Amazon.com Rebate Update

I have to say, I’m very, very impressed with Amazon.com. Just days after I submitted my BBB complain over never receiving my $150 rebate, they responded with a very nice apology and that my rebate check is being sent to me via Fed Ex overnight delivery. I’ve always liked Amazon.com and this definitely helps.

Amazon.com and BBB

Today I finally got around to filing a complaint against Amazon.com with the BBB. I submitted a cellphone rebate over a year ago ($150), they received it and mailed me a check, but sent it to the wrong address twice. Since then, I haven’t been able to get them to resent it to my correct address.

I really love Amazon.com, but they outsource their rebates to incompetent companies. Let’s hope the BBB gets Amazon.com to resend my check to the correct address.

HDTVs Revisited

I’ve decided that I’m definitely getting a new TV to compliment my new apartment. After looking into the Sony BRAVIA KDL-46V2500, I’ve decided against it since Sony cripples the VGA input (can’t do 1920×1080) and can’t do 1080p via components- meaning if I want 1080p from the 360, I can’t with that set.

So far my top choice is the Samsung LN-S4695D, no crippled VGA, 1080p via component, and it is a 46″ LCD. I just hope it’s not TOO big for my apartment.

Wii Stock

Sort of an interesting thing is happening with the stock of the Nintendo Wii. The console launched nearly 2 weeks ago, and it’s still impossible to find one in stores. Nintendo claims that they will be shipping 2 million units by Christmas, so… where are they?

Stores are artificially choking supply of Wiis. Apparently major stores like Wal-Mart, Target and Circuit City are sitting on their supplies to run in their Sunday ads, sort of like a “re-launch” so to speak. Hopefully after the hoarded supply gets dumped onto the market this Sunday it will be easier to get one, and stores will start putting them out on the shelves as they get them in.

On the plus side, Nintendo apparently is no longer backordered on their component cables online (I ordered one).

10 Favorite OS X Widgets

Here is a random list (in no particular order) of my 10 favorite OS X Widgets.

1. iPhoto Mini – Allows you to view random photos from various iPhoto albums.
2. XBOX Live Gamer Card – Easily view your XBOX Live Gamer Card.
3. iStat nano – A quick way to see all your system stats.
4. iStat network – Much like iStat nano, but just for networking stats.
5. Screenshot Plus – The easiest way to take great screenshots in OS X.
6. Transmit Widget – If you use Transmit for FTP, you’ve got to give this a try.
7. The Unofficial Digg Widget – My favorite widget for reading digg.com.
8. MailWidget – If you use Mac Mail, this is probably the best widget out there for it. It actually checks mail servers you set in Mac Mail and tells you which ones Mac Mail hasn’t read.
9. Weather (included in OS X) – Still my favorite weather widget.
10. iTunes (included in OS X) – Still the best iTunes controller.

Have a favorite widget I didn’t mention or disagree with one I did? Comment away.

Piracy vs. Homebrew

Always an interesting argument. I started thinking about this a bit today after people were loading homebrew on the Nintendo Wii via an Action Replay and playing SNES ROMs. The main problem with this for Nintendo is that you can play the same games they charge to download in the Virtual Console for free. Obviously the debug code is different for the DVD-ROM in the Wii, so swap discing games doesn’t work for GameCube backups.

Probably the best examples of real homebrew vs. piracy is the Sony PSP and the Microsoft Xbox. I honestly wouldn’t even have a use for my PSP if I couldn’t play SNES and GBC games on it. 99.9% of the use I have for my Xbox is using it to stream movies with XBMC.

So why don’t companies open up their platforms to homebrew and prevent people from hacking their systems? I think the main reason is that people who want homebrew are in such a small minority and including it is a huge security risk and could allow exploits for playing backups of games. I’m really interested in the approach Microsoft is taking with their XNA developer kits. Security will obviously be tight- it will be paid subscription based and you cannot easily distribute your code/binaries to other users. I’m curious if XNA projects will run in a different kernel or security mode than normal games (I’m sure they will).

I guess this generation of consoles will see the most legitimate and endorsed homebrew from both Microsoft and Sony (with Linux) since they are pushing the multi-functionality of their consoles. The joys of being good at everything and being great at nothing.

Wii Component Cables

I’m not too much of a gamer in my old age, but I do have a soft spot for Nintendo games (as in first party Nintendo games, like Mario and Zelda). I’ve decided to pick up a Wii at some point, but one thing that really bothers me is the inability to readily get component cables. Let’s face it, I refuse to buy the system unless I can get first party component cables.

Problem #1 – GameCube component cables do not work. Nintendo has been great about keeping the video output the same since the SNES all the way through to the GameCube, but the Wii has a completely new A/V out. I hate to say it, but PS2 component cables work on the PS3.

Problem #2 – Retail stores don’t get the component cables in stock until mid December. Ummm… the console launched in mid/late November, what’s up with that?

Problem #3 – You couldn’t order the component cables online until about the day of launch, and they were already sold out from people calling in phone orders for them even though they weren’t listed.

It’s so hard to get the cables that they are actually selling for about $150 on eBay.

I don’t know when Nintendo is going to realize how important video quality is to gamers. Hell, they removed the digital video out port on the later models of the GameCube.

HDTVs

I’ve owned a 4:3 32″ Sony WEGA CRT HDTV for a little over 2 years now. It’s served me well for the time I’ve had it, especially for a fairly old HDTV (it actually has HDMI though). I primarily use it to watch 480p content or 720p Xbox 360 games, and it does that fairly well enough.

