Ning Network is Nang. The owners move from social networking to greed

Ning is no longer a free network that they once promised to be. Now that they have gotten a lot of support, they have decided to impose monthly fees (really ridiculous amounts, actually) in order to keep your network going. So all the 18 months of work I am my network of 36 journalism associates is not out the window.

No pay, no play.

Ning sucked. It was limiting. It boasted that if offered all these great options but they mostly don't work or never did what was promised. You can bring people together and create chat rooms and put your profile on the Ning Network. Wow. Big deal. You can even blog there, although the blog is not automatically indexed on any search engines like Google.

I can do all of that for Free on Facebook where I have 2200 friends who share my interests and read my many columns on Middle East peace, social networking media (like this blog) and on US politics, including in CHicago where politics and the retirement of Mayor Richard M. Daley has sent the Chicagoland region rocking.

So why would I pay to get far less from Ning?

Because they are not social networkers at all. They are geeks. And Geeks like to write fascinating programs that do fascinating things that THEY think normal people like to do but the fact is that because they are geeks, they are not normal people so they have no idea what a normal person needs in terms of a software program.

That's the failing of companies created by Geeks. They think they know and write all these press releases about what they know, but the truth is they know squat, which actually is probably more than what they know.

The best software programs and online systems are those written by Geeks who are directed by people's needs, not their bean-counting vision of what they think would be cool. Geek crap is not cool.

Ning is even less cool today.

Send the Ning Nang back to internet Sing Sing.

They suck

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

(distributed by the Hanania Media Network)

Anapod's Explorer for the iPod is a worthless software program that doesn't do what it promises

I purchased Red Chair Software's Anapod Explorer for $29 online. I hate to download software that doesn't send a backup, but the iTunes software that controls your iPod's life is so oppressive and terrible, you just have to keep trying to find an alternative.

Microsoft and Apple have one thing in common. They are about greed, money and control. They don't want you to control your computer. They want to control it like they own it so they can decide for you what software can run and what software can't run, so they can protect their money. It's all about money for most computer software tech designers and programmers. They are all dictators and tyrants, but one day we will find a Gandhi who can fight for the rights of the oppressed computer users.

So, I tried Reds Chair Software's Anapod Explorer for the iPod. And it sucks. The concept is good but it doesn't work. Worse, they have poor tech-support -- virtually nil. And like all bad software designers, they simply do not know what consumers really want and need, but they do a great job of writing programs that work for them -- I doubt any of them even use an iPod.

The software supposedly creates a Window's Explorer. It has to be loaded with the computer and on your System Tray so you don't have any choice to run it like a program when you need it. Instead, it sits in wasted memory for the few times you might use it.

I want to copy songs and movies that I have legitimately purchased but that iTunes doesn't want me to copy for backup and expanded viewing. I downloaded Avatar for $14.99 from iTunes (it took six hours and I have high speed internet -- volume was the problem, which is typical of iTunes challenges that you want to escape.). I want to make a copy so I can watch it on my DVD and HD TV.

I could have purchased the DVD and then ripped it to my iPod, but I thought why not try buying off the internet and then copying it so I have a hard copy when my computer fails -- all computers are made to fail specifically so the computer technology industry can sell you more computers. When they are not thinking of ways to limit the future expansion of your laptop and computer, they are thinking of ways to make lousy computers good for only a few years, if that much even.

I installed Anapod's Explorer the way instructed. But they fail to tell you to reboot your computer so the software installs on your system tray. After the usual trial and error, I figured that out on my own.

I ran the software and it shows my iPod directory and my computer directory. And I right clicked the movie, Avatar and tried to move it to a new window on my computer -- and it doesn't work.

So, the claim that Anapod's Explorer turns your iPod into justa nother hard drive that can be managed is baloney.

I'll keep looking for a new software program. But in the meantime, save your money, Don't buy Red Chair Software's Anapod Explorer. It doesn't work.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

Corel DVD Copy 6 -- does a poor job of copying and does not copy your legally purchased videos

Corel DVD Copy 6 brags that it can copy anything. But it can't. Worse, the quality of what it does copy is poor at best. It costs only $49 but that's $49 you should not spend and keep in your savings. But there is a great alternative that you should purchase and that I have tried.

Corel DVD Copy 6 also does not copy legally purchased DVD's that you may have bought and wish to transfer to your iPod.

Many people believe the software will allow you to convert DVD's to your iPod format but the quality is so poor, it's sad.

Don't buy the software. I'll waste my money. You save yours.

But, you can and should purchase Magic DVD Ripper (and also a Copier). This software allows you to make backup copies in the event that your original DVD is damaged or fails to work as they OFTEN do. The movie industry is intentionally making cheap copies of BlueRay and DVD because they want you to purchase new ones.

Click HERE to get information on Magic DVD Ripper & Copier. It costs $39 for the ripper and an additional $10 for the Copier and for $9 plus shipping they'll actually send you a CD that actually works, unlike the Corel DVD Copy 6 which does not work properly.

