I'm a little pissed off right now. I missed the last 30 seconds of Game 3 of the NBA finals because the local ABC affiliate (KAKE in Wichita, KS) decided to run a test of the emergency alert system. That's right, a TEST! On what proved to be Boston's last shot at closing the gap, I was treated to a series of bleeps and bloops accompanying a gray screen, and was reunited with game coverage in time to see the players walking to the locker room. I soon found out that there was no miracle, and that the Celtics did indeed lose. But that's besides the point.
I called KAKE, politely explained what happened, and asked if anyone else had called in to report this. She said no, and also added this: "It's a required monthly test, and I'm not sure that we can do anything about the timing of it." I find that very hard to believe. Is FOX helpless to stop the EAS test from popping up during the last 30 seconds of the Super Bowl? Will they simply shrug their shoulders and say that there was nothing they could do about it? Unlikely.
I asked if she could bring it to someone's attention, and said that I was very disappointed that this happened. She said that she would "look into it", and made no apologies.
...Unbelievable.

Wikipedia says that EAS tests aren't supposed to be scheduled during important live events such as the Oscars, or the Superbowl, but we weren't able to find anything on the FCC's website that confirmed that rule. Anyone work in TV? Want to enlighten us?

As if that wasn't hostile enough, when a local sports reporter contacted the Lions for comment, and suggested that the tone of the F-bomb email shed some light on the larger issue of the Detroit Lions producing a generally poor football "product," the Lions executive vice president and chief operating officer, Tom Lewand, replied: "If you write that, it will be factually incorrect and bordering on slander," Lewand said. "And I will come after you." Boy, they sure are grouchy up there at Ford Field. Cheer up! Brett Favre retired!

From the Oakland Press:

Furlong owned season tickets for three years. He had two in the club level the first year. The second year, he received two more in the lower level stands after being on a waiting list — so he had four. The third season, they reduced the size of the club level, including a portion where his seats were located, which were on the aisle.

He said he wanted to keep those two seats, add two club-level seats and asked that two seats he had in the stands be combined with his seats from the club level that were moved to the stands. The Lions agreed. It gave him six season tickets.

But when he went to sit in his old seats, somebody else was sitting in them. He asked them to leave, but when he looked at his tickets, he noticed his seats had been moved.

"It was an embarrassing and awkward moment," Furlong said. "I was stunned."

When he contacted the Lions, he was told nothing could be done about it during the 2007 season, but he was promised aisle seats for 2008.

Yet, when Furlong received his season ticket invoice for 2008, it was for the same seats he had in 2007.

It was then that Furlong canceled his season tickets in an e-mail to Schul. Powser then e-mailed Furlong with an offer for more desirable seats, but Furlong said it was a matter of principle — and he wouldn't accept the offer.

Then Furlong received the inadvertent e-mail from Schul.

The entire e-mail reads, "Lance...he is not talking about you here. Mark was asked to speak to these people and he said no. F... 'em until next year."

"Mark" is Lions ticket director Mark Graham.

Once he heard of the e-mail, Lewand called Furlong and invited him to a game.

"I did so before I heard from any media on this," he said.

Lewand offered no excuses for the incident, but absolved Graham from blame, although the e-mail in question indicates Graham refused to discuss the issue with season ticketholders such as Furlong, who had their seats unexpectedly moved for the 2007 season.

"It was an inaccurate characterization of a conversation held in 2007, not this year,'' Lewand said of Schul's e-mail.

Lewand said he was, "deeply disappointed with the e-mail and light it portrayed, and I have addressed it."

"There are a number of different levels this could have been avoided and we realize that," Lewand said. "One, with the invoice we sent out for this year. If it had been correct, none of this would have happened. We never condone our fans being discussed in that manner, whether it be in an e-mail or any type of discussion among members of our organization."

Whoops. We'd always assumed that season ticket holders got good customer service, considering the amount of money they spent. Guess not.

The Detroit Lions have since "clarified" that "I will come after you" wasn't meant as a threat towards Pat Caputo, the Oakland Press writer.

