The life of an I.T. guy is an interesting one. Until people stop being people, we will always have a need for I.T. guys. I have heard everything from My printer is broken (when it's really just in need of toner) to My Computer is broken (when it's really just turned off). So while I'm happy that there are extremely computer illiterate people in this world, there are some of you who are extremely funny with computers.
As you will see in the following video, some people just can't function with a little change. I have met a bunch of people like the ones you are going to encounter in this video, and that goes for both the I.T. guy and the person(s) on the other line.
If you're an avid user of Youtube, you might like this little tweak. Some current videos have links like "Watch In Hight Quality" underneath the video screen. Some videos don't. For those that don't you can still somewhat force the video to play in high quality.
The next time you're watching a video look at the address bar and at the end of the address add the following text &fmt=18.
So the original link would look like this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9W55utXqwTw After you've added the text it should look like this: http://youtube.com/watch?v=9W55utXqwTw&fmt=18
As I was reading yesterdays newspaper I came across and article that was extremely disturbing. As a current Time Warner customer I am very disgusted that they have implemented a trial plan in Texas to measure the amount of internet one uses.
The idea behind a metered internet service means that you are given a cap of internet usage and if you should happen to pass the cap they give you, you pay extra. Rather than making technology better and figuring out a way to go with the times Time Warner has decided that their greediness comes first. Anything to make an extra buck.
Who will this affect? If you are someone who uses iTunes, Netflix, Youtube, or if you're a video game fanatic who plays online, this will directly affect you. The majority of us don't really use the internet to the point where a cap would affect us, but that's only because most of us aren't using intensive online media services yet.
Say you're a Netflix user, and rather than have the DVD shipped to your home you use one of their upcoming features of watching the movies online through your computer. Well, if you did this you'd easily pass the cap set by companies like Time Warner and in turn pay the extra that they want to charge you.
What about if you like watching tons of Youtube, Break, Dailymotion, videos online? You better watch what you watch because it'll cost you if you pass the limit set by your ISP. Forget about purchasing movies through iTunes, as well as music.
The thing that I don't understand is that we already pay for the SERVICE, so how is it that any ISP can justify a pay per use fee? What's more ludicrous is that AOL already tried this a long time ago with their Pay Per Hour fees and we all saw how horrible that went for them.
So if Time Warner Cable brings metered internet service to New York, rest assure I will no longer be a Time Warner cable user. I would rather buy an aircard and use that for my internet, or switch to Verizon FIOS/DSL which I believe won't be part of the greedy trip.
Perhaps this video can explain a bit more how messed up it is what Time Warner is doing. 2012: The Year The Internet Ends
If you live in Texas and you are part of this "Trial" period for metered internet, make sure you don't give Time Warner any of your money.
As someone who works in the technology field, I'm going to shed some light on some of the terrible tactics used by some computer companies (in this case Lenovo) in order to get you to spend more money than you should.
Lenovo is a company that bought out IBM's personal computer department. That means that if you get an IBM Thinkpad, or Netvista computer it's coming from Lenovo now. While the majority of the time you'll never experience what I'm about to tell you, it's good that you know so you won't be as shocked as I was.
When I have to purchase computers, the first thing that I look for is the manufacturer's warranty. Most computer companies offer a one or three year warranty. Of course with the three year warranty you will pay a bit more for the same computer, but it's better to go this route. When your purchasing computers, the best thing to ask about any warranty is "What does this cover".
I say this because I purchased a computer about a year ago with a three year warranty. As it turns out the battery on this computer went bad. It's not that the battery worn itself out as I've had other older computers still work with their existing batteries. The actual battery just died out for no apparent reason.
So the first thing I do is check the status on the warranty. The computer is still in warranty till the year 2010. I call Lenovo tech support to get the battery replaced and the guy on the other line tells me that the battery is out of warranty. I tell the guy, "I think you're wrong. I just checked the status of the warranty online and it's valid till the year 2010". The guy then proceeds to tell me that the computer is in warranty till 2010, but the battery has it's own warranty.
