Dan Pereda - Yeah! You found me. http://danpereda.com A Blog of Business, How-to, Rants, Reviews, and What I like to do. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:12:36 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Ken Block’s misguided fans http://danpereda.com/2010/02/ken-block%e2%80%99s-misguided-fans/ http://danpereda.com/2010/02/ken-block%e2%80%99s-misguided-fans/#comments Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:47:17 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=279
If you don’t know who Ken Block is you probably won’t find this post on the internet, so it makes no difference, He is a world wide internet sensation for his stunt driving, 2 time US Rally Champion and an overall Smart /Rich guy as one of the founders of DCshoes.

This year Ken is moving up in the world of professional motorsports with a full time ride in the WRC (World Rally Championships). In this move he is changing from his trademark Subaru to a Ford and this is where his faithful following seem to have a misguided attachment to Subaru.

One glance of Ken’s blog or facebook page and you will see hundreds of comments from followers that are distraught over the divorce of Ken and Subaru. A good portion of the comments blame Ken for the break up calling him a “sell out” and threatening to boycott his sponsors.

What these faithful fans have failed to realized is that it is Subaru that cheated on Ken, hell they have cheated on all us Rally and Subaru fans by pulling out the sport that made them the company they are today. I firmly believe that Subaru would not be around today if it were not for their involvement in the WRC. Subaru once dominated the WRC to a point where video game companies started to make the Subaru WRX a star attraction in their games. Once these kids got Licenses all they wanted was the real life WRX. Soon WRC fans, game boys and other fan boys flocked to showrooms to buy the cars that were developed,built and proven winners on the worlds toughest rally stages.

Subaru had effectively built a Loyal fan base that it turned in to customers, but now it has abandoned those original fans and left them broken hearted and angry. When relationships fail, it is sometimes hard to see it is the thing that you love that is causing all the pain and people look for other things to blame. In this case Ken is on the receiving end of that blame. Time heals all wounds and soon fans will realized that Subaru is the source of their pain and will soon back a new manufacture that supports their passion and excitement for motorsports. Best of luck to Ken and Ford.

]]> http://danpereda.com/2010/02/ken-block%e2%80%99s-misguided-fans/feed/ 1 Best Option for the Google Nexus One? http://danpereda.com/2010/01/best-option-for-the-google-nexus-one/ http://danpereda.com/2010/01/best-option-for-the-google-nexus-one/#comments Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:50:03 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=273 I have been a T-mobile G1 user since it launched. I am normally not a “PHONE GEEK” in that I dont need to have the newest phone, but my G1 is really starting to slow down with all the normal apps running.

I have been doing the math to see what the best option is. Since I am an existing t-mobile customer, this is kind of tricky.
I am currently on the 1000 Mins voice Unlimited web/text for 69.99 no contract.

OPTIONS:
1. Buy the unsubsidized phone at 529 dollars
2. Cancel my account and get the Subsidized phone for 179. plus 79.99 a month for a lesser plan for a 2 year contract
3.Take the upgrade at 379 + 79 a month. for a 2 year contract

I dont consider the 2 year contract a negitive here as the phone is pretty much useless in the US without t-mobile.(Can be used on ATT with out 3G but what is the point of that?). I am also working my math pretending that I have the 59.99 dollar 500 min plan comes standard from Google.

Option 1:
My additional cost is just the 529 for the phone.

Option 2:
Difference in Plan Price 59.99-79.99= +20 a month for 2 years = +480 for the Service
179.99 for the phone = Grand total additional is 659 bucks

Option 3.
Difference in Plan Price 59.99-79.99= +20 a month for 2 years = +480 for the Service
379 for the Phone = A whopping 859 dollars extra

Running the math further there is no sound reason to get the subsidized phone. Everyone is better off buying the phone outright by putting the 529.00 on a credit card that gets 20% interest and paying it off over 2 years This also allows you to get a cheaper plan or use t-mobil’s fantastic Family plans.

]]> http://danpereda.com/2010/01/best-option-for-the-google-nexus-one/feed/ 0 Getting Acer Launch manager to work with Windows 7, laptop Volume buttons http://danpereda.com/2009/12/getting-acer-launch-manager-to-work-with-windows-7-laptop-volume-buttons/ http://danpereda.com/2009/12/getting-acer-launch-manager-to-work-with-windows-7-laptop-volume-buttons/#comments Thu, 31 Dec 2009 22:38:45 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=266 Getting Acer Launch manager to work with Windows 7, laptop Volume buttons.

I recently upgraded my Acer Aspire 5610z to Windows 7 32 bit. Everything worked great except the volume buttons along the side and the quick launch button along the top on of the computer.

I know I need the the Launch Manager program from Acer so I downloaded here (Acer Launch Manager)
I Unzipped the file and ran setup, but the volume and quick launch buttons still didn’t work.

I Quickly found a solution that is detailed below:
1. Download the Launch Manager from Acer’s website. (Acer Launch Manager)
2. Extract the file:
3. Open the extracted folders until you can see the setup.exe file.
4. Right click on the setup.exe file a choose properties.
5. Under Properties choose Compatibility:

6. Under that tab set the following:

7. Click OK
8. Double click on setup.exe and follow the on screen prompts.
9. Restart your computer.

]]> http://danpereda.com/2009/12/getting-acer-launch-manager-to-work-with-windows-7-laptop-volume-buttons/feed/ 1 Linux development environment on Windows 7 using VirtualBox and Ubuntu 9.10 http://danpereda.com/2009/11/linux-development-environment-on-windows-7-using-virtualbox-and-ubuntu-9-10/ http://danpereda.com/2009/11/linux-development-environment-on-windows-7-using-virtualbox-and-ubuntu-9-10/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:03:23 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=264 Hello all I am working on creating a Linux development environment on my Windows 7 machine.

