e-Vents

[ Thursday ]

 

People, and the institutions operated by them, along the Gulf Coast have decades of dealing with tropical cyclones. There are procedures in place for dealing with evacuations, power outages, flooding, traffic control, healthcare, food and water distribution, property protection, post-storm cleanup, and a variety of  other issues.

In the mid-Atlantic and tri-state area, some of these procedures are in place, but eleven years after 9/11, New York City and parts of New Jersey seemed to have few contingency plans for an event like Sandy.



One has to wonder why the system has failed us once again. 
According to several reports, the expected cost of Sandy could be $50 Billion, including lost opportunities. While the concern expressed by the politicians and government officials appears genuine, we have to wonder how fleeting it will be when the cameras are turned off and the news media moves on to the next subject.

MM [09:05]

 

Hulu Is Losing What Made It Popular


I have viewed Hulu (streaming video online) since it's introduction, and enjoyed it during those early years. It limited its advertising to 15 and 30-second spots, and the user experience was quite enjoyable.

Today, Hulu has many advertising spots that are 1 minute commercials, and for users who want to "rewind" to an early segment of a program which they are viewing, they are often subjected to commercials again, even though they already "paid for them" earlier.

Hulu Plus is their subscription model, but following the greed model, also has advertising. A "Plus" subscription is currently the only manner in which the site can be viewed on mobile devices.

There are, of course, other competitors in the marketplace, although not with the partnerships that Hulu currently enjoys. Crackle, Clicker, Joost, and others have good offerings, and while all are advertiser supported, they may not be as intrusive as Hulu, nor did they promise one thing and deliver another...less in their case.

MM [09:33]

[ Friday ]

 

Pay for Vista Upgrade to Windows 7...Microsoft Should Reimburse Us !

Microsoft announced that as of today (June 26), upgrade versions of Win 7 would be available from select retailers at a discounted price for pre-orders. Considering the multitude of problems with Vista, those of us who bought PCs with it pre-loaded, or those who purchased it at retail should receive a refund of their purchase price, or be provided with a FREE copy of Windows 7...especially if it corrects the ills of Vista.

MM [11:46]

[ Thursday ]

 

Bailout Bank CEOs Need to Go

Months into the financial fiasco created in part by Wall Street and the largest financial institutions, this country's taxpayers are still awaiting reform measures and improved government oversight. With the new administration already pressuring one automotive company's CEO to step down (GM's Rick Waggoner), one has to wonder why the big banks weren't first on the list. Afterall, the flawed strategies were ultimately approved at the top.

In the case of Bank of America, it seems that Ken Lewis' tenure as Chairman and CEO should have come to an  end months ago. The acquisition strategy of BOA during his stewardship once drove the company's stock price to record highs, but the consumer paid the costly price through fewer choices, reduced competition, lower service levels, and increased banking fees. Bank of America's stock price, which traded in the 50's in recent years, is now in the single digits, and it is time for Ken Lewis to go.



MM [06:34]

[ Saturday ]

 

No Sympathy for Big Banks

Once upon a time, banks were the anchor of small communities. They created deposit accounts for customers and small businesses, cashed checks, provided credit and loans, and over time, joined networks to provide credit cards and other financial instruments to their customers. Their spreads or margins on loans was often in the single digits. Outside of credit unions, they were usually the next best source for low interest rate loans in a community.

Today, that has all changed. And the change has been very apparent to long-time customers, even if the government did not notice until recently. Credit card rates offered zero or near-zero APRs as promotional rates, then jumped to double-digits (even up to 35.99% in some cases) after the promotional period ended.

Balance transfers were offered to entice customers to pay down other bank's credit accounts and switch to the offering bank's account. At first, no transaction fees were charged. Then, approximately one to two years ago, big banks began charging transaction fees of 3-4% up front with a minimum charge of $10 and no cap on the maximum amount charged (i.e.: a $10,000 balance transfer would cost the customer $300-400 for the privilege of accepting the offer), as if the major banks had colluded over lunch to simultaneously set the new policy. Not a word from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, but many complaints apparently were lodged by customers.

Today, the major banks are bleeding red from greed and mismanagement, and are systematically upping their default rates on credit cards to their customers. Much of this is in anticipation of a new law which will go into effect in 2010, but due to strong lobbying efforts by the banking association, does not prevent them from continuing to offer the predatory policies at present.

