And now a haiku:
Recommendations
Spotify is uncanny
The Magpie Salute
Category Archives: Technology
Hot Water Fixes Printer
One night last week, I was particularly tired and went to bed a little earlier than usual. Shortly after I was sound asleep, my daughter comes into my room in a panic. She says, “The printer is out of ink and my paper is due tomorrow!”
I sleepily arise from bed and head upstairs to check out the printer. It is indeed out of black ink, so I put in a new cartridge. She tries to print and the paper comes out blank. Hmm. This is interesting. Why can’t this be easy?
I go into the printer settings and find a setting that says “Clean the Print Cartridges”. Sounds like a plan. A couple of minutes later after the printer stopped making noises, we tried again. While the paper was not blank, you certainly could not read anything on the paper.
I printed an ink report and it showed that there was no black ink. Now I am starting to get very concerned. I remove the black ink cartridge and shake it around and put it back in. Still nothing.
I told my daughter that we should change the color of the text to the darkest red possible and print it because the color inks appear to be fine. She started getting upset because of some guidelines they use in English that says the ink must be black. This is when I question why this teacher doesn’t have the kids turn in papers electronically like some of her other teachers. My daughter wanted to take pictures documenting our attempts to fix the printer to show her teacher as a backup plan. That would make quite the SnapChat story.
I am officially stumped. What does one do when stumped? Enlist the help of the aggregator of all knowledge: Google. I searched for: “hp photosmart 7520 new black ink not printing”
I clicked on the first article titled: Photosmart 7520 black not printing after replacement
Someone had the exact same problem as mine and there was a way to fix it! The solution made absolutely no sense to me at all:
- Get a pan and put 1/2″ of very hot (not boiling) water in the bottom.
- Next remove all the ink cartridges, then remove the printhead assembly.
- Gently put the printhead nozzles down in the water and let it soak for five minutes.
- Remove the printhead and gently dry the electrical contacts.
- Put the printhead back in the printer and then reinstall the ink cartridges.
Soak the printhead in water? This has to be a joke. I read the rest of the page and there were two comments of people that tried this witchcraft remedy and it worked.
What have I got to lose? I removed the printer cartridges and figured out how to remove the printhead (it was surprisingly easy). The printhead did have a lot of ink caked on it. I measured to make sure I had 1/2″ of water and gently put it in. I set a timer, and waited. The water immediately turned black. I was hoping that was a good sign.
The timer goes off. I carefully removed the printhead from the water, dried it the best I could, and we went back upstairs.
I put the printhead back in the printer and replaced the ink cartridges. The printer immediately displays an error message about missing ink cartridges. Uh oh. I calmly removed all of the ink cartridges and the printhead. I examined the printhead like I knew what I was looking at. Blew on it for good measure and put everything back together.
The error message was gone! Now the printer started making all sorts of unfamiliar noises and there was even a timer on the printer’s display screen. Whatever it was doing was going to take 6 minutes.
After the timer expired and the printer calmed down, my daughter and I looked at each other like we were about to jump out of an airplane. Let’s do this! Instead of jumping out of a plane, we clicked the mouse button to send the paper to the printer. With great anticipation, we waited for that first page to complete: Success! Hallelujah!
Even though I was tired and had gone to bed early, I was wired from my technical troubleshooting and it took me about 90 minutes to fall back to sleep. Maybe fixing a printer does provide the same rush as jumping out of an airplane.
And now a haiku:
Technical problems
Hot water fixes printer
Unlikeliest tool
Find My (Wife’s) iPhone
As I have noted in the past, my wife is notorious for losing important items. Glasses, keys, and her cell phone top the list, closely followed by her ATM card.
While at Rehoboth Beach last month, we went to Jungle Jim’s, a fun water park that we like to visit when we are there. We spent a great afternoon there and as we were pulling into the driveway of our rental house, my daughter says to my wife, “Mom…can you text me the pictures you took at Jungle Jim’s?”
All of the sudden, my wife has a look of horror on her face. “I left my phone on the hood of the car!” Before we got into the car, my wife was helping to dry off my son in the parking lot and put her iPhone down on the hood of the car.
Fortunately, the Find My iPhone feature was turned on. We logged into iCloud and it showed that the phone was not in the Jungle Jim’s parking lot. Find My iPhone located the phone near an intersection that I actually bumped the curb when I made the turn, which must be when it fell off. I could not believe that it stayed on the car that long.
