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Epson Class Action Settlement

April 15, 2006 by debbie T | Printers

The class action suit against Epson America has been settled and here are the details.

If you purchased a qualifying Epson printer between April 8, 1999 and May 8, 2006, you are eligible to receive a $45 settlement. If your printer has been registered with Epson, you will automatically be sent a $45 e-credit to use at the Epson Store.

An alternative, is to fill out the claim form, and you can choose to receive a $25 check along with a $20 e-credit to the store.

If you do not want to register your printer with Epson, it is also possible to receive the settlement by filling out the claim form.

The whole gist of the lawsuit was due to Epson’s sneaky way of forcing you to change the ink cartridge even though there was still plenty of ink inside the cartridge. The lawsuit doesn’t require Epson to change their printer technology, but they will change their software and packaging to reflect a statement that an undetermined amount of ink is remaining in the cartridge even when the printer claims it is empty.

As of this morning, when I checked the official settlement web site, it was down due to high bandwidth usage. (snicker) When the web site does come back, you can find details at http://www.epsonsettlement.com.

Additional details can be found:

* Yahoo News
* digg.com

Personally, I am disappointed in my Epson CX5400 printer, and I doubt I will be purchasing another Epson printer again. As for this class action lawsuit, I have opted for the $25 check/$20 e-check alternative settlement and will be mailing my claim form next week.

UPDATE (May 6, 2007): I just received an email concerning the Epson settlement.

Claims Administrator
c/o Rust Consulting, Inc.
PO Box 1308
Minneapolis, MN 55440-1308

Per your request, this is to inform you about the Settlement
Discount Code activation date for the Epson Ink Cartridge Cases.
Codes will be active as of June 20, 2007 and valid for 12
months. This code will be redeemable at www.epsonstore.com.

If you have any further questions about the Epson Ink
Cartridge matter, please visit www.epsonsettlement.com.

The direct link to the update on the settlement: http://www.epsonsettlement.com/Notice.htm

List of Portable Applications

March 21, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Linux Corner

List of portable applications on Wikipedia.

Lively conversation (as usual) on digg.com concerning the linked post.

Wireless Internet Access Through Floors and Walls

March 17, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Internet • Wireless

Recently, I asked my mom if she would like to try sharing the high-speed cable Internet that my sister has upstairs in her bedroom.

At first, I was considering running Ethernet outside the upstairs window & into the window in her office downstairs. Gosh that would require a lot of wiring, but initially I didn’t think wireless access would be possible.

I started researching, and learned that wireless-G access is much better reaching through walls and floors than wireless-B.

So I figured I would give it a shot; if the signal was too low, I could always consider adding a repeater to strengthen the signal.

Since I loved my new Linksys WRT54GS, I started looking at the sales flyers. I found the WRT54G (v5) at Staples for $50.

Note: I really don’t think the speed booster router was necessary. I did purchase the speed booster version for our home, but only because it had a better price at that time, and I liked the reviews better than the plain G. But basically, I am pretty sure that both routers are exactly the same, except one has the speed booster.

Along with the router, I needed a wireless adapter hardware for her desktop. I admit I am hardware challenged, so I really didn’t want to install a PCI wireless adapter. I opted for the WUSB54G (v4) USB network adapter from Linksys, but I bought the Linksys PCI adapter just in case the USB adapter didn’t work well. (Each were $50.) The reviews on the USB adapter were very mixed, in fact reviews were not so good for any USB network adapter.

To save time, I configured the router at my house with WPA2 Personal security (with a strong password,) Universal Plug ‘N Play disabled, firewall enabled, and a new administration password. Then I brought it over to my Mom’s.

Once it was plugged into my sister’s system upstairs, I plugged the USB network adapter into my Mom’s system. Hmm, it wasn’t working, so let’s read the directions. Uh oh, do not plug in the adapter until the software from the CD is installed. Gee, I guess I should have read the instructions first.

So, I uninstalled the driver Windows XP installed, and unplugged the adapter. After installing the drivers on the CD, I plugged in the network adapter again. In my opinion, the interface is a little awkward and unintuitive. When the network was found, a dialog box appeared with password text box. It took two tries, but I did finally connect.

