Lots…

Last few days I have kept pretty busy, and I think it’s going to get like that, but I’m going to work Asifism.com into my schedule too.

I’m currently setting up a new business (more information on that will come soon). I’m also in the process of working out with a franchise issuing organization to purchase an accounting/bookkeeping franchise (more information on that will follow too). In addition, I am studying for CIMA and actively working on DesignerPottery.com (http://www.designerpottery.com/blog). I need some help on this, so if this even remotely sounds like something you can help out with, please visit the blog and give me insight, feedback, or simply contact me for how you can help.

Of course, business is my priority. As part of marketing my accounting/bookkeeping consultancy, I am launching, in conjunction with VAFTA Solutions Limited (http://www.vafta.com) an accounting blog, which will start with me completing the second part of the accounting software article, where I will discuss and compare various accounting software. Consider it a QuickBooks Vs. Peachtree Vs. Sage Vs. Microsoft Office Accounting. Oh, and for the record, Sage sucks. Don’t buy it if you can avoid it. Get Quickbooks or Peachtree or Microsoft Accounting. They’re all three about 10 times better than Sage.

Basically, this new blog/section is about the following: many modern accountants/bookkeepers are able to use accounting software, but really, when you have a complex issue at hand, you always need to go back to your basic T-Accounts, i.e., the debits and the credits. I’ll start off with the basics, and as I study for CIMA, I’m also getting a refresher of all the basics. In addition, and this is probably going to be extremely productive and useful for some accountants or professionals, as I embark upon this journey to discuss accounting in hopefully an unambiguous way, unlike any other damn book (published by CIMA or Gleim or Kaplan or anyone else), I will point out the differences in the way the accounting is done under US GAAP and the way it is done under UK GAAP / IFRS. This itself is a bit of gap bridging activity for me, since almost all of my practical experience is US GAAP driven, and now I have to adjust to the IFRS. Please note that the differences arise at the basic level, and are carried through to the final stages, and there are problems if you hold a reluctant frame of mind about how the accounting needs to be done. Consistency past borders is hard to find in this profession, and that can get frustrating.

In addition, I will discuss some of the certification processes along the way. I am a member of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) in the USA, although I never really got a chance to sit for the Certified Management Accountant (CMA) exam while I was there. In the UK, CMA doesn’t mean much, but CIMA means everything for good financial & management accountants. So, I’m indulging in CIMA now, unfortunately, from the basics, and I’ll explain why when discussing the certification.

However, stay put for this new set of articles and lessons in the Accounting & Finance Category of Asifism.com. In addition, these lessons may be reproduced on http://www.vafta.com/blog, but I’m not so sure of that. If anyone is interested in writing on accounting, please be sure to email me at asif[at]asifism.com for more information.

For those of you who come here for QuickPlay. That will keep coming, as will more information regarding it that comes irrelevant. I’ve had some new problems with my HP dv2415, and I haven’t really had time to key that in, but I’ll be discussing that too. More Memoirs of the HP dv2000 series! Please, the offer for the DVB Card/Software article is still on the table, but unless people are serious about it, we won’t be spending time putting that together. Please vote on that:

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In addition, if you have hard success or failure with HP QuickPlay via Asifism.com, please let me know and leave comments on what needs to be changed.

Of course, as I get time inbetween, I’m also dying to give my cynical political insight on things like the triple victory of Hillary Clinton over Obama (in Texas, Ohio etc.). And of course, I’m dying to put down a few lines on Bush backing up McCain, and John McCain being very happy about it. Like anyone cares what George Bush thinks anymore!

Well, that’s all for now folks! Let’s get this rolling!

 I’ve recently had some problems with my Hewlett Packard dv2415us notebook, which was replacement for my HP dv2120us. As I’ve said earlier, it may be possible that the dv2000 series suffers from problems.  I have heard good things about the dv9000 series from some people.

In any case, I will discuss the problems with the dv2415 in another post. For now, here are the latest QuickPlay Download Keys.Â

On another note, a friend has offered to take some time and put up a guide about TV & DVB related information on PC/Notebooks, which will discuss the best DVB cards and Software, including HP QuickPlay TV. If folks are interested, please let me know via the following poll, so that if there is interest, we may spend time on putting the guide together.

Please vote, and then proceed to the QuickPlay Download.

