iTunes 12 - why?

For whatever reason, Apple decided we no longer need a sidebar.

Not only did it disappear from the default view in prior versions, it has now completely been eliminated, and cannot be turned back on.

This is the kind of issue that could drive me to switch.

Amazon Local Register falls so short it's sad.

I spend quite a bit of money annually at Amazon, for virtually everything.  In general, their service is world class.  I heard they were offering discounted fees over square, so I gave it a try. 

At every turn, there's been SO much I've had to forgive.

- The app is HORRIBLE. (ugly, slow, unintuitive)
- Mutes phone when you quit the app. (No reason - just to annoy you)

- The reader is goofball - longer than it needs to be and unreliable.
- The service can ONLY be managed from the phone - you can't get anything via the web.
- They don't email the merchant after each transaction, only the consumer.  There's no way to have it email the merchant.
- You can't sign up for the service with an existing Amazon account - you have to sign up with a NEW account. Ridiculous!

And the worst thing of all - A 14-DAY HOLD on manually entered transactions.  For me, that's a DEAL KILLER.

Sorry, Amazon.  I'll pay a little more and get VASTLY SUPERIOR service from Square.

4/13/2015 - UPDATE: It's more than six months since I've posted this and the app is STILL hideous, and the service still is WAY BEHIND Square.  Sorry, Amazon.  I love your retail operation, but the card processing service is a failure.

Why can't they give us our tv EVERYWHERE, easily?

I fired up my XBOX 360, since there is STILL no support on XBOX ONE for the following:
- HBO GO
- Showtime Anytime
- Dozens of others

I was able to run & authenticate HBO GO easily, but Showtime Anytime wasn't so easy.

First, since I tried authenticating on the iPad, the site assumed (incorrectly) that I would much prefer the "Showtime Anytime" App.  I would not.  My TV screen is considerably larger than that of my iPad.

So I switched over to the MacBook Air. Safari kept saying "The Primary Account holder for this account must register for Showtime Anytime first."  So I switched to Firefox.  Same thing.  Turned to the Windows desktop.  Same thing.

I've been a Showtime subscriber for nearly two decades.  Why can't "they" just give good service?

Xbox One - External Hard Drive support

On the Xbox 360, if you wanted more storage you had to buy it from Microsoft. Period. 

The sizes were small and the prices were large. That being said, most people with an Xbox 360 bought discs in a store. 

The Xbox One makes buying digital SO much more appealing.  Unfortunately my "Day One" Xbox One had only 20% left on the 500GB hard disk.  

While I slept (not literally, I just didn't know) the Xbox One got an update that allows "off the shelf" USB hard drives to be plugged in and for the Xbox One to be told to install future purchases to it. 

So, I pulled out a 2TB USB 3.0 hard drive that I bought but had not used. I'm now transferring everything to it. 

Thank you, Microsoft. #thankyoumicrosoft #xboxone

AT&T Vistual Voicemail suddenly not working on iPhone 5S w/ iOS 7

Yesterday I received a few client calls, but I noticed that the phone wasn't showing voicemails for these calls.  I assumed that the clients had decided not to leave messages, but I called them anyway.

Of course, the clients had left messages.  My phone simply didn't tell me.  So, after dealing with those calls, I called the voicemail service manually and sure enough, there were three client voicemails.

Over the past 24 hours, I've spent about 2 1/2 hours so far on the phone with AT&T's tech support to try to resolve this issue.  They've reset it several times on their side, I've had to re-establish voicemail service on my side (including a BOATLOAD of re-recorded outgoing messages) and now it simply ISN'T working - at all.  Callers don't hear a message, and when I call in I get an error.

One of the tech support reps suggested I should erase my phone.  I told her that would NOT resolve the issue, particularly since I'm getting errors when I call the service.

UPDATE: It's now working, and they gave me a $25 credit for the inconvenience. :)
 

After six months, the Xbox One is freezing constantly, and often not starting at all.

So I've had my "day one" Xbox One for about six months, and it's freezing all the time, and often not starting at all. :(

- Freezes in the middle of games
- Freezes in the middle of Blu-Ray movies
- Controller stops responding
- Xbox Media Remote stops responding
- Even the main menu freezes

I resolve computer problems for a living, and one way to fix ANY software problem is to format the hard drive and reinstall.  That's not usually the best method, or the first to try.  Of course, on a computer there are tools that I can use to try to resolve the problem less destructively.  Also, on a computer there's the concern of data loss.

