The Vent and Rant Thread

[badgoodDeb]

Maybe it's on purpose, so you can tell the device still has power, during the test?? (I have *no* knowledge of this test, so this is just a random comment.)

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Maybe it's on purpose, so you can tell the device still has power, during the test?? (I have *no* knowledge of this test, so this is just a random comment.)

No, the 'stuck' pixel is not in the middle of the screen

And yes, it's clear the device still has power. It switches to a black screen for about 5 seconds, and then the calibration / profiling begins. The program flashes colors on screen, that are read by a sensor connected to the computer. The feedback from this sensor causes the program to adjust the monitor, so it has the correct brightness and color settings for editing pictures.

The colors are displayed in a square in the middle of the screen, and the 'stuck' pixel is just to the right of the square, about half a centimeter higher than the bottom corner.

I think it's weird. Maybe I'll pull the old version from my backup and re-install it on the desktop and laptop and see if there's a difference on the laptop compared to the newest version. It could also be the nVidia/Intel Optimus setup in the notebook that causes weird things to happen. Sometimes, Firefox doesn't redraw its window correctly. Changing the window size slightly fixes this problem. The same version of Firefox on the old desktop doesn't have this problem.

[DMcCunney]

I spend a fair amount of time these days swimming in the Android pool. In the process, I've learned rather more than I wanted to know about how Android devices can fail.

I have a Azpen tablet. It's a generic low end Android tablet from a Chinese manufacturer you've likely not heard of, who appear to actually get their hardware in a OEM deal from another Chinese manufacturer you haven't heard of.

My existing tablet is a 7" model with dual-core 1.4ghz Allwinner23 CPU (an ARM Cortex 7 design), 4GB flash, 512MB RAM, and an 800x480 screen, running Android 4.4.2 Jellybean. The original was a promotional item. Midwest computer retailer Micro Center opened a couple of locations in the NYC area, and a flyer arrived by snail mail offering a 7" Android tablet for $20. At that price, it was an impulse purchase, to let me learn more about Android. The main use would be eBook viewer, for which the specs were adequate. Anything beyond that would be gravy.

I found directions for rooting it on a blog. It took a little doing, because none of the "one-click-root" solutions supported it, but I was able to follow the directions and get a rooted device. This let me remove various built-in apps I didn't want.

It also let me move installed apps to an external card. That can't be done on a normal microSD card. They come formatted as FAT32. You can store data on them fine (like eBook files), but applications can only live on a Linux filesystem. To have apps on the card, you must repartition the card to carve out a slice with a Linux file system, then put the card in the device and reboot. The device will see a new Linux file system and mount it.

Once you have a rooted device and a card with a Linux file system, there are a couple of Android apps that let you move apps to the card. I use one called Link2SD. You install the app as usual to device memory, then run Link2SD. It will let you move the app from system memory to the car, and create a symlink in the root file system pointing to it. Android follows the symlink and runs the app. (You must have a rooted device to be able to make those file system changes.)

I have a 32GB card in the device, so I carved out a 3GB Linux ext4 filesystem and started moving things At this point, the tablet has everything including the kitchen sink installed, and still thinks I have over 425MB of free app storage out of an original 787.

The A727 is getting creaky with age, and I was in the market for a replacement. Micro Center finally showed my local store stocking the A745 model. This is a quad-core 1.3ghz CPU, with the same flash, RAM and screen, running Android 4.4.2 Kit Kat. Retail was $40, with a $10 instant rebate. $30? Sold. I bought one yesterday and brought it home. It came fully charged, powered up, and booted when the power button was held for 3 seconds. Once up, I could turn on wifi, connect to my network, and connect to the Play Store. The installed Google apps I wanted to keep all updated fine. I re-downloaded my preferred launcher and a couple of other things, then disconnected.

Next step was rooting. Azpen has gotten enough market penetration that it's now supported by one-click-root solutions. In my case , I plugged the tablet into my desktop via the supplied USB cable and ran Kingo Root. Kingo identified the tablet as an A745 and suggested rooting it. I said ROOT, and a minute later, I had a rooted device. Install Link2SD and start hacking. All was well till I plugged in the SD card from the A727 and told Link2SD to rebuild the links, to avoid re-downloading and re-linking everything.

