Consumer Watch
Monday, June 16, 2008
Network Neutrality & Google
“If the broadband providers aren’t going to tell you exactly what’s happening on their networks,” Whitt told The Reg, “we want to give users the power to find out for themselves.” --www.theregister.co.uk
Back in May I ran across a link to a site that allowed users to test whether their ISPs were throttling connections to specific sites. It was a German sitethat I never was able to connect to—first the servers were full, now it’s gone.
Friday Google announced that it is working on software to allow users to find out just this information.
There have been some observers pointing out that Google would benefit from this by retaining a stronghold on searches, because in a world where people fear they are being watched a competitor could create a masked search engine. I have little doubt everything done in the Internet is already being logged and watched in some way. My concern lies more in the area of ISPs accepting payment for restricting access to specific sites.
Google has been coming out with some spectacular programs lately. I was on the fence when the company went public, but so far I do appreciate the new bells and whistles being offered. When they do release this tool, I’ll be jumping to test it.
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Accessing mediated cultures
The concept of a truly democratic internet culture is being eroded by access. Although large corporations have been building sites and trying to take over the internet terrain for years, at least users still have the choice of what to visit—or we did.
Our limited options for accessing the internet are beginning to take even that decision away. I’m staying at a place right now that uses Comcast, and it’s like constantly hitting my head against the wall. I work from home, so I need to be able to upload and download large files. But the more you use, the slower your service gets. I’ve also noticed a significant difference in accessing lowes.com and homedepot.com—Home Depot’s site works and Lowe’s doesn’t. This makes me feisty and annoyed, so I drive to Lowe’s and buy things there since I can’t compare prices online and the stores are in opposite directions. I don’t appreciate Comcast partnering with Home Depot to slow down my access to competitors. So Lowe’s wins. Another blacklisted company I’ve noticed is Netflix, which makes sense now that Comcast has Fancast—a competitor to Netflix.
What really are our options for internet access? It seems like any smaller company providing access is just renting the lines from Comcast or Verizon, so the services will still have the same limitations. Here’s what I can come up with ...
Comcast. High speed, unless you use it. Don’t be fooled by the connections they offer, since they will just “manage” your access in the end.
3G wireless internet access anywhere you roam. ATT (also available through other providers). Limited to a single computer, but accessible from anywhere with satellite, radio, or cell phone signals. Drawback: ATT happily sells wire tapping of phone lines, so prepare to sign up for exhibitionism along with service.
Verizon FiOS. This is my choice for now. I’m sure there are problems with Verizon just like any other company, but at least they won’t tell me what I can and can’t access. Plus the FiOS option, as opposed to DSL, finally brings their service up to a competitive speed with cable service providers.
Are there other options I’m missing?
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Google Alerts and Networking
Diane Cipa, of The Closing Company in Pennsylvania, keeps up a blog about title insurance issues called Title Insurance Talk. I know this because about a month ago I was looking for recommendations on local title insurance companies so I posted to a Pittsburgh community blog. Diane got my question through Google Alerts, created an account on the community blog, and responded to me. She also included a link to her blog.
It may be a bit rash to jump to the conclusion that you want to work with someone because of a blog, but I fully support business transparency and her blog was definitely a good sign in my eyes. We had a good conversation via email about Braddock, and since then I have sent at least two more jobs her way plus recommended her to the mayor for anyone else new to town.
The Closing Company’s service was top notch, but it was really the personal connection with Diane during that first day that made all of the difference.
Using Google Alerts to watch for business leads is smart, especially when followed up properly. Unlike the situation with Comcast following Tweets, this interaction with a stranger left me very pleased.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Personal Space on Twitter
Today a friend of mine had a problem with Comcast and posted about it on Twitter. They responded, and her internet is working again.
I had heard that the company is monitoring tweets with its name in it when I was at the New Comm Forum, so I replied to her about it. I added in a little criticism of Comcast too, as much as my 140 characters would allow. Even though following Twitter is a smart move for a company to put out the small fires before they become something more, it isn’t a substitute for improving their overall support.
Some background: I have never been a direct subscriber to Comcast, but I was forced into servitude while renting in Portland, OR. We rented two different places from the same property manager and had vastly different experiences with Comcast service in each. It was enough of a difference to make me question if the address on the bill shaped the quality of service available to customers.
Before heading back to Juneau for a month in December, we were staying at apartments on NE Prescott & NE 20th. During that time we shared an internet connection through a quadraplex and not once did we have a problem with Comcast. When we returned in January we moved into a house on NE Rosa Parks Way. We did not have consistent internet service for longer than a week during the three months we were there. In fact, when we arrived both the cable tv and internet were down even though the owner had been paying Comcast when the house was empty. It was a non-stop battle with the worst customer service I’ve experienced the entire time we were there, and enough to make us swear off Comcast at the expense of potentially slower internet service in the future.
So when wscottw3 and comcastcares responded to my response to my friend, rather than feeling all warm and fuzzy from the attention I got a case of the creeps. It turns out I’m not alone, there are other tweets about this type of invasion of personal space by Comcast on Twitter.
Can a tweet really go that far? Twitter isn’t private—it’s very public. Watching tweets is not so much eavesdropping on conversations, it’s more like perusing blogs. We all know our Twitter messages are all over the web for anyone to see, unless we chose to lock it down.
