DirecTv screws up: The night of March 21, 2009, it "told" DVRs that it was July 14, 2009, which of course screwed scheduled recordings. First news report here.

Waiting now to see what compensation they give out for that. So far nothing.

Whither Q-Tips - Unilever sells Q-Tips in the refillable plastic Vanity Pack - .





One minor issue. They have stopped making and selling the refill packs. So is it false advertising and a deceptive trade practice to still call it refillable?

I don't have this kind of trouble on a Macintosh : Went to scan a 60 year old letter to a PDF while in Windows XP, and my HP 5280 wouldn't let me, saying it needed the missing scan.msi file. So I searched my Hard Drive in both the XP Install and Vista Install with no luck, so I had to uninstall all the HP software for the 5280, and reinstall it (making sure to use the "Advanced/Manual" setting so it didn't install Bloatware of Yahoo Toolbar or HP Store), about an hour's task to get everything working as it should. I should mention that HP will send you a replacement of the 2007 version of the Install CD for free, but doesn't have an Install CD with the most current drivers. That I went and created myself last year.

Bye - bye eBay and Paypal - I was selling my old laptop, an Apple Powerbook Pismo, that I had blogged about upgrading almost exactly a year ago (my February 26, 2008 Post). Someone won the bidding, and instantly shot me a payment via Paypal. Paypal put a 21 day hold on the funds "to protect the buyer?", more likely so they can earn interest on the float IMHO. For a $3000 computer from a new seller, a hold might make sense, but for an under $300 computer sold by a seller with a 100% eBay record with 63 feedbacks over 9 years??? I objected, Paypal was arrogant, so I refunded the buyers' money and quit Paypal and eBay. Paypal already charges a service fee for handling one's money, and makes no effort to pay you back the Interest they earn while holding your money.

Norton misses one: I must have been to a bad web site, as my computer's Windows XP got infected, and Norton Internet Security 2008 never saw it. Even their online database still today doesn't contain svchostw.exe. Luckily, using Malwarebytes Anti-Malware the problem was found. It reported:

Registry Data Items Infected:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Shell (Hijack.Shell) -> Bad: (Explorer.exe svchostw.exe) Good: (Explorer.exe) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

The Registry was fixed, and the offending file (svchostw.exe) deleted. Then I had to reapply Windows XP Service Pack 3 to my Windows XP to get Windows to start the Desktop on Bootup (rather than my manually starting it every time from the Task Manager (C:\Windows\explorer.exe)). Then a couple of Windows Security patches from Microsoft update to apply as SP3 had apparently undone them. All seems well now?

MS Windows Vista : Service Pack 2 Release Candidate is available for download now. HERE

Solving Windows Grief: I like the Intel CPU in the current generation of Macintosh computers as it allows one to also run Windows on those devices. I was having grief with Windows XP in one such scenario. It wasn't allowing Windows Security updates to download and install. I vaguely recall reading someone suggesting it had to do with installing Windows Service Pack 3 before allowing some other updates to occur to a Windows XP SP2 installation. In any event I finally tracked down instructions for fixing the problem here: Not exactly easy or intuitive, but it solved the problem, and now I don't have to manually install every patch one at a time from Microsoft, when sometimes even knowing you wanted the patch for KB951847 wasn't good enough to find the download.

MacBook: I am now the proud owner of a "2009 White MacBook", which I love. I've already upgraded the memory and hard disk in it; and it's running Mac OS 10.5.6, as well as Windows XP SP3, and Windows 7 RC1 under Parallels.

More recording space on an DirecTv HD DVR.

If anyone wants more recording time available on their HR2x, just add an external SATA drive, connected by a shielded eSATA cable.

It's easy: the DirecTv unit is powered off, the SATA drive is plugged into the DVR and turned on, and the DirecTv unit is powered up. Upon powerup the DVR will "discover" the external drive, and format it if necessary. Thereafter the HR2x unit will only record on the external drive, and all "Season Pass" type settings have to be redone.

Any recordings or "season pass" type settings on the OEM internal drive, can again be accessed by powering down the DirecTv unit, powering down the external drive and unplugging it from the DVR, and repowering the DirecTv unit.
======================================================
Still don't understand why a firmware update months ago started recordings on my external HD to be problematic , (perhaps DirecTv removed some error checking during recording?) but I tried a fix recommended elsewhere in a discussion group.

I switched to a quality Shielded eSATA cable. (SIIG, purchased at buy.com, part # 202321891 :
~$12 with shipping). SIIG's part # CB-SA0111-S1. I could not find an eSATA cable at Frys or Micro Center, lots of SATA cables, not one eSATA.

And now my 1 Terabyte Seagate SATA drive in an external NexStar3 Case, purchased at Frys, records 2 HD programs simultaneously without glitches or audio synch problems. The NexStar3 supplied unshielded eSATA cable has been discarded.

Fox's u-bet Chocolate Syrup is the product you want if you desire a genuine New York City Egg Cream soda. Now I discover Fox's u-bet Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup; and best of all its sweetened with Splenda, not Sugar Alcohols (Sorbitol or Malitol) that may cause gastric distress.
It was found in the "Kosher for Passover" section of only one local supermarket. No reference to it yet through Google.

Cheeburger Cheeburger ; Discovered there is a franchise in Houston now. Not close to me, but I drove 30+ miles there (northwest of Houston) Friday evening and had a very good cheeseburger, and excellent fries, excellent onion rings, and excellent service.

Seagate Barracuda Sata Drives: They recently reported a glitch on some of their drives which required me to update the firmware on two 1 Terabyte Drives I have. One houses Windows XP SP3, and the other is an external drive for my DirecTv HR21. Story on glitch here.

I still like Seagate drives, as lately they've been reliable for me, and now come with a 5 year warranty. I just bought a 1.5 Terabyte (1.34 Terabyte formatted) Seagate drive that was on sale at Frys. It's very fast (its 32 Meg Cache helps there), and quiet. It now hosts Macintosh OS X 10.5.6

Happy 25th Birthday Macintosh:

Apple's 1984 Commercial


Especially fun to watch is Steve Jobs introducing Macintosh
to the world. HERE.
.

