A corporate pledge of allegiance
In Robert Reiche's new book, Beyond Outrage, he proposes that if the SCOTUS and the regressive right claim corporations are people, then the corporations should show some allegiance to our country and pledge allegiance to America. I agree. Robert also proposes that corporations who pledge allegiance should be free to advertise it. On the other hand, he says Americans should consider boycotting corporations that don't pledge allegiance.
This sounds good to me. Does it sound good to you? Here is what Robert suggests the corporate pledge of allegiance could say:
Our corporation pledges allegiance to the United States of America.
To that end:
- We pledge to create more jobs in the United States than we create outside the United States, either directly or in our foreign subsidiaries and subcontractors.
- We further pledge that no more than 20 percent of our total labor costs will be outsourced abroad. If we have to lay off American workers at a time when we’re profitable, we will give those workers severance payments equal to their weekly wage times the number of months they’ve worked for us.
- We pledge to keep a lid on executive pay so no executive is paid more than fifty times the median pay of American workers. We define “pay” to include salary, bonuses, health benefits, pension benefits, deferred salary, stock options, and every other form of compensation.
- We pledge to pay at least 30 percent of money earned in the United States in taxes to the United States. We won’t shift our money to offshore tax havens, and we won’t use accounting gimmicks to fake how much we earn.
- We pledge not to use our money to influence elections.
Robert B. Reich (2012-04-17). Beyond Outrage (Enhanced Edition) (Kindle Locations 1493-1505). Knopf. Kindle Edition.
So lets make this happen.
We will need a website to plan, coordinate, help spread the idea, highlight companies who pledge allegiance, you get the idea. We need to find corporations with CEOs and/or shareholders who will take the pledge. We need media attention. I'm sure there is more, but I've only been throwing thoughts on paper for a short while now.
Post a comment if you're on board. Also, buy the eBook of Beyond Outrage. It does a fantastic (and concise) job of explaining what is wrong with our economy (and country and politics), how it went wrong, and what we can do about it. This idea came from the book, after all. The eBook (I don't think its available in print) is $2.99. $3.99 for the enhanced version with videos. You can get it from Amazon for Kindle (which you can read on a PC or mac), iBooks Store, and others. http://robertreich.org/ has links.
Post a comment if you're on board.
Initial Impressions of IPS Hosting Signup Process
I just signed up with IPS Hosting to have a hosted Invision Power Board account, what follows are my very first initial impressions of their service, after being a customer for maybe... 25 minutes.
- Sign up was easy and I got an invoice emailed to me before the final confirmation page even finish loading. (This is good)
- I promptly got a welcome email that explained they would install my forums and that if I hadn't seen anything within 30 minutes to contact support. (Also good)
- Nine (9) minutes after having paid them I got an email with the administrator details for my forums. (Very speedy and thus good =))
- Sadly, this email didn't have any information regarding their client area, how to get support, etc.
- The forum was installed improperly and gives PHP errors. (Front and back end) This is bad. I do realize that such things happen, and that this is probably an automated process... but there should be some kind of quality control that checks that everything worked.
- I replied to their support@invisionpower.com address that sent me the welcome email to tell them something went wrong. About 6 minutes later I got a reply stating that no ticket was found in their system and that I would have to log into their support area to open a new ticket. Fair enough, but silly. (Also, this is the first I was told where the "clients" area is... You know, where you can see invoices, get support, etc)
- I've just put in a ticket (and got a confirmation that they received it instantly) to get everything fixed up. Sadly, my forums wont load at all right now ("This server is taking too long to respond." type errors)
Current overall thoughts: The IPS Hosting new customer welcome experience needs improvement. About 30 minutes rewriting the welcome emails and things would feel much better for new customers. Also, they really should do some QA checks on new forum installs.
Updates: After exploring the clients area, I found where I can access cPanel. However it looks like I already got my IP banned by their server while I was trying to guess my password in it earlier. On the bright side, their security is good enough not to use the same password for cPanel and your admin name on the forums. I suspect the ban is temporary and am waiting for it to expire or for them to clear it based on a support ticket I put in.
It also appears the errors with the forum are because the forum wasn't installed correctly. Using my 3G connection I was able to get into cPanel, resetup the DB, and then install the forums manually and they seem to work.
So at the end of the day, I think the instructions provided in the initial emails they send you really need to be improved. I'm a smart guy and I am deeply rooted in the web hosting industry, but it took me a while to connect the dots and I imagine many other users would have more issues and be more frustrated than I am/was.
