Archive for jasonberdmann

Amazon: Prime vs. Basic Account

Is Amazon Prime worth the $85 / year premium? Some of the pros include free 2-day shipping, access to their version of Netflix, and even the ability to “borrow” a book from their Kindle library. Some nice perks.

My wife and I decided to try it this year and have it on her amazon account as it has her kindle associated to it whereas I just buy stuff every so often. And in the last few months I’ve noticed something. Sometimes things cost more on her Prime account vs. my non-Prime account – even when shipping (digital downloads or free anyway or super-saver shipping) and taxes (we live at the same address) are not factors.

You did not read that wrong, sometimes things cost more on her Prime account than my basic account. My most recent discovery is for MS Office 2010. No image editing was done. I found the product, CTRL+clicked it (new tab), logged in to each each account and refreshed the page. You will see a different number of tabs, but that’s because I originally was going to do a side-by-side screenshot. However, I decided a full screen image was better so you can see the URLs are identical, only the accounts (and resulting cart) were different. All of this was done in the same browser (yes, there is browser-based pricing out there) and first I hit my account, then hers, then mine all within 1 minutes so it wasn’t a timing issue either.

If you’re curious, the price shown when you aren’t even logged in is the cheaper price. Sure, it’s just $4.53 for this product and it’s not necessarily every product they have different prices for, but with the number of products they have and the number of Prime users they have (10,000,000 as of 3/11/2013) it adds up for them and you.

Amazon non-Prime Account

Amazon non-Prime Account Pricing

Amazon Prime Account

Amazon Prime Account Pricing

Take away: if you plan to have an Amazon Prime account, make a second basic Amazon account for when shipping doesn’t matter.

Transmission of Blood

What do Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies have in common? The ‘affliction’ is often transmitted via blood or saliva. I can understand that perhaps the affliction doesn’t affect insects and other animals (or may not be apparent). But couldn’t mosquitoes, ticks, and other insects quickly spread the disease?

Or if the those insects don’t like zombies a fly would. How do I know for certainty a fly would snack on zombies? Easy, they love my dog’s poo… Dead zombie is snacked on by a fly. The fly is eaten by a spider. The spider crawls into your mouth while you sleep and you eat it. You wake up a zombie!

Take away: In a zombie apocalypse don’t forget the Off!

2+2=5

2+2=5

Since when?
© thehamiltonian.net

Just the other night my wife and I went to the Kelly Clarkson (for me) and Maroon 5 (for her) concert at Fiddler’s Green. They were great. I can’t say anything about the opening act because for roughly an hour I was in line for food.

It’s not that the line was that long but Fiddler’s Green did not supply their concession people some sort of register or calculator, so the concessioneers resorted to using their own cell phones. I understand they want to make sure they get the amounts correct because they may be liable for any shortage, but they were adding numbers rounded to quarters and sales tax was included. But after getting incorrect change twice, both times in my favor, I’m very scared for the future of our country.

My first purchase was a soda (for me) and a beer (for her). The drink lady actually did the mental math correctly: $5.50 + $9.75 = $15.25. But when I gave her $20.25 she stumbled and gave me $6 back, I gave her the dollar and she realized her mistake. There was no line, she was friendly, and she didn’t actually seem like an idiot so no big deal.

My second purchase was for a hamburger combo (for me) and a hot dog combo (for her). I chose the combos for two reasons, first, it was cheaper than individual items, second, they were $12 and $11 so the math was easy. (This is the line I stood in for an hour with maybe 15 people ahead of me to start!) Immediately the person goes to his phone and starts looking up the prices on the cheat sheet. I informed him it was $23 but he gave me a dirty look and said, rudely, “I have to do this.”

“OK, just trying to help you out on $11 plus $12.”

No reply. But he accepted my $25 payment and started to get my order ready. He finally gave me my change: $3. I took a dollar and put it on the counter and said, “you might want this.”

“A tip?”

“No, but now I have the correct change.”

He then proceeded to fill my order, after asking me what the second item was. After receiving all the food and a drink he gave me the look of, “OK, we’re done.” I asked about the second drink as I ordered two combos and I got a mixed answer of “oh right” and “don’t tell me how to do my job.”

I’ll admit, I have a horrible short-term memory (ask my wife), but I’m going to be able to fill your order fully and not be a jerk about it.

Take away: great concert, meh food, worse service.

New Elevator Systems

Elevator Input Pad in the Elevator Bank

Elevator Input Pad in the Elevator Bank

We’re all used to how elevators work, right? In the elevator bank you push the up or down button, an elevator car shows up with an indicator for which direction it is going, you step in, you select your floor, eventually you get out. Obviously small variances if the desired buttons are already pushed, that is, you get in, you get out.

But have you used the system where you select the desired floor before you get in the elevator? There are two main goals of elevator systems that work this way, 1) coordinate where the cars are better and the movement between floors, and 2) learn traffic patterns for the building and get a few cars to certain floors / areas during peak times.

Here’s the process to use the new system: select your floor from the console in the elevator bank, watch for assigned elevator car (each are labeled in this new system), elevator car shows up with an indicator of which floors it’s going to, get in, eventually get out.

It’s simple in theory. However, in practice there are some glaring glitches. And as I’ve seen the installation in two separate buildings I feel I have some insight:

  1. After selecting your floor from the console you have to wait a couple of seconds to know which elevator you are assigned. Unfortunately, most people do not move out of the way after they’ve been assigned or didn’t look to see which car they’ve been assigned.
    1. People not moving out of the way so others can then select their floor. Do I really need to explain the problem here?
    2. If someone doesn’t look or forgets (they could have a lot on their mind), they then have to go look at every car which shows up to know if it’s their elevator. This causes a little bit of congestion similar to people not looking at which train showed up and starting to get on then looking and realizing it’s not for them.
  2. When you first go to the elevator bank and there are others there, you still have to push your floor as you don’t know if they pushed a button, if they are going the same direction as you, or if they are going to the same floor as you (in some cases you don’t, but it’s best you do). Not a big problem, but we’re back at pushing the button and people not moving from the console.
  3. When an elevator car does show up, you only know it’s there, you are not aware of the direction or exact floors it is going to. So everyone rushes towards it. Then, when the doors open the destination floors are displayed and people either stop or try to move out of each others’ way without actually looking to see where they should go (the old someone turns right in front of you while walking because they didn’t look).

There is a simple two-fold solution for these annoyances:

  1. Have a board similar to bus stations / airports which has the elevator car label and the floors it will be stopping on
  2. Have smaller boards on the side or above each elevator indicating where it’s going.

On both boards you only indicate which floors an elevator is going to if it is stopping on the current floor. It does not help anyone on floor 4 to know elevator A is going to the Lobby if it’s not also stopping on floor 4 to pick them up. Exactly what does this solve?

  1. People know if an elevator car is coming to their current floor.
  2. People know if an elevator car is going to their destination floor.
  3. People can congragate in appropriate areas and lessen the chance of hindering each other.

Take away: displays are useful, use them.

iPhone Case

iPhone 5 GameBoy Case

iPhone 5 GameBoy Case

I have a case for my iPhone which looks like an old-school GAME BOYTM. Not only do I love it, but I get lots of compliments. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a case that looked like an iPhone when you first take it out of the package, that is, the default background and icons?

Ring, ring… Ring, ring… Tap… Tap… Why isn’t it answering.. Ohhh, riiight.

Maybe one exists, but in my five minute search I couldn’t find one via google, therefore nothing.

Take away: you really wouldn’t be confused by your own cover unless you’re an idiot, but it would still be neat.