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Blockbuster’s Less-Than-Perfect Example Of Good Customer Service
What is it with customer service nowadays? Over the weekend, we posted of an experience that a customer shopping at a Tiger Direct had, where he was harassed by staff and banned from the store because of his refusal to flash his receipt. I thought that was bad, but the Consumerist let’s us in on yet another horror story.
Imagine wanting to rent a movie at a Blockbuster… and politely refusing to sign up for the rewards program, only to be scolded by the store manager. That’s what happened to “Sarah” and her boyfriend just the other evening. It’s a good thing it wasn’t an HD-DVD movie she was after…
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A Blockbuster manager responded to reader Sarah’s refusal to sign up for Blockbuster’s rewards program by declaring: “F-ing customers, I’m tired of everyone not listening when they don’t even know what they’re talking about.” Sarah had politely declined to enroll in the program several times before the outburst.
Source: Consumerist
Acer Acquires Gateway For $710 Million
Computer companies purchasing computer companies seems to be the new fad, and Acer wanted a big part. Today they announced the acquisition of Gateway, for approximately $710 million. What this accomplishes for Acer is that it puts them in the #3 spot for largest PC company in the world, amounts to $15 billion in revenues and one that will ship excess of 20 million PC units per year. How this will effect Gateway in the future is yet to be seen, but Acer is doing something right, as they’ve been increasingly popular over the past year.
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“This strategic transaction is an important milestone in Acer’s long history” said J.T. Wang, Chairman of Acer. “The acquisition of Gateway and its strong brand immediately completes Acer’s global footprint, by strengthening our US presence. This will be an excellent addition to Acer’s already strong positions in Europe and Asia. Upon acquiring Gateway, we will further solidify our position as number three PC vendor globally.”
Source: Acer Website
AllOfMP3.com To Open Back Up
We have posted numerous times about AllOfMP3.com in the past, and you could really say it’s been a roller-coaster of sorts for them. While the service can’t really considered to be a good thing for the music artists themselves (do they even see any money?), it was recently ruled to be legal by Russian courts. With that news, TechCrunch has posted an update that the AllOfMP3 crew have plans to arise from the dead. Right now, MP3Spark was launched in it’s place, so it’s unknown whether or not it will survive after this takes place.
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The announcement follows a Russian court decision August 15 that found AllofMP3’s previous CEO was not guilty of breaching Russian copyright laws, and therefore the AllofMP3 service was legal. EMI, NBC Universal and Time Warner had led the legal case against AllofMP3, with the US Government previously threatening to escalate the dispute regarding AllofMP3 to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Source: TechCrunch
Looking To Freshen Up Your Firefox?
According to our website stats, the majority of you are using the Firefox web-browser, so it’s good to finally know I’m posting a newsie that applies to more than half of you. Looking to spice up that boring, bland gray theme that Firefox throws at you after installation? Mashable is taking a quick look at more than thirty “beautiful” FF themes, although some of them are down-right ugly. One thing is for sure though, the Pink Paula theme has my name written all over it.
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Sometimes you just can’t take that plain gray Firefox theme anymore, and who can blame you? Here are more than 30 of Mashable’s favorite themes to spruce up that boring old browser.
Source: Mashable
Digital Recycle Bin Saves Your Deleted Files
I am not a big gadget guy, but this product intrigues me. Named the TEMPO, this coffee-cup-sized trash can sits outside of your PC and acts as external storage… for your deleted files. If you delete a file, it heads right to the can to stay there in case you find out you need it again in the future. The greatest part might be it’s look. It’s a black cup with white trim, and blue light runs up the side, reflecting how full it is. The idea behind the product is cool, but if you are a Linux user, our newly posted article will help you make sure you never lose an important file!
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Created by industrial designer Franco Cagnina for Intech, the TEMPO connects via Bluetooth to your Mac or PC and automatically stores backup copies of files as you delete them. As you fill the drive, a series colored LEDs on the side of the device indicates how full the “bin†is.
