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An OS that watches you and markets products to you... far off ?

A TV station that markets to you during your favorite program

Advertisements that come inserted into your bills ...

You are required, at your place of employment to endure compulsory marketing.

What's next, tatoos in the inside of eyelids when you're born?

In the world of marketing it seems there are no bad ideas. Overstep boundaries, go to far, garner enough negative attention and you're still golden. It's about brand recognition, not about stimulating support for a product.

Personally I've become revolted by all forms of marketing. I'm "turned off and tuned out"... to paraphrase what I feel.

I'm waiting for a consumer revolution in a world of sheep.

> There's a few, shall we say... urgent matters that need to be holding their attention right now.

Let's see.

Senate's recent accomplishments:
  * Voted not to Vote on the Immigration Reform Bill
  * Voted not to Vote on firing Alberto "I don't recall" Gonzales

Congress' recent accomplishments:
  * Passed another 'Get out of Iraq' Bill that the President has already said he'll veto.

No, they've got time to do this. Congress may have received half a million messages. I'd suggest the Webcasters get their audience to donate to a fund that will in turn donate to these politicians who accepted money from the RIAA. It would make the point beautifully. http://consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-a merica/contact-information-for-50-politicians-who- take-campaign-money-from-the-riaa-264638.php

See http://consumerist.com/consumer/cellphones/cancel- sprint-without-early-termination-fee-over-roaming- rate-change-267570.php for details. In short, Sprint is increasing their roaming fees. If you do not have unlimited roaming on your service plan, this applies to you.

To everyone patting Comcast on the back for a few scattered examples of decent, above board service, I advise you to check The Consumerist for a bit more information on Comcast's practices.

To everyone patting Comcast on the back for a few scattered examples of decent, above board service, I advise you to check The Consumerist for a bit more information on Comcast's practices.

http://consumerist.com/consumer/starbucks/starbuck s-caffeine-inhaler-207881.php

http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/caffederm.shtml

Heh. All in the interests of efficiency, of course.

You should have seen the talk at consumerist.com when Verizon changed their SMS prices from 10 to 15 cents. (Seems in Americ you have to pay to recieve them, too.)

Stories included having to fax them your copy of the contract, claiming the increase is not "materially adverse" (which is not defined in their contract), claiming you have to wait until after the change is introduced (the contract clearly says that if you do so you have agreed to the change), and claiming that the fare hasn't increased at all.

http://consumerist.com/consumer/readers/verizon-34 -txt-msgs-material-adverse-effect-229255.php

If that's Paulie "Walnuts" Gualtieri in the photo, I'd be handing the computer off to the next guy. I'm not gonna whacked over stealing some wiseguy's pr0n or music files.

Even the computer name is HONEYPOT, check out the log. Too bad he probably doesn't know what this term means and found an extreme way to find out :)

Insterestingly enough, a while back on that same blog, there was an article about how Geek Squad snooping around some customer's computer revealed he had child porn.

While computer repair regulations don't exist like, say, auto repair regulations do, at the time I wondered if it would become compulsory for a computer repair shop to search and disclose child porn and similar because won't someone please think of the children.

If you have a safety deposit box at a bank, you're entrusting them not to open it while you're away and look at all the sparklies. If you take your clothes to a cleaner, you entrust them not to wear it out on the town ala. Seinfeld. If you get your car fixed, you entrust them not to wade through those papers in your glove compartment and snicker at that condom from 1974. I think it's a reasonable expectation that you'll have files not related to your problem remain unexamined.

Were it my repair shop, the first thing I'd think of is "wow, we're so not busy right now my employee has the time to search for goodies on client computers?"

Dell rescinded. They say they blew it by threatening a takedown. http://consumerist.com/consumer/takedowns/dell-adm its-error-in-asking-consumerist-to-remove-post-269 653.php

Agreed, and it makes me wonder if The Consumerist read the article carefully. They're pretty aggressive about bad behavior by companies. So it's OK if a consumer steals for personal gain?

Agreed, and it makes me wonder if The Consumerist read the article carefully. They're pretty aggressive about bad behavior by companies. So it's OK if a consumer steals for personal gain?