I probably should have known better than to try to take that shortcut. The end result was a thoroughly wedged device, stuck in a reset loop. It would not finish booting. It would not power off. I couldn't even get it to the point of displaying the menu that would let me hard reset and revert to factory default status. By this morning, it was totally dead through discharged battery, since it couldn't be turned off. Recharge, and I was back in stuck-on-boot mode.

<sigh> Back to Micro Center for an exchange. The guy at the exchange desk listened to the story, and confirmed it was stuck powered on on boot ("That's running hot!" "Yep. If you know a way to cure that, I'm all ears...") I wanted an exchange, but they were out of A745s. ("We had those for about two hours yesterday...".) They did have an upgrade - a surprise shipment of A746s had arrived. Same basic specs, but with 8GB flash, of which 2GB was available as app storage. $5+ additional cost, but fine by me.

It's up and running, rooted, and in the beginning stages of getting my preferred configuration rebuilt. It's getting a 32GB card, partitioned to provide extra app storage, but this time I'll start fresh and re-download and link instead of trying to use existing links, and with 2GB app storage, I have more headroom before I have to.

Fun, for masochistic values of the term.
______
Dennis

[Paegan2246]

My rant for today is Amazon's Surepost shipping. This is something relatively new that Amazon is doing. UPS picks up the package and then delivers it to the US post office, who then delivers it to you. The more people handling your shipments the more likely there is to be problems..that's the moral of this story

The last two orders I made were shipped this way. Neither of them arrived on time. I paid almost 25% shipping fees to have them ordered on time. I did not take the "Ship Free" option. The first package arrived 5 days late. I placed another order of 4/8 and am still awaiting arrival - it was supposed to be here 4/14. Now I get a notice to expect deliver by 4/19.

I understand that they are using this method of shipment for Prime Members also. I don't think I would pay $99 a year and still have packages arrive late. Isn't that part of the benefits of Prime membership - 2 day delivery of packages.

I called customer service and complained that if I place and order for $100.00 plus pay an addition 23.71 in shipping fees, I expect to get my stuff on time. If you take into consideration shipping fees, Amazon is not such a value anymore. I mainly use it for convenience. For 23.00 I can fill my car up and go to the mall to get the stuff.

Rant over...

[ApK]

I hear you. Our local postal sorting center is becoming notorious for delaying packages.
While that's not exactly Amazon's fault, it their choice to guarantee delivery and then choose that shipping method.
On the plus side, we've gotten several months of free Prime membership in compensation for late deliveries.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by ApK

I hear you. Our local postal sorting center is becoming notorious for delaying packages.
While that's not exactly Amazon's fault, it their choice to guarantee delivery and then choose that shipping method.

The only reason I know for going USPS is if delivery is to a PO box. UPS can't do that, so must hand off.

Other than that, were I Amazon, I'd just use UPS and not get the PO in the mix.
______
Dennis

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by ApK

I hear you. Our local postal sorting center is becoming notorious for delaying packages.
While that's not exactly Amazon's fault, it their choice to guarantee delivery and then choose that shipping method.
On the plus side, we've gotten several months of free Prime membership in compensation for late deliveries.

I had a sub mailman one week that couldn't read HOUSE DELIVERY. He just put my mail in the locking mailboxes.
Yes, those words are on a card in the box. I know when I caught the mailman (a different one) he showed me the card.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Paegan2246

My rant for today is Amazon's Surepost shipping. This is something relatively new that Amazon is doing. UPS picks up the package and then delivers it to the US post office, who then delivers it to you. The more people handling your shipments the more likely there is to be problems..that's the moral of this story

<snippage>

I called customer service and complained that if I place and order for $100.00 plus pay an addition 23.71 in shipping fees, I expect to get my stuff on time. If you take into consideration shipping fees, Amazon is not such a value anymore. I mainly use it for convenience. For 23.00 I can fill my car up and go to the mall to get the stuff.

Rant over...

They've been pulling this s**t for nearly 5 years now. When we sold our other house, which was in the city, more or less (typical burbs, IOW), and moved here, Amazon switched over to USPS service soon thereafter. We've been here just over 6 years, so...at least 5 years.

