MattSepeta
May 4, 03:55 PM
Exactly. Physicians can't be sitting there going through every single life hazard.
"Do you walk across the street?"
"Yes"
"You should look both ways."
"No ****!"
"Do you go to the mall?"
"Yes"
"You should keep children under the age of 5 close at your side at all times."
"No ****!"
Which brings me back to my initial reply. A "Firearm" has ZERO possibility of injuring your child, until someone behaves irresponsibly. I am fine with a doctor providing a pamphlet of common household hazards and steps to prevent them, but I get the feeling this is not the case. I can too easily imagine the doctor going off on a tangent about firearms deaths statistics, etc...
But again, the most important part: If you dont want your doctor "politicing" you, GO TO A NEW DOCTOR. There should NEVER be laws against what you can or can not say.
"Do you walk across the street?"
"Yes"
"You should look both ways."
"No ****!"
"Do you go to the mall?"
"Yes"
"You should keep children under the age of 5 close at your side at all times."
"No ****!"
Which brings me back to my initial reply. A "Firearm" has ZERO possibility of injuring your child, until someone behaves irresponsibly. I am fine with a doctor providing a pamphlet of common household hazards and steps to prevent them, but I get the feeling this is not the case. I can too easily imagine the doctor going off on a tangent about firearms deaths statistics, etc...
But again, the most important part: If you dont want your doctor "politicing" you, GO TO A NEW DOCTOR. There should NEVER be laws against what you can or can not say.
lordonuthin
Apr 27, 08:21 PM
:pthey are ones i already had: GTX 260, GSX 250, 9800 GT x 2 (the energy efficient ones, single slot, i got on sale for $70 each)
the processor is an i7 930 actually. i have it overclocked to 3.5 ghz right now. i didn't have time to really mess with all the settings like i wanted.
i personally think VMs are great, but it does depend if your system can handle the heat of running GPUs and a bigadv unit. right now this system isn't even in a case
Cool, glad you had them.
I know what you mean about OC'ing waiting to see if it will stay up or crash each time you change something. I was looking at CPUZ on my i7 and I guess I did get it to stay at 3.2Ghz but with 3 gpu's on it I'm not going to try bigadv on it.
I still have 4 boards not in cases - in the basement - getin' kind of dusty too :D but they were cheap and don't need any special cooling, they do fine like that. However I may retire them before too long as I decided to go ahead and get an i7 980x to do some bigadv units on. :rolleyes: I think it should do better than my Mac Pro. I hope. The board has 2 x16 slots for gpu's - when I can afford a pair of GTX 480's :p
the processor is an i7 930 actually. i have it overclocked to 3.5 ghz right now. i didn't have time to really mess with all the settings like i wanted.
i personally think VMs are great, but it does depend if your system can handle the heat of running GPUs and a bigadv unit. right now this system isn't even in a case
Cool, glad you had them.
I know what you mean about OC'ing waiting to see if it will stay up or crash each time you change something. I was looking at CPUZ on my i7 and I guess I did get it to stay at 3.2Ghz but with 3 gpu's on it I'm not going to try bigadv on it.
I still have 4 boards not in cases - in the basement - getin' kind of dusty too :D but they were cheap and don't need any special cooling, they do fine like that. However I may retire them before too long as I decided to go ahead and get an i7 980x to do some bigadv units on. :rolleyes: I think it should do better than my Mac Pro. I hope. The board has 2 x16 slots for gpu's - when I can afford a pair of GTX 480's :p
bigjnyc
Apr 26, 08:55 AM
So who was that guy in the blue shirt who kept yelling at them to stop and kept getting in between them to stop it? was that not a McDonalds employee? or is that just being ignored in this crusade?
Angelus520
Sep 7, 10:34 PM
I thought it was brilliant. Kanye West released "Late Registration" last week and sold around 860,000 copies to debut at #1 on Billboard so it was perfect timing on both sides to have him perform. He's hot and he's hip, which sounds like a certain computer company we know and love.
Kanye West's Late Registration Tops Albums Chart � By A Mile
09.07.2005 11:21 AM EDT
Rapper's second album sells more than 860,000 its first week out.
First, Kanye West wowed the Miami audience assembled at the MTV Video Music Awards two weekends ago with his performance of "Gold Digger." He even walked away with the Best Male Video Moonman. Then, a handful of television talk shows later, West generated national headlines thanks to his appearance on NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief" this past Friday, where he delivered a scathing assessment of President Bush for his response to the devastation and ruin wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
The last week's been quite a doozy for Kanye (see "T.I., David Banner Get Behind Kanye's Bush Comments"), but one that'll be capped off by a crowning achievement: West's sophomore album, Late Registration, opens at #1 on next week's Billboard albums chart, having sold more than 860,000 copies during its first week on shelves. Kanye's debut LP, The College Dropout, entered the chart at #2 the week after it was released in early with first-week scans of close to 441,000.
