Customer Service FAIL, SRS Labs with SRS Audio Sandbox

Sunday, August 9th, 2009

(edit, Sept. 18, 2009: As expected SRS never cared to follow-up with me. Also, realized that SRS Audio Sandbox didn’t work perfectly before this error. Sound will loop indefinitely if you’re playing something for a few hours consecutively, like music or playing a game. Worse is that there’s no way to stop the sound unless you reset Windows. Muting or turning off SRS or the application playing the sound does nothing. I had this error, but never realized it was SRS. I thought it was my soundcard. I let Mike have my licensed copy of Sandbox since I can’t use it, but he’s decided to uninstall it because he also gets the looping issue while playing games)

It’s lousy enough when Customer Service ignores you. It’s even worse when they pretend to care, but actually don’t.

And that’s my saga with SRS Labs and their SRS Audio Sandbox plugin. The product itself, when it was working, was fantastic. I bought it about a year ago, and it could be used with any audio, whereas most other plugins will work just with specific software, like Winamp or Windows Media Player. Since I use VLC for video and Media Monkey for music, those pluglins were useless.

So, like I said, it was fantastic while it was working. It stopped working a couple of months ago. I have no idea why. After contacting SRS, I still don’t know why but I also still have a non-working product, and I’ve wasted the money I used to purchase it. And that sucks.

After being ignored (“It’s even worse when they pretend to care, but actually don’t.”), I have no other avenues to pursue, so I figured I’d just write about it.

June 1st, 2009- From me, to the contact form on their website:

Product: SRS Audio Sandbox software
Operating System: Windows Vista
Product Version: 1.9.0.4
Sound Card: Soundmax Integrated Digital HD Audio

Message: A few days ago I downloaded 1.9.0.4 to upgrade over 1.9.0.1. Even though under the Sound applet in Control Panel, it shows SRS working (the application also says it is working without errors), there is no sound. I have checked to make sure the volume is up, the sound is not muted, but there is no sound whatsoever. Once I change the default sound back to the Soundmax, however, sound is there again. While SRS before worked with no problems, the new version doesn’t work at all. I also don’t have 1.9.0.1 anymore to reinstall. I have uninstalled the new version before reinstalling, tried resetting the system to make sure the audio drivers are in place- none of that works. Again, everything from the Vista standpoint is working- everything reports that sound is playing back, but it is not. If I switch to the default sound, everything works fine, but obviously SRS doesn’t work. What can I do?

June 3rd, 2009- From: Michael Gonzales [mailto:MichaelG@srslabs.com] to me

I believe it’s a compatibility issue with your HD sound card. And simply the plug-in probably won’t work with it. Your best bet is to uninstall the plug-in.

Kind Regards,
Michael

Right away, I thought, did he even read my request? It WAS working, for quite a long time, and then it didn’t. Anyway, his reply is basically saying to me, we have no solution for you, that’s your problem. Even though you are probably one of the few who paid for it instead of downloading a cracked version.

June 3rd, 2009- My response to Mr. Gonzales

Hi Michael,
I actually have purchased the SRS software, so I’m definitely invested in finding a solution. Like I mentioned before, the SRS version I was using before ( I believe 1.9.0.1) was working for me fine, would you be able to send me the older version so I can retry it?

Thanks,
Michael

June 8th, 2009- After not hearing back from SRS for 5 days, I sent another e-mail to Mr. Gonzales. Before I was just asking to check out a previous version of the software to see if it would work. Since I didn’t hear back, I actually had to go pirate it. Yeah, I pirated a version of the software I actually own.

Hi Michael,
I’m e-mailing again to ask about support.

Would I be able to provide more information in order to help me fix this problem? I’m using Vista Home Premium SP2 on a Lenovo Thinkpad T61P. Like I said, it was working fine until about a week ago, when it stopped working as soon as I installed the newest version. Windows seems to think it is working (they show audio levels going up and down) but there is no sound, but if I switch back to the default sound card, it’s fine again.

As I have mentioned before, I am a paid customer of SRS, so I am definitely alarmed if my purchase now is completely non-working, especially since I love the product.