What they do is that they DO contract to UPS and Fedex--who promptly turn around and sub the deliveries out to the PO. I've bitched about this very thing here--and it just happened to us again.

Where we live, in a quite rural environment, there are several hundred individually, custom-built homes in what you'd call an "area" or enclave, surrounded by moutains on three sides. There's a "main drag" of about 3 miles long, from the nearest main street, and then roads that shoot off from this E-W Main Drag, forming the residential streets. All the homes sit on 1.25/acre and up lots. So, the mailpeople don't "deliver" mail. They deliver it to those neighborhood mailboxes you've seen, like so:

Ours is 1/2 mile from our home. The Post Office? 30 miles, each way, from our home.

Thus, if GOD FORBID, I buy something that is a skosh too large for the parcel locker (that's the big box at the bottom of the Cluster boxes), they leave me a green form, and say 'oh, gosh, sorry we missed you, come pick up your doodleflicker at the PO." Now, here's the thing--because of how spread out we all are, they WILL NOT deliver to the door--period.

What pisses me off is that this happens constantly. You have NO way to specify shipping carrier, at Amazon. Amazon pays Fedex/UPS, for "to the door delivery," and USPS takes the contract--and then just doesn't deliver. And it's tough s**t, kids. I wrote to Amazon more than once about this, and refused to pick up a number of things, telling them. "well, it's tough on you. You take it back; I won't pay for it and as I paid you my Prime fees, AND whatever else I paid, for 'to-my-door' shipping, I refuse to drive to the PO and pick it up--period."

NO ONE takes responsibility for this Fluster Cluck. Amazon figures, well, they lived upto their responsibility; Fedex/UPS thinks so, too...and meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Amazon customers are NOT getting the service for which they've paid. And there's nothing you can do about it, other than buying elsewhere--which is what I've done. I've switched over to other stores, where I can at least dictate the carrier.

Originally Posted by ApK

I hear you. Our local postal sorting center is becoming notorious for delaying packages.
While that's not exactly Amazon's fault, it their choice to guarantee delivery and then choose that shipping method.
On the plus side, we've gotten several months of free Prime membership in compensation for late deliveries.

How is it NOT Amazon's fault? If they are advertising shipment to your door, then they, bygod, should at least try to ensure that that's what you're getting. They're relying completely on the typical ennui of the American shopper to fail to take action to actively shop somewhere else, as Amazon is "convenient" in fulfilling instant-gratification clickage.

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

The only reason I know for going USPS is if delivery is to a PO box. UPS can't do that, so must hand off.

Other than that, were I Amazon, I'd just use UPS and not get the PO in the mix.
______
Dennis

Yeah, you'd think, right? See my note, above. They're perfectly happy with this subcontracting crap, because it's cheaper.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I had a sub mailman one week that couldn't read HOUSE DELIVERY. He just put my mail in the locking mailboxes.
Yes, those words are on a card in the box. I know when I caught the mailman (a different one) he showed me the card.

I had a site plan being fedexed to me a few years ago, while we were still down in the City. Long story short, the woman in charge of the project became indignant with me, when I told her I hadn't received the plan set. She insisted that I had, and she 'had my signature" to prove it. It wasn't my signature, which was boggling. After some back-forth, FedEx (my regular guy--not the sub) came out, and knocked next door, which was answered by a mentally disabled man in shorts, and his Mother (?), in a negligee and kitten heels, who crawled out of bed at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Oh, yes, they said--they'd signed for my plans--FIVE days earlier--and simply hadn't gotten around to giving me my parcel. (Really, you'd think that there was gold in there). Somehow, the Substitute didn't bother to figure out if he was at the right house, or anything else. These folks were new neighbors, so that went over really well. (n.b.: later, they were unceremoniously moved out of the house, due to bounty hunters crashing down their doors in the middle of the night. Gave our complacent Scottsdale, AZ, neighborhood something to twitter about for days!).

You're at the mercy of the guys in Brown, Red+white+blue and Fedex's RW&Blue colors, that's for damn sure.

