Adobe Essential Graphics - Not Ready for Prime Time

With Premiere CC v14, Adobe is forcing us to switch from Titles (now "legacy" titles) to the new "Essential Graphics" system.  In theory, this is a better system for titles and light graphics (you can even incorporate motion), but they released the "feature" WAY before it was ready for public use.

My first gripe is a big one: you cannot "nudge" type areas with the arrow keys.  To move a text field, you have to either physically drag it (not precise), or use the horizontal/vertical transform controls in the Essential Graphics panel (not convenient).

While there are many other issues, the rest of this post will be dedicated to file management for graphics (files) used in "motion graphics templates."

If you place a graphic (a logo, for instance) via the "new layer" drop down choice "From file" in the  Essential Graphics panel, Premiere just drops the file into your project wherever it feels like it.  If you've got twenty or more folders in a project, good luck finding your file (you can use "reveal in project" from the timeline, but wtf?)! So once you add a file via the Essentials Graphics panel, you'll need to manually move said file to a Motion Graphics (or some other) folder to keep things from getting super cluttered.  Additionally, if you create a "Master Graphics Template," Premiere copies the graphic file that you've utilized to a system folder (not just a bin in your project) that Premiere creates called "Motion Graphics Template Media." This new folder on your hard drive will be filled with folders that have been named with randomly generated strings of characters as if Adobe is trying to prevent us from finding OUR OWN graphics files.  Each Graphics Template has it's own folder named by a long random string (i.e. 0df6380f-23b8-467c-9040-8d2e5dc1096e), but then that folder has a subfolder named simply by the SAME NAME as the Graphics Template you created.  WHY IS THE RANDOM STRING FOLDER NECESSARY?! The bigger question is this... why can't Premiere just access the graphic from it's original location (thus preventing the need for TWICE AS MUCH space to store the file)?  If you need to export your template to a new location or another computer, I could see copying the files then to keep them in the template, but create a duplicate right off the bat? Inefficient and confusing to say the least.

Another issue that drives me nuts: there doesn't seem to be an option to "update Motion Graphics Template" if you make a change to it in your timeline.  For instance, if you're using a template and you make a small adjustment to the text, you only have the option to "Export as Motion Graphics Template" at which point you can either save the template again with the same name and then go back into your library, figure out which is the old template, and manually delete the old one, or give the adjusted template a new name (at which point you will STILL need to delete the old template that is now obsolete from your library).

Finally, as referenced in the above issue, if you create two Motion Graphics Templates and place them in the same library, and you name them with the same title, Premiere will not let you know that you've created a title with the exact same name.  In other words, you could create 30 Motion Graphics Templates, all with the same name; then when you need to use the template you created, you have to sift through all the templates with the same name to see which one is the correct one.  Brilliant.

Bluetooth Problems with MacBook Pro Running Bootcamp (Windows)

For as long as I've been using my MacBook Pro, my Bluetooth has been abysmal. I run Windows via Bootcamp, but my wife uses her MBP as a Mac and she has the same problems (maybe worse). She got a nice little Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth speaker for Christmas and never even used it, because she couldn't ever get it to connect to her MBP (and for me to get it to work, it took some serious effort, and even then the performance was sub par).

I have several audio solutions set up around the house and studio, and Bluetooth is a fairly substantial part of the system(s), so today I decided to finally figure out what is going on, once and for all.

For those who come across this post with the same problem looking for a quick-fix answer, try this:

1. Go to Device Manager > Network adapters > Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
2. Right click and select Properties.
3. Click the Advanced tab, go to Bluetooth Collaboration, and select "Enable" from the Value drop-down menu on the right.

 

After a lot of research, this seems to be the solution that works for most people.  And while it did help my problem, there are still major problems with my Bluetooth connection.

What it boils down to?  ANYTHING electronic (yes, I understand the computer is electronic, and that actually IS a factor!) will interfere with the Bluetooth Adapter's signal.  It really is just a matter of the Bluetooth hardware in earlier MacBook Pros being utter and total shite.

After I completed the steps above to enable Bluetooth Collaboration, I still had issues. I tried rebooting.  I tried altering other settings with both the network adapter and the Bluetooth devices (drivers on the MacBook as well as the devices themselves).  Then I remembered reading previously that a lot of people had problems with actual signal interference.  The MBP power block was sitting on the table (not near enough for me to think it'd be an issue, but still... on the table).  I moved it, and like magic, the music streaming over Bluetooth stopped stuttering.  But as soon as I started using my mouse (connected via wireless), the stutter started again.  So I unplugged the mouse receiver, but that didn't seem to help... and then I actually turned the mouse off via its physical switch, and the signal was smooth again... until I tried looking something else up on the web (using the MBP track pad instead of my mouse), when the stuttering started again.

So I am now better than where I started.  After enabling "Bluetooth Collaboration" for the network adapter, I can at least walk away from the laptop and stream a smooth music signal to my Bluetooth receiver and stereo.  However, if I touch the computer or put anything electronic anywhere near the MacBook, the signal will be interrupted and stutter like crazy.

 

Hasselblad Moto Mod is a Thorough Disappointment

I am a photographer.  Thus, I was pretty stoked to know when I purchased my Droid Z Force that there was a Hasselblad Camera Mod coming down the pike.

I waited patiently for nearly a month, and finally it arrived… and what a major disappointment it was.

Here’s the short of it: the Motorola Droid Z Force has a pretty decent camera with a 21MP sensor (some would argue the best camera phone currently available).  The Hasselblad has a 12MP sensor.  Pretty much the ONLY thing going for the Hasselblad Moto Mod is the “optical zoom,” but you can “zoom in” on a 21MP photo and have nearly the same amount of zoom as the 10x optical on the Hasselblad’s 12MP photo!

The Hasselblad has a 4.5mm to 45mm zoom (that’s why they call it a 10x zoom) which is basically a 25mm to 250mm 35mm equivalent.  The Droid Z Force has a 4.51mm lens, which is equivalent to 26mm on a 35mm camera.  So a 21MP photo can give you nearly the same “zoom” digitally at the Hasselblad’s max resolution of 12MP.  In other words, if you simply crop the Droid’s photo to half (crop a 21MP photo to the Hasselblad max pixel dimension of 12MP), you’re still at 10.5MP and your 35mm equivalent is 52mm (the Hasselblad optical zoom maxes out at 45mm).

Any positive review I’ve seen for the Hasselblad mod (they are never raving, only lukewarm) goes on and on about the zoom, but frankly… who cares when the zoom really doesn’t do much for you and everything else comes up short?

Hasselblad Moto Mod shortcomings:

• Only 12MP sensor (phone has a 21MP sensor) and also physically smaller (1/2.3 inches vs. 1/2.4 inches)
• minimum aperture of f/3.5 –are you kidding me?! Not only that, but it’s not fixed, and the variable goes all the way up to f/6.5!!!  By the way, the phone’s minimum aperture is f/1.8
• Max ISO is 3200 (same as the phone)
• lesser focus technology than phone (the Z Force utilizes laser and contrast auto focus with phase detection; the Hasselblad only utilizes contrast/phase detection)
• bad 24fps video (choppy)
• no video HDR (which the phone does have)
• no optical stabilization for video
• No 4k (which I don’t care too much about, but if this is an “upgrade” it should at least be able to shoot the equivalent of the phone to which it’s attached!)

And from what I’ve read in every hands on review I’ve seen, the focus is no faster than the phone (often the user says it’s slower), the shutter lag is much higher than the phone’s, and the quality of the photos isn’t really a bump since the phone already has a decent sensor and utilizes Moto’s “Deep Trench Isolation” technology to isolate pixel color.

