Hey Jet Blue, WOW, This rain IS bad!

Posted on June 27th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Life in General.

Here I am, sitting at my desk and I’m wondering how is it that we even have power? This is the worst thunderstorm I have seen in years. The thunder, the lightning, the horror! I just went out on the roof to check the situation out and I have to say I was absolutely amazed. I was only on the roof for a couple of minutes but boy did I get drenched, err, wait…. I’m not wet. Hell, not even a little. Hrmm, but I thought this storm was bad? Wait a sec, its sunny out, not a cloud in the sky. The forcast says there is a slight chance of skattered showers but man is it hot and sunny out. Weird.

Now that you confused I will tell you the deal. Cathy was supposed to be flying in to NYC tonight but her flight was just cancelled because of sever thunderstorms. Well, here I am in NY and its a gorgeous day. I love how these airlines can just cry “weather” and do anything they want. Maybe the FAA needs to oversee the cancellation claims of each flight.

Jet Blue, your on notice.

0 comments.

Firefox 3.0 Is released.

Posted on June 17th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Life in General.

After a tumultuous morning I was finally able to download Mozilla’s Firefox 3. This version has been greatly anticipated because it has tremendous improvements over its previous versions in two key areas; Memory Management and Rendering. So far Firefox has been using roughly 1/3 the memory it would previously use. It is also freeing up memory much faster, and in greater percentages on page changes. Thus far I have not had memory usage “run-away” on me as I had with ff2 (memory consumption would continue to grow at an alarming rate until it filled roughly 700-800MB of ram at which point it would crash).
Many people are still unable to download directly from Mozilla’s servers because their marketing ploy worked a little too well. Starting around noon EST the Moz servers response times started to severely lag. By release time, 1pm EST, the servers were reporting “http/1.1 service unavailable”. Its an unfortunate consequence of the browsers popularity. Until sometime next week ff2 users will not be offered a new version via automatic updates. To download Firefox 3 got to: http://getfirefox.com. If that fails try this link: Un-Official Firefox 3 Download.

Assuming the Moz servers remain up today, we might have a new Guiness Book record! (well, by new, I mean really new … no record for “most downloads” currently exists).

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iPhone iPhone iPhone!

Posted on June 9th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Life in General.

Will we see the launch of the 3G iPhone today? I for one certainly hope so. Live audio coverage of the WWDC Keynote is available at: http://iphonefreakz.com/2008/06/09/live-audio-coverage-of-wwdc-2008/
If you prefer web updates check here: http://www.macrumorslive.com/

Stay tuned…

2 comments.

Possible Gas rationing?

Posted on June 9th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Life in General.

I have been purchasing gas for my ‘83 Chevy Caprice from the Hess gas station in Bellerose for several years now. Ever since gas prices hit $3.50 a gallon I have not been able to fill up with a single swipe of my credit card because they limit transactions to $75. While its slightly inconvenient it only adds a couple of minutes to the total time required to fill up. Today however, I was not allowed to swipe the card a second time. The pump displayed “Please see cashier”. She informed me that I would now have to pay in cash or provide a different payment method to get more fuel. Im not sure what has triggered this change but for anyone who drives a larger vehicle it is really pretty miserable… Especially in this day and age where people carry less cash and use debits card more.

Is this an attempt at indirect fuel rationing by Hess?

0 comments.

NIN releases their new album: Free to download

Posted on May 5th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Life in General.

Trent Reznor has released the newest NIN album free for download from http://www.nin.com/. Its a pretty cool move considering the fact that record sales will likely receive a devastating blow, however as it has been pointed out to me they will still make a ton of money off of merchandise and from touring. Its just more proof that record companies are no longer necessary.

As for the album itself: “it sounds like that pig video song but more up beat”. :-)

Happy downloading!

PS: Record companies, your ALL on notice.

1 comment.

Firefox 2.0.0.14 released. Why all the hate?

Posted on April 17th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Life in General.

Yesterday Mozilla released version 2.0.0.14 of Firefox which contained a security update to their world renowned web browser. The release contained only one change; patching a security hole in javascript garbage collection which could* be exploitable.

I have spent today reading articles about this “huge security threat to Firefox”. The bug was in fact not yet exploited and thus the security risks were immediately put to rest with the release of 2.0.0.14. Several sites were reporting the bug incorrectly stating that the issue was introduced in their most recent release, which is not true since the most recent release is 2.0.0.14 and NOT 2.0.0.13 (where the problem was in fact introduced). I’m still trying to figure out why so many people are out to crucify Mozilla. Microsoft and even Apple have had their share of security holes in their browsers. In fact Microsoft has let huge security holes pass for six months to a year without a patch. They often release statements explaining that they must fully test the changes before they release the patch. Six months of testing? Come on… But people have just grown to accept these problems and delays from Microsoft. Mozilla has created arguably the most successful third party web browser of all time and has shattered record books with its adoption rate. Being open source there will always be holes and bugs which are discovered more easily than those in the closed source counterparts but they have the advantage of public scrutiny and visibility to both discover and patch problems as they arise. This bug was patched before any exploit was made publicly available (assuming there is one). Instead of waiting until more security issues arise Mozilla released 2.0.0.14 expressly to address this single issue. What they did was admirable and it should be viewed as such. Lining Mozilla up in front of a firing squad only serves to Strengthen Microsoft’s position in a market that has flourished begun to flourish with innovation since the advent of serious competition.

*No known exploit exists for this security hole.

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POLAR Statistics v1.1.0 Released

Posted on April 5th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Life in General.

