In which Monday happens on Tuesday

[rolanni]

So, today kind of sucked, in the arena of tech.  The tech definitely won this round, but, if I'm not to be made looney by certain of the Unintended Consequences of today's defeat, I'm going to have to go in again.

Possibly not until tomorrow.  Or the next day.

The thing seemed simple enough.  Google has been nagging me for months to stop using Google Talk, which I happen to like very much, and get with Hangouts.  I'd been resisting because Talk still worked and Steve and I use it to chat back and forth while we're at work -- him in his office, and me in mine.  Saves a lot of shouting back and forth, and doesn't interrupt the flow of writing.

But!  We were wanting to practice our speech for PhilCon and Steve thought it would work out fine to do it via Hangouts video, so he asked me to install Hangouts.

Remember this:  The Goal was to install Hangouts.

Now, asyouknowbob, Hangouts is an add-on to Chrome.  Which I use as a backup browser, since I prefer Firefox for daily running around the net.

Well, it turns out that the Chrome on my machine was very old (33.0.Something), it would not accept the Hangouts add-on, and not only that, it wouldn't update itself.  Also?  I couldn't delete it from the control panel.  After much banging my head against the wall, which included removing Chrome from my tablet and my phone, in case there was a sync tether or something holding Chrome to the desktop, I just gave up and downloaded a new version of Chrome (version 38.Whatever) to the desktop, shoved 33.0.Something into a closet, and opened the new Chrome, which seems to work (knock wood) fine.  Then, I reinstalled Chrome on my tablet and phone.

Correction.

I reinstalled Chrome on my tablet.  The phone will accept the download and installation, but all Chrome does when invoked is send out little error messages -- Unfortunately Chrome has stopped -- every six seconds FOREVER, and is completely unusable.  So.  No Chrome on the phone.  Which is a shame, because I really did use it on the phone.

Oh, well.  I guess I'll have to hope that Firefox for Android has its act together.

At least, I have Hangouts now, right?

Right.

Except that I can't seem to uninstall Google Talk.  Which means that every time Steve sends me a chat message, I get TWO -- one in Talk and one in Hangouts, a situation guaranteed to drive me 'round the twist in very short order.

So, I'll have to go back in.  But, like I say, not today.

Today, in addition to Warring with Technology, I finished an essay, and finished up the last few hundred words on Chapter Seven.  In a moment, I'll be leaving y'all to your own devices so I can do the dishes and then Steve and I will practice our speech the Old Fashioned Way.

I do hope that all of you have had a. . .less fraught Tuesday.

* * *

Progress on Alliance of Equals
23,458/100,000 OR 23.46% Complete

". . .and anyone who thinks that Master Trader yos'Galan will permit error or sloth from his heir, his apprentice, or anyone who is under his hand, must. . .must not know him very well!"

Comments

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

I had Chrome installed on my last (Vista) machine, but hardly ever used it as it did not support bookmarks, and I live and die with bookmarks. When I built a new (Win7) machine, I didn't bother to install it. From the horror stories I hear, I guess I never will... Good luck with sorting it all out. Nothing like non-productive time wasters ;/

And "not know him very well" ? Indeed!

[djonn]

[blink]

Chrome is the browser that came on my Nook HD -- on which I am tapping even now -- and this installation of Chrome most certainly has bookmarking ability.

[bandicoot.livejournal.com]

The one I had on Vista was undoubtedly many versions ago, and if it had bookmark capability, I could never find it. It did have, as I recall, some sort of ribbon across the top with an assortment of links, but in no order I could find and I could never figure out how to add or subtract sites from it. It tended to display sites I never went to, which had limited utility ;p

Chrome is not required for Hangouts.

[ed greenberg (from livejournal.com)]

Hangouts work fine in Firefox. Just go to plus.google.com and start one, over on the right hand side.

Chrome on phone

[alon ziv (from livejournal.com)]

What phone are you using?
If it is an Android phone, you should be able to make Chrome behave by clearing its data (see http://www.androidcentral.com/android-201-how-and-when-clear-app-cache-or-data). Nothing to lose...
(If it's not an Android phone, sorry, I cannot help: I am fully a denizen of the Googleverse...)