm sure "Peggy" (You know-the russian scammer in the capital one commercials) wants to know how many tackles P Willie had.

It's an fascinating stat. However I would rather know that real people are reading my two blogs. This one does decently, but certainly not at the level of a well known one. And my sports one isn't read at all. Oh well.

Sunday, November 6, 2011

iPod nano Clock Mystery

Today I was listening to my iPod nano using my earphones. After listening for about an hour I happened to look at the top of the unit & noticed the clock. Now my nano is a 4th generation that I have had for two years. I haven't synced the unit for probably two weeks. But somehow it has the right time. Meaning it is on standard time, not daylight savings.

Now daylight savings time ended this morning at 2AM(why that's the end I've never figured out). And since I haven't hooked up my iPod to my computer for two weeks I would like to know how it has gone to standard time without me doing anything.

I've looked on Wikipedia & on Apple's website & they say nothing. I am very curious. How exactly does an iPod nano know to change the clock ahead one hour? Is WI-Fi involved or 3G? It's a nano, not a touch or an iPhone. Kinda spooky if you ask me. I understand my computer doing it, because it is hooked up to DSL. Same with my TV, Directv changes it automatically. But an iPod without internet access? That's weird.

Firefox Going To Version 8

Here we go again. Tuesday is the release day for Firefox 8. Will it be any different & how many things won't work? The continuing insistence on copying Chrome is a major problem.  I love Firefox but this gets old. Eventually Mozilla wants to go to silent updates like Chrome. The problem with that is the amount of things that will break, like extensions.

But then again my ScribeFire just updated to ScribeFire Next. It only loaded one blog. I had to manually load my sports blog (OK-no one is reading that, but still). I'm still not sure how that will work, so this post is an experiment. And Apple keeps trying to get me to update iTunes. I did that a couple of months ago. It works fine, why update constantly?

Yes, I know it has to do with security, but it can get out of hand. The constant updating does cause problems. It's to impress people who should know better, but most people are not geeks & think a higher number means it's better. I'm surprised Apple hasn't changed the numbering system for their OS. It's still OSX, not OS25.LOL.

 


Wednesday, November 2, 2011

IE Goes Under 50%...Maybe

Ars Technica has an article claiming that Internet Explorer has gone below 50% usage worldwide. Then it starts making disclaimers. "Well it's 49.59% in combined share, but 52.63% in desktop share". What does that even mean?

Here's what's going on. Combined share includes mobile, i.e. cellphones & tablets. But they use different browsers & different OS's. For instance: in mobile the Android browser has 13.12% & Opera Mini has 18.65%. On desktops Opera has 1.56%, Android doesn't exist. IE has .16%, & Safari Mobile has 62.17%. On desktop Safari has 5.43%.

Why the difference? Safari's huge mobile percentage is because of the iPhone. On desktop's the percentage is in line with Apple's market share. Likewise Opera has always been big on cellphones, but almost no one uses it on desktops. I'm going to venture that Windows phones use Opera, which would explain the 18% market share.

So this was a non story from a supposed respected tech site. Yes, IE has gone down a lot. I use it on of all things TWITTV. Because they have been unable to fix a bug on Firefox 7 that doesn't show the play button on their podcasts. I may have to download Chrome just to watch episodes.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Directv Caves In To Fox

In the latest feud between a content provider & the owner, Directv has come to an agreement with News Corp over all Fox owned stations which would have been removed from the satellite company today.

This has been going on for the last couple of years, with the networks dramatically increasing rates to the cable & satellite companies. Cablevision lost ABC & came to an agreement 2 hours after the Oscars started. Time Warner has had issues as has Dish Network. Directv lost Versus for an entire year.

Directv claimed News Corp was attempting to raise rates 40%. News Corp denies this. News Corp needed to fix this because Directv is the 2nd largest TV provider (19.4 M) behind Comcast.

The reality is that this is being fed by the networks increasing their fees. News Corp & Disney are veterans in this type of price gouging. Of course this is what happens when a small number of companies own the majority of cable stations. For instance, the loss of Fox channels on Directv would have included National Geographic, Speed & Fuel, besides FX & regional sports networks (the channels that carry local college & pro teams). A loss of Disney channels would include all ESPN channels. That's why it's a big deal.

Also remember Directv competitor Comcast now owns NBC & had to go through hoops with the government, basically agreeing not to try to keep NBC off Directv, Dish & Time Warner. Or show favoritism towards their own channels. Thir should be an investigation of this practice which is becoming very prevalent.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Kindles For Christmas

Now that Amazon is ready to release the new line of Kindles including the tablet Kindle Fire, it's time to ask "which do I buy?".

The publicity is on the Fire, but is that the best choice? It depends what you are looking for. If you want a small, convenient tablet to watch movies & play games, yeah, probably. But note that it probably isn't as good as an iPad. If you want an e-reader, no it's the wrong choice.  All the other Kindle's use e-ink. This is a format that reads like regular books. It's easy on the eyes with little strain. The Fire uses IPS, which is a variation on the typical LCD screen your computer monitor has.

I regularly get severe eye strain if I am on my computer for as little as an hour. Note that Apple's all new iBook store has not beat out the Kindle store despite the iPads popularity. This means people are not using it as an e-reader. This means they discovered what I just said: hard on the eyes. Therefore Kindle Fire buyers will be using it like iPad users do. Movies, TV, music, games.

So if you want an e-reader you want the Kindle, the Kindle Touch or the keyboard model. Now do you want Wi-Fi or 3G? Well, do you have Wi-Fi at home? If not you have to go somewhere that does, like the mall, to download books. That means risking your account being hacked. Sorry, don't like that idea at all. What they really need to do is have a cable that connects to your computer so you can buy books from Amazon & then sync them to your Kindle like an iPod. Why they don't do this amazes me. Maybe this is to force you to buy the 3G version which is 50 bucks more. Gee, who would have thought of that?

So it's up to you. I'm debating. Of course I could just make an account with Audible, which allows you to buy audio books & put them on your iPod. Meaning you don't have to buy another piece of tech, or I assume just listen on your computer.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

10th Anniversary Of XP

Yes. Today is indeed the 10th anniversary of the release of Windows XP. The most stable, most popular version of Microsoft's OS. It's still the most used, especially in the corporate environment.

I work in high tech & my company uses a combination of XP & (don't laugh-well ok go ahead) 2000. Mainly because the programs needed to run the business were designed for one of those OS's. The cost to change would be prohibitive. That is why Vista was considered a failure, because most corporations couldn't install it without having to spend millions on upgraded software. This because the system requirements were too high for the current equipment.

