TheSa|nt’s Blog

Poc Network developed a really fun tool to help you make decisions. They call it the Random Thingy Chooser, and it allows you to fill in multiple options and then chooses an option for you.

It’s an awesome tool when you cannot make up your mind. It also works for when your trying to come up with a random item in a list. As an example, if your running a contest on your website and want something to randomly pick a winner…simply paste all the names entered into your drawing, each one on it’s own line, and hit the “choose for me” button. It will then pick your winner.

You can also visit it via a short url by going to: http://thingy.pocinc.net

I just felt like sharing it since we use it so much around here!

TheSa|nt

It looks like a lot of Xbox Live users are stuck in the dark with only the ability chat. Connection to game servers has been interrupted resulting in an error when a user attempts to connect.

What could be the cause this time?  …*ponders*

(Update): It’s back online (it was server troubles)

This is great!

Google is planning on jumping into the ISP pool to compete against some of the major companies to show that they can indeed offer ultra high speeds & allow access to all web-applications, while still maintaining a stable network. They are planning on offering the service to select test group areas (of up to 500,000 users) at speeds of more than 100x the average that current providers do.

This is awesome news!  It’s about time one of the companies took the effort to step up and say hey! Yes we can! If Japan can offer 300-400+mbit/s on cell phones….we sure as heck can do the same for at least our home connections….

Jan 21, 2010 – Well it appears Skype went down this morning to the point where it disconnected an unknown amount of users, and even their website times out when trying to log in for an answer.

No known information has surfaced yet about the disruption in services, how many are effected, or how long the disruption will last.

I remember hearing about a major outage in 2007 that brought down a claimed 220 million people (including businesses relying on their service). Hopefully this isn’t the same.

Could this be one of the first major attacks of 2010 by another country or “group”, or just a major blooper made by a tech somewhere who spilled his coffee on the wrong piece of equipment?

So far some theories include that the storms in California could be causing troublesome power outages that could be affecting Skype services/traffic.

Update:

It would appear Skype services are back online. Their website is a bit slow but that is probably due to the amount of traffic the incident lead to.

I felt like writing a quick review on a few things/experiences in 2009. Just a random blog post to cover some random items.

James Cameron’s Avatar:
First off is my review on the new movie Avatar. I walked into this movie as a skeptic since my take on the story simply from the trailers wasn’t that great. I expected a typical Disney-like storyline about saving the forest vs relying on industrialization. However, listening to some good friends an acquaintances whose opinions I trust, I had gotten the idea that the movie actually had hope. I was told it had amazing graphics, a wonderful story and 3d effects that will blow your mind. So…I went and saw the movie to see if the information was true, and was amazed. I thought Star Trek was the movie of the year but this one really took the cake. Now I don’t know which movie is better than the other. If this didn’t beat Star Trek, then it stands on the same level as (it). So, go out and watch it! There is a 99% chance (in my opinion) that you won’t like it…you’ll love it.

As for Star Trek:
Personally, I am not a “trekie”, however I am a general fan of the franchise as anyone else and I have a lot of respect for a “awesome movie” and this movie really hits that category well. I also saw this movie as a skeptic expecting it to be like any other Star Trek movie but I was proven wrong. Star Trek was theatrically amazing and changed my view on the franchise. If the future movies/shows were as good as this movie, then count me in. I would no longer be a “general fan”. If you haven’t seen it yet, go out an buy the DVD. In fact, if you have a player that supports it, you would be a fool not to buy it in BluRay.

Finally HSBC Bank:
HSBC Bank (also known as “Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited”) is a bank that also supplies Department Cards for major retail chains (i.e., Best Buy, CompUSA, etc). My review on this company is not a good one. Unlike the above two movies, this category receives a big zero for a rating. I personally have been a customer of this bank for a very long time, but no longer. In my experience, this has to be the worst bank I have ever dealt with. In the beginning it was very difficult to speak to a human, and now the phone numbers (at least the ones associated to my accounts) were fully automatic. It didn’t offer an option to speak to a human, and there are no hidden commands to sneak your way to one by mashing buttons. In fact, between the numbers and the website, it refuses to allow you to “speak” with anyone.

