Aaron Shear - ideas, rants and drivel

iPhone 3g

2008-07-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

So I stood in line to be one of the first to pick up the iPhone this morning. Well I bribed a friend with pizza and blankets to hold a place for me. The process was a nightmare, AT&T's billing system was all on the fritz. While I was waiting for the system, which took over 40 minutes to work. Chanel 5 news here in SF was filming and interviewing me.

After the long wait, I am now home. My Verizon phone is shut off and the iTunes store is overloaded. So I am without a phone due to poor capacity planning on Apple's part.

I must say, this is one of the worst cell phone activations I have ever gone through. The phone will not work without talking to iTunes.

I hope no one needs to get a hold of me today.

PS3 Customer Service

2008-07-10T02:05:00.001-07:00

Unboleiveble, I just got a new PS3 and just tried to setup their network. This should be a simple and very easy setup. Especially since, well I am sure that they are expecting a jump in revenue for this feature like Microsoft gets with the xbox 360. But in this case, I go through all of the hoops and carefully input in my credit card and billing information into the system.

No matter what I put in, it keeps rejecting me. Thus I assume that the cards I have been trying are just protecting me, which is normal. They want to cover their own butts and make sure that no one is spending money that they will have to refund at some point. But in this case, I call both cards that I normally use and find that they can see the pre-authorization to determine if the card is ok and all went through just fine.

So after 30 minutes of screwing around with the console and the credit card companies, and of course useless manuals that come with the console, I turn to the website. The website has only one form of contact, a form in which you fill out for a return call. When you buy a game system that costs over $400 and has little to no support I begin to wonder how things will be down the line.

Wow, what a mess! So far not a huge fan of this system.

Picked up a PS3 and Guitar Hero

2008-07-10T00:58:00.001-07:00

So out of a bit of pressure from a buddy, I picked up a PS3 and Guitar Hero over the weekend. Images and quality are great, but I have to say the amount of network updates so far are too often and very slow. Living in the middle of San Francisco with a 33mbps down load rate, I expected so much more from Sony.

Just bought call of Duty 4 and its sitting, slowly, very slowly downloading the update to get online.

George Carlin Dies

2008-06-24T04:10:00.000-07:00

I normally do not write about Hollywood, but I have always had a love for George Carlin and his wild antics. He was normally over the top for most, however he just kinda hit the spot for me. I typically prefer comics who are not afraid to push the limits.

All thought, Adam Sandlar in this Nobody beats the Zohan flick went too far even for me. I cannot remember ever crawling around a movie theater seat before as much as that flick.

However, besides the point George was one of those guys that no matter what show you would always want more. I wish his family the best and hope they can at least laugh a little while remembering him.

Cradlepoint CTR500 Review

2008-06-22T04:16:00.000-07:00

After seeing the USB based Wireless Broadband Router that Jason Calacanis was using at SES NYC this year. I have been hunting around for a device that I could use. I can't even count the occasions I have needed such a device when associates could no longer access the wireless services offered, usually due to over use.

It is important to understand that even 3g broadband cards only provide a small amount of bandwidth. Thus these cards will crawl to a halt if abused.

I purchased the Cradlepoint CTR500, which supports Express based broadband cards. Which is what the Macbook Pro uses as a standard device. As well as USB based devices and some teatherd phones via USB. It is important to be sure that not matter the router you choose, be aware if the compatible devices that it has drivers for.

Another side note, these devices from what I can tell do not have the ability to send activation scripts out. Thus be sure to install your data card to your computer first and ensure that it is working correctly before trying to use it on any router.

The CTR500 uses a web based control system, which is less than well thought out and not for the basic user. It also defaults to the last 6 digits of your MAC Address as your password, you can change this, however you need to hunt for the menu first.

Other than a fairly crappy web based administration menu. The device, once configured runs very well and seems to be dependable. I need to beat it up a bit more to be sure, but I was very happy with my initial data requests.

This device desperately needs a battery, it seems silly to have such a great portable device, however when you get to where you are going you are left franticly hunting for a power outlet.