Magic DVD Ripper will seamlessly copy your legally owned DVDs and you can convert them to formats for viewing on your cell phone and your iPod. Just "rip" the DVD and "save" it to the iTunes "Library" directory under Movies. Then sync your iPod.

The quality of the copies is amazingly clear and formatted for viewing on the smaller screens.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

iPad: Another dumb idea by a bunch of tekkies who don't know crap about what real people want or need

Computer technicians are the real war criminals in this world. They are real robber barons. But most of all, they are the Kings with no clothing. And its the public that acts like drugged up lemmings. Every time some stupid Geek throws out another stupid do nothing technology "advancement," the public goes Lazy Ga Ga and jumps with joy to unload another chunk of massive change to purchase the equipment.

Why?

Why are we as Americans so stupid and wasteful? Why do we allow the computer geeks to run our lives so they can line their pockets with billions?

Sure the Apple iPad sounds like a great idea. But so does the iPhone and so did the laptop and so did the PC and so did the lightbulb that Thomas Edison invented.

But the drive to create new technologies is missing a lot: Human compassion. Human need. Human respect. Morality. Principle.

Over the last quarter century, I have been on the cutting edge of spending on high tech crap. I would buy a computer and literally within months it would be outdated. I'd have to buy another. It's been like that since I purchased my first computer, the Coleco Adam and then the IBM PC Junior, and then the IBM XT and on and on until today's sequence of modernday rip-offs has been invented.

None of these brilliant technologies are created with the needs of humanity in mind. It's all about the billions that robber baron thieves like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates who came up with their criminal enterprises in their stupid garages like Geek Gang members.

They are making billions for a reason. They produce worthless junk that only lives up to 30 percent of the promised services. Part of the reason is that they produce new junk so fast because they know how stupid people are. They know the secret of Western civilization is that we like to spend money. Spend money on what? Who cares? Just spend the money. It's not about who has the best car or the best home any more in today's race for the elusive American Dream that is more dream than reality. It is about who can spend more money faster. And the place to spend is on worthless, shortlived computer junk. Junk that not only fails to deliver a full load but also fails to last.

Computers are behind the new industry promise to consumers: We make and sell this junk and you buy it at your own risk. We no longer warranty our work because we know it is worthless. So we will sell you a warranty for $250 in order to insure that the high priced crap you just bought from us will work.

The iPad is the icon of idiocy. Here is a mobile Laptop that doesn't open with a touch screen TV. Can you use it to make a phone call, no, but they are telling you it will be better than the iPhone they sold you last year to watch TV on a tiny screen -- maybe they have a deal with the eye industry which last year jacked up their prices of glasses and contact lenses because so many people are going blind from looking at these tiny screens to watch worthless crap on YouTube that would look better on a big screen TV if the worthless crap had any social redeeming value. But very little on YouTube has any social redeeming value. Except that it helps to ruin your eyesight and drive up the eye doctor industry.

The iPad is supposed to help you read a book. Why? I like the way we read books now. Instead of improving the publishing industry we've turned to smoke, mirrors and magician tricks to convince the brain dead public consumer that it's better to spend $1,000 on an iPad rather than $35 to buy a book. You can download the book. Who cares?

Has anyone not noticed how unreliable the Internet has become these days.

I am waiting for a computer genius -- an oxymoron -- to invent a computer that someone buys that can be upgraded to the latest standards and technology for a few pennies, rather than throwing it out and having to buy a new computer every year. Literally every year folks if you haven't noticed in your blindness caused by the new advertising PR spin doctors who are riding on the hips of the computer geeks out there like Gates and Jobs.

I'm waiting for the computer genius who builds a computer that REALLY WORKS and that can be expanded at little cost to keep up with the new gadgets.

But that would mean a computer genius who has set aside the fast buck industry to provide a real service to humanity. A Gandhi for Geeks, maybe. Someone willing to fight for the rights of us poor schmucks who have been convinced by hi-tech television graphics to believe in something that is just a fantasy to make money for someone else.

Will some one please hit the Control-Alt-Delete buttons on this system? It's a Twilight Zone of nightmarish computer failures, internet disconnects and busy signals without the signal any more.

-- Ray Hanania
www.RadioChicagoland.com

The real software piracy is by the software manufacturers and retailers

ANyone who uses computers on a regular basis -- all of us -- knows this sad pathetic fact: computer programmers and software developers are Geeks who do not know anything about being a normal human being. They are locked in a black box of self-awareness with no real experience in the real world. So, they program software based not on what real human beings need, but rather based on what they think we would need. And, of course, they wouldn't know because software programmers are not human at all.

That goes for the people who build Dell Computers -- the worst investment you can make in buying a computer, and those who run the few software stores left that that you can physically enter.

