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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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.