Although Windows 7 had lower requirements, my home computer still couldn't run it. I eventually bought a new system with 7 preloaded. This computer does meet the requirements for 8 because they have lowered the specs.

So where does this put business? Eventually most businesses will have to update. I'm surprised mine hasn't had to, especially since it runs all computers 24/7. Then again we have a slew of maintenance people who always have something to do.

But XP was good for it's time. It lasted a long time because it was stable & simply (to use Mac & Linux fanboys overused phrase) worked. Think of it Apple is on the 7th iteration of OSX. When do they go to OSXI or will they create a desktop version of IOS?

Discovery Channel's Foulup

Last week I wrote a post about watching Mythbusters on YouTube since Discovery Channel doesn't host full episodes. Of course since last week those full episodes have been removed. So I ask Discovery again: Why don't you have full episodes of your series on your website? And why deny me the right to watch them online?

Here's the thing: Not all of us have big screen TV's or DVR's. Not all of us, heck not very many of us have access to on demand. All the networks have their shows online. I can watch any CBS show the next day. I watched the new episode of Hawaii 5-0 last night, just checked: yup it's on CBS' website in entirety. NBC, Fox & ABC shows are on Hulu within days. Cable seems to have an issue.

In fact HBO has a special website just for streaming. You just have to log in to your cable or satellite provider to prove you are a subscriber then you can watch online. I know because I have used it. But now the only way to watch Mythbusters or Dirty Jobs is to download it off of iTunes. That's $3 an episode, making supposedly free information shows pay-per-view. Really nice guys. Or of course waiting until next year & buying the DVD collection for what? $50?

This needs to change. I know Rupert Murdoch wants to charge, but this is the guy who was hacking politicians & crime victims phone calls. So who cares what he thinks?

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Another Result Of Rapid Release

As a regular viewer of TWIT podcasts I was quite unhappy last week when I discovered I could no longer view the videos using Firefox. Why would a tech site not allow Firefox? Answer: The continuing stupidity of rapid release.

What I mean is what everyone already knows. Websites can't keep updating their site everytime Mozilla changes the number of the Firefox release. We are now on Firefox 7 which should actually be 4.3. But hey! Let's pretend to be Chrome!

The result is the number of websites that are no longer usable on this browser. It gets bigger & bigger. And it's completely stupid. At some point this will harm Firefox to, the point that users will give up & go elsewhere. The reason I haven't is because of the extensions & my les than enthusiastic feelings towards Chrome. And to the geeks-Opera isn't even in the discussion because it doesn't support a lot of sites because of its low market share.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Upped Speed Not That Noticable

I finally decided to have my ISP raise me to the next level of service. it's double the speed but you can't tell that much. Yes, I checked with Speed Test. Instead of 1.5mbps (I was actually getting 1.25), I am now paying for 3mbps (And getting 2.5). So yes it's been doubled but a lot of sites it doesn't seem like it.

I just think a lot of sites need new or more servers. Sometimes, especially on aggregation sites like Digg & Redditt clicking a link still takes some time. I'm not ready to download anything yet because, well, I have nothing to download. I haven't bought any music in about two months & don't feel like it. I mean I've been off for 4 days & haven't even opened iTunes once. Really haven't for about two to three months. I listen to what's already on my iPod.

This is still an issue of the US being way behind the rest of the world. You know like South Korea where they get 85 mbps! Here you would have to pay hundreds of dollars to get that, but actually it's just not available for any price. I mean $40 for 3mbps? That's obscene. 10mbps should be the minimum, but the ptb are against that, but then again they want to charge for data use. If that happens usage will go way down & they will wonder what happened.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Gawker Screws Up Websites Again

What is it with this company? They must really hate their readers because they continue to mess with the UI of their various sites. I'm talking about Lifehacker & Gizmodo specifically. You used to be able to switch between Top Stories & Blog View. No longer. Blog View has been discontinued, therefore no way to easily read all the days posts.

Now why would this company continue to do this? I don't know. I like to read those two sites but it's becoming harder & harder every time they pull this garbage. it's like they don't want you to enjoy their site. That's OK. I'll just go elsewhere. I suspect others will do the same & when they suddenly notice their readership declining maybe they can explain to their bosses why they decided to ruin a perfectly good website.


Radio Host Having Fun With Siri

Listening to the Stephanie Miller show this week is amusing. the liberal host just got an iPhone so naturally there are a lot of requests to the new voice recognition software.

I don't have a smartphone & have no need for one. but I am getting a laugh with her attempts to give orders. You know like "fire Chris Lavoie (her producer & sidekick)". Of course the answer is "I don't understand". I really don't understand this stuff so I just get a kick out of the ways they use the thing. Supposedly it's good for when you're looking for a restaurant or say, a gas station.

But other than these examples what would you really use it for? Plus it apparently doesn't always understand the requests. It also doesn't work on the iPad. Leo LaPorte was trying to use it on TWIT this week. Same result. Not sure this will be a biggie. But OTOH everybody has to buy the new iPhone. Oh well.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Another Day Another Internet Scam

There's a reason I prefer Gmail to Yahoo Mail. It's the spam. Yahoo puts it in my inbox, Gmail, I never see it. Today it was a supposed overstock auction site called Sellmoo. Sellmoo? Really? How about a $600 iPad for $23.74? Or an Amazon Kindle Keyboard model for $8.76 instead of $139.99? Yeah, didn't think so.

This is total nonsense. The only legitimate auction site is Ebay, & even that site has known issues as does Craigslist. Now I would like to know how this site got my email address, but since it's Yahoo, the spammers friend, I would guess the lack of filters & the ability to get hold of addresses is a long held problem. It's the reason I switched to Gmail to begin with. I only use Yahoo for sites that want an email address but I don't want to fill up my regular one.

Funny thing is it sells at the bottom if you want to unsubscribe "click Here" & then gives a company address in Florida, but then the fine print has a different address in Las Vegas. Hey wait a minute, that's not in Florida! So be careful. Don't click the unsubscribe link, you know what will happen. More spam or worse malware.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Mythbusters On YouTube

For some unexplained reason Discovery Channel does not host full episodes of it's various series. I have had trouble catching Mythbusters this fall because the episodes are against Survivor.

But I just discovered (LOL) that they can be found on YouTube. Hmmm.And tonight I actually watched last weeks episode in it's entirety. Maybe it's because this is such a popular show.  Lot's of fun & information. I like to call Mythbusters the funniest educational show on television. Not all the time. Sometimes it's just interesting. but what's wrong with that? This is certainly a show that everyone can watch. OK. Maybe a little kid wouldn't understand some of the science, but hopefully the entertainment the show provides would make someone get interested & study science.

