All posts by Mitch Mitchell

I'm an independent consultant in many fields, so I have a lot to share.
technology

Aftermath Of My Firmware Upgrade

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post about the dangers of updating one’s technology. After trying as much as I could to get my webcam’s working again without success I decided it was time to make some significant changes in my technology. Even with this, possibly I still haven’t learned my lesson, although, at the present time, things are fine.

I decided the router just wasn’t coming back after that stupid firmware upgrade and that it was time to buy a new one. I figured that even if it didn’t fix my camera it would be 7 years newer and under warranty, and thus the good people at Cisco would talk to me. Yeah, I went out with the intention of buying another Linksys, and I bought the one to the right here. But not without controversy; you know how my life goes by now. lol

I first went to Best Buy because I knew they had a router on sale. The router that was on sale wasn’t bad, but something in me said not to skimp at this juncture and to make sure I got a 802.11n as opposed to the “g”. The “n” is the latest wireless technology, so why go backwards, right? The difference was about $50, as I was going to get the E2000.

I also decided it was time to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium, since I had some extra cash and had suffered from another Vista lockout; stupid Vista. After I grabbed the router I went to check on the price of the upgrade, which was $119; not bad.

I had to go to the Geek Squad desk, and of course no one was there. I was customer service reps helping other people so I decided to sit on the stool and wait for them to come over. Five minutes later I’m still sitting there, and the customer service reps are to the side having a good time with some kind of conversation. What the hey?

Not in the mood to be totally ignored for once I called out “Hey, customer over here waiting to buy something.” It’s like they never knew I was there; have I happened to mention that I’m not quite a small guy and that my skin tone is a little dark? After they were startled the young woman walks towards me, then disappears. Some seconds later she comes out, followed by a guy who, though he was wearing the white shirt and black tie, looked like one of the worst representatives of customer service that anyone might ever ask for.

I tell him what I want and, of all things, they’re out of the upgrade disk. I mean, come on… how can Best Buy, the top technology store in the country (are there any others) that has almost everything, be out of the one product that most people are still buying more than any other when it comes to software? He tries to talk me into buying the professional version but at $80 more than the upgrade and with nothing in it to entice me, since I’d done my research at home, I declined, left the router there, and went to Staples.

Staples had the Windows 7 Home Premium, so I grabbed that then went to look at the routers. They had the E2000, but they also had the E1500 Wireless-N Router with SpeedBoost, at a cost of $20 less than the E2000. I love the speed boost so it was a no-brainer; that plus the lower cost.

I came home, hooked up the router, and life was great. I’m maxing out my top download speeds, over 20MBPS, and my cameras work again; whew! Happy as a clam, I still decided to wait until later in the evening to load Win 7, when my wife went to bed.

A friend of mine, who’d been trying to talk me into doing this for over a year, said it would take around 45 minutes to load. Sorry folks, but it took my computer 4 hours to load the program. Stuff just seems to happen to me. Luckily I could still get online with the laptop if I chose to but I decided to chill and watch TV instead. Made it through two movies waiting for it to finish, and around 2:45 in the morning it was done. I ran some tests, it worked pretty well, and I was happy.

Next day I started uploading all the security updates and decided to hold off for some time before loading the service pack. Good thing I did because as soon as I loaded the service pack my computer locked up and it wouldn’t let me do anything. It said I had to sign in as administrator but there was no place to logoff to sign in as anything. No programs would open, and nothing would work except to keep shutting it down and rebooting. It wouldn’t even let me run system restore. Finally I got smart, booted up in smart mode, got into the programs area and uninstalled the service pack, and all is right with the world again.

Since then I’ve been scared to try it again, and I also haven’t loaded IE 9; not sure why, but I’m not feeling it. Still, this is way more stable than Vista ever could claim, and the computer will actually shut down and reboot when I ask it to; just amazing.

Why tell this story? Because if it can happen to me it can happen to others, and hopefully folks will think about safe mode booting and other stuff instead of spending hours doing lots of other stuff that probably won’t work.

