Windows vs. Ford – For all of us who feel only the deepest love and affection for the way computers have enhanced our lives, read on.

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX) Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, “If Ford had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.”

In response to Bill’s comments, Ford issued a press release stating:

If Ford had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics :

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash – twice a day.

2.. Every time they repainted the lines in the road you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single “This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation” warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask, “Are you sure?” before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You’d have to press the “Start” button to turn the engine off.

PS – I’d like to add that when all else fails, you could call “customer service” in some foreign country and be instructed in some foreign language how to fix your car yourself!

Please share this with your friends who love – but sometimes hate – their computer!

Microsoft and Ford – An unlikely rivalry! is a post from: Chris Cane's Blog

A friend of mine named Ken sent me an email with the story relating his experience saving $63.01.

Readers should know that I have been an iPhone user for short periods of time.

I keep coming back to Androids. My first iPhone three or four years ago was a disaster, my experience with it caused me to coin the phrase that “an iPhone was a digital representation of a dumb blond” , but I digress …

Recently my iPhone battery was dying. It no longer could hold a charge and died out after about 4 hours. To have Apple replace a battery is a charge in the US of $79.00 plus $6.95 for shipping and handling. Plus you give the phone to them until they can return it. Being the cheap guy I am I chose to look elsewhere. Plus I did not want to be without the phone. I mean, how hard can it be to change a battery?

I found a website, iTool Battery, that had all Apple products batteries for sale. I will give you the link at the end. I bought the iPhone 4 battery that I needed from them. In total with shipping this cost me $22.94. That was a savings of $63.01.

I received the new battery in a few days. In the kit you get a special tool to use, the battery, and a link to video instructions and written instructions. First I wanted to read the written instructions. I went to the site and tried to download them and the links failed. I tried everything and could not get them. I next proceeded to look at the video. It worked and made the installation look simple. Hmmm, too simple! So I went ahead to take apart the iPhone as per the video. There are two screws on the bottom. I used the tool provided and it did not work. My rotten luck!

Next I tried to call the company and I got no answer. Then I tried to send a help request via the website and it failed. Uh oh! I felt I had been taken!

Two days later I decided to give it another try. After 4 attempts I reached a live body on their phone number for support. The woman I spoke with had very poor English speaking skills. Heavy oriental accent! I described my problem and she promptly said she would immediately send the correct tool. She had my order info and said that was all she needed. I received a tracking number immediately and all looked good.

In a few days I received a package from them at no charge. I could not believe what was inside. I received eight different tools. I now have a set of tools to open any Apple product – iPhone, iPad, ianything! So, I was now ready to proceed.

I removed the two bottom screws as the video showed. Piece of cake but they are teeny and you have to use care in handling and removing. Not too bad.

Next I slipped off the cover as the video showed and it was perfect. Now we come to the battery inside. (By the way, for you engineering types, Apple did an excellent job in layout and design. Amazing product inside.)

There is a screw you have to remove first that holds down the battery connector. No problem! I had to use another tool to get this out. Again no issue now that I have a set of tools.

What they did not tell me is that you have to be extremely careful or a small bracket will pop loose that holds down the antenna as well as part of the connector. It popped loose. Oh well, I will figure that out later.

In the video the next step says pull the tab and the battery lifts out. I pulled and no movement. I really pulled and no movement. I pulled so hard I was afraid I might ruin the battery or the phone in some manner. Nothing gave. So next I went to my special tools and noticed a few have these flanges and arms on them and even suction cups. I used one tool to go around the battery edges to see if I could loosen it. Nothing moved but I did get a clear edge around the battery. Next I used another tool to stick under the top edge of the battery near the side of the phone with two buttons and I got some movement up. I then used a suction cup and starting lifting. I pulled it up as much as possible and noticed Apple had an adhesive on one side holding it in. This was not in the instructions.

So I next used another tool to carefully pry away the gooey adhesive and low and behold I got the battery out. I replaced it with my new battery. All I had to do was reverse the process and all would be complete. First I had to insert the connector in place. But I had this part that fell off to replace in order to do that. It was a pain aligning it after figuring how it was installed but I got it in position to screw down the connector. I had to use another tool to hold the alignment while I used another screwdriver to tighten in the screw. Thankfully the tool was magnetic and held the teeny screw in place.

