Long-time readers of my blogs will know that I'm a cheap bastard.
So, with that in mind, it shouldn't be a surprise that I'm an advocate of free software. I'm especially in favor of free software that can replace, or mostly replace, expensive, high-end software.
As a photographer, I've always had a love/hate relationship with Adobe and their flagship product, Photoshop. I love the tool and all the amazing things it can do, but I hate the price. I'll grant that they...
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So, I've kind of been on a big ebook, Nook, freebie kick this month and I figured I might as well just go ahead and continue with that.
There are actually a lot of places to search up free ebooks, but I found a great list of places to get free books specifically for the Nook at EBookFriendly.com. They have quite a long list there that's worth checking out, but I want to point out two particularly good sources from that...
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Wow, what a busy week!
I'm sorry that my weekly post of something fun and free isn't more than this or more in keeping with a theme for the month, but, well, it's the best I can do this week. I'm not absolutely sure that I haven't used this link before, in fact, but, if I did, I'm sure they've since added more material to their site.
This week, I've got a link to 425 free ebooks!
They've got everything from classics of...
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Can you tell I'm really enjoying my new Nook HD+?
I hadn't really intended for this to be my focus this month, my personal choice of ereader, but, well, sometimes these things just happen.
I love my Nook and I enjoyed my last one, too, which, honestly, is a surprise to me. I used to be one of those hipster snobs who "preferred actual books" to these new-fangled, science-fictional tablety reader things. And, now, here I am.
Another reason I love it is...
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I like to read.
In fact, I like to read a lot, as anyone who's spent time with me can tell you. I have to admit, I read a lot of trash, but, still, at least I'm reading. And, since getting my newest Nook HD+ back around Mother's Day, I've been reading more than ever. I cannot tell you how much I love this thing. I suppose the Kindles are the same way, but since Barnes and Noble has upgraded their...
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There is no shortage of advice for writers.
And, honestly, the advice you like least is probably the best for you. Why do I say that? Because the advice that rankles you the most is probably digging at the precise issue that you have as a writer and are trying to ignore. Or, is that just my Freudian slip showing?
I hate to admit it, but I fall into the classic traps of wanna-be fiction writer all the time. My biggest failing? ...
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Remember two weeks ago? When I was talking about ambient coffee shop sounds?
Well, now someone has come out with an improvement, at least in my mind; rain.
So, really, this one is even simpler than the last one. There's just two buttons; one to turn on the "cafe sounds" and one to turn on the "rain". That's it. Though, I assume if you want some music, you can just go ahead and play your regular MP3 player of choice as well...
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So, I've finally heard back from DataRetrieval.com!
(Actually, I heard back a couple weeks ago, but I've been a little busy and haven't had a chance to write things up.)
After a couple days of trying to get a response from an actual human being as to what was going on with my drive, I finally got a quote. Well, actually, two quotes, which was kind of confusing. The first quote was for about $300 and the second quote was for $1800. But, I got no explanation of what the two quotes meant! After a whole lot of back and forth over the course of more than a week with what seemed like an email autoresponder, I finally got in touch with a customer service representative to find out what was going on.
As it turns out, the quote for $300 was the minimum price to just get started. Let that sink in for a minute. They wanted $300 up front before they even started working on this drive with no promise whatsoever of actually retrieving data. The $1800 quote was an estimate of the entire cost for retrieving all my data.
Obviously, that wasn't going to work for me and I told the service rep that. Then, apparently, we started negotiations.
He came back with a counter offer price, which was still way too high and I told him so.
A day later, he came back again with another, lower offer.
In the end, that $1800 got cut down to about $500, which made me wonder just what they were charging me for in that first outrageous quote!
Finally, I convinced them that I wasn't going to use their service and that I just wanted my drive back. They charged me $25 for shipping, which I thought was fair enough, and they sent my drive back to me. And here's where they really lost me as a customer ever. To the left, you see the box they sent my drive back to me in. In case you forgot from the first post about this incident, since it was so long ago, I sent the drive to them in a larger box that was specifically designed to ship drives in, to keep them as safe as possible.
At the right, you see how they packed things inside the box.
After all the strongly worded warnings and disclaimers about making sure you ship your damaged drive to them well padded so they won't be liable for any additional damage or data loss, they don't return the drive with anything like that same consideration. I suppose they don't feel like they need to since they won't be making money off the drive, but, damn, that kind of disrespect for potential customers really says something bad about them as a company, at least in my mind. I mean, there wasn't *any* padding whatsoever! It was just wrapped in two plastic shipping bags and shoved into the box!
Thankfully, the drive doesn't seem to be damaged at all, or any more than it was when it crashed, so I'm probably no worse off than I was before I sent it to them. Still, it's the idea that they'd show so little care with my data that makes me question their entire service. I know that I, personally, won't ever trust them to attempt a data retrieval again, that's for sure!
Also, based on what I've read, the problem is most likely a bad board on the drive. A board which I can get off eBay for about $40, replace myself, and quite likely retrieve all my old photos. I haven't actually decided if I'm going to try and run down the board that matches the BIOS on my particular drive, but I may. Kind of a huge difference, though, between $1800 and $40, plus a little of my time, isn't it?
In any case, if I decide to get the board and fix the drive myself, now that I finally have it in my possession again, I'll post another follow up with how that went. And, possibly, even a tutorial on changing out that board.
I am a geek.
This may be self-evident based on the fact that I work in IT and maintain several websites including two blogs, but the implications of that may not be clear.
In software development, of which I have done very, very little, there's a concept called "version control". In brief, it's about keeping track of the latest revision of your written source code, so that you can revert, if necessary, to an older version for part of the code, when...
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A relatively recent study says that the background noise of a coffee shop can boost your creativity.
I tend to subscribe to the attitude of one of my favorite authors, John Scalzi, espoused in his book You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop To A Coffee Shop. And, actually, the title of that book is pretty much how he feels. I have to agree. When someone takes their laptop to a coffee shop to "write", let's face it, their...
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