Hello Everyone

Hello and welcome to my blog. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you find what I write interesting and you come back often. ^_^

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Save a tree, save as WWF

What happens when the motto "Think before you print" isn't enough to prevent you from unnecessarily printing that 30+ page PDF? You can save your document as a WWF instead, which prevents printing. Saving as WWF before emailing that file will help the planet. Be sure to download this software, for both making and reading WWF files.



This works with Mac OS X and Windows, unfortunately it doesn't seem to work with Linux.

Here's a screen shot of how to save as WWF inside Mac OS X



Here's a screen shot of how to save as WWF in Windows

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

TSA needs to go away!

With the help of a friend, I have gathered these links about the evils caused and practised by the TSA. The TSA is taking our civil rights away; it is listed in the Bill of Rights that we have the right of privacy and to feel secure in our own bodies, however the TSA has groped the gentiles of many. They also force people to decide between getting fully naked in front of a TSA employee, or to get their gentiles felt up. TSA even admits that it has been clandestinely punishing passengers for refusing to go through the invasive whole-body scans with an even more intrusive aggressive pat-down and that soon those more invasive pat-down will creep from airport to airport. This can not be allowed to continue.

Here is just a sample of the evils of the TSA:

TSA screeners leave cancer survivor covered in urine

Cancer surviving flight attendant forced to remove prosthetic breast

TSA pat-downs could spread sexually-transmitted disease and contribute to pandemics

Rape Survivor Devastated by TSA Enhanced Pat Down

TSA touches small children; legal child molestation?

Thanks to Erin for these links.
Erin is the writer and host of double E environment.
She is also on Facebook.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Office Google Voice - not for iPod touch

Google has finally launched its own Google Voice app for the iPhone, however it will not work for other iOS devices (such as the iPod touch or iPad). I don't know why Google would choose to exclude the iPod touch community from using Google Voice, but hopefully they see the error of their ways and update this app soon.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Never buy a "total pillow" - they will harass you!

I ordered a "total pillow" online about a week ago. They have called me several times a day for the past 3 days. Tonight at 8:30 was the most recent call and they before they would ship out the pillows they made me sit through a boring speech about their "special offers." (they actually said that on the phone, they wouldn't ship the pillows until I listened to them)

Anyway, do NOT, I repeat DO NOT, buy a "total pillow" because they will just harass you too! I even told them on the phone that I won't buy from their company anymore because they are harassing me, they didn't seem to care.

Update (11/11 - 12pm): They just called me again today to "confirm my address" (which they already did with the phonecall last night, they just looked for an excuse to harass me some more). I checked my called ID logs to find out exactly how many times they called. 27 times

Their number is 1-727-712-0152 and it comes up as "Clearwater Florida" on the Caller ID.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Is Google TV really that good?

I purchased the "Sony Internet TV Blu-ray Disc Player" last week, and after extensive usage these are my findings:

Video streaming on Google TV seems to be a bit slow, especially when streaming at 1080p. When trying to watch a movie on Crackle (via the "Sony Recommends" menu on GTV), it would pause every 3 seconds to buffer. I brought this issue up to Google two days ago and still haven't received a response back regarding this issue. Streaming 1080p video content on my computer poses no issues at all; however this may be due to the fact the Google TV uses a measly 1.2GHz Atom core processor and my computer houses a 2.93GHz Intel Core i7 processor.

Another issue I have with the device is the marriage Google seems to have wish Dish Network. Dish DVRs will integrate, allowing you to schedule recordings directly from within GTV. DVRs from other providers will act as a separate device, you won't be able to search for, and schedule recordings directly from the GTV like you can with Dish Network.

I must also wonder, why Napster -something almost no one uses anymore- is a built-in app on GTV, but Facebook isn't? It would have been nice to have a 10-foot user interface for Facebook. There is one for Twitter and Pandora, so it doesn't make sense that Google wouldn't include one for Facebook too.

You can easily use Netflix and Amazon VOD with Google TV, but if all you want to do is stream free content from sites like hulu.com, abc.com, etc. you'll be out of luck. Even changing the browser's user-agent string doesn't seem to help. Early reports have suggested changing the UA to "Generic" to watch Hulu content, but Hulu has since fixed it so even a customized UA is blocked from their site when using a Google TV.

There is a positive to all this negative, and that is the ability to play your own content via a USB hard drive formatted as FAT. I had no issue at all with loading a bunch of music and movies onto an external hard drive and playing it on the Google TV via it's Media Player app.

