Tech
Monday, September 14, 2009
Amazing
There is so much being said in this video and it explains so much of some of the things I’ve been trying to say over the years whether it be in a personal blog entry or in real life. Some of those things aren’t necessarily technically related so much as trying to explain why I do some of the things I do, say some of the things I say, act the way I act and have a difficult time standing still. There’s too much to do, see, accomplish and if you don’t keep moving, you will be left far behind.
Really take a moment to think about that last question. It remains unanswered because you are supposed to think about the answer. Really think about it.
(btw: music is Fatboy Slim. You can watch it here)
Sunday, July 26, 2009
I Stand Corrected
In my last post I stated, “Idiots don’t like to read”. I was wrong. Apparently some idiots do like to read, unfortunately, they don’t have any reading comprehension skills to save their lives.
I don’t mean to turn this into an, “All Kindle, All The Time” blog, I just have to get this out before I internally combust. And since I have to be kind and pleasant on the Amazon forum, I will say what I really want to say, here.
Everything was going along smoothly until the book, “1984” by George Orwell was pulled from the Amazon servers. God, where do I even begin with this? Ok, when you purchase a Kindle, any book that you buy from the Amazon store is backed up on their servers for you. You may also back up your books on to your own computer if you wish but Amazon will keep a copy of all of the books you purchased from them on their servers.
You purchase a book, it will show up in your “Media Library”. It will forever stay in your Media Library, (on the Amazon site), unless you actually ask for a refund for that book within 7 days of purchase. (Say you accidentally clicked on the buy option...very easy thing to do.) You may download these books that you have purchased from Amazon to your Kindle to read. The Kindle 2 can hold up to 1500 books but it can be difficult to navigate through all 1500 books on the Kindle so what many do is read a few books on the Kindle and delete them from the Kindle. Because of the Media Library on Amazon, you may redownload that book as many times as you wish forever.
So, let’s say I read “Call of the Wild” and was now finished. I don’t want it on my Kindle anymore right now but I may wish to read this book later. I delete it from the Kindle but it stays on my “Media Library” page on Amazon and I can put it back on my Kindle in say, 6 months or whenever the hell I feel like reading it again.
One way to d/l books from Amazon to your Kindle is through a service, (from Sprint), called “Whispernet”. It is free. You turn on the Whispernet feature, hope you have a signal, (like trying to get a cell phone signal), and you are able to shop in the Amazon store or have your books from the Amazon Media Library d/l to your Kindle in less than a minute. It’s wonderful!
If you cannot get a signal, you can still d/l books from Amazon via your computer.
With me so far?
Alright.
Now, Amazon also has a page for indie authors or self published authors to upload their books for sale. You do not have to be published by a big house publisher, you can write a book and load it to the Amazon page and hope for sales. I have found many new reads this way and a handful of them are going to be terrific and well published authors in the future. Tens of thousands of books are uploaded through the self publishing author page on Amazon. Many indie authors offer their books for 99 cents just to get an audience.
(I am telling you all of this for a reason. Stay with me.)
Also on Amazon and other places around the internets, you can find many classics for free. This is because those classics are no longer copyrighted. (Think Project Gutenburg.) Jack London, Mark Twain, Homer, Jane Austen, on and on and on. Free.
It is also well known that many authors do not want their books in digital format. The most famous one is J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. She does not want her books available for e-readers because she does not want her books being pirated. Unfortunately for her, this has caused her books to BE pirated and sold or just given away for free in .pdf.
Ok, now that you know all of that, let’s get to the meat of the matter.
In the one month I’ve had the Kindle, I’ve seen Ayn Rand books be published on the Amazon page for 99 cents. I’ve seen Harry Potter books being sold for 99 cents. I’ve seen George Orwell’s books be sold for 99 cents.
In the case of Ayn Rand books, I was very new to Kindle and did not know that there were still in copyright. I saw them, even though I had purchased and read them in hard back, I no longer have them and want them again. I purchased “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead” for 99 cents each. Hurray! I thought. This is cool!
Well, about two days later, I received an email from Amazon telling me that they were refunding me my 99 cents each and that the next time I turned on my Whispernet, the books would disappear from my Kindle. Come to find out, the Ayn Rand Institute did NOT authorize these books to be sold for 99 cents. These were illegal copies. Oops!
Now, if I wanted to be a thieving little asshole, I could keep my Whispernet off and not lose those books. The ONLY way they can be taken from my Kindle is if Amazon removes the book from THEIR servers and I turn on my Whispernet. It has to do with synching. If Amazon has removed the books from their servers, the next time I turn on Whispernet, it looks for those books. If it does not see those books, those books disappear from my Kindle.
However, as I stated, if I wanted to keep illegal copies of something, I could just never turn my Whispernet on again. OR, I could d/l those books to my computer from my Kindle and then turn on my Whispernet later. They will disappear from my Kindle but I now have them on my computer. At this point, I can turn off the Whispernet and load the books from my computer back on to my Kindle. And I can read illegal copies of Ayn Rand’s books. And before I turn the Whispernet back on, put them back on to my computer.
Amazon itself canNOT go to my Kindle and remove books left and right. Amazon can only remove books from their servers. Please remember that statement. In comes in handy in a little bit. Amazon will ONLY remove books from their servers if they find out the book is an illegal copy OR if the book has so many formatting errors and customers have complained. They will then remove it, tell the publisher, give the publisher the opportunity to clean it up and then they will put it back on their servers. They do not remove books just because they feel like it.
The only other time they will remove a book is from the store. And that is because the publisher no longer decides they want to sell it in digital format. However, when that happens, they don’t remove it from their servers so those who did buy it can still read it over and over again and will always find it in their Media Library. It just will not be available anymore in the store. (This has happened a few times to me already.)
E-reader technology isn’t necessarily new, but the Kindle and Sony e-readers have made it something to look at and other companies are starting to jump on that bandwagon now.
Alright, you now have everything you need to know to understand why I said, at the beginning, that I stand corrected; some people who read ARE idiots.
Recently, the George Orwell books, “1984” and “Animal Farm” became available for the Kindle for 99 cents each. Some people bought them. I had them on my WishList. I was going to buy them later. About two days after I put them on my WishList, (back in early June when I was compiling a WishList for my Kindle), they showed as “no longer available”. They were not pulled from the servers, you just couldn’t buy them.
At first I was upset. Then I thought, “Well maybe there are formatting issues.” So I kept them on the WishList hoping for their return. About a month later, all hell broke loose. Amazon started sending emails to customers who bought the 99 cent books telling them there were “problems” with those books and that they were refunding them their 99 cents. The books were then completely removed from the Amazon servers. The next time a customer turned on their Whispernet, those books would disappear from their Kindles.
And everyone went stark, raving mad.
Blogs and media who once poo-pooed the mere idea of an e-reader were now all experts on e-readers. See Idiot Spouts Off About Things He Doesn’t Know
This morning, hundreds of Amazon Kindle owners awoke to discover that books by a certain famous author had mysteriously disappeared from their e-book readers. These were books that they had bought and paid for—thought they owned."
First of all, twit, you don’t OWN the books. You are licensed a copy of the book. You do not OWN it. Read the fucking User Agreement, it tells you right in them that you don’t OWN the thing.
