Cell Phone Problems

I have a prepaid Samsung Smooth. This was an OK phone for a while. I use it about once a month. That's one reason I don't have a contract phone. I just wouldn't use it & the cost is out of line. $70 a month? Data at $30? No thanks.

But recently this phone has started to give me issues. The sound has gone south. it is very choppy with the sound going out during calls. That happened today while i was calling the drugstore 2 blocks away. Suddenly I couldn't hear the pharmacist. Not good. So I go on Verizon's website & find that while nobody is talking about my phone, some people are having choppy calls on more expensive phones, like Droids.

This is why I will never be a big cell phone user. i just don't think the technology is that good. Yeah I can make calls from anywhere, but the reception can be very bad. If I can't hear someone while I am in my house in a major residential area in a big city, how about in the middle of nowhere?

Maybe more expensive phones are supposed to be better, but then again, this phone was fine until a few months ago. And all phones are using the same towers to make & receive calls. So what's the issue?

Nuclear Worries in California

Watching all the news from Japan causes those of us on the west coast to worry. Not so much about radiation reaching this far across the ocean, but rather because we have two similar plants here.

Diablo Canyon is a nuclear plant near San Luis Obispo (200 miles south of San Francisco). It's 26 years old & is above the ocean. And since it's in California, it's on a fault line. This is not a heavy populated area. San Luis has a population of around 30,000. But San Onofre is the other plant. It's located between LA & San Diego, also on the ocean & obviously on a fault.  The San Jose Mercury says 6 million people, but that's not correct. There's at least 10 million in the LA basin & another 2 million is the San Diego area. Not even counting how many live across the border in Mexico(for those of you who don't read maps, SD is on the border directly next to Tijuana-who knows what it's pop. is).

Is this an issue? You bet it is. I live in Silicon Valley so I am 150 miles from Diablo Canyon & 400-450 miles from San Onofre in an area with 5½ million people. We are being told "the big one" is coming so be prepared, but we don't talk about those reactors. but with the disaster in Japan, now we do.

And now TV is talking about it, & politicians. CNN has a link on it's website to NHK World. That's their 24hr news channel. Their prime minister had a press conference yesterday & all he talked about was the power plants which have now had 3 explosions. So hopefully we are safe. There have been upgrades to our plants & because of the nature of our faults(slip-strike not subduction) there wouldn't be a tsunami.

iPhone Screws Up DST

When I read this in my paper this morning, I wanted to laugh. The super successful much beloved iPhone can't figure out daylight saving time. Oh brother. For some people it actually set the phone's clock back an hour, meaning this ultra modern gadget was off 2 hours!

So as a non user, non owner I am highly amused. Apparently it had the same issue when DST ended last year. Well I only have a prepaid Samsung Verizon phone which I don't use as an alarm clock, so I don't care, besides it has the correct time. I just which it sounded better, but then again I only use it once a week to see if my direct deposit has gone to the bank.

My HP desktop also has the right time, having updated itself, which means my iPod has the correct time (but old music since I added some 60's stuff yesterday-White Rabbit FTW-love that song). I see from Tech Crunch that blogger is updating it's template & dashboard. hope it doesn't interfere with my blog. I write using ScribeFire through Firefox.

MSNBC Embarrasses itself again

With people like myself interested in news about the Japanese earthquake & tsunami(hey I live in California)I turn to cable news. And what is MSNBC doing? The same crap they do every weekend, their prison doc bloc. Seriously? The 5th largest earthquake ever recorded, a massive tsunami that actually caused destruction on the west coast (Santa Cruz harbor 30 miles south of Silicon Valley had boats destroyed by waves), & you incompetents are showing this "lock up" garbage.

Meanwhile CNN first had Wolf Blitzer covering it, then switched to CNN International which had several reporters on the scene. This is what I want to see when there is a major international story. But MSNBC, & the over the air networks don't want to change their pre-programmed stuff. This is what modern technology is about. Providing information, not "no one cares, lets show gangs in prison, or reruns of some sitcom or cop show".

I am glad I have removed this joke of a network from my "favorites" on my remote, because this was just bad & whoever at the network made this decision needs to explain themselves.

Music Licensing Problems With iTunes

As an older user of iTunes I sometimes come across an issue that fans of current music seldom do. Namely popular bands not having all their music, or their most popular available. Now you could blame Apple, but I prefer to blame the labels because ultimately that's where the problem lies.

The first time I came across this was while looking for Aerosmith songs on iTunes. The band started in the 70's & their best known song is probably "Walk This Way", a song that they recorded twice. The second version was their comeback which they recorded with rappers Run DMC. That's the only version available on iTunes. Plus a live version from a 90's CD.

Then today I came across the same issue with The Kinks. A band best known for their 60's songs (plus 70's hit Lola a song about a guy who somehow doesn't know he's dating a transvestite). They were part of the original "British Invasion" with The Beatles, Rolling Stones & Dave Clark Five. Their first hit "You Really Got Me" may be the first hard rock song. It's not on iTunes, nor are any of their original 60's albums.

Why is this? I suspect it's an issue with both these bands contracts with their original labels. You see this with several acts on iTunes. Mostly acts that changed labels several times. It becomes an issue getting the rights to the recordings if there is a problem. Maybe a legal thing about payments or negotiations over copyright or ownership of those recordings. Both acts I mentioned were on multiple labels, while The Beatles spent their entire career on EMI, & while the Stones did change from Decca(London records here) to their own label, they controlled rights which kept problems down.

It's fairly obvious that Apple has been unable to make a deal with Columbia over the early Aerosmith stuff, it's also clear that either Apple or the Kinks have been unable to make a deal over rights from Reprise. This may always be a problem, especially with acts that last a long time, but it is a problem for we music fans who simply want to hear the songs.

Gawker re-design is failure for comments

I like to read articles on Lifehacker & Gizmodo. The problem is the awful re-design they did. Among the issues is the inability to read the comments. I was reading an article on the possible death of the Zune. It had 14 comments. Only 4 or 5 were available. Huh?

Why is it that popular websites just have to ruin their sites in the name of re-design. Notice I didn't call it progress, because it isn't. Like the new look to the site. I click to return to the old style because it's more readable. You can see the first paragraph of the article which tells you if you want to go on.

But why do the right thing when you can "improve"? Because a lot of people have jobs at sites where the main thing seems to be "how do I put my stamp on the site", rather than what does the reader want.

Used Kindles More Expensive Than New?

Just out of curiosity I decided to check Amazon for used Kindles. It's not that I'm a big book reader, or that I have to have the latest tech device. I just wanted to see the cost of a used one as opposed to the new one which starts at $139 (WiFi only).

Now this is interesting. A new 3G & Wi-Fi goes for $189. Amazon has 2 used ones from $239. Huh? Really. Am I reading this right? How about the Wi-Fi only? Buy new for $139, 1 used for $179, another for $200! Hmmm. I wonder if a used $499 iPad sells for $600? No. Those actually are cheaper than new ones.

This is one reason I will never buy one. This is a scam. There is no justification for a used product selling for more than new. Think a used TV sells for more than a new one from the same manufacturer, same screen size? Of course not. It's been used. Same with a car.

Now I did buy my iPod as "refurbished" direct from Apple. It cost $50 less than a new one & 1 ½ years later it works just fine (used it for 2 hrs today). So I don't know what's going on here.