Considering I bought this device mainly as a Blu-ray Player and thought of the Google TV aspect as a "bonus," I'm not too disappointed with the shortcomings of GTV. However, for those that just want a Google TV to stream internet videos on their TV, you may be better off with just connecting a small computer with an HDMI port (such as a nettop or Mac mini). You can get a low-end nettop for around $200, which is less expensive than a Google TV device.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Sega charges $5 more for Sonic on the Wii

Sega recently made a new Sonic game, Sonic 4 which was released on the Apple iPhone Oct 7th and on the Nintendo Wii Oct Oct 11. You will see from the two screen shots below that the iPhone version is $9.99 whilst the Wii version is $15 (1500 points = $15).



It's bad enough that Sega neglected the Wii when they released Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for the Xbox 360 and PS3 only, but now they are also overcharging Wii users for the same game they could get for $5 less on their iPhone or iPod touch?

I don't see the point in paying an extra $5 when you don't need to, which makes the iPhone version a better way to go if you want to play the latest edition to the Sonic games.

Friday, September 24, 2010

The manipulative Cablevision is at it again!

I don't mind that much that Cablevision doesn't support full HD, but now they have gone too far. Cablevision used to offer basic cable to those that did not have a cable box as a way to accommodate those that really couldn't afford a box (around $6 per month to rent one), but that all changed several years ago.

Many of the channels you used to be able to get without a cable box were cut in half, it went from over 40 channels down to a small handful. However now, you can't get any channels. They are manipulating customers to rent additional cable boxes to be able to watch even the most basic channels (ABC, NBC, CBS, etc.) - channels you could watch for free over the air with an antenna.

I have two cable boxes in my home, and five televisions. That means that now three of those televisions are useless unless I pay an extra $18 per month to rent three additional boxes. However even at $6-$7 a month just for one box for an elderly person on a fixed income, that would mean the difference between paying for cable or never watching TV again. Some people live in areas that get bad antenna reception, and are forced to use cable just so they can watch the evening news!

How much longer will we as the customers allows such manipulative companies to stay in business? I think we should all boycott Cablevision until they give us back our channels!

Monday, July 05, 2010

Barnes & Noble - unethical false advertising

On June 25th, I downloaded and installed the "B&N eReader" by Barnes & Noble, mainly because their advertisement promised "Five free classic eBooks" and "Free copy of Merriam-Webster's Pocket Dictionary" when you create an account via this app. With other eReader apps for the iPhone (Kindle and iBooks) I have no need for yet another, I view this as a way for Barnes & Noble to ensure people will download their app in hopes of selling more books from their store.

This however is false advertising, as they do not honor the "Five Free classic eBooks" offer, nor do they honor the free Merriam-Webster offer. What you do get is Three free books and two samples, which they then ask you to pay $9.99 for. Not only did they lie, when I called them up they refused to compensate me for my time in both calling them and downloading their eReader app. As I noted in the last paragraph here the B&N app is horrible in comparison to the Kindle or the iBooks app.

Below are screen shots of their unethical false advertising, and a video I took of the phone conversation.





This is a classic case of "bait and switch." They offered the 5 books just long enough to get passed by Apple's approval team for apps. Then they changed it to only 3 books but didn't change the description. Which seems like their intent from the start. They found a way to trick Apple into thinking their description was the truth (because one of the reasons Apple rejects apps is because the description is different from what the app actually does).

Barnes & Nobel cheated me, they cheated Apple, and they cheated you!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

iPhone for Verizon

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Verizon would get the iPhone in January 2011. Since they refused to name their sources, one must wonder how reliable this report actually is. However, if it is true that Verizon will get the iPhone in January, this will make several Verizon customers very happy and will make AT&T nervous that they'll lose customers as they switch carriers.

I tend not to believe any rumors regarding Apple until the official announcement is made, however I really hope this rumor is correct. I refuse to switch to AT&T for reasons I've listed before, however if Verizon gets the iPhone then I might actually buy one. Only time will tell, but if this is true, then it's right around the corner. Only another 6 months until January, let's see what Apple says in a future keynote.

Monday, June 28, 2010

Kindle Subscription

Do you own a Kindle? Would you like to read this blog on your Kindle? Now you can! We were accepted in the Amazon Kindle blog program. You can get your Kindle subscription to this blog here. I hope you all enjoy!

How to write EPUB books

EPUB (sometimes written as ePub) is an open-standard format for eBooks, which uses XHTML. You can write one using tools that came with your operating system, but that requires knowledge of the various markup elements. Most people prefer to use 3rd-party software to convert their books to the EPUB format. Some of this software is free, others you have to pay for.

