customize

The wacky Web 2.0 train has just collided with the computer hardware industry.

The idea of user-generated PCs isn't groundbreaking, but the level of creative control that buyers have is broadening. Take NVousPC, for instance (after you've figured out how to pronounce it, of course. Take your time). The new company, launched today, hopes to cash in on consumers who want to exercise complete control over the appearance of their notebooks.

The president and co-founder of NVousPC is former Alienware product development engineer Oscar Zapata. He escaped from his former employer a week before the company was snapped up by Dell. … Read more

The squeaky wheel doesn't always get the grease.

At least not if the squeaky wheel is a Sprint Nextel customer. On June 29, 2007, Sprint sent letters notifying some customers that their service would be canceled by the end of July due to excessive calls to customer service.

"Our records indicate that over the past year, we have received frequent calls from you regarding your billing or other general account information," the letter reads. "While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have … Read more

It's rare to get the opportunity to review custom-molded earphones. Custom ear products are usually just too expensive to be relevant to most people, and the ear-impression process can be an inconvenience. But when John Diles from LiveWires offered to come by CNET and take the ear impressions onsite, it was a tough proposition to pass up. (Click here to view a slide show of my custom earphone fitting, but be warned! These photos are not for the squeamish.)

I've had the earphones for over a week now, and they sound fantastic. At $249, they're less than … Read more

I love the name of the show I do for CNET TV since there are so many plays on words you can do with it. My favorite is "Are you in the Queue?" Now, there's a shirt that can share my excitement.

A company called Reactee lets you create custom-designed shirts with a slogan and keyword. When someone sees your shirt, they can send a text to 41411 to get more information, or sign up for instant alerts. People can also buy your shirt for $20 bucks to share the love. Pretty neat, huh?

I can definitely … Read more

We realize not everyone uses Firefox to browse the Web, but for those who do, there's a really great extension that's been getting a lot of buzz lately. It's called Customize Google and it does just that. You can customize every service Google offers, from basic tasks such as automatically redirecting to the secure versions of Gmail, Google Reader, and Google Docs and Spreadsheets, to actually adding links to other search services such as MSN, Yahoo, and Ask.com. Social bookmarking nuts can also add links to services such as Reddit, Digg, and Del.icio.us, right … Read more

T-Mobile has done it again: J.D. Power and Associates recently ranked the carrier as No. 1, for the fifth time in a row, for providing the highest level of overall customer satisfaction. J.D. Power's 2007 Wireless Regional Customer Satisfaction Index found that T-Mobile ranks ahead of Cingular/AT&T, Alltel, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel in three of six regions surveyed: the Northeast, the West and the Southwest. In the Mid-Atlantic area, T-Mobile tied with Verizon, and in the Southeast, the carrier tied with Alltel. There was a four-way tie in the North … Read more

If you're not sure whether an outfit's colors go together, we've always been told, don't take a chance. But, as this PC ensemble proves, the monochromatic look isn't a slam dunk either, unless it's all black.

The "Diablo" custom gaming system from Smooth Creations can be ordered with a matching monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and iPod, according to Chip Chick, in the hues of your choice. But we do hope that the color pictured here doesn't become too popular, as it appears to have produced the computing incarnation of Goldmember.

No … Read more

This group of presenters at Under the Radar is focused on tools that let regular people (read: not coders) create Web sites and tools to make things easy for site visitors and customers.

My Payment Network provides small-businesses and education payment systems aimed at cutting administrative costs and the hassle of paper checks. For schools, it's a chance to add an online payment system for things like sports enrollment fees, and equipment costs. For small businesses, it's another way to handle payment processing. My Payment Network is comparable to PayPal, but offers customizable controls for those in charge … Read more

37signals launched Highrise this morning. It's a customer relationship management (CRM) tool aimed at small groups and medium-size businesses. Highrise is meant to fill the gap between Outlook's contact manager and complicated CRM apps that require an IT department to keep running smoothly. It's also priced below SalesForce.com's Team Edition, with more of an emphasis on contact communication and history, rather than sales and forecasting. It's a Webware solution for people who don't want to install CRM software or manage a huge database, and who need a tool that can be accessed on the go.

Highrise launches with six different plans, five of which are paid services with the benefit of shared group storage, increased contact and collaboration limits, and relation-based information pages called "cases." Each tier of service can be upgraded or downgraded at any time, and there's no contract.

In Highrise, each case file can contain information about multiple companies; contacts; and any important information like notes, shared files, and e-mails. By grouping this information in one place, you can create a detailed history or context for a group or contact. Highrise has some built-in tools for organization as well. You can schedule phone calls, reminders, tasks, or basic to-do lists, and assign or include other Highrise collaborators. It's not nearly as deep a system as you get with 37signals' group collaboration tool Basecamp, but if you see something you want a colleague to follow up on, you can do it without firing up your e-mail client.

For integration with your e-mail, Highrise recommends that you set up your e-mail app to automatically forward everything to a special Highrise address. Highrise will parse your messages, and copy over any attachments along with the original text to the contact's profile page on Highrise. If you haven't already created the contact in Highrise, the app will create it for you. … Read more