I have completed the re-write of php Referrer Stats. The projects name has changed to POLAR Statistics. After going through a significant re-write the statistics package is finally at the point I wanted it to be at for the initial release. The interface is completely updated and now uses tabbed navigation. Graphing has been added in addition to numerous other additions and enhancements. For more information see the POLAR Statistics - PHP Referrer Stats, Project Page

Feel free to throw questions or comments my way!

0 comments.

Hats off to Logitech Customer Support!

Posted on March 20th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Technology.

Last Monday I contacted Logitech customer support regarding a V270 Wireless Bluetooth mouse I purchase around 3 years ago. The left button had worn out and it required an excessive amount of pressure to get it to click. I was informed that I was eligible for a warranty replacement. Since I did not have a copy of a receipt I was required to mail the old mouse back before they would ship me a replacement, which was fine with me. I was also informed that they no longer produced the V270 so I would receive a different mouse. I was asked if a V470 would be a sufficient replacement. The V470 uses the latest laser technology which should give it a much smoother movement than the v270 I had.

Now I know beggars cant be choosers but since the V470 is available in two colors, blue and white, I placed a note in the box with my old mouse requesting the color blue (not necessarily expecting them to honor it). Well today I received the replacement and its a blue V470!

Its nice to see a company that still takes care of their customers in a time where customer support is constantly being put on the back burner. Logitech will definitely be getting my business in the future.

PS: Not only did I get a newer model replacement, but it wasn’t even a refurb. It is Brand new in retail packaging. Logitech, I’m impressed.

0 comments.

Bear Stern’s Stock Price?

Posted on March 19th, 2008 by DB.
Categories: Business.

(Stock Symbol: BSC)

Ok, I’m not claiming to be an expert on the stock market, far from it, but I have done my fair share of research and dabbling. Now this is kinda upsetting to me, as you all probably know JP Morgan has very publicly offered a buyout of Bear Stern’s for $2 a share (the buyout was approved by the government I believe) and is awaiting shareholder approval. The thing is after this was announced the stock price shot up to as high ass $8 and his since settled around $6.

I even saw an article suggesting that JP Morgan may be paying too much for it. So i guess my question is does anyone know why someone would buy a stock at $6 or even $8 when it is going to be sold to another company at a value or $2.

The best I can come up with is people selling short, but will that influence a stock price to go up 400%, I guess anything is possible in the crazy economy.

7 comments.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Launch Event, NYC

Posted on March 18th, 2008 by Chris Schiffner.
Categories: Business.

CRM: Customer Relationship Management

Today I went to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Launch Event in New York City. While I am familiar with what CRM software is, and why it is used, I have not used any myself. I expected to come away from the conference with a decent amount of information about the product.

I arrived at the event at 8AM and was immediately checked in at the registration desk. Inside there was coffee, juice, bagels, muffins and other breakfast foods. All the food was fresh and there was plenty to go around. While I was eating I was greeted by a couple of Microsoft employees who offered to answer any questions I had. There were also several sponsor booths that offered software to compliment Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Apparently there were a lot more registrants than they expected, so combined with the barcode scanners (running windows mobile) that were not working, quite a line formed by 8:25AM and they delayed the scheduled 8:30AM start until after 9AM.

Things got off to a real shaky start. The first speakers microphone did not work. I still have no idea what he was supposed to say. He was followed by Microsoft rep who introduced Dynamics CRM 4.0. We were offered a few user comments about the new product as well as being told about the tight Outlook integration. The PA system fiasco continued requiring two microphone changes. Then the floor was turned over to an author of a CRM related book, which as we were reminded several times, was for sale at a table in the back of the room. She was the most entertaining speaker and had a very pleasant personality. Her presentation was devoted to convincing the audience why they needed a CRM solution. After changing her microphone 4 times we came away with general idea of the target audience for Dynamics CRM as well as some situations where it would prove useful.

After a short intermission we were informed that we would receive a free copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Standard (which was promised for attending) if we filled out the survey we were given when checking in. I didn’t mind filling out the survey but there were several people that did not want to complete the survey. I guess they assume the information would be used for marketing. Since there was no privacy statement I guess this was a safe assumption.

Now we were finally given a look at the actual CRM software. Unfotunately the speaker jumped in as if everyone there was familiar with Dynamics CRM 3.0. I was surrounded by people who had never worked with the previous MS CRM software and we were all a little lost at this point. This segment of the presentation took approximately 30 minutes during which time the speaker was constantly being reminded that he was running out of time. It would have been nice to have spent more time with the actual software, and start from a more basic level. It was difficult to take away any meaningful information from his presentation. Outlook integration was touted during the products introduction but this entire presentation, with the exclusion of a 2 minute segment, was spent on the MS Dynamics CRM Live web service. This is their pay-per-user internet version. I will admit that the Live version seemed to be very complete and it is probably the best choice for smaller firms, but the licensed in-house version would be a much better choice for larger firms. The presenter alluded to the fact that you could start using the web service and seamlessly transition to an in-house version at a later date. If this is as easy as it sounded then it is a nice way to get started using the package without a significant financial investment. It would also allow the IT department to setup a teaser without devoting massive amounts of time to the installation and configuration of the software.

Overall the event was disappointing. The problems with the PA system were inexcusable. I would offer this advice to Microsoft when conducting future events.
1)Test the PA equipment well ahead of time and work out the bugs
2)Do some market research and determine whether a more elementary introduction to the software is required. In todays case I think it was.
3)Try to sell us less on the requirement for CRM software. Were there, eager to learn about your CRM solution which already shows that we are interested in CRM software. Instead show us the actual package, and convince us its so good and so easy to learn that we MUST to have it. Had you blown me away with the software I would be talking to upper management right now about integrating it into our company.

6 comments.