I've tried several of the free option, and the one I like best is Sigil. It's an open-source eBooks authoring tool under GPLv3 (General Public License version 3). What I like about this software, is not only can you write your book using the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, but you can also view the XHTML code and write the book directly from code (for the advanced users). Whereas most of the software I've been for EPUB books have consisted of converting PDF or .doc files, Sigil lets you write the actual book; you don't have to write it in another format first and then convert it. This also means that it's easy to make edits to a book you already formatted to EPUB and save changes without having to reformat again.

This software is useful for both professional publishers that want an easy way to make eBooks to sell, as well as the average person that just wants to add some content (such as a shopping list, or driving directions) to their iPhone. Yes you can add PDF files to your iPhone, but it's not as pretty as an EPUB book.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

A new low for the village

The people in charge of the Village Hall in the Incorporated Village of New Hyde Park make it no secret that they hate the "townfolk," as apparent from their total lack of respect for anyone living in the town (not the village) of New Hyde Park.

Today, they decided to block off access to TOWN area for 3-4 hours. I can't leave my house because my entire area of blocked off, painted on the barricades is "VNHP" and the same thing is on some of the jackets of the people enforcing the barricades.

The village has no authority to do this, since the area where I live is outside of the village boundaries. Yet somehow they got away with it. When I asked one of the enforcers how long the barricade would be up, he laughed at me and said "maybe it will be down by one."

This is a new low for the incorporated village, they have no right to restrict access within the town itself.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Some terms that people commonly get wrong

et al. vs. etc.

Et al. is an abbreviation for et alia and refers to other people. Etc. is an abbreviation for et cetera and refers to other non-people, such as objects.

e.g. vs. i.e.

E.g. is an abbreviation e.g. for exempli gratia and means "for example." I.e. is an abbreviation for id est and means "that is."

For example, if I was to say "She doesn't like you, that is to say she wants nothing to do with you." I could write it as "She doesn't like, i.e. she wants nothing to do with you."

I hope this helped some of you out there.

3rd-party Web Browsers on the iDevices*


I've been looking through the App Store from time to time for new 3rd party Web Browsers to try out on the iPod touch for the sole purpose that I like testing out how various browsers respond to the web. While in the App Store I found a few paid browsers, which I haven't used simply because I didn't want to pay for a web browser. I have tried out almost all of the free browsers, the ones I currently have on my iPod can be seen in the picture on the right.

The browser that I really like the most is called VanillaSurf (pictured), and the main reason I like it is because it's just like Safari but with the added ability to go full screen without the bottom toolbar in your way. I still use Safari for all my daily Internet use on the iPod, however VanillaSurf is by far my favorite of the 3rd-party browser apps. Give it a try if you haven't already, and give the other browsers a try too; my opinion may not be the same as yours, and you may like one of the other 3rd-party browsers better.


*By iDevices I'm referring to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

iBooks vs. Kindle


I've spent some time using both iBooks and Kindle on my iPod touch, and this is what I have to say:

Both have their advantage and disadvantage. As far as accessibility goes, Kindle is the winner because you can use it on more platforms. iBooks is limited to the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad; whereas Kindle can be on those three devices as well as BlackBerry, Mac OS X, and Windows XP/Vista/7, and their own Kindle reading device.

On the other hand, iBooks offers a better reading experience. It offers color pictures and a nice "page flip" animation. When using Kindle on an iPhone or iPod touch all you get is a boring old page scroll.

The biggest advantage that iBooks has over Kindle, in my opinion, is the ability to add custom cover art and the ability to read PDF files. If Kindle has this ability, I have yet to find it.
  • Via iTunes on Windows or Mac, you can "Get Info" on any book and change (or add) then go to the "Artwork" tab. This is useful for books that don't provide any artwork such as books provided by Project Gutenberg which provides several older books for free on both Kindle and iBooks. I have downloaded a few to Kindle some time ago, and although I already have them on my iPod, I still downloaded them again on iBooks once that app became available just so I could add cover art to the books.
  • Another thing that gives iBooks an advantage over Kindle is the how you can browse your library. It can be hard to find the book you want to read at times on Kindle because the title is too long. On iBooks however, this is not a problem because you can find your books by their artwork. The most disappointing aspect about Kindle on the iPhone is that almost right after iOS4 was released, with the ability to use iBooks, Amazon released an update to Kindle. People might thing "Hey this is cool, Amazon will add some of the features of iBooks to make it more competitive." This is farther from the truth, the update added nothing with regard to functionality.



