Category Archives: Misc.

SlyMiser is coming soon

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6460_116235288020_110577403020_2329193_3798532_nIn this economy…

A few months ago some friends and I decided there needed to be a place for people who wanted to live their lives in the fashion they were accustomed to without breaking the bank. We couldn’t find one that we liked, so we decided to create one.

Coming this fall our new website, SlyMiser.com will offer tips, reviews, and articles on how to live your life in style without breaking the bank.

Visit our site and become our fan on Facebook – we’ll be offering tips and breaking news there until the site is up and running this fall.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard available for pre-order

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snow_leopard_imageI love that the upcoming version of OS X  for the Mac, 10.6 Snow Leopard, is available for the dirt cheap price of $29 to upgrade. The family pack that allows you to upgrade up to 5 computers in a household is $49.

Couple of things:

The new operating system has been promoted as a refinement of Leopard as opposed to an entire new OS. Focused on improvements as opposed to new features.

Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard

PNC’s bad lessons in customer service

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Note to PNC – don’t ask a question you don’t want an answer to.

Today I called PNC because my wife received a debit card with her maiden name on it. They could see that a mistake was made, but I was told she has the call (I was hoping to save her from having to). They could see they sent the wrong card, but wouldn’t do anything about it – even though we’re on the same account, even though I answered all the security questions. So at the very end of the call the customer service rep asked me “are you satisfied with the results of the call?” Of course I said no, to which she said “sorry” and hung up.

Question – why ask me if you’re not prepared to do something about anyone who says no?

Microsoft Ford Sync, iPhone 3.0 OS and bluetooth streaming (Sweet!)

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I just accidentally found out that the new iPhone 3.0 OS has given me the ability to stream music from my iPhone to my car stereo. Quick review – if your car stereo and your phone is paired, then it should be easy.

  1. Give your sync the voice command “bluetooth audio”
  2. Press the play button on your iPhoe

That’s it. Of course if you haven’t paired your phone yet (why haven’t you), you’ll have to do that first.

The good: The sound quality is quite good.

The bad: There is no text support and you’ll have to switch songs, playlists, albums, etc through the iPhone itself.

The ugly: Your battery life after running your phone on 3G and streaming music wirelessly.

The two images below show you what the iPhone screen looks like while streaming.

More information about Ford Sync by Microsoft at Syncmyride.com

Yet another place for me to write

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So yesterday I posted that I am writing for the Philadelphia Examiner – it’s about time I mentioned my new blog: Orangeliners.com, a blog about Philly sports.

One thing that I noticed here is that the readership I had cultivated wasn’t as much interested in sports talk, but I wanted to write about it. I figured it would help me to have the two distinct sites. I haven’t quite found my voice there, but I’m hoping to grow that site into an interesting destination covering all Philly sports.

If you’re interested in writing for the site – let me know either through the contact form or leaving a comment here. Kristen will stop in every once in awhile to provide the woman’s point of view. Also would love for to  subscribe to the blog or it’s twitter feed.

Or just stop by and join into the conversation.

The new iPhone 3GS keeps it’s worse feature: AT&T

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The new iPhone 3GS (the “S” stands for speed) was introduced today along with the next  iterationphotos-hardware-01-20090608 of the iPhone OS 3.0 to be released June 17. On whole I like what I read about the new phone and definitely can’t wait to upgrade my 3G to OS 3.0.

It’s a shame that I can’t upgrade m network from AT&T to someone else. On of the things that became very apparent is that AT&T is holding the iPhone back.

  • Finally Apple announced that the new operating system will support multimedia messaging – with the new phone adding video to the service. But AT&T will not add MMS until late summer. Even worse, there are rumors that AT&T might charge more for the service.
  • Of the networks that were listed as supporting tethering, AT&T wasn’t one. If you’re not  familiar, tethering allows  you  to connect your laptop to the internet using your phone’s connection. The problem is that AT&T can’t figure out what to charge for the service. I don’t expect that this would be free, but there’s no reason for AT&T not to know by now how to provide this service to their customers.

As far as the new phone, I think it seems to be the natural evolution of the iPhone 3G, adding video recording, a 3MP autofocus camera, voice control, gads of speed, increased battery life, and a load of other improvements. While the difference between the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G was massive and important to the usability and usefulness of the device, the difference between the 3G and 3GS seems more about refinement – and that’s what was needed.

It’s also important to note that the iPhone 3G is still available at the drop dead low price of $99 with a two-year contract. Of course you’re still stuck with AT&T as your service provider, but the phone is worth it if you’re in the market for a smartphone.

I’m not going to run out and buy a 3GS – I’ve still got a year on my contract and I truly believe the iPhone is the best phone I’ve ever owned, and the upgrade is all I need.

Of course I can’t wait to see what Apple has in store for us next year when they release the next iteration of the iPhone.

Under construction

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One thing you should always know is that any decent website should always be “under construction”. That’s true here, but currently there’s a little more construction going on.

I’m doing a little spring cleaning in the background – reorganizing things, clearing out some bad code, and hopefully adding a new design.

When I do reveal the new blog, it will likely be more focused than it currently is – that also means that I will be introducing a new blog (or two).

Stay tuned.