Run your own Facebook Application Community

I've set up an informational page about our Facebook Application Community News service at the NewsCloud blog. If you're interested in learning more about hiring NewsCloud to run a Facebook application community for your organization, please take a look. I hope to hear from you.

How to get Amazon Associates Links to Open in a New Window

Pretty easy:

"Opening iFrame links in new window is also very easy like HTML text links! Just add the following code to the end of the iFrame src link code: &lt1=_new"

The illogic of FedEx signature requirements

I came home in the morning to a second FedEx tag about the credit card replacement (do to a bank hacking incident) that would need my personal identification numbers over the phone to activate. They won't deliver it without a person present for a signature.

I came home in the afternoon - to a FedEx box on my porch with $1,000 in iTunes gift cards from Apple...just sitting there.

Did Amazon screw Kindle 2 buyers?

Should Amazon have pre-announced they had a larger screen Kindle coming when they announced the Kindle 2 (which was a major product upgrade)? As a Kindle 2 owner, I'm a bit upset because I would have preferred to have a choice. The product announcements came only 3 months apart. I saw one video report on Engadget referring to "Kindle 2 anger". 

IMHO, I think Amazon really screwed over it's Kindle 2 buyers. It gave them the impression that this was a major new product upgrade and encouraged them to buy it in February - when they most have known/had in the pipeline the DX for June.  

There's always new stuff coming from tech companies and you buy the latest gadget at your own risk, but this is a bit on the edge of what I think is reasonable. 

I'd like to see Amazon offer Kindle 2 owners a DX exchange program of some kind.

Gmail is getting very slow

The past month Gmail has become very slow to use. Using Webmail has always been a bit of a compromise but the decline in service from Google is very problematic - making the system almost unusable. Who can wait 30-180 seconds for an email to complete sending or for the inbox to reload? 

I am seeing the same issues from different computers, different net connections and http and https.

Google doesn't answer their Gmail support emails. So I ask, what gives?

For now, I'm trying out Apple Mail again.

Holding off on the larger Amazon Kindle DX

I think I'm going to hold off on the new Kindle DX. It doesn't appear that they've fixed any of the navigation problems with reading news sites on the Kindle (though I'm not sure yet). $489 is a lot to spend on a device with B/W e-ink and a terrible keyboard - especially with rumors of an upcoming Apple tablet Mac.

I don't expect the larger Kindle to sell as well - and I don't think it has a long product life ahead - as I expect a lot of competition in this space soon.

That said, if I didn't own either Kindle, I'd probably purchase this one over the smaller one - unless I wanted something small for reading books on frequent travel. 

Still, kudos to Amazon for continuing to innovate. The native PDF reading on this device makes it more interesting. 

I just expect to see a full color, full web-browsing capable tablet device from Apple that lets me read the NYT web site better than I can read The Times on the Kindle DX. It may be more expensive, but it'll be a versatile, multi-purpose device.

Who knew? Different postal rates for stiff vs. flexible

Due to the Hot Dish Action Team lately, I've been shipping lots of stuff through the post office.

I've had numerous items which I've weighed, priced and posted at the counter returned to me for insufficient postage - twice. 

I've had items weighed, priced and posted at the automated machine returned to me for insufficient postage.

It's kind of bizarre how complex their pricing structure has become.

For instance, today I learned that the rates are different for shipping large envelopes if the contents are stiff vs. flexible - regardless of thickness and weight.

Last week, I learned that the rates are different if the envelope is not uniformly thick.

I've also had items with the correct postage returned to me. Numerous times this week they've had to place 0.00 cent printed stamps on my items to keep them from being returned more than once.

Obama, at the bottom of your list... you can make sending stuff at the post office simpler.