Wednesday, August 31, 2011

How 2D barcodes handle contact details

There is an interesting discussion happening on LinkedIn at the moment about how you can deliver "contact information" via 2d barcodes
eg. do you use Vcards or MeCards OR even better do you encode a url where the file is attached and can be modified at anytime.

http://www.linkedin.com/groupItem?view=&gid=1814763&type=member&item=68301009&commentID=50288822&report%2Esuccess=8ULbKyXO6NDvmoK7o030UNOYGZKrvdhBhypZ_w8EpQrrQI-BBjkmxwkEOwBjLE28YyDIxcyEO7_TA_giuRN#commentID_50288822

PrintQRaft have an interesting solution where they build a mobile web page that asks you to enter your email address which then autobounces back an email with attachment.

Someone mentioned MsTags solves this problem....(it doesn't) my response is below


.....but the process of writing the contact to the phone is being handled by the MsTag app rather than the native phone address client application.


Because it is being handled by MsTag the requirement is now for Microsoft to write to 4 mobile O/S types as well as the multiple handset variations instead of them just settling on Vcard or MeCard.

I scanned the contact details from your LinkedIn avatar but MsTag failed to download your contact details to my moto droid 3 handset running touchdown.  It recognises and displays your contact details (very quickly) but writing it to my phones contact list brings up the error box "The application Contacts storage (process com.motorola.contacts) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again".
....and no trying again doesn't solve the problem.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Monday, August 29, 2011

Finally got my Thecus N7700 back online

My Thecus N7700 finally got repaired.

Cost me a little under $500 for shipping, replacement motherboard, replacement DOM (plus another $60 for the replacement power supply that i bought elsewhere).

I find it hard to believe that 3 out of 4 electrical parts all need replacing in just over 2 years.

The bad part is it took 19 days from shipping the unit to Thecus and getting it back : (
As they are the only source of parts there is nothing you can do about it so i highly reccomend people DO NOT PURCHASE THECUS PRODUCTS.

It was good in that the raid information is encoded on the drives so you can swap from one to another....it's bad that their hardware is proprietary.

As soon as you put your drives back into another thecus n7700 you can access your files straight away (as soon as you enter the ACL / username etc details).

I am going to buy Areca raid cards and setup an off the shelf server then sell my N7700 as i cant rely on Thecus with a lifespan of just over 2 years.

Very dissapointed.

Cheers,
Dean


BTW for background on my Thecus problems start
here
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/warning-about-thecus-n7700.html
then
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/arghhh-thecus-still-havent-fixed-my.html
and finally
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/finally-got-my-thecus-n7700-back-online.html

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Ooops

Pretty much zero damage in our street but 1 block over on Hicks St between Clark and Love Lane this monster.

Basically i blame the building owners for not trimming the branches considering the limited size of the root mass in the front courtyard area, the thing was probably so top heavy that it didn't take much wind to blow over a saturated wet green mass when the soil holding the roots was wet.

BTW anyone whose property was damaged that is reading this....the co-op just spent a few months relaying the concrete in the front courtyard from the street to the entryway right next to the roots, not saying this caused the problem but lets just say it probably didn't help.

Black Prairie

Just randomly stumbled across these guys, really enjoying them.



If you like that check out some of their other work at
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbYoWRpNodc
and
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDz2f0WX5T0


Cheers,
Dean

Saturday, August 27, 2011

DNA may cause aging

New research shows that adrenaline may damage DNA, potentially accelerating aging."

- http://www.dukehealth.org/health_library/news/at-last-a-reason-why-stress-causes-dna-damage


Interesting reading.






Tuesday, August 23, 2011

5.8 earthquake

Yes we felt it here in Brooklyn heights. What surprised me is how long it went on for.


Two things I’ve learnt

1/ our mobile phone infrastructure is shit, my wife couldn’t reach me on my Verizon mobile kept sending her to my voicemail (and when she called the office number the voip service is configured to also send calls simultaneously to mobile….means she kept getting voicemail), when i called her cell from my home number the same thing. sms's worked though.

2/ People naturally flocked to Twitter instead of Facebook, I’m seeing as much as 20x the traffic on Twitter as I am on Facebook.

