I’m a big WordPress fan, so it was nice to see Jay-Z’s Life + Times site (lifeandtimes.com) running my favorite CMS. Not only that, they’re using my favorite commenting platform, Disqus. Well done, Mr. Z. The clean, grid layout is very slick and works thanks to the site’s simplicity. It’ll be interesting to see how this foray into publishing goes. It’s what a lot of brands should be doing.
photo credit: Slippy Slappy | What WordPress does on the internet.
I-Go Cars — I love them. I’m all for car sharing and auto borrowing and not buying a car or paying for parking and gas and insurance, but, for christsakes, how many user ID numbers do I need? I’ve got a member number and a member PIN. My member number is not the same as my account number. And sometimes I’m asked for my access card number. But to refill the gas tank, you need a driver ID number. Tricky, eh? I do not have a driver number. Neither do you!
And here’s the worst: the driver number isn’t any of the previously mentioned numbers. On the charge card they leave you for gas it says this: “The driver number is NOT your member number.” Ok, fine. What is it? Doesn’t say. So if you’re at the gas station, you guess. Must be the account number! I’m driving this thing, I’m using an account, it must be the account number! Nope. Fine, let’s use the access card number. I am, after all, using a charge card, which is the same shape as the access card. Let’s type that in! Nope. Ok, now, I know it says it’s NOT my member number, but I’ve got nothing left to try. Nope. Ok, what else is there? The car has a number. There is a vehicle number. That’s not it. Wait. Call for help. Oh, that makes NO SENSE AT ALL. But here’s the answer:
The driver number needed to buy gas is the vehicle ID number + the last two digits of the model year of the car.
KAPLOW! Head: blown. WTF? Not only is the driver number not written anywhere, it’s not, in any way, influenced by the person driving the car. It’s basically the car’s vehicle number. But you need to know the car’s model year. Idiotic.
I-Go, here’s an idea: ditch the driver number and just use the vehicle number. That makes sense. Enter the vehicle number. Where’s the vehicle number? Well it can’t be my member number, because I’m not a vehicle. Must be printed on the vehicle somewhere. Oh, here it is on the windshield. Great, now I can purchase gasoline, and I don’t need to call for help.
And if you must have the last two digits of the model year, add them to the vehicle number sticker. There are a bunch of better options out there and you haven’t chosen them. You have a ‘driver’ number that’s independent of the variable drivers and dependent on the static vehicle ID. Come on. This is idiotic, non-intuitive, and misleading. Fix this.
For the last year, it’s been a lot of fun to watch how Apple has treated the white iPhone 4. I’m a cynic, but it seemed like anytime Apple was getting a little too much negative press, the white iPhone rumors would start back up and distract everybody. Was Apple actually waiting for an iPhone location tracking and logging type scandal to release the thing?
I just can’t imagine the white iPhone was that difficult to build. I imagine the exchange went something like this:
Steve Jobs: This new, white iPhone will be the greatest device ever created. It will be elegant, intuitive … and exceptional. It will combine the grace and simplicity of the iPhone 4 with a new boldness, a new panache, a new bravado. It will be amazing. Just incredible.
Engineer: So you want us to replace the black plastic bits with white ones?
SJ: The new, white iPhone won’t be covered in just any white, it’ll be white like the pure snow atop the Himalayas, like a whitecap forming on a cresting wave … a white too perfect, too pure, too incredible for the dressing gowns of angels. The white iPhone will have the perfect shade of white that …
Engineer: How’s this? I built it while you were talking? It’s white.
SJ: Incredible. But the world’s not ready for it yet. Let’s tweak it for 10 months. We need to nail this one.
Seriously, months … for white plastic bits. It is incredible.
Meanwhile, another mythical creature has emerged — Obama’s birth certificate. Like the white iPhone, it’s been the subject of a lot of distractionary debate for many, many months. Forget the economy, forget the deficit, forget the wars … this guy is a foreigner. And just like George Washington, he should be ineligible for office.
It’s amazing how much attention these absolutely trivial things get in today’s media landscape. The white iPhone is exactly the same as the black iPhone except that it has white plastic bits instead of black bits. The new Obama birth certificate is just like the old, shorter birth certificate — it shows he’s an American. And none of these issues will matter in time — soon there will be an iPhone 5 … maybe it will be RED! And after his second term, Obama will no longer be president … and Donald Trump will still be an asshole.
Oh, CloudFlare. The potential cure for all sorts of bandwidth-related internet issues. We need to breakup. Here’s why:
So I turned you off, CloudFlare. If I had a bandwidth problem, maybe I’d do some slick sub-domain setup where I’d set you up to serve images while my primary domain’s DNS remained unchanged. Maybe. Until then, I’m going back to never thinking about this again … because before you came around, I never had to.
