Buy(t-me).com
I want to meet the genius who designed and implemented the shopping cart mechanism at Buy.com. I'd duct tape him to a chair, hang one of those cartoon hammers over his head, held by a rope, then put a candle under the rope burning it away. Then I'd give a guy a keyboard and tell him he had five minutes to buy something, anything, at www.buy.com.
What would cause me to wish a cartoon death on a probably-overworked programmer?
Try a quality online sales experience like this:
Receive special email offer from www.buy.com.
Click on the offer.
See a desirable item.
Click on the buy now button.
See your cart with the desirable item in it.
Click on checkout now.
See the page refresh and then dump you back into view cart.
Click on the checkout now button several hundred times, taking many different paths to it and marvel that you always end up back in the view cart.
Empty your browser cache, log back in and do it all over again.
Try dismissing the horrible credit card offer.
Oooo, no cigar.
Try creating a new account.
Oooo, no special offer.
Try emailing tech support.
Hold breath waiting for reply.
Stop holding breath and go back to view cart.
Notice that the list of items in the cart includes 2 "special offers" at a price of 0$ each.
In desperation, delete the special offers.
Click checkout now.
Continue the checkout process, unburdened by those indecipherable special offers.
Dream up cartoon death for programmer.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Scaryguy is Wired
Actually, scary guy is unwired. Wicked unwired. Devices on hand include Sony Vaio PCG 7D2L w/integrated wireless, Verizon Motorola Q EVDO Windows Mobile 5 phone, Sanyo 8200 ... and of course the required 30G video iPod.
I have the Verizon unlimited data plan at 100+ per month, accounts at t-mobile (starbucks), and some other godforsaken hotspot operator so that I can work with one of my collaborators at HIS favorite coffee shop. On land I have comcast internet, a couple of personal boxes at a cut rate local colo house and another batch of company boxes at the same place.
Running a virtual sw dev organization with no fixed office space is a challenge, and an expensive one. With the combination of the EVDO phone and the hotspot accounts I can work almost anywhere, anytime, but it's been tough getting there.
The biggest roadblock right now is the pathetically limited battery life of the Vaio. 2 hours is standard, but 3 is pretty much unheard of and I always find myself scanning for outlets wherever I go. Kinda freaks out the bartenders at my favorite watering holes.
Picture this - a big guy in shorts and sneakers with a three day growth, indifferent haircut, 2 cell phones clipped to his belt and an iPod growing out of his ears, carrying a Santa-sized portable bag looking under the bar and all the tables for 'something'. Definitely not the hostess's definition of a 'good day at Chilis'.
The other roadblock is the lack of processing power in the Vaio, or conversely the resource hoggishness of Visual Studio 2005. I have a C++ project with a few dozen files and it takes a good 5 minutes to rebuild. Shouldn't work that way.
Actually, scary guy is unwired. Wicked unwired. Devices on hand include Sony Vaio PCG 7D2L w/integrated wireless, Verizon Motorola Q EVDO Windows Mobile 5 phone, Sanyo 8200 ... and of course the required 30G video iPod.
I have the Verizon unlimited data plan at 100+ per month, accounts at t-mobile (starbucks), and some other godforsaken hotspot operator so that I can work with one of my collaborators at HIS favorite coffee shop. On land I have comcast internet, a couple of personal boxes at a cut rate local colo house and another batch of company boxes at the same place.
Running a virtual sw dev organization with no fixed office space is a challenge, and an expensive one. With the combination of the EVDO phone and the hotspot accounts I can work almost anywhere, anytime, but it's been tough getting there.
The biggest roadblock right now is the pathetically limited battery life of the Vaio. 2 hours is standard, but 3 is pretty much unheard of and I always find myself scanning for outlets wherever I go. Kinda freaks out the bartenders at my favorite watering holes.