I downloaded and Installed Virtualbox.
I then downloaded the 9.10 desktop of Ubuntu from http://www.ubuntu.com/

I book the Vbox choosing the ubuntu ISO as the startup medium.

Here it is running.

]]> http://danpereda.com/2009/11/linux-development-environment-on-windows-7-using-virtualbox-and-ubuntu-9-10/feed/ 0 Pidgin, Google Talk error, not singing in. http://danpereda.com/2009/11/pidgin-google-talk-error-not-singing-in/ http://danpereda.com/2009/11/pidgin-google-talk-error-not-singing-in/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:22:40 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=262 Click [...]]]> I have been using Pidgin for about a month with no issues. Then all of a sudden It will not connect to my google talk account.

I found this link that tells you have to set the advanced tab, and that fixed everything for me.

Go to Accounts, choose Edit you Google talk account,
> Click on the advanced tab
> Enter in the following:
Check Force old (port 5223) SSL
Un-Checked: Allow plaintext auth over unencrypted streams
Enter: Connect Port: 443
Enter: Connect Server: talk.google.com
> click on Proxy tab
Proxy type: Use Global Proxy Settings

]]> http://danpereda.com/2009/11/pidgin-google-talk-error-not-singing-in/feed/ 0 Pidgin, the Trillian and Meebo replacement. http://danpereda.com/2009/11/pidgin-the-trillian-and-meebo-replacement/ http://danpereda.com/2009/11/pidgin-the-trillian-and-meebo-replacement/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:16:14 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=260 I have a lot of IM accounts, mainly because my customers use different platforms and then I have my personal accounts as well. What I have been using for a long time was Trillan . It allows you to sing in to all of your accounts from one application. I also use Meebo, Meebo is a web based tool dose the same thing.

Things in Trillan have always seems to clunky for me and I could get my 100s o contact sorted the way I wanted. then I found Pidgin.

Pidgin is a FREE open source chat client that does the same thing as Trillan, but for me is a much cleaner interface and over all easier to use.

The only down fall I can see with Pidgin is that when I am brought in to a new group chat it doesn’t POP Up. Those dont happen to often.

http://www.pidgin.im/

I Have been a log time Trillan user, but things just were not smooth enought for me.
I then

]]> http://danpereda.com/2009/11/pidgin-the-trillian-and-meebo-replacement/feed/ 0 Google Wave and a Freeswitch Conference Bridge on a cloud. http://danpereda.com/2009/11/google-wave-and-a-freeswitch-conference-bridge-on-a-cloud/ http://danpereda.com/2009/11/google-wave-and-a-freeswitch-conference-bridge-on-a-cloud/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 19:08:32 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=258 So yesterday, I got my official invite to the Google Wave “PREVIEW” they are not calling it beta.

Wave is very cool and overall I really like it, It is in Preview so it is a little buggy still and the public waves are a little hard to manage.
The real time communication is amazing. I was leaving my feedback about iRacing and while I was still writing someone else was responding to be.
I think for the luddites to leave email behind will take some time, but Wave is the future.

I have also been building a FreeSwitch Conference Bridge using RackSpace cloud. So far it is flawless but I have only a few callers on it a time. Later today is a big test, hopefully it passes.

On top of that I have traveled to Newfoundland, started a new job, visited some new clients, travel some more for the new job, taking 2 classes, trying to buy a car, went to Salem, MA, and still have time to do the honey do list for the wife…… ahhhhhhhh…

]]> http://danpereda.com/2009/11/google-wave-and-a-freeswitch-conference-bridge-on-a-cloud/feed/ 2 Just a quick Note. http://danpereda.com/2009/10/just-a-quick-note/ http://danpereda.com/2009/10/just-a-quick-note/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:45:15 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=256 I have a new employer and so things have gotten real busy real fast. I have a few projects I am working on, but they will have to be move to the back burner until I get up and running with my new company.

I flying to canada today and I will have some down time at night for the next few weeks to work on my projects

]]> http://danpereda.com/2009/10/just-a-quick-note/feed/ 0 Whew, Just got got back from the Philippines. http://danpereda.com/2009/09/whew-just-got-got-back-from-the-philippines/ http://danpereda.com/2009/09/whew-just-got-got-back-from-the-philippines/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:25:27 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=254 Sorry all, I was away from my main computer and a reliable internet connection while I was away in the Philippines. I didn’t have a chance to update my blog or really work on my existing projects. I have received a few requests for an affiliate template in Magneto, so guess I will finish that up, and get that out soon.

I have really been working my Video making while I was abroad. I didn’t get much of a chance to review the footage in country, but now that I am back I can see alot of my filming mistakes.

I did get in some poker games over there. it was nice to play some low stakes live. .40-.80 cents low.

one thing about the trip is that I have a list 1000 pages long of new things I want to do. New projects and such. So More coming soon.

]]> http://danpereda.com/2009/09/whew-just-got-got-back-from-the-philippines/feed/ 0 Magento Google Base Error Fix. http://danpereda.com/2009/08/magento-google-base-error-fix/ http://danpereda.com/2009/08/magento-google-base-error-fix/#comments Thu, 06 Aug 2009 02:14:00 +0000 Danpereda http://danpereda.com/?p=251

This worked for me when I was getting Google base error: Expected response code 200, got 400.

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