Does e-mail show how Lions really feel about their fans? [Oakland Press](Thanks, Kraig!)
(Photo: yodie ann )

One local taxpayer, who asked not to be identified, reported that he had discovered an unexpected deposit of $1,800 in his bank account. He said a review of his bank records revealed that it was a deposit from the IRS bearing another taxpayer's Social Security number. He said he contacted the IRS and was told by an agent that the deposit was one of 15,000 misrouted checks sent out incorrectly as a result of a computer programming glitch.

[Internal Revenue Service spokesman Kevin McKeon] said he could not confirm that figure or that a computer problem was responsible.

The government will want its cash back, so don't giddily spend any unexpected stimulus money. Paper checks can be mailed back to the IRS, while those with direct deposit should report the error to their bank.

IRS: Some stimulus checks sent to wrong accounts [Newsday]
(Photo: Joe Shlabotnik)

From Slate:

Reading McTeague's comment over coffee yesterday morning, I couldn't help but think of an advertisement I'd seen a few months ago while on a reporting trip to China. I was walking from my Beijing bed-and-breakfast to a nearby subway station when I was stopped in my tracks by a billboard that made the controversial 1990s Calvin Klein underwear ads look artistic by comparison. Staring down at the throngs of shoppers on Beijing's Xinjiekou Nandajie Avenue, a busy commercial thoroughfare about a mile west of the Forbidden City, was a white girl who looked all of 12, reclining in a matching bra-and-panties set adorned with Disney's signature mouse-ear design. In a particularly creepy detail, the pigtailed child was playing with a pair of Minnie Mouse hand puppets. In the upper left-hand corner was the familiar script of the Disney logo.

Not believing my eyes, and on an assignment that touched on images of Westerners in the Chinese consumer's imagination, I snapped a photo:

After reading of the Cyrus flap, I e-mailed my photo to Disney's McTeague. I was curious: How did the company square its position on the Liebowitz photo with its risqué billboard in China?

McTeague passed on commenting and forwarded the image to Gary Foster, a spokesman for Disney's consumer-products division. He called me from a business trip (to China) to disavow the ad. "It has caught us totally by surprise," Foster told me by phone from Guangzhou. He explained that Disney contracts with a host of licensees, who produce and market products for the Disney brand. Foster said that licensees are contractually bound to clear all advertising with Disney's corporate offices. "We have literally hundreds of licensees making our products. They are supposed to submit any kind of imagery to us before it is used, but it's hard to enforce that sometimes," he said.

Mickey Mouse Operation [Slate]
(Photo: Daniel Brook )

The tickets were supposed to cost 1775 Euros. Whoops!

The airline is refusing to honor the tickets, saying:

"It is a genuine mistake, a fundamental mistake on our part. We rectified it as quickly as we could. We have contacted the customers and given them the opportunity to re-book," he told RTE state radio.

"To sell a business class flight for a fiver... that is a genuine mistake, people are going to know that there is something up.

"It is really a case of 'if it looks too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true'," he added.

"The offer was made, it was accepted by Aer Lingus. Consumers booked and paid to bind the contract.

"Realistically I think Aer Lingus is going to have to do something to abide by it (the booking) and to help them,' he said.

Airline seeks to cancel 'accidental' sale fare [The Age] (Thanks, Mandy!)
(Photo:Cubbie'N Vegas)

WNBC has an eyewitness report:

"He doesn't respond to them, but his friends explain that once you start praying you can't stop," said Brafman, who was seated three rows away.

When the man finally stopped praying, he explained that he couldn't interrupt his religious ritual and wasn't trying to be rude. But the attendants summoned a guard to remove him, said Brafman, a writer who had been visiting New York to talk to publishers.

Praying Passenger Removed From Flight At JFK [WNBC]
(Photo:Travelin' Librarian)

Now the videos are available to anyone who wants to see them —for a price. Lawyers, reporters, activists and journalists are lining up at the production company's tiny new office, cash in hand.

