This isnt so much a product review as it is a review of a companies customer service. First my story:

On Christmas Eve I was taking a couple photos with my Canon Xti when suddenly the camera gave the error “There is a problem with the CF Card. Replace the CF Card”.

That’s not good.

I tried turning the camera off, then back on, nothing. I then plugged the Compact Flash card into a card reader and tried to read it with my computer, nothing – Vista gave me an error saying that the card needed to be reformatted, I tried again, and it just read the card has being empty.

I played around a bit and somehow the card started working again (honestly, not sure what I did). I was able to take the photos off the card successfully. I then formatted the card, and it appeared to work well…

Christmas morning I took a bunch of photos when suddenly I got that same “replace the CF card” error. Only this time there was no recovering the photos. I downloaded a bunch of different recovery programs, and NONE of them would recognize the card. It was bad, and this “crash” had taken with it the 100 or so photos of my 2 year old daughter opening her presents and seeing her new bike for the first time. WHY did I use that same card?! I had an old 1gb card I could have used…

A few days later I called Lexar Support (the card I was using was a 300x 4gb UDMA Compact Flash card). I told them my story, and they emailed me a link to their recovery software, and he told me what to do with it to recover my photos and how to then erase, reformat, and test the card after I got my photos safely off.

My first reaction was, great more software to try. I had very low expectations. BUT, it worked!! The software was easy, and I was able to recover ALL the Christmas pictures I had taken, along with about 800 other photos that had been deleted, but still technically existed on the card.

After erasing/formatting & testing the card, it came up clean as if nothing was ever wrong. I called customer support back today and the rep assured me that he was confident that I will not have any more problems, but if I did, they would swap the card out. They say that a corrupt file is most likely what caused it, and the fact that I was able to get the photos back with their software supports that the card is physically okay.

I hope he’s right – I trust that he probably is – but one thing that is for sure, is the customer service team at Lexar is great, and because of them I got my photos back. I will definitely continue to use Lexar for any future CF cards that I may need!

My wife and I, like many, have a Nintendo Wii. I am no expert, but I like to think I am pretty good at some of the games for the Fit etc.  Certainly this is no hard core console – gamers seeking groundbreaking graphics, action,  and online play go the direction of the Xbox and PS3 (btw, I SUCK at Xbox, just ask my friend Ross! Its kind of embarrassing actually…)

Today I saw something that I have to ask my self “Why”. Sure I like the Wii, but even if I was super rich, like Billionaire status, I have to say I would most likely refrain from purchasing the £300,000 Golden Wii.

What is this world coming too!?!?

My wife and I have had iPod Shuffles for a while now, but the other day we caved and picked up an iPod Touch. We drive a 2008 Mazda 5, and unlike most newer vehicles, it does not have an MP3 compatible stereo. I won’t write a rant about this at the moment, but I will say I think its incredibly stupid. The stereo does however have, an auxiliary input, perfect for plugging in the ol’ iPod.

Changing CD’s is a pain in the next, so we started using our Shuffle’s in the car, and while this works well, the lack of a visual display and inability to create separate playlists etc, make finding the song you want nearly impossible. This is why we decided to go all out and pick up a touch.

The 8 GB version is more than enough for us, considering that we only have about 300 MP3’s in our current library, we can’t even come close to filling this thing up – if we were to put all we had into the player we would still only fill up about 12% of its capacity (assuming I am doing my math right). Considering this, spending the extra $80 to jump up to a 16GB model doesn’t make much sense for us.

When we first started using iTunes a few years back, I have to say I hated it. It made no sense to me, and I simply gave up trying. A few months back I decided to sit down and actually learn how it works. I have to admit, it isn’t rocket science, but when you are used to using WinAmp, and then dragging MP3’s onto an MP3 Player within Windows Explorer, iTunes does represent a bit of a learning curve. It didn’t take long to figure out, and now I find it incredibly easy, but it did make me wonder how intuitive the iPod Touch would be.

Well, I have quickly learnt that the most difficult part about the iPod touch was getting it out of the packaging. I struggled with this for at least 5 minutes. Perhaps I should have given it to my 1 year old, she would have had it open in seconds.