Full text from http://consumerist.com/consumer/insiders/22-confes sions-of-a-former-dell-sales-manager-268831.php
Anon because I'm not a karma whore and because I add nothing to the post. Enjoy :)
***
A former Dell kiosk manager writes us to share helpful tips about doing business with Dell. He has no particular problems with Dell, he just wanted to share some helpful tips for consumers looking to get the best deal. He includes info on getting the best deal from the website, different kinds of promotions the Dell offers, insider details on how the kiosk sales reps are compensated, what coupons and deals they have to offer you to close the deal, the email format for Dell in case you're thinking of launching an EECB, where to take your Dell credit card complaints, which extended warranties to avoid, how to get a domestic tech support rep... and more. It's very comprehensive. Enjoy!

I am a former Spherion rep that later became a Dell Branded Rep (manager) of a Dell kiosk in the Philadelphia, PA region. To work at one is to work at all, and I worked at four different kiosks in the region. I worked from July 2005 until October 2006, but keep regular contact with some of the guys I trained and brought up. Other than the usual complaints, I have no problem with the company.

Things most people know already:

1. Small business is better than home and home office - Small business typically runs a few dollars more than the home office, but you stand a better chance of getting domestic tech support rather than non-native English speakers. As an added perk, small business promotions are occasionally better than home.

2. Play with the web site - There are many different pricing packages for the same product throughout the various sections, typically three or more per segment. If you're buying a Dell soon, configure a unit from a link off the main page, from the product listing on the drop down and from the "As Advertised-Newspaper" drop down. Configure the same system each way at the home, small business and the Direct (kiosk) site (http://www.dell.com/directstore). It is very likely you will end up with nine different prices.

3. Extended warranty for laptops - Do it for as long as you feasibly see using your laptop, and include accidental. Two years is typically the lifecycle from "new product" to "no longer produced/no more refurbs" though YMMV. Once your model is off the refurb site, drop it. Voila! New laptop. The standard warranty will not cover any screen defects.

UPDATE: Current Dell rep says: If a system is no longer shipping a used/refurbished is always sent, though the refurb should be equal or better as far as hardware is concerned. As of this writing if a system is exchanged, via either Complete Care warranty or concession, and the system is still a currently shipping model a new system is to be sent.

4. Extended warranty for desktops - There is nothing in a low end desktop (non XPS) that is worth the price of the warranty should you have to replace it. Only pick it up if you have absolutely no clue what you're doing once the case is open.

5. Tech support phone - If you do go with the home/home office/direct route, tech support is outsourced (duh!). The tech support instant messenger typically provides a calmer, more understandable conversation due to the fact that accents are taken out of the equation. Think back to high school Spanish. It was always easier to translate the foreign language you were reading than if you heard it. Same concept applies here.

6. Tech support web site - If you're having a common problem, hit the product forums (however crippled they may be now). It is very likely your question/problem has been resolved before, and usually a domestic tech rep posted a solution there.

7. Warranty Repairs - On all but the two lowest warranties (90 day and 1 year limited), warranty repairs wi

Is it any surprise the courts make these sort of decisions?

A few days ago we had an idiot judge (yes, a *judge*) suing cleaners $54M for the emotional stress of losing is pants http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2007/06/12/AR2007061201667.html?hpid=moreheadli nes
and hot on the heals of that we had an idiotic ruling by a U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian decreeing that RAM shall be archived. And we've got an Attorney General, the #1 lawyer in the country, who smirks "I don't recall" for hours of testimony, then goes back to work and it's business as usual.

The entire judicial legal system is an anachronism. As we've seen, it contains some very clueless (and sometimes downright stupid) people making important decisions. We've got patent law which is way out of control and anti-trust law which might as well not exist at all. The law is written for and sometimes even by corporations like the RIAA and Disney http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20020305_s prigman.html , in exchange for campaign donations http://consumerist.com/xml/comments/264638 . And lets not forget about hot cups of coffee. The entire legal system is a joke. The problem is people like Judge Pearson, Magistrate Chooljian and Attorney General Gonzales don't know it. They think they're important public officials part of a proud tradition who are loved and admired by the population they rule^H^H^H^Hserve. Suspect many people think otherwise.

Time to turf the whole thing out and start again. I mean, how much worse is this going to get?

At least Americans are lucky they don't like in the former British Empire where you get some senile git wearing a black cape and a powdered wig banging a hammer and glaring at you, and expecting to be taken seriously. "This is my court!" they thunder. If any other public servant did that in their workplace, they'd be taken away for psychiatric assessment.

Seriously. They pretty much said, "We've decided that people buy systems to play games, so we are going to make games that people want to buy so they will buy systems and games." As to your question, we already know about Sony's attitude towards blogs and their audience.

