Backing Up the Brand. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), Apple customers are more satisfied than users of any other personal computer brand. Apple's score of 81 (out of 100) put them in the lead, with Dell taking a close 2nd after being at the top of the list for the past five… Continue reading Backing Up the Brand
Month: September 2004
Responsive Interfaces and Effective People
Responsive Interfaces and Effective People. Patrick Roberts has written a fascinating post on Responsive User Interfaces. It’s easy to make a specific application responsive, through careful coding and by limiting what the user can do. An architecture for doing this, with arbitrary functionality, is one of the holy grails of GUI frameworks. Patrick’s post is… Continue reading Responsive Interfaces and Effective People
DRM Debacle
DRM Debacle. Tim Bray delivers an important and insightful lecture on digital rights management and the coming debacle. A must-read. “My younger readers may find this incredibly weird but it's true: Not so long ago, it was illegal to buy a telephone. You could only rent them from the phone company, which had all sorts… Continue reading DRM Debacle
At Foo
At Foo. Very interesting first evening. I'm here at Camp Foo and it's *super crowded*. I don't know how many people are here, but it's a ton. We barely fit into the meeting room upstairs. All of them are incredibly interesting people as well… It's frightening. So I guess it's an open secret, but the… Continue reading At Foo
Squeezing the poor
Today, Continental Air Lines, following in wake of
a number of others, announced that it will now add fees for those who
books flights other than through its Web site. In other words, those
people who phone the airline or, even worse, actually walk up to a
counter to buy a ticket, will be assessed added fees. The fees won't
apply to high-mileage preferred customers.
So, if you are not
sufficiently plugged in and computer savvy (something upper-middle
class people do much more readily), you pay more, even though you
probably can't afford it as readily, Screw you, lower classes.
Also
today, TXU Corp., an electric utility in Texas, announced to its
customers that those with lower credit ratings will pay more for
electricity. Customers with bad credit may end up paying 10% more for
electricity than those with good records. In other words, the poor will
pay more for electricity.
While credit scores have been used in
the past to set initial deposits for utilities, this is a new
application. You can imagine the lower classes paying more for the most
basic services like water, heat, and telephone service. Drug comapnies
and hospitals charge higher rate sto the uninsured.
Of course,
banks have been using similar differential rates with credit card and
auto loan rates for a while..Bank accounts cost more for the less
well-off, an dteh fees for such matters as overdrafts are getting
higher. Insurers in many states deny coverage to bad risks
It's getting expensive to be poor. But big companies, with their seats at the regulator's table
So, if you are not sufficiently plugged in and computer savvy (something upper-middle class people do much more readily), you pay more, even though you probably can't afford it as readily, Screw you, lower classes.
Also today, TXU Corp., an electric utility in Texas, announced to its customers that those with lower credit ratings will pay more for electricity. Customers with bad credit may end up paying 10% more for electricity than those with good records. In other words, the poor will pay more for electricity.
While credit scores have been used in the past to set initial deposits for utilities, this is a new application. You can imagine the lower classes paying more for the most basic services like water, heat, and telephone service. Drug comapnies and hospitals charge higher rate sto the uninsured.
Of course, banks have been using similar differential rates with credit card and auto loan rates for a while..Bank accounts cost more for the less well-off, an dteh fees for such matters as overdrafts are getting higher. Insurers in many states deny coverage to bad risks
It's getting expensive to be poor. But big companies, with their seats at the regulator's table
Squeezing the poor Today, Continental Air Lines, following in wake of a number of others, announced that it will now add fees for those who books flights other than through its Web site. In other words, those people who phone the airline or, even worse, actually walk up to a counter to buy a ticket,… Continue reading
Squeezing the poor
a number of others, announced that it will now add fees for those who
books flights other than through its Web site. In other words, those
people who phone the airline or, even worse, actually walk up to a
counter to buy a ticket, will be assessed added fees. The fees won't
apply to high-mileage preferred customers.
So, if you are not
sufficiently plugged in and computer savvy (something upper-middle
class people do much more readily), you pay more, even though you
probably can't afford it as readily, Screw you, lower classes.
Also
today, TXU Corp., an electric utility in Texas, announced to its
customers that those with lower credit ratings will pay more for
electricity. Customers with bad credit may end up paying 10% more for
electricity than those with good records. In other words, the poor will
pay more for electricity.
While credit scores have been used in
the past to set initial deposits for utilities, this is a new
application. You can imagine the lower classes paying more for the most
basic services like water, heat, and telephone service. Drug comapnies
and hospitals charge higher rate sto the uninsured.
Of course,
banks have been using similar differential rates with credit card and
auto loan rates for a while..Bank accounts cost more for the less
well-off, an dteh fees for such matters as overdrafts are getting
higher. Insurers in many states deny coverage to bad risks
It's getting expensive to be poor. But big companies, with their seats at the regulator's table
Untitled
MacCentral: Myst IV Revelation hits stores Sept. 28. I've been slacking; I had no idea there's a demo out. [Hack the Planet]
Families Mark Moment of 2001 Attacks
Families Mark Moment of 2001 Attacks. Family members clutching roses and bearing photos of the relatives they lost on Sept. 11 fell silent early Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the World Trade Center attack. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. [The New York Times > Home Page]
Afghanistan's Guerrilla War
Afghanistan's Guerrilla War. AT. Back to Afghanistan. Islamic guerrillas are gearing up an insurgency to put the US into a two front war. By the end of Bush's next administration, we should be up to our ears in two hot guerrilla wars. Remember, this is fourth generation warfare. It turns strength into weakness. There are… Continue reading Afghanistan's Guerrilla War
This is hilarious. I just saw a clip of Dick Cheney on TV claiming that if we elect Kerry in the fall, we will be attacked again. First, the claim is totally false. We will be attacked again regardless of who is in office. Second, Bush is the best thing that ever happened to al Qaeda. Bush's reelection is so important to al Qaeda that it is likely to hold off on its next big attack
This is hilarious. I just saw a clip of Dick Cheney on TV claiming that if we elect Kerry in the fall, we will be attacked again. First, the claim is totally false. We will be attacked again regardless of who is in office. Second, Bush is the best thing that ever happened to al… Continue reading This is hilarious. I just saw a clip of Dick Cheney on TV claiming that
if we elect Kerry in the fall, we will be attacked again. First, the
claim is totally false. We will be attacked again regardless of who is
in office. Second, Bush is the best thing that ever happened to al
Qaeda. Bush's reelection is so important to al Qaeda that it is likely
to hold off on its next big attack
WP
WP. “Experts” now negative on Iraq. Before the war, predictions by even the most skeptical Bush administration critics did not include scenarios of escalating violence this long after the invasion, or of the U.S. military issuing a news release such as the one it sent out Tuesday morning, headlined “Fighting Continues in Eastern Baghdad.” In… Continue reading WP