Put a Hotspot Search on Your Page
Grok Headline matches for Put a Hotspot Search on Your Page
MSN Search Preview Page
MSN Search Preview Page
08/05/2002 10:45 PM"After copying the log entry into the browser I got a preview image of
six pages which matched the result."
Page One Search Engine Overlap Less Than
3%
Page One Search Engine Overlap Less Than
3%
06/05/2005 11:28 PMThe study offers compelling evidence that contradicts the widely held
notion that search engines are more or less alike and that searching
one engine is the same as searching them all.
AskJeeves Intros New Advanced Search
Page
AskJeeves Intros New Advanced Search
Page
10/29/2003 01:14 AMYahoo! Highlights Search on Home Page
Yahoo! Highlights Search on Home Page
11/04/2003 08:21 PMTabs for images, yellow pages, and product search appear on the front
page, in a manner reminiscent of the user interface of rival
Google.com. ...
Google Search Page With a Graphic
Macintosh OS X Look
Google Search Page With a Graphic
Macintosh OS X Look
03/17/2005 02:34 AMGoogle X replaces the text-link categories above the search bar on the
company's standard homepage with icons that magnify and display their
name when moused over like application icons do in OS X' Dock.
Google turns a new page with book search
feature
Google turns a new page with book search
feature
12/24/2003 08:16 PMGoogle, the search engine, has ripped a page out of Amazon.com’s book,
debuting a way for people to search through text that was once
exclusively located ...
Google's Turns a New Page With Book
Search Feature
Google's Turns a New Page With Book
Search Feature
12/21/2003 12:03 AMWashington Post Dec 20 2003 10:22PM ET
Yahoo Adds Some Search Features to Its
Front Page
Yahoo Adds Some Search Features to Its
Front Page
11/05/2003 12:11 PMUser Experience and Search Engines: If
Your Home Page Could Only Talk
User Experience and Search Engines: If
Your Home Page Could Only Talk
03/19/2005 02:41 AMThe success of search engine marketing
means web page design must change
The success of search engine marketing
means web page design must change
05/13/2004 04:48 PMInternetRetailer.com May 13 2004 8:41PM GMT
Copyscape - Website Plagiarism Search -
Web Page Copyright - Find Site Copies
Copyscape - Website Plagiarism Search -
Web Page Copyright - Find Site Copies
07/12/2004 06:00 AMCopyscape - Website Plagiarism Search - Web Page Copyright -
Find Site Copieshttp://www.copyscape.com/Copyscape finds copies of your content on the Web. You can use
Copyscape to identify sites that have copied your content without
permission. Copyscape will also show you who is quoting your site.
Simply type in the URL of your original content, and Copyscape does
the rest. Copyscape is powered by
Google Alert technology and
uses the
Google Web APIs.
The
widely acclaimed
and award winning Google Alert service performs automatic daily
Google searches to track your interests on the Web. Both Copyscape and
Google Alert are provided by Indigo Stream Technologies Ltd and are
not affiliated with
Google.
Copyscape is currently under beta release and works with Roman
alphabet languages such as English, French and German. For now, it
does not work with non-Roman languages such as Arabic, Hebrew or
Russian. This has been added to the tool section of Research Resources
Subject Tracer™ Information Blog and will be added to the search
engine section of all the
Internet MiniGuides
2004-05.
Lexington Herald-Leader | 07/04/2004 |
Front-page news, back-page coverage
Lexington Herald-Leader | 07/04/2004 |
Front-page news, back-page coverage
07/08/2004 02:18 AMNoted in yesterday's Lexington [KY] Herald-Leader .. "We regret
the omission." .. Read article ..
