Backup to Airport Extreme external hard drive using Time Machine

So I was frustrated to find that the default upgrade of Leopard did not include the ability to backup to an Airport Extreme USB based hard drive. The new one that was spoken about in the Mac World keynote did just this with a built in hard drive. With way too much fooling around I found that if you simply use the following command in the terminal...

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

It will set the drive to be mountable for the software. Of course after I found the command I realize someone had actually posted it here. But this would have been much simpler if they would have just given it to us.

Expedia Customer Service

I feel that it’s important to talk about sites abusing reviews, especially in the Hotel sector. Just a few months back I booked a room in New York City on Expedia.com, for a serviced apartment. I chose this accommodation due to the outrageous fees for hotels during the days I chose to stay. Reading the information about the serviced apartment I was impressed with what they had to offer and figured why not?

I got to the unit late at night around 11:30pm, flight delays from SFO and traffic made the process a bit slow. When we finally found the complex, there was a buzzer to talk to the night attendant. He promptly appeared and went through the list to see what room I was in. He then told me that Aaron Shear already checked in and there was nothing that he could do about it.

I called Expedia and asked what was going on? They said that they would be happy to talk to the manager and make things right. They spoke with the doorman and was unable to set things right. At this point 1.5 hours had gone by and I was ready to tear my own head off.

The doorman finally realized that they switched my room with another visitor and I was to take their room. At this point I just wanted to sleep so I did not complain, even though the comforter on the bed was stained in all sorts of strange colors. I simply took off the top cover and made sure the sheets where clean and slept.

During my stay I found that no soap was left, the so called Jacuzzi bath tub was defective, the tile was coming up and the mold content was more than anyone could handle. This was after the second day; I called back Expedia customer service begging them to put me somewhere else. But they did not comply and told me that there was nothing that they could do except give me a small credit for my $2,000 stay.

I can go on for hours about this but my main point is, if you write a negative review on Expedia.com they will not post it. They turned my review down twice and provided incorrect information about why it was not accepted. In conclusion be careful what you read!

Apple ipod touch update

Not to say I have completely switched from being a total Microsoft fan, but I have to say I love the new $20 update that Apple put out today regarding the ipod touch. It was not just a simple update, but an update where owners could receive software that would give them similar abilities to the i-phone and as well allow an simple ipod touch user the ability to get gps navigation through their new wifi hot spot intelligent software.

I am very impressed, the touch just went back in my every day life. Yes, serious thoughts went through my head about hacking the device months ago, but I do not have nearly as much time to chase problems down as I used to. Happy hunting.

Netflix response to Apple

I have been very interested in the response that would come from video rental companies especially Netflix with their downloadable rentals to Apple’s announcement to their new program. I was not expecting such a simple response…

“
Dear Aaron,

As part of your current Netflix subscription, you have the option to watch some movies and TV episodes from the Netflix library instantly on your PC at no additional charge. Now, we've made it unlimited!

So watch instantly on your PC when you want, and as often as you want. Select from our separate, smaller library of over 6,000 familiar movies and TV episodes available to watch instantly.

- Your friends at Netflix”

Personally I think the response should have been something link, we have a great selection of on demand current films at your normal subscription price. Rather than this bleak attempt to encourage members to use their service without talking to them about it.

I love Netflix, especially how they have not raked us under the coal for HD programming. But in my personal opinion there is a better way to respond to Apple. Sorry Netflix, but I may switch if this is how you wish to respond.

United Customer Service

So I have been a loyal client of United for years now and I really want to vent a story. Most commonly I do not chase too much down with them because its totally pointless and they will not help. But I am a 1K, or 100 thousand mile customer, not a small score to have in their eyes.

So on my way back from my last business trip to Sydney I purchased several cases of wine and had the bottles very carefully backed for shipping. I know that United throws bags and boxes no mater what is written on the box, these boxes had 5 large Fragile stickers on them and marked glass as well. When I got into SFO I found 1 of the cases in the normal collection area, the other was in the freight pickup sitting on a large flat cart.

It turns out one of the bottles was obliterated from miss handling, typically being dropped or thrown. I waited hours to talk to someone about this and finally the manager of Untied international starts to walk towards me. He hears something on his radio and immediately does an about face and out the back without talking to me. I asked the assistant manager to have him call me. I even provided my 1k-mileage number, cell phone number, address and email.

At this point I didn’t care about a financial re-imbursement but an apology for the way this was handled, the assistant manager did not even apologize for this obvious screw up. Instead she promises that he would call me and talk to me about what happened. NO, CALLS AT ALL!

Wow go United! It was bad enough when they jacked their employees of their benefits and they started to hate the clients, but holy crap!