From the WSJ:

They sold their 20,000-square-foot production facility and moved into an 800-square-foot rented office. They now hope to sustain the company by selling access to the Wal-Mart videos. They charge $250 an hour for video research, and additional fees for a DVD copy of film clips.

Plaintiffs attorney Diane M. Breneman stumbled across the videos while working on a lawsuit she filed in 2005, on behalf of a 12-year-old boy, against Wal-Mart and the manufacturer of a plastic gasoline can sold in its stores. Her client was injured when he poured gasoline from the container onto a pile of wet wood he had been trying to light, and the can exploded. The lawsuit alleges that the containers are unsafe because they don't contain a device that prevents flames from jumping up the spout and exploding.

Wal-Mart's lawyers have argued in court filings that the retailer couldn't have known that the product "presented any reasonable foreseeable risk...in the normal and expected use."

Ms. Breneman says that when she first laid eyes on the racks of tapes, "I thought, 'How could anyone in the world allow this to exist?'" The videos, she says, deal with "everything anyone would want on Wal-Mart....They've got 30 years of people winging it."

Ms. Breneman says Flagler Productions located videos of product presentations to Wal-Mart managers in which executives gave parody testimonials about the same brand of gasoline can. In an apparent coincidence, one manager joked about setting fire to wet wood: "I torched it. Boom! Fired right up." In a separate skit, an employee is seen driving a riding lawn mower into a display of empty gasoline cans. A Wal-Mart executive vice president observing the collision jokes: "A great gas can. It didn't explode." The tapes were made before the lawsuit was filed.

The video company says it offered to sell the tapes to Walmart for several million dollars, but the retailer would pay only $500,000, saying that the "footage wouldn't be of interest elsewhere."

Candid Camera: Trove of Videos Vexes Wal-Mart [WSJ]
(Photo:Clean Wal-mart)

I discovered last night that my Comcast Adult on Demand channel is 333. Easy buttons for a child to accidently press, particularly when Nickelodeon is 33. That's right, one extra push, and my five year old gets the Playboy listings instead of Spongebob.

Yeah, I blocked Adult on Demand, but I only found it in the first place because I was searching the hinterlands of Showtime en español.

(Photo:rick)

He told viewers: "Don't move your money from Bear! That's just being silly! Don't be silly!"

Cramer and CNBC have defended his statements, arguing that Cramer's assertions on the bank were in reference to a viewer's question on Bear Stearns' liquidity, not its stock prices.

CNBC spokesman Brian Steel said that on the Friday before Bear's meltdown, Cramer presciently called the bank's stock worthless. Cramer could not be reached for direct comment.

"I think that anybody who has a fundamental understanding about capital markets knows the distinction between [a] question about stocks and liquidity," Steel said.

Whether Cramer's viewers understood that the host and former hedge fund manager was not talking about Bear Stearns' stocks is unclear. Meanwhile CNBC's defense of Cramer has not insulated its heavily promoted star.

In recent days, finance and news blogs have blasted Cramer, and Comedy Central's news parody "The Daily Show" gave him a not-so-gentle ribbing: "I love the way Jim Cramer breaks down really complex financial issues into ones that are wrong," host Jon Stewart said.

Upping the snark factor was Fox Business News, which took out half-page ads Monday in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, comparing Cramer's words to some of the most infamous quotes of the last century, including Neville Chamberlain's famous statement after conceding Czechoslovakia to Adolf Hitler's Germany: "I believe it is peace for our time."

What do you think? Is Jim Cramer bad for you? Has he turned you into one of those losers from the E*Trade commercials? Wow, man. I just bought a stock from Hong Kong.

Should You Stay Away From Jim Cramer? [ABCNews]

"So, everybody calls Allegiant Air," Rigas said. "Three people got hung up on."

"'You're on your own' is basically what they told us," Duncan said.

Roy Harris, Jr., a passenger from Huntsville, called an attorney after he realized nothing was being done to help the passengers.