As much as I love Kindle for it's cross-platform availability, I must conclude that iBooks has killed it. Although the paid books tend to cost more on iBooks, the overall user experience of iBooks makes up for it. Color, page turn animation, PDF functionality, custom artwork – all mean that I will be using iBooks a lot more than I will be using Kindle.

Another good thing about the iBooks app, is it's not limited to only books sold through the iBookstore. Any book formatted as EPUB can be read by the iBooks app. Barns and Noble has a eReader app for iPhone and it scrolls much like the Kindle app does. I took one of their books, put it on my iBooks app, and magically the page turn animation was present as if it was any other iBooks book. That's more reason to love the iBooks app!

(If you're wondering, the reason I didn't include the B&N eReader app in this post, it is because there wouldn't be much to say. It's a cross between the Kindle and iBooks, its only useful feature is Coverflow when you rotate it. And the Desktop version of their eReader is just horrible.)

Monday, June 14, 2010

Microsoft needs to stop adding "bullying" code into their software!

Often Microsoft bullies people into doing what they want, and this often results in people turning away; this again seems to be the case.

I have Windows 7 installed into a Boot Camp partition on my iMac, which I can then either boot into natively or run alongside Mac OS X in a virtual machine via VMware Fusion and their ability to detect operating systems on other partitions.

Yet when I try to run Windows 7 in a virtual machine, it complains that it's not valid software just because the hardware changed. The "virtual hardware" of the virtual machine is different from the actual hardware inside the computer, which is usually the case and nothing to be concerned with. However, Microsoft views a change in hardware as pirated software.

So what is the result? My background wallpaper is disabled and a message is forced in a corner saying "This copy of Windows is not genuine" and I get a pop-up ever few seconds telling me to buy a genuine copy. After getting this message in the virtual machine, I boot into Windows natively via Boot Camp, and the message goes away, my wallpaper is back, and Windows says that yes I am genuine.

Microsoft, if you took all the energy you put into policing would-be criminals, and put it into making your operating system better, then you wouldn't have the operating system that is ranked as number one for most likely to get a virus! Stop bullying your paid customers and go after the actual criminals. 90% of all people Microsoft attacks are actually not criminals. The ones pirating their software know enough to patch the parts of the code that check for genuine verification. So the only ones Microsoft is actually hurting, are the honest people.

If I wanted to download a pirated copy of Windows, I could, just like millions of other people could, very easily I might add. However, I choose to do the right thing and get a valid copy of Windows which includes a license that lets me install it on a single computer. No where in the agreement does it say "You can't use a virtual machine to grab Windows from another partition and use it side-by-side with another operating system" so Microsoft, you are 100% wrong in this. And what happens if your computer ever dies and you need to get another one? Try installing the same copy of Windows on it and it will say it's not genuine, unless you call them up and get a new license key. This is such BS. Microsoft should adapt the "honor system" like so many other companies have done, where they trust their customers to only install on a single computer.

I never thought much of Microsoft in the past, but now I think even less of them (if that's even possible).


Wednesday, June 09, 2010

More reason why Jawbone is unethical

Following my last post about the Jawbone contest being unethical they now decided to block certain ISP networks because of "abuse." Not individual IP addresses mind you, but entire ISP networks. Why punish everyone for the actions of a few? My ISP is blocked, and my friend who lives more west, her ISP is also blocked. I use one of the most popular Internet providers in New York, and she uses the other. Which means that Jawbone effectively blocked about 80%-90% of New York State!

Way to go Jawbone! This just adds to your unethical behavior, and is your fourth strike! Your first three strikes I mentioned in my other posting here

I recommend everyone to just Boycott Jawbone, I for one will no longer buy any of their products.

The Jawbone company failed to respond to my request for a comment.

UPDATE:
June 10, 2010

After not haring back from them for my last email (which was yesterday, they had a whole day to reply and didn't.) I sent the following message to them:

Why won't you reply to my other message stating that you blocked a larger area that you thought you did, and that people that never visited your website before are now also blocked.

Also, I submitted my video 2 weeks BEFORE any videos were posted to your website, so why did you lie when you said that the videos were released in the order that they were submitted?


Let's hope they reply this time. In their last email they lied and said the videos were posted in the order they were submitted, yet it took 3 weeks for my video to be posted? Plus the fact that they blocked people that never visited the website before.

