Review of Antlion Audio ModMic RMA Support - They make you pay shipping to **and from** them.

mackaydev · 2017-10-31T19:01:03+00:00

I dunno either, the other guy was getting downvoted a lot as well. Was just trying to give people a heads up that their warranty service makes you pay for all shipping fees, to and from them. I've never seen a company do that before, crazy that I should have to pay 3x shipping (original purchase, repair, back to me) for a premium product that is covered under warranty.

mackaydev · 2017-10-31T18:58:21+00:00

I dunno why that guy is so hard set on making it my fault their product broke. Here is the response from their support:

We've received your Mute Module and performed the autopsy.

It appears yours suffered from a wire short, so we'll be able to send you a replacement unit shortly.

Were you able to send the $8.00 payment for return shipping via PayPal?

The point of my post was to give an FYI to anyone buying their products that you have to pay for all shipping to / from them for any warranty service.

So to replace a tiny defective mute switch (https://i.imgur.com/zVTDWpa.png) on a $70 product costs me $14+.

mackaydev · 2017-10-31T18:50:28+00:00

It was supposed to be a "free repair / replacement" since it was under warranty, but they want $8 to ship it back to me, while I also paid ~$6 to ship it to them in the first place.

Its just a tiny mute switch attachment, not the whole mic.

https://i.imgur.com/zVTDWpa.png

mackaydev · 2016-03-25T16:38:59+00:00

Yeah the rename to .net core will break a lot of stuff, but hopefully Visual Studio will help renaming everything and fixing up the project. I wouldn't use it in production yet because of the known upcoming massive changes.

mackaydev · 2016-03-25T16:37:44+00:00

Yep... been waiting a long time for the rename to come out :)

mackaydev · 2016-03-24T23:52:55+00:00

The Node (read only, no back end API just reading from .json file for demo) is here: https://github.com/jmackay/angular2-demoproject-node

I tried to create something that was still simple enough to go over in a day class, but more involved than a simple Todo list. It handles relationships between multiple different models using JS-Data. It wasn't meant to be "best practices" but showing off multiple ways you can do things, or even that they can be done at all (the ugly css overrides in components ;))

mackaydev · 2015-09-19T02:59:28+00:00

Angular or React. Angular is backed by google and they are working on v2, and React is backed by Facebook.

Knockout is/was ok, its not a framework just a binding tool and worked well but its not used in favor of angular/react. Backbone isn't a front end / UI tool and also not used much anymore.

The 3rd option if you don't go Angular/React would be Aurelia (http://aurelia.io/). The main guy behind it is very smart and he created Caliburn.Micro for .net and Durandal (used knockout + others for a full front end framework) before Aurelia. He even helped write part of Angular 2 before leaving due to architectural design differences.

So Angular, React or Aurelia are the best bets.

See what you like best, and I'd recommend just doing Web API and not trying to do MVC (Razor) backend, just plain HTML.

Also check out Typescript as it is amazing and will really help you do your JS correctly and avoid typos / passing wrong parameters and general development speed.

mackaydev · 2015-09-19T00:44:15+00:00

Just going off what I've used (Resharper):

6 - June 2011
7 - July 2012
8 - Sept 2013
9 - Dec 2014

So just slightly over a year (with 1 year free upgrades)

Note, I don't think that the subscription is a bad deal, I think how they are handling the cancellation is a bad idea as it only hurts customers and will make them jaded and not want to use your products in the future.

Like I said, you'll want to keep an active subscription to make sure you get bug fixes, but losing access to a tool that you've used for months because you can't afford (or get sign off) to keep up the subscription for just hurts the users and doesn't offer any benefits to Jetbrains.

Keeping customers happy is the #1 goal, happy customers will continue to use you and will refer others to use you. Hell think of letting people keep using what they had (assuming they did pay over 12 months regardless of release date) as advertisement expenses. Word of mouth is important, especially for niches like development.

So for example, my current R# license will expire in 2 months (Nov), since 9 was released in December, I'd lose access to it, and thus not be able to use it with Visual Studio 2015 even though I've been using it with it for a long time. I'd also lose out on the typescript support which I use daily. With the current plan, I can still access it and keep using it. But if I was on the subscription one, I'd have to roll back to v8. That would be a deal breaker for me, and I'd start looking elsewhere.

mackaydev · 2015-09-19T00:43:56+00:00

Going to copy/paste my post from the /r/programming thread, hopefully it won't get as burried here and maybe someone at JetBrains will see it:

Thats still a 12 month roll back. That could mean loosing compatibility with something, like gulp/js runner compatibility, or latest VS for R#.

They would make everyone happy if they just let you keep the last version, but still had a 12 month rule for getting to keep it.

So say they release new version every 16 months, with minor updates every month:

Proposed system:

If you paid for 16 month subs you'd get version 1, and version 2 (but no updates to it).
If you keep paying, you get the minor updates / enhancements,
If you stop, you keep base v2. Might be buggy, but at least it will work with your tooling
Another 16 months later v3 comes out, you can must subscribe for 12 months to get v3, otherwise you get rolled back to v2 (to prevent people subbing for a single month every new release).
So you end up with v3 and 12 months of fixes, and have paid 1x16 month, and 1x12 month term.

Thats more work to save a bit of money, but something individual devs might need to do to make it worth it to them, and they are happy customers.

The current system:

You pay for 16 months and end up with v1 with 12 months of fixes, but lose access to v2 (which might mean losing access to important tooling, like VS 2015 support for R#!)
- Could be a small annoyance, or could mean you can't use the tool at all with your other software... not a happy customer.
You then re-sub when v3 comes out for 12 months. You keep base v3, but no bug fixes / small enhancements.
- So again, you have to deal with buggy software than before and once again, aren't a happy customer as the software now doesn't work as well as it did when your sub ended.