"At first, they did not want to give us a refund," he said. "Their attitude was, 'Too bad, you lost your money.' "

The people who did get through to Allegiant Air were told it was their fault for not getting to the airport two hours before their flight, Harris said.

"I arrived early before the flight," he said, "but not as early as some others who had been there up to three hours."

Travelers left holding their bags as flight leaves without them [The Huntsville Times]
(Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas)

"Taking it seriously" is a phrase companies use over and over again in public statements whenever they have bad PR. Our series of posts on occurrences of the phrase is our attempt to question how seriously companies are really taking these matters if every time they trot out this phrase by rote.

(Photo: Getty)

The following is why my girlfriend and I will never fly AirTran again and why we are extremely disappointed in American Express for their lack of concern for a consumer getting the royal screwjob.

My girlfriend and I had planned a weekend (Feb 8th - Feb 10th) to visit her brother in Baltimore and booked a flight through AirTran because they were the most reasonable. We left Boston Logan and arrived at Baltimore/Washinton, MD (BWI) just fine. We also had a great weekend.

Then came time for our return flight. Being the tech savvy people that we are, we checked AirTran's website to ensure that our flight was on time and it was not. Not a big deal, we were still going to arrive at the airport on-time (like AirTran recommends to do on their website) and I would have plenty of time to read more of my book or grab some food. Our flight was originally scheduled to leave at 8:30pm but was delayed almost 2 hours to 10:15pm. We arrive and check in around 7:20pm and got through security by 7:35pm. During that 15 minute span we checked the time of our flight twice, still delayed. We get to our gate, still delayed. We then decide to grab some wings at this bar that was right at the end of the hall. Right outside the bar were displays, flight was still delayed. So we go into the bar not thinking anything of it. While we were in the bar I was careful to listen to all announcements regarding flights from AirTran. I heard at least two last minute pages from AirTran gates for passengers to get to the gate but they was not for our flight (825) and were not going to Boston.

We were in the bar until about 8:25 and when we left I checked the displays again, "FLIGHT ON TIME" is what it read. I was shocked that they didn't make an announcement. My girlfriend and I then ran to the end of the hall and went to the gate and I spoke to the representative and she said that flight was already in the air. At this very same time a women comes running up to the desk and asks if the flight had left, she was told the same thing. She said that the man at the check-in counter was supposed to radio them letting them know she was on her way — he obviously did not do this. Then about 5 or 6 more passengers show up and are all bewildered and the representative just says that we should have been waiting at the gate. I then ask her "Why didn't you make an announcement for this flight? Others AirTran flights were called, why not this one?" and her response was just "You have to be sitting at the gate to hear the announcements." I then asked her to put us on another flight, even from another airline if she has to, and she said that was not possible. The best she could do was a flight the next morning. We had to accept.

Now we had to get a hotel room and pay another day of parking at Logan — about $100. We asked the representative if we were able to get a hotel voucher, she said that that was not possible.

When we got home my girlfriend called Amex and the representative on the other side was very sympathetic and agreed with us that we should not have to pay for the hotel and parking because AirTran should have better customer service than that. He said that he would suspend $100 from the total bill (of $342) and put that into a dispute. Feeling confident that Amex would agree with us, we just sat back and waited for them to give us our money back.

Fast forward to today. We get a letter that says our dispute has been closed and we will not get our money back. Fuming, my girlfriend calls Amex and the rep she spoke to just said the ticket was closed and he could not open it. She explained the story again to him and he opened another ticket for us and assured us that he would put the entire story in the notes so that the 'investigators' would read it. He also suggested calling AirTran and seeing if we could resolve it with them. I knew this was a long shot but we called anyway. The woman on the other line could really care less about what happened. She also flat out lied to us. She said that AirTran only makes announcements in the gate area, not in the wing of the airport. At this point my girlfriend says "Well then why did we hear two announcements about AirTran flights while we were sitting in the bar, not in the gate area?" and the representative had no answer and just said that she could not do anything to help us. We asked to speak to a supervisor and she claimed that everyone working there was a supervisor, we asked to speak to her supervisor and she refused, saying that they would not be able to do anything.

