Nine Inch Nails sings “Don’t Byte the Hand that Feeds.”  Which hand is that?  Is it the invisible hand of capitalism?  Is it “God’s Hand” that gives us means of survival?  Or is it our bosses hand at our local Corporation that allows us to put food on our table and pay the bills [...]]]>

Nine Inch Nails sings “Don’t Byte the Hand that Feeds.”  Which hand is that?  Is it the invisible hand of capitalism?  Is it “God’s Hand” that gives us means of survival?  Or is it our bosses hand at our local Corporation that allows us to put food on our table and pay the bills of our lifestyle that grows alongside our pay rate?

Current generations have been raised to believe that the main steps of life are birth, school, college, career, retirement and death.  Who wants a life that bland?  It almost seems like we have no choice.  When we are young, our parents push us to do what They think is right.  During the first quarter of our life, we are told what to do, not just by our parents, but all adults, be it teachers, bosses, grandparents, or even our friends’ parents.  Of course by the time we go out on our own we are going to reflect our parents and their belief system.  That is unless we create our own beliefs and pull out of the vicious cycle of working to pay bills.

If one were to step back and look at the whole picture of where society has led us, it’s a grim outlook for all of us.  We are forced to go to school and learn what the system wants us to know.  Then we get a job, usually most beneficial to the Man that we work for, and the next 30-50 years are all the same.  Might as well let robots take over.  Or introduce Soma to society and suppress us further.

In 1932, Aldous Huxley wrote a book called Brave New World, which describes society and everyone within it as a function of a government controlled world.  There are three classes within this world, working class, middle class, and a controlling class – who were ultimately in charge of ensuring total social control – from conditioning before birth [people are produced in factory-like centers and preconditioned to what their life function will be], to their social interaction with society.  I strongly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.  It is eye opening.

How is our current life style any different than what Huxley described 80 years ago? We are not conditioned during our embryos stage, instead, we are conditioned when we are forced through the educational system.  Then we are placed accordingly to our positions as workers, intellectual (better paid) workers, and the controllers (the police / government / secret societies that run this world).

Nine Inch Nails’ lyrics to The Hand That Feeds say…

“You’re keeping in step
In the line
Got your chin held high and
You feel just fine
Cause you do
What you’re told
But inside your heart it is
Black and it’s hollow and
It’s cold.”

We do what we are told in order to earn a dollar so we can buy bread.  Our opinion does not matter.  Our opinion is not worth a dollar.  Our labor is worth a dollar, but for what sacrifices?  Corporations survey their laborers annually and pretend to care for the individual.  At the end of the day, the only important matter is the bottom line, the dollar signs!$!$!$  Even if one were to become the president of a corporation, the stock holders don’t want his/her opinion, they want to see a green bottom line – they tell him/her what to do – and he/she does what they are told!

To be “successful” in Corporate America does not take much.  All it takes is for one to do what they are told and they will get a piece of the pie, but only a small piece.  Two per cent of the population control ninety eight per cent of the wealth.  That two per cent does not give a fly about anybody else.  Yet, that same two percent is probably still not happy.  How long will it take humanity as a mass to realize how Materialism is a poor substitute for happiness?  There is more than enough of everything for everyone, but unless control diminishes, it will be too late for some, and not soon enough for others.

Working for Corporate America is not a success, it has become the norm.  We are all the same – there are no need for labels of any sort.  If it’s to be, it’s up to me!

Photographer: Filomena Scalise

Although Boxee has a few competitors out there, even ones that were developed prior to Boxee was even in the works [such as Plex], Boxee still might have an advantage to the commercial availability and attractiveness, both to consumers and media content providers.  Pay-Per-View and subscriptions to premium content has always [...]]]>

Although Boxee has a few competitors out there, even ones that were developed prior to Boxee was even in the works [such as Plex], Boxee still might have an advantage to the commercial availability and attractiveness, both to consumers and media content providers.  Pay-Per-View and subscriptions to premium content has always been on the drawings boards for the Boxee team.

Today, Boxee announced that they have picked Vindicia as a partner to process one-click payments for services offered, be it pay-per-view or premium content from a third party.  Vindicia is a billing service provider that allows for integration of various business platforms to accept payments via credit cards, gift cards, and/or PayPal.  This will allow Boxee to offer its users the option to subscribe to content or pay-per-view with a simple click of a mouse [or a remote button].  Vindicia currently works with other well-established content providers such as Blizzard, Symantec and Intuit, just to name a few.  Boxee will be using Vindicia’s CashBox service.

This step will allow content providers and even main-stream networks to offer content via Boxee and still be able to collect revenue.  Perhaps this will give another competition to worry about to all the cable television providers out there.  This also will give more freedom to the consumer that lack a selection of providers in their communities.

As long as the Boxee team and their third party content providers do not get greedy, this can be a win-win situation, for both Boxee and the consumers.  Free services, Pay-Per-View services, Premium Content services – Boxee [and its content owners] make money, consumers choose what they want to enjoy in their home.