In fairness to those guys--most of whom have been FABULOUS over the years, I'd point out that their lives aren't parties, either. We had a delightful UPS guy up here, who was constantly traumatized by the fact that a well known, uh, "naturists' colony" is up here. He had a guy on that route who was WELL into his 90's, who persisted in answering the door in nothing but a banana thong. Yahoo, brother! I'm pretty sure when most carrier delivery guys fantasize about someone on their route answering the door in their skimpiest gear, that's NOT what they had in mind.

last note: Has anyone here heard from KK? I see that her last activity here on MR was in the middle of December; almost exactly 4 months ago to the day. Anyone?

Hitch

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Hitch

They've been pulling this s**t for nearly 5 years now. When we sold our other house, which was in the city, more or less (typical burbs, IOW), and moved here, Amazon switched over to USPS service soon thereafter. We've been here just over 6 years, so...at least 5 years.

What they do is that they DO contract to UPS and Fedex--who promptly turn around and sub the deliveries out to the PO. I've bitched about this very thing here--and it just happened to us again.

Where we live, in a quite rural environment, there are several hundred individually, custom-built homes in what you'd call an "area" or enclave, surrounded by moutains on three sides. There's a "main drag" of about 3 miles long, from the nearest main street, and then roads that shoot off from this E-W Main Drag, forming the residential streets. All the homes sit on 1.25/acre and up lots. So, the mailpeople don't "deliver" mail. They deliver it to those neighborhood mailboxes you've seen, like so:

Ours is 1/2 mile from our home. The Post Office? 30 miles, each way, from our home.

Thus, if GOD FORBID, I buy something that is a skosh too large for the parcel locker (that's the big box at the bottom of the Cluster boxes), they leave me a green form, and say 'oh, gosh, sorry we missed you, come pick up your doodleflicker at the PO." Now, here's the thing--because of how spread out we all are, they WILL NOT deliver to the door--period.

What pisses me off is that this happens constantly. You have NO way to specify shipping carrier, at Amazon. Amazon pays Fedex/UPS, for "to the door delivery," and USPS takes the contract--and then just doesn't deliver. And it's tough s**t, kids. I wrote to Amazon more than once about this, and refused to pick up a number of things, telling them. "well, it's tough on you. You take it back; I won't pay for it and as I paid you my Prime fees, AND whatever else I paid, for 'to-my-door' shipping, I refuse to drive to the PO and pick it up--period."

NO ONE takes responsibility for this Fluster Cluck. Amazon figures, well, they lived upto their responsibility; Fedex/UPS thinks so, too...and meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of Amazon customers are NOT getting the service for which they've paid. And there's nothing you can do about it, other than buying elsewhere--which is what I've done. I've switched over to other stores, where I can at least dictate the carrier.



How is it NOT Amazon's fault? If they are advertising shipment to your door, then they, bygod, should at least try to ensure that that's what you're getting. They're relying completely on the typical ennui of the American shopper to fail to take action to actively shop somewhere else, as Amazon is "convenient" in fulfilling instant-gratification clickage.



Yeah, you'd think, right? See my note, above. They're perfectly happy with this subcontracting crap, because it's cheaper.



I had a site plan being fedexed to me a few years ago, while we were still down in the City. Long story short, the woman in charge of the project became indignant with me, when I told her I hadn't received the plan set. She insisted that I had, and she 'had my signature" to prove it. It wasn't my signature, which was boggling. After some back-forth, FedEx (my regular guy--not the sub) came out, and knocked next door, which was answered by a mentally disabled man in shorts, and his Mother (?), in a negligee and kitten heels, who crawled out of bed at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Oh, yes, they said--they'd signed for my plans--FIVE days earlier--and simply hadn't gotten around to giving me my parcel. (Really, you'd think that there was gold in there). Somehow, the Substitute didn't bother to figure out if he was at the right house, or anything else. These folks were new neighbors, so that went over really well. (n.b.: later, they were unceremoniously moved out of the house, due to bounty hunters crashing down their doors in the middle of the night. Gave our complacent Scottsdale, AZ, neighborhood something to twitter about for days!).

You're at the mercy of the guys in Brown, Red+white+blue and Fedex's RW&Blue colors, that's for damn sure.

