Best Buy vs. Circuit City In-Store Pick-up

Last week I ordered a music CD on bestbuy.com and decided to pick it up at the local Best Buy. When I ordered the CD it was in-stock. I received an email from Best Buy two to three hours latter stating the CD could not be found and I needed to call customer support or do nothing to have the transaction cancelled after 14 days.

The kicker is, I went to Best Buy this weekend to purchase another product and looked to see if I could find the CD I ordered. Guess what, it was right where it was supposed to be. I was ticked-off and from that moment decided never to order anything from bestbuy.com again.

This experience at Best Buy sucked compared to a similar purchase I made through Circuit City's Web site. I ordered an external hard drive online after reading several customer reviews, I love that feature! Within minutes my order was confirmed and waiting for pick-up. Circuit City has a 24-minute guarantee that your product will be ready in 24 minutes or you get a free gift card.

I'm not one to harp on customer service, but Best Buy's on-line pick-up service sucks compared to Circuit City's. Best Buy should learn from Circuit City how to treat their customers, have a competent staff and useful in-store pick-up service.

Categories: bestbuy, circuitcity, in-store, pick-up, customer-service, sucks

Review: Mac Mini CoreDuo

So I picked up a new Mac mini CoreDuo last night at my local Apple Store. The box is so small and it's covered with FrontRow images and screenshots. This small computer is meant to be your digital hub. I tried to upgrade the RAM last night, but Apple didn't have the new memory in stock. I'll need to make a return trip soon.

Last night I booted it up and placed it next to my HD TV. I was pleasantly surprised at how quick it booted. I wasn't expecting the same experience with the new iMac, but when I compared it to my 1.5 ghz PowerBook it was blazing. I then connected my firewire harddrive with music, videos and movies and then copied over my iPhoto libraries from my laptop. I was reminded several times that I needed to authenticate my music and videos purchased from iTunes to enable them to play in FrontRow.

After I got the majority of the files I wanted onto the mini, I connected the mini to my television. I decided to use the DVI/RCA connector, since my DVI connection is being used by my HD cablebox. The picture wasn't the best, but when you consider the screen was now more that 36 inches, it was awesome.

I took a step back and then fired up FrontRow. Man that application is slick. I was able to play my music, The Office Tv show, The Simpsons (personal collection) and browse through my pictures. It looked really good. I even forgot I was using the RCA plug instead of s-video or DVI. The menu was smooth and came into and out of focus without a hitch.

The universal applications on this computer fly. It took less than one bounce of Safari and browsing through several thousand pictures was seamless. I haven't tried any graphic intensive applications yet, though that's not why I got the machine. I did play several movie clips and they streamed perfectly.

I then ripped several CDs and loaded a bunch of pictures from my digital camera. Both operations were quick and hassle free.

This computer is perfect for my needs; a media hub for digital pictures, music, iPods and videos. Having this machine next the TV, I think it will spur me to update my playlists more often and rip more of my DVDs to my harddrive.

I even forgot the mini doesn't include a PVR. Since I already have a Tivo that I can't live without, it's not a big deal. What benefit would Apple get in releasing a PVR when it's selling TV shows?

Overall, I give the Mac mini an 8 out of 10.

Pros:
simple install and setup
fast when compared to G4 1.5 ghz
more than enough ports (USB 2.0, firewire, optical audio in and out)
bluetooth and airport included
iLife '06
Cons:
more than I wanted to spend
memory not in stock
that's it

Categories: mac, mini, hd, tv, osx, apple, frontrow, digital, media, music, hub

Verizon Fios vs. Comcast

I realized how bad Comcast service was after switching to Fios TV.

Here's an example of Comcast's service: Our Comcast cable was cut on Monday morning and we immediately called Comcast to have our service restored. We told Comcast how vital the connection was that included our phone, internet and cable services. It took them five days to reconnect us.

Here's an example of Verizon's service: After our Fios TV was installed on Friday, we realized our HD channels had some lag. We called Verizon Saturday night and spoke to a live person who was able to setup an appointment for Sunday morning. The Verizon tech came out and swapped HD boxes, which fixed the HD problem.