But no, apparently the publisher changed its mind about offering an electronic edition, and apparently Amazon, whose business lives and dies by publisher happiness, caved. It electronically deleted all books by this author from people’s Kindles and credited their accounts for the price."
Sigh. NO, asshole. The publisher did NOT change its mind and Amazon caved. These were illegal copies of the books. The LEGAL copy of “1984” is ready and available for anyone to purchase. For $9.99 they can have the LEGAL copy. These were illegal copies being sold by Mobibooks for 99 cents. And, Amazon did not delete the books from the people’s Kindles, they deleted the books from their servers. BIG difference.
As one of my readers noted, it’s like Barnes & Noble sneaking into our homes in the middle of the night, taking some books that we’ve been reading off our nightstands, and leaving us a check on the coffee table.
And here’s where the mass hysteria started. It is nothing like breaking and entering in to someone’s home and taking a book back. Amazon discovered that the copies were illegal and deleted those illegal copies from their servers. They also refunded the 99 cents to those people who bought the copies. Amazon has a legal obligation to remove illegal copies of books from their servers. They can’t rightly keep illegal copies on their servers. They are ILLEGAL!!!!!! What part of this do these entitlement fags not understand?
You, nor anyone else has the RIGHT to keep an ILLEGAL copy of anything. If you want the copy of “1984” buy it LEGALLY!
Now, what happened is that the company, Mobibooks, (that no one seems to be paying attention to in all of this), uploaded “1984” and “Animal Farm” through Amazon’s self publishing system. In some countries, there is no copyright for these books. For example, if you live in Australia, you have the legal right to copy a .pdf of these books to your computer and read them. However, in the US, that is not the case. So Amazon had to pull them from their servers. As I explained before, when those books are pulled from the servers, the next time Whispernet is turned on, it will synch with Amazon and if it does not find those books, they will disappear from the Kindle. Amazon did not go in to anyone’s home and take the book back. Ridiculous analogy.
Also, again, tens of thousands of books are uploaded through the self publishing system. Amazon asks each person if they have the right to load that book. If that individual states that they do have the right, it is loaded. Amazon was using the honor system. They do not have the manpower to go through each and every single book loaded through the self publishing system; they were trusting people to do the right thing.
As has been illustrated, some people cannot be trusted. Amazon was a victim here, as well. And with all this bitching and moaning, it’s going to make things harder for self published authors to get their books loaded to the system if Amazon is forced to go through each and every book uploaded for sale through this system. And that may keep some indie authors away. That would be a big disadvantage not only to the authors but to the customers and Amazon.
Further, all this bitching and moaning will make authors such as J.K. Rowling stand even more firm on their decision NOT to allow their books in digital format. Do you think for one second that J.K. Rowling is going to look at the hysteria over this George Orwell incident and change her mind? See, after all the spitting and crying, Amazon has stated it will never do this again. If people purchase an illegal copy, Amazon won’t remove it. GREAT! I’m sure J.K. Rowling is ready to jump right on in and allow her books in digital format now! Sure, some people are pirating her books already but hey! Now we can reach more people through the Amazon self publish page and earn some money out of it all, NONE of it going to Rowling! Well where the hell do I sign up for that?! I’m sure that’s what she’s thinking right now.
If Amazon does get the man power to go through each and every copy uploaded through the self publish page, you can bet book prices are going to rise. This will inflame those who ALSO do not fucking read and are currently part of a $9.99 boycott. (God don’t even get me started on that nonsense.) These people claim that Jeff Bezos said that no ebook would cost more than $9.99. Yet, oh MY GOD! HE LIED! There are about 30% of books that are over $9.99. Fuck that! We’re boycotting! He did NOT say this. He said that books in the top 15, (I believe is the number) of the NYTimes best seller list would be at $9.99 as well as some, SOME, new releases. He never said ALL books. But hey, let’s not let facts get in the way of reality.
In the end, all this fucking carrying on is only going to hurt the customers themselves and indie authors possibly. Wow people are fucking genius aren’t they?
Many blogs and newspapers wrote about this and if you have nothing better to do and want to watch idiots work up a froth, read those articles and the comments that go with them. (And might I say, I’m surprised at Glenn Reynolds. GLENN REYNOLDS? Really?!!?!? Are you serious, Glenn? I’ve long respected Instapundit but he, too, worked himself up into an hysterical moment and decided that perhaps he shouldn’t be touting the Kindle as he was doing. C’mon, Glen. You are much smarter than this!)
People are all upset about the fact that these books were pulled. Screamings about “book burning” and “how ironic that it’s 1984, Orwell would be spinning in his grave” are popping up everywhere. Let’s take a moment to talk about what Orwell wrote. I will use the words of a member on the Amazon forum as he put it precisely and better than I:
“The way this is being blown so far out of proportion by being compared to Orwell’s forced totalitarian state versus a mistake made by a company which resulted from a voluntary business transaction. In 1984, the citizens had no choice and no recourse and the violations were pervasive and often. Amazon is a company which at least made an attempt (user agreement) before buyers bought their product to let them know that Amazon has some level of control over the device they are purchasing so they do not have to purchase it if they don’t like the arrangement or they can return it for a full refund if they don’t like the arrangement. No such quarter was possible in Orwell’s vision of the GOVERNMENT, not a private business.
The paranoid hysteria from this is just mind-boggling.”
Exactly.
People are yelping that Amazon “stole” their books from them...now THAT is ironic, no? They are claiming that Amazon stole their stolen property. They want full compensation..no, NOT the 99 cents they were refunded, the 99 cents they spent on the illegal copies of the books. NO! They want not only the 99 cents back but they also want Amazon to BUY THEM the legal copy. Nevermind that they got their 99 cents back and are able to purchase the legal copies themselves for $9.99, they want Amazon to give it to them since Amazon STOLE their stuff. They want an apology, they want Amazon to keep their mitts off the Kindle. “Out of my bedroom!” “How DARE you keep a copy of everything I’ve purchased! This is an invasion of privacy!”
Are these people fucking mental? Any time you purchase anything from any store, if you don’t use cash, there is a record of what you bought. Shall we all scream about the invasion of privacy to Target, Wal Mart, Publix, Safeway, Netflix, etc? Most of the time, this is called a “receipt”. There will be a record of that receipt in each and every store where you purchased something with a credit or debit card. How dare they!
A number of people turned in into a political argument with one Amazon customer going so far as to call all of those who accepted what Amazon did and like their Kindles, as right wing shills for the company. Here is an example of things she’s said:
"Most shills are confused, so I’m not surprised that you are. Amazon created their doomed Kindle out of greed. They’ve used it to destroy books out of sheer stupidity. And then they and their shills lied about it. Corporations and other dictators frequently act this way.”
“Nothing can penetrate your shield of shilldom. In your world, Amazon can do nothing wrong, and all critics are “trolls” or self-interested competitors. Anyone who disagrees with you is “irrational,” even after they have completely skewered you on the facts. This sort of attitude is well known. You see it on far-right wing websites and, in a different guise, among oppressive governments the world over.”
“I’m not going to convince you. I knew that a long time ago. You’ve long since drunk the Kool-Aid. Tell us about your activities in the high-tech business, including any relationships with Amazon. Come on, ‘fess up. How “close “ are you to these uber-geeks?”
“You still haven’t disclosed your ties to Amazon. What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?”