Off we went back to that intersection. We spent a long time looking around and finding nothing. My daughter put the iPhone in lost mode and we continued to search. The location of the iPhone on the map was actually around the corner from where I thought it would be, but I was not sure how accurate it is. As we continued to search all over, the signal on the map went dark. Either someone ran over the phone or someone picked it up and turned it off.
Around this time, I see a guy walking around and asked him if he had seen an iPhone lying around. He said no and went on his way. My daughter and son were doing something on my daughter’s iPhone, which we were using to track my wife’s phone. Somehow they were able to get the address of the last known location of the phone. It was close by, but down a street we had not been down (either by car or foot). With my wife and kids in the car and my dad, who had come to join the search, continuing to search the area, I walked down the street trying to find the address. The area where we were searching was kind of secluded with some industrial buildings and some houses. I probably would not feel safe there at night.
I finally saw a house with the address and saw the guy that I asked about the iPhone. He called me over and asked if I was still looking for an iPhone. I said yes and he called to someone in the house and a woman walks out with my wife’s iPhone! She had a thick accent that I could not quite understand, but she proceeded to tell me that the phone did not have a SIM card and did not work. Then, she mentioned something about throwing the phone (or so I thought) in the trash. While I was extremely confused, I was so relieved to get the phone back. The only damage to the phone appeared to be a dent on the corner of the phone case.
I walked back to the car hoisting the phone over my head, like I just won the Lombardi Trophy. My wife and kids were upset that I wandered off out of view in, what appeared to be, a sketchy neighborhood. However, after we took a moment to breathe, we all celebrated finding the phone.
We were confused about the missing SIM card. My initial theory was that the phone got damaged when it flew off the car. I could not find something small enough to eject the SIM card, so I could not verify if it was missing or not. However, it must have been working at some point for us to track the phone. Then, I believe I figured out what the person who found the phone was telling me. I think she took out the SIM card and threw it away. I think if I did not show up when I did, they would have either kept the phone for themselves or sold it.
I took the phone to a local Verizon store the next day and they confirmed that the SIM card was missing. Ten dollars later, armed with a new SIM card, the phone was functional again. After our adventure, I read about a news story where a teenager left his iPhone in a cab, used Find My iPhone to track down the phone and was shot and killed by the person that found it in the cab. I feel very lucky.
And now a haiku:
My digital life
Exposed, in a stranger’s hand
Please find my iPhone
Spotify? More like Spookify.
I have sung the praises of Spotify in the past. It is a great and valuable service for someone like me who listens to music on the computer all day while I work. I have also used Spotify in conjunction with Last.fm to discover new music. Recently, Spotify introduced a feature called Discover that works similar to Last.fm. Discover uses your listening history to suggest music that you may want to listen to. In my brief time using Spotify Discover, I can safely say that it does a much better job than Last.fm at suggesting music that is relevant to my tastes.
Spotify Discover may suggest a song that I have not listened to in awhile or a song that it thinks that I would like based on other songs that I have listened to.
Imagine my surprise and horror when I saw the following:
“Livin’ On A Prayer was huge when you were a teenager. Play Now?”
The fact that Spotify suggested that I may want to listen to Bon Jovi is not the problem. At first, I thought the suggestion was kind of funny because it was true — Livin’ On A Prayer was huge when I was a teenager. Then I freaked out a little bit because it was true. How the hell does Spotify know my age? I quickly checked my Spotify profile and my birthday is no where to be found. Spotify is deeply integrated with Facebook, but I never linked my Facebook account with my Spotify account for privacy reasons.
Apparently, there is no privacy on the Internet. Is Spotify guessing my age based on the music I listen to? I do not think so because my kids listen to music using my account also. I think I would really lose it if the next suggestion said, “Your daughter listened to Katy Perry. She might like Lady Gaga.”
I do not know where they are getting my information, but the Internet probably has enough information about me to connect the dots. Spotify uses HTML5 under the covers and I am guessing that cookies are to blame. Cookies are bits of information that websites store locally on your web browser. Unfortunately, 3rd-party cookies can be used to keep track of websites that you visit and can be used to build a database of information about you. I am about 99% sure that is how Spotify is able to determine my age. If I had ever entered my birth date on another website, it is possible for Spotify to access that information and associate it with me. It is definitely scary.