They do however allow you to send an email to their support. The catch to this though, is they limit you to a short amount of words to convey your problem. To add to that, their responses are strictly to the script and do not allow you to reply to their email. Since they don’t allow you to reply to the email or on the web, there is no way to references a previous message. So each time you send a new email from their site, not only are you limited on words but they will not review past messages and the response you get won’t help you in any way. Even if the email is to point that out. I tried, and they responded with a “how to” tip that had nothing to do with anything (how to access your account and view your balance information).

I even told them I would share my review of their bank with a lot of people, and their response once again had nothing to do with the message I sent. They never assisted me with any of the problems I had been experiencing, so I am doing just as I said.

I then started hearing from friends, acquaintances and other online reviews that I was not the only one that held this opinion. In one way it was comforting to know that I wasn’t the only one experiencing this, but it was also discomforting that there were so many people this bank was wronging.

Stay away from HSBC Bank. If you want to sign up for a credit card for your favorite store, as first to see/know what bank backs them up. If its not HSBC, then give it a try but if it is…”just say no”. It isn’t worth the hassle if you come across any problems with the bank. They make it impossible to talk to anyone, they charge outrageous fees that they will not reverse (even for situations caused by them) and their email communication is far from helpful. This is coming from a credit holders with excellent history, a grand credit score and 0 debt.

This ends my random post of reviews for year-end of 2009! Happy Holidays to all and I hope the new years proves great for everybody

Redneck Prank Phone Calls….we think it explains itself! Every call is something new!

The crazy rednecks call a pizza store to question their staff on why one of their pizza delivery boys ran over their mail/post box.

Hey everyone!

A new section has been added to the Animevortex.net forums! This section represents the LV Mobsquad…most commonly known for their Youtube videos, animations or local tear-jerkin acts in the city of Las Vegas (you never know where they will come from).

Anyways! They have graced us with their participation and are offering us the chance to request custom ringtones and voice mail recordings. They will try their best deliver whenever they can, and possibly even interact with the community.

More details can be found by visiting the LV Mobsquad category in the forums, and don’t forget to tell your friends! Tell them to come down to “animevortex.net” and register with the forums and join the fun!

Hey Everyone!

Let’s bring the forums back to life! We need more people who are interested in posting and socializing. For those who might have noticed, there has been a new section for Xbox Live players to share their clan information and general talk. Let it be Halo 3, ODST or Call of Duty, you can share your stories, comments and other general information.

We really do need to raise activity in there though. We can’t do that without other users who are willing to participate (so we need “your help” ^_^). I would say the channel would be more important but unfortunately IRC channels are starting to become yesterday’s news…so the forums are more of a point of interest.

If the forums were to replace the channel and what it used to be, various sections of Animevortex.net will be upgraded to provide further media, function and all sorts of good stuff. None of that can be possible though without great trends in traffic.

SO, visit http://forums.animevortex.net and sign up today! You can’t miss the link (upper right corner) or click on it in the menu. If you are already registered….start posting

Lets all help make Animevortex as popular as it once was (before the fall of IRC channels).

TheSa|nt
Animevortex.net

Redneck Prank Phone Calls….we think it explains itself! Every call is something new!

The crazy rednecks call a plumber because “Mike” threw his wife through the wall and busted a pipe. Now water is leaking everywhere and “Mike” is in search for a solution.

As always, if you like what you see, please subscribe to our videos!

At 8:15PM PST, xbox live went down officially for all users using the new dashboard (previewing it).

Talking about another big “oops” for Microsoft. Within minutes there were dozens of posts/topics about it on xbox.com’s forums in regards to the outage. Based on everyone’s findings…only those using the new preview were affected (friends & neighbors using the old dashboard are/were still online playing perfectly fine.

In fact so many people accessed the xbox website, it has brought to entire site to a slow crawl (or for some people, timing out).

You go Microsoft!

- TheSa|nt