Category: 杂草

随想随笔,就让在杂草堆里的文章杂草丛生吧

  • Wasted 3 hours to save $1

    今年以来 GoDaddy 狠命促销新注册 .com 域名,推出好多 $0.99, $1.99, $2.99 就可以注册一年 .com 的优惠券。

    今天我需要新注册两个 .com。我不能免俗,首先是去用最大幅度的 $0.99 优惠券。试了好几个,终于有一个被 GoDaddy shopping cart 认可了。可是我在订单的最后一步卡住了,GoDaddy 在最后一页本该显示确认付款成功的时候说,无法接受这种方式的付款。

    网上有人提到这个优惠券在 checkout 什么阶段输入也很有讲究,他给出了 1234567 的步骤,我照着做了两遍,都不成功。我又怀疑是卡号信息输入错误,重输若干次仍不成功。换了几张卡来回试,也不成功。难道是 GoDaddy 账户个人信息长期不更新无法作 Whois 档案?我去更新了,依旧不成功。退出 GoDaddy 再登录,仍然不成功。清空历史、关闭浏览器、重新打开,不成功。换个浏览器,依然不成功。难道是 GoDaddy 支付网关系统维护中?睡了一觉继续付款,还是不成功。

    最后我只好打个电话给 GoDaddy,客服告诉我,我用的 $0.99 优惠券已经作废────可是它是被 GoDaddy shopping cart 接受的呀────不管啦,反正它是作废了。

    后来我也没找到更好的 $0.99 优惠券,只好用了一个 $1.99 优惠券,毫无悬念,成功了!此时已浪费了约三小时。

  • When will I get my £200 credit from O2?

    In June, 2012 I visited the O2 shop in 49 George Street, Hove, BN3 3YB, enqurying about opening an account and getting two Samsung S3 mobile phones. David told me I could get the phones virtually free by paying £99.99 upfront and he would credit me £100 into my account for each phone. I still keep his written notes, luckily.

    O2 credit promise
    O2 credit promise

    On the next day or two, I revisited the shop. I paid £199.98 for two phones. Christina went through the contract procedure with me. She was fully aware of the £200 credit. However, she told me, she could not add £200 to my account while I was there, because I was porting the numbers from Vodafone to O2. She had to wait a few days until the porting process finished and then my account was active. She said she would add £200 credit in a few days. So I left the shop with two new phones happily.

    I have no way to check if O2 has put £200 into my account or not. Only at the time O2 monthly direct debit shows on the bank statement, I know the credit has not been credited. I started tracing the credit in August, 2012. At first, I thought it is a piece of cake to get it back. I did not trace O2 hard. I popped into the O2 shop occasionally when I was on George Street for something else. Sometime I had chance to speak to David, sometime I did not. David never denied his promise – how can he? I am glad I have not thrown away these pieces of little notes.

    David asked me at least twice to write down my company name, address, account number, contact number. He always said someone would contact me. From my ten times visits, I received only one call from O2 in October, 2012 (or so, I can’t remember). But he did not sort out my issue straight away, instead he promised another call back within a week. Well, I never received a call back since then.

    My last visit to the O2 shop was three weeks ago. I met David. David must think he should do something differently this time. He composed an email to the Area Manager reporting this issue, and clicked “Send” in front of me. I took it that David wanted to correct an error happened 7 month ago, he need some kind of authorisation. David said someone, probably the Area Manager, would contact me by the Friday within that week.

    Well, more than a week passed. I had not been contacted by “someone”. I was not surprised this time. I must be a very patient man, but I lost my patience with O2 after half a year tracing the credit. I did something I was reluctant to do. I started a complaint procedure.

    I am annoyed at being badly serviced by O2 for 2 aspects.

    • Why O2 always ignore my queries? Why should I spend so much my valuable time tracing £200 credit? O2 wasted me much more than £200 worth of my time.
    • O2 customer services seem do not bother with what is happening in the O2 shop. They said to me “the O2 shop is franchised – you have to sort your credit with the shop”. It sounds like “it’s none of my business”. I regard the O2 shop part of O2. Whatever the O2 shop is doing wrongly will ruin the reputation of O2. O2 is responsible for all outlet channels. Even if O2 customer services are not able to sort out the credit alone. They should liaison with the shop instead of asking me to go to the shop.
  • Awful Baidu login

    我见百度文库上一篇文章不错,想要下载。这时百度提示我要登录:

    Baidu login prompt
    Baidu login prompt

    我是最烦注册登录的,但看到百度说可以使用QQ账号登录,我开心地登录了QQ。

    Baidu still require me to create an account after I have logged in QQ
    Baidu still require me to create an account after I have logged in QQ

    等一下,这是什么?!登录了QQ以后,百度仍然顽强地要我关联一个百度账号。那叫我使用QQ账号登录的意义何在?!是 Open Login 还是 Awful Login? 为了拉拢用户,却不注重用户体验,愚蠢的百度逻辑!

  • Streaming YouTube to an Android set top box

    I have an outdated LCD TV and a nearly outdated Android smart TV set top box. I mean, this Android smart TV set top box was bought a year ago, and it works very slow compared to current market products.

