Tech

Gmail

Its still all the rage, everyone seems to want a Gmail account..

And, now, thanks to Judi over at Mom at Home Design, I’ve got one to play around with. The service does seem to be stuck in perpetual beta, and I’m not sure how thrilled I am with the prospect of Google’s software scanning all my email to deposit ads in there. The least they could to is provide commission off of any sales generated by click-thru of those ads. Oh well..if nothing else, given some of the topics my friends and I talk about via email…. it ought to be real interesting to see what ads they decide to stick in.

I’m hoping that services like Gmail, along with Yahoo and Hotmail having expanded what they offer for free to everyone will help push Apple to make a few changes to their .Mac service. Granted, I’ll keep using it without any changes, since its so easy to use for publishing pictures of Kael, and this blog… while I know I could learn what I need to know to host the server myself (assuming I ever get an ISP besides Comcast) its much faster and easier to let Apple do all the work.

Just Stuff

Interesting Headlines

A few news articles caught my eye today…

The first one: [cnn.com] is funny…apparently some guy was getting ready to shoot some puppies (that’s not the funny part…) and he was carrying two of the puppies, when one of the pups got ahold of the trigger..and shot the guy in his wrist. So..let that be a lesson to all you puppy shooters out there.. the dogs are starting to shoot back!

The second one: [cnn.com] just pisses me off. Bushmaster has settled a lawsuit that was holding them partly responsible for the DC Sniper shootings (the gun the snipers used was made by Bushmaster).. this is the first anti-gun lawsuit that has resulted in any type of award going to the plaintiffs… and I’d have to imagine it won’t be the last one now. I just have one question.. how come none of these idiots that are suing gun companies for making guns, are suing car companies for making cars? It’s just as easy (actually, easier.. you don’t have to be 21 to buy a car) to kill someone with a car… how come the parents of the girl injured in Fort Collins while car surfing aren’t filing a lawsuit against Buick for not including hand/foot holds on the top of the car to prevent car surfers from falling off? why don’t the parents of these kids sue the manufacturer for making a car that can roll over?

What ever happened to personal responsibility? its not Bushmaster (or the gun dealer)’s fault that Malvo and his buddy were shooting people.. it’s Malvo and his buddy’s fault. These type of lawsuits are as stupid and frivolous as the ones filed by fat people blaming McDonald’s for making them fat (after all, McDonald’s has such a history of holding a gun to people’s heads and forcing them to order the Super Sized meals and then making them eat the whole thing)

Makes me think Shakespeare was right “Kill all the Lawyers” (no..I don’t remember which play/character said it) It’d definitely cut down the number of these stupid lawsuits

Site Stuff, Tech

iTMS Affiliate Program (Take 2)

Got my reply back from the iTunes Music Store folks…

And as you can see by the pretty little iTunes icon on the right side there… I’m now an official member of the iTunes Music Store affiliate program.. so, either I’m more popular then I thought… or the iTMS folks have got some pretty low standards! (just kidding iTMS guys! I’m sure you have some amazingly high standards for what sites you let into the program!)

So.. if you were planning on making a purchase through the iTMS, I’d ask you to make it by clicking on the link to the right, which lets me get the commission for any purchases you make within 24 hours of clicking on the link. If nothing else, I’d like to try and make enough to pay for the registration fees for the kaelkicksass.com and theteppers.net domains… who knows.. if someone follows that link and buys one of everything.. I could get a decent start on Kael’s college fund

Tech

Buy.com Sucks part 3

The saga comes to a conclusion! (I think)

So.. I started the dispute process with my bank on the 2nd. This morning, buy.com finally posted the credit to my bank.. which I suppose means I should call my bank and let them know the dispute is no longer needed, since the merchant finally managed to figure out how to issue a refund.

On the plus side.. I appear to have found the secret to getting buy.com to actually do something.. if you want your order to ship, cancel it.. apparently in buy.com speak ‘cancel’ translates out to ‘begin shipping process’. If you want your money back… go through your bank and dispute the charge. I suppose, that if I were ever going to buy anything from them again, this would be useful information.

Not surprisingly, given buy.com’s incompetence, I have yet to receive the much promised ‘hey..your credit has been approved’ email that I was repeatedly told would be sent as soon as the ‘request’ for a credit was approved…. figures..they can’t even get an auto-generated email correct!

I’m glad the whole deal is done.. and I’ve definitely learned my lesson.. I’ll never buy anything from buy.com again! (Nor will I allow any friends/family members/people on the street to buy from them)

Just Stuff, Tech

TiVo & Netflix

An interesting rumor is making the rounds…

Both companies are denying it..but, according to Newsweek, Netflix and TiVo are about to announce a partnership that will allow people who subscribe to both TiVo and Netflix to download the movies they want to watch, instead of having to wait for them to be mailed out…. if its true…its the perfect couch potato subscription…

If it’s true…it’ll be interesting to see how they work out the details (how long do you ‘rent’ the movie for…how do you ‘return’ it, how many times can you watch it.. etc..)

Now…if TiVo would just release a stand-alone HDTV unit… I’d get one and be a happy camper…

Apple

iTunes Music Store Affiliate Program

The other day, Apple introduced the iTMS affiliate program

Where webmasters can submit their site for approval, and if approved any purchases at the iTMS inside 24 hours (made by following a link on the affiliate website) result in a 5% commission being paid. After seeing some of the sites that have been approved, I figure it couldn’t hurt to try.. so I applied to be an iTMS affiliate today. Just waiting to hear back, and see if I got approved (hopefully!).

The same day, Apple announced that iTMS has sold 125,000,000 songs, further extending its lead as the market leading (and best!) online music store!

Apple

It’s Comng!

Finally! Aspyr has announced that Knights of the Old Republic has gone gold!!!

It was supposed to be released in the middle of August.. that didn’t happen though… Today, Aspyr announced that the most anticipated game of the Fall (at least…by me!) has gone gold and is expected to be in stores on the 19th of September…. I know what I’m buying myself as a post-labor day, “hey, it’s almost October” gift!