Makerbot 5th Generation Replicator 3D Printer Woes

I don't usually like to get on the Internet to report bad experiences I've had - I think I am somewhat of a tolerant person but I just have to say that right now I am going through one of the most unbelievable consumer experiences I have ever encountered.  Last year I got a Makerbot 5th Generation Replicator 3D printer.  Things were going along fine for a few months then all of a sudden the printer started giving me errors that I hadn't seen before.  In short, I have been trying to work out my issues with Makerbot directly.  In fact, I am negotiating my 4th (yes, I said FOURTH) replacement.  Every single one of the printers I have received had some issue that was either causing a failure or GOING to cause a failure - according to their own technicians.


The amount of money that these printers cost is what really irks me.  You can do your own research on what they cost, but it's definitely not something I'm going to just let slip by. 


On this latest episode I asked if someone could crack open the box, take the printer out and put it through a few prints to make sure that it is OK before sending it to me.  The supervisor I'm talking to said, "We put all of our printers through a QA process and do a 50 point inspection."  I was absolutely beside myself, as I have tons of video and photos that I have taken to document these defects on the printers I have received.


The defects have ranged from faulty extruders - (a very expensive user replaceable part), to misaligned build plates and z-axis bars.


In short, I think I have been very patient with Makerbot, but I've hit my limit and wanted to warn anyone thinking about a Makerbot product to think about another product altogether. 


There is apparently a class-action law suits against the parent company of Makerbot.  All one has to do to find out about them is search Google with the following key words: Makerbot lawsuit.


I bought into the hype they were putting out, and got bit.

How to Add a Folder to a Homescreen on the Google Experience Launcher

I just installed the Google Experience Launcher on my Galaxy Note 3.  I could figure everything out like how to add new pages (by dragging an existing icon to the right), but couldn't figure out how to add a new folder.  I tried looking in settings, blah blah.. but didn't find any help or online either.  So I tried a couple of things, and finally it came to me to try just dropping one icon on top of another icon.  Boom!  It made a folder.  In fact it made a folder called "Unnamed Folder"  so if you tap on that "unnamed folder" text, it allows you to edit it. 

My Review of Roku 2 XS Streaming Player

Originally submitted at Roku

Adds an enhanced remote for playing games, plus extra connectivity options.

Roku 2 XS Streaming Player

My 3rd Roku. They keep getting better!

By Kaptain Kenbo from Bend, OR on 8/16/2011

 

5out of 5

Pros: Compact, Easy to set up, High quality picture, Video selection, Easy to use, Reliability, Great value, SD Card option, Built in Wi-Fi

Cons: Need fast internet service

Best Uses: Primary TV, Secondary TV, Bedroom, Living room

Describe Yourself: Power User, Home entertainment enthusiast, Technophile, Early adopter, Movie buff

This was my 3rd Roku box. These keep getting better and better! I love the super small size, SD card option and the new game controller. This platform is working out to be what Google TV should be!

Netflix is now connected to the new box by signing in with your netflix account instead of the old way of linking your neflix account to your Roku box with a code. This new way is easier and more convienient.

I'm also a big fan of Angry Birds and aside from a small bit of jitter in the intro, the game performs flawlessly.

The only thing I didn't like is - compared to the older versions of the Roku box - this new one seems to be able to auto-adjust the bitrate without jumping out to the buffering screen as it did with the old models. This is a nice feature, but when you are watching a show and suddenly the video goes low-res for a few minutes without warning, it seems to throw me off. At least with the older version, there was an indication that the display quality was going to be reduced when the show would be interrupted with the buffering screen and you'd see it go down from "HD" to 4 dots, or something like that.

Other than that, KUDOS to ROKU for another great product!

(legalese)

Give Me My Files!

One of the issues I have with using more than one computer is getting files transferred back and forth across all of them.  I'm not just talking about moving files across my home network, I mean from disconnected networks such as my work and home computers.

Now that so many people have smartphones - even getting files like Microsoft Word documents across your home network to your phone to your work computer is something we all would expect to be able to do.  I've been using a product for a while now called Dropbox.  It's really a powerful product that makes this whole idea so simple. 

Dropbox is a small application you install on all of your computers and smartphone.  It makes it look like there is a new folder on your computer/smartphone.  All you have to do is move files into that folder and "poof!" the files are immediately available on all of your other Dropbox enabled computers.

Here are some really cool things I was able to do with Dropbox. 

