Archive for the ‘Tech’ Category

Glenn Reynolds points out this Popular Mechanics story: Will LED Light Bulbs Best Your CFLs and Incandescents?

I’ve been waiting for LEDs as home bulb options for years. And one is finally here. At $30.

That’s not an option. I guess we’ll have to wait some more.

While waiting, we’ve used a large number of CFLs, most of them installed in the summer of 2007. According to onebillionbulbs.com, we’ve saved $527 and prevented 7,415 pounds of CO2 from being produced. Now, those numbers are A) dependent upon the usage info I entered (though I did try to be conservative) and B) probably complete crap. But we’ve had pretty good success.

We’ve used a total of 30 CFLs since 2007, and 27 of them are still in use. (One was DOA, one went out after a few months in a fixture that had a history of blowing bulbs every few days, and one was a three-way CFL bulb that went out after about a year of heavy use.) Though the color of the light varies on the different brands of bulbs, we’ve swapped them around in a few cases where we wanted a different look in a particular area; we’ve never had any real issue with the color being a problem of any kind.

We also use one bulb outside on our porch. Though normal CFLs are not recommended for use outdoors, I wanted to try one to see how it perfromed, which is why I had also gone right ahead and put one into the incandescent-eating machine earlier. Though the porch light takes a minute or two to warm up in the winter, the bulb has worked just fine for a couple of years now. This is great, because that light often gets left on accidentally for extended periods and the CFL is 13 watts vs. 60 for the previous incandescent.

So, overall, our CFL experience has been a very positive one. But I still want LEDs.

A number of readers have alerted Murdoc to a possible virus problem with his sites. After checking into it, tech support found some infected files in an old installation and will be removing them shortly.

I hope this takes care of the issue. Many thanks to those who took the time to let me know, as I was not seeing it on my end.

My apologies.

UPDATE: This looks like it might be resolved now.

Here’s a random tech tip from Murdoc Online.

If you want to use a Samsung ML-1210 (or probably any 1200 series) laser jet printer with Windows 7, go HERE and follow the instructions.

We’ve got one of these things and want to use up the toner cartridge, but were having trouble getting it to work with Win7.

A reader sends this:

Beware United Airlines’ tricksy check-in kiosks or you’ll pay hundreds more

If I had pressed the wrong buttons on a recent cross-county flight I took, I would have accidentally paid another $523.68. How did I know they were the wrong buttons? Simple: They were colored and placed to look like the correct buttons.

Intentionally tricking customers into unwittingly spending more money is maybe not illegal but it is unethical.

This reminds me of Turbo-Tax’s “if you would have clicked the grayed-out button off to the side, it would have functioned properly” crap I recently fell for.

United Airlines deserved to be mocked, ridiculed, and publicly flogged for this. Tell all your friends. Send emails. Mock them and call them unethical. Threaten to fly Delta over this.

Then they can decide whether or not their shady ploy makes good business sense. If they still think it’s worth it, good for them.

Turbo Tax:
Choose Easy
But look very closely before doing so. They may be trying to trick you.

Murdoc has used Turbo Tax Online for many years now, and he’s always been happy with the service. Until last night.

While going through a few things, I saw that I had been charged for their ‘Ask a Tax Expert’ offer, even though I had not wanted it. After wading through hundreds of complaints on their forum, I just sent a message in directly stating that I had not wanted to sign up and that it looked like users were unable to get out of it without starting completely over with a new account. As I said, I’ve used the service for many years and don’t really want to ditch all that and start a new account.

Here is their reply about the issue:

TurboTax Online – “No Thanks” button is unavailable on the Ask a Tax Expert offer, when starting a new return

The “No Thanks” button is actually gray in color as it was designed, but this is still a fully functioning button that can be clicked.

If you had already selected “Sign Up Now, Pay when you file” the fee will not be able to be removed from your account unless you clear the return and start over.

You can pay this fee when you file, and as long as you don’t use the service, you can request a refund for the $14.95 charge. (This way you wouldn’t need to clear the return and start over.)

You can use the ‘Contact Us’ page to request a refund.

Read that first paragraph again:

The “No Thanks” button is actually gray in color as it was designed, but this is still a fully functioning button that can be clicked.

It is gray in color as it was designed. But if you manage to click on it it will work.

I emailed them back:

It’s refreshing to see a company flat out admit that they are trying to rip you off. Thanks for clearing up that you designed it badly on purpose but that it works just fine even though it’s intentionally hard to understand.

Will the buttons on the refund request page be grayed out on purpose, too? Or will we be able to understand the process without you going out of your way to make it hard to get our money back after you tricked us out of it in the first place?

Now, I’m sure a lot of people have managed to avoid signing up for the service. And I admit that my familiarity with the system probably contributed to the fact that totally missed the fact that I was opting in to something that I would never ever never ever sign up for on purpose.

But they must have known that no one would ever sign up, because they had to try to trick people into doing so. And, though I haven’t paid them any money, they’re playing the whole “get a refund afterwards” game like their system somehow is preventing them from allowing people who have not paid and have not used it from switching it off.

For probably ten years or more I’ve recommended Turbo Tax to friends and family. But this $15 “error” has really shaken my faith. Obviously, I’m a little irritated right now. Jerks.

Are they just not smart enough?

I am removing their search box. I’m sick of fixing their crap every time.

I emailed the affiliate program support and told them to hire a teenager if no one there knows how to write valid code.

Idiots.

MO is long overdue for a template overhaul. Unfortunately, Murdoc continues to be pressed for time, so he’s taken an intermediate step of installing an temporary upgrade.

This was designed using a template builder rather than the by-hand design I’ve used previously. Who has the time for that? Anyway, I’ll probably be playing with this a bit over the next few days until it seems stable and good.

If you have any issues, please do not hesitate to let me know.

A MQ-1 Predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle launches for a night flight mission over southeastern Iraq, July 29, 2009. The aircraft serves in a surveillance and reconnaissance role but is also capable of firing two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles. Photo by Airman 1st Class Tony Ritter

Insurgents intercepted drone spy videos

Insurgents in Iraq have hacked into live video feeds from Predator drones, a key weapon in a Pentagon spy system that serves as the military’s eyes in the sky for surveillance and intelligence collection.

Though militants could see the video, there is no evidence they were able to jam the electronic signals from the unmanned aerial craft or take control of the vehicles, a senior defense official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence issues.

Obtaining the video feeds can provide insurgents with critical information about what the military may be targeting, including buildings, roads and other facilities.

There have been reports of this previously, but this might be the first time its been officially acknowledged.

The fix has been to encrypt the feeds. Is it just Murdoc, or was it totally insane to not encrypt them in the first place.

Explosive ordnance disposal technicians are using remote controlled machines to help detect and defuse improvised explosive devices. Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jhi Scott

Some photos of working on a Talon in Iraq here.