Apart from that we're all fine and back to work :)


Cheers,
Dean

Friday, August 19, 2011

Windows 7 V's Facebook

Wow there must be a huge overhang of people using Windows XP still.

I was reading an article today that hit this home for me there are almost twice as many Facebook users (700m) versus number of Windows 7 users (400m).

I'm not sure what number is more staggering, the size of facebook or the lack of traction in Windows 7.


Cheers,
Dean

Thursday, August 18, 2011

How Hertz OnDemand lost a potential customer

I saw an advertisement for the new Hertz OnDemand service and noticed that they are offering "One Way Rentals" including to the airport and i thought cool, thats one of the problems with the ZipCar membership i currently have, in that you always have to return it back to the location you rented it from.

Ok now i know i'm probably anal about stuff like this but has anyone actually read the Hertz On Demand insurance policy.....?

http://www.hertzondemand.com/newyork/legal/termsandconditions?culture=en-US&service=New%20York
Section XII LIABILITY PROTECTION

Basically it means crash a Hertz On Demand car pay $250 for damage to your car.......
- but if you a personally injured...you're up shit creek
- anyone else riding in the car with you.....you're up shit creek.

Crash a Hertz On Demand car....into another car....
-your liability is $250 for damage to your car AND the other car EXCEPT that your insurance only covers "up to" $10,000 damage on the other car........

**Yep you read that right - crash into anything other than a 3 year old Camry and you are personally responsible for all other damage to the other car other than the first 10k
- eg crash into Nissan Infinity base model FX50 worth $65,000 and if it's written off.....you are responsible for $55,000 worth of the damage to the other car.**

So basically you just bought a car outright because of that trip of 3 hours @ $20 per hour rental......."winner"

Oh BTW seeing the USA is land of the "Lawsuit Crazy" people - anybody in the other car gets injured then the insurance covers them up to a maximum of $50,000 for their personal injury....anything over that...you're up shit creek.

I know that Zip Car has a $750 deductible but at least once you pay that they cover everything up to $300,000 - http://www.zipcar.com/help/generalinfo#insurance_policy

Thanks but i'll pass. I like the idea of one way rentals but not prepared to risk my personal assets to any lawsuit crazy lawyer should i get into an accident.


Cheers,
Dean

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

What a balls up

For anyone on the newtech list who went to NY Video Meetup and noticed I didn’t present……..below is the story.


Basically the organizer got upset that I handed them a usb drive and asked them to load up the pdf I intended to walk through while talking tonight give only to be told powerpoints = self promotion and “we don’t do decks”.

I wouldn’t mind so much but I wasn’t even talking about the http://www.livefanchat.com/ websites – I was showing people attending how to add a Facebook tool to their websites in order to increase engagement times. Totally altruistic in what I was hoping to talk about tonight. (lol I can do plenty of self promotion at times but this wasn’t it).

I don’t know how I was supposed to react when after 5 minutes of offering to show them the pdf in advance, offering to browse the http://www.livecourtchat.com/  website and show them how the chat worked, offered to basically do anything apart from coding the website in front of them which is what I think they were after.

What a balls up I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life.

Anyway, for those of you interested here is how you add the Facebook live stream plugin to your website -
http://www.scribd.com/fullscreen/62529146?access_key=key-kfrs702xvnesbycjx7v

Its not rocket science but this was the tool we used to get 68,483 visitors to our website in 5 weeks with no advertising.



Regards,

Dean Collins
LiveFanChat



________________________________________

From: Dean Collins
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2011 7:02 PM
To: 'Steve Rosenbaum'; 'Filip@magnify.net'
Subject: RE: [web-13] NY Video - July Openings -

Steve,

See below EXACTLY what I offered to talk about tonight – I’ve also attached the 4 emails and although the word demo is used at no point do you ever say no ppt.

I was there to add value to the community and show the people attending how to implement longer engagement times on their websites visitors with live chat.

I’m very disappointed that you equate ppt automatically with self promotion – did you really expect me to code the website in front of the room?


Regards,

Dean Collins
LiveFanChat inc
________________________________________

From: Dean Collins
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2011 12:32 PM
To: 'Steve Rosenbaum'; web-13-announce@meetup.com
Subject: RE: [web-13] NY Video - July Openings -

I can talk about http://www.livecourtchat.com/  if you think it’s appropriate? (though obviously I’d much rather talk about our sports sites though).

