iTunes and its crappy updates -- beware of Version 11

iTunes and its crappy updates -- beware of version 11 Even though Steve Jobs is gone, Apple continues to pursue his Economically Greedy Big Brother mentality. Everything Apple does is to tighten its grip on your wallet and to syphon money from your savings. They do it without asking. Another thing they do is to force you to accept their vision of "user friendly" and they are constantly dreaming up ways to make your life miserable. Burn in Hell Steve Jobs! Burn in Hell. The latest effort is the new iTunes Version 11 which destroys the ease at which one could manage their many iPads, iPods and other syncing. The new Version 11 creates so much confusion it is nearly impossible for you to manually move items from your purchased folder to your iPod or iPad.  The new system REQUIRES that you sync you iPod and iTunes to their system, a Big Brother move to keep track of what you are doing. That information is secretly sent to their office so they can use it to pepper you with annoying spam ads to sell you junk that doesn't sell. The worst things that don't sell are the ones that need more advertising promotion. The good stuff doesn't need to be hyped. So, they inundate your email and system with spam trying to beat you into buying their failed garbage. As someone who has several computer and several iPods and iPads, the new Version 11 makes it almost impossible to manage your purchases.  Apple believes if you buy something it should go on ALL of you iPods or iPads. They don't want you to be able to decide -- use your brain -- which apps, audio books or videos should go on your system. You can remove stuff, but onlya fter they have forced you to copy it to your system. I have so much, it's pathetic. So Apple punishes those who use their system more. If you don't have a large storage option -- maybe you purchased the cheaper smaller GB version -- you WILL have a problem. Burn in Hell Steve Jobs, you piece of garbage! -- Ray Hanania

Best Buy's Reward System is a scam: Why "Best Buy" is the "Worst Buy"

Best Buy is the Worst Buy. They're dishonest. Most people don't care. We buy things, spend money, get junk and when they break, we just move on. That's what society has taught us over the years. When someone gives you garbage, just accept it and move on. That's the American Way. I've been buying technology products from Best Buy for many years. I have spent a lot there. I had a Rewards Card with them and every time I make a purchase, they ask me for the card, but I don't have it. So they look it up using my telephone number on their system. The cashier tells me she found it and then the sale goes through. I figured I got my credit for the purchase on my Rewards Card. But that's not the case. Turns out when they ask you if you have a Rewards Card and enter it into the system, they are not really entering it at all. It's just a scam to get your information in to their system so they can send you sales pitches for junk that has to be pushed. Good merchandise sells itself. Junk needs the Best Buy push. All these years of entering my Rewards information at the register and I finally went online and discovered none of it has been entered at all. But I have been getting their junk mailings, spam emails and harassment at the register everytime I buy something. When I finally complained to someone at the store, he confessed. It's all a scam, he acknowledged. They just want your contact information. The real system works this way.  You buy something at Best Buy. They list your Rewards Card number on the sale. They want you to leave the store thinking you got a "reward" when in fact you really didn't. The clerk explained it to me this way. "If you don't go home and log into the Best Buy web site (myrz.com) and enter the information from your receipt, your purchase doesn't count towards the reward at all," he said. Wow. What a scam? Every time I make a purchase, I am supposed to go home and log into my Reward Zone membership online to give them traffic and put up with all kinds of online push sales pitches. New Windows pop up. The web site is confusing to use. They are hoping that if 5 percent of the people who waste their time doing all this will actually end up buying something online, they've achieved their goal. So the next time you are in Best Buy, tell those assholes to shove it up their asses. Fortunately, we have alternatives in Orland Park. Wal-Mart's technology section is phenomenal. And there is also CompUSA nearby. Unlike Best Buy, which is the Worst Buy, they don't lie. -- Ray Hanania