Unfortunately, there is probably nothing that can be done about this. Even before the Eric Snowden stuff came out about the NSA, I had already accepted the fact that privacy is a thing of the past. However, this revelation that Spotify knows my age has really rattled me. I guess when lack of privacy smacks you in the face, it becomes real.
And now a haiku:
Oh, omnipresent
Spotify, seer of all
Friend of Big Brother
The Sweet Smell of Hell
About a year ago, I bought my daughter an iPhone 4S. Since she was 12 at the time, I did something that I normally would never do: I bought the extended warranty. I figured that she will have the phone until she is at least 14 and there is plenty of potential damage that a young, teenager can do in 2 years.
This weekend we took advantage of the warranty and got her damaged phone replaced. Ironically, I am the one who damaged the phone. I bet you did not see that one coming.
I am sure if we could look at the situation through the lens of a sitcom, you would see that it is all my wife’s fault. Since that is not possible, I will take full blame because it really is 100% my fault.
I hate plug-in air fresheners. Especially the ones that are filled with oil. They are so sickly, sweet smelling. They are torture. If you wanted to get information out of me, you could probably put me in a room full of plug-ins and I would tell you anything you wanted to know.
My wife, on the other hand, loves how they make the house smell. Whenever I notice that she has plugged one in, I unplug and then hide the dastardly device. Last weekend, we were expecting guests for dinner and my wife really wanted me to tell her where I hid the plug-in.
I relented and retrieved it from its hiding place and plugged it in.
About a half hour later, my daughter is freaking out. Why? Because I had plugged in the air freshener…upside down…right above where my daughter’s iPhone was charging. The amount of damage that heated, scented oil can cause is incredible. It melted her plastic iPhone case. The oil had gotten under the glass and the display was ruined and the sound from the phone’s speakers was distorted. Oh, the sweet smell of Hell.
I was freaking out because I am pretty sure that iPhones that get wet are not covered by AppleCare. I was not sure if the scented oil would trigger the ‘wet’ sensor. I told my daughter that we would try to get it replaced, but that I would not be paying full price for a new one if it the damage was not covered.
Best case: It is covered and I pay the deductible to get it replaced.
Worst case: I try to find a used iPhone 4S online
Fortunately, it was covered. Whew. A week after the incident, the Apple store ‘Genius’ could still smell the scented oil, which I thought was amusing.
My daughter was so happy. I was so happy. I will no longer touch one of those plug-ins.
And now a haiku:
iPhone death by dad
Step up to the Genius Bar
Praise be to Apple
Ummm….Hello?
I had to call Time Warner technical support today because I have been having trouble logging in to HBO Go and the Time Warner Roku app. I actually reached someone who was helpful. He said he would have to reboot my router (because that is always the solution) and then wait 2 minutes for the router to come back online.
The phone sounded like it went dead, but I figured that he put me on hold while the router rebooted. After two minutes (with the phone still silent), I attempted to try to log in to HBO Go. Much to my surprise, rebooting the router solved the problem!
Thinking that maybe the tech had put me on mute, I said, “I don’t know if you can hear me, but rebooting the router worked.” Then, I realized my phone was dead and I was angry that the tech hung up on me.
Wait a minute!!!
I literally just realized why the phone went dead and I feel a little dumb. He did not hang up on me. I used a VOIP phone to call tech support. When he rebooted the router, I lost connection to the Internet, therefore, the phone went dead.
I suppose I should be upset that he didn’t call back, but that is ok. He solved my problem.
About 15 minutes ago, a Time Warner robot called me to answer a survey on my tech support experience. At the time I answered the questions, I thought the tech hung up on me, so I was not very kind. When I tried to leave a recorded message, the robot told me that I would have 1 minute. About 2 seconds into my message, I heard a beep and I was disconnected!
And now a haiku:
Internet trouble
Reboot the router, of course
Always works wonders
More Time Warner Issues
I thought that I had gotten to a point where I was relatively happy with Time Warner Cable. However, I just hit a snag. When we were in the process of moving, I was stressing out about watching my hometown sports teams. I had figured out a solution that I was happy with.