“So you’re shilling for free, then? Come on, far-right wingnuts like you shouldn’t be working for free. Haven’t you heard?”
“Supercilious right-wing twits don’t just shill. They also don’t get sarcasm.”
“Amazon lied, cheated, and stole from its customers. And you think it’s “not wrong.” No wonder you have a far-right wing reading list. Your heroes are cut from the same cloth. You’re probably a big Fox News fan, too.”
“You have long since drunk the Kool-Aid. You’re nothing but a wingnut shill. You and Amazon are made for each other."
And there lies the evidence. You see, the people who are reasonable have been talking about “personal responsibility” and that they don’t want illegal copies on their Kindles. Their biggest complaint was that Amazon was not forthcoming in the beginning. They were upset about the email stating there was a “problem” and wanted the truth. They stated that in the future, they would like it if Amazon would write them first, telling them the books are illegal and they have to remove them in x number of days and that a refund would be coming. Most, however, understood why Amazon did what it did.
The unreasonable people, like the one you see above, are the ones who have been talking about corporate greed, shilling, right wing nuts and have been howling for free copies of this book, how dare Amazon break in to their homes and steal their things, Amazon wants to control what we read, isn’t it so IRONIC that it was “1984”, (although NOT ONE FUCKING PERSON SAID A DAMN WORD when it was Ayn Rand or Harry Potter now did they?!?!?!?!! NO! Fucking hypocrites), how Jeff Bezos’ apology was bullshit and didn’t prove anything but PR clean up, (read the apology, if ever there was a more heartfelt apology from a CEO, I beg you to find it for me--apology can be found here), that they will never trust Amazon again, they will never buy a Kindle and they were JUST ABOUT TO, (total bullshit), why they had NO IDEA that Amazon had this “power” and were shocked and dismayed by how “Big Brother” it all was, (the hell they didn’t know Amazon had this “power”...Amazon can remove a book if you want a refund, you FUCKING IDIOTS!), on and on and on and on it went.
Some said apology was accepted BUT they would not buy a Kindle or any more books until Amazon did away with the ability to remove books “from our Kindles”. When asked what about when you want to return a book for a refund, they stated that Amazon should TRUST them to remove the book from their own Kindle. Right. These people are screaming about the removal of a 99 cent illegal copy of a book but now want Amazon to trust them to remove legal copies of books from their own Kindles while Amazon gives them their money back. Sure. Sounds TOTALLY reasonable.
All this over a fucking 99 cent copy of a book. A 99 cent illegal copy of a book. A 99 cent illegal copy of a book that they got a godamned refund for and can purchase, legally, in the Amazon store for $9.99. But you can’t tell them that, see, to them, it’s not about the price of the book, it’s all about the fact that Amazon won’t let them keep an illegal copy of the book. They bought it for God’s sake! It’s THEIRS!!!!!! Amazon stole it back and of course because Amazon had to remove an illegal copy of that book from their servers, well NATURALLY the next step is for Amazon to ban books left and right if they don’t toe the right wing party line! OF COURSE!!!
In the end, it has been proven to me again that those on the left are a bunch of selfish, entitlement seeking, ludicrous, insane dirtbags. Those on the right are calm, reasonable and accept that sometimes mistakes are made, apology accepted, no harm, no foul.
Honestly, I often wonder what side of the fence people sit on when it comes to many things in this life: Those in jail, people who drive a certain way, act a certain way, when they complain about something...I wonder if they are left or right wing. I don’t, however, accuse people who don’t agree with me as being one or the other, I wonder, but I don’t accuse. In this particular case, it has been brought up quite a bit, all over, EXACTLY what side of the fence people sit on.
An apology. Hmm. If only Nixon had done that.
Classy...like the president we FINALLY have that is deserving of our respect! You were wrong and it’s refreshing when a company can step up and admit that.
When I first started reading about this issue on the Amazon forums, I never thought I’d be writing about left and right. However, other Amazon customers felt the need to let those of us who are sharing in the “love fest” for Amazon, know that we are just a bunch of right winging shills, I had no choice but to focus on that. And it proves to me again that many of those on the left are fucking mentally insane and do not care about anyone else but themselves. To hell with the copyright holder! TO HELL WITH THEM and their money. These people should be allowed to keep that 99 cent illegal copy. And the strawman arguments that followed is a good learning lesson for those who don’t understand what a strawman argument is. Leaping to conclusions based on a company protecting the LEGAL COPYRIGHTED ownership is jaw dropping.
Amazon has been put through the wringer in the past week over this. It was unnecessary and those who wrote about it in the NY Times, (piece of shit paper if there ever was one), and other outlets should be ashamed of themselves. Know what the fuck you are talking about before you open your pissy little pie hole. Right, Pogue?
Saturday, July 11, 2009
My Blog: The TV Series
Erm.....yah. What the hell?
I noticed a significant jump in hits on my stat counter so I went to find out where these are coming from. Seems a large majority are coming from here: (no actual link, copy/paste if you want to go there)
http://www.webappsx.com/
Actually, the hits are coming from different series pages at this website. I went and scrounged around but I find nothing that shows me why on earth anyone would be directed to my site from there.
WTF is going on?
Sunday, June 21, 2009
The Kindle Review
Holy shize, kids, some people do not know how to read or understand what they are reading. It’s amazing the negative reviews on the Amazon page for the Kindle and the extended warranty. I’m going to share some of those with you before I give you my review.
No backlight.
No cover included.
Can’t get whispernet to download books.
When purchasing upgraded Kindle, can’t move purchased books, (THAT I PAID FOR), on to new device.
The audacity of Amazon to come up with the DX mere months after the K2 release.
It’s fragile.
I dropped it and Amazon won’t replace it unless I give them $200.
The warranty is NOT a “two year” extended warranty!
You want us to pay $65 for a one year warranty?
Have to buy books only from Amazon.
Jeff Bezos said that all books would be $9.99 or less and yet, they are not! Corporate GREED!
Screen savers are ugly, how dare Amazon control us in this.
I hate the fact that it only comes in white.
My Kindle was stolen and Amazon is doing nothing about it.
It costs too much.
It won’t play games.
It won’t cook my breakfast bacon.
It won’t walk my dog.
And, my favorite: Here is my review on a product I’ve never owned, seen or touched.
Now, let’s get to it, kids. Before I ever purchased the Kindle, I did a LOT of researching, a LOT of reading and spent a LOT of time at the review boards. I had some things I was apprehensive about. Just how delicate IS this thing? I’m not the most graceful swan on the planet so is this a good idea? And what about all these other complaints? Are they valid? Do these people have a point? Should I run screaming for the hills if someone holds a Kindle out to me?
For those of you who do not know what a Kindle is, you may click here: Amazon Kindle Basically it’s an electronic reader. The main purpose of the Kindle is to read books on one little device. As I stated in a previous post, I had to give up all of my books when I moved because I had no room for them. I miss those books and I’ve watched FAR too much television since I moved. I like reading. But what choice did I have?
Sure, I could go to the library but I don’t like reading a book with all those germs on it. I don’t know how many people have touched that thing, coughed in to it, wiped their nose on their hands and then touched the pages I’ll be touching, went to the bathroom and came back, picked up the book and started reading again without washing their hands...OR WORSE, read it while in the bathroom. Sometimes pages are torn out. Sometimes people write in the books. It’s all very distracting to me. I value books greatly and do not borrow or lend them out. I want my books brand new, clean and with an unbroken spine.
