Joe Cotellese

  • Use TextExpander to Create SurveyGizmo Surveys Fast

    I build surveys using SurveyGizmo. It’s a great online survey tool, but building longer surveys through their interface is a bit tedious.

    In order to speed up the process you can create surveys from specially formatted text files. To help things along even further, I’ve created a series of TextExpander snippets to allow me to quickly create survey questions.

    What is TextExpander you say? It’s an Mac app that will allow you to replace text you type frequently with smaller shortcuts. So, say you type your address a lot, you can replace it with addr. Then every time you type addr it will expand and replace it with your address.

    If you have a Mac, you should definitely get TextExpander, it’s an awesome tool that will save you a boatload of time. Then, you should download these  here.

    Load them into TextExpander and you can use them to quickly create new survey questions.

    When done, simply copy and paste  the survey into the Survey Gizmo importer tool and you are 70% of the way to completing the survey.

    If you add any new snippets please leave them in the comments.

     

  • UI Fail - Application icons that look like app state.

    I recently installed Grammarian; a stand-alone spelling and grammar checker for Mac OS X. I had a difficult time getting the application to work properly. I thought I was following the directions but still had no luck.

    After about 15 minutes and, an email from tech support I realized that the problem was the application icon used by Grammarian.

    Note the screen shot below. There is a checkbox next to the text Grammarian. This would indicate to me that the item is enabled. That is not the case. This is the application icon for Grammarian itself.

    For what it’s worth, tech-support responded within 10 minutes and I’m using the app now. It beats Word’s grammar checker hands down.

  • Pending Class Action Lawsuit for LG Appliances

    LG appliance problems are not limited to just kitchen appliances. Apparently there is a class action lawsuit for LG washing machines.

    According to the filing a defect in the machine causes a mold and mildew build up in the dishwasher. Nice. Once again, nice job LG.

  • LG Microwave Problems Widespread

    I’ve collected a series of links here that show I’m not the only person having problems with LG appliances.

    Here is a whole series of complaints about LG microwaves from Consumer Affairs.com. I’ve pulled out some select quotes from customers.

    "Have had spots in the bottom of the oven for the past several months and the cleaning cycles, soap & water, will not remove them.

    He told me that sometimes it takes two full cleaning cycles for spots to come up. I specifically asked him if I should run the stove through two complete cleaning cycles. He said yes…that’s a total of 6 hours!

    Anyway I did and now I have a big old rust spot in the bottom of the oven and the paint is chipping off."

    “I bought an LG microwave oven from Home Depot. The over was broken on arrival - the turntable motor had to be replaced.”

    “The first year we had trouble with the microwave electronic door. It ended up getting replaced Then we developed the same problem a year later and ended up getting the door replaced, but had to pay 160.00 in services fees. Then our dishwaser inside rubber thing came off. We ended up fixing it, but now the pump and door electronic panels is bad.”

    “Ok Im not going to argue I just know that Lg doesnt stand behind there products and they wont recieve another penny from my house or family and friends.I tried to say maybe its just me but I ordered the part and paid for it,well guess what they dont seem to have that part every place has it back ordered.Could it be that this is not only happening to me,but seems to be a common occurance.Perhaps Im not the only one.”

    “I bought a LG microwave Apr 2009 and it been out for major repairs 5 times in 18 months. The lates was Sep 8, 2010.”

    “I purchased an LG Microwave Oven from Home Depot on January 8, 2007. The item was subsequently delivered and installed.Since that date, I have had to have this item repaired fifteen (15) times. Fifteen times I had to make sure that someone was here between the hours of 8 am and 1 pm.”

    “Within 6 months the control panel went out in the over the stove microwave. Called LG - pointing out that this is a DESIGN flaw (steam goes into panel and damages it according to the technician)”

  • Problems with LG Microwave? They Aren't Interested

    This is one in a series of posts I’m doing on problems I’m having with LG appliances. Why a series of posts on LG appliance problems? Well, great question. You see I purchases three LG appliances. An LG Microwave, LG dishwasher and LG french door refrigerator. All three of them have broken in around three years.

    My hope in posting this is to educate customers on the types of problems you can encounter owning an LG appliance.

    This post is going to focus on my microwave.

    In July of last year we ran into a problem with our LG microwave. The gist of the problem was steam from boiling water on the stove top seeped into the the button panel and shorted out the buttons. Since this is an over the range microwave it seemed to me that it should be able to handle moisture from cooking food on the stove.

    When I tried to contact customer service they indicated that the unit was out of warranty and were not interested in helping me. When I explained to them the defect and pointed to a few articles I found on the internet they indicated they would look into the problem and contact me with more information.

    A week went buy and I did not receive a return phone call. Rather than go through the normal customer service line, I decided to contact Jay Vandenbree an executive at LG. My email correspondence is attached below.

    Jay,

    I hope you don’t consider this email out of place or inappropriate but I could sure use your help.

    I’m sure you are even more busy than me so I’ll cut to the chase. I remodeled my kitchen in October 2007. With the exception of my stove, I outfitted the entire kitchen with LG appliances.