Initially, the signal fluctuated from 60% to 70%, so we experimented with placement of the USB adapter and router (upstairs). Eventually, the signal strength moved to 80%.

When I have more time, I might go over there and experiment a little more. After reading the User Guide online, it appears I can forgo the Linksys connection monitor, and use Win XP’s monitor instead. It might be easier to do that. One night my Mom noticed another signal (40%) on the list of available networks, and I want to ensure that she cannot accidentally connect to any other open networks in the area. I know XP can be configured to not add every network to your list of preferred connections.

Bottom line, my mom loves the speed, and my Dad is even thrilled to be going online. It was a good upgrade for them and I recommend both the Linksys WRT54G router and WUSB54G USB Network Adapter.

Beware of Fake USB Flash Drives on eBay

March 7, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Internet

Been hearing news of unscrupulous Ebay dealers selling fake USB flash drives. In the US, the drives are already pretty cheap. I just picked up a 512mb for $15 and a 1 gb for under $35.

Take a look at the Digg story for more details and also another story on the Australian Ebay reviews site for some tips on how to spot a counterfeit drive.

Beware of Fake USB Flash Drives on eBay

Update on OWC Mini Stack External Drive

February 25, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Mac Corner

Well, the saga of my external drive appears to be over. Now, 2+ weeks later, I finally have a working external drive and I think I am happy.

If you remember, I previously wrote about the problem I was having trouble mounting the my OWC Mini Stack external hard drive I bought back in August.

I called for an RMA but felt strange about sending my drive with all my personal information, so decided to try one more time to mount the drive; it worked, and I grabbed my data and reformatted the drive.

It was over a week from the time I shipped to when I received the repaired drive.

Before I plugged the Mini Stack into my PowerBook, I followed the instructions found on the OWC tech page for drive mounting problems.

I quote:

Once you get the drive spinning and the blue LED is lit, then you can plug it into the computer. The drive should then show on the desktop.

I assumed this instruction applied to the Mini Stack. I plugged the drive into two different outlets, and the blue light flashed for one instance, then nothing. The drive didn’t spin.

Very disappointed, I phoned OWC again, and explained my problem to a tech. He agreed that the power supply must have blown again and he emailed a 2nd day air label. We shipped the drive back the next day.

Monday, Feb 20, I receive an email stating that they received a package from me without the appropriate RMA and what exactly was I returning and why. At this point, I was livid, so I replied with a “disappointed but angry customer” tone and explained the situation again. (Why the tech didn’t give me an RMA or include one on the shipping label I don’t know!)

At this point, I basically lost all confidence in OWC and was ready to write a scathing new article about how I never would recommend them again. Thankfully, they redeemed themselves.

I phoned OWC in the morning, and spoke to another tech. He informed me that they did figure out the details of my return, and my drive was in service. Two minutes after I hung up, I received a call from another tech telling me that the drive worked perfectly.

Long story short, he informed me that the Mini Stack must be plugged into the computer (via firewire or USB 2) for it to power up and begin spinning; it was a safety feature. Now why didn’t any other techs know that? And why did their FAQ state to plug the drive into an outlet first? I told him that they really should fix the articles to exclude the Mini Stack from this procedure, since it didn’t pertain to that drive.

Bottom line, I regained my confidence in OWC, and to top it off, they sent my drive back Next Day Air, so it was back on Wednesday.

My Mini Stack drive is now partitioned with a bootable copy of Mac OS X and I am a happy camper.

Travel Tips

February 23, 2006 by debbie T | Computers

While searching for another related topic, I found this web page with tons of tips for traveling with laptops and other electronic devices.

http://www.marketingcounsel.com/travel_tips_for_road_warriors.htm

Our Loving Relationship With Macintosh

February 5, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Mac Corner

How cool is this article:
http://www.tuaw.com/2006/02/03/rig-of-the-day-worlds-thinnest-desktop/

Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, (or maybe I just never cared until recently) but I never saw stories like this about Windows PCs. On the flip side, I have read tons of stories concerning older Macs that are still going strong. Macs don’t die, and when they get sick, we keep finding new ways to give them new life.