Oops
kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/local/9077613.htm
track this
site | 8 links
great web searching tool, free download,
cool search web, search the web, google
web search, web search engine
great web searching tool, free download,
cool search web, search the web, google
web search, web search engine
06/20/2004 03:27 AMRe-Search is a new product that you can load it on your desktop. Of
course it is totally free. Search the web became easy, fast and
effectively! [PRWEB Jun 20, 2004]
TROELS BOOKMARKLETS (free): Another
great stash of bookmarklets, including
some to help manage links, web page
layout, web navigation, site
development, search-translate, and a
bunch of experimental bookmarklets to
try out
TROELS BOOKMARKLETS (free): Another
great stash of bookmarklets, including
some to help manage links, web page
layout, web navigation, site
development, search-translate, and a
bunch of experimental bookmarklets to
try out
03/13/2003 10:26 AMHotspot Camera
Hotspot Camera
01/05/2005 06:47 PM Did Kodak just build 802.1X into a camera? Kodak will release a
camera in June that can upload photos via T-Mobile hotspots. The
software to enable this uploading isn't due until fall, for some
reason. The new Easyshare-One sounds like a combination of Apple iPod
Photo, PDA functionality (for wireless and previewing), and digital
camera. It comes with a trial for using T-Mobile's service. I'm
guessing that this camera's fall software release will leverage the
802.1X authentication that T-Mobile has added to its North American
venues. 802.1X is both simple and hard. If Kodak preloads unique
accounts, or allows people to set this up through PC or camera back
software, there's very little complexity. The 802.1X supplicant in the
camera can manage the connection. The camera will retail for $600 plus
$100 for the optional Wi-Fi card. Terms of the free trial service and
monthly pricing are yet to be determined. It's a direct shot across
the bow at cellular operators who are offering poor upload speeds on
their high-speed network. Given that T-Mobile has articulated a long
delay in their 3G rollout plans and don't want to clog their GPRS
networks, this seems like a perfect symbiosis for Kodak and
T-Mobile....
How to Become a Hotspot Guide
How to Become a Hotspot Guide
04/23/2004 08:23 PMLooking to become a hotspot? Jiwire has published an in-depth guide:
There's no question we get more frequently at Wi-Fi Networking News
than from individual venues or small chains of locations that want to
install Wi-Fi service but don't know quite how to start or how to
evaluate offerings. This Jiwire piece offers very specific advice and
direction on making primary decisions--free or fee? on your own or in
a network? turnkey or solutions provider?--and then who to turn to....
SBC is Hotspot Hero?
SBC is Hotspot Hero?
07/26/2004 12:37 PMThey're late to the game, but they're ready to party: It's a funny
thing. When SBC Communications first announced their FreedomLink plans
last year with plans build 6,000 hotspots over a couple of years, it
seemed like yet another announcement of large numbers with no track
record. Cometa was still on its 20,000 hotspots prediction and had
only a handful. McDonald's hadn't decided its partner and was in
limited trials. Wayport seemed stuck on hotels. And T-Mobile stayed
focused--as it still does--on a few ubiquitous chains. In the space of
a few months, SBC has moved from last man in, to practically first
mover. Let's review: The UPS Store. They will install Wi-Fi in
thousands of UPS Store outlets, which are places that business people
already congregate. This will probably also necessitate a change of
thinking for that mailing and business operation so that they can make
it easier for people to work for periods of time in their stores.
Wayport managed services. They hired Wayport to build out their
FreedomLink locations instead of creating a new division with no
experience in house. Wayport's Wi-Fi World and McDonald's. They're the
first telco to sign up to resell Wayport's McDonald's network, which
will ultimately be several thousand stores over the next couple of
years. Wayport/McDonald's supplier. They're also providing DSL and
other connectivity to many of the McDonald's that Wayport is
disconnected, which is part revenue, part branding for them as part of
the Wi-Fi World co-marketing model Wayport is pursuing. Airports,
airports, airports. They have roaming agreements now for their
FreedomLink users onto Concourse, Wise, Wayport, and (reportedly)
Sprint PCS's airport locations. There are only a handful of major
airports not represented by those networks: SFO and Boston Logan are
the two that come to mind. Pushing Wi-Fi into homes. SBC is selling
3,000 Wi-Fi routers a day to their home DSL users. This will drive
adoption by their users of Wi-Fi. People without Wi-Fi will buy
adapters or new systems because of the ease of sharing. Pushing
hotspots subscriptions to their DSL subscribers. It's a coming, and
it's going to be good--SBC keeps saying in its press releases that
they will offer FreedomLink at a substantial discount to their DSL
subscribers. $10 per month for unlimited use? $8? $15? Who knows. But
it's an audience they've already got and they can offer them
nationwide service with several thousand locations...