Picture this - a big guy in shorts and sneakers with a three day growth, indifferent haircut, 2 cell phones clipped to his belt and an iPod growing out of his ears, carrying a Santa-sized portable bag looking under the bar and all the tables for 'something'. Definitely not the hostess's definition of a 'good day at Chilis'.
The other roadblock is the lack of processing power in the Vaio, or conversely the resource hoggishness of Visual Studio 2005. I have a C++ project with a few dozen files and it takes a good 5 minutes to rebuild. Shouldn't work that way.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Dashcam tests uploaded to youtube
A series of dashcam tests driving around a Boston suburb. Camera in question is a USB PC Webcam - SWEEX(?) 6009CIF connected to a Sony Vaio, capturing into Ulead Video Studio 5.0, then rendered into WMV and MPG. Not good enough, but getting there. Need to control exposure better - need fixed exposure, not this camera-controlled, too-slow autoexposure.
Digital still camera mpg
High quality MPG2 - 77M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anlm_LDFLJc
High quality WMV - 4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3gFcyvQf14
Low quality wmv - 2M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6MQVoeNh6c
A series of dashcam tests driving around a Boston suburb. Camera in question is a USB PC Webcam - SWEEX(?) 6009CIF connected to a Sony Vaio, capturing into Ulead Video Studio 5.0, then rendered into WMV and MPG. Not good enough, but getting there. Need to control exposure better - need fixed exposure, not this camera-controlled, too-slow autoexposure.
Digital still camera mpg
High quality MPG2 - 77M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anlm_LDFLJc
High quality WMV - 4M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3gFcyvQf14
Low quality wmv - 2M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6MQVoeNh6c
Friday, July 21, 2006
First impression of OpenWRT on the WRT54GL
WRT54GL shows up (why did Fry's put REQUIRE SIGNATURE on that?), rip it open, fire it up, flash the OpenWRT firmware on there - took about 5 minutes. Had to reboot the device in order to get it to let me login and change my password. Bet some follks have wasted some time there.
I went this route not so much for the wireless - nice benefit - but for the ability to run a web-manageable iptables firewall instead of the playskool firewall on my BEFSR41. Well, I started hacking around in it and I have only one overpowering impression - disappointment. I know that the underlying iptables mechanism supports the way I want to use this, but the firewall user interface of the default install on OpenWRT is CLUNKY when it comes to defining firewall rules. The UI on my 6 year old sonicwall soho is miles and miles and miles beyond this.
Okay - now the power of open source needs to show itself. There must be another graphical iptables manager that I can throw on there to make my life a little less miserable.
No progress on the fortigate.
WRT54GL shows up (why did Fry's put REQUIRE SIGNATURE on that?), rip it open, fire it up, flash the OpenWRT firmware on there - took about 5 minutes. Had to reboot the device in order to get it to let me login and change my password. Bet some follks have wasted some time there.
I went this route not so much for the wireless - nice benefit - but for the ability to run a web-manageable iptables firewall instead of the playskool firewall on my BEFSR41. Well, I started hacking around in it and I have only one overpowering impression - disappointment. I know that the underlying iptables mechanism supports the way I want to use this, but the firewall user interface of the default install on OpenWRT is CLUNKY when it comes to defining firewall rules. The UI on my 6 year old sonicwall soho is miles and miles and miles beyond this.
Okay - now the power of open source needs to show itself. There must be another graphical iptables manager that I can throw on there to make my life a little less miserable.
No progress on the fortigate.
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Hedging Bets
Well, the device apparently isn't stolen, as the previous owner helped get the registration transferred at Fortinet. Still isn't working right, but progress of a kind.
Still, I need a better firewall between me and the rest of the internet now, so I hedged my bets and picked up a WRT54GL. Should be here tomorrow, I'll reflash the firmware with openwrt and have a useable firewall until the fortigate comes to life.
Latest project - dashboard-cam? Any suggestions? USB cam, plus laptop ...
Well, the device apparently isn't stolen, as the previous owner helped get the registration transferred at Fortinet. Still isn't working right, but progress of a kind.