Monday, June 07, 2010

Why I hate AT&T

For anyone that has had this conversation with me, they know my feelings toward AT&T. Certain "uneducated" consumers try to make the argument that AT&T has good wireless coverage in their area, and either my complaints are because I get dropped calls or that I'm joining a "bandwagon." Neither of these are the case, I simply don't like AT&T because of their sketchy past.

I won't go into much detail, because I feel that YOU should do some research, and stop relying on others to tell you everything. I came across one person who goes by the handle "empowermac" on YouTube who refused to believe anything I said about AT&T, stating that "With over a million iPhone customers, you're wrong." Then he had the nerve to block me from ever contacting him on that site again. What is wrong with some people? Is the lack of intelligence so overwhelming in America that people are more comfortable believing total nonsense then the actual truth? He refused to believe that AT&T was ever involved with radio, he also refused to do the research and read the same books that I'm going to recommend to you all in this blog post.

These are two really great books, which detail the history of broadcasting very well. They are also reasonably priced, so there is no reason not to pick them up if you are interested in why I dislike AT&T. One is called The Television History Book and the other is Television Industries. Although they are titled for Television, they deal with all of the broadcasting media of the early years, including radio.



Look for the points in the books that detail AT&T and their involvement with radio, how it used to be free until AT&T stepped in and started charging; and how the government had to step in and force AT&T to leave, so radio could go back to being free (which is still to this day is free for over-the-air AM and FM).

Read about the business practices and ethics of AT&T before you again ask someone "why do you dislike AT&T?"

Friday, June 04, 2010

Jawbone, your contest ethics are horrible!

The company Jawbone is currently holding what they call a "Stimulus Funny Video Contest." However, the way they go about picking a winner, and also the way they posted the videos on their site, are totally irrational and unethical.

1) Rather than being judged on originality and overall quality, the videos are judged based on the number of views a video received. Since web views can be faked, this was a horrible way to judge the videos.

2) Jawbone posted a group of what I like to call their "favorites" on their site, then a week later posted the others. This is both unfair and unethical because it gives the first batch of videos a week longer to gather views. If they read this, then try to justify it by saying "we posted them in order of how we got them," let me explain to you why that argument would be false. I submitted my video two weeks before the first batch of videos were posted on their site. Yet my video wasn't posted to their site until the second batch, a full week after the first batch, were. By the time my video was on their site, ready to be viewed, the top videos from the week before already had over 9,000 views!

3) By paying people to "share" the videos on their site with others, people will end up sharing ALL the videos to earn the most cash, rather than just share the ones they like the most. This means that even videos people hated will be shared because of greed. This is again, no way to run a contest.

Jawbone, as far as contest organization goes, you fail! You are unjust, unfair, and unethical with this contest of yours.

Tuesday, June 01, 2010

My Jawbone Contest video

Everyone please view this video and rate it 5 stars. Plus, click the "share this video" button on the site and share it on both Facebook and Twitter.

The more views and shares my video get, the more points. Video with the most points wins.

Thank you!

Monday, May 31, 2010

I have my Bachelor's Degree now.

Well, I should say I will have my Bachelor's Degree in 12 weeks when my college mails them out. I attended the graduation commencement on May 27th. Already had my Associate's for a while, and soon I'll have my Bachelor's (when it even arrives).

I find it completely idiotic that you can graduate before all the final grades are counted. In 12 weeks, there is a possibility that some of the people that "graduated" may get a letter saying they need to take another class.

That is just one of the many reasons why I think CUNY is horrible. I didn't have half as many problems when I was attending a SUNY school (which is where I received my Associate's).

Friday, May 28, 2010

HTML 5 video - H.264 vs. Theora (ogg)

Just like in the early 1990's when there was the "console wars" between Nintendo and Sega, now we have the "video codec wars" between Theora (ogg) and H.264 with regard to HTML 5.

I've tested both Theora and H.264 with a series of web browsers, using the new <video> element in HTML 5. These are the following operating systems and browsers I used:

Mac OS X - Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, and Flock.
Windows 7 - Internet Explorer 8, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome, and Flock.
Kubuntu 10.04 - Konqueror, Firefox, and Flock.
Ubuntu 10.04 - Firefox, and Flock.
I tested on an iPhone and iPod Touch as well.

My findings are as follows:

Firefox and Opera work well using ogg video, can't play H.264.

Safari works well with H.264, can't play ogg. (If you use Safari on Windows, you must have QuickTime installed or else Safari won't reconize the <video> element.)

