Phone Fun IV: A New hope.

Posted on by Forge77

In our last episode of phone fun I had got an HTC TOUCH , Well…… That didn’t work out so well. Exactly 360 or so days the HTC touch Starting having issues with the screen and Calls.  Now, from trials and tribulations with sprint I learned the last thing you want to do is call *2 on your phone.  Doing that is like crank calling the deathstar while its in orbit around your planet.  Sprint Over the phone support basically told me I had to buy a new phone. Which I don’t have money I can magically pull out of my ass.   So I did the next best thing, I headed down to a sprint corporate store.  Since I pay my phone bill locally by walking into these stores I figured I’d get a better idea of what to do. After a short talk they sent us down to Boxboro Massachusetts.  They have a repair depot up that way, anyways  after a 30minute drive and a 30 minute wait they told me the phone was shot(radio was damaged).  After a short wait they sent me on the way with another HTC Touch(#2), After getting that home with-in a few hours the audio on that phone sounded like a cat barfing in your ear.   Called *2 and sprint offered to send out yet another HTC touch(#3). They shipped it overnight which was very nice and it arrived on monday.

I had that phone no more than 48hours when the phone would just lock and gave a screen of death, Now I am fairly careful with phones and use screen protectors and such. After wasting 3 of them I was not exactly happy.  That Phone went back to sprint. To make a long story short, I’ve gone through alot of HTC touches and as Far as my last post about this phone in 2008 . How does the phone rate up?

A bit of a learning curve which kind of surprized me but none the less I like it so far. As far as my requirements for a phone

Requirements for a Phone

  1. to make calls
  2. The Phone is configurable
  3. good battery life
  4. add/make ringtones
  5. Applications that don’t cost a years pay for a small 3rd world country
  6. Durable

Well… After a year with one phone and 1 to 2 months on 4 others.

1 The phone defiantly passes on. For a refurbished HTC-Touch that is debatable.

2. Again you can’t knock the touch on this, its extremely configurable once you figure out the interface.

3. battery life… That is actually pretty good.  Although using the GPS Or other intensive options I would recommend a car-charger.

4. You can make ringtones till you puke with this thing rather than jumping through hoops trying to convert soundfiles into strange formats.

5. As Far as applications go, you can find most of the common apps you need on the phone although I’d recommend downloading Google maps. With enough looking you can find pretty much any app you want for the phone but, this is where i’d give the Iphone or palm pre a small advantage with an “app store” for centralized buying of applications although the Iphone is more like Locked into the app store which I believe you can not install any 3rd party apps w/o jailbreaking the phone.

6. Lastly durability I seriously question, as the phone did make it One year. as Far as the refurbished HTC-Touches.. Those sucked ass.. there’s not enough swears in the English language to say what shit the HTC Touch Refurbs are. I may of run into a bad line of them but that is hard to believe that i’d of gone through that many phones.

as far as my current phone, Sprint has offered me a HTC Diamond,  Again i leave this post open till the next time I come back to phones.

As far as sprint is concerned – It seems they are OK as far as support as long as you get the right person.

I’ve quit smoking* (part I)

Posted on by Forge77

Since Feb 8th I’ve not actually smoked one cigarette.  Although, I digress to say  that I’ve not quit cold turkey.  I’ve done cold turkey quits twice in my life and people say I become Hulk angry when I do.  My Cousin had bought in e-cigarette which i was highly skeptical about when I had first seen him with it but, after 1 month it passed what I had called the Timmy test.

At the beginning of the month i had purchased an E-cigarette after watching my cousin and friend use one with no issues with leaving the conventional cigarette behind.  when I had received ordered this it was actually  February 1st, little did I know I’d end up in the perfect storm of clusterfuck.  When I had ordered from Volcano there shipping department had moved so my order was delayed, not only that there shipping computers had crashed.  Usually USPS tracking takes a few days to update- You can often receive packages while tracking says otherwise. After stalking the mailman for a week – I started to email support for volcano, to which they will actually find time in there day to reply to you, well to find out my package was like alice in wonderland.  Figuring i was in for the long haul I had made a second order. which in the end that was the best thing i could of done with out realizing it.