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The URL to download QuickPlay from is http://downloads.asifism.com. Please use the WinRar download available to extract the files. If you have any problems, do share.Â

HP QuickPlay Direct 2.3 Sliced into 20 different parts: Â ed8c02a1f5f0c2e31cfcaf766db2ac6b

HP QuickPlay Direct 2.3 Full:Â 9aca553911c690e4ecbe16ceff24af73

HP QuickPlay for Windows 2.3, 3.0 &Â 3.6:Â a8ea2e0668ac1fe856900fcccea1f834

HP QuickPlay TV:Â e04b326192cb2b6c312f7f9fe6436800

WinRar 3.6.2:Â bbeb0066d215042ed2a7b6a70afa9ea4

For those of you who have been having problems downloading and extracting QuickPlay Direct 2.3, please also try downloading the version of Winrar that I’ve provided. Most likely, the error in extraction is because a different version is being used to zip up and slice the HPQPDP file and a different version is being used to open it.

Scroll down on this page for the download keys post. As always, if there are any problems, please leave comments to let me know, and we’ll see what I can do to resolve the problem.

Okay, so I think uploading md5 checksums would pose a bit of a challenge because I don’t have a copy of the uploaded QuickPlay files on my HDD. I only have the full version, and if I slice it and generate md5 checksums, well, it won’t quite serve the purpose. But here’s what I am doing: I’m also putting up a copy of the same version of WinRar (v3.6.2) that I have used to compress and slice the HPQPDP file. So, without further adue, here is the download information for HP QuickPlay:

QuickPlay Direct 2.3 Sliced into 20 Parts:Â a7f5491b354f5e2097a05fc6fdecc546

QuickPlay for Windows 2.3, 3.0, and 3.6:Â c3bf435116982236bbf79c25eb0b73c6

QuickPlay TV:Â 94896b37b1222277220ed02ecb32e520

WinRar 3.6.2:Â f1aa0c242be2f31c28dc0a3c6b6998d5

The magic free download URL: http://downloads.asifism.com

Hopefully this will solve the problem for several of you.

Today, my HP dv2120US gave up. It refuses to function. I bought the notebook in December, 2006, and it started to give me problems in April, less than 5 months after I bought the machine. This is not my first HP laptop or desktop, neither is this my first ever HP device. I have owned several HP printers in the past, and owned a zd7140us, before I upgraded to a dv2120us, not because I wanted to, but because the zd7140 had given up. However, it lasted me 2+ years, although it took several trips to the HP support centre for hardware problems and repairs.

However, I’m not in the US anymore and that seems to be quite an issue, as HP is unwilling to provide any support for laptops purchased in the US internationally. Not even that, I know what the problem is, and these pricks KNOWINGLY sold defective hardware, and they accept that the hardware is defective (they can’t deny seeing as how thousands of people have run into the same problems), but REFUSE to provide support. Not only that, their customer service keeps suggesting I’m incompetent and stupid, which is why they can’t ship me the defective hardware at MY cost. I mean, how hard is it to change a mother board? The wireless card vanishing and disappearing, the problems with support for HP QuickPlay, defective hardware, equipment that produces enough heat for me to boil water on it, are all reasons why I have decided that I will NEVER buy an HP product again, unless I have absolutely no other choice. It is sad, since I once praised HP, but they have finally brought me to this. So, here are the 10 reasons why NO ONE should buy an HP laptop or PC:

1- Quality, quality, quality. HP most certainly compromises in this department. It has been my experience that HP laptops are always slightly cheaper than a Sony or Toshiba, and in fact, possibly even Dell. There’s a reason for that, they use the cheapest possible equipment. I own several laptops, including Sony, Toshiba, and Dell, and none of them have been to the manufacturer for repairs, except for me HPs. Sad, but true. It’s better to spend that extra couple of hundred dollars, because with a Sony Vaio or Toshiba Tecra, you won’t have a faulty HDD or defective motherboard or overclocked processors. You know what they say, you get what you pay for.

2- Support. Yes, HP has some awesome support features: like the support chat on their site, and they were one of the first to come up with that. But the competence of the support personnel has gone down substantially, possibly because they’ve moved support over to India, and are using Indians with Christian names like Jack and John, whereas the person you’re really talking to has the technical competence of a graphic designer, if at all. They’re really trying to deceive you, because all this online support does is copy and paste from pre-written text, and half the time their English is so fucking weak, that they don’t know what “my wireless card disappears, and does not show up in the device manager” means. Horrible support, and to back it up, they flat out tell you they can’t help you out with any repairs if you live outside the US. I said I would pay for one or both way shipping, but they still refused. Apparently, only FedEx can pick it up on a shipment scheduled by them and redeliver it to the same address. Why, exactly? Security reasons? Come on HP, product differentiation. Customer service! Where are your business basics, you monkies?! The company has lost its ability to think; they function on process only.