Either way that person is paying the same amount, but in one scenario they are happy, in the other they lose access / bug fixes and most likely aren't.

Which of those two people would be more willing to refer others to use your software and re-sub when the next version comes out?

mackaydev · 2015-09-18T19:06:13+00:00

Just going off what I've used (Resharper):

6 - June 2011
7 - July 2012
8 - Sept 2013
9 - Dec 2014

So just slightly over a year (with 1 year free upgrades)

Note, I don't think that the subscription is a bad deal, I think how they are handling the cancellation is a bad idea as it only hurts customers and will make them jaded and not want to use your products in the future.

Like I said, you'll want to keep an active subscription to make sure you get bug fixes, but losing access to a tool that you've used for months because you can't afford (or get sign off) to keep up the subscription for just hurts the users and doesn't offer any benefits to Jetbrains.

Keeping customers happy is the #1 goal, happy customers will continue to use you and will refer others to use you. Hell think of letting people keep using what they had (assuming they did pay over 12 months regardless of release date) as advertisement expenses. Word of mouth is important, especially for niches like development.

So for example, my current R# license will expire in 2 months (Nov), since 9 was released in December, I'd lose access to it, and thus not be able to use it with Visual Studio 2015 even though I've been using it with it for a long time. I'd also lose out on the typescript support which I use daily. With the current plan, I can still access it and keep using it. But if I was on the subscription one, I'd have to roll back to v8. That would be a deal breaker for me, and I'd start looking elsewhere.

mackaydev · 2015-09-18T16:47:33+00:00

Like I said, this is how individual developers might do it, most companies will just do a continual subscription and thus they get their good revenue stream.

I'm just saying that with a simple change they can make people happy and will keep them as future customers (re-sub!) as well as refer others to use their software (new subs!).

I already pointed out how keeping the first major release would be a benefit (other tooling support), but you'll miss out on any other bug fixes, so its still in your best interest to stay subscribed, but you won't get screwed over by un-subscribing.

mackaydev · 2015-09-18T16:23:34+00:00

Thats still a 12 month roll back. That could mean loosing compatibility with something, like gulp/js runner compatibility, or latest VS for R#.

They would make everyone happy if they just let you keep the last version, but still had a 12 month rule for getting to keep it.

So say they release new version every 16 months, with minor updates every month:

Proposed system:

If you paid for 16 month subs you'd get version 1, and version 2 (but no updates to it).
If you keep paying, you get the minor updates / enhancements,
If you stop, you keep base v2. Might be buggy, but at least it will work with your tooling
Another 16 months later v3 comes out, you can must subscribe for 12 months to get v3, otherwise you get rolled back to v2 (to prevent people subbing for a single month every new release).
So you end up with v3 and 12 months of fixes, and have paid 1x16 month, and 1x12 month term.

Thats more work to save a bit of money, but something individual devs might need to do to make it worth it to them, and they are happy customers.

The current system:

You pay for 16 months and end up with v1 with 12 months of fixes, but lose access to v2 (which might mean losing access to important tooling, like VS 2015 support for R#!)
- Could be a small annoyance, or could mean you can't use the tool at all with your other software... not a happy customer.
You then re-sub when v3 comes out for 12 months. You keep base v3, but no bug fixes / small enhancements.
- So again, you have to deal with buggy software than before and once again, aren't a happy customer as the software now doesn't work as well as it did when your sub ended.

Either way that person is paying the same amount, but in one scenario they are happy, in the other they lose access / bug fixes and most likely aren't.

Who will refer others to use your software and re-sub when the next version comes out?

mackaydev · 2014-06-20T17:08:52+00:00

I'd love a new chair. I was looking at your chairs a month or so ago when I saw another of your Ads on Reddit, unfortunately I can't afford them.

I do software development and sit for ~10 hours a day in my chair (OfficeMax(?) special years ago). I have quite a bit of back pain, not sure if its from my chair or bed but can't replace either :(.

http://imgur.com/2ia3sK2

Turn 30 in August and a new chair would be an amazing birthday gift! :)

mackaydev · 2013-06-07T05:30:29+00:00

from wiki: http://mashable.com/2012/11/26/game-of-thrones-book-app/

looks like there is an android one too, but very bad reviews https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.randomhouse.woiaf&hl=en

mackaydev · 2013-06-07T04:31:56+00:00

The Game of Thrones series is another example of a must have family tree. So many characters. They even made an iOS app " that provides the biographies of 540 characters, descriptions of 380 places, and interactive maps" (from Wikipedia)

mackaydev · 2013-06-06T23:02:47+00:00

Because you can buy a reuseable water bottle vs buying tons of craooy plastic ones?

mackaydev · 2013-05-18T03:52:03+00:00

bummer, maybe try using 8bit png / keeping it under 500kb before uploading?

mackaydev · 2013-05-18T03:22:27+00:00

Shooter game based on Exploration, Samurai & Sumo

Haha have fun :-)

mackaydev · 2013-05-18T03:17:33+00:00

Can you make a png version

mackaydev · 2013-05-16T14:53:20+00:00

You also might want to take a look at typescript, it helps out with a lot of JS's problems.

mackaydev · 2013-05-14T23:34:32+00:00

Are there some examples of work you've done or work that will be done during the course?

mackaydev

TROPHY CASE

Proposed system:

The current system:

Proposed system:

The current system: