TITAM - Technical issues that affected me

Though it might seem odd, I have been resisting upgrading Firefox for years. The reasons are twofold and simple.  First, I rarely have time to constantly dick around with upgrading shit.  I have things working well, thanks so much, so don't screw with it. Second, I am addicted to Google Toolbar.  Maybe it is not much better than the default Firefox search,but it is what I am used to.  Plus I really, really like the fact that the search terms automatically come up as "find" buttons. Unfortunately, and for reasons unknown, my Firefox crashed today and restarted as version 34.  No more Toolbar for me! Fortunately, things are just a tad slower than usual.  Or maybe I was so pissed I just ended up staying up until past midnight to fix everything and write this post.  Either way, I found some time. To make it short (it is late): -  Googlebar Lite replicates most, if not all, of the previous Google Toolbar functionality in Firefox 29+.  ...

Symptoms:  Google Drive persists in giving the error "Sorry, upload of the file failed".  This occurs when using drag-and-drop or the "upload" button in the browser.  Errors occur regardless of file size.  A good test is to try and upload a tiny text file, to ensure bandwidth or other issues are not the problem.  Re-enabling Java in the browser does not help. More info:  Google help had nothing on this error message, and as far as I could see, nobody else had reported this exact problem.  I'm guessing people who access Drive via their browser are in the minority. I could not use the PC Drive interface in this instance since I was uploading video files that I did not want mirrored to my PC SSD. Solution:  You're probably using an older browser.  It may have worked fine in the past, but Google is presumably always tweaking / upgrading the Drive interface.  I have stuck with Firefox 14.0.1 up until July 2014 because I knew it and t...

I recently had to return an older DVD player to the USA for repairs. Yes, call me silly, but I bought a new player and it had some quirks I did not like.  My OPPO Digital DV-981HD had always been flawless until a power outage caused it to give up the ghost, and OPPO offers a $49 flat-rate repair service - if you can get the player to them. Note (partly for readers, partly for search engines):  This post details some of the process of shipping electronics from Canada to the United States for repair or warranty repair purposes, then returning the items back to the owner in Canada.  I expect the process would be similar for those living in other countries, but I can't be sure.  If you are looking for some other information, you may want to move on now. First problem was brokerage fees.  Oppo had dire warnings regarding these, as any brokerage fees would result in the package being rejected.  Why they don't just call for a credit card number is unknown,...

In many ways, smartphones and tablets are struggling to meet their potential.  In my opinion, nowhere is this more evident than in the grocery shopping application. (Note I used to use ToMarket, then stopped using it because it was not handy any more.) --- Everyone thinks of shopping apps as a 'simple' application.  It is anything but simple.  It is, in fact, quite a problem in information management. The ideal shopping app would theoretically have all of the features below: -  Very quick app setup -  Enter large amounts of information quickly -  Create lists quickly, including remembering recurring/favorite items -  Track items by category, store, and location -  Determine total cost from a given list -  Guide you through the store quickly and efficiently -  Track coupons, discounts, and sales -  Sync shopping lists across multiple devices -  Add ingredients from recipies instantly To accomplish this, you n...

This is the usual story - printer works fine, laptop works fine, printer works from elsewhere in the network, blah blah blah.  The HP is hooked directly to the network without a print server PC attached to it. The "Full" Hewlett-Packard installation package consistently refused to install the printer.  Which was strange, since it had been installed before!  And worked before! Symptoms were that you would run the install, and after a few seconds of "Adding Network Port", it would say "Installation failed", and give you some bullshit instructions for fixing the issue. Running the installation package from local drives vs. network drives made no difference.  Uninstalling and reinstalling the HP software made no difference. I suspected that Windows 7 x64 was having trouble adding the virtual TCP/IP port.  I did some research and found a registry hack that purported to solve the issue.  I removed 5 port, four of which were "_1", "_2...

Title says most of it.  My old HP keyboard wore out, or at least the 'E' key was on the way out.  It was also generally getting sticky and harder to type on than I liked. Of course, I wanted a full mechanical keyboard as a replacement.  I can spend 10+ hours per day on the PC.  This is hardly unusual these days, I think. Also of course, I wanted a PS/2 keyboard that worked with my old Trendnet KVM - a TK-400, to be precise.  This is a circa 2001 unit that has been working fine for me for years, and since I have 3-4 PCs hooked up at any given time I really did want to keep it. Anyway, after much hunting and pondering of a Das Keyboard, I foud the Adesso MKB-135B .  This is a fully mechanical keyboard with Cherry Blue switches, n-key rollover, blah blah but more importantly, it's a PS/2 native unit.  It comes with a USB adapter, and has a built-in USB hub that needs a USB connection to work, but first and foremost it's a PS/2 keyboard. It's avail...