Wayne Schulz » Uncategorized

Beware of Taskforce Pro App for Gmail

Wayne Schulz — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:14:52 +0000

For a short while I used the Taskforce App for Gmail. I was relatively happy with it until I tried synchronizing to Google Tasks and it kept disconnecting. Rather than spend an endless game of debugging an application that might never work properly (the developers last blog post was August 2011), I decided to cancel the auto renewal.

Auto renewal is in my opinion one of those tricky sales gimmicks employed by companies that hope you’ll forget the day after your auto-renewal goes into place. Then even though they miraculously could charge your credit card in milliseconds to get your signup – they have extreme difficulty reversing that charge.

Rather than take a chance that I would forget to cancel a service that I no longer felt was worth the money I decided to cancel online (which thankfully Taskforce allows).

However they immediately cancel your account in full and back you down to a free account — despite my having paid in advance for a full year.

In my opinion extremely poor business.

Beware AppSumo Sales Practices/Deal Requirements This morning a deal for Olark, an online chat support...
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How to watch Times Square New Years Eve Online – In 3D

Wayne Schulz — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:33:55 +0000

Interested in watching the festivities in New York City’s Times Square on December 31, 2011 – but not all that thrilled to fight the crowds. Well you’re in luck because for the last several years there has been a way to watch all the activity live from your computer via the power of the streaming webcams hosted by Earthlink.

These high definition streaming cameras offer a large number of viewing angles to choose from and new for 2011 is the Earthcam 3D which will allow those with special 3D televisions to connect (instructions here) and view the action in full depth.

Watch the Times Square action from the Earthcam dedicated New Years Eve site here or view the every day Time Square Webcam here.

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Beware AppSumo Sales Practices/Deal Requirements

Wayne Schulz — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 20:28:26 +0000

This morning a deal for Olark, an online chat support window for web sites, arrived in my email. The deal promised a year of Gold service for $125 verus the normal $44 per month. All that you need to do is pay on the website in one lump sum via Paypal. Or do you?

After logging in via PayPal and making payment I was shocked to find that before I could claim the “deal” I also was required to provide a credit card number to Olark. Nowhere in the offer did it make any mention of having to keep a credit card number on file with Olark or I likely wouldn’t have bought this deal.

Use extreme caution if you are unwilling to sign up for a recurring billing arrangement (after the 12 month period Olark will bill you $44 per month unless you’ve cancelled). Full image of the deal after the break.

Can anyone spot where AppSumo has indicated that after you pay them $125 that you’re required to also enter in a credit card number with Olark?

If it’s there I’ve completely overlooked it.
In my opinion this is just downright misleading.

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Family auctions off earthquake boulder

Wayne Schulz — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:33:59 +0000

Affectionately named “Rocky,” the boulder has become a veritable part of the Johnsons’ home. But now they want it gone – to the highest bidder.

It’s all about branding, isn’t it? Touting the 25-ton boulder as a “landscape rock” and giving him the persona “Rocky,” Phil Johnson has seen the bids roll in on a New Zealand auction site. With all the proceeds going to charity, Johnson has uncovered a bit of humor in the rubble.

After the earthquake, “Rocky” dislodged himself from a nearby cliff and rolled down a hill, coming to rest in the middle of their home. Seeing no injuries aside from their garage ceiling, the family began the cleanup process. But where do you put a 50,000-pound rock? On the Internet, of course.

Since he posted the auction last week, Johnson has been busy fielding questions about their uninvited guest. Many commenters have left words of praise for his endeavor, and interested bidders have inquired about Rocky’s personality to see if he’d fit in their home. Johnson notes Rocky is a Rolling Stones fan and has a love for Sylvester Stallone films, particularly the one that shares his name.

The auction ended late Sunday Eastern time. The winning bidder put down NZ$10,500 ($7,400) for the sure-to-be-famous Rocky.

Amplify’d from newsfeed.time.com

Family Auctions Off Boulder That Landed in Living Room After New Zealand Quake

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How to Force your Android Phone To Check For An Update

Wayne Schulz — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 22:17:26 +0000

Cool tip that pushes your Android based phone online to see if there’s a software or firmware update available.