New UK Wi-Fi Hotspot Finder
New UK Wi-Fi Hotspot Finder
01/09/2004 09:52 PMFirstly, i would like to say "Happy New Year".
Anyway, this
posting is because i have made a new UK Hotspot finder site that finds
the nearest Wi-Fi Hotspots (Commercial and Free) to your
postcode.
At the moment, Wi-Fish.com (the name of the site)
is UK-Only because of the search algorhythm...
A Hotspot on Every Corner
A Hotspot on Every Corner
07/29/2004 08:25 PMDetails are sketchy, but New York City may allow six telecom firms to
pay up to $25 million per year to install wireless transmitters on
18,000 lamp posts: The article is full of sturm und drang about health
effects, but the real story is that the city is trying to counter its
dead zones without tearing up the streets. It's unclear precisely what
kind of transmitters these will be, but you can bet your boppy that
the goal will be wireless backhaul for the majority of the points
using mesh or simple point-to-point. This endeavor could bring
massively improved voice, 2.5G/3G cell data, and Wi-Fi into a city
without ripping up all the roads once again or putting giant cell
antennas on every last building. The companies include well-known and
never-heard-of-'em: the New York Post says they are two cellular
providers, Nextel and T-Mobile, three non-cellular companies,
ClearLinx Network Corp., Crown Castle Solutions, and Dianet
Communications. The sixth, IDT Business Services, will provide
telephone service via the Internet. [link via GigaOm]...
Hotspot Helper
Hotspot Helper
01/16/2004 11:01 AMMediaTracker is offering a low-cost way for venues to manage their
hotspots: The management software, ControlAP, costs $149 and can
support several platforms and both external APs plugged into a
computer or an internal wireless card. Because the software is Java
based, it can be run from a handheld with a wireless card. "It's a
do-it-yourself mechanism to control hotspots," said Dario Laverde,
MediaTracker's founder. "The initial target is cafes and small store
fronts." The software enables a captive portal Web page where end
users can sign in or see a welcome page if the hot spot is free. For
now, a cafe may decide to offer 30 minutes of free use, then require
customers to approach the counter where they pay the barista for
additional use. A cafe could also ask customers to buy another coffee
in exchange for additional use rather than set a price based on time,
Laverde suggested. An employee authorizes additional use from a
computer behind the counter where the ControlAP software can be
integrated with existing point-of-sale software. The next version of
ControlAP will support credit card billing. The software logs traffic
and allows a cafe to block URLs or users by MAC address. It can be
used to manage wired connections, too, so a cafe that may have some
wired computers available for customers can manage those together with
users of the Wi-Fi network from the same tool. Laverde says that
thousands of people have downloaded the free version of the software,
which is meant to serve as a trial version because it limits
simultaneous users to five and offers stripped-down features. The full
version of the software was just introduced this week. MediaTracker
isn't alone in the market chasing independent cafes that don't want to
partner with any of the larger hotspot operators, but it does offer
some unique differences from its competitors. Surf and Sip, for
example, offers a hosted hotspot management solution that either costs
$50 per month if the hotspot is free for users, or 25 percent of
profits for a paid location. Sputnik offers a robust solution for
managing hotspots but is designed for the small to medium-sized
hotspot operator that has multiple locations. AirPath Wireless also
offers a hotspot management solution but seems to be targeting larger
hot spot operators--Sprint uses AirPath's solution. NoCatAuth is also
an option but appropriate mostly for technical folks....
Charter, Cisco Hotspot
Charter, Cisco Hotspot
06/09/2004 05:35 PMUnstrung.com Jun 9 2004 9:42PM GMT
Which Hotspot Networks Still Stand?
Which Hotspot Networks Still Stand?
