Posts Tagged ‘tech’

Smart as mud.

Current Mood:Confused emoticon Confused

Occasionally I will inherit a laptop in states of disrepair. We will refurbish them and sell them on Craigslist. I typically will include my phone number for calls or texts, along with my anonymized CL email address so people will have plenty of ways to contact me.
Up for sale at the moment is an older Dell. So here is my ad:

Dell laptop - $150 (Belleville, IL)

Date: 2010-06-25, 7:30AM CDT

Reply to: [my anonymous @craigslist.org email]

Dell Latitude D610 laptop for sale, recently refurbished. It has passed all hardware tests. Good cosmetic condition.
Intel Centrino 1.8Ghz
512mb RAM
20Gb hard drive
Windows XP Pro
Internal WiFi
14″ LCD display
Touch pad and eraser-head mouse
DVD ROM/CD writer
Has antivirus, anti-spyware, OpenOffice (open-source version of Microsoft Office), photo editing, and media players. Ready to go surf the net!
Email address above or call/text [My cell number] (area code 314 to discourage text spam bots).

So I get a text message convo:
Them: Laptop. Does the battery hold charge? Does it have the backup disc? Is it available to look at today and where ya located?
Me: The battery holds a full charge and even has an indicator on the battery itself to show battery life remaining. It doesn’t have a backup disc, but I can burn you a copy of a Dell XP Pro, and it has a legit key sticker on the laptop. I am located in Belleville, as the ad states, but I can meet you somewhere locally.
Them: Ad mentions nothing about battery. So does it have a battery and charger and a battery that holds charge?
Me: Yes, it comes with a battery that holds a charge and a power adapter. If you’re looking for laptops in states of disrepair, I have several I can sell you.
Them: I like the one for 150. I was curious about the battery and charger on it since the ad didn’t mention it.
Me: This laptop has a battery and power cord and is 100% ready to roll.
Them: So does it have a battery that holds charge and charger
Me: No, I’m sorry.
So… I could probably have turned that into a sale. But you know what? They will have my phone number. They would most likely be calling me up repeatedly for… err… “service after the sale.”
Noooo thank you. I’ll wait for the next person interested in a laptop.

Working at home

Current Mood:Angry emoticon Angry

working_with_laptop6

Hi, I am at home right now, hanging out on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and in my PJ’s. And guess what? I’m not eating bon bons and watching soap operas. I’m working on an e-commerce website. Building an e-commerce website is not within my experience range, so it requires quite a bit of concentration for me to learn new design concepts. So interrupting my day with idle phone conversation, expectations of my dropping everything to do your bidding, or other demands of my time are not any more welcomed than if I were sitting at a desk in some office tower. As a matter of fact, I will probably work more today curled up on my couch with my laptop than if I were in an office, because in an office there are usually defined work hours and breaks. This is not necessarily the case of the home-employed. I have worked at my computer for twelve to eighteen hour stretches, with breaks only for food and bathroom. And occasionally these work stretches will yield little obvious result, because I will be doing maintenance, creating things, etc. I will also often take on tasks that I know I am capable of doing, but lack the knowledge, so will be learning on-the-fly, which decreases productivity. The lack of obvious result is sometimes frustrating. Not only to me, but to others around me, because it appears that I have done nothing, or very little.

When I am learning new stuff, I highly resent interruptions. My mother is terrible about this:
“Hey, are you busy?”
“Yeah.”
“Doing computer stuff at home?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, okay. Hey, I was wondering…”
And 20 minutes later I have forgotten where I was and will have to start over, or will be so irritated about the interruption that I will do something else entirely, leaving that task unfinished. It’s a bad habit that I have… Ahh, the joys of having ADD. And I am such a sucker for helping others that I feel bad about saying no. This comes from being home-employed, as well. It’s a mindset that is carried by many people, both home workers and people who are around home workers:
I am at home, so I am technically available.
It’s very difficult to get over this mindset. It is more difficult yet being a parent:
I am at home, so I need to be parenting my children.
But… what about work? It doesn’t get done. I have to keep reminding myself to work. I have an office set up in the basement, but the basement is unfinished and very cold in the winter, so isn’t good workspace right now.

