STEVE JOBS - Difficult to work for because of his overbearing attention to detail, but it was the secret to his success.

What I find amazing about Steve Jobs that no one is mentioning is his success with Apple Stores. Xerox, IBM, Atari and Gateway amongst others quickly gave up trying to run Retail stores, only losing money on their operations. Apple makes bundles of money from their stores and is still expanding; and those stores were over seen in all detail by Steve. And even after all their success he was still looking for ways to improve them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Store

RIP ZUNE : Microsoft's attempt of gravy training off Apple's iPod MP3 player was never much of a success, and yesterday Microsoft gave up the ghost, declaring
the end of ZUNE.

Second worst Business Decision this year: Netflix is busy watching its stock plunge and its subscribers disappear with its' recent price hikes. I guess Bank of America wants to similarly shoot itself in the foot. After umpteen years of pushing Debit Cards, they now want to charge a monthly fee for their use. I never have had a debit card, despite tellers begging me over the years. One just doesn't have the same leverage in a dispute with merchants. With a Debit Card, the merchant/bank has your money already. With a Credit Card, they don't. Many's the time I've had a merchant refund my money after a problematic purchase ONLY because I had used a Credit Card, and could ask for a Charge Back. Story here: Then I like the affinity Credit Cards that give me points toward Hotel Stays, Airline Tickets, Room Credits on a Cruise, etc, etc.

Many friends and colleagues tell me that today (Monday Oct. 3) they'll be applying for a free debit card with their credit union, and ceasing all relationships with Bank of America.

Not so valued by AT&T this year. The last 3 years AT&T allowed owners of iPhones to upgrade to the new model with full discount after 12 months of ownership. This year even 15 months isn't enough.
I ordered my iPhone 4 Day 1, but I'm not allowed full discount yet. No "Discount" = No Sale

As a valued AT&T customer, you qualify for a discounted iPhone upgrade at two-year commitment pricing plus $250, along with a two-year commitment and an $18 upgrade fee. Please proceed with the online upgrade process for pricing details. You may qualify for a full discount on a standard iPhone upgrade on 12/02/2011

Really stupid of AT&T; It will cost me $175 Early Termination Fee to cancel my iPhone account, and Then I can get ~$400 on Ebay selling my iPhone 4; so it makes economic sense for me NOT to stay with AT&T.

Yahoo Messenger : I like using Yahoo Messenger on my iPhone to minimize ATT overpriced TXT messages; and often conversations are continued later from my PC using the Desktop version, now at Version 11. However I hate Yahoo's installer, which by default installs Yahoo Toolbar in your browser, which is a waste of Browser space, and its been many years now that Google is a better search engine than Yahoo. If you uncheck "Install Yahoo Tool Bar" the Installer will Install it anyway, unless you first select "Custom Install", and then uncheck Yahoo Tool Bar AGAIN.

Bye Bye Netflix: NETFLIX - I quit due to increasing prices, and too many defective DVDs. Today I receive in my USPS junk mail, an insert from Blockbuster inviting to join with a free month. They offer"Unlimited exchanges for free in-store movie rentals". Too bad every store I know of in Houston, TX has closed. Then buried in the fine print of their Terms of Service, they freely admit to doing what Neflix got sued over:

Blockbuster reserves the right to determine product allocation among members in its sole discretion.

Weather Radio: Now that my Weather Radio with built in 5" analog B&W TV is obsolete, it's been discarded, and I've been looking for a new unit w1th 2 requirements.

1. It had to send Warning alarms of impending events: Tornados, etc.
2. It had to run off batteries. Since, comes a weather emergency, loss of power is common.

I had a hard time finding a unit that did both, and finally settled for the
Midland WR-300, which I bought through Amazon.

http://midlandradio.com/Desktops-Weather.OCS/WR-300

I was disappointed that it wouldn't use and recharge rechargeable batteries, like my old,
5 pound hulk with its TV; but it runs off AC, and automatically swiches to its 4 AA batteries if it loses power.
I'll stuff it with Lithium Batteries that run far longer than alkalines,
likely 3 or 4 days, but once it loses power, the thing loses all its settings.

Norton nastyness: I like to have all my Monitor screen available to me, or as much as possible, thus I am VERY ANNOYED that Norton Internet Security 2012 Secretly, without giving one a choice during its installation, Installs, a Norton Tool Bar in your Browser, and a Norton Widget in top right hand corner of the screen.

Both of them have been deactivated and removed from my system.

Norton for 2012: If you're running a legal copy of Norton AntiVirus, Norton Internet Security, or Norton 360; you may download and install a free update to the 2012 version here.