Amplify’d from lifehacker.com

How to Force Your Android Phone to Check for a System Update

You’ve just read or heard that your phone is due for an update—maybe just bug fixes, or possibly a big version upgrade. But your phone claims there’s nothing doing. Dial this keypad combination to force a “checkin” and possible upgrade.

If there’s no update available for your phone from your carrier, then this trick won’t magically compile and distribute one, of course. But there can be a lag between when a carrier makes an update available and when your phone checks in to see if it’s available—even if you hit the Settings menu, choose About phone, and click the “Check for system updates” option. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t—but it doesn’t hurt.

To get your phone into the queue right away, dial *#*#checkin#*#*, substituting the dial pad numbers for the letters. I used it on a Nexus S to pick up a bug-fixing upgrade, and users of other Android phones on different networks, like the Droid Eris on Verizon, have seen some success with it. If you’ve had success with this trick, or felt like you were a lab rat pushing a lever, let us know either way in the comments.

Read more at lifehacker.com

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How to setup a podcast using Posterous

Wayne Schulz — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 18:39:58 +0000

Interesting walk through of how you can use micro blogging site Posterous to quickly and easily distribute a Podcast.

Amplify’d from howdoi.posterous.com

After setting up an account, you can simply email post@posterous.com with your podcast episode as an attachment. If you use an iPhone or iPod touch to record your podcasts, you can email directly from the voice memos application.

Topic: In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a podcast using Posterous and how your listeners can add it to iTunes.

Read more at howdoi.posterous.com

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Sheriff Killer’s Prison Fed Facebook Page Removed

Wayne Schulz — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 12:19:26 +0000

Apparently a prisoner in Oklahoma serving time for killing a sheriff was able to smuggle in a BlackBerry and make postings to a Facebook page.

According to the new Facebook disabled the page because it violates policy.

Reportedly the last posting from the account? “Chillin out.”

Amplify’d from abcnews.go.com

Facebook has deactivated the page of a convicted murderer who had access to a BlackBerry in his Oklahoma prison because it violated the social network’s policy.

“In Oklahoma, it is against the law to possess a cell phone in jail,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes told ABC News today. “Since his activity was unlawful in that state, we disabled the profile yesterday.”

Facebook shut down Justin Walker’s page Wednesday after ABC News reported on how the prisoner, incarcerated for murdering a sheriff in 2006, had managed to update his Facebook account from behind bars with photographs and complaints about prison life.

Earlier this week, prison officials were notified by a local television station that Walker had managed to maintain a Facebook page from inside his cell at Oklahoma State Reformatory. He has since been transferred to a more secure prison block.

His Facebook account chronicles his friendships with people on the outside as well as his life behind bars.

On Nov. 13, Walker simply posted, “Chillin out.”

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Untitled

Wayne Schulz — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 20:37:10 +0000

Amplify’d from www.peachtree.com

See when we’ll be in your city!

City Date

New York, NY 12/7/10

Dallas, TX 12/9/10

Chicago, IL 12/14/10

Atlanta, GA TBD

This is no charge for this event and space is limited! Please be sure to register to reserve your spot –we want everyone to get the most out of this great event!

Register Now

We want to hear what you have to say!

We want to meet with you in person, and hear about what matters most in your business! Join the Sage Peachtree team for a day filled with product and program news, tips on being more efficient with Sage Peachtree and most importantly, open dialogue.

You’ll walk away from this event knowing that you’ve been heard, and with a deeper understanding of the direction of Sage Peachtree and Sage. We’ll be sharing lots of great information, and giving away many door prizes, including five FREE copies of Sage Peachtree Complete Accounting with Sage Peachtree Business Care to members of the Sage Accountants Network (SAN) and Certified Consultants (CCs) to give to their clients. We want to see you there!