E-cigarettes are a different experience of sorts but it keeps the feeling the same so to speak.  When you have smoked for a long time and a lot of people that fail quitting end up smoking again because of the fact they try to treat the chemical end of smoking without treating the mental end of smoking. If you have smoked and you have quit you’d know what i speak of. if you quit its best to find a bic pen or some other object in your hand to emulate that cigarette or you will be beyond hulk angry and quite possibly rip some walls out.

I’ve put the title as “i’ve quit smoking*” but I used the barry bonds method of scoring here Notice the *.  Because to a point i am still getting some level of nicotine, but No fire ,no combustion, no dirty ashtrays , No butts.  I am quite happy with this E-cigarette after a rough start from the company I bought it from.

Time: Top 10 most dangerous foods. ORLY?

Posted on by Forge77

Every now and than I find an article that just makes me go WTF. It starts off .

Top 10 Most Dangerous Foods

The American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement on Feb. 22, recommending the labeling and possible redesign of hot dogs to prevent choking deaths among children. Here’s a look at 10 risky foods

So it basically starts off as “Since hot dogs killed some amount of people, Here are foods that we think are dangerous and cause controversy. but the list gets rather silly. Here’s tonight’s top ten list…. (seriously with the foods they include David letterman should announce this one. Bold Stuff is Comments by me.)

Eat at Your Own Risk

1. Hot Dogs:  Common sense issue. CHEW YOUR FOOD!
2. Fugu: blowfish? are you kidding me. how many times in your life do you eat this one?
3. Ackee: Random Food that You’ve likely never eaten
4. Peanut Panic: This shit answers itself. Notice its Peanut Panic and not nut allergies.
5. Leafy Greens: does not belong on list- wash your damn food first , I know this doesn’t work for restaurants. Unless of course its killer tomatoes.. than run
6. Not Exactly Sweet as Pie: Rhubarb… And this one gets the stupid award. Eating  the leaves can lead to poison but the article misstates a certain issue. You’d Have to ingest 11pounds of it in order to die.
7. Tuna Tremors : You can stop sucking on broken thermometers and start eating tuna!
8. Cassava: This one I’m leaving alone.

9. Coffee: Coffee…… Really? Just wait for it.. Lets pour on the stupid, From the article “. In 1992, McDonald’s had some trouble when 79-year-old grandmother Stella Liebeck of New Mexico sued the fast-food company because a scalding cup of 170° coffee caused third-degree burns over 6% of her body, including her thighs, buttocks and groin. Liebeck was awarded $2.86 million (the amount was later reduced in a settlement).”
10. Mushrooms: No no lets go back to 9 , everything else on this list is either, use common sense, or stupidity.

The Fact they even put coffee on the list and the reasoning is beyond me.  But, what they point out coffee for being dangerous is ridiculous.   Say! Lets open this scalding hot coffee between my legs! Yes. that’s the idea you want to bring to your readers.  I know… this was before the time of the whole cup warning thing.

Every coffee cup sold these days has that warning, Call it common sense but, apparently some people don’t have it.  Who knew that hot coffee was hot? Shit whats next Water is wet? I know I’m being a bit angry with this one and yes someone did get severely injured.  But to put a warning out on coffee being one of the most “Dangerous” foods.  Also “Leafy Greens” What is the times trying to do make everyone so neurotic over food that they end up in a Psych ward? They go out of the way to explain how ZOMG bad these things are but do no explain what good these things do.

In this article there is an AMAZING amount of disregard for any sort of good practice in writing. Half-asses sources half truths and willingly causing fright. Also most of the issues are from the retail side of things as in bad preparation, questionable practices and such. Not many people are going to be going “Honey LETS CUT SOME BLOWFISH TONIGHT WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

As Far as the times. They wonder why print is going out of style like the dinosaurs.

Review: The Sims 3 & the state of EA games

Posted on by Forge77

I’ve written about EA games in the past and every now and than I will pick up a game from EA just to see where they are at as far as quality. I purchased the Sims 3 On sale after Christmas, since in January there are not many A level games around this time that appeal to my gaming sense.

