If Smart Meters are so smart, why can't PG&E just turn them off?

If Smart Meters are so smart, why can't PG&E just turn them off for those customers who don't want them?

I've been following PG&E's near-criminal heavy-handed installation of their smart meters. In the Monterey area, hundreds of their customers have objected to having these smart meters installed. In other areas of California, dozens if not hundreds of customers have complained that their electricity bills went up once these smart meters were installed, even though they did not have any change in their electricity use habits. Both PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission dismissed the claims of these customers. PG&E always treats customers like we are idiots.

Now, in just the last couple of days, PG&E has admitted that 1600 of their Smart Meters were indeed defective and have been transmitting incorrect information, resulting in overcharges to those customers. In today's San Jose Mercury News, there's a story about a couple who has been refunded $1400 for the overbilling by their Smart Meter. The husband has a technical background and was able to prove that the Smart Meter had overbilled them.

In the Monterey area, hundreds of their customers have objected to having these smart meters installed. PG&E has only recently backed off a bit from force-feeding these customers. Their latest solution, however, is pretty ludicrous. If you don't want a Smart Meter, then you can opt out, but only at a very high price -- $135 up front and $20 per month after that.

If Smart Meters are so smart, why can't PG&E just turn them off?

Here's a thought. If PG&E is paying so much to install these things, and they have the ability to wirelessly transmit data -- why doesn't PG&E do something good for a change, something that gives back to their communities? Why doesn't PG&E help bring free wireless internet to their communities that also helps them collect the data that these Smart Meters purportedly collect?

I am a fan of La Quinta and Hampton Inn hotels

I am a fan of La Quinta hotels, because of their friendly service and policy that allows dogs of any size at no additional charge. La Quinta is a truly pet-friendly hotel chain, as opposed to other hotels that advertise themselves as "pet-friendly" but then surprise you by allowing only dogs that are under 25 pounds. That's hardly truthful advertising.

Ever try to check into a hotel, and it takes the staff 30 minutes to get you into your room? I find that incredibly annoying, particularly since you've just spent 12 hours fighting your way through airports. You are tired. The better hotels already know you from your frequent guest program, and they check you in quickly.

Ever stand in line at a hotel while the clerk chats on the phone, or perhaps the clerk helps you, but then answers the phone while you are waiting? Find that incredibly rude and annoying? I have a story with a good ending for once. At the Lacey, WA La Quinta one evening, I arrived after a long drive. I had spoken on the phone to the clerk, who reserved a room for me. When I came through the door, she was on the phone, and I groaned inwardly, expecting another long wait to get my room key. Instead, she looked up, and handed me the key and the folio. I did not have to give her my drivers license, passport, birth certificate, fill out any form, etc. She had gotten all that information from my La Quinta Rewards information. Not only that, but this hotel had put out freshly baked cookies and chocolate-dipped strawberries for their guests! I was impressed.

I'm also a big fan of Hampton Inns, because the rooms are almost always in good shape (no mildewy shower curtains), the rooms are generally spacious and clean, and the staff is generally professional.

I've stayed in Motel 6 motels in the past for a couple of times, and they are generally what I call "suicide" rooms. Stay in a room like that, and you want to commit suicide.

PayPal violates its own rules for web security!

I don't understand. I don't get it.

One of the biggest warnings that Paypal and other financial institutions puts out is "never click on links that are embedded in emails." To do so is to invite the possibility that you click on a fraudulent email with a fraudulent link.

Yet, PayPal has been sending me this email, telling me that I should click on an embedded link to verify my account. This is a valid Paypal email and the link is also valid. But what the heck?!

Cell Phone Plans for Thrifty Folks

I have had voice plans with Verizon, and a Blackberry plan with AT&T in the past years, and I was always stunned at the monthly costs. $60 minimum plus all the taxes.

After much research, I've been using Net10 phones to keep my cell phone costs down.

Since using Net10 for voice, I pay $30 every two months for 300 minutes. This is enough minutes for me. You can now even buy web-enabled phones from Net10 that have web browsers, which let you check your email (however, these kind of suck, nowhere near as good as a Blackberry for email). I've gotten all my phones basically for free from Net10 through promotions that have gotten less generous. One of the things I've noticed is that when you buy more airtime through Net10, you don't get killed with so many more taxes and surcharges. Net10 uses the T-Mobile network and is a division of Tracfone. I've found the coverage to be just fine. The plans are month-to-month. You aren't locked into a 2-year plan.

I've been using a Virgin Mobile USB modem that lets me use my laptop in most areas that I've been, to get my emails, browse the web, etc. If you buy the USB modem at Walmart, then you can buy a special Walmart plan for $20 per month that gives you 1 Gb of data downloading. I've been very impressed with this. I have cable internet at home, but everywhere else such as airports or while driving, I use this USB modem.

