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I have been using a 23" monitor with my 13" Macbook Pro for a couple of years. I'd expect more than two years life out of a monitor, but yesterday it stopped working and smoke started coming out of the top. I'm no monitor expert, but from my experience with electronics, this means it's toast.

So I find myself yet again at Best Buy browsing through the sorry selection of monitors. 23" is the max. So I think to myself, "I've got HDMI (thanks to the HDMI to mini display port adapter, which can be found at whatacable.com) why not check out the TVs and see if I could just use a TV as a huge monitor which would be great for looking at CAD drawings, Adobe Illustrator, etc. I found a great deal on a 32" LCD TV from a major brand that I trust and head back to the office where I spend the next 24 hours trying to get the resolution correct. I just couldn't get small text to look good. It was way too blurry to read email or read MS Word documents. I was searching for tips, messing with settings on both the computer and TV, but no magic solution. I even tried hooking it up via mini display port to VGA and in to the VGA port on the TV. No luck. I also tried hooking my desktop PC to see if it was an Apple issue. Nope. Same blurry text. Video looked amazing.

So begrudgingly I took the TV back. I hate returning items. As a small business owner I feel for manufacturers who have to take back merchandise. But at the end of the day, it wasn't working and I'd spent a pretty penny for a "monitor" that looked worse than my 23" monitor. So I brought my laptop to Best Buy and started plugging it in to different TVs. They all were blurry! I decided that I was going to go back to the 23" when it hit me. These were all 720p. Would a 1080p make a difference? I found a beautiful 1080p 32" TV and plugged in the HDMI cable. Bingo! Very clear. Not crystal clear, but a spectacular improvement. I told the salesman, "I'll take it.". I took it back to the office and problem solved. The answer did not lie in the settings of the computer or TV. 1080p was the answer.

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So you just purchased the fancy iPad. (I've had mine for about 4 days). Maybe you waited for the 3G version. (I did, though WiFi has been great so far). You went to the Apple store (I went to a local University Bookstore). You convince yourself that this is going to be awesome and you pull out the credit card spending somewhere between $499 to $829 depending on the model. (I went with the 3G 32GB.) Then you realize there is no case included. You look at your options at the store, and leave without spending another $50 for an over-priced case. But, you're worried. You don't want that shiny new iPad bouncing around in your back pack. You need some protection. So you hop online and do a quick search. Up comes an ad for WhataCable! They are offering a nice looking iPad case for only $9.99. That seems like a screaming deal. You click and order. It ships the same day and arrives within a short time later. You rejoice at the sleek good looking case that now protects your iPad. As you watch videos, play games, and browse the Internet, you love your iPad (it really is amazing and I love it). You love it even more when you put in the case you purchased from WhataCable! and throw it in your backpack knowing it is well protected.

Well now you see how great it would be, you can order it here: http://www.whatacable.com/ipad-case-black-soft-fitting-portfolio-style-case-zipper-black-neoprene.aspx

Don't pay too much for a case!

Until next time
The Cable Guy

ardell-brown-rv-bad-service-camping-world

Attn. Owner / General Manager
Ardell Brown RV Center / Camping World
13153 South Minuteman Drive
Draper, UT 84020

April 06, 2010

To Whom It May Concern:

I was very disappointed by my first visit to the Ardell Brown service center and thought that you would like to know about my experience. I know, as a business owner myself, I would want to know if a customer had a bad experience with my company.

Let me try to explain. I recently purchased my first RV - a 19’ trailer, nothing special. I wanted to get it checked out before we went on a camping trip over spring break and needed to get a turn signal fixed. I did a web search for RV Service locations in Utah. I found abrv.com which says “Ardell Brown RV & Camping World” on the home page. I live in Highland and that looked like it would be close enough to become my new service center. I printed a coupon that was emailed to me for 10% off service. The coupon says, “Save 10% off any Service or Repair from Camping World”. I had a $1,031.38 service ticket and presented my coupon to the cashier. He said he wasn’t sure if he could take it. I was confused. Then he came back and said, “No indeed he couldn’t accept it.” The 10% coupon was the whole reason I brought my trailer in to be serviced at Ardell Brown / Camping World. So I asked to speak to a manager. The manager also told me that they could not accept the coupon because Camping World was separate from Ardell Brown. I asked him if Ardell Brown and Camping World were the same company. He admitted that they were – but again said they had their own service center – which was not obvious. I asked them what the company website was. They said abrv.com. I pointed out right on my iPhone that on abrv.com it says “Camping World” on the website. Yet, they stood their ground. Your store even has signs that say Camping World.

Let me just say this. Even if I had a competitor’s coupon, at this point, the right thing to do would have been to give me the 10% discount. But it wasn’t even a competitor’s coupon. It was Camping World, which from everything I can see, from the website, from your showroom, to your employees, I was indeed at Ardell Brown / Camping World – owned by the same company. Your website even says “Part of the Camping World RV Sales Network” and “Copyright 2010 Camping World.”

As a business owner I would have looked at the cost of that $87 (10% off of labor) on a $1,031.38 ticket and saw an opportunity to make a lifetime customer, even if the customer was dead wrong – which I still claim I was not wrong based on your website and everything else mentioned. But, the lost opportunity lies here. I’m 39 years old with my first RV experiencing my first visit to an RV service center. I have 30-40 more years of upgrading RVs and servicing them. We camp with other families all with nice RVs. You have now lost all future business from me. I will tell others that we camp with of my bad experience and they will likely go elsewhere. All over $87… That’s a lesson I’d teach your staff.

iPad-Apple-iPhone-MacBook-Pro-thoughts

I converted to the iPhone in June 2009 and a Macbook Pro month or two later. I'm a big fan of both. I still use a desktop PC at work along with the MacBook Pro. At home we have a desktop PC and an PC laptop. I think the iPad is revolutionary and could be what we all migrate to eventually. I think it's missing some key features, but given the price, it is not bad and Apple will release better models in the future forcing the early adopters to upgrade. That's part of their master plan, just like with the iPhone. If I'm Amazon, I'd be watching this closely. Apple is going to steal the thunder from the Kindle and start eating up e-book business just like it did with music & iTunes.

If you need any apple cables or iPod / iPhone chargers or sync cables, whatacable.com has a great selection. You can get a dual USB car charger, one for iPod and the other for iPhone for $8.93. http://www.whatacable.com/ You can find other cables such as the Mini DisplayPort cables and adapters as well.

Until next time - The Cable Guy

iPad-Apple-iPhone-MacBook-Pro-thoughts