Sincerely,
Michael

I still didn’t hear a response after this, so I just gave up, and posted a random complaint on Twitter a little bit after this. To my surprise, SRS found me and responded on July 14th, 5 weeks later. Looks like using social media can help! I e-mailed the guy who had contacted me on Twitter.

July 15, 2009-  I sent the below as well as all previous correspondence to Michael Farino <MichaelF@srslabs.com>

Hi Michael,
Since this last e-mail, I have reformatted and installed the Windows 7 Beta, and the issue still exists. I am still not sure why, and if it’s a hardware issue, I would think the soundcard would be dead completely, not just be a problem for SRS.

Thanks,
Michael

July 16, 2009- Michael Farino asks Michael Gonzales (btw, if you notice there are so many “Michael”s, my name is Michael as well), the guy who ignored me before to help, and I get the following:

Hello,
What type of sound card are you currently running?

Kind Regards,
Mike

Nothing like people not even using your name when replying. Originally, I had already listed the sound card I am using in the original form, but what the hell, I’ll try to do my part to help.

July 16, 2009- From Me, in response to Michael G.

Hi Mike,
I am using a SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio, driver version 6.10.1.5510.

July 17, 2009- From Michael G

Hello,
Where did you make the purchase through our site or through paypal? Did you use your information or purchase it under someone else’s name?

Kind Regards,
Michael

He still doesn’t know my name. And he is doubting that I even paid for the software. Of course, I did make this support request 7 weeks ago. But
.I’m willing to prove that I did pay the company.

July 17, 2009- From Me, I send the receipt of my purchase

Hi Michael,
Please see attached for my receipt.

July 27, 2009- 10 days go by and there is no response. This is where I’m starting to get tired of this lets-pretend-we-care-but-ignore-him-until-he-stops-bothering-us tactic. I e-mail Michael F for some help with all the entire dialogue thus far.

Hi Michael,
I haven’t heard anything back from Michael G. Can you assist?

Thanks,
Michael

July 28, 2009- Michael G responds,

Hello,

As I said before this is simply a compatibility issue with you HD sound card, there is no current solution or fix, and I apologize. You should uninstall the plug-in and your sound playback will return.

Kind Regards,
Michael

Now we’re back to to that June 3rd response again- we can’t help. Period. Does he really know if my sound card doesn’t support it? How come it’s not documented on the site? Wouldn’t that be a lousy thing to do with your customers? Hey, let’s sell software that doesn’t run with certain soundcards, but not even tell people that so they can buy it, and THEN find out. But wait, this software already worked with this sound card before, almost for a year. Hmmmm.

Also, why’d he bother asking about my receipt- he didn’t give me any support, he just ignored me further.

So, at this point, it’s like BS.

July 28, 2009- Me, to Michael G

Hi Michael,

As I mentioned before, SRS was working for me for nearly a year. I didn’t change the sound card, the OS, or the laptop, so it doesn’t seem conceivable that there’s just now a compatibility issue.

I appreciate any help, but I don’t feel like SRS is really interested in working with me to figure this out. With the answer you’re giving me, it feels more like I’m being ignored and brushed aside rather than you truly know this is the issue.

-Michael

July 29, 2009- From Michael G

Hello Michael,

I apologize that you feel that way. It’s just that usually in these particular situations, the problem is has to do with the HD sound cards. Could you please further explain how exactly it stopped working for you, it was hard to indentify what the problem exactly was in this thread. I can try to look into it further and see if we can identify any other problems or possible fixes, if not like I said the only remaining option that we have found for HD fixes is to uninstall. If that’s the case I’d be obliged to offer a full refund of course.

Kind Regards,

Michael

We are going around in circles at this point. I have run a Customer Service department before (not to brag, it’s just a fact), and I know how people normally ask for requests. Normally, you have people giving no information whatsoever about the issue, they just assume you can figure it out for them. I had at least tried to be open and very upfront with all the information I knew in the very first request, and even added additional info as I kept trying to find the solution. I was even willing to answer more questions about the issue. In his response, Michael G is just trying to put this issue back on me in a passive manner, yet he doesn’t have a specific question about what (“Could you please further explain how exactly“) I wrote before, which implies that 1) he doesn’t care 2) he didn’t read it.