Sure, the Hasselblad Mod can shoot RAW, but who cares, considering all the other shortcomings?

Please explain to me why I should spend $250-$300 on a “mod” that I have to carry around if it doesn’t IMPROVE the camera on my phone (or even come close to what’s already there!).  Just because it says Hasselblad?  If I’m shooting more than what the very capable Moto Z Force camera is capable of, I think I’ll just carry a REAL camera that actually gives me a reason to mess around with a second device.

Boo, Hasselblad.  You guys should be ashamed of yourselves for letting Motorola slap your name on a piece of garbage that doesn’t even work as well as the phone to which it attaches.

…

Fixing a Samsung Ice Maker

One of the most popular posts on this blog is the “How to Defrost a Samsung Ice Maker” post.  In that post I outline how to defrost your Samsung Ice Maker using a “secret code” on your control panel.  You shouldn’t need to do that every week, but a lot of people do, because the Samsung SZAB001TA1 ice maker (which exists in refrigerators like the RF263BEAEW) had serious issues when it left the factory.

Fortunately, the issues can be remedied.  Unfortunately, Samsung is keeping the information under wraps, and it is extremely difficult to find any information on the subject.  Hopefully this post will help those of you looking for answers.

So first, here again are the steps for defrosting your Samsung Ice Maker using the control panel on the front of your fridge:

1. On the front panel display, press the Energy Saver and Refrigerator buttons at the same time for 8 seconds.  The display will switch to the Test Mode and the display will go dark (all buttons, etc., will go dark) .
2. Press any button within 15 seconds after the display has gone dark to scroll through the Test Modes as follows:
   • Manual operation 1 (FF)
   • Manual operation 2 (0F-r)
   • Manual defrost of fresh food compartments (rd)
   • Manual defrost of fresh food and freezer compartments (fd)
   • Cancel (display goes completely dark)

“fd” is the one you want.  The defrost mode will cause the refrigerator to beep the entire time it’s in effect (pretty annoying) and will shut off after five minutes (I had to do it quite a few times to thaw everything out).

When the Geek Squad Tech came to fix our ice maker, he also used a hair dryer to speed things up, but be careful if you go this route as you can actually melt the plastic housing and components and cause greater issues than you had before by deforming the plastic in your ice maker.

There are four things that need to be changed to make this ice maker work properly.

1. The water fill tube needs to be adjusted.
2. The thin gap between the refrigerator wall and the ice maker housing (bottom side of ice maker against fridge wall) needs to be sealed.
3. The ribs surrounding the ice room fan air duct need to be removed with a utility knife (they cause water to puddle in the duct).
4. Foam should be installed on to of the ice maker housing around the water fill inlet.
5. If you have an older control board, the control board should be upgraded.

These issues are covered in a service bulletin that went out to Samsung Service Techs.  I got to take a look at the four page PDF, but our tech was nervous about getting in trouble if I actually posted the document on the web, so he only let me look at the doc. on his phone.

Since then, the document has found it’s way to the web.  An anonymous user actually posted the Service Bulletin document number in the comments of my original post on this issue.  So now I have a copy of the PDF here: ASC20150717001 (if you don’t trust the link, just search the doc. title on Google). 

Looking at the service bulletin is the easiest way to address everything, but I’ll lay things out here as well (though in less detail).

So, issue #1, the fill tube.  In the back of your Samsung fridge you can see the fill tube sticking out the back of the refrigerator.  This tube has a tendencey to slip, and after that happens water starts pouring all over the ice maker instead of just into the ice tray.  Thus, the first step in fixing your ice maker is making sure this tube goes where it’s supposed to, and then making sure it stays put.  Oddly enough, the tube often slips to far in (not out) and causes water to splash all over the place, so usually you have to actually back the tube out a bit and then secure it.

Issue #2.  This is an easy fix.  Simply take a tube of silicone and seal the gap.  It seems hard to believe this would be an issue, but I guess it’s why Samsung didn’t catch the problem earlier, and it really makes a difference.

Issue #3. (see service bulletin)

Issue #4.  With the entire ice maker out of the refrigerator, cut a thin strip of foam and glue it (silicone works well) around the perimeter of the water inlet area.  See photo below.

Issue #4.  When I got fed up with Samsung “tech” (really just a bunch of people who have NO IDEA what they’re talking about reading scripts on the phone) and went to Best Buy and they put me on the phone with a Geek Squad guy in Minnesota who REALLY knew what he was doing, he listened to what I had to say, realized I had done some research and figure out what was going on, and thus just ordered every possible part that might need to be replaced to fix the issue and had them all sent directly to my house so the parts would already be there when the tech arrived.  Freaking fantastic.  One of the things that got sent was a new controller board.  The board has a lot more ports and resistors and what not.  I took a photo of the new board, but I’m having a hard time locating it.  Here is a photo of the OLD board.

For what it’s worth, Samsung “customer support” is not support at all.  I spent hours and hours going through the same process over and over again (the person on the other end insisting on reading their script and asking me irrelevant, inane questions ad nauseum).  Each time, they would tell me someone would call me back soon, and each time, after a couple of days I would call back and there would be no evidence that I had ever called and the number I had been given was linked to no information whatsoever.  It was pretty infuriating.  I had to laugh when weeks after the matter was resolved (via Geek Squad, NOT Samsung) I received a letter from Samsung asking if I would like to purchase extended warranty services from them.  Unbelievable.

Some additional photos of the ice maker problems and fixes…

My First Couple of Days with the Motorola Z Force Droid

I REALLY wanted to buy a small phone for my next phone, but the Fates conspired against me.  The only option I had was the iPhone SE, and while I LOVE the size and design of the phone (I really love the hard edge and metal buttons and switch), I know I can’t live in an iOS world.  I would go mad.

The only other option on the market is the Sony Z5 compact, which I REALLY wish I could use, but it’s a GSM only phone, and I live in Denver and regularly travel into the mountains, so Verizon (CDMA) is really the only carrier I can use if I expect to have signal when I want it.

Thus, for my next phone I went with one of the LARGEST phones on the market. [frown]

I ended up purchasing the Droid Z Force, mostly because it was $108 (with two year contract and including tax) out the door at Best Buy (and they threw in the JBL speaker mod to boot).  With Verizon, there is a $40 activation fee that appears on your bill when you purchase a new phone… even at the Verizon store!  Evidently the only way to get that fee waived is to purchase and activate online with Verizon, which would have been a lot more expensive (full MSRP and no bonus mods).

Man... when any store tries to convince you that the monthly payment plan is the way to go, CHECK... THEIR... MATH!  Even with the "monthly line discount" they try and bait you with, if you do the monthly payment, you are paying full price for the device over 24 months.  That means you also pay the tax on the MSRP up front!  That alone was going to be $62, then the activation fee, then the full cost of the phone over time (meaning a higher bill every month).  Crazy business.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 was going to be $220 (with 2 year contract) plus activation, so I just went with what was saving me money, not to mention avoiding the awful one-two punch of the way Samsung and Verizon turn a great phone into a piece of crap with their bloatware (and I have been quite pleased with the "clean" environment of the Moto-verse).

As I mentioned, BestBuy was also giving away the JBL speaker mod with the Droid Z Force, and while it's not going to be loud enough for DJ-ing parties and weddings, it's actually a pretty decent little speaker and will be great for working on location and listening to tunes.  It has it's own battery as well, so that's great (I have read that the speaker battery can actually power the phone, so it's like a battery mod as well, but I haven't confirmed that yet –I have confirmed that you can charge the mod through the phone though).

