Cheap little AC-to-USBx4 travel power #adapter charges all of my favorite #gadgets at once. #SWEET

via Instagram http://instagram.com/p/mqvX_5yrpA/

Cheap little AC-to-USBx4 travel power adapter charges all of my favorite gadgets

Pretty stoked--I can charge all of my favorite devices with this one AC-to-USB adapter. pictured: Glass, iPad Mini, iPad 2, cable running to my 5s which I took the photo with (which was also charging). With a USB hub plugged in to the adapter I can also charge my Pebble and my Bluetooth headphones. Ah crap, forgot to include my Android tablet. I'm sure I can squeeze it in, as well.

The adapter was $8-and-change shipped from Amazon. It's build quality could be better, but it doesn't feel like it'll catch on fire. The only catch I found was when I plugged my iPhone docked and the dock plugged into both this and PC speakers. I could hear some nasty interference/buzzing when the music was quiet. But I never listen to music without headphones when I travel, which is what this adapter is for. Anyway, so if you're looking for a cheap way to charge a bunch of your USB gadgets, this seems like a good choice. I'm taking a two week trip next weekend and will report back if I have anything negative to say about the device.

You can order it right now from Amazon.

"Oops!" or "What happens when I plug a USB keyboard into my #Glass."

via Instagram http://instagram.com/p/j1455cSrgR/

UPDATE: turns out that it's only a pointing device thing. I plugged in another USB keyboard and it worked reasonably well. Still massive bugs, but I was able to login to YouTube and Netflix without THAT much trouble (was still a pain, though).

My Week with the Fitbit Force

[caption id="attachment_13117201768" align="aligncenter" width="560"] My wife's Fitbit Force (she didn't return hers as I did). It's displaying the number of calories she's burned today. The Force comes in two colors, black and "slate" (which is like a teal). Buy it on Amazon for $130. Photo courtesy of my wife.[/caption]

When I first read about the Fitbit line of fitness trackers, I was vaguely interested in them. I felt like they were cool enough but nothing I was particularly interested in. Then I read that they could monitor sleep patterns. That piqued my interest, since I'm just not very good at sleeping. If competitive sleeping was an Olympic sport, I would be so bad, I'd be the last kid picked in gym class.

So, I've been interested for a while in better understanding how I sleep. So, when my wife decided to get the Fitbit Flex, I thought to myself how much better the Flex would be if it actually functioned like a watch, as well. So, I took another look at the Fitbit line and found the Force. I decided to get one and my wife decided to exchange her Flex for one, as well, since I did the work of tracking two down at a Best Buy here in the city.

The End and the Beginning of Google Glass

[caption id="attachment_13117201712" align="aligncenter" width="960"] Self-Portrait with v1 Glass[/caption]So, for me the lure of Google Glass was threefold. First, I loved the form-factor and have long believed it would be the future of computing. Second, getting picked as one of the first 10,000 people to be allowed to purchase Glass was a big deal to me as a tech fanatic. Third, it would be a blast living on the bleeding edge of a genuinely new technology.

And it was a blast--I'd put on my Glass and I felt like I was living in the future looking at everyone else still living in the past. In the beginning, almost seven months ago for me, the sky was the limit with Glass. Google had said we should experiment and do what we wanted. As tech fanatic and a purely amateur hacker, I started scouring the wilds of the Internet for instructions on how to sideload full Android apps onto Glass so I could do more than the paltry Glass OS would let me do.

In 1993 Jonathon Fletcher created the first modern search engine and had nothing to do with Google.

via Instagram http://instagram.com/p/d2HlzbyrtK/

And he still has nothing to do with Google. Fletcher didn't realize how important his work was. >_< Read the whole article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23945326

TheGlassLog: Sideloading real #Android Apps onto #Google #Glass and Livestreaming and Instagramming from Glass

[caption id="attachment_13117196222" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Believe it or not, Instagram works on Glass. It's getting it on there that's a pain (and even then, it's not perfect, but sooo close!)[/caption]

Ever since I first read that the OS that runs on Glass was a tweaked version of Android, I was curious about running real Android apps on it. As I've mentioned before, what Google calls Glass apps aren't apps in the traditional sense at all, but services. Sadly, many Glass devs are accepting of Google's misnomer and now refer to Android apps running on Glass as "native" apps, when really they should just be called "apps." But whatever. The point is, Glass is still cool and it's even cooler when you run real, full-featured apps.