There is a definite need to explore the concept of personal space online. Is it different when a representative of a corporation contacts you than when a person finds you because of similar interests?
Perhaps our spaces on the internet can be understood in a similar way to how anthropologist Edward T. Hall looks at interpersonal spaces. It becomes more acceptable to be (physically and digitally?) close to someone the more you like that individual.
My friend can certainly respond to my tweet, others that I know or who have similar experiences can as well. And Comcast helped her, as a customer, fix a problem so their interaction was not invasive. But when it extends beyond the social realm, and turns into brand management, that does feel like an invasion of personal space despite the public nature of the conversation.
Sites to use to search Twitter posts:
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Nielsen fails to support web strengths
I was shocked and angered to see Jakob Nielsen’s response (below) to a student highlighted in his April 21, 2008, Alertbox email:
I WON’T DO YOUR HOMEWORK
Last week I got this email:
“My name is Donald Duck, and I am currently a junior psychology major at Duckburg College. For my senior thesis, I would like to conduct some usability studies in the process of redesigning my old high school’s website. In making this my senior thesis, part of what I have to do is find out what research is currently being done in the field, in order to build upon it. I do not know much about usability or interface design from a research perspective. I am wondering if you might be able to point me in the right direction for where I can get started learning about this field.”
Sorry - I am not going to do your homework for you. Even today, there is such a thing as the library. Or search engines that rapidly will turn up articles such as “Usability 101” to serve as a starting point for online research if you can’t be bothered to crack open a book or research journal: > http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20030825.html
What good is a usable site if you refuse to connect with the readers? The ability to contact people otherwise remote is at the center of the internet’s democratization of networking. Unless more than the name, “Donald Duck” is surely not the sender, was edited by Nielsen, it appears that the student was asking for resource suggestions to start researching not a 250-word essay to plagiarize.
On top of that, although I am an avid fan of libraries—why discount the student for contacting the most notable primary resource on the topic rather than relying on secondhand information watered down by publishing houses and buried in the stacks? Yet another thing that a usable internet gives us is access to the source.
Nielsen was flat out rude and inconsistent with usability—on top of which, he downplays his own site by referring to it only as a source to use as a last, lazy, resort. Poor form.
Sunday, March 09, 2008
TrueCrypt ate my VIFs
TrueCrypt is absolute horror.
The idea of encrypting files in a folder seemed practical and like something I should do before embarking on my cross-country drive. I researched some available Mac programs and settled with TrueCrypt. I installed it, set up a space, and copied over every file I deemed really truly special: my Very Important Files. The top of the top. Receipts, business licenses, applications, taxes, scholarship info, student loan info, scans of important documents, everything financial, everything with personal information.
I did not immediately trust the program, instead I shut it down, reopened it, refusing to make a new backup or delete the files from their original locations until I had thoroughly tested it. Over about a week I opened, accessed, read files, moved files, renamed folders, closed, shut down, remounted, accessed, etc. without troubles.
Finally, I trusted the program and removed the original files. Then I didn’t look at the files between February 28 and last night when I decided to whip out my business tax files and start preparing what is needed ... and the whole thing was blank.
No files. No folders. Nothing.
I can open it, the password works, but it says all 400MB allotted is free and there are 0 files, even though on February 28 there were 4 folders with files dating back to 2001 that took up 149MB. I spent most of last night trying to find them. They no longer exist. Even the backup of that file is empty (or corrupted?) now.
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Passenger Bill of Rights
New York passed the first passenger bill of rights.
I am disappointed that they only require water after three hours ... but any future travel plans I make will surely take this law into consideration. When presented with the option of a layover there or anywhere else ... it will be New York.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
More corporate changes
MySpace is deleting sex offender accounts too, 7000 so far, but even when MySpace makes an error it isn’t admitting it. Interestingly, there does not seem to be a backlash. One of the banned users is actually so desperate to have a MySpace account that he’s tried lying about who he is to create a new one and settled on borrowing his girlfriend’s account to access the site.
There are so many other options out there. My first assumption is that his dependency on the service must be due to lack of exploration/understanding of the web. Sure MySpace is a place to find music, people, etc but you can find MySpace pages through search engines in the same way you could find a Virb.com page (which not only also has music, videos, photos, and blogs but also LOOKS NICE and FUNCTIONS), facebook (which I hear looks nicer than MySpace and functions better), or even a personal web site that is not dependent upon conglomerate media dictating whether you are allowed access.
My MySpace response [update: account closed]—which includes the quote below:
In 1976, Pastor Martin Niemöller wrote:
When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
Friday, June 01, 2007
brief list of current corporate screw ups re online communities
It seems online communities bought out by companies are messing up severely these days. I would chalk it up to the companies operating them not really understanding the existing community and having different sensibilities. That doesn’t mean they can’t learn, on the contrary they seem willing to learn albeit only after mistakes.
Corporate screw ups are probably to be expected, though still disheartening. Community action against it is not only a positive side, but perhaps needed to iron out the way corporations interact with the communities that grew up around social networking tools before the tools were purchased.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
tech support
connecting a mac to two networks
after days of not being able to have my iMac connected to both a wireless internet connection and my local router with the printer and hard drive the answer has finally come to me, and so I share with the online world ...
the brilliant tech that I spoke to last (in a line of three) pointed me to Network Port Configurations in system preferences > network > show. simply drag airport above built-in ethernet. voila. all works well in the land of computers.