Still I wonder why Discovery doesn't put these on their website. I noticed that Dirty Jobs only has clips, not full episodes. Does that mean the show is not as popular as I assumed? I mean Mike Rowe does a lot of commercials-Ford trucks, Bounty paper towels. Haven't seen Adam & Jamie do commercials (that would be hilarious like their cameo on CSI a few years ago).

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Apple Releases iCloud

If you have iTunes 10.4 you will be asked to upgrade to 10.5. This includes the new iCloud, which puts your library in the cloud. This means you can re-download your songs, which you couldn't before. It's also supposed to be wireless, meaning you can download directly from say, an iPod Touch or obviously, an iPhone.

I have neither. I have an iPod nano. I also don't have WiFi in my home since I have a desktop computer & thus, don't need it. So this doesn't help me at all. I love how every technology company, not just Apple has decided that everyone has WiFi at home. Has a study ever been done that shows the percentage of computer users that do? I would be interested in the percentage. Because this also affects iPad users & Kindle users.

Should I switch? I don't see the reason why. I'm still debating over calling my ISP & increasing my package to one with faster download speeds.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Netflix Cancels Qwikster

In what may be one of the quickest (pun intended) turnarounds in corporate history, Netflix has dumped the controversial split website idea:Netflix for streaming, Qwikster for DVD's. Basically they went Emily Litella & said "never mind".

If Reed Hastings wasn't the founder & owner of Netflix, this would be grounds for firing him. One wonders if the board will still try to cut him down. This was an ill conceived idea from the start. Why break up your business into two separate websites thus making things more difficult for your customers?

This happened because the stock price dropped & customers were canceling their accounts & going elsewhere. It is thought that this decision would help Redbox , never mind that the amount of content in a Redbox kiosk is quite limited. It was also quite idiotic because Netflix's streaming selection is very limited. Mostly old movies & TV shows. In three years I've used it maybe 5 times.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Jobs Prepared for Future iProducts

According to the Daily Mail, a UK paper, Steve Jobs left plans for 4 generations of iPads, iPods, iPhones & MacBooks. That is 4 more years since that is the cycle. Clearly he wanted these devices to be designed with his ideas.

This means no radical redesigns from some future employee who thinks he knows better. Although I have to admit that I don't understand the downsizing of the iPod nano. If making it so small is to prepare for eliminating it (which is what I thought last year), then why have plans for 4 more years?

Today I added 2 more complete CD's to my iPod, which is now 3 generations old. But it is actually only 2 years old & works fine, so why replace it? Well, I'm not going to. It's never given me a problem & it was a refurbished one.

This is another example of how much he controlled things, usually to the benefit of the company & it's customers. I'm not a fanboy. I think most Apple products are way overpriced, but I do acknowledge the design sense, creativity & the reputation for products that "just work".

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Noia 4 A Beautiful Firefox Theme

One of the great things about Firefox is all the extensions you can add. Among these are the various themes that change the look of the browser. Instead of having to look at what they decide it should look like, you can add a theme that gives it a more personal look.

There are dark themes, really dark themes, themes designed to look like the OS, or a different OS, & several that change the color scheme dramatically.

In the past I have use themes that didn't change it much. I also used a theme called "Oskar", which was one of the most outrageous ones out there. It was animated. This meant that the arrows flashed, they were moving dots & other things. It was a really cool theme. Of course it isn't compatible with Firefox 7, or 6, or who knows what.

So I'm using a theme called "Noia 4". It's a light blue theme. These means the toolbars are in that color as are the arrows. Since I have an 18½" monitor, I have the bookmark sidebar opened for easy access. With this theme, that's also in light blue. It changes the look of Firefox for the better. It's not overdone, like the dark themes can be, & extensions on the status bar are visible, which isn't always the case. The home button is kind of cute. All & all, a nice little theme.

I thought of adding a persona. But the problem with those are that depending how many tabs are open, or even if you have the bookmark toolbar, that persona's theme is not visible. So I may do without. But themes are nice to have, it's one thing Firefox has over other browsers.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Apple Announces iPhone 4S Not 5

This is why I don't own one. Loads of nonsense & an update to an old phone not a brand new phone. Whoopee. Actually I don't need an overpriced cell phone no better than any other phone. As for iPods, rumor was the classic was toast. Of course, that's been the rumor for how many years? Instead they did nothing. I thought they might kill off the nano, because they made it unusable last year. Way too small & got rid of the video camera. Seemed like it was a first step to getting rid of it & making you buy a touch.

But that didn't happen. Instead they lowered the price of the 8GB nano & 8GB touch. But the other versions kept their price points. Unlike Amazon which lowered the price of EVERY Kindle. Why? Because they're Apple & they expect you to pay through the nose. Like a "cheaper" iPhone isn't because of the 2 year contract. Like don't expect the iPad 3 to compete price wise with the Kindle Fire. Not gonna happen.

Anyway, if they want to keep you interested, they should just bring out phones every month. The iPhone 1/2012, the iPhone 2/2012. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

ESPN Fails With Updated Video Site

I don't know why they feel the need to do this, but the leading sports network has screwed up their video site. They didn't just change the name from ESPN3 to Watch ESPN, they increased the system requirements. At least that same to be the case.

The last two years I have been watching college football online because I work on Saturdays. Before I had an older computer with limited RAM (768MB) & a medium speed processor (2GHZ). So the effect was blurring video, meaning I couldn't see the ball leave the quarterback's hands or the receiver catch it. I knew he had I just couldn't see it.

Then I got a new computer with a lot more RAM (4GB) & a faster processor (3.1 GHZ). This meant now every thing was clear. Until the folks in Bristol changed their site. Now it's worse than it was on my old computer! Thanks guys.

Mind you, there's nothing wrong with my machine. I regularly watch full episodes of TV shows on Hulu (Modern Family, Daily Show) & CBS' site (David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, NCIS,etc.) no problems. I've watched entire movies on Netflix. Same thing. It's just that the player ESPN uses sucks big time.

I mean why make it hard to view. Why continue to raise the system requirements so you can't use it? I have never understood this. NBC will be streaming lots of sports during the London Olympics & I can guarantee you the video will be fine because I have used it for the past two Olympics. So I am unclear as to why ESPN doesn't just use a worthwhile easy to use player that doesn't freeze up or be so blurry as to be unwatchable.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Amazon's New Kindles-Cheaper But Better

I have thought about buying a Kindle for awhile but didn't because of the price. The general opinion is that the price point to get the general public is under $100. That's for most things. So Amazon has multiple Kindles at that price.

