Does It Blog? - RFD Peanut Gallery

TinyChat Pro Sales & Marketing – Ineptitude By The Seat Of Your Pants?

doesitblog — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:36:08 +0000

I noticed that TinyChat offers a Pro feature that claims to give higher quality video and 16fps video playback. At first glance, it’s tempting. But I have some concerns.

Looking at the way this feature is pushed, it makes me think the TinyChat staff are running some kind of social experiment to see how much they can confuse and annoy their users, and how inefficiently and confusingly they can advertise a product. It’s like TinyChat’s administration is trying as hard as possible to advertise a product that people will be afraid to purchase. Hanlon’s Razor comes to mind.

Here are some examples of why I think this is true:

Unclear Description of Features and Their Implementation

The information on what you exactly get when purchasing TinyChat Pro is extremely unclear. I can think of a number possible explanations for the features that are bestowed upon Pro accounts:

Do the Pro features apply to any chat room you visit, as long as your logged in?
Do the Pro features only apply in the chat room from which you bought the upgrade, even if you are not the owner? (And are the Pro features usable even by other users who did not pay, as long as they’re in that room?)
Do the Pro features only apply in the chat room named after your own account? (And are the Pro features usable by anyone who visits your room, even if they did not pay?)

The very unclear description of what $9.99 / month actually buys already completely turns me off this product. Why would I spend $9.99 on something when the people marketing it don’t even both explaining what it is?

Inflexible Payment Options

The only option available is a $9.99 / month recurring fee. This is scary. I think a lot more people would give this a try if a one-shot $9.99 for one month payment was available. I’m not particularly comfortable with getting into a recurring payment with a constantly morphing and somewhat buggy service like TinyChat.

Payment Security

The payment page that takes your credit card information appears, incredibly, to be INSECURE! The URL does not begin with https. Insecure pages are easily snooped, meaning that any sensitive information like credit card numbers could be stolen by anyone! Astonishing!

Clearly, the TinyChat administration needs to rethink the way they’re advertising and pushing this product. The whole “hawk an internet service by the seat of your pants” approach is really like shooting yourself in the foot.

OpenMedia.ca – Raging Against Empire (Bell, Rogers, Telus) – Mobile Freedom

doesitblog — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:42:04 +0000

“On the eve of a critical new wireless spectrum auction, we have reports that the Big Three cell phone giants (who already control almost 94% of the market) are trying to trick the government into shutting independent competitors out of the market. They’re trying to block competitors from being able to use essential wireless spectrum. These giant phone companies are going so far as to use high-priced lobbyists and one is even using a fake grassroots campaign.”

OpenMedia.ca - Stop The Squeeze

Does It Blog: 2011 In Review

doesitblog — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 09:44:04 +0000

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,800 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

doesitblog — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:03:51 +0000

I bought a new Samsung / Google Nexus S. My first real Smartphone.

And I really want to carry it around with me as my primary phone. I am prevented from doing so because my screen protector and case are taking ages to arrive. That’s international shipping at Christmas.

Frustrated.

RFD’s New Forum Style

doesitblog — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:40:12 +0000

I honestly don’t mind the new style of the RFD Forums too much. A lot of people are complaining, but I think it’s like what happens when Facebook re-designs and people start wailing.

The one major thing I would like to see is a change to make links more visually distinctive. Currently, it is too difficult to determine whether text in a post is a link or just normal text because they look too similar.

User “MBG”

doesitblog — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:47:58 +0000

I’m pretty sure the user mbg is a troll account. I’m susprised at this since he has 9000+ posts already and I haven’t noticed him until recently.

Perhaps he was a stealth account created by another troll, who has only recently activated this account for trolling.

I also suspect that he is an Asian who’s pretending to be a white guy by using a homebrew-looking white-guy “self portrait” avatar.

LCBO Getting More Greedy Than Usual?

doesitblog — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 03:10:16 +0000

Maybe this is just a more realistic reflection of business as usual for the liquor-distribution arm of the Ontario government?

Really, I’m just joking. XD.

Screenshot:

What a great bargain for Glenrothes Single Malt Scotch Whisky!

Canada Computers – Retail Aspirations

doesitblog — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 22:59:10 +0000

Having visited the big new Mississauga location of Canada Computers, it appears to me that the management of CC aspires to become a knock-off version of Future Shop.

I predict that, on or before July 01, 2012, Canada Computers will offer its own store-branded credit card.

Was Infonec Hacked?

doesitblog — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 00:34:31 +0000

The situation

I use a separate unique e-mail address with almost every company / entity that I deal with. This helps me identify the source of any spam or unauthorized sales of my e-mail address because the only groups that know said addresses are myself and the individual company I am dealing with.

For example, I use a unique e-mail address for this WordPress account. So if I hypothetically started receiving spam urging me to “Enlarge your *****” at that e-mail address, I know that either WordPress was hacked or they sold my address.

Fast Forward To Today

I received messages indicating that someone opened and closed a PayPal account under the e-mail address known to only myself and Infonec.

How did they get my address? You connect the dots.

At the very least, I think that all people with accounts at Infonec should change their passwords.

Stanley Cup 2011 Final: Boston vs Vancouver – Predictions

doesitblog — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 03:04:28 +0000

By now, I know better than to make a prediction. Every prediction I’ve made so far has gone wrong.

No predictions shall come from my mouth, not this time around.

Go Canucks!