What caught my attention was a 46 inch Sony [...]]]> I was recently in the market for purchasing a new LCD television set.  I read on one of my frequently visited blogs that Dell was having a great special with free shipping.  I decided to check it out, and they really were having some great prices.

What caught my attention was a 46 inch Sony BRAVIA S5100 LCD which was being offered for $779 with free shipping.  When I shopped around other retailers, this was the lowest price I could find.  Target was selling the same TV for $990, which was their clearance price.  SEARS, while matching the price and beating it by 10%, after the local sales tax of 9.5%, it would have come out to about the same.  Ordering it through Dell did not require me to go and pick it up myself, as well as, drag it up the stairs of my apartment building.

When I placed the order I inquired about delivery time.  I had travel plans scheduled a week later and wanted to ensure that I will be present when the order was being shipped.  My expectations were set to receive the unit a couple of days before my travel date.  This is when the nightmare began.  When the order status became available online, the delivery date was estimated during my travel time.  Contacting Dell to voice my concern, they told me that nobody should have made any promises.

I contacted the shipping company and arranged with them to contact me before shipping so that I can assure to be present.  The shipping company was Pilot and they were very courteous and worked with me every step of the way.

When I returned from my travels, Pilot delivered on the day we had agreed on.  Their driver also called me 30 minutes before he arrived to confirm the delivery.  I was very pleased.

The driver pulled up, and I met him in the parking lot of my residence.  He was making a phone call and looked concerned.  When I saw the box in the delivery truck, it was all beat up, taped up all over, with holes in the box.  He explained that I can refuse the order or make a note on the bill of lading – in case there is a question in the future, and accept the shipment for further inspection.  We opened up the box and the TV seemed fine [without it being taken out of the box].  I helped the delivery guy up the stairs, tipped him, and sent him on his way.  I did not want to refuse the shipment because I was looking forward to this TV and was not sure that I would find that price again.  Target sold out of this unit even at the $990 clearance price.

Excited, I started opening up the TV, pulled it out of the box and began examining it closer for any damage.  Much to my disappointment, the TV was damaged.  There was a crack on the lower back part of the television.  I wanted to scream.  The crack is about 5 to 6 inches long.  It also seemed like it was in a place where other damage might have occurred.  I decided to at least hook it up and see if it works.  It did work for the most part, but the picture seems a bit jumpy.  Initially I had trouble activating the HDMI inputs, but with some of Sony’s technical support, I got it working.

This is the crack on the back of the TV.

Another view of the crack

Still upset about the issue I decided to contact Dell and have them ship me another unit or at least provide me with a discount on this one, given that it is working.  That has been a nightmare on it’s own.  First off, Dell outsources its phone support to India, and we all know how we feel about that, with all due respect to the Indian people, they are very nice folks and I have great respect for them, but I feel like they try too hard and are way to pleasant.  I also feel they cannot relate to my frustration.  I have attempted to call Dell over 4 or 5 different times.  Each time I wait at least 15 to 20 minutes before I speak to someone, only to be transferred again and wait another 10 to 15 minutes.

I gave up on the last try.  I went to their website, which if you have not visited recently, it is very uninviting, cold, and un-personable.  I found a link that allowed me to fill out a request for a return.  The request seemed too simple to be able to communicate what my troubles have been.   There was only room for name, address, phone, order number and a small comment box.  After filling it out, I was given a message that someone will contact me VIA email within 12 hours.  Now, I just have to wait.

I will post an update as soon as I have any further activity on this.  Dell is going down the tube.  Their website does not seem very inviting, although it does give the information needed.  Their customer service leaves a lot to be desired.  Their outsourcing and various call transfers that drop the calls are frustrating.  No wonder their stock is having difficulties getting back to the $45 range.  It is currently at about $14.  My advice, stay away from Dell, especially if it is not computer related products.  I can see them struggling with this area in the near future.

Dell's Stock on February 17, 2010 with 5 year history courtesy of Yahoo Finance

It has been 48 hours since I requested help from dell regarding this damaged television.  Nobody contacted me via email, even though I received an automated email stating that I will hear something within 24 hours.  At this time I had to start again with the phone calls.

On my first day try(ies), I must have spent about two and a half hours talking with about 5 or 6 different representatives.   I was told I can get a replacement with the next model that was replacing this one since they no longer offered this TV.  When I agreed, the rep said, “Wait, I need to get an approval.”  Five minutes later he came back on the phone and said “No!”  He said he was not given an approval and I need to pick a lower priced television.  Meanwhile, the TV I ordered had a $500 savings from its original price, making it one of the cheapest on the website.  All this means is that now I am being forced to accept an inferior television, because they no longer have the one I wanted, and I received it damaged.  I felt like it was my fault receiving a damaged television.

I had to settle for a newer model, but inferior in options to the one I ordered the first time.  Sad, but true.  I had no choice, I did not want to get stuck with a damaged TV that would perhaps stop working down the line.  I have not received my replacement yet, still waiting.  Hopefully that will come in all in tact and I can be done with dealing with one of the worst customer support major company.  That is just too bad about dell, and I used to like their computers.