While I definitely hate how big the Droid Z Force is (bigger than my S5 and probably the same size of the Note 5), I have to admit I'm loving the functionality and speed.  The Motorola fingerprint reader is stellar, and I love how you can use it to lock and unlock the phone one handed.  You can also choose to link it to other passwords and apps, which is nice (though I won't be linking it to my banking and purchasing apps).  They warn you that it's not as secure as a pin or pattern, but I assume that's because you can "lift" a print from the reader, so I'm trying to get into the habit of swiping my finger down after it registers, effectively wiping the reader clean of my physical print.

When I powered up the phone to activate it in the store, the battery was at 99%.  We were on our way into the mountains for a wedding, and the device ONLY comes with the turbo charger (no stand-alone USB-C cord to use with a car charger --you have to order that on your own, which is pretty of annoying since you don't have a good way to transfer files to/from a computer until you do that), so I had no way to charge the new phone except for plugging into a wall.  Even with doing all the initial syncing, playing with the phone and figuring out features, downloading all my apps, etc. (all over 3G and 4G/LTE because I had no wifi), the phone was still at 33% the next day's afternoon!  Way more than 24 hours on the factory charge with a substantially higher amount of use is pretty impressive.

Not only that, but I went from 25% to 100% in less than a half hour charge using the included turbo charger.

I have been using Qi wireless charging with my S5, and I actually love it, so I'm pretty disappointed that the Droid Z Force doesn't have wireless charging, especially since pretty much EVERY other "flagship" has it these days.  I guess the turbo charge will have to make up for it.  There is an external battery pack mod that will do wireless charging, but I’m not going to buy an extra mod just for wireless charging.

I do wish the phone was water resistant like my S5 and the S7, and I'm not sure why it isn't.  The Z Force only has three physical buttons, the card slot, and a USB-C port.  It seems like it would have been relatively easy to seal up.  They advertise that it has a water resistant outer covering, but isn’t all plastic and glass water resistant?  I’m not sure what that even means.

The camera is great so far.  There's a "pro" mode that allows me to set ISO (though not aperture and shutter speed), so I'm loving that.  Maybe there's an app that will allow me to access those extra manual features.  Also... the camera is 21MP, so I can actually do some zooming and still have "flagship size" (8-12MP) and quality on the zoomed image.

Hasselblad is coming out with a camera mod for the phone (there was actually a physical spot for it on the Z Force displace at Best Buy, so it must be coming soon).  I'm interested to see what the price will be and how much higher the quality is (it will supposedly do RAW and will have a 10x optical zoom).  It seems weird to have to get a "better" camera mod for a phone that already has a 21MP camera, but we'll see.  Also, I'm not sure what the advantage would be to having a "mod" instead of a stand alone camera that will likely be the same size, but again, I guess I'll see.

I've read that though the screen is "shatterproof," that feature comes at the cost of being pretty scratch prone (the surface layer that keeps it together is soft), so I ordered a couple screen protectors.  I prefer a matte finish on my screen anyway (no glare and a more pleasing tactile feel).

I'm also trying to figure out which case to get.  I can't imagine not using a case on a phone to protect from scratches and dents, but the PITA about the "mods" on these phones is they won't attach if the phone is sporting a case.  Thus, I need to find a case that is easy to take on and off, and that can weather the abuse of constantly taking it on and off, so I'm able to attach mods when I want.  To me, this is the biggest draw back of the phone (other than it’s size).

There is also a "style shell" that is just a faux wood back.  I guess it looks pretty cool, but it really just adds thickness (almost doubles the thickness of the phone), so I'm not sure what the point is, other than looks (which don't matter if you're using a case).  If the "mod" doesn't really offer any protection, it's seems kind of stupid compared to a case that would protect the back, edges, and front (with a raised lip).

Again, I HATE the size of this thing.  It would be awesome if it were the size of my original Droid Incredible. But everything else about the phone seems pretty great so far.  And I really can't get over how much I'm loving the finger print reader to turn the phone on and off "securely."  Not having to enter a pattern all the time is really nice.  It's actually got me locking the phone every time I turn the screen off, vs. setting a longer time out to lock the phone for reasons of convenience (and making the phone less secure).

…

Pinterest has Ruined the Internet

I am SO sick of Pinterest ruining every internet search I conduct.

I often find that a search for a given term will return hundreds of “re-pins” from morons posting the same photo (or topic) over and over again.

I am almost to the point of creating a plug-in that automatically removes Pinterest from ALL internet searches, but for now I end up just typing “-site:pinterest.com” at the end of just about every search I make on Google.

However, even this will allow Pinterest in OTHER COUNTRIES to ruin your search, so the better search modifier would actually be: -site:pinterest.*  (note the wildcard asterisk).  Thanks for suggesting, Lea!

Hope this helps someone else out there with their frustration of Pinterest littering their search returns with useless garbage.

-site:pinterest.*

-site:pinterest.com

…

Why the Best Phone for 2016 is My Phone from 2010

The HTC Droid Incredible ADR 6300 (1st gen) has my vote for best phone of all time.

Yes, in today’s world there is an issue with certain things gobbling up the internal memory and a woefully problematic issue with the phone not being able to use the entire capacity of the internal memory for phone features (and only being able to use a TINY portion of said internal memory), but in 6 years I’ve learned to work around that.  For the trade-offs, it’s absolutely worth it.

And yes, the Incredible doesn’t have 4G LTE capability and maxes out at 3G, but I don’t care.  I just want something that fits in my pocket so I can make phone calls, take pictures, listen to music, and occasionally comparison shop by checking a price online while I’m at a store.  Sure it’s only running Android 2.3.4, but who cares?!  I don’t need Marshmallow to do any of the things mentioned above.

My tablet (LG GPad 8.3 VK810) and other devices (two rooted Galaxy S5’s) tethered to the tablet via Bluetooth take care of my higher speed data needs on the rare occasion I need a faster connection via mobile device, and when I’m traveling or on location for photo/video work, I’ve got those with me for the larger screen, faster data connection, updated Android OS, and more processing power.

But the biggest factor in my decision?  SIZE.

Size. Size. Size.

All currently available phones SUCK as far as size goes.  They’re just WAY too big!  They hurt my hand and just barely fit in my pocket.  At 4.5” x 2.25” the Droid Incredible is perfect.  If I need a larger screen for video, I’ve got my tablet.

Replaceable Battery

Before there were all these power banks so readily available now, you needed to actually swap out batteries, and the Incredible was king.  I have three high capacity batteries.  I can fly from Denver to Tokyo, watching videos the whole way, without worrying about running out of juice.  I’m more likely to use a power bank now, but it’s comforting to know I’ve got extra batteries that are VERY easy to swap out if I need them.  Not to mention my bedside charging dock also has a slot to charge an extra battery.

Expandable Storage

It’s true that the Incredible has issues in regard to internal memory, BUT it also supports micro SD cards.  My current Incredible has a 128 GB micro SD card.  And I’ve got extras for traveling with even more movies and music and photo/video storage.  I’ve got THOUSANDS of movies and lossless music files available (without streaming) at any given moment.

The Dedicated (and physical) Optical Cursor Pad

Why did mobile makers end this fantastic feature?!  My Droid has an optical cursor pad that allows you to move your cursor around the screen instead of trying to pin point your cursor location with your big, fat finger on a mobile screen while you YEARN to at least have cursor arrows always available (aggravating on even the largest of current devices).  Not only that, but it functions as a PHYSICAL button for camera, etc., and since it’s optical, it could have also functioned as a fingerprint reader if they’d have taken the next logical step.