I can't believe Verizon sent a tech to our house on a Sunday, less than 18-hours after our call, to fix our small HD problem. It took Comcast five business days to reconnect our service. If Verizon's service is indicative of all our future dealings with the company, it'll be an even better deal than getting more services for less than Comcast.

I hope Verizon's service and prices cause Comcast to wake-up and offer more, lower prices and improve customer support. Viva la competition in a monopolistic environment.

Categories: comcast, verizon, fios, tv, service, customer, phone, cable, internet

Annoying iLife '06 upgrade pop-up

I was surprised yesterday by what I found when I launched iPhoto '05 to transfers pics from my digital camera. After the program launched I was greeted by a large dialogue window asking if I would like more info on the latest iLife '06 upgrade. I thought this ad inside the application was rather lame. Thank goodness I was able to disable it. Will I find similar ads in iMovie, GarageBand or iDVD? I hope not.

Apple, if you're going to advertise newer versions of software, at least offer an upgrade path. I don't want an ad if there's nothing in it for me. I'm a loyal customer who wouldn't mind the intrusion if the ads offered a discount to upgrade from a previous version.

Categories: iPhoto, iLife, upgrade, lame, software, apple

Adding categories to Blogger

I noticed most of the blogs I read have categories, so naturally I wanted to add them to this blog. Unfortunately, Blogger doesn't have any categorization feature.

After some quick searching via google, I found a way to use Del.icio.us to maintain categories for this blog. I used a bookmarklet, you can find here, which I placed in my Firefox bookmark bar. The bookmarklet automates the categorization process, so all I need to do is type in the categories and then cut and paste the output.

Click on a category below and all of my blog posts in that category will show-up. Pretty cool. I also added an easier way to add my posts to your Del.icio.us links. Both work-arounds aren't perfect, but they work.

Categories: categories, bookmarklet, blog, firefox, del.icio.us

Nvidia answers some questions

Nvidia's Director of Public Relations responds with more information about AEG manages the company's contacts with the online community. I wonder why he didn't just give this information instead of bad mouthing The Consumerist...

We recruit NV fans to help in answering tech questions, test new drivers, give updates, etc. They act as our "voice" if you will.

We do not pay these people. We sometimes give them hardware…but we give out lots of hardware.

We hired AEG to help manage this process - just like a company will hire a PR firm to help with PR. As we can not talk to everyone.

Categories: nvidia, viral, marketing, wom

How not to respond to a blog about viral marketing

I wonder what Nvidia Public Relations Director Derek Perez was thinking when he responded to The Consumerist's questions about alleged phony online community members. Here's a quote from his response:

AEG helps us to manage the online community - we engage with some NV fans to help educate people on the web.

They are NOT hired actors!

They are NOT "“shils"”!

Derek then continued to bad mouth the blog writer for not doing enough research. If he would've answered The Consumerist's questions in the first place, the content might have ended up differently.

The most annoying aspect of Derek's response to The Consumerist is the fact he creates more questions than he answers. What does "engage with some NV fans to help educate people on the web" mean? Does AEG identify themselves when they "engage" fans? How do they "engage" fans with money or hardware? I hope Derek provides more information, because my thoughts about what "engage" means is probably a lot worse than it actually is...

Categories: nvidia, viral, marketing, wom

When viral marketing catches a cold

Gawker syndicated blog The Consumerist wrote about possible viral marketing attempts by Nvidia in several video game forums.

About a week ago, The Consumerist stumbled upon claims made by various gaming websites (specifically, Elite Bastards and Beyond3D) that graphics chip manufacturer Nvidia, in cooperation with the Arbuthnot Entertainment Group (AEG), had seeded various gaming and PC hardware enthusiast sites with pro-Nvidia shills.

I've been following trends in word-of-mouth and viral marketing for a while now and I think it's important for viral marketers to be transparent about their motives. I believe it's not worth the risk of squandering brand credibility by viral agents snookering online community members. I think it's much better to openly state your intentions and then participate in community forums.

Categories: nvidia, viral, marketing, wom