Friday, March 28, 2008

Friday Link of the Week!!

If you like calling customer service, but hate all of the button mashing and listings you have to go through just to talk to another human, then this is the site for you. Gethuman lists directions to get you to a human quicker. This is a great site to bookmark as sooner or later, you will find yourself saying "what was that site again?" Don't say I didn't warn you.

http://www.gethuman.com/

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Clark Griswald visits Easter Island


This just reminds me of a Clark Griswald moment so much. Imagine this idiot thinking he could take the ear off of one of the icons. What was he going to do with his treasure?


Take It To The Top 2 1/2 (finding your own exec.)

Thanks to Consumerist for this info. I love those guys:

People often write to us and ask "Hey do you have such and such a company's email address? I didn't see it on your website."
The answer is almost always "No." When this happens we have to guess.
Here is one method of guessing that often yields results. Instead waiting around for no reason, you can do it yourself!

You will need:
1) Google Finance
2) The Company's Website
3) Your Brain

Step 1) Go to the company's website. Find the place where they post their press releases. Open a press release. Look for an email address that ends with the company's name. Do not email this person.

Step 2) Go to Google Finance. Enter the company's stock symbol or name. Scroll down to where the top executives are listed.

Step 3) Using your brain, apply the email address format from the press release email to the names of the executives listed in Google Finance. It will probably be something like FirstName.LastName@CompanyThatINeedToSpeakWith.com

Step 4) Send a very short, very concise, very polite email to the executives explaining that your problem is not being dealt with adequately through the usual channels and that you would like someone with more authority to contact you to discuss the situation.

Feel free to comment on your own tips

Take It To The Top 2

It has come to my attention that some of my executive friends have been feeling left out since I didn't include their phone and email addresses for you, so I decided to go ahead and add them to the list. Without further ado, here goes:

CEO Of Verizon
212-395-1060 is the number for the CEO's office.
212-719-3349 is the fax number for the CEO's office.
212-321-8700 is Verizon Executive Customer Service.
ivan.g.seidenberg@verizon.com is the CEO's email address.

FWSmith@fedex.com- Fred Smith, Chairman, President, Chief Executive

ACS, a student lending company that's a subsidiary of PNC - kevin.lightfoot@acs-inc.com

Equifax - 866-640-2273 customer.care@equifax.com

Barnes & Noble Corporate Email Address Format - firstinitiallastname@bn.com

That's all for now. More to come soon!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Hey Dash, ARF, ARF - Thanks for the Bone

I really appreciate it when a company does something extra for their customers. A lot of companies get by, by barely doing what they are supposed to do. Dash Express knows that the wait has been excruciating for many of their early adopters. I've seen a few people walk away as the pain and agony of waiting just became too much. I too have felt that way, if fact, if I wasn't sure that Dash would meet its latest release date of 3/27/08, I would have possibly given up on them also. But, patience is a virtue, good things may come to those who wait as Dash Navigation has thrown a bone to some early adopters. I recently received a new car, no, wait, a new car 12v splitter - what, you don't know what that is?


Ok - now we are on the same page. I just wanted to say thanks to Dash for extending the olive branch. As I said in an earlier posting - I treat companies the way they treat me, so please know that I will be the first to complain the loudest when companies don't deliver on their promises, but I will also do everything to thank them when they do more than expected.
Thanks Dash!!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Jailbait Gone Wild


Turns out that Ashley may have been jailbait when she did "girls gone wild". According to her lawyer Don Buchwald, Ashley's birthday was April 30, 1985, and the footage was shot between March 13 and March 20, 2003, making her 17.


Say it isn't so!

Mapquest updated with INRIX traffic data

AOL has just added 1 chit in their column for map addons. They have recently added traffic data from Inrix. Inrix are know as traffic data gods. They are reponsible for providing most of the traffic data retrieved via your traffic enabled GPS.





See relative speed, incidents and more...


Take a look at this new addon for yourself - I really like this.

Dash Express Countdown

Well, it appears that the long awaited Dash Express GPS will finally be shipping. I've added a countdown widget so you can countdown also. As you may know, there have been several delays in getting this product out, so now that we are so near to the ship date of March 27th, I asked Dash a few specific questions concerning the shipping. I really liked their responses:

Q: Can you go into detail concerning the "launch"?
Does this mean that I can expect to have a tracking # on the 27th?

A: We will be using overnight shipping so you should have the device for the weekend. I will need to get back to you on the tracking number front... I have a question into the person who knows.

Q: what method of shipping will you be using?

A: overnight shipping

Q: Are there any mitigating issues that will delay the launch or cause us to have units that are not completely functional?