Landscape Docking

The Incredible’s USB port is on the side.  That means the charging dock orients your phone in landscape.  It’s perfect for watching video while connected to power and using as a bedside clock.  Why did phones stop doing this?!

Beautiful and Responsive AMOLED Screen

Why are companies putting 4K screens in mobile devices?!  There is a massively diminishing return on pixel density and resolution for mobile devices, especially since the screen is the number one thing that gobbles up battery power.  The size and resolution of the Droid Incredible is a serious sweet spot that shouldn’t be ignored.

Not to mention, I’ve replaced the screen 4 times (I’m hard on phones).  It costs $10 to do so (cheaper than a screen protector on a lot of phones).  It’s an easy swap, and the screen has always been cheap and readily available via Amazon.

Camera

True, the phone only has an 8MP camera, but the results are actually quite good (though this phone was before phones had HDR, so I do really miss that), and I love that the phone is so tiny that people are less likely to notice you shooting like when you’re using one of today’s GIANT phones.  Plus, the Droid Inc. was the first phone to have a decent LED flash (though it still sucked, as do most LED flashes available on new phones), and one that could actually be TURNED ON to use as a flashlight!  There is also no front-facing camera for video calls, but that’s something I actually prefer.  If I want to make a video call, I’ll use my tablet.

 

So the Droid Incredible doesn’t have a SIM card or LTE, only has an 8MP camera, has some internal memory issues (that can be worked around), and is maxed out at Android 2.3.4.  But all these things considered, to me it’s still a better phone than anything offered today.  For a phone from half a decade ago, that’s pretty… Incredible and STILL the Droid that I am looking for (to my credit, I didn’t do either of those things until now).

 

The current contenders that just don’t cut it:

Sony Experia Z5c

The ONLY currently viable available-to-purchase-new phone where the size is right.  The camera is awesome.  It’s got (had) the best processor available (Snapdragon 810 octacore) until the Snapdragon 820 comes out with the new Flagships this week (S7, G5, etc.).  This is the phone I would have if I could, but I’m not willing to pony up $450 for a phone that might work using only LTE on Verizon’s CDMA network (it’s a GSM phone).  Again, this would be THE phone for me, but no US carrier sells it, so you have to buy it unlocked and outright, and the US warranty version has slower data speed than the euro version and no fingerprint reader.  I can buy the euro version via Amazon, but it’s a gamble.  Why does Sony always take it right to the line and then drop it?!

LG G5

The “modular” thing seems to me like a gimmick and defeats the purpose of having everything you need in/on your phone at all times by requiring you to insert modules.  Why not just carry around separate devices for all the things those modules cover?  How is it different? Plus, the phone is gigantic.

LG VK10

The camera is amazing.  The audio processor is amazing.  It’s beautiful.  But the phone is FREAKING gigantic.

Samsung S5, S6, S7

The S5 has been my main phone for a couple years.  The camera is pretty good (I actually shot a 4K video shoot with it… UNDER WATER FOR 8 HOURS!).  The hardware is actually pretty amazing.  However, the way Samsung and Verizon have absolutely crippled the phone is shameful.  Not a day goes by that I don’t scream “I HATE THIS PHONE!” But it’s not the phone’s fault, it’s the software.  I’ve got a second G5 that I rooted, and it’s fantastic.  But again… the phone is huge.

HTC One (M8, M9, M10)

Meh.  The camera in the M8 was supposed to be a game changer, but it’s really not all that (in fact, it’s quite bad).  I do love the stereo front facing speakers and how the phone looks.  And now in 2016 CFO Chialin Chang is promising, “We can confidently say that HTC will have a very, very compelling camera experience,” but I certainly don’t trust that statement, because it’s what they said about the sh*tty camera they put in the M8!  Also, it’s just too big!

OnePlusX

Not for Verizon.  Even on AT&T there were lot’s of problems with the bandwidth not being correct for the US market with earlier phones (1 and 2).  I’m just not willing to take the gamble.  Plus, its too damn big!

Nexus 6

Seems to be a pretty good phone, though I don’t like the “bump out” for the camera lens on the back.  But it’s gigantic.

iPhone

I hate Mac and it has no place in my work flow.  The end.  Well, maybe not the end.  To be fair, Mac has the prettiest hardware.  I actually like the form factor of the iPhone 5s.  And the iPhone 4 is probably my favorite mobile phone form factor of all time (I love the metal edge with the metal buttons and flip switch).  But with my work flow and being a control freak, I just can’t live in the Mac world.  I also hate how they obsolete (yes, I’m using “obsolete” as a verb) their own hardware every 10 seconds.  Seriously?  You can’t realistically run the current iOS (9) on their last gen phone?! Ridiculous.  And the iPhone 6 (and especially 6 plus) is… too big!

…

How to Defrost a Samsung Ice Maker

[UPDATE 8-29-16]: The solution, sent out to all Samsung service Techs in a bulletin, is in the new post on this subject here.

If you have a Samsung refrigerator with the SZAB001TA1 ice maker, you have a problem.

We recently purchased a French door refrigerator by Samsung (RF263BEAEWW) from Best Buy (heavily discounted as scratch and dent, $1,200 instead of $2,300… plus all the extra money for the extended warranty, etc.).  As usual, I researched this major purchase for weeks, and drove around to just about every major appliance store and outlet in Denver to see what I could find on scratch-and-dent-deep-discount.

While this fridge was the best rated fridge available (currently there seems to be a dearth of decent refrigerators on the market), it’s still had it’s issues, especially in regard to the compressor being astoundingly loud for a new refrigerator.  The biggest problem we’ve encountered so far is that it started making a “churning” or “chugging” noise and I quickly realized it was the fill pump for the ice maker.  The defrost was not working correctly and an ice dam was blocking the fill flow, thus the pump just kept trying to pump in water without ever quitting.  Not only was the noise extremely annoying, but it was going to destroy the pump if left to continue.

Evidently the ice makers in these units are HORRIBLE, and the circuit board that controls them is also awful (and fails if you look at it wrong).

Calling Best Buy gets you nowhere, as they will only direct you to the manufacturer if the appliance is still under manufacturer’s warranty.  Trying to get someone to come check out an appliance via Samsung will make you feel like you live in cold war Russia (trying to talk to the right person, trying to get someone to come to your house, getting scheduled for a visit more than a month out, etc.).

Rather than wait for someone to come fix it while putting up with the awful noise and having the pump fail completely while we waited, I ended up doing it myself, and that started with figuring out how to defrost the ice maker without having to turn off the fridge (and thus empty all the contents).

Here are the steps:

1. On the front panel display, press the Energy Saver and Refrigerator buttons at the same time for 8 seconds.  The display will switch to the Test Mode and the display (all buttons, etc.) will go dark.
2. Press any button within 15 seconds after the display goes dark to scroll through the Test Modes as follows:
   • Manual operation 1 (FF)
   • Manual operation 2 (0F-r)
   • Manual defrost of fresh food compartments (rd)
   • Manual defrost of fresh food and freezer compartments (fd)
   • Cancel (display goes completely dark)

“fd” is the one you want.  The defrost mode will beep while in effect (pretty annoying) and will shut off after five minutes (I had to do it quite a few times to thaw everything out).

Once the majority of the stuck-to-the-unit ice was thawed, I used a screw driver to carefully dislodge all the ice, then completed melted any chunks I couldn’t remove by hand with a hair dryer.  Finally I blew out the ice maker with an air compressor to remove any remaining droplets/moisture so it wouldn’t build up ice crystals once the unit was back on.

I’m not happy about this issue, and I really hope it doesn’t continue to happen, as returning a refrigerator is going to be a major pain (all the doors and drawers had to be removed to fit through the front door and kitchen door, not to mention the hassle of scheduling the process and storing food in the interim).