How Hamas generates civilian casualties They go and build a Headquarters in the middle of a development of Apartment Mid Rises. The IDF manages a pinpoint airstrike to take out that HQ and not scratch a brick on the surrounding buildings.

Prius gas mileage. If one is gassing up at 6 AM on a Sunday morning, and the roads are basically empty, and one can do some driving at under 20 mph to ensure its mostly done only on electric power, gas mileage in a Prius is better than the rated 48 mpg city. I had to take a picture to prove it.

Windows 7 fun: I now have Windows 7 running nicely on a "Virtual Drive" using Parallels Desktop v.4 Microsoft made a major booboo by releasing it when zero antivirus software was available for it. Windows pointed you to a webpage recommending such, and listing available sources for AV software. Monday there were zero listed. By Tuesday beta versions of Norton, AVG or Kaspersky were linked to.

Symantec has Norton 360 v.3 beta, which works with Windows 7. It warned that it was a beta, expiring March 27. Then one installs it and is told the software expires in 15 days. NOT GOOD.

Next I'll try a 64 bit version of Windows 7

Windows 7: I was unable to get Windows 7 beta 1 installed on my MacPro, either as a clean install or an upgrade to Windows Vista. Hopefully Apple will tweak Bootcamp soon to allow such.

Followup: Jan. 12 = Windows 7 now running on my MacPro under Parallels 4.

Easy Update to Open Office 3 on Ubuntu, My Ubuntu 8.1 comes with Open Office 2.4, but it's easy to update it to Open Office 3.0; Just add Open Office to Software Sources, and uBuntu will just about automatically update it to 3.0 using its Update Manager. Instructions here. I'm start to fall in love with Ubuntu again.

Personal Finance under Linux. Next recommended program: GnuCash and GnuCash is a freebie.

Simple Install Instructions here. One simple Command line instruction does it all:

sudo apt-get install gnucash

More to follow

ubuntu :I finally got around to installing ubuntu 8.04 that came free with a copy of "Linux Format" magazine I bought last summer. Couldn't have been easier. Then it allowed me to install 615 updates. This posting is done using Firefox 3.05, on my ubuntu 8.04 Then I found how to upgrade to ubuntu 8.10 here
Ubuntu figured out what monitor I have, which neither Windoze or Mac OS could.

All in all a marvelously easy task, and free. Best of all is how snappy and fast ubuntu seems, much faster than Windows XP or Windows Vista on my MacPro. Not sure if its a better OS and/or better Ethernet Drivers, but I love it. HP even had pointers to Linux drivers for my LJ 3800n. Now if only there's a MS Money type of program for Linux.

FOLLOWUP So a recommnded home finance program is "Moneydance" which comes in trial versions for most platforms including Linux. Problem is:

1. Ubuntu never setup a root password to allow installing of many apps.
2. After Installing Moneydance, it won't run.
3. Need to install Java. Need to mkdir java directory. Tried version 6u11 of Java
4. Need to Install RPM installer to get Java installed
5. Ubuntu wont download rpm installer.
6. rebooted, got RPM installer, failed Java install due to dependencies.
7. Downloaded bin version of Java.
8, Bin download required a chmod A+X
9. Got Java installed.
10. Moneydance runs....but:

I now have Moneydance running, why so many hoops to jump through? Not a Professional Installer! And the trial is too limited to allow a real world test. Only allows 100 transactions. Why not a 30 day trial of a FULL VERSION ??

So I have a lower opinion of Ubuntu now. If apps aren't easily installable, whats the point. Don't think I'll get a copy of Moneydance. I don't feel like an unpaid Alpha tester today. At least with Java installed, Moneydance's Uninstaller worked nicely (i think).

End of Zune time: Microsoft will have a hard time selling Zune MP3 players to compete with iPods, after what happened on December 31, 2008.

All 30 Meg Zunes stopped working! Turns out Zunes didn't "know" that 2008 was a Leap Year.

Fix: After 4 AM PST on Jan. 1, unplug your Zune, let your battery drain to zero. Recharge your Zune, then power on. Microsoft says it will then work.

Story here.

Firefox 3.1 beta 2 available for download. You're not still waiting for a vaporware Internet Explorer 8 are you. Download is here.

Prices for consumables: I've already written that if you need replacement toner cartridges for an HP color LaserJet, its cheaper to buy a new printer; the same situation holds true for Norelco razors, and HP Colorsmart Inkjet printers. Norelco HQ8 replacement blade sets cost over $30 for models of their rotary razors. But razor model 7310 comes with new blades, new charger, new motor, and new internal battery, all for under $30. Similarly a set of HP74 & 75 ink cartridges for an C5280 Photosmart inkjet printer can cost as much as $45 retail, but Office Depot was selling a new HP D5360 Colorsmart printer for $24.99 on Black Friday, which includes a new set of 74/75 ink cartridges.

Buying a Laptop - Thanksgiving 2008.

A friend asked me how much they should pay for a PC laptop if they wanted to buy one on Black Friday. My answer:

I wish it were as simple as naming a price. Prices start at about $400 (maybe less day after Thanksgiving) but the lowest priced ones have cut corners, producing machines one will likely quickly regret buying. At the end of 2008, A laptop you'd be happy with a year from now should optimally contain:

1. 4 Gigs of Ram (Not 1 or 2)

2. An Intel CPU (Not AMD), (Not Intel Celeron)

3. An ATI or Radeon Graphics processor with its own memory.

(Not Intel with shared Ram)

4. A 200 Gig or larger Hard Drive (Not 120)

5. 802.11n Wireless Networking (not just 802.11g)

6. Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Operating System.

(Must get the "Premium")

Corners are typically cut on one or more of those items.

A larger screen is nice, but adds to the weight and cost of the unit.

Also when one buys a laptop, A spare battery and a heavily padded (no name) case should also be purchased. A case with a Dell or Sony or other logo on it invites theft. If buying at work these items can easily be justified at time of purchase, maybe not later on when they come from a different line in a budget.

Thus $700 or more for a laptop, and $150 for case and extra battery.

Laptops are great if one needs their own computer at different locations on a regular basis. But laptops, because of minituration, tend to be more fragile and about a year behind on technology; so if the machine is just for home use, I DON'T RECOMMEND one buy a laptop

President-Elect Obama is a Macintosh User.

