TECHNOLOGY: Solve those traffic jams … please!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

http://www.impactlab.net/2012/06/04/32-technological-innovations-that-will-change-your-tomorrow/

June 4th, 2012 at 3:20 pm
32 technological innovations that will change your tomorrow

*** begin quote ***

6. The Congestion Killer

Traffic jams can form out of the simplest things. One driver gets too close to another and has to brake, as does the driver behind, as does the driver behind him — pretty soon, the first driver has sent a stop-and-go shock wave down the highway. One driving-simulator study found that nearly half the time one vehicle passed another, the lead vehicle had a faster average speed. All this leads to highway turbulence, which is why many traffic modelers see adaptive cruise control (A.C.C.) — which automatically maintains a set distance behind a car and the vehicle in front of it — as the key to congestion relief. Simulations have found that if some 20 percent of vehicles on a highway were equipped with advanced A.C.C., certain jams could be avoided simply through harmonizing speeds and smoothing driver reactions. One study shows that even a highway that is running at peak capacity has only 4.5 percent of its surface area occupied. More sophisticated adaptive cruse control systems could presumably fit more cars on the road.

When a quarter of the vehicles on a simulated highway had A.C.C., cumulative travel time dropped by 37.5 percent.
In another simulation, giving at least a quarter of the cars A.C.C. cut traffic delays by up to 20 percent.
By 2017, an estimated 6.9 million cars each year will come with A.C.C.

*** end quote ***

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HARDWARE: POGOPLUG highly recommended

Saturday, June 23, 2012

and …

Perhaps, I haven’t explained myself well.

About the pogoplug and the disk drive.

You plug both into any power strip.

The disk drive plugs via usb into the pogoplug.

The pogoplug plugs via an RJ45 (local area network connection) (looks like a fat phone wire with bigger that a phone socket plugs on each end) into the ROUTER.

Note: it doesn’t plug into ANY computer.

(You can, but you don’t HAVE to. The value of this little 45$ linux box is that it is it’s own computer / appliance.)

Once you do that, I can give you a directory on the drive that you can:

(a) “mount” the drive on any computer on your home lan (wirelessly or wired) and use as you would the hard disk that’s internal to that computer. Including IPADs, ITOUCHs, IPHONES, and most smart phones.

(b) by correctly defining any path to the pogoplug via it’s web interface, it will give you a URL that you can “publish”, share, or use yourself.

So, for example, Luddite can upload his corny spam megabyte movie files to is and any one who has the link can look at it. ANd, would CLOG everyone’s mail systems with HUGE files.

So, for example, MIX2 can put the that big video on the “platform” and only allow certain people to see it. (Even if someone has the link, they can’t see it. I think it comes back “404 url not found” or something like that.)

SO, you can think of pogoplug as a “personal / group / public” cloud solution.

I’d like to deploy them at all my favorite people’s routers so that I can have off-site storage. (The power is use is about 8$ per year I’m told.)

I think it’s a neat device.

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SERVICE: FACEBOOK has risks; parents should engage a “Glenda”

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

I found something disturbing aimed at one of my young Facebook “friends”.

(You know they “friend” me when they think it’s “kool” to have some “friends” and want to build up their count. Then forget that the fat old white guy injineer “stalks” them forever. Like Glenda the Good Witch, watching over them and their online presence.)

So, I immediately alerted on it to the “command authority” (i.e., her parents) via the approved channels (i.e., her aunt).

Action was taken.

This post suggests that parents need to have a view into their children’s onine activities.

Of course, I offer my “glenda service” at my usual discount. (LOL!) But, you’ll have to be “kool” about how you get a Glenda on to their friend’s list.

“Wonder what that crazy old koot is up to this week end? You see him on Facebook don’t you, dearest child of mine?” May work?

Or, find a trusted friend or relative that the child has already been “friend-ed” during their naïve days, and assign them Glenda duty.

Forewarned is forearmed. Or in this case, four eyeballed. (Yeah, I know it falls flat. But you get the idea!)

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TECHNOLOGY: Domain Name price increase sparks “clean up”

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Guess I have to begin to get organized about my domains. 

I’m a great believer in the “spaghetti theory” of domains. Have a great idea? Throw up a domain or two and see what sticks. 

For every “box of nickels” and “box of nickles”, there are a lot of “memetaxonomy”, “auntie collector”, and “ram 1968”. 

With the price increase, the cost of being sloppy in going up. 

Perhaps, there’s a better deal for registering domain names?

But first one has to have a list of one’s domain names.