…

UPDATE 1-11-16: The ice maker is more of a problem than I had originally anticipated –more specifically, the way the ice maker is unable to defrost/thaw in an efficient manner).  There is a fairly permanent puddle in the bottom of the refrigerator, and often there is so much water it pours out of the front and onto the floor (and also into the bottom freezer, creating giant chunks of ice and icicles).  In fact, the water coming from the ice maker has ruined our floor (woke up one morning with a giant puddle on the floor that warped the floating cork, and I’m sure there is now mold under the flooring).

Here are some photos of the madness:

…

UPDATE 1-17-16: The Samsung Ice Maker has failed again.  The genius who designed it decided that the defrost cycle, which happens on a regular basis, should drain directly into… the bottom of the ice maker housing.  Thus, this next time our ice maker failed (again, pouring water all over the floor and further damaging the cork flooring), the ice tray also froze completely shut, meaning I couldn’t get the ice maker drawer out without first thawing the ice maker (which meant the thawing ice had nowhere to go except all over the place).  There was nearly a full 1/2” solid sheet of ice holding the ice drawer to the bottom of the ice maker housing.  I spent around 2 hours fixing the problem tonight, and I have a feeling this is only going to get worse.  I really don’t want this refrigerator anymore.

I Hate Plex So Much

I have been hobbling along with Plex for nearly two years now.

I have re-named all my files by their facist naming system (since Plex ignores the title information and anything else from file details) and placed each and every file in directories exactly as Plex has instructed.

As an early adopter, I paid hard-earned money for their Roku app (which should provide an elevated level of functionality… it does not).

I have spent hours looking through forums and trying to find information on their official website.

Still my files are constantly renamed (almost always incorrectly) and almost NO FILE has a thumbnail that corresponds to the actual film or television program it represents.  Even when I manually add names and poster files via the computer desktop interface, Plex will inevetiably switch the name back to whatever it wants, even when I use Plex’s “lock” funtion (this is particularly frustrating with episodic television).  Not only does Plex rename the titles, but it also removes the artwork I have assigned to replace the thumbnail with an image of Kevin Spacey from House of Cards.  I love Kevin Spacey, but I am so sick of seeing his #*&$% face on EVERY THUMBNAIL IN MY LIBRARY.

Furthermore, when I search (FF/RW) the “preview” always shows scenes from The Long Goodbye.  No matter the show I am watching, FF/RW will only show Elliot Gould, never the characters from the program I am searching through.  Thus, I have to guess how far forward or back I have gone.

I have dumped caches, refreshed databases, optimized databases, on and on and on… all to no avail.

The Plex interface in Roku is abysmal, especially since all the thumbnails are wrong.  I can’t search visually (since every thumbnail is the same still from House of Cards), so I have to highlight each and every file to see what the program actually is.  Not only that, but whoever created the Plex navigation for the Roku interface should be dragged into the street and beaten.  It is the most convoluted and unuseable maze of nonsense I have ever encountered.  I have no idea what they were thinking when they were creating the “quick access” sections, as each offering is completely useless when I’m trying to find the content I want to watch.

I am at witt’s end. I absolutely HATE Plex, but there seems to be NO OTHER choice for viewing my NAS stored media via Roku (which is what all the tv’s in our house use to access streaming media).

I could switch to XBMC and mirror to Roku, but I don’t want to have to access media via a computer (I want to use just Roku and NAS).

Why in the world is Plex the only game in town?!

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My Next Phone Will Be a… Sony?

UPDATE (1-14-16): Unlocked versions of the Z5 and Z5 Compact will go on sale in the us on Feb. 7 for $600 and $500, respectively. Now I just have to decide if I'm going to make due with my awful GS5 for now and keep waiting for the Z7, rumored to have a Snapdragon 820 chip instead of the 810 (the 810 has it's fair share of problems compared to the 820).

…

I am SOOOOOO sick of these GIANT phones they keep cramming down our throats.  If my HTC Droid Incredible had 4G/LTE I would be in heaven.  I would immediately switch back, old processor and almost no RAM be damned.  I long for the feel of that tiny and wonderful little powerhouse (at the time it came out) in my hand and pocket.  When I’ve been using my Samsung Galaxy 5 and then pick up my Droid Inc., it feels like I’m holding a matchbook.

I’m not quite ready to go “watch small” (plus, I wouldn’t be able to live without a really decent camera on me), but I can’t take these dinner-plates-as-phones any more!

Not only that, but I’ve been EXTREMELY unhappy with my GS5.  I’m not sure if it’s Samsung’s fault or Verizon’s, but the user experience on this powerhouse of a piece of hardware is just abysmal.  Never have I had a device butt-dial like the horrible GS5.  If someone texts, the phone wakes up… in your pocket.  I’ve actually had my phone dial Australia (among many, many, many other super-annoying things).  There is no way to disable this HUGE problem short of completely disabling ALL text message notifications.  If you want to know that your phone received a text, it will wake up in your pocket and dial your grandmother.  Period.

There are a bunch of other gripes about the phone that I won’t go into in this post, but what seemed on paper like it would be the best phone ever has just turned out to be a horrible, horrible user experience.  Not a day goes by that I don’t complain about how much I hate using the Samsung Galaxy S5 (even though I did use it to shoot an underwater film at 4k, which was a pretty crazy thing when the phone first came out).  I actually have a second GS5 that I rooted, and that’s better (though far from perfect), but it’s such a PITA to root and maintain a phone, especially once the GS5 upgraded to Lollipop, that I’m just ready for a new phone.

Wading through the possibilities, I find that the only phones available are these giant, god-awful eye sores that you can’t use with one hand (and I’ve got pretty big hands!).

If this Sony Xperia Micro concept phone designed by Dwight Looi were real, there is no question it would be my top choice for my next phone.  But since it’s just a concept, I’ll have to settle for the slightly larger Xperia Z5 compact.

What do I like about the Z5 compact (other than the fact that at 4.6” diagonal it’s the smallest “flagship level” smart phone you can get in the US right now?):

• Snapdragon 810 Octacore 64bit processor
• 23MP camera (5MP through the screen front camera with 1080p video)
• 4K video
• Fingerprint reader in the power button (that supposedly actually works well, unlike my Samsung)
• Water resistant (without the awful usb and headphone port flappy-crappy cover that my Samsung requires, which makes it basically NOT water resistant)
• It’s boxy! (rounded edges look like preschool toys; give me razor sharp edges any day!!!)
• rapid charge
• dedicated camera button
• supposedly .03 second focus speed?! (we’ll see – this article says it takes 3 or 4 seconds to load the camera app, so a .03 snap time doesn’t really matter if the camera won’t open quickly)
• Best battery life in class (and since the compact has a smaller screen, it gets even better battery time than the Z5 even though the battery has a slightly smaller capacity)
• up to 200GB microSD card
• Cat 6 download LTE speeds on model E5823 (some models only have Cat 4)

It’s still going to have Sony bloat software (some of which you can supposedly disable), and since I’m on Verizon I’m sure they’ll crap it out with a bunch of garbage, but at least Android is doing a decent job of letting you disable a lot of Verizon’s atrocities.

It sucks that only the larger model is available in metal, but at least the Compact is matte plastic (not the shiny, slimy, plastic that most manufacturers are opting for these days).

