Phone greeting (1) Mar 20, 2008
Since I sometimes sound like a robot when I answer the phone, I often think about the right way to answer the phone.  At home, it's pretty simple:  "Hello?"  I don't have caller ID, and I don't want to give out any personal information because the idiots that call my home phone are usually trying to sell me something (except you, Wendy's mom [and you're not an idiot]), so I stick with something plain and simple.  My cell phone has caller ID, and of the two or three calls I receive each month, I always know the caller, so I greet them by name. 

That leaves my work phone.  Many of the people I work with have a habit of using an official greeting.  They pick up the phone and simply state the group we work in.  No "Hi."  No "This is [X]."  It's like the Cosby Show:  "Huxtable residence."  But we have caller ID at work, and these same people use the same greeting for everyone, which is stupid, especially if the caller doesn't work where we work.  It was especially annoying with a guy who used to work near me.  He would get a few hundred phone calls every day, and every single one of them was a personal call.  But he would still do his stupid official greeting every time.  I always thought, "You barely work for our group, so you probably shouldn't be using our name to represent yourself." 

Update (2008-03-21 2:32pm):  This post is lacking.  Here are a few examples of good phone greetings: 
  1. Tom Miller (from KRHS):  "Whooo is it?"
  2. Kramer (from Seinfeld):  "Go."
  3. "Talk to me."
That is all. #technology
Date in search results Mar 19, 2008
I like seeing the date in search results on Google.  Put differently, I hate not seeing the date.  Last week I was searching for something and came across a result that seemed relevant, so I clicked it.  It turns out it was from five or six years ago.  In terms of technology, that was several lifetimes ago.  It's one thing if you're searching for something that's pretty static.  From one year to the next, even from one decade to the next, the information concerning a static topic probably won't change at all.  But if you're searching for something dynamic (e.g. technology-related), chances are it just changed yesterday, so that search result from the late 90s is no longer even remotely applicable. #technology
I am robot (2) Mar 18, 2008
A guy just called me at work.  I could see from the caller ID that it wasn't someone from my office, and I didn't recognize the number, so I used my standard official-business-yet-not-too-formal "Hi, this is Dave."  There was a pause at the other end before the guy told me who he was and why he was calling.  He said, "I couldn't tell if that was your answering machine or not."  I think I find that offensive. #technology
WinXP .mov thumbnails (61) Mar 13, 2008
My Panasonic digital camera records movies in .mov format.  I don't know why, and I can't change it.  The problem is that Windows XP doesn't show thumbnails for .mov files, which is an issue when I want to look through my pictures and videos with the whole "View → Thumbnails" option selected.  I searched the internet for a solution several months ago and didn't find anything.  I just searched again this morning and found a pretty simple solution, though I'm surprised at how relatively obscure it is and how hard it was to find.  Here's what you need to do: 
  1. Download QuickThumb.dll from here.
  2. Copy to C:WindowsSystem32.
  3. Go to Start → Run and type regsvr32 QuickThumb.dll.
  4. If there's an error, download msvcr70.dll from here and repeat steps 2 and 3.
  5. Go to a directory with .mov files, switch to thumbnail display, and possibly press F5 to refresh.
I can't believe I didn't discover this sooner.  That really annoys me.  And it annoys me that the internet wasn't much help for a while. 

