This noon I tried reading the eEdition of the Star Tribune. Safari on my iPod said it couldn’t the load the page because of “too many redirects”. No matter how many times in how many different ways, I kept getting the same result.
Come on, folks, don’t deprive me of my comics fix. They are not as readily available as in the eEdition, the screen equivalent of the actual printed page.
I sent email to the digital access address of the paper. Then I tried calling, but there was a wait. Ah ha! I’m not alone.
This was about noon today. By sometime around three, if not before, the problem was fixed and I could read the comics again.
I did send a thank-you email.
Showing posts with label Safari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Safari. Show all posts
Thursday, May 07, 2015
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Why facebook's stock price went down after the IPO
Simply put, facebook's software is too buggy!
Yesterday, I used my iPod and Safari to access facebook. I could not log off! There was no button to do so, and no button gave a drop down menu with log off in the list. When I tried using my MacBook Pro to access facebook, I could log on, but then my news feed was blank. Sometimes I would get a blank area and sometimes I would get a blank area with a spinning ball next to an arrow.
Then today I had three symbols at the top of the iPod window in addition to the three bars, which had done nothing before. One of the symbols had a red number one. It was that I had a message or a like. The three bars now had a drop down menu. Way, way at the bottom of the more than screen-length list was log out (or log off). Dumbly, I didn't click on log out but clicked on the button with the number. I found out that two people liked an entry. Now the three bar menu had no drop down menu!!!
I used my wife's computer to like an item on my facebook page. After several attempts of turning my iPod off and on and other screen changing actions, the three additional buttons were shown on my iPod. I didn't click on them but went straight to the three bar button, scrolled down to log off, and clicked it.
Poof! I was now back to the facebook log on page. Close that window and be rid of it!
I went back to my laptop and logged in to facebook. I now had news feeds, but only a handful from today or last night. I could find no button to look at older items. That means I can't go back to an item that I only glanced at yesterday or that I want to check for additional comments. Up to yesterday, I could look at a week or more of news items.
This is corporate efficiency?
Of course, buggy software does not really correlate to stock price. Look at the way Apple stock has risen since the release of its latest operating system, OS X Lion. Apple announced Lion with great fanfare and the claim that it had 250 exciting new features. What they didn't say there were 300 features that no longer worked or didn't work as well as before. OK, 300 features is poetic license, but I run into annoyances every day. Clicks that don't work on the first try, watching the beach ball spin more than I have in previous versions, resets that later revert to an older setting, and on and on.
Whatever happened to "the computer for the rest of us"? Gosh, and I was once a programmer, have been using Macs since 1984, and I have a hard time!
The next time somebody gives a favorable comparison of private enterprise to government; ask them if their computer does everything they want as easily as they want as fast as they want.
See also "Why Apple's stock price went down".
Yesterday, I used my iPod and Safari to access facebook. I could not log off! There was no button to do so, and no button gave a drop down menu with log off in the list. When I tried using my MacBook Pro to access facebook, I could log on, but then my news feed was blank. Sometimes I would get a blank area and sometimes I would get a blank area with a spinning ball next to an arrow.
Then today I had three symbols at the top of the iPod window in addition to the three bars, which had done nothing before. One of the symbols had a red number one. It was that I had a message or a like. The three bars now had a drop down menu. Way, way at the bottom of the more than screen-length list was log out (or log off). Dumbly, I didn't click on log out but clicked on the button with the number. I found out that two people liked an entry. Now the three bar menu had no drop down menu!!!
I used my wife's computer to like an item on my facebook page. After several attempts of turning my iPod off and on and other screen changing actions, the three additional buttons were shown on my iPod. I didn't click on them but went straight to the three bar button, scrolled down to log off, and clicked it.
Poof! I was now back to the facebook log on page. Close that window and be rid of it!
I went back to my laptop and logged in to facebook. I now had news feeds, but only a handful from today or last night. I could find no button to look at older items. That means I can't go back to an item that I only glanced at yesterday or that I want to check for additional comments. Up to yesterday, I could look at a week or more of news items.
