McBlog

I’m launching a new podcast with a friend (more on that later) so we want it to be found via iTunes. To be able to submit a podcast to iTunes, you have to have an account – hmmmm – annoying, but somewhat understandable.

To set up an iTunes account, they want a credit card. FAIL! What if I don’t ever want to buy anything? What if I don’t want to give it out? What if I don’t have one? Well, it turns out you can create an account without needing a credit card if you either a) redeem a voucher (also a FAIL – I don’t want to buy anything) or by b) getting one of the free Apps from the iTunes App Store.

Great, so, I go to the App Store and try to get a free application. Any one will do – who cares, I’m throwing it away ‘cos I don’t have an iPhone. When I go to download it, it asks me for my account details so I say CREATE and, sure enough, when I get to the page where I’d enter a credit card, it now has the option of “NONE”

YAY! I can create an iTunes Store account without needing a credit card. So, Apple, why the frak didn’t you give me that option to begin with? Yet another FAIL!

Of course, now I’ve created the account and reached the verification stage. I’ve keyed in my GMail account details and it’s apparently sent out a verification email. Only problem is, it hasn’t arrived yet. Other emails are coming in OK, but not this one. In fact, I’ve asked it to send it 3 times now and still nothing. I’ve confirmed the address is correct and I’ve checked my SPAM folder. Nope – nada.

Oh joy – another FAIL on Apple’s part.

For a company that makes some pretty sexy equipment, it’s amazing how many times Apple FAILS! All this just to register a damned podcast…

Gotta feel sorry for the folks in the Bahamas and the Carribean – they’re getting pounded by a series of tropical storms and hurricanes this season. We’ve already had Tropical Storm Fay go up the edge of Florida and Hurricane Gustav hit Louisiana. Now there’s Tropical Storm Hanna which was a Hurricane for a short period before it dropped back to TS level. It’s working its way to Florida and North Carolina with a good chance it’ll go back up to Hurricane status. All of these are dumping massive amounts of rain on the area causing flooding, wind damage and general chaos.

As if all that wasn’t enough there’s also Cyclone Ike that’s way out in the Atlantic and was Category 4 (on a scale of 1 to 5) but is (as of the moment) Cat 3. Plus there’s Tropical Storm Josephine all the way over closer to Africa. You can see a lot of this over at the National Hurricane Center

Given the season officially started on June 1st and we’re up to the J’s already, if this keeps up it’s going to be one hell of a bad time to be an insurer. The folks who live around this area are going to be in for a rough ride – glad I’m living well away from it.

About a month ago, I was having a run in with a domain registrar that just didn’t get it. Back then, despite their best efforts, I managed to move my domain to another registrar although they did keep contacting me afterwards about confirming the transfer (ummm, it’s already been done) and then an email re: expiring domain (erm, no, it’s been renewed during the transfer).

Surprisingly, they called me today and left a message saying that my domain was expiring. An amazing demonstration of disconnection between marketing/renewals and actual content. I called back but it was after 5pm on a Friday, so they’d already left. Guess we’ll see how they handle the “Umm, no, it’s already gone” message on Monday.

Back at the start of June, I realised that my mcherron.com domain was coming up for renewal. Now that I’m hosting with DreamHost, I figured I should use them as my registrar as well (“first domain registration free” did have an influence :) ).

Both mcherron.com and another of my domains were with an Australian registrar who were charging about AUS$40 per year for a .com – ouch! When I tried to move them to DreamHost I couldn’t find the registry keys anywhere on the current registrar’s control panel. Nor could I unlock the domains so they could be transferred. Most annoying.

So, I logged a support ticket on their web based system and figured I’d give it a few days as it wasn’t critical. A few days later and there’s no response, so I update the ticket to put more info in and ask for a prompt response. Another few days later and it’s been over week with no response, so I call their 1-300 number. Fortunately I get through to someone pretty quickly and they knew what they were on about, unlocking the domains and emailing me the keys. Yay.