Story here.

The same folks that refuse to believe the SCIENCE of evolution have been refusing to believe the SCIENCE of polling to predict an election, again to their detriment. The same old "Don't like the message, attack the messenger"

Pew and Rasmussen were the most accurate; coming closest to the
52 to 47% Popular vote total. Most pollsters matched that within their
"margin of error", and all had correctly predicted an Obama win.

2010 Prius








More pictures here.
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/
/

Toyota Prius: With the Stock Market decline of October 2008, folks worried about their job, other folks in Houston area having to spend because insurance didn't cover as promised after Hurricane Ike, and Gas prices again below $3/gallon; waiting lists for a Toyota Prius have melted away.

The Prius is a GREAT car: compact on the outside, Mid size on the inside, with lots of bells and whistles even without high priced option packages. And getting around 50 miles per gallon in city driving is not too shabby.

A few add-ons one might consider, unavailable from Toyota are:
Vent Visors, available from autoanything.com .
Body side moldings, available from metrotpn.com .
Auto Door locks, available from priuschat.com It locks the car at startup.

Continental Airlines: You'd think with fuel prices down 25% they could rescind some of their extra charges; like $75 to use Frequent flyer miles. Then I discovered they had put me on a Delta Airlines flight, which might not have been a problem, except with a scheduled 40 minute layover in Atlanta, I disliked being placed in row 28. Couldn't change it at continental.com, as their computer doesn't have access to Delta's seating chart, and going to Delta.com; their website didnt recognize my Continental reservation number. A telephone call to Delta, eventually got them to reveal their own reservation number for my itinerary, which then allowed seat changes (now in row 14) at the Delta.com web site. Got a rent-a-car through Continental.com, which I've since cancelled as Hotwire got me a price 40% lower, while still using Hertz; who knew Hertz now has prices through Hotwire that match Alamo pricing?

Hydrox ! : Hydrox cookies are now available again, although maybe only for a short time. Two links tell the whole story: Wikipedia and the manufacturer's own website. My review is as follows:

A local store (Randalls) has them advertised at two for $5, the regular price will be $3.59 per package, and they come in a 14 oz package, smaller than original. My son sight unseen distrusts them as transfats have been removed and believes they can't have the same mouth feel. My taste test is as follows. They taste 100% like I remember Hydrox, although the creme filling is softer and slightly more squishy than the original. This can easily be taken care of by storing one's Hydrox in a refrigerator. I give them an A-, my son may give them a different grade.

AT&T cant even do rip offs right:
It's a scandal that cell phones are sold for a 2 year contract, but
only carry a 1 year warranty, and commonly batteries WILL NOT LAST 2
YEARS.

So at 15 months age I discover my batteries lasting barely
longer than 1 day, but when new they lasted 4 days.

For a Sony/Ericsson w300i, the ATT website says a replacement Lithium
battery is $59.99 but they are out of stock.

At Amazon.com w300i batteries are $4.17 and in stock.

Citibank Screw Up - A few months back I got a Citibank at&t Universal Savings Rewards MasterCard. The hook is: all at&t purchases matched by any other charge get a 5% credit. ie. If your Cellular bill is $100 and you charged another $100 that month, you get a 5% credit in your card; and for the first year, you'd get a bonus 5%.

All went well the first few months, and I got 10% off. Then apparently in August at&t changed how the charges were submitted to Citibank. They were no longer submitted as "Cingular" which the Citibank computer knew was an at&t charge. It's now submitted as ATTM,
for at&t mobile, which Citibank didn't program its computer to recognize as an at&t charge; as no credits are issued.

I am hopeful that by going public Citibank will correct this error faster and retroactively give credits, rather than wait to see if customers discover the error and call in.

Followup: Two days later I get a call back from the Citibank President's Office, that still wants to blame it on AT&T, but says they're correcting the problem, and an $8.23 credit will appear on my account in 2 or 3 cycles/months. I told them that in the 21st Century, there's no excuse for it to take so long, and if their computer systems are so archaic I need to cancel my account, and I did.

Buying a Prius: Three factors caused me to start seeing about buying a Prius. First my Pontiac Vibe isnt getting any younger. Second Toyota's next generation plug-in hybrid Prius isn't ready for prime time yet, and so the 2009 Prius will be essentially identical to the 2008 models. With gasolene prices now down to $3.50/gallon in Houston, and still dropping, long waiting lists are "melting" away. I identified a dealer that took my deposit for a 2009, put me on his waiting list, and we agreed that I would "only" pay MSRP when it comes in. I was told it might be three to six months. Next day I got to give to the sales manager a piece of my mind when a "Sales Consultant" called me to say that they had a Prius just in, that the person it was inline for declined, and I could have it for $1500 over sticker. I declined and asked that I not be contacted about any Prius they wanted to sell for over sticker (MSRP) price.
I think the dealer is ordering the following. A 2009 Prius Touring in Driftwood Pearl, with Bisque cloth Interior, and option package 3, which includes Deluxe audio system and anti-theft system, Bluetooth, but not DVD Navigation system. Standard now on all but the cheapest Prius is anti-lock brakes, Vehicle Stability System, Cruise control and Backup Camera. All Prius now have more airbags than you thought possible.
I have already ordered Texas specialty license plates KW-82, as 82 Kilowatts is the total output capability of the Hybrid system, so I seem committed.

Our DirecTv HR10-250 a TiVo DirecTv receiver decided after Tropical Storm Edouard had passed through that it only had one signal input instead of two. Having recently signed up for Directv Service plan @ $5.95 a month, I figured a simple phone call would save me from a $79.99 (and up) service call to resolve the problem (wiring or Multiplexor, etc). However DirecTv will still charge for a service call in first 30 days of that plan, so I cancelled the Service Call, and set out to solve the problem myself. First I swapped input lines at the receiver, and the problem moved with the cables switched, so I knew it was upstream from the receiver. Then I traced that line around the house, and found some suspect connections, so I bypassed them all with a new longer piece of RG6 wiring, and voila, problem went away. So I went to my local Electronics Supply store and bought RG6 Cable Clips to mount the new piece of wire nicely, and cut it to exact size needed and added a connector (C110-F). All is fine now, and I cancelled the Service Plan, which is free for first 30 days.