With baseball season on the horizon, I went to MLB.TV to sign up for the 2013 season. For $25 for the season, I could watch any Orioles or Nationals game live. Then, I started reading the fine print talking about blackout restrictions. I entered in my ZIP code not expecting any teams to be restricted. I was stunned and extraordinarily perturbed to see that I am in a blackout zone for both the Orioles and Nationals.
I thought that if you could watch the game on TV, then you were in a blackout zone. Other than DirecTV, there is absolutely no way for me to see the games live. If I subscribed to MLB.TV, I could watch the games starting 90 minutes after they end.
I have called MLB.TV to complain.
I have written to MASN to complain.
I have called Time Warner to complain.
I have searched the web and found that MASN and Time Warner are in a dispute.
Time Warner just recently added the NFL Network. If they can delay a channel that their subscribers around the country were screaming for, what is their motivation for making a deal with MASN? My only other alternative is subscribing to the most expensive tier of DirecTV, which has MASN.
Other options:
- Use my sister’s Slingbox to watch games (when my sister and her husband aren’t trying to watch something else).
- Figure out how to route my Internet through some proxy server so that MLB.TV thinks I am not in a blackout zone.
I am very upset about this. Especially because my son and I enjoy watching O’s and Nats games together.
And now a haiku:
Orioles and Nats
Quality time with my son
Nixed by corporate greed
All Tivos are GO
Today, I received a package from Time Warner: two tuning adapters and two cable cards. These were the tuning adapters I ordered two weeks ago that I now no longer need because TW could not figure out why they had not been sent yet and sent a tech out instead. Fortunately, I used one of the new cable cards to replace a non-functioning one and just had it paired successfully. I now have closure.
And now a haiku:
All Tivos are GO
Activate couch potato
Now entertain us
Cable card failure
The cable guy came out again today. No one would believe me that the Tivo Series 3 needs 2 cable cards even if one of them is an M-card…until one card only activated one tuner like I said would happen.
When they finally believed me and tried to add the second card, for some reason, it wouldn’t pair.
Then, Time Warner told me something ludicrous about the Tivo, which I confirmed was ludicrous when I called Tivo. Now I have to call Time Warner back to figure it all out. Not fun and a waste of my time.
On the plus side, Time Warner called and I think I will definitely get my tuning adapters tomorrow.
So, now I have one Tivo with two tuners that gets half the channels and one Tivo with one tuner that gets half the channels.
And now a haiku:
Cable card failure
One tuner is not enough
What’s it gonna take?
Cable Card Incompentence
Time has passed since my last post. We are all moved into our new house in Wake Forest. However, the purpose of this post is to bitch about Time Warner Cable. As I feared, the one thing that I would miss the most when I moved from Maryland is my Verizon FiOS service.
The Internet service from Time Warner is not too bad — 30 down and 5 up. Verizon was superior with 35 down and up (and the option for much faster speeds), but I will not complain, since 30/5 seems like it works ok for my purposes.
The TV service is where I am currently having the most issues. Time Warner contracts out their installs, so a tech from Kablelink (which sounds eerily similar to 30 Rock’s fictional cable company Kabletown) came out last Monday. I requested 3 cable cards for my 2 TiVos. In my experience, it seems like every time a tech (from any company Comcast, Verizon, TW) arrives for a cable card install, at least one of the cards is bad. This time was no different. Two of the three cards were bad and, as usual, the tech did not bring any spares.
The tech says that he should have new cards in by Friday and that another tech will come back. A new tech came back on Friday WITH THE SAME TWO CABLE CARDS THAT DID NOT WORK ON MONDAY!! The tech said they should get more this week. I am not holding my breath.
Can I live with one operational TiVo? Of course. Can I live with one operational TiVo that only gets half of the channels that it is supposed to? No, but that is what I am dealing with (First World Problem…I know). I am only getting half of the channel lineup because the tech failed to tell me that Time Warner requires tuning adapters because they use Switched Digital Video — something I never had to deal with before. I called up Time Warner and they supposedly shipped them to me. I am expecting them today, but, again, I am not holding my breath.
Fortunately, everyone at Time Warner and Kablelink have been very pleasant to deal with, so I have refrained from “asking to speak to a manager”. Hopefully, by the end of the week, I will be able to watch the other half of my channels. Fortunately, AMC runs the most recent episode of The Walking Dead many times during the week.
And now a haiku:
Cable incomplete
Partial TiVo is like hell
Want to watch zombies
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