While the loss of $100 (and both of us missing half a day of work) annoys the heck out of us, now it's a matter of principle. I would never in a million years dream of treating a customer like it is their fault for my shortcomings as a provider of service. While I do not believe that all inconveniences deserve some sort of compensation, I do believe that people should admit when they are at fault and that a huge company that claims to have such great customer service should have responded better. Do you guys have any suggestions? I mean, other than never flying with AirTran again...

(Photo:ZonaPhoto)

Since publicly announcing his involvement with a prostitution ring, calls for Spitzer to resign had been growing until it seemed very unlikely that he could avoid impeachment, says the New York Times:

"I am deeply sorry that I did not live up to what was expected of me," he said. "To every New Yorker, and to all those who believed in what I tried to stand for, I sincerely apologize."

"Over the course of my public life, I have insisted — I believe correctly — that people regardless of their position or power take responsibility for their conduct," he added. "I can and will ask no less of myself. For this reason, I am resigning from the office of governor."

"An impeachment proceeding would force Democrats to either abandon him or defend him," said one leading Democrat. "They would abandon him."

Spitzer Resigns, Citing Personal Failings [NYT]
(Photo:Tyler Hicks/The New York Times)

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates my or any sense of right or wrong," said Mr. Spitzer, who appeared with his wife Silda at his Manhattan office. "I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better."

"I have disappointed and failed to live up to the standard I expected of myself. I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust of my family."

Before speaking, Mr. Spitzer stood with his arm around his wife; the two nodded and then strode forward together to face more than 100 reporters. Both had glassy, tear-filled eyes, but they did not cry.

As he went to leave, three reporters called out, "Are you resigning? Are you resigning?", and Mr. Spitzer charged out of the room, slamming the door.

A wiretap captured a man later identified as Spitzer "on a telephone call confirming plans to have a woman travel from New York to Washington, where he had reserved a hotel room, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Manhattan". Spitzer then allegedly used the alias "George Fox" to meet the prostitute at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C, according to law enforcement officials. Unlike other famous alias, (Ron Mexico, for example) George Fox is a real person whom Spitzer may have "ID thefted" for the purpose of frequenting prostitutes.

Mr. Fox is a friend and donor to Mr. Spitzer. Asked in a telephone interview Monday whether he accompanied Mr. Spitzer to Washington on Feb. 13 and Feb. 14, Mr. Fox responded: "Why would you think that? I did not."

Told that the Room 871 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel was registered in Mr. Fox's name but with Mr. Spitzer's Fifth Avenue address, Mr. Fox said, "That is the first I have heard of it. Until I speak to the governor further, I have no comment."

Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring [NYT]
(Photo:Patrick Andrade for The New York Times)

I'm currently on hold with Verizon regarding a rebate for my dad's business DSL account that he never received. While that's not notable in itself, what is notable is that the first number I called about this, which is currently listed on Verizon's website, led me to a phone sex line.

I called that 866 number, and there was a 15 second recording about 'men and women chatting worldwide' that gave an 800 number and then hung up the call automatically. If you call the 800 number that's spoken by that recorded message, you are greeted as a 'sexy guy', and then the menu system proceeds to tell you about horny women that want to talk to you.

I eventually hunted down a second 800 number on Verizon's website to call, which actually got me to Verizon support - however the rebate department, which I have been on hold for almost a half hour now to speak to, is not listed, and the tech rep whom I spoke to when the call was answered said that they do not give the number out, so they had to transfer me.

I guess if you didn't get your rebate from Verizon, the phone sex number is listed to help you cope with the $250 you won't be getting back?

UPDATE: One of our friends at Verizon writes in to let us know that the number has been corrected on their website.

"thanks to your post this morning, this issue was called to our attention. Sorry if anyone was offended. The correct number now appears at tithe link you provided. PS: the correct number is: 800-483-5000."