Walmart is also selling a Blackberry for $169 for use with Virgin Mobile. You'd need a voice plan at $25 and a Blackberry data plan for another $10 per month, and that will give you voice and Blackberry email for $35 per month. And if you are traveling for a month or two out of the US, you won't get dinged since the plan is month-to-month. You aren't locked into a 2-year plan. The only downside to this is that I doubt the Virgin Mobile Blackberry will work outside of the US. My AT&T Blackberry worked just about EVERYWHERE for sending and receiving emails. I am talking everywhere -- even off Komodo Island, Indonesia. Of course the data costs were very high.

Lastly, if I really need my emails while traveling in the US, I have Gmail forward my emails to my Net10 phone. Any cell phone that allows texting can get emails sent as text. In my case, Gmail forwards my emails to: phone-number@tmomail.net. I never get complete emails, but I can see the gist of things. And I also admit that my current phone doesn't work with this. I am going through Net10 phones that were basically free and this one doesn't work, but my last one did; and I have about 12 more phones to go through. After that, I am going to get a Virgin Mobile Blackberry.

SMWBR14S-N Wireless Router Had To Be Destroyed

SMWBR14S-N Wireless Router: don't buy one of these. I bought two at woot.com and they were terrible. Buying a bad product like these is just awful; the time you spend trying to figure out what is wrong and how to make them work is incredibly wasteful. This is the first electronics product that I've taken out and destroyed with a shovel and pickax.

Pro Video Gear for Underwater Shooting

Lots of folks have seen me shooting recently with a Canon EOS 7D in a Nauticam housing and asked me the same question: should I buy one of these systems to shoot professional underwater video? Here's my attempt to answer the question.

These are both great pieces of gear. The 7D camera is capable of shooting nice 1080p video at a few frame rates. I've been using it at 1080p at 30fps and 24fps, and the results are pretty nice. Stunning, really, for such a small and relatively inexpensive package. Being able to use my Tokina and Canon wide-angle lenses underwater for really wide views, behind a decent port such as the Zen glass port, is astounding for both the ease and the price. In the past, I had to buy a $5500 Fathom lens for my Gates HVX200 housing, or a $30,000 Fujinon lens behind the dome of a custom-built Cranston Sony HDCAM housing, which cost $40,000. The Sony HDCAM camera cost $90,000 when it first came out, and the entire system weighed 70 lb and was a huge unit compared to the 7D and Nauticam housing.

I am now able to put together a still camera housing, swim around with it shooting stills, and then switch to get crisp HD video anytime I want. It is a dream come true.

That said, I am not planning on shooting a film with this setup or running to National Geographic Television or the BBC Natural History Unit to tout myself as a cameraman with this gear. I will still have to use my HDCAM and $50,000 camera packages, unfortunately.

The Canon 7D and any HDSLR simply does not give me professional video quality. If you compare the footage on a technical basis with the footage from my old Sony HDCAM F900 and the new RED One cameras that most professional shooters are using now, the difference in quality is very large. If I got a shot of a sperm whale eating a giant squid with 7D footage, I could probably get it used. But shooting an entire film with this camera is simply not professional enough.

The links below are a few months old, but can help answer questions about why I am saying the above, and what video cameras besides the RED One might be acceptable to NGTV and the BBC these days.

If I were starting out fresh today, I'd buy one of these instead of what I see many newbie cameramen are trying to do to break in. Or be a real pro and buy a RED. I've seen some shooters' RED footage and it is astounding when sued correctly.

Here's a great website about BBC's judgment and tests on video cameras:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/tv/production/delivery/hd-production-delivery.shtml

Hope this helps.

I Love to Travel

Why does every airplane flight turn into a 16-hour ordeal? Every time this happens, you say NEVER AGAIN. The waits are interminable. Your butt starts hurting. The food choices are awful. The bathrooms have piss all over the floor and the seats, and the toilets are full of piss, shit, and toilet paper. You have been on the road, in the air, or sitting on your ass on a bus or airplane or shuttle for 16 hours now, for a rinky dink 6-hour flight. Your skin is all oily and you have BO. Your clothes stink and your balls are clinging to your thighs. The seams in your clothes are starting to cause rashes and pimples at certain choice locations. Your hair is greasy and oily. Your feet are hot and your shoes stink. Your feet have swollen and your gout has attacked. You try washing your hands, but the soap in the dispensers is crap and the water either doesn't turn on or gushes, splattering your pants so you look like you've pissed yourself. You have become a sheep. Sheep.

All this for what?