The Kindle is $79 with ads (used to be $114), $109 without. No keyboard, just an onscreen version. But this is an e-book reader not a laptop. You're not going to be e-mailing or blogging anyway.

The Kindle Touch is $99 with ads, $139 without. No buttons for turning pages. The 3G version is $149 with ads, $189 without. Download books when you have access to WiFi, don't need this.

The Keyboard Kindle is just that. Has a physical keyboard & is $99 with ads, same price as the Touch. Go with the Touch instead.

The Kindle Fire is a good competitor to the iPad except it uses LCD instead of e-ink, thus tires your eyes. And I have a full computer don't need it.

So I'm torn. If I get one, do I buy the super cheap $79 version or go for the $99 touch. That seems to be the recommended one. Never having had one, I'm just not sure. partially because I don't know how easy it will be to get books on either version, how I negotiate the screen. Can I connect it to my computer to download books, since I don't have WiFi in my house? Unfortunately even the Amazon Kindle store doesn't say. That would be nice, so I will search around until I find out. Looks good though.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Is Firefox 7 Really Faster?

First of all, rapid release is a joke & in my opinion a failure. The reason I say that is the number of sites that don't support Firefox anymore. The reason for this is that they are set up to support Firefox 3-4. Which, let's be honest, Firefox 7 is actually 4.3, but the people at Mozilla are obsessed with catching up to Chrome in versions.

Anyway this morning I saw this so I updated. As usual you can't tell the difference because it isn't really a major version upgrade. It's a bug fix, speed upgrade. It's supposed to be much faster. We'll see. Lifehacker has browser speed tests on their site today. It uses five tests & at the end guess which Browser wins? That's right, the used-by-no-one Opera! Followed by Firefox. And the supposed speed demon Chrome comes in behind IE!!!

Opera winning is no surprise. it has always been the fastest to load, but because it has a tiny market share (2%), websites don't code for it, thus you can't use it. What happened to Chrome? It appears that it is becoming bloated. The only test it won was javascript performance. Again stick with Firefox. I was thinking of Chrome, but no more. Opera if ever got support from the public would be the champ. Integrates things that Firefox does through extensions, plus it has an integrated mail program (Thunderbird is NOT part of Firefox).

Monday, September 26, 2011

Spotify Denies Non-Facebook Users Access

In what can only be described as yet another internet company shooting itself in the foot, the Swedish music streaming site Spotify has announced that users in the US can only use it if they are registered with Facebook.This may be the most outrageous, offensive, indefensible requirement I have ever seen for an internet program. Under what possible defense does this organization say that if you are not a Facebook account holder you are not welcome? This may work in Europe but it doesn't work here.

This may be part of the agreement to integrate it with the social site, but it has already created a large backlash. The number of posts & responses on various tech sites attacking this plan is quite large. Part of the problem is some users don't want all their music listening showing up on their page. Privacy has always been an issue anyway. It's the reason I deleted my Facebook account a year ago & why I haven't started a Google+ account.I guess I will never use Spotify because of this highly questionable scheme.

Did the people running Spotify not learn anything from the Netflix debacle? People wanted to at least try out Spotify, but not with a demand that you have to use Facebook. Just a bad idea. Again like Netflix demanding you have separate accounts to watch DVD's & streaming. I would suggest that the justice department investigate this because it would appear that money either did or will change hands. It's disgraceful. It would be like being required to own a mac to use iTunes. Or being required to show proof of voter registration to watch a debate on TV.

I wanted to check it out, but nope, not gonna happen. Would like to send them an e-mail but I would probably get in trouble for telling them what I think of their repulsive decision to spit on US music fans. Stick to Pandora or iTunes.

Updating Problems

My computer is starting to have problems with updates from HP. It has two things on it. HP Support Assistant & HP Solution Center. Both have attempted to do updates recently & both have failed.

Now mine is not an upscale machine. It's a midlevel machine with a i3 processor not an i7. There have been multiple attempts by the solution center to install new drivers. All have failed. This morning it was the support assistant trying to update. I am not going to replace my computer, it's only a year old. But I wonder about not being able to update stuff. that is kind of disconcerting, & I wonder why it does it.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

HP To Fire Apotheker After One Year

The New York Times & other publications are reporting that HP is about to fire CEO Leo Apotheker. This coming soon after the decision to either sell or spin off the corporations PC business. That in itself was a debacle when it became clear no one was willing to spend the money to acquire the division & it looked like a horrible idea to begin with. Much like Netflix's splitting the DVD & streaming business looks like a disaster.

What this really looks like is a legacy company that has lost it's way. Three CEO's in a year? This is the same company that discontinued it's tablet very quickly, then proceeded to sell it at a loss just to get rid of it. Is it the board? After all, they hired Carly Fiorina who almost destroyed the company with the decision to buy Compaq. It's known that some of the Packard children hate the way the company is being run.

This is sad. I'm writing this post on a year old HP desktop. Not their top of the line machine, but it has never given me an issue. This is my second HP, no problem with the first either. But there have been a number of problems over the years. Like impersonating people to get financial records. That happened in 2006. Hiring a CEO who had no experience in HP's line of business (Apotheker).

I did see one amusing statement in all the stories about this. A Harvard Business School professor said the board is "caught in this infinite loop". Infinite Loop is the street address of Apple, a much better run company. How ironic.

Google+ Now Open-Who Cares?

That's right. The fake Facebook is now open to anyone. I'm still not interested. I had Facebook for probably 6 months before I deleted my account. Too many privacy issues. Now that wouldn't be a problem with Google would it?

I have several problems with this, starting with the fact that Google+ looks exactly like Facebook. Like you couldn't come up with your own look? Yes there is "hangouts", where you can video chat with several people at once. I'm sure there are other ways to do that. I just can't get excited & I'm not the only one. Google+ has stagnated with new members flattening out, which is why it has now gone public.

I don't see this replacing Facebook. Actually I wouldn't mind if all these social sites died. You have friends, call them, e-mail them. GO VISIT THEM! It's not that hard.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Quickster? Bad Idea From Netflix

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has announced that Netflix will be splitting into 2 seperate companies & websites. Quickster for DVD's by mail & Netflix for streaming. This may be the dumbest idea since Yahoo did...well anything.

Seriously, I'm supposed to use 2 separate websites to order movies. First of all, this is all about streaming to the detriment of DVD's. Never mind that the streaming selection is a pile of well, you know what. Horrible selection. Old movies from the 70's, straight to video releases, & TV documentaries. Isn't that stuff already on half the basic cable channels already?

