Archive for: rip off
It pays to wait they say…
If you were one of the naysayers who realized the unique/(possibly gimmicky) feature set of the Wolfram Alpha complex function solver. Essentially it was an app for geeks and rather deep pocketed geeks as WA did go for $50. At that price, one would think hardly anyone would bite. But according to Wolfram themselves, a touch over 10,000 sales at $50 have been recorded so far — no small feat.
If you didn’t jump on the curiosity bandwagon and were waiting for a sale, pat yourself on the back because this is the sale of the century. Old Wolfram Alpha: $50. New Wolfram Alpha: $1.99. Ya, that’s basically theft. Now there’s no reason to try out this geekery.
For the record, those who didn’t wait, purchased the app at the old price, and subsequently feel robbed can go as far as requesting a refund from Wolfram Alpha whom have already stated they’d happily (really, happy?) refund unhappy customers’ money. Win win hmm?
AlleyInsider
As much as I’ve ragged on Windows in the past, if you cut through a lot of the crap, false accusations, and “problems” that ended up being more user error, you have to admit Windows 7 is actually a pretty decent OS. In lands other than ours where gadgets are much more prevalent (Japan), sometimes smaller “mom and pop” or novelty shops spring up. One such shop can be seen above.
The characters “?? (binbo)” are literally translated into meaning “poor”. Making sense of all the symbols above comes out to roughly, “cheap computers”. Windows always does like to push their value/lower price argument. Looks like it’s working somewhere. Funny?
Consumerist
- January 19, 2010 11:07 pm
In the age of the smartphone, doing business with us consumers should be getting cheaper. That’s the way the capitalist economy generally works — as supply for increased demand increases, prices drop. So why Verizon felt it was necessary to jack up the ETF for “advanced devices” to a ridiculous $350 is still news to me. Even bigger news however was the inclusion of several dumb/feature phones on the “advanced devices” list — namely from the likes of LG and Motorola.
Whatever Verizon Wireless was smokin’ last month seems to have worn off (or they at least got something better) as the updated list of advanced devices is now void of any actual devices that aren’t smartphones or netbooks. A wise choice to say the least. But if you really want to get picky, we shouldn’t even be talking about $350 ETF’s…
Oh yeah, no official word from Verizon on this advanced devices list shake-up has been made known. Guess losing money isn’t that popular.
Wireless Week
[Image Source]
- November 17, 2009 10:07 am
The Pirate Bay trackers may be down for the count, but that infamous sailing ship will live on, plastered against countless clothing items from t-shirts and hoodies to sweatbands and underwear. In an odd turn of events, that iconic logo used by The Pirate Bay is in the process of becoming patented. Yes, patented. But it isn’t by founding members or anyone related to the company. Instead, a Swedish clothing and technology retailer called Sandryds Handel is taking it upon themselves to claim ownership. The founding members, with their pretty blanket feels frowning on private ownership, see this as an abomination and have stated that they feel the logo should remain in the public domain — which is the reason they never patented the logo themselves. What’s bringing me to a hearty chuckle is that this company believes a mass following of pirates — who don’t pay up front for stuff — are going to begin throwing money out for gimmicky products trying to cash in on TPB name. We’ll see how well that goes…
Now some other company is going to pick up the pieces of TPB and make some money off of their name. Pretty sad and shady if you ask me. Though from a business stand point, why not rip off someone elses logo and brand image to turn a dollar on your own time? The TPB logo has just been shat upon. Perhaps Sandryds Handel should spend a few dollars designing their own logo hmm?
What do you have to say?
Wired
If you thought Sony’s pricing on the PSP Go was say…a bit overpriced, you wouldn’t be alone. Not by a long shot. The biggest culprit that is causing people to feel like the PSP Go is a lack of value is the botched trade-in program that was to let old PSP/3000 users trade in physical media for certificates or cards for digital copies. Of course, a smaller screen, identical internal specs, and the inclusion of sub standard specs (WiFi b we’re looking at you) rounds out a wholly bland release on Sony’s part. Not to mention, spending a few minutes on Google will garner a fair amount of reviews bashing the unit for high price and low value as well.