(For more on Kanye and his album Late Registration, check out the feature "All Eyes on Kanye West.")
West ran away with the week's top honors, outselling the second-place debut from G-Unit member Tony Yayo, Thoughts of a Predicate Felon, by more than 600,000 copies. Late Registration slaughtered Hillbilly Deluxe, the new one from country duo Brooks & Dunn, which claims the chart's #3 slot with more than 111,000 units scanned.
Kanye's Dropout, meanwhile, climbs more than 50 chart positions this week to #57, thanks to a 69 percent boost in sales that yielded scans of more than 9,50
Kanye West's Late Registration Tops Albums Chart � By A Mile
09.07.2005 11:21 AM EDT
Rapper's second album sells more than 860,000 its first week out.
First, Kanye West wowed the Miami audience assembled at the MTV Video Music Awards two weekends ago with his performance of "Gold Digger." He even walked away with the Best Male Video Moonman. Then, a handful of television talk shows later, West generated national headlines thanks to his appearance on NBC's "A Concert for Hurricane Relief" this past Friday, where he delivered a scathing assessment of President Bush for his response to the devastation and ruin wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
The last week's been quite a doozy for Kanye (see "T.I., David Banner Get Behind Kanye's Bush Comments"), but one that'll be capped off by a crowning achievement: West's sophomore album, Late Registration, opens at #1 on next week's Billboard albums chart, having sold more than 860,000 copies during its first week on shelves. Kanye's debut LP, The College Dropout, entered the chart at #2 the week after it was released in early with first-week scans of close to 441,000.
(For more on Kanye and his album Late Registration, check out the feature "All Eyes on Kanye West.")
West ran away with the week's top honors, outselling the second-place debut from G-Unit member Tony Yayo, Thoughts of a Predicate Felon, by more than 600,000 copies. Late Registration slaughtered Hillbilly Deluxe, the new one from country duo Brooks & Dunn, which claims the chart's #3 slot with more than 111,000 units scanned.
Kanye's Dropout, meanwhile, climbs more than 50 chart positions this week to #57, thanks to a 69 percent boost in sales that yielded scans of more than 9,50
more...
Gibsonsoup
Apr 11, 06:06 PM
great movie! hope you'll enjoy watching it :)
21 Grams
As for me, I bought a cheap apple usb-dock cable and an usb extension cable off eBay
http://pic.tradeage.com/5-pezzi-adattatore-telefonico-usb-per-apple-iphone-3g-3gs-4gs-ipod-nano-airbook-mp4-caricabatteria-computer-adattatore-di-alimentazione-245028.jpeg
http://www.mangowalk.com/images/400/91020-02.jpg
21 Grams
As for me, I bought a cheap apple usb-dock cable and an usb extension cable off eBay
http://pic.tradeage.com/5-pezzi-adattatore-telefonico-usb-per-apple-iphone-3g-3gs-4gs-ipod-nano-airbook-mp4-caricabatteria-computer-adattatore-di-alimentazione-245028.jpeg
http://www.mangowalk.com/images/400/91020-02.jpg
ECUpirate44
May 2, 09:29 AM
No thanks.
more...
millerb7
May 2, 11:03 AM
I find it hilarious that Steve Jobs claimed Apple was not tracking users, but now all of a sudden we find Location tracking being completely removed from this version of iOS, that is honestly something that annoyes me..
Well that's just wrong... they aren't completely removing location tracking in anything. Just fixing "bugs" that stored to much information in a file on your phone.
FAIL
Well that's just wrong... they aren't completely removing location tracking in anything. Just fixing "bugs" that stored to much information in a file on your phone.
FAIL
mrgreen4242
Jan 15, 02:26 PM
To stick with Steve's 4 main points:
1) Time Capsule is pretty neat, not a terrible price for what it is, either.
2) iPhone software looks pretty nice. iPod touch update is a travesty against all mankind... I think Apple is seriously underestimating the backlash this will cause.
3) The ATV updates are nice, price drop is decent, but not nearly enough for year old hardware with no upgrades. Software only update means HD content will be 720p24@5mbits which is pretty OK but not what I would have liked to see. 5.1 finally.
4) Macbook Air: stupid, stupid name. Crazy insane pricing, especially when you add the SD, ethernet, remote, and modem (you really should have all those in the box at $1800). Who's going to be buying this thing? It's just so targeted at a very specific market that I can't see it being a huge success.