Also, when I was a little kid looking in the Sears, Montgomery Ward or JCPenny catalog to create my gift wish list, I would dream how wonderful it would be to be able to just touch the image and have the item appear right then and there. Well, the Kindle sort of does just that. So, a childhood fantasy has come true.
The Kindle arrived two days earlier than I was expecting it. I raced to the UPS store where I have a postal box and retrieved it the day after it was delivered. I turned it on, noticed there was about a half a battery charge and proceeded to find my way around the thing. The first thing I paid attention to was the gray screen that some people were whining about. I’m glad it’s a gray screen. White screens hurt my eyes after awhile. (ie: computer screens) and most books’ pages are not white like that. Most of them have a bit of a tint to them or are on the grayish side. So the screen kind of looks like the page of a book. It wasn’t too dark, it wasn’t too light. It was perfect.
Everything worked fine on the Kindle itself. I was pleased. Then I went to hook it up to my computer via the USB cord provided. Snag. Device was not recognized. This is not the fault of Amazon, this is the fault of the Vista OS. Because we all know how wonderful Vista can be. However, because I had done so much reading and researching before the Kindle arrived, I knew exactly where to go to find help. And I learned that if you just restart the Kindle, suddenly Vista stops being a little bitch and allows the device to be recognized and all is well. Fancy that.
So, in summary, everything works exactly as it should and the Kindle is exactly what I was told it would be. It’s a light weight, very small, electronic reader that I can take with me anywhere. I can store up to 1500 books on the reader itself and Amazon will store the rest of my books I’ve purchased from them on their site. OR I can also back up everything on my own hard drive. (Not a bad idea.) I have already read two books on the Kindle and have a library of 40 other books waiting. Most of these books were either free or under a dollar.
My only concern is how fragile it is. However, it has it’s own little “bed” in a clothing cupboard and the cats are not allowed to touch it.
Now, let’s get to some of the negative reviews and address some of those “concerns”.
No backlight Pointless. The Kindle uses e-ink. You cannot back light e-ink anymore than you can backlight a page of a book. I have used mine in all sorts of lighting and except for extremely low light, it works fine. Low lighting on the Kindle is solved just like low lighting with a book. You get a book lamp if you don’t want to disturb those around you. Sony does have lights on the side but I’ve seen reviews stating that it really does a disservice rather than help.
No cover included Frankly, now that I have the Kindle, I’m glad they didn’t include the cover. The reason? They would have given us the cheapest one and not only was it ugly, I don’t think it would have protected as well as some of the other covers. We have a choice. And seriously, anyone who thinks that they are “getting” the cover for free from Sony has not been paying attention. Trust me, we have all paid for our covers whether it’s an “extra” cost or added in to the price of the e-reader. You’ve paid for it. I’d rather have the choice to pick the one I want.
Can’t get whispernet to download books Ok, whispernet is a service that Amazon has, (only for the Kindle, no other ereader has this), where you can get on to your Kindle, shop the Amazon store from your Kindle, purchase a book with 1 click purchasing and your book is there within 60 seconds. Seriously. How cool is that? Again, no other ereader offers this or even has it to offer. Now, just like with cell phones, not all areas are covered. Them’s the breaks. That’s how it happens sometimes. It’s reality. I live away from civilization and was not expecting any coverage. However, I did my research and checked out the coverage area map that Amazon provides for everyone to look at. You can see before you buy if you are in the orange covered area. Naturally, I was not. I was in the green coverage area which meant I may or may not get any coverage. However, for the Kindle 2, Amazon has apparently implemented 3G to reach farther out and believe it or not, I get whispernet coverage out here. Sometimes it may take a moment or two to get the signal but it works. However, if you can’t get the coverage, you can still download the books to your computer and then put them on your Kindle so to imply that the whole thing is a wash because you can’t get whispernet is simply false. You have internet connection, you can get books. Some people are upset and feel entitled to whispernet because Amazon said you don’t need a computer to use the Kindle.....well, I’d like to drive around in a Mercedes 560 SL convertible but you don’t see me crying that I’m not. It is what it is and there are other options.
When purchasing upgraded Kindle, can’t move purchased books, (THAT I PAID FOR), on to new device. Completely untrue. It can be done and has been done several times. Again, one needs to READ CAREFULLY the steps to take to get this done. And, again, it’s a smart thing to back up everything, all your purchases, on to a hard drive. As long as the upgraded Kindle is on the same account then yes, transfer is possible.
The audacity of Amazon to come up with the DX mere months after the K2 release. The Kindle DX is a 9” screen compared to the Kindle 2 being a 6” screen. Also, with the DX you can load your .pdf directly instead of having to get it converted by Amazon. You can still read .pdf on Kindle 2 but you have to email it, get it converted and then they will either send it directly to your Kindle or email it back to you and you put it on the Kindle. Not much difference other than that, I can see. So, if you want the DX, return the K2 and put that money towards the DX or sell your K2 and anything that goes with it on eBay or wherever, as I saw some people had done and use that money to get the DX. Problem solved.
It’s fragile Yep. It is. Some people have dropped theirs and rendered it useless and some have banged their Kindles all around and nothing has gone wrong. Again, them’s the breaks. That’s how it goes sometimes. As with anything electronic, treat it with care. I learned the hard way never to have any liquid around my laptop even though I had seen it time and again when I worked in offices. For some of us, I guess it doesn’t sink in until it happens to us. This is not something I recommend for a child. Maybe a very responsible teen ager but definitely not for kids.
I dropped it and Amazon won’t replace it unless I give them $200. And? Who would? My cat spilled milk in my keyboard and Dell didn’t give me a free keyboard. Amazon is not charging full price to replace a broken or damaged Kindle. That says a LOT about them. Buy the extended warranty and it would have only cost you $65.
The warranty is NOT a “two year” extended warranty! Actually, yes it is. You GET a one year warranty with the Kindle. You may purchase an extended warranty that will make your full warranty last two years and will cover the cost of a user caused broken or damaged Kindle, hence the name, “Two year” extended warranty. If you do not purchase this warranty, you do NOT get a replaced Kindle for nothing if you drop it or break it. The warranty is extended. It’s for two years. What is the problem here?
You want us to pay $65 for a one year warranty? Again, that is not a one year warranty. It is an extended warranty. And again, if you drop or break your Kindle in that two years, Amazon will replace it. You do not have to pay $200 or $360 for a new one. Let’s see, I drop my Kindle on the bathroom floor. It cracks and no longer works. I have the extended warranty. I paid $65 for that extended warranty. Essentially, my replacement Kindle cost me $65 instead of $200-360. Yes, I must be an idiot for purchasing the extended warranty.
Have to buy books only from Amazon. Totally false. Many of the books I had to give away when I moved were classics. I paid no less than $5 for them and sometimes paid quite a bit more. Imagine how happy I was to find I could get those books for FREE on several websites INCLUDING Amazon.com to put on my Kindle. You can find books on many different websites that will convert to be readable on the Kindle.
