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".

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.

Mozilla Reveals Unneccessary OS

Mozilla has announced that it plans to build a mobile OS. Why? The way it is described sounds like Chrome OS. But unlike that laughable idea, this one is aimed at smartphones & tablets rather than netbooks(remember those?).

Seriously, what are they thinking? It's called "Boot to Gecko" since that's the engine Firefox uses & turns it into an open source OS. Uh, doesn't that describe Android & Linux? Why is this needed? Well it isn't.

What I really think is that the Firefox people are so obsessed with the success of Google Chrome that they feel the need to copy it at all stages. That is why Firefox is now jumping version numbers so fast. A year and a half to launch Firefox 4 then move to 5 in 3 months? In 3 years we'll be using Firefox 20, which will really be Firefox 4.5 at most.

Maybe Mozilla should just call themselves a Linux distro & be done with it.

Wordpress: Worst Platform Ever

So I just wasted an hour setting up a new blog on Wordpress. Or at least I though I did. Imagine my surprise when after writing several hundred words that there is no option to publish like Blogger has. So when I went to my dashboard & clicked to read my new blog it wasn't there! WTF

Horrid site. Just worthless. Well I learned my lesson. I will stay here, or won't write at all. What a sleazy useless site. Never again!

Will People Really Leave Netflix?

While everyone is convinced that Netflix will lose customers over the new pricing or people will simply stream. I don't believe that. For one thing their streaming selection is very limited, thanks to Hollywood not liking it. Most movies available are at least 20 years old. Yeah, I can watch Animal House or Lawrence of Arabia, but not The King's Speech or any Harry Potter movie.

Second, the servers sometimes have issues. Last week the site went down for an entire day. I couldn't log on (It wouldn't recognize my password), & others had the site crash while watching a movie. Now a DVD may freeze up (I've had that happen), but eventually I can watch it. If the site goes down while I'm watching a movie guess what? Well, you watched it & can't again.

This has nothing to do with how you're streaming. I do it directly on the computer. No Roku box, no Playstation or Wii. No way to connect a long cable from my modem in one room to my TV in another. Others can because of their setups. Again this isn't the issue. Minimal content & server capacity are.

So I'm going to stick to DVD's. I just don't believe this prediction that DVD's will go away. People will always need them. Not everyone is going to have access to special boxes or special TV's.

Norwegian Murderer Published Manifesto On Web

Anders Behring Breivik the Norwegian who murdered at least 90 people in Norway was a right wing extremist who wrote a 1500 page manifesto. It talks of "islamisation" & an upcoming armed struggle. He writes of killing the "cultural Marxists".

He was part of a group called the "Sweden Democrats". This was a hate group. He used Facebook to contact others with like views, but found himself at odds with right wing groups that found him more extreme than even they were. He wrote of European civil war that would end in 2083 with the deportation of all Muslims.

He calls himself a Christian & if he was an American would be a Limbaugh & Fox News follower. The views towards Muslims & other minorities is similar.

Why do I have to register to listen to music?

I have been reading up on the various web based music players. Not just Spotify, but also Rdio & Rhapsody & Pandora. What do they all have in common? You have to register with the site, give an e-mail address before you can hear a single song. Why is that?

I assume that they want to spam you with unwanted e-mail. Not to mention annoying attempts to sell you something. After all, if it's a free service then shouldn't I be able to just listen? I can listen to a podcast without registering. I can listen to internet radio the same way. But a player? Uh uh, no can do.

It's funny because as an iTunes user, I am able to import songs from my own CD's without having to sign in. I can watch full complete episodes of TV shows on Hulu or say, CBS.com without signing in. I have watched entire movies (old ones) on YouTube, again without registering or signing in, but music sites, nope.

I have no interest in having my name or e-mail address on a zillion sites just because some company wants the info. This is why I deleted my Facebook account months ago. Message to all these jerk sites: I've been off FB for several months & don't miss it. Besides, again: why register on Spotify or Rdio when I can go on iTunes, click on radio & listen to any internet station without even logging in?

iPod Sales Decreasing

While giving the quarterly earnings report, Apple revealed that iPod sales went down 20% last quarter. Meanwhile iPhone sales went up 142% with 20 million sold & 9.25 million iPads were sold, an increase of 183%. Now that is for a relatively new product. The iPhone sales as opposed to the 7.54 million iPods?

