Google for TV Ads

Was listening to the Slate Gabfest podcast (on culture) and heard about using Google to place TV ads at incredibly low prices. The author interviewed talked about how he reached 1.3 million homes on TV, getting on Fox (Glen Beck) and many cable shows for $1300. Of course he shot the ad himself, but apparently these home made ads work very well, like that annoying roll-on head pain killer. In the end, the author succeeded in getting 1000 hits to his website and was more than pleased with the results. As Randy Johnson says, check it out:

http://www.slate.com/id/2065896/view/2182767/

The End of Reading?

I don't know about everyone else, but I'm doing a lot less reading these days, Kindle or not. Attribute this to my passion for podcasts and my iPod touch. There's so much great (and free) content to devour that reading now seems like an inefficient way to gain knowledge. Now it seems like my main purpose for reading is to tire out my eyes when I want to fall asleep. I wouldn't want to be a book publisher these days...

Don't forget about the Kindle

So all the buzz this week has been about the iPad which seems great, if you want another gadget. I'm set for now with my two iPods and Kindle and will pass on the iPad for now. There's been talk that the iPad will eat into Kindle sales but a few things to consider. The Kindle,s no glare screen is easier on the eyes and much better for outdoor reading. I'm not sure what the iTunes book library is though, but the Kindle offering is pretty good. What I like best about it is that you can download samples from each book. And while I have yet to buy one book from Kindle during the three months that I've had it, I've been having a field day sampling. It's like having the convenience of a bookstore in your lap, but instead of reading just a back-cover, you can read a nice chunk. There are tons of books I've always wanted to read but don't get to it, like P.G Wodehouse or Proust OR Virginia Woolf. So now I get to sample their work , when I never would've before. I'd market the Kindle as a portable bookstore, a knowledge discovery device. It's a lot more than just another gadget...

Me, a geek?

Not really, not close, but over the past week I've impressed myself with a couple of things I pulled off on my computer. I bought a new computer and this time refused to succumb to the "Configure your computer scam." They try to tell you (at Future Shop and Bureau en Gros) that it's this big ordeal to "configure" Windows 7 and prepare the recovery discs which is total b.s.. the configuring is nothing, the most complicated thing I did was to delete some of the preloaded programs which is easily done within the Control Panel module. Can't beleive what a rip-off the $99 configuration service is!

Here's though where I impressed myself. Had to get my new laptop when my HP tablet one started getting all wonky on me, freezing and crashing. Meanwhile, while I do a have my backups both on an external and remote, it always seems that when you try to access your backup, you're somehow missing the file that you were looking for (especially e-mails which seem to be a mess to convert and import). So out of nowhere, my HP decides to lock me out with this random "User profile service failed the logon" for whatever that means. I tried booting up a bunch of times to no avail. Then I did a search for this error on my new laptop and found some totally geeky alleged solution. Judging by the initial looks of it, it was way beyond me to actually apply it. All kinds of stuff involving recoding things, booting up in Safe Mode - getting into the real guts of the computer. It didn't seem like there were any other solutions though, so I took a deep breath and tried to follow it step by step. Ran into a bump when I mistakenly erased a code, but managed to recover it. Anyhow, followed the steps, restarted the laptop and to my utter amazement, the solution worked! Hurray for me!

Dreaming in High Tech

Think that the '24' hyper teckie control room has crept into my subconscious or there's been too much cover on the iPad. In any case, I actually had a dream last night where I was observing something or someone (the details of which I have already forgotten) on a huge tablet like screen that was divided up into 4 panels. I actually clicked on the Minimizing tab of one panel. One important detail I do recall however, none of images on any of the screens were clear or complete, it was as if the images were torn. Wonder what that was about?

Good or Bad Customer Service?

Still puzzled where I stand on customer service with Bell Mobility, but my last encounter with their Turbo stick left me so cyber-shell shocked that I couldn't do anything online. Here's the story, i'll let you decide. X-mas vacation 2009. Day 1 in Florida and my 2 month old Blackberry Curve 9a replacement for my previous one that broke down), breaks down. Problematic considering I brought along work. I frantically called Bell Mobility & tried to get them to send me via courier a replacement for my Blackberry, but my plea fell on deaf ears. I finally get over that figuring that at least I have my Bell Turbo stick that I can use to get online. I'm thinking what a wonderful little device this is and for only $15 / month. Things get even better when my Blackberry resurrects itself from the dead after a week, so now I'm happily hooked online 24/7. I feel more balanced than any one of those grandmaster yogis. As the trip winds down to the last weekend, I get a call at about 3 pm Friday afternoon while grocery shopping. 'This is Bell Mobility accounts receivable and we're calling to inform you that we're cutting off your service because you've run up some $5600 worth of data charges. I almost dropped dead right there. I hardly ever used the Turbo stick and when I did it was usually to send a few e-mails with maybe a Word attachment. No point in discussing it the Bell rep said, take it up with Bell Mobility customer service. I then called them up and demanded to speak to someone who had decision-making power. I came across a very pleasant & understanding rep who told me not to worry-- it seems like they've come across this situation before -- that they'd do a one time credit on that charge, but it would take a week to process and he was 99.99% sure it would go through. Well me being me, I'm worrying about the 0.01% for the rest of the weekend. I prolonged that worrying another 3 weeks which was the time it took for Bell Mobility to finally credit my account. I mean it's hard staying cool when you get a phone bill for 6 gees. In the end, it was resolved and I'm grateful for that. Still, I don't understand how the Americans can allow this type of predatory behavior. Furthermore, I'm sure that Bell Mobility is aware of this, but doesn't educate the customer about this minefield and this is wrong. I'd love to see an investigative piece on these predatory tactics...60 Minutes this is your cahnce.

Back to the Grindstone

Is a family vacation to Florida an oxymoron? Iffy weather, traffic, shopping & meeting so-and-so in concrete jungles by the beach. And I won't even get into the techie nightmares surrounding the work I brought along. Three more days to show off my tan before I turn sallow again.