I don’t read the New York Times much. I like their Chrome web app, but I just don’t always dig their content. It’s just a little oddly pretentious. (If I want pretension, I’ll read The Economist.) So the NYT 20-free-articles-a-month limit isn’t a big deal to me (I probably only read 3 articles in a given month) … and I’m certainly not about to donate money to their cause (they’re not NPR), but today I wanted to see how it worked, so I fired up a Chrome incognito browser window and opened 21 tabs of stories and hit the wall. (My first theory was that the ‘incognito’ mode would defeat the paywall — I was wrong.)
Now, rumor is that the paywall took $40 million to build. That’s insane. Especially when you consider my genius way to beat it: the stop button … also called le bouton d’arrêt. Here’s what you do:
Good try, NYT. Goodbye, $40MM.
Google was getting a little too buddy-buddy with Verizon, right? They were trying to go all evil-empire on mobile net neutrality while rolling out badass phones on T-Mobile. That didn’t make any sense. Meanwhile, their arch-enemy, AT&T, original home of Apple’s iPhone and the most-hated network in America, gave them the cold-shoulder, being the last network to the Android party. Well, fuck ‘em all. It’s Sprint time.
Sprint’s been on the Android bus for a while. Their EVO was a big deal. Their full network Google Voice integration is a big deal. The Optimus V on their subsidiary, Virgin Mobile, was a big deal. The 4G Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be a big deal. Sprint is doing a lot of things right.
And methinks all this makes my prediction of a higher-end Virgin Mobile Android phone a little more likely.
Look, I don’t understand all the fuss about the iPad 2, but take that energy and apply it to your wireless router. Upgrade from WEP to WPA2. Now.
Why? WEP sucks — it’s the security equivalent of locking your screen door. Sure, it makes your house marginally safer, but anybody with a fist can punch their way in.
photo credit: JPott | WEP security in action.
This is not new information. There have been better alternatives for years, but thanks (speculation) to 2WIRE’s default settings, WEP still reigns (I can see 6 WEP-protected networks within my range). This spring, instead of just cleaning up your house, clean up your wireless network settings and switch to WPA2.
I honestly don’t understand all the fuss. There are three things that make the iPad 2 different than the first version:
And yet, people NEED this thing. They lust after it. They’re flying in from around the world to be the first to buy it. It’s amazing. All for a device that’s used to check emails, read books and articles, control the TV, and watch videos — a device that lives next to the couch, the coffee table’s computer. And it makes people super excited to part with $500.
photo credit: The GameWay
Makes me think of this article in the Onion:
“Not only will I be able to perform tasks faster than before, but my new device will also inform those around me that I am a successful individual who is up on the latest trends,” said Rebecca Hodge, whose executive job allowed her to line up for several hours in the middle of the day in order to obtain the previously unavailable item. “Its attractiveness and considerable value are, by extension, my attractiveness and considerable value.”
Consumer Robert Larson agreed.
“I’m going to take my new device wherever I go,” said Larson, holding the expensive item directly in the eyeline of several reporters. “That way no one on the street, inside the elevator, or at my place of business will ever mistake me for the sort of individual who does not own the new device.”
But maybe my brother summed it up best after taking a look: “I thought about an iPad, but I went to see it and it sucks.”
Pat Quinn, thanks for ending the death penalty, but why are you killing internet commerce?
Hello,
For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of Illinois residents. Unfortunately, a new state tax law signed by Governor Quinn compels us to terminate this program for Illinois-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers – including but not limited to those referred by Illinois-based affiliates like you – even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.
We had opposed this new tax law because it is unconstitutional and counterproductive. It was supported by national retailing chains, most of which are based outside Illinois, that seek to harm the affiliate advertising programs of their competitors. Similar legislation in other states has led to job and income losses, and little, if any, new tax revenue. We deeply regret that its enactment forces this action.
As a result of the new law, contracts with all Illinois affiliates of the Amazon Associates Program will be terminated and those Illinois residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to April 15, 2011 will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule. Based on your account closure date of April 15, 2011, any final payments will be paid by July 1, 2011.
You are receiving this email because our records indicate that you are a resident of Illinois. If you are not currently a permanent resident of Illinois, or if you are relocating to another state in the near future, you can manage the details of your Associates account here. And if you relocate to another state after April 15, please contact us for reinstatement into the Amazon Associates Program.
To be clear, this development will only impact our ability to continue the Associates Program in Illinois, and will not affect the ability of Illinois residents to purchase online at www.amazon.com from Amazon’s retail business.
We have enjoyed working with you and other Illinois-based participants in the Amazon Associates Program and, if this situation is rectified, would very much welcome the opportunity to re-open our Associates Program to Illinois residents.
Regards,
The Amazon Associates Team
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Driving Inertia
Interest in Blake Lively’s Ass Resumes
After a bit of a lull, my post about Blake Lively’s ass-shaking booty dance on SNL is popular again. Wonder if it’s because of the leaked photos. Probably. Maybe she’s got a movie coming up. Regardless, thanks for the traffic bump, Ms. Lively’s rump.