Yes, the Z5 cameras don’t have optical image stabilization (though it does have Sony’s “SteadyShot”), but that seems to be the only reason the camera loses to the GS6 and LG G4 in camera comparisons, and supposedly the Samsung GS7 will be adopting the current Z5’s sensor.  So while Sony is KILLING IT in the photo/cinema world right now (low light sensitivity in the mirrorless AR7II is mind boggling), for some reason they aren’t putting that same “HOLY SH*T!” oomph into the cameras on their phones… but I think they’re still pretty damn good.

Oh… by the way, the Z5 Premium will be released later this year with a 4K display… on a phone.  Who the f*ck cares about a 4K screen on a phone –especially if it makes the phone HUGE, which is the biggest problem with today’s phones in the first place?!

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Why the New Hulu “Watchlist” Sucks

Hulu has recently implemented new functionality for how you access shows (and what is easily accessed).

If you follow Hulu’s constant recommendation to “update” to the new Watchlist, you lose all control of what content you watch.  In other words, the Watchlist is made so Hulu can force-feed you whatever programming they are trying to push.  They claim it is based on your viewing habits, but I believe that is b.s.  They are simply trying to control what you watch.

Here are some reasons why "watchlist" sucks:

1. You have NO control of what plays after the episode you are currently watching (this is a MAJOR problem).  If you don’t hit “play all” for a program, and the episode you are currently watching is finished, instead of playing the next unwatched episode, or even an episode from another show you have “favorited,” they will try and get you to watch some other “recommended” show (STOP TRYING TO FORCE ME TO WATCH “NEW GIRL.” Are you f*cking kidding me?!).  So once an episode is over, you have to spend a LONG time trying to navigate to the next effing show you want to watch.
2. When you open up Hulu or finish watching a show, there is no direct link to your Watchlist.  Not from the main page.  Not from the main navigation choices at the top of the page.  NOWHERE.
3. Sometimes if you've “favorited” a show but have already seen all the episodes, Hulu keeps trying to make you watch old episodes (even shows with new episodes you haven't seen force feed you episodes you’ve already watched from previous seasons!).
4. Similar to #3, here is no way to change if an episode has been marked watched/unwatched, so Hulu will FOREVER try to keep feeding you “unwatched” episodes even if you have, in fact, already seen them. I don't know how many times they've tried to force me to watch Episode 3 of the "The Wrong Mans."  WHY?!?!?!  I watched that episode YEARS ago, and much as I liked it, I don’t want to watch it again!!!
5. You cannot order your Watchlist, so the shows you watch most (or want to watch next or more often) are often at the end of a LONG list of garbage you've "bookmarked" but don't want to see every time I open Hulu.

I have more gripes, but I’ve already wasted enough of my day on this.

There doesn’t seem to any way to revert to the old Queue functionality, and while I love the new (more expensive and I’m totally willing to pay for it!) “watch without commercials” option, if I can’t revert to queue functionality, I will be ending my subscription.

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Queuing Up Items to Watch Later in Plex Server

It is incredibly frustrating that there is no good way in Plex to click a button to add media to a “hopper” for watching later.  I have a collection of hundreds and hundreds of movies.  Some I have watched part way through (and thus are automatically marked as either “read” or “unread” depending on whatever loony logic the Plex code uses).  Some have been added recently.  Some are favorites.  Some I simply want to remind myself I want to watch again without having to search through hundreds of titles to find them (or just remember I want to watch them again!).

None of these things really allow me to access these particular movies/shows quickly.

I have spent hours looking for a solution, and finally I have discovered the ONLY (seems crazy, huh?) way to do it, at least from the actual Plex Media Server (not one of their apps for a web browser or phone/tablet).

The short of it is this: you need to add the particular title to a COLLECTION.  Then, you can use a FILTER to find those particular titles.  You can’t add Collections to a Library, or your front page, or anything that would make SENSE, you can ONLY access a Collection via a filter.  It’s a pain in the *ss, but it’s the only way!

Here’s how accessing the collection works:

HOME > LIBRARY (click the library you want: movies, television, etc.) > OPTIONS (the three bars at the upper left will expand the side bar on the left) > COLLECTION (whichever collection listed under “FILTER” that you want shown).

You can add titles to a COLLECTION by either typing in the name of a Collection in the appropriate field of the title’s settings (where you view all the fields associated with a title), or you can go to the top-tier of the library (MOVIES, for instance), click SELECT ITEMS from the tool menu bar on the left (it’s the square with a check mark icon), then tick all the movies you’d like to add to a Collection.  Finally, click the icon of the folder and plus sign in the tool bar on the left, and select the COLLECTION to which you wish to add the titles (or create a new Collection).

Furthermore, once you do this, you should be able to access a “Collection” from your Roku, so you can relatively easily go to a list of your “queued” shows.  From the main Roku screen select the Plex channel > select a library from your Plex Library Sections > scroll down to “By Collection” > choose the Collection you want.  It’s a lot of hoops, but it’s the only way!

Unfortunately, since Movies and Television shows are stored in separate Libraries, you can’t access all queued items from one list (Collection).  You must view queued Movies and queued Television shows from their respective Libraries (totally ridiculous).  It’s also much harder to “bulk” add television shows since they are stored in sub-locations where the “select” option is not available (thus you have to add single shows to a Collection by typing the Collection name into the field under that particular show’s settings).

Turns out you can only add an ENTIRE SERIES to a collection.  You can’t add just a single episode, thus this method is worthless for adding single television episodes to your queue (again, REALLY Plex?  REALLY?!).

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Droid Incredible Constantly Asks to Update to Build 4.08.605.15

I really miss my Droid Incredible.  What I don’t miss are the “memory full errors” (the phone not being able to use more than a couple of MEGABYTES for system storage), and, once they had released it, the constant “reminder” to update to build 4.08.605.15.

The thing is, I had already done that… a million times.  Very frustrating.

I still use the Droid as my bedside clock since it has a nice horizontal dock, clock and alarm, the monitor for my kid’s room, the remote for the HTPC, weather, e-mail, texting, etc., etc.

But the other day it started showing the “reminder” for the build update constantly.  Every time I clicked “later” or “now,” the reminder would disappear for a few minutes, but then come back. It just wouldn’t go away for more than a couple of minutes.

Oddly enough, the fifth time or so I clicked download and “reboot” I actually got a screen with a progress bar, as if a file was being downloaded (normally the dialog box just goes away when you click the “do it now” option). “HOORAY!” I thought, “Something different is finally going to happen!!!”  No such luck –exact same problem once the phone rebooted.

I really want to keep using the phone for my bedside device, so I finally got frustrated enough to track down an answer.

The obvious answer would be to root the phone, but I didn’t want a solution that involved (especially when I’m basically only using the device as a clock at this point).

 

I should also point out that my phone’s “info” screen showed that I was actually running build 4.08.605.15m but I also read on a few forums that the .15 build was actually more recent than .20.  Sounds counterintuitive obviously, but who knows why Verizon/Android do the things they do.

Another solution people suggested was to factory reset the device, but then you lost all your data.  Probably not the worst thing in the world considering this is no longer my “actual” device, but I was hoping for something less “erase-y,” so I kept looking.

Another thread suggested installing the update from an SD Card.  This involved downloading the update file (from sketchy, non-official locations), then entering the boot screen to install.  “Surely there’s an easier way!” I thought.

Finally someone suggested simply wiping the system cache (which must be done from hboot). It’s easy and it works.  Exactly the solution I was looking for.

1. Pull the battery and put it back in.
2. Hold down volume and power at the same time until a white screen appears (this is hboot).
3. Scroll down with the down volume key and select “recovery” (select with power button).
4. You should see a screen that has a phone with an arrow.
5. From the phone/arrow screen hold volume up and power until a new menu appears.
6. Select “wipe cache” from the choices.
7. From the next list of choices select reboot.
8. Once your phone reboots, you should get the “update now” dialog box again, but this time when you do it, your phone shoot update and reboot as it has supposed to have done for the past TWO YEARS!