Your Microsoft Internet Explorer is unsafe. Story here. Use a safe browser. Firefox 3 and Opera 9.5 protect your browsing from websites that will leave malware on your computer.

Microsoft Vista is bad because it is bad. Sorry Microsoft: Microsoft ran a trick demo of Vista, calling it a new OS "Mojave", and only seeing a demo, and not being able to interact with it, users said it seemed good. Microsoft spins that it means people who don't like Vista really haven't used it. WRONG. People who have used MS VISTA, and have not just seen a carefully choreographed demo don't like Vista. The same day Microsoft's trick hit the news, so did this story of Vista being difficult and a way to work around Vista's all too common crashes. Another user of Vista comments here.

Renewable Energy Breakthrough ? An MIT scientist uses solar energy to "easily" make Oxygen and Hydrogen from water - using an catalyst - and says now you don't need to worry about power from solar at night. Story here. Sounds like such a technique could also have benefits for wind or tidal power also, neither of which is continuous.

Reviving a "clogged" HP Ink cartridge Just over a year ago I bought an HP5280 "Photosmart" printer when it was on sale at Office Depot. It prints, it scans, it automatically will print from Camera memory card to 4 x 6 photo paper, and it will print to "printable" CDs and DVDs. However for Black and white printing I use my LaserJet, at a far lower cost per page, and with little use, the black ink cartridge of the 5280 clogs up (HP74), long before they are used up.
Using Google, I found a web page that suggested how up clear the clogs. First they say run the print head under hot water, and if that fails, soak it in a dish with 50% hot water, 50% ammonia. I had no ammonia, so I used a few flakes of lye from a drain cleaner, to provide some alkalinity. A 10 minute soak revived the cartridge, saving me money, and restoring my faith in this printer.

AT&T offers free security software: If ATT is your Internet provider, they now provide free Security software, similar to how Comcast provides McAfee software. ATT provides Norton software that only can be installed if you're running Internet Explorer 6 or 7 under Windows. As I use Firefox 3.01; that makes the software useless for me. The web page fails to tell whether it daily checks that you're an ATT customer, or if it expires in a year or what.

Stupid Astros promotions: We already mentioned how worthless their $35 all you can eat promotion is. To make matters worse, Thursday is also the day they have their monthly $1 Hotdog night to compete with themselves.

Comcast's right hand conflicts with left hand: Yesterday they brag about having 100 Mbps download for Internet users nationwide by 2010.
Too bad they demonstrate they can't even provide 6 Mbps downloads now without blacklisting heavy users;
and look for new ways to secretly stop "heavy use". Or are they really making sure Comcast customers will have to use Comcast "On Demand" rather than Netflix or other streaming video ?

Worthless Houston Astros Promotion - All you can eat Thursdays - You pay $35 for a ticket and then get a voucher, good for a wristband, that allows you 4 items at a time at one and only one concession stand. Press release here.

I am old enough to remember a Free Beer promotion from 1974. Free beer rest of night if an Astros hit a home run on an even numbered minute. After that happened, and every concession stand was passing out beer, the lines were 15 deep and up with 10 minute waits.

Guaranteed you'd have to spend all your time on lines to get some value from the "All you Can Eat Thursday" promotion which does not include beer.

Turns out a Houston Sports writer 100% agrees with me. His story here.

PASSWORDS: I need to go edit my passwords and make them "Stronger", ie some random letters or numbers included. I discovered I had some 2 dozen utilities, credit cards, businesses I go on the web to visit, and each requies a Username, Password, and sometimes Challenge questions or 2nd level passwords. Got so messey I typed up a spreadsheet with them all, and the printout is stored in a lock box. Too many places lock you out after just 2 or 3 failed login attempts, or require password changes at 6 month intervals, or are adding 2nd level passowrds, making it near impossible for mere mortals to remember them all.
Firefox can often cache your password and username, but I should trust a Browser to remember,
and if a virus checker clears those caches? Hence the list. I am pleased to say no two passwords are identical now, but some should be STRONGER.

Global Warming: In the past million or 2 million years, the earth has undergone major climatic changes, of cooling and warming, resulting in four Ice ages, with Glaciers moving as far south as the Ohio River and Long Island, the earth warmed and the glaciers retreated, and the ice age ended, back when the number of humans on the earth was in thousands.
Thus I am not fully convinced that any current global warming is caused by man, or increases in Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere. However, "excess" carbon dioxide can trivially, and without great cost be removed. Story here.

Drug Pricing News: Walmart, which was first promoting low $4 pricing for month supplies of generic drugs, then went national, has now added 3 month supplies for $10, and doesn't charge a $20 annual fee like Walgreens does. I'm headed over to Walgreens to get that $20 refunded. Details here.

Price Gouging on Generic Drugs:

Pricing on a 90 day 3 month supply:



And yet Walgreens happily sells 400 Generic drugs/doseages at $12.99 now for 3 month supply to compete with Walmart, CVS, Kroger and HEB. At an $8.97 wholesale price $12.99 is a reasonable mark-up. I think paying Walgreens $12.99 is better for me than paying Aetna a $60 copay, so that is what I now do. CVS is apparently ashamed of the price differential so doesn't list their plan online.
No wonder Aetna tries to stall transferring a prescription (my experience).

Wholesale prices seen here: Read also here.

Retail prices as quoted to customer by Company

Symantec Rebate: 10 days after mailed in they say : "Your rebate is valid and is scheduled for final processing." Translation - We're going to sit on it for 30 days now.

Kaspersky followup: My credit card online is now showing a full refund for Kaspersky Anti Virus. See the April 10 and 11th posts for the reasons for that. And actually my April 4 post about credit cards is also relevant here.

Quicken 2008 : I had to give up and stay with MS Money 2007. It was easy to set up Quicken as it downloaded data from financial institutions ( but each institution had a different time frame it supplied from 3 months to 18 months, making historical calculations with Quicken worse than useless) , and after doing it the first time, subsequent times, it claimed no new transactions from Bank of America (untrue), and totally bollixed up transactions from TIAA-CREF. Then its built in graphics were flat unacceptable and unuseable with the "My Accounts" window refusing to stay as top window, but with elements of underlying window being redrawn on top of it. Also it kept nagging me to use their pay services that I get for free through my banks. All-in-all I grade it a D-; and can not recommend it.