Last time I got this bug was when I thought that GODADDY’s soft porn advertising campaign was worthy of some moral outrage. It was bait and switch cause the uncensored version didn’t really show anything …

(Yes, all men are pigs. And, I had to do penance for that near occasion of sin. Just seeking it, as of course a purely IT research activity, was deemed by my priest as “really?”. Can’t get anything by him.)

… and wasn’t even funny!

So, now I have the bug again. 

Let the domain hunt begin! 

Argh! 

(Thus demonstrating I have no life. When a tiny price increase gives my life real meaning. Sort of one step short of those “extreme couponers”?)

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Customer ID: 9113251

Dear Ferdinand Reinke,

1&1 Internet Inc. appreciates your business and strives to consistently provide the best quality domain and web hosting services to our customers.

We are writing today to inform you that as a result of recent price increases by
the major domain registries, we need to increase the annual
rates for .com domains. In order for 1&1 to stay
competitive and continue to offer you excellent services, we have made
the following adjustments to our pricing structure.

For domain renewals and new orders as of 07/01/2012, the following domain
rate changes will apply:

*.com domain renewals will be increased from $9.99
to $10.99 per year.

The new price for your domain(s) will be applied to your next domain
renewal after July 1, 2012.

1&1 is committed to offering very competitive prices and professional
services in the domain environment and we hope to continue to meet and
surpass your service expectations.

===========================================================================

PLEASE NOTE:
This price change does not affect any free domains included in your package.

===========================================================================

ANY QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your account, please contact
our support representatives and they will be happy to assist you.
So that we can reply as quickly as possible, please contact us via e-mail
at contracts_us@1and1.com.

Thank you for choosing 1&1 and we look forward to your continued
success.

Sincerely,

Your 1&1 Team
1&1 Internet Inc.
http://1and1.com

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P.S., SPS (i.e., Self Praise Stinks)! “excellent services”? Never, even if true, throw your own bouquets. imho!

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Posted by reinkefj

IPAD: The kids’ toy box; perfect for the elderly non-techie

Friday, May 11, 2012

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57429122-37/six-scenarios-where-the-ipad-is-trouncing-the-pc/?tag=nl.e019

Six scenarios where the iPad is trouncing the PC
TechRepublic’s Jason Hiner has little use for an iPad. But he’s pinpointed six areas where it’s become people’s preferred device and is disrupting the PC market.
by Jason Hiner May 7, 2012 9:00 AM PDT

*** begin quote ***

6. The kid machine

For the past couple generations, kids have taken to computers and technology with almost no trouble and with few exceptions. However, with the iPhone this phenomenon started to go a step further — or younger. Suddenly, 2-year-olds could figure out how to swipe to unlock the phone, touch the photo app, and flick their little fingers across the screen to flip through photos. Once we got a big screen version of this experience with the iPad, the sky was suddenly the limit for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. They had a computer that required no training from their parents. Apps like Intro to Math, by Montessorium took advantage of the iPad interface to deliver software that was inexpensive, easy to learn, fun, and effective.

On the other end of the spectrum, the iPad is easy enough to figure out that plenty of elderly people who never felt comfortable with a computer have been able to use an iPad to do a few basic things. The key to this scenario is the iPad’s multitouch interface, which requires no user manual and no instruction to get started.

*** end quote ***

Ever since I saw the YouTube video of a baby trying to stroke a magazine to make the “screen” turn, I knew Apple had a winner.

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SERVICE: FACEBOOK shoots itself in the foot

Sunday, May 6, 2012

http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/05/facebooks-positive-comment-policy-irrelevant-inappropriate-censorship/

Is This Censorship? Facebook Stops Users From Posting ‘Irrelevant Or Inappropriate’ Comments
Colleen Taylor

*** begin quote ***

Updated. Today was just another Saturday morning in blog land when Robert Scoble, the well-known tech startup enthusiast, went to post a comment on a Facebook post written by Carnegie Mellon student (and TechCrunch commenter extraordinaire) Max Woolf about the nature of today’s tech blogging scene. Scoble’s comment itself was pretty par-for-the-course — generally agreeing with Woolf’s sentiments and adding in his own two cents.

But when Scoble went to click post, he received an odd error message:

“This comment seems irrelevant or inappropriate and can’t be posted. To avoid having comments blocked, please make sure they contribute to the post in a positive way.”

Now, Facebook makes no apologies for working to create a safe and clean environment on its corner of the web by shutting down abusive or harassing behavior, content such as pornography, or generally spamming of the system. This particular method policing “inappropriate” comments may be new, but it would fall within the same general realm.

