Epic 2014, Google, Amazon, Googlezon…

Sprint Says, we can’t accommodate high-maintenance customers

Late last month Sprint sent out a crop of letters notifying a “small minority” of its customers they were terminated because of excessive calls to customer service. Terminated customers had their account balances set to zero immediately, but Sprint noted in the letters that the subscribers must sign up with a new carrier by July 30 if they wish to port their phone numbers with them. The letter reads:

“Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information. While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time has led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs.

“Therefore after careful consideration, the decision has been made to terminate your wireless service agreement effective July 30, 2007.”

A Sprint spokesperson said auditing their customers in this way is common practice, because the carrier has “to be able to quickly and efficiently serve customers.” During the first quarter of 2007, Sprint reported a loss of 220,000 post-paid subscribers.

For more on Sprint’s break-up letters:
– read this article from CNET
– check out this copy of one such letter

Credits to: FierceWireless

Do Yahoo Users Spell Better then Google Users?

Statistically speaking, it’s likely that you (whoever you are) use Google for most of your searches.  That’s fine – and I’m right there with you – but new information suggests that people who use Yahoo are better spellers.  Wo is us!

In a thread on the Cre8asite Forums, John Mueller posted the evidence.  “Looking at my logs, I noticed that an average of 5 to 6% of all visitors from Google used the spell-correction to make it to my site (this is the same across several sites, the rest of the numbers are from one site only for the last 6 months),” he writes.

“Of all my Yahoo users, only 1.8% used the spelling correction . . . which could mean that either Yahoo users know how to spell or Yahoo doesn’t correct misspellings that well, or perhaps even, that Yahoo sends users to the proper search results even if the query is misspelled,” Mueller continues.  “I wonder which one it is?”

So do I.  In that same Cre8asite thread, Bill Slawski, “rynert,” and “Mano70” posted similar statistics, and on Search Engine Roundtable, Barry Schwartz says he may add even more.  This presumably creates a fairly large sample size that spreads across several demographics; something’s definitely at work here.

Yet, having proofread this article several times (and having left the misspelled “woe” in place on purpose), I’ll leave the speculation to someone else – perhaps a Yahoo user.

The iPhone Magic, What else does it do?

The iPhone on eBay for $21 million Buy It Now or Best Offer

If you’ve been anywhere near the internet this weekend, you’ll know that the iPhone has launched in the States, to general applause, love and drooling. As usual with the hyped launch of any new gadget, there’s been a rush of eBay-related stories; as far as I can see, these are about evenly split between iPhones going crazy on eBay and iPhones not going crazy on eBay.

What seems pretty clear is that there is plenty of supply: as of this moment, there are over 8500 phones for sale, and auctions seem to be ending around the $650 – $700 mark, hardly a huge profit on the $599 retail price. The days of sellers retiring on the profits of one desirable gadget are, I fear, over; though for the imaginative, there is still plenty of interest to be found. One seller who’s used the spin to his advantage, advertising his phone as $21 million Buy It Now or Best Offer, has had 138 offers… all of which he’s turned down. Russell Shaw called this “hey look at me marketing”, and I’m sure we’ll see plenty more of it in the future.

Then there’s the woman who paid $800 to be at the front of the queue so she could grab the store’s entire stock to sell on eBay… only to find that there was a one phone per customer policy. Oops. Always read the small print.

Originl post by Sue from tamebay.com

Smashing the iPhone..

There are all kinds of people, here you can see a guy who bought the iPhone just trying to find out what it was made from so he smashes the phone in pieces on the FIRST DAY iPhone was released.

Then after he got some angry comments he went on to explain why he smashed it

Google employee reveals it all to Microsoft

A former Googler who returned to Microsoft after a start-up he left the software giant to launch was acquired by Google, has some not so positive insights to share about what it’s really like to work at the Googleplex. Behind the lava lamps, organic dinners and free shuttle buses lurks a company where employees end up working long hours, don’t enjoy private offices and get paid less than Microsofties.

That’s according to an internal Microsoft e-mail that has made its way to the Web. The blog posting is believed to have been written by a Microsoft recruiter who interviewed the ex-Googler.

Some highlights:

— “People are generally in the building between 10 a.m. and about 6 p.m. every day, but nearly everyone is on e-mail 24/7 and most people spend most of their evenings working from home.”

— “Most people don’t actually have a 20 percent project. Most managers won’t remind you to start one.”

— “There are glass-walled offices, there are open-space areas, there are cubicles, there are people who’s (sic) desks are literally in hallways because there’s no room anywhere else.”

— “A college kid can literally join Google and, like they did as freshman at university, let Google take care of everything. Of course, if Google handles everything for you, it’s hard to think about leaving because of all the ‘stuff’ you’ll need to transition and then manage for yourself.”