Since the release of the MacTels, the thought has crossed my mind to sell my PowerBook g4 on Ebay, and jump onto the Intel bandwagon. But I guess I am a big ole softy, because like so many other Mac owners, I feel a connection with my Mac. How can I sell my first?

It sounds strange, and I don’t think PC owners can understand it, but the relationship between Mac owners and their systems is special and undefinable. So, when I do jump on the MacTel bandwagon, I will also be lugging along my trusty PowerBook. I am looking forward to being one of the old-time Mac owners that brag about how their system is still going strong after all these years.

OWC Mini Stack Firewire Hard Drive Problem

February 5, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Mac Corner

I have been using my OWC Mini Stack Firewire hard drive since August this year. It has worked very well. It is a little noisy, but stays fairly cool and has done a great job for my backup files.

On Thursday night, after watching a little TV, I came back to my PowerBook to find a message that a drive was not unmounted properly. HUH? I realized the message was due to some sort of failure of the Mini Stack.

After unsuccessfully trying to re-mount the drive, I searched the Internet for clues as to what the problem could be.

I found a helpful article at OWC (Mac Sales)
http://eshop.macsales.com/tech_center/FAQ/index.cfm?answer=903

When connected to both USB2 and Firewire, the drive spins and the blue power light is on, but once the cables are removed, the drive has no power. I tried two different outlets, and no luck.

After a call to OWC on Friday morning, I received a RMA # from the very helpful tech, but since there was sensitive data on the drive, I was uncomfortable sending it to them. I was hoping I could just return the enclosure and keep the hard drive, but because I purchased the Mini Stack with the drive, I had to ship back the whole unit for repair.

So, I planned on purchasing a new external enclosure to temporarily install the hard drive so I could safely retrieve my data and format the drive before shipping it to OWC.

Luckily, Saturday morning, I tried one last time to mount the drive in Disk Utility, and lo and behold it worked! I grabbed all my archived files, dragged them to the PowerBook, and formatted the drive using the “Erase 7 times” in Disk Utility.

So, the good news is OWC has great customer service, but the bad news is, this is the second product (out of three total purchases) that had a problem. First bad Ram, now a bad power supply. I don’t know if this is par for the course, but I do still like their products, and will not hesitate to purchase through them again.

One more bit of good news is that I learned to never trust any backups, always have backups of the backups! I think I might purchase a second external drive. Possibly one of the smaller 2.5 ones.

UPDATE: http://splashofstyle.com/archives/2006/02/25/mini-stack-external-drive/

Linksys WRT54GS Router

February 1, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Internet • Mac Software • Wireless

I received our new Linksys router (WRT54GS v2) today from Staples. The reviews online seemed positive, more positive than the WRT54G (without SpeedBooster.) I didn’t actually have a chance to read the details on the box until it was delivered, but I noticed it stated that the SpeedBooster is only available for Win 2000 and XP, so it really wasn’t going to do much for my PowerBook. But, I did get it at a good price after rebates and discounts, so it really didn’t matter.

I didn’t install any software on the CD; I did open the manual in the Doc folder.

I hooked up the router to my Powerbook using a wired Ethernet connection. I pointed my browser to the admin page http://192.168.1.1/ and signed in as username (leave blank) with “admin” for password – this is information is in the instruction pdf document on the CD.

First, in Admin>Management, I changed the password to the router, and while I was on that page, I disabled Universal Plug n Play (UPnP)

On Setup>Basic Setup, I chose “Automatic Configuration DHCP) and selected my time zone. Save Settings. This automatically set the IP Addresses, etc.

On the Wireless tab, I carefully read through each of the sections and made my setting choices. I set it for WPA, and created my secure password.

If you need to learn more about specific settings, there is a “more” link found under the brief text explanation on the far right of the page. I was impressed with the Setup Help.

I browsed though each of the settings pages. Most areas I left at default.