So, last Saturday, I set about learning how to sideload and that's when things got interesting. But there was a complication I overlooked. Even if I could get the Ustream app to sideload and run (as indie-journalist Tim Pool has), how could I log in without a way to type in my login credentials? Whoops.

Well, this wouldn't be much of a post if I didn't work out how to do it. That said, keep reading to find out how I did.

WARNING: While some in the media call this procedure "hacking Glass," I call it "following instructions" and "standing on the shoulders of better devs than myself." Seriously. To learn how to do this, all I had to do was do Internet searches for what I wanted to do and do what others have already done. Well, almost... I did have to get creative with entering text, since most folks don't seem to mind dropping cash on Bluetooth keyboards (and then adding said keyboards to the gear they carrying around) when they don't really have to.

WARNING MARK 2: After doing everything you are about to read, I discovered that system sounds on my Glass became very quiet. For a few days, I thought they simply weren't playing. No swipe or tap sound effects, no chimes chiming when I take photos or shoot video or when new content arrives. But while troubleshooting, I discovered, I could hear them, but incredibly faintly. I can live without all of these sounds except for that new content chime. Since the Glass display doesn't turn on automatically when new content arrives (like I think it certainly should) I have to rely on the chime to let me know when new content arrives. I don't know what caused the audio volume to drop so much, but I suspect it has something to do with the new settings APK I installed. The weird thing is that is some areas, the audio is fine and the microphone level isn't changed at all in any areas. I'm still debating a factory reset. I may wait for XE8, the next version of the Glass OS to see if that will fix it. I may not.

DISCLAIMER: BY CONTINUING TO READ YOU AGREE THAT YOU CAN'T HOLD ME RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO YOUR GLASS. I am telling you what I've done and how I've done it for research purposes only and describe only my own experience. I hope things work as well or better for use than they did for me. However, you might just get really unlucky. I hope that doesn't happen, but if it does, it's not my fault. Keep reading if you agree.

TheGlasLog: Living in the Big Apple with Glass

Yesterday morning my wife and i were on our way to midtown for the day where we had various errands/meetings etc, together and on our own to do/have. As always when I go out, I was wearing Glass. On the way to the subway, a random stranger stopped us... and asked where the nearest subway station was.

Over the following afternoon of wearing it to Starbucks, Subway (the fast food place), and several other places with LOADS of humans, not one of them approached me about Glass.

Just before going home, I stopped off at Trader Joe's and had my Glass hanging around my neck by one of those strings designed for glasses. As the very energetic and hip cashier lady scanned my items, she pointed at my chest and said something I didn't understand.

"Sorry?" I said.

TheGlassLog: Why Google #Glass Needs a Lock Screen (and a lot more): Finding something like this in your stream:

[caption id="attachment_13117196197" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Of all the words Glass could have caught, it was this one. I don't even remember saying it.[/caption]

Of course, there are quite a few things that Glass needs but a lockscreen is definitely one of them. Sure, Mike DiGiovanni coded one and has made the code available (get the code here) but he hasn't made an APK of it available yet. While I do know how to sideload APKs onto Glass (I learned how to do it here, at the Applied GlassWare blog), I haven't educated myself enough to know how to compile code into an APK (that's the file extension for an Android app, in case you were wondering).

TheGlassLog: #Glassware review: #CNN for #Glass: Super Service, Kind of Crappy Content

[caption id="attachment_13117196162" align="aligncenter" width="560"] An example of a CNN card on Glass. Seems cool enough--and it is! No NYTimes-for-Glass-style disappointment here.[/caption]

The CNN service* for Glass is actually pretty awesome. It leaves New York Times for Glass in the dust, actually. You enable it like any other Google-sanctioned service (just go to your myglass page) but when the content shows up, you get a nice bang for your buck.

TheGlassLog: #Glassware review: The New York Times for #Glass is kind of pointless

[caption id="attachment_13117196155" align="aligncenter" width="560"] What you see when the New York Times delivers "content" to Glass.[/caption]

One of the first services* to become available and officially sanctioned by Google was the New York Times service for Glass. I get their daily headlines email so I thought this would be great. I'd get the headlines throughout the day as the stories broke rather than having to wait until the next morning, right? Well, not so much. In fact, it's almost like the New York Times service for Glass is a big tease.

