Godaddy Always Takes 2 Clicks
Every time I want to do something on the godaddy website I get an error the first time I try and it works the second time.
This has been happening for me for at least a year - am I alone here? How must that impact their conversion rate if it happens for even a small percentage (say 5%) of their users?
Palm Centro
I’m trying out the Palm Centro for a couple of months - I’ve already had it for a couple of weeks and so far I really like it.
Good
The Size - I love how small this thing is. Even though it’s being billed as a cheaper, younger smartphone, it does everything my 700p did (and more).
Chat client - One of the new features is a chat client that makes it easy to chat with yahoo, msn or aim. I don’t use it much, but when I have needed to it was really nice.
The Keyboard - At first I thought the keyboard may have been too small - not so. Since I’ve been using it I haven’t had any problems.
Bad
Battery life - I used to love the Palm OS because the battery life was so much longer than its Windows Mobile counterpart. Since introducing push email (via Exchange ActiveSync), it might as well be a Windows Mobile device. I use my phone a lot during the day, but I should easily be able to go a full day without charging. Usually I am getting a warning at nighttime that I need to charge it. (Many people have suggested I turn off the ActiveSync - I’m addicted, it’s not an option).
Stylus - I don’t understand why you would create such a good looking phone and then put in a stylus that feels flimsier than a french fry. A little metal stylus would go a long way to making this feel like a solid device.
Highly Recommended
I recommend the centro to anybody who wants a smartphone without the size. Unfortunately upgrading the stylus isn’t an option yet, but you could always get an extra battery.
Mint - Cool concept, but doesn’t work for me
A few days ago I read about Mint, a free web-based alternative to Quicken, MS Money, etc.
I thought I would really like using Mint because it was billed as being so easy - just put in your online backing username and password and it will automatically pull data on your spending trends, account alerts and more. This part sounded really cool - all of the software programs I have tried up to this point require a painstaking amount of work to sync with my online banking accounts.
I can’t use Mint, though, because apparently it doesn’t support people like me who manage different bank accounts under one internet banking login. I currently have 6 - checking, savings and credit for both our Utah marketing business and personal use.
I do not want Mint to pull my business banking data at all, but when I put in the username and password for my online banking it is only pulling one account (which happens to be from the business). I don’t see a way to change this so I guess I’ll just have to wait until Mint addresses the issue. I would think that at least having one checking and one savings account would be very common so I’m sure it will be addressed.
As a side-note, it is entirely possible this is a user error which I have been prone to make as well (read zach’s comment to see why my workaround was pointless).
Experts Exchange - a workaround
One of the most annoying things to me is doing a google search for a common technical problem and finding a site that purports to have the answer, but then tells me I have to sign-up to see the answer.
Experts-Exchange.com is one such site that I stumble across quite often. Yes, registration is free, but it is lame to me that Google ranks them so high on competitive keywords. I was also confused at how they would rank so well since without the experts responses they are pretty light on content.
Well, this morning I figured out how they do it - they allow the engines to see the full responses while the normal web users don’t. This is cloaking, but not the kind that you’ve heard all the bad stories about - Google allows this type of cloaking for various subscriptions services (such as some newspapers).
So 2 takeaways:
1) Google should penalize these guys - Google claims to be the champion of web usability and this is a serious usability issue.
2) Just click on “Cached” under the Google description to see what Google sees - get all the content you want from EE without having to subscribe or login 
Vista Bug - sucking up bandwidth
We have a test machine here running Windows Vista. Anybody who knows me will tell you that I personally am a huge fan of Microsoft stuff. It’s probably just because I’ve been using Windows for so long… I don’t know, I’m just not ready to go down the Mac road.
This morning, however, our Vista machine was retrieving some updates - no problem, that’s what it’s supposed to do, right? Apparently, however, the default setting for downloading updates (all 2GB!) was to utilize all available bandwidth.
What was the result? Pretty predictably the internet slowed to a crawl and eventually everything was timing out for all of our employees over here. When we finally figured out who the bandwidth hog was (an unattended test machine) I was shocked.
