So I’m trying my luck with eVGA right now. I’ve recently determined that that loud grinding noise coming from my computer is coming from my video card fan (why exactly my video card has a fan, I’m not sure). I figure this blog could use some content, so I’ll document the support process here.

Here’s what I already don’t like:

• You can’t put in a simple support request without registering your product with them. And registering also entails disclosing a fair bit of personal information that one, I should think, has no need to disclose to get a question answered. I don’t know where else I’ve needed to register to get a question answered (most support sites ask for some personal information necessary to contact you and maybe a serial number, but I’ve never been compelled to give it out).
• If you’re lucky enough to get a defective product (as I would think I have), to quote eVGA’s site: “EVGA does not do cross-shipping.” Nice. Kingston does cross-shipping. When I had to RMA my memory card they offered me a cross-shipping service. A memory card. eVGA sold me a video card, which I need in order to use my computer. I guess they’re confident enough in their products that they don’t see any reason to “do” cross-shipping.

I’m hoping this can change. Hopefully soon, as in when I get a prompt response from a tech (though they say they want 48 hours, so I wouldn’t hold my breath).

Anyway, I’m kind of relieved that I managed to at least diagnose the problem. Displeased that Media Center won’t be working as long as I’ve disabled hardware acceleration, so so much for recording House or anything like that tonight.

Update 9:07PM EDT: got a reply less than an hour after I sent my question in. Apparently they’re sending a replacement fan to my nonexistent address. Hmm. Well, I updated the information at least. We’ll see if the fan comes in.

Really, what’s so hard about having options for these kinds of things? Use Verizon’s e-mail service, and miss 90% of your legitimate e-mails. But, uh, there’s no spam?

Wouldn’t be surprised if the end-result was charging for whitelisting a la AOL.

Here’s what I noticed (apologies, most aren’t really apparent from a screen shot):

• No way to resize the columns with the file names so that you, you know, know what exactly you’re replacing.
• You can’t resize the dialog box, either.
• The actions are all set to override the mobile device without any way of changing them all, except going one-by-one.
• Trying to use the mousewheel to scroll down (so you can change every action one-by-one) instead just changes the action of whatever item is selected.
• If you get fooled by the mousewheel you may not notice, since the actions box uses the same text (”Replace”) and the same green arrow (just in a different direction) to update a file either way. “Skip” is different, though.

Recently I’ve been thinking a bit on the impact that forms of mass-communication have been having — or, perhaps, should have been having — on big business.

Isn’t it word-of-mouth that’s the ever-so-desirable form of spreading the word on a product? Isn’t that the same thing that often helps those in the know to shy away from an offering that doesn’t deliver? Blogs are an amplification of word-of-mouth, where one user can have a water-cooler type conversation with thousands of other ones — so why aren’t more people paying attention?

Slashdot posted on Longhorn’s support for monitor-based DRM restrictions (misleading title and all; yeah, I enjoy Microsoft bashing some too, but could you at least try not to sacrifice too much integrity to do so?) and, needless to say, this is a discussion that’s picking up a lot of heat. The vast majority of users, as a casual search of forums and blogs will show you, are opposed to such an implementation.

But it’s not really like Microsoft and the media giants don’t know this; it’s that they don’t care. The little bit of their market (and it probably is small enough) that’s likely to pay attention to the blogs that attack DRM and copy protection that inhibits fair use gets filed under “acceptable losses,” since we already know Average Joe’s Dell PC will have Longhorn preinstalled and come with a new monitor. And he won’t have a clue that the awesome 1080i DVD she’s buying wouldn’t have played on his old computer — hell, maybe he would and that would just get him to blindly upgrade in the first place.

Hopefully what bloggers can do is eliminate that false impression. Not everyone is fortunate enough to get thousands of readers daily, but the rising influence of the blogosphere is readily apparent to anyone willing enough to pay attention — any number of political scandals blown open by e-pundits can demonstrate that fairly easily.

Eventually the value of blogs and live user input will become more clear, and some companies have already realized that. HP has some blogs (but Dell doesn’t). GoDaddy’s Bob Parsons has a blog, though some might argue that’s an example of a corporate blog gone horribly wrong. Microsoft actually has a whole evangelism team (fronted by Robert Scoble) plus some developer blogs, which is where they deserve some credit for not underestimating the influence that blogs can have.

So, given that… hey, Microsoft. Right now the ball’s in your court. You’ve got the advantage. Keeping this monitor-based DRM out of Longhorn will do damage to the content providers in their quest to end fair use and hinder the law-abiding user’s ability to use what they buy (I know my monitor and video card don’t even do DVI, so with an analog only connection I’m somewhat screwed). Longhorn is what the media needs to ensure their content is widely protected yet accessible, and if you guys support it I’m sure the blogs can tell you what’ll happen.

Of course, in the end it’s really the consumer who votes with his wallet. Let’s at least hope it’s sooner rather than later that we all catch on.

Most helpful PayPal Phisher I’ve ever seen.

At least someone caught it, eventually.

Not that I’ve abandoned this, yet. I have other writings in the works, they’ve just taken a backseat to more important and, moreover, time consuming matters. But this is why they invented RSS.

Its features, um… a 3 inch LCD screen, it’s like the first device to have one of those, ever.

Thanks again FOX 5 news for your informative interviews-on-the-street. I guess my PDA’s 3.7 inch LCD screen technically isn’t 3 inches.

Another note, Samba for some reason works better on this (i.e. it sees a Windows laptop) than it does on my desktop running Fedora. Hmm.

Next up? Testing suspend mode, getting Samba to work correctly, and figuring out how to best use this as a server and usable laptop.

For the curious, I decided to name this deberon.skidde.net, as in misspelled preterite form of “deber,” Spanish for “should.” There’s some meaning in there somewhere.

Problem so far is that I can’t get Debian to want to install. First it hung on trying to set up sendmail, and then after each boot it stopped when loading boottime.kmap.gz. So it’s time for a format and a reinstallation that I don’t touch too much this time.

Update: So much for that, it froze again during installation. Why bother?