Jeff Bezos said that all books would be $9.99 or less and yet, they are not! Corporate GREED! I’m sure if someone looked they could find the video clip but I don’t have it verbatim. However, I believe that what he said was that when the books were on the NYT Best Seller’s list, they would be priced at $9.99. When the book was no longer on that list, the price could change. Nor did this cover every last book available to man. Give me a break. There are text books and other books that run in the hundreds of dollars price range...of course they won’t be priced at $9.99
Screen savers are ugly, how dare Amazon control us in this. Agreed. The screen savers are ugly but there is a way around this and apparently Amazon has stated that it doesn’t void the warranty. Regardless, you see the screen saver for what, a second? Maybe two? It’s not that big of a deal.
I hate the fact that it only comes in white. I, too, wished it would come in other colors. And, through researching the product before I bought it, I found out that you can get skins for the Kindle. Quite a few websites have these available and some of the art work is amazing. Personalize the Kindle that way. Or get out a magic marker and start coloring.
My Kindle was stolen and Amazon is doing nothing about it. What can they do about it? If my car was stolen, should I contact the dealership and demand that they do something about it? We have too much crime going on and things get backlogged and the police don’t much care about your Kindle any more than they cared to find my friend’s car when it was stolen. Some have stated that Amazon should render the serial number dead should anyone try to re-register it under their account. Well, I guess if the police force wants to actually investigate it, they can contact Amazon. Unfortunately, until they do that, Amazon can’t do much. How do they know which Kindles were actually stolen and which Kindles are in the middle of some nasty argument between two people?
It costs too much. Hmm. Really? Let’s see now. I’ve got 43 books on my Kindle and I’ve spent about $16 thus far. Considering I could not find a NEW book in the store less than $5, (after tax and gas), we’re looking at $215 and I just got started. The difference between the books I’ve purchased and the price of the Kindle is about $166. I’ve had it less than a week. What could happen in TWO weeks?!!?
It won’t play games.
It won’t cook my breakfast bacon.
It won’t walk my dog. The Kindle is an e-reader. It’s not supposed to act as a phone, an MP3 player, a DVD player and a gaming system. It’s an e-reader. You read books on it. It does exactly what Amazon said it would do. It stores up to 1500 books and you can click on those books at any time and begin reading them anywhere. You can read a book on this device. Just like they told you that you could do.
Here is my review on a product I’ve never owned, seen or touched. Don’t even bother reading these. Why would I listen to someone talk about something they have no first hand experience with? It’s like asking me my opinion on seafood at any given restaurant. I’ve never eaten it and have no intention of eating it, and I hate seafood. Ask someone who HAS tried it.
To summarize: I am liking the Kindle so far. It has a cover so it feels more sturdy than if it were running around naked. It won out over the Sony PRS-505 because of book availability. That’s what this device is for and that’s what I’m expecting it to do. And it has not let me down. I was hesitant to buy this thing. I was wondering if I should have gone for the Sony. I was thinking maybe this was too much money. I wasn’t jumping for joy and anxiously awaiting its arrival like others were. Sure, I was looking forward to it but it wasn’t something I was giddy about. Until it got here. Amazon won me over with this product.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
It Has Arrived
My ereader, the Kindle 2, is finally here. A review will be forthcoming...just as soon as I stop playing with it. So don’t expect that for a few days.
Spoiler: So far, so fucking cool!
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Kindle vs Sony
To remind everyone, and to tell, apparently, for the first time to those who do not read past the top post on the page, (and, subsequently, miss out, quite often, on many other posts I’ve written...your loss, kids), I did, at one time, purchase a Kindle in the past. In fact, it was late March to early April that I did this. The problem was that I misread that it was being delivered by UPS when in reality it was being delivered by USPS. The USPS does not deliver where I live and would have to go to my mailing address. So the Kindle was promptly returned. In that time, I did some serious research.
I’m writing this and future reviews for anyone who is thinking of getting an ereader. And for my own, personal enjoyment of feeling important. Just like any other entry.
Actually, Kindle did win out but for one reason only. First though, I checked out many reviews on the Kindle as well as on other ereaders, mainly the Sony PRS-505 which I really liked. I reviewed the Sony PRS 700 as well but it looks like the 700 did not have many differences to make it worth it and many reviewers said that the 505 had a crisper screen.
Sure the Sony didn’t have the built in dictionary but I don’t find it worth an extra $60 just to have that on the ereader. I can get a pocket dictionary for way less than that. I know that with the Kindle you just highlight the word and it’s all very simple but really, $60 for that? No.
I liked the look of the Sony, I liked that it CAME WITH a leather cover, I liked the button placement better, I liked the price way better and the reviews on it were good. Even from former Kindle owners.
The Kindle looked clunky and kind of cheap, to be honest. And it really irked me that you have to buy a cover, extra, to protect it. It should come with it. Also, on Sony, I believe you are allowed to share your books whereas with Kindle, you are not.
To me, that’s b.s. Everyone on the Kindle boards were talking about copyright this and copyright that and maybe Amazon might think of allowing it but incurring a charge to do so...bullshit. Books are your damn property once you own them. There is no copyright violation. You OWN the thing and you are allowed to share it. You’re not recreating or copying it for someone else, you have purchased it and are sharing YOUR OWN property. This isn’t like illegally d/l music that you are now sharing with others, YOU BOUGHT THE DAMN THING. That really irked me about the Kindle and Amazon.
If I buy a garden hose and want to share it with my neighbor, there is no copyright violation. GMAFB.
Although I wasn’t too keen on the look of the Kindle, I really liked the new DX. I like that it’s bigger because the less eye strain I put on my eyes as I get older, the longer, perhaps, I can hold off on getting glasses. I don’t need glasses nor am I near needing them but I also don’t like putting strain on my eyes. The Kindle DX just looks better than the 2nd generation Kindle, yes, it’s basically the same but it does look better and I think it would be easier to read. However, it has all these other bells and whistles that I do not need and I just simply cannot justify the price of almost $500 for it. Bigger size, great, but not for $130 more. Three more inches on the screen just isn’t worth it.
The only other differences between the Kindle 2 and the DX are that the DX can hold 3500 books compared to Kindle 2 holding only 1500. But, really, do I really need to be carrying around 3500 books? Granted, I might not know exactly which book I want to read while away but I think I can find something in 1500 books or less. Besides, Amazon stores all your books on their site. So it’s not like you can only buy 1500 books. You can buy as many as you want, you can just store 1500 on the Kindle 2. Not a selling point for me.
Finally, the DX has a rotating screen. I really do not need a rotating screen. For what? To make the pages come alive? Again, I’m not needing it for .pdf or anything like that. If I were a college student or someone who uses .pdf all the time, the rotating screen might come in handy. Coincidentally, the Sony PRS-505 has the capability of reading .pdf and the screen will rotate, I doth believe. So, again, I’m not seeing how the Kindle beats out the Sony on any of the points I’ve brought up thus far.
Further, I know that Kindle has the whispernet and you can d/l books in an instant. Problem? I live in the middle of NOWHERE. And just like with cellphones, the reception is shit out here. (This is why I have satellite everything.) I checked the coverage area on the whispernet map and wouldn’t you know it, I would have to drive 3-6 miles down the road to be in the orange covered area. Shocking. Where I live is covered under the green, national coverage area but that means the service will be intermittent, very slow at best. It’s probably better that I just load to my PC and then load to the reader from there which is what I would do with the Sony. So the whispernet meant nothing to me in my decision.
I almost bought the Sony. I really did. I was ready to sign the Kindle off forever.