Next I had to wait 15 minutes to upgrade my version of iTunes and then reboot the stupid computer. They can put a man on the moon but they can’t seem to make an operating system that allows for updates without a reboot. Man Vista takes forever to re-boot.

Once I finally had the iPod unpackaged and installed, I dragged my playlist over to it within iTunes and threw on a few photos before playing with the interface etc. I was VERY surprised to discover just how easy it was/is to use. It is incredibly intuitive. Everything I tried to do I could figure out in just a few simple steps, and navigating from one menu to the next is instantaneous.

Once I had a bit of a grasp on things, I decided to take a look at the apps. A quick search for “free” uncovered a number of little games and various tools. Nothing too exciting, but somewhat fun never the less – really the games are only any good if you are waiting at a doctors office or something – I can’t imagine ever sitting on my couch playing away on them, but still cool never the less.

So while I have only played with this iPod for a couple days, So far I have nothing but good things to say about it. Way to go Apple – while I still have no desire to purchase one of your computers, you have managed to change my opinion of your MP3 Players, at least for now.

It isn’t often that I post reviews in my Blog, but it is something I think I will start doing more of, as I am finding people seem to like reading reviews.

In the past I have reviewed our 2008 Mazda 5, the new Monopoly City Streets game, and today I am writing to review Memory America, an online Computer Memory shop. (Stay Tuned, I will also be reviewing my new DeWalt 18V Hammer Drill – but I haven’t had time to play with it just yet).

About a year ago I replaced my old boat anchor 17” Dell laptop with a more manageable 15” Toshiba Satellite. (It literally weighs about 8lbs less). This new replacement also brought with it my first experiences with Windows Vista. Equipped with 2 Gigs of ram I quickly realized this was just not enough for Vista.

Today I took the plunge and ordered 2 new chips, 2GB each, from Memory America to bring the computer up to 4 Gigs. My hope and assumption is that this will significantly speed up the machine. I hesitated ordering online, but their prices make it more affordable then what I can find locally, so I decided to go for it. Typically I have never had any problems with online orders, but because the ram is something I am not 100% knowledgeable of I was a bit hesitant.

I am a bit of a novice when it comes to computer upgrades etc – sure I know more ram is good and I know how to swap it out but had no idea what type etc to order – following the easy navigation on this site made it a breeze to find what I was looking for. If they didn’t make it so easy to find the right ram, I would have probably spent a few more dollars and bought locally.

I found their shopping cart system a breeze and ordering was easy – now I just have to wait for the memory to arrive! Ram should be here next week some time.

I’ll also add I must have been having an off day because only after I ordered the ram did I think to pop the cover off the bottom of the laptop to see exactly what memory was in there – thankfully I had ordered the right stuff.

Many many years ago, long before I was born, the telephone was invented. Several years later, it started to appear in homes, and eventually was located in nearly every household.

Today the telephone has come full circle and many people no longer have “land lines”. Instead they have made the switch to exclusively use their cell phone.

Computers, and the Internet more specifically, are doing something similar. Not too long ago the idea of a personal computer in every home was a thing of science fiction. Today, most homes have them, and many have several. It wasn’t long ago when the internet first started to gain in popularity, and now, that too has found its way into just about every home that has a computer.

Just like the telephone, the internet is going mobile too. It is now easy to find cell phones that are fully internet compatible, laptops are impossible to find without a wireless network card, and many have cellular modems built in, and now netbooks are also online anywhere you go. The internet is everywhere, and it is leaving the home and expanding into the world.

It won’t be long before your internet access account is simply a WiFi subscription, following you everywhere you go. If you want to work from the beach, just grab your laptop and go, no worry about huge cell phone data charges as it will all be included in your plan.

Some day, globally free wireless broadband may be available as well, paid for by advertising – but I personally would prefer to pay a few bucks and remain somewhat ad-free.

I have no doubt that in my lifetime (probably within the next dozen or so years) wireless internet will be available everywhere – after all it practically is today. Perhaps it will work along the same lines as Satellite radio – the technology is all there, it just needs to be refined.