Out of the box the sims 3 is very familiar in terms of game play. Its one of the few games that EA was smart enough not to change the core game play unlike any EA sports game.

Most EA sports game needlessly complicate the fuck out of the controls. I bought NHL 2009 out of the bargin bin for $4.99 for one reason on the box it listed “Play with classic controls”. After installing the game I played the game for about a week. The game itself is barely passable, but the game itself has some very poor coding. for one you can not play widescreen, you are stuck with standard 4:3 resolutions. If you try to change the control options theres no real way to customize the controls.

The sims 3 after playing for awhile is almost refreshing in the sence of quality from EA. But there are a few glaring things. In order to patch the game you’re almost forced to install EA’s Download Manager. The EA download Manager is pretty much a useless version of steam. Steam is Extremely well thought out but the EA download manager just feels like its an advertising program more than a game content client.

Manual patching for the Sims 3 is possible though but its incredibly aggravating.  Since you can’t Patch to the current version from the retail disk without some hunting around. Since the EA support site does not have the patches on the site you have to go look around for patches, As i’ve found the patches.  You can’t patch directly to the latest release version  and have to download a few patches to get to the point of the patch you want to be at.

The game however is an improvement over the sims 2, although when I play the sims its not exactly in the sense of playing the sims its more like How to drive your sim mad in 3 easy steps.  Theres less micromanagement in the sims3, unlike 2 where you cant just let it run all night to see what chaos comes about.  to me its like an ant farm  you give it a shake once in a while to see what the hell happens.

I think the most annoying fact of the sims 3 is it feels unfinished out of the box, and i didnt figure out why till I actually read the insert that came with the game. EA gives you 10$ to buy random stuff at the sim store, truthfully i find this annoying. its worse than a DLC. Why would you go online to buy a chair for a game or some other virtual furniture the prices are a little high in terms of value per dollar, most stuff is 75cents or a dollar but still, The online store should be a place to buy items and not to finish a game that is missing items.

as for the sims its ok with a few glaring issues that bug me. Patches/Unfinished feel out of the box / and no way to let the sims run on there own for a long period of time.

Fun With Teva shoes

Posted on by Forge77

In the early half of 2009,  I purchased Teva aravalli mens shoes. For years I have worn Teva shoes since Timberland shoe quality went downhill.  Now since I do not drive a car, quality of shoes are important to me.

Around Mothers Day in 2009 I purchased these shoes and out of the store they were very comfortable. but, after a month these shoes started to fall apart which aggravated me.  The glue to hold the sole together had was very inferior due to the fact that the more you walked the more that the sole separated from the shoe.

After I had returned the first pair I figured that the shoes were a fluke.  In june I the second pair and those too fell apart in no time.   Since I needed shoes and the older Teva shoes I had some holes in them, the retailer I bought the shoes from did everything in there power to help me out, but to no avail. finally I had emailed Decker shoes the parent company of Teva figuring that i’d get no response. About a week late to my surprise I received an email back

Hi Mike

Thanks for your email.  Honestly.  We really appreciate you taking some time to connect with us and share your feedback.

First, I’m sorry to hear of your most recent issues with Teva products.  You are absolutely correct in your frustration, we definitely owe you a huge apology and a new pair of shoes.  I hope you will accept both from me and know that I will help in finding a resolution.  Teva prides itself on high performance, quality and, as a sign of our camaraderie, our customer service.  I’m sorry to hear we fell short in these department for you.

As you may know, the Aravalli is no longer available in our current line.  However, I would be happy to replace your shoes with a pair from our current selection.  I would like to offer something like the Riva Leather eVent or the Riva eVent.  You can check both out here.  If these aren’t exactly what you’re looking for, just let me know if something else stands out.

Once you choose a style, please let me know your size and address for shipping.  I’ll go ahead and get these out as soon as possible.  Also, for all of your troubles, I would like to also extend an offer for a pair of our Mush flips.  I know it’s starting to change seasons but year-around these are a definitely a treat for your feet.

Thanks again Mike for reaching out.  We’re glad to hear from you and I apologize again, on behalf of Teva, for your troubles.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

jaime

Jaime Eschette

Teva Public Relations

Goleta, CA

(###) ###-### x1178

 please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

After a few email exchanges Teva sent me a pair of Teva Riva Event shoes, These shoes are amazingly comfortable, A little tight at first but after you break in the shoes. they are very light, durable, and weatherproof. I really have to hand it to Teva/Deckers shoes for helping me out and fixing this problem with my shoes.  Really as far as shoes go I never thought of Teva for shoes, I used to use Timberlands for shoes but, as there quality went downhill I was happy to find this brand.

is 1080p Really worth it?

Posted on by Forge77

Since buying a monitor with a HD tuner  in march I’ve been watching some tv but a pattern has emerged that I’ve noticed.  The lack of 1080p tv, Even though that all the major providers say they have HD , it seems like the definition is about as tangible at best.  There is lack of 1080p on tv itself.

Since the introduction of  “HD” there seems to be a downhill slide of quality of the programing what was on tv a year ago seems to be in a better quality than today’s HD.  Mostly you notice the highest quality in sporting events. but if you look at a sporting event today you’d notice that there either using compression or a lower quality camera than before.

I have to laugh when it comes to the sale of a TV with the push of “OMG IT DOES 1080p!” In most cases with that the difference between 1080i/p 720p is going to be barely noticeable. Best Buy has there 1080p caroling commercials on lately and it begs this question…

Is 1080p worth it?

personally my opinion is NO unless all you do is watch movies all day as far as a tv is concerned. You can get along just fine with a 720p TV (which will likely do 1080i) . The HD market is a bad place theres alot of market speak that would leave ANYONE confused.

If you buy a TV to watch TV the best thing to do is save yourself perhaps hundreds of dollars by getting a 720p tv , if your the mad movie watcher or have a PC hooked to the TV 1080p is the way to go.

EA … Its not in the game anymore and the PC and the $$$$$ (for .99 cents you can buy the letter z in this post)

Posted on by Forge77

EA for years has been known for abysmal games of poor quality, although they have improved in some matters but, its really false positive in my mind.

Sure there are a handful of good games from EA as of recently – Crysis, burnout paradise,the sims 3(I guess) *orange box doesn’t count because its a repackage from steam

Continue reading “EA … Its not in the game anymore and the PC and the $$$$$ (for .99 cents you can buy the letter z in this post)”

Coffee grinder recall , may cause coffee to taste different due to ..

Posted on by Forge77

Laceration hazard… OW…

Starbucks has received three reports of hand lacerations when the product — sold as  and Seattle’s Best Coffee Blade Grinder — turned on unexpectedly during cleaning. The company has received 176 reports altogether of the grinder failing to turn off or turning on unexpectedly.

I dont know about you but when cleaning anything with blades, batteries or a plug, generally the idea is Unplug first than clean. from the article it sounds like a poor power switch was used and triggers easily .

Dunkin Donuts Focus’s on making good coffee…. NAH…

Posted on by Forge77

Apparently dunkin donuts is trying out new ad based system in order to up there sales, rather than trying to make there coffee not suck.  I used to goto dunkin donuts all the time. Over time there coffee got worse and worse.  I found that honey dew donuts had much better focus on coffee rather than carpet bombing the nation with dunkin donuts.

Dunkin’ Brands, the Canton company that operates the Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins chains, said it is marking the official opening of its 15,000th store today.

Anyways rather than make coffee they are investing in a system which uses camera and reconizes the person.

Ad targeting is coming to a store near you.

In the latest effort to tailor ads to specific consumers, marketers are starting to personalize in-store promotions based on products the consumer recently picked off a shelf or purchased — and in the near future, based on what the shopper looks like.

The problem with dunkin donuts is they have given up on making an acceptable brand and would rather just plop down coffee stores every 10 feet from each other.  After there “you kin do it” campaign, they seem to be still trying to get new customers even through dunkin has gone way downhill. but this new marketing is funny they are trying effectivly a popup ad which you know how well those work.

Really, is this sort of advertising needed ? NO!, Most people who go into dunkin donuts have already decided what they want weither its a coffee (if you can call it that). but, needing video camera for serving ads wtf?