But every so often I get into a taxi that has something this on the screen, and it makes me giggle a little.

*After seeing what’s onscreen in the photo, I have reason to suspect the latter.

Taxi TV fail

When we went to the Apple store at Roosevelt field mall. The “genius” attending to us flat out told us that there is no way to open up the iPod as it is designed in a sealed manner. If this were truly the case then there should be a lawsuit against the company for creating a product that is essentially unfixable.

But later when we returned to more tech savvy means and Googled the issue, we found this video on Vimeo that shows not only that the iPod can be opened but that the issue can be fixed.

This was not the first month when Apple has let me down. The same store in Roosevelt Field told me that my streaming videos will no longer play as they used to. Not only that but while in the process of attempting a fix that I suggested to them, they even messed up my Garage Band.

But it gets better, I asked my friend who works at the Apple Store on 5th avenue as a “genius” to resolve the issue. He asked his colleagues and they could not resolve it either.

So while the fault not may be within the liars at the store—it may be with the brass at Apple who seems to have taken a more evil route upon the success of its brand.

Luckily there’s a button that allows you to request removal of comments. But in one of the most diverse cities in the world, it’s difficult to imagine that this sort of idiocy still runs rampant.

An example of a comment for the F train is below:

Cleanliness 10 out of 10

Yo Lamar is that you. Its Jerome whats happening my man? You gots your self a job at McDonalds that be real nice. I bets you be eating good. I is still smokin the rock man, tryin to gets clean but it aint easy. Yo you be ridin the F thats where I stay some nights. You got to show a brother some love and say what up. Can i get 5 dollar?

Fri, Aug 1, 2008, by Jerome Whitmen

Request removal of this revie

Tonight our internet service, along with our cable, went out at the same time for about an hour. After a little while, I started jonesing, so I got on the phone with Time Warner and waded through their seemingly fucking endless maze of menu options that were lorded over by a voice-recognition-that-doesn’t-actually-recognize-voice-response system. After that, I spent probably 20 minutes on hold until a nice, pleasant Canadian man got on the phone, and told me that every single modem in New York City was currently not working, they were doing emergency maintenance to fix it, and that it would be up by 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Every single (Time Warner, obvs) modem in New York City!?!? How will people get their porn and illegal MP3s all night? Oh, the humanity!

Anyway, he ran a test on my cable box and credited me with a month of free Skinemax for my trouble. And about 3 minutes after I hung up, everything came back up.

I just hope it stays up long enough for me to

Living in the largest city in the country and one of the most densely populated metropolises in the world, one would think that cell reception would be optimal, at least from the major carriers here in the States. I formerly had Verizon, and I rarely found myself with less than 4 bars of service. It was quite nice. When my work gave me a Blackberry on Cingular (which has since merged with AT&T), I was shocked to learn that their service is seriously lacking in the New York area. And, the pocket of town where reception is the worst apparently has its epicenter in my apartment. To utilize that old cliche`, they can send a man to the moon, but I can’t order Chicken Loh Mein from my bedroom.

While it is not specific to cell phones or NYC, another phone-related trend that I have begun to find particularly cumbersome is the amount of options that phone companies give you before you can actually leave a message for someone. If I call a friend and just want to leave a quick message, I have to first listen to their actual message, then have to wait for instructions (ie “Please press 2 to leave a message and wait for the beep”) as if I haven’t used the phone in 15 years. Next, I have to wait for the directive to press # when complete if I would like more options, and then have to listen further to the machine telling me that I have the option of leaving a callback number, or even paging the user. Now, first off, who actually presses the # button when complete to check more options? Has this feature ever really been used? Moreover, does anyone actually use the page/callback feature? Isn’t this a bit archaic? To me, this is the equivalent of a computer having a typewriter mode.

