I recently went to http://losangeles.cbslocal.com. I wanted to contact a local reporter about a report she has filed. I was unable to find ANY way of contacting ANYONE there. No email addresses. No web forms. No telephone numbers. Not even any postal mail addresses. I don’t think they want to hear from me.
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This is a fascinating collection of 1993 commercials from AT&T, touting “future” technologies. Ironically, most of what is shown has indeed come to pass in startlingly accurate ways, but mostly pioneered by others, NOT by AT&T.
A couple days ago the ubiquitous grocery store bar code turned 35.
Here is the article
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/26/technology/26barcode.html
I didn’t write it. Lauren Weinstein did.
But I can point you to it at http://www.nnsquad.org/bandwidth-caps.html.
Sometimes I wonder if home builders have ever arranged furniture.
It seems they try to save a dollar or two by putting electrical outlets smack dab in the middle of a wall right where you will put the sofa, bookcase or bed.
Not only that, they are still installing duplex outlets.
Look at your house. How many duplex outlets do you have with more than two plugs plugged in through a cascade of outlet expanders and extension cords?
And I’ve yet to see a modern kitchen built with enough outlets!
Somehow, even as Reddy Kilowatt (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reddy_Kilowatt and http://www.toonopedia.com/reddy_k.htm) was promoting electricity in homes, no one bothered to mandate the use of more outlets.
Even today, I’ve yet to see any builder put in enough electrical outlets.
(PS: the number mandated by the building code is not enough.)
A while back while talking to The Phone Company (ATT) about a problem, I agreed to let them talk to me about other services I could buy.
One of those seemed good: unlimited long distance for a fixed rate each month.
The rate is $20.00 and even using my great cheap long distance service (http://www.OneSuite.com, which I still recommend), it was a good deal given the volume of my calls). So I said yes.
Then last month I got an email. I emailed back to ask if I could call. The reply said yes and sent the number. So the bill comes with almost $200.00 in long distance charges. (For several calls like that.)
So why is the bill hundreds of dollars if I am getting unlimited calls? Because the unlimited calls are US Only and these calls were to CANADA at a rate of almost $1.00 per minute.
I Hate The Phone Company.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_President%27s_Analyst and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUa3np4CKC4 and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062153/.
If you happen to watch network TV, you are likely to be subjected to the audiovisual creation Comcast is attempting to use for advertisements.
Video #1
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For me, these ads are incredibly wasteful and wrong.
I believe they are wasteful because I believe that the overwhelming majority of people don’t choose Comcast because they are best, but because they have almost no choice.
I believe they are wrong because they are attempting to confuse the benefits of roads with the benefits of destinations.
One of the wonderful distinctions of the internet is that people recognize that getting your internet service is the road; it isn’t where the stuff is … it is just how you get your stuff.
Alas, the cable companies don’t want to be “how you get your stuff”. They also want to be the provider of the stuff itself.
Sorry. I don’t want Comcast to be affiliated with the destinations on the internet in any way shape or form. I just want them to give me a functional road to get there.
Things will be a lot better when this finally ends.
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Today, I received one of my favorite mailings … Lauren Weinstein’s Blog … You can read the posting here: http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000448.html
It seems that the people who designed T-Mobile’s services didn’t do what I would consider “a good job”. As Lauren explains:
All callers who hear your personalized voicemail outgoing message are then offered the opportunity to send a numeric page (“press 5″). Unfortunately, this paging prompt is presented to everyone hearing your voicemail message, even when you have paging turned off — which is in fact the default state.
I couldn’t believe this so I called T-Mobile. Guess what … it is worse than that.
Their system actually does let you turn off the paging. However, note: even if you turn off the paging it keeps telling people they can page you!!
In my private correspondence with Lauren, it seems that their support people didn’t, at least at first, see the problem. They thought that turning it off was enough. The problem isn’t that you can’t turn it off. The problem is that even if you do, it keeps prompting people to page you.
I wonder how long this will take to get fixed.
As to it’s urgency and necessity, please read this and decide for yourself.
