Milkshakes for...

Redesigning a proprietary plug (that already worked) "just because" is beyond stupid. Why oh why?

You know, maybe they have a reason… 

After all, it could be a good way to gauge the feelings toward a redesign of the iOS device plug. Bwa ha ha ha ha!

Like a Steven King novel, "Thinner." Apple has shownn, time and time again, that they will ruthlessly discard old tech if it mars the esthetics of their new designs.

A big biffy hug to the developers of Chrome for burning Mac batteries up…

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1270520





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2012 07:39PM by bahamut.

Hey, collecting and sending to Google all your behavioral data takes energy, Baha.

ddt

Insufferable gall.

Apple and their latest "security update" for Java that updates the Java to the latest version - but just to be super-safe that no nasties can happen - they disable the Java plug-in without telling you that they've done so. Made lodging my ATO online activity statement rather challenging.

(The tech support guy said he's basically been fielding the same call since late May...)

Comcast

I know. It's not like it's unexpected. But I need to vent. I tried to get new service. The online price was 29.99 for 20Mbits for 6 months. They couldn't complete it online so I had to call them because the previous tenant hadn't canceled yet. The call center price was 49.99 for 20 Mbits but they said they'd give me a 10 dollar discount. They billed me at 59.99 after the 10 dollar discount so I called to complain. First I hassled them about billing me for a "Self install kit" that they never sent because I was already up and running. Think about that: They tried to bill me for something they never sent and that they knew I didn't need. They offered me the Comcast version of Netflix to placate me. I declined. Then they offered me a lower billing rate that was almost as good as the original rate they promised me. Almost.

I said, how is it that you're offering new service to new customers (which I am -- new) at 29.99 but you're telling me that the best you can do for my bill is 50+. The 29.99 rate only goes up to 44.99 after six months which is less than I would be paying right now. Call center dude says, that's an online only price. The best we can offer you is call center rates.

I said, "Tell me about your 30 day money back guarantee." Call Center dude tried to prorate the refund. I protested and he refunded everything. So I've cancelled Comcast after about a week.

In a couple of days, I'll sign back up online for 29.99. If that's how they want to play the game, fuck them. I'll play.

I'm sure there will be additional chapters to this story.

It's nice that cable companies get monopolies. Pretty much everybody I know says this has led to the best service ever. Oh, wait, I mean nobody that I know says that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2012 08:53AM by John Willoughby.

Reminds me of How AT&T paid me $173.82 to go to Verizon. Oligopoly logic.

Apple. Yesterday's iMessage outage really screwed up my social life.

(And yes, Comcast sucks. But when I moved to Zionsville a decade ago and had to switch to Bright House, things got even worse.)

In Minnesota they aren't guaranteed a monopoly, at least not on paper. In practice, they are.

Anybody can offer service in Minnesota but you have to offer it to an entire geographic area all at once. That means that you have to build out your entire infrastructure to support every house/apartment/office in an entire city before you can sell your service to anybody in that city.

That's why the only places with alternative service providers are those cities with municipal fiber. Those cities also have the lowest prices.

The places that have tried to offer municipal wireless got beaten up by the cable companies, as I recall.

That's why I support the rollout of the National Broadband Network in Australia - even if it is a socialist boondoggle

Related to this, I remember an ad from a few years ago where the company advertising (T-Mobile, I think...) boasted that "three times as many people prefer our service to AT&T." My immediate reaction was to ponder the implication that there actually existed a person who liked AT&T's service.

Quote
YDD
Related to this, I remember an ad from a few years ago where the company advertising (T-Mobile, I think...) boasted that "three times as many people prefer our service to AT&T." My immediate reaction was to ponder the implication that there actually existed a person who liked AT&T's service.

Well to be accurate, if zero people liked AT&T's service, the statement would still be technically correct...

Did I ever tell you my mom/siblings babysat (?) for the family of kids that included an eventual CEO of AT&T. I've met him at a dinner thingy at my church, too. The weekend before the first of what I see as the corporate waves of downsizing. That next week AT&T laid off like 40,000 people or so. #5 biggest layoff? http://tinyurl.com/bwql8fk

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5. AT&T
Biggest layoff: 40,000
Date of layoff: January 1996

I can't recall any odd behavior he exhibited right before this during this dinner. What was really massively large layoff.

that was after I had been "Paid to leave" what is now part of AT&T as well.

I'm sure he got a hefty bonus.

I'm sure, too. He was one guy that worked his way to the top. He started locally, then to Indy/Indiana Bell, and so on. He was a very pleasant guy to get to talk with. IIRC he quit/resigned/pulled golden parachute soon after.

The Genius Bar: No, we can't pop the hard drive out of that dead iBook you have. It's too old.