July 29, 2009- My final response:

Hi Michael,

Here was the original support request:

Message: A few days ago I downloaded 1.9.0.4 to upgrade over 1.9.0.1. Even though under the Sound applet in Control Panel, it shows SRS working (the application also says it is working without errors), there is no sound. I have checked to make sure the volume is up, the sound is not muted, but there is no sound whatsoever. Once I change the default sound back to the Soundmax, however, sound is there again. While SRS before worked with no problems, the new version doesn’t work at all. I also don’t have 1.9.0.1 anymore to reinstall. I have uninstalled the new version before reinstalling, tried resetting the system to make sure the audio drivers are in place- none of that works. Again, everything from the Vista standpoint is working- everything reports that sound is playing back, but it is not. If I switch to the default sound, everything works fine, but obviously SRS doesn’t work. What can I do?

As I said above, when I run SRS, it believes it is working. The sound meters go up normally, but there is no sound. Once I disable the software and switch it back to the sound card, everything is ok. I am not running any additional sound software. Also as I have mentioned before, before upgrading, SoundMax worked fine ever since I bought, 0 problems.

Since then, I have switched to Windows 7 Beta, build 7100, in hopes the error would be solved, but it has not. Under Windows 7, I am using SoundMAX Integrated Digital HD Audio driver version 6.10.1.5510 on a Lenovo T61P.

Please let me know how I can clarify this further for you.

Thanks,

Michael

Today is August 8th, 10 days after the last contact. No response. I’m not going to even bother e-mailing back. I suppose SRS will be happy now, they’ve gotten me to drop it.

I’m just going to post it on this blog and e-mail http://consumerist.com/, and if I’m lucky and this is kind of a big deal, they’ll pick it up.

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09.08.2009 Random, Tech 4 Comments

That is Weird [The Uncomfortable]

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

Just saw this in my e-mail. I assume it’s not just generic spam since he talks about Hanoi, but Outlook (smartly?) put it in my junk e-mail.

Subject:computer software

From: jason [triga@bigpond.net.au]

Hey hows it going, i like your thread. I am an australian and looking to buy a large qunatity of both computer software and TV series box sets. I have been to Hanoi in June this year but didnt really look into it. I want to find someon who can can look after my ongoing needs in Hanoi to mail me everything i need. Emnail me back if you are interested and we can talk about money and what you can get.

I really hope this guy isn’t teaching English to little kids- I’m uncomfortable with how he used “ongoing needs” and his spelling is terrible.

At least I try to use spell check!

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05.08.2009 Random, Vietnam No Comments

I’ve Joined Kiva! (Helping Vietnamese People)

Friday, July 10th, 2009
Image representing Kiva as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

My sister’s been using Kiva for years, and she recently got me a gift certificate to get started, and so I’m finally involved it as well.

Kiva, as it describes itself, is “the world’s first person-to-person micro-lending website, empowering individuals to lend directly to unique entrepreneurs around the globe.” “Kiva is a non-profit organization that allows you to make a small loan to low income entrepreneurs across the globe (microfinance). Individuals like you can help provide affordable working capital for the poor — money to buy a sewing machine, livestock, etc. – and help an entrepreneur escape poverty”

Basically this means you can take part in microfinancing various projects around the world, with Kiva as the agent (I wouldn’t quite say middleman because Kiva isn’t profiting from anyone). Kiva helps find ideal projects and gets the work done so a qualified individual can present himself on the website and ask for help. From there, people/lenders look at what projects they are interesting in funding, then do so. I took my sister’s original gift certificate and then added my own $25 contribution to join a couple of projects. I’ve also added a Wordpress plugin (see bottom right of this site) that lists what I’ve invested in. (oops, plugin not working for now)

The process is pretty simple:

  1. Join the website, purchase an amount you’d like to invest (kind of like credits, depositing money into your Kiva acount) with PayPal.
  2. Look for projects all over the world, and find one you’re interested in. Each project shows the picture of the actual person you’ll be loaning money to, as well as a description of what they want to do. I assume Kiva helps translate what they want to say, working with other groups that are on the ground. Each investment project has a total they need to reach; they can’t begin until they reach the target. They’ve also recently started projects in the US; these tend to need more money in fund raising (to be expected), but there are also videos of each applicant, so you can get a better feel of what the person is all about. I wonder if we can visit those people to say hello.
  3. Pick a project and invest. Like any investment, there’s no guarantee. You also won’t profit from your loan, it’s a pure loan $X, get $X back. It’s helping people!

For my first two investments,

(On, and I know the accents are getting killed in my blog, I’ve never been able to support accents in the actual blog posts correctly)

    Ti?n Nguy?n V?n (20206050011) is a 28 year-old male living in the town of YĂȘn Phong – B?c Ninh. Ti?n is the group leader of a 5-member group loan offered by SEDA. While each member of the group receives an individual loan, they all are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members, if someone is delinquent or defaults. The official name of this borrowing group is YĂȘn V? 03 (3).
    Ti?n is married and has 2 infant children. To make a living, Ti?n owns & operates a business raising chickens for sale. Ti?n has been engaged in this business for over 5 years and earns approximately 3,000,000 VND a month from these activities.
    Ti?n joined SEDA to gain access to financial services to help improve his living situation and to engage in business activities. Ti?n is requesting a loan of 5,152,000 VND to purchase livestock feed & other supplies. This will be the 1st loan taken out by Ti?n from SEDA. He plans to use the additional revenue generated to improve and expand his business.

    image BĂŹnh Nguy?n Th? (254991509) is a 51 year-old female living in the town of SĂłc S?n. She is married and has 3 adult-aged children. To making a living, BĂŹnh owns & operates a business venture in the agriculture sector raising livestock. While not the only means for generating revenue, the main source of income for the business comes primarily from raising fish for sale. BĂŹnh has been engaged in this business for over 10 years and earns approximately 5,500,000 VND a month from these activities.
    In 1996, BĂŹnh joined TYM Fund to gain access to financial services to help improve her living situation and ability to engage in business activities. BĂŹnh has successfully repaid a previous loan of 20,000,000 VND from TYM Fund. This previous loan was used to renovate an existing shelter for the her livestock. BĂŹnh is now requesting a new loan of 20,000,000 VND which will be used to purchase baby livestock to raise & sell in future. The loan will be the 10th loan taken out by her from TYM Fund. BĂŹnh plans to use the additional revenue generated from the business to improve/expand her business.

I don’t really have deep reasons why I decided to invest in these two particular projects, I just felt like it. I wanted to invest in Vietnam just because
 Nguyen Thi Binh is the name of a good friend, so that was one. The other was I just wanted to pick someone who hadn’t gotten a loan before; a lot of people had received multiple loans before.
The loan repayment period for both is slightly over a year, so I guess I’ll just be waiting around and seeing how these people do over time. Since I live in Vietnam, I wonder if I could somehow visit these people, not really to make myself known, but just to see the real use of the money.

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10.07.2009 Random, Vietnam 4 Comments

Good bye, Landon

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Pictures from Landon's Booze Cruise in Summer 2007My friend Landon died last Wednesday in TPHCM (Ho Chi Minh City) by suicide. He was 28.

It’s hard to really describe how I feel. Like most people, I’ve read about suicides in the news, and what’s normal for friends and family is to say that they’re in a state of shock over what happened.

Now that it’s close to me, I am shocked. I am bewildered. There is something in my mind that just refuses to believe it. This is something you read about in the news or see in movies, to know that someone you knew was having such a difficult time in life, that death was the only option, for me, perhaps I have a certain immaturity that I just can’t grasp my mind around it. A friend told me he had been diagnosed with clinical depression, but it frustrates me just to imagine how difficult things must have been for him. What I fear the most, and think about almost every day, is something that was his only resort.

