Crasymaker

I opened my guitar case on Friday afternoon to get ready for our show and there was my camera. Awesome!

I guess I must’ve gotten sick of it being in my pocket the last time we played and thrown it into my guitar case on stage or something. I never would’ve thought to look there, though, so I’m glad we had two shows so close together.

Anyway, I found it. Sweet.

My camera has been missing for about a week now. Looked in the car. Looked in the house. Looked around at work. Not sure where else to look.

Has anybody seen it? Did I leave it at your house? Are you borrowing it? Am I out a couple hundred bucks?

I kept pretty tight wraps on this guy. If it wasn’t in my pocket, I was probably wasn’t wearing pants. Which makes it all the more odd that I can’t find it.

We’ve got another camera, sure. But it’s a DSLR and therefore, it’s much larger than the pocket-sized Coolpix.

Bummer to the max.

Will Arnett (Arrested Development) is, too.

Does anyone I know have a PS3 and own this game? Probably not. Damn.

Thanks for all the advice. I did not use the financing they offer. Good advice, ya’ll.

We were kinda in a bind for getting a computer as soon as possible so we quickly decided on one of the new iMacs. The choices were pretty simple. We couldn’t get a laptop for two reasons: 1) We already have a Powerbook and 2) We could only afford a MacBook and I’m tech-spoiled and won’t take anything but a MacBook Pro. That leaves us only two choices. Either we get a Mac mini or an iMac (the Mac Pro is to die for but it’s like a million dollars). Once you beef up the Mac mini, it’s about the same price as the baseline iMac so the choice was fairly easy.

Our local Apple retailer was out of iMacs and there was even a waiting list so I drove to the Tulsa Apple Store where there were Macs-a-plenty. There’s a nifty camera built into this thing so I held up a mirror for you. So far, so awesome.

We’re back from Miami and the honeymoon was great. Mostly it was filled with tons of forced relaxation which I didn’t even realize how much I needed. I feel pretty good. Overall, the wedding was a tremendous success, thanks to my wife (that’s the first time I’ve used that word either typed, written or spoken) and all my wonderful friends/family.

What I am not excited about is the fact that I need a new computer…pronto. I have been pretty spoiled over the last few years. The company I used to work for provided me with computers (good ones) and before that, my Dad bought me a Powerbook (good one). When I left my last job, I turned in my computer and since then I have pieced together (literally) a bunch of parts and have been hobbling along with this awful feeling of knowing that the junkheap in my room will soon give out.

And last night it did. So the money that Sarah and I were so excited to put towards our new bathroom and ChillZone (different story) shall now go to straight into the hands of the nearest Apple Store…unless someone can convince me to finance it using the little “Or as low as $29/month!” option underneath the price on their website.

So here’s my question: Have any of you ever done that and how did it work out? Was it worth it? Seth? Tim? Anyone? Thanks.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about our 2-day affair with Dish Network and how it left us a) a lot more educated about Dish Network and b) $199 poorer.

Despite numerous phone calls and arguments with customer service representatives, there was nothing I could do to talk them into refunding the $199 equipment fee for the HD DVR that we had for almost 2 days.

I felt helpless and thought that the least I could do was educate anyone who reads my blog about the fine print details of signing up with Dish Network.

After doing so I felt a lot better and actually forgot all about it until a couple of days ago when I noticed that despite their refusal to refund my money, they went ahead and refunded it anyway! Yup, I was checking my bank account online and noticed a credit for $199 from Dish Network.

So why did they refund my money after repeatedly refusing to do so? I guess they either 1) made a mistake, 2) were lying about not refunding it in hopes of keeping my business or 3) read my blog and got scared to death that the millions of Crasymaker.com readers would spread the word about their hidden traps. As much as I’d love to believe that #3 was the reason, I’m sure it was just an accident.

After a few months of our internet working great, things started getting back to normal at our house (and if you recall, normal ain’t so good).

Anyway, our first step in getting rid of Cox was to switch to satellite TV and then we’d get DSL and be done with our “friend in the digital age” for good. After shopping around and getting some advice from friends, we decided to try Dish Network.

We discovered that there are three things you need to know if you’re considering Dish Network that we didn’t find out about until after we were signed up, installed and ready to go.

1. If you want a true HD DVR, you must demand model #622
When I called and asked for an HD DVR in the main room and a regular receiver for the bedroom, the woman happily set up my account and even repeated my order back to me. However, when the guy showed up to install our system, he had no HD DVR with him. Instead, he had an HD receiver and a non-HD DVR that he was going to put next to our TV (that’s TWO boxes) and when I asked him if I’d be able to record in HD, he said, “No, but you don’t want to do that anyway because HD takes up too much hard drive space.” Wrong answer, dude. If I’m gonna live with two boxes instead of one, I’d better be able to do MORE than I was with Cox, not LESS. So I called customer service and they said I’d have to pay a $199 non-refundable fee for model #622 if I wanted a true HD DVR. I argued for a while and got the fee credited to my account and scheduled a new installation date a few days later.

So far, so good okay.