People apparently want their music on their phone. The thinking must be "why should I have BOTH a phone & a separate music player?". My thought is this: iPods take battery power, so do cell phones. If I'm listening to music on my iPhone, I'm decreasing the battery time length. Meaning I have to charge the battery that many more times because I'm using it for something other than it's main reason. And remember that you can't change the battery in any Apple device.

If it's convenience since you only carry one device instead of two, again, if you have to constantly recharge the battery on your phone because you're using it as a MP3 player, you are wasting your money. An iPod doesn't cost $100 a month in AT&T or Verizon phone charges. Now who looks silly?

I use my iPod maybe 4 days of the week, maybe 6-7 hours. Do that on an iPhone & instead of charging the phone once a day (if I make lot's of calls) or only a few times a week, or even once a week, I'm charging it twice as often, meaning the battery will die that much quicker, an Apple likes that because you will have to buy a new iPhone, since again: you can't change the battery yourself. How smart am I?

AT&T Selling Refurbished iPhone for $9

While reading PC Magazine I came across this deal. A refurbished iPhone 3GS for $9. Yes, you read that right. It's available online with a data plan that starts at $15 a month. That is a plan for 200 MB. Not much, but if you don't use it, probably OK. The cheapest calling plan is 450 minutes with 5000 night & weekend minutes. That's not bad if you're not a teenager LOL. However it is $39.99.

So let's review. $9 for the iPhone. $15 for 200 MB of data ($45 for 4 GB), $40 a month for the plan for 2 years, the term of the contract. So at the low end you pay $55 a month for your $9 phone & at the high end $115 a month. I think I'll stick with my prepaid $10 a month phone. Heck I never use it anyway.

When Will Dentists Go High Tech?

Today I had to visit my dentist for a teeth cleaning. Because of an issue I have (a pocket has developed in a back tooth), I am going every four months. Now my dentist is a cool guy but who wants to see their dentist every four months?

Anyway it's a pain. No he doesn't hurt, but it's an annoyance. I actually have to turn one way so he can pull my cheek another way to get to some teeth. I jokingly said "when are they going to come up with a laser to clean my teeth in a couple of minutes?". He laughed at that, but it's true. They've done everything else. Why not go Star Trek & come up with a way to do that?

There is some laser surgery, so I am sure that something like that might come along at some point. Everything else is going that way. Heck I just downloaded an entire CD from iTunes & it came with what Apple calls a "digital booklet". This is the booklet you get when you buy the physical Cd except it's a PDF.

Maybe in a couple of hundred years all surgery will be laser. Quicker & less dangerous.

Netflix Goes Down Won't Help Customers

I've been trying for an hour to get on Netflix. The website won't recognize my password. I've changed it about 10 times! Still can't get on. Finally found a site called downrightnow.com that lists  websites that have crashed & yes, they list Netflix. You can't even contact them. The phone number goes to voice mail then says "voicemail is full, call back later". Just awful customer service.

Here's an idea: when you have just announced a 60% price increase, don't give the impression that you don't care & don't want to deal with your customers. My package isn't changing prices. I went on there to add a movie because I only had 5 in my queue & you should have 6. I mean there isn't even an option of sending an e-mail. No e-mail address is listed. Really horrible relations with the people that keep you in business.

Need Invitation To Join Spotify And Google +

I don't know when this started but whenever a new heavily promoted service is launched it is decided to make it invitation only. When Google started Gmail, that's what they did, which is why it still is behind Yahoo Mail in users despite being a superior program.

Now two different heavily promoted programs are available, but only by invitation. Google+ & the formerly European only music service Spotify.

The fact is because of all the publicity, I would like to try these out to see if they are worth it. But since I don't use similar services I won't be getting an invite anytime soon. So I will have to wait until they go public, but who knows when that will be? I depends on how successful they are. I would be willing to try out the free version of Spotify, but I'm not going to pay $10 a month just to check it out.

Same with Google+. It's just another version of Facebook & I eventually deleted my Facebook account because of the massive security issues revolving around profiles. My personal information is my business, not Mark Zuckerberg's or some sleazy marketer. I think we all learned that from the British phone-hacking scandal.

Besides, I think the invitation only nonsense is just a way of getting extra publicity. Or in the case of Spotify artificially creating a limit on free users causing people who are in a hurry to try out the service to order the $5 or more likely the $10 a month version, rather than wait to see when the free version goes public. I would be interested to see the user base in a year to see how this worked out. Not to mention the fact that there are many competitors here like Rhapsody & Pandora.

Guardian website best for news of Murdoch scandal

As someone who is interested in the phone hacking scandal I want as much information as possible. Here in the states there just isn't that much in the local paper & very little on TV (and obviously none on Fox).