Small banks have a golden opportunity at this time to steal away customers from the major national institutions. Good customer service, with people who live and work in the community and have established personal relationships with their customers...not an interactive voice response system that asks customers to 'Press 1 for English', then directs them to someone in Bangalore.

The small banks might be able to live with a 3-5% spread on personal loans, and probably don't need the corporate jet to fly to Hollywood premieres. Perhaps the big banks should look at 'It's A Wonderful Life' sometime, and prioritize customers over greed.

MM [20:07]

 

DTV Transition Will Be Delayed

Congress will vote to delay the transition to digital television, currently scheduled for February 17 2009. The problems are many, but the main obstacle has been the coupon program with the built-in expiration date, and the potential for having 15-20 million homes go dark when the switch occurs.

One of the other problems, however, is not being debated...at least publicly...by the Congress. While they want to appear compassionate to their constituents, and the FCC has failed miserably in its execution of the marketing program, the costs to the broadcasters and equipment makers will be huge. Ultimately, as with the coupon program itself, the consumer will end up footing the bill.

In many areas of the country, digital transmissions are already available, but since broadcasters are operating analog and digital equipment at the same time, many have not 'powered up' the digital signal to the full operational levels. So, for the consumer wondering if they will be able to receive a digital signal when the switch occurs, there is little to do but wait.

And while cable and satellite providers insist that current subscribers will not have to do anything in order to transition through the process, the fact remains that most subscribers are paying an ever-increasing monthly bill in order to receive basic cable and a limited selection of satellite programs. OTA (over the air) signals for analog and digital can be received with small antennas in many urban and suburban areas, but many homes and apartments do not have the equipment in place.

As the federal government moves to nationalize the financial industry, why not nationalize ESPN and transmit the signal from towers so that we can at least be guaranteed of receiving a few decent sporting events over the air...for 'free'.



MM [06:49]

[ Monday ]

 

Microsoft Vista Problems...Ongoing

Vista, the latest operating system (OS) from Microsoft, which took five years to develop, still has significant bugs. One of the most annoying, if you ignore the BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) reminiscent of Windows 98, is the crashing of Media Center Edition embedded in the Vista Home Premium OS package.

Vista seems to work just fine out of the box, when installed or pre-installed on a bare system. But start to add applications, and that is when the problems begin. Connect your peripherals, and users will most likely discover that driver upgrades are required...usually, however, new hardware needs to be purchased.

The MCE problem has been occurring for a few years now, and Microsoft attempted to address the crashing of the "ehshell.exe" in the XP Service Pack 3 release. This does nothing, however, to address the problem in Vista.

Online forums are full of complaints from exasperated Vista users, and for the MCE package, it is an additional inconvenience. TV cards and video capture cards, along with easy access to videos and photos on your PC, all can use the MCE program for television channels, recording video, etc. In XP, it was a separate program tha could be repaired by uninstalling and reinstalling it. In Vista, it is part of the OS program. No one wants to have to perform a reinstall, as it wipes your drive.

Microsoft...if you're listening...fix this broken OS, or at least give users one less reason to complain. It is, afterall, football season, and many would like to use the DVR function of MCE to record those games when away from the PC.



MM [10:37]

[ Saturday ]

 

Mr. Paulson...Bail ME Out !

With seemingly all of the focus aimed at Wall Street and the financial markets, what happens to the average investor whose retirement accounts (cumulatively) have lost trillions of dollars in the past few weeks?

Mr. Paulson, how about sending me a check for $500,000 to compensate me for my losses?

I could then feel a little more confident about my retirement years, and the college fund for my kids. It might give me the confidence to spend money on discretionary items, hire the additional employees I need for my small business corporation, and pump money back into the economy which in turn helps local government collect tax revenues and provide basic services.

Instead, taxpayers like me are watching as the federal government throws money at a broken system...one that has bilked trillions of dollars from individual investors and pension funds through unregulated hedge funds, lax SEC enforcement, and FOH (Friends of Hank) deals allowing those who guided these investment banks and financial institutions into the ground to escape with millions of dollars in exit bonuses. And while you're at it, why not correct the problems which led to the housing debacle...the government's CRA program which led to mortgage approvals for otherwise unqualified borrowers, and the false demand which proved to be a house of cards.

MM [07:33]

[ Wednesday ]

 

Deflation - Lower Gas Prices and Energy Surcharges?

Will rapidly dropping oil price futures lead to rapidly dropping gasoline and diesel prices? And will your electric utility providers, along with airlines, UPS, FedEx and others eliminate their fuel surcharges? Ask them, or demand with your pocketbook that they comply.