I downloade and upgraded the firmware, and like the D-Link firmware upgrade, as it updated, a popup box stating the script stopped, and asked if I wanted to continue or stop. I think this must be a Mac OS X problem or something. Anyway, I tried clicking Continue a few times, and it just kept popping back up again. Then I reluctantly chose Stop, and it was the right choice, because the update finished.

After the upgrade, I lost the Internet connection, but I checked the troubleshooting section of the pdf manual, and figured out how to release and renew the IP Address. That worked and my connection was back.

Since I kept the same SSID and password, I connected easily with wifi on the Powerbook. Then I connected with our Toshiba laptop using an older Netgear MA521 card, and it seems to work just fine. I didn’t surf very long, but I test it by removing the wifi card and after I reinserted, it connected again. In the past, we would sometimes have to reboot Windows.

Compared to the D-Link, I like this Linksys router much better. I found the help explanations easy to understand, and the menus are organized very well. All in all, I am happy with my purchase.

NOTE on return of D-Link router: For security, I reset the D-Link router to default settings. I really don’t think it would have mattered, since they would probably have to reset the router anyway to sign into admin, but it made me feel better. I had actually set up the new Linksys and packed away the D-Link before I realized I didn’t reset. But I just grabbed our laptop, and connected directly to the D-Link Ethernet port. No need to connect to the Cable modem, since all I needed to do was access the admin area.

New D-Link Router (DI-524)

January 29, 2006 by debbie T | Computers • Internet • Wireless

UPDATE: 01/30/06 – I usually post my updates at the bottom of my articles, but this one is going to the top. My husband had major problems accessing the Internet on his Windows laptop, and I found some web sites were loading painfully slow, while others were fine.

I called D-Link’s customer support. It was disappointing to hear what the tech support guy told me. They don’t recommend WPA security on this router, they only “really” support WEP. EEEK! WPA support was my whole reason for purchasing a new router, and why would it state on the box that WPA was a router feature if they weren’t intending to support it!?!

I asked about other routers, and he said that any of them from the DI-624 upward, would fully support WPA.

Anyway, it really makes me very mad now that I am thinking about it. I guess they just take old crappy routers and slap in a firmware update so they can call it “WiFi Certified” – blah.

So, bottom line is I will be taking my router back to Office Max. The LinkSys routers are on sale, and since that is the brand I really wanted, I will spend a little extra for one of their better models.

End of update!

I picked up a new wireless router the other day. I found the D-Link DI-524 at OfficeMax for a really good price (around $20) so I grabbed it.

Reviews online were mixed, but I figured I would give it a shot.

Set up using the wizard was easy, but the wizard does not cover a lot of settings, including enabling WPA, so it is best to work through each page manually. Thankfully I have prior experience with routers, but for those that don’t, it can be a very daunting assignment.

On the Home>Wireless page, I enabled wireless connectivity, named SSID, chose a channel, left the default for Mixed mode & enabled SSID broadcast. I enabled WPA as PSK and created a very strong, impossible to memorize passkey.

Then I took a look at the Advanced tab. I was initially confused with the Firewall Rules configuration. I wasn’t sure if this needed to be enabled, or did NAT take care of my firewall needs. After running the Shields Up tests over at GRC.com, I realized I was in fairly good shape, and my NAT protection was working.

Shields Up brought a few security details to my attention. By default, my router left Port 113 closed, but not hidden. I found a tutorial on D-link’s support pages to stealth Port 113 and it worked! I don’t know if I will have connection problems in the future, but it is easy to reverse if needed.

Shields Up also let me know that my system was responding to pings. I found a setting on the Tools>Misc page to block WAN Pings. Also, on the Tools>Misc page, I disabled Universal PlugNPlay (UPNP). My security settings now passed the Shields Up tests!

On the Firmware page, I tried to update to the December, 2005 firmware, but a message kept popping up that there was a problem with the script. I have a feeling that it is because I am on a Mac. There was a warning to NOT use a wireless connection to download and update the firmware, so I had to connect by Ethernet. I will have to connect our Windows laptop and maybe that will work.

Extra Notes: I found a helpful web site called PortForward.com that offers Port Forwarding instructions for tons of different routers.