Verizon Customer Service

2008-06-22T03:52:00.000-07:00

After my Verizon V640 data card was damaged and started to act up I called and had it replaced under the extended warranty. They where out of the V640 and offered me a V740 as a replacement. I thought this was a great idea and figured that this should be a simple replacement. This also offered me the ability to purchase an express based broadband router, which normally was not available with the V640, however available with the V740 card.

The Verizon V640 did not come with software or drivers for the Mac. The crafty folks at Apple, however updated the operating system with drivers and simple support for the card. The V740 was designed to use the VZAccess manager software previously available only for Windows. Thus swapping out the 2 cards was not so simple.

When I called in to Verizon to change out the ESN # on my account, I asked to assistance getting this new card to work. This was the only part that was a hair annoying, Mac support is a level 3 help desk support function. So I had to talk to the new and technically less than savvy person from level 1 for a few minutes, not so bad, normally I am sent through heavy obstacle courses before they will transfer me.

Since the VZAccess software for the Mac is poorly designed, when I was asked to install it, the process took 15 minutes just to install and reboot. My laptop is a 2.33 Mac Book Pro with 3GB of memory. The rep on the phone was not rushed at all and did not mind waiting. A level of service that I have never seen from a wireless phone company in the past. We spent a total of 45 minutes getting all of the setting back to normal and testing the card. Even though it was excessive, I could not believe he was so willing to work with me.

Thus even though I will be switching service from my Blackberry 8830 to the new 3G iPhone next month. I will really be sad to move from Verizon to AT&T. When they where Cingular I criticized their coverage and service continually. However, the iPhone is the ultimate Mac device and the Blackberry does not compare. I will not move my data services from Verizon to AT&T and I will also keep a spare Verizon phone to ensure coverage in the US, while I travel.

DHL customer service

2008-06-22T03:33:00.000-07:00

Last week my Verizon Broadband card started to act up after the TSA abused my computer bag. So I did the normal call in and get a replacement under the paid warranty I had with Verizon. Not only was the process easy, but the overall ability of the service agent was far beyond anything I had ever seen. At the end of my call I was told that my new card would be sent overnight via DHL.

The manager of my apartment building has had nothing but nightmares with this company, loosing packages, saying they delivered items with false signatures. You name it, I heard about it.

So, frankly I was not to happy about it. However I had little to no choice in the matter. Just as expected the delivery rep never even tried to dial my unit from the system out front of leave any notice of delivery attempt for 3 days. Thus I decide to call in and ask about the situation and advise DHL that both FedEx and UPS commonly partake in the same tactics. However, after months of bitching, both have gotten far batter.

To my surprise, DHL actually called me back the very next day to assure me that my package would be delivered. I was frankly shocked! I have never seen such a level of service from any shipping company that I have ever dealt with. The next day, under record heat I got my replacement card.

I have to say, other than the typical crap they really followed through!

United Double Elite Miles

2008-06-20T18:12:00.000-07:00

For those who signed up for United's Double Elite Miles, it looks like these will not be posted until the end of July. I called to find out, looks like they only want to make one major update to their database.

Michael Shear - Just Thinking About My Brother

2008-06-20T03:30:00.000-07:00

Recently a few friends have had either siblings or parents pass. One from a serious accident. Which has pushed my brother back into my memory this past evening. To any friends of Michael Allen Shear, please think of him and what he brought to all of us.

He was born on April 6th 1978, he had Cystic Fibrosis and had a very tough life.

United Airlines Booking Tips

2008-06-20T02:09:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know, United has been dropping services, upgrades and benefits that Elite members can use. I wanted to share how I get around some of these issues, weather or not you may have seen this by now.

You may or may not know, United domestic economy no longer provides meals free of charge. Thus bring some cash along if you wish you purchase a meal, some flights including the PS "Premium Service" now take credit cards. So the smile and try to use a $50 or $100 bill no longer works towards getting a free lunch per say. On these specific flights they do not take cash at all.

Priority baggage, a feature provided to "Premier", "Premier Executive", "1k or 100k mile", "Global Services" named "Priority" only works in cities where they feel like providing such a service. For example, normally these bags are delivered off the turn style first. However in cities such as San Diego you commonly find your baggage delivered LAST!, usually due to loading so that the baggage agent can be sure to unload them first. No matter how much you complain at any status, they DO NOT CARE! and will do nothing about it.