I am guessing that this is a bug - surely Microsoft doesn’t mean to suck all available bandwidth for an update. As Mark said, though, this is why businesses are waiting to adopt the new OS… but I’ll definitely give Vista a shot sometime soon.
I’m hoping that if everybody keeps leaving the PC in search of stability and a more intuitive interface then I may be one of the last Windows guy’s standing… and Microsoft will be forced to give me one of those awesome Ferrari laptops. Hey, I gotta have a dream.
Invisible Shield
Update: The company claims that the bubbles come out of the shield within 2-3 days. While they are correct that the bubbles come out, it took about 10 days for mine. I didn’t mind waiting, I just thought the bubbles wouldn’t come out since after 5 days they were still pretty bad but now they’re basically all gone. My warning to Treo users is that the shield will, over time, creep around a little bit. This isn’t a problem anywhere except on the back of the phone - removing the back to replace the battery becomes a bit of a chore, but it’s really not too bad and this isn’t something I do very often.
I love my Treo (700p) - sometimes I love it too much and it gets overused (scratched, beat up). I have always thought about getting some type of covering for it but I don’t want to make it bulkier than it already is.
Enter the Invisible Shield from ShieldZone. I’m trying it out to see if it will stay or go. Here is my analysis:
Pro’s:
1) Adds no bulk to an already chunky phone.
2) Doesn’t stick to my pocket - a big problem with the silicone iPod cases.
3) Doesn’t interfere with typing since this part of the phone isn’t covered.
4) Seems to be really good at resisting scratches.
Con’s:
1) For some people the pricetag may be high - $25 for a treo jacket and most video iPods. If it delays having to buy a new one for a few months, though, it’s probably worth it.
2) Application was very difficult - I couldn’t get all the airbubbles out. For this reason alone I would suggest getting it done in a mall where they will install it for you. It costs a few dollars more but would definitely be worth it. (Update: all the bubbles were gone within 10 days)
3) It doesn’t really protect your device from falls, crashes, etc. It is more for protection against scratching, spilling something on it, etc.
Never buy from 2Checkout.com
I decided to place a purchase for some software and they use 2Checkout.com. I figured no problem, made the purchase and expected an immediate download link. They fail to tell you that it takes several hours to get the software if you even get it the same day (of course it was an “outsourced” call center).
My advice to any software company - take a few minutes to install your own shopping cart and don’t waste time with these guys. We wrote our own software to provide customers with downloads immediately upon payment and it was not difficult at all - you will save a ton of money in the long run from people like me who will cancel their purchases. Also, most out of the box ecommerce shopping carts offer this option.
BlueOrb
Sam and I have finally solved our ongoing debate of which OS is superior (to recap, he is a Mac, I am a PC) - the answer is BlueOrb. If you’re down for a good laugh read the requirements and be sure to check out the comments.
Un-Dell-ifying your new computer
When I bought a new laptop last April I was pleasantly surprised that Dell was willing to clean off all the preloaded stuff. Recently, however, I made another purchase (for Vizad) of 2 desktops and one laptop.
They did the same sort of sanitization for the laptop (though there are still things I wish I hadn’t been bundled), but said they wouldn’t do anything for the desktops - I had to get them preloaded with a million things that make them run slow - I even talked to one Dell rep who suggested if I was worried about the speed I should consider hardware upgrades - hardware upgrades to run a bunch of software I don’t want? I don’t think so.
So last night I simply put in the Windows XP OEM CD (always get the media included when you get a dell - it usually doesn’t cost extra). I reinstalled the whole OS and then put in the resource CD and just installed the drivers I needed. Everything works about 2 times faster without a popup window every couple of minutes - well worth doing with any new Dell you get.
Mozy in the Wall Street Journal
I’ve written about Mozy (an online backup utility) and the founder Josh Coates before. I just heard this morning that they were featured in the Wall Street Journal by Walt Mossberg. Apparently between Mozy and Carbonite (another remote backup utility), he recommends Mozy.
It’s nice to see a Utah company getting this kind of national attention.