I found this news story about a group of students: “Teenagers armed with only a £56 camera and latex balloon have managed to take stunning pictures of space from 20-miles above Earth.” And, to me, the photos they got are quite impressive. My inner geek is quite happy.
March 26, 2009
January 30, 2009
thumbs up to goldengadgets.com
My wife got me an LED headlamp for Christmas (because I broke my old one). However, when I tried it out, it wouldn’t work. I figured I’d have to go through the hassle of mailing it back before getting a replacement. However, the folks @ goldengadgets.com responded very quickly to my RMA request that they would ship out a replacement. And, they did just that. Good customer service! I am very appreciative.
January 29, 2008
etymotic rocks!
These days, I rarely run across great customer service–often decent customer service, but great service catches my attention. I thought I should give them some props here, for whatever that’s worth.
A little over a year ago (maybe longer, not sure), I got a set of the Etymotic ER-4 earphones as a gift from my previous employer for some extra work I did. They are really sweet. I used to travel every week on planes and trains, and these earphones were just amazing at blocking out the noise. Their sound quality is nothing short of amazing as well–and was thisclose to having a PhD in acoustics. Once I stopped traveling and didn’t have a real need for these, I decided to use them while doing outdoor jobs: mowing grass, chainsawing, chipping wood, etc. They cut out more noise than my custom-made ear plugs and over-the-ear muffs combined–and I could listen to music with only 1 click above what I’d listen without the noise-generating device nearby, again, with amazing quality–I used to pick out things from some songs while mowing grass that I had never noticed on my home or car stereo before. Okay, enough raving.
Well, at the end of this past summer, the sound in the earphones started to cut in and out, like there was some sort of loose connection in the line. If I wiggled the wires (not at the plug or earphones), it would usually come back in. Eventually, I had to give up on listening to music, but since they blocked more noise than my other noise-suppression arsenal, I used them without any music.
A few weeks ago I finally got my tail in gear and sent them an e-mail to ask if they could be looked at. They quickly and professionally responded that the units have a 2 year warranty and gave me an RMA # and their address to mail them back. Not having any proof-of-purchase, I reluctantly mailed them in. I figured that I’d get a phone call or e-mail telling me they needed a repair and it would cost me handily to get back my prized earphones.
Oh, not so. I got a box in the mail today. Not my earphones, but a brand new set of the same model. There was a sheet from the company documenting their testing and confirmation of the problem with my earphones, and an invoice for $0.00.
Wow. You guys rock! I am so thrilled to have these earphones back and ecstatic to have them repaired/replaced for free–great customer service all the way around. It’s impressive to see a company stand behind their product like this these days. Kudos!
October 17, 2007
just a tad out of line?
Someone posted this last week on our local freecycle group. You have to realize that we live in the edge of the suburbs, so people around here are more likely to have a farm tractor rusting in the back yard than a piece of high-tech equipment lying around the garage. Oh, yeah… these things currently sell for over $400 used. I’m just so shocked that this person never posted a “received” follow-up 
Wanted: Cisco Router 1600, 1700 or up
I need a working Cisco Router 1600, 1700 or up for studies.
October 2, 2007
great world-wide star count
I’ve always loved gazing at the stars. As a child, my father took me to programs at a local college’s planetarium. I can remember annoying my elementary school teachers by knowing more about the earth’s movements, the moon, and the stars than they did.
Anyway, there’s a great program to encourage interest in astronomy: Great World-Wide Star Count. It’s also a program to help gather more information about light pollution. SiliconValley.com has a good article about it. I’m going to participate. I have seen more light pollution in my area over the past 5 years and am a little bummed about it.
August 3, 2007
so tempting…
A posting yesterday on our local Freecycle group:
OFFER: blender/cell phone
Oh, such a tempting combination. Guess I’ve spent too much time at http://www.willitblend.com, huh?
May 7, 2007
no spell check in photoshop?
Saw this ad today at a web store I just placed an order:
Click the link if you like… but it makes an “oink” sound, not “onik.”
February 7, 2007
nerds://A Musical Software Satire
A couple weeks ago, my Dad took me out for a “guys night out” (since my wife and mother both decided they probably wouldn’t care for the show) in celebration of my birthday. My mother had spotted an ad for nerds://A Musical Software Satire. It’s a musical spoof of the early days of the personal computer revolution–specifically at Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
We went to the first preview performance (one week before opening). We took the train down to Philadelphia and had dinner at a tiny little diner a few blocks from the theatre. After the show, we had desert at the same diner as we waited for the next train home–since we missed the 10:15 train and had to wait until 12:15. The kicker of the train ride was the train breaking down on the way home for 20 minutes, getting us home around 2:00 AM, instead of the scheduled 1:30 AM.
I’m really glad my wife chose not to go. She wouldn’t have gotten much of the humor at all. My Dad and I laughed our tails off. It was cleverly written and the performance was pretty good for their first show. If you’re a geek like me, it’s worth the time to see it.
The major surprise of the evening was a “wardrobe malfunction.” At one point, one of the female characters is supposed to pull down Bill Gates’ pants to expose his underoos. Let’s just say that she got a little overzealous and the underoos went along for the ride. I’m hoping that no other audiences will be blessed with that extra excitement.
December 15, 2006
free photo printer
I found a pretty good deal on a Polarioid Photo Printer at buy.com. After rebate and google checkout, it’s free. It’s hard to beat free. I have no clue what the cartridges cost, though.
And, I get no commission or anything on this. Just found a pretty good deal and thought I’d spread the word. Any guesses on what gets added to my wife’s Christmas pile this year?
November 21, 2006
what file extension are you?
for all the geeks… what file extension are you? Apparently I’m a .ogg.