My husband even once told me that I don’t do anything. So you know what? That is exactly what I did. Nothing. I made him responsible just for the daily household tasks, which is a lot for him after working a ten hour day plus an hour commute each way. After a few days he apologized. At that time I was also home schooling, so a good portion of my day was taken up with educating the kiddo. I didn’t let on that I was still educating him, and made this also part of his evening responsibility. ;) But he got it.

So what do I do? Well aside from normal daily household and parent stuff, I do graphic design, website building, server hosting, and social media lurking. I also blog (which has been sorely neglected the last few months due to a whole lot of real life smacking me in the face), but no freelance writing (unless someone wants to hire me!). I have my degree in computer technology and network engineering, so I know geek stuff. I also enjoy knitting warm things. I can do a whole lot more stuff… pretty well anything I set my mind to, if it interests me. So you know what? I’m going to give myself (and all you other work-at-home moms) a badge. And fellas, you go find yourself a Superman badge, k?

Wonder_Woman_Logo

Computer commercials

Current Mood:Bored emoticon Bored

As we’re cruising toward 2010 (wow, now that’s crazy to think about!), we are seeing more and more computer-related commercials as computers become more of a household item. After seeing a rather strange set of commercials by Norton (we’ll get to it in a bit), I’ve come to realize that there are some VERY strange computer commercials.

I’ll start with my favorite strange commercial, IE8:

While you’ve got your barf bag out, check out Microsoft’s Live Search commercial:

Because Microsoft has other crappy commercials, we can’t forget the Songsmith commercial. It’s long. And bad.

We’ll add to Microsoft’s strange videos this (banned?) XBox commercial:

Now, I really like Intel’s rock star commercial. A lot. I’d wager to say that this is my current favorite commercial, period.

While this technically isn’t a computer commercial, did you know that your gangster in Grand Theft Auto only need a Coke? It’s true!

Another (pretty odd) soda computer game commercial, the Mountain Dew WoW drinks.

FreeCreditReport.com has a lot of silly commercials, but this one is really weird.

Probably everyone has seen the Travelocity “Roaming Gnome” commercials, but have you seen THIS Travelocity commercial?

ETrade wasted $2 million on this weird SuperBowl ad. It says so right in the ad.

The Google GMail commercial is err… well… yeah. You give it a peek.

Speaking of enhancement, GoDaddy gave us some funky commercials.

Of course we can’t forget Dell’s irritating ads, like the Lollipop commercial. You’re excused from watching it if you’ve already been subjected:

We can’t let Apple’s huge “I’m a Mac” campaign slide under the radar. The “Bean Counter” commercial is a bit of a hypocrisy.  How much does Apple spend for advertising versus Windows (who is PC)? You know a hip young guy charges a lot to be in a commercial. Oh yeah, and the fact that the commercials are on every channel.

Have you seen Microsoft’s “I’m a PC” response to the “I’m a Mac” ads? Another weird Microsoft commercial. “I have a beard” wha? Watch for Bill.

Apparently, if you use a Zune you get a free acid trip! I kid, this is actually a really fun concept commercial.

Oh, and the Norton commercial I mentioned? I didn’t forget it. It’s a montage. Before we go into it… Check out the last two. If you miss the first couple of lines, you have lost the entire point of the commercial. So you leave, grab a drink, walk back… And you see “Protect your chicken from Dokken?”

Got one to add? I’ve got a comment box below. I think you know what to do. ;)

I just saved $25 on my TMo bill!

Current Mood:Esctatic emoticon Esctatic

tmobile-shadowSometimes it really pays to not be bleeding-edge in technology. People have all these top-end $300 cell phones, I have a cheapo $50 Windows Mobile phone. It isn’t 3G capable, it’s not touch screen. It does everything (and more) that I need. (Check out my rant on my WinMo phone vs iPhone.) It’s perfectly fine for me. Because of this phone, I am eligible for a cheaper data rate plan. I am not 100% sure of all the details, but this is kind of what I gather is going on with TMobile:
They are rolling out their 3G network (FINALLY), and a lot of their phones are not 3G capable. Those of us who are on EDGE obviously won’t be getting this speed boost. So, I am not entirely sure what is going on, but this is what is available for our WinMo devices, as well as other phones (such as non smartphones). This can’t be used on specialized data phones like Blackberrys or Sidekicks:
$10 unlimited Internet.
\o/
My phone’s Internet bill was $24.99 a month, and while the hubby’s phone had been on a 100mb $9.99 data plan that had been dropped, they said he had to use the $19.99 unlimited. Then he did his homework. His homework showed that we were both eligible for the $9.99 unlimited Internet.