What changed my mind? The ONLY reason that I bought the Kindle in the end?
The books. The sole purpose of getting this thing, for me, is to read books. I don’t care about .pdf shit and lights and all that. I don’t care if they ever come out with one that has color. (Seriously, books. I am buying one of these for books only. Books are black and white. Do not need the color.) I care about the books. When I moved in to this place, I had to give up all my books because I have no where to put them. I’ve lost my entire library. That’s a LOT of books.
So I compared the two stores. For awhile, Sony kept up. Yah, their prices were a bit higher but I don’t even care about that, too much. What did it was that, eventually, Sony only had 1 book that Amazon did not while Amazon had many books that Sony did not.
And that was it for me. That’s the only reason the Kindle won out, in the end.
It’s expensive as shit and I hope to God it’s worth it. I’m a little apprehensive about it and I think I have a little bit of time to use it and return it if I find I don’t like it afterall so that’s what I’ve done.
We’ll see what I think and I’ll write a review about it here.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
At Long Last
Finally I got my laptop with new keyboard back today. (Told you it wouldn’t get done on Monday.) One would never know that anything happened. Except that I’m out about $200, price of the keyboard and labor.
I’ve decided that the cat needs to work this off. Perhaps she can work for the Dairy Council since she likes milk so damn much. Maybe she can answer the phones all day long. She doesn’t need thumbs, just put a headset on her. Or maybe she’d like to clean out the cows’ pens. Yes, maybe some back breaking labor will teach her a lesson. I think I’ll call them tomorrow and see if they need her services.
On a bright note, the tech guy did tell me today that all I had to do to get all the information off my old computer was to go and get a USB hard drive uh....hang on, it’s written down....USB hard drive encasement. Told me how to figure out which type I needed and how to do it all and also revealed that I can use that as a backup for this computer. All for about $20. Neat!
And don’t even bother saying, “I could have told you that” because none of you did. Ok? Little late now.
Anyway, I was thrilled to learn that I would be able to get all my information from my old hard drive at such a low price and without all the hassle I thought I was going to have to go through. And when that is done, I can throw that damn tower away!
So, in the end, it all worked out. But the cat still needs to pay for this.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Argh!
Any techies out there?
Here’s the issue: I cannot get my images to show up on any of my archived pages. Now, at first, I didn’t mind because it would cut down on the idiots who steal your images off the internet but now, I kind of need one particular image to show up in my sidebar in the archives or little Serenity doesn’t get any kitty chow. You wouldn’t let a cute, little white cat starve now would you?
You may be asking, “Have you tried the support forums at the site who hosts your or you use for your publishing tool?” And that would be a great question. The answer is, “Why, yes! I have tried.” Here’s the problem: I can’t remember the stupid password and I can’t just have them email it to me because my email has changed since I bought all this stuff and you can only post in the help forum if you sign in using your original user name and password, (can’t just re-register), and there is no freaking way, it would appear, to contact any single fricken person at this company outside of the support forums and I really need to just figure out what the hell with my archives and the images already because I don’t have a lot of time to go chasing down people who do not want to be disturbed unless I have my original information....
So, seriously, any techies out there?
The little cat is getting hungry.
Update Problem solved. Thank you, Russ. As I said in email to you, sometimes, when one is retarded, such as I am, one needs someone else to point out the very simple solution....such as putting the code on the wrong fricken page. Excuse me, kids. I need to go “duh” myself silly right now.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
We Don't Need No Steeeenking Explorers
Man....I thought I was going to throw up. I have Panda software to detect virus and adaware and spyware and that kind of thing, right? So, anyway, it will pop up every once in awhile and tell me, “Hey! This schmuck over here is doing something fishy! We suggest you stop it!” While rarely I will say, “Nah, I actually need those guys” more of often than not, it prompts me to say, “Get ‘em! Kick ‘em where it hurts! Ahahahahahahha!” with the click of a mouse and then sometimes, a restart of the computer.
So there I was today, minding my own business, tweaking things and whatever, as they say, when I get my little Panda bear coming up to me, all ready for battle.
Panda: You’se gots a load of punk ass adaware bitches trying to peek in...you want it I slice them to ribbons with my sharp claws?
Me: Hell yes Panda! Rip them to shreds and then insult their mothers!
----Two seconds later----
Panda: It’s done! You’ll need to restart your computer now.
Me: Right-O my good Panda.
And then I restart my computer. And I got a little error message smacking me in the face, “Hey! Dudette! What up with removing the “SHDOCVW.dll” file huh? Whatsamatta witchoo eh? I can’t open the explorer file now!”
That’s right. My computer starts up and I’m staring at my wallpaper and nothing else! Erm...what the hell did I just do? So, I restart my computer again. Same thing. Well shit. Now what do I do?
For those of you who are software geeks, goody for you. Yippee fucking skippee. I have done hardware, not software. So bite me that I didn’t know precisely the correct actions to take IMMEDIATELY.
I sat staring at my wallpaper when Panda came by again and said, “Hey! Wanna do a scan of the entire computer?” I thought, “Screw it, it needs it anyway and maybe everything will come back up when it’s over.”
I spent the next two hours waiting and tried not to get sick while Panda painstakingly went over my entire system with a fine toothed bamboo comb. I clung to hope that everything would resolve itself. Two hours passed, the system was scanned and I was back to my wallpaper and nothing else.
Son. Of. A. Bitch.
Panda popped up again and told me that my system protection status was “High” and gave me a few options to take. One of those options included a link that got me in the internet. I clicked it not expecting it to work. It worked. I was on the internet. OK!! There is hope once again in Serenityville. I started looking around, “installing shdocvw.dll”, “ok, people, thanks for the file but where the hell does it go for cripe’s sake”, “oh gee, that shit didn’t work, I still don’t have my desktop or tool bar which means I can’t access my control panel or search bar or add/remove programs so this is all actually rather useless”, “For the love of G-d will someone please tell me what the hell I do next?” “Hell no I’m not paying $19.99 for something that is probably really simple you freaking con artists”, “siiiiiiiiigh, I am so sick of people jumping to the ‘reinstall your entire OS’ as a means to solve all problems. I’m not going to reinstall my entire OS you dolts because I know it doesn’t require it”, and finally, “I can’t get to my control panel, this sucks ass”.
And that is where I found the solution. You see, if you EVER find yourself just staring at your wallpaper and cannot get to a damn thing else on your computer, all you have to do is click “Cntrl+Alt+Delete”, all at the same time and you will pull up your Task Manager. From your Task Manager you go to “File” and then “New Task (Run)” and type in the word, “Control” in the space provided. Click “Ok” and guess what happens? You get all your little desktop icons back, your tool bar back and you can now access your search bars, control panels, and everything else.
THEN YOU CAN FIX WHAT YOU DID WRONG!
Thankfully the person who wrote in asking a question about a bug when trying to access their control panel had the decency to explain exactly what he did, every single step, did not leave a thing out; assuming that everyone knew what he was talking about. I HATE people like that. Especially people who work on computers all day long.
So, I’m back in business now and I feel superior for having figured it out on my own. Meaning, not calling up some tech support line and shelling out big bucks when just doing a little research would find me the answer. Besides, doing it MYSELF is how I retain the knowledge. Kind of like driving....since people are mind bogglingly horrible at giving out directions to almost anything in life, if I drive my fricken self there? I’ll remember next time rather than trying to remember what someone said while giving their version of “good” directions.
