Woopra Analytics - Full review
November 13, 2008
Intowit.com is the lucky recipient of a Woopra Beta Invite. We will be releasing a full review of the fancy new analytics program shortly.
HTC Diamond 4-Week Review - Telus
September 21, 2008
It’s been a wild ride!
Being privy to release dates and other fantastic information about all-things-electronic, I found myself torn between purchasing the iPhone or the Diamond. For sanity sake, I waited and went with Telus and the HTC Diamond - Victor. Not to be confused with the GSM version that is available in the United States. The CDMA version is missing such amenities as:
1. VGA front-facing camera for video calling…oooh bird
2. The cool & slick diamond backing…ooooh bird
3. A SIM card…oooh bird
Other than that the functionality of the phone remains pretty much the same.
At first, the HTC Diamond was a treat, attached to my hand 24/7. I could not put it down and I found myself less productive for the past 3 weeks. This all changed when the problems started showing their evil presence. Literally, the phone seemed possessed and still does to this day.
Technical Issues:
Week One - Zero Issues - No time to setup Telus Mobile Email
Week Two - Minor Telus Mobile Email syncing problems w/Gmail, The phone required random restarts in order to remain a functional part of my daily life.
Week Three - More serious Telus Mobile Email issues w/Gmail, more frequent restarts, consistent crashing and the occasional missing Touch-Flo 3D interface.
Week Four - All is lost…Absolutely no Telus Email w/Gmail can be received using the Telus connection (only Wifi and even when set to Auto-connect w/ “TELUS”). Emails can occasionally be sent using the Telus connection, but it is so rare that I do not even bother. The Touch-Flo 3d interface is gone (only a blank and icon-absent screen remains), and I am guessing that a hard reset is the only remedy for the problem.
Overall:
In the end, the phone was a pleasure to use during the honeymoon phase! However, I will not be sticking with the HTC and being on a 3-year contract this means that I will be paying Telus $20/month for the remaining months in the contract when I breach it. And by the power of gray skull I will be switching providers and moving to an iPhone. IMO, this is well worth my money as I will not use Telus, trust their soft-technologies (lack there of), use their very shotty-loop-inducing website until it all has received a serious rebuild.
Telus, understand that I was a very loyal Telus customer during your early years but I refuse to be trumped by a now faceless corporation only interested in charging a premium for services & products that are not fully tested. Some products (your software & website) should not even be publicly available. Adding new features on-top of an already flawed system is never a good idea.
The worst part of my story is that I dislike the iPhone and the false sense of superiority it gives its users, but I am being forced to enter the realm of Apple and the “MAN” aka. Rogers…
Update1:
The Hard Reset worked and the phone is functional once again. However, it’s a question of how long it will remain in this state. Considering that the only application that I run is Telus Mobile Email, I can bet that it was written by 1,000 monkeys locked in a room filled with computers.
Update2:
The YouTube app crashed and caused the device to need a soft-reset. Maybe I bought a lemon or maybe Telus and HTC need to go back to the drawing board. Android anyone?
Update 3: A new problem
Apps Running:
Activesync
Telus Mobile Email
Active Communications:
Phone - On
Wifi - On
About 20-minutes ago (7:20pm), I received two emails through TME which caused the phone to vibrate & flash the center ring of death constantly. It’s still going, vibrating and flashing, even though the messages are read. This has been happening for the entire 20-minutes.
Will try a soft-reset.
Update 4:
Soft-reset worked and the phone has now stopped vibrating and flashing.
Update 5: The slow move to Apple
Still running into the occasional issue with the diamond that requires a soft-reset. Now, the YouTube app is causing as many problems as Telus Mobile Email.
***The HTC has it’s obvious flaws but these should not be blamed on HTC itself. It’s not their fault Telus has no idea what their doing…***
The VP of my company allowed me to take a look at his iPhone and it was a pleasure to see in action. Really! The apps alone make the phone worth the money.
Here’s to jumping on the bandwagon!
The Acanac Online PC Experience - Really?!?!?!?
July 26, 2008
First, let’s take a look at the company!
From their Website:
“Acanac is the sister company of Canaca.com Inc one of Canada’s Largest
webhosting companies. Acanac takes the same principles brought to you by
Canaca, great service at a great value. Acanac provides cost effective Residential
and Business phone service at an affordable price. We also offer High speed DSL
and dial up access as well.We are truly a global communications company
connecting the world for less.