MM [10:24]

[ Tuesday ]

 

Olympics 2008: NBC - 1, MSN Video - 0

Coverage of the Beijing Olympics for the USA market is adequate, with General Electric's NBC Division exercising their exclusive rights to edit what television viewers and computer users see, and when they see it.

For those viewers in the USA desiring to see the opening ceremonies in real time, some 12 hours ahead of the eastern time zone, they were (almost) out of luck. NBC wanted to preserve their broadcast rights and not dilute the advertising revenue, and chose to tape-delay the ceremonies until prime-time Friday evening on 8.08.08. But many viewers with internet access needed only to log into foreign websites (CBC) or monitor YouTube for uploads of video. While Google attempted to remove copyrighted video, others popped up almost as quickly as Google could remove earlier posts.

Some users of TOR navigated the web with proxies in order to 'legitimately' view live content being streamed through non-USA sites. NBC's reasoning for not allowing live streaming on their site was flawed from the very beginning.

Just as teasers and promos help lure viewers to NBC's programming, the web coverage would have prompted most surfers to tune it later that night to see the taped broadcast on their televisions, which incidentally, provide better quality viewing and, in most cases, larger screens than the pitiful Microsoft MSN Video site.

And speaking of the NBC Olympics website, the thousands of hours of coverage as promoted are somewhat misleading. NBC still refrains from live online streaming of some events, saving them for later taped broadcast. And when attempting to view some events on the 'enhanced' screen, viewers must wait for a commercial advertisement to play, only to discover that the program is not available, and to 'check local coverage' for other events. At that point, switching to a different event generally brings up another commercial advertisement and, occasionally, a repeat of the same.

The biggest disappointment, however, is the MSN Video. Rather than use flash video (like YouTube and everyone else), Microsoft wanted to promote their own version...SilverLight. So, upon initially using the NBC site, the MS application has to be installed on your computer. Once installed, the video plays well. But the enhanced screen cannot be viewed in full screen mode, and the window for the video player cannot be maximized. A missed opportunity for both NBC and Microsoft. Perhaps they felt that the quality of a full screen would not be acceptable to viewers, but if that was the case, they should have used Adobe's flash.

Fear not...many of the highlights will eventually appear on YouTube, and viewers will forget the poor experience of watching another Microsoft product release. (Remember Vista?)

MM [09:34]

[ Monday ]

 

Advanta Bank Corp...Bait and Switch on CC Rates?
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With the media focused on the sub-prime housing debacle, consumers are experiencing interest rate jumps on their credit card accounts. Legislatures and Congress are investigating how these rate increases are affecting consumers and small businesses, especially in instances where zero or introductory rates suddenly jump to 20 or 30-plus percent APR. The worst violators were named by the FDIC based on the number of complaints, but the list was published in alphabetical order. At the top of the list was Advanta Bank Corp.
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It should come as no surprise for small business customers of Advanta, with the lure of low interest introductory rates, that Advanta appeared on the FDIC list. Advanta is one of the worst violators. Last year (2007), Advanta offered new credit card customers a rate of 0 percent APR for 12 months, and showed a regular purchase and cash advance rate of 7.9 percent on their statements. This, according to customers, gave the impression that with low rates still prevalent in 2008, any post-introductory rate would be at the 7.9 percent rate. Advanta, however, took advantage of its customers by raising the post-intro rate to as high as 34.99% APR, even though customers complained that all prior statements had been paid on time with at least the minimum payment due during each billing cycle.
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Advanta Bank Corp violated the trust of its good customers, forcing many to close their accounts with the company, but only after paying the 'usury' rates for the final billing period, and any other period prior to cancellation. For customers affected by this sudden jump in rates, we would advise them to contact the Comptroller of the Currency and file a complaint against Advanta (see the Bank of America article in an earlier post for the link). Customers may also want to contact their legislators and congressman, along with their state's Office of Consumer Affairs or similar department. Only through this exposure can pressure be placed on these predatory type of financial institutions.
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Ironically, Advanta is currently running an offer on their website which shows the 15-month introductory rate for Balance Transfers, along with a line stating that the post-intro rate will only be 7.99 percent. Good luck getting that one to stick...and be sure to read the fine print.