I was in a conference call meeting at home and wrote some notes on my home computer in a Microsoft Excel file.  I then saved them to my Dropbox folder.  When I got back to my office, the file was there on my work computer.  Previously I would have had to pop in a thumb drive to copy the file.

I took a photo with my Android smartphone that I wanted to use in a Craigslist ad.  So, I moved the photo into the Dropbox folder on my phone.  Then I just went to my home computer and created the Craigslist ad using the photo out of the Dropbox folder.  Previously I would have had to hook up my phone to the computer to copy the photo.

There are so many useful features - I recommend you take a look at their site.  Click here for Dropbox. You can use the software for FREE.  With a free account you get 2GB of space which is plenty for most uses.  Of course, they offer monthly plans if you need more space. It doesn't matter if you have a PC, or a Mac, iPhone, Android Phone, iPad - even Linux - there is a Dropbox application you can download.

There is even a Public folder you can use to share files with other people.  For example, you could take a bunch of photos and share that public folder with your friends and family.  But, something in the back of my paranoid mind tells me that I don't want to copy sensitive files onto even the private area of the Dropbox folder.  That's just me.

Jedi Skill for the Internet: Force Search

I get a lot of questions from people about computer "things".  Some things I know because I remember running into it in the past, but most of the time the answers come from research done online.  Way back in the day, I had a huge library of Microsoft books on which I spent way too much money.  During the course of operating my business, I would refer to these books often.  It was just a part of my investment in the biz.

The Internet had just begun to get into techy people's homes between 1992 and 1993, as it did in mine with my first Netcom dial-up account.  I was amazed to find that Microsoft had jumped on board to put all of their Knowledge Base articles there.  I began to find answers much more quickly and I didn't have to buy all those books anymore!

Back then, we didn't even have Yahoo! or Google.  You just went to a specific company's web site and did searches from there.  Then AltaVista and Yahoo! evolved and now we have had Google around for quite a few years.

A little work in the Google search window can really get you a long way.  Let's say you bought a little appliance from a store and it stops working.  Most likely, if it is a common defect, you will find that other people are complaining about it as well, if you do a Google search on the issue.  You would be able to discover so many facts about the issue:

• What causes the problem?
• Is the manufacturer offering an improvement to the item or replacing defective ones?
• Where to send for the new item.
• Etc..

Case in point: We had a certain prominent branded washing machine.  I started to notice mold gathering up around the door seal.  I know we weren't using it incorrectly and the mold was VERY difficult to remove.  I started to get angry about it, but what did I do?  I ignored the problem.  What should I have done?  I should have Googled it!  When I finally got angry about it, I did Google it and found that the manufacturer was handing out vouchers to replace those washing machines with a newer improved model!  However, by the time I finally got around to Googling the issue, I saw that the voucher offer had expired two years prior.  That STILL eats me up to this day.  I could have had a nice new washing machine.  Now that's not a small dollar item!

Here are my 3 tips on using Google for your research. 

Be specific in your search keywords.  In the example above, I used the manufacturer name, series and model number of the washer along with the keywords: "mold" and "buildup".  The more specific your keywords, the more specific your results will be, saving you lots of time in results scanning.

Try using multiple combinations of keywords if you don't get good results.  For example, if I'm having problems with no sound coming from my BAKA (fake company name) laptop speakers, I could use the following keywords:

BAKA laptop speakers not working

or

BAKA laptop speakers no sound

or

BAKA speakers low volume

Being able to think of good keyword combinations is the key to conducting good research on Google.

Learn to scan the search results quickly.  Page scanning can save you valuable time when researching search results.  This is something that takes a lot of practice and I don't really have a way to tell you how to better do it except through repetition.  Page scanning is where you can quickly look through search results and have your eyes pick out the one or two relevant hits out of the many other not-so-relevant hits.  By a relevant hit, I mean a result that actually covers the subject matter for which you are doing the search.  A bad hit is where there is no relationship to what you are looking for at all.  Many of you probably know your "go to" person for answers to various types of questions.  Chances are, they have good page scanning skills.  I have to confess something.  Sometimes I find it frustrating watching someone carry out a search who hasn't practiced page scanning.  As I look over their shoulder while they do a Google search, I see the results come up and see them painstakingly reading each and every word, and clicking on every link.  It's no wonder why they would rather pick up the phone and call someone!  The only advice I have on this is to do it often and you'll start to "feel" which links are going to be relevant and which are not.  Truly, it's kind of like learning a new Jedi skill: Force Search.