Connectify works to create a WiFi hotspot from your laptop

It's rare that in today's age of everything is technology that someone would actually come up with a great technology that does what it not only is supposed to do, but does something that is badly needed.
Connectify, the Internet company in Philadelphia, has come up with one of the greatest innovations for travelers in today's world of multiple WiFi needs.
I was traveling with my family in Negril, Jamaica and we needed WiFi at our hotel, the Grand Palladium Lady Hamilton. The hotel charged us $20 a day (with a 1.9 GB data download limit -- which was disturbing on its face).
But in the old days when we traveled, we brought one laptop and it was easy to connect to the paid service. We only paid one daily fee. But nowadays, we don't just have one laptop. We have a laptop, three iPads and two iPhones. In other words, to give everyone in my family WiFi Internet access, we'd have to pay $120 a day for each. Yikes! That would have been $840 just for internet access.
Instead, I downloaded a software program called Connectify. What a vacation lifesaver! I downloaded the free Connectify version and then easily installed it on my laptop. We used one WiFi internet account attached to the laptop and then created a WiFi Internet HotSpot using Connectify. I created a simple password and every iPhone and every iPad had access to the Internet, all at one time.
Since leaving Jamaica, I decided to buy the premium version of the Connectify software. It's $39 but they have a sale going on for only $29 so you might want to go there NOW and download it and buy a full version.
The full version allows you to connect a laptop to the internet using an Ethernet cord, and then creating a WiFi hub from the laptop. This is great even if it is just for yourself and you're at work, or someplace outside of the home. 
It's a problem I always have because the iPhone and iPad require WiFi. Now, instead of eating up my 3G or 4G connections for the iPhone and iPad, I can use the WiFi hotspot I create at my laptop to download updates without eating away at my data limits for each phone.
It's a lot easier to transfer info on WiFi rather than connecting the iPad or iPhone to the laptop, too.
This is essential in today's world where I have multiple internet gadgets and they ALL need Internet access.
It's a simple system, too. Connect your laptop to the Internet using an ethernet cord. Then, make your WiFi accessible (turn on WiFi on the laptop). Once that is done, you can use the Connectify HotSpot name that is automatically generated, or create your own hotspot name. Add a password to restrict access to it.
It's that simple, something you can't always say about other software programs.
Connectify does what it promises.
Go to www.Connectify.com and download your premium "Pro" version today.
-- Ray Hanania

Beware of Digital Movies from Paramount -- they don't work and they are corrupted

Beware of Paramount Digital movie copies. They do not properly download. The system they use is so complicated because they are so worried you might make a copy that they make it IMPOSSIBLE to download the digital copy you purchased. DO NOT PURCHASE Blu-Ray, DVD Digital Copy DVDs from Paramount Pictures. They do not work. You will end up spending $25 and the digital copy will not download. I wanted to download a high resolution copy to my laptop so I can install it on my iPad. But their system refuses to download a high resolution copy to a laptop that is not High HD quality. So they will download a low resolution copy, even though I want it on my iPad. What? Are these people idiots? I purchased the Tom Cruise movie Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol and it was mission really impossible to download and use the digital copy. So, I decided to go out and purchase a copy software program to convert the DVD into a file that can play on my iPad. The Paramount people are assholes and unhelpful. Worse, Paramount insist that log in to download the stupid digital copy and then they insist that you link it to a system called UltraViolet. You have to have two usernames and two passwords and then link the two. It only takes 30 minutes of your valuable time to go through the process. Paramount intentionally designed the system to discourage people from downloading the digital copies. They want you to spend more money on the 3-version movie set (Blu-Ray, DVD and digital copy) so they can make $6 more on the sale. The Blue Ray by itself is $19 and the DVD is $14, at Wal-Mart (which sells movies, Blue-Rays and DVDs the cheapest of any store, by the way.) So I can't download the digital copy because of their greed. Mission fucking impossible! Paramount sucks. UltraViolet redemption is a stupid system not worth your time. Please tell others not to purchase the Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol combo pack Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital copy, unless they want to spend 3 hours trying to figure out how the hell to make their stupid, useless system work. Such a disappointment. POSTSCRIPT. It took about 3 hours to download the 2.04 Gigabyte "digital" file. And guess what? It's not really digital. It's linked to a player that Paramount downloads on your computer and you can't watch the movie except using that  "player." If Paramount put as much effort into making better movies, they would have had a better record. But they suck! Tom Cruise sucks -- I'm taking it on him and blaming him for associating himself with Hollywood morons. Seriously. DO NOT BUY PARAMOUNT MOVIES that offer digital movies. THEY DON'T WORK! -- Ray Hanania www.hanania.com