500 Mile Upgrades: These upgrades allow for an upgrade, depending on status and distance domestically. For example if you wish to move from coach to first class from San Francisco to San Diego, it requires 1 500 mile coupon. Since the distance is less than 500 miles. Anything more than 500 miles is 2 coupons. This can only be applied within 60 hours of flight time depending on status, price of ticket and availability.

Regional "Confirmed" Upgrades: These upgrades allow a user to upgrade a flight within the US at time of booking, again depending on availability to the next level of status. This upgrade will not work on a paid "PS" Premium Service flight from Business to First class. These tickets from what I can tell are purchase only flights. This type of upgrade is provided only to a 1K status customer. You can only earn up to 2 of these per quarter in a calendar year. You must earn at least 10k elite miles within the quarter to gain this credit.

System Wide Upgrades: These upgrades allow a user to upgrade any international flight at the time of booking and or at the time of flight, depending on availability and level of ticket. Previously you could upgrade any economy ticket no matter what level if available. From what I can tell this works an a purchased business class ticket moving to first class as well. When you first gain 1K you receive 6 of these upgrades. However in 2008 it looks as if you need to fly over 150K paid miles in a calendar year before you can earn additional System Wide upgrades.

Premier status at this point only provides access to Economy Plus at no extra charge, wow all $14. The ability to upgrade with 500 Mile coupons which you earn for every 10k miles that you fly within a quarter. A light discount on access to the Red Carpet Room, but basically not much more. Well if you are on standby to get on a flight that can help as well, but prey you do not have Premier Executives, 1K or Global Service members in front of you. You can forget getting on the flight, unless you have paid a bit more than the Premier Executive for your flight. Somewhat priority boarding, the computer will insert you into boarding group 1. A minimum of 25k paid flown miles is required to either gain or maintain this status on United, which will provide "Silver Star Alliance" status as well.

Premier Executive status will get you about the same as Premier, except a few things. A slightly larger discount to the Red Carpet Room, unless I am mistaken. Higher seating priority for standby customers than Premier and a less long of a wait to use a 500 mile upgrade on a flight. A so called higher level phone clerk for reservations is also provided, this is typically at joke. 50K paid flown miles is required to either gain or maintain this status. This level of service also provides "Gold Star Alliance" status.

1K or 100K Status provides the user these same booking access as Premier and Premier Executive and to not only 500 mile upgrades, however regional upgrades and system wide upgrades as well. You can no longer receive 2 System Wide upgrades per 25k miles flown in a quarter, as previously allowed. Now you must fly at least 150k paid miles per year to earn these points. This level of status is what I currently have and is difficult to live without. However, the level of customer service provided to this level has dropped over the years, despite what several 1K customer service rep has told me. The additional Regional and System Wide upgrades make this status well worth having. You also receive a different phone number for booking, which at most times is faster. Especially since it detects your phone number and asks you less silly and at times stupid questions. I have seen this line pick up much slower than the "Premier Executive" phone line at peak times.

Another 1K advantage is a separate line to board your flight, reserved for Business Class, First Class, Global Services and 1K. If you have baggage, it is at time imperative to get on the plane first just to find a place to put your bags as well as a spot close to where you are seated. I love the bulkhead, however you cannot store bags at your feet. Thus you must be on first to put your bags up, for frequent travelers we learn that checking bags can tack on a minimum of 30 minutes to your exit time on United.

Global Services: Other than being at the top of the tier, I am not exactly sure, since its not posted, what you really need to earn this status. I do know that when you exit an international flight, there is a rep waiting to take you to your next gate or in some cases a special way to get out of the airport. I have heard you need to spend $35k +/- a year to get this level of service.

So to get to the promised booking advice. From what I can tell, if you plan on flying with United, booking on their website will provide you with the best of very close to the best fare. However, it is very important to run your exact travel searches through other travel engines to find the best possible fare. I find that the United website is terrible about providing the best options. You can find a greater level of variety at Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity.

If you are collecting miles, be sure to go back to United and book the exact flight you found. You will earn extra miles, if you use the Chase United Platinum Card, you can earn additional Elite Miles, good for status as well. Which is why I always book directly. The amount of additional miles that you will earn depend on your status, however you can earn 500 miles for booking directly and 500 additional miles for checking in and printing your ticket at home. If you re-print your ticket at the airport it will not credit you the miles.