I had known Landon for a little over two and a half years- he was one of the first people I met upon my return to Vietnam, and he was the one who made the introduction to my current work place. I was certainly not a close friend, but I did consider him a friend.

He was, almost literally, fun. So outgoing, so social, yet such a good guy in the sense that when you talked to him you could tell he was listening, he was interested, even if you’re someone like me. There was always a depth to him as well, however, a seriousness about him that let you know he was serious about the world, he knew what it was. He was incredibly talented, he was someone on the path of a superstar; if you learned about his background, you couldn’t help but be impressed by all his accomplishments: superb athlete, incredible student, doing well in his career in Vietnam, you had no doubt that his prospects in life were bright. He’s one of those guys who intimidate you, someone you can’t help but feel inadequate to in comparison, yet he’s the one to reach out to you to welcome you in.

The last time I talked to him was last November, right around his birthday. I saw him in May when I went to see Star Trek, but didn’t say hi because of the crowd. He was just a couple of weeks older than me and his death strikes me with fear as I think if the world was too much for him to handle, for one so young, do I really have a chance over the long run? It seems so
ridiculous or just unfair, for lack of a better word, to me that there are conditions in life that can’t be stopped, cannot be overcome for many people and end in such sadness.

Landon, I do not know where you are now, but I hope that you have found the internal peace you deserve.

You were a friend.

I will remember you.

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10.06.2009 Random, Vietnam 4 Comments

I Heart Biore Pore Pack

Friday, May 15th, 2009

P110509_21.50 (Small) I am not so cosmetically inclined, being a male and not cool enough to know my way around men’s beauty. I also have a fairly good complexion, though I would think you should by the time you’re 28 like I am now.

If there are two things I must have though (both are pictured- for some reason I always end up losing the chapstick wrapper), well there would only be one: chapstick. I don’t need high end chapstick, Walgreens-brand is just fine.

The other is Biore’s Pore Pack for Men, a little more optional for me, but I like it. I have a blackheads (on my nose) issue, though I am not sure why they’re not black. I guess they’re whiteheads? Why does this issue have to bring in race, I do not know.

In Vietnam, packs of 5 (use one a week) are sold for around 20K VND, about $1.20 USD. Worth it! In Hanoi, I’d get them from Citimart at Vincom. In Saigon, it’s been a bit harder for me to track down, but I did find them in District 2, at the drugstore on the second floor of the An Phu supermarket on the Thao Dien side.

The application is simple. Wet your nose. Apply sticker. Rub sticker to ensure adhesion. Keep for 20 minutes. Rip. Cry if painful (I never do though, because I am tough!). Repeat weekly.

To really ensure best results, though, I suggest applying one right after a shower. Don’t even wipe yourself dry- while wet, peel off the sticker and rub onto your nose. Dry yourself afterwards, hang out for 30 minutes to make sure the adhesive is as dry as possible.

Rip!

I would show you a picture of my results, but I think people are freaked out by stuff like that. I love looking at it though, it’s kind of amazing how more pores are suddenly clear. Each time I rip off the sticker, I want to see lots of clogged pores now cleared up.

The Pore Pack isn’t perfect by any means, however. Plenty of pores seem to be left clogged, especially on the front side of the nose, below the bridge. It’s much more effective with the sides of your nose, but overall, unless there’s a better product out there, I’m happy with the results.

Hey, Biore, do I get my free endorsement package now?

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15.05.2009 Random, Reviews 2 Comments

Early Mother’s Day Surprise!*pics*! – Purse Forum

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

How awesome was this? My sister got the below for my Mom for Mother’s Day. I had nothing do with this wonderfulness, but you can see me in that picture below anyway. In another note, my sister has almost 3,000 posts in a purse forum!?

uhkiwi

Member

Joined: Sep 2005

Posts: 2,794

Default Early Mother’s Day Surprise!*pics*!

This is waiting for my mom when she gets back from her walk with my dad!