Source: TechnaBob
Network Slowdown In Vista Due To Audio Confirmed By Microsoft
Last week, we posted news that playing music in your Windows Vista installation would slow your network performance down. As odd as it seems, it’s true and has been verified by Microsoft. In an e-mail sent to a ZDNet editor, they note that the performance degradation is “expected behaviour” and further enforced that by saying “This is by design.”
So it is a known issue by Microsoft, but it doesn’t look like it will be something that is fixable, or at least it seems that way since they don’t consider it a problem. It is noted though, that this only affects a local network and shouldn’t slow down your connection to the internet. Though the oddity exists, it really shouldn’t have any noticeable effect, unless you are copying large files.
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“The connection between media playback and networking is not immediately obvious. But as you know, the drivers involved in both activities run at extremely high priority. As a result, the network driver can cause media playback to degrade. This shows up to the user as things like popping and crackling during audio playback. Users generally hate this, hence the trade off.”
Source: ZDNet Blogs
AT&T Cracks Down On Commercial iPhone Unlocking Groups
As we posted on Saturday iPhone unlocking has proven completely successful and should be possible for everyone in the coming days. Not surprisingly though, AT&T is not pleased, and is apparently actively seeking out the group that plans to sell the tools required for unlocking the phone.
Whether or not this group can be held accountable for anything, I’m unsure, but it does make you wonder what else they will do in order to make sure that the iPhone stays on their network. Knowing AT&T, they could have very well installed GPS systems in each phone in order to track you down in case you go the way of T-Mobile.
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It was bound to happen: AT&T is going after the mercenary group trying to profit from the iPhone unlocking. Apparently they can hunt these guys down, but it’s still undecided whether or not they’re in the clear or in hot water. You can still do a 100% unlock with the TurboSIM method.
Source: Gizmodo
Where’s All The DRM-Free Music?
DRM is becoming more popular by the day, but luckily, some music stores have common-sense and realize that people don’t want to deal with such a thing. So, you have many DRM-free tracks at your perusal, but where to look? iTunes Plus is one, but there are actually many other stores as well, such as Wal-Mart (Yes, I know), gBox, eMusic and more. TechCrunch takes a quick look at those and more. Personally… I can’t help but run to the store and pick up an actual CD. Not sure I will prefer downloadable-only tracks anytime soon.
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Some of the major music companies have been more tentative than others. EMI has thrown the most weight into the DRM-free movement by unlocking all of its online music. While Universal has agreed to release thousands of unprotected albums and tracks through several online retailers – RealNetworks, Google, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Amazon, and gBox – it has done so on a trial basis that will extend only until January 2008, at which point the company will decide whether it thinks DRM-free music boosts or hurts sales.
Source: TechCrunch
Linux Doubling In Popularity?
Each year, DesktopLinux.com conducts a survey to see what’s up with the Linux community. Various questions are asked, such as “Is Linux your primary OS?” and “What is your preferred distro”? As it turns out, 2006’s results were that 14,535 people were using Linux, while this year the number skyrocketed to 38,500. That’s quite impressive. Not surprisingly, Ubuntu is still the leading distro of choice.
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Since DesktopLinux.com’s recently completed survey is a self-selected group, we can’t claim scientific proof that the number of desktop Linux users has more than doubled in the past year. Still, this year’s survey produced 38,500 votes versus 14,535 votes over the same number of days in a similar survey one year ago.
Source: DesktopLinux
BioShock Includes SecuROM, Gamers Upset
BioShock was released last week and has been selling quite well, as expected. However, not all is good, since 2K Games thought it would be a great idea to include DRM-type protection called SecuROM. For anyone unaware, SecuROM is one of those applications designed to find out if you are using a legit copy of the game or not. The biggest issue is the fact that it’s difficult to remove off of your computer, even after uninstalling the game. Even worse, it conflicts with some popular anti-virus applications.
Why does a company install such malware? Good question. As it’s been proven a million times, the only people that this effects are the legal paying customers. Hackers will defeat these protections every4-single-time. So why waste your customer’s time?