By the way, major word of warning. Before you load Win 7 or any new operating system make sure you back up “special” files, just in case. What’s special? People always remember to back up documents, images and sound files, but often forget to back up the profiles for their email and browser bookmarks, which are located under the Users area, AppData. Those folders are big, but trust me, if you lose all your email and your bookmarks you’ll be lamenting the fact that you didn’t take caution.

Okay, now I can just wait for Jessica to stop by and pick on me because I don’t have a Mac. lol

Social Media

Is Social Bookmarking Still Worth It?

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Last week I received an email from Delicious announcing that they’d been bought out by the people who originally created YouTube and that things were going to be changing over within 30 days. If I wanted to keep my account and bookmarks I’d have to go in and change things on my own before that time, otherwise I was going to lose it all.

For me, that was pretty much the last straw, of sorts. I wasn’t angry by any of it; not even close. Instead, I was bored and tired because this seems to be a common occurrence lately. These social bookmarking sites change things around, don’t give much of an explanation of the changes, and we’re supposed to roll with it and be happy and on our way.

I was also irritated 18 months ago when Technorati made its drastic change and suddenly no one had any idea what the numbers meant. I think I’ve been back twice since I learned of it, and I had never used the site to bookmark any posts at all as far as I can remember.

I’m wondering if the heyday of bookmarking sites like these has passed or is about to go away in its present condition. I read where people have major gripes about sites like Digg and StumbleUpon all the time, and it seems to be more prevalent and easier to do to just retweet posts to Twitter, something we’ve talked about a lot here lately. Indeed, it’s even easier to click on the “like” button at the bottom of some posts and share in Facebook because you don’t have to go anywhere else to do it. And let’s face it, Facebook is much bigger than all these other sites at this time.

I had a brief conversation with someone on Twitter about sites like Amplify and FriendFeed as well. I asked why it’s not just as good to post a link to one’s own site directly everywhere instead of going through one of these other sites. His belief was that these sites were much larger and could help get the word out easier. My gripe was that one clicks on a link in Twitter thinking it’s taking you one place, instead it takes you to one of these sites, and then you have to click on another link to actually take you to the article you want to read. I can’t be the only one that thinks that’s irritating. If it’s a news aggregator you happen to be visiting, like Alltop, that’s one thing; but sending out links to another site instead of directly to your own content just seems silly.

But maybe I’m fighting the new way because I’m older; I can’t believe that but it’s possible. What thoughts do you have on this topic?

Blogging

Blogging Responsibly Part Two

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If you’ve never been told this before then let me be the first to let you in on a secret that really isn’t a secret. If you’re a blogger you’re one of the most powerful people on the planet. Yes, it’s true; take a moment to let this thought sink in because I’m going to say more. Puff up your chest, smile, and glory in your power, because once you’re done with that I’m going to slightly bust the bubble.

The reason this is part two of blogging responsibly is because back in 2009 I wrote a post titled Take Responsibility For Your Blogging that centered around a woman who got outed because she created a blog and started badmouthing another woman who she may or may not have known all that well. The woman went to court and the court forced Google to tell them who the woman was so that she could file a lawsuit. Of course, this woman then turned around and tried to sue Google for giving up her anonymity but it was tossed out of court.

Whenever any of us writes a review about something, or talks about someone, we’re exhibiting power that we never had before we started blogging. Even if your blog isn’t all that well attended. it will be found by the search engines, and with the proper search terms someone’s going to find you, whether you’re only on the second page or if you’re in the number one position.

Of course, some of us take it to the next level. If we work our blogging community we can spread that message further. If we’re connected to Twitter and put our message out there we can really reach a large audience. Is that audience listening? Maybe not all of them, but many of them will be and if they decide to pass it along it’ll spread even further.

Sometimes with what we have to say it’s not pretty. I’ve talked about the post I wrote on one of our local restaurants that got a lot of response on another blog of mine. Well, yesterday on my business blog I wrote a post titled When You’re Not Respected As A Professional. It was probably one of the most vicious things I’ve ever written, although, since it’s me, you know it wasn’t overly hard. It was basically a lesson about being a professional towards others will calling someone out who has been unethical in our business dealings. If you want to kind of see another side of me, check it out.