    I’ve had problems with each one. The most recent, the microwave, is triggering this email.

    A few weeks ago we hosted a graduation party for our daughter. My wife cooked potatoes and pasta for salads on our stove top. This which the fan on the microwave over the range dealt with. Or so we thought.

    When we attempted to use the microwave later that day, we noticed the keypad was no longer functioning. Upon closer inspection I noticed that there was condensation on the window covering the display. My engineering background led me to hypothesize that the problem was a short caused by moisture on the keypad. I unplugged it and waited until the next morning.

    Unfortunately, waiting for the unit to dry did not fix the problem. I did some more research noticed a number of people with similar issues. A sample of these are here:

    www.fixya.com/support/t…

    As you can imagine, after my problems with my LG refrigerator icemaker, LG dishwasher and now microwave, I’m extremely frustrated at the quality of LG appliances.

    I would like you to help me figure out how to best handle this problem. I’ve contacted your tier 1 and tier 2 customer service. They have copies of my receipts and have told me that the unit is out of warranty. While I understand the unit is out of warranty, I also have an expectation that an over the range microwave should not be susceptible to moisture problems. My last microwave lasted 10+ years.

    If you were in my situation, how you would handle this problem?

    Thanks for your time.

    To which he replied:

    Joe - Thanks for your note. It is always our intent to make sure your experience with LG is one we are proud of, and one that makes you confident is your choice of an LG product.

    I have forwarded your note to our Consumer Executive Service team, and they should be in contact shortly. If for any reason that doesn’t happen, please let me know, and I’ll follow up.

    Jay

    I never received a reply from the Consumer Executive Service team.

    Our solution was to replace the microwave since the repair on the panel would cost nearly as much as the microwave.

  • Delicious Bookmark App

    I’m removing the Delicious bookmark app. It works as advertised, lets you search bookmarks in delicous. This is not that useful to me for a couple of reasons.

    1. I have switched to Digo as the bookmarking site of choice
    2. I don't need that many bookmarks at my disposal on my iPhone. I typically only view a small subset of sites. Anything else I need, I can Google.

  • More iPhone App reviews

    I spent about 30 seconds too long looking for an app on my iPhone and realized it was time to clean off some of the apps. Again, these reviews aren’t meant to be complete, just merely quick thoughts on why I’m dumping them.

    Labyrinth Lite Edition - this game used the accelerometer to allow the iPhone to simulate wooden labyrinth boards. It was neat when I first got the phone. Now I’m bored with it.

    Google Mobile App - Brings your favorite google apps into one place. Don’t really ever need them.

    Stanza - pretty cool book reader. Great user interface. Two problems, 1 screen is really to small. 2, I got a Kindle :)

    Edibles Diet Journal - don’t remember why I stopped using this, as diet apps go, I prefer Lose It! Calorie Tracker by Live Strong - see above

    QR app - it reads bar codes and QR codes, don’t really need to read QR codes and RedLaser is soo much better.

    Juxtaposer - this takes allows you to swap heads on a picture. It is really not easy to do this on an iPhone.

    Shazam - allows the iPhone to listen to something and identify a song. Midomi is a better option.

    Last.FM - I really want to continue to use this app, however, more and more I find myself going to Pandora.

    Craigsphone - if you’re a craigslist junkie than get this app. For me it’s been idle for about a year.

    Cardstar - This app allows you to store your loyalty cards in a database. It was featured in the Apple iPhone commercials. My wife does all our shopping :)

  • Capture you iPhone Screen

    I found this out by mistake but it’s possible to take screen shots of your iPhone screen. Why might you want to do this? Not sure but here is how you do it.

    Press the Home button and the Sleep/Wake button on the top of the phone simultaneously. When you release them, the screen will flash and your screen grab is saved. Neat.

  • YouNote Lite

    YouNote is a note taking application that lets you capture text, audio and images. Nothing special here, Evernote is better. ‘Nuff said.

  • Loopt

    Loopt is a location based social network application which let’s you tell your friends where you are and find out where they are.

    The application itself is designed well it’s easy to tag your location. For me the novelty wore off after the first few weeks. I haven’t used it in months and am deleting it.

  • Top Floor - Buggy Highrise Client

    I feel like I was ripped off with this application. In an ideal world I would have an integrated CRM system that would allow me to log all of my calls into a web based system so I can track when I last communicated with someone.

    Highrise from 37signals is a pretty simple (both in usability and functionality) CRM. Top Floor is a client built to use the Highrise API. It’s a buggy mess. When I first purchased it, it was completely broken. The developer has since updated it however it still crashes way to much for my own good.


  • iPhone Bubble Wrap - Not as Good as the Real Thing

    This was maybe the first or second iPhone app I downloaded. It was an interesting diversion at a time where there wasn’t really any other options. It is time for it to go.


  • Remember Faces with this iPhone game

    I was interested in trying to improve my face cognition a few months ago. Of course I looked for an iPhone app that would help me with this. I came across Faces and gave it a try. It’s not even worth reviewing. One star and I’m deleting it now.