A: We are all systems go for launch, and there are no known issues that will impair your functionality.

Q: Are ALL of the pre-orders shipping on the 27th or is there a rollout?

A: We love our customers that pre-ordered for us, so we are shipping those out first.

Thanks to Mark Williamson @ Dash. I really feel like although this company did have a few hiccups in delivering information, they have really improved in getting info to their customers. If they deliver as expected on this product, and come through with stellar customer service, they will seriously shake the competition.

http://www.dash.net/index.php

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Ginger or Mary Anne??




HA! - I'm glad I picked neither! Look what you'd be stuck with now:





BTW - MaryAnne was recently arrested for having 4 half-smoked joints in her vehicle. I wonder if the other 3 belonged to the Skipper and the Prof.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Say Goodbye to TV Shows

Ok- do the math:

Tivo today announced an agreement with YouTube(TM) that will offer access to YouTube videos directly from the TV via a TiVo DVR.
+
YouTube launches API for uploading videos from any web site
= if Tivo can do YouTube, and YouTube can have videos uploaded from any site, then Tivo can have .........

Anyways, you see what I mean. This doesn't leave too much room for network TV. I'm so glad Reality TV will be soon bumped by Even Realer Reality TV. HA!

Here's two links with more info:
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2008/03/12/youtube-launches-api-for-uploading-videos-from-any-web-site/
and-
http://gizmodo.com/366793/tivo-getting-youtube

Policing the Police

Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do?
The genuises over at http://ratemycop.com/ have created a site which allows citizens to rate cops. This is bad - Dory! I guess this is becoming citizens on patrol. I hear the cops are none too happy about this site and want it taken down because it exposes too much.
Just from my brief view of the site, I can see that some officers are getting comments like this:
kind, courteous, good natured. everything you would expect from an exceptional police offer.

Unfortunately, other officers are getting comments like the one below:
this officer is a poor representation of what law is. no morals what so ever and no ethics to follow.

hmm - I wonder which officers are complaining.

Nevertheless, the next time you get pulled over for speeding, you may want to go ahead and let the officer know about this site - but be sure to comment on how the tasing went.

*EDIT*
Go Daddy - the host of ratemycop.com has pulled the site down - Kinda like Go Daddy got pulled from the Superbowl after racy commercials: wizbangblog.com/content/2005/02/07/godaddy-ad-pull.php - 253k

Friday, March 7, 2008

Friday Link of the Week!!

http://www.choxster.com/
Choxster has deals just like WOOT!, but they list multiple deals per day.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Dash Express 3D view!!



Dash came through with their much awaited 3d view for their upcoming Dash Express GPS. If you don't know what the Dash Express is, check it out. I need you to buy one so you can be added to my traffic network.


Anyway's, I have posted a few pics of the 3D view from their blog:



3d view without a route set:The screen shots below shows 3d view without a route set. As you can see, there is traffic data along some of the surface streets and major arterials . As you can see, you can zoom in and out in our 3d mode with the "minus" and "plus" buttons. The compass not only shows you what direction you are driving, but touching it toggles you into 2d view


Here is the same screen in night mode:
Jump to Dash's Site for more pics and info:


Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Here's the rest:
6. Clean your windshield with a razor blade
5. De-ice a lock with hand sanitzer
4. Remove coffee and other tough stains
3. Fix cracks and scratches with nail polish
2. Connect your MP3 player, no transmitters involved
1. Fix a dent yourself

Hit link for the readouts!

7. "Hypermile" for better fuel economy

We're never going to recommend shutting down your engine and riding a tractor-trailer's draft, but you can learn a thing or two from the folks who take their gas mileage very, very seriously. Here are a few tips gleaned from Wise Bread's take on hypermiling:
Track your mileage: You can't tell if your efficiency efforts are working unless you're keeping track. Try resetting the odometer every time you refill your tank, rather than trying to note and guess mileages individually.
Leave lots of space ahead of you: It not only shows you paid attention during driving lessons, it gives you more time to gradually slow down instead of slamming on your brakes and losing all your momentum.
Use cruise control more often: Accelerate gradually over a distance and you save on all the gas eaten up by lead-footed acceleration

8. Find your car anywhere

Few things feel like wasted time more than wandering a vast parking lot, searching out a car that looks just like all the others. To prevent the problem, take a picture of your car and its notable surroundings to quickly re-orient yourself when you come back. Forget to grab that pic? Hold your fob up to your head to boost your alarm-inducing signal and find your ride. Still can't spot your wheels? Try a few other tried-and-true tips. Hate the idea of using your "panic" button for anything, much less a game of parking lot Marco Polo? Feel free to simply and quickly disable it.

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