05/19/2004 01:26 PMWith the slow rundown of Cometa's clock starting today, which
companies remain standing?: I do have a little ego, and my article in
Feb. 2001 in The New York Times was the first comprehensive piece
written in a major publication about the nascent Wi-Fi hotspot
industry. Several companies were striving to raise funds into the
mouth of the dotcom collapse, which claimed bloated business plans or
too early attempts to capitalize on a technology that only a small
number of laptop users had access to. While researching the story in
Dec. 2000, I spoke to the chief marketing officer of the Aerzone
division of Softnet. Three days after I spoke to him, Softnet pulled
the plug because they couldn't raise the funds to perform the build
out that they'd contracted with airlines and airports to handle. The
firms I interviewed for the article were Wayport, Surf and Sip, Global
Digital Media, AirWave, SkyLink (not quoted), and MobileStar. Let's
start in reverse order. What's clear from examining each of these
firms is that execution and timing mattered as much in 2001 as they do
today: controlling costs and building out a robust network in the
right place can only go so far: users who pay are still required.
MobileStar: While initially well funded, MobileStar had extremely high
run rates. I's technical standards were top notch, but expensive, and
expenses ran far ahead of any potential revenue. They went bankrupt
late in 2001 and had their assets purchased by T-Mobile HotSpot. The
company reportedly went through as much as $90 million in investment
income while producing no more than a couple million in revenue.
T-Mobile has continued to use its brand name and high-level
partnerships to run what is generally considered to be an excellent
network that's overprice for day use, but not far out of scale on
their unlimited monthly plans with one-year commitment. Sky.Link
Internet Plus: A promising Canadian firm with hotel and airports
service, the company disappeared abruptly a few months after my
article came out. It resurfaced briefly with fewer locations before
taking a final plunge. Its history and disappearance are a mystery.
AirWave: AirWave was a small San Francisco Bay Area set of hotspots in
restaurants and coffeeshops that decided that the software they'd
written to manage access points was a better product than the hotspot
business. In 2002, they exited hotspots, spinning off their locations
to...
T-mobile WiFi Hotspot
T-mobile WiFi Hotspot
04/09/2004 04:00 PMI arrived here at Honolulu International a little earlier than I
wanted to this morning as my wife had to...
Psst, need a Hotspot locator?
Psst, need a Hotspot locator?
07/19/2004 04:40 PMDirect and Related Links for 'Psst, need a
Hotspot locator?'
Need to be able to locate Wi-Fi Hotspots in a hurry, perhaps
JiWire’s Portable Hotspot Locator is just the tool that you
need. The Portable Hotspot Locator enables you to search for and find
Hotspots quickly thanks to the ability to search by State, city and
even Location Type….
Oregon Gets Biggest Hotspot
Oregon Gets Biggest Hotspot
02/10/2004 02:40 AMIt's always worrisome to qualify networks as the "biggest" but in this
case I'd bet that eastern Oregon really does have the biggest hotspot
in the country: Yesterday, Boardman and Hermiston, Ore. turned on a
600-square-mile hotspot. The network came about through a
public/private initiative and was built by EZ Wireless. The network
will be used by the Morrow County Emergency Management and Chemical
Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program, the police force, and
citizens. Initially, it will cover 600 square miles which includes
four counties and seven cities, some in Washington. The second phase,
which should be complete this summer, will add another seven cities.
The press release isn't online and any news organizations in the area
either don't post the stories online or require subscriptions from
visitors wanting to read the stories online....
Second Wi-Fi Advertising Hotspot Network
Second Wi-Fi Advertising Hotspot Network
05/02/2004 03:37 PMFreeFi will overlay advertising on Wi-Fi free hotspots; The press
release claims FreeFi is the first Wi-Fi ad network, but it's only
narrowly the case: DotSpot launched in March and both builds out
hotspots and then sells advertising on them. The FreeFi site makes it
clear that FreeFi is a software gateway overlay. The FreeFi system
uses a Web-based advertising bar that apparently a user must agree to
open in order to gain access. It says it doesn't rely on spyware,
popups, or other annoying tools. (The FreeFi logo cleverly
incorporates the open Wi-Fi hotspot warchalking symbol.)...
North Pole Gets Wi-Fi Hotspot
North Pole Gets Wi-Fi Hotspot
04/15/2005 08:43 PMfree hotspot lambeth rd se1
free hotspot lambeth rd se1
02/10/2004 03:00 AMas said before by others, bought 11g network card, plugged it in, free
access. around junction of kennington rd & lambeth rd, lambeth se1
Hotspot Users Survey
Hotspot Users Survey
06/24/2005 10:01 PM A group at the University of Virginia wants some answers from hotspot
users: They're compiling a study in which they're recruiting folks who
regularly use hotspots to fill out a very brief questionnaire....