May the search be with you!

Saying Goodbye To Your PC

There comes a time when everyone has to say goodbye to their old PC.  Personally, I don't get all attached to my PC's because I know in about 2 years, out they go.  Whether you are taking the PC down to the recycler, giving it away to a charity or selling it, you might not know this, but it is very risky to just hand over your PC to someone else. "Why," you ask?

Well, in this day and age, you've probably heard of identity theft.  After a couple years of usage, our PC's gather up a lot of information about us - and that can be dangerous if the information falls into the wrong hands.  "But I've deleted all of my files," you say.  There are plenty of software tools out there that can help someone "undelete" files - even if you formatted the drive!  Also, you might not remember where you saved all of your files.  So I'm hoping you can see the reason for wanting to clean your PC before getting rid of it. 

What you really want to do is "wipe" your drive.  This is done by software that writes 1's and 0's repeatedly on your disc - effectively wiping the drive clean of all files by overwriting them with the random patterns of 1's and 0's.  Even the government and military have certain requirements for wiping a drive clean, as you can imagine.

I personally use PGP software to wipe my drives before I get rid of them, but there is far less expensive software available for this.  In fact, you can find a tool called Secure Erase here for free.  You just download the zip file and read the text file included for instructions.

If you are giving away your PC to charity or to someone else, you might want to restore the PC (see my blog post on this) after you wipe it so the person or organization to whom you are giving it will have a nice clean PC ready to use.

It's 10 O'Clock! Do You Know Where Your OS Disc Is?

When people buy a new PC, they usually take for granted that there is an operating system (or OS) on it.  You know.. Mac, Windows, Linux, Ubuntu, whatever.  And, I'm not so sure that it's a BAD thing that they take it for granted.  However, the operating system isn't "built-in" to the system.  It's just like another "part" of the system just like the the monitor or the DVD drive.

Most Mac's and Windows PC's come with a disc or discs.  Windows PC's also usually come with a Proof of License Certificate of Authenticity sticker on the PC or on the disc cover - if the discs are provided.  If someone builds your PC for you, hopefully they are on the up and up and will provide you with the proper discs.  I have a big issue with people who build custom PC's and they try to cut costs by loading operating systems multiple times from the same disc.  It's still possible to do, but not as easy anymore. It was a rampant problem back when Windows XP and earlier were being sold.

Whenever I want to help people with their PC problems, I always ask if they have the original OS disc because if the problem comes down to doing a reinstall, I'm going to need it.  The reason I'm writing this blog post is because typically my friends will say they don't have it.  Shockingly, they don't know where it is!  So here I am, making this digital statement for perpetuity - DON'T LOSE YOUR OS DISCS! 

Sometimes the disc you get from the PC manufacturer isn't a Microsoft Windows disc.  Instead it's a "recovery" or "restore" disc which is used to bring the computer back to factory state, as it was when you first turned it on.  This is just as good. 

To be fair, some manufacturers like DELL don't actually provide a physical disc anymore.  Instead, they provide a special partition (or section) on the computer's hard drive which is used to restore the computer to it's factory state.

So the point I'm trying to make here is that you should know whether your PC manufacturer provides you with discs or with a recovery partition.  In addition, you should be aware of how to do the restore. This information will usually be in your PC's documentation.

Here's a scenario I see far too often.  A person calls me and says, "I got a virus, can you help me with my computer?"  First thing I ask is if they have Antivirus software - and usually the answer is that it's expired or worse, they don't have it at all.  (See my Anti-Whatever post)  Next, I try to make some kind of determination as to whether the virus has infected the PC so badly that it cannot be fixed in a short amount of time. 

I must clarify what I mean by "a short amount of time".  One time I worked on a relative's computer for 8 hours, thinking I had the virus removed.  All along the skeptical PC technician in the back of my head was telling me just to wipe it clean and restore it.  The next day, the computer was turned back on and started to exhibit the same symptoms.  Ugh!  So what I mean by a short amount of time is less than a half hour. 

Anyway - back to the PC incident.  I should have just restored the computer and saved 8 hours of time.  I asked my relative if the discs were handy - and what do you think I'm going to say?  No.. they weren't available.  So I was up the creek, or my relative was up the creek.  So what did they do to fix their PC?  They took the PC to a person who had no problem with installing an illegal copy of Windows.  How sad.

In conclusion - this is what I say when I have to help someone who has no way to restore their PC.. How sad.