An additional feature with Premier or highhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifer, in some airports you can gain access to a faster security line. This can help substantially, however some of the smaller airports only allow 1K or higher. When I fly out of SFO - San Francisco I now use "Clear" a TSA approved high speed security line that can really help, even over the priority line provided by United. Most times no one is in line to use it, thus it can be a quick short cut to get through. The only problem at SFO is that it shares the non priority line. They pick up your bags and put you in front of everyone else which really drives people crazy. However, many of these passengers rarely or never fly which even with 1 or 2 people in front of you can still provide a frustrating flow problem. It is well worth the $100 a year for frequent travelers. If you choose to sign up, please use my refer a friend code of SCB62397. This will give me credit towards my account.

DHL, FedEx, UPS avoiding delivery

2008-06-20T01:54:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I am not alone, however since I have moved near Union Square in San Francisco off Geary st. I have had a continual strugal with the major carriers delivering in my area. My building has a gate in front, where you must dial the tenant to be buzzed in. A simple task, I would expect, especially since my unit is tied directly with my mobile phone. However all 3 carriers seem to think that there is little to no reason to even try dialing a tenant. Thus both FedEx and UPS just leave tags on the main door that no one answered and they will either try again or you can pick up at xxx address.

For the past week DHL has claimed to try and contact me every day. I have been home each day and not a peep from my mobile/cell phone. The building manager warned me when I moved in, not to use DHL for they had lost many packages being delivered to the buildings address where I reside.

It is so sad, after spending never ending amounts of time with both UPS and FedEx, alerting them of my home working environment that I need to continue advising further agencies of such issues. While the good old United States Postal Service seems to always deliver on time, even though slower than everyone else.

What a shame that companies who advertise and or guarantee delivery, avoid such a basic level of service on a regular basis. I am not saying that the USPS is any better, since they seem to refuse picking up any outbound mail in my building. Resulting in the loss of several Netflix films, since I have moved in here.

It ashame's me that end users in large cities must work so hard to receive such simple services from large companies.

United Airlines latest scam

2008-05-23T11:32:00.000-07:00

On my way home to San Diego last night I noticed that there where well over 40 people on stand by for my flight. What I didn't realize until later is that they where not on stand by from another flight. United oversold the flight by 50%, wow if you do not have status you are so screwed now. The worst part is, since the tickets are non refundable, even though they oversold it. They do not have to give back the money based on their fine print. I sure can see another government investigation starting very soon!

United Airlines dropping to actual EQM for flights under 500 Miles

2008-05-14T14:51:00.000-07:00

So normally I fly United for short flights, since I get my 500 Elite Qualifying Miles per run. But as of July 2008 they will only provide actual miles for short flights. If anything the shovel that Jet Blue, Virgin America and Southwest that United handed over is now going to start the burial process.

Flights are less expensive on these other airlines, all 3 of these airlines actually have friendly flight attendants that are happy to be there. I love how the pilots say, flight attendants are primarily here for your safety. They really don't give a crap about your level of service.

So whats next United? Will your customers have to fly on a full moon, every other solar eclipse to get status points any longer? United tries over and over again to get new clients with these fake fairs that is only 1 seat per flight. When you actually get the email its booked by then.

iphone went un-available on the Apple Store

2008-05-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Ok, so as the geek that I am. I have been checking daily for an update around a 3g iphone. But today I just noticed that the iphone is no longer available for sale on the website. Hmm, could it be released this week?

SES NYC

2008-03-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

So today was the first day of SES NYC. A very interesting mix of people, every year it seems to change just a little bit. You tend to see more of the change on the first day before the expo floor opens with a flood of free passes.

I ran into Jason Calacanis today with his cool new Macbook Air, what a great machine. I must have one!

We went on a St. Patricks day pub crawl tonight. A blast, I was sorry to leave but had to meet some friends. I was able to call may father, it is his 70th birthday today.

How to get picked up by Google Image Search

2008-03-06T12:15:00.001-08:00

So its time for me to ask a question, how does Google and Yahoo handle decisions in terms of listing images and which site to trust. It seems to me that the originating site should get the credit for the images, but this is not true in all cases. I would love to hear feedback of experiences on how to get images in the index. Simply turning that little switch in Google Webmaster Tools seems to do little or nothing to really help.

