Google Finally Makes Multiple-Account Sign-In a Reality

Today I was finally able to use Google’s “official” multiple accounts sign-in.

I have quite a few Google accounts, because I administer and use quite a few online entities (for music, for film, for personal, for business, etc.).

It’s extremely frustrating when Google tries to streamline my online user experience by associating everything, especially now that they’ve been snatching up various other online accounts (like YouTube) that have even more log-in identities.

For instance, when, I’m Dan Beahm, producer of the film Leading Ladies, I don’t want all my “Dan Beahm the musician” stuff getting sucked into that wormhole.  If I’m working with online YouTube content for the film, but checking my personal e-mail, I run into all kinds of problems (one account taking over the other, one account kicking me out, etc.) because I have separate log-ins for my Film-centric YouTube account and my totally personal e-mail account (which is associated with my personal YouTube account, not my musician YouTube account or my film YouTube account).  See how this can get very annoying and confusing very quickly?

Previously the best way to avoid this was to use multiple browsers (a pain in the ass) or a plug in called Cookie Pie (which always made me nervous and didn’t always work).

Supposedly Google has now stopped cock-blocking multiple-account functionality by allowing for multiple-account sign-in.  If this works, it’ll be a dream come true.  Hopefully it will allow me to be logged into one account without letting the world know that I’m also logged into another account (or accidently posting something under the wrong identity), because anonymity in certain situations (preserving the identity of the man behind the curtain) is an absolute necessity for using the service (it’s the whole point).

Simply go here and make the appropriate choices to use this functionality.

https://www.google.com/accounts/

I’ll keep you posted as to how it goes.

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How to Sync Music, Video, Podcasts, and Playlists to Your Android Device (doubleTwist)

Last time I did a post on this topic, doubleTwist wasn’t available for the Droid Incredible.  Not only that, things were in beta, and the program was lacking in many, many ways.

Well, like a pack of Virginia Slims, these guys have come a loooooong way, baby (eesh --did I just write that?!).

The guys over at MarkSpace sent me a copy of Missing Sync for Android, and at first I thought they had the solution to things, but then I realized they were falling short by ignoring the fact that Android playlists HAVE TO be .m3u –which Missing Sync doesn’t convert or correct (not to mention the program was laggy and I couldn’t get the photo sync didn’t work at all).  Not to mention that The MissingSync does its thing over BlueTooth or WiFi, and while that may sound convenient… it takes FOREVER.

So after a couple of months I returned to the issue, and all online information seemed to be pointing to doubleTwist.

The doubleTwist player itself isn’t good enough to get me to stop using iTunes (I’ll still use iTunes, and then open up doubleTwist when I want to sync my device), but they seem pretty damn close to having things where they should be.  I can’t imagine that in the next couple of revisions they won’t have me abandoning iTunes altogether.

Everything else seems to be spot-on.  Things are so intuitive and self-explanatory, that I don’t think I really need to explain how to use the software.  Just plug in your device and go! 

NOTE: “Refresh playlists from iTunes” is not ticked by default, so don’t forget to open your doubleTwist preferences and mark the box so that the program refreshes your playlists.

VIDEO: I am actually astounded by how well this works.  It’s not that the concept is mind-blowing, it’s just that it actually works!  So many products have claimed the ability to do this, but none I have used have worked this well

I have a bunch of .avi files from recorded TV shows that won’t play on my Droid.  Rather than convert them all manually, I can simply add them to a playlist in doubleTwist and select that playlist to sync with my phone.  doubleTwist does all the work, and the files are converted during the sync!  The quality is great and the size is appropriate (an hour long television show sans commercials, so approximately 44 minutes, is around 320-330MB).

Positives:

• Great handling of Music (which is astoundingly absent from the suite of tools available for Android)
  
• Great handling of Podcasts (allows settings for number of episode to keep/sync)
  
• Great handling of Video (auto-converts to device appropriate format!)
  
• Great handling of Playlists (auto-converts playlists to Android-friendly .m3u’s!)
  
• Great handling of Photos (bring photos in from device, or sync photos from computer to device)

Gripes:

• It’s pretty slo-o-o-ow.  Even clicking on column headers to reorganize how your songs are displayed, there is some serious lag.
  