Basically I could explain how with only 30 minutes work including domain registration etc we used the #CaseyAnthony YouTube videos to attract the following stats to http://www.livecourtchat.com/

63,936 visitors in the 5 weeks the trial has been running.
We have served 346 man days, 11 hours 35 minutes worth of video (so far).
Most active visitor in the past 5 weeks has been 97.103.223.187 with 413 visits



Regards,
Dean Collins
LiveFanChat inc

________________________________________

From: web-13-announce@meetup.com [mailto:web-13-announce@meetup.com] On Behalf Of Steve Rosenbaum
Sent: Tuesday, July 05, 2011 12:15 PM
To: web-13-announce@meetup.com
Subject: [web-13] NY Video - July Openings -


Hi all, just a quick note to let you know we have a few spots open for demo's, preso's, and cool content creators at this months NY Video Meetup (July 14th, AOL HQ).

So hit me back if you'd like a shot -



Best,

Steve Rosenbaum
Co-Organizer
NY VideoMeetup
steve@magnify.net

Monday, August 15, 2011

ARGHHH Thecus Still havent fixed my N7700

Argh just found out from Thecus they still haven't fixed my N7700 and worse the call center are useless, i was just told by "katie" i should expect a 5-10 day minimum wait!!!


Be aware that the Thecus is based on proprietary hardware and that should something go wrong you are at the mercy of Thecus to get a replacement part.

My N7700 died 2 months out of warranty and they wanted $395 for a replacement motherboard (approx 40% of the cost of the original purchase price).

Because it's proprietary you have no other choice but to cough up unless you want to lose your data forever.

I highly recommend people DO NOT buy Thecus NAS/Raid equipment with out having a standby backup in case your original box goes down.


Cheers,
Dean
BTW for background on my Thecus problems start

here
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/warning-about-thecus-n7700.html
then
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/arghhh-thecus-still-havent-fixed-my.html
and finally
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/finally-got-my-thecus-n7700-back-online.html

Sunday, August 14, 2011

When did ebay remove the rights to leave bad feedback about buyers?

When did ebay remove the rights to leave bad feedback about buyers?

I just had an instance where this guy claimed an item wasnt shipped....i thought no problems i kept the shipping reciept.


Wing Yiu Lau
Buyer's ID:  hkulecturer2011
Buyer's Email:  enjoyvisa06@yahoo.com

YSYSO Prebbiebeadman

2522 Continental Ave
# A9198
El Monte, CA 91733-2733
United States



..... but paypal approved his claim and deducted $13.27 from my account.

here is the kicker...i just realised you can no longer leave negative comments about buyers BUT when you click through and check the buyers profile you will see all these negative comments about him claiming the item was never received (even though they count to postive as thats the only way you can comment now).


http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=hkulecturer2011&ftab=AllFeedback&myworld=true

Don't sell !!!! He will file claim to PAYPAL that item is not received!!! Seller: Member id danylee82 ( Feedback Score Of 91) Aug-11-11 22:15 -- (#120739603206) -- View Item --

nomadicriley (Aug-11-11 10:15): DO NOT SELL! NO COMMUNICATION! FILED CLAIM ITEM
NOT RECEIVED! GET TRACKING #

chunchu2 (Aug-11-11 04:37):This guy is SCAMMER. BEWARE! Make sure you get shipping confirmation for item!-- (#130545259985)

Claimed never received but made no communication attempt. ALWAYS REQUIRE SIGNAT Seller: Member id councelor -- (#230642122678)

steve_goldsmith (Aug-05-11 07:35): BEWARE! Make sure you ship w/ tracking or item "lost in the mail" U loose U pay-- (#120749819967)

mrdibergi (Aug-10-11 22:46): I see I'm not the only one stolen from. Paypal allows this user to continue this-- (#220814253483)

SELLER BEWARE: SCAM ARTIST : WILL SUBMIT CLAIM FOR REFUND : EBAY SCAMMER Seller: Member id xklipze781 ( Feedback Score Of 208) Jul-18-11 15:34  -- (#140559030536)


So in the course of 1 month this buyer has made 7 claims against paypal and they have approved them all.

I wonder how long ebays market cap will stay like it is while they dont allow negative ratings against buyers??