MM [15:35]

[ Tuesday ]

 

Oil Prices...A Regulatory Issue?
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Now that a spokesperson for OPEC has declared that the current value of a barrel of oil is only $70 USD, and industry economists have stated that there is no justification, demand or otherwise, for oil to be priced at more than a $55 to $80 range, one has to wonder how the current futures price reached the current level (around $135 to $140).
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The facts are clear: speculators have driven up the price, and firms such as Goldman Sachs operate in an unregulated market, outside of the SEC and other agencies, with regard to this issue. Just last week, a GS analyst suggested that the price of oil would hit $150 per barrel by July 1st, and the price that day jumped $11 per barrel in response to the suggestion. Does anyone believe that Goldman Sachs did not already have a futures position in advance of the announcement, thereby insuring a neat profit?
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While not a proponent of government regulation, this is more of a security issue as it deals with speculators rather than profiteering, similar to the silver market of the 1980's. However, where the silver market affected only a small portion of the economy, oil price speculation by these investment firms has created a worldwide economic problem. The ramifications include food shortages, increased healthcare costs, budget problems for municipalities affecting basic services, as well as inflationary trends in virtually ever sector of the economy. This may well be considered an insider trading issue, except that the penalty to the petroleum consumers of the world will be in the trillions of dollars. In the USA, perhaps emergency regulation of these speculators should be addressed by Congress, along with the appropriate penalties on windfall profits.

MM [11:07]

 

Hey Microsoft...What Were You Thinking?
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Vista is rubbish...and that word comes from a Microsoft Partner. How many years does it take to publish a buggy and bloated operating system? Apparently, five years of (Longhorn) development is not enough.
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While a pretty interface belies the BSOD and compatibility problems users are likely to encounter, Vista does have a few nice features. But are they enough to warrant upgrading from XP, or switching from Linux or Apple OS....not in your wildest dreams!

MM [08:45]

[ Friday ]

 

Live Search from Microsoft...Irrelevant, For Now
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The title says it all. From several of the most recent surveys conducted on search traffic across the Internet, Microsoft's search engine (now called 'Live Search') has been mostly invisible in terms of usage. Google clearly dominates the category worldwide, and for good reason.
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For advertisers, Google is a breeze to use, if not somewhat pricey. Those few cents per text ad click-thru often have minimums, with many advertisers bidding dollars-per-click to maintain a high visibility. Microsoft, by comparison, initially put forth a site with little or no thought...one that was not intuitive, was difficult to edit, and one for which many potential advertisers most likely abandoned...even after receiving 'free' advertising credits to sign on.
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But don't despair. Microsoft is able to dump a great deal of money into a project, sit back and wait for the market to embrace it, or MS simply buys the competition. X-Box is one example, but Internet Explorer, Zune, and other products have also had a steep acceptance curve.
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Meanwhile, Google continues to flourish by providing an exceptional product to its users, while providing a lot of other 'freebies' in the marketplace to entice users to their site (like Blogger, Google Earth, Documents, G-Mail, etc.).

MM [12:31]

[ Tuesday ]

 

Bank of America Strikes Again
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With the consolidation still going on in the banking industry, consumers are really beginning to feel the pain of the mega-banks. Bank of America's $34.6B acquisition of MBNA America has raised the level of dissatisfaction to new heights. BOA has allegedly been raising rates on customers, charging new fees, and mailing ambiguously-worded balance transfer offers, and closing card accounts without notifying customers.
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It should come as no surprise that consumer groups petitioned the Federal Reserve to turn down the merger of the two big banks. Another issue was with the sharing of consumer data among the institutions and their affiliates. Now, with a period time since the merger was completed, horror stories are beginning to surface. BOA 'Customer Service Representatives' are directed to not give credits or refunds to complaining customers, according to one source, in an effort to gain incremental revenue through any means possible. With balance transfer fees, for example, the transaction fee was raised from 3 percent of the amount being transferred, to 4 percent and no maximum amount for the fee. Less than a year ago, the fee was typically capped at $50, $60, or $75. As the spread has remained low on interest rates, banks have raised every imaginable fee, including overdrafts, late charges, default rates, check copy charges, and even in-person account questions. Ah, the promise of automation apparently did not lower costs for the consumer. Especially when it costs the bank approximately 40 cents to process an overdraft, and the fee to the customer ranges from $29 to $45 in some markets.
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The best plan for consumers is to vote with their wallets and find another financial institution. And when a problem occurs with a national bank, send a complaint to the Office of the Controller of the Currency, along with e-mails to your Federal Reserve Governor, Congressional representatives, consumer agencies, and news media outlets.

MM [19:35]