Philosophyzer's blog

So in my whine for the day (I guess today I'm hitting 2x the whine), I want to talk about my homedepot.com experience.  I ordered a circular saw for my Brother-in-law and turns out I needed to return it.

So I go to a home depot store and try to return it ... this would be one of the primary brick-and-mortar-experience-is-better-than-online things, right?  No.  First of all the return clerk didn't think she could take it, she asks another guy that tells me I need to call up the internet and the internet will tell me what to do.

So in my whine for the day (I guess today I'm hitting 2x the whine), I want to talk about my homedepot.com experience.  I ordered a circular saw for my Brother-in-law and turns out I needed to return it.

So I go to a home depot store and try to return it ... this would be one of the primary brick-and-mortar-experience-is-better-than-online things, right?  No.  First of all the return clerk didn't think she could take it, she asks another guy that tells me I need to call up the internet and the internet will tell me what to do.

So I returned my Harmony 360 remote in favor of the Harmony 680. Primary reasons were layout of the remote (the 360 is a little too generic and row/columnar), the 3 lines of LCD screen vs. 2 (I wanted 6 items on the LCD without having to page), and the fact the 680 has a green button on it specifically for MCE use (of which that is my anchor in my living room).

Verdict so far is that Logitech still SUCKS when it comes to supporting the 360 as an extender, but with the right workarounds the thing is SWEET!!

So I returned my Harmony 360 remote in favor of the Harmony 680. Primary reasons were layout of the remote (the 360 is a little too generic and row/columnar), the 3 lines of LCD screen vs. 2 (I wanted 6 items on the LCD without having to page), and the fact the 680 has a green button on it specifically for MCE use (of which that is my anchor in my living room).

Verdict so far is that Logitech still SUCKS when it comes to supporting the 360 as an extender, but with the right workarounds the thing is SWEET!!

Called up 18004MYXBOX and spoke with "Valerie" (pronounced like malaria - I think it's funny how the call center ppl in India pick american names .. I suppose it makes sense since I'd probably never be able to remember/write down who I'm speaking to otherwise b/c I'm not familiar with their names either).

Anyway, i digress.  They agreed to send me a new controller to replace the one that isn't working (even though it's really working but not compatible with their headset).

Called up 18004MYXBOX and spoke with "Valerie" (pronounced like malaria - I think it's funny how the call center ppl in India pick american names .. I suppose it makes sense since I'd probably never be able to remember/write down who I'm speaking to otherwise b/c I'm not familiar with their names either).

Anyway, i digress.  They agreed to send me a new controller to replace the one that isn't working (even though it's really working but not compatible with their headset).

I'm using Windows Vista now and I wanted to stream some .wmv files to the 360 directly by using Windows Media Player 11 (without using media center).

I was struggling with this until I found a post in the xbox forums detailing how to do this.  Turns out the 360 gets "locked" into using windows connect (if you've ever set it up before).  You have to force the 360 to drop the connection to your PC and then set it up again.  This is accomplished via the "System" blade in the dashboard.

Disconnect:

I'm using Windows Vista now and I wanted to stream some .wmv files to the 360 directly by using Windows Media Player 11 (without using media center).

I was struggling with this until I found a post in the xbox forums detailing how to do this.  Turns out the 360 gets "locked" into using windows connect (if you've ever set it up before).  You have to force the 360 to drop the connection to your PC and then set it up again.  This is accomplished via the "System" blade in the dashboard.

Disconnect:

Well, 48hrs+ have passed and no callback from 18004MYXBOX.  Looks like tomorrow I'll call them.

I hope it's because they're researching how to handle all the customers that purchased their wireless headset and would love to use them with their perfectly functioning controllers.

Well, 48hrs+ have passed and no callback from 18004MYXBOX.  Looks like tomorrow I'll call them.

I hope it's because they're researching how to handle all the customers that purchased their wireless headset and would love to use them with their perfectly functioning controllers.