As for stuff that DIDN'T get talked about:
- No desktop updates at all. I predict Apple getting out of the consumer desktop market in the next 2-3 years. No more iMac or mini.
- No tablet. They could have done a <$1000 multitouch 9" iSlab tablet thingy that would have been as light and thin as the Air and actually revolutionized something, but... shrug.
- iTunes subscription. Now that they have a self destructing DRM scheme in Fairplay I expected a subscription for TV shows, at least.
All in all, unexciting, really.
1) Time Capsule is pretty neat, not a terrible price for what it is, either.
2) iPhone software looks pretty nice. iPod touch update is a travesty against all mankind... I think Apple is seriously underestimating the backlash this will cause.
3) The ATV updates are nice, price drop is decent, but not nearly enough for year old hardware with no upgrades. Software only update means HD content will be 720p24@5mbits which is pretty OK but not what I would have liked to see. 5.1 finally.
4) Macbook Air: stupid, stupid name. Crazy insane pricing, especially when you add the SD, ethernet, remote, and modem (you really should have all those in the box at $1800). Who's going to be buying this thing? It's just so targeted at a very specific market that I can't see it being a huge success.
As for stuff that DIDN'T get talked about:
- No desktop updates at all. I predict Apple getting out of the consumer desktop market in the next 2-3 years. No more iMac or mini.
- No tablet. They could have done a <$1000 multitouch 9" iSlab tablet thingy that would have been as light and thin as the Air and actually revolutionized something, but... shrug.
- iTunes subscription. Now that they have a self destructing DRM scheme in Fairplay I expected a subscription for TV shows, at least.
All in all, unexciting, really.
more...
syc23
Apr 16, 04:18 AM
Record companies should count themselves lucky that there's an iTunes, Spotify and others offering paid services - otherwise 99.999999999% would be pirating all music and they wouldn't make a dime.
Gone are the days where they can charge �14 for a CD album and filling it with 12 crap songs and 1 decent song. People see through the BS and choose to bypass physical music buying and just cherry pick the tunes that they like.
Gone are the days where they can charge �14 for a CD album and filling it with 12 crap songs and 1 decent song. People see through the BS and choose to bypass physical music buying and just cherry pick the tunes that they like.
Lancetx
Jan 12, 11:38 PM
There's an old saying that goes...it ain't bragging (or arrogant either for that matter) if you can do it. Well, Steve Jobs and Apple have proven time and time again that they can definitely do it.
more...
kenypowa
May 3, 10:50 PM
This is a very effective ad. Much better than the current iPhone ads.
LastLine
Sep 12, 07:54 AM
What about iMedia???
Packard Bell iMedia PC's.
possible trademark issues.
Packard Bell iMedia PC's.
possible trademark issues.
more...
GGJstudios
Apr 23, 09:39 PM
It's probably been figured out by now, but you can remove your vote (whether positive or negative). Just click the button that you previously clicked to remove your rating. Lets say you clicked +1 but now you want to take that back to make it 0, just press +1 again to undo it.
I posted that before that function existed. My post was #66. See posts #85 and #89.
I posted that before that function existed. My post was #66. See posts #85 and #89.
Garion
Apr 16, 11:09 PM
why do music companies make it so difficult to distribute their music? weird.
Because, strange as it sounds, the music business still haven't realized their business is selling music. They still think their business is selling CDs. So whenever they sell an album as a download they think of it as a lost sale of a CD. Weird indeed.
Because, strange as it sounds, the music business still haven't realized their business is selling music. They still think their business is selling CDs. So whenever they sell an album as a download they think of it as a lost sale of a CD. Weird indeed.
more...
jetjaguar
Apr 8, 07:12 PM
Portenzo case finally came in as did my beats that I got for $80. Also got an element/atomic copy cat case from DX and a bumper from there as well. Lastly, ordered a new stylus for the laptop. It sucks, but I'm getting a free one because the one they sent was not working. It's a good pen/laser pointer/LED torch though, but that's not why I bought it. Oh I also get some some padded twisty ties, batteries, and air canisters for office upkeep. Funny thing is I'm almost as excited about the padded cable ties as I am with the other purchases :D
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/3117/p4080881.jpg
what theme is that for your lockscreen .. looks great
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/3117/p4080881.jpg
what theme is that for your lockscreen .. looks great
FreeState
Apr 15, 08:52 PM
"How do you start a gay computer?"
Um if it wasn't for a gay man you might not be speaking English and the computer as we know it would likely not exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS ( /ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ TEWR-ing; 23 June 1912*� 7 June 1954), was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalization of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer.[1]
During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE.
Towards the end of his life Turing became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis,[2] and he predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov�Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s.
Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952 because homosexual acts were illegal in the United Kingdom at that time, and he accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. He died in 1954, several weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined it was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10*September following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for the way in which Turing was treated after the war.[3]
Um if it wasn't for a gay man you might not be speaking English and the computer as we know it would likely not exist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing
Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS ( /ˈtjʊərɪŋ/ TEWR-ing; 23 June 1912*� 7 June 1954), was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist. He was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalization of the concepts of "algorithm" and "computation" with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern computer.[1]
During the Second World War, Turing worked for the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre. For a time he was head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. After the war he worked at the National Physical Laboratory, where he created one of the first designs for a stored-program computer, the ACE.
Towards the end of his life Turing became interested in mathematical biology. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis,[2] and he predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov�Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s.
Turing's homosexuality resulted in a criminal prosecution in 1952 because homosexual acts were illegal in the United Kingdom at that time, and he accepted treatment with female hormones (chemical castration) as an alternative to prison. He died in 1954, several weeks before his 42nd birthday, from cyanide poisoning. An inquest determined it was suicide; his mother and some others believed his death was accidental. On 10*September following an Internet campaign, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an official public apology on behalf of the British government for the way in which Turing was treated after the war.[3]
more...
dalvin200
Sep 12, 07:40 AM
I might be getting confused here - but isn't the music store just a web thingy and not part of the software? i.e. store and media player distinct, though interlinked
yeah, but there is a link in your itunes software (client) which has "Music Store" - u know.. down the left side where your playlists are..
Wouldn't they need to change that to a generic "Store" or something..
yeah, but there is a link in your itunes software (client) which has "Music Store" - u know.. down the left side where your playlists are..
Wouldn't they need to change that to a generic "Store" or something..
Platform
Jan 9, 03:12 PM
Where is it...:o
C'mon Apple...put it up on your servers :cool:
C'mon Apple...put it up on your servers :cool:
NebulaClash
May 4, 09:13 AM
I don't know any medical staff that actually uses one on the job.
Quick! Alert the medical community that they should stop using their iPads since your anecdotal evidence proves they aren't actually using one. :)
OK, seriously, I think handwriting on the iPad would be a natural extension. No reason why that can't be done even by a third-party vendor using the port to hook into the iPad.
The iPad is now my preferred device and has been so for over a year. I don't understand people who can't see the point of it. I can't live without it now. If I had to choose only one device to live with, I would give up my laptop before I would give up my iPad.
Quick! Alert the medical community that they should stop using their iPads since your anecdotal evidence proves they aren't actually using one. :)
OK, seriously, I think handwriting on the iPad would be a natural extension. No reason why that can't be done even by a third-party vendor using the port to hook into the iPad.
The iPad is now my preferred device and has been so for over a year. I don't understand people who can't see the point of it. I can't live without it now. If I had to choose only one device to live with, I would give up my laptop before I would give up my iPad.
linux2mac
Mar 24, 05:13 PM
I finally switched to Mac at Snow Leopard and couldn't be happier. Looking forward to Lion!!
Mattie Num Nums
Apr 8, 02:49 PM
I'm a current employee at Best Buy and thought I'd offer my two cents on a few issues.
First, I don't really like Best Buy. I got a job there to work for around 4 hours a week to get the generous discount. It's particularly generous when dealing with open-box items. Even so, I am miserable leading up to heading in and I do not enjoy the time that I spend there. Thankfully, I have a good full-time job plus a lot of side work and I'm planning on quitting in the next month or so as the thrill of the discount has long worn off.
That said, I have no problem being very open and honest about Best Buy and my experiences there.
In regards to the iPad situation, I haven't been in since this issue came up and won't be in for awhile, so I don't really know what the buzz is on this matter exactly. I do know that they wouldn't put a freeze on selling new iPad 2 stock if they regularly had it for a random promotion, if only for the very reason that many think caused the initial problem: quota.
I'm betting 1 of 2 things happened:
1) They did indeed get in trouble with Apple for something. Sure, it's possible, and it's the easiest reasonable conclusion. I don't know why this would be though, and I'm skeptical about the whole hording thing. And again, this is coming from someone who has access to the inventory systems and all the places that would hide "horded" iPads. Plus, I have a good enough relationship with multiple managers (ones who know the score about Best Buy in an objective world...) who would be honest about this with me.
Generally speaking, when they say there are no iPads for sale, there are no iPads for sale. It's really that simple. Demand is real, and supply is lacking. When we have them for sale, they're in the cages, and this would occur after passing through the pre-order system. White Verizon iPads tend to be the ones most often available, usually just a couple, and they're gone almost immediately all the same.
Another factor in the equation though is processing shipments. I saw someone noted that after an open-box controversy between two customers, the manager was able to procure a new iPad 2 for a disappointed customer when apparently there were none for sale. Well, there probably weren't. He either bumped someone back on the pre-order list to be nice to the pissed off customer in the store or perhaps a shipment came in on the truck that had yet to be processed and he worked it out with the ops team to get them to process one so he could get it out. Oftentimes the managers do actually try to make the customer happy, even if it's somewhat unreasonable. The ops guys have their procedures, and it's rarely slimy in intent so much as rooted in overall efficiency, so sometimes a shipment won't go to the floor for sales until the next day because the processing takes time. If the manager pushes to work something out in that situation, the manager is doing you a favor and pissing off some ops guys to do so.
Anyways, on to the 2nd scenario...
2) This is what I'd really venture to bet is the problem: the pre-order system is a huge mess. It was a rush job authorized by corporate at the last minute and handled by less-than-informed employees who were also in a rush. From day 1 it was clear that problems were going to creep up, and they absolutely have. Nobody in store is happy about it. The employees don't like telling customers that they have to wait on a pre-order list, they don't like the 48 hour pickup window, they don't like having to deal with customers pissing and moaning and crying about conspiracy theories when only a 64 GB white Verizon iPad 2 is available once in a blue moon when a pre-order turns it down. It's not fun, for anyone, and unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it.
So what I'm guessing is really happening is that Best Buy is just digging out of this pre-order mess as fast as possible and skipping anything else until they get past the ramifications of a stupid decision. Considering there's little to skip seeing as supply is so low and we rarely have the most in-demand models available anyways, it's easier for them to just bow out of this for a couple of weeks and in a sense re-launch the normal sales when supplies are less constrained and they don't have a stupid pre-order process hanging over their heads. It's a cut and dry move that will allow them to gear up again in a more normal, focused way. Considering how things have gone there in the last month in dealing with anything iPad related, this might be the best decision for them.
All in all, Best Buy is Best Buy: a brick and mortar retailer lost in an internet-connected world. Best Buy isn't nearly as evil as they are lost and longing for the 20th century. Sure, there's a lot of margin on accessories, but it's because there's more often than not no margin on anything else. They don't make much money at all on TV's and Computers anymore. If they're on sale, and at Best Buy, almost everything is always "On Sale," it's likely at cost or within a few dollars of cost. There's little margin in the shrinking physical media world either. The only departments with major products that have margin still are appliances and for certain stores, musical instruments. This is why Best Buy will likely be dead in 5 years if they don't drastically change their business model. They did a better job at adapting to the new world than other electronics chains, but they haven't done nearly enough. It's not an easy business at this point though as it has as much to do with dealing with suppliers suffering the same pinch and customers who want to have it all but don't want to pay for it.
Also, in regards to stupid employees and sleazy mangers, yeah, they do exist. But more employees know their stuff than you might think. And there are quite a few managers who actually do care about trying to do a good job and help the customer.
As far as the employees, the biggest shock to me after working at Best Buy was realizing that so much of the supposed employee ignorance has more to do with incessantly having to dumb things down to the most absurd of levels with customers. 90% of the people who come in are nice people who just don't know much of anything about what they're buying. You have to learn to communicate on their level and not over-complicate things for them. It's easy to get stuck in that default mode and you have to actively snap yourself out of it on the rare occasion when you get customers who can actually hold their own in a conversation about the technology. And make no mistake, it's a huge relief for most of us when that happens because most of us that work there actually are pretty excited about the technology.
Now on the other hand, sleazy managers and supervisors can screw so much of this up. While most of the employees aren't making a career out of working at Best Buy, the sups and managers typically are on some level at least, and it takes a certain, umm, level of person to get, err, stuck, yes, at that level if you know what I mean. There's a lot of inconsistency in these types of people. If you get good ones though, they tend to hire good employees and foster a good environment for customers. My store has good management. It's the only thing that makes it remotely tolerable to me. The employees actually know their stuff and are honest with the customers. They also work as a team because the management pushes it and thankfully we don't have commission to muck things up. And customers do love us for it. You'd be shocked by how often a selling relationship turns into a friendship practically at our particular store. We get invited out after work all the time. Honesty goes a long ways, and when you're helping people save money by making sure they make a smart decision for their needs, it goes a long ways. And our managers are objective enough (and not locked into Best Buy corporate brainwash mode) to know that the only thing Best Buy has to offer over Amazon is the possibility of a good customer service experience. They do all they reasonably can to ensure that it happens.
But again, this simply isn't the case everywhere at all, and it so often boils down to the luck of the draw on management. Good managers hire good people leading to good teams leading to generally happy customers and good sales. Bad managers hire their dumb friends, play games with customers, lie, cheat, and usually they don't put up good numbers.
At the end of the day though, the good stores and the bad stores are equally screwed because the industry is a mess, the world is changing, and Best Buy corporate utterly and completely lacks the talent and leadership to be innovative in the 21st century. They refuse to reasonably acknowledge change, they're too scared to piss off manufacturers who have lines all across the store that vary dramatically when it comes to success and quality, and they're wildly inconsistent and disorganized with their processes and as they put it, "solutions." As said, if things don't drastically change, and I don't believe they will without a major shift in leadership, they'll be dead in 5 years. It's a sinking ship. I'll be happy to be out of there.
Again, I don't think they're near as evil and corrupt as they are just lost. When you're lost, things can get confusing real fast. Bear in mind that oftentimes when employees appear aloof, they're probably confused because corporate changes things all the time and does little to help keep us informed of these changes. Also, don't mistake conspiracy theories for sheer stupidity. Like we saw in this whole conversation, people will say some wild things. It's easy to think it from the outside. I can assure you from the inside, that oftentimes what looks like scheming and maneuvering is really just disorganization, stupidity and/or confusion due to the muddled processes and the ever-foggy way in which corporate outlines these processes.
I don't blame people for not liking Best Buy. I don't like them either. Just go easy on the guys on the floor and in the back. Unless they're the total goof-off employees which do exist, what you're pissed about is probably not their fault at all.
As a former BBY employee I can tell you a few things that are flawed.
#1 no former or current Best Buy employee would call themselves BBemployee, BBYEmployee would seem more likely. I know its stupid but it is the culture of Best Buy to shorten it to BBY.
#2 You would have no clue if Best Buy was in trouble. As a simple Blue Shirt or even a Black Shirt you would not have this information passed down to you.
#3 Your rant show that you either hate Best Buy for personal reasons or possibly a former employee who has a huge vendetta against the company.
#4 Your rant does nothing to support this discussion.
First, I don't really like Best Buy. I got a job there to work for around 4 hours a week to get the generous discount. It's particularly generous when dealing with open-box items. Even so, I am miserable leading up to heading in and I do not enjoy the time that I spend there. Thankfully, I have a good full-time job plus a lot of side work and I'm planning on quitting in the next month or so as the thrill of the discount has long worn off.
That said, I have no problem being very open and honest about Best Buy and my experiences there.
In regards to the iPad situation, I haven't been in since this issue came up and won't be in for awhile, so I don't really know what the buzz is on this matter exactly. I do know that they wouldn't put a freeze on selling new iPad 2 stock if they regularly had it for a random promotion, if only for the very reason that many think caused the initial problem: quota.
I'm betting 1 of 2 things happened:
1) They did indeed get in trouble with Apple for something. Sure, it's possible, and it's the easiest reasonable conclusion. I don't know why this would be though, and I'm skeptical about the whole hording thing. And again, this is coming from someone who has access to the inventory systems and all the places that would hide "horded" iPads. Plus, I have a good enough relationship with multiple managers (ones who know the score about Best Buy in an objective world...) who would be honest about this with me.
Generally speaking, when they say there are no iPads for sale, there are no iPads for sale. It's really that simple. Demand is real, and supply is lacking. When we have them for sale, they're in the cages, and this would occur after passing through the pre-order system. White Verizon iPads tend to be the ones most often available, usually just a couple, and they're gone almost immediately all the same.
Another factor in the equation though is processing shipments. I saw someone noted that after an open-box controversy between two customers, the manager was able to procure a new iPad 2 for a disappointed customer when apparently there were none for sale. Well, there probably weren't. He either bumped someone back on the pre-order list to be nice to the pissed off customer in the store or perhaps a shipment came in on the truck that had yet to be processed and he worked it out with the ops team to get them to process one so he could get it out. Oftentimes the managers do actually try to make the customer happy, even if it's somewhat unreasonable. The ops guys have their procedures, and it's rarely slimy in intent so much as rooted in overall efficiency, so sometimes a shipment won't go to the floor for sales until the next day because the processing takes time. If the manager pushes to work something out in that situation, the manager is doing you a favor and pissing off some ops guys to do so.
Anyways, on to the 2nd scenario...
2) This is what I'd really venture to bet is the problem: the pre-order system is a huge mess. It was a rush job authorized by corporate at the last minute and handled by less-than-informed employees who were also in a rush. From day 1 it was clear that problems were going to creep up, and they absolutely have. Nobody in store is happy about it. The employees don't like telling customers that they have to wait on a pre-order list, they don't like the 48 hour pickup window, they don't like having to deal with customers pissing and moaning and crying about conspiracy theories when only a 64 GB white Verizon iPad 2 is available once in a blue moon when a pre-order turns it down. It's not fun, for anyone, and unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it.
So what I'm guessing is really happening is that Best Buy is just digging out of this pre-order mess as fast as possible and skipping anything else until they get past the ramifications of a stupid decision. Considering there's little to skip seeing as supply is so low and we rarely have the most in-demand models available anyways, it's easier for them to just bow out of this for a couple of weeks and in a sense re-launch the normal sales when supplies are less constrained and they don't have a stupid pre-order process hanging over their heads. It's a cut and dry move that will allow them to gear up again in a more normal, focused way. Considering how things have gone there in the last month in dealing with anything iPad related, this might be the best decision for them.
All in all, Best Buy is Best Buy: a brick and mortar retailer lost in an internet-connected world. Best Buy isn't nearly as evil as they are lost and longing for the 20th century. Sure, there's a lot of margin on accessories, but it's because there's more often than not no margin on anything else. They don't make much money at all on TV's and Computers anymore. If they're on sale, and at Best Buy, almost everything is always "On Sale," it's likely at cost or within a few dollars of cost. There's little margin in the shrinking physical media world either. The only departments with major products that have margin still are appliances and for certain stores, musical instruments. This is why Best Buy will likely be dead in 5 years if they don't drastically change their business model. They did a better job at adapting to the new world than other electronics chains, but they haven't done nearly enough. It's not an easy business at this point though as it has as much to do with dealing with suppliers suffering the same pinch and customers who want to have it all but don't want to pay for it.
Also, in regards to stupid employees and sleazy mangers, yeah, they do exist. But more employees know their stuff than you might think. And there are quite a few managers who actually do care about trying to do a good job and help the customer.
As far as the employees, the biggest shock to me after working at Best Buy was realizing that so much of the supposed employee ignorance has more to do with incessantly having to dumb things down to the most absurd of levels with customers. 90% of the people who come in are nice people who just don't know much of anything about what they're buying. You have to learn to communicate on their level and not over-complicate things for them. It's easy to get stuck in that default mode and you have to actively snap yourself out of it on the rare occasion when you get customers who can actually hold their own in a conversation about the technology. And make no mistake, it's a huge relief for most of us when that happens because most of us that work there actually are pretty excited about the technology.
Now on the other hand, sleazy managers and supervisors can screw so much of this up. While most of the employees aren't making a career out of working at Best Buy, the sups and managers typically are on some level at least, and it takes a certain, umm, level of person to get, err, stuck, yes, at that level if you know what I mean. There's a lot of inconsistency in these types of people. If you get good ones though, they tend to hire good employees and foster a good environment for customers. My store has good management. It's the only thing that makes it remotely tolerable to me. The employees actually know their stuff and are honest with the customers. They also work as a team because the management pushes it and thankfully we don't have commission to muck things up. And customers do love us for it. You'd be shocked by how often a selling relationship turns into a friendship practically at our particular store. We get invited out after work all the time. Honesty goes a long ways, and when you're helping people save money by making sure they make a smart decision for their needs, it goes a long ways. And our managers are objective enough (and not locked into Best Buy corporate brainwash mode) to know that the only thing Best Buy has to offer over Amazon is the possibility of a good customer service experience. They do all they reasonably can to ensure that it happens.
But again, this simply isn't the case everywhere at all, and it so often boils down to the luck of the draw on management. Good managers hire good people leading to good teams leading to generally happy customers and good sales. Bad managers hire their dumb friends, play games with customers, lie, cheat, and usually they don't put up good numbers.
At the end of the day though, the good stores and the bad stores are equally screwed because the industry is a mess, the world is changing, and Best Buy corporate utterly and completely lacks the talent and leadership to be innovative in the 21st century. They refuse to reasonably acknowledge change, they're too scared to piss off manufacturers who have lines all across the store that vary dramatically when it comes to success and quality, and they're wildly inconsistent and disorganized with their processes and as they put it, "solutions." As said, if things don't drastically change, and I don't believe they will without a major shift in leadership, they'll be dead in 5 years. It's a sinking ship. I'll be happy to be out of there.
