Buzz Out Loud 749: Tom no longer exists on Netflix
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EPISODE 749 |
Netflix To Eliminate Profiles Feature
http://www.netflix.com/Help?p_faqid=3962&nlid=20427.1001179.0.1.0.0&eid=T1dbO9MEwQ0c
http://blog.netflix.com/2008/06/profiles-feature-going-away.html
http://tech.slashdot.org/tech/08/06/19/0337233.shtml
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/06/19/0337233
Microsoft does 180, will continue to support MSN Music DRM
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080618-microsoft-does-180-will-continue-to-support-msn-music-drm.html
Free music service Qtrax is back with… wait, no it isn’t
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080619-free-music-service-qtrax-is-back-with-wait-no-it-isnt.html
Mozilla Firefox 3 vulnerability
http://dvlabs.tippingpoint.com/blog/2008/06/18/vulnerability-in-mozilla-firefox-30
Yahoo Mail hopes to lure users with ‘ymail.com’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9972349-7.html
Court limits employer access to worker messages
http://news.wired.com/dynamic/stories/E/ELECTRONIC_PRIVACY?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-06-19-08-12-28
Swedish parliament approves bugging bill, after delay
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/061808-swedish-parliament-approves-bugging-bill.html
Teens use technology to party in strangers’ pools
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/06/18/tech_aids_pool_crashing/
VOICE MAIL
Robert
About upgrading to new Firefox.
Doug
More T-Mobile iPhone rumors.
Tracy Atlanta
OR it could be this.
Hi Tom, Molly, and Jason–
Sources of the 911 calls? We can attribute most of our emergency calls (Fire/EMS) via cell phone. And yes in our area, E911 does work.
(Background info: Our response district is a primarily a “economically challenged” area.)
*Regular 911 in a city goes to the respective city’s “dispatch center”. Not necessarily the exact city you are in. When they call, the number does not provide additional info like “big dog that bites” on the CAD system. This system is relatively out of date.
*Enhanced 911 is a regional type dispatch center (I think proper term is PSAP or Public Safety Access Point).
Most of the calls get automatically routed to the respective dispatch center-from the info attached to the E911 call.
Additionally, E911 does provide info to our responders like “big dog that bites”. Emergency Responders like this kind of report because it gives us more info and we can get to you faster without your dog biting us.
Note: E911 only works with systems that already have 911.
Regional centers with delay of calls? There are metropolitian areas in the US that have regional call centers (usually county run)--Assigned from Federal Governmnet funding (”Regionalization”). The delay is usually 30 seconds for them to manually route the call.
Again-most of the calls get automatically routed to the respective dispatch center-from the information attached to the E911 call.
Your major worries? In vehicle systems such as OnStar do delay the process because they ask questions like “Are you OK? We show an airbag deployment-Shall I call 911 for you?” Freaking idiots at Onstar. Just call 911 regardless. Obviously, OnStar folks have NEVER seen an airbag deployed…ever. (Note: Just my opinion).
Tom: Last figures I got? 911 service is available to 94% of the US.
But because of the publication of the “911″ emergency number, most of the country ASSUMES that 911 works everywhere.
If anyone has further questions on these issues, I suggest you call your local area Fire Department and they will be happy to help you out.
--Fire Chief Kevin
Buzztown Fire Department
P.S. I believe, since all residents of Buzztown are technologically sound, that we have an E911 or A911 service (Awesome 911)….
Hi JaMoTo. I’m a regular BOL listener and UserFriendly.org fan. I’ve heard you mention their Link of the Day before and wanted to let you know that my site made the cut today. Thought you might like to know one of your audience members got the call.
--Dan
The Pompous Ass Words Site
http://www.pompousasswords.com
The cake is a lie: IE team bakes a treat for Mozilla
via Digg / Technology on 6/18/08
In honor of today’s Firefox 3 release, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer team gave a cake to Mozilla. The tasty treat, which prominently displays IE’s blue “e” icon, just arrived here at Mozilla headquarters in Mountain View.
--Daniel
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Molly Wood engages in
ruthless industry analysis in the form of the Daily Buzz, the Buzz
Report video, and, of course, Buzz Out Loud. 
Tom Merritt appears on
CNET TV, specializing in help and how-to and the ever popular Top 5
lists. He also co-hosts CNET's The Real Deal podcast. 
Jason Howell can
often be found producing Buzz Out Loud from the audio studios at CNET,
updating XML feeds from the comfort of his cubicle, and saying "uh-oh"
from time to time. 
-Lauren
Thanks again, and love the show!
They are taking away my #1 feature on the NetFlix website: the queues that allow my kids to manage their movies independently. Before this I almost canceled the service because it was too hard to manage 4 peoples' movie lists on one queue.
Their email gave *no* reason why you were taking away such a key product feature from me, one of their most loyal customers. I called phone support and even talked to a supervisor. They could give no reason for NetFlix taking away product feature from their highest revenue customers.
Their blog indicates that it is just too "difficult" for your software developers to figure out. Then you have indeed failed.
The only choice they give me is to create 4 separate accounts - which will increase my NetFlix cost by 25%, but then there is no mechanism to control the content of movies that my kids watch if I do this. If they have their own password to log on, they can change the maturity ratings. Their support has no solution for this.
It seems they have announced a *major* change in their product by taking away the most popular feature, and have not planned for the impact on me - their most loyal customer. If their take this feature away, I will not be able to - and am not willing to - manage the arguments and hassle between my kids about the *single* movie queue.
Creating 4 new accounts and increasing my fees by 25% is pretty harsh. I can't believe they haven't put out a press release that says you are increasing fees to your best customers by 25%. But I'd pay it. But the problem then is that then there is no ability on NetFlix to keep inappropriate content from my kids unless I go a physically log them on every time! I obviously cannot take that route (I value my sanity too much).
And every customer using this feature will lose all their ratings and friends? Wow.
On top of everything else, all kids are generally secondary account holders. They are eliminating all the *kids* queues.
Obviously you're most profitable customers are the ones who use this feature the most - the ones with the highest # of movies plans. And you're going to take *their* key feature away? Screw your best customers? Who's running marketing at NetFlix anyway? The website design department?
I haven't decided what I'll do yet. Most likely I will cut back from 7 movies to 3 movies which will be much more manageable with a single queue.
But then again, I'm *so* pissed off that you would take away the #1 feature in your product from me, a longtime loyal customer who is on one of the highest fee plans - without explaining *WHY* in a quick email, that I think I will just cancel my whole NetFlix account on Sept 1. You guys sure talk the talk about customer service, but don't walk the walk.
A quick off-topic question: Why does the podcast take so long to show up at the iTunes store compared to the website? I know the obvious answer, but many times it does not get there until really late.
Keep up the good work. I love the interaction and frank reports.