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Systems like SecuROM attempt to defeat common modes of piracy, but are indeed loathsome to gamers, as they quite often cause problems for legitimate users who have paid full fare for their games. They also make it difficult for gamers to move game data to a hard drive for easier play and quicker access.
Source: Ars Technica
iPhone Is Now Unlockable
This news was made huge last night, so I guess you could say I am a tad slow. At least I admit it! Engadget has posted proof that a new iPhone activator called iPhoneSIMfree does indeed work, because they tested it on their own phone. The great thing is that this will soon become a reality for iPhone owners everywhere next week, but not surprisingly, the creators of the tool are charging for it on a per license basis. So if you want an iPhone and to go with T-Mobile, your chance is coming up soon. Whether or not Apple will have anything to say about this, we don’t know, but if you are willing to take the risk, go for it.
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The iPhoneSIMfree.com team called us up to prove their claim that they cracked Apple’s iPhone SIM lock system, and prove it they did. (No, we don’t have a copy of the unlock software, so don’t even ask us, ok?) The six-man team has been working non-stop since launch day, and they’re officially the first to break Apple’s SIM locks on the iPhone with software. It’s done. Seriously. They wouldn’t tell us when and how they would release it to the public, but you can certainly bet that they’ll try to make a buck on their solution (and rightly so).
Source: Gizmodo
16-Year-Old Defeats $84 Million Australia Porn Filter
When will the governments ever learn? Likely, never, but stories like these are great. After Australia launched a new porn filter application, which cost them a cool $84 million, it was defeated within THIRTY MINUTES by a 16-year-old Tom Wood. So AUS updated the filter, and he got through it again. You’ve got to love the quote from a govn. official: “Unfortunately, no single measure can protect children from online harm…”. Well, that about makes up for the wasted $84 million of taxpayers money!
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Senator Coonan, a government official did the best she could to salvage the sorry situation with, “Unfortunately, no single measure can protect children from online harm and … traditional parenting skills have never been more important.” Basically what I interpret that to mean is; “Tom is really getting on our tits; if you don’t want your kids looking at porn don’t have them in the first place.”
Source: Gizmodo
WGA Servers Down, People Unable To Validate Windows
Ahh, is there any good with DRM at all? It sure doesn’t seem so, and now a lot of Windows users are experiencing the hardships first-hand. It appears that the WGA servers are down, which are required to validate your fresh installation of Windows. Without access, the computer will consider you a thief until you manage to validate. So, with the server down, it might lock a few people out of their Windows, if they hit the cut-off date of 30-days. The servers are due back up on Tuesday, according to a quote at Boing Boing.
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The result? Every single Windows XP and Vista installation — except possibly those with volume license keys — is being marked as counterfeit when it tries to check in. Installations which are flagged as counterfeit switch to a “reduced functionality mode” which results in features like Aero and DirectX being disabled.
Source: Boing Boing
Don’t Flash Your Receipt? You Are Not Leaving!
The Consumerist has quite an incredible story about a man who was detained at a Tiger Direct store because he refused to flash his receipt to the security guy on the way out. Legally, you do not have to show your receipt, it’s against your rights. Personally, I don’t like be hassled by anybody when I know I paid for everything I am walking out with. They have security cameras. If you are stealing, they will catch you.
Regardless, this particular issue did not go down kindly. The security guy shouted at the customer, as did the store manager, whilst both of them accused him of stealing. Granted, it’s sometimes easier to simply flash your receipt, but why? Read the article though, it’s quite a doozie.
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I understand the “Shopkeeper’s Privilege”, but under no possible interpretation of the law would refusing a voluntary receipt check constitute grounds for reasonable suspicion of shoplifting. At this point, I warned them that I was being unlawfully restrained, and unless they immediately allowed me to leave, I would call the police and press criminal charges for unlawful restraint, and also file a civil suit for false imprisonment (fortunately, I knew my rights).
