So Derek had convinced me to get a Nest, but honestly it doesn’t take much these days to convince me to get a new toy. Ooooh shiny! This isn’t a cheap thermostat as it sells for $250 and for someone like me, it’s probably not going to save me much money in the short run given that my previous thermostat was already fined tune. I could probably save more money if I changed those darn filters more regularly. ;p
So I’ve had the Nest for a month and it’s been pretty cool so far (no pun intended). The auto-learn feature is pretty neat as it was able to guess my schedule pretty closely after the 1st week. I did end up tinkering with the schedule a bit, but it’s still learning.
One cool feature is that you can change the temperature from your phone or computer. You might think that I should just probably get off my lazy ass and just go turn up the thermostat, but the real benefit is when you’re not home. I set my thermostat to turn on rather late at night, but on the evenings when I’m going to be home unexpectedly early, I can turn on the heater before leaving work or while I’m in my car, so I return to a nice and warm house.
Have you ever left your house on vacation and wondered if you remember to set your thermostat to vacation mode? Well, now you never have to worry because you can always check and even turn it off from any computer.
They recently updated their software to display energy usage and it’s pretty cool:
One thing I’d like to see is location based learning. My thermostat already connects to the internet and pulls in local weather or data. What if it also knew where its cohabitants were currently located? If they detect that people are on their way home, turn on the heater. If they detect that everyone just left, set auto-away on.
I’ve been playing a lot of DrawSomething recently to the point I’ve had to scale back. At first I wasn’t sure what the point of the game was as I had assume it was competitive in nature like Words With Friends, but after a round or 2, I realized it was much more of a cooperative game where you get points for both drawing and guessing. The goal of the game is really just to have fun.
There’s coin collecting, but that just really unlocks new paint colors for you.
Sometimes I would spend 5mins or so drawing 1 picture. Others I’d complete in under a minute.
A couple features I really wished they would add:
Undo! Many times I screwed up and try to erase and screw up even more.
Chat box. Wish there was some way to communicate with your friend w/o having to result in writing text as part of your drawing.
Gallery. I wish I could see all my past drawings as well as drawings I’ve guessed on.
Switch to another game. Once you’ve started guessing or drawing for someone, there’s no way currently to switch to someone else, unless you kill the app.
So last week, I uploaded 2 cover photos to my Facebook page so I could see which one looked better. After deciding which cover photo I wanted to use, I couldn’t figure out how to delete the one I didn’t want to use. I understand cover photos are suppose to be public, but I don’t see why I shouldn’t be able to delete cover photos that aren’t active. I searched around a bit and no one had a really good answer that showed me how to delete a cover photo.
So I decided to see if I can get around this by seeing how photos are normally deleted. To delete a photo these days, it appears you have to click on Edit Album > Edit Photos and underneath each photo is a Delete checkbox.
On my Cover Photos album, I was missing the Edit Albums link.
Turns out if you can get to your Edit Photos page for your Cover Photos, you CAN delete your cover photos!
Here’s what you’ll need to do:
1. Find a working Edit Photos link by going into any photo album (other than your Cover Photos), click on Edit Album and right click Edit Photos and copy the link. It should look something like: https://www.facebook.com/editphoto.php?aid=461756&id=270425625146&session_id=9999999999
2. Next go to your Cover Photos album and take note of the URL. It should look something like: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151348016065147.815154.270425625146&type=3
3. What you need to do now is modify the Edit Photos link you got from step 1 and with data you got in step 2. Notice the string of numbers in the middle of the URL from step 2. Break them apart at each dot so they look something like:
10151348016065147
815154
270425625146
Take the 2nd # (815154 in my case) and replace the # after aid= in the link from step 1.
The resulting URL you would get should look like: https://www.facebook.com/editphoto.php?aid=815154&id=270425625146&session_id=9999999999.
4. Enter that URL into your browser and you should now be able to delete photos from your Cover Photos album.
To delete a profile picture, you would do the same thing, but instead of using the URL from your Cover Photos album, you would use the URL from your Profile Pictures album.
So I’ve been playing with the Messages Beta and it’s pretty neat.
Messages is touted as the replacement for iChat for its upcoming OSX release. Not only will it support existing IM networks, but you will now be able to chat with people on its iMessage network, where anyone using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch running iOS 5.0 is already on.
I’m currently attempting to switch completely from Adium to Messages and see how that’ll work out. Messages currently supports AIM, Yahoo! IM, and Google Talk. The only obvious missing network is MSN/Live Messenger.