Followup: I went to add this review to those Amazon has for Quicken, and discovered most folks think worse of Quicken than I do.

Some folks get too used to a GPS: and don't use common sense. Item - 11 foot tall bus ignores sign warning of a 9 foot high overpass. Story here.

More on Garmin GPS: Amazon's customer reviews of Garmin GPS are the most consistantly glowing of any product I've ever seen. One reviewer rails against Magellan Support in India, maybe the same crowd that does Symantec. The "2009" (translation: April 2008) maps by Garmin for updating your existing Garmin GPS can now be obtained at discount here they are not yet available from Garmin.

More Comcast Fiction: The quality of their cable HD broadcasts has just gotten worse so they can offer a couple more HD channels (still under 1/3 of what DirecTv has). Story here

Norton isn't so good either: My Internet Explorer 6, and my Firefox 3.0b5 started crashing multiple times a day. Googling shows this to be a known issue, but no help in online FAQs, 90 minutes in chat with "analysts" from India whose command of English is seriously wanting (I'd be asked questions I'd already answered continually); and then without a resolution, they terminated the Chat. They said make sure Internet Explorer was in the allowed list; it was. I've just turned off the "Personal Firewall" altogether, hoping my Router and the rest of Norton Internet Security will keep me safe. Certainly my browsers now work, and faster.
In order to get a Virus Scan to complete, I had to turn off scanning of compressed archives (Zip files, etc). Norton is unacceptably very poorly error trapped. If it had a problem, it stopped and exited, rather than giving one the option of skipping the problematic archive.
Symantec at least (in theory) makes it relatively easy to get a refund should you decide the above is too much grief. Go here. The web address for refunds given on product package doesn't currently exist.

Lowest prices yet on GPS Quality Garmin GPS units at close out prices at Amazon as units with the "new" 2009 maps are coming out in 3 weeks. The Garmin nüvi 360 and the 660 are very good automotive units and now at prices 20% less than Black Friday sale prices of last November.

Another Comcast Fiction: It's bad enough Comcast has TV commercials that say they have more HD than Satellite, when they have 27 HD channels and DirecTv has 95, but today USPS delivers an advert for Comcast Business Class Solution of Voice + Internet + TV for $99/month.

I call the "800" number provided and after being on hold longer than makes sense if they want to sell something, I ask, "What can you tell me makes Business Class any different or better than Residential Service with its known abysmal service?" the answer I got was: "I don't have that information".

Time to ditch Kaspersky ?: An older Dell 4400 has Kaspersky Internet Security 7.x installed, and it has problems of its own. Internet Explorer and Firefox decided not to connect with the Internet, but Opera and Safari would. Again Kaspersky didn't fix the problem, just secretly posted a workaround here. Are the Russians just testing ways to shut down computers in the rest of the world by knowing how to sabotage Kaspersky ?
Next time Fry's has Norton on sale "Free After Rebate", guess what I'm doing? AntiVirus software is supposed to make your computer safer, not more vulnerable. (Note also my grief on April 10).
And I forgot to mention that Norton/Symantec is more reliable and much quicker about paying rebates, although I just received a rebate from a Drug Company in 10 days, so timely payment of rebates can be done if they want to.

FOLLOWUP: Kaspersky uninstalled, a request for refund made, and Norton 2008 installed.
I picked up a Norton Internet Security 2008 Premier 3 User", for $69.99 + tax, minus $60
mail in rebates at Fry's. So for a net of $10 I get 3 copies of Norton System Works Basic, which is what makes what I bought "Premier". Installation was relatively easy, and only configuration changes I made was not to scan outgoing email, and to upgrade to Yahoo Messenger 9 (beta) so the AntiVirus would watch over it, as it doesn't work with current version 8.1 I also got rid of or hid all those distracting, annoying Norton Taskbar icons.

FOLLOWUP 4/22 : Element 5, the folks I had bought Kaspersky AntiVirus from online, now claim to be processing a full refund to my credit card. Kaspersky Internet Security, I didn't ask for refund, as it had been "Free" after rebates.

Back to Normal ! I was wondering why my Windows XP Pro SP3 was slowing down to a dead stop, and gmail stopped working in Firefox. Finally figured it out. I had earlier re-done my XP on a larger Hard Drive in my MacPro, and all was well at first. Finally traced my problem to Kaspersky AntiVirus 7.0.1.325 I use and its a known problem that Kaspersky makes you search their database to find. They say uninstall, download previous version 7.0.0.125, and install that, then make other changes so it won't update. So I did; and all is well; as long as I have "ProActive Defense", and scanning of outgoing email turned off.
Any more grief from Kaspersky and its back to Norton AntiVirus for me.

Always buy stuff with a credit card. Four main reasons.
1. You don't have to pay for it right away. I haven't paid interest on a card in 27 years,
but its nice not to have to pay for it till next month.
2. Infinitely easier to return for refund. I've had a (TV Personality) Furniture store owner
refuse to take back an unassembleable trundle bed, until I mentioned I had charged it.
3. You may get credits for using your credit card. Airline miles, free gas, 5% off your next
car, etc.
4. Most important, you have leverage if something goes wrong.

ATA Airlines just went belly up, cancelling all flights. A story about them said:
"The defunct airline's Web site tells people who bought tickets with plastic to contact their credit card companies for refund information. The will be no refunds for passengers who used cash or a check."

Hewlett Packard sales : Most curious. Consider the aimed at business OfficeJet 6310. It's currently selling for $199.97 at Office Max, $144.99 direct from HP, and $139.99 from MicroCenter.

Best April Fool's jokes for 2008.

GMAIL Custom Time - Pick a time stamp for your email, wait, Blogger already allows this
Use "Post Options", and you can pick a date and time..

I'm saved from looking for more as someone's done it already. Story here.