Some software retailers absolutely know nothing about computers. I mean absolutely nothing. The problem is they are only a few retail stores left in the world where you can speak to a human being -- okay a computer programmer is a sub-human, but still a sub-human at least allows you to focus your rage when you purchase software that doesn't work and then you can't return it because, well, the software industry is deivwn by so much greed they assume that you, the consumer will be a thieving crook like them. They assume that any return is a theft.

The computer industry lacks ethics, too. They sell garbage and then force you to purchase service packs, updates and warranties. They dodn't even warranty the products they make, which on its face shows you that they know the crap they sell doesn't workm otherwise they would stand by their product. They don't stand y their produts because the PC people use MACs and the MAC people use PC's, mainly so they can steal from each other. The software industry is a den of thieves. Theft is the hallmark of their culture.

Again despite my better judgement, I went to one, CompUSA, in Orland Park and purchased what I thought was a copy of Office Basic with Word, Outlook and Excel. It was only $186. Only! They said it was a "license"and that all I had to do, they insisted over my better judgment, was to go to the Office web site and download the software and then enter the license. No, that's not the case, of course. But I didn't learn that until AFTER I purchased the software -- which means no return. No exchange. No support. No accepting blame. The software license only works for software that is pre-installed on new computers, not downloads. Fortunately, they have a very smart -- and consumer compassionate manager -- who did allow me to pay another $216 to purchase the actual software, which they did have. (Imagine Word and Outlook costs over $400 to purchase from rip-off Microsoft. Pathetic.)

I went to Amazon.com to purchase what I finally learned was a full working copy of Office 2007 for $316, cheaper than the $399 that Microsoft sells it for online. They will send me the software the old fashioned way, on a CD Disk mailed.

That's the other problem with the industry today. They are cheap bastards. They don't give you CD's any more under the phony claim that you don't need it. you DO need it on a CD because we all know laptops are unreliable. They crash and you lose your software and you have to reinstall it and they play by the 20 percent rule to underwrite their greed. That rule is simple. If you fuck with people enough, 20 percent of them will just give up and their misfortune is the software industry's profits.

That's how Bill Gates is really the anti-Christ. His billions didn't come from hard work. It came from a system that he set up that is filled with loopholes to allow his company to shove it up your ass. All day and everyday that you are stuck with their inefficient software. He thrives on that 20 percent of profit that is literally tilen from the public. The public buys software and for most, it doesn't work right. Then, 20 percent just give up and go someother route, never recovering their money because the new system is based on the no return policy. That 20 percent is the profit that makes them billionaires.

Oh, and this all explains this new phenomena, you know, the one where the computer manufacturers are telling us they have cut down the cost of laptops. Well, they haven't cut down the cost of laptops. Instead, what they have done is eliminate the software that was bundled with the computers. That software costs a fortune, of course. So they eliminate the software and now you have to buy it when you buy their worthless laptop computers.

They only way we are going to change this is to take matters into our own hands. We need to fight back and make them pay for their theiving ways.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.radiochicagoland.com/

BEWARE: Microsoft LifeCam 3.0 -- It has issues

I purchased the Microsoft LifeCam 3.0 camera from Best Buy, which has okay policies regarding the return of malfunctioning software and hardware, although I will test out their so-called Black Tie product insurance soon.

Microsoft LifeCam 3.0 has some great features including very good video imaging. BUT, and this is a major BUT, the camera ONLY allows audio input from the camera itself. So, if you are using a headset with an audio or are directing audio through your computer to someone on SKYPE or other online social networking assets, this WILL NOT WORK.

The designers produced a great quality image but failed to consider real application needs -- something most computer software and hardware technical designers always seem to do. They know how to program sophisticated software and build sophisticated hardware but they know nothing about making those products usable to the public.

This product is NOT worth buying and we recommend avoiding it.

The product costs $79 and has been reduced to $59 in part because of consumer negative reactions.

MICROSOFT LifeCam 3.0
AVOID PURCHASE
Lacks proper audio options and requires all audio to go through the outside camera. It is inhibitive especially if you are in a public place. The camera grabs the surrounding noise and does not allow you to use a headset and mike which would allow for better audio quality.

BEWARE: Honestech VHS to DVD 4.0 Hardware Software Review

Don't buy Honestech VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe. It costs $87.00. I purchased it at CompuUSA (Don't buy software or hardware there either).

The software is not compatible with most Windows systems including Vista. When I tried to get more information, Honestech Technical support was non-existent.

When I tried to return the hardware to CompUSA, they refused to take it back even though they told me that hardware returns were permissible. Their excuse: CompUSA (in Orland Park, Illinois) said that the hardware included software and they cannot accept returns on ANY software even if it is a part of a hardware product.

Honestech VHS to DVD 4.0 Deluxe
RATING:  POOR
Wasted money: $87.79 including TAX

STORE CAUTION: CompUSA. Service is poor, software and hardware may not always work. They do not stand by their products. They will selll them to you but if they do not work, they will not exchange the dysfunctional product.