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.