Once my phone rebooted, I got a screen that said “congrats… your phone has been updated to 4.08.605.15 710RD” with a big OK button.

But… as I went to click the “ok” I got the dreaded “system update” dialog box that I had been trying to get rid of!  AAAAARGH!

However, when I clicked “install now,” the message told me I would be installing build 4.08.605.19.  Hmmmmm.

So I did that.  My phone went through all the reboot stuff, and now it would SEEM everything is fine.  I guess we’ll see.

For the time being at least, I’m so glad to have my device back.

…

iStabilizer tabMount Review

I recently became familiar with an app called DSLR Controller (see complete app review here).  This magnificent piece of software for Android devices will allow you to control your DSLR with your tablet or phone.  You simply connect your device through the USB port (you will need an On the Go cable and a device that supports “On the Go” connectivity), and your tablet becomes a field monitor with touch screen controls.

But now that I can control my Canon 7D with my LG GPad 8.3, I need a way to attach my tablet to my camera.  Whether I’m shooting video or still photography, there still needs to be a way to securely fasten the tablet to the camera.  When I’m shooting stills, I don’t use a rig because I need freer access to the settings, and I am also constantly switching the camera orientation, thus mounting the tablet via the flash hot shoe seemed the best answer.  When I’m shooting video I have a camera rig, so it’s a simple matter of attaching to one of the billions of 1/4” holes in the cheese plates.

That still meant I had to get a quarter inch threaded hole attached to the tablet.
Of all the ones I found on Amazon, the iStabilizer tabMount seemed the best bet.

Unfortunately, the maximum tablet size stated in the listing was incorrect.  The listing said the device could handle ANY tablet UP TO 8.25" wide. I should also point out, looking at the mechanics and dimensions first hand, I think 8.25" is pushing it; I would call 8" the maximum dimension of a tablet it could handle.

My LG Gpad 8.3 is too long (8.5") to allow the tabMount to hold it horizontally, and the *minimum width* of the tabMount (which is not listed in the Amazon verbiage) is 5.5" (which would actually still be a little loose since that's simply the fully contracted distance from edge to edge and there would be no spring tension to hold the tablet securely).  Since the LG Gpad 8.3 is only 5" wide, the tabMount will not hold it. To reiterate, the tablet is "too big" in one direction, and "too small" in the other.

 

I think the iStabilizer tabMount is probably a pretty good piece of equipment for tablets that actually fit. It seems simple and sturdy. The 1/4"/20 threaded hole is metal mounted in sturdy plastic. The grasping arms are spring loaded so that the tablet is held in place by the contracting tension of a spring inside the backing piece. The spring seems to be strong and the tabs that wrap around the edge of the tablet are large and curved and covered in rubber. I think this holder would do a good job of keeping a tablet in place securely.

  

I am disappointed that I can’t use the tabMount, as I like the way it works, and I like the build quality.  There is nothing of similar quality, function, and price that I can find for a tablet with the dimensions of the LG Gpad 8.3, so I think I’m going to have build something on my own (see that build/mod here).

(holding the spring loaded arm open; it’s definitely got some grip!)

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Blogger (Blogspot) Posts Mysteriously Converted to Drafts (and no longer live)

Recently nearly 100 of my posts stopped appearing on this blog.  When I accessed the dashboard directly (on blogger.com), all these posts (some with more than 15,000 views) had been converted to “drafts,” and thus no longer appeared live on the blog.

What the hell?!

Putting them back up was a simple matter of ticking the box next to them in the “Posts” view and then clicking “publish,” but how long have they NOT been accessible via the web?!

Super lame.

The only thing I can think of is that I updated Windows Live Writer (the program I use to actually compose blog posts, since the Blogger compose window is so abysmal), so perhaps that had something to do with it?!

Whether is was Microsoft’s fault or Google’s, it still sucks, so I’m posting this in case it happens to anyone else.

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Google Drive is Preventing My PC from Shutting Down

…and Google doesn’t seem to care!  There are posts from years ago on the Google forums, and responses from Google admin saying “we’re looking into this,” but the problem still exists (in Win 7 and Win 8).

(screenshot from BleepingComputer.com – click for link to thread)

I have tried uninstalling/reinstalling Google Drive, but to no avail.  And it’s a serious pain in the butt, because every time you do this, in order to associate a folder with Google Drive, the drive has to be empty (you can’t associate a folder with any contents).  So once you’ve reinstalled Google Drive, you have to create a new folder, associate it with Google Drive, dump all the contents of your old Google Drive into the new folder, rename the folder, and then wait for Google Drive to figure out what the hell just happened (update sync database).

In a thread discussing problems with Piriform’s CCLeaner and Google Drive, I found this information:

When the Google Drive application is running, it creates a directory under C:\Users\Chukhung\AppData\Local\Temp with a name like "_MEI54082" (the last five digits of the directory name change every time the Google Drive application is started). Within this directory are a large number of subdirectories, DLLs, and what appear to be Python files. This directory disappears when the Google Drive application is shut down manually.  [. . .] I'm guessing that Google Drive gets seriously confused when CCleaner partially deletes the contents of this directory.

This seems like a pretty decent guess as to why this is happening, but I’m not sure what to do about it (other than to always manually shut down Google Drive before shutting down the computer, which isn’t exactly an ideal solution).

I will update this post if I find a solution, but in the meantime, feel free to post your thoughts/solutions in the comments!

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Verizon Has Been Calling Me Twice a Day for More Than a Month

I have been getting calls from the same number (several numbers, actually, in New York and in Boston) at least two times a day for more than a month.

Here are some of the numbers from my call log:

617-342-0412 (Boston, MA)
508-884-1230 (Massachusetts)
617-878-1158 (Boston, MA)
917-779-2500 (New York) –this one calls A LOT
508-884-1808 (Massachusetts)

(there are many more numbers, presumably from this company’s call bank, but I’m not going to type them all out)

When I finally answered this morning (because the call was at SIX THIRTY IN THE MORNING my time and I wanted the calls to STOP), the ultra-rude guy on the other end told me he was from Verizon.

He insisted that I had placed some weird technical order with their business services.  I explained that he was calling someone’s personal cell phone, and I had no idea what he was talking about.  He further insisted that this was the correct number (a number I’ve been using for around 15 years), and started yelling at me (yes, yelling) when I got upset that he wouldn’t stop calling.

I have received 6 more calls today.  Every single person I have spoken to has been extremely rude when I asked to stop being called.  Things like, “Well this is the number on the order.”  To which I respond, “well I’ve explained to every single person who’s called me that this is my personal cell phone, I have no idea what you are talking about, and everyone keeps promising me that I won’t receive calls for this order at this number any more.”

One of the calls was a restricted line, and a guy actually left a message stating: “C order 6B256544 if this is the correct number for the circuit you can call us at 800-891-0301 option 8, 3, and 1.” I called this number and spent about fifteen minutes on hold and being routed around the system before I gave up.

The last guy told me that if an order has a phone number on it with “their company,” I will continue to receive calls until the order is fulfilled or resolved.  I explained that the number on the order is wrong, and he said there was nothing he could do about it; that he couldn’t change the number on the order.  “So I’m just going to keep receiving calls forever?”  “That’s not what I said!” he replied in a heated tone.  “But you did say the number on the order couldn’t be changed, so I will continue to receive calls, right?”  “Correct.”

I asked to speak to his supervisor.