I’m considering upgrading to a 46″ Sony 1080p LCD, I’m just not sure if it is worth the $3,300+ at this point. With HD-DVD and Blu-ray movies finally hitting the mainstream and the fact that you really need a 42″+ TV to enjoy 1080p, it may be a good time. HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray is a whole other consideration. I don’t feel like dropping $500-$1000 into a player for either, but spending $200 on a HD-DVD player for the 360 may not be so bad. I really have no desire to buy a PS3, but I may pick one up if I really want a Blu-ray player.

Aperture

Well, I finally got around to trying Apple’s Aperture… what can I say?  I love it.

I’m by no means a serious photographer, but I really can appreciate what it does and I could even utilize it in the small amount of photography I do.

The creation of stacks is fantastic. For those of you who don’t know, you can group similar photos together to make it easier to choose the best shot. One particular thing that impressed me was that if you import (or reference) photos from iPhoto, it automatically creates stacks of the original photos and the modified versions… very nice touch.

My absolute favorite thing about Aperture is the ability to single out color frequencies when changing hue and saturation levels, etc. It’s also great that you can easily compare it to the master photo.

For 99% of consumers iPhoto will do the trick, but that’s why Aperture is considered a professional application. In all honesty I’ll probably use iPhoto to import and keep my photos and have Aperture reference my iPhoto library and do all the touch ups.

Dial-Up With Cingular

My friend had the interesting idea (which I sadly never thought of) of using his cellphone for dial-up access without using a data plan.

He tried it out, and sure enough it worked (Verizon Wireless). Since Verizon Wireless is commonly known to be one of the more restrictive cell providers (crippling bluetooth anyone?) I figured it would work with Cingular no problem. Of course, I was wrong…

Cingular disables Circuit Switched Data (CSD) so faxing and dial-up access will not work through their phones unless you call and ask them to enable it (if they let you). If they do, be prepared to pay another $4 a month… lame.

MacBook Pro

I’ve been wanting a Mac laptop for years. It about killed me buying a Thinkpad for law school, and it was also hard to justify since I bought the Thinkpad in June of 2005.

I decided to wait until the MacBook Pros had the Core 2 Duo chips. Granted, 64-bit chips don’t mean that much for laptops, but I also wanted to be able to run the 64-bit edition of Vista (since it has EFI support). I also figured the MacBook Pro would be nicely refreshed when the new chips came out, which they thankfully were (more RAM, larger hard drive, 802.11n draft).

After using the MBP for just 3 days, I don’t think I can ever use my Thinkpad again. It’s lighter, faster, runs cooler and the screen is gorgeous. Being able to use the Parallels virtual machine and run XP Pro at near full speed on the 2nd core is really fantastic.

I was a bit bummed that I had two dead pixels, one went away and the other appears to be dust under the screen, no biggie.

Anyways, I highly recommend one if you have the means. It’s always good to treat yourself every once in awhile.

Why I Hate Citibank

I really try to not let things get to me, but Citibank really screwed me over. I applied to consolidate all my federal loans back in April 2006 to lock in the 4.7% Stafford interest rates before they went up by 2% on July 1st and while my loans were still in the in-school status so I could save the extra 0.6%. I also applied for a loan consolidation via the Federal Government in case Citibank declined me for some weird reason.

Fast-forward 4 months. Citibank still hasn’t consolidated my loans. I’ve called them 5 times, they keep telling me everything is okay, I just need to contact my only private federal FFELP loan lender (Mohela) to change my loans to repayment then they can buy it out. Since they said everything is okay, I cancelled my Federal Government consolidation since Citibank has slightly better incentives and better customer support (I could actually get them on the phone).

Fast-forward to another 6 weeks to September. Citibank still hasn’t consolidated my loans. Finally after being on hold for 20 minutes they tell me they can’t consolidate them because of the “Single Holder Rule.” Basically if you have one FFELP loan with one lender (in my case Mohela) you have to go to them first for consolidation. They explained to me this was repealed after July 1st, but since I applied back in April there is no way for them to consolidate them. I asked why no one told me this before, as in MONTHS ago so I wouldn’t have cancelled the consolidation through the government (which the Single Holder Rule doesn’t apply to), and they couldn’t give me an answer. Basically they gave me the option of re-applying for a consolidation with them so it would be after July 1st and the rule wouldn’t apply and my interest rate would go up 2.6%, costing me another $1,000 a year in interest alone (my loans were now in repayment since they told me to put them into repayment, hence the extra 0.6%!!!). The problem is with an interest rate above 7% I know I would be making the maximum payments possible to get it paid off, since that’s the kind of person I am. If it was below 5% I would probably stretch it over 20 years since the interest is at the rate of inflation. Basically I was going to be poor for the next 3-4 years until I had it paid off if my interest rate was going to be that high.

That’s when I found a great company called OneSimpleLoan. They are actually the company that sued the federal government over the Single Holder Rule and they are the reason why it got repealed. They had a great section on their website that mentioned that they can take over another loan consolidation application and that it would be possible to get the same interest rate that you would have gotten. The key part is if you have in your possession a dated loan consolidation application in your possession from another lender. Thankfully, I keep EVERYTHING now (and doing so just saved me probably over $10K in interest. Their customer service has been fantastic, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone. I can’t put it any other way other than they saved me tons of money and years of misery.

Moral of the story, I hate Citibank, they are either incompetent or dishonest, most likely both. I’m not sure which one is worse, but I’ll be either transferring my private loan from them or paying it off completely over the next few months so they won’t make any more money off me.