Should the images be hosted on the same domain? Does that make any difference?

Should the images be a specific type? Seems to me that this should not be the case.

Should the images be free of any java script?

Should they have a enlarge feature?

Obviously and ALT tag can help and a decent file name, but this does not seem to make a difference in certain situations.

Would love to hear opinions on this.

Backup to Airport Extreme external hard drive using Time Machine

2008-01-29T00:47:00.000-08:00

So I was frustrated to find that the default upgrade of Leopard did not include the ability to backup to an Airport Extreme USB based hard drive. The new one that was spoken about in the Mac World keynote did just this with a built in hard drive. With way too much fooling around I found that if you simply use the following command in the terminal...

defaults write com.apple.systempreferences TMShowUnsupportedNetworkVolumes 1

It will set the drive to be mountable for the software. Of course after I found the command I realize someone had actually posted it here. But this would have been much simpler if they would have just given it to us.

Expedia Customer Service

2008-01-19T04:29:00.000-08:00

I feel that it’s important to talk about sites abusing reviews, especially in the Hotel sector. Just a few months back I booked a room in New York City on Expedia.com, for a serviced apartment. I chose this accommodation due to the outrageous fees for hotels during the days I chose to stay. Reading the information about the serviced apartment I was impressed with what they had to offer and figured why not?

I got to the unit late at night around 11:30pm, flight delays from SFO and traffic made the process a bit slow. When we finally found the complex, there was a buzzer to talk to the night attendant. He promptly appeared and went through the list to see what room I was in. He then told me that Aaron Shear already checked in and there was nothing that he could do about it.

I called Expedia and asked what was going on? They said that they would be happy to talk to the manager and make things right. They spoke with the doorman and was unable to set things right. At this point 1.5 hours had gone by and I was ready to tear my own head off.

The doorman finally realized that they switched my room with another visitor and I was to take their room. At this point I just wanted to sleep so I did not complain, even though the comforter on the bed was stained in all sorts of strange colors. I simply took off the top cover and made sure the sheets where clean and slept.

During my stay I found that no soap was left, the so called Jacuzzi bath tub was defective, the tile was coming up and the mold content was more than anyone could handle. This was after the second day; I called back Expedia customer service begging them to put me somewhere else. But they did not comply and told me that there was nothing that they could do except give me a small credit for my $2,000 stay.

I can go on for hours about this but my main point is, if you write a negative review on Expedia.com they will not post it. They turned my review down twice and provided incorrect information about why it was not accepted. In conclusion be careful what you read!

Apple ipod touch update

2008-01-15T23:58:00.001-08:00

Not to say I have completely switched from being a total Microsoft fan, but I have to say I love the new $20 update that Apple put out today regarding the ipod touch. It was not just a simple update, but an update where owners could receive software that would give them similar abilities to the i-phone and as well allow an simple ipod touch user the ability to get gps navigation through their new wifi hot spot intelligent software.

I am very impressed, the touch just went back in my every day life. Yes, serious thoughts went through my head about hacking the device months ago, but I do not have nearly as much time to chase problems down as I used to. Happy hunting.

Netflix response to Apple

2008-01-15T23:51:00.000-08:00

I have been very interested in the response that would come from video rental companies especially Netflix with their downloadable rentals to Apple’s announcement to their new program. I was not expecting such a simple response…

“
Dear Aaron,

As part of your current Netflix subscription, you have the option to watch some movies and TV episodes from the Netflix library instantly on your PC at no additional charge. Now, we've made it unlimited!

So watch instantly on your PC when you want, and as often as you want. Select from our separate, smaller library of over 6,000 familiar movies and TV episodes available to watch instantly.

- Your friends at Netflix”

Personally I think the response should have been something link, we have a great selection of on demand current films at your normal subscription price. Rather than this bleak attempt to encourage members to use their service without talking to them about it.

I love Netflix, especially how they have not raked us under the coal for HD programming. But in my personal opinion there is a better way to respond to Apple. Sorry Netflix, but I may switch if this is how you wish to respond.