I also wonder how longer before El Monte police department become interested in Mr Wing Yiu Lau?


Cheers,
Dean







1968 Tunnel Rats

OMG if you are even the slightest bit claustrophobic DO NOT Watch "1968 Tunnel Rats" !! - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0970462/reviews

On one hand it's a terrible movie but seriously the tunnel scenes get to you (worse i was watching it on my big screen projector in the dark with all the lights out).

lol, i know i'm going to have trouble sleeping tonight....walking around the house now with all the lights on.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

The value of comments

I was reading the comments in this article - http://allthingsd.com/20110813/heres-what-an-ipad-looked-like-in-1994-video - for me personally there almost enough “wisdom in crowds” to equal the value of the article.

Am i the only one who feels this way or do you read the comments to gather as much information as the article?


Cheers,
Dean

Prime Minister Cameron considers blocking Twitter, Facebook, BBM after riots

lol cracked me up this morning to read this;

Cameron considers blocking Twitter, Facebook, BBM after riots
The government is to meet with Facebook, Twitter and BlackBerry manufacturer RIM to discuss the role of technology in the recent riots -- and on the agenda is the possibility of banning troublemakers from using the companies' social-media services.
Big tipper David Cameron said in Parliament today that he wants to "give the police the technology to trace people on Twitter or BBM, or close it down", Wired reports.
The home secretary, Theresa May, will meet with social-media companies to discuss this week's horrifying scenes in London, Manchester and other cities around the country. The prime minister, who popped back from his holidays to catch the tail-end of the riots, revealed the plans to Parliament today.


lol dont worry lads.......maybe the USA state department will help you out there by sending USA tax payer funded "Internet in a suitcase" that they have developed to fight oppressive regimes.

I hear these were designed to fight exactly these kind of problems.


U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors
The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks
The effort includes secretive projects to create independent cellphone networks inside foreign countries.


The hypocrisy makes me want to barf.
 
 
Cheers,
Dean

 

Friday, August 12, 2011

Wind tunnel magic

I've never seen more than a single person in a wind tunnel, this is too cool. (be sure to watch it in full screen).



thanks to Richard for the find

Cant get enough?? then check out this video the manouveres at the 3:10 mark make chills run up my spine - I'm off to Prague to try this out.




Cheers,
Dean

Can Ron Paul ever be a viable candidate?

Love how Ron Paul schools Rick Santorum about Iran at the 9 minute mark about "BlowBack" (watch from 7mins for the point he's making)

Do you think Ron Paul could ever "massage" his message to get enough votes or is he speaking "too much truth"?

A solution to "Twitter Spam" starts with you

You're probably seeing this message because someone said your twitter account is sending out direct message spam and they asked you to visit this page to see what to do.

Recently a new type of Twitter Spam has started where you'll receive a message like
- Found you in this funny picture lol. i2h.de/b0tb
- LMAO did you see this funny twitter update? i2h.de/b0ta
- Did you really say this about me? one of your followers sent me this tinyurl.com/42j44cw

The problem is that all these links are to a fake Twitter "phishing" site. It looks like Twitter so you enter in your name and password and it then forwards you to the real twitter page so you didnt notice anything particularly wrong.....

However what then happens in a few days is your twitter account will start sending out direct messages to your friends with more of these fake messages.......which they then click and the cycle continues......

So what can you do about it;

1/ Check your outbound direct messages
2/ Revoke access to any applications you dont recognise (account-settings-applications)
2/ Change your password (account-settings-password)

This way the spammers will no longer be able to send out spam messages using your username and password and your account wont be used to capture friends user names and passwords......

Cheers,
Dean

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Niue introduce Star Wars legal tender rocking a cool idea yet again

Whats not to love about Niue?

For new readers i first dealt with them a few years ago when they were looking for a cool open source way to implement a "National mobile phone network", now check out what cool idea they've come up with......

http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2011/08/tiny-pacific-island-mints-legal-star-wars-coins/
Niue is releasing Star Wars coins depicting Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Princess Leia, amongst other characters. And get this: the coins have boxes with sound effects, like a jet taking off for the Millennium Falcon coin.





I'm giving serious consideration that when i win Powerball next week that i'm going to leave the USA and build a megalair connected directly to the fiber and help them become the hippest country in the world as it seems they are open to innovative ideas.