I pointed out that I’d logged a support ticket and been waiting for over a week. The guy said it sounded like that queue was stalled again and that he’d organise to clear it out. Nice one…

So, with the domains unlocked and the keys in hand, I went straight back to DreamHost’s control panel and kicked off the transfers. Within about 24 hours the domains were transferred and renewed out another year each. Excellent.

There the issue would have remained had not the Australian registrar demonstrated that stalled support queues were the least of its problems. From out of the blue a few days later I get an email from a person at a completely different company stating that they’d noticed I’d asked to transfer my domain so could I please confirm it so they could allow it. If I had any questions I could contact them or my “account manager” who was also at this entirely different company.

Fortunately I knew that the organisation that sent this “out of the blue” email was actually the owner of the registration company I used to be with. Of course, there’s nothing on either group’s web pages to say this.

I replied advising that the transfer had already occurred so thanks for asking but there’s no need…

Once again, you’d think that’d be it, but no, there’s more. I received a snail-mail letter from the ex-registrar which was dated a day or two BEFORE the transfer took place but arrived just over one month after the date it was printed. It was a reminder to renew along with an invoice to make it all easier. It also featured vertical stripes and fades associated with a printer that badly needs its toner cartridge changed. Such a good look, both in presentation and in content.

Then, I get an email a few days after that which also sought to remind me that my domain was due for renewal – you know, the one I transferred away from them over a month ago (and renewed in the process). Ummm, hello???

So lets see:

• There’s no way to unlock a domain or find its registry code
• The online support request went into a stalled queue
• I get a “please confirm your transfer” request after the transfer is 100% completed
• I get a “domain renewal reminder” letter/invoice a month later
• The letter shows that the printer that produced it desperately needed a toner cartridge change
• I get a “domain renewal” email over a month after I’ve completed the transfer to a new registrar

Way to go gang – a great example of “how not to keep your clients.” Still, at least their phone support was pretty good…

Today was mostly a day of frustration, a day where one considers that no amount of work is sufficient to get on top of things, let alone clear the backlog and that Dilbert is sadly all too real. It’s not as bad as working for Vogons but it did begin to look like it might just be heading that way. The joys of working for large organisations, I guess…

Finally got around to seeing the movie Happy Feet today – well – most of it. I got up a few times to do other things and didn’t bother getting Kitt & Nykolai to pause it.

Nykolai’s seen it before and was only watching it ‘cos he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to leave his beanbag. I think that’s the only reason why Kitt stuck it out to the end as well – she wasn’t feeling well either.

Suffice to say, this movie is lucky to reach a 4/10 on my scale. Sure, it’s got some funny bits and Robyn Williams does a good job in it (but no where near as good as he did in Robots). Sadly, in the grand scheme of things, it’s a flop. The feeling I got was that the director was trying to be a new Baz Luhrmann for animation but, you know what, Moulin Rouge wasn’t that great either (although Kitt was OK with that one, she found that Happy Feet just wound up pissing her off).

So, all up, a movie to avoid unless you’re desperate for something new to see. There are far better animated movies out there.

You know, something always goes horribly wrong just before my birthday. Last year, I trashed my old HD Holden in the wee hours of November 8th. This yeah, my laptop’s hard drive died horribly and I’ve lost a stack of data, photos and project info that wasn’t backed up correctly.

Oooops….

Oh well, I’d been meaning to reinstall my machine so it’d run smoother….

Lots happening at the moment – from studying for my Maintenance Authority on balloons through to keeping the computer systems of my clients operating. Then there’s the crap – like the latest bullshit the government keeps throwing at us. As if the new Industrial Relations laws they’re on about weren’t bad enough, now they’re destroying our freedoms with these new “anti-terror” laws.

Right now, I have zero faith in either of the two main parties in Australian government. The Liberals, headed by Jackboot Johnny, are complete bastards while Labour, under Beazley, are almost useless – they’re agreeing to all the changes that are, slowly but surely, turning Australia into a fascist state.

The terrorists have won, and they haven’t had to do a bloody thing since 9-11! We’re destroying our society for them – how stupid can we be?