  • iPhone Wikipedia Clients

    I’ve tried two clients on the iPhone, Wikiamo and Quickipedia. They both have their merits but since there is no need to keep two Wikipedia clients on my iPhone I have to choose.

    In my five minute review of both applications, I’ve settled on Quickipedia. I like the job Quickipedia does rendering the pages, especially with larger images. Wikiamo seems a bit faster but on my 3Gs it’s not really a factor.

    Wikipedia has also just released their own official client. If anyone has any experience with this let me know.

  • My Favorite Mac Related Sites

    I received an alumnimum Mac Book Pro a little while ago and I began to scour the net to find some great websites for getting the most out of my system. I figured I’d create a list to give back some link love.

    1. Learning OSX has video tutorials on getting the most out of OSX
    2. The Unofficial Mac Blog - tons of tips and tricks
    3. Daring Fileball
    4. I Use This Mac Blog

  • Interval Training - Day 2

    Day two of Interval training.

    I felt great yesterday, no afternoon fatigue and I wasn’t tired after dinner. These are generally the worst times of day for me.

    20 Minutes 1 minute bursts every 4 minutes

    I actually pushed those bursts a little bit, probably did more that 1 minute per burst.

  • iPhone Twitter Application Roundup

    OK, maybe not a round up. I’ve tried two. Twitteriffic and Tweet Deck.

    Questionable Content Took Over Twitter!
    Creative Commons License photo credit: dantekgeek    I’ve used Twitteriffic as my primary twitter application since it came out. It sports a clean interface. Allows you to manage multiple accounts and color codes posts in such a way that they have context.

    TweetDeck is a newcomer. If you are familiar with the desktop Tweet Deck, they try to create the multi-pane window effect on the iPhone. This I’m sure was a challenging UI design. For me, it just doesn’t work. If your primary twitter device is an iPhone and you are a hard-core user than this application might be better for you.

    My verdict for now is Twitteriffic.

  • Location Based iPhone Weather Application

    éclairs
    Creative Commons License photo credit: 1suisse

    One of the things that always bugged me about Apple’s Weather application is it didn’t know where I was. If I’m travelling in some location and want to know the weather I have to go through the hassle of setting up a city.

    That frustration led me to check out the Weather application from The Weather Channel. It does a lot more than what I need and is a great tool for hard core weather junkies. It does provide two click access to weather in my current location. A feature I love.

    Check it out and let me know if you know of a better weather application.

  • The Urinal Test

    DSCF2675
    Creative Commons License photo credit: bradleygee    The Urinal Test is an advertainment game for the iPhone. The object is to pick the correct urinal to pee in when presented with a group of urinals, some populated with dudes.

    Amusing to play once or twice. Doesn’t warrant a permanent place on my phone.

  • Blogging at 256kbs

    I’m sitting in my car waiting for my sons soccer tournament to begin. While waiting I decided to play around with my iPhone.

    I was curious to see how well the 3g network worked in the middle of Orefield, Pa. I was a bit disappointed.

    According to the Speed Test iPhone app I’m only getting 256kbps here. I guess I should be glad that I’m getting any signal. What it is telling me though is that 5 bars of service doesn’t equate to fast 3G.

    I kind of feel bad for the person who left their lights on.

  • Think Social Media is a Fad?

    This great video, used as promotional material for the upcoming book Socialnomics, drives the point home with lots-o-data. Social Media is a force to reckon with, businesses need to understand it or go home.



    Social Media Revolution

  • Keep track of your loyalty cards with Card Star

    Card Star is an application that keeps track of your loyalty cards.
    I was one of the thousands of people that helped propel this application into the top slots in the iTunes store. It was featured in an Apple ad and I grabbed it.

    The point is that you never have to remember your loyalty cards, enter the data and when you go to a store, recall it, and the merchant can scan you iPhone screen. Neat idea. I don’t have enough loyalty cards that I care to go through the hassle of entering them.



  • AIM Client for the iPhone

    Another in the series of articles on iPhone apps I’ve used.

    This is the official AIM client from AOL. The latest version adds push capabilities. If you only use AOL for IM this is a great application. For me though, I’m on about three different networks. I’m looking for a better IM client. Any good recommendations list them here.




  • Faces - Great iPhone Speed Dial Application

    In this first of a continuing series of articles of iPhone Apps I’ve tried. I’m doing a quick write-up of Faces. Faces gives you one button access to a list of favorite phone numbers. It’s called faces because the buttons in the user interface can consist of pictures of the people you want to call.

    This is my goto dial application. I don’t use the iPhone Phone app directly for most of my calling. All of my friends and family are in Faces.

  • iPhone Micro Reviews

    Over the next few posts, you’re going to see a bunch of lame-o reviews of iPhone applications. This is not so much to wow the reader with my ability to concisely summarize my experience with these applications. It’s mainly so I remember which apps I’ve tried and which, quite frankly, suck.

subscribe via RSS