Here’s the thing, though. In the entire post I never mentioned the person’s name. I certainly told the story of what happened, and I issued some ultimatums and my position. However, without mentioning a name, no one knows who this person is except that person, and maybe a couple other people I’ve spoken to about the issue locally. In essence, in this instance I called someone out, but only that person, if he ever reads the post, will know who it’s about.

Probably. See, that’s the thing about the internet. You never really knows reading what, and what the ramifications of it will be. Some people let that kind of thing stop them from doing what I did; I don’t have that kind of fear, as you know. Whereas I take precautions on how I might say something, if it needs to be said then I’ll say it. And if it gets personal… well, sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

It reminds me of what one of our blogging friends, Brankica, ran into when she wrote a review on a product called MarketMeSuite that was pretty hard hitting. It was very comprehensive as well, nicely written, and in a way took a lot of guts because the title was, well fairly specific in saying how she felt about it, and you could see the disgust for the product in how she wrote it. And she took some heat from a few people about it, but stuck to her guns. I applaud her for that and I think more people need to be ready to show that kind of honesty and dedication to a position.

However, going after a product in some way and calling out someone are kind of different things. If someone is famous or well known maybe it’s different. There are many people online who make their bones going after top bloggers. But if it’s someone who you know you have some power over because you’re internet savvy to a degree, even if it’s only that you write a blog and they don’t, suddenly the question of responsibility becomes a new thing. Indeed, even telling the full truth sometimes won’t keep you from having to later go further in protecting your right to say what you feel, if you know what I mean.

If you check out that post I linked to you’ll see that it was fairly measured in what I wrote. If I’d been angry I would have written that much differently, definitely gotten personal, and probably wouldn’t have had the mindset to put my statement out the way I did. I definitely know I’d have had to edit myself later on, removing some things while adding others. However, I feel that with that post I got my point across, hopefully showed many others a lesson in teaching someone how to treat you properly, and was still responsible overall in how I blogged about my situation.

Of course others might judge it differently, but so far I’ve had nothing but support and I appreciate that. Most people have written me email instead of commenting on the blog; I find that interesting as well, but sometimes commenters just don’t want their names on something they see as a hot topic.

Do you consider yourself as someone that blogs responsibly? Would you be afraid to write something like that, if you check it out? Or would you go further, not hold back at all, name names, and even more?

Web Stuff

Puppy Cams

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Twelve days ago there was a litter of six puppies that were born. That’s nothing new. It was the third litter of Shiba Inu puppies from the mother, also nothing new. And it was immediately set up on streaming video; also not really new, but new to me.

I found out about it via NBC News, of all things, where it was mentioned 4 days after they were born, and I tracked it back to this streaming video link I’ve been obsessively watching the live link except for this past weekend, when the live feed was taken down for a short period of time and instead we had a few videos to keep us entertained. Of course, once you’re gotten used to watching them live the videos just aren’t quite the same, even though the puppies are still cute as sin.

On the site are other feeds of litters of puppies and probably some kittens somewhere on the site; I’m a puppies guy. It’s been a lot of fun and really interesting to watch. They’re so cute you just want to bite them… lightly of course. I learned that puppies don’t open their eyes from anywhere between 9 days and two weeks; as I’m writing this a day ahead they still haven’t opened their eyes. They didn’t start making any noise until six days later, and it was the cutest thing as well, though I could never figure out which one was making the noise.

They sleep a lot, but never fully restful sleep; my wife and I aren’t quite sure why they keep twitching but they don’t seem overly troubled by it. Of course it must be difficult for any family to deal with multiples and hope they all stay asleep at the same time, and it’s the same here. One will eventually move and start crawling all over the rest of them, looking for warmth I believe as they always seem to be trying to find their way into the middle. At this point it seems one mainly sleeps on its back while one has finally learned how to sit. I just can’t tell any of them apart.