  Each time you open the program, doubleTwist re-imports your playlists content.  It takes forever.  I guess there’s no getting around this, as it needs to check your iTunes library and playlists each time (and I’ve got quite a bit of media), but perhaps there is some code to be written that will allow the software to look for changes instead of repopulating everything each time you open the program –actually, after checking things out I think this is what’s happening, but there’s got to be some more efficient code?
  
• The only application linked to the photo section is Flickr.  Seriously?!  Does anyone REALLY use Flickr anymore?  Please update this with Picasa, guys.

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Plugging in Android Device Launches Verizon Ad… EVERY TIME (fix)

I don’t know why more fuss hasn’t been made about the fact that Verizon has loaded up devices updated to Froyo with adware.  I was excited when my Droid Incredible updated to Froyo, but now every time I plug my device into my laptop, I’m asked if I want to install Verizon’s crappy media software, AND I’m taken to the Verizon VCast website, where a lengthy advertisement plays.

EVERY TIME I PLUG IN THE DEVICE.

The fix is also surprisingly hidden, but here is how you turn off the Verizon ad pop-up when you plug in your Android device (disable VCast launch):

• Dial ##7764726
• Hit Call
• Type Password is 000000
• Hit Feature Settings
• Choose CD ROM
• Click Disable
• Hit menu, commit modifications (it will say no item changed)
• Back out to home

For some reason, when I try the above, my keyboard won’t work and thus I cannot enter the password.  So, I tried the following method that another kind soul suggested:

What I found with this is that when the dialog to install the software is up if you check windows device manager you will see another cd drive.  if you right click that drive for the properties you can disable it so on future usb connections the software will not try to load.  This way you do not have to disable auto start for everything on the PC. –MrElk, Verizon Wireless Droid Community Forums

The above method definitely worked, but realize that you need to enter your Windows Device Manager WHILE the pop-up dialogue is open (once you dismiss the dialogue, the drive disappears from the Device Manager).  After restarting my computer, the phone still opens the windows “auto play” dialogue (which I want), but does NOT activate the VCast pop up or spawn a browser window with the VCast ad.

I also found this extremely interesting:

BTW: I contacted VZW through this site, about the pop-up and they said there was no way to disable it; that it would cease if I downloaded the software.  I gave that a shot even though I wasn't going to use it. Of course, after its downloaded, it starts up when you plug the phone in!!! –Jeff1953, Verizon Wireless Droid Community Forums

Isn’t it awesome that Verizon is LYING to their customers (as if the adware wasn’t heinous enough).

This is the GOVERNOR of Arizona, Jan Brewer

Seriously?  Yes, seriously.

Why do we worry about these people who call themselves the “majority?”  Better yet, why do people vote for them?  Oh, yeah… money.

 

DIRECT QUOTE (after loooooong moment of silence):  “We have did what was right for Arizona.  I will tell you that I have really did the best that anyone could do.  We have pushed back hard against the Federal Government.  We have filed suit against Obama healthcare, th.. and, and we have passed Senate bill 1070 and we will continue to do what’s right for Arizona.  I ask for your vote.  Thank you.”

Excellent, you fought the only means a lot of Americans have to receive healthcare and you took the first steps toward full-fledged hate laws.  Boffo, Jan.  Just boffo.

OH.  I forgot to mention… this is the same GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL who claimed that illegal aliens were leaving decapitated bodies in the AZ desert.  No basis for these claims whatsoever.  MAKING UP SHIT TO SUPPORT HER DRACONIAN LAWS.

Yeesh.

Unfortunately her Democratic opponent is still being CRUSHED by her in the poles.  What does that say?

I wonder if there are any old, rich, white people in Arizona?

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Jed Clampett Decides to Burn Quran

I really hate to give ANY time or attention to this fucking asshole, but I think it’s important to point out just HOW MUCH this guy looks like Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies.

Keep it up, Extreme “Right.”  Your feet already look like Swiss cheese; pretty soon you just won’t have any feet at all. (Yay!)