Source: Consumerist
SteelSeries Announces Ikari Optical And Laser Mice
This has got to be the week for mice releases! We’ve taken a look at numerous SteelSeries products in the past and have been impressed overall, especially with their 5H gaming headset. Now, in their goal of expanding their entire inventory to include a variety of peripherals, they have announced the Ikari gamers mouse, built from the ground up as a “no-bullshit, top performer for FPS gamers”. Although both mice look identical, SteelSeries notes that they each have a different use. The optical is best suited for FPS gamers, while the laser is ideal for the MMO and RTS folk.
Although the optical version allows you to switch DPI modes, the laser version includes a LCD readout on the mouse belly which shows the current DPI setting. At first glance, both mice look to have good potential. SteelSeries is hugely a gamer’s company, which is evident by their intense support towards LAN parties and gaming in general. We look forward to taking these mice for a spin when they are released later this year.
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The SteelSeries Ikari mice are the result of 15 months extensive research of ergonomics, technology, shape, motion, hand grip and play styles by gamers. The SteelSeries Ikari mice sets a new industry standard for input, research and co-development with professional gamers for gaming mice. The shape, materials and specifications of the SteelSeries Ikari mice are based on input from professional players from Team 3D, compLexity, mousesports, SK Gaming, Team NoA and other world-class gaming organizations, who collectively represent the world’s most accomplished gamers in Counter-Strike and other gaming disciplines.
Source: SteelSeries
Razer Announces Lachesis 4000 DPI Gaming Mouse
This past week, Microsoft announced their new Sidewinder gaming mouse (expect a review within two weeks), but Razer wasn’t going to sit around and take it. No, they wanted to up the ante. While their new Lachesis mouse lacks some of the bells and whistles of the Sidewinder, it has a massive 4000 DPI sensor for gamers who enjoy the ultimate in sensitivity. This strikes me a little funny. We spoke to Razer CEO Robert Krakoff earlier this year, and he mentioned that the DPI race was a little foolish just as the megapixel race is for cameras. But the even more humorous thing is that this mouse will sell well, for that simple fact, regardless of it’s overall usefulness.
That all aside, it is a feature-packed mouse, featuring an ultra-fast 1000Hz polling rate and 1ms response time, nine programmable buttons and Phantom White or Banshee Blue LEDs. For those curious, yes, Lachesis is the name of a snake.
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Razer also uses the familiar on-the-fly sensitivity adjustment with one notable improvement, rather than using software to adjust the sensitivity levels, all adjustments on the Lachesis are done with hardware. That means you get true sensitivity settings, not settings resulting from interpolation.
Source: DailyTech
Banned From Using Linux?
Ex-administrator of torrent website EliteTorrents, Sk0t, was prosecuted for leaking a Star Wars movie on the internet, so naturally, punishment was due. He has since been to jail and released, but now the Government requires that he installs tracking software on his computer (talk about ultimate spyware), but there’s a problem. He uses Linux, and since the Government doesn’t product the tracking software for the OS, he’s left with no choice but to install Windows… and enjoy it.
I have to wonder how the Govn. would know if he decided to use a combination of both, although I assume they are monitoring all of his internet traffic. It’s too bad he didn’t get off a little easier, such as with a longer jail sentence.
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sk0t was informed by his Probation Officer that he has to have special software installed on his PC so that the government can monitor his online activities. However, what is a more bitter pill to swallow for him is that the monitoring software is Windows only and as sk0t is an Ubuntu user, the Justice Department is forcing him to switch operating systems.
Source: TorrentFreak
PS 3 Sales Up 60%, Still Not Enough To Overtake Xbox 360
Ars Technica is reporting on an NPD Group report that the Playstation 3 had a huge jump in sales, thanks to it’s price drops no doubt, but it was still not enough to overtake Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Nothing can keep up to the Wii though, as it shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. While the Xbox sold a respectable 170,000 units during July, the Wii sold 425,000 and the DS sold 405,000. Incredible.
