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Beware of SOPA, Despite Its Intent

by Bruce Simmons on January 11, 2012

It seems that of all the “social” circles I travel, I seem to be seeing nothing but bad news or poor opinions of this SOPA act.

SOPA stands for Stop Online Piracy Act. Its intent is to protect copyrights and defeat copyright infringements. IE: Those internet movie pirates that believe they’re entitled to steal content without paying for it.

So the premise is to protect the major players of the entertainment industry.

But it would seem that the way it was written, there are catches that seem, per so many perspectives being made on the web, to threaten even the smallest web entrepeneur… you.

The concerns are that websites can be shut down, even if you’ve done nothing wrong yourself. IE: A site visitor leaves a comment with a link out to something… BAM, your site is done!

(Suggestion: I have this site set up to not allow links in comments. They all have to be approved.)

Did You Know You Can or Have To Set Your Garmin 305 To Record Splits? [Consumer]

by Bruce Simmons on January 3, 2012

Setting Splits on Your Garmin Forerunner 305… it doesn’t come out of the box recording splits automatically, but did you know it can be set to record splits?

I’ve owned a Garmin 305 since I did my Garmin 305 Product Review in March of 2010. It’s one of the best toys a runner can have.

Before owning a Garmin GPS tracking computer, I used to run predefined courses and then map them out on either Google Earth, Map My Run, and now, lately, if I do this any more, over on USATF America’s Running Routes.

To be honest, after a good run, the last thing you want to do is sit down and tinker on the computer.

So I snagged a GPS 305 back then because it was on sale for a ridiculous price on Amazon.com. Today I took a peek and today I noticed a Garmin or two on sale for around $180 at the time of writing this article. (Garmin GPS Watches on Amazon.com)

Since my introduction to my Garmin, I’ve been loving the premise of turning on my Garmin 305, putting it in the window sill until it catches the satellite signals, and taking off. This works out great because the watch needs a few minutes to find the sky and I use that time to load up my running fuel and water bottles. By the time I’m done with that, my Garmin is ready.

Personal Security Tips for Christmas Shopping – Your Car [Consumer]

by Bruce Simmons on December 12, 2011

Tis that time of year, with the holidays upon us. Christmas shopping is in full swing and you are more than likely on the go! Some folks may be shopping from home, via Amazon and other cool places that make everything pretty easy…

Amazon.com

And through it all, though you may mean well, there’s still aspects of life where you have to pay attention to your own personal security!

There are still entire hoards of shoppers descending upon shopping malls still. And while you’re on the go, there are others out there, looking for victims to take advantage of, and the last thing YOU want, is to have your holiday season screwed up because someone else shops via lock picks and poor life-planning.

One of the statistical increases that takes place are thefts from automobiles during the Christmas shopping season.

I received an email notice from the San Mateo County alert system that outlines a few things someone might do to help alleviate the chance of becoming a crime victim.

A Humorous Amazon Product Review

by Bruce Simmons on December 8, 2011

The other day, a buddy of mine pointed me to an Amazon product, asking if I wanted a good laugh. I wasn’t in a particularly good mood, but I humored him and let him point me to this item for sale on Amazon. I mean seriously, how funny can a product for sale really be? Oh, I was wrong.

It wasn’t so much the product as it was the comments/reviews for the product that cracked me up.

The product is the Defense Technology 56895 MK-9 Stream pepper spray. At first I was thinking, yea, so? Wondering what my friend was up to when he pointed me to this page. But then he indicated that I should look at the reviews.

The first comment starts out with

“Whenever I need to breezily inflict discipline on unruly citizens” and I got a bit of a snicker. The review goes on to say that “When I reach for my can of … Pepper Spray, I know that even the mighty First Amendment doesn’t stand a chance against its many scovil units of civil rights suppression.”

The next comment said they used the pepper spray to disburse non-violent campers, and it worked. But they multiplied the next day.

Amazon Shuts the Door on CA Affiliates…

by Bruce Simmons on June 30, 2011

It’s pretty whacky. When the economy takes a hit, the little guy gets it from all sides. Friends and neighbors lose jobs, bills start to increase as your local grocer tackles their own shortfalls. Your fuel prices go up… despite record breaking profits on their part. What else I noticed that since the econ took a hit, my local municipality has taken to getting aggressive in distributing parking tickets and I swear that more cops are hovering about intersections and what not.

But while we’re getting pummeled with increased prices from every angle, no the state of CA has stepped up with a new bill that will supposedly increase their coffers by an approximate $200 million. That move, a bill that was signed into affect by CA Gov Jerry Brown last night that will force online retailers to now collect sales tax from their CA affiliates.