*** end quote ***

I love it when these tech giants step in it.

Like this!

Haven’t seen it personally, but I can imagine some developers buying the midnight oil to fix it and then again being “burned at the stake” on Monday morning,

Great “fun”!

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SERVICE: KODAKGALLERY days are numbered

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

http://www.macworld.com/article/1166562/shutterfly_only_bidder_for_kodak_gallery_customer_accounts.html#lsrc.rss_main

Shutterfly only bidder for Kodak Gallery customer accounts
by John Ribeiro, IDG News Service Apr 26, 2012 10:00 am

*** begin quote ***

Online photo service Shutterfly has emerged as the only bidder for the customer accounts and images of Kodak Gallery online photo services business, the companies said Wednesday.

*** end quote ***

Only last year, I urged folks to get their backup in order. 

The times are a changin’!

KodakGallery is on life support.

And, that’s the part of “put everything in the cloud” that people forget.

This is the last month for folks use Apple’s IWEB to publish web pages. 

Don’t be a sucker. Stick to open standards and non-proprietary software like what you get from Apple and Microsoft.

Don’t be lured to the “Dark Side”.

Like the Gooferment, NO ONE is here to HELP YOU!

Apple, Microsoft, and all the ISPs want to lock you in.

No matter how cheap and easy it is to start, it’s always painful at the end.

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Posted by reinkefj

MACBOOKAIR: Finally complete the LION upgrade

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

OK!

I was thanks to DRIVESLIM ($, not free) able to free enough space on the slender MACBOOKAIR which I cam McBahh1.

I was then able after 3 password resets finally get an MAC APP STORE id that would work.

I was then able to download the LION MAC OSX UPGRADE ($). That I had already paid for. Thankfully, I didn’t have to pay for it again.

I was then able to perform the UPGRADE.

An hour later, while I was doing other things, McBahh1 dinged like an oven timer and it was done.

Observation: McBahh1 is now running “sprightly”. No more performance like a nursing home resident. We’ll see if any of the old problems return (i.e.: “I’m too tired to compute; I’m taking my union break for as many minutes as I feel like”; “There’s no free disk space; deal with it.”, or my perennial favorite “Year, I rebooted; what of it?”)

Casualties: NVU (free) no longer runs; I quickly found BLUE_GRIFFON (free) to replace it. 

Observation: BLUE_GRIFFON doesn’t do file transfer like NVU did. (Argh!)

New method: FILEZILLA dusted off to upload. New version of FILEZILLA installed. Works.

Casualties: MAC OSX 10.7.3 aka LION in the FINDER utility no longer displays the amount of free space. (Or it’s not obvious how to do it.)

Opinion: Well worth it. But what a hassle. Months of hassle to get to this point. Exponential number of Arghs.

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SOFTWARE: MARSEDIT v3.5 (5031) has what I’d call a “user interface” bug; resolved

Sunday, April 29, 2012

MARSEDIT v3.5 (5031) has what I’d call a “user interface” bug. It doesn’t crash, but it doesn’t respond the same as the old version and the result produced is “livable, but not as it once was”.

The last version (number unknown) on the macbookair a keyboard <shift><return> would do a “line feed”, but not a “carriage return”. This version <shift><return> and <return” act identical (i.e., extra white space of paragraph in the post).

So how do I get what I want?

I liked the old output. MarsEdit’s value has just dropped from 5* to 3*. Because now I’m asking what else has changed and what other bugs have been introduced?

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Excellent support from the folks at REDSWEATER.

Within hours I had a response.

It was a UI change. To do the old <shift><return> is just a <command><return>.

AND, they immediately agreed there should have been a “Heads Up”.

They now go from 3* back to 5* in my book.

As they say in the war movies: “That is all. Carry on!”.

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IPAD: Zagg keyboard. Did I get scammed? I think so!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

I received the package. Opening it the packing slip. says “… ipad3 …”. However the instructions say “… ipad2 …”. Did you ship me the wrong one or are they interchangeable. If “interchangable”, then why did I wait and pay extra for the “ipad3” model? This has me wondering …

I await you answer.
fjohn

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I’m not happy because when I ordered there was no “back order”. After my order was in and sitting for a couple of weeks, then magically it was backordered. Since the ship date was a couple of days, what choice did I have? But even that slipped.

