Entries for the ‘Tech Stories’ Category

Some Free Marketing Advice for Apple

Friday, April 18th, 2008

Mac ProAfter many years in a Windows world, I recently purchased a Mac Pro, and have been very happy with my choice. There were many reasons for this move, but suffice it to say that I think Apple has some great products, and I’m really not impressed with Vista.

So here’s my point: If I were running marketing at Apple, one of my main priorities, if not THE priority, would be to make it as easy as possible for the millions of disgruntled Windows users to migrate to the system that “just works.” As intuitive as Macs and OSX may be, this transition isn’t painless, so I would try to go the extra mile to smooth the way.

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Web Safety and Crime on the Internet

Friday, April 18th, 2008

cybercrimeThe latest news from United Kingdom’s major retail bankers says that if your online bank account has been compromised and you didn’t use any Internet computer security software such as antivirus and antispyware (e.g. Norton 360), you solely bear the responsibility for the loss, and they won’t compensate you a dime. A clause has been added to the newly updated Banking Code to make this very clear.

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How To: Get Consumers to Buy CDs Instead of MP3s

Thursday, April 17th, 2008

MuseI may be alone on this one, but I just noticed a small pattern in my CD shopping habits. Here’s an example:

Over the past couple years, I’ve come to love music from the band Muse. British rockers with some serious talent, they have a great sound that is a mix of britpop, rock, alternative, and electronica.

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I Got Tagged: When Social Networking Meets Spam

Monday, April 14th, 2008

taggedlogo Every once in a while, I receive an email from a friend which doesn’t have a personal message but a link with inspiring thoughts and beautiful pictures intent on uplifting my day. Even though my friend does not share a word in the email, I still appreciate the fact that they thought of me.

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The Digg Paradox: How Digg Creates the Problem It Solves

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

DiggWhen I first heard about Digg I was quite excited. Digg is a site where you can submit articles, pictures, or other content that you think is interesting. If other people like the story they can “digg it,” and it pushes the story to the top. The content on the front page only contains articles with a lot of diggs.

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It’s Comcrapstic! My Comcast Tech Support Story

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

comcast-reverse-logo

I know this will seem like another “me too” post after the well publicized Comcast story at TechCrunch, but I actually wrote about 95% of this a couple of weeks ago, mostly while I was on hold with “tech” “support.” I was going to wait until the issue was resolved, but I’ve decided to post it now. This is my story of how Comcast took over the cable services of my lowly regional cable provider, and how bad things can get worse. Read the rest after the jump.

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Comcast Rewards You for Complaining Publicly

Monday, April 7th, 2008

ComcastGood ol’ Michael Arrington of TechCrunch had an interesting weekend in which he learned how to minimize the classic ISP runaround (i.e., the customer service you get when your Internet stops working). He had 36 hours of downtime before, as he puts it, he lost his cool and posted to Twitter this message: “I am going to expend significant energy over the next three weeks trashing comcast.”

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Blockbuster Online & Facebook: No Longer My Friends

Thursday, April 3rd, 2008

BlockbusterBite me, Blockbuster Online. Oh, and you too, Facebook.

About three years ago, I signed up for Netflix, Walmart DVD Online, and Blockbuster Online. I wanted to see which interface was better, and who was quicker about sending me DVDs in the mail. Netflix won, hands down.

Blockbuster has recently come out with an interesting idea, however, where you can rent online, as well as in the store. They have been pestering me to “come back” for years, and yesterday they sent me a free month. So I thought, what the heck. I’ll sign up, rent a few, and then cancel after 29 days.

I canceled after one. Here’s why:

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