The end, for now.
PS: Still no reply to my support tickets, but it has only been an hour or two and I think it is after hours for them.
Second Update:
Shortly after posting my last update their support staff got around to helping me. They promptly unbanned my IP, helped me get my domain working, and gave me instructions on how to change the domain settings in IPB. (I had already finished reinstalling the forum myself at this point.) Overall I would say their support was very helpful, very prompt (2~3hr wait after hours isn't bad at all).
Those welcome emails still need work though.
The end.
Protected: WTF
How to get help with Google Apps Standard
So, as you know, Google doesn't really offer much support to free accounts, however they do have a form you can fill out to request help. It can be a bit difficult to find, so here is the link:
http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/request.py?contact_type=ga_plus&ctx=signing_in
Of course, don't forget to check the usual resources for help first... Google the issue, check their help pages, etc.
Adding DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) email verification to your Google Apps account
Introduction
The following is a pictorial guide to setting up DKIM for an already existing Google Apps account with your DNS hosted by any cPanel provider. The majority of the instructions and information provided here can also be found on the official Google support page, found at: http://www.google.com/support/a/bin/answer.py?answer=174124
Requirements
- You must already have a Google Apps account that is setup for and working with your email. This guide will not cover registration for Google Apps, or setting up any other aspect of Google Apps mail.
- You must be an administrator for the Google Apps account in question. Simply having an email account on Google Apps is not enough.
- You must be able to create a TXT DNS record for the domain(s) that you wish to have DKIM enabled for. I will cover doing this within cPanel, however it is not difficult to do at NameCheap, GoDaddy, or most other DNS control panels. Contact your DNS hosting provider if you need further assistance.
Before we begin
You will need to login, and verify that some settings are correct.
Click the "Manage this domain" link once logged into your Google Apps email.
Click on Domain Settings
“Enable pre-release features” must be checked. You must chose “Next generation” from the control panel options. In the future, these settings may not be required for DKIM support.
Let's enable DKIM
Click on the "Advanced Tools" menu.
Click on "Set up email authentication (DKIM)"
Chose the domain you want to enable DKIM for and Click the link to generate the DNS record.
Chose a prefix and click "Generate" - The default ("google" with no quotes) is fine, unless you know better.
We will be copy/pasting these into a new TXT DNS record.
Setting up the DNS record within cPanel
Start by logging into cPanel. You're on your own for this step 
Log into cPanel
Find the Advanced Zone Editor Icon and click on it
Setting up the DNS TXT Record. See comments in the image for full details.
Click Start Authentication back in the Google Apps control panel. It can take 1-2 days for it to take effect.
You're done!
That's all you need to do. It can take up to 24-48 hours for these changes you initiated to take effect for all of the internet, but it generally doesn't take that long. Give it a few days and you should be well on your way to helping fight off spammers.
Getting Google Voice and RingCentral to play nice
Today I decided to take another whack at getting my local business number, currently run by Google Voice, to forward into my new 800 number at RingCentral. I never managed to make it work in the past, but today everything changed. So want to do the same? Here's how:
Update 5/31/11: Before I let you read the instructions on how to accomplish this, I should tell you that after using this for a while, I consider it to be a far less than optimal solution. For reasons unknown to me, sometimes Google picks up the line, plays its voicemail message, and records the voicemail in its own inbox. Ideally, everything should always be handled by Ring Central, but I suppose if Ring Central doesn't answer fast enough, or there is some kind of delay... then there are problems. Ideally, you should really just port the number to Ring Central and pay the extra few dollars per month. Proceed at your own risk.
- Backup everything first. Make notes of your current settings in Google Voice and RingCentral for when you are done, or in case there is a problem or you ever wish to go back to how things were. Also, try to do this when your phone isn't likely to be ringing.
- Log into RingCentral and setup the forwarding number. Go to "My Settings" > "Account Summary" and under the header of "My Numbers Forwarded to RingCentral" setup your Google Voice number. There is no need to call any phone company or do any of that stuff, just type in the number and pretend you followed the rest of the directions.
- Temporarily, we are going to setup RingCentral to instantly forward to your phone, without any menu's or similar stuff. This is so you can get the verification code from Google. Still under "My Settings" go to "Answering Rules." Select business hours or after hours based on what time it is for you and when you are going to set this up. Set your answering mode to "Ring a number only." Continue like normal setting this up to ring a phone you're at.