Because of the specs listed above and the problems associated with them, many thought since the PSP Go was a PSP-lite of sorts that the price tag would accurately reflect that belief. We should all know Sony by now…
If you’re not quite down with the current price, look no further than the internet for wallet relief. Many big name online retailers including Amazon, Play, HMV and GAME are strong arming Sony’s over inflated price. In many places in the UK, Sony’s “new” gadget is going for under £200 in the UK! Quite the deal. Though many would again claim that’s what is should have been from the start. Have you taken the dive and purchased a PSP Go? Happy/Sad? How cheap did you pick it up for. Oh…do share.
Electric Pig
Image Source
Sad sad day indeed for WinMo lovers looking to upgrade on the cheap to the Touch Pro2 on Sprint. Yesterday we posted an article praising Sprint (which is a rarity) for their apparent generosity to the little folks and for finally having a bit of common sense trickle into Sprint HQ with the news of a price drop for the Touch Pro2: $349 down to $199. Bad news ahead folks. While the $199 discount price is in fact real, it’s only available to businesses with 100 or more lines of service. Ouch. A Sprint rep wrote in to Brighthand to clear the air saying:
Starting tomorrow, the price drop for HTC TouchPro2 from Sprint is only available to corporate liable customers with 100+ lines. All other channels will sell at original price $349.99 with a two-year service agreement and after $100 mail-in rebate.
So it appears as if you and I the little guys will have to continue to eye that $349 price tag, trying to figure out where they stuffed all of that apparent value at. If any other carrier wants to make a better impression and actually move some of these over priced phones, dropping the price would be an amazing start.
MobileCrunch
Image Source
- September 2, 2009 10:11 am
Image above is slightly outdated as South Korea, Japan, and France in particular now average 10-35Mpbs more
Sadly, the US sinks further and further out of relevance when the topic of global broadband speeds are brought up. Are average speeds pail in comparison to many other countries. Just a few numbers to get you all in a bunch:
- US Average Broadband Speeds: 4.8Mbps
- Japan widely offers speeds of 80+Mbps
- South Korea also is around the 70-80Mbps mark
- Even France slaughters us with speeds in the 40-50Mbps range
Sure, you could argue that these nations have much less square mileage to cover, which, costs them less in rollout and upkeep costs. Still, when countries across the pond are bouncing off of the 100Mbps routinely while we sit here twiddling our thumbs tyring ot open up Wikipedia, chugging along at 5-6Mbps (on the faster side — used by the general population) is ridiculous. Perhaps even more ridiculous is the fact that US broadband providers want to steal our money and piss it away without actually doing much upgrading. Why the colorful language? What are the speeds these “broadband” providers are lobbying the FCC to declare “Basic Broadband” for?
- Comcast: 0.256 Mbps (256Kb/s) — It’s comcastic!
- Verizon: 0.768 Mbps (768 Kb/s) — slightly better but still worthless for anything
The Comcast quoted number of even “basic broadband” is the dumbest thing and worst attempt and grabbing public money I have ever seen. Basic broadband running at 256K was ok in 2004. In 2009 the minimum speed should be 2-3 Mbps no if’s and’s or but’s. Of course, then there’s the whole issue with the blatant false and misleading advertising every internet provider is guilty of — that is, listing the maximum connection rate instead of real world daily speeds. My AT&T 3 meg connection actually steamrolls along at roughly .7-1.3 Mbps with ocasional “good days” of around 1.5 Mbps. Hardly what I’d call fast, reliable, or honest. These companies talk about innovation and being global leaders while our friends overseas laugh at us everytime they see a case like this. Comcast is a disgrace to America. Verizon isn’t far behind.
In reality, it’s pretty much all broadband providers. Here’s a crazy idea that’ll never see the light of day. Fire some executives and slash executive bonuses and pay. Why should they make huge sums of money when their networks are crap? Hopefully the FCC can see through their silkscreen of lies, deceit, and plain BS as nothing under 1 Mbps is broadband in my book. I’m sure there are many of you out there who agree no?
Source: Gizmodo, MSNBC, Image Source
