Tiered Billing Finally Comes to the Internet February 28, 2006
Posted by techgrrl in Technopoly.add a comment
According to CNN, America’s phone carriers want to use tiered billing to create different levels of service for Internet traffic. I remember reading about this billing software back in the late nineties. I wonder how much of this additional cost will actually get pushed down to the average user. I’d imagine that folks using services that require higher priority like VOIP, video streaming, and gaming may have to buy premium Internet access while the rest of use the cheaper, throttled-down access.
As far as I’m concerned, the cost-to-value ratio for Internet access isn’t where it needs to be. I pay about $50 a month for cable broadband and another $27 on top of that for VOIP. I’m not amused. I’d like to spend in the neighborhood of $20 to $30 a month for high-speed Internet access, telephone, and cellular phone with data. I’ll dump my access altogether before I’ll pay more.
The Extended Warranties Playbook February 23, 2006
Posted by techgrrl in Technopoly.1 comment so far
Mel sent me a link to ihatebestbuy.com. It seems many folks are frustrated by, among other things, the whole extended warranty scam. For most items you buy, it just doesn’t make sense to buy an extended warranty. One time I bought a $20 shower clock at Best Buy, and the cashier asked me three times if I wanted to buy an extended warranty. After I said no the last time, she rolled her eyes, and said that if I didn’t care then she didn’t care. Hello? The warranty costed almost as much as the damn radio.
I noticed that ihatebestbuy.com recommends that folks shop at Circuit City. Allow me to share my Circuit City extended warranty experience…
Adding Memory Always Does the Trick February 23, 2006
Posted by techgrrl in Technopoly.add a comment
I added 1GB of RAM to my new laptop, and now it’s smokin! It was a total dog before I added the memory. I still need to contact Toshiba about my shorted power supply. What a rip.
I learned something new in this experience: You can buy Crucial memory at Newegg. Unfortunately, I already ordered my memory from Crucial before I found it on Newegg for $40 less. Oh, well. I contacted Crucial to bitch about it, but they suggested I return the memory to them and order it from Newegg. Apparently, the dumbasses at Crucial prefer that I use the memory configurator on their site and then buy my memory from Newegg. OK, I can do that.
Calling All Bookmarks February 17, 2006
Posted by techgrrl in Just for fun.4 comments
Are you using Firefox yet? It has all kinds of cool features, like this one for managing bookmarks:
Imagine you need to research some topic. You start at Google, and you go down a path until you can’t take it any more. In my experience, two things happen:
- You have to go, so you shut down your computer and tell yourself you can find all those same links again in the future if you need them.
- You’re over it, so you shut down your browser and tell yourself you can find all those same links again in the future if you need them.
First of all, remember that you can open new links in tabs in Firefox. So you can have all the sites you’ve followed on a topic open in a single browser session. Now, let’s say you have to go for some reason. You can go to Bookmarks | Bookmark All Tabs, and all the sites you have opened are saved as bookmarks in a folder you designate. How cool is that?
The other day I needed to do a quick reboot but I didn’t want to lose my place, so I used the Bookmark All Tabs feature and saved all my open tabs to a folder called Reboot. When I opened Firefox back up, I right-clicked on the Reboot folder and clicked Open in Tabs. My browser session from before my reboot was restored. I just used this again to save a bunch of research I did on Windows Mobile. Bookmark All Tabs is a huge time saver.
SharePoint and Office 2007 February 16, 2006
Posted by techgrrl in SharePoint.add a comment
Microsoft is finally getting some information out about Office 2007 and SharePoint. I’m really excited about the new SharePoint Designer. Check out the details:
- Q&A: Microsoft Unveils Next Generation of Web Authoring and Design Tools
- Customers to Receive Better Solutions and More Product Options With 2007 Microsoft Office Release
- 2007 Microsoft Office System Pricing
I’ll have some guidance to share within the next few weeks as I take a closer look at Office 2007.
Bulk mail best practices February 14, 2006
Posted by techgrrl in Just for fun.add a comment
Many people erroneously assume that individual e-mail recipient’s addresses are hidden when they use a distribution list in the To field of an e-mail. Unless your e-mail program is setup otherwise, most e-mailers will expand the distribution list and display the names of each of the recipients. Think about it: If the e-mailer doesn’t expand the distribution list, how does the e-mailer know where to send the e-mail?
I believe it’s a generally accepted best practice to place the recipients’ e-mail addresses for a bulk e-mail in the BCC field. BCC stands for blind courtesy copy. Everyone listed in the BCC field will get a copy of the e-mail without divulging a list of all the recipients. Some programs may have bulk mail features that will hide addresses listed in the To field. Unless you know for sure, always use the BCC field.
Other best practices include performing a test run before executing your mailing. You can find more information at these resources:
Another tip: I always make a point of adding recipients to an e-mail last. It saves me the embarrassment of accidentally sending the e-mail before I’m ready.
Dummies Author List For Sale February 14, 2006
Posted by techgrrl in Just for fun.add a comment
I just received an interesting gift in my inbox from the Dummies Marketing Team. They sent me the first-ever author newsletter in a 6MB PDF file. AND, they included the distribution list, which I’m assuming includes most, if not all, of the dummies authors’ e-mail addresses. Mine’s in there, but I don’t see Dr. Ruth anywhere.
There are over 500 e-mail addresses representing 300 unique domains.
What’s the starting bid?
I lost your contact information February 4, 2006
Posted by techgrrl in SharePoint.add a comment
If you used the Contact Me page on my Web site, sharepointgrrl.com, to send me an e-mail, I didn’t get your contact information. I’ve fixed the goof and the page works properly now.
While I was at it, I added a new page on RSS. I have another page on blogging that I’m working on, but I’m not quite ready to deploy. I’m also working on application-level error handling, so don’t get any error messages until I get that done. OK?
