Avoid thermal printers for long-term uses
We still see a lot of thermal printers out there, particularly for printing labels, receipts and the like. They are cheap, of course, though the paper costs extra so it's not always a long term...
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How to stop people from putting widescreen TVs in stretch mode
(Note I have a simpler article for those just looking for advice on how to get their Widescreen TV to display properly.)Very commonly today I see widescreen TVs being installed, both HDTV and normal....
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Barry Bonds, please stop at 754
At this point it seems only people in San Francisco want to see Barry Bonds break Aaron’s all time home-run record of 755. He has 753 right now. In San Francisco, the crowds get on their feet every...
View ArticleTwo year contract required
I’m a big fan of making money by selling services but a disturbing trend is the requirement that customers sign a one or two (or even three) year contract in order to sign up for a service. Such...
View ArticleLucky she's not in the morgue
I was quite surprised to read in the coverage of the arrest of Star Simpson at Boston Airport for having a handmade shirt with LEDs that lit up in a star pattern (to match her name) that State Police...
View ArticleStop assuming I have just one E-mail address
I may be on the extreme, but I use hundreds of different E-mail addresses. Since I have whole domains where every address forwards to me (or to my spam filters) I actually have an uncountable number of...
View ArticleDo we need a time delay after password failures?
Most programs that ask for a password will put in a delay if you get it wrong. They do this to stop password crackers from quickly trying lots of passwords. The delay makes brute force attacks...
View ArticleWindows needs a master daemon
It seems that half the programs I try and install under Windows want to have a “daemon” process with them, which is to say a portion of the program that is always running and which gets a little...
View ArticlePunishing those responsible through the bailout
There are many opinions about whether the bailout and stimulus package are a good idea or not. But one thing that I hope everybody agrees is bad is that it teaches the lesson that if you screw up so...
View ArticleUndoing bonuses after a failure
The news of the past few days has been full of anger that AIG is paying $165 million in bonuses out to managers who drove the company into insolvency, using federal bailout money to do it. The excuse —...
View ArticleDamn it, I didn't mean to power you on.
Yes, any system which is going to engage in some long activity which will freeze up the system for more than a few seconds should offer a way to cancel, abort or undo it. You would think designers...
View ArticleNo, I don't want to participate in a customer satisfaction survey every time
It seems that with more and more of the online transactions I engage in — and sometimes even when I don’t buy anything — I will get a request to participate in a customer satisfaction survey. Not just...
View ArticleNo announcements for seasoned flyers
On a recent trip on a plane equipped with personal inflight video screens for each seat, I decided to watch a movie quickly and then have a nap. So I started watching the movie right after settling...
View ArticleWhen is "opt out" a "cop out?"
As many expected would happen, Mark Zuckerberg did an op-ed column with a mild about face on Facebook’s privacy changes. Coming soon, you will be able to opt out of having your basic information...
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Maybe you shouldn't give a nice bag as your conference schwag
Like many, I go to a lot of conferences and events. And many of those events have decided that they should give everybody a bag. Most commonly it’s a canvas laptop sized bag, though sometimes it’s a...
View ArticleShocking: 99% of fire payouts go to only 1% of homeowners!
Frequently these days I will see some shocking statistic reported:The top 1% of earners receive over 18% of all the income (or 23% including cap gains)The top 5% sickest Americans account for half of...
View ArticleAirline bureacracy reigns at United
Two recent flight booking experiences on United Airlines:a) I booked a round trip to Toronto with miles. Due to new plans, I ended up getting a different flight to Toronto but wanted to take the same...
View ArticleTime for the post office to let anybody print postage with no minimums
For some time, the US Postal Service has allowed people to generate barcoded postage. You can do that on the expensive forms of mail such as priority mail and express mail, but if you want to do it on...
View ArticleThe tide of surveys gets worse -- "would you please rate our survey?"
Five years ago, I posted a rant about the excess of customer service surveys we’re all being exposed to. You can’t do any transaction these days, it seems, without being asked to do a survey on how you...
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The world needs standardized LEDs which adjust brightness
I’m sure, like me, you have lots of electronic gadgets that have status LEDs on them. Some of these just show the thing is on, some blink when it’s doing things. Of late, as blue LEDs have gotten...
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