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On Wed, Apr 25, 2012 at 12:01 PM, The ZAGG Team – Matthew G. <questions@zagg.com> wrote:

Hello,

Thank you for contacting ZAGG, where we are Zealous About Great Gadgets! My name is Matthew G. and I appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

 The tracking number you have, 9405510200828351438398, is a USPS tracking number. You can look this up on USPS.com and find more information about your package. Please note that USPS tracking numbers are more of delivery confirmation numbers and do not provide actual tracking like UPS and FedEx do.

<<< Nothing like that is on the website. The confirm email points to those two vendaor to “track your shipment”!>>>

Please note also that USPS can take anywhere from 24 to 72 hours to update shipping information. Since your order only shipped as of the 23rd of April, USPS would not have any information in their system about your tracking number. I would check over the next few days for any updated information on your delivery confirmation number.

I hope this helps! Please feel free to contact us back with any questions or concerns.

Thank you for choosing ZAGG! We appreciate your business.

All the best,

Matthew G.

Customer Service Representative
ZAGG Inc.
3855 S 500 W STE C

SLC, UT 84115

800.700.ZAGG(9244) (toll free)
801.263.0699 (o)
Nasdaq Symbol: ZAGG
ZAGG.com

— Original Message —

From: “reinke (reinke cc)” <reinke@reinke.cc>
Received: 4/23/12 6:45:59 PM MDT
To: The ZAGG Team – Darren S. <questions@zagg.com>
Subject: Re: order IC5629043

9405510200828351438398

I got this tracking number. But neither UPS or USPS find it.

Help?

fjohn

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On Thu, Apr 19, 2012 at 2:15 PM, The ZAGG Team – Darren S. <questions@zagg.com> wrote:

Hello Keith,

Thank you for contacting ZAGG, where we are Zealous About Great Gadgets! My name is Darren S. and I appreciate the opportunity to assist you.

I apologize for any confusion you may have experienced regarding your order. I see that order IC5629043 was placed on April 2nd, 2012. Orders placed through ZAGG.com orders typically take 1-2 business days to process and ship. This may vary depending on product demand, however. In order to assist you with determining the current availability of a given product, the expected shipping date for an item has been included on the product page itself.

Having said that, I see that the expected ship date for this order was is April 23rd, 2012. The ZAGGfolio on this order is currently experiencing inventory issues which has caused a delay in the shipping of this order. Our processing facility is working as quickly as possible to fulfill each affected order, and we expect inventory for this item to become available around April 25th, 2012. Nevertheless, we regret any inconvenience to you and acknowledge the difficulty this has caused.

Once an order leaves our facility we will send a shipping confirmation email. You can also check the status of your orders on demand via ZAGG.com. Log in to your User Account Manager to check the status of your most recent orders and view a snapshot of your order history. You can also update your account information. Take advantage of this service by visiting our website at http://www.zagg.com/support/account.

We apologize for any inconvenience and we appreciate your interest in ZAGG. However, please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions or comments. If you prefer assistance via a live customer service representative, our phone number is (801) 263-0699 or toll free at (800) 700-ZAGG(9244). Our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 5:30 PM, Mountain Time.

Thank you for choosing ZAGG! We appreciate your business.

All the best,

Darren S.

Customer Service Representative
ZAGG Inc.
3855 S 500 W STE C

SLC, UT 84115

800.700.ZAGG(9244) (toll free)
801.263.0699 (o)
Nasdaq Symbol: ZAGG
ZAGG.com

— Original Message —
From: reinke <reinke@reinke.cc>
Received: 4/18/12 11:52:51 AM MDT
To: “questions@zagg.com” <questions@zagg.com>
Subject: order

status on ic 562 9043?

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I think I was scammed. What’s your opinion?

ZAGGS is definitely “NOTRECOMMENDED”! 

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Apr-27 @ 04:25  

HERE’S THEIR AUTORESPONDER:

Hello reinke (reinke cc),

Thank you for contacting ZAGG, home of the invisibleSHIELD! We appreciate hearing from you and your email is very important to us. We will reply to your inquiry as quickly as possible. Most emails are replied to within 1-2 business days, but please allow up to 3 business days. Our hours of operation are Monday thru Friday, 8am – 6pm, Mountain Time.

If you need a replacement for your ZAGG product, please follow the below link for a quick instructional video: http://www.zagg.com/support/contact.php#hidden_replacementVideo

You can also visit our Frequently Asked Questions page below for information on our warranties, shipping, products, refunds, etc.:

http://www.zagg.com/faq

To help track your inquiry we have generated a reference number. Your message id 349264. Please add @zagg.com to your address book to prevent our messages from going to your spam folder.

Sincerely,

The ZAGG Team

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Apr-27 @ 04:48  

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