    I want to combine these two equipment to make a smart TV. Actually, the only functionality I need out of a smart TV is a DLNA/UPnP player. To be more specific, a DLNA/UPnP player for YouTube.

    I want to search for videos on YouTube using my mobile phone, stream to TV, and watch on TV. I do not want to search on this nearly outdated set top box because it is slow, and it accepts input via a fly mouse rather than a touch screen.

    At first, I tried to install a few apps (iMediaShare Lite, aMPdroid, DLNA Server) on the set top box, but none of them is a DLNA/UPnP player.

    Then I installed XBMC on the set top box, set it can be remotely controlled by UPnP. I also installed Beam on my mobile. Now I can stream YouTube video to my TV. However, XBMC is not reliable on this set top box, most likely due to some bug – this player is not always shown on the list of available DLNA/UPnP players. Every time I have to untick and retick “remotely controlled by UPnP” to force it.

    So I have not found a perfect solution for streaming YouTube video to an Android device. I may have to buy a new TV with DLNA/UPnP player built-in.

  • FreeNote is the best signature making tool

    I was looking for an app on Google Play Store to generate transparent background handwriting in PNG format, which can be put on an electronic document as a signature or watermark. It is either

    • to save paper – no need to print out a hard copy of document, write on it, then scan it back to an electronic copy.
    • or to use an existing Android touch screen mobile phone, instead of buying a graphic tablet pad and pen.

    I tried a few apps.

    Samsung Memo. It can only export JPG or PDF. No transparent background available.

    Image Editor. It is slow responding to drawing track. Never record a complete handwriting. Useless. Too many bugs and Ads.

    ShoDo. No transparent background available.

    Adobe Photoshop Express. Too “express”. It can not open/save as PNG at all.

    Handwriting. It can export transparent background PNGs. It is good. However, it always exports 720 x 1280 images on my test device, no matter how small writing. This requires another software to crop the images. So it’s not good enough.

    Photo Editor. I did not expect it can export transparent background PNGs, as Photo is not transparent. However, I find it can open a transparent background PNG, write on it, then export as transparent background PNG. This requires another software to produce a blank transparent background PNG before first use. That’s not a problem. However, it is an ad-supported programme, which is a bit annoying.

    FreeNote has options to transparent background
    FreeNote has options to transparent background

    FreeNote. I have known FreeNote for long, but before today I did not realise it can export transparent background PNGs. It does auto crop and it is ad-free. It does not require other software to do pre or post process. So it is a perfect solution.

  • Computer Memory Solutions ruined Rakuten.com’s reputation

    I was excited when I saw 4x8GB server memory was selling at a total of USD110.00. It will fit my HP ML110 G7 server very well – ECC, unbuffered. I quickly asked my sister to order and post it to me after she gets it.

    After two days my sister told me her order had been cancelled for no reason. I think it is simply because the dealer Computer Memory Solutions does not want to fulfill the order after they realised they had wrongly priced it.

     Computer Memory Solutions ruined Rakuten.com's reputation

    Computer Memory Solutions ruined Rakuten.com’s reputation

    Now it is selling at USD280.00.

    Computer Memory Solutions ruined Rakuten.com’s reputation, at least in my memory.

  • Speaker docks for Android

    When I was shopping in Asda last night, I came across more than 20 of speaker docks on display. They are all design for iPhone, iPad, iPod, etc. None of them support Android devices.

    Suddenly I commiserated with those accessories manufacturers of going to the dead end. Maybe too early for them to realise it’s a dead end, at least they should see there are more users of Android than those of Apple.

    Why not make speak docks for Android? Philips is the only one make Android speaker docks, but these products are not widely available in store.

  • I have a longer history with Fedora

    今天拿出一张多年不用的 DVD-RW,想擦了上面的内容做一张服务器的启动盘(因为 HP ML110 G7 被我折腾了几次以后不肯在 USB 上启动,不知道为什么)。无意中发现上面的内容竟然是 Fedora 6 DVD,那时还叫 Fedora Core 6(后来就没 Core),年份是 2007 年。

    看来我跟 Fedora 的渊源在我没有意识到她是 Fedora 的时候已经开始了。我意识地使用 Fedora 是在她的第 9 版。

  • Like WordPress, Dislike Cisco

    WordPress 升 3.3了,感觉更清新了。好喜欢。

    Cisco 本是不相干的一件事,为了省事,我放一块说了。两年前买了 Cisco WVC210 wireless IP camera,当时市价 £150左右,我买的是样机,£90。买了之后玩了两天就成了摆设,因为它距离路由器10米的地方隔两堵墙就不工作了。

    最近为 hotel 买了几个 Xenta Wireless Night and Day Wireless IP Network Camera,£50不到,超级满意。我本不太敢买 Xenta 的产品,因为没有这个牌子的使用经验,事实证明我的顾虑是多余的。

    跟 Cisco WVC210 wireless IP camera 相比好在哪?

    • 首先,Xenta 有红线成像而 Cisco 没有;
    • 其次,Xenta 内置喇叭而 Cisco 没有;
    • 再次,Xenta pan & tilt 时静悄悄的而 Cisco 有吱吱声;
    • 最后,Xenta 物美价实,而 Cisco 卖了两年还在卖 £150。
  • 一才难求

    有志开发网店的好手、生手请留言。工作地杭州。