TheGlassLog: #Glassware review: Twitter for #Glass needs work: UPDATED

[caption id="attachment_13117196131" align="alignright" width="300"] So, yeah, for some reason, when I have the Twitter service for Glass enabled, I get Tweets posted by just a handful of people. For some stranger reason, most of the tweets I get are from British comic book writer Warren Ellis. Having his Tweets delivered to my eyeball can be a mixed blessing. >_<[/caption]

So, there are two Twitter services* for Glass. One is officially sanctioned and visible on each Glass-user's myglass page on Google. Then, there is an unofficial service you can use called "Social Sharing for Glass" from Jon Gottfried. Though, I think it used to be called "GlassTweet" but was changed due to Google demanding no one use "Glass" in the title of their product. Regardless, neither Gottfried's nor the officially sanctioned service work very well. This may not be the fault of the devs, but the limitations of the current Glass OS. I'm coming at this from a user's perspective, so I can't comment on what is definitely going on behind the scenes.*

*This post has been updated with information to correct this issue! Please keep reading! Thanks!

TheGlassLog: Why owning Google #Glass (right now) isn't as Awesome as You Might Think

[caption id="attachment_13117196088" align="alignright" width="224"] Your humble TheGlassLogger skeptical but wanting to believe as he tries out Glass for the first time.[/caption]

If you're one of the many people who wish they had been able to pick up an Explorer Edition Glass device, you may want to consider yourself a little lucky. Don't get me wrong, I love my Glass. Taking photos and video is easier than with any device I've ever owned (and I've owned many cameras, including two pairs of dedicated video glasses). However, the software just isn't there yet and Google's UI is a bit too minimalistic to be practical when considering all the cool-as-hell stuff Glass is capable of doing.

In my last post on TheGlassLog, I described how Google Glass doesn't really run "apps" nor does it really use "cards". Both "apps" and "cards" are words Google uses to describe how Glass works. In my previous post, I described "apps" as "services" (because they are not really installed on Glass but are run on a server somewhere) and "cards" as "books" on a "bookshelf" (because Google's "cards" can come with interior content thus causing the "card" metaphor to fall apart).

All Your Eggs on One Bookshelf

Now, imagine the bookshelf I described in my last post. It's perpendicular and directly to the right of your head. Every service you enable for Glass delivers content to this bookshelf. This bookshelf is also where your texts, emails, photos and videos are kept. This, alone, can make for a very confusing jumble of content to navigate through. Now think about all those services you'll want to enable.

[caption id="attachment_13117196089" align="aligncenter" width="600"] What it looks like when you are swiping forward to go backward through the books on your shelf (aka your Glass stream). The thumb nails don't render quickly, so you really don't have much of an idea of what you're scrolling past.[/caption]

When I first got Glass, I enabled almost every service Google had officially sanctioned. Tumblr, Twitter, Google+, CNN, NY Times, and a few others. Suddenly, I had my texts, emails, photos, and videos mixed in with my Tweets, news updates and Japanese pop-culture posts.

[caption id="attachment_13117196090" align="aligncenter" width="600"] The myglass page features each service in it's own box. This is easy enough to use, but it's strange that there is no way to disable these services from Glass, itself. You can access this page from a browser on a mobile device (even an iOS device) or the MyGlass app on an Android device, but not Glass.[/caption]

In short, content on Glass is organized the way it is in a junk drawer. Only, this isn't junk--it's your content! You don't just toss all of the stuff you collect during your days onto a single shelf. You have different shelves for different types of things. It should be the same for Glass.

Here are some more examples of what swiping deep into your bookshelf looks like currently:

[caption id="attachment_13117196111" align="aligncenter" width="560"] Sometimes the icons for the types of files are visible, so that helps in navigating at least a little bit. But, honestly, not so much.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_13117196113" align="aligncenter" width="560"] When thumbnails for your files do start to show up, they're practically off the screen. As a result you have to just randomly stop swiping based on the relative dates that do show up. Of course, I hate relative dating--Google really needs to get more specific. How about marking off the nearest hour for the files created in that hour? Anything is better than only citing a 24-hour window.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_13117196114" align="aligncenter" width="560"] So, when you slow down while swiping through your bookshelf, thumbnails generate faster but by then it's too late for them to really be helpful. If you keep swiping you have to wait for thumbnails for the rest of your files to render. Of course, waiting for thumbnails is a pain on most devices. But really, it's not just Google that should have gotten past this problem by now, one would think, anyway.[/caption]

So, What's a Google to do About It?

The main bookshelf should be for your own stuff--like texts and email. Your photos and video need their own shelf. Then for news services, they should get their own shelf, too. Then your social networking needs to be on a separate shelf, too. Hell, better yet, these shelves should all be customizable.