Agenda

9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.: Partners Only
Come together with other bookkeepers, accountants and consultants along with SAN members and CCs and tell us how we can strengthen our partnership with you and help your business grow. Join the Sage Peachtree leadership team for a panel discussion to share with us what matters most in your business, and provide your feedback on what we can do to help solve your biggest challenges.

12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.: Partner Lunch
Enjoy lunch while you network with other influencers and recommenders and the Sage Peachtree team, and get recharged for an exciting afternoon with your clients and customers!

1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.: Partners and Clients
Let us share our high-level strategic direction and product roadmap with you and your clients, as well as valuable productivity tips in Sage Peachtree, and social media best practices. Take part in informative group discussions to dive deeper into how we can work together to help you and your clients achieve greater success. Each partner attending can bring two customers in the afternoon – so make sure you let your top customers know how important they are by bringing them along.

4:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Partners and Clients
What we heard; closing thoughts from Connie Certusi and Jennifer Warawa.

Read more at www.peachtree.com

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Poor T-Mobile Reps Can’t Even Process A Reinstatement

Wayne Schulz — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:43:40 +0000

Talk about lousy service. After four internal T-Mobile phone transfers (twice to the exact same department) and countless re-assurances that reinstating my recently cancelled line would be “no problem” — I just gave up with T-Mobile. The drill (this happened to me 3 times). Call their general customer service number – 877-453-1304. This line is answered by someone who appears to understand the process of reinstating an account. The problem is that they have to hand you off. The call (in all three of my tests) seemed to be transferred to a very poor quality VOIP type line where as best I could tell based on accents and language the reps are somewhere overseas.

Let the fun begin.

There must be an easier cell phone company to do business with.

I’d ported my number from T-Mobile to Sprint in order to try the HTC EVO. I loved the phone. Unfortunately found Sprint was nowhere near ready for 4G speeds (you won’t hear much about this because most users keep 4G turned off). The EVO would constantly be re-connecting to GTalk when on 4G. After three calls to Sprint — and none of the representatives seeming to know what an Android phone is (and I’m being kind here) I just cancelled the line.

Recently I briefly entertained re-activating my BlackBerry on T-Mobile. This morning I called and was assured that I could come back – same contract , pricing and discounts.

Fantastic I thought.

Then the headaches start.

First I had to call back because T-Mobile wanted me to use a new SIM card to re-activate.

Instead of reaching the helpful cheerful T-Mobile representative I first spoke to — I progressed through a series of phone clerks (that’s the kindest way I could describe them) who couldn’t transfer me quickly enough to another department.

Eventually it was a game of round robin. The first clerk transferred me to activations – who promptly transferred me back to the general customer service clerk who (you guessed it) transferred me right back to activations.

By the 4th transfer I’d had enough T-Mobile for the year.

So to wrap up:

T-Mobile lost: One re-activation (about $60/mo – no biggie)

T-Mobile gained: One DETRACTOR. In my line of work where I speak and see clients pretty continuously I figure I’ll probably spread the “T-Mobile service sucks” word a good 60 to 80 times before I get tired of it.

Lesson: Companies should train their customer service representatives to take ownership of issues, follow the problem through even when it involves handing you off to another extension.

Lesson: Avoid T-Mobile.

Lesson: Think about how bad this experience was. A company couldn’t even offer a bare minimum of customer service to close a sale to a customer who was saying “here’s my money take me back”.

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Bubble Wrap To Do List: Complete Tasks With A Satisfying

Wayne Schulz — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:59:57 +0000

Complete your tasks with a satisfying “pop” when you create this DIY (do it yourself) bubble wrap to do list.

The materials list is pretty basic:

bubble wrap (free in the mail!)
ikea frame ($2.00/pair I think)
something to be a dry erase surface: dry erase self-adhesive sheets (shown), glossy white plasticky shrinky dink sheets, transparency sheets, glass, something like that (price varies)
scissors
cardboard or thin wood for extra backing

optional:
hammer and 1 cm hole punch
bubble wrap spacing template (attached pdf)

The hours of fun? Priceless.

Amplify’d from www.instructables.com

bubble wrap todo list

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