Hey, Google, shove your woke TV commercial.

What the heck? I'm minding my own business watching the local broadcast of the Knicks NBA game and from out of nowhere comes this commercial with a steady stream of woke nonsense, ending with a little black girl shaking her fist at the camera. Fade out to the Google logo.

Hey, Page and Brin and the Indian guy running things in your absence, get some common sense. It's obvious that a big part of the intended audience is your clown employees, isolated and insulated in your corporate campus. Wake the heck up!

Altice Optimum TV channel lineup options are secret.

On the Optimum website all I could find was a PDF file of the hardcopy of the TV channels sent to customers, which is almost impossible to understand and is out of date and with no prices either on the document or elsewhere on the website for existing customers.

https://www.optimum.net/cdn/static.tvlistings.optimum.net/ool/static/prod/documents/channel-listings/channel-lineup-SouthernWestchester.pdf

Plus, even if you want to increase your TV service, you must call. You cannot do it online. Getting a live person on the phone takes time and may take multiple attempts.

What the heck? Apparently Altice Optimum does not want its customers to understand their TV options.  

Altice Optimum DVR playback error: VID-218: does NOT playback!

It happens from time to time. Instead of playing a recording Altice Optimum displays this error: VID-218. And shows an OK button to click. Obviously, it's not OK.

It impacts a few recordings but not all. I have two set top boxes, those mini Altice boxes. The secondary box seems more vulnerable.

Tonight neither box will play any recordings.

I searched on the error code VID-218 but could not find an answer. I rebooted both boxes. Then I logged into the Altice Optimum website and sought support. I wound up in one of those useless chat sessions, which ended this way:

VID-218
You - 7:51 PM
Let me get one of our live experts to help you. I'll just need to grab some quick info from you, then I can get you to an agent.
Can I have your name?
Allie - 7:51 PM
Ken
You - 7:51 PM
And your 10-digit phone number?
Allie - 7:51 PM
999-999-9999
You - 7:52 PM
I will transfer you over now to our Technical Department so we can get the team to help you. Thank you for your patience! One moment...
Allie - 7:52 PM

(After waiting five minutes I decided to provide information, hoping that the tech person would be able to read it and that would make the conversation shorter and more productive.) I typed:

VID-218
No DVR playback.
You - 7:58 PM
I can replay DVR recording on my Android phone but not on my TV using your Altice mini box.
Waiting 15 minutes. Call me: 999-999-9999. Bye.
You

_________________

What the heck?

Google blogger.com: new version sucks even worse.

Feedback just sent to Google about blogger:

The earlier version sucked. So far the new sucks much worse. I have almost 3,000 posts. How do I get back to the first? 

Formatting seems random. Font and font size are a mystery. Even if it looks OK while editing, the published result could be anything.

Do you test? Ever?

Google account storage: how much and why?

A recent email exchanges:

from: googleone-support@google.com
to: Ken
date: Mar 26, 2020, 4:01 AM
subject: Re: Your Google Support Inquiry: Case ID [2--1234567890123]
mailed-by: cases-outbound-prod.bounces.google.com
signed-by: google.com

Regarding your inquiry about how much storage you have on the account, currently  you have a total storage of 102 GB. All the files you have stored or saved on your Google account will stay on the cloud storage even if you didn't renew your subscription, however you may not be able to use other Google Services such as Gmail, Google Drive or Google Photos if your storage is more than 15 GB at the end of your promotional storage on October 31, 2020.

I hope this clarifies your concern.

Thanks,
Kerwin
The Google One team

_______________________

from: Ken
to: googleone-support@google.com
date: Mar 26, 2020, 8:15 AM
subject: Re: Your Google Support Inquiry: Case ID [2-1234567890123]

mailed-by: gmail.com

OK, so you implied that any Google account gets 15 GB and the extra is from the purchase of Google product. So, if I got 100 GB for a year by buying the Pixelbook Go, Google actually added another 85 GB to the 15 I'd already have with my free account.

Not being able to use "Gmail, Google Drive or Google Photos" is a euphemism for the account being suspended.

__________________________

from: googleone-support@google.com
to: Ken
date: Mar 27, 2020, 3:30 AM
subject: Re: Your Google Support Inquiry: Case ID [2-1234567890123]
mailed-by: cases-outbound-prod.bounces.google.com
signed-by: google.com

Hi Kenneth,

Thanks for the response.

Each Google account is entitled for a default storage of 15 GB. So, either you purchase or avail of a promotional storage of 100 GB, 85 GB will be added to the 15 GB storage to make it 100 GB.

Your account will only be suspended to use Google One services like Gmail, Google Photos and Google Drive if your storage usage is more than 15 GB and if you did not renew your membership. Once the promotional storage expires your account will go back to the default storage of 15 GB, so make sure to manage your storage if you don't want to renew the membership.

Thanks,
Kerwin
The Google One team
__________________________