Tag: Resources

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Package is not delivered, blame it on UPS.

Beginning of rants.

Have you ever made an appointment with cable installations, or anything alike? Most likely you’ll be getting the usual “We’ll be there between 8:00am to 12:00pm” or even worse like “We’ll be there between 8:00am to 5:00pm.”

That is just plain annoying.

Well, I ordered Canon Vixia HV30 for a specifically for a 4th of July event from Amazon.com and had it on a one-day-shipping arrangement. Amazon shipped it immediately, and the package arrived at a local UPS distribution center early morning. According to the UPS tracking center, the package was out for delivery at 6:33am. I received an automated call from UPS that the package is being delivered and requires delivery confirmation in person. I had no problem with that, with the exception UPS did not have any delivery time specified. From my experience, UPS delivered packages in my area ranging from 2:00pm to 8:00pm. There was at least one person at the location until 5:00pm. Due to a little arrangement called “work”, I wouldn’t be able to get back to the location until after 6:00pm.

Due to severe traffics and other factors, I arrived at the location a little bit after 7:00pm. I found the UPS delivery aatempt notifications at the door. I immediately called UPS so that I could pick up my package at their distribution center. To my surprised, UPS wouldn’t let me pick up the package because I didn’t call them before 7:00pm. Since Friday is a holiday, and UPS wouldn’t do anything on the weekend, I wouldn’t be able to pick anyhting up until Monday June 7th.

Considering that I purchased the camcorder mainly for the special 4th of July event, it would be a “little” too late. What really bugs me is that UPS wouldn’t let me pick up the package tonight.

I had it, and I instructed UPS to send the package back to Amazon. I called Amazon and explained the situation. They understood the situation and would give full refund to my account.

I am really happy with Amazon, and I completely blame UPS.

end of rants…… maybe.

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iPhone 3G and The Subsidy Dilemma

The original iPhone brought an interesting and effective concept to the mobile phone industry. The iPhone activation process was regarded as on of the greatest things that Apple brought to the mobile industry. Customer can buy the iPhone and activate it at their own time through iTunes. No more wasting the precious time at the store waiting for the phone activations. There were some problems with the activation process for the first few days as record numbers of people trying to do the same thing at the same time. After all the hickups the iPhone set a new standard for the mobile phone industry, the activation process in particular.

Since its introductions in January 2007, the iPhone was criticized by the so-called-tech-journalists who didn’t even have access to the phone. They screamed and yelled about the lack of 3G network support and the pricing of the iPhone. Let’s take a look at the two factors.

  1. 3G Network Support.
    Having a faster wireless network on the iPhone is a definite advantage. Some said that the 3G network support requires more power consumptions thus shortening the battery life. The so-called-tech-journalists declared that the iPhone is severely behind the times for not having 3G network support. The irony of this argument is that the same “tech journalists” were saying that the 3G support in the iPhone is pretty much useless because of AT&T’s lack of 3G network in the United States. Honestly, why would these so-called-tech-journalists criticize the original iPhone for not having 3G network support? That’s a rhetorical question.
  2. iPhone Pricing.
    In the United States, the iPhone was originally priced at $499 and $599 for the 4GB and 8GB iPhone respectively. The so-called-tech-journalists screamed and yelled for the lack of subsidy on the iPhone. Fast forward a year later, AT&T is now subsidizing the iPhone 3G with a few caveats. Based on the available informations, iPhone 3G requires in-store-activations and a two-year-agreement. Whatever happened to the easy-to-do activation process through iTunes? It’s now gone because of the subsidy. The pay-as-you-go plan is currently not available for the iPhone 3G. AT&T wants to deter all the unlocking by forcing the in-store-activation. For sure they are losing money for subsidizing phones that are not bound to their service contracts.

What have we learned here? We can’t have the cake and eat it too.

Eight more days to go, and we’ll see if how Apple would handle the iPhone 3G sales in their own retail stores. Until then, we could only speculate.

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Buying Canon Vixia HV30 Hi-Def Camcorder

I am waiting for UPS to deliver Canon Vixia HV30 that I ordered from Amazon.com. Currently I am using Panasonic HDC-SD5, Panasonic HDC-SD9, and Canon HG10 to work on multimedia projects. All three camcorders are AVCHD camcorders, which record on to SDHC or Hard Drive. Canon Vixia HV30 is an HDV Camcorder that records on to HD-MiniDV tapes.

As much as I like the AVCHD format, I found a few advantages using a tape-based camcorder. I will get into that later.

For now, I am waiting for the camcorder to arrive on July 3rd.

