Month: July 2007

Three Sites

Three customer focused sites. These guys get it. These sites just work the way you think they should work.

  1. Netflix – no check out, just the right amount of detail
  2. Tirerack – more than just tires, excellent customization
  3. Orbitz – displays lots of data in clear manner

Three sites that used to be customer focused but recently added something annoying.

  1. Cnet – trying too hard to be hip
  2. ESPN – cluttered, enough with the auto-launch videos
  3. Technorati – someone hijacked our useful homepage

Three sites that are proud to be old school.

  1. Maddox – avoid if you’re easily offended
  2. Craigslist – we can’t get enough text
  3. NewEgg – terrible search, drab, fantastic service

Three surprisingly helpful sites.

  1. IRS – well organized, good search, easy to use.
  2. Kayak – not fancy but very quick search for airfares
  3. Ask Maps – skip the big boys and try this one 

Three sites you didn’t know you need.

  1. TinyURL – send your friends short links
  2. Polarize – make any digital picture look like a Polaroid
  3. Slacker – How internet radio should be done

One site where you can do anything at all…..

  1. Zombo

is the iphone the BMW of phones?

Dave Winer says yes.

Have you ever driven a mid-to-high-end BMW? I have, recently, I test drove a 535i. The car feels as if it has a grip on the road, it’s got a confidence, it’s upright, and fast, and it maneuvers, but most important, it feels good to sit in one, and it feels even better to move one. Feels, feels, feels. We buy these things for the feeling. Same with Apple’s products.

Makes me want to test an iPhone for a while to see how it lives up to the comparison. But it does make sense on several levels. BMW, like Apple, has a small market share. Both make drool-worthy products. Both have obsessive fans to critique every small detail of their products. Both companies are arrogant. And both make products that cost more than many completive products.

If the iPhone is a BMW then my black Motorola Q is VW Jetta.

iphone_home = bmw_335i_tuning
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Passport problems

Maybe you’ve heard about the long delays in getting a US Passport. It’s been all over the news. Last week it was hard to tune to NPR and not hear yet another sob story of a newly married couple whose honeymoon was spoiled due to the delays in obtaining a passport.

So, like the guy who runs out to buy batteries just before the windstorm hits along with everyone else, I decided I needed to get my passport renewed. I have no travel plans or honeymoons scheduled but I just want to be ready. One never knows when he’ll need to travel outside the US on a minutes notice!

Well, I went to the official passport website to find out what I needed to do. I filled out the online form and printed it out. I attached 2 color photos of myself that I thought were acceptable after reading the instructions. I sent the renewal application, 2 pictures and my old passport in to be processed.

Today my old passport was returned with a letter stating my renewal couldn’t be processed because my pictures were not acceptable. The paper tells me to check out page 2 of the DS-82 form to determine why my pictures were not accepted.

But here’s the problem: They don’t tell me why my pictures were rejected. So I’m left to guess why they were not accepted. Maybe the background was too dark. Maybe they just thought I looked dangerous. Or maybe it’s because my smile was forced.

So I had Kim snap another picture of me and I’ll try it again. If they reject my application this time I guess I’ll have to make honeymoon plans in Boise.

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So that’s why

I was in line at the electronics department at Fred Meyer tonight and the man ahead of me in line was attempting to return an Xbox game he had opened. Here’s how it went down:

Man: I’d like to return this game.

Clerk: We can’t take back games that have been opened.

Man: But it’s in perfect condition.

Clerk: The reason we can’t take it back is because people would buy a game or CD, copy it and then return it.

Man: But that’s not what I did. I just want a different game.

Clerk: I’m sorry but once it’s opened, you own it. I think it has to do with copyright, the RIAA, or something.

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Zelda: Ocarina of Time named greatest Game

I’m not surprised to hear that Zelda: Ocarina of time was named the greatest game of all-time according to Edge magazine. It’s the best game I’ve ever played and still holds up well today, 10 years after its release. I’d rather play any of the Zelda games over any game on the fancy new consoles. You can’t call yourself a gamer until you’ve played this masterpiece. 🙂

–Link to Gamespot review 10/10
–Link to IGN review 10/10
–Link to Ocarina of Time at Wikipedia

zelda

Windows Live writer

I was able to get Windows Live Writer working tonight. I followed the directions at that page for those having problems getting the program to install. Only took a few minutes to remedy the problem after which Live Writer installed without a hitch.

livewriterThis is the first post I’ve written using Live Writer and I’m already very impressed. This program has the most logical, easy to understand setup of any of the blog editors I’ve tried. I also like how it pulls the template from my theme so I can see what my post will look like in real time.

It’s fantastic to see Microsoft put out such a quality program while even in beta. It’s even better to see them support competing platforms such as WordPress. I can see myself spending more of my time in Live Writer than I do in Word.

One more thing that impressed me was that I woke up this morning after posting about my installation problems and saw a reply by a member of the Live Writer team who apologized for the problem and helped explain the error in more detail. That led me back to the site in search of a solution.

I’m blown away at how easy it makes handling images. I just dragged an image into this area, resized it in seconds, wrapped the text and added a custom border. All in about 30 seconds. That would normally take me several minutes to do in standard WordPress editor.

If first impressions are any indication, Microsoft has a winner on its hands in Live Writer. I’m glad my friend told me about it.

Fantastic service from Automoblox

I ordered a set of Automoblox cars after reading a positive review in Car & Driver. I like them as much as our kids do if not more. In the course of normal use, one of the wheels cracked and wouldn’t stay on the axel. I searched on Automoblox website to see if I could purchase a replacement wheel but only found extension kits.

I decided to email customer support explaining my desire to purchase another wheel and this is the response I received less than 30 minutes later:

Hi Brett:

I’m sorry to hear about the wheel that broke on your Automoblox vehicle. Unfortunately, we do not currently have wheels available for purchase. However, since our cars are not supposed to break, I’d like to send you replacement wheels free of charge. We redid our wheels some time ago, so by the fact that one broke, it would seem that on that car, you have the old wheels. I’d like to send you 4 new wheels in the mail and I’ll ask that when you receive them, you throw out the other 4 that you have. Please get back to me with the following information (address, phone, VIN) so we can quickly expedite this matter.

I look forward to hearing back from you and I look forward to hearing only good things from now on.

Thank you for your love of our products and my apologies for your trouble.

M

How do I set the homepage in IE on the Motorola Q?

OK, I feel stupid. There’s got to be a way to set the homepage. I’m tired of launching IE only to see what Verizon wants me to see. How do I set the homepage on IE on the Q?

Or is there another browser I should be using? I tried Mobile Opera and it was painfully slow and buggy. But it did allow me to set the homepage!