What’s with customer service lines? Ironically, these have become models of bad customer service. A couple of things… First of all, are there any companies that aren’t receiving “higher than normal call volumes?” This has been going on for like 10 years now. GET SOME MORE EMPLOYEES! And, why do I have to type in my account number if I am going to have to tell the agent once they finally pick up? It’s not like these numbers are 4 digits long. They are often 20 digits, and have letters and numbers combined. And them offering me the chance to just say them out-loud to a computer prompt doesn’t help. They never hear right anyway, so it is just a big tease. Lastly, what’s the deal with the million comments, questions, and offers that a company gives you at the end of a customer service call. Once they have helped you (or not, as is often the case), they then ask if there is anything else that they can do for you, and if they have helped you, and offers that may be relevant to you, and then end with asking if you want to participate in a free survey… Who in the hell actually does these surveys? Why would you?

Phones were first invented to improve efficiency and provide for simpler, faster communication. At this time of shitty service and horrible wait times, phones have actually made things more difficult. It is an interesting phenomenon. Luckily, though, we have the Internet, which makes both email and instant messaging service readily available, and as more and more customer service functions are incorporated into company and product websites, hopefully these dreaded CS numbers will eventually be a thing of the past.

[photo courtesy gotaxnow.com]

A Denver newspaper is reporting that a local man actually went through surgery to “whittle” his thumb down to a size that makes his iPhone operation more manageable. Man, do I hope this is a hoax.

Thanks to Spencer from Metroblogging LA for the tip.

[photo courtesy Wikipedia]

In the same list, NYC is a “fast city”. With a much larger population than Talinn, “E-stonia”, we have a much bigger task here, but NYC is moving in the right direction. WiFi in Central Park has been upgraded, and will soon be available in other parks, such as Union Square. With subway and bus fares going up yet again, this gives us something niee to look forward to.

Most important, size matters… At least as it pertains to AC. “Do I need 5k BTUs? Maybe I need 8k?” Here’s the answer. To get your necessary BTUs, take the total area of your room (length X width) and multiply that by 30. Add 2,000 to the answer, and that is your BTU number. But, Consumerist is sure to point out a number of important caveats.

• If the room is shaded, reduce the BTUs by 10%.
• If the room is very sunny, increase the BTUs by 10%.
• If you plan on placing the air conditioning unit in your kitchen, add 4,000 BTUs.
• If more than two people will regularly be in the room (e.g., an office), add 600 BTUs per person.

Be sure to stay cool this summer! And for some funny relevant pictures, check out Cool-Props.

[photo courtesy Thomas Hawk's Digital Connection]

Here is an example of the new feature, in the form of a “street view” of the intersection of 50th Street and 6th Avenue. This image was taken as if you were in the center of the intersection, facing east toward Radio City Music Hall. You will notice that you can easily zoom in (although the resulting image becomes blurry), and you have 360-degree pan ability. You can also click on the arrows on the street to go to another image further down the road.

It is pretty simple to use. Just go to Google Maps, and type in the destination you want to view. Once there, click the “Street View” button, and you will see some streets get a blue outline. Just drag the little yellow man into the area you want to view, and the rest should be intuitive. This is a limited roll-out, so not all areas are available… But much of Manhattan can be viewed, as well as a fair chunk of the major routes in the outer boroughs.

This launch appears to be in response to the impending launch of MSN Live’s powerful yet apparently cumbersome similar feature.

I just got an email from Delta with lots of information on a new partnership they have with US Helicopter. You can now take a comfortable-looking Sikorsky S76 from either Midtown East or Downtown to JFK or Newark airports (I refuse to call it “Liberty.”) The flight seems incredibly short and hassle-free!

Starting at $159**/one-way when booked at flyush.com, the eight-minute flight will spare you the 60- to 90-minute commute to JFK.

I took a look at the site, and weekday flights are in fact as low as $159. It is a lot of money, but I can say that when I travel for business, I take a car service and that can be up to $75, so the idea of doubling the price for an 8-minute trip does not seem that bad! In some cases, I would be willing to pay the difference myself to avoid the horrors of the commute.

One other huge benefit… Because USH screens passengers at the Heliport according to TSA standards, once you arrive at the airport, you can go directly to your gate without going through the often horrid security screening process!

If I have a flight at an off-hour, there is obviously no reason for this. But, if I have a flight on the Friday before X-mas at 7pm, I will definitely consider using this service!

Would you ever try this out?