As our world becomes more digital and the number of "personal" interactions with other people declines, we rely more on email and texting than phone conversations.  There are a few drawbacks to this and I can bet that you have found yourself on one end or the other.  As our interactions move more to email, we have to realize that these interactions are done without understanding inflections in voice and tone. It is becoming more common to misunderstand emails based on this and our responses may be out of line, and possibly detrimental to our career or relationships. (more...)

Nothing ceases to amaze me anymore.  Those of us that have relied on system manufacturers to provide us with clean systems, servers, and components "out of the box" now have a new wrinkle to iron out.  If you have spent any money on a Dell server these days you may want to check your model... and receipt. It seems Dell has shipped some of their replacement motherboards for PowerEdge R410 Rack Servers with malware code in the flash storage on the motherboard. (more...)

I am not one to take jabs at companies... wait... WHO AM I KIDDING?!?!?!? I love jabbing companies! Well anyway, as I was saying... Lately companies have really been surprising me with some of their antics. My rants stretch back from AOL to Microsoft and today the latest crazy chicken on the chopping block is Apple, again. This time, they are refusing to sell you an iPad! (more...)

This is definitely a new one for me. If you frequent C.O.D. (everyone should!), you would know that the last two articles we posted here, Will KHOBE Be The End of Windows? and Are PC Users in The Dark?, were in some way, shape, or form referring to viruses or PC users lack of knowledge. I had never thought that one day this site would be listed as a security threat for doing so. I run Microsoft Security Essentials on all my machines as do most of my friends. Today, we were presented with an interesting piece of doo doo slung from a fan blade. (more...)

Having been in the technical ring for as long as I have, I have become increasingly aware that many people just don't have a clue. I hear all kinds of stupid things from why PC's break to how crappy they are, accompanied by a host of other reasons why PC's suck. Most of the times, people don't realize that they are the cause of many of their own problems. (more...)

It was a dark and stormy night, May 5th; it was intense, my dog was hiding in the bathtub, the wind was blowing like a child with a new kazoo, the rain was coming down in sheets (11 x 17), and my PC was left to fend for itself.  Suddenly, the ground shook and my home felt epileptic.  The phone rings, the same quake is hitting China, the U.K, Japan, Canada... this is a worldwide earthquake? This wasn't a typical earthquake, this was a digital earthquake; at least that's how Matousec.com describes it.  They named it KHOBE! (more...)

Joe's Thoughts

In my travels through the retail/service world, I have come to realize that a great reform is needed. I have begun to realize that Customer Service is almost extinct. This is true of almost every aspect of my world (New Jersey/Florida). My theory is that a lot of these people that work or own these businesses feel that my money isn't important and they don't need my business.

It is time that these business owners and their employees start to reconsider their practices. I am a big proponent of customer service and too many places are forgetting this. I have repeatedly stated and abide by my saying, "I will PAY more for good customer service." (more...)

Every day, I go through the same routine. I wake up, tumble off of couch (I sleep on the couch), do my thing in the bathroom, let the dog out, go to work, come home, get the mail, throw most of it away, then sit at my computer and work. This is what I have come to expect of the majority of my days. Well, sometimes I start to think, however rare it is, it happens; that's when I start causing trouble.

When I grab my mail, I primarily get 3 different types: junk mail, bills, and the occasional letter. The first two I can't stand, unfortunately they make up 99% of the mail I get throughout the year. The first one, junk mail, is not only the most annoying, but it is the most out of control. This is where it gets interesting. Let's call junk mail SPAM, because that's what it is. SPAM is email junk mail. (more...)

As I make my rounds through the normal barrage of review sites on my daily list, I become increasingly dissatisfied with the quality of content I come across. There seems to be a problem with the state of this industry and this doesn't imply lack of content. I'm referring to the "jacked up egos" of reviewers and the general lack of respect for one another that review sites exhibit.

I understand that reviewers are doing the general consumer a great service by providing their opinions and observations, but let's not forget about other peoples opinions as well. I have found in my travels through the forums of various sites that these "jacked up egos" are killing most of the positive aspects of the review industry. (more...)

While recently scouring the web for my daily fix of PC madness, I came across an article at Overclockers that gave me pause. The crux was that service sites such as ours are finding it very difficult to introduce new content into the web, they cited Anandtech as an example. They hadn't updated the site for 17 days due to "lack of any interesting products" and the holidays. I had noticed a slowdown but didn't realize it was 17 days. I can understand the assumption that there wasn't anything interesting to write about. I just don't believe it. (more...)