Syncing nightmare with Bento (AKA: Erasing a database in one step)

Posted on October 20, 2012 by admin (Royce)

Here’s something I found out the hard way.

If you use Bento for Mac and iPhone, deleting a database on the iPhone will also delete the master database on the Mac on the next sync.

Let me type that again, because I still can’t believe it.

If you delete a Bento database on the iPhone, on the next sync, the master database on the Mac, the one with all the critical information you’ve been building up, will be completely erased.

No warning. No confirmation. No temp file hiding in the library. Nothing in the trash to recover. The database is gone. Wiped out. Nuked from orbit. Buh-bye.

Deleting a master database from a field device should take confirmation, a second password confirmation, re-re-confirmation, and the last two addresses you’ve lived at. For a database program to allow an immediate nuke without any prompt? That’s beyond unacceptable.

Filemaker knows about this issue (here and here), but their response has always been “ah, just restore from weekly backup”.

Ah, no. Hell no. This is a crippling “should have never got out of beta” design flaw.

Zero-star rating for Bento. Don’t ever use this app.

Best. Baby. Pacifier. Ever. [PHOTO]

Posted on October 12, 2012 by admin (Royce)

Best. Baby. Pacifier. Ever.

And the dad in this photo is enojying it as much as the baby.

If *anyone* knows where to get one, please email me. This was originally on reddit, but nobody there knows where the original is from, either.

Kellogg is recalling Mini-Wheats cereals. Metal mesh found in the product.

Posted on October 12, 2012 by admin (Royce)

Kellogg just announced they are recalling their very popular Mini-Wheats cereals due to some metal mesh getting into the cereal.

Here’s the big writeup from Food Business News about the recall…

BATTLE CREEK, MICH. — The Kellogg Co. is recalling about 3.2 million boxes of Mini-Wheats in the U.S., Canada and Mexico due to possible fragments of metal mesh that may have gotten into the products. The company said the metal contamination may be due to a faulty manufacturing part.

The recall is expected to cost the company between $20 million and $30 million.

The recalled cereals include Frosted Mini-Wheats Bite Size Original and Mini-Wheats Unfrosted Bite Size with the letters KB, AP or FK before or after the “Best if Used Before” date, which ranges from April 1, 2013 to Sept. 21, 2013.

“Because our number one priority is the quality and safety of our foods, as a precautionary measure, Kellogg voluntarily recalled certain packages of Mini-Wheats Bite Size cereal,” said Kris Charles, company spokesperson. “No other cereals are impacted and there have been no reports of any injuries associated with these foods.”

The Spongebob Voice Actors dubbing classic movies [VIDEO]

Posted on October 8, 2012 by admin (Royce)

I know it’s an old clip, but it still makes me laugh. And if you don’t know who Spongebob Squarepants is, get off my lawn right now.

Monday Morning Music : 10/08/12

Posted on October 8, 2012 by admin (Royce)

Every Monday I like to post some music to start the week off on the right foot.

This week…

Shakira – Addicted To You

… a little musical blasphemy with OV7’s – Prisioneros …

…and finally, an 80’s classic, Cyndi Lauper – The Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough

A look inside a self-serve cappuccino machine

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Royce-iphone

You know those self-serve “cappuccino” machines that vend all different kinds of flavored coffees? The ones that look like this…

I saw one that was left open yesterday. While I wasn’t expecting a barista on duty, I wasn’t expecting to see this either…

It’s all powdered mix.

The powdered mix is apparently measured out and sprinkled over a hot water tube and, at least at this location, dispensed through never-cleaned spigots.

Yummy!

Oh, and that spinning whirring noise when you press the button before the “coffee” flows? It’s not a coffee bean grinder revving up – it is just a special effect to sell the product.

I don’t know why I had assumed there were actual coffee beans somewhere in those devices. From now on, I’m sticking to the real stuff.

Was $9,999.99. Now only $209.90! [PHOTO]

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Royce-iphone

I didn’t think the Archos series was that expensive.

How to import a .CSV address export file into Network Solutions webmail

Posted on September 25, 2012 by admin (Royce)

To import a .CSV file successfully into Network Solution’s webmail client, you need to key in some very particular field names on the top row of the .CSV file before importing.

The field names are…

Given name : First Name
Sur name : Last Name
Street home : Address
Email 1 : Email
Telephone home 1 : Phone

The words don’t have to be in bold or larger than the regular .CSV text, but they do have to be spelled and spaced in the exact same manner as the examples above. From there, you can go to the CONFIGURATION icon in Network Solutions webmail, and then choose the IMPORT .CSV option to pull your exported addresses into the Network Solutions webmail client.

Leave it to Network Solutions to mandate some archaic field names to import a .CSV file and not have a basic import-field-mapper in place to make life easier.

A sneak peek at the new Health Insurance Benefits and Coverage forms

Posted on September 24, 2012 by admin (Royce)

The U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services is giving a sneak peek today on how the new Health Insurance Benefits and Coverage forms are going to look.

As part of the new healthcare ruling, all paperwork pertaining to insurance plans were re-designed with a new format. According to the new law, “private insurers are now required to provide you with a Summary of Benefits and Coverage — a simple explanation of what a policy covers, written in plain language.”

Here’s the link to a pre-filled out form of the Summary and Benefits Coverage that everyone will be seeing fairly soon, regardless of what insurance company you are with. [NOTE : PDF download link]

If you’re in the healthcare field, there’s even a blank template available for you to preview to roll into your company’s forms database. [NOTE : PDF download link]

A standard form is going to go a loooong way in comparing insurance policy benefits on a direct paper-next-to-paper basis. After looking at the 6-8 page form, why something like this “nutrition label” format wasn’t mandated earlier is beyond me.