I'm aware that young people have an aversion to anything physical (like a CD or DVD), but this is just silly. With a DVD, if I missed something, I can go back on the DVD. Can't do that with a stream. Streaming takes lots of data & ISP's have already said they are going to limit your monthly usage or charge you extra. A LOT extra.

But again, this is just a bad idea to create two separate websites. meaning two separate bills, meaning credit card info on two sites. Hello identity theft! And why does the well known name go on the new site? This guy should go the way of Carol Bartz. he is ruining this company. I wonder what the politicos in Los Gatos think. This is their big company & the DVD business has already announced that it's moving to San Jose. Goodbye tax income. For the non bay area readers, Netflix is based in a very upscale small town (pop. 25,000). The DVD business is moving 20 miles away to the largest city in NoCal (pop. 1M). Good for my hometown (financial woes), but I just don't see this working.

So will this kill Netflix or save Blockbuster? Will Redbox be celebrating? Only time will tell. I'm keeping my DVD subscription, but let's see if this 2 website debacle even happens.

Sunday, September 18, 2011

This is Getting Tiresome-More Sites Refusing Firefox

I am getting tired of writing this over & over again. It has now happened twice in the last 12 hours. First it was HP. Yes Hp not letting me register a care pack & just now ESPN not letting me play a fantasy football game unless I used IE. This garbage needs to stop! I encourage all readers who use Firefox (or even Chrome or Opera, because I guarantee you they're not supported either) to contact these backwards out of date clueless rubes to get with the program!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Another Website Fails Firefox

Today I attempted to write a blog on a sports site I just signed up with. Boy, was that a bad idea! Typical nonsense from a badly written site.

First off, it says you can paste a post from Word. Think again. Yeah, it will show up, but with lots of html & the post repeated 3 times. I attempted to delete the coding & the duplicates & it wouldn't let me. So I wasted paper by printing out the document & writing directly in the blog's box while reading the printed version. Oh brother.

Then it came time to publish. OK, I clicked "preview" so I could see how it looked. Then I clicked "publish". Oh, I'm sorry there's nothing in the body. Excuse me? I just looked at the preview, looks fine. Try again. Still refused to publish.

I know what it is, but they won't admit it. Another amateur site that doesn't recognize Firefox. When are these incompetents going to go away? I guarantee you if I had written in IE there wouldn't be a problem. Not sure about Chrome, don't have it, don't want it. This is not the first time I have had this problem, & it won't be the last. If coders, programmers & webmasters can't understand this, I don't see the web moving forward. Enough of refusing to recognize the #2 browser.

Here's what's going to happen. They WILL recognize Chrome because it's Google. Hell, they will recognize Safari, being Apple, even though even the macaddicts hate it. This is bad news for Mozilla , but I don't see anything happening to change the idiotic attitude of various websites run by people who know nothing about the internet, & like non-tech people think "the blue e is the internet".

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Broadband Speed Fails Again

Last night I had a major issue with my computer. I could not view any video. It didn't matter what site-YouTube or anything else. the videos would start & immediately freeze with that annoying little circle that spins around signifying "buffering". I also had an issue with trying to download a podcast from the local sports station. A 20 minute interview with Steve Young(HOF Niners QB) wouldn't download because the speed was too slow, namely this interview hadn't downloaded after 10 minutes. The tech show TWIT is 2 hours & downloads in 6 minutes!

I was doing everything. I unplugged everything twice to reboot the computer. I did a system restore. No change. Finally I went on the website SpeedTest. There are actually several sites like this. They check your download & upload speed. This site uses several servers & you can use different ones. My speed came to .50 Mbps. That's 1/3 of what I am paying for. I pay $30 for 1.5 Mbps, & usually when I run this test it comes to around 1.2.

Today when I retested it was back up to 1.1-1.2. Better but still not perfect. Seems like I will have to have a talk with my ISP tomorrow. I have thought of upgrading to 3 Mbps, which is $5 more. The problem is of course, that even that is unacceptable. South Korea gets 85. Yeah I can change to cable & maybe get 12, but they will try to get me to get cable TV. No thanks, I like my Directv. Never have had a problem. The local Cable company has always been bad here. So of course thay just bought a major network. Lovely.

This shouldn't even be an issue. With more & more programming online, speeds should be higher without the cost being prohibitive. But this is the USA where profits always come first.


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Yahoo! Bartz Fired By Phone

You know the boss hates you when he fires you over the phone. That's what happened to Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. I know what you're thinking: Yahoo is still around? Kind of. Yahoo's stock price is $12.50, Google's is $522.18. Yeah, that would get you fired.

This is a company that has ceded search to Bing. It had a highly publicized story involving the sale of an Asian partner Alibaba. And advertising is an issue. Google has made a fortune that way, Yahoo-not so much. I mean, according to the New York Times yahoo gets 600 million unique visitors but can make inroads in ad revenue. That's a big problem.

Now I use Google. My home page is iGoogle, I use Gmail, this blog is written on Blogger. I have a Yahoo address, but never use it. Of course I don't use MSN either. But the point is, she was hired to improve performance & nothing changed. The deal with MS & Bing was strange, the home page is popular but no one uses the search, which means people don't trust it.

Maybe in hindsight Yahoo should have accepted the Microsoft buy out.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

Constant Updates Of Software

Seriously. What is this all about? Firefox went to this idiotic rapid release schedule that breaks extensions, & that wasn't enough. So I went from Firefox 4 to Firefox 6 in what 3 months? And now I'm on ...wait for it..6.0.1. Really? Not 7? Next September we will be on, what Firefox 20? Do you know how stupid that sounds?

Now we go to Apple. I ignored all the reminders to update iTunes for over a year. It has a bad rep for breaking stuff. It loses your library, it doesn't download properly, it won't allow iTunes to even open. So I didn't update. Finally I gave in & said "fine. Do your worst." Nothing bad happened. But get this. Two weeks after going from iTunes 9.2 to 10.4 guess what? 10.4.1 is available! No bleep. Could we not have updates every two minutes. I really don't like doing this constantly. It becomes that's all you ever do.

And of course, iTunes has the worst system. Instead of a simple update, it insists on downloading the entire program again. That's a huge update since iTunes is the most bloated program there is. Winamp is 50 MB, iTunes is 150 MB. Why? Well half is Quick Time. Thanks Steve for not using Flash. Plus why can't the store be on the web instead of part of the program?