MCI's Hotspot Network
MCI's Hotspot Network
03/23/2005 12:40 PM The attention that MCI has gotten from its expanded hotspot network
is bewildering to me: I cover the industry obsessively, and so I know
that MCI is just reselling locations available from Boingo and
Wayport. Still, there have been piles of articles trying to articulate
how MCI's hotspot plan fits into their rest of their operations.
There's a strategic goal there, of course, but the articles--not the
one linked to, however--often confuse the private-label reseller
relationship that Boingo has with MCI (and with Earthlink, Fiberlink,
and other companies without -link in their names) and Wayport with,
well, everyone, with MCI building out a hotspot network a la SBC or
T-Mobile. Although the IDG story linked to says that the service costs
$40 per month for unlimited Wi-Fi/broadband when added to a dial-up
and VPN account, it's unclear exactly how that works as MCI's Remote
Broadband Access FAQ states that wireless charges are in addition to
dial-up charges. Just another way in which it's hard to figure out
what, precisely, something costs....
New UK Wi-Fi Hotspot Finding Site
New UK Wi-Fi Hotspot Finding Site
01/03/2004 08:47 PMFirstly, i would like to say "Happy New Year".
Anyway, this
posting is because i have made a new UK Hotspot finder site that finds
the nearest Wi-Fi Hotspots (Commercial and Free) to your
postcode.
At the moment, Wi-Fish.com (the name of the site)
is UK-Only because of the search algorhythm...
Coming Soon to a Wireless Hotspot Near
You: Ads
Coming Soon to a Wireless Hotspot Near
You: Ads
05/03/2004 12:26 PMHotspot Problems Universal
Hotspot Problems Universal
01/19/2004 01:59 PMA Malaysian user of the state-run operator's Wi-Fi service has trouble
getting on: Then he gets no help from customer service. It seems that
getting technical help when trying to connect to a hotspot is
problematic anywhere you go. Ultimately, the writer finds more luck
using free hotspots....
City to become wireless hotspot
City to become wireless hotspot
05/19/2004 06:13 AMAnyone in the centre of Cardiff will be able to surf the web or pick
up e-mails on their laptop under a new broadband scheme.
Wayport wins McDonald's hotspot gig
Wayport wins McDonald's hotspot gig
04/22/2004 06:33 AMWLAN, burger and fries
.Mac members get T-Mobile HotSpot trial
.Mac members get T-Mobile HotSpot trial
04/07/2005 10:13 AMApple has added a new offer for members of its .Mac services -- a free
30–day trial of the T–Mobile HotSpot Wi–Fi service, which provides
access to more than 5,400 wireless broadband locations in the U.S...
Frozen polar waste gets Wi-Fi hotspot
Frozen polar waste gets Wi-Fi hotspot
04/14/2005 01:42 PMSanta and elves said to be pleased
Boingo Bolsters Hotspot Security
Boingo Bolsters Hotspot Security
09/08/2004 04:08 PMNomadix patents Wi-Fi hotspot log-in
tech
Nomadix patents Wi-Fi hotspot log-in
tech
01/27/2004 08:59 AMThe Register Jan 27 2004 12:34PM GMT
Grok Description matches for Put a Hotspot Search on Your Page
GrokA matches for Put a Hotspot Search on Your Page
Fiberlink Uses Boingo SDK
Fiberlink Uses Boingo SDK
11/11/2003 03:10 PMFiberlink, the remote access aggretator, said it will use Boingo’s SDK
(software developer's kit) to build a client: The client will provide
Wi-Fi and in the future 3G sniffing, connection and authentication.
The deal also means that Fiberlink customers can access the hotspots
that are part of Boingo’s service. In another deal from an aggregator,
Infonet, which caters to large multinationals, will use hot spots that
are part of GRIC's network. GRIC is an aggregator that appeals to
distributed enterprises. I'm seeing an increasing number of
announcements about aggregators like Fiberlink, iPass, and GRIC
including as many hot spots into their networks as they can and making
it easier for their customers to find and use the networks. They are
aggressively trying to lock their customers into relying on them for
Wi-Fi access before tons of roaming agreements happen between Wi-Fi
operators, making the aggregators irrelevant. It will be interesting
to watch what happens to these guys as the market evolves....
