tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622500585285345192012-02-11T14:59:33.113-05:00Just my random thoughts as a UNIX geek, System Administrator, Macintosh user, y'know, overgrown A/V Kid.Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-27149894428519546132012-02-11T14:56:00.002-05:002012-02-11T14:59:33.122-05:00

Unsolicited product test review. Subject: LG BD670 Blueray Player review. LG - BD670 Blueray Player Manufacturer: LG Model: BD670 Product cost: $109.00 Would you recommend the product to your friends: (Yes or No) No, I'd warn people away from this unit. What attracted you to this product: Cost/Manufacturer What is it's

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-64102121167037772682012-01-24T10:59:00.003-05:002012-02-11T14:58:58.714-05:00

For those that have read my previous postings about the Coolmax CN-330 and are looking for those posts, forget it. I've taken them down. Why? 2012-January:Another update. I called them after hunting around for a number and I got the same basic crap. "Tough Luck", they'd be willing to sell me a fan but they won't make good on the ones that have failed. When I asked for the name of the person

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-47119498896971263182011-11-12T15:27:00.010-05:002011-11-24T10:43:20.766-05:00

This is something I wrote a long time ago... A Most Religious Day For "Computerphiles" by Michael Tiernan (c) 1986-2011 You could feel the tension in the air, for according to the prophets this was the day it would happen. We, meek pilgrims would behold the words of a god. A few chosen ones would be able to catch a glimpse of him as he spoke those holy words usually reserved for high priests

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-3078243419492872722011-10-09T17:22:00.001-04:002011-10-09T18:51:06.076-04:00

So, I'm chatting with a friend about people's quality of work and we were laughing about some random things when he mentioned my earlier post about the Amtrak "Downeaster". He asked me if I'd ever tried it again. "Nope, never did." So, while were talking on the phone, I decide to try it. We had a good bunch of laughs about this again. I really wonder how crap like this can make it through the

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-28340305359797162512011-02-20T14:34:00.003-05:002011-02-20T14:39:14.234-05:00

(I deleted my original post and rewrote it here.) I guess my previous comment about security is moot. I was sitting here talking to someone about GPSs and the software that goes with them. During the discussion, I clicked on a Garmin product that we were talking about. Did it offer any information? No, it just got installed! Sure I clicked the wrong thing BUT THERE WAS NO STOPPING IT! I tried to

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-190708072092926962011-02-20T13:42:00.003-05:002011-02-20T14:40:46.722-05:00

Sorry, pulled this post to rewrite. Here it is now.

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-27918491593427134942011-02-16T11:34:00.000-05:002011-02-16T11:34:59.889-05:00

While I don't expect that this will change much but I'd like to get it off my chest. If I don't say something, I can't complain when no one does it. :) My "suggestion" is this: When you release an application and it checks to see if it needs to be updated, I believe Sparkle is still the primary tool for this, give me, the application user, two options in the process: Download the update now but

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-92109685670171694292011-01-10T09:41:00.003-05:002011-01-10T11:02:31.486-05:00

I suck at keeping track of the time I spend doing things. I suspect that this is somewhat of a normal technoid problem but I don't know for sure. So, I took it upon myself to dig around the net and look for something to meet my needs. In doing this I've found a large number of folks asking the same question(s) and it doesn't seem to be getting many answers. The end result is this large chart

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-8677811363231639402010-12-18T10:21:00.001-05:002010-12-18T10:23:15.814-05:00

Told ya I wasn't hopeful! No matter how I address the email issue, I get, ready for this? "We don't support that phone." Gotta love it! I wonder how companies like Magellen handle this sort of thing?

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-47997624609569821022010-12-16T08:07:00.000-05:002010-12-16T08:07:52.103-05:00

Like you, I've run into some really stupid responses from companies. Yea, some of them are goofy language issues which we can all laugh at but some just defy logic. Recently I had an experience with my Garmin GPS which really qualified as a bug and needed addressing by the vendor. The problem is, when I use the GPS to dial my bluetooth attached phone, one of the screens, even in "night mode"

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-33442768763446159282010-10-17T10:41:00.000-04:002010-10-17T10:41:41.148-04:00

Well, I now have a Garmin Nuvi 1490T (traffic & bluetooth). Works quite well now. I have yet to crash it. (Not that I'm trying.. much...) However, in one of those moments that just defies logic, it did produce a strange event that I still find humerous. I paired the unit with my Samsung phone and it works! Quite well actually. So, I decided to pair it with the wife's new phone from Veri$on.