Windows XP Service Pack 3 Final Version _ Release is now delayed until end of April 2008. Story here:

MS Windows Vista SP1 grief: Luckily it worked well on my Apple Intel Xeon MacPro, but not for many other folks, and so Microsoft is now offering free "support" for folks having problems with Vista SP1: story here. Not sure why the story omitted the phone number Microsoft says to use: (866) 234-6020, then push 1, 6 and 2 to get through the menus so as not to be charged. Microsoft site here.

Sony will rip you off: Sony, like most PC makers, make some extra bucks by loading your machine with software you may not want, like trial (short lived) versions of some programs. It's been labled bloat, its (not unfairly) also called crap. Now Sony for $50 extra, if you also have paid another $100 extra for an "upgrade" to Vista Business, will sell you a "Fresh Start" PC with out the bloat. Story here.

I call it a rip off, because one can easily remove the unwanted stuff by running simple software as soon as you unbox your new PC. PC DeCrapifier, now at version 1.8.8 and available for free download here.

Followup: Sony, after other complaints like mine, has backed off charging the extra $50 for "Fresh Start" but it's still only availble on PCs with Vista Business at $100 extra. Story here.

Todays downloads? As of 9:30 AM CDT, I can't find Vista SP1 for download, but Apple's Safari 3.1 is available. Great browser !

Followup - as of 12:15 PM CDT, Vista SP1 is now available here.

Followup 2: Took 2 hours to Install as one first has to uninstall Service Pack 1 Release Candidate,
then install the release version of Service Pack 1. It would be nice if the separate
SP files had different names and different Knowledge Base numbers. It all went
smoothly, except that Kaspersky AV initially kept Internet Explorer from
connecting to the Internet. Luckily, no such problem with Firefox. Now at 54 updates to Windows Vista.

FiServ's Vaporware : Last week I expressed interest after reading about the coming ability to deposit checks at your bank via home computer. Turns out it's likely at least a year away (IMHO) if ever. I wrote FiServ enquiring which bank could I get see this service at and was told:

We announced the product in February and now banks are signing up for a test. Currently we are working with several banks, but they are only in test mode. Once this passes to the consumer test we’ll let you know so you can sign up. It is exciting news, but a few months away.

Thanks for your interest

Translation: It's VAPORWARE

P.S. I have zero interest putting my money at risk being an alpha tester.

Windows Vista SP1 - Will officially be released on March 18, 2008. It will likely take you over an hour to do the Install, and there is a published list of software that breaks under Vista SP1 here. SP1 will provide for faster copy times between computers on a network, and fix many bugs and glitches.

This I like: It is now possible and likely soon available at a bank near you, for one to be able to remotely deposit checks, by scanning them, and electronically sending that info to your bank.
Story here. Apparently not available yet from any bank I can identify.

Digital TV: Received my $40 "coupon" towards the purchase of an eligible converter box in the mail on Monday March 10. Despite a promise of being good for 90 days, it has an expiration date of May 23. Checked out reviews on the web, and folks were saying the $49.87 Walmart RCA box was as good as the $59.99 boxes at BestBuy, Radio Shack or Circuit City. So I went to my local Walmart, and no one there knew how to handle the $40 coupons. I went to another Walmart store and it was easily handled.
If you don't have a coupon, go here.

I hooked the converter up to a 10 year old 27" TV, and old pair of rabbit ears, and its GREAT. Gets all my local digital video channels (depending which way I turn the rabbit ears), has a wonderful setup function and easy to use remote. I programmed it to skip the Spanish Language stations, and programmed the Converter's remote to control power, input and volume on the TV.

Even Microsoft Vice Presidents had grief installing Vista: Turns out "Vista capable" meant nothing. Story here.

Beware WinZix: Alledgedly (not so) a better compression format, but install it, and you've sabotaged your Internet Explorer also by installing Malware. The WinZix folks even admit to their trouble causing, trying to spin it thusly:

WinZix is financed by advertising and will display 4-5 pop up ads on your computer every day while using the software. We do not collect any personal information from our users. The advertising can easily be stopped by uninstalling WinZix and the sponsor software. If you only uninstall the sponsor software you can continue to use WinZix without any ads.

And the 4-5 is hourly, not daily, not to mention the other malware besides "Sponsor".

Houston trying again for WiFi? You'd think they'd learned their lesson when Earthlink gave up on trying to wire the city for WiFi, but no. Story here.

Microsoft Windows Vista price drop: Must not be selling like they try to have led you to believe. Story here.

Try doing this with a PC: I have an 8 year old Macintosh laptop, It's known as a Powerbook 2000 Firewire, also known as the Pismo model. Any 8 year old PC laptop would be totally useless and obsolete by now, not so with this Macintosh in 2008. So for about 25% of the cost of a new laptop, I got some upgrades for my Pismo. More RAM, an 802.11n Network card, and a larger hard drive all from "Other World Compuiting". I also ordered a new larger capacity Lithium battery for it from Powerbookmedic.
So, for word processing, emailing or web surfing, this laptop is as good as a new machine.

When all is done, my RAM will have gone from 384 Meg to 768 Meg (OEM was 128 Meg). The hard drive from 30 Gig to 120 Gig (OEM was 6 Gig), the Wireless network from 802.11g to 802.11n (OEM was 802.11b), all with a new larger capacity battery replacing the geriatric OEM battery.

Microsoft Windows Vista Service Pack 1 may break your PC: Folks report their computer gets into an endless cycle of reboots. Story here.

The telephone rings:
Thanks to a loop-hole in the DO-NOT-CALL law I received a phone call about noon on Monday.

Received an automated recorded message from Austin.

A Bill Clinton reminding me that Early voting for the Democratic
Primary starts tomorrow, and I should support Hillary Clinton.

Ted Kennedy didn't call so I don't think I'll vote for his guy.

Maybe I should vote for Huckabee and help throw a wrench in McCain's
plans.

And then stating "No New Taxes" yesterday, and having
George H.W. Bush endorse him today was just over the top.
The man has zero credibility.

Neither Democrat wants new taxes. They talk of closing loopholes
and re-instating some old taxes that George W Bush got rid of for the
wealthy.

Unbloating Vista: Microsft Windows Vista has fairly been labeled as bloatware, running slow and using up too many resources. An Apple commercial even pokes fun at it. Now comes a program to slice away modules and speed it up. Vlite available here. A review of it is here. And Microsoft responds, trying to sew seeds of FUD in a vain attempt to discredit Vlite.