- Go to google voice. Under Settings for Google Voice, go to phones, add a new phone, and enter your RingCentral number. Proceed with the instructions they show you to receive the verification call, get the code, and enter it on your screen. The RingCentral number should be verified before you continue. If you have problems with this (like going to voicemail or not getting to your phone in time), make sure you set RingCentral to go directly to your phone. No delays, no extensions, no departments, no voicemail, no nothing. When the call comes in, it has to make your phone ring instantly.
- Undo everything we did in step 2 now that Google Voice has verified your control of your RingCentral number. You're ok to put departments, extensions, full call control, and everything else back now. Setup RingCentral however you want or however you had it before.
- Back in Google Voice settings, go to the calls tab and turn call screening off. Set caller ID to display the callers number. Save things, then go to the phones tab in the Google Voice settings and uncheck all phones except your RingCentral phone.
- Test things out. Calls to Google Voice should now get forwarded to RingCentral and handled by its rules. Voicemail won't work at Google Voice anymore, but that is probably for the best. You can still setup SMS messages to forward to email or any cell phones on your account. You can also still block callers in Google Voice or setup calling groups to make some contacts ring your phone instead of Google Voice. That said, if RingCentral offers the same feature, you may wish to setup things there instead of in Google Voice.
- Don't blame me if things go wrong. I'm just telling you what worked for me, and I wrote this on November 11, 2010... So things could have changed since this was written.
So sue me!
I wanted to post a link to a recently article on the MikeDVB.com site, but in the past people have threatened to drag me into a legal battle because of a link on my site to a site they claim had infringing materials. So, here's to fanning the flames and a giant "F*** you!" to everyone's best friend. (Not really)
http://www.mikedvb.com/2010/11/07/from-leasing-to-owning-and-colocation/
Customer service done right
It's not often you see a company excel at customer service. I rarely walk away from interacting with a company support team feeling good about the experience or their brand. But this gem just arrived in my inbox and many companies could take note of what they did right.
Let's start with the back story. I requested a card reader from Square (www.SquareUp.com). They took some time to get out of beta and start sending the devices out, but mine finally arrived and I did a little dance, then sent some tweets about how happy I was. After that, I proceeded to run my own credit card for $1.00 to see how the process worked. It was very slick. I then proceeded to go online and refund my dollar back.
The refund email sent to the end-buyer didn't feel very slick though. In fact, I thought it was rather confusing. So I opened a ticket with the Square support guys to tell them what I thought. Here is the email I got back:
Jonathan P., Oct 17 19:43 (PDT):
Hey Scott,Did we mention that YOU are awesome? Because we should have by now. Thanks for the feedback and you are correct on every suggestion you have given us! I will forward this over to our development team and have them look into preparing something more fashioned in the direction that you are looking for.
Thank you wholeheartedly for the feedback, this is exactly what helps us make our product better for you.
Have a great day,
Jonathan P.
Square Support
I changed his last name to his last initial (and will remove it completely at Square's request). In any case, you rarely see a response of this caliber. I wish more companies responded in a similar fashion. Way to go Jonathan and Square!
Possible fix for a jumpy gaming mouse on OSX
So, I have a G5 gaming mouse that I have been using for a number of years. I love it... but for some reason my mouse tends to "jump" around under OSX. The usual suspects like restarting the computer, or unplugging and plugging the mouse back in makes no difference. Weirder yet is that if I reboot into boot camp (Win7) the jumpiness goes away.
Some googling lead me to this page: http://dae.cyberic.eu/blog/mouse-cursor-skipping-jumping-bug-on-mac-os-x/
Additional googling lead to suggestions that you remove /System/Library/Extensions/AppleUpstreamUserClient.kext (Hint: Don't remove it, rename it instead. See below)
cd /System/Library/Extensions/ && sudo mv AppleUpstreamUserClient.kext AppleUpstreamUserClient.kext.old
Now, normally, I don't advocate that regular users mess with system files, but in this case, this "fix" actually worked for me. My advise is to rename that .kext file such that it is easily available if you ever need it, or if removing it causes problems. I would also advise that you not attempt this unless you have a way to restore it (dual boot OS, restore CD to access the file system, Time Machine, etc).
Anyways, the fix worked for me and the Jumpiness with my Logitech G5 is gone.
Update: Just had to do this again under OSX 10.6.7. (I suspect a system update restored the kext file). Problem solved again.