Default

a lovely pf-er gave me her pce to purchase the scarf

and the charm came from ebay

Early Mother’s Day Surprise!*pics*! – Purse Forum

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10.05.2009 Random No Comments

April Fool’s FAIL

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

Fail002

I’m submitting this to Fail, but I doubt it’s anywhere near great enough to make it.

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03.04.2009 Blog, Random, Tech No Comments

Top 10 Tools for a Free Online Education

Wednesday, April 1st, 2009

If I only had a half a brain, I’d still only have half a brain
..But we can all hope to be educated at some point in our lives can’t we? Personally, I’d like flesh out my Vietnamese-language skills and return to programming, which I forsake during my college years for Comparative Literature.

(from Lifehacker)

Top 10 Tools for a Free Online Education

By Kevin Purdy, 9:00 AM on Sat Mar 28 2009, 4,427 views

It’s easy to forget these days that the internet started out as a place for academics and researchers to trade data and knowledge. Recapture the web’s brain-expanding potential with these free resources for educating yourself online.

Photo by Sailor Coruscant.

10. Teach yourself programming

Coding, whether on the web or on the desktop, is one of those skills you’ll almost never regret having. Coincidentally, the web is full of people willing to teach, and show off, programming skills. Whether you’re looking to knock out a modest Firefox extension or tackle your first programming language, there’s no requirement to run out and buy the thickest book you can find at Barnes & Noble. Google Code University, for instance, hosts a whole CSE program’s worth of straight-up coding lessons in its bowels. We’ve pointed out a lot of other programming resources found around the web, so you should be able to get started in almost any project. As for the random, unexpected, seemingly inscrutable bugs, well … welcome to the fold.

9. Get a Personal MBA

“MBA programs don’t have a monopoly on advanced business knowledge: you can teach yourself everything you need to know to succeed in life and at work.” The Personal MBA site occasionally updates its list of dozens of helpful business books, designed to teach both the nuts-and-bolts money stuff and the kind of thinking one needs to get ahead in sales, marketing, or wherever your interests lie. A business school can offer networking, mentoring, and other perks, but nobody can teach you enthusiasm and business savvy—except yourself.

8. Learn to actually use Ubuntu

Too often, newcomers to Ubuntu, the seriously popular Linux distribution, find that their questions about any problem great or small is answered with a curt “Search the forums,” or “Just Google it.” From experience, that’s like telling someone there’s maple sap somewhere in that forest, so here’s a nail and get moving. With a brand-new installation sitting on your computer, few resources are as straight-forward and comprehensive as the Ubuntu Guide, which is packed with common stuff like installing VLC and getting VLC playback, but spans across topics including Samba and remote printing configuration. Author Keir Thomas also offered Lifehacker readers a little preview of his Ubuntu Kung Fu in two excerpts that tweak one’s system into a faster, more efficient data flinger.

7. Get started on a new language

Nobody’s pretending you can talk like a local without some immersion experience. But there’s a lot of resources on the web for honing an already-sharpened second language, or at least picking up some of the vocab and nuances. Learn10 gives you 10 vocabulary builders delivered every day by email, through iGoogle, through an iPhone page, or most any other way you’d like. One Minute Languages podcasts its lessons and lets newcomers stream from the archives. And Mango Languages has about 100 lessons, shown to you in PowerPoint style with interstitial quizzes, to move you through any language without cracking a book. Not that books are bad, of course, but this is stuff you can crack out during a coffee break.

6. Trade your skills, find an instructor

As Ramit Sethi put it in our interview, many people don’t realize the value of the skills they do have, whether it’s something as simple as higher-level English or software lessons for those in need. A site like TeachMate capitalizes on the inherent disparities in our interests, letting someone willing to teach a bit of, for example, Russian language get cooking lessons in return. If a site like TeachMate doesn’t quite reach you, try Craigslist, which, especially in a recession, is brimming with people looking to trade skills instead of cash.

5. Academic Earth and YouTube EDU

We have to guess that having a giant, searchable database of free academic lectures was just too good an idea for two different web firms to pass up. Academic Earth has been described as a Hulu-like aggregator for lots of major universities’ content, and offers the slicker and more navigable front-end for them, as well as allowing embedding and sharing with no restrictions. YouTube EDU might have a broader reach, and the player and format might be a bit more familiar to most. Both sites offer both individual lectures and full course series, and are definitely worth checking out.

