What’s the best way to ensure that customers don’t leave your service?

According to Verizon, it’s to charge them an arm and a leg in order to do so. (”You signed a contract!”) Termination fees will begin at $350 at the start of the contract and go down by $10 for each month completed.

Your customers will always treat you like you treat them. If you rope-a-dope them into these silly contract terms, there will be repercussions down the road. Someone is going to see an opportunity to make themselves look like the hero and you can bet that they’re going to take the steps to put themselves in front of your jilted customer.

Between my disappointment with the Storm and this new little wrinkle, I’m not sure what my motivation is to renew with Verizon. They’ve treated me well but it seems like for every step forward (Droid) they take one backwards. Not exactly a winning formula.

Link | Courtesy of Engadget

USA FOOTBALL NAMED “OFFICIAL YOUTH FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT PARTNER” OF NFL, NFL TEAMS & NFL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION

NFL & NFLPA recognize August as “USA Football Month” as America prepares for football season

USA Football, the sport’s national governing body on youth and amateur levels, has been named the “Official Youth Football Development Partner” of the NFL, the NFL Players Association and all 32 NFL teams. Independent non-profit USA Football conducts more than 100 football training events annually and offers state-of-the-art resources to educate coaches and game officials, teach skill development to youth players and facilitate youth football league commissioners. USA Football members reside in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

The USA Football relationship marks the first time in the NFL’s 89-year history that it has named an official youth football development partner. To highlight the partnership, the NFL, NFLPA and all NFL teams will recognize August as “USA Football Month.” As the leader in youth football development, USA Football teaches the game’s fundamentals and further instills the sport’s character-building values within the youth football community.

“USA Football Month” incorporates the following initiatives:

Ø USA Football public service announcements promoting youth football during NFL preseason and regular season games

Ø More than 100,000 NFL team-donated preseason game tickets for youth football players

Ø On-field promotion during preseason Weeks 3 and 4 through “USA Football” field stencils and end zone banners

Ø In-stadium “USA Football Month” scoreboard video messages

Ø Free NFL team-branded USA Football “Captain’s Packs” created for youth football leagues nationwide

Ø Youth football scrimmages in NFL stadiums on preseason game days

Ø NFL team sites will feature a 20-week series of instructional football video clips, produced by USA Football

Serving as “USA Football Month” spokespeople are former NFL All-Stars BOOMER ESIASON and ROD WOODSON, both of whom are “Football Dads.” Woodson was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this past weekend.

USA Football will distribute NFL team-branded “Captain’s Packs” free of charge through usafootball.com to more than 6,000 youth football leagues. Rewarding youth players for strong character and teamwork, each USA Football “Captain’s Pack” includes 25 “C” Captain jersey patches, 200 helmet recognition decals, and 25 “Captain’s Pledges” which a player signs as a commitment to good sportsmanship.

“USA Football is proud to be the official youth football development partner of the NFL, the NFLPA and the league’s 32 teams,” said USA Football Executive Director SCOTT HALLENBECK. “The pulse-quickening emotion this sport generates captures our imagination, which powers football from youth leagues to the NFL. We’re proud to lead the game on this level through innovative football resources to help coaches, game officials, commissioners and players enjoy positive football experiences.”

“USA Football Month encourages young people to be active and provides them with the necessary structure to enjoy our sport through thousands of youth leagues,” says NFL Executive Vice President and USA Football Board Member JOE BROWNE. “We in the NFL strongly support USA Football.”

“The NFLPA and its 1,800 players are proud to join USA Football and the NFL in showing a unified commitment to youth football,” said NFLPA Senior Regional Director and USA Football Board Member JASON BELSER. “USA Football stands for teaching the game the right way and the NFL preseason is an ideal time to herald the sport’s fundamentals as well as the excitement and anticipation we feel during this time of the year. We salute the young people and selfless volunteers who power youth football.”

About USA Football

USA Football, the sport’s national governing body on youth and amateur levels, conducts more than 100 football training events annually to further strengthen the game. USA Football members – coaches, game officials and league commissioners – reside in all 50 states. The independent non-profit based near Washington, D.C. is the official youth football development partner of the NFL and NFLPA and manages U.S. national teams within the sport for international competitions. USA Football, chaired by former NFL team executive Carl Peterson, was endowed by the NFL and NFL Players Association in 2002.

# # #

Contacts: Steve Alic, USA Football, 703/992-8325; salic@usafootball.com

Joanna Comfort, NFLPA, 202/756-9170; joanna.comfort@nflplayers.com

Clare Graff, NFL, 212/450-2435; clare.graff@nfl.com

This new (codenamed) CMX format, as reported by Engadget, is set to go head-to-head with Apple and their proprietary DRM, funded with backing from the major labels. The format would include CD liner notes and artwork in the purchase and try to recreate the feeling of a CD without all the hassle of figuring out a way to get that shrink-wrap off.*

*Sliding a corner across an edge of a table like a credit card works best.

