I just get redirected to the login page again and again; even if I click “Log in as a different user”.

I have to manually clear my cookies before it will allow me to enter my email address (username); then it will work ok.

It’s just been a recent problem (the past few days), so I was wondering if anyone else has seen this?

UPDATE: 2008-11-10: FIX: I reinstalled Firefox and made sure to select the option to remove my personal files on uninstall. This seemed to have fixed the problem. I really didn’t care what was the problem; I just wanted it fixed.

Well, the outcome wasn’t as bad as we initially thought, but we did see that it has a long way to go before prime time.

Here’s a short roundup of the praises and problems I have experienced to this point…

What We Like…

• Tabs above everything
• Cool blue hue colors
• Fonts (when they show up) are very nice
• Uses Webkit
• Creating Google application shortcuts easily (although there’s nothing that alerts you to that the current app has that capability)
• Incognito mode
• Uses IE to connect (one place to manage proxy stuff)

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

What We Don’t Like…

• Uses IE to connect…
• Rendering sucks behind certain proxy/firewalls
• Secure Gmail doesn’t work behind corporate firewall (https://mail.google.com/mail)
• Copying text leaves text that gets pasted as Times New Roman?
• Background images get “half-loaded” or not loaded at all a lot of the time!
• Another freaking browser to support!!!

User Agent String (on XP)

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/525.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/0.2.149.27 Safari/525.13

Incognito Mode

Hmm, what can this be used for???

This is what it says on Google’s site…

For times when you want to browse in stealth mode, for example, to plan surprises like gifts or birthdays, Google Chrome offers the incognito browsing mode. Webpages that you open and files downloaded while you are incognito won’t be logged in your browsing and download histories; all new cookies are deleted after you close the incognito window. You can browse normally and in incognito mode at the same time by using separate windows.

Yeah, I’m sure all those Google engineers like planning surprises and birthdays…

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Screens

Update1: It seems to be something with my company’s corporate firewall/proxy

Update2: One of my friends suggested that it somehow is being seen as a mobile browser, but I changed Firefox’s user-agent and the problems did not exist.

Here is what digg.com looks like… crap. Background-images get loaded improperly and everything looks horrible. I bet digg is excited to fix this!

engfer(s).com… where at the background images and colors!!!

I developed the myNetflix application in mind for easily viewing (not editing) your Netflix queue’s on Facebook so that your friends and others could view your movies and you could easily share them or add them to your queue; now I am hitting a road block because I am trying to advance the application but it will likely need more dedicated power and CPU time than with my shared hosting on engfers.com, which translates to more $$$ for a better hosting plan.

Problem

The new myNetflix test application is a lot more robust that the predecessor.

New Features:

• Better interface
• Links to Add movies that your queue if you wish
• Shows more movie information: rating, mpaa, directors, actors, year, etc
• Shows if a movie is already in your queues
• Better settings/security and help pages
• Shows your history, home, and in queue
• Show part of your queue in your profile
• New backend with expandable framework
• Eventually, will show your friends using myNetflix and their movies
• Eventually, will be able to share movies (like “hey john, check this out!”)
• Eventually, will show stats of all myNetflix users (top movies, top etc…)

Screenshot of queue / movie information

Screenshot of settings page

However, along with all of these features come an increase with processing power and memory.

Now, up to this point, I have been using my own Dreamhost.com shared account space. (I have a few other apps/domains on this account as well)

After running intiail tests with just my own settings, it takes a long time for data to return sometime because someone else on the Dreamhost shared server might be eating up CPU before a myNetflix request can be processed; this lag (plus myNetflix processing lag) can translate to a time too great for Facebook’s standards, and you will see their ugly screen saying “something wrong with app” or whatever.

The dilema I have is that I need more CPU, bandwidth, and memory to handle all users of myNetflix! Once this version goes live, I know more people are going to want to add it because it shows up in your profile finally!

What Do You Think?

Now one of the solutions includes Joyent’s Facebook developer program where they will give free hosting for a year and then you need to start paying for services.

Do you think this application and its new features/direction are worthy of this risk?

How am I going to fund it? Up to this point I have funded it off of my shared plan so it didn’t really impact me monetarily; this will [possibly substantially impact me].

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

** UPDATE: Netflix let me know they will not help me fund; their advice is to charge for the app which I will never do.

Ok folks, we need to make a decision to buy a new iPhone 3G or not, and we would like your help and input. The iPhone 3G seems like a great phone but based on circumstances, we need to know if it will be worth it.

Now, I know at least some of you readers out there have made the plunge; you have purchased the iPhone 3G (we also know that not all of you were brand spanking new customers to AT&T or were ready for the 2 year upgrade, so maybe you are/were in the same boat that we are in). I need to know from those of you who have the iPhone 3G, if it’s really worth it.

Read our dilemma and cast your vote or leave a comment!

The Dilemma

Our Current Facts…

• I am a current AT&T customer that is in the middle of my current contract.
• I am not eligible for a full-upgrade until March of 2009.
• I am eligible for an early-upgrade as of now.
• My wife gave me a $216 gift card to the Apple store for the iPhone.

IPhone 3G Cost Situations…

1. The iPhone 3G (8GB) costs $199 for customers eligible for a full-upgrade.
2. The iPhone 3G (8GB) costs $399 for customers eligible for an early-upgrade
   
3. The iPhone 3G (8GB) costs $599 for customers not eligible for any upgrade

Therefore, I am in cost situation 2 where the early-upgrade will cost me $399.

However, my wife did give me a $216 Apple gift card to pay for the iPhone (she didn’t know I wasn’t eligible for the full-upgrade price)

• This leaves me with shelling out $200 of my own + $216 gift card + $$$ for iPhone accessories/chargers/etc.

The plan I am choosing will be the FamilyTalk 700 minutes for us.

Here’s the full breakdown of monthly price…

Why even bother with all this?

There have been many downsides that I have read about the iPhone 3G. To list a few…

• Battery life
• Battery life
• Omg 3G drains battery life
• Apps crash frequently
• Apps freeze frequently
• Phone crashes frequently
• Reception

We just want to know if the benefits far supersede the costs (both monetary and physical)!

The Decision

After reviewing our dilemma, what is your final vote on the iPhone 3G purchase?

What about the iPhone 3G in general?

Your input is appreciated and important! Thanks!

Any Comments?

Leave a comment that might help me with my decision. Thanks much!