Infinite Web Design

Volkher Hofmann is boycotting Sony BMG, Blue Note, and EMI. Why? Because he is sick and tired of paying to be disrespected by those labels and their intrusive Digital Rights Management (DRM) schemes. And he’s not alone. The audiophiles and film buffs who spend the most on music and movies are the ones who are most insulted and turned off by DRM.

As media conglomerates push DRM more and more and technology companies that produce computers, DVD, CD, and MP3 players build DRM support into their products consumers are growing more aware of DRM. And the more they know the more they bristle at the restricted playback of legally purchased music and movies, incompatible hardware and software, inability to backup their data, and other hassles. Bought that music on iTunes? Then you had better not want to play it in Windows Media Player. Bought that DVD on your trip to Europe? Then you can’t play it when you get back to the States, but you have a shiny new coaster.

Media producers and distributors argue that highly restrictive DRM is the only way to prevent piracy. And in theory it may be a swell idea, but in practice it is a hassle for the general public. Most people are not tech savvy, they don’t want to keep track of incompatible DRM schemes and deal with media that plays on their Mac but not their PC or on their iPod but not their PSP. It’s just annoying, and then insulting when they discover that they can’t watch their movie in their living room because Sony assumes they are a criminal. DRM is based on the premise that all consumers are criminals and is antithetical to the American sense of justice and fairness.
Continue reading R-E-S-P-E-C-T…

PDF files are the bane of the web surfer. Often unmarked they stall your browsing for a virtual eternity while Adobe’s kludgy Reader fires up. In the meantime your browser freezes and sometimes crashes, your computer slows to a crawl, and you start to hate life. Well, I’ve found a way to hate life a little but less — the Free Foxit Reader (via Lifehacker). PDF files are still terrible for web users most of the time, but at least this makes them less of a hated annoyance when they are encountered.

QUICK TIPS: If you are responsible for posting PDF files to a web site please mark them clearly. Use an icon and indicate next to any PDF links both that it is a PDF file and the file size. For example, Our PDF Document (PDF, 1.25MB). This helps prevent visitors from clicking unknowingly on the large PDF file and getting stuck waiting. Better yet, turn it into an HTML document and ditch the PDF hooey. Not always possible, but certainly preferable.affect of prime sub loansin agriculture florida loanssupplies interest aircraft rate loansand loan calculator airplaneamerican all loans home floridapayday all aproved loanamerican credit bad car ok loanloans consolidaton charege american Mapringtone tracfone 2126free nokia ringtone 3390 usanokia apps 7650 game ringtone8200 ringtone sanyofree a300 samsung ringtonesrealtones ringtones free allringtone phone cell alltel mp3 uploadsamsung a900 ringtone mp3 Mapscenes nude in movie best aporn big dick moviesbitchin moviesmovies blonde xxxmovies boobiebreast torture moviescdgirls free moviesmovies free nude celebrity Mapsloane sheviloan signature student consolidationinterest loans simple pay early offsinaloan300.00 six month loan ofada faucets sloansloan and associatessloan carter Map

I had a terrible experience today with DIRECTV. I recently ordered a Phillips DIRECTV DVR with TiVo. On the website it described all of the wonderful features available and I had been happy with the service at my parents’ house where they use an old RCA UltimateTV. I have setup my new DVR and started using it only to find that the software is outdated and the hardware is crippled. The software is TiVo version 3.1, which would be fine if the current version of TiVo wasn’t 7. DIRECTV says on their website that they are rolling out upgrades to version 6.2 but they shipped me a new box without the upgrade, f’ing brilliant. They also failed to mention that all of the cool home networking features were disabled and the USB and other ports would not work on the box I got. Nothing better than paying for hardware that might as well be a shiny river rock.
Continue reading Tell the Truth Upfront

Keith recently wrote about a really bad customer experience he had at Overstock.com. I feel badly for him but it also got me thinking about how rarely I see rants about great customer experience online and I’d like to change that.
Continue reading Great Customer Experiences

There are some really great ideas out there on how you interact with your customers. Some companies survive because customers have no choice but to rely on them. The power and gas companies tend to fall into this category. However, most companies have competition, often fierce, that is actively trying to crush them and take their market share. These companies have to work hard to keep their edge and draw customers. There are some people out there with truly original, innovative, and sometimes radical ideas on how to do this (we are of course among them but today I want to point out some additional resources).
Continue reading Rethinking Customer Relations

Inertia makes it difficult for large objects in motion to change direction. Large organizations suffer from an institutional inertia that makes it difficult for them to adapt and conduct business in new ways. This can apply to the way mail is delivered, phones are answered, files are stored, supplies are purchased, and a multitude of other areas large and small.

Change is hard, changing how hundreds or thousands of people do their jobs is very hard. People are uncomfortable changing how they work. They may not like everything they are doing or understand it, but at least it is familiar and they know what to do at each step. People are often afraid of making mistakes and losing their jobs. So while the head of the company talks about being on the “cutting edge” and “leading the industry” the workers in the trenches are fearfully looking at the cutting edge and worrying that they are the ones about to get cut.
Continue reading Pondering the Ponderous

Coudal Partners prefers to use a conversational tone in their work. That works for them but is not for everyone. The tone that you adopt in your advertising, website, brochures, e-mails, and phone calls should be a conscious decision. Your organization should be actively deciding how you will talk to people. Are you formal, conversational, informal, respectful, abrupt, curt, glib, irreverent? Do you know how you come across to others? Actively employing a consistent style of communication changes your brand and corporate identity in the eyes of your customers and business partners and can even effect how well your employees do their jobs.
Continue reading How do you say hello?

My brother called home the other day to say that the check engine light had come on in our Mazda 626. He brought it home and we took it to the dealership. The service people looked at the car and called this morning with the verdict: the gas cap hadn’t been tightened all the way. Price: $110.

So why is this a problem? Well for one thing the gas cap really isn’t a part of the engine. So when my brother saw the light he checked the oil and coolant, and various other things that are found in the engine of the car. But he didn’t think to tighten the gas cap. That cost $110. $110 dollars because someone at Mazda thought that the gas cap was somehow a part of the engine. The gas cap goes over the gas tank which is part of the fuel system which eventually reaches the engine so it is part of the engine, though by that logic every part of the car is part of the engine and that really isn’t a helpful way of classifying the parts of a car.
Continue reading The Cost of Bad Labeling

E-commerce sites that sell products or services online are regularly faced with a dilemma: collecting lots of information from customers we can target our marketing and sales better, but collecting that information creates a barrier to sales. Every extra form field adds a little bit to the already imposing psychological barriers to a sale in a potential customer’s mind. We are faced with balancing the need to gather information with the need to ease a customers path to completing a purchase.
Continue reading Reducing the Steps to a Sale