Still, I need a better firewall between me and the rest of the internet now, so I hedged my bets and picked up a WRT54GL. Should be here tomorrow, I'll reflash the firmware with openwrt and have a useable firewall until the fortigate comes to life.
Latest project - dashboard-cam? Any suggestions? USB cam, plus laptop ...
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
More Buying Network Hardware on Ebay
When we last left our hero, he had a real ebay-bargain on his hands, if he could only get it to work. For those who were wondering - a Fortigate FGT300 - MSRP somewhere around $7,000. The kindly, no-bs (and thus nameless) support guy at Fortinet allowed me to dl a copy of the OS that I could load onto the device over tftp. Load it up, fire it up - no go. Still the same old issues - no serial number, no access to the web admin page.
A couple of new issues flare up - namely bad blocks on 2 partitions of the hard drive. Do a little poking around and discover that FortiOS is a linux variant. How do I find that out? - by googling FortiOS which immediately points me to an article about how Fortinet are active violators of the GPL. Sigh.
In any case, FortiOS Linux-ness means that I should be able to plug the HD into a linux box, fsck the affected partitions and get it back to health. Also means that I might be able to poke around the filesystem and find the magic incantation needed to "turn this thing on". Or even plug a new HD in and rebake the cake from scratch.
Oh well, every minute I spend on this thing reduces its bargain factor, but what the hell. That's what the tech life is - one long learning experience.
When we last left our hero, he had a real ebay-bargain on his hands, if he could only get it to work. For those who were wondering - a Fortigate FGT300 - MSRP somewhere around $7,000. The kindly, no-bs (and thus nameless) support guy at Fortinet allowed me to dl a copy of the OS that I could load onto the device over tftp. Load it up, fire it up - no go. Still the same old issues - no serial number, no access to the web admin page.
A couple of new issues flare up - namely bad blocks on 2 partitions of the hard drive. Do a little poking around and discover that FortiOS is a linux variant. How do I find that out? - by googling FortiOS which immediately points me to an article about how Fortinet are active violators of the GPL. Sigh.
In any case, FortiOS Linux-ness means that I should be able to plug the HD into a linux box, fsck the affected partitions and get it back to health. Also means that I might be able to poke around the filesystem and find the magic incantation needed to "turn this thing on". Or even plug a new HD in and rebake the cake from scratch.
Oh well, every minute I spend on this thing reduces its bargain factor, but what the hell. That's what the tech life is - one long learning experience.
Monday, July 10, 2006
A short word about this blog: There's a lot I could say, and some of it would actually be interesting, but the vast majority falls under one of two categories - Can't or Shouldn't. What appears here falls under the "everything else" category.
Buying cheap network hardware on Ebay
Been looking for a new broadband firewall forever now to replace my Linksys BEFSR41. Since I had to become a pseudo-sysadmin in a previous life, a relatively high-end hardware box is what I had in mind. Could have gone linux box w/iptables, but I don't have a lifetime to devote to this. Executive decision - it has to be appliance.
Okay, so I watch ebay forever and eventually come across an enterprise class appliance at a good price. Google the device and it seems to be something around $1,000 msrp. The vendor is an ebay aggregator (nameless for now) with a %100 rating over 2000 transactions. Looks good. I snipe in and get it at a steal - a real steal.
Fast forward past the 8 days it takes Fedex to deliver the damn thing. The box is here. Crank it up, reset to factory defaults, plug in to the management console, login with the factory default admin pw, so far so good. Setup an IP address, plug in the laptop, go to the web admin screen - oh, so sad, the admin login doesn't get you in. Syslog output claims that I've logged in correctly, but trying to run the setup wizard claims that I don't have the right permissions.
Okay, fart around for a long while to no effect. Remembering that routers/firewalls are typically (especially cisco) are locked down at multiple levels I decide to believe the setup wizard - I don't have the right permissions. So I shoot off a note to tech support basically asking for help. They get right back to me with the backdoor login that allows me to reset the administrator password. This is a fixed username and a password that is a fixed string plus the device serial number.