Acanac’s core value is to make sure that you the customer is served with the
utmost respect and professionalism. This is the reason that we are one of
the few companies that offer a unconditional money back guarantee.
We recognize that down time is not an option for your internet access and
that you deserve crystal clear Phone Service at all times. That’s why we
have invested heavily in hardware, and facilities this ensures that you, the
client is up and running on 24 hours a day seven days a week.”
My Experience Loathing with for Acanac
The Search for a VPS Begins - July 14th, 2008
Looking for a cost-effective way of hosting multiple websites I came across a company called Acanac. They are offering a Online PC (Virtual Private Server) with the following specs:
Price - $23.95/month (12-month)
Speed - 10mbps up/10mbps down
Static IP - 1
Bandwidth - 500GB
HDD Space - 100GB
RAM - 750Mb
Root Access - Yes
OS - Centos 5
Software Included with CentOS
(Standard with any lin box)
Firefox
KTorrent
Open Office
http streaming
ftp access
File Encryption
Gftp client
Games
IM
Review: Seagate Freeagent Pro for Laptop Backups
April 15, 2008
Freeagent is available in four sizes: 320GB, 500GB, 750GB and 1000GB. You can connect the drive through USB or eSATA. For the latter you need an eSATA card adapter. I think, it is worth the extra 30 bucks because it is much faster. USB 2.0 supports up to 480 Mbps and eSATA 3 Gbps. You won’t always reach this speed, though, because there are bottlenecks like drive speed or the performance of your laptop.
Rock on, Rock Band Rockers
March 6, 2008
We have all played the Guitar Hero series of console games, pretending to be Jimi Hendrix, Slash or Zakk Wylde, but if you feel that your skills as a drunken latenight living room rockstar have progressed a little beyond the norm, I suggest you try out Rock Band. In this arena, you can rock out not only as lead guitarists such as Kirk Hammett of Metallica and Chris Shiflett of Foo Fighters, but as the bassists, drummers and vocalists of these bands. Yes you heard me, even those crazy bassists.
The gameplay is very similar to Guitar Hero, only involving a variety of peripherals, including a microphone and complete drum pad kit. Because of this, it is quick and easy to pick up. The guitar even has 5 frets at the top of the neck for soloing! But don’t be worried, the expert difficulty will give even the most cracked out insane heroin-junkie musicians a run for their money. It is an absolute blast, and hilariously addicting to say the least. Before you know it, it will be 5:30am and you will be convincing your band mates to play ONE MORE song to get that tour bus for your world tour. After all, you can’t WALK a world tour.
Rock Band is available for Xbox 360 and PS3, and a version for Wii is scheduled for arrival in the near future. It’s a perfect addition to any otherwise lame party or late night jam session.
Rock & roll included, sex and drugs sold separately.
YouTube Resolution Tweaking
March 4, 2008
Tired of looking at mediocre quality videos on YouTube? Depending on your internet connection, YouTube automatically adjusts the quality of the videos that you can view.
Add this “&fmt=6” (without the quotes) to the end of the URL and if there’s a higher quality video available it will begin loading right away. Otherwise you’ll sit there staring at a loading symbol until you realize that it’s not working.
The quality difference is noticeable but don’t expect HD content to be loaded.
Acer Customer Support - A Rip-off to remember
February 15, 2008
What do you get from Acer when you buy a Premium Ferrari Laptop for $3000?
1-Ferrari “Branded” laptop
1-Year Warranty that does not cover battery/acpi issues
1-Battery
10 or more Bloatware programs that are automatically installed
eRestore which restores your computer to its original state (bloatware included)
ePerformace utility built by monkey’s that removes critical Windows Processes
A burnt lap ‘n’ berries - Warning if you are male do not use this laptop
What do you get when your out of warranty for 1-month and your computer won’t shut down?
A 45-minute customer support phone call that includes rude and useless speeches from obviously unqualified people with very little technical knowledge
An offer for $3/minute technical support or $479 return to depot service (This does not include the parts that they may use to repair it)
Buyer beware when purchasing an Acer Laptop! Customer support is a necessity when purchasing hardware and Acer is obviously not up to the task. They’re by no means a premium company and they should not pretend to be by offering a $3000 laptop. I’ll stick with IBM who has not let me down in 6-years with 3 different laptops.