You can imagine the look on my face at this point as I try to have this person explain to me how the battery is not part of the computer. The tech then tells me that the battery is considered a "wear and tear" component and thus not part of the hardware. I ask the tech if the hard drive, keyboard, and LCD display don't incur wear and tear, because they often have to be replaced and are always covered under the warranty. The dummy of course had no answer.
As it turns out, your computer is broken up into pieces that the warranty can differentiate when it comes time to get them fixed or replaced. It seems like the hard drive which also experiences "wear and tear" can be covered by warranties but not a battery which you would figure is one of the most essential pieces to a laptop computer.
The lesson in all this folks: Don't ever buy from Lenovo. Before Lenovo purchased IBM's laptop and desktop department's I'd say IBM was great. Now I would recommend you either get an HP or any other brand and make sure you check on that warranty before you buy.
As someone who works in the technology field I always wait a little bit before I start using a new version of something. The same went with Apple's Leopard operating system. When the software was released I was hesitant to install it on any of my Macs because my philosophy on life is "Don't fix it if it's not broken".
At the same time the new software was supposed to fix some bugs that the previous software had and thus I had to install it on a couple of machines at work. The interface along with some of the new features looked really great but that still didn't convince me that I needed to have it on my machine.
Part of the problem of upgrading to the latest operating system whether it be Leopard or Vista is that some of your existing software might now work correctly. I learned this the hard way after installing Leopard on a Mac only to have to reinstall the old operating system because of incompatibilities.
So why should any of us upgrade to Leopard (that is if you use a Mac)? In my case there are two very good reasons to upgrade to Leopard.
1. Time Machine 2. iChat
Time Machine is software that comes built in with Leopard. Time Machine is nothing new in the computer world. We already have other software that does the exact same thing; BACKUP.
The difference with Time Machine is that it doesn't require someone like me to install it, configure it, and make sure it's working correctly. This means you get to save some money by not hiring a pro like me to make sure you backup your computer files. All you need for Time Machine to work is an external hard drive with the same amount of storage space as your internal hard drive. Plug in the external hard drive and Time Machine automatically asks you if you want to use that drive as your backup device. Once you say "yes" it automatically backs all your files up hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly. That's it! There's nothing else to do.
Sure you can use Retrospect or other backup software, but why pay for it? Additionally trying to configure other software to backup your machine is no walk in the park. For me it's pretty easy, but I can imagine my dad trying to figure out the software and I can see him getting lost very easily. That's why Time Machine is priceless. iChat is an Instant Messaging program. It's the same thing as Yahoo Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, and other ones you might use. The main difference between iChat and all the other instant messaging programs is that you can allow a buddy to connect remotely to your machine. What does that mean?
Picture this scenario: You are at home and I'm here. You call me and tell me that something is up with your Mac. I tell you, get on iChat. We start a video conference and I connect to your machine remotely and fix the issue as if I was there. I can basically see exactly what you see because I am connected remotely to your machine and have total control. Once I'm done, you quit iChat and your Mac is back on track.
Sure there are programs like Remote Desktop, PC Anywhere, VNC, but again, they all require some sort of configuration. Not only do you have to configure your Machine, but you'd also have to configure your firewall. Yup, you see how easy iChat is? All you have to do is turn it on, start chatting and let me do the tech work.
Those very simple little programs make Leopard worth the upgrade. I say that because it seems like more and more people now a days are losing all their data due to lack of a backup program.
Not on a Mac? I guess you can try and figure out the Windows "Backup" software. It's not quite as simple as Time Machine, but then again Windows is not as simple as a Mac.
Have you ever had your IT guy ask you "What browser are you using?" and you not have the slightest clue as to what they're talking about? Some of the answers I get are incredibly funny, but I can't blame people as they're not supposed to know anyways. Some of you have said answers like "I'm using Windows 2002" or "Word is my browser" when the question is posed upon you.
What is a browser anyways? The easiest way for me to explain is like this:
The internet is kind of like a 3D movie. You know it's there, but without the 3D glasses you can't really see the movie. With a pair of 3D glasses you can see everything on the internet.
A browser is a piece of software made by a company that allows you to view what's on the internet. One of the very first real browsers was called "Netscape Navigator". It was Netscape that really spawned the age of the internet because it was offered for free at a time when we really didn't use the internet for much.