Two lessons today kids:
#1: When you are giving directions...could be anything...driving, computers, games, bar mitzvahs...WHATever, you have got to keep it simple BUT you have GOT to include everything and not assume that the person knows the little steps. If you all do not start doing so, I swear I will start smacking you upside the head for being so g-ttdamned frustrating.
#2: Do not, under any circumstances, tell your anti-spyware-adaware-virus program to block your shdocvw.dll file. Further, even if you wouldn’t have normally done that because you never block things you aren’t sure about, pay closer attention next time Panda or Norton or whomever you have comes by raring to shed blood.
And the first person who comments, “I could have told you that” gets their ass banned because I don’t give a flying hornet’s asshole if you could have told me that. Again, whoopdefuckingdo for you. Again, I like to figure things out on my own or at least make a valiant effort to figure it out on my own. The stress and nausea and drama that goes with it is all part of the package that I want to go through if it means that I fixed it by myself.
Thursday, May 20, 2004
A Voice From The Beyond
Imagine that you are sitting there, chatting away with friends or family members over the internet. Perhaps you have your webcam running.
You are in the middle of replying to an Instant Message, you look up and suddenly see words on that screen that you never wrote. You watch files being opened and moved around. Your screen goes dark, comes back up and someone types across your screen, “I love that top you have on. You are hot, take it off.”
Your computer has been seized by a hacker but what’s worse is that the hacker can also see you on your webcam.
This happened to a family in Houston
It certainly is extremely unsettling to know that someone can come in, take over your hard drive and start snooping around in your files. Not only is it freakish to watch things happen on your system when you’re not touching a thing but it’s also a major violation of privacy; ten times worse with the webcam spying.
Now, I have a webcam and I guess there is something to be said about a small paranoia when it comes to the thing. The first couple of times I had it on and was talking to friends, it took me a great amount of time to get used to the idea that people were looking at me, in the privacy of my own home while they were somewhere else.
It just plain felt weird.
After awhile I was able to get pretty used to it and have also gotten over my “I feel like a spy or voyeur” when my friends turn theirs on but I always got this feeling after I had shut it down for the evening. It was a feeling akin to leaving the drapes or blinds open at night time. I would turn it off and then stare at it, it’s deep, black eye staring back, unblinking and I would question whether or not it was really turned off. Sure the green light shows no more but is it really off or can someone still see me? Again, having the thing made me feel weird as it was but thankfully, mine has a “screen” that can be pulled down over the eye and that screen is down the entire time I’m not using my camera.
In the story above, the family states they have absolutely no idea how long that hacker had been spying on them via their webcam. Yah. So laugh at my small paranoia about the cam but it looks like it was rational thinking after all.
Now. I have said this countless times, and I mean countless times over the years and you will even find me saying it somewhere in my archives. I will, however, say it again because apparently people simply do not listen:
IF YOU EVER GET AN EMAIL FROM SOMEONE YOU DON’T KNOW OR IF YOU AREN’T SURE ABOUT THE ATTACHMENT, DO NOT OPEN IT! I REPEAT, DO NOT OPEN ANY EMAIL FROM SOMEONE YOU DO NOT KNOW! DO NOT OPEN ANY ATTACHMENTS FROM UNKNOWN SOURCES!
I will continue to say this until it is beaten into people’s minds. As I have also said, repeatedly over time, I take this a step further. If someone sends me an email with an attachment and I KNOW them, I either delete it immediately, (depending on the subject line: If it says, “Fwd” it’s in the trash), or I email them and ask them if they sent me something with an attachment. I will not open it until I get confirmation that they did indeed send it to me.
That is the first step into protecting yourself against virus and potential hacker attacks who will dig through your files and spy on you through your webcam. You also need to get yourself a good firewall installed.
And last but not least, according to the experts, unless you have a screen to cover the eye of the camera, unplug that camera when it is not in use.
I do have one question though and maybe those who are more tech savvy can answer this because as I read the above article, I couldn’t shake this question.
Couldn’t the girl have just shut her computer down during that particular hacker attack? Granted, she wouldn’t have shut it down properly as she lost the controls but most computers have an on/off switch do they not and though it may be bad for the computer, I think the alternative is worse.
Anyway people, please, in all seriousness, PLEASE, please, please stop opening emails and attachments if you don’t know who sent it. You very well could open up a virus that spreads across your system and not only will it do like most, attach to your address book and spit out virus laden emails to everyone you know, you could end up having the Secret Service over to your place one day and ripping apart your computer.
The whole thing is freaky so stop it.
Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Do Not Attempt To Adjust Your Screen
Hello my pretties! Little bit of a shock for ya? No warning? I seriously thought about doing so but figured you could all handle it.
Remember all the commotion over MT 3.0? I had stated I was looking around for other publishing tools to see if I could find one I really liked? I found some that looked okay but I wasn’t impressed enough to go through the hassle. In the meantime, however, I had raced over to sign up for one of those free copies of Expression Engine that pMachine was giving out.
I got my free copy last night.
I love it. I love it a lot. MT was very comfortable, I was very used to it and since I’m pretty novice to installing things like this, it was going to take a bit to motivate me to do so. Expression Engine does just that. Did I mention I love it?
The installation was so blasted easy it’s almost embarrassing. Granted, since I’m a novice, I made a few errors, minor errors. For example, EE had an “images” folder in the file but because MT has one as well, I renamed EE’s “images” folder so that when it came time to install, EE smacked me upside the head and said, “I can’t write in that foo’!” I also seemed to have been missing a “cache” folder and thought I had created one. Needless to say, sometimes one is exhausted and can’t see the little mistakes but I got some help and after realizing how simple the oversight was, I felt kinda dumb. Fortunately, my joy at seeing a successful installation quickly overshadowed that.
Yes. That’s right. ME! Who didn’t know HTML from a hole in the blog just about this time last year was installing a publishing tool all by her little lonesome. (Sans the assistance with those two folders.) I’m quite pleased with myself and feeling rather smug, yes, thank you.
Then I tinked around a bit in the CSS and index file and got the site to my specifications along with adding templates here and there....in EE, you use templates to navigate. Took me about 30 minutes to get used to the idea.
Then it was time for the overhaul. It was time to import the MT archives. Exporting was easy so I was feeling rather full of myself for a moment there. I went to use the Import Utility that EE has built in and got caught up again. File Not Found. Oy! Once again, user error, (meaning me). I was trying to add the extension to the file name as the EE example showed the extension in theirs. Not needed. I was also shown a little bit of Unix.....uh...code? commands? and with that little bit of assistance, the archives were imported.
Now some people have had a category/sub category issue when importing to EE but I did not. I had gone in and copied all my MT categories into EE and when I imported, only one extra category was added....maybe I got lucky. Dunno...but I did not have that nightmare that some experienced.
Anyway, more tinkering around...more call for assistance when the whole thing blew apart in IE 6.0....and yes, ladies and gentelmen, ONCE again....user error. I was changing the font styles in CSS and had missed a quotation mark from the style that had previously been there. One little fricken quotation mark led me to about a half an hour of head scratching..."But it was just working! Yah, I changed the fonts but that shouldn’t cause THIS to happen!” Normally it probably wouldn’t unless you are me and have this knack for enduring tiny problems.