Then there's security software. My antivirus updates every freakin' day! My anti malware program, the same thing. Again it seems like all I ever do is update software & I don't have that much on my computer. Even Windows updates once a week. But at least they only do it when you turn off the machine.

Do you realize how much of a strain this is on your system? I don't. But I guarantee you it can become a problem. I chuckle at work when I see one of the thousands of computers with a pop up asking to download an update. The work computers run a combination of 2000 & XP depending on the program running & for security reasons IT won't allow updates or downloads. That's why a major tech company is running IE6.

There has to be a way to cut down on all the updates. It impacts our use of our computers.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Hacker Obtains Google Certificate

This is a scary one. The criminals were able to get hold of a digital certificate good on all Google sites. This would allow them to get hold of your username & password. The certificate was issued by DigiNotar a Dutch company that was aquired by a Chicago based company.

Comodo has claimed that the hack came from the Iranian government, but now a single Iranian hacker is claiming responsibility. Right, just like the Chinese hacks on Google were from individuals in a heavily regulated dictatorship. Not buying it.

Not only was Google hacked, but also MS' Hotmail, Skype & Yahoo Mail. Despite the hackers claim, it is clear the the government was trying to get activists, so they could get info on anti-government attacks.

Now how do you protect yourself? Instead of waiting for Mozilla to release a security update, here is the way to do it. In Firefox click on options, advanced, encryption & then click "view certificates". Scroll down to DigiNotar Root CA, select then click "Delete or Distrust". There you go, done. I have already done this. No I'm not an Iranian activist, but I also don't need my info out there in the hands of any hacker, whether it's an individual or an evil dictatorship.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Double Amputee Qualifies For 400 Meter Semi's

There is no greater example of what technology can do than Oscar Pistorius of South Africa. He has qualified for the semi finals of the 400 meters at the track & Field World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

He was born without a fibula in both legs, which were amputated when he was still a child. Now he has been criticized as having an advantage, but as he says, if that were true other paralympic athlete would been running times like he does.

Does this mean look for amputees in other events like swimming? I don't think so. I think he is a special case. He is also probably not going to win against world class able bodied athletes. That's not the point. What he proves is that as time goes on, people like him will be able to live better lives despite their special difficulties because of technology.


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Versus Network Fails Technology

This week the Versus channel (owned by Comcast-will change name to NBC Sports in Jan) is covering the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado. Why they came up with this name instead of just calling it the Tour of Colorado is beyond me. Anyway it is a 7 day race featuring most of the top finishers in the Tour de France.

Today was a disaster. not the race, the coverage. Halfway through the live coverage they suddenly lost the picture. For two days I have been watching this & wondering why the picture keeps freezing up. never does this in France, even when it's raining, which it wasn't doing today.

I tried to stay with it. but after a half an hour of no live shots I gave up. The announcers, who BTW are the same announcers who broadcast the Tour de France & have for over 10 years, were making every possible excuse. The weather (clear skies), the mountains (never lose the picture in France, even over the Galibier or Alpe D'Huez), or my favorite "it's too high".

Really? With all this modern technology, you can't broadcast because of the altitude? Worst excuse I have ever heard. More likely, Versus & it's owners Comcast/NBC, or whatever they're calling themselves went on the cheap. France is covered by the french broadcaster with Versus simply picking up the feed, like Speed Channel does with Formula One. I'm guessing the equipment used is not of the highest quality & therefore more unable to deal with weather or geographic issues.

It is disappointing since I wanted to watch this because most of the top finishers from France were in this race. I hope this isn't a preview of how this channel will be used in the future. Viewers expect these channels to be up to date on the latest technology & not have to make excuses like "we have no pictures because it's too high an altitude". No one will believe that anyway.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Software Company Not Smarter Than 12th Grader

A senior (now graduated) wrote an app so students could see all their grades at once. The way the district had done it, you could use a software system, but it took several clicks to view all the classes. So a senior wrote an iPhone app. Then it , surprise! got approved 7 was put on the Apple app store. Now 2300 students have downloaded the app. Heck his teachers wanted him to develop a version for them.

Here's the kicker. the reason for the app is that, as I said, the software program that district (which, no surprise, is in San Jose) uses, & 250 other districts around the country, didn't allow for easy access to all a students grades unless they did several clicks. The student & his father tried to get official approval from the company. Instead got the usual "copyright infringement" nonsense.

This is typical of large businesses & why it is entrepreneurs that are the future. The student is headed to Cal Poly & wants to put out an Android version. I mean, think of it: Apple approved the app, the teachers like it, but the districts & the company don't. The company needs to get with it. You are charging the district hundreds of thousands of dollars, but it was improved by a free app developed by a 17 year old. Oops.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Who Listens To Podcasts?

I watch or listen to 2 different podcasts every week. What that means is I listen to the same weekly podcast every week. It's called This Week in Tech. it is recorded live every Sunday afternoon. I never listen to it then, but I download it on iTunes every Monday & that's when I listen to it. The other podcast is from the same company, if you will. Tech News Today is a daily broadcast, recorded in the same studio but with different hosts & guests.

Both of these shows & the others recorded by this "network" are available 3 ways. Directly from Twittv.com (audio & video), iTunes or a day later on YouTube.

There are a lot of podcasts out there. Hundreds are available on iTunes & many simply on the original sites. I assume a lot are on YouTube. But they are not in the public consciousness. We hear about Twitter & Facebook, but not these shows despite their popularity. In both the US & the UK, 16% of the adult population have downloaded one, with almost half listening once a week, like me.

Adam Carolla's podcast has been downloaded 59 million times! I've only listened once (maybe I should try again), so podcasting is not going away. But it is interesting that there is little coverage of this medium. I guess it is just not sexy enough. It is basically a radio show, except that radio wouldn't have these on. the subject matter for the most part wouldn't engender enough publicity or listeners. My tech shows for instance are probably listened to in the thousands not the millions. The advertisers on the shows are tech related, but makes enough money that they just moved into a new million dollar studio. Someone is listening.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

HP Decision Doesn't Mean PC's Are Dead

The word out now is that HP's decision to dump their flop tablet means the PC is dead. Says who? Most people don't have iPads. Only 29 million have been sold. Microsoft has sold 400 million Windows 7 licenses. Where I work there might be several hundred computers running XP & 2000.

Yes, the economy is still in the dumper, but people aren't replacing PC's with tablets. They're just not that good. No keyboard or mouse, limited software. Are you going to do business related work on one? No. Is Office on the iPad. Nope. That's not what the device is for. All along it has been referred to as a "consumption device". That means you use it to surf, listen to music, read e-books & watch movies. Not productive work. You need a laptop or desktop for that. They just can do more & have the storage for it. My desktop has a 640 GB hard drive. No tablet even has a hard drive, just flash memory.