DirecTv and TiVo : September 3 marked the 3 year anniversary of DirecTv signing an agreement with TiVo (so they wouldn't be sued for DVR patent infringement) and promising a new HD DVR with TiVo. 2008 story here. Since then its always just 6 months off; and as far as I'm concerned DirecTv has zero credibility regarding a new TiVo unit.

Firefox 5 - Released today June 22, 2011. It's Fast You can download it here.

Major Breakthrough in photography !! I want one. The New York Times carries the story here.

The company's website is here.

..

Dell does a good thing: Not as good as if they came with the computer (like they used to), but:

Dell Customers can now request a set of backup discs containing the factory-installed operating system as well as the device drivers and utilities specific to your system.

One just needs to visit the web site:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dellcare/en/backupcd_form?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd

I requested mine today: 6/15/2011, I'll give a followup if/when they arrive.
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FOLLOWUP: 6/16 : I get an email from India where they refuse to do anything since the system is more than 1 year old, and only refer to me a phone number that one uses to get For Fee support from India.

I wrote a complaint to M.Dell@dell.com; and we'll see what happens now.

Symantec: Disgraceful the way things are sold with rebates, and then the rebates specifications make you jump through hoops, so maybe they'll have an excuse to deny you. Then they may take 3 months to send you your rebate payment. iOmega was famous for taking the longest back in 2001. Symantec at least it's 4 weeks exactly between mailing in for rebate and receiving Debit cards for ones' rebate. Not especially good, but better than most everybody else.

ATT iPhone moves data faster than the Verizon iPhone does: That's what PC World concluded. Story is here:

US BANKING CRAZINESS : Some time back I got a US MAIL letter from Capital One saying: ..."your Sony Card account is now with Capital One..." Turns out that is totally untrue. Capital One is taking over the Chase Account (likely hacked at Epsilon) on June 1; but no one at Capital One knows about it, and no one at Chase knows about it. Calling either Bank will give you a different answer for every person you talk to.

Could get worse. If were to call a normal CapitalOne CC 800 number, you'd get connected to a Third World Call Center where you'd be incorrectly told that all CapitalOne priviledges now apply; i.e. No 3% transaction fee for foreign currency transactions.

So a Chase Sony Card holder who unexpectedly was still charged Chase fees might call his cousin the lawyer who'd start a major class action law suit against Chase and CapitalOne.

Microsoft Money: For unknown reasons, Microsoft discontinued Microsoft Money, with the 2008 Version being the last one released. Now however Microsoft has made available a FREE "Sunset" Version that does not require Activation. Get it here :DOWNLOAD MS MONEY

AT&T caps Internet useage for dsl and Uverse: Buried in an email received from AT&T is the following:

As of May 2, 2011, AT&T's residential DSL High Speed Internet plans will have a usage allowance of 150 Gigabytes ("GB") per month, and its residential U-verse High Speed Internet plans will have a usage allowance of 250 Gigabytes ("GB") per month. The usage allowance is the amount of data you can send and receive each month

and

What will happen if I exceed my monthly usage allowance?
You will receive a notice the first time your usage exceeds the applicable monthly allowance.

In the following months, we will send you additional notices each month when your usage exceeds 65%, 90% and 100% of your monthly usage allowance. If you exceed your monthly allowance a second time, AT&T will send you a notice advising you that the next time you exceed your allowance - the third time - you will be billed $10 for each 50 GB of data over your allowance.

We will continue to send you courtesy notifications when your usage exceeds 65%, 90% and 100% of your monthly usage allowance to keep you informed about your usage patterns. All of these notices will remind you of what your monthly usage allowance is, provide you with information to help you understand broadband data usage, offer you tips on how to effectively control your usage to stay below your monthly allowance, and explain what your options are if you exceed your allowance in future billing periods. For example, you can modify your usage patterns to stay below your monthly usage allowance; continue your normal usage patterns and pay $10 for each additional 50 GB of data over your monthly allowance; or terminate your service, consistent with the terms of any special pricing offer that you previously accepted.

Importantly, if you do not receive a notice from AT&T, it means that you have not exceeded your monthly usage allowance. In some cases, it may mean that we cannot measure your usage yet. Either way, you should not be concerned about your usage patterns for billing purposes.

Amazon.com : Get free 5 Gigs of "Cloud" storage for music or data files.

FIREFOX 4.0 Just go to http://www.mozilla.com to download the new Firefox 4.0. And I'm pleased my favorite add-in for my favorite Browser is compatible with the new version. Ghostery can block all spyware.

Ghostery is now available in versions for Safari and Internet Explorer. Ghostery is a free download at http://www.ghostery.com