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-32197113557232148182010-10-05T16:05:00.004-04:002010-10-06T08:11:52.319-04:00

I'd searched the net like a lot of folks for possible issues before I purchased my GPS. I'm not in the mood to throw out a wad of cash (or tank of gas) on a whim so I did my searches. Seems I wasn't as careful as  I'd have liked. My 1450 has been returned twice now. I'm waiting for my third unit to show up and I'm losing hope that it's going to be the last exchange. I am posting this in the

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-33818596678580236982010-09-21T15:10:00.003-04:002010-09-22T10:32:19.944-04:00

This is what I'd call a rant in praise of positive work! I just got a Garmin Nuvi GPS and ran into the GREATEST vehicle icons I've ever seen. Yes you can get a bazillion of them from Garmin directly but this guy[1] has done some custom ones that really raises the bar for quality! He even took the time to do a Yellow Submarine from the Beatles! Too freakin' cool! Thanks very much to "aarrgghh

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-14904646275462993162010-09-08T14:25:00.003-04:002011-11-26T10:06:11.582-05:00

Ok, so I’m gonna rant about quality of work again. The twits on the sharp end of the stick this time seem to be “iSeatz.com”. I don’t know it for sure but it seems they did the Amtrak website and some ancillary stuff from there. Yea, I know, I’m a crank about this but is it so bad to expect that people will at least attempt do work they can be proud of? So I’m looking to take the wife on a

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-47102962845384533332010-03-14T12:57:00.000-04:002010-03-14T13:07:25.944-04:00

I've been using VMware Fusion http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/ for quite a long time now and have been very pleased by it.Lately I ran into a problem that had me a bit confused but never so put-out that I actually chased it down. I did some looking online and found some others with similar problems and I found a work around for it so I thought I'd share it.The problem is that a Linux client

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-8194313396706036202010-01-06T19:22:00.000-05:002010-03-14T12:57:49.782-04:00

File under the keywords: Failed to load an application resource (internal error)and An unimplemented or obsolete function was called.We all know about Adobe and the lack of support they show their customers.Some good discussion about this can be found here Matt's Guide to Vendor Response which is a good discussion about how companies should and shouldn't handle things.You can add to the other

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-64986804729753037462009-07-03T14:38:00.000-04:002009-07-04T12:22:00.966-04:00

The post by "Richard Bejtilch" on his blog at http://taosecurity.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-breakership.html about breakership made me think about some things from my experiences.A friend once told me that the architects in the old world (e.g. in the Roman empire) had a test which helped ensure the quality of their work. When they built a large arch or dome, they were forced to stand under it while

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-14083820645754042142009-05-22T07:29:00.000-04:002009-05-22T07:30:03.109-04:00

Ok, I've got my MBP back and it still had the problem.The good news is the video works fine.Since I was ready to spit wooden nickles last night (when I finally got to sit down with my machine) I did some research and experimentation.The specifics of the problem is that the system fails to wake from the second sleep that it is put into. It seems to only go half way to sleep then freezes requiring

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-42098450178686187362009-05-17T13:01:00.000-04:002009-05-17T14:14:55.689-04:00

So I had my MBP running Tiger (10.4) for a long time and it's behaved and performed very well. Recently I decided to upgrade to Leopard (10.5) because I needed the new version of X-Code to do development.I tracked down a set of disks on eBay for a reasonable fee, purchased them, backed up my system, wiped the drive, repartitioned it, and reloaded the new OS and was happy as a pig in Matoff

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-67938251568993421672009-05-16T12:55:00.000-04:002009-05-17T15:10:32.694-04:00

Ok, I've ranted about using the "S" word ("should") during a conversation.I've had customers ask me to do something for them (they don't have permission) and the request is usually of the nature of "Can you put __file__ into __path__ for us so that we can __blabla__?"My first question, like most sysadmins is "What objective are you reaching for?"The customer's responses, more often than not are "

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-5149202802373962852009-05-13T12:05:00.000-04:002009-05-17T14:32:01.326-04:00

Look at the job listings on one of the big job boards. I keep finding jobs listed as "Boston" when, after a chat with the recruiter, find out that the job is actually in "Newton" or, as I got recently, "Worcester".I live north of Boston and am dumbfounded by people who then will follow up this conversation with something like "Well, mapquest says it's only thirty minutes away!" not thinking that

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-64408588873126959492009-05-13T12:01:00.002-04:002010-05-06T17:47:57.835-04:00

Ok, not really but it sounded good as a starting line.Truth is, I wasn't face to face with it, he was sitting about twenty feet away. No, it's not like I was poking him with a stick.. well, sorta... (No, I hadn't thought of that but I wish I had..)We (some of my colleagues and I) were sitting in a conference room and we were grousing about the way things were being done and what we had to do to

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62250058528534519.post-45846068479677528622009-05-13T11:58:00.000-04:002009-05-17T14:17:32.229-04:00

I decided to use that name because that's really what these entries are, just loosely connected thoughts that once in a while, if I'm not careful, may connect to real honest-to-god thoughts that make sense to someone other than me.I once did stuff for the BCS (Boston Computer Society) and had written, a few times, a column with that name. I just happen to think it makes sense knowing how my brain

Michael Tiernanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16268531842152390960noreply@blogger.com