Windows has a 82% market share, if you count iPads as computers. That is not going to change any time soon.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Firefox's Numbering Speedup Ruins Real Player

I have had Real Player on my PC for months just so I could watch Al Jazeera online. recently I noticed I was having problems. The audio was fine but the video wouldn't load. i would have a scrambled signal. If I went on IE9 it worked fine. Why? Because IE runs Al Jazeera through Flash, while Firefox requires a Real Player plug-in.

So what's the problem? Since Firefox started this ridiculous numbering fiasco (FF6 really? C'mon even the getting started page that shows up when you update calls it FF4), the plug-in doesn't work. Maybe if the people working on the project realized how much they've broken the browser they might stop this insanity. An obsession with Chrome's numbering system doesn't bode well for the future of the formerly best browser available. Mind you, I still prefer it & haven't downloaded Chrome yet (never cared for it), but it's getting harder every day.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

TV's Attempt To Force Me To Buy HDTV

I have noticed over the last year, & especially the last 6 months the cable channels going to smaller & smaller fonts when listing info on the screen. Yes, it may look alright on a big screen, but on my 25", not so much. As a matter of fact, I can't read it, even if I stand in front of the screen.

Now maybe they want to argue that they have to do it for the plasma & LCD users, but despite the number of those units you see in the store, I would be surprised if the percentage of those type of sets in use was above 50%. I doubt that very much. My set is less than 6 years old & works fine. Why would I spend $600-2000 just so I could read scores better?

Someday I may do it, but in case you hadn't noticed, our economy isn't that good & if you want me to go out & spend money I don't need to, there better be a pretty good deal. Like a 42" plasma for a couple of hundred. And not a low end POS either.

The fact is most shows are fine on my 25". I don't need to see Jon Stewart of Dave Letterman on a huge screen. Or any news program. Football? Yeah, that would be nice. Hockey? Sure. Directv just added Universal Sports, so I'm watching Olympic sports. So again, that would be nice. But again, two grand just so I can read the scores of other events is not right. I suspect that most people are fine with the sets they have. And most of the stations that have gone to these unreadable fonts are, surprise! Sports channels. ESPN being the worst & most unreadable. I first noticed it during the French Open when I couldn't read the set/match scores because they were so small.

While I wish I was independently wealthy & could just go out & buy a massive set, I'm not going to do it just because ESPN is trying to force me to. If I was that well off, I would be attending a lot of games in person anyway, & I haven't been to a live sporting event in 4 or 5 years.

Monday, August 15, 2011

Google Buys Motorola Mobility

In an apparent slap at Apple & it's constant lawsuits over patents, Google has bought motorola's cell phone business. Hmmm. Think Steve Jobs saw this coming? Apple has been blatantly trying to sue Google out of mobile with lawsuits against Android & it's manufacturers like HTC.

Hypocritically, both Apple & Microsoft bought 6,000 patents from Nortel last month. It was an obvious attempt to control the business. Now Google fires back with this deal, which follows their purchase of 1000 IBM patents. Word to Apple: Google isn't a small timer, they will fight back. And oh, BTW: Motorola owns 17,000 patents. I wonder if Apple is infringing on a bunch of those?

This also comes on the heels of Nokia making a deal with Microsoft in an attempt to stem the collapse of it's phone business, although how many people actually want a phone using  Windows Phone 7 instead of Android is questionable. I expect Apple will respond to this news fairly soon.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

UK & SF Both Block Tech To Prevent Violence

First it was British PM David Cameron talking about disrupting cell phone use to prevent protestors from coordinating during the riots, & soon after we learned that BART police in San Francisco actually did disrupt cell coverage upon learning there was going to be a protest over a shooting.

No surprise that the Chinese government took issue with that, since our government criticizes them for censorship. Be careful when you try to talk out of both sides of your mouth.

The problem here is that while it sounds draconian & definitely not democratic, public safety is at risk. The riots in London were quite violent, with lots of buildings being torched. I'm sure the number of injured was very high. In San Francisco BART officials cut underground cell service for 3 hours to attempt to prevent a protest over the fatal shooting of a man by police (What is it about BART & people getting shot?). This has been answered by hackers attacking a BART site & listing the names of thousands of Bay Area residents using that site. Question hackers: are you threatening commuters, because if you are, you are no better than thugs & criminals.

Yes it is an uncomfortable position to be in, but protests & riots have caused it. How exactly did a police shooting in London lead to stealing TV's? One has nothing to do with the other. It's simply an excuse to get something without paying. As for BART, a spokesman now says the disruptions were legal because they own the property. You may disagree but your workplace could use the same argument. Now they are trying to prevent protests that will disrupt service Monday. Yes because preventing people from being able to get home from work will make them popular. Do these people have jobs?

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Another Website Admits It Doesn't Like Firefox

It always amazes me the number of websites that don't optimize their sites so they can be viewed in Firefox. Verizon did it to me today. I attempted to go on their forums but was unable to. When I switched to IE-no problem. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE.

Then I wrote an e-mail to them complaining about it, & the response was basically-tough. What is wrong with these people? You're running a tech site for wireless phones & you reject users of the #2 browser in the world? And you admit it?

Here's my response: 1. You should be ashamed, you are out of date.
                                 2. You should make things easy for the customer.
                                 3. Whoever made this decision should be fired.

I am completely serious. I have had this issue with other sites. Firefox has 25% share. Why should it have to fight to be supported by a major company? It also brings up the issue of other browsers. The response was it's for IE. You have to register to use the forums in Firefox, but not required in IE. What about Chrome, or is the fact that it's, Google mean you can use it? And what about Safari? Sorry Verizon, but Mac users can't use IE.

This backwards thinking should be gone. Why do we still have to fight?

Monday, August 8, 2011

iTunes Is Confused About Updates

I launched iTunes today & it asked if I wanted to download 10.4. Well I currently have 9.2 on my computer & have kept putting off downloading the new version because of horror stories I have read. Mainly that it either fails to download completely or it loses all your library.

So I finally say yes & instead of getting 10.4, all it wants to load is Mobile Me & a software update. WTF? I mean try to get your act together Apple. I don't need Mobile Me. Don't know what it is, & since I don't have an iPhone or actually any smartphone that would be useless to me. Why is so hard for companies to just update their software without any problems? Mozilla seems to do it. So does CCleaner.