Chrome plays video well with both formats, however the audio is a different story. Audio works well with H.264, but it is out-of-sync with ogg. So for Chrome, H.264 is recommended.

iPhone & iPod Touch works well with H.264, but can't play ogg.

Internet Explorer 8 doesn't support the new video element in HTML 5. However, Microsoft promises they will support it in the future with Internet Explorer 9 and says it will support H.264 only.

Flock does NOT currently support HTML 5 videos, which is surprising considering that Flock is "Powered by Mozilla" and uses the same Gecko rendering engine that Firefox uses. No word yet on if Flock will ever support these videos.

I used Miro Video Converter to convert videos to the Theora (ogg) format. Video is outputted as .ogv and this MUST be renamed .ogg otherwise the video won't work with Firefox. However, .ogv works just fine in Opera.

My suggestion for anyone who wants to put videos on their website using <video> would be to use both formats to ensure the video will play in all the supported browsers. The following code example should help:

<video controls width='640' height='480' poster='poster.jpg'>
<source src='video.mp4' type='video/mp4'>
<source src='video.ogg' type='video/ogg'>
</video>

That will first check to see if the browser accepts H.264, and if not it will use the Theora version.

UPDATE: As of January 2011, Google announced that Chrome would be dropping support for H.264 in favor of WebM. They will keep support for Theora.

UPDATE: As of March 2012, Mozilla announced that Firefox will support H.264. Read more here

Friday, May 21, 2010

Chase is bad for the environment!

For several months now, I have received dozens of letters from Chase asking me to accept one of their credit cards. I have always declined, but that didn't stop the letters. Last month, I called chase at their 1-800 number and demanded they take me off their mailing list; stating to the receptionist that their constant paper letters were destroying millions of trees, and as an environmentalist myself I can't stomach the fact that they keep sending me unwanted junk mail.

She said Chase would take me off the mailing list and I would stop receiving letters from them. Since that time, I have received three (3) more letters from them asking to accept their credit card.

If any environmentalists out there are reading this, and have a Chase credit card, I urge you to cancel it as a protest of what they're doing to the planet. We can not allow companies to continue to abuse mother nature like this. These companies are a parasite to the planet and we must put an end to it.

UPDATE:
June 8, 2010

Since I first posted this, they have sent me more. Now I have a total of 6 letters that arrived after I called them asking for them to stop.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Sony Handycam HDR-XR550V

Recently I purchased the Sony Handycam HDR-XR550V and these are my findings.

Pros:

  • High quality video

  • High quality still photos

  • Internal hard disk drive, means no switching tapes

  • Can use MemoryStick Pro Duo or SD memory cards

  • Manual focus knob

  • Small size


Cons:

  • LCD touch screen still could use improvement

  • I don't like that it turns on the moment you open the LCD panel

  • No Firewire port, USB is much slower than Firewire for data transfer

  • The GPS geotagging is limited to working only with the Sony software, which does NOT work with Macintosh. Geotagged photos are NOT recognized by iPhoto's "places" feature. Sony should have used real geotagging technology, instead of their proprietary geotagging which requires their proprietary software!

  • The stupid thing is Sony took the time to include a Mac version of the Product Registration but NOT the software on the disk included with this camera.

  • Doesn't include an HTMI cable, these things are cheap enough to supply one of Sony wanted to. I can buy an HTMI cable online for around $2-$3.

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Heartgard doesn't work

My dog has been taking Heartgard well over a year, this medication is supposed to prevent a variety of parasites, including roundworm. While my dog was on Heartgard, he contracted roundworm. Heartgard failed to prevent this from happening.

In the company's defense, they are offering to pay for the treatments made by the vet in order to remove the roundworm from my dog. However, this shouldn't have happened in the first place.

I pray that whoever reads this, does more research into the various prevention medicines out there for their pets, before deciding on one that doesn't work. The last thing any pet owner would want, is for something bad to happen to their beloved animal(s).

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Cablevision doesn't support full HD

It is surprising that a company trying to compete with satellite would chose to not support full HD! Recently I purchased a new 1080p HDTV, after spending the past 1 1/2 years with a 1080i HDTV. I called up Cablevision, the company behind the iO Digital Cable TV service. I asked if they had a new cable box that support 1080p, since my current only only supported up to 1080i. I was shocked to hear the salesperson say that they currently do not offer support for 1080p.

Satellite TV has offered 1080p for the past year, why hasn't Cablevision?

Cablevision wants to keep customers, but then they don't keep up with competition. This is just sad and pathetic on Cablevision's part.