Crappy Software

Today, whenever I try to do anything on Blogger, I get this error message:

We’re sorry, but we were unable to complete your request.
When reporting this error to Blogger Support or on the Blogger Help Group, please:
Describe what you were doing when you got this error.
Provide the following error code.
bX-kn464r

Weird thing is, whatever I was trying to do (start a new post, publish a post) WORKS, despite the error message.

At the end of my crappy, mandatory, 90-minute, obviously lawyer-induced, the University-covering-its-ass training course in (1) reporting child abuse (how many younger-than-18 students do I encounter?) and (2) handling hazardous materials (which I never do), there was a box for comments. So I wrote:

“Very poorly designed training course. Should NOT rely on browser pop-ups and should NOT be written in Java (a computer language with numerous security holes).”

(The training platform was so poorly implemented that the College tech support had to configure special computers in a lab for faculty and staff to use. Most folks could not get it to run on their own computers.)

Today I got a response from Skillsoft customer support that said, “Thank you for sending in feedback. We appreciate it when subscribers take the time to tell us how they are finding the service. Our courses are designed to work on as many configurations as possible.”

Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Y’know what really burns my bacon? When a software update tries to scam you into INSTALLING some other piece of crap.

Looking at you, Adobe Flash Player, and your DEFAULT setting of installing McAfee Security Scan Plus.

And the thing is, Flash has few friends these days and is a dying, decaying platform. So why is Adobe irritating and alienating the few users Flash has left by trying to pull crap like this?

I guess I should be accustomed to the marketing of electronics products being full of crap, but it’s still disappointing when you get tripped up by it when purchasing an expensive device that is virtually unreturnable. Here is my story of my latest encounter with crappy, misleading marketing:

I enjoy Pandora radio and I’d worked out a clunky system for getting it to play through my car stereo. It involved a gizmo plugged in to my car’s aux input and the manual control of Pandora on my Droid Incredible 2 phone. So, when I had a little extra cash from a textbook royalty check, I thought I’d splurge on a car receiver that handled Pandora without the extra gizmo. And then my tech fever escalated and I decided to go for a unit that also incorporated GPS and phone features.

This drew me to the Pioneer AVIC-X940BT (who names these things? former rocket scientists?), which seemed to have everything I needed and, the Mobile Electronics salesman told me, would display Pandora data and allow me to control Pandora right through the device’s interface–connecting to my phone via Bluetooth.

But I was worried about compatibility so I checked Pioneer’s Website, where it says,

Compatible with Apple iOS, as well as Android devices that support the Bluetooth Serial Port Profile (SPP). Simply download the free Pandora Radio app to your iPhone or Android device and connect to the AVIC-X940BT and take your music to the next level.

The Droid Incredible 2 does indeed support Bluetooth Serial Port Profile so I thought I was all set.

I poked around everywhere I could on the Pioneer Website, but nowhere could I find a specific list of compatible devices. All I found were displays like the one below that seem to confirm compatibility with Android.

And so I bit. I paid too much money to have the unit installed by Mobile Electronics.

Everything seemed to be fine with pairing my phone, via Bluetooth, with the AVIC-X940BT until I tried to get Pandora to work. Then I began encountering error messages about the inability to connect:

Bluetooth connection is disconnected. Press “Connect” to connect.

This message appeared while I was already connected. I scoured the PDF manual (of course they don’t give you a real paper manual anymore) for an answer.When I found the following fine print (“Compatibility with all Android devices is not guaranteed.”) buried in the 240-page manual, I suspected I was in trouble.

Then I went back to Mobile Electronics to ask about it. An installer dude checked it out and declared that it wasn’t supposed to work with Pandora. That Pandora only works via a wired connection to an iPhone.

I knew that wasn’t right, but the installer dude couldn’t be convinced otherwise. So I called Pioneer’s tech support–after Googling around turned up no solid info. There I had it confirmed: the AVIC-X940BT is not compatible with the Droid Incredible 2–an Android 2.2+ phone that’s less than a year old and supports Bluetooth SPP. In fact, the tech guy tried to replicate my situation using his own Droid phone and his model didn’t work either. He found a list that states that only 12 specific Android phones work with Pandora and this Pioneer unit.

Sigh.

I told the guy to please tell his supervisor that I am extremely disappointed about this and that the marketing of the AVIC-X940BT as compatible with Android phones supporting Bluetooth SPP is very misleading and should be corrected. The tech guy said he would “capture that feedback” and pass it along.

Sigh.

Ah well, at least this unit does, like, 70% of what I bought it for. And, who knows, maybe a firmware update will solve my problem? Or maybe my next smartphone will be one of the compatible ones.

But still it’s sad to have the crappiness of electronics marketing confirmed. Again.

Update 3:50, Thursday:

 

Well, get this. In his NY Times column today, David Pogue is dealing with the same Pandora issues as me–although in his Toyota Prius! See “Pogue’s Posts: The Prius V and Its Entune System”, in the May 3 NY Times. Turns out that Pandora in the Prius does not work wirelessly with the iPhone, but does with Android!

But probably not the Droid Incredible 2, I’d wager.

So, Farmers Insurance Group tells me that by paying my premium I am acknowledging that I “understand and
agree to all the terms and conditions of the Subscription Agreement.”
And here’s how the Agreement, which I must acknowledge understanding, begins. This is all one sentence (I have put a line break at each comma):

For and in consideration of the benefits to be derived therefrom the subscriber covenants and agrees with Farmers Insurance Exchange and other subscribers thereto through their and each of their attorney-in-fact,
the Farmers Underwriters Association,
to exchange with all other subscribers’ policies of insurance or reinsurance containing such terms and conditions therein as may be specified by said attorney-in-fact and approved by the Board of Governors or its Executive Committee for any loss insured against,
and subscriber hereby designates,
constitutes and appoints Farmers Underwriters Association to be attorney-in-fact for subscriber,
granting to it power to substitute another in its place,
and in subscriber’s name,
place and stead to do all things which the subscriber or subscribers might or could do severally or jointly with reference to all policies issued,
including cancellation thereof,
collection and receipt of all monies due the Exchange from whatever source and disbursement of all loss and expense payments,
effect reinsurance and all other acts incidental to the management of the Exchange and the business of interinsurance;
subscriber further agrees that there shall be paid to said Association, as compensation for its becoming and acting as attorney-in-fact,
the membership fees and twenty per centum of the Premium Deposit for the insurance provided and twenty per centum of the premiums required for continuance thereof.

And insurance companies wonder why they have a reputation for obfuscation.