1st investment by @500startups was almost 2 yrs ago. When will it stop being referred to as “@davemcclure’s new fund” http://t.co/ihRVjHda Feb 7, 2012 6 :15 via Twitter

“My device is dead.”

“Is the power switch on?”

“Of course the pow… Oh.”

I’m officially one of the dumb people that call tech support. Feb 6, 2012 4 :45 via Twitter

The entire tiddlywinks page on Wikipedia reads as if a satirist made the whole thing up. http://t.co/YF8g6UPs Feb 4, 2012 10 :04 via Twitter

My son had an altercation, and I explained that I manage to avoid having people want to beat me up. My wife interjected, “that’s not true.” Feb 2, 2012 2 :25 via Twitter

Says something about Twitter’s priorities: in the official clients, tools for reporting a spammer are buried under several levels of menus. Feb 2, 2012 2 :01 via Twitter

My son wants to try publishing an iOS app, but a teenager spending $99 for an Apple account isn’t likely. Any suggestions? Feb 2, 2012 1 :56 via Twitter

Just added another type of person to that list of mine. Jan 31, 2012 6 :47 via Twitter

RT @sacstarts: Sign up now for the SacStarts February Dinner at Cafe Bernardo http://t.co/v2obbUAs Jan 31, 2012 11 :13 via Twitter

My son just asked me to help him with JavaScript. Awesome. Jan 30, 2012 9 :48 via Twitter

Weird. A whole lot of people just unfollowed me. Jan 30, 2012 6 :53 via Twitter

I saw a scifi movie once where prisoners were told not to walk through the open door because the forcefield would kill them. Eventually someone figured out there was no forcefield.

Speaking of which, the New York Times is now protected by a paywall. Don’t try and disable the JavaScript or anything. There’s no way it will work. Not at all.

My friends at Chrometa are about to release a Mac version of their automatic time tracking app. It’s up for download right now if you want to play with it.

For a description of what Chrometa does, see this time tracking review on Technolawyer.

The app puts an icon on your status bar like the one on the far left, here:

I like to keep the color out of my menu bar, so I created a black and white version.

Read more »

Because I’m tired of having to hunt for this information every time I need it, here’s how to set up your AT&T phone to use a Google Voice account as it’s voicemail backend. In my case, I’m forwarding my iPhone’s voicemail to Google Voice so I can get transcriptions of my messages.

First, set up a Google Voice account. Configure it to not forward calls to any phone number. Record your voice greeting.

Second, open up your phone’s dialer and dial the following, replacing 1234567890 with your new Google Voice phone number…

*61*1234567890# (then hit send)

*62*1234567890# (then hit send)

*67*1234567890# (then hit send)

You should see a message appear on your phone after each time you press send. This will set up your AT&T account to take all calls when the phone is busy, when you decline a call, or when your phone is turned off or out of range and forward the call to your Google Voice number.

Since your Google Voice account is set not to forward your call, it will go straight to voicemail over there.

Don Mattingly was named the next manager of the Dodgers following Joe Torre’s Friday retirement. In a press conference, the Dodger’s organization had nothing but praise for Torre and expressed high hopes for Mattingly’s success.

The press conference was marred, however, when finishing the conference, Mattingly hesitated and returned. Under a little-understood MLB rule, Mattingly was then required to replace his pitching coach for the 2011 season. “I don’t know what to say,” Mattingly said. “I’ve been playing this game a long time and I had no idea how that rule worked.”

I just got an email from Vonage announcing fee increases. In logic that only makes sense to a telco, they’re saving me money.

Here’s a translation from telco marketer speak to plain English.

At Vonage, we’re committed to providing our valued customers with the best experience possible through regular updates to our services. Effective April 23, 2010, we’re making the following changes:

Remember when we said we reserve the right to change our rates at any time if we give you notice? Here’s eleven days notice.

We’re adding free, unlimited Enhanced 411 to all Vonage calling plans – saving you $1.49 per 411 call! This added benefit is included in the Emergency 911 and Information Services Fee which also ensures we provide nationwide E911 service in accordance with FCC regulations.

No one was paying for or using 411 services from us since there’s this thing called the internet that has all the info you’d already need. So we’re going to charge you for it whether you use it or not. We’re going to make it sound like the FCC requires it by attaching it to a completely unrelated 911 service. That should make you think the government is to blame. Then we’re going to tell you you’re saving money on all the calls you aren’t making.

In addition, the Regulatory and Compliance Fee becomes the Regulatory, Compliance and Intellectual Property Fee. This fee covers our regulatory-related and legal compliance expenses, including those related to customer privacy protection, anti-fraud protection and number portability, as well as intellectual property-related costs enabling our services.

We keep getting hit with patent infringement lawsuits. We’re passing the costs on to you and attaching them to an official sounding line on our bill, one that makes it sound like we’re required to bill you for them, even though we aren’t.

Both fees will increase from $1.49 per month to $1.99 per month beginning with your first billing cycle on or after April 23, 2010. This change will allow Vonage to maintain our commitment to safety, innovation and customer service.

We don’t have the balls to raise our prices by $1.00 per month, so we’re going to add a few hidden fees. This allows us to still advertise that our price has never increased, even though it has. It’s called marketing and it’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.

If you have any questions, please visit Vonage Customer Support.

Your money is important to us. Your question will be ignored in the order it is received.