2. Although Dish Network does provide your local channels for $5/month, they do not provide them in HD in all cities
I found this out the hard way after the guy left and nothing on ABC, NBC, CBS or FOX was in HD. This isn’t a terrible thing since not everything that comes on those channels is broadcasted in HD but there are a few things that are such as Lost and NFL Football. For us, those are pretty important pieces of programming that Cox already provides in HD so we weren’t willing to downgrade those channels.

At this point, we started to regret signing up.

3. You must have an active (land) phone line or you will be charged an extra $4.99/month
We woke up the morning after our install only to discover an error message stating that we needed to connect an active phone line to our satellite box in order to continue watching television. Well, that wouldn’t necessarily be such a problem if we had an active phone line but since we don’t, I figured I’d better call customer service again. Wanna guess what they told me? Sure enough, you must have a phone line connected to the boxes at all times or else you will be charged an extra $4.99/month and you won’t be able to order any of the tons upon tons of Pay-Per-View programs that Dish Network offers. Somehow, I had talked to 3 customer service representatives and two different installation technicians without any of them saying anything at all about a phone line. I even told the woman that I placed the order with that I only had a cell phone after she asked for my home phone number. That would’ve been the perfect time to tell me that I’d be facing extra charges, now wouldn’t it?

By now, we’d had enough so we cancelled our service completely…but not without Dish Network keeping our $199 non-refundable HD-DVR fee that they were going to credit to my account if we had stayed with them.

The moral of the story is this: Dish Network might not be right for you so you’d better make sure it is before you sign up for an 18-month contract. If recording shows in HD is important to you, it’s gonna cost you $199. If having ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX in HD is important to you, then you better make sure you ask if those channels are provided in HD in your city. And finally, if you don’t have a phone line, they’re gonna charge you a fee and you won’t be ordering any Pay-Per-View shows.

If none of those things are a problem for you, then go for it. They’ve got a ton of standard definition channels, a ton of HD channels (some really cool ones, too) and it’s way cheaper than Cox.

I’m sorry for such a long post but I feel like I owe it to everyone who I told Dish Network about. I know some of you were actually considering switching after I talked to you about our new setup. Choose wisely, ya’ll. Consider us your guinnea pigs.

UPDATE: A few weeks after posting this, I noticed a $199 refund credit to my bank account from Dish Network. Read more about it here.

Well, we knew it was coming but I don’t think anyone expected it to be this cool. The iPhone arrived this morning and as a result, Apple’s stock has already risen 7% in just a few hours.

I’ve only given the site a quick once-over but I cannot believe how groundbreaking this new device is. There isn’t a single phone on the marked that even begins to compare to the iPhone and I wish like hell that I owned some Apple stock when the rest of the world takes notice.

I would highly suggest heading over to the iPhone page and taking a few minutes to see how your new phone works because there are just way too many cool features for me to list. I’m still trying to wrap my head around a few of them.

It will set you back $499 (4GB) and $599 (8GB) which may sound steep but then again, you’re getting 1) the most advanced cell phone on the market, 2) a wide-screen iPod which also happens to be the most advanced MP3 player on the market and 3) a Wi-Fi/EDGE/Bluetooth device that not only features true internet browsing (not some dumbed-down cell phone browser) but will also handle all of your e-mail.

The catch? It’s only available through Cingular. Good thing I switched from Sprint a couple of years ago…

It’s that time of year again when I get a little cash and go out to buy something sweet as a reward for working real (too) hard for 12 months straight. This year, however, my lady is helping with the cost since this was a big purchase and is really for both of us (unlike last year’s).

So what did we go and buy? A new TV! A 42″ Sharp Aquos LCD HDTV to be exact. Not bad. I had the HD channels turned on today and they look saweet. Too bad there aren’t more HD channels out there.

Any of you guys got HDTVs yet? What service do you use? You love it?

In case you missed all the Apple excitement today or you’re just plain confused about all the new announcements, I figured I’d take a few minutes to fill ya’ll in (show you how much time I had on my hands tonight) on some of the latest buzz.

There weren’t any major changes to the regular iPod but it did get a few enhancements and the prices were lowered by 50 bucks. New features include a 60% brighter display and a 75% longer battery life. They now play really cool games, sport a new search feature, include new headphones and for the first time in digital music player history, they support gapless playback which should resolve that annoying gap of silence between “The Great Gig in the Sky” and “Money” when listening to Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon”. Of course, it still supports video playback and can store and display your entire iPhoto collection (unless you’re a photo freak and have more than 25,000 photos). Prices are $249 (30GB) and $349 (80GB).

The new iPod nano is now made of aluminum and comes in 5 cool colors. Like it’s older brother, it also received more storage, a brighter screen, longer battery life (24 hrs), the search feature, new headphones and gapless playback. Plus, Apple somehow managed to make it even thinner which, if you’re ever seen one in person, you’ll know is quite extraordinary. Still no video playback for the iPod nano (you’d need very little eyes to watch if it did) but it does hold up to 25,000 photos. Prices are $149 (2GB, silver), $199 (4GB, 4 colors) and $249 (8GB, black).

