UPS awesomeness and frustration all wrapped up in one brief experience

I checked my e-mail. I clicks on a UPS tracking link. And I got a little notice saying I could sign up for UPS My Choice and be notified whenever something was sent to me (not just when the shipper decided to set that). Cool! I could sign up with FB; I'm a little wary, but still okay with it. Oh, wow, you can set up vacation hold on UPS! Wait, they're going to charge me. How much? And with membership it's free, so how much is that? Okay, got it. Ready to go.

Except now I can't find the page for the vacation settings. *sigh*

I will figure this out. Because this is Awesome.

I figured it out. Yay! Haven't signed up for premium, because the breakeven is 8 packages at $5/each held/rerouted and I don't think I'll need that many. But we'll see.

FB and password managers

I've said -- really, enough times to be annoying -- that LastPass dramatically improved my life. There are a variety of other ways to accomplish the same goal of keeping track of Stuff You Put in Online Forms (whether userid, password, credit card, mailing address, phone number, blah blah bleeping blah). Retailers like Amazon and eBay will remember your information. Retailers who accept PayPal benefit from PayPal knowing all about you. LastPass, OnePass, etc. Blah, never mind.

Facebook is about to enter the game.

BusinessInsider is presenting this as competing with PayPal.

http://www.businessinsider.com/would-you-trust-facebook-with-your-credit-card-2013-8

No one is mentioning the potential competition with password managers, probably because password managers/form fillers are still a niche product (a pity, really). But given how many sites already accept FB account linkage as a way to login, it's hard to miss the implications.

I Was Joking, but UGrokIt Was Not

Put RFID tags on your stuff, attach a reader to your phone with an installed app, log the RFID tags in the app and when you lose them, choose them and walk around waiting for the little beeps to tell you when you are getting closer.

I was hoping for a visual display, but this is pretty freaking awesome. I want one for Xmas. _SO_ much better than one of those labelers to put labels on boxes. Not that those are bad.

http://www.ugrokit.com/

They have demo units and are doing shows currently. I probably won't be getting one for Xmas. Maybe my birthday next year?

https://twitter.com/UGrokIt