So I go to the web. The place to go is the website of the paper that broke the scandal & has been covering it for years. The Guardian. This is a Manchester based national paper that is the 2nd most read newspaper website in the world after the New York Times. It's a very well regarded paper.

There is so much info that they have an entire section devoted to complete coverage. So much that you could spend an hour or more reading every article there from a timeline of events, an hour by hour blog to various articles about the police, politicians & others commenting on it. Plus of course in-depth coverage that covers various incidents going back to 2003.

So go to the phone-hacking link to check out whatever you want.

Confusing DVD Player

Last night I attempted to watch a DVD on the computer. I had never done this before. Maybe I could have used the TV, but I had it set up for recording something & didn't want to mess it up. I know, but I'm not a geek.

So I put the DVD in & a screen opened up asking which program to use. I have at least 3 different software programs on there. Real Player, Windows Media Player & a program that HP installed called HP Media Smart, which is a player like Real or iTunes.

So I clicked Real Player. I use this to watch Al Jazeera in Firefox so I figured this would be the best way. Well, it wouldn't work. I kept getting a popup to buy a pro version (why would I need that?) for $40. Uh, no thanks. Tried several times. Wouldn't do anything. Finally I manually opened the HP program that they installed before I bought the computer. Well, Real opened up again, not working, but I could hear sound behind it, so I closed Real & voila! There was the movie. Hmmm.

So my question is: can I only use Real for DVD's if I pay 40 bucks extra. That doesn't seem right. And I wonder why there was no option of adding the movie to iTunes since it has video. Maybe only plays iTunes downloads. I'll have to check that out.

Progressive Station Interrupts Programming

The Bay Area station that broadcasts progressive talk doesn't like their own format. Twice this morning they cut away from a discussion for a Ryan Seacrest commercial. What I mean is they dumped the show while the host was talking to advertise a music festival in Vegas. Really?

Both times were at 16 minutes after the hour. The commercial break is at 20 after the hour. Why not do it then? Obviously to get an extra commercial in. After all, the listener doesn't really care what's being said on the air. They are only interested in what Simon's whipping boy has to say. Right?

To be clear: The host didn't stop talking. It's a syndicated show out of LA. Stephanie Miller didn't know she wasn't on the air in SF. But then again this is the same station that used to broadcast traffic reports while she was talking. And infamously cut her show to one hour so the station manager could have his own show. That lasted a month until there were enough complaints.

If I had a laptop I would never listen to this amateurishly run station. I would go on iTunes, click on radio & find the Seattle station that broadcasts her at the same time. I've never heard that station pull this kind of stunt.

Owning a radio station means you have a responsibility to the community. We know the right wing stations don't practice that, but I expect a progressive station to. Otherwise you are no better than the now defunct News of the World. Technology isn't just new & better iPads or computers or faster browsers or hard drives. It's also radio, TV & newspapers practicing their craft for the most people. It can be used for good or bad. Bad being what Murdoch did in hacking e-mails & destroying politics in this country.

Another DVD With Play Issues

There seems to be a new problem with DVD's. I've had this issue crop up at least twice now. Namely the inability to access the movie. In this case when I hit play movie, it froze up on the FBI screen. It would click play like it was going to go to the movie, but instead went right back to the FBI screen. When this happens I've found that if you go back to the main menu & instead of clicking play movie, you go to scene selection. Click the first scene & it goes to the beginning. I don't mean the first scene, I mean it goes to where it would start with the studio logo like if you had hit play movie. Inception did the same thing. This was the King's Speech. Different studio.

Is this a DVD problem? Is my player now having problems with the play selection? Actually if that was the case the movie wouldn't play at all. Maybe this is why people want to stream. but that doesn't work. None of these movies are available that way. They're too recent. Plus streaming always has the possibility of buffering issues.

Now I wouldn't mind getting a new player, but if that isn't the issue, why spend the money? I don't have a big screen, but do have Directv, which means no DVR. So I'm stuck with renting DVD's, getting Pay Per View (expensive-$5 a movie) or waiting till it's on HBO.

New Computer History Museum Is Must See

About two years ago I visited the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. It was an terrific way of seeing the origins of the industry & how we got here. They were about to close for a re-design that would take around a year and a half to complete. Today I finally got back.

First of all, It took me 3½ hours to go through the museum, & that included an overpriced oversized sandwich & rushing through the last few galleries. It starts out with a section devoted to calculating devices from pre-20th century. Things like the abucus (which I still have never figured out), Russian & German devices & of course, the slide rule. Then it moves on to calculating machines devised by various mechanical thinkers.