Currently, the way you enable services for your Glass is by going to https://glass.google.com/myglass and flipping these little switches. Why not add a pulldown to allow us to decide what shelf each app should be displayed on?

As far as navigating these new shelves, how about swiping up or down? Currently, swiping up does nothing and swiping down functions like the "back" button on Android devices. So, fine, use a two-finger swipe-down to navigate between shelves. Sure, currently, a two-finger swipe-down puts Glass into sleep mode, but why not change that to a three-finger swipe-down?

Having all content on just one shelf is kind of absurd. In fact, it was the very first thing I complained about when I got Glass just over a month ago.

Hopefully, when the next Glass OS update comes in early August, we'll see this problem fixed. To me, it seems like one of the more obvious problems to solve.

Thanks for reading TheGlassLog! Next time I'll be reviewing the Twitter service for Glass. Missed any past posts in TheGlass Log? Read them here!

TheGlassLog: When an App isn't an App: How Google #Glass Really Works and How it Doesn't Run Apps

[caption id="attachment_13117196078" align="alignright" width="224"] Your humble TheGlassLogger learning how to shoot video by navigating the bookshelves of Glass at Google's "Glass Store" on the 8th floor above the Chelsea Market.[/caption]
Let me explain how Google has decided we should use Glass. Imagine you are standing next to a book case, perpendicular to it. It'a a book case that has one shelf and that shelf is exactly to the right of your head. When you tap the touchpad that is the side of the Glass device, itself, one of the books on the shelf slides out so you can see it. Google calls each of these "books" cards, but that's confusing to me for reasons that will become clear in a bit. So, I'm going to stick with calling them "books."


Swipe forward on the touchpad and the book is replaced by what ever book is behind you on the bookshelf. Swipe backward on the touchpad and what ever is in front of you on the bookshelf becomes visible. Just imagine each swipe is pushing those books forward or backward on the shell. The default book is always the Home Screen which displays the time and the phrase "ok glass" (you know, just in case you forget o_O).

C'est ne pas une App

TheGlassLog: 3 Weeks In: What I hate most about Glass and What Google Should Do About It

[caption id="attachment_13117195898" align="aligncenter" width="300"] thepete.com on Google Glass's browser which was added to the Glass OS this month with an update to XE7.[/caption]

So, I've learned a lot about Glass since I first got it back on June 26, 2013. First, it's got immense potential. It's a computer that is light enough to spend hours on your face. I've warn mine for as long as eight hours, straight, without any discomfort. After the first few days of wearing it, I found that my right ear was a little itchy underneath where Glass rests on it. That itching however, went away after a few days. I've also learned just how brand new Glass is as a technology--at least to Google. See, the thing I hate the most about Glass is one particular choice Google made about how Glass interacts with us.

During my "fitting session," I explained to the really nice Google employee helping me out that I wanted my tweets fed to my eyeball. She smiled warmly and immediately explained that this was not what Glass wants to do for me, at least for now. I was so excited to have Glass, I didn't really give that much thought but over the next couple of weeks, the sentiment she expressed would haunt me, in a way.

Before that day, I had read all of Tim Stevens' coverage of Glass on Engadget.com and something he had said worried me before and after I got my own Glass. He said that after a week or so of having Glass, he was having trouble finding reasons to wear it every day.

Would I find this to be true?  Read on...

TheGlassLog (TheGlassLog) Day 1

[caption id="attachment_13117195671" align="alignright" width="300"] My wife and I sitting in the lobby outside of Google's demo stations on the 8th floor of the Chelsea Market here in NYC.[/caption]

Immediate positives:

1) Glass is very cool. This platform, as expected, has a LOT of potential. Currently, it feels like much of the world is right there, waiting for your eyeball. Though, sadly, it's not as easy as it should be to get at it.
2) It's the Wild West in here--everything is rough around the edges and harder to use than the smart phones we're all comfortable with now. This makes it more cumbersome to use Glass than a smart phone, but it's also much more exciting to use it. I feel like anything is possible it's like living on the frontier.
3) Glass is super-comfy to wear. As of Day 1, I had no problem wearing it for hours. I had no headaches, no dizziness, and no discomfort at all.
4) It works well with Dropbox--but only when I connect it to my Mac. Strangely, Glass doesn't mount like removable media and my Win7 netbook refuses to see it or my Android phone or my DSLR because the MTP drivers won't load. The latter isn't the fault of Glass, however.
5) While the battery life doesn't weather Google+ Hangouts very well, it does recharge pretty fast. It's first recharge took just a few hours.
6) It was super-cool to watch a video from CNN on Glass. It was like the news was breaking on my face.