Q-See Security Cameras by q-see.com do not work: problems with Internet Explorer 9

After you have already wasted your money purchasing what looks like a good security system, the 8 camera QT426 Q-See Security System, you quickly realize that it is impossible to access remotely.
So, you will struggle to install it in your home. That will take about $600 to install the cameras and a lot of reading and work to get them to work on your DVR that they supply. You'll have to purchase a TV to view the camera images and then spend weeks through trial-and-error learning how the system works because the instruction booklets are worthless. They are written by geeks with no sense of how normal people live, act and operate.
Then, you will spend weeks trying every possible configuration to access your new system that you spent a fortune trying to install, only to discover that the Q-See Security Camera System doesn't work with Internet Explorer 9. And, when you call Q-See to ask, they will tell you that you have to hire a professional installer to help you. When you call the professional installer to help you, they will offer to do the work for a mere $2,500.
You will also download a software program that will cost another $30 to $100 to "Port Forward," which allows, supposedly, outside access to your computer system so you can view the cameras remotely. (It doesn't work folks. Q-See did all this as a joke on you.)
If you already purchased the system, you are out of luck. Although Comcast has announced plans to offer their own security system for the home that works with the Internet. You can disconnect and through out the DVR and then purchase their security camera DVR. Then you will have to clip all of the wires and then install new connectors that fit. That's tricky in and of itself.
In then end, you will go out and purchase a new security camera system from another manufacturer because Q-See Cameras do not work.
You will spend a lot of money, wasting a lot of money, to discover that on your own if you are foolish enough to have wasted your time trying to figure this garbage Q-See Camera system out.
Although you can always write off the lost money, realizing that Q-See has the worst possible technical support ever will only make you that much more angrier.
--- Ray Hanania www.hanania.com

AOL was once the best email system, now it is the absolute worst

I don't know what happened to AOL but at one time, it was one of the best email systems out there. It was free. It dominated the internet landscape. And it worked.
These days, AOL has become spam central. Worse, the system is corrupted. When you used to be able to have 7 usernames, now you can't access them. If you want help, you have to pay.
People complain all the time that AOL doesn't work. You lose emails. Their help system is a failure. New emails don't register and don't work. 
Honestly, I wouldn't pay a penny for the service. and you shouldn't either.
-- Ray Hananiawww.hanania.com

Counting your pennies with Skype -- turns out you have to

Skype is a wonderful online software program that lets you connect for free computer-to-computer to others who have Skype accounts. And, it also allows you to use your computer through Skype to call telephones around the world for a small fee.
The fee Skype advertises is 2.3 cents per call in the United States, land lines and cell phones. The rates vary for countries around the world.
Sounds pretty simple.
The problem is that Skype isn't always honest. It's kind of like one of those movies where a low level bank employees figures out a way to take a few pennies from each transaction and steal them to another account. Eventually, those few pennies build up and make a fortune. In the movie "Office Space," that exactly what three of the company's employees did.
But that's not what Skype should be doing, and it does.
Recently, Skype sent me a note saying that if I did not use my "Skype Credit" (which is like a bank you can put into your account to cover any calls you make, they were going to remove it. All I had to do was call any number even if it is just for "one second" and the credit would remain good for at least six months (180 days).
Sounds simple. Okay. I'll waste my time to accommodate their needs.
I have $11.59 centers in credit on my account. So, I figured I'd call my cell phone on my table in front of me.
It worked, as it always does.
But I noticed that my credit dropped from $11.59 to $11.52. That was a 7 cent call. A lot different from the 2.3 cents they advertise to get people to use their system.

Call landlines and mobiles worldwide from:

2.3¢/min

That's their Ad on their web page!