It obviously doesn’t have all the plugin support such as OTR (Off-the-Record Message), but for a beta, it’s actually working pretty well. I understand this is still in beta and any of the problems I see will probably be fixed by the time Mountain Lion comes out.
One annoying thing is there’s no way to disable all sounds. If you’re a fan of the beeps and boops you get with text messaging on the iPhone, you’ll probably enjoy it. The preferences allows me to disable sounds for each event individually, but I can’t seem to find a way to disable sounds globally.
An issue that my only friend on Yahoo! keeps reminding me is that they appear to have broken the Yahoo! IM protocol for links. Whatever it’s doing, the links are showing up multiple times on their end. I’ve confirmed this by doing a test with my dad’s Yahoo! account also. Here’s what happens when I send a simple http://www.example.com/ link:
One rather cool thing is that you can link up your IM contacts with your address book entries. Took me quite some time, but I’ve finally mapped out most of my IM contacts. Previously I would attach a note/comment on the user in case I forgot who they were (which happens to people I don’t talk to frequently).
I had hoped that conversations would be synced to the cloud, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s happening yet. Something I was hoping to see was if I was having a conversation on my laptop, I would be able to see the full conversation in Messages on my desktop (and vice versa).
All in all, I’m enjoying Messages and looking forward to see it in its final form when Mountain Lion is released.
I generally try to be environmentally friendly, but I just can’t seem to remember to ever bring in my tote bag into the grocery store. Maybe it’s because it’s so infrequent that I ever go to a supermarket. I always have a tote bag in the back of my car, but 90% of the time, I only remember it when I’m checking out. By then, I’m too lazy to just drop everything just to retrieve my tote bag from my car.
I know some stores have a small monetary incentive for you to use your tote bag instead of using their plastic bags, but do people really care about the quarter they just saved by using their tote bag?
What they should do instead is at EVERY entrance of the store, have a giant sign reminding people about their tote bags. When I don’t actually have anything picked out yet, I’m a lot more inclined to head back to my car to get my tote bag.
What would be better is they have some sort of tote bag program, similar to milk that comes in a glass bottle, where you’re charged a nominal fee for the glass bottle, but will be refunded when you return the bottle. So by the time I accumulate 20 or so tote bags, I can just return them all at once. If people like the tote bags, they can opt to keep them and it’ll be cheap advertising for your supermarket.
Today is officially SOPA Resistance Day. If you haven’t heard about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) or PIPA (Protect IP Act), don’t let their names fool you as they’re anything but.
Learn why Wikipedia, Google and many other sites are protesting against these 2 bills.
I had emailed my 3 congressmen sometime in December:
I understand that a similar proposal to the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act called Protect-IP will be up for voting in the Senate early next year.
Given the huge opposition from the people against SOPA, I implore that you understand the implications of Protect-IP and not only vote against it, but convince your peers to do so too.
Thank you.
Of course my email to my House rep was worded a bit differently since SOPA is the House bill and PIPA is the Senate bill. Unfortunately I no longer have a copy of that email.
So far I’ve received 2 responses and all I got out of it was “Thanks for your expressing your view. Please sign up for my newsletter.”
Hopefully as more and more people contact them, we’ll be able to stop the destruction of what made the internet great.
Here’s Rep. David Reichert’s response:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the protection of intellectual property on the Internet. I appreciate hearing your views on this matter and welcome the opportunity to respond.
U.S. law enforcement agencies may protect against violations of intellectual property rights when perpetrators are acting within the United States. However, the Internet provides a way for businesses to expand across borders, and poses a challenge for the enforcement of intellectual property rights when violators are acting outside the U.S. Currently, U.S. authorities cannot reach foreign websites offering pirated or counterfeit goods to U.S. citizens.
In response to these concerns, Senator Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) introduced the PROTECT IP Act (S. 968) on May 12, 2011. This legislation would authorize the Justice Department or an intellectual property rights owner harmed by an Internet site “dedicated to infringing activities” to pursue a cause of action against either the registrant of an infringing domain name or an owner or operator of one. Moreover, the bill allows the Justice Department to pursue such actions against registrants, owners, or operators of foreign domain names as well. The bill has been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar for consideration. Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261) in the House of Representatives on October 26, 2011. This legislation would also authorize an action by the Justice Department against registrants, owners, or operators of foreign infringing sites. Though both bills would increase the criminal penalties for those that sell counterfeit goods of certain categories, like counterfeit medicine, the House legislation includes military equipment as a special category.
