My brother, who lives near Atlanta (United States), visited an Apple store last week to check out some odd behavior with his MacBook. The technician noticed that his battery has physically expanded, and needed replacing. Seeing that my brother’s computer was covered by AppleCare, he said, “Hey, let’s take the opportunity to see whether anything else needs fixing/replacing, since your AppleCare expires next month.” As a result, my brother walked away with a new battery, trackpad, keyboard, and display.
Continue reading →ThiSUX
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Jun 10
Public bureaucracy.
Recently, some bureaucrats in Germany decided that business owners who employ contractors — even those, like me, who’ve been in business more than a decade — should provide certified proof that they (the owners) are not criminals.
Continue reading →17
Jun 10
And so it begins with Orange — Crazy iPad experience.
After an unbelievably bad experience trying to get an iPad microSIM from Vodafone, I decided to change gears and go for a pre-paid microSIM from Orange, as advertised on their special iPad web page. I visited a local Orange store, bought the microSIM, loaded it with 50€, took it home, installed it in the iPad, and verified that it all worked.
Great! …until I decided to confirm the 50€ balance, and that’s when things started heading south with Orange.
Continue reading →7
Jun 10
The nightmare that is Vodafone España — Ordering an iPad microSIM
I am about to tell a story that, for me, is simply surreal. If it hadn’t actually happened to me, I probably wouldn’t believe it. It’s about my recent attempt to acquire a microSIM card for my iPad, from Vodafone España.
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Apr 10
How am I doing today, asks JungleDisk.
Having long switched to better solutions — e.g. Dropbox and Backblaze — I’d kept my JungleDisk account around because, uh… well, I’m not really sure anymore. Anyway, that’s besides the point. This morning, I logged into the JungleDisk billing interface to change my billing method from one AMEX card to another AMEX card. Simple enough, right? Wrong. Continue reading →
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Mar 10
User interface review of the new and improved Securitas Alarm.
A few weeks ago, a Securitas salesman popped into the office, offering deep discounts should we be interested in upgrading our three-year-old alarm system. Given three years of technological advances, my expectations were high, and Securitas certainly delivered. In addition to the old features, we’ve now got magnets on the entrances, and their latest, easy-to-use alarm panel — which you’ll have to see to believe. Continue reading →
20
Jan 10
Spanish quality
When possible, I try to spend my money in the local economy. For that reason, I decided to try buying my nutritional supplements from a Spanish provider — masmusculo.com — instead of the UK provider I habitually use. (You’d think it’d be cheaper to order in Spain, but it’s not; even including shipping from England to Spain, it’s cheaper to buy in the United Kingdom.) Today, my order arrived… Continue reading →