On the Xbox One, there's no real concern for data loss, since all the game saves are in the cloud, and any purchased games can be re-downloaded for free.  And on an Xbox One there's very little access to the "under the hood" software by the user (me).

So this is the fix I'm attempting this morning - I booted the Xbox One in "Safe Mode" by holding the pair & eject buttons and then hitting the power button, then I went to Settings > System and told it to restore factory defaults.  I'm now watching a green bar progress slowly across the screen.  If the system is more stable after this, then it was a software issue and all is right with the world.  However, if the Xbox One remains unstable (or really, more like "unusable") then it's a hardware problem and I'll have to ship it off to Microsoft's service center.

UPDATE: The restore process FROZE at 60% and now I'm shipping it to them.:(

XBox One is fantastic, but undercooked

I just got my Xbox One on release day.  It's a "Day One" edition, which only has a slightly different controller.

It doesn't have the wide array of apps that are available on the Xbox 360, and I suspect that is due to rushing it out the door before Christmas 2013.  There will be more apps, but the absence of some is astounding.  HBO Go?  Facebook?  Come on, Microsoft.

Currently there's no ability to stream content from the local network from other Windows machines on the same network.  Hell, even plugging a USB stick with four JPEGs on it provided ZERO joy.  Hopefully that will change soon.  Also, in putting in a new game there's a delay while the system "installs" the game.  You'll still need the disc, but it's supposed to make it faster.

Skype works as advertised, but I'd like to be able to manually focus in and crop, so the people I'm conversing with don't see the entirety of my apartment.

It has a TON of potential, but very little of that potential is realized as of now.

The HDMI pass-through is a novel idea, which is also dreadfully undercooked.  It caused my cable box to 'freak out', requiring a hard re-boot.  Also, the DVR functions of the cable box are completely ignored by the Xbox One.  You can access them, but can't control them from the console.  It also caused an audio lag that lasted as long as 30 seconds.

As far as the games go, I bought two to start - "Call of Duty: Ghosts" and "Ryse: Son of Rome".  COD:G is so far, very much standard COD fare.  The graphics are good, but as you're playing it, they don't seem so far off from prior generation console graphics.  Only when you pause a frame can you really see the difference.  R:SOR is an incredibly repetitive hack & slash game with a "story" like a shell - as though it was devised after the game play was developed.  That said, the graphics on Ryse are AMAZING.  So far, I'm enjoying going through R:SOR and haven't spent much time with COD:G.

 
Killer Instinct also seems like a throwaway title, an afterthought.  It's based on a game from the early 90's, and plays very much like the original, with the same garbage movement mechanics.  Also, it's "free-to-play", which means you get exactly ONE character to play with, unless you pay for more.  That's a pretty big PHOOEY for me.

In any case, I know that the device will evolve and improve over time - particularly the graphics.  Just compare launch titles on earlier consoles to the ones that were offered later. (ie - Halo:CE to Halo 2)  In any case, I just wanted to record my initial impressions of this new console.

Movie recommendations from a movie genius!

The top ten movies of all time - by category, etc.


Top 10 Movies

iOS 7.0.2 Complaint

I used to be able to rely on location-based reminders.  I would ask Siri to remind me of something when I got home, and when I would pull into my driveway, it would.  It no longer does.  Apparently I don't actually get the reminders until I actually open the reminders app. 

Today's asshole parking

This jerk not only parked in a handicapped spot, and had no tag permitting her to do so.  She also parked crooked.  CA 6TPV724

Today's asshole

This POS cut me off on Beverly Glen @ Ventura. Looks like his registration is expired as well. Lic # 6S11373

Asshole Parking - 06-20-2013

The top 9,486 ways Jay Carney won't answer a question...

Asshole Parking - 06-06-2013

Asshole parking - 05-31-2013

Cooking with B.S.: Skip's Scramble

Cooking with B.S.: Skip's Scramble
I have no desire to go through the process of actually producing this, but if it were presented to me complete, I'd surely break my diet.

 

My grandmother's farewell slideshow

Dammit. Got pink eye...

Trader Joe's Turkey Dogs SUCK

This is what Trader Joe's Turkey Dogs look like after barbecuing.

Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 BSOD

I tried hooking an old webcam to my Windows 7 (64-bit) machine.

I used it, it seemed to work fine.  I then installed Photoshop CS6 beta.

Rebooted machine, got serious BSOD.  Removed Photoshop beta, still got BSOD.

Finally figured out my webcam was killing the computer.  Goodbye webcam.

BTW - Microsoft's website says the camera is compatible, but Logitech specifically says Windows 7 is "unsupported". :(