Promoting and protecting innovation is critical to U.S. businesses remaining competitive in the global economy. Many industries, from pharmaceutical companies to recording studios, depend on intellectual property protections. These industries contribute greatly to the U.S. economy and serve as significant job-creators. At the same time, some have expressed concern that this legislation goes too far, and would lead to government overreach resulting in the chilling of free speech online and the stifling of innovation. As a result of these concerns, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA) have released an alternative proposal, called the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade (OPEN) Act, which would authorize the International Trade Commission to investigate, and if necessary, take action against foreign websites involved in the advertising or selling of counterfeit products. This proposal is based on the premise that the International Trade Commission would be better suited to investigate such issues because of its current investigative role in determining whether certain imports into the U.S. violate U.S. property rights. Rest assured, should this legislation come to the House floor vote a vote, I will be sure to keep your thoughts in mind.
Once again, thank you for taking the time to get in touch with me. Your interest and input are valued and I hope to hear from you in the future regarding other matters of importance. I encourage you to visit my website and sign-up for my monthly e-newsletter at http://reichert.house.gov to learn more about other issues impacting the 8th Congressional District and our nation. You can also follow my work online and receive frequent updates on legislation being considered in Congress by visiting me on Twitter (www.twitter.com/davereichert) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/repdavereichert).
Sincerely,
David G. Reichert
Member of Congress
Here’s Sen. Patty Murray’s response:
Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act , which is currently pending in the United States House of Representatives. I appreciate knowing your views on this matter.
In the Senate, this legislation would fall under the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee. While I am not a member of that Committee, I want to assure you that I will be following the progress of this bill and will keep your views in mind if this or related legislation comes before the full Senate for consideration.
If you would like to know more about my work in the Senate, please feel free to sign up for my weekly updates at http://murray.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=GetEmailUpdates. Again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with me.
Nevertheless, Wyden has at least three colleagues from both parties opposed to cloture – Jerry Moran, Maria Cantwell and Rand Paul. They will need a lot of help to block the 60 votes needed to clear cloture and get PIPA to the floor.
Starting of a new quarter means a new set of categories for cash back. For January to March:
Discover – 5% cash back
Gas
Museums
Movies
Chase – 5% cash back
Gas
Amazon.com
Fidelity – 4.5% cash back
Gas
Grocery
Drug Stores
Restaurants
Apparently every bank thinks gas is used the least often during the 1st quarter of the year. Fidelity is definitely the winner this round by having restaurants and groceries.
Online stores should take advantage of people disliking prepaid VISA gift cards with all the hidden fees and the fact that it’s hard to use up every last penny on that darn thing. I just got a prepaid American Express card from a recent deal I took apart of and I do what I always do, I convert them into Amazon.com gift cards and add it to my balance.
Today, if I wanted to cash out my prepaid credit card, I would have to go to Amazon.com, purchase a gift card, and send it to myself. Afterwards, I’d have to redeem it once I got the email. Though not a complicated process, it seems it can be easily simplified.
If I was an online store, I’d add a convert button on my website that’ll allow users to input a credit card number, expiration date, and an amount. The amount immediately gets charged and automatically gets added to my gift card balance. In fact, I’d probably advertise that there’s no hidden fees and no expiration date and stick it on any page where I already advertise about gift cards.
I sent in my first gen iPod nano I purchased on launch day because of the battery defect issue. Apparently due to supply constraints, we are getting upgraded to the current gen with twice as much storage!
Dear Apple Customer:
Thank you for participating in the iPod nano (1st generation) Replacement Program. Please find your replacement iPod enclosed.
Serial Number
Please note that your replacement iPod has a serial number different to that of your original iPod nano. In some case due to limited availability of replacement stock of iPod nano (1st generation) Apple may have replaced your iPod with a more recent iPod model of equivalent or better specification. Always retain a record of your serial number(s) for future reference.
Warranty
Your replacement iPod product is warranted to be free from defects for 90 days from the date of service.
So I’ve been playing with the 
I generally try to be environmentally friendly, but I just can’t seem to remember to ever bring in my tote bag into the grocery store. Maybe it’s because it’s so infrequent that I ever go to a supermarket. I always have a tote bag in the back of my car, but 90% of the time, I only remember it when I’m checking out. By then, I’m too lazy to just drop everything just to retrieve my tote bag from my car.
Online stores should take advantage of people disliking prepaid VISA gift cards with all the hidden fees and the fact that it’s hard to use up every last penny on that darn thing. I just got a prepaid American Express card from a recent deal I took apart of and I do what I always do, I convert them into Amazon.com gift cards and add it to my balance.