The one thing I am not certain about is the future of cloud computing (essentially using web based software for all your needs – word processing, graphics, gaming, etc). It is in use today by many, the most common being the various Google Aps, but I am skeptical that the masses will start to trust all their file storage on machines not in their control, requiring internet access to retrieve their documents.

There is a certain convenience in the whole cloud, but I personally like having all my files available on my personal machine, sitting there in front of me, where I have full control and easy access. Even if internet connections are sped up considerably, opening a photo stored on your local machine will always be faster than grabbing it from your online storage.

I suppose though, if the future goes in the direction of the cloud, I will have no choice to go there with it. I am however, all in favor for wireless internet available everywhere. (as long as they block it in resort towns – don’t want work following me on vacation)

I am always amazed by the power of the internet.

Yesterday my wife and I bought a new BBQ. We decided to sell our old one on craigslist. The old one has a few small issues, but all in all it’s okay. I would have tried selling it for $50. My wife, well, she wanted a quick sale and put it up for $20. Oh well.

So after an hour or so we got an email from someone who was interested. The next day, this morning, she called back and said she was trying to find someone with a truck to come and pick it up for them.

She called me back saying that she had a friend who would be passing through town with a truck and could pick it up. The buyer would meet the friend at our house, pay us, pick up the BBQ, and be on their way.

What makes this all interesting is that the buyer and her husband had never met the person picking up the BBQ. Turns out the buyer posted to Facebook that she was looking for someone with a truck to help them out. One of her “friends” volunteered her husband to come by. Before today, none of them had ever met, nor even knew they existed, and here was the guy with the truck picking up the purchase for them.

Within 24 hours we had listed and sold our BBQ on craigslist, and the buyer had met and managed a favor out of a guy with a truck. A couple things not really possible before the days of the internet – at least not at this speed.

As humans we can travel into outer space, cure disease, build machines to perform our mundane tasks, alter DNA, and harness the power of the Atom. So why are we doomed?

This species we are part of can do things that no other Earth bound creature can even come close to – and while our huge advances in technology and civilization put us far in the lead of the next closest creature on this planet, we also do one thing (and very well I might add) that no other creature does – and that’s destroy the very thing that gives us life.

Afterthought: After writing this I realized that we are not the only creature that is killing its environment. If we look into the world of microscopic life, among others, cancer works to ultimately kill its victim, killing itself in the process. I guess we are just the cancer of the earth.

For creatures with such incredible intellect and power, why is it that we poison the earth? If we continue to put out such massive amounts of pollution as a species we are doomed – and we’ll take much of the other life on this planet with us, hell, we are already responsible for driving numerous creatures to extinction, with others on the way. (The Dodo being the most common – others including the Bali Tiger, Golden Toad, Passenger Pigeon, the Quagga to name a few. And no I didn’t know this before writing, and I assume that the article, 10 recently extinct animals at Listverse is accurate)

I believe in most of the global warming debates, but certainly hope that they are far fetched. I believe that I will live to a ripe old age without having the effects of our poisoning the earth take me down, but I am convinced that mankind will be responsible for wiping out life as we know it. It may take 100 years, it may take 1000 years, but it will happen. But why? It’s 100% preventable.

What is stopping us from reducing our carbon output? Money. Not the direct cost of solving the problem, but the indirect cost. Big business, primarily the oil companies, have too much to lose, they don’t want to see us switch to electric vehicles. (Just imagine, if we pushed on developing the electric carriage back in the early 1800’s, and didn’t make the switch to oil dependant vehicles in the 1920’s, how advanced that technology would be today – we would almost have no need for oil)

Our greed is helping drive us to extinction, but it is not alone. Today most of us have come dependant on power hungry technology to help us get through our day, slowly poisoning the earth as we go. With all honesty, people are not going to change. While I acknowledge how bad it is for the environment, I will step into my gas burning car and pump some pollution into the air later today. I’ll do it again tomorrow too, and the next day. So will millions… hundreds of millions… perhaps billions of other people.