Okay - fire away - I plop in the specified strings at the console login and, surpise-surprise, no login. I find this puzzling, since the backdoor instructions are definitive, and the serial number is also unequivocally printed on a label on the back of the device. Then I look at the device. For one thing, the model number on the serial label isn't quite right, there should be a "GT" on the end. Okay, possibly trouble. Then I look at the device and realize that the cover's been removed - more than once as some of the screws are almost stripped.
Still, the device does respond appropriately to all CLI instructions, changes IP address on all interfaces appropriately. So what's the deal? I can think of X possibilities:
The damn thing is broken.
The damn thing is stolen.
The damn thing works and I just have to figure out the serial number.
I still think the thing probably works, and just has a "checkered" past. So I google the thing again, and quickly discover that this is actually a $7,000 device that I picked up for a LOT less than that. Hmmm. "Stolen" just moved up a few notches on the list of possibilities.
Okay, so now to push the issue. I haven't done anything wrong, yet, and although I'll try to avoid it, I can afford to lose the entire purchase price if the thing turns out to be hot or broken. So off we go to Fortinet Tech Support to see if they'll help somebody who doesn't have a support contract and DIDN'T PAY RETAIL. Tune in later ...
Buying cheap network hardware on Ebay
Been looking for a new broadband firewall forever now to replace my Linksys BEFSR41. Since I had to become a pseudo-sysadmin in a previous life, a relatively high-end hardware box is what I had in mind. Could have gone linux box w/iptables, but I don't have a lifetime to devote to this. Executive decision - it has to be appliance.
Okay, so I watch ebay forever and eventually come across an enterprise class appliance at a good price. Google the device and it seems to be something around $1,000 msrp. The vendor is an ebay aggregator (nameless for now) with a %100 rating over 2000 transactions. Looks good. I snipe in and get it at a steal - a real steal.
Fast forward past the 8 days it takes Fedex to deliver the damn thing. The box is here. Crank it up, reset to factory defaults, plug in to the management console, login with the factory default admin pw, so far so good. Setup an IP address, plug in the laptop, go to the web admin screen - oh, so sad, the admin login doesn't get you in. Syslog output claims that I've logged in correctly, but trying to run the setup wizard claims that I don't have the right permissions.
Okay, fart around for a long while to no effect. Remembering that routers/firewalls are typically (especially cisco) are locked down at multiple levels I decide to believe the setup wizard - I don't have the right permissions. So I shoot off a note to tech support basically asking for help. They get right back to me with the backdoor login that allows me to reset the administrator password. This is a fixed username and a password that is a fixed string plus the device serial number.
Okay - fire away - I plop in the specified strings at the console login and, surpise-surprise, no login. I find this puzzling, since the backdoor instructions are definitive, and the serial number is also unequivocally printed on a label on the back of the device. Then I look at the device. For one thing, the model number on the serial label isn't quite right, there should be a "GT" on the end. Okay, possibly trouble. Then I look at the device and realize that the cover's been removed - more than once as some of the screws are almost stripped.
Still, the device does respond appropriately to all CLI instructions, changes IP address on all interfaces appropriately. So what's the deal? I can think of X possibilities:
The damn thing is broken.
The damn thing is stolen.
The damn thing works and I just have to figure out the serial number.
I still think the thing probably works, and just has a "checkered" past. So I google the thing again, and quickly discover that this is actually a $7,000 device that I picked up for a LOT less than that. Hmmm. "Stolen" just moved up a few notches on the list of possibilities.
Okay, so now to push the issue. I haven't done anything wrong, yet, and although I'll try to avoid it, I can afford to lose the entire purchase price if the thing turns out to be hot or broken. So off we go to Fortinet Tech Support to see if they'll help somebody who doesn't have a support contract and DIDN'T PAY RETAIL. Tune in later ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)