Immediate problems:

Re: #GoogleGlass: I have been meaning to write something similar and I still might. But in the meantime, YES, THIS:

"Reviewing a work-in-progress product is pointless. Please save your precious words until its public release."

-Saket, techsplurge.com

Plenty more here: http://techsplurge.com/15551/dear-google-glass-reviewers-naysayers/

#GoogleGlass specs compliments of @EngadgetMobile

Source

From the Engadget Mobile post:

While we knew some bits about its capabilities (some of which were explained in a patent application), the official list reveals its display will be equivalent to a 25-inch HD screen viewed from eight feet away, while it's camera does 5MP stills and 720p video. It packs 16GB of storage onboard, 12GB of which are available to the wearer. Audio is transferred via a bone conduction transducer, while its wireless capabilities include Bluetooth and WiFi 802.11 b/g.

Read the rest at the source link above or get it straight from the horse's mouth: http://support.google.com/glass/answer/3064128?hl=en&ref_topic=3063354

I just wish they'd tell us when the damn Glass Explorer/Project Glass events in SF/LA/NYC are going to be. I got stuff to do!

#FirstWorldProblems

Infographic by Martin Missfeldt shows exactly how #GoogleGlass will work on my eye (Kinda Invasively IMO)

Infographic source

I've always felt a little weirded out with the idea of tech projecting something directly on my retina. It seems like it would be a little too easy to make me see something that isn't there. Like if someone hacked my Glass. I'm sure I'm just paranoid, but still, if it's possible to hack anything, it's possible. It'll be just short of being able to insert something directly in your mind. If you close your eyes, the image vanishes. But the fear instinct doesn't always let you look away.

Otherwise, I think this is a pretty cool device. I can't wait to get my hands on mine. That's right, I was selected as one of Google's Glass Explorers:

https://twitter.com/projectglass/status/318137531814248448

I just hope they hold their events in NY, LA and San Francisco soon since I'm taking a long weekend out of town later in April and going away for much longer in mid-May. It would suck if I had to skip getting my glass because I was going to be out of town. Neither trip can be postponed--one is a party celebrating my late step-dad's life and the other involves a cruise ship that goes to Europe, so, yeah, unpostponable. I know, first-world problems, but problems nonetheless.

Fingers crossed!

My @Raspberry_Pi Photoset!

[AFG_gallery id='2']

My @photosync_app Experience or How Not to Provide Customer Service

So, this just happened at getsatisfaction.com... well, it happened over the last couple of days, but it just finished.  PhotoSync is an iPhone/iPad/Touch app that allows you to sync your photos with various devices.  It worked well for me... until I tried to sync it with Box.net.  Here's how this mini-debacle started, with a post by me, on the getsatisfaction page for the PhotoSync app from the company, Touchbyte:

I’m annoyed
thepete 1 day ago

Can't sync with Box.net at all. Error msg insists login info wrong or dir missing.

I keep getting an error trying to sync with box.net. I have the correct login info and the destination directory does exist, despite the error message insisting the opposite. What's going on?

Seems straightforward enough, right?  Let's see how they do!  First, Helmut replies:

EMPLOYEE
Helmut Schottmüller (Official Rep) 1 day ago
Hi Pete,

I can only assume that this is a temporary problem with box.com
I just connected to box, created a folder, selected this folder as destination and transferred some photos. All worked fine for me.

Could you try to log out and log in to box again in the PhotoSync settings and try again? Maybe there is a problem with your login session.

If the error still exists can you provide us with the error message and the exact thing you're doing? (are you on Wi-Fi / Cell Transfer?, is a folder selected?, what is the error message?). Knowing this would be helpful to try to reproduce your issue.

Best regards,
Helmut

Kinda reminded me of that joke from "The IT Crowd" about how the first thing they say when someone calls is "did you try turning off and back on again."  Being a tech-head, of course, I did.

thepete 1 day ago

Well, this has been happening for months--since the CameraSync app first had Box support. Every time the app is updated I try again with the same results. Whether I pick a directory or not. I've unlinked my account and relinked it. My iPad is wifi only. See my earlier post for the error message. The only thing I can think of is that Box only lets paid accounts sync from 3rd party apps (or that it's some other condition my Box.net account doesn't meet). The strangest thing is that when I select a directory in my Box account while trying to sync photos, I get the same error message but I also find that inside the directory, there is now another directory with the same name. So, it's obvious my login info is fine and Camerasync can access the correct directory (and that it exists).