(I'm hosting all necessary files here.) #technology
Fully charged Mar 11, 2008
I'm pleasantly surprised by how much better electronic devices work when they're fully charged.  This is especially true with devices that send radio signals, such as Bluetooth earpieces and FM transmitters.  Last week, my Bluetooth thingy was all static-y and crappy.  After I charged it, it worked like it was powered by a nuclear reactor designed by God himself (which I would suspect would be quite powerful indeed).  Electronic devices should really tell you these kinds of things.  There'd be more faith in technology if people understood how much radio transmission signal quality is related to power. #technology
Selective internet filter Mar 6, 2008
My employer blocks pretty much everything fun and interesting that can be found on the internet, including any type of streaming media.  This includes videos from legitimate news sources like CNN.  Today I clicked on a link to a video news segment, fully expecting it to be blocked and to be treated like a criminal trying to do illegal things.  But the video started to load.  Actually it was a commercial before the actual video.  But then after the commercial finished, the actual news video wouldn't load because it was blocked.  So thanks, big stupid employer.  You let me watch meaningless commercials, but not news.  Thanks. #technology
Corporate network obsolescence (4) Mar 5, 2008
I predict that in 5-10 years, corporate IT networks will be obsolete.  Sorry, all my IT readers.  You'll probably still have jobs because people's computers will keep breaking.  But you can forget about network cables and email servers.  With things like wireless broadband and web-based email, there's no need for a corporate-centric network.  Anything that can be done on one of those networks can be done on a wireless broadband network.  There's no need for corporate IT policies, internet filtering, or bandwidth throttling because it'll have nothing to do with the corporate network.  It's all in the hands of each individual user.  And corporate software policies like antivirus protection and the slew of standardized, cookie-cutter bloatware that IT departments ruin install on users' computers will become obsolete because, again, those things are network-centric.  Who cares if one of your users gets a virus on their machine?  It won't affect anyone else on the network because it's a different kind of network.  And I've mentioned before my opinion about web-based email:  It's infinitely better than corporate email.  It's more reliable.  It's easier to access.  There's more storage space.  Who cares about security because nobody does secure things through email anyway (though I have a hard time believing Gmail's https is any less secure than biometrics, a smart card, and a 10-character password).  With a $100 wireless broadband card and $60/month unlimited access, I don't need a corporate network. #technology
iPod aspect ratio Mar 3, 2008
I've always thought it's kinda stupid to put movies on an iPod so you can watch them on a plane or while traveling.  Watching a full-length movie on a 2.5-inch screen seems a little ridiculous.  But when you think about, it makes a ton of sense in terms of aspect ratio.  If you're ok with watching a movie on one of those 10-inch screens on an airplane where you're likely sitting a good 5-10 feet away, it's roughly the same as watching a 2.5-inch screen from 12 inches away. #technology
Sprint is sometimes good Feb 25, 2008
Despite my awful experience switching my cell carrier to Sprint (and them losing my old number) and the staggeringly copious amount of negative opinions circulating on the interwebs, I've come to the conclusion that Sprint is actually good sometimes.  Here's why: 
  1. They have great coverage.  This probably has something to do with sharing Verizon's towers.  However it's done, it works out great for me.  I pretty much always have service.
  2. They have a high-speed data network with cheap unlimited access plans.  AT&T and T-Mobile have slower data networks.  Sprint and Verizon have faster data networks.  Verizon charges no less that $45 per month for unlimited data access.  Sprint charges $15.
  3. They have a cheap low-minutes calling plan.  I don't need 6000 minutes per month, no matter how much it costs.  Looking over my cell phone bills for the past several months, I noticed I use about 150 minutes per month, max.  Sprint has a 200-minute plan for $30.  Verizon's closest is its 450-minute plan for $40.  Too many minutes for too much money.
  4. They have a cheap lots-of-text-messages plan.  $5 for 300 text messages.  I don't need unlimited text messages for $15, Verizon.
I could easily come up with another list that's twice as long, full of all the horrible things about Sprint (mainly that it's great as long as you don't have a problem that requires you to talk to a human), but I'll stop here.  Sprint is sometimes good.  You heard it here first. #technology
Startup (1) Feb 25, 2008
I hate software that thinks I want it to start when Windows starts.  Am I not smart enough to determine what I'd like my computer to do when I start it up?  Do I really need a software developer to make that decision for me?  I think not.  Jerks. 

Today's example is Amazon Unbox, the software that enables you to download stuff from Amazon.  Not only did it make itself start with Windows, it made it difficult to change that option.  Why would I want this program to download stuff from Amazon as soon as I turn my computer on?  What if I'm *gasp* not connected to the internet?  And why does it warn me that I'll have to start the program manually if I disable it from starting automatically?  The word tautology comes to mind. #technology