4. Teach yourself all kinds of photography

Sites like Photojojo and Digital Photography School are oft-linked resources around Lifehacker, and for good reason. They let the uber-technical shooters run wild in forums and discussion groups, but focus the majority of their front-page posts on things that beginning DSLR shooters and moderate consumer-cam photographers can grasp and mix into their daily camera work. Of course, we’ve compiled and sought out our own digital photography advice at Lifehacker, including photographer Scott Feldstein’s guide to mastering your DSLR camera (Part 1 and Part 2), and our compilation of David Pogue’s best photography tricks, plus ours. Then there’s the simple pleasures of posting on Flickr, seeking out Photo by Marcin Wichary.

3. Get an unofficial liberal arts major

Whole-mind learning doesn’t end the day you declare a major and start sending out resumes. A huge number of universities offer up some of their most unique and fascinating resources for free online, posting up databases, image galleries, and all kinds of stuff you wish you had time to dig through during your undergrad years. Learn everything you ever wanted to about Picasso at Texas A & M’s Picasso Project. Indulge your inner geo-geek with super hi-res images from Hirise at the University of Arizona. Tour the world’s spaces in 3D with The World Wide Panorama at UC Berkeley. Wendy Boswell discovered those resources and way more in her discovery of the .edu underground, and you can find a lot more down there, too.

2. Learn an instrument

If being dropped off at the music store/mall/piano teacher’s house wasn’t a memorable part of your childhood, you might dig the digital age’s equivalents a lot more. Guitar players, in particular, have a lot of places to turn for video, audio, and graphical teaching tools. Adam rounded a lot of them up in his guide to learning to play an instrument online. If you want to build a foundation for learning any instrument, though, Ricci Adams’ Musictheory.net has Flash-based tutorials that offer a gentle tour through keys, time signatures, modalities, and the other ins and outs of notes and chords.

1. Learn from actual college courses online

A huge number of colleges, universities, and other degree-granting universities are going all open-source these days—giving away the actual guts of their courses, while retaining their revenue stream by awarding degrees only to those who pay. In this day and age, though, programming, marketing, design, and other self-taught skills are pretty valuable, however you came by them. Whether you’re looking to break into a field or just augment your skill set, dig into our guide to getting a free college education online, which we then updated a bit with Education Portal’s list of ten universities with the best free online courses. Just think about it—at home, with your coffee and comfortable chair, you’re far more awake than the average co-ed who totally should have hit the hay a bit earlier last night.

Where do you turn when you have to teach yourself something? What skills or topics would you like to see more coverage of on Lifehacker, or just anywhere on the web? Help us plan a curriculum in the comments.

Lifehacker Top 10: Top 10 Tools for a Free Online Education

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01.04.2009 Random No Comments

What Your Blog Says About You

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

(Link: What Your Blog Says About You – BusinessWeek)

What Your Blog Says About You

Posted by: Rachael King on March 22

What is your blog’s personality type? A new Web site called Typealyzer will analyze your blog and tell you what it says about you. Typealyzer is a research project that looks at how language reflects a person’s psychological type and his or her motivations and interests. The site was created by Mattias Östmar of PRfekt, a Swedish research and development company focused on media analysis.

For the past two years, Östmar has been collecting sample texts from blogs, based on research about personality type and writing style. The site uses a tool to run a statistical analysis of the text to come up with a word frequency algorithm for different personality types. After the blog is scanned, Typealyzer comes up with personality types derived from the Myers-Briggs model for looking at how people perceive the world and make decisions. You can find out your personality type by taking a short quiz here.