We are talking about a company that outright lied the USA-DOJ, and the EU, A company which has been caught red-handed in numerous scams, and outright theft. A company with a very well documented history of numerous mis-information campaigns.

Msft is funding the scox-scam, stold stacker technology, hires bloggers to post msft propaganda, hires shill journalists like Enderle, files dozens - if not hundreds - of bogus patents, and creates fake think-tanks. Msft is currently running a enormous fud campain against ODF - and ruined the career of Peter Quinn along the way. Msft has been caught secretly sponsoring fake TCO studies, and fake benchmarking studies.

Not to mention tax scams and racketeering.

Msft astroturfing:
http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/24514/

Fake TCO:
http://os.newsforge.com/print.pl?sid=05/06/23/2027 229

Microsoft Tax Scam
http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/mm1297.08.ht ml

Bestbuy rackteering
http://consumerist.com/consumer/lawsuits/best-buy- attorney-admits-to-falsifying-emails-in-racketeeri ng-case-266395.php

IH speaks! "Can't stop what Napster started."
Ya, a copyright infringement website defends copyright infringement. Who'd've thought. also, this lesson has been learned before.

Besides, I AM an artist. If I were signed with a label/distribution company/other organ, I would make >10 per unit sold. I much prefer that people burn or download my album, then buy me a beer. I get more out of it that way.

Also, 15,010 angry nerds can't be wrong. http://consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-a merica/riaa-wins-worst-company-in-america-2007-245 235.php
[/rebuttal] Okay, fair point, the RIAA are just doing their job. We'll disregard for the moment it's a job that doesn't need to be done. In this case, the only thing the RIAA are guilty of is boundless enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the low-income single mothers on the receiving end of the lawsuits don't see it that way.

Okay, I've lost the thread of my argument, so I'm just going to say what I originally intended to say.

Clearchannel.

Money talks. Independent labels can't afford to get music on the radio in America, because they don't have the resource to buy the airtime or lobby the execs. The internet is their only hope. The RIAA, as far as I can work out, is accidentally crushing independent artists while they're going after the roaches. So, sure. Blame the RIAA-haters for depriving artists who already have record labels, have a valid form of income. I'll keep blaming the RIAA for keeping the little guy down with its' clumsy antics.

What a crock of shit.

The current western version of democracy is just public relations theory. It is about making the public think they have some say in who rules their country without actually giving them too much. The problem is that we are given such a small selection of people to choose who will rule us from (2 in the US) that it does not actualy count as a democracy according to the strict (original) definition.

The other problem is that once a particular person / party has been elected they are very hard to remove from power even if they make some very unpopular decisions. A better description of the current system in the US or UK (or Russia for that matter) would be an elected dictatorship. Some countries in Europe do slightly better by allowing proportional representation rather than "first past the post" but these still probably would not count as a democracy in the orignal sense.

One problem with current democracy is that you need huge amounts of money to get elected, this rules out most people. This may also explain why both of the frontrunner democratic candidates (Barrack and Hillary) have taken money from the RIAA even though a great deal of the american population (I have not said majority of the US population so lets not get into semantics) voted them the worst company in the US.
(The source for this is here: http://consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-a merica/contact-information-for-50-politicians-who- take-campaign-money-from-the-riaa-264638.php)

Anyone who has read this far might find it interesting too look at the definition of Democracy with respect to constitutional republics as defined on the wikipedia page here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

Please also note that I am not trying to argue that one is superior to the other, I am just trying to suggest that democracy is often overrated when used in the modern context of the word.

I also take issue with you implying that western democracies are impartial with regard to race or sexual orientation. Until the US elect a black gay man as president or the US senate is made up of the same balance as the general population I think this is a hard case to make. Wikipedia also has a good page on this here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racial_demographics_o f_the_United_States. Once the senate (and the senators who chair select commitees) have a simlar racial makeup and you will have a valid point but until then it still amounts to public relations theory.

In many ways the US is moving away from impartiality in politics with regard to sexual orientation as religion becomes higher on the list of criteria people consider when choosing how to cast their vote.

In my view the primary western value in recent years has been profit, and Russians have certainly embraced this with open arms. That is what the whole IP issue with regard to AK's is all about. They want money for people using what is a Russian state design (and a damn good one). The man who invented and designed the original AK was at the time of its design, a serving Russian military officer. If wanting to get money for what you or your employees invent is not a western value then where does the current US stance on copyright come from?

This is just one of MANY reason not to shop at Best Buy. Their business practices and treatment of customers is terrible. It's this that is driving other stores out of the market leaving us with no other options. The Consumerist has a nice list.

