Thinking aloud: Azure, AWS, DevOps, cars and opinion from Alex Neihaus

  • Volvo XC60: don’t change your oil or, if you do, how to get dealers to blame each other when your headlight falls off

    Regular readers of my blog know that I bought Tricia a Volvo XC60 about a couple of years ago. She loves it — but I maintain it. Or, should I say, Volvo dealers maintain it. Or they are supposed to for the next 2.5 years as part of Volvo’s “Safe+Sound” program. S+S was an extension…

  • Southborough Access Media appoints an Executive Director

    As a kid, I was heavily influenced by Michael Shamberg’s Guerrilla television ideas. Those early influences convinced me that a free state can only exist with a citizen-enabled media. Most of what Shamberg wanted has happened, thanks to the Internet and mobile devices.  Yet, “TV” (as in the relatively high production value television we all continue to consume)…

  • Citi AAdvantage card offers are a consumer ripoff

    Update January 15, 2014, The final chapter: Citi called today and the best explanation I could get was, “We had an identity theft concern.” They didn’t exactly apologize — but they did offer that someone didn’t follow their internal procedures. But they did reinstate the account — meaning I can top up my purchases to get…

  • Why Toyota is losing its reputation for quality and reliability

    Here’s a post from the “I wish I’d noticed this before I bought the car” file. Under the hood on the driver’s side of my new 2013 Toyota RAV4 is one of the car’s computers, or engine control modules (ECM). It’s mounted on a bracket at an odd angle next to one of the relay…

  • Amazon Glacier saves my SkyDrive, or why you have to backup your cloud storage in the cloud

    Lots of people think that if they have a cloud-based disk sharing system (I like SkyDrive), they can’t lose data. Well, I am here to tell you it can — and does — happen. Over the weekend, I upgraded my MacBook Air to OS X Mavericks. On this Mac, I run Microsoft’s SkyDrive client that…

  • How to get the agenda back view on iOS 7

    In the early days of iOS, Apple made a brilliant strategic move: it embedded Microsoft’s ActiveSync technology into the OS. The result has been that for many releases — I think as far back as iPhone 3 — fans of Microsoft messaging technology could get perfect — and I mean perfect — synchronization of not just messages,…

  • A day at the races

    Who knew (or cared) that this weekend is the swan song for Grand-Am racing? They’ve merged with ALMS and next year will run a combined series. The BMW Car Club had an event this weekend for members today at Lime Rock Park and I figured, “Tricia’s at work…the weather is perfect…I’ve never seen Grand-Am races…and…

  • How to open and save files in Microsoft Word more easily

    The problem with eye candy in a software product that you “live in” all day is just the extra clicking past irrelevant stuff. It’s also how functionality you need gets buried under things you don’t. In Microsoft Word, little is more basic — or more important — than opening and saving files. A notable example of this…

  • It’s official: my ER22x certificate of completion

    I’ve blogged recently about how intellectually invigorating it is to take university courses from HarvardX and other leading universities online. (Here, here and here.) Well, tonight I downloaded my first official certificate of completion, which is posted nearby. If you click on the image, you can see it comes with its own verification URL —…

  • The NSA and political disillusionment

    Nothing, and I mean nothing, has upset me more than the Snowden revelations. In my social circle, I am usually the one arguing for a role for government, pushing back against my friends’ political cynicism and asserting that unless one participates there’s no hope of anything getting better. I was also a real fan of President…

  • Can Haswell-based MacBook Airs last all day?

    Dear Walt Mossberg, Like you, I just love my MacBook Air. (I know, I know…officially you don’t have a bias towards Apple products. The fact that you’ve never seen an Apple product you didn’t give a glowing review to doesn’t change this “fact.” But, all is redeemed by your life-long commitment to Red Sox Nation.)…

  • How to buy a BMW via European Delivery

    Tips for negotiating BMW European Delivery price, ordering your BMW and delivery in Munich