Apple's problem is of course that iTunes updates involve downloading the entire program again, then deleting the old version. This is overkill & wastes time. Just update the program. Why do I need to re-download the entire program? I thought Apple was about doing things easily.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Grooveshark-Terrible Music Program

I see this godawful program being built up on Lifehacker by readers as better than Spotify. What a joke! I just tried to use it again & guess what? I tried three times to hear a certain song. I had clicked on the song, it downloaded it then refused to play it. no matter how many times I clicked it, it wouldn't play.

My suggestion is just to use YouTube. They have just as many videos & frankly they are easier to find. Once Spotify is public I might try it out, but Grooveshark is the Windows version of all the crap music programs on Linux. Unworkable, useless, aggravating, irritating.

Technology Mistakes Rewards Me With Snacks

You gotta love technology screw ups. Even little ones in devices we don't consider "real tech". Like vending machines. Yes there is actually technology involved. How does it know what candy bar you want? Well I hit the key pad numbers that relate to it, but it could still mess up. But it never does, at least as far as dropping what I wanted.

But it can still do things it shouldn't. So I am planning to buy some lottery tickets this week. Why? Because twice in the last month when I've put a dollar in the vending machine at work I've gotten 2 candy bars! I like that. Considering how much money I have spent on that machine in the last 2 years. A dollar a bar when they are 69 cents at the Dollar Tree.

Of course I've also seen the coffee vending machine start pouring out without first dropping a cup, but since that coffee is nasty & I bring my own it doesn't matter!LOL.

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Silicon Valley Columnist Idiotically Gives Firefox Obit

It was absolutely amazing to read Chris O'Brien in the San Jose Mercury News claim that Firefox will soon die. Can there be a more misinformed column than that one? Correct me if I'm wrong, but when Internet Explorer goes from 90% share to 42% in 5 years, shouldn't it be that browser talked about going under?

The point of the article seems to be the rapid increase in market share for Google Chrome, a browser I'm not that crazy about. Plus the fact that Google account for 86% of Mozilla's revenue in 2009. Thus what would happen if Google stopped supporting Mozilla?

The writer seems to be saying (using quotes from an IDC analyst)  Mozilla is "groping for a rationale for it's existence". That is absurd. The point is to improve standards & create better browsers. It was never about killing all other browsers. Without Firefox Microsoft would never have improved IE to the point that it meets standards that previously only Firefox & Opera met.

Firefox won't be going away anytime soon. Neither will Internet Explorer. Having choice is a good thing.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Google+ Fastest To 25 Million

This information comes from Reuters right after another site said the number of new users was slowing down. So who to believe?

This actually means nothing. MySpace grew to 25 million faster than Facebook. Who uses MySpace nowadays? Interestingly while the US is the biggest market 2nd place is India, then the UK & Canada. So while it looks good, it actually means nothing. Google Buzz started strong, then when the controversy over privacy happened, it took a nosedive & never recovered.

Yes, 25 million is a lot, especially since it is still in invitation only phase. But so is Spotify, which doesn't seem to really be taking off. I'm not interested in registering there just to listen to songs. As for Google+, I am not on Facebook having deleted my account, so I am in no hurry to try out Google's version. Who really needs it?

Monday, August 1, 2011

Future Versions Of Firefox Look Like Chrome

Tech Crunch has an article with pictures showing a future version of Firefox. The search bar is gone, the tabs are rounded & there's a special menu that if you click turns into a sidebar with things like cut/copy/paste, plus new tab, tab groups(which didn't work for me because they always seemed to disappear)& other things like twitter & some extensions. I know I don't like that!

Why does Mozilla think they have to copy everything Google does? And if they think that then tell me why I should use the copy(Firefox) instead of the original(Chrome)?

Firefox has been around much longer than Chrome, has a higher market share, has more functionality(tons more add-ons) but they seemingly want to be Chrome. They have gone to a faster release cycle seemingly so they can catch up in version numbers. After all Chrome is on #13 despite being only a few years old, while FF is only on #5 & that's because they changed the system on numbering this year. Firefox 5 is really 4.1 or 4.2. Now they want to destroy the UI for Chromes ugly barebones look. I am not impressed.

I will stick with Firefox for now because I like the browser & all it's add-ons. Most of the ones I use are security ones like Adblock Plus & No Script. The Chrome versions are inferior. And because of the way Chrome is designed(each tab is a separate process), it uses more memory than Firefox.

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Wordpress is Worst Platform ever

My god. I have never seen a site or platform as incompetently designed as this POS. I tried to start a political blog on it. first it wouldn't publish. Support was nonexistent. Now I try to reset my password, guess what? No can do. Won't let me, therefore can't change it. Support? None. Even online it's closed for the weekend. How is this site still active? You can't use it.

I've been with Blogger several years. I have never had ONE single problem. I have even changed the name of one blog I had multiple times, with multiple URL's. Still-no problems. I don't even write directly through Blogger but rather using Scribe Fire a Firefox extension. The result? A site that has never given me a single issue.

But no words to press? Nothing but "sorry you can't do that. Nope, can't change your password, & we don't even acknowledge your previous one".

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

iTunes Doubles My Music

This qualifies as adventures in downloads. A couple of months ago I had an issue with iTunes. I had downloaded a few 60's songs, but for some reason they didn't show up in my library. It turned out that they were there, but in a hidden file. You had to go to "purchased" & then they would finish the download.

But the way iTunes described it, they wouldn't play on my iPod. That wasn't true, but that's the way it was written. So I re-downloaded them. And here's what else I did. I bought the same songs but from a different album. These were 4 songs from Cream, the psychedelic/blues band that Eric Clapton was in. The original downloads were from the original albums & the repeat downloads were from a "Best of" CD.

So once they were on there I deleted the original downloads which sent them to the recycle bin. I should have empty it at that time but I didn't. So today I was playing my iPod, playing "songs" meaning it was just playing everything in alphabetical order. I have around 540 songs on there so it takes time to go through everything. Suddenly "Sunshine of your Love" comes on & then repeats. Huh? So I check & all 4 songs are doubled!

So this time I deleted them from iTunes, then went to recycle bin & emptied the bin. Then I synched my iPod. It asked if I wanted to put in iTunes songs I had on the iPod that I didn't have in iTunes. I said no. So now my iPod seems to be rid of doubles. But I would suggest checking out once in a while.

Again this only happened because of a downloading problem that only happened once. I mean, last week I downloaded an entire CD-no problems. The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, great album. I never even heard of this band until a year ago when I borrowed their previous CD from the library. See RIAA? I liked what I heard from a CD from the library(they don't like that), and ended up buying the next CD through iTunes.