Technical challenges… will they ever end !?
So, I got myself the latest, greatest colour printer (won’t say what brand, but I’ve hinted at it). Followed the instructions to set it up on the home network, printed a test page, success. The next day… try to print something, and the printer message says it is offline. But it’s not. And so I rack it up to just another frustration of getting technology in my house to play well together.
Fast forward to something that should be equally easy and reliable. Apple TV. Works fine, we really enjoy it. But trying to get my iTunes music on my computer to connect to and play through our home theatre via the Apple TV box… quite another thing. It works for an hour or so… then says I need to turn “Home Sharing” on… but it is on, and the only way to get it to work is to turn it off, then turn it on again and sign in. Such a hassle! Makes sticking a physical CD in a CD player and pressing a physical button seem way easier, and less frustrating.
These are multi gazillion (my spell checker didn’t underline that, so I guess it’s a word) dollar companies behind these products. You’d think it would be as easy and reliable as flipping a light switch and expecting the lights to go on. But it’s never that easy. And with these large companies, who do you suppose you can get a hold of for help?
It’s in times like these that I’m thankful I’m not a full time tech support guy. I’m also thankful that BuildIT comes to the rescue even for simple things like trying to manage files. I know that instead of playing network support specialist, I can go to any computer connected to the Internet, log into my BuildIT account, find the file/document/photo, and deal with it on that workstation/device.
Fortunately there are workarounds to every situation. This holds true for BuildIT customers that may be experiencing some issue with our software. When something doesn’t quite work the way you want it to (likely due to a web browser setting), you can usually stick handle around it.
An example would be trying to upload files to your BuildIT account. If you are using the multi file uploader, you may need to install Java from a gazillion dollar company called Oracle. I deal with Java issues weekly, either on my end, or with my customers. From Java not being installed, to Java not being updated to the most recent version, or Java not being enabled in the web browser… the list goes on. An easy workaround… click your “preferences” link for your “files” tab, and turn off the multi file uploader. You can still use BuildIT’s single file uploader (something we wrote that doesn’t require Java, and works every time).
Problem solved.
I wish I could say the same about my printer, and my music !!
Scott Hutchinson
scott@builditsystems.com
1 866 585 5050 ext 1