How it impacted me is that Amazon is taking a stand and yanked all affiliate agreements with CA residents who have such. That included myself and all the other 25,000 (est) affiliates from CA are finding ourselves in the middle of this financial battle.

California is not the first state that Amazon has walked away from its affiliates in. The Seattle-based online seller has previously parted ways with Arkansas, Connecticut and Illinois due to similar bills in those states.

To you, the consumer, you won’t notice the change here on brusimm.com. I can’t speak for anyone else, but this disengagement of my agreement with Amazon will account for over a 25% loss of the income my website brings in to help me offset costs in time, labor and services.

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Father’s Day Last Minute Shopping! Gulp!

by Bruce Simmons on June 17, 2011

Father’s Day is fast approaching and if you haven’t already headed out into the foray of the malls, braving the nail polish testers, the store make-up artists wanting to spin their wares on your own personal canvas and such, then you just might be a bit behind the eight-ball!

You still have a bit of time to head out and tackle the sea of cars that make up the visual of your favorite mall’s parking lot. I usually don’t have much to worry about there. I like the exercise of walking a 1/2 mile while playing dodge-ball, or dodge-car with those less athletic folks diving for the very closest parking space to their much coveted destination.

Or…

Since you’re already online reading this and now you’re thinking to yourself you didn’t realize exactly how dangerous the world is just to head out to buy a simple gift card, it’s possible that maybe picking up gift cards for Dad will work just fine.

Gift cards, or the ones I use on Amazon, are incredibly handy and they are huge stress relievers. Yes, I said that. Gift cards are stress relievers. I say that because rather than worrying about what someone might want, you only have to sort out which of their favorite places to snag them a pre-allotted cash plot to spend!

The Sound of Music (Limited Edition Collector’s Set) [Blu-ray/DVD Combo]

‘The Sound of Music’ Collector’s Edition Package on Sale Today [3-10-11]

by Bruce Simmons on March 10, 2011

in Entertainment, movies

The Sound of Music is a classic that will stand the test of time through the ages. It’s a great movie for everyone and can lead to hours of fun family sing-a-longs… well, unless, like me, ya just can’t sing that well. But regardless, for today only, Amazon has slapped The Sound of Music Blu-ray / DVD combo pack into their ‘Gold Box’ Deal of the Day for today (3/10) only.

This 1965 classic cast is lead by Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer and the special today is the The Sound of Music (Limited Edition Collector’s Set) [Blu-ray/DVD Combo] (1965), boxed set. It’s not just the movie, check out the package deal:

Your Favorite Things: An Interactive Celebration — all-new immersive viewing experience with behind-the-scenes images, on-screen lyrics, trivia track and location quiz
Music Machine Sing-Along
Musical Stages: Creating The Sound of Music — all-new interactive “backlot tour” with in-depth featurettes on the songs, the stage show & movie, the film and sound restoration and the real-life von Trapp family
A City of Song — virtual map of filming locations in Salzburg, Austria
Vintage Rodgers & Hammerstein and The Sound of Music programs, including a parody with Carol Burnett and Julie Andrews, and an interview with the real Maria von Trapp on The Julie Andrews Hour
Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of American Music, hosted by Mary Martin
Screen tests, rare treasures, interviews, photo galleries and more
BD-LIVE: Live Lookup Powered by IMDb

It’s truly an awesome catch of a package if you’re interested, in the ‘Gold Box’ today on Amazon!

Netflix and CBS Start A Running Agreement on Older Shows

by Bruce Simmons on March 1, 2011

in Entertainment

Here’s some news: Netflix is adding to its library of streaming shows by entering into a 2-year agreement with CBS to add some older popular shows such as Medium, Flashpoint, Frasier, Cheers and more to their available streaming inventory. These new additions will be available for instant streaming, as will other classic series such as all generations of the sci-fi series Star Trek and installments of The Twilight Zone.

This deal between Netflix and CBS is a two-year non-exclusive deal and CBS has the option to extend the deal two more years if they wish to. Of course, it’s not free. These new library editions will be part of Netflix’s $7.99 per month subscription service. Sigh.

Keep in mind though that the ever savvy CBS has not allowed their content to be available to any streaming subscription service before this. Of course, this addition of streaming content to Netflix is no surprise.

Back in October of 2010 it was reported that online streaming content outsold/outpaced DVD rentals, where 66% of their users watched streaming content versus a year previous when it was only 44% of their subscriber base.

As Netflix CEO Reed Hastings put it, “By every measure, we are now primarily a streaming company that also offers DVD-by-mail.”