Broadband Rewards [Verizon]

[Drug researcher Dr. Dennis Mangano] believes Trasylol should have been taken off the market when he published his study in January 2006, a study that associated the drug's use with kidney failure requiring dialysis and increased death of those patients. Between the study's publication and November 2007, when Bayer removed the drug, "There were approximately 431,000 patients who received the drug," says Mangano. "As I calculated, 22,000 lives could have been saved. It's about a 1,000 lives per month," he tells Pelley.

In September 2006, Mangano presented his observational study of 5,065 patients in 17 countries to the FDA in hopes it would persuade them to pull the drug. Bayer senior executives attended the meeting to defend their product and at the time, their company had results from its own research that confirmed Mangano's results. But the Bayer executives failed to disclose the existence of the study. Mangano says this was irresponsible. "The [Bayer] representatives at the meeting...should have disclosed fully to the FDA that a study was done...even put the meeting in abeyance until the data were found or discussed," Mangano tells Pelley. "Good medicine demands that you protect the patient. That's the issue here and not the drug and not the profit margin," he says.

The chairman of the FDA committee that held that meeting, Dr. William Hiatt, told 60 Minutes that he would have voted to remove Trasylol from the market if he had known about Bayer's study. He also took issue with Bayer's failure to disclose it. "I thought it was unusual. I thought it was truly inappropriate," he tells Pelley.

22,000 died amid delayed Bayer drug recall: doctor [Reuters]
(AP Photo/Roberto Pfeil)

Comcast is working to make things right after 8,000 customers in the North Valley lost their signal in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.

The company will be sending out apology letters, and is offering a full day's worth of credit to people who lost their cable during the game.

Comcast is also offering video on demand coupons and the sports package free for three months.

Comcast apologizes after Super Bowl outage [KOB]
(Photo:cmorran123)

The customer was writing in to inquire as to when trans fats would be eliminated from Beaner's products. In addition to a cheerful reply, said customer was also treated to the internal email chain instructing the Vice President of Operations on how to "sidestep the question."

Well, that's embarrassing.

(Photo:Marike79)

On January 17th, my colleague Matthew Newton poked his head into my office. He'd also donated, and was also impatiently waiting for his XO. He told me that he'd just spent an hour on the phone with OLPC customer service, and had been told that they didn't have his shipping address, as a result of some glitch relating to the fact he'd paid via PayPal.

I too had paid with PayPal...but I didn't have an hour to spare. So I checked the "Track Your Order" link and entered my e-mail address and tracking number. That sent me to a page saying I'd probably received my XO, with...confusingly...a link to a page that it said would let me track my order. I clicked on that link, and got a page not found error.

Today, I happened to be in the office early, so I called OLPC support and turned on my speakerphone. Thirty-five minutes later, the call rang through to a rep. Who told me that they didn't have a mailing address for me. (Like Matthew, I paid via PayPal.)

I gave him the address and asked when I might expect the laptop. He told me that OLPC doesn't tell them when machines are going out...but that I might have good news in February. I'll believe it when I see it.

Where the Heck is my OLPC XO Laptop? [PC World]
(Photo: fumi)

There is no way to retrieve the messages, photos and other attachments that were erased from inboxes and archive folders across the country on Monday, said Anita Lamont, a spokeswoman for the suburban St. Louis-based company.

"We really are sincerely sorry for having had this happen and do apologize to all those folks who were affected by the error," Lamont said Thursday when the company announced the gaff.

Cable Co. Empties 14,000 E-Mail Accounts [AP]

Meet Jeremy Danielson:

The family bought a Disney channel CD that was supposed to have Hannah Montana playing on it. Instead they heard graphic gangster rap coming out of their radio.

The artist on the CD, labeled Disney Channel Hits, shouts the "F" word and the "N" word. It's real explicit stuff that kids should not hear, especially in a gift delivered from Santa.

Danielson says, "We are a Christian family and we don't bring media like that into our house."

Local Father Says