How can one purchase an Apple product knowing that this is going on?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382396/Workers-Chinese-Apple-factories-forced-sign-pledges-commit-suicide.html
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Time Warner - price gouging?
We tried to get the Weather Channel on one of our TV's last night, and instead got "No Signal Available". I thought maybe the Weather Channel was unavailable, so I called Time Warner to see what was going on. As it turned out, I found out that I was able to get the channel on the one set that has a cable box, but I could NOT get it on the other two that are just connected to the cable with no intervening box.
At this point, many people might have stepped back and said, "Wait a minute! Maybe the Weather Channel now needs a cable box to work!" Not my fearless "tech" -- he scheduled a service call to have someone come out to the house to see what the problem was.
I called TW again this morning hoping I might get someone who actually knew what was going on, and to my surprise I did! He told me that a letter went out last month telling the TW customers in my area that "certain channels" were going digital. Now that "certain channels" are digital, a box is required to access them, at $8.50 per month. So ... two more boxes ... $17 additional per month ... $204 additional per year ... just to get channels that I am already paying for and was able to get until December 8th.
Oh, yeah, one more thing -- they sent out another letter recently to let me know that because all the networks are raising their prices, poor Time Warner is forced to raise its prices as well. Interestingly, the price increase on just about everything listed, from channels to cable boxes, is $2.04.
I don't know what hat they pulled that number out of, but it would be VERY interesting to have a look at their books to understand the "justification" they presented for this price increase. Sans books, my guess is that they're raising prices so that I can subsidize their new customers who are getting reduced rates for a while and probably will not need the additional cable boxes to get the Weather Channel until their reduced rate runs out.
Anyway, I'm going to take a look at Dish Network and DirectTV today and start getting something set up with them. I don't think that they gouge as badly or as much as TW, and I'm pretty sure they don't have as many outages as I've experienced with TW cable recently.
I'll also be switching my phone service back to the local carrier. When TW cable goes out, it takes the phone with it.
Still undecided about Internet, so I'll probably just keep what I have now until I see something that I like more.
Hasta la vista, Time Warner!
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
New Mexico Green Chili
My son and I recently went on a motorcycle road trip from Orange County, California to Dallas, Texas. Along the way we visited some spots in New Mexico and landed in Taos one night. We went up the hill to the Taos Ski Lodge Village and found a place called Tim's Stray Dog Cantina where we had dinner. It is here that I discovered that New Mexico Green Chili is a wonderful thing. When mixed with red chili, good southwest Mexican food and a few beers, it has a salutory effect on the body's internal systems that nothing can match.
On the way back to Orange County, I stopped in Santa Fe to get a new tire on my bike. While I was waiting, I asked where was a good place for breakfast. They directed me to a place called Horseman's Haven that was right across the street.
The place doesn't look like much, but they have pretty good food. I had huevos rancheros and some of the hottest green chili I've ever had -- it was great!
If you're in the area, I recommend both of these places.
On the way back to Orange County, I stopped in Santa Fe to get a new tire on my bike. While I was waiting, I asked where was a good place for breakfast. They directed me to a place called Horseman's Haven that was right across the street.
The place doesn't look like much, but they have pretty good food. I had huevos rancheros and some of the hottest green chili I've ever had -- it was great!
If you're in the area, I recommend both of these places.
Time Warner Cable - there are better choices
I had SBC Yahoo DSL for quite a while. It had its quirks, but by and large it wasn't so bad. Speed was decent, it mostly stayed up, and their service was a coupla steps above "sucks".
In February 2008 my bride and I went for the Time Warner 3-in-one pitch -- Internet access with 2 GB mailboxes, cable TV, and even phone service over the internet. The price sounded good, the service promises were stellar, and we would get movies and TV channels that we currently were not getting.
Well, after everything was installed and set up, it turned out that Time Warner was not the best choice we could have made.
The first issue was the mailbox size. Instead of the 2 GB promised - and listed on their website - we got a piddly little 10 megabyte mailbox because we were in some kind of Adelphia transition area. It filled up VERY quickly, then all other email messages got rejected until I emptied it.
We were assured that this was going to change very, very soon, but as of September 2008 it's still the same puny mailbox. I wrote letters to corporate and found out that they were NOT going to do anything about it, so I started forwarding all my email to Gmail. Then, I realized that there is really no need for me to use a Time Warner account at all, so I started changing all my email contacts - business and personal - to Gmail. Works fine, never a problem, and my Roadrunner mailbox never goes over the limit because everything forwards automatically.
The second and more disturbing issue is the cable modem. This runs both my internet access and my home telephone. The modem seems to restart itself sometimes for no particular reason. When this happens, both phone and internet access go down. If I'm on a phone call, it gets dropped. This seems to be happening more and more frequently of late, so I'm going to call them and give them one chance to fix it. If they can't, then I'll be going back to POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) with a DSL internet connection. The TV will get a Dish Network connection.
At least I won't have all my eggs in one basket, and if there's a major earthquake I'll stand a better chance of having phone service. And I won't have crappy Time Warner service.
