Thursday, October 16, 2008
DVR Card Scam
I don't normally get involved with quasi-computer technologies like PC-based security systems, but I had a customer beg me for help, and so began a journey that has uncovered, for me at least, a nice little scam being played on unsuspecting buyers on Internet auction sites.
My customer's security PC, the one that ran her security cameras and recording software, crashed and burned. I replaced it after lifting the elementary recording software off the old disk and everything transferred well - until I came to the DVR card. No matter what I did, it would not load.
After trawling through support forums, I discovered the cryptic error message actually meant that the card could not be "seen". The BIOS saw it, the operating system saw it, but the security software driver could not see it. Thinking that the DVR card may have been damaged by the power surge that brought the PC down in the first place, I went hunting for a new one.
I found dozens of them. No, probably even hundreds of them. All on Ebay.
"Great!", I thought. Spend a few dollars and my troubles are over. Not so.
After waiting for the card to arrive, installing it, loading the software driver provided with the card, I finally got... the same error rmessage! It was about this time that I noticed some tiny print on the very scant "manual" (Can a single page ever be called a manual?). "Card may not work in bus speeds greater than 533".
When was the last time you sold a PC with a bus speed that slow? It seems there is a reason why 4 port DVR cards are so cheap on Ebay. So cheap that the cost of return postage is more than the cost of the card. Oh well, I'll chalk this one down to experience. It reminds me of Robert E. Lee's Truce. Judgement comes from experience; experience comes from poor judgement.
My customer's security PC, the one that ran her security cameras and recording software, crashed and burned. I replaced it after lifting the elementary recording software off the old disk and everything transferred well - until I came to the DVR card. No matter what I did, it would not load.
After trawling through support forums, I discovered the cryptic error message actually meant that the card could not be "seen". The BIOS saw it, the operating system saw it, but the security software driver could not see it. Thinking that the DVR card may have been damaged by the power surge that brought the PC down in the first place, I went hunting for a new one.
I found dozens of them. No, probably even hundreds of them. All on Ebay.
"Great!", I thought. Spend a few dollars and my troubles are over. Not so.
After waiting for the card to arrive, installing it, loading the software driver provided with the card, I finally got... the same error rmessage! It was about this time that I noticed some tiny print on the very scant "manual" (Can a single page ever be called a manual?). "Card may not work in bus speeds greater than 533".
When was the last time you sold a PC with a bus speed that slow? It seems there is a reason why 4 port DVR cards are so cheap on Ebay. So cheap that the cost of return postage is more than the cost of the card. Oh well, I'll chalk this one down to experience. It reminds me of Robert E. Lee's Truce. Judgement comes from experience; experience comes from poor judgement.
Labels: Business, Support, Technology
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
It's the tiniest things...
I had a customer ring me the other day in a mad panic. It was a local carnival and lots of extra people around so their small business was very busy. Very early in the morning one of her touch screen POS terminals had started misbehaving.
No matter what she did, the mouse cursor would not move from the bottom right hand corner of the screen. The very tip of the mouse arrow was peeking above the bottom edge, and after a fleeting attempt to break free from its bondage, it would scurry straight back to the same position.
The strange thing was this. When I plugged a USB mouse into the unit, the cursor was happy to roam around the desktop wherever I desired, but as soon as I used my finger, or a stylus, the arrow would duck for cover underneath the bottom edge and I would have to coax it back out with the mouse.
The last time a touch screen customer had a screen problem, I had to replace the LCD unit due to a dead board. This time however, it turned out to be a cheaper solution. A tiny seed had become lodged in between the touch screen surface and the plastic bezel that surrounds the screen. This was placing pressure on the touch surface, causing the mouse cursor to move to that spot. I cleaned the groove out, firstly with a business card, and then with a small paint brush, and the cursor was suddenly happy to recommence its old habits of following a finger across the surface.
Sometimes new technology can be halted by the tiniest thing.
No matter what she did, the mouse cursor would not move from the bottom right hand corner of the screen. The very tip of the mouse arrow was peeking above the bottom edge, and after a fleeting attempt to break free from its bondage, it would scurry straight back to the same position.
The strange thing was this. When I plugged a USB mouse into the unit, the cursor was happy to roam around the desktop wherever I desired, but as soon as I used my finger, or a stylus, the arrow would duck for cover underneath the bottom edge and I would have to coax it back out with the mouse.
The last time a touch screen customer had a screen problem, I had to replace the LCD unit due to a dead board. This time however, it turned out to be a cheaper solution. A tiny seed had become lodged in between the touch screen surface and the plastic bezel that surrounds the screen. This was placing pressure on the touch surface, causing the mouse cursor to move to that spot. I cleaned the groove out, firstly with a business card, and then with a small paint brush, and the cursor was suddenly happy to recommence its old habits of following a finger across the surface.
Sometimes new technology can be halted by the tiniest thing.
Labels: Support
Thursday, October 2, 2008
It' s all about me :-)
I have a couple of web sites that are favourites of mine. I like them, not because of content, but because they care about me. They do this by making my use of their site easy and intuitive, and facilitating my stay so it can be as short as possible. To me, that is the highest compliment. A site that makes me visit often, but not stay for long.
Google's GMail, is a classic example. The thing I love about this site, and there are many things I DON'T like about this site, is that the cursor is already waiting in the appropriate field ready to accept my username. How many sites do you log into that insist on you clicking on the username field prior to entering that information? It seems like a logical conclusion to me that if there is a username field on a page, then that is the first field that will have to be completed. Why not place the cursor there for the user? It is the little things like this that makes a site a pleasure to use, or not.
Take Elance as another example. I use it all the time, sometimes for hours in a day, but I hate it. It is a classic example of how NOT to build a web site. Sure, the information I want is there, but the site does not care about ME.
Every time I click "Hide Proposal" on a bid, I know that the next time I refresh this page, I will have to do it again. It does not remember my settings. When I want to send a file to all bidders, it does not allow me to upload it once. No, it makes me upload it to each and every bidder. If the file is large, and I have a large number of bidders, in can take me literally hours to send this one file to everybody.
If success is measured by the number of visits and the length of stay, then Elance is a winner. However, a site that allows me to get in, get what I want and get out quickly, will always win in my view. Elance fails miserably in this regard.
Google's GMail, is a classic example. The thing I love about this site, and there are many things I DON'T like about this site, is that the cursor is already waiting in the appropriate field ready to accept my username. How many sites do you log into that insist on you clicking on the username field prior to entering that information? It seems like a logical conclusion to me that if there is a username field on a page, then that is the first field that will have to be completed. Why not place the cursor there for the user? It is the little things like this that makes a site a pleasure to use, or not.
Take Elance as another example. I use it all the time, sometimes for hours in a day, but I hate it. It is a classic example of how NOT to build a web site. Sure, the information I want is there, but the site does not care about ME.
Every time I click "Hide Proposal" on a bid, I know that the next time I refresh this page, I will have to do it again. It does not remember my settings. When I want to send a file to all bidders, it does not allow me to upload it once. No, it makes me upload it to each and every bidder. If the file is large, and I have a large number of bidders, in can take me literally hours to send this one file to everybody.
If success is measured by the number of visits and the length of stay, then Elance is a winner. However, a site that allows me to get in, get what I want and get out quickly, will always win in my view. Elance fails miserably in this regard.
Labels: Business, Development, Technology
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