— “Google doesn’t place any value on previous industry experience. (It puts tremendous value on degrees, especially Stanford ones.)”

— “Google actually pays less salary than Microsoft.”

— “Google’s health insurance is actually not nearly as good as Microsoft’s.”

Among the insider’s suggestions for Microsoft to compete more effectively with Google in recruiting and retention is offering employees free food. Serving breakfast by 8:30 a.m. will ensure that many workers are at the office early, the ex-Googler said.

Who is this mystery person who dares to reveal the untold secrets about the company ranked best place to work by Fortune?

In her ZDNet blog, Microsoft watcher Mary Jo Foley says she knows who it is and that she contacted him and his opinions reflect those in the e-mail. He is one of the founders of Phatbits, a company acquired by Google, she says. He left Microsoft before starting Phatbits and then returned after leaving Google. Foley does not identify him but writes that he said he did not create the blog or post the e-mail to it.

UPDATE 9:00 AM PT June 28: A new “Phatbits.com” blog has one entry, entitled “My Words,” in which someone claims credit for the opinions expressed about Google but not for the creation of the posting or the blog, and expresses dismay that Foley revealed enough information for his identity to be discovered. “Today my words got splashed all around the Internet. It’s interesting to see them living a life of their own outside the context they were created in,” the posting says. It includes a letter to Foley that says, in part, “The questions did come from my recruiter and what is published is, as far as I know, my exact response. I haven’t compared the online text with the original response so it’s possible some details have been changed but, as far as I know, those are my words. I answered the questions in the context of a business communication so my response might include things Microsoft considers confidential. I made a big effort to make sure it didn’t contain any facts that Google considers confidential per my agreements with them.” It is signed “Warm Regards, Geoffrey.”

iPhone rate plans starting at $59.99

AT&T finally announced three iPhone service plans, which start at $59.99. Each of the plans includes the same suite of “unlimited” data (email and Web), Visual Voicemail, 200 SMS text messages, roll over minutes and unlimited mobile-to-mobile. The plans are distinctive because of the number of minutes: $59.99 buys 450 monthly minutes; $79.99 buys 900 monthly minutes; and $99.99 buys 1,350 monthly minutes. There is also a one-time activation fee of $36. The carrier also mentioned that family plans are available for iPhone users.

“We want to make choosing a service plan simple and easy, so every plan includes unlimited data with direct Internet access, along with Visual Voicemail and a host of other goodies,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

Visual Voicemail is the feature both AT&T and Apple have been hyping the most for the handset, so it’s logical to make it an included service. iPhone users will be able to “immediately and randomly” access voicemail messages that interest them the most–just like email. The iPhone costs $499 for the 4GB model and $599 for the 8GB model. The iPhone goes on sale Friday at 6 PM on the east coast.

For more on the iPhone rate plans:
– read this Apple press release

eBay Back On Google

According to Reuters, eBay will soon restart their advertising on Google but according to Hani Dursy an eBay spokesman “I will tell you it will be in a much more limited way than it was before.”

According to the report, eBay plans to reduce its exposure on Google and expand to other advertising vehicles: ” Instead, eBay plans to rely to a greater degree of competing advertising systems from Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp.’s MSN, Time Warner Inc.’sAOL, and IAC/InterActiveCorp’s Ask.com.

eBay said the ads should start reappearing on Google sometime today (6-22-07). The AP has a much more through article about this situation.

I guess you could give round #1 to eBay in this battle of Internet Titans but this drama is certainly not over.

PayPal Introduced Security Key at eBay Live!

PayPal’s President, Rejiv Dutta has introduced the PayPal Security Key for its customers at the eBay Live Conference in Boston.

The key is a small electronic token that creates a new security code about every 30 seconds. Members can use the code, along with their user name and password, to access their eBay and PayPal accounts. The key is designed to keep unauthorized users from accessing accounts.

“We’ve had a tremendously positive response to the PayPal Security Key beta program and are excited to make the device generally available,” said Michael Barrett, chief information security officer at PayPal.

“While PayPal.com remains a trusted and secure environment, the PayPal Security Key allows customers to take their privacy and security into their own hands to help protect their eBay and PayPal accounts against unauthorized access.”

The PayPal Security Key is part of the VeriSign Identity Protection (VIP) Network. Consumers can use the key to protect themselves on a variety of financial services and e-commerce Web sites.

“Through the VIP Network, eBay and PayPal members will be able to use their PayPal Security Key to protect their account data at other participating sites and thereby reduce online fraud and cyber crime,” said Fran Rosch, vice president, Authentication Services, VeriSign.

The PayPal security Key has a one-time fee of $5.00 for PayPal and eBay account holders in the U.S. The key will be available in Germany and Australia with more countries to be added later.