In February 2008 my bride and I went for the Time Warner 3-in-one pitch -- Internet access with 2 GB mailboxes, cable TV, and even phone service over the internet. The price sounded good, the service promises were stellar, and we would get movies and TV channels that we currently were not getting.
Well, after everything was installed and set up, it turned out that Time Warner was not the best choice we could have made.
The first issue was the mailbox size. Instead of the 2 GB promised - and listed on their website - we got a piddly little 10 megabyte mailbox because we were in some kind of Adelphia transition area. It filled up VERY quickly, then all other email messages got rejected until I emptied it.
We were assured that this was going to change very, very soon, but as of September 2008 it's still the same puny mailbox. I wrote letters to corporate and found out that they were NOT going to do anything about it, so I started forwarding all my email to Gmail. Then, I realized that there is really no need for me to use a Time Warner account at all, so I started changing all my email contacts - business and personal - to Gmail. Works fine, never a problem, and my Roadrunner mailbox never goes over the limit because everything forwards automatically.
The second and more disturbing issue is the cable modem. This runs both my internet access and my home telephone. The modem seems to restart itself sometimes for no particular reason. When this happens, both phone and internet access go down. If I'm on a phone call, it gets dropped. This seems to be happening more and more frequently of late, so I'm going to call them and give them one chance to fix it. If they can't, then I'll be going back to POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) with a DSL internet connection. The TV will get a Dish Network connection.
At least I won't have all my eggs in one basket, and if there's a major earthquake I'll stand a better chance of having phone service. And I won't have crappy Time Warner service.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Daewoo VCR/DVD combo unit
Well, the Daewoo VHS / DVD combo unit that we have had for a year or so now has crapped out. Done. Finito Kaput.
I remember the first VHS player that I got -- it lasted for years and years. I still have an old NEC CD player that works like a champ. Ditto for my old Pioneer CD player. The old stuff just keeps on working.
But this Daewoo unit ... it isn't that old. It shouldn't have broken. But it has. The DVD tray won't open. Silly, stupid little thing ... but it completely cancels the usefulness of the unit. Now, it's basically junk.
So I have to ask myself, is it just Daewoo that's this way? Or is it the rest of the electronic's manufacturers as well? Are they now making stuff that will last from 1 to 3 years, then break so that we have to buy something else and put the old unit in the electronic / toxic waste landfill?
I'm pissed off! And I will not be buying anything from Daewoo again. Ditto from Sony (that's another story).
But .... where can I turn? Who is making QUALITY products any more?
I don't know that any one is ...
I remember the first VHS player that I got -- it lasted for years and years. I still have an old NEC CD player that works like a champ. Ditto for my old Pioneer CD player. The old stuff just keeps on working.
But this Daewoo unit ... it isn't that old. It shouldn't have broken. But it has. The DVD tray won't open. Silly, stupid little thing ... but it completely cancels the usefulness of the unit. Now, it's basically junk.
So I have to ask myself, is it just Daewoo that's this way? Or is it the rest of the electronic's manufacturers as well? Are they now making stuff that will last from 1 to 3 years, then break so that we have to buy something else and put the old unit in the electronic / toxic waste landfill?
I'm pissed off! And I will not be buying anything from Daewoo again. Ditto from Sony (that's another story).
But .... where can I turn? Who is making QUALITY products any more?
I don't know that any one is ...
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Thoughts about Chicago
I've been to Chicago a few times over the years -- at least, to the Loop area. It's a wonderful city, home to the Bears and the Cubs, loaded with some awe-inspiring architecture, filled with wonderful friendly people, and of course home to Marshall Field's department store.
Well, I guess I can't really call it just a department store ... it's much more than that. In its prime, it was the quintessential store for downtown dwellers, the place where you could fine practically anything and everything you needed. Even after its acquisition by Federated, it still holds a place in my mind of what a real department store can and should be. The efforts to "Macy-ize" it have not been successful, and I hope they never are.
That being said, it's also winter in downtown Chicago. There's supposed to be a high tomorrow of 24 degrees with snow in the offing and a white Christmas just around the corner.
I live in southern California. I won't see a white Christmas here, but I will go hiking this afternoon in the foothills basking in the 65 degree temperature. Later this evening I'll sit on my back patio, sip a nice Shiraz, and catch up on some last-minute Christmas cards.
I don't have the big city atmosphere of Chicago, but I do have compensations.
Life is good.
Well, I guess I can't really call it just a department store ... it's much more than that. In its prime, it was the quintessential store for downtown dwellers, the place where you could fine practically anything and everything you needed. Even after its acquisition by Federated, it still holds a place in my mind of what a real department store can and should be. The efforts to "Macy-ize" it have not been successful, and I hope they never are.
That being said, it's also winter in downtown Chicago. There's supposed to be a high tomorrow of 24 degrees with snow in the offing and a white Christmas just around the corner.
I live in southern California. I won't see a white Christmas here, but I will go hiking this afternoon in the foothills basking in the 65 degree temperature. Later this evening I'll sit on my back patio, sip a nice Shiraz, and catch up on some last-minute Christmas cards.
I don't have the big city atmosphere of Chicago, but I do have compensations.
Life is good.
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