So now that I had that installed I replaced the cover and then re-installed the two bottom screws and then next turned it on. It worked!

So once again I am back in business. I have a new battery installed. I saved the company money. (I did add a few more gray hairs – there are a few hairs left on my head!) And I am now a happy guy.

So if you want to change a battery it is your decision as to you doing it or letting Apple do it. It is not as easy as they say and not for the squeamish to do but if you have an iPhone it is a good alternative to save you money. Just be prepared to get involved with a small mess and some difficulty. Or you can send your phone to me and I will change it for you. I am cheap and I now have all the tools (technically I guess they are all the company’s tools since they are going to pay for this battery. (No, I had to go through the grief. I will keep them. Ha!).

Here is a link if you want or need a battery in the future: http://www.itoolbatterykit.com/index.asp

Ken

iPhone 4 – Battery Replacement – Really Easy NOT! is a post from: Chris Cane's Blog

Caller: Hi, our printer is not working.

Customer Service: What’s wrong with it?

Caller: The Mouse is jammed.

Customer Service: Mouse? Printers don’t have a mouse!!!

Caller: Mmmmm??.. Oh really?… I will send a picture

See below

Mouse Jammed in Printer

I have a printer problem. is a post from: Chris Cane's Blog

Sears is a wonderful organization. One wonders sometimes about their benevolent and easy going return policy, but there’s no doubt their customer service works and we keep going back for more.

Look No % Key!

When electronic calculators were just coming on the market, they were quite a novelty and sometimes they actually worked. This is a story about my first calculator(s). It was about 1972 and the Bowmar electronic calculator hit the street. I went to Sears and bought one. I found a way to pay $124.95 which was a lot for me in those days. Today I remain an early adopter of technology. I probably always will. This first machine was very limited in capability.  It could add, subtract, multiply and divide. That’s all!

It worked for about two to three months when the battery would no longer hold a charge. I headed back to the store. On arrival the clerk looked at my calculator, and I was told they no longer carry that model. Technology was moving quickly. The new model available was essentially identical but had a percent key. One more button to play with. I was told that the new model was a different price and I immediately stiffened, only to hear that the new model was 99.95 rather than the 124.95 I had spent on the original. I left that day with a new calculator with a percent key and $25.00 plus tax! Not bad for a days work.!

You guessed it! The replacement calculator died in a few months, I can’t remember what happened, maybe the percent key got stuck when I spilled coke on it. Back to the store and the tale repeats itself. The model I had was no longer available. The latest and greatest now came with a bunch of new keys for the built in memory function and the price had dropped to $79.95. Yup! I got a new calculator and $20.00 plus tax back.

Buy one calculator for $124.95, trade it in twice and get a percent key. a bunch of memory keys, a calculator that worked and $55.00 back.

Not bad!

I love Sears!

The Calculator Story of 1972 is a post from: Chris Cane's Blog

I used to be a pretty smart guy. There was a time when my knowledge of home computers and applications was second to none. I bought my first PC in 1977 and it was a TRS-80 with 4K of RAM and a 16 K Tape Drive (It was called a tape drive but it really was a reasonable quality audio cassette recorder that could be controlled in a limited way by the TRS-80). This machine was upgraded to 16K of RAM with an expansion box with another 16K of RAM. Imagine that, a 32K PC. Things grew and a flopppy disk was added with 175K capacity!

It’s hard for me to remember how elated I was moving up to an IBM XT with 640 K of RAM and a 10 MB disk drive in 1982. It did not take long before that PC was retired and seemingly an endless string of PC’s followed, each with more and more capacity and without fail, I filled them up and had to move on up!

I was doing OK with web development in my little world, developing many websites (see www.amjo.net for a current list)  and along came SOCIAL NETWORKING! SO I joined

• Twitter http://twitter.com/chris_cane
• LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/in/chriscane
• FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/cscane
• Google at http://www.google.com/profiles/chris.cane
• FriendFeed at http://friendfeed.com/chriscane

and where is all this getting me! I wish I knew.

I need to to learn more about thsi (or is it a flash in the pan).

I’m gunna take a Twitter course at www.saleskonnect.com in January!

The challenge of social networking. is a post from: Chris Cane's Blog