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In July, the Wii and DS showed no signs of slowing down: they sold 425,000 and 405,000 units respectively. Pretty amazing stuff, considering many people are still having a hard time finding Wii hardware on store shelves. Even with the supply constraints, the little system with the big waggle came out on top.
Source: Ars Technica
PGR4 To Include New Geometry Wars Game
Finally, some gaming news I actually feel like getting excited about. UK gaming site Pro-G is reporting that the next Project Gotham Racing game will feature an all-new Geometry Wars, subtitled “Wave”. If you own an Xbox 360, chances are good that you once played GW: Retro Evolved and became quite addicted to it. Well, at least I did. I’m hoping they manage to release another knockout installment without it tasting stale.
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Speaking to Pro-G at Games Convention 2007, Bizarre Creations has revealed that its upcoming Xbox 360 racer Project Gotham Racing 4 will house a new Geometry Wars game. Geometry Wars: Waves is to be exclusive to PGR4 and won’t be released on Xbox LIVE Arcade – unlike Retro Evolved inside PGR3. There are no details at this time, but we were told that the game is based on Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved and is not the true next game in the series fans might have been waiting for.
Source: Pro-G
Yorkdale 2.33GHz Quad-Core Benched
Yesterday afternoon, we reported that AnandTech took a Wolfdale 2.33GHz Dual-Core for a spin. Well today, the boys at DailyTech have applied some initial benchmarks to a Yorkdale 2.33GHz Quad-Core. Next week, we will post initial reports of our Octal-Core 2.33GHz Liardale processor and one-up everyone. Like Anand’s article, this one tells us what we had already known… there are some improvements but nothing major. Once SSE4 optimized applications show up, the true differences might be seen.
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Intel expects SSE4 optimizations to deliver performance improvements in video authoring, imaging, graphics, video search, off-chip accelerators, gaming and physics applications. Early benchmarks with an SSE4 optimized version of DivX 6.6 Alpha yielded a 116 percent performance improvement due to SSE4 optimizations.
Source: DailyTech
$89 After MIR OCZ 2GB Reaper At NCIX
Just a quick note to all the Canucks that visit the site. NCIX’s weekly specials just began today and some of the deals are quite good, including a Logitech G7 mouse for $49.99 with no mail in rebate, and two OCZ kits. First is a 2GB PC2-6400 Reaper kit which is $79.99 after a mail-in-rebate as well as an OCZ 2GB Platinum kit of the same speed for $79.99 after mail-in-rebate.
It’s cheaper than ever to go the 4GB route!
2.33GHz Penryn, Conroe Comparo
Although Penryn is not slated to be released for a few more months, Anand has found himself with a Wolfdale Dual-Core 2.33GHz chip. Naturally, he compared it directly with a Conroe Dual-Core of the same frequency. Some of the results are actually quite impressive, even though this should be considered an early-look. DiVX for example had nice 10% gains, which is impressive for the fact that it’s not even optimized for the SSE4 instruction set. So when that happens, results should be even more impressive.
In addition to standard performance increase, the power consumption has noticeably improved as well. Overclocking also was as good as expected, with Anand hitting 3.22GHz without increasing the voltages at all. Although Penryn is not mind-blowing at the current time, once SSE4-optimized applications start leaking their way into games and other apps, it might very well be.
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Now that we have a general idea of clock-for-clock performance differences between Conroe and Wolfdale, we’re not nearly as worried about recommending that you build systems today as we once were. There’s no doubt that Wolfdale is faster clock-for-clock, but keep in mind that you won’t see Wolfdale until Q1 of next year and the performance advantage simply isn’t great enough to justify delaying a purchase by 6+ months if you need a system now.
Source: AnandTech
Are You the Next Great Photographer?
If you are a novice photographer and also happen to be an Apple user, then this contest was made for you. American Photo magazine is holding a contest to find unsung talent, and it’s up to you to make yourself known. Apple released a Portfolio Review plugin for Aperture (which you can download a trial for) which allows you to easily upload your submissions to the American Photo offices. You can submit up to 10 different photos, which gives you a far better chance of being recognized. The winners, all twelve, will be featured in an upcoming issue.