In some cases a blog’s personality does not match the writer’s personality type. Peter Yared, CEO of iWidgets says Typealyzer characterized his blog as introverted while he is an extrovert. I decided to check out some other CEO blogs on Typealyzer to see what they revealed.

jonathan3.jpgJonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems.
Blog personality type: The Scientist
The long-range thinking and individualistic type. They are especially good at looking at almost anything and figuring out a way of improving it – often with a highly creative and imaginative touch. They are intellectually curious and daring but might be physically hesitant to try new things. Since they tend to be so abstract and theoretical in their communication they often have a problem communicating their visions to other people and need to learn patience and use concrete examples.

Bill Marriott, CEO of Marriott International.
Blog personality type: The Doer
This type is active and playful, often full of energy. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and engage in physical outdoor activities. They might be impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through.

Mike Critelli, Retired Executive Chairman of Pitney Bowes.
Blog personality type: The Duty Fulfiller
This type is responsible and hardworking. They are especially attuned to the details of life and are careful about getting the facts right. Conservative by nature, they are often reluctant to take any risks whatsoever.

Does your blog match your personality type? Let me know.

- So what did my blog say about me? PRFekt actually has 3 types of tests, one for personality, then love, then sport.

1) For Personality, from http://typealyzer.com/

ESTP – The Doers

The active and playful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

2) For Love, from http://love.typealyzer.com/

ESTP – The Doers

They are gregarious and action-loving and will probably make your date into a thrill. In relationships they often feel tremendously commited, but want that commitment to be renewed day by day. They tend to get bored easily, and may be prone to switching relationships frequently unless they find an outlet for their boredom elsewhere. Sexually they are more into enjoying the moment sensually than verbally.

Best matches: ISFJ or ISTJ

3) For Sports, from http://sport.typealyzer.com/

Artisan

“Get your kicks while you can!”

The Artisans loves real-life events that can be experienced here and now. Standing in the shouting crowd at a game is almost as fun as actually taking part in it! Personally they love action and will go boldly down roads that others consider risky or impossible. ThatÂŽs why they will probably gravitate towards sports with tuff independent sportsmen and women. TheyÂŽre always on the look-out for fun and playful ways to enjoy themselves together with friends.

Sports of preference:
Motor sports, Football, Boxing and other sports that gets the adrenaline pumping.

———-

My Commentary:

Ah well, hard to say. I think if you know me reasonably well, you probably wouldn’t agree with much of this for me. At the same time, I do like going to athletic events, and I do love to be part of the cheers. “1st and 10, do it again, go! Bears!” and “Take off that red shirt!”

I am playful, but I wouldn’t say I’m active. I’m not so thrilling, but I do get bored, and have a serious reluctance to do anything I do not want to do.

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28.03.2009 Blog No Comments

Age May Be Nothing But a Number, but at Least I Still Look Young

Thursday, March 5th, 2009
Skee Lo

Image by jeroen020 via Flickr

For a long time, I’ve had the impression that people saw me as younger than I really was. My sister’s boyfriend was surprised to hear I was 28 already, thinking I was a just few years older than my sister (who’s 22).

Especially in Vietnam, people always guess I was born in 1983 or 1984. (I was born in 1980) In fact, no one has every guessed my true age here correctly.

Now there’s a site that plays on people guessing others’ ages called HowOldareYou.net. Like a Hot or Not with age.

So I submitted, and you can see the consensus below.

howoldami

http://www.howoldareyou.net/getUser.php?id=4723

Tah dah! 25 years old it is.

I like to think my youthful look comes from:

  1. Acting like a child
  2. Playing video games and being able to enjoy teen movies even up to my late twenties
  3. Playful demeanor
  4. General avoidance of hard partying and boozing
  5. Child-like innocence and naiveté (also called stupidity for grown-ups)

but I have to say that I’m probably just lucky. I feel like my work life is reasonably stressful, but I still have no white hairs. I also know that age can come quickly, and I hope to look youthful for my age a while longer.

Btw, I posted the Skee-lo pic above because trying out a random activity on Facebook, I learned that I should play I Wish at my funeral. Which is quite fitting, I wish I could be a little bit taller
I wish I could be a baller
..

As long as I haven’t given up my pro basketball dreams, I guess I can still think I’m young.

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05.03.2009 Random 3 Comments