Cheers,
Dean

Turnbull has a brainfart and how he can make the NBN even better

Worthwhile Twisted Wire podcast to listen to about Turnbulls magical plan to capture the NBN doubters votes for the liberals in the next election and rain candy and unicorns for all.




My Comments below;
Phil,

Sorry mate but in your wrap up the point of the NBN isn't "to save money", so there is no point to be gained in having a two tier system where the rural areas get "future proofed" (to use your words), also your proposal doesn't give blanket rights to suburban areas with open access.....basically what you are proposing would be a SNAFU.

As for Turnbull.........how do you know a politician is lying.....his lips are moving.

Mr Turnbull all i have to say to you is you could have split Telstra into a retail wholesale company and only listed the retail when the liberals had the opportunity but you didn't...so sad you lose.....

I hope the NBN contracts have whopping penalties for any events where a new government in power chooses to "rewrite" the rules post election so that it isn't economically sensible to try and change the path we have committed to.

This is definitely an instance where having a longer term stable government will be beneficial for Australia.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

QR related searches

QR code related searches are picking up in a big way

These are just the 35 searches landing on http://www.cognation.net/QR/google_api.htm  today.

There are another 27 searches today that landed on other parts of www.cognation.net/qr


Cheers,
Dean

Whats good for the goose is good for the gander

So when exactly will the USA be sending guns, weapons, support to the rioters in the UK?


The USA has supported financially and politically every other uprising over the last year, even dividing Libya into 2 trying to oust the leader.....

When will David Cameron be tried for war crimes against the young people of London for trying to suppress the rioters like they are threatening for Bashar al-Assad in Syria?

Whats good for the goose is good for the gander.......

BT killed Ribbit

Any thoughts on why they did this? what makes Twillio successful but another company willing to kill off a $100m+ investment in the same technology?



- http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/09/bt-kills-ribbits-web-phone-platform-sends-customers-to-the-fast-growing-twilio/
Ribbit once boasted that it was “Silicon Valley’s first phone company” because of the innovative technology it offered: It was early to develop a very easy way for Web developers to embed code into web pages that allowed users to make phone calls and send other messages while online.













S&P is the canary not the problem

Listening to Meredith Whitney on CNBC, she's the closest commentator i've heard talking about how the S&P downgrade indicates the possible "Fall of rome" though even she kind of shrugged her way through the explanation.
Is it that hard to admit that the USA has to make major changes in order to change its course into becoming a second rate country?
 
What can be done to change the political "system" in the USA? ....And what does the republicans not losing the 6 special elections in Wisconsin mean?
 
S&P is the canary not the problem.




edit: posting this a few hours later....lol dow just crashed 4% led by bank stocks. Apparently a lot of people are unhappy with what Merideth Whitney said - http://www.cnbc.com/id/44087025 - check out the comments.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

Walmart turning off their MP3 store / servers.

"We'll continue to provide support to our customers who previously purchased digital music through Walmart Music Downloads so they may continue to enjoy and manage their existing WMA files."
-
http://mashable.com/2011/08/09/walmart-shut-mp3-store/


Yet again proving that people who buy MP3's with DRM are making a huge mistake.

I rip all my cd's to MP3 and upload them to my media server to be shared across any pc or mobile or home theatre device of my choosing with my rights never to be revoked.

Wait until Apple implement a DRM change to itunes and it will look like a twitter fail whale outage look like a storm in a teacup.

Who should be fired exactly?

Earlier today, a plane flew over S&P headquarters trailing a banner that read:

Thanks for the downgrade, you should all be fired.


Fortune has learned that the person who paid to fly the banner is a Midwestern broker, who woke up last night with the need to vent at those who she believes are leading the nation into an economic morass.
- http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/08/09/about-that-plane-over-sp/



hmmm i didnt get from the article who she thinks should be fired?? surely not the S&P employees....this is hardly their fault and as for blaming Wall Street....you cant blame a snake for being a snake or the dog for peeing on the rug BUT you didnt take him for a walk before you went to bed last night.


I bet this midwestern mother has money in a 401k and doesnt realise she is supporting those snakes by not being active and leaving it to others to make decisions for her.

Pull your money out, dont support people with bonuses you dont feel deserve it, vote wisely next time....thanks for playing (oh and supporting trickle down economics by hiring an otherwise out of work pilot today).