Fiberlink Integrates 3G, WiFi
Fiberlink Integrates 3G, WiFi
03/08/2004 11:21 PMUnstrung.com Mar 8 2004 11:09PM GMT
Fiberlink Adds 3G for Secure Client
Software
Fiberlink Adds 3G for Secure Client
Software
03/08/2004 11:15 PMFiberlink allows its client software adds 3G cellular to the list of
roaming options for its secure client/server software users:
Fiberlink's virtual private networking software lets enterprises tune
policy management for what users can do and what methods of Internet
access they can employ while away from the office. The latest version
adds support for 3G networks. Fiberlink can opportunistically use
dial-up, Wi-Fi, 3G, or wired networks as available and as the
enterprise allows these particular networking methods. The software
also ensures that a remote users has the latest anti-virus, firewall,
and intrusion detection updates installed....
Your Credit Stinks
Your Credit Stinks
05/25/2004 01:23 PMCommon credit conundrums that make lenders say, "No thank you."
A Rogue By Any Other Name Still Stinks
A Rogue By Any Other Name Still Stinks
11/04/2003 12:52 AMA rogue access point on a company that takes its wireless LAN security
seriously still painful to detect: You can see how even with a strong
set of policies, it's easy for an employee to subvert them. You might
understand now why some companies have strict bag searches for
employees entering and leaving the building. Those of you who saw the
Al Pacino movie The Recruit will remember that one of the most
plausible technology plot points involved a hidden USB hard drive. (Of
course, CIA computers probably have their USB drives sealed and USB
drivers set to restrict access, but you never know.) One of the
factors that makes rogue wireless access points difficult to cope with
is that local wired networks are often security free. This is
changing, of course, with the rise of VLANs and secure fileserver
mounting. The Recruit 2: Revenge of the Nerds will obviously feature
someone with a micro-Wi-Fi-antenna....
Technology That Stinks... Again
Technology That Stinks... Again
04/18/2005 04:16 AMWhat is it with companies coming out with products that have been
tried
and failed many times before, suddenly announcing that they're
doing something innovative? Do they really do no research on the
history of such products? Someone anonymously submitted a Business
Week story about yet another company working on a product to
add smells to the internet and video games. The
Business Week reporter doesn't note the history of similar products,
such as
DigiScent
s that hit the market in the bubble years and
went
out of business rather quickly when it turned out people really
didn't want to buy an extra device to smell things online (even if
Wired Magazine did once predict it would be
the next web revolution). Of course, the real innovator in this
space was the early web design firm Agency.com who, in the mid-90s,
created the
spoof site for
RealAroma, making fun of RealAudio. If they were smart, they
would have patented the idea, and used it to sue all these other
copycats. Of course, you could go back even further to attempts like
aroma-rama and
smell-o-vision
to learn of other attempts/spoofs at adding smell to entertainment.
What's scary, though, is just how much these "real" iSmell companies
seem to just be copying the idea cooked up as a spoof.
Notes and Tips: Buddylinks Stinks
Notes and Tips: Buddylinks Stinks
02/12/2004 11:28 AMEven though this slimeware runs on Windows, it may hit your Mac with
ad garbage via instant messaging.
Dead Squirrel Stinks Up Courthouse (AP)
Dead Squirrel Stinks Up Courthouse (AP)
07/29/2004 04:52 PMAP - Those in charge of blind justice have been holding their noses at
the Tippecanoe County Courthouse.
'Grossology' Museum Exhibit Burps,
Stinks (AP)
'Grossology' Museum Exhibit Burps,
Stinks (AP)
01/03/2004 07:29 PMAP - It burps, sneezes, passes gas and just down right stinks.
WHY SERVICE
STINKS: CORPORATE APARTHEID
WHY SERVICE
STINKS: CORPORATE APARTHEID
09/04/2004 03:52 PM
Some articles have a long shelf
life. Case in point: This BusinessWeek cover
story from four years ago
called Why Service Stinks.