 

I also think it’s funny that people are responding with spreading rumors that this guy is a pedophile (Terry Jones, not Jed Clampett).

Getting Rid of the “beep” in Viera Cast

The other day I was at Costco and saw that they had the Panasonic DMP-BD655 on sale for $130 ($30 off).  I normally buy my electronics online, but that was a decent price, and it meant I could have it now.

I don’t know that I’ll be watching BluRays anytime soon, but having Netflix on a dedicated box so I don’t have to hook my laptop up to my TV every night?  AWESOME.

I debated on getting a more expensive model with wireless built in, but I want the speed of a dedicated CAT6 cable anyway, so saving the extra hundred bucks or so to forego the wireless was the right choice for me.

First of all, let me say that the difference in quality between the browser version of Netflix and the Viera Cast (Panasonic’s interface for the online content) version of Netflix are night and day.  I’m watching shows in full HD (the indicator bars almost always go all the way to the right and light up the “HD” like that carnival game where you use the giant hammer to smash the lever that rings the bell way up in the air), and the content looks amazing.  Not to mention I can scan forward and reverse, even if it’s a choppy excuse for the feature, which you can’t do at all in the browser version.  The online community seems to be up-in-arms about not being able to edit their Netflix queue content in Viera Cast, but I don’t mind so much that I can’t add and remove titles.  However, it’s a MAJOR pain in the butt that the only way you can view and select from your instant queue titles is one-by-one (in a horizontal line).  Why in the hell can’t they at least put the titles in a grid so you can view multiple titles at once?  That’s just STUPID.  I’ve got like 70 movies in my instant queue.  Scrolling to number 55 one-by-one is not a viable solution.  You’d think Panasonic could figure out something this obvious.

Which brings me to the “ding” that happens every time you move the cursor in Viera Cast.  I searched for hours trying to figure out how to disable it (both online and in the BluRay player’s settings) before giving up and just using “mute” when navigating the content.  However, last night I stumbled upon the solution!

The settings specifically for Viera Cast (not the BluRay player itself) are hidden on the last page of the Viera Cast content grid; why there isn’t simply a dedicated “settings” button on every page I cannot fathom.  However, in the center of the Viera Cast interface are arrows that allow you to navigate to “deeper” screens (a total of three screens).  On the third screen, all by its lonesome, is the Holy Grail.  You can turn off the navigation audio chime, and as an added bonus you can rearrange the order of the content panels (so you can move Pandora to the first screen, and Twitter to the last –who in the hell Twitters on their TV?).

Excellent.

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My Facebook Functionality Complaint and Wishlist

There are SO MANY things that drive me crazy about Facebook, so many ways it falls short.  Some of the things I realize are very personal, but quite a few of them are no-brainers that should be FIXED.  This is my list.

• It’s ASININE that you can’t CC someone on a Facebook message that’s been sent to you.  I.E.: I receive a message.  I respond, but I want to CC a friend.  Not possible.
  
  Are you freaking kidding me?!
  
• It’s incredibly stupid that when you “like” a movie (or band, book, etc.), it’s added to your profile favorites.  SERIOUSLY?  Just because you like a movie, it’s automatically your FAVORITE movie?!
  
  As someone with a Facebook Movie Page, I point out that this is SERIOUSLY DETRIMENTAL to our “like” numbers, as people will “unlike” your movie because they don’t want it showing up in their profile “favorites.”  And I totally agree… just because you like my movie doesn’t mean it has to be your favorite.
  
• You can’t convert a page.  A lot of people have created musician pages and other things of that ilk (movie pages, book pages, etc.), only to find out later that there was a better category (Facebook’s page creation page SUCKS).  If you’ve made a bunch of fans (now “likers”), you don’t want to simply start a new page and lose all those fans, so you’d need to convert your page to a new category.  Tough sh*t.  You can’t.
  
• You can’t get help.  I realize FB is a free service with millions (probably billions) of users, but if you need something legitimate addressed… tough sh*t!  I had to file a copyright infringement form to get a human from FB to contact me, and even then the help was extremely limited.
  

There are a million more.  I’ll keep adding them over time.  Facebook has finally added a suggestion link, but I’m betting nobody really reads the suggestions.

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