See, I never seem to have the issues...the big, “We need some serious technical help!....RIGHT NOW!” issues that others have. No! I have the, “User should keep hands off keyboard if user is going to go around renaming things and leaving random quotation marks in templates.”
I’ve tested out comments...sorry trolls....you still don’t get to leave your droppings around. In addition to them being moderated you will also need to deal with captcha (or whatever) which works similar to JunkEater. You will need to fill in the box with the word you see....keeps computers from dumping spam anyway as I am now without MT Blacklist...which worked beautifully!
I’ve yet to test out trackbacks but we’ll see what happens. I’ve done a few test posts and tested other things and it appears that all is in working condition.
I can’t believe how good it feels to accomplish this almost entirely on my own. Yah, I got a bit of help when I was being a dork but 99.5% of this, I DID! I’m feeling pretty good.
Now, before some out there start complaining that they like the old site better....just remember, it’s easy to get comfortable and I understand but I like this site a lot better, I think it’s easier to read, it’s not all cluttered and hopefully by having only one side bar, that issue with overlapping will cease. Further, I love EE. I should have said that earlier. And my absolute, most favorite thing about this?
NO REBUILDING! Did you hear that? NO Rebuilding every time I change the slightest thing and EE is so incredibly fast....it’s perfect for impatient people like me.
Look, EE is charging a comparable amount to what MT is charging for some users but I have to tell you, EE is better. WAY better and you should give it a try. They have a 14 day trial to see if you like it. I’m very, very impressed so far.
Ok kiddies...that’s about all I have for now. I hope you like it but remember, in the end, it’s all about me and what I want and I want this.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Open Source Options
As everyone knows by now, Six Apart is ready with their MT 3.0 and there was much complaining, most especially about the pricing structure.
MT has been pretty good except for installation which irritated the hell out of me because the instructions were not written for someone who is just starting out and I had to get assistance, but I’m thinking of moving on.
I am tired of having to “rebuild” every single time I change something or a comment comes through. In IE my rebuild takes forever although it does build faster in Mozilla. Nonetheless, one quick click is really all this should be taking, not 4, 5 or 6 clicks.
Further, I have read around and there are a lot of goodies out there that offer much more than MT does and it’s just another thing for me to learn.
Finally, I guess my real concern is that I’ll become reliable on MT and they’ll pull the rug out from under me in the future and charge everyone, regardless of authors or number of blogs.
Anyway, I know we all like to see what the hell we’re getting before we get it and find out later that we hate it...especially a publishing system. Cripes that’s too much work to go through just to realize it sucks.
So, here is a great page with several “try before you install"links.
I’m currently looking into Serendipity (and hoping HM will run their tests soon too.) The reason I even looked at it in the first place is simply because of the name. I love that story. I checked out some designs and layouts and snooped around on several current users sites and I like what I see so far.
I have yet to actually play around with their control panel as it seems to be down or “refreshing” right now but if I like the control panel, Serendipity it is.
Of course, I have no idea what the hell I’m doing and this website may disappear for 30 seconds to 3 days...depending on how much damage I inflict with my novice skills.
Nonethless, I’m pretty positive I’ll be leaving MT behind. The backlash they received over their pricing and licensing did a lot of damage and although none of it pertained to me, it did make me aware of several other options mostly because many webloggers have been talking about those other options or they are already switching over.
Anyway, if you were thinking of switching away from MT or even if you are one of those still on Blogsnot, click the OpenSource link above and start playing around. You may find yourself creatively and pleasantly surprised.
[update] Anyone who uses Hosting Matters, do NOT attempt to install Serendipity. Here is what they say about it:
The process spins on itself until it utilizes all available apache connections on the server, which results in apache failing for new requests until we kill it and restart it. Until we can go through the code for the admin file(s) for that package, we’re asking that people not attempt to use it.
Oops. So, at least for the time being, see if you can find something else you would rather use.
Saturday, October 25, 2003
Of Course!
Checking my referral logs it appears that I am #1 on Google Search for the phrase:
::bowing deeply::
Tuesday, September 23, 2003
Loser Tag
I can think of several different ways to keep tabs on pedophiles...such as a hot branding iron to the forehead...but this is an interesting thought as well:
"UK company Sky Guardian said that it hopes to hold talks with the Irish government in October about introducing the system, which can be used to track the movements of child sex offenders using electronic tags and GPS (Global Positioning System) technology…
...The system, conceived by Sky Guardian, was developed by a US company called Sentinel. According to Sky Guardian managing director Clive Crosby, the technology for the tracking system combines satellite and GSM technology. A GPS device, attached to the ankle, connects wirelessly with a special mobile phone that the wearer must carry at all times. If the phone, which is linked to a call centre operated by trained paedophile experts, becomes separated from the tagging device, an alarm is triggered. Sky Guardian claims the system can pinpoint the location of the wearer to within three metres..."
In addition to tagging, can’t we force them to wear a shock collar? C’mon, it would be fun!
Monday, August 18, 2003
Toilet Terror
I'm sure the janitors are pleased with this invention but I still have my issues.LuxuryLoo.
Apparently, the lid and the seat will rise automatically. This is a good thing I suppose. And for the guy's? Remote Controls! There is also an LCD panel so that one may control.....uh...clean up in addition to a 5 stage, "rim-scouring cyclonic motion" that ensures the area is sparkling and shiny for the next individual.
What are my issues? Too many people do not wash their hands after using the bathroom as it is! It's bad enough that I have to go through various actions to avoid touching anything in the restroom with my bare hands but now they want me to punch in keys on an LCD keypad? How many Nasty. Dirty. Vile. hands have been touching that before me!? No. Freakin. Way.
Guess what? These are coming to the U.S. in a few months.
Saturday, June 14, 2003
Tormes Anyone?
It appears that blind people will have one more device to help them get around. It would not take the place of a guide dog but would, rather, "compliment it", according to this article at Wired News: GPS To Help The Blind Navigate."The handheld device, dubbed "Tormes," was unveiled in Madrid in early June. It weighs less than one kilogram (about 2 pounds), comes with a Braille keyboard and a voice synthesizer, and taps the global positioning satellite system to provide verbal directions. Added software and a database of city maps give immediate feedback about the users' surroundings."
This should be ready in 2004.
Navigate your way around the rest of the article by clicking the link above.
Thursday, June 05, 2003
I Want One Of These
[link found at News24]
[update] you’ll have to click the link above....the pic is being a pain in the
ass and won’t show up.
...prototype of a wearable computer, a jacket with a built-in display in its sleeve in Tokyo…
I need to go on a shopping spree in Japan. They have the coolest shit!
Saturday, May 31, 2003
New Site
At long last---my site is open for reading.
Still have a few things to work on--like the image that’s supposed to be in that banner. It’s NOT supposed to say, “Loading.....0”. *&#@!
I’m too exhausted to deal with it right now.
Also, in the future, (very near), my “archives” and “recent entries” pages will have a much nicer style. Considering I have no archives or recent entries....well, till now...I didn’t feel it was a big priority.
Anyhoo--I am liking this site so much better than my old one. In addition, I wish someone would have told me much sooner just how easy Movable Type is. I’ve been doing everything on my old site manually!!!!
Anyway--the site will change a little bit each day until I get it up to my standards.
Now...on with the blogging.