Again, I don't think they're near as evil and corrupt as they are just lost. When you're lost, things can get confusing real fast. Bear in mind that oftentimes when employees appear aloof, they're probably confused because corporate changes things all the time and does little to help keep us informed of these changes. Also, don't mistake conspiracy theories for sheer stupidity. Like we saw in this whole conversation, people will say some wild things. It's easy to think it from the outside. I can assure you from the inside, that oftentimes what looks like scheming and maneuvering is really just disorganization, stupidity and/or confusion due to the muddled processes and the ever-foggy way in which corporate outlines these processes.
I don't blame people for not liking Best Buy. I don't like them either. Just go easy on the guys on the floor and in the back. Unless they're the total goof-off employees which do exist, what you're pissed about is probably not their fault at all.
As a former BBY employee I can tell you a few things that are flawed.
#1 no former or current Best Buy employee would call themselves BBemployee, BBYEmployee would seem more likely. I know its stupid but it is the culture of Best Buy to shorten it to BBY.
#2 You would have no clue if Best Buy was in trouble. As a simple Blue Shirt or even a Black Shirt you would not have this information passed down to you.
#3 Your rant show that you either hate Best Buy for personal reasons or possibly a former employee who has a huge vendetta against the company.
#4 Your rant does nothing to support this discussion.
Mac-Addict
Oct 3, 12:53 PM
I definalty will be angry if the iPhone doesnt come out but at the same time i wouldnt be shocked.. but steve jobs giving it up? pfft no way hes still got a few years left in him :P unlike billy boy..
tveric
Oct 5, 01:28 AM
Methinks you don't have a good grasp of public key encryption. (Or at least how it's supposed to work).
The encryption key is the one that is top secret because it's the one you keep private, and is the one which would allow DoubleTwist (or anyone else) to masquerade as iTS. The decryption key, by it's very nature, is vulnerable and in effect "public" (since it must be on the client machine, so it can be discovered). There is a flaw in the FairPlay system that Jon has exploited before (as I mentioned earlier in the thread) which has to do with the fact that the files are personalized locally on the client machine, so if they can fool iTunes into personalizing third party files, they're in like Flynn. (This also has the effect of making a private key or equivalent available on the system which may be the chink in FairPlay's armor).
Essentially, the FairPlay system is one that implies a certain amount of trust. Once you authorize a machine all of the purchased tracks from that account on the machines can be decrypted. Even if they are not on the machine at the time of the authorization and the machine is not on the network at the time (I have played back encrypted videos on DVD-R on my iBook while it was not on the 'net.)
I don't know how often it needs to "phone home" so you can't just load up 5 machines with protected content, detach them from the network and deactivate all of your machines at iTMS... Then spend the next year working on 5 more systems...
B
good lord, if anyone actually got through reading all this, can there be any doubt left that all consumers want is DRM-free content??? There's a simple rule that exists - the more complicated the DRM you put on your content, the less likely that people are going to buy it. Hence, people are downloading music and movies for free, and ripping Netflix DVDs to their hard drives to burn their own copies.
You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Until there's DRM-free movies and music for sale online, so-called pirated downloads will continue to dwarf legal downloads. End of story.
The encryption key is the one that is top secret because it's the one you keep private, and is the one which would allow DoubleTwist (or anyone else) to masquerade as iTS. The decryption key, by it's very nature, is vulnerable and in effect "public" (since it must be on the client machine, so it can be discovered). There is a flaw in the FairPlay system that Jon has exploited before (as I mentioned earlier in the thread) which has to do with the fact that the files are personalized locally on the client machine, so if they can fool iTunes into personalizing third party files, they're in like Flynn. (This also has the effect of making a private key or equivalent available on the system which may be the chink in FairPlay's armor).
Essentially, the FairPlay system is one that implies a certain amount of trust. Once you authorize a machine all of the purchased tracks from that account on the machines can be decrypted. Even if they are not on the machine at the time of the authorization and the machine is not on the network at the time (I have played back encrypted videos on DVD-R on my iBook while it was not on the 'net.)
I don't know how often it needs to "phone home" so you can't just load up 5 machines with protected content, detach them from the network and deactivate all of your machines at iTMS... Then spend the next year working on 5 more systems...
B
good lord, if anyone actually got through reading all this, can there be any doubt left that all consumers want is DRM-free content??? There's a simple rule that exists - the more complicated the DRM you put on your content, the less likely that people are going to buy it. Hence, people are downloading music and movies for free, and ripping Netflix DVDs to their hard drives to burn their own copies.
You can't put the genie back in the bottle. Until there's DRM-free movies and music for sale online, so-called pirated downloads will continue to dwarf legal downloads. End of story.
Mr. Zorg
Jul 21, 11:22 AM
vocal majority
I think, perhaps, you meant to say "vocal MINORITY"?
I think, perhaps, you meant to say "vocal MINORITY"?
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