You know that Microsoft couldn't stay put without it's own version of things, so they went ahead and copied Netscape's Navigator and created their own version called "Internet Explorer". Back in the day (if you used computers back in 95 and on) the internet was expensive and only geeks would know how to "surf".
Now a days we have tons of browsers for our use, but as usual Microsoft still rules in this arena. Although Netscape no longer exists, the spirit of Netscape will always live on with Mozilla and it's products like Firefox.
The Discovery channel has put all this little bit of geek info into a program called Download: The True Story of the Internet. This program shows you the early history of the internet and how it's still an ongoing war for your usage.
Personally, I use Firefox as my browser and till this day.... anyone that I have put onto Firefox has never wanted to go back to Internet Explorer.
Why is that when you call for tech support for almost all computer manufacturers, we get someone called "Bob" on the other line? What's wrong with Bob you ask? Well, Bob usually has a THICK Indian accent that is barely understandable to most English speaking people.
I wonder if the people in India tell them "Hey pick a new name so that the US customers can feel a bit more at ease". But why the name change? Is it because we can't say names like "Amadenajad"? Or is the fear of anything that might closely resemble an Islamic name is frowned upon?
Frankly I don't care if your name is Bob or Sanjaya, I just need to be able to understand you when I need some help with the tech world. So, to all of you major technological manufacturers, please have some English speaking people for tech support. It not only helps me in fixing the problem easier, but it helps me in not having to repeat everything and asking "Bob" to repeat himself as well.
I think I must have something like 2000 channels on TV and they all show the same crap. Sometimes I wonder why I pay so much for cable TV when in fact I only watch like 5 channels at most. There are always alternatives and of course I'm here to show you some that will definitely take your time away.
I have been a member to StumbleUpon for quite the longest time but I don't think I've ever mentioned it here. What is StumbleUpon? Some of you already use other programs like it known as "DIGG" or "Del.I.Cio.us" so this is just different program that does the same.
StumbleUpon is a toolbar that installs on your Internet Browswer and allows you to "Stumble" onto pages you would of otherwise never known to have existed. You can choose a particular subject to stumble onto (i.e. Photography, Adult Humor, Sports, Religion, Illusions, etc..) Here are some of my favorite images I have stumbled upon:
It's the eyes on this puppy that get to me all the time
Who would of ever thought to put it like this?
True?
Political laughter...
If you do become a stumble member, don't forget to look me up...
If you don't feel like stumbling and prefer to watch a movie... Go to www.quicksilverscreen.com. You will need to download a DIVX plug in for your browser but it's worth it. You can see tons of sports footage, movies, shows, etc... I've checked almost every day and there's always something new.
For all you animal lovers. This is pretty simple. The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals.
It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on the purple box "fund food for animals" for free. This doesn't cost you a thing.
Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.
Here's the web site! Pass it along to people you know.
What goes through your mind when you see this? Perhaps someone was angry and decided to smash it over someone else's head? How bout taking the laptop and smashing it over your knee? There are so many explanations for the cause of this laptop broken everywhere....but will you be ready to accept the real explanation?
The real explanation is that the laptop was run over by a car. Yes, I know...you're asking yourself...how could a car run over this machine and not leave a bit of evidence to prove that it was run over? Yup, there are no tire tracks, no dirt, no marks to show that perhaps it was dragged over the pavement.
Amazingly enough, the hard drive was salvageable for one day as the next day it died out as well. If the hard drive data was not recoverable it would have been a real tragedy because the information inside that hard drive is worth more than the machine itself.
So how many of you have backed up all your data yet? Are you waiting for a disaster like this to happen before you go out and get yourself an external hard drive to save all your pictures, porn, and documents? I've seen it way too often, so do yourself a favor.... go out and get an external hard drive and backup all your stuff there. You never know what can happen to your computer at any given time.
Location: Metsville, New York, United States About Me: I am a plethora of things. I love discussions, different points of view, music, photography, books, the universe, and the ocean in no particular order.
As you can see I have very different opinions and I'm not too shy to share them with you. It is not my intent to insult you if that should happen.
So stay a while and perhaps share your opinion on a post of interest. My Profile!
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