Best Buy at The Consumerist

If you compare it to their data charges, SMS is marked up by 7314%

http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/cellphones/why -are-text-messages-marked-up-4876-247518.php

Oh, yeah? You only think that Scientologists provoke confrontations designed to push people's buttons because you're a dirty little gnat with secrets!

Does someone here work for one of these companies? Flamebait, huh? You're right...what I said has no basis at all. I mean Verizon and Comcast have *great* customer service.

Howard Berman (D-Calif.), a co-signer of the letter told Variety: "By answering the survey, universities will be required to examine how they address piracy on their campuses."

In specific, the reason why the iPhone is going to cost $500 is because it's not being subsidized by cell phone contracts. Jobs is trying to change the rules in that respect.

Except, you seem to be wrong (unless something has changed since then). I'm sorry that Steve Jobs isn't the revolutionary that you want him to be.

I for one am leaving the DNC feedback on their feedback page:
http://www.democrats.org/page/s/contactissues

Here is what my feedback looked like:
I think it is a serious mistake for the DNC to closely associate itself with the RIAA. The RIAA is despised in more technical literate circles, and increasingly at universities for their questionable legal maneuvers in their holy war against file sharing.

Close association with the RIAA reinforces stereotypes about the DNC being "no different" then the RNC as both are "owned by corporate interests". Please reconsider the decision to appoint Jenni Engebretsen to the Convention leadership team. I'm sure she is a great lady and did wonderful things for Kerry/Edwards, but I have serious problems with the morality of her employer. Her involvement at a leadership position casts a shadow over the entire Democratic party in my eyes, and in the eyes of many others.

Thanks for your time, a few links about the RIAA follow.

http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/07/04/13/162 5218.shtml
http://www.boycott-riaa.com/
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20061219/121441.s html
http://www.riaaradar.com/
http://consumerist.com/consumer/worst-company-in-a merica/worst-company-in-america-2007-final-deathma tch-244408.php

Specifically, I'm talking about the 'worst company in america' award that the RIAA supposedly won.

When I read the headline, it smelled fishy. So, I did a tiny bit of research and found:

• The contest was between exactly two companies - Hallibutron and the RIAA. Those were your choices if you participated in this survey. The RIAA won by 3.8%. Wal-mart or none of the above were not choices.
• The 'survey' was done by The Consumerist. Sounds impressive, eh? Like The Economist magazine, perhaps? No, not really. It's basically some shitty blog. Hint: their web page currently has ads for 'Replica Rolex Watches Rolex, Cartier, Gucci, Brietling Only $189!!'
• So, this poll was a web poll. Hardly what we'd expect from a true 'Most hated company in America' type deal.
• See it for yourself here.

Will it be possible to buy the iPhone without a Cingular contract? Cingular said no, but a tipster says yes, and it will be crazy expensive:

As a employee of a company I cannot mention but that sells the majority of cingular phones that are sold in this country. I can tell this to you in hopes of you passing it on to all my die hard mac loving brothers. The iPhone will be available without a contract, that is if it comes to us via cingular. We will not have a product with at $$$ price tag that people are willing to outright buy on our shelves just sit on those shelves just because of "contracts". I'm not saying it won't be f&#*ing expensive but if it comes here it will be available. If not publicly at least in practice.

I'll let other people tell the story. Customers are not the only people unhappy with HP. Employees are miserable, too: 14 Hewlett-Packard Company Secrets From A Former Employee.

Forget the GeekSquad mess... Best Buy has been called out for having an internal web site that looks like their external one but with different prices. If they bring the same kind of quality to SpeakEasy, it's as good as dead.

A common refrain we hear from the former and current Geek Squad employees we've been talking to is that Geek Squad used to be awesome. Robert Stephens built up an award-winning company with a reputation for being the best in the business. Then he sold it to Best Buy and they turned it to garbage.

True, but people have been arrested for less.

FTFA, the real prize is a Golden Piece of Shit. It's actually quite attractive looking. =)

um, sony beat them in the first round

Vonage should have offered to settle for 0.055 cents per customer; Verizon would have jumped at it!

There's no doubt that the growing amount of ewaste is a huge problem, but if we're going to charge the consumer for the fee, then there should be stiff penalties for companies like Epson and HP that put kill-switches into their printers to cause them to fail prematurely.

HP killswitch.
Epson killswitch.

Where did you get confirmation that these two were surviving?

Consumerist.com post.