Then we get to the 20th century. The majority of space in this museum is taken up by WWII & post war computers. Card punch readers, the Eniac & Univac & various IBM devices of varying sizes. We're talking about computers the size of a room. One interesting reference was Cray building a device many times faster than the competing IBM machine & Thomas Watson, Jr, the IBM chairman complaining about being beaten by a company with "34 employees including the janitor", or words to that effect. Really interesting stuff. Then a section on the transistor, which led to the integrated circuit.

There's a section on early computer games, a an area devoted to the Homebrew Computer Club, which was a place for hobbyists to get together. This is where the Apple originally came from as the two Steves were members. Also there is a letter from Bill Gates who was upset because the members werre giving each other copies of BASIC, Gates original program. He complained about this stating he wanted his money. Yes it makes him look greedy, but as is pointed out in a video, had it continued this way no one would have created software. No market. Thus by patenting & paying it created a software industry which led to today.

Just a small area with early machines like the Altair & the Commodore & a few mice. Including a video showing usage of an early one with the creator saying he didn't know why they called it that, but it stuck. I suspect they are more intersted in the past since we know the present, but very few if any cell phones & only a single iPod. Maybe this will be expanded in the future. It's a huge exhibit, but still only takes up the first floor of what used to be a software headquarters new Shoreline Ampitheater. I say check it out. There is also an online museum I will have to check out.

Blogger To Be Renamed

This story is all over the internet. Apparently Google has decided that they just can't have products that don't have Google as part of the name. Thus Picasa will be renamed Google Photos. Wow. That is so generic. Same with the possible renaming of Blogger to Google Blogs.

On one hand, Blogger can be a problem. Especially on search engines that might think you're looking for someone who blogs rather than a specific site. On the other hand Blogger is one of the ten most used websites in the world, so I'm guessing it actually shows up pretty high on search sites.

This supposedly has to do with Google+. Oh goody, a social site run by Sergey & Larry. Remind me again how popular Buzz & Wave are? Oh that's right, not so much. Granted, I deleted my Facebook account because I consider it a security risk, especially since Mark Zuckerberg doesn't seem to have any problem releasing my private info to anyone. Also Google is getting rid of private profiles.

The one difference is You Tube won't be rebranded. That would be insane. Besides there was already a Google Video site that was closed because no one used it. Why use that when the very famous You Tube is available from the same company?

I am already seeing +1 on a lot of search results within Google, so I assume this is just the beginning of this program. Whether anyone ends up using it is another matter. Again Buzz was supposed to compete with facebook, but because of it's own privacy problem people just so "Uh, I don't think so", & so it died.

Renaming Blogger? It is not as famous or as mentioned as Word Press & yet it's many times bigger. One wonders if Google is worried about a perception that has little to do with reality.

The Mystery of the Unknown Cell Phone Caller

I own a prepaid cell phone. I hardly ever use it. It's for emergency purposes only. I use it about once a week just to see if my paycheck has been directly deposited & how much.

Saturday night I was watching the Klitschko-Haye fight & heard it ring. I didn't answer it as no one has my number. Even my relatives only have my landline number. So I ignored it. Afterwards I looked up the call. It was an 805 number. Where is that? SoCal.

Gotta love the internet. Found two different websites where you can post a phone number & it will come back with the registered owner. Both sites I used came back with the same name & address. Some couple in Simi Valley. I don't know anyone in Simi Valley & I've never been there. It's north of LA. Haven't been in Southern California in I don't know how many years. Clearly this is a scam. I'm guessing when you answer you get charged some high fee just for answering the phone. Really nice.

I'm thinking of going on Verizon's website on their forums & warning people of this stunt. Not like it isn't known that this stuff exists, but the message still needs to get out.

Google Changes Gmail Look

I am not like those people who hate change. Today I noticed that there had been changes to Gmail. Basically they have changed the heading to a dark look. It is actually easier to read. all the choices are still there. Calendar, documents, etc. Of course some people are complaining. That will always happen. I am more concerned when a changed breaks something. Like Firefox 5 not supporting addons that worked a week ago when it was version 4. (Tell me again why this isn't Firefox 4.1 or 4.2?)

Although I do have to ask: Why do you still list Buzz? No one uses it. Probably the biggest failure in Google history. But then again Justin Timberlake who played a character in the Facebook movie has bought into My Space. That's still around?