The iPod shuffle got a complete redesign. It’s now less than half the size as before making it the world’s smallest MP3 player. It’s got an aluminum case with a built-in clip making it more durable and wearable than ever along with 1GB of storage, a dock and of course, new headphones. What else? It’s only $79.

For more information or if you happen to be in the mood to drool all over your keyboard, head over to Apple.com and start making your Christmas wish list.

You may or may not know about tomorrow’s highly anticipated Apple press event but it sure has got the rumors stirring like crazy.

Basically, if you’re not aware of it, there are a few possible announcements coming tomorrow morning which if the rumors hold up, will certainly have all the internets a buzzin’.

The biggest and most probable is the iTunes Movie Store which some think will offer $9.99 movie downloads. If this happens, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it combined with the iTunes Music Store (which already offers TV shows) under a new name.

If the movie store is announced, it would be a prime opportunity to unveil an updated iPod, possibly a completely new widescreen version but probably just one with a larger hard drive for holding all that movie goodness.

There are plenty of other rumors but the one I’d be most excited about is a new Airport Express that handles video instead of just audio. That would rule because then you could play all those movies and tv shows you’ve downloaded on your TV without the need for any wires.

I know a few people whose iPods are seriously outdated and are anxiously awaiting a new version before upgrading. Maybe tomorrow your wait will be over?

Cory Doctorow’s latest article for Information Week is filled with excellent points about how the iTunes Music Store is changing (in his opinion, in a bad way) the music business. You might be interested in reading it if you’ve been following any of my posts about the iTMS.

I’ve gone on and on about how people don’t understand that all you have to do to get iTMS songs onto another music player is to burn them to a CD and then re-import them. Cory doesn’t see this as a good solution, though, because he says that you have to re-enter all that metadata like song title, album title and artist.

I almost wrote a post about how this isn’t true because every time I re-import songs that I’ve bought from the iTMS, all of the metadata comes in with it. However, I only buy full albums whereas most people buy individual songs, and iTunes can recognize a full album but not a CD with all sorts of random songs on it so Cory is actually right. If you’ve bought a ton of songs from the iTMS and you decided to switch to a different music player other than an iPod, it would definitely be a tedious process to re-import and re-enter all of that metadata.

But in my opinion, the point still stands that if you don’t want to run the risk of not being able to quickly transfer your songs onto a non-Apple iPod, then maybe you shouldn’t be buying music from a store that only sells songs that play on an Apple iPod.

Just as I was about to give up on Cox Communications, they completely surprised me by sending out the nicest and most genuinely concerned repairman I’ve ever encountered in my life. No kidding, ya’ll. This guy came out and vowed to fix our problem come hell or high water (in not so many words).

First he replaced the caps on all the coaxial cables in our house. He came back the next day to see if that had solved the problem, which it didn’t. Then he left us a new router to test out overnight to see if it was our Linksys WCG200 that was causing so many outages, which it wasn’t. Then he replaced some stuff on the poles outside our house to see if they were the culprit, which they weren’t. Finally on the fourth day, he spent most of the afternoon running brand new wiring from our house to the pole. Guess what…it worked!

We haven’t had a single problem since that day and I couldn’t be happier. In fact, the internet is actually faster than before. Not bad, Cox. Not bad at all.

Have you ever bought polaroid film? If so, did you get upset because it didn’t fit into a 35mm Kodak camera?

How about this one: If you had a Schick Mach III razor and you used all of the blades up, would you consider purchasing a pack of Gillette Fusion blades and crossing your fingers in hopes that they would fit even though they’re Gillettes and not Schicks?

Finally, let’s say you are a Cingular customer and you want a cool new ringtone for your Cingular phone. Would you entertain the idea of heading over to the Sprint website and trying to download one of their songs to your phone even though you’re not a Sprint customer?

I would be very surprised if any of you answered “yes” to any one of these questions. Therefore I can’t understand why people are so pissed off over the fact that songs purchased from the iTunes Music Store cannot be played on a non-iPod music player, especially since it isn’t even entirely true.

The iTunes Music Store is specifically designed to give iPod owners a way to easily purchase, download and play music on their iPods. ON THEIR iPODS! Not on their Creative Zen nano players. Not on their Phillips portable MP3 players. Not on their SanDisk digital audio players and certainly not on their Oregon Scientific 256MB MP120 Waterproof MP3 Player with up to 8 hours of playback time players.

These kinds of walled gardens have been around for years. Whether they are good practice or not is another discussion but whether they work or not and whether or not we have been used to them for a long time is a completely ridiculous argument.

Besides, there are plenty of possible reasons behind this kind of restriction. It is fairly common knowledge (or should be) that the record labels have a big hand in defining the terms of the DRM that is attached to music purchased on online music stores.

The fact that Apple offers a convenient way of purchasing music for their iPods is a luxury that we should not take for granted. But then again, so is the fact that you can burn that music to a CD and then re-import it which completely strips the song of all DRM (enabling you to put it on any MP3 player you want).

But most of us are too busy complaining to figure that one out…