Cutting The Cord

I hate the fact that I have to subscribe to cable. I'm on the lowest possible plan, and even with that I only watch a few channels. Between iTunes, Netflix, and Hulu, most of my shows are covered. There are only a few reasons that I stuck with cable - live news and live sports.

ESPN took a big step to solving the latter issue by releasing a streaming app. I can stream live ESPN to my iPad, which augments the NBA league pass subscription that I can also watch on my iPad. Oh wait, the ESPN app only works with certain cable providers, and Comcast is not included.

Damn these companies! Why don't they want my money? I'd gladly pay extra to be able to stream the channels I want to my tablet and phone. I'm pretty sure companies like ESPN are all for this, if it wasn't for the contracts that have them tied up with the cable providers. I'd love to see one of the agreements in plain English. I'm sure it boils down to: "We own you. Don't try anything funny".

Within 5 years, they kind of a la carte streaming will be available. The question is, who will win the race? The old media cable providers with their resistance to change? Or will a new player swoop in and deliver what the people want? Time will tell, but I bet the only way that old media will be swayed is if they are brought into this new world kicking and screaming. Kind of like the music industry, who argued for years against online music and mp3s in particular.

They'll learn sooner or later.

Quick Post: I'm Profiled in Philadelphia Weekly / WHYY

The news stories are starting to roll in regarding my participation in the NASA Tweetup for the Shuttle Endeavour - the links are below. Share the love!

Local Philly Guy to Live Tweet NASA Shuttle Launch | PhillyNow  by Matthew Petrillo (Philly Weekly)

West Philadelphia resident will live-tweet the Endeavor launch by Shannon McDonald (WHYY)

NASA Tweetup: What I've Learned #1

So, it's been a little over a week since I found out that NASA selected me and 149 other NASA Twitter followers to live tweet the shuttle Endeavour launch on April 19th.  Aside from the sheer awesomeness of witnessing history, one of the best parts is interacting with the other winners via twitter. You can check out details on this fantastic group of people at this website, or join in on the real madness and follow this list on Twitter.

I'd lke to chronicle a bit of the journey in a new series of posts. Here are some of the fellow tweeps:

• Jumped on a webmeeting with Karen Lopez (@datachick) and we talked about social media, NASA, telecoms, and other data nerdy issues
• Met a ton of other New Yorkers, including Shelley Bernstein (@shell7), the Chief of Technology at the Brooklyn Muesum.  I lived near this museum and spent plenty of time there during my mid 20s.
• Picked up a great iOS app called DropVox (syncs voice memos to DropBox) thanks to Linda Seid Frembes (@AVWriter)
• Got my gadget talk on with Dave Schumaker (@rockbandit), the community manager for gdgt, an awesome site that I was a member of before I even heard of NASA Tweetup.
• Watched in awe as HuffPo writer Mike Yarbrough (@mikeyarbrough) organized housing for a billion people.
• Found out that a few celebrities will be joining us - mainly Jordi and Scott Evil.

Good stuff so far - interacting with great people is definitely helping to bide the time before the launch!

Check Out My Twitter Mention Map!

I love Twitter. Its a great communication medium for everything from the serious to mundane.  Best of all, it doesn't take much time to blast out a short message and read someone else's message stream.  With that said, it's pretty addictive.  Follow me!

I found a great site which creates an interactive map, or Mention Map, of some people and trends that I interact with on twitter.  The best feature is that if you click on a person that's linked to me, then you can see all of the other people linked to the first person. 

I've embedded the image below - if you can't see it, please click here.

Customer Service Is Good For The Soul

The iPhone 4 is definitely the sleekest design of all of the iPhones that have been released. But wow, I've had some huge problems with the phone, and it has nothing to do with the commonly reported antenna problems.

The first one last for about 6 months, and then the speaker phone functionality broke. Since I use the speakerphone a lot, especially while driving, I knew I needed to swap it out.

The second one lasted about a month, and then the home button went out. I had to mash the thing just to get back to the home screen, let alone double tap for multitasking.

The third one lasted a grand total of a week until the charging port screwed up. It would charge for a minute, and then would flicker on and off until it longer charged.

So, I'm on my fourth phone. Normally, I would be completely adverse to supporting a company. However, I didn't have to go through some complicated return process like with other sites - I simply went to a store and in ten minutes I had a new phone. The time I spent on the three returns took less time then when I had to return computer parts to an online retailer.

Great customer service is the best defense a company can fine. Amazon, Zappos, Newegg, and Apple get this. This goes beyond simply returning due to defects - it's about not not ripping off customers and taking them for granted.

Every time I see ridiculousness such as Best Buy's Buyback program, I'm reminded that we still have a long way to go before great customer service is commonplace.

Basically, Best Buy is charging people extra money to be able to exchange their gadgets for below market prices. I get that they are charging for the convenience of only dealing with one store, but it's a total rip off.

Quick example: Based in the FAQ, you have to pony up $69 for the "privilege" of exchanging an iPad for a gift certificate worth, at most, 50% of the purchase price! And that's only if you trade in within 6 months! Every 6 months, you lose another 10%.

As I stated in a previous post, I used Gazelle and got 70% of the purchase price, in cash, for my year old iPad (32G, 3G). That's $522, cash! Compare that to Best Buy's plan, where I'd get 40%, or $291. Oh yeah, plus I'd have to pay $69 upfront, so my total gain is $222. Is it worth $300 for the "confidence" of dealing solely with Best Buy? Hmmm...