Bottom line is that, like everything else in
the US, and to a lesser (but growing) extent elsewhere in the West,
your value as a consumer (and as a citizen) is a direct function of
your wealth and your propensity to spend it. So if the computer of the
person who's serving you says you're the buying rep for a ten billion
dollar company, believe you're going to get great service. But it that
computer says you've only bought one thing from them before, and it
required service under warranty: "Sorry, we seem to have a bad
connection." *click*
This is part of a larger malaise that tries to make us believe, for
the
benefit of the corporatist aristocracy that owns and runs more of our
lives every day, that we are only
what we buy. If it's easier for you to buy a replacement for
the
shoddy item you bought, than to return it or get it fixed, then if you
can afford to do so you'll replace it. The vendor will therefore make
sure it's easier to buy new
than
repair or return it under warranty. And if you can't afford to buy a
new one, the vendor doesn't want to know you.
Companies
know just how good a customer you are--and unless you're a high
roller,
they would rather lose you than take the time to fix your problem,
says BusinessWeek. They explain how companies allocate service reps
according to the amount of business they get from each customer group
(which is why, for example, corporate Dell customers are routed to one
'help line' while 'retail and home' customers get the Indian help
line). They call this practice of triaging customers by wealth and
spending habits corporate
apartheid
and that's a perfect analogy for it. The world in which corporate
aristocrats live today is increasingly separated from all contact with
the masses: Private chauffeurs, private rooms in private clubs and
restaurants, private schools, private jets (and Elite Class
perks when they're forced to travel on the same planes as menials),
private rooms in private health care facilities. The people who live
in
this bubble of fawning privilege have no idea what life in the real
world is like: they never see it, and they never have to deal with it.
This remains my #1 concern with the concept of The Support Economy
(though its author, Ms. Zuboff, was gracious in trying to refute this
concern in personal correspondence with me): That only the very
wealthy
few will be able to afford it.
The BusinessWeek article shows that the customer experience is a
function of wealth and spending no matter what industry is supplying
the product or service: financial institutions, brokerage houses,
retailers, machinery manufacturers, phone companies, airlines,
insurance companies, you name it. It's no accident that the code for
spending volume on many computerized customer information systems is
called Status or Class or Value.
A Maytag exec sees nothing wrong with this. People who buy
top-of-the-line "not only want more service, they deserve it", he says. If he had been referring to
a racial class rather than an economic one, such a remark would
provoke outrage.
BusinessWeek foresees a future in which "the service divide may become
much more transparent. The trade-off between price and service could
be
explicit, and customers will be able to choose where they want to fall
on that continuum. In essence, customer service will become just
another product for sale." So the discrimination will depend not on
your wealth or past spending volume, but on what you're willing to pay
now for 'superior' service, or to jump the queue. Is that fairer? Do
we
all deserve the same level of service, or should service depend on
what
you can afford? Where do you draw the line? In Canada, we (most of us,
anyway) consider the idea of the rich jumping the queue for critical
medical services to be morally repugnant, but in the US this is
accepted as natural, just 'the way things are'. So much for "give me
your huddled masses".
I remember a few years ago I was waiting in a long customs and
immigration line-up in a sweltering third-world airport terminal at 1
a.m. chatting with the son of the British High Commissioner to that
country who'd come in on the same flight. Suddenly, a boy came rushing
up to me, asked my name, and then said "Give me your passport." When I
looked alarmed, he pointed to a mezzanine gallery where the friend who
was meeting me on my arrival was waving and nodding. The boy took my
hand, walked me to the front of the long line, whispered in the ear of
the customs agent, and I was whisked through, no questions asked, and
into my friend's waiting car. "In this country, it's who you know, not
how much money you have, that counts", she said. I was embarrassed and
astonished. But is this any worse than the system that rushes
first-class airplane passengers in many cities through shorter, less
confrontational customs and immigration line-ups?
Call me naive, and idealistic, but all kinds of apartheid offend me.
The wealthy and the connected don't deserve
any better service than the rest of us. To the corporations that
believe that service should depend on what the customer's 'worth', and
the rest should either self-serve or go away, my response is: Welcome to my Boycott List.
Good-bye.
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