I recently signed up for TriplePlay and during account setup I had an option of porting the number or getting a new one. Porting a number meant a 2-3 week delay for getting an HD cablebox and because my new HDTV was already installed I decided to get a new number. I specifically asked if I can port my number later on and the response was positive and didn’t mention any fees.

I don’t use my home phone that much, but the new phone number we got is getting all kinds of crazy calls: from services trying to sell us something to people trying to reach previous owners of this number. I got fed up and decided to port my old number that didn’t have any of these problems.

Called up Optimum and they told me that there is a $40 fee to “buy the number from the other company” and $34.95 fee for a technician to come over and “install” my new number. When I pressed for details about what it means to “install” my new number the gave in and waved the installation charge, but were not willing to wave the $40 fee even though it wasn’t mentioned when I originally signed up.

I ported that number at least 3 times before without any charges. Pretty ridiculous. Interestingly enough there is not that much outrage on the web about this. This is one of the only links i found: http://text.dslreports.com/shownews/Cablevision-Charges-Excessive-Fee-For-Phone-Number-Transfers-91543

• angle of screen on MBP
• no Alt+ accelerators on dialogs
• Alt+Tab
• Funky behavior of Finder and delete functionality
• No easy way to copy path of folder form Finder
• no page down on keyboard and shift+page down doesn’t select text all the way down
• behavior of Finder (delete of files moves selection to folder which looses my place, move, ovewrite folder)
• no way to paste path of folder into File Selection dialogs
• many apps do not remember last Folder
• Insane Shift+Arrow select behavior in Finder and other places
• Eclipse
  • no support for Alt+ which makes Find/Replace dialog hard to use
  • inconsistent Shift+PageUp/PageDown
  • Command is used for Copy/Page, Ctlr+Tab is used to switch b/w docs, Alt+Shift is used to select boundaries — too many “finger gestures”

API is very simple which brings complexities. Doesn’t allow upload of images, only reference of existing files that are internet accessible — that is why I am using S3.

Issues with Smush.it

• Cannot upload the image to Smush.it, have to reference existing internet-accessible image
• Cannot download only specific images, have to download all images in the batch

Logic

• Allow drag and drop of files or pointing to directory
• Create a “timestamp task” — used by Smush.it to download all images associated with current batch
• Helper uploads to S3 “smushit” bucket — need to think about not overwriting
• Once all uploads are done, it tells Smush.it where to find the images
• Once Smush.it responds about all the files we display the savings and allow user to download (Future: allow user to choose which file to download, in reality it will still download the files but will not overwrite)
• Based on user’s choice we either overwrite or backup existing images

Future: allow to compare 2 images

http://www.nochump.com/blog/?p=15

In order to be productive you need to find “matching” software. Below is the list that worked out for me. Development Software is outlined in a separate post.

• Outlook — Entourage 2008 (see my previous post)
• Windows Live Writer (blogging software) — Ecto. Very capable alternative with a few nice features, but issues with multi-level bullets. All posts about “Switching to Mac” are created using Ecto
• Remote Desktop — Microsoft developed Mac version
• Roboform (password manager) — 1password
  • You can read reviews here
  • It is also able to import most of Roboform data
• Evernote is available on Mac
• SnagIt — Jing. Free product from the same vendor. Simple and handles most tasks.
• ZoneAlarm (or any other firewall) — Little Snitch.
• http://www.transmissionbt.com/

http://www.johnhaney.com/backdrop/

http://freelanceswitch.com/working/35-absolutely-essential-mac-apps/

http://smileonmymac.com/TextExpander/

http://osxdaily.com/2006/12/04/mainmenu-mac-maintenance-made-easy/

http://www.koingosw.com/products/macpilot.php

http://www.opendoor.com/DoorStop/

http://macrabbit.com/cssedit/

http://www.flip4mac.com/

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/productivity_tools/think_freeverseinc.html

http://www.donelleschi.com/stickywindows/

http://iweinfuld.blogspot.com/2008/08/update-svn-on-leopard-to-play-nice-with.html

http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/

http://webworkerdaily.com/2007/08/16/enhance-productivity-multiple-monitors/

http://www.usingmac.com/2007/11/21/mac-os-x-leopard-200-productivity-booster-hotkeys

http://www.naschenweng.info/2008/04/12/microsoft-project-plans-on-os-x

http://www.pocketmac.com/blackberrydownload.php

OCZ’s Neural Impulse Actuator – controlling video games by wearing a headband that detects electrical biosignals in the body (By on Amazon: OCZ OCZMSNIA NIA – Neural Impulse Actuator)

Intel’s X25-M (80G) solid-state drive outperforms by a big margin 4200/7200rpm and even Ridata NSSD-S25 SSD

www.greensherpa.com – cash flow projections. in addition to tracking your spending also allows you to forecast how the purchase of a new tv will affect your budget

www.isearch.com – people-search engine that helps you reunite with long lost friends

www.tableau.com – visualize your data better than Excel

Black Friday deals:

• www.bfads.net
• blackfriday.gottadeal.com
• www.BlackFridayAds.com
• http://dealnews.com/features/The-dealnews-Black-Friday-Strategy-Guide/197209.html

Top Sites for Bargain finders: http://www.pcworld.com/article/141808/top_sites_for_bargain_hunters.html

www.topica.com – recommended email marketing service

www.pidgin.im – multiprotocol IM client

www.syncplicity.com – sync multiple computers

Billing/Invoicing – Zoho launched that service but only supports paypal for online payments. www.freshbooks.com supports more online options and offers to send invoices by mail (extra cost)

Password utilities

• www.roboform.com – I am a long time user, very happy with it
• www.passpack.com – didn’t sound interesting/secure
• PwdHash – Firefox AddIn, based on you single password, it generates different “hashes” for each site. Sounds interesting and convenient
• www.guardid.com – sounds like RoboFormToGo

http://www.pcworld.com/article/123728/top_10_external_hard_drives.html

MP3 Manager – MediaMonkey

HDTV on USB: Pinnacle’s PCTV HD Por Stick outperforms Hauppauge’s WinTV-HDR-950Q

External Video Card: http://www.evga.com/uvplus/, 2 versions: 1440×900 and 1600×1200. (20% discount UV16PWNOV)

Cannon Pixma MX700 – Best Buy Multi Function Printer, $200

SlideSlide – app launcher

Lists:

• 100 Incredibly Useful and Interesting Web Sites
• 50 Tools to Speed Up Your PC

Employee Monitoring:

• www.ascentive.com/pcw3 — BeAware

www.VirusTotal.com – allows you to upload a file and site runs it against 35 different anti-virus tools

Online virus/malware cleaning tools

• BitDefender
• ESET
• F-Secure
• Trend Micro

www.adtunes.com – helps you identify tunes used in ads and other tv content

www.failblog.org – fun stuff

www.cartoonbank.com

www.drivesavers.com