Tag: Amazon

Amazon Cloud Reader Redux

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So I note last Friday https://read.amazon.com on a chrome browser was tits up. As of Wednesday of this week they’d reverted to the old cloud reader version and it worked. Until today – this tells me they push their updates on Fridays. Naughty of them to do that.

So I called them. Guy I spoke with thanked me for providing the browser info. For Chrome just launch a new tab and type about:chrome and it’ll display the version info. He did tell me it would take 2 to 3 days for them to look into it.

It’s just funny – I guess they’re surprised to talk to someone who understands technology. I did mention it could be the newest version of Chrome that’s not reporting as Chrome or it could be Amazon. We’ll see here it goes.

The Latest Kitchen Acquisition

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So every since I got the Sous Vide stick I’ve been using ziplock bags – but I could never get all the air out.

So I was on Amazon and saw a deal for $49.95 where you’d get a Hamilton Beach vacuum sealer with two rolls of bag material. So I ordered it, and it was delivered Saturday.

Now when we went shopping today I got one whole chicken parted up, a pre-seasoned pork loin, and a couple of center cut filet mignon steaks. Seared the chicken, then dusted with salt/sugar/pepper. The pork had it’s own seasoning, and the steaks got Montreal Steak seasoning. All in air tight bags. Love the thing. Someone even threatened to vacuum seal the cat.

It’s a manual model – you have to hold the bar down while it evacuates and then seals the bags. But easy to use.

Who knew you could get lab gear so cheap

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So someone is getting into perfume making and wants to start distilling scents. So I knew you could use things like distillation and condensing columns along with certain flasks to accomplish Stupid me – I went and google them and the prices were astronomical.

But then it hit me – check on Amazon. Sure enough – a whole distillation kit is a whole $65. A stirrer/heater unit is half the price. So for about $200. Much better than the $500 to $1,000 I was budgeting. Amazon has in fact become the be all to end all place if you’re shopping for esoteric lab gear, electronic parts, etc. It’s amazing, but it’s Amazon.

And it can do double duty – extract scent from certain botanicals and making distilled alcohol from corn mash. Oh this will be great fun.

Maybe with UPS, just maybe

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So I ordered a Rigol DS1054Z oscilloscope on Amazon of all places. The price is pretty sticky on it, $399. And I searched around.

But to my dismay the vendor shipped it via UPS. You know, Shit Wrapped in Chiffon.

Now I ordered the scope on the 22nd of May. It didn’t ship until yesterday – holiday weekend and all. So I can forgive that plus I didn’t pay extra for expedited shipping.

But Amazon says it’ll arrive on the 3rd of June. But when I take the UPS tracking number and plug it into UPS’s tracking web site it says it’s out for delivery today.

When I first saw that yesterday I theorized that either Amazon or UPS was telling a lie. Quelle surprise – it was Amazon. However I don’t have the item in my hands at this time, and UPS still has plenty of time to fuck it up. Now it shipped no signature required. If I have to go down to UPS and pick it up again I’m going to definitely tear them a new asshole.

Though I will admit, since I put up the sign in the street facing windows that it was in fact my address, the UPS driver now delivers the package no questions asked. So i’m hopeful. It’s all of a ten pound package. That might be too heavy for the driver to heft off the truck and all.

Almost got pissed at Amazon

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So I signed up for Amazon Prime a few weeks ago. So tonight I noticed there were some videos I might want to watch. Clicked on one and got the odious message that I had to install Microsoft Silverlight. No I don’t have to do that.

If you read this blog enough you KNOW I dislike Silverlight. It ranks up there was one of the biggest flaming pieces of excrement that Microsoft has ever produced. It’s a system resource hog for one – you can watch it consume every bit of a quad core system if you just pull up task manager.

Now I had railed against Netflix about this for some time and they finally, if you’re running Google Chrome allowed you to watch videos without having to install Silverlight.

So I called Amazon support. Got right through and asked if there was any way to not have to use Silverlight to view videos. They walked me through setting it to use Flash instead. I mean that’s acceptable but really Amazon, h.264 would be better especially with HTML5 compliant browsers.

But alas it works. That is how I almost got pissed at Amazon.

The Holiday Shopping is done!

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So for the past 3 to 5 years I’ve been using Amazon to do holiday shopping. I mean I abhor malls – hate going near them especially around the holiday season.

And I must say I exercised much restraint in the purchasing this year, exactly $506 spread among four people. On average $126.50 per person. But just one gift for one person was $366 so $506 minus $366 equals $140 which divided by the remaining three people comes out to $46.67 per person.

The MIL got a new TV to replace the old cathode ray tv that had a bad red electron gun so everything had a green tinge. That was the big ticket purchase.

Then the nephew got Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Michelangelo Elf and Splinter. Plus a new winter coat and we had previously purchased a TMNT turtle backpack for him too.

The twin nieces got a Franklin Webster’s Spelling Corrector.

And the total time to spend all that money – less than 20 minutes. Most of that was spent looking for the things we wanted to get. All from the comfort of my easy chair aka recliner. Life doesn’t get any better.

The Annual Xmas Angst

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It’s all because the only ones we really get presents for are the kids. Our nephew is easy – he’s a boy. Do a search on Amazon.com for “Boys toys” and you get all the fun science and weaponry toys. Search on “Girls toys” and you get all craft, makeup, etc.

This is what inspired me to write this post. I find the gendering of toys to be sort of odd. I bet there are a lot of little girls out there that would love the science and weaponry, and equal number of  boys who love the crafts and makeup. Why not encourage that?

Granted, I understand the craft part but to me the craft is electronics and putting circuits together. Not so easy to transmit that to a kid. I believe I have mentioned before I learned how to solder wires and components together when I was six years old. That plus encouragement from family cemented my love of things electronic, including computers.

And like I said, the nephew at five years old is easy. I can connect to my five year old self plus Keyron’s Mom knows EXACTLY what he wants too. So click, bing, boom and done.

The girls on the other hand – technically our nieces. We really only see them once in a while. Rarely talk to them. The nephew on the other hand – we talk to frequently and what falls out Keyron’s mom clues us in.

Yes indeed, it’s a lot easier to shop for boys when you’re a man. And I’m happy to say that the entirety of our purchases this year all come from Amazon. Every last bit. Spent $200 in total and got a pretty good haul. And everything will be there before the holiday. Nice!

 

The new headphones

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Yes – again. The HD Pro’s have trouble holding charge and syncing now. So I decided – wired headphones again.

I searched around and found these:

They’re by an outfit called Symphonized. And yes – they’re wood. They sound fantastic.

One thing I do like about them – note on the bottom of one of the drivers – that’s a jack! One of the biggest issues I’ve had with headphones is the cable from them to the device always breaks. But even the cable they provide is nice, cloth covered too.

The company only sells on Amazon which is interesting. I’m seeing a lot of business moving to Amazon and Facebook of all places.

Paid $69 for the phones – well worth it. And now I’ll take the Inland HD PRo’s apart – and replace the stupid USB connector with a mini connector. Then maybe it’ll charge again.