3- Defective Hardware. Compromise on quality is one thing, but its a whole new ball game for a company the size of HP to be pulling stunts like shipping defective hardware, then providing the wrong drivers for that hardware, and then quietly removing the new driver that supposedly provided a fix, and reverting back to the old driver and let people sit on defective equipment. Instead, they let people rot in agony on their forums, but refuse to help them or take acceptance for their actions. Hell, they don’t even discuss refunds. Maybe it’s time for a class action lawsuit? Interested, please send me an email. I’m compiling a list of people, and as soon as I have a reasonable number, I might actually go ahead with it.

4- HP QuickPlay. Can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent on this software. It’s a wonderful piece of software, no doubt, but the support HP provides for it is nothing short of horrid. Instructions for fixing QP issues on this and other sites are flat out rejected by HP support, and they claim that there is NO way to restore HP QuickPlay, at least not HP Quick Play Direct Play, unless and until you use the recovery CDs that come with the laptop. Bullshit, as most of you know, which brings me to my next reason to not buy from Hewlett Packard.

5- Vista Upgrade. Can someone please tell me why hp offers upgrades from XP Media Center Edition to Vista Home Premium? What common functionality do the two have? If the upgrade was from XP Media Center to Vista Ultimate, it’s a fair upgrade! I can’t even play DVDs on Home Premium; what kind of bullshit is that! Oh, and if you’ve lost your purchase receipt, forget it, you can’t get the HP Express Upgrade Kit. You have no proof of purchase, and neither do they. I wonder how they keep track of stolen laptops.

6- Recovery Discs? Whoever came up with the idea of making a recovery partition instead of recovery discs was a real son of a bitch! To save the cost of 2 CDs, he has made the lives of many of us miserable. What’s worst is that you don’t know that if you had a Vista Compatible laptop that you upgraded to Vista without touching that partition, it’s gone anyway. You can’t see that sucker. Here’s what’s even shittier: I ordered recovery discs from HP, and they’re defective. They keep getting stuck on 51% and nothing happens. I ordered them originally because some monkey with online support told me that the original recovery will solve the wireless card problem and the HP QuickPlay Direct problem. I ordered them and then paid someone more money to ship them to me internationally, but they don’t work. What kind of horse shit is that?

7- Tea, anyone? Both HP laptops that I have had produced SO much heat that they are barely eligible for lap top use after 15 minutes. I can actually boil water on my dv2000. I kid you not, the sucker heats up, and hello to Hewlett Packard, maybe that’s causing all the hardware problems.

8- Junk Software. I understand that HP writes a lot of software, and somehow they feel the need to wrap up all their advertising junk in them when we buy new laptops from them. I typically spend a day cleaning out a new laptop, or cleaning out a laptop that I have just recovered from workable recovery discs, if I can ever find them.

9- HP Driver Updates. Okay, this is rather shady. Only with HP have I seen this. HP update provides one driver update for a certain device on the notebook, and it’s different from the one provided by the manufacturer of that particular hardware device AND/OR different from the driver provided by Microsoft/Windows Update. Who is right? We’ll never know, because it’s not like there’s one defect. Upgrade one driver and you run the risk of another malfunction, as we have seen with the mystery of the disappearing wireless broadcom card in the dv series notebooks.

10- Average Life. In my experience, the average life on an HP notebook is as much as its warranty, if you have access to it. No access, no warranty, and you could run real short. Using support for one of my HPs and not for the other, for me the average life so far has been about 1.25 years per laptop. That’s pretty low. However, if I can somehow get my dv2120 to the US and back with a new mother board and replaced hardware, the life may go up, although it won’t be a very pleasant or happy life.

So, that’s all for now. You may wonder now as to why I’m displaying HP ads on my site, because naturally, adsense may pick up on this anti Hewlett Packard content. Well, figure that shit out for yourself. All in all, HP is a bad investment for any hardcore user. Support, quality, durability, ease of use are all BAD. I will not be recommending HP to anyone anymore.