Delivery estimate: July 3, 2008
1 “Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV High Definition Camcorder with 10x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom”
Electronics; $786.26
Sold by: Amazon.com, LLC

UPDATE:

The following items have been shipped to you by Amazon.com:
———————————————————————
Qty      Item                           Price  Shipped  Subtotal
———————————————————————
Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com, LLC):
1     Canon VIXIA HV30 MiniDV Hi…  $786.26      1  $786.26

Shipped via UPS (estimated arrival date: 03-July-2008).
Tracking number: ******************
———————————————————————
Item Subtotal:  $786.26
Shipping & Handling:  $3.99

Total:  $790.25

Leo Laporte talked about this camcorder a few months back, and he took it to Tasmania for the Adobe Lightroom Adventure.

Canon Vixia HV30 product page @ Canon.com

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The July Promise

There are a lot of things to write about, and I’m planning to write at least once a day for the month of July.

Let’s see what’s coming in this month.

Obviously, the iPhone 3G is coming July 11th. The continuing uproars against Canadian TelCo. Lots of news from the Apple camp.

I will be doing some camera work during the 4th of July Weekend. I’ll write more about it.

For starter, it’s July 1st. Ten more day to go till iPhone 3G madness, or lack thereof.

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Does Safari 3.1.2 Break RSS Feature?

After upgrading to Mac OS X 10.5.4, Safari stops updating the bookmarked RSS feeds. The 10.5.4 update includes Safari 3.1.2 for Leopard.

Previously, to fix the problem I deleted the “Syndication” folder inside my “Library” folder.

I deleted the RSS bookmarks and adding them again, but it still doesn’t fix the problem.

I have not tested this with Safari 3.1.2 on Windows and on Tiger.

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The Adventure of an iPhone, One Year Later.

June 29th, 2007.

It was 18:00 hour at local time, the Apple Store reopened to welcome the marauding gangs of Apple enthusiasts. They had been waiting for hours just to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars  for the covetted iPhone. Yeah, it has been a year since the release of the iPhone. Technically it has been 366 days since the iPhone first went on sale, thanks to the leap year.

Anyway, I walked into an Apple Store for an appointment at the Genius Bar. I brought an iPhone that I purchased 366 days prior. The vibrate module has apparently fallen off. One of the “Geniuses” called my name and tended to my iPhone need. He looked at the dents and scratches on the iPhone and let a little laugh escape. I could only replied: “I know, but what can you do for me?”

I immediately asked: “Can you confirm if this iPhone is still under Warranty?”

He then answered: “As of today, no iPhone is out of warranty yet.”

That’s when I was pleasantly surprised. Apple initially set the term of their warranty as 365 days/year. Thanks to the wonderful leap year, the 365th day from June 29th 2007 falls on June 27th, 2008. Apple has been nice enough to rectify this situation by making the 1 year term involving February 29th as 366 days.

Anyway, it was a no brainer to verify hat the iPhone no longer vibrates. Not long after, I walked out with a perfectly functioning iPhone, courtesy of Apple Genius Bar.

When July 11 2008 comes, I know where I’ll be. Back at the Apple Store, picking up at least an iPhone 3G.

Well, I still have my original iPhone, and now my friend has a new iPhone. Did I mentioned that it was actually my friend’s iPhone? Yes I did buy the iPhone, but my friend paid for it. I have my own.

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The Revolt Against Rogers Canada

short version which will be updated later with a longer version because this one is really bugging me.

Blah blah blah iPhone 3g blah blah Canada, blah blah blah Rogers.

Rogers reveals iPhone 3G plan for Canada. No unlimited wireless data plan.

The series of tubes explodes with anger. iPhone 3G + Rogers = Screw You Canadian.

blah blah blah, tell Steve Jobs about it blah blah blah.

——-

Compared to AT&T plan for the iPhone 3G in the United States, the Canadian seems to get the shor end of the stick.

The main question is, why the revolt now? What about the Blackberry data plan? It was even more horrible than the iPhone 3G data plan.

The iPhone 3G can stir things up better than the Blackberry. Where’s the revolt against the Blackberry data plan? Blackberry + Rogers = Screw You Canadian

All in all, the wireless data plans in Canada are horrible to begin with. That has nothing to do with the iPhone 3G. Is the iPhone 3G plan any better than before. It seems to be that way, but what do I knwo. I’m still trying to figure it out reading Rogers site.

In clonclusion, blah blah blah iPhone 3G blah blah blah Steve Jobs blah blah blah Apple blah blah blah Rogers screws customers regardless.