Two reactions to this:
1) If you’re buying DRM media, please look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself if you love the person staring back at you. DRM, while having the industry benefit of locking a consumer to a purchase, locks the purchase to a device. In the end, it makes more life difficult for the people who choose to listen to music on devices not supported by the DRM format. I use a Blackberry for all my in-car music (using a cassette-to-3.5-jack). DRM prevents me from listening to that music, though everything I’m doing is perfectly legal and, more importantly, moral.
2) When you are in Rome, do as the Romans. Why would I try to make computer software that simulated the feeling of eating a juicy steak? Or a stack of sticky-notes that could replace a morning coffee? Sounds ridiculous, right? Well then why try to recreate something physical with something digital? If you’re operating in a digital format, KNOW THYSELF. Be active and participate in the format’s capabilities. Don’t try to lasso it and drag it backwards in time, like some misguided cowboy. Use video, use some sort of viable social platform. Help people share the music with others. Be more fun.

I’m sure that their hearts are in the right place, but it seems as if these companies are being run by a series of people who resemble Brick Tamland in their decision-making.

I love lamp.

Side Note: I love CDs. It’s the format of my generation and I think it’s a perfectly acceptable format, even as vinyl makes a comeback. I have a big box of CDs at home and there’s few things more satisfying than going through my collection and seeing the artwork and feeling the sharp plastic cases. But my love for the format is genuine.

Thank you for considering my request.

Please consider this a formal request to eliminate the instructions following my personal message in my voicemail. I do not believe it is appropriate for my callers, all of whom are fairly tech savvy, to have to hear that message every time they want to leave a voicemail.

If you cannot accommodate my request, please respond through email as to why you have made that business decision. I believe this is a technical feature that has outlived its usefulness.

Thank you.

To JetBlue:

With the relaunch of the program, I am concerned is that the award redemption process, which was as simple as I’ve ever seen anywhere, has now become “just another frequent flier program.”

JetBlue separated itself from other airlines for me because, while I didn’t always take advantage of it, I knew that when my rewards flight came, I’d be able to take a flight to Chicago or Florida and go on a true vacation. Now? Even after I earn a reward flight back to Massachusetts, I will have to keep spending in order to get to those other places. Having that limit is what I am used to with other airlines, not JetBlue.

With the $200:1pt ratio, I had an easy time trying to figure out my rewards in relation to my JetBlue Card. Now, while it’s a 1:1 ratio of dollars to points, it feels fuzzier. How far can I get with 5,000 points? With 8,000? What about round trip? With 100 points=1 round trip flight, I didn’t have to stress the math.

I am really disappointed with the changes and while you’ve stated in the email that it’s been designed to get me a free flight quicker, I notice that you abstain from the term “round-trip.” I fear that doing a comparison chart of my last year’s spending will show that I will have received less rewards with the same activity.

I get the sense that the reason for the change is financial, and not because you are responding to customer feedback. If that’s true, this change would have been easier to handle if you had just been up-front about it. If I’m mistaken, then perhaps I am simply different than the customers who have provided feedback.

JetBlue still gives me the best experience in the air that I’ve ever encountered. The staff is better, more helpful, friendlier and happier to be there than any other staff. However, this change has taken the “Do-No-Wrong” luster off of the brand. Maybe not forever, but certainly for now.

I ask that you reverse the changes you have made to the TrueBlue reward program, or provide clear math as to how I will receive more round-trip flights with the same amount of activity.

Thank you for listening.
-BRIAN FEENER

Just because I don’t care, doesn’t mean it’s not important.
There is a difference.  Recognizing the difference is important when developing the messaging around the product.

Before we blow too hard on our righteous indignation whistle, let’s just go straight to the takeaway for you and me, the users: Do not hand out your email credentials just because someone asked for them. It may seem obvious at this point (as I said, this practice isn’t new), but whether you’re at a phishing site or an actual web site looking to spam your friends, family, and coworkers, think very carefully about whether or not you want to give someone you don’t know or trust the keys to one of your most important portals of communication.

via Lifehacker - Don’t Give Your Email Address and Password to Other Web Sites - Email Etiquette.

I admit, I’ve put in my email address into some site that I probably shouldn’t have… just a reminder that sometimes I’m not as smart as I think I am.

I switched to using a double monitor at work, with RocketDock (on autohide, but it’s there) and the OS X Leopard background.

It seems cool, but the tools which we use are only as good as the results that we can get from them. For me, this is like a blank canvas (a really expensive one, but still…). It challenges me to step up my game and create some really great stuff for you guys.

And off we go….

Care for:

1. The product
2. The medium
3. The end result
4. The process

Email is still brian@brianfeener.com… or leave a comment.