United Customer Service

2008-01-14T01:04:00.000-08:00

So I have been a loyal client of United for years now and I really want to vent a story. Most commonly I do not chase too much down with them because its totally pointless and they will not help. But I am a 1K, or 100 thousand mile customer, not a small score to have in their eyes.

So on my way back from my last business trip to Sydney I purchased several cases of wine and had the bottles very carefully backed for shipping. I know that United throws bags and boxes no mater what is written on the box, these boxes had 5 large Fragile stickers on them and marked glass as well. When I got into SFO I found 1 of the cases in the normal collection area, the other was in the freight pickup sitting on a large flat cart.

It turns out one of the bottles was obliterated from miss handling, typically being dropped or thrown. I waited hours to talk to someone about this and finally the manager of Untied international starts to walk towards me. He hears something on his radio and immediately does an about face and out the back without talking to me. I asked the assistant manager to have him call me. I even provided my 1k-mileage number, cell phone number, address and email.

At this point I didn’t care about a financial re-imbursement but an apology for the way this was handled, the assistant manager did not even apologize for this obvious screw up. Instead she promises that he would call me and talk to me about what happened. NO, CALLS AT ALL!

Wow go United! It was bad enough when they jacked their employees of their benefits and they started to hate the clients, but holy crap!

Google’s update on links

2007-11-21T18:22:00.000-08:00

I am pretty thrilled to see the current update on link abuse that Google has put out, I have seen so much abuse of links that is simply powered by the purse that you have in hand. Some sites spending 100’s of thousands of dollars a month to drive links to their sites. Many of these sites that ranked did not deserve to be ranked, and where a horrible useless site is put up.

We know how popularity is a significant factor in determining if a site should appear within the index. My hope is that this may allow sites with perfectly good content that have not been picked up have a chance to be picked up. With the increase in value of search engines over the years, it can be difficult to build natural popularity without the assistance of search engines.

It would be extremely helpful to allow sites the chance to be reviewed as they where years back when the amount of new sites where small and easy to view one by one. Some sites that may not be targeted for revenue should have the chance to come up without building a giant waste fund for paid search to get their chance to compete.

E-commerce is still not getting SEO

2007-11-21T18:09:00.000-08:00

It surprises me to no end that many large e-commerce sites are still not using SEO as a strategy for their businesses. This is truly a waste of money in the long run, especially for some of the larger sites in the industry.

Google is trying once again to inject products into results to help with this process. Unfortunately without a major taxonomy structure that they lack, the results will remain of lower quality until they can do something about it. The worst part about it is that E-commerce sites are not crawler friendly and thus these products are not properly displayed.

A few large branded discount electronic sites have made attempts to make their sites crawler friendly and have failed quite badly. The information about how to make these changes can be found all over the web.

Not to bash them, but my favorite discount online store is e-COST and have prices and deals very difficult to find. It is such a shame that they are not ranked. I assume they do not spend a lot on advertising simply based on the cost of spend for ROI. But word of mouth marketing can only go so far.

Sydney and the Australian Market

2007-11-21T17:50:00.000-08:00

I have spent this week in the beautiful city of Sydney Australia, which earlier this week I gave a seminar with Search Engine Room on using search to drive your e-commerce strategy. An impressive turnout from some of Australia’s leading companies. Hats off to Martin Kelly owner of Search Engine Room for such leadership. He has built quite a strong brand here in Australia and many top companies know his work.

At the end of the day I gave a quick site review session in which I looked at half a dozen sites targeting the Australian market. This market is not far behind the US in terms of development and innovation. However many of the same mistakes that we have seen over the years are plaguing new business.

Based upon my browsing sites that are locally targeted and hosted in the US, it is more important than ever for site owners to consider hosting locally. The overall experience is far to slow and not a great use of high-speed connections.

New Zeland a market not to be ignored

2007-11-21T17:39:00.000-08:00

Last week I spoke at in Auckland, a great turn out for a small market. I was very impressed with the startups in the market and how they have beat out many of the large brands that you commonly would http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifsee enter and rule a market. One such company that has built an amazing brand is Trade Me and is growing in market share like mad.

This conference also attracted turn out from all three of the major search engines including Google, Yahoo and MSN. They see an opportunity in the market and with the year over year growth I think its time to look at the Kiwi marketplace.