That wasn't meant to be a literal calculation. More of a reference to bad telecom service. Guess I should have included link in original post.

you can do stuff on that laptop that you can't on my phone ... something porn related

And nevermind that one of their top stories is Gawker Responds To Lycos' Aluminum Foil Sword Rattling... about their response to a legal threat from Lycos...

And nevermind that half their ads say Gawker Artists on them...

You're an idiot if you think they try to hide they're published by Gawker.

What, you can't be bothered to click a single FAQ link where they clearly state that they are published by Gawker Media? And you compare this to fake blogs which actively try to deceive the reader as to who really writes them? Give me a break.

I suppose you'll now say that CNN, TBS, Turner Classic Movies, Adult Swim, and the like are all "fronts" because they're all published by a single company.

I think it's ironic the number of Slashdot readers who are ready to crucify this guy for being honest rather than hiding behind corporate doublespeak and faux politeness - say what you want about this guy, but at least he's not an insincere, two-faced, backstabbing PHB.

Perhaps, perhaps not. He's upset at the attention and demanded the Consumerist take down his photograph, and while he's claimed he's received death threats and people have shown up at the office looking for him in his message, he says this at the end:

I immediately request that this website and photograph be removed, as it is a violation of my privacy.
Under Federal Law, you must comply with this request."

Now the photograph in question came from here and is still up at the moment. I'm also not aware of any federal law that makes it illegal to post a photograph of someone in general. Copyright might apply, but he mentions it nowhere in the message. So basically he's trying to scare them into taking it down. Still think he's not an "insincere, two-faced, backstabbing PHB"? I'd say he's proving quite well that the original quote was exactly what he said. That he thinks he can stop the negative attention he's brought on himself by being more of a jerk (using baseless threats) really proves the point quite well.

And do note that the Consumerist put this at the TOP of the page, not after the guy's letter:

If people are really sending Mike death threats and showing up at his workplace, please stop. That's no way to go about this and you're going to get yourselves in trouble.

So they're discouraging people from doing the types of things (death threats) that very well might violate a federal law or two.

The Consumerist has reported that the free 18 months is false (original story)

> this is a way for corporations to sell their lies to the public without them knowing it

Usually, the public is smarter than that. But not necessarily when it comes to politics.

Please check out this story to see how badly the airline industry treats its customer.
http://consumerist.com/consumer/complaints/united- airlines-flub-costs-parents-3000-refunds-only-600- 225932.php

And 1% is about 10,000,000 phones, at $500 (or $600) is $5 BILLION a year.

And 5% (like the Intel Mac) is...well you can do the math, but I better do it for the other guys who work for Verizon:

$5 Billion * 5 = $25 Billion

And it is huge if they can get anywhere near the iPod penetration rates - or even 1/5 of them!

Clamshells, I don't like them, but that is a personal preference.

(Verizon: http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/clips/verizon- doesnt-know-difference-between-dollars-and-cents-2 20362.php)

The point is that "EU cash" here refers to Entropia Universe cash, more commonly known as PED (Project Entropia Dollars). The fixed rate between these currencies is 1 USD = 10 PED.

Just imagine paying your Verizon bill in PED :)

I had the same issue.

My solution was to upload as much pornographic material as I could then add people as friends. Those people who blindly authorise add's without checking your profile certainly complain fast enough when xxx material appears in their friends list. I also started filling out the 'report offensive material' on my own account.

I got the idea from The Consumerist

As my blog on the issue notes:

"I can confirm this method works. I can also confirm you cannot achieve this by uploading videos - they screen and delete but will not ban your account on ground of you uploading questionable video content. Also if you attempt to upload any shock site material, they have pretty good filters to prevent this from ever being displayed. It took a while, one photograph I uploaded and subsequently reported as being offensive was deemed not to be outside their terms and conditions. The second one however got me banned. If anyone is desparate to know what the content of these two photographs were, well I guess you can but ask."

The first photo was a shot of what can only be described as interracial anal intercourse. The second one a female face covered in what appears to be male ejaculate. Quite why one is deemed offensive and not the other I to this day have no idea :)

http://consumerist.com/ The stances, as most forums, seem a bit zealous at times. But such a venue does indeed exist.

Sounds like you need to get your message out on http://consumerist.com/ The fact is, most cell phone companies have horrible service and are still trying to figure out how to sell high speed data services to non-enterprise users. I make my living working on high speed mobile data access, and I don't personally subscribe to any of them. The pricing is doesn't make sense, and the coverage is spotty.