In fairness to those guys--most of whom have been FABULOUS over the years, I'd point out that their lives aren't parties, either. We had a delightful UPS guy up here, who was constantly traumatized by the fact that a well known, uh, "naturists' colony" is up here. He had a guy on that route who was WELL into his 90's, who persisted in answering the door in nothing but a banana thong. Yahoo, brother! I'm pretty sure when most carrier delivery guys fantasize about someone on their route answering the door in their skimpiest gear, that's NOT what they had in mind.

last note: Has anyone here heard from KK? I see that her last activity here on MR was in the middle of December; almost exactly 4 months ago to the day. Anyone?

Hitch

Oh I love Joey. (Regular UPS guy). Last month UPS delivered my package to the wrong address. I know I say him fly by while letting in the plumbers. I called Amazon, we had a three way with UPS. 15 minutes later, Joey dropped off my package. He always knocks. He picks up outgoing UPS stuff around the corner.

Oh and can I have some brain bleach please. A banana thong is just too much.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Oh I love Joey. (Regular UPS guy). Last month UPS delivered my package to the wrong address. I know I say him fly by while letting in the plumbers. I called Amazon, we had a three way with UPS. 15 minutes later, Joey dropped off my package. He always knocks. He picks up outgoing UPS stuff around the corner.

.

I had a wonderful UPS guy for years in Tennessee. I never got his name but he was the nicest, sweetest old guy. I miss him. Here Amazon uses USPS 90% of the time which I prefer. Karen my mail lady delivers right to my door which is second floor. UPS here is never the same driver.

We made sure to tip Karen during the holidays to let her know we appreciated her climbing those crazy stairs of ours. She had never smiled before and was never really friendly but after we tipped her that changed. She left us a thank you card (Which is how I know her name.) and now smiles when I see her. She also stopped jamming our mail in the box tearing some of the papers.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Yeah, you'd think, right? See my note, above. They're perfectly happy with this subcontracting crap, because it's cheaper.

That was my assumption.

Amazon is the world's largest catalog retailer. They are working in territory pioneered by Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward. Sears grew huge by being the retailer to rural America, in the days when far more of the US was rural. If your general store didn't carry it, you were looking as a long trip to the nearest large town or city to get it. But Sears carried everything, put it in a catalog, and you could order from the catalog and they'd deliver. Amazon moved the catalog online and dropped the brick and mortar stores, but still delivered.

But delivery is expensive, and Amazon wants to cut costs. I heard they were actually losing money on a fair bit of Prime stuff because of delivery costs. So if they can hand off to UPS, and UPS can in turn subcontract to USPS, and it's cheaper to do it that way, Amazon will.

Bad for the customer? Hey. Amazon owns you. What can you do instead? Chances are you can't, really, and must suck it up and deal.

I buy next to nothing from Amazon. We get the odd British edition of something from Amazon UK, but that's about it. Of course, I live in NYC, where anything I'm likely to buy through Amazon is probably available from a brick and mortar outfit in walking distance, and wht get it shipped when I can simply carry it home?

So I can breathe a sigh of relief that I don't have to deal with Amazon.
______
Dennis

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Hitch

How is it NOT Amazon's fault? If they are advertising shipment to your door, then they, bygod, should at least try to ensure that that's what you're getting..

It's not their fault if people who work for other organizations don't do a good job. They don't run the postal service, and they do compensate you if their contracted partners screw up.

But as I said, it is their fault if they choose to keep using those people and promising on-time delivery if they have reason to believe that their partners aren't reliable.

ApK

[Paegan2246]

I would gladly pay for the shipping fees..which I do either way as I'm not a Prime member. I would pay extra though to not have to deal with the USPS. UPS here delivers to my second floor apartment after I buzz them in. Plus I get my packages on time. Amazon doesn't give you that option though. Unless you pay for overnight service.

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Hitch

last note: Has anyone here heard from KK? I see that her last activity here on MR was in the middle of December; almost exactly 4 months ago to the day. Anyone?

I noticed KK missing a while back too. I PMed her just over a month ago and have got no response. Not like her

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

I noticed KK missing a while back too. I PMed her just over a month ago and have got no response. Not like her

KK is fine. She's just no longer posting in MobileRead. I had e-mail from her last week. She, like me, will occasionally read through the various forums, but has no real interest in interacting any longer.


Stitchawl