There is also a plan for my phone (TMobile Shadow aka HTC Juno) for unlimited web and text messages for $19.99. Mileage may vary on this plan for your phone.

Got TMo? Give ‘em a call, see if you’re eligible for this. Stomp your foot a bit. Call back if you’re told no and you’re fairly sure you should be getting it, as it is a fairly new thing.

I got TwIsTeD

Current Mood:Esctatic emoticon Esctatic

DSC00238This bracelet is cool beyond words. What an awesome way to not only recycle, but to show off your inner geek! This bracelet, made by the illustrious Courtney Chesley (@CourtneyChesley on Twitter) of TwIsTeD really is the definition of cool jewelry. It’s made of recycled telephone and network cable wire.

So I was sitting around on Twitter when Courtney said “Quick do something!” (I think it was reply to her @TwistedHandmade Twitter account.) Since I have no life I saw it, did it, and hey, I won some cool swag! And just in time to be an early birthday present too, huzzah! I got two sweet brown and white bracelets and a pair of  wirey, hoopy earrings that are black with green spots. Unfortunately my ears are no longer pierced (because my ears are allergic to anything but 24k gold, I don’t like gold, so I let them grow up), but I’ll make sure to pass these on to another friend who’s cool and geeky enough to deserve them! *grin*

Computers computers everywhere, nary a one that works!

Current Mood:Angry emoticon Angry

I work from home on my computer. I do server hosting, graphic design, as well as running virtual businesses in Second Life. So I use my computer a lot. But it seems I have a little computer gremlin that hangs out. He hibernates most of the time, but when he is awake, he eats every computer I touch! As you most likely know, both my husband and I are computer technicians. So when we have computer problems, we can fix them ourselves… We paid a whole lotta money for degrees, we damn well better be able to fix our own computers! ;)

But, like the proverbial car mechanic whose car never runs… I have two desktops that do not work. Yeah, two desktops. I have my regular desktop I built a year ago, then my old desktop that we turned into a server. Both have dead motherboards. ANY OTHER PART we could easily replace. New hard drive? Sure, no problem. We have RAM of every flavor. Even extra video cards. But no, the motherboards have to die.

Rewind back to our move (in the middle of May) : Obviously with all the moving, we’re not going to immediately have our desks and computers set up. Well… okay, normally that’s the FIRST thing we set up when we move, but with the water in the basement situation here, we’ve had to wait to set them up. So we were laptoppin’ it for a while, no problem. Our laptops aren’t power houses, but they do what we need to do. My laptop’s hard drive decided to die. *growl* Okay, no problem, I’ve been meaning to upgrade it to that bigger drive anyway and check out Windows 7. I decided that was a good time to hook up my desktop. Set it up, all was well… then it went caput. Got the laptop together and working, investigated the desktop, and it’s got a blown capacitor on the motherboard. @#$&! So until we get the extra money for a motherboard, I decided to use the server (my old computer). It’s had a myriad of problems which we assumed could be fixed by replacing a hard drive (drive errors). Oh no, it’s the freaking motherboard too.

*sigh* Well, if I really, absolutely had to use a computer, I always have my husband’s desktop… but when I have an active gremlin, I really am worried about screwing up someone else’s stuff. When I have the car gremlins (no, not the Gremlin car, but I’d love to have one of those!), I am worried about driving his too. Does anyone else have really crappy luck like mine?

Pic from Toon-It-Up

Pic from Toon-It-Up

Things I do with my WinMo phone

Well, it seems some people think that they are superior with their iPhone. While I find it highly amusing that the Applezoids find themselves superior due to A: The fact that they have all this extra money laying around that they can prove it by buying an expensive phone, B: That they relate to the “trendy” Apple dude (*snicker* keep dreaming), and C: That because the rest of the sheep of the world have used the above excuses, it’s good enough for them, I find it laughable. People seem to think that because they have this big, expensive phone that they are “superior.” This is what made me laugh, and what made me respond that “No, you’re all just sheep for following the hype”:

*eye roll*
So your PHONE makes you genetically superior, according to a study. Just the fact that someone felt insecure enough about themselves to create such a “study” and that someone else is insecure enough to identify with said “study” should be enough to make any thinking person laugh. But, like sheep, they must traipse along after the hype. I lol at this person on Twitter for a few posts, then they decide they are going to blog about how superior the phone is.
Just for the fact that @creativereason felt the need to BLOG about this is quite laughable. So, in response, here’s what I can do with my $50 Windows Mobile device, which is a TMobile Shadow, or HTC Juno:

  1. Make and receive calls (err, duh).
  2. Send and receive text messages (yeah, I’m pretty sure all cells can do this).
  3. Send and receive emails and use IMAP and use desktop email via Outlook.
  4. Update contacts and calander without synching (via the magic of TMo synch).
  5. Take pictures and send them where ever I want.
  6. Use Twitter via PockeTwit.
  7. If I had enough social networking sites to care about, I’m sure I would be able to update them all with ease. However, I just don’t feel like I need 300 social networking sites to worry with. My Twitter updates my FaceBook. If you can’t find me at either of those, oh well.
  8. Dink around with my blog if I wanted to, but I have better things to do when I’m mobile. Like, you know, be mobile.
  9. Listen to/stream music from the web and play it via BlueTooth to my car stereo. No need to blow money on satellite radio. I also have earphones if I’m out doing healthy stuff.
  10. I don’t care about sports. Thus I don’t seek them when I’m on my phone.
  11. See #10
  12. Surf the web, which just about any Internet-capable phone can do.
  13. I read enough of the Bible when I was a child to know it’s not something I’m interested in reading again.
  14. Read eBooks.
  15. Watch full length movies.
  16. I guess I could listen to my Pandora station if I cared enough to have one. If I’m really hurting for tunes, I can listen to my personal Shoutcast stream or queue up tunes via Winamp Remote so I can listen to everything I have on my desktop while I’m out.
  17. I could probably check the weather however, generally I do that before I go out. Or look up at the sky.
  18. Get turn-by-turn directions if I’m lost via Garmin GPS app.
  19. Use Skype and any other messenger I want.
  20. Take notes.
  21. Watch web videos.
  22. Use Google Maps or Live Search to find stuff that’s around me. And yeah, I can talk to it.
  23. I don’t do presentations, so I don’t care about remote controlling my computer via remote desktop.
  24. If I’m at a party, I’m going to be DJ’ing via mixing software on my laptop. But if I wanted to just have mobile tunes, I can hook my phone up to speakers, or better yet, use Bluetooth speakers.
  25. I could use Bkite if I had that voyeuristic tendancy. However, I prefer to not have people knowing where I am, or where they are.
  26. Surf Wikis.
  27. Check nutritional values.
  28. Again, if I cared about sports, I could probably look them up. I have a browser. *shrug*
  29. Check FedEx shipments
  30. Err… use an online dictionary? o.O
  31. Play any number of games while I’m bored. Or let my kids play games. I think all phones have them.
  32. Look at FaceBook. Don’t need an app for that, you can go to the website. There’s a WinMo app for that too, though.
  33. I have a calculator on my phone!
  34. I don’t use satellite TV. I like having a working television when there’s a storm, when it’s most important. Which is about the only time I look at TV.
  35. Set the alarm, and snooze it if I want.

Okay, so there’s his list. Here’s a few of my bonuses, having a WinMo device:

  1. I can do these things at the same time. If I want to listen to music and use Twitter, my music doesn’t stop. My media players are nice enough to pause when my phone rings. I can surf websites without my messengers logging off.
  2. I have a keyboard, which I can type on pretty quickly. Without looking, because there’s a little bump on the keyboard to orient me.
  3. Did I mention I can play my music via Bluetooth?
  4. Get free applications by multiple vendors, as opposed to having to use one source for an app. And they are real apps, not just a website that you can download.
  5. Play just about any media format I want, even DiVX.
  6. Play Nintendo games.

I get OTA updates via Windows Updates (which it does on its own), and if there’s an OS upgrade, I’m eligible for those too.

Really, it’s just a freaking phone with a few flashy things. Who cares. A phone does what? Makes calls. The extra stuff is just bonuses. I could really care less what kind of phone you have. Mine does what I need it to, and it didn’t cost a whole lot. Oh yeah, it also doesn’t make me feel superior.