We are so wrapped up in the modern convenience of technology that most of us refuse to change our ways to help the greater good. I use compact florescent light bulbs, recycle my cardboard, bottles, etc, and even have a rain barrel to help water my garden, but I am not sure its enough – perhaps if everyone did these simple little things it may be, but I don’t know.

We have a hell of a good reason to clean up this planet, and we have the technology to do so – so why the hell do we keep poisoning ourselves? It must be true, we’re doomed.

A Finnish software developer has had a USB flash drive implanted into his prosthetic finger. After losing part of his finger in a motorcycle accident last year, Jerry Jalava’s doctor suggested he have a USB drive built into his replacement digit.

When he needs to use it he simply pops off his finger and sticks it into the computer. I think this is a great idea, and am thinking about getting a couple drives surgically implanted into my nipples. (I was going to say somewhere else, but that’s too crude even for me to write publically – although I guess I just kinda did.)

Okay, here is a list of some of my predictions for 91 years from now. Keep in mind I have no education relating to any of this stuff, I am just making it up off the seat of my pants.

Electricity
Forget Solar, Wind Power, and all those. We are going to be powered by the reaction caused by collision of atoms in the air and cosmic rays from space. All our appliances etc, will not need to be plugged in, they will just feed off the energy present around them. We wont be “off the grid” because there simply will be no grid. The grid will be a thing of the past.

Computers
Computers as we know them will cease to exist. Everything will be controlled with a simple and microscopic implant that will allow the unused portion of our brains to be our permanent computers. Our brains will do everything that modern computers today do – that and a 1000x more.

Exercise
Life will get a little boring, as everyone with the money to buy there computer implant, will have a health program installed. When you think that you are putting on a little too much weight, you will just run your “body-defrag” and the computer in your brain will remove the excess weight, tone your muscles, and keep you trim and healthy. There will be no more obesity.

This program is a welcome change too, considering the lack of exercise we will face with the advancements in transportation.

Transportation
Star Trekkies rejoice. Teleportation will be here, and there will be no more need for mass transit, cars, planes, or any of that junk. Heck, even now, we have built the technology to teleport information between two separate atoms. Just imagine where this will take us in 100 years from now. The impossible just may not be impossible.

Food
You’re going to miss that steak dinner. Global warming will cause mass chaos in the food chain and we will survive off of proteins grown in the lab, fake meat laced with all kinds of chemicals mimicking vitamins and other essential nutrients.

Sun Burns
You know those bad sunburns you get in the summer these days? They will be a thing of the past. We humans will evolve to make us immune to sunburns by causing our body’s to emit their own version of sun block.

That’s it for my predictions today. I will write a part 2 later when I am feeling creative again. I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on these crazy ideas, and would also love to hear your far-out predictions. Leave them in a comment to this post, or contact me!

Ahh, I remember back in the day – our old 486 4-100. It was lightning fast, faster than all my friends, and faster then all the computers in the school – that thing rocked. It had a HUGE hard drive in it too, a mind-blowing 512 megs, and those 8 megs of ram, almost unheard of!

Its hard to believe that we have exceeded those amazing storage and technological capabilities! Today, 1TB hard drives are not uncommon, and even JumpDrives far exceed the capacity of hard drives from just a couple years back. I saw a secure 16 GB JumpDrive at Lexars website that had a capacity meter built in – pretty cool really. 16GB on a jump drive is really quite amazing considering that just a few short years ago, standard hard drives didn’t even reach this figure.

With USB 3.0 in the works, it wont be long before every computer has it, and that will open up a lot of opportunities for speed. I can see a future where all your software, operating system, everything, is stored on a jump drive. Take the jump drive to the office, or over to a friends house, plug it into their machine, and run all your software, games, operating system etc, all off of the JumpDrive. Today, USB 2.0 would likely be a bit too slow for this idea to work, but when usb 3.0 takes off (expected next year) its speeds of up to 10x that of 2.0 may make this kind of usage possible.

(Note, if 16 GB is not big enough for you, CDW has a 64 GB jump drive available, but at over $5000, you might want to wait a bit)