Get rid of MS Windows Vista on your PC ? If you really hate Vista on your PC and wish you had it running Windows XP, apparently you're not alone. Indeed here are complete instructions for switching.

WHOOPS ! Cable Company Charter Communications creates an email account for every new Internet customer, but some customers use other email accounts instead. Every three months the company deletes inactive Charter email accounts.

This time, during this maintenance they erroneously deleted active accounts along with the inactives. "It's never happened before." A charter representative said.

Story here.

Windows Service Packs - Looks like the web is full of folks with negative comments about Windows Vista SP1 or Windows XP SP3, It's not just me.
Read there:

Vista Here; Here; Here

XP Here, Here

A Wooden PC ! - How would you like your PC to look like the above?
details here !

Get your $40 coupon(s): Next year (February 18, 2009) Analog Broadcasting of Over the Air TV will stop in February. The U.S. Federal Government has a program to provide you with up to two $40 off coupons towards converter box(es) to receive Over the Air Digital Broadcasts. Starting in 2009 all Broadcasts must be digital. Most stations will broadcast both the same "low-definition" you receive now, and "High-Defintion". Story here.

Apply at https://www.dtv2009.gov/ for your coupon(s).

Most common - unknown problem of Windows. - As part of "Energy Saving" your network card will turn itself off, and you'll lose connection to the Internet!
To prevent that from happening in Windows XP:

1. Go to "My Computer" icon, that hopefully is on your "desktop".
Otherwise find "My Computer" under the Start Menu.
2. Right click, select "Properties" (at bottom of list)
3. Select Hardware (in Tab at top)
4. Click on Device Manager Button
5. Click on "+" next to Network Adapter(s)
6. Double click on your network card
7. Select "Power Management" Tab at top right
8. Uncheck (the default is checked)
"Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
9. Click "OK" button at bottom.
10. Quit "Device Manager", Close "System Properties"

If that Device (your Ethernet Network Adapter) is turned off cause you stepped away from the computer or got caught up in a phone call, you'll lose your Internet Connectivity.

In fact Google Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power and you'll see EVERY
manufacturer of Network Adapters recommends unchecking the energy saving settings.

Windows Vista SP1 RC :

That program is now available here. Will try it out on the Vista Home Premium installed on my MacPro and report back.

FOLLOWUP: It's installed with less grief than the XP SP3, but the installation took way too long,
(over an hour), with too many reboots (3 ?), and zero useful information while processing, cycling through "Stage 3", "Stage 1", "Stage 2" multiple times. I wonder how much information is sent back to Microsoft.

Comcast and Tivo:
At the end of November 2007, Comcast announced that its DVRs withTiVo would now be available to the general public. A month later, apparently only one person has had it installed. His story here. I can believe his grief, if you telephone 1-800-COMCAST and ask them about Tivo, nobody has been trained on it, and they don't know what you're talking about.

New Software for the PC in my MacPro

I've been adding software to the Windows XP PC in my MacPro
============

1. Windows XP SP3 RC1 http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=75ed934c-8423-4386-ad98-36b124a720aa&displaylang=en
For a Intel Macintosh one needs to add a key to the Registry for the Installer to work
You need to create a regkey (STRING VALUE) (REG_SZ) called BootDir under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
and set it to C:\ This solves a problem
Otherwise you get an out of disk space error when the Installer looks at the BootCamp partition and the Install fails.
=======================

2. and a new Firefox I like Firefox 3.0b3
http://mozilla-firefox.en.malavida.com/d4139-free-download-linux

I like that you can save your tabs between sessions.
Check for updates daily.

Bye Bye Moviebeam - An ill considered business to give consumers less and charge more has now totally failed. All 1800 remaining subscribers now lose. February 14, 2006 I detailed what a poor proposition Moviebeam was. How do I get a job saving these folks from themselves?

MS Windows Vista - So I boot into my Hard Drive with MS Windows Vista for the first time in 2 weeks, and Microsoft has 200 Megs of updates, security patches etc to download, requiring a reboot. This doesnt even include the soon to appear Windows Vista Service Pack 1. Then my Kaspersky AntiVirus latest update also wants a reboot.
Also due soon, Windows XP Service Pack 3, which allegedly speeds up XP enough that you wouldn't want to use Vista, which I hardly do anyway.

Will Steve Jobs retaliate?:
7 years ago when the head of ATI let slip that their newest graphic
cards would be included with soon to be released high-end Macintosh
computers Steve Jobs went ballistic for them leaking that. He
retaliated by starting to use NVidia Graphics cards.

http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=117

Now, with AT&T's CEO leaking that new iPhones next year will have
3G built in, I would imagine Steve is rather upset.
1. For the leak.
2. Because it could hurt current sales.

I expect Steve is now speeding up work on a CDMA phone.

To not violate contracts with AT&T, the similar phone will be
an "Apple Phone" and not an "iPhone", since AT&T has
exclusivity for 4 1/2 more years with the iPhone.

GPS or I'll wait some more for an iPhone:
iPhones came down $200 in price, but GPS devices have dropped more than
half this Christmas shopping season; a careful shopper can find what was $649
last year for under $300 now. I just won't use Amazon, their customer
support is now in India.

I took the money I was saving for an iPhone, and decided that as
long as its screen is less than 640 x 480 resolution, its not TRUE
Internet; and have ordered a Garmin GPS with Bluetooth, which costs
less and likely will be used more. I'm also contributing Holiday gift dollars
towards one son to buying himself a Garmin GPS unit at Black Friday prices.
Like Apple, Garmin's stock price has doubled in the past year. Apparently some
of the GPS sale prices are units that don't have the latest "2008" maps, but
Garmin provides a free update if that's the case.

If iPhone 2, possibly out early 2008, supports 3G for faster Internet connectivity,
AT&T likely will charge $40/month for data, as they do for 3G Smartphones,
rather than the $20/month data currently for iPhones.