He gave me the name Tanya Barnett and a number of 617-342-0412.  This number is the general number to get into Verizon’s voice mail system (to get into the system, not to get to a person).  Therefore, he gave me a number for no one.

This is EXTREMELY annoying, but I have no recourse, because there is no one to contact about the issue, and the people who are calling are extremely rude, don’t care what is happening, and obviously have NO intention of fixing the situation.

Hopefully creating this blog post will either bring the issue to someone’s attention, or people having a similar issue will post in the comments when searching the number that keeps calling them so we can get to the bottom of this intrusive and disrespectful situation that Verizon is creating.

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Colorado “Roads and Bridges” Fee

I recently received a renewal notice for my trailer in Adams County Colorado.  The trailer cost $300, but my license renewal is $44 (that’s 15% of the value of the entire vehicle –and I have to pay it EVERY year!).

I called the Title and Registration office to see if this was a mistake, and the nice lady told me this is one of the cheapest renewals she’s seen in quite some time. (!!!)

Evidently several years ago the legislators put a tax in place called the Roads and Bridges Fee.  It’s a straight $30 fee for all trailers.

What the what?

I have a very small trailer that I use every once in a while to pick up something from Lowe’s that doesn’t fit in my car.  Most of the time the trailer is folded up (yes FOLDED UP) and stored behind my garage.

I can understand charging someone with a good size trailer for the extra damage/wear/tear that is happening to roads and bridges, but a blanket fee to everyone with any kind of trailer, even people who use their tiny, tiny trailer three or four times a year?  That’s crazy.  There should be weight/size categories for different levels of fees.

I’m all for pulling my weight (check out THAT pun), and I have no problem paying a little extra if I’m using something more than others (like extra wear/tear to the roadways), but this is absolute nonsense.

Vimeo “Hide this video from Vimeo.com” Problems

Sometimes you need to share a video with people without making it available to the entire internet community, and password protection is not the preferred method.  I recently had this issue come up when I needed to post a music video that was being shopped around to various online outlets (blogs, new agencies, etc.), but the client’s PR firm didn’t want the people to have to use a password.

Anonymity is your friend in these situations; a link that is published nowhere is often as “secure”  (at least as inaccessible) as a published link that is password protected.  If people don’t know where to look, they can’t find/see the video.

Vimeo has recently added this functionality to their Pro accounts (YouTube has had it for a long time), but I was having a heck of a time getting it to work.

When I ticked “Hide this video from Vimeo.com” in the privacy settings of my video, the video was marked with a “private” sash/label in my video listings.  When I sent the link to people to view, accessing the page simply returned a message stating:

Permission Denied

Sorry, there is no video here.

Either it was deleted or it never existed in the first place. Such are the mysteries of the Internet.

Very frustrating.  The whole point of an unlisted link is to be able to send it to people so they can access the video.

Turns out Vimeo’s unpublished functionality ONLY works with embed.  So a video that returns the above message when you send the link IS visible to others, but ONLY when embedded.

The work around (to send a link), is simply to place the word “player” at the beginning of the link and to make sure “video” is in the path.  So, “http://Vimeo.com/hiddenlink” can be accessed as “http://player.vimeo.com/video/hiddenlink”

Why Vimeo has it set up this way is beyond me, and they need to fix it so you can share your hidden video with links more easily (without having to figure out this workaround on your own since it is posted NOWHERE on their site).

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Why Quickbooks Pro 2014 Sucks

There is no question that Quickbooks is an AMAZING tool.  If I had to do everything manually that is offered through Quickbooks, I’d be dead in the water with tracking work, billing clients, doing taxes, etc.

That said, I am constantly ASTOUNDED by the basic functions that are not addressed, or the horrible, horrible hoops one so often has to jump through to get things to work.

Several months ago, Intuit “sunset” my version of Quickbooks (2010).  This is to say, they wanted more money from me, so they cut off some basic services (like being able to e-mail invoices) so I could no longer get by with a product that is only three years old.  I can understand sunsetting products because you can no longer keep up support on ancient software (i.e. Microsoft shouldn’t be expected to still be actively supporting Windows ‘95), but to cut basic functions (that require NO direct support to the customer) is tantamount to gouging the customer.

I got another e-mail from Intuit this week that stated “Oh, by the way, if you want to generate 1099’s and you have anything older than Quickbooks 2013, you’ll be doing that BY HAND because the IRS slightly changed the formatting and we’re not going to make the minor changes in your ONLY THREE-YEAR-OLD PRODUCT that would address the situation.”  Pretty douchey, Intuit.  But since I have many, many 1099’s to generate, I decided to pony up the cash for the newest version (2014).

Be aware: Intuit sends out e-mails stating “we’ll give you a 20% discount on our product!” but the product sells for $20 less than that “20% discount” on Amazon every day.  This is to say, Intuit often tries to sell suckers their product for $249 when they (Intuit) are also selling it for $178 on Amazon.

Anyway, I just set up Quickbooks Pro 2014.  On the upside, everything seems to have transferred over without issue.  Again, this is huge, and serious kudos are in order for Intuit getting this part right.

However, the first thing I wanted to do was invoice a customer.  The new setup required me to associate a new e-mail account with the company file, but they WILL NOT let you use an e-mail address that doesn’t have it’s own outgoing SMTP server.  I realize this could be justified by saying they are trying to minimize spamming, but who in the world would use QUICKBOOKS as their spam vehicle (especially when there are so many other FREE and EASIER ways to do it)?!

Like millions of people, I use Gmail to filter all my e-mail (the spam tools and search tools are just so much easier than maintaining your own e-mail accounts on a web server).  It’s great that Quickbooks has updated their software so that you can use Gmail directly from their software, but you can ONLY use your main Gmail address.  In other words, even though I have an account called “info@mybusiness.com”  that I use from Gmail, I can only use “mymaingmailaddress@gmail.com” to send e-mail from Quickbooks.  The only way to use my business address (info@mybusiness.com) would be to actually set up the address on my web server, and this would require setting up a program to check that address (rather than just having e-mail addressed to that address forwarded to my Gmail account).

ANYWAY, this was not made clear until I was asked to enter my e-mail password when sending an e-mail/invoice to my client.  The send failed.  But here’s the kicker… the e-mail window has ONLY two options “send now” or “cancel.”  Thus, there was NO WAY to save the rather lengthy e-mail I had composed to my client!  What kind of freaking nonsense is THAT?!  You have an e-mail composer that doesn’t have the option to SAVE.  Come on, Intuit.

Intuit also now has the Intuit Payment Network.  I’m not going to go into what I think about Intuit getting into banking, but I do think that it’s INCREDIBLY annoying that they have the e-mail composer defaulted to placing ALL THE INFORMATION about how to use the Intuit Payment Network right SMACK DAB in the middle of your e-mail!!!  Why isn’t this information at the end of the e-mail?  Luckily there are ways to turn it off, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to MOVE the information (I actually would like to let my clients click the link to pay me by credit card, but I don’t wan that message RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF MY FREAKING E-MAIL!).

What Intuit needs to fix with Quickbooks:

• Make it so you can SAVE THE FREAKING E-MAIL YOU JUST WROTE in the compose window (add a “save” button to the “send now” and “cancel” options)
• Make it easier to edit/move the “Intuit Payment Network” default text  (--I get that you want me to use your service, but putting this text in the MIDDLE of my damn client e-mail isn’t going to get me on board!)
• When I search for help, don’t direct me to ASTOUNDINGLY STUPID POSTS FROM IDIOTS in your “Community Help,” especially when those posts contain NO ANSWERS
• Make it so when you view “sent e-mail” from the customer information panel, you can actually READ the e-mail (not just that you sent it)!