And every few hours the mother pops into the picture, cleans them in some fashion (after seeing that I put away the notion about wanting to bite one lol) and then feeds them.

I have to mention that this UStream site seems to be pretty interesting for anyone who wants to go live with a feed. If you have a camera it looks like all you have to do is create an account, pick a category, and then go for it. I think it’s a family friendly site, so none of those shower people need apply. 🙂

Anyway, I hope you check out the puppies; it’s a lot of fun.

Personal

Ding Dong Osama’s Gone

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I don’t often write two posts in one day but I figured today is an exception, since my other post was planned ahead of time and this one is, well, more timely to what’s going on in the world.

Of course by now everyone in the world older than 12 years old knows that Osama bin Laden was taken out last night. He wasn’t even hiding really; he was “holed up” in a mansion in a little city in Pakistan living pretty well. Had cable, internet access, and both one of his wives and children with him. He was only minutes away from a Pakistani military base and less than 30 minutes from the capital of Pakistan. It seems all those proclamations made by the Pakistan government that there was no way he could be in their country have been made to seem kind of ridiculous.

However, this isn’t a post on beating up on Pakistan. It’s basically a post about what this means, doesn’t mean, and other such stuff. In essence, I’m going to kind of give my opinion on this event because, well, I figure I have something to say. And in case anyone is keeping score, yes I am using this same picture on two different blogs today.

First thought; happy he’s finally been caught, killed, and disposed of. Short and sweet, and not a single American lost his life. I’m happy with the whole thing, and can move on from here.

Second, moving on doesn’t mean not still worry about stupid terrorists. I think Al Qaeda and the Taliban will try to use this as a rallying cry but that will fail. But it fails only because the nutcases that are ready to give up their lives to support the idiotic beliefs of the “rich” radical fake Muslims to get those virgins after they’re gone are already lined up and in place to do whatever it is they’re going to do. From what I’ve been understanding, these morons are more interested in trying to hurt the United States (which then makes no sense for them to bomb their own country but I digress) than in doing it for bin Laden. Many of them have no real idea who he is other than a name someone threw out. If you were Muslim, would you be doing something for Allah or bin Laden? See what I mean?

Third, I have to admit that the only real emotion I had last night was shock. I didn’t see this announcement coming, and once John King of CNN announced it and then everyone seemed to know about it and started telling us how it all went down, which was before President Obama spoke, it became more of a research project for me than anything else. I had no emotion; I wasn’t happy or sad or reflective; I just wanted to know more. This part was just like it was on 9/11/01, only back then I was truly emotionally invested in everything; this time around I turned the TV off at 1:30 and went to bed.

You know what’s funny? Within minutes after the President’s speech the clamor began from some circles that they wouldn’t believe it until they saw pictures of the body. How horrid is that? We have become a world that’s overall immune to seeing sick images of things, one of those things being death. If I have my way I never want to see it again except in the movies. Even there, I’m not into the realism thing; I couldn’t watch Saving Private Ryan for more than 2 minutes, but give me Independence Day, where we really only see an alien get killed, and I’m enthralled. Besides, we all know that the picture will be seen as a fake anyway; look at how many people in this country felt that President Obama’s birth certificate was fake last week after saying they wanted to see it for all these years. More idiocy.

Overall, I don’t think I’m satisfied, which is probably why I didn’t fully rejoice upon this news, even though I’m really glad he’s been taken out of the picture. I’m waiting until I hear they’ve totally crushed the Taliban and have found Mullar Omar. I’m waiting until I hear they’ve captured Al-Zawahiri, the #2 man that now moves up to #1, and the guy we’ve actually seen on TV more often that bin Laden in the last few years. I’m waiting until the day the President says “that’s it; we’re leaving Iraq and Afghanistan because the job is done.”

I might be greedy, but so be it. I’m still happy bin Laden is gone, and I’m happy everyone else is happy. And in my mind the song from The Wizard of Oz is still playing: “Ding dong Osama’s gone…”