Strangely, the next reply I got wasn't from Helmut, but from another fellow named Hendrik who was listed with GS only as "EMPLOYEE" but luckily signed his reply with his name.  Here's how he replied:

EMPLOYEE
touchbyte GmbH (Customer) 20 hours ago

Hi,

are you sure you are requesting support for the right app. We are the developers of PhotoSync, not CameraSync:)

Cheers,

Hendrik

What a DOUCHE... ok, I don't blame him for assuming I may not be the brightest pixel in the display, but come on--couch your terms a bit, man! As someone with a bit of CSR experience, I felt obligated to dig into him and point out how paying customers should be treated--well, any customers, really. I mean, shouldn't you be concerned with the reputation of your company beyond the opinion of your customers? I mean, you want other customers, right? After all, this is THEIR app that I can't get to work and the Box.net sync has NEVER worked for me. Anyway, so here's how I replied:

thepete 19 hours ago
Um, yeah, it's not my fault you chose a name for your app that is so incredibly generic I can never remember it. Being jerky doesn't make me any happier that I paid for your app which doesn't work as advertised.

A little douchey? Sure, but he started it by assuming a typo on my part was the same thing as being so moronic as to not make sure I was complaining to the right people. Come on--don't assume (at least not out loud) that your customers are rock stupid.  You have to admit "PhotoSync" is a pretty damn generic name.  How about using some imagination for your app name.  You know, actually try and come up with something memorable.

Of course, if he had apologized, maybe by saying "sorry, I apologize if you thought I was being rude." I wouldn't be posting this blog post right now. Instead, here's what he says:

EMPLOYEE
touchbyte GmbH (Customer) 19 hours ago
Hi,

I was not jerky. There is in fact an app called CameraSync (that also has box.net support)-thats why I asked.
I just tested with a paid and unpaid box.net account and could transfer in both cases without any issues.
So I suppose there must be an issue with your acocunt (or a setting).
If you are unhappy, we always offer a refund. Please send us your mail-address to holtmann@touchbyte.com.

Cheers,

Hendrik

Nice, so offer the refund in the hopes that I'll go away and you won't have to actually try to fix my problem. What a weaselly thing to do. But not surprising. Of course, I don't just let it lie:

thepete 18 hours ago
When you ask a customer if they're even asking for support on the right product, the non-jerky thing to do is to preface your question by saying: "I don't mean to ask a silly question, but...." Without that you run the risk of your customer thinking he's being assumed a fool. Not generally the way customers like to feel (even if they are actually fools).

All that aside, you really should test your app a bit more thoroughly. Try it with other types of box.net accounts, not just yours. It's your responsibility to make sure that, when you say your app works with Box.net, it actually does. If it doesn't work for all types of accounts, then you should say so in the app description, preferably mentioning which account types it works with. If you think it's a setting that I need to change, find out what it is and tell me. Don't just leave me to figure out how to make your product work the way you say it should.

Abrasive? Yes. Inaccurate? No. Sure, he tried it with one other kind of account, but there are others.  And besides that, I am so sick of companies thinking they are entitled to my money and/or my patronage. It's their job to be nice to me, not vice versa. I'm being nice by using their product--they should be thankful I'm willing to. Instead, most companies these days treat the customer as though THEY are lucky the product or service even exists. Let me tell ya, if it weren't for your customers, your product or service couldn't continue to exist.

But, as I was tired of dealing with this douchebag from Deutschland, I decided to check out this other app he mentioned (the one I accidentally referred to) called "CameraSync."

thepete less than a minute ago
Heh--and wouldn't you know it--I tried out CameraSync and it works great. Links up with my Box.net account like it was nothing. Thanks!

Yep, CameraSync worked like a charm! It does cost a dollar more than PhotoSync and has a couple less features, but at least it doesn't tell me it's compatible with Box.net when it really isn't. In fact, it's a much easier app to use over all. PhotoSync does do a few more things (like sync to your computer or other iOS devices) but it's also a bit harder to use and is less intuitive. The CameraSync app only requires that you open the app and let it go, once you've got the login credentials entered. And the missing PC-sync is no big deal since it also supports Dropbox. So I can sync to that and voila! My pics appear on my PC.

So, let this be a lesson to customer service departments everywhere:

BE NICE. Take on the burden of being an idiot so your customer doesn't have to. They'll be much more likely to not talk shit about you.  Or not and you might lose a customer or worse.