The actual cost of the call was $.072 or 7.2 cents.

By my math -- and I went to the Chicago Public Schools folks -- that's a difference of 3.9 cents above what they advertised.

How many people have an accounting department to go over every call they make to insure that Skype is being honest. We're not banks. But Skype apparently thinks we are. And they must also think that we don't care about a few pennies.

But, it's not about the pennies as much as it is about the principle of honesty.

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

Few things work as promised, but Hauppauge's HD Video Recorder for Windows is Phenomenal

I wanted to have a system to be able to record programs off of my Comcast Cable TV DVR, but Comcast and the video industry have done everything they can to deny homeowners from recording live broadcasts with today's new technologies like the Blue Ray DVD players.

I've tried everything and nothing worked, until I came across the Hauppauge's HD Video recorder which literally not only allows you to grab High Definition video right off your TV set through your Comcast Cable Box (on any box, DVR or satellite slave), but it also allows you to copy anything you watch on TV, movies, news and more.

Many times I want to be able to watch a movie on my cell phone or on my iPad that I have purchased on Comcast Cable's Pay per View system.

The Hauppauge HD Video recorder does it seamlessly and in high quality. Wow!

Better yet, it is simple to install. And, it was the Comcast people at Best Buy who told me about it and recommended it. Okay, I can forgive Comcast for the way it has transformed from a great cable TV system to a greedy everything by the dollar system -- they literally will offer a movie free on one channel and try to make you pay $2.99 to see the same "OLD" movie on another channel, all at the same time.


The system comes with a HD PVR. It offers those 5-pin multi-color HDMI video cables  with plug in to the back of any Comcast Cable Box and then plugs in to the HD DVR box from Haupauge. You then connect the Hauppauge HD PVR Box using a USB cable they provide -- Hauppauge provides ALL the cables you need, unlike Sony, Samsung and most other systems that make you go out and buy the necessary cables at additional costs -- to a USB plug on your computer.

Then, you install the software which loads up a Recorder program and even a Comcast Cable TV Program Guide which is updated instantly online.

Turn on your TV and cable system, find a movie you want to record -- a TV show, anything -- and then run the software with the Hauppauge HD PVR plugged in to a power source. Load the recording software and it open a video window that displays the exact same image on your computer that is on the TV, with a two second delay. Lower the volume on either the TV or the computer, and hit "Record."

Video files are large so I suggest you purchase a 1 Terra-byte standalone USB port hard drive (about $90 or so at Best Buy) and save the file which is in MP4 format there.

The program also allows you to create a DVD of the recording you just made, or just save it for future use.

This is a NECESSARY PURCHASE folks. You can't live without. It is the absolute best option considering that they are now going to be producing gadgets and gizmos to allow you to get around the ridiculous treat-me-like-a-criminal recording obstacles and barriers that the greedy movie and cable TV industry is insisting to impose on us.

Seriously, folks. We pay a monthly subscription for what? So that we can watch loads of worthless commercials on Cable TV (cable TV was supposed to be paid and free of commercials) and then pay more to watch most movie options. That's double billing.

Go out and get this. And if you can't find it, go to www.HaupPauge.com and order it online. It will literally be the best $199 you have ever spent.

It has other options, too. You can connect it to your XBox system and record your game play or record video through your system.

Here's what the manufacturer writes about this NECESSARY FOR A DECENT LIFE piece of equipment:

HD PVR: the ultimate high definition video recorder for video game play plus cable and satellite TV
Record your video game play in HD onto your PC's disk drive. Or record your favorite TV shows from your cable or satellite TV set top box in HD. HD PVR has a built in H.264 high definition recorder. Great video quality, great system performance!

HD PVR: $199.-

New! HD PVR Gaming Edition, with all the cables you need to connect your Xbox 360 or PS3 game console. Special price: $199.-!

Now available from Fry's, Best Buy and Micro Center stores in the U.S.
In Canada, you can buy HD PVR at Future Shop, Best Buy Canada and London Drugs.

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com