This is corporate efficiency?
Of course, buggy software does not really correlate to stock price. Look at the way Apple stock has risen since the release of its latest operating system, OS X Lion. Apple announced Lion with great fanfare and the claim that it had 250 exciting new features. What they didn't say there were 300 features that no longer worked or didn't work as well as before. OK, 300 features is poetic license, but I run into annoyances every day. Clicks that don't work on the first try, watching the beach ball spin more than I have in previous versions, resets that later revert to an older setting, and on and on.
Whatever happened to "the computer for the rest of us"? Gosh, and I was once a programmer, have been using Macs since 1984, and I have a hard time!
The next time somebody gives a favorable comparison of private enterprise to government; ask them if their computer does everything they want as easily as they want as fast as they want.
See also "Why Apple's stock price went down".
Thursday, January 05, 2012
Good service still exists
If I rant about all the screw-ups in corporate America, I should also praise good service when I encounter it.
I have a blog in mind on how Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. One of the taketh aways was how PDF files download from websites. I tried downloading my statement from Ameritrade with Safari. I could get a window with the statement, but I could find no way to save it as a file. I gave up and used Firefox and had my statement downloaded in seconds. I sent feedback Ameritrade and received and answer in a day. One now has to hold down a key while clicking on the link to a downloadable file. Let's see, I wonder how quickly I would have been able to unbury a similar answer in Apple's forums.
I have some bizarre clues for my passwords, and sometimes I can't figure out what I meant. When I tried to get my US Funds statement I couldn't figure out my password. This particular site doesn't give you many chances to try again. Even when asked the security question, I couldn't answer it correctly, probably because I used a different variation on the spelling of the answer. Poof! Please call a representative.
I did that and I did have a wait with some Mozart. But when I got a representative he asked how the weather was here and mentioned that his daughter had visited Two Harbors recently. He quickly gave me a temp password and I gave it another go. Then I couldn't change it because I couldn't find anyplace to do so. Another call but with no wait time and with the same representative. He pointed out the pull-down menu that linked to password maintenance (it was kind of obscured by a poorly-chosen color overlay).
Both of these incidents are cases where effectiveness is more important than efficiency. Should these representatives' performance be measured by how many customers they serve a day (efficiency) or by how courteously they give satisfactory solutions (effectiveness)? I'll take effectiveness any day, even if I have to wait for it.
I have a blog in mind on how Apple giveth and Apple taketh away. One of the taketh aways was how PDF files download from websites. I tried downloading my statement from Ameritrade with Safari. I could get a window with the statement, but I could find no way to save it as a file. I gave up and used Firefox and had my statement downloaded in seconds. I sent feedback Ameritrade and received and answer in a day. One now has to hold down a key while clicking on the link to a downloadable file. Let's see, I wonder how quickly I would have been able to unbury a similar answer in Apple's forums.
I have some bizarre clues for my passwords, and sometimes I can't figure out what I meant. When I tried to get my US Funds statement I couldn't figure out my password. This particular site doesn't give you many chances to try again. Even when asked the security question, I couldn't answer it correctly, probably because I used a different variation on the spelling of the answer. Poof! Please call a representative.
I did that and I did have a wait with some Mozart. But when I got a representative he asked how the weather was here and mentioned that his daughter had visited Two Harbors recently. He quickly gave me a temp password and I gave it another go. Then I couldn't change it because I couldn't find anyplace to do so. Another call but with no wait time and with the same representative. He pointed out the pull-down menu that linked to password maintenance (it was kind of obscured by a poorly-chosen color overlay).
Both of these incidents are cases where effectiveness is more important than efficiency. Should these representatives' performance be measured by how many customers they serve a day (efficiency) or by how courteously they give satisfactory solutions (effectiveness)? I'll take effectiveness any day, even if I have to wait for it.
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