My Leopard (Mac OS 10.5) experiences : Luckily Amazon was wrong about its predicted Nov 3 - 7 arrival. As it shipped from Dallas, it took just 2 days for USPS to get it to Houston. I was fortunate the DVD wasn't damaged as it fell out of the flimsy cardboard box Apple used for it. Trivially simple and painless to install. Put the DVD in, click install, reboot, select English as language, accept the License agreement, and off it went, with nary a problem. When it finished, only a few minor issues. I had to "install" the drivers for my LaserJet 3800n which the Macintosh no longer knew was there, and bootup is slower, likely because of the beta McAfee VirusScan I'm running. Time Machine defaulted to wanting to backup every Macintosh volume it could see, rather than just the boot volume, so after I realized that and adjusted preferences it worked fine, but it is slower than slow. I'll have to try disconnecting from Internet and turning off VirusScan and see if that helps, or I can go back to doing a backup by restoring the Boot disk to another Hard Disk. Disappointing Apple still doesn't provide a HD optimization utility. As for BootCamp, the setup file is dated April 2007, so nothing new there. Selecting "Startup disk" no longer sees my Vista volume, but it can be selected at Bootup. New drivers are provided on the Leopard DVD for XP and Vista, and there I have 2 major issues. The drivers for my NVidia 7300 didn't install and crapped out in both XP and Vista, so it required a side trip to nvidia.com to get their Sept. 2007 drivers which worked fine. Apple a year later still hasn't provided a PC driver for its own external iSight webcam. One review said the Macintosh could now write to PC hard disks, and I did not find that to be the case for NTFS formatted volumes. Ethernet must be working better because any browser now seems to run faster under Leopard than before.

Apple has released OS X 10.5 : I've made a clone of my Macintosh Hard Drive, and checked both drives for "permissions" preparatory to installing Leopard. Amazon says my Leopard shipped, and is due Nov. 3.

Epson biodegradeable inkjet printers: I have a color inkjet printer as it's an excellent poor man's Xerox.

My Epson Stylus CX6400 had a terminally clogged printer head (soaking overnight in either
alcohol or Windex didn't help) so I bought a nice new HP Photosmart C5280 at Office Depot,
as they swapped my still NIB leftover Epson ink cartridges for HP ones. Now I fear it'll be
months till HP has a working OS X 10.5 driver.

No iPhone for me (at the moment) :
I can't put my own ringtones on it.
After the iPhone 1.1.1 update, the phone only works with ringtones bought through the Apple iTunes store or the original Built in Ones.
What if you have a public domain sound file thats not available through iTunes and you'd like to use as a ringtone? You're out of luck at the moment.
Example sounds:
Flint phone (works great on my Sony-Ericsson Walkman phone), now with a 4 Gig Memory Card
Star-Trek Warning sound (Red Alert)

Macintosh AntiVirus ? Apple is about to introduce a new version of OS X, version 10.5,
rumored for later in October 2007. Last update broke the then available major antivirus products. Fearing a repeat, I wasn't anxious to pay to renew my Norton AntiVirus 10.0, given Symantecs' failure to promise me a technology upgrade if needed with 10.5

Luckily McAfee has just released a free beta of its VirusScan, version 8.6; which it promises to be compatible with OS X 10.5. So that is what I now run with my OS X 10.4.10

Add a nice feature to Windows XP: Wouldn't it nice to be able to right click on a folder and have one of the options be "Print Listing of Contents"? Turns out Microsoft didn't include that feature but has instructions for you to add it as an always available option. Just go here.

I lost my Cingular phone:
The other day, I lost my (going on 2 year old) Sony-Ericsson w600i
(a swivel model, that had started to sometimes turn itself off when swivled) I called my cell number, and the person that answered declined to return it "I just bought it" they said.

I went to my local ATT store, and was issued (for free) (after providing the PIN for my cell number, and showing a Drivers License for ID) a new SIM, which of course deactivated the old SIM, and made the lost phone dead and useless. Luckily my account has International Calling deactivated. The new SIM was put in an old Sony T616 which is working fine until I get a new phone. That took all of 2 minutes. Checking my account online no calls seem to have been made with the lost phone.

I had backed up my address book to my Macintosh (in case I get an iPhone), so it took just a couple of more minutes to sync the T616 to my Macintosh and restore my address book.

I called 611 and was able (in exchange for another 2 year committment)
to get a FREE Sony W300i; and its already been shipped from Fort Worth.

The W300i will use the same car charger and USB cable I already have,
and adding a $20 Memory card my new W300i will allow it to hold 4 times as many songs for its "Walkman" features as the W600i had. Only downside is the low resolution camera, 0.3 megapixel), but I always have a Sony W100 - 8 Megapixel camera with me.

Or the W300i might be sold on Ebay and provide about $140 towards an iPhone purchase.

Followup: 9/24 - I could be getting my new phone delivered today if AT&T had sent it UPS or FedEx ground. 1 day from Forth Worth to Houston. NOPE - They sent it (at Extra Cost) 2 Day FedEx, so it had to be shipped by FedEx to Memphis first.

Make your Firefox even better: Two great additions to Firefox -

1. Adblock Plus Blocks banner ads and pop-ins etc Makes browsing fast again.

2. IE Tab - Run Internet Explorer web pages inside Firefox.

Check out other possibilities to enhance Firefox here. Also make sure
you're running the latest Firefox. As of today, it's 2.0.0.6

Many ways to save Money on a iPhone:

1. The $200 Apple Price drop

2. Save another $100 by buying a 4 Gig Model

3. Save $50 by buying a refurb.

4. Save $50 by using the Telesales code.

5. Save ~$150 or more by getting your upgrade phone after 18 months in
contract, and then reselling NIB on eBay.

6. Save 10% with a new AT&T credit card.

7. Save $50 to $100 by selling your old phone on Ebay.

Bell South not integrated/merged into AT&T yet ! : Despite years of SPAM from AT&T about their referral program, now that I have referred a customer (my cousin in Florida)
who is switching from MCI to AT&T (so she may get dsl); I find I don't get a referral credit or payment, because Bell South territory doesn't count.

I told my cousin that despite what she has been told, she's not getting AT&T service, because Bell
South isn't merged yet. Indeed the AT&T web pages revert to Bell South web pages after she enters her Florida phone number, and she'd get a bellsouth.net email address.