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To be considered as an Emerging Photographer in the November/December issue of American Photo, please submit your portfolio via the following American Photo/Aperture plug-in by August 30th. Please submit ten of your best images for review by our editors and esteemed panel of judges via this plug-in. If you do not currently work with Aperture, please download the 30-day trial version in the following link as well. Thanks for your time. We look forward to seeing your work!
Source: Pop Photo
Auzentech’s X-Fi Card Available Next Week
Auzentech caught ears of audiophiles everywhere a few months ago when they announced that they would be releasing their Prelude sound card with Creative’s X-Fi CA20K audio processor. According to DailyTech, it will be available in retail channels next week, from NewEgg in the US and NCIX in Canada. The card will retail for $199 and probably kick some serious ass. If you dislike Creative but still want a superb audio card from Auzentech, you can read our review of their X-Meridian which we posted a review for earlier this year.
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Auzentech’s X-Fi Prelude 7.1 is the first third-party sound card based on Creative Labs X-Fi CA20K audio processor. Auzentech one-ups Creative’s official offerings with AKM digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital convertors. The Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 achieves a 120dB signal-to-noise ratio with 24-bit resolution and 192 KHz sampling rates. Additionally, the X-Fi Prelude 7.1 features a user-replaceable OPAMP for the front-channel audio output.
Source: DailyTech
Nikon Announces D3, D300 Digital-SLRs
All of the rumors from past weeks have proven absolutely true. Nikon today announces their D200 replacement, the D300 and also the D2Xs replacement, the D3. Both cameras feature a live-view LCD screen, which was first made popular with Canon’s Mark III release this past March. The D300 is targeted towards the advanced shooter while the D3 designed for the professional who require a very high-performance unit.
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The D300 features a 12.3-megapixel DX-Format CMOS sensor capable of spitting out 4288×2848 images in both JPEG and 14-bit RAW (.NEF). Interestingly, Nikon has been eyeing other D-SLRs on the market, because they’ve introduced a live-view LCD in addition to a self-cleaning sensor, both a first for the company. While the D200’s 11 focus-points was impressive back in 2005, it has been seriously out-shined by the D300’s staggering 51 focus-points… a number usually only seen in the ultra-high-end D-SLRs.
While the megapixels have been boosted so has the performance, which allows the D300 to shoot up to 6-frames-per-second, or 8-frames-per-second when using the new MB-D10 battery grip. The camera also includes a new Scene Recognition System, which improves intelligent light metering capabilities and smarter white-balance. Finally, it supports up to ISO 6400 with 1/3, 1/2 or 1.0 EV steps, 100% view-finder frame-coverage, HDMI out (yes, seriously) and Compact Flash support for storage.
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The D3 is pictured above, and I assume that the massive lens could only be the new 600mm f/4G. This camera features a brand-new FX-format sensor with Nikon’s exclusive “Exceed” image processing technologies. Simply put, it should help you create richer-looking images and greater handling speed, even when using high ISOs. Like the D300, this camera also has a self-cleaning sensor, but can shoot up to 9-frames-per-second. It also features a 51-focus-points system, HDMI out and the Scene Recognition System.
What makes this pro-shooter a little unique though, is it’s ability to use not one, but TWO Compact Flash cards at a time, to increase overall storage, or to make copies if you find the need. Both cameras feature a new 3.0″ LCD screen which display a staggering 920,000-dots resolution, almost tripling other cameras on the market.
Available November, the D300 will retail for $1,799 body-only and the D3 will retail for $4,999 body-only. In addition to these two new cameras, Nikon has unveiled three new lenses as well: 12-24mm f/2.8G, 24-70mm f/2.8G, 400mm f/2.8G, 500mm f/4G and also the 600mm f/6G. Now to go work on more news now that I am finished drooling.
Source: Nikon USA