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The people who do customer support at Energizer are idiots

I recently submitted this question to Energizer via the customer support form on their web site: We’ve purchased Energizer batteries from CVS in the past, but we just went to buy some there yesterday and there weren’t any and one of the clerks said they don’t carry Energizer batteries. Then we called the local Staples… Read More »

Category: Consumer activism Tags: Energizer

Hack of the day: change your Netflix password from the command line

My kids watch a lot of Netflix. Some of them watch it too much, and my wife and I want to be able to turn off the spigot at night so that they’ll go to sleep without us having to confiscate all the phones and tablets in the house. Unfortunately, Netflix doesn’t have parental controls… Read More »

Category: Computers Free software Internet Web Tags: Netflix, Python, Selenium

Action report: “Detention is Separation: Shut Down ICE” action, Boston, MA, June 30, 2018

A first-hand account of the June 30, 2018 Cosecha Boston pro-immigrant protest, and a call to action. Will you join me in fighting for the respect, digity, and human rights of immigrants?

Category: Politics Tags: Cosecha, immigration reform

Why Blue State Digital just joined my global kill file

If you are active online in liberal politics, you’ve probably received email from a company called Blue State Digital, even if you didn’t realize it. Blue State Digital is a digital advocacy platform used almost exclusively by liberal organizations and candidates. If you get email from Democratic candidates, a lot of it comes from Blue… Read More »

Category: Computers email Internet Politics Spam Tags: Blue State Digital

Withdrawing my previous recommendation for SunBug Solar

About seven years ago, I paid SunBug Solar a lot of money to install a solar panel array on my roof. As I wrote at the time, I was quite impressed by SunBug and preferred them over the many other installers I evaluated. Since then, I have recommended SunBug to numerous people considering solar installations. Unfortunately,… Read More »

Category: Boston Consumer activism Home improvement Tags: solar energy, SunBug

Resorting to legal action against Netgear

As I wrote recently, Netgear introduced a severe bug into their router firmware around seven months ago, making all newer firmware releases since then unusable for many router owners. In the intervening time, numerous severe security holes in their routers have been publicized and patched by them. However, those of us who are running into… Read More »

Category: Computer Security Computers Consumer activism Fraud Internet Tags: Netgear, R8000P

Oh, please, Eversource, DO waste my time!

"Estimates are based on your billed usage, your profile answers for other fuel usage, and similar homes in your area."

Eversource’s “Energy Savings Plan” application for estimating your energy usage and suggesting ways to reduce it is entirely bogus and useless. Don’t waste your time.

Category: Boston Computers Consumer activism Internet Tags: energy conservation, Eversource

I wish I’d listened to past me’s advice to never again buy a Netgear router

Almost 11 years ago, back in August 2007, I opined passionately here on my blog, “Why I will no longer buy from Netgear“. Alas, I recently failed to heed my own advice, and I’m sorry to say that the results have been somewhat predictable. Last September, I found myself in need of a new router… Read More »

Category: Computer Security Computers Consumer activism Internet Tags: Netgear

Observian: Avoid companies that lie to drum up business

Observian employees drum up business by lying. If you don’t think that’s OK, I suggest you avoid doing business with them.

Category: Consumer activism Fraud Tags: Observian, Vettery

Why you should turn off “Ads with your social actions” on Facebook

While I was scrolling through Facebook recently, this came up in my feed: I’ve blurred out the name of one of my friends at the top of the ad so as not to single them out. However, I can say with near-absolute certainty that this particular friend would not knowingly endorse anything that Ben Shapiro… Read More »

Category: Computers Consumer activism Internet User Experience Tags: Facebook, privacy
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