so i buy a spot gps locater. you know the one that reports your position on the internet using the globalstar system. friends going to the bahamas with us have one and the admiral decides we need one too - maybe because the last time we went daughter nunber one reported us as missing to the coast guard when we didn't phone her for two days.

got it for a good price - eighty bucks. it was a closeout at eastern mountain sports. took it home and tried to register it. you do it on their website. unfortunately the page it brings up is partly hidden and can't be moved around the screen to unhide it. after a few failed attempts i call their support line and get an immediate response - that's the good news. the bad news is the girl tells me it doesn't work with internet explorer, i have to get firefox.

WHAT???? they write windows code and don't bother testing it on the most widely used interface in the entire world???

i was unable to get much help from her. she insisted that i had to install firefox or else. i thought about bringing it back to the store but.... well, the admiral wants it. so i call again, get someone else, and after explaining the problem to her with no better result i get the idea that maybe she can register me over the phone. she does. i guess they must be using firefox. the call center, by the way, is near toronto.

after that it went fairly well. i tested spot and it seems to work as advertised. but they really need to do something about that registration thing....