Cheers,
Dean

Sunday, August 07, 2011

Nick Cave cover.....love the view at the end.

Performed by Neil Finn, Kev Carmody and The Australian Ballet, Sarah Blasko, John Bell, Angus and Julia Stone, Paul Kelly and Bangarra Dance Theatre, Teddy Tahu Rhodes and Opera Australia, Martha Wainwright, Katie Noonan and The Sydney Symphony, The Temper Trap, Daniel Johns and the Australian Chamber Orchestra

Make sure you click bottom right resolution setting to watch the 720p version and click fullscreen

Domain seizure



I hope Spain seizes google.com and then turns around saying....it's only a domain,, not that big a deal right??

http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?company=rojadirecta

http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/07/us-judge-wont-return-seized-url-to-rojadirecta-com-absolutamen/#comments

They are following the laws of the country they are living in.....just because it's different to USA laws doesn't mean the USA can seize an Internet domain.

This is the start of a very slippery slope.


Cheers.
Dean

Saturday, August 06, 2011

The Fraud Police

Amanda Palmer commencement speech about the Fraud Police that i found on YouTube -
I love this woman.

Thursday, August 04, 2011

elBulli closed :(

I was watching Anthony Bourdain last night and found out elBulli was closing :(

This was one of the only resturants in the world i really really really wanted to dine in and now i have missed my chance forever.

http://www.elbulli.com/catalogo/catalogo/index.php?lang=en

Median age of the USA

Interesting article the point that struck me was this
The median age in the 2010 Census reached an all-time high of 37.2 years old.

More here - http://www.tvweek.com/news/2011/08/what_madison_ave_knows_that_yo.php

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Warning about Thecus N7700

Just thought i'd give you guys a heads up and a warning for anyone that purchased one of the early Thecus N7700


I was one of the first purchasers of the Thecus N7700 units in the USA. It has now been running in my home office for 27 months (almost 2.5 years).

Last week i came home and noticed it was powered off.

Unplugging the unit and plugging it back in didn't solve the problem, basically all the front LEDS would light up then turn off.

Originally i was thinking....ok power supply has blown, fair enough its been running non stop 24x7 since i first purchased it except for when i upgraded the fans and the ram (and once when we moved houses).

I ordered a new power supply ($71 including shipping from an online 3rd party vendor but a direct Enhance Flex-0130D match)....took 10 mins to install......you can imagine my disappointment when it wouldn't start up with the new power supply.

I replaced the ram, cpu, motherboard battery, everything except the motherboard/backplane....couldn't get it started.

So basically it's diagnosed as something on the motherboard........probably a cheap ass capacitor etc

Called up Thecus tech support, they are asking me to send the whole thing and they'll give me a "quote" to repair it....i insisted on getting a price for replacing the problem motherboard...from the "accounts division" as didn't want them to have my data before knowing what the cost would be.

Turns out they want $395 for the motherboard !!!!

For something that is supposed to be reliable, for something that is supposed to hold critical data, to have it fail only 2 months out of warranty and now have them ask me to pay almost 50% of the original cost just for the motherboard is outrageous.

I've recommended Thecus from day 1 because it was a step ahead of the industry 2 years ago. I've blogged about it, talked about it on the newtech-1 list, reccomended it to clients and friends, but these guys are outrageous to expect you to pay 50% of the cost for something 2 years later.

So for anyone considering purchasing a Thecus N7700......you might want to calculate the cost of the item over a shorter than expected unit life time.


Cheers,
Dean



BTW for background on my Thecus problems start

here
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/warning-about-thecus-n7700.html
then
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/arghhh-thecus-still-havent-fixed-my.html
and finally
http://blog.collins.net.pr/2011/08/finally-got-my-thecus-n7700-back-online.html

Don't let Congress order Internet companies to spy on you

Don't let Congress order Internet companies to spy on you—act now to block the data retention bill:

CNET’s Declan McCullagh reminds us that “the mandatory logs would be accessible to police investigating any crime and perhaps attorneys litigating civil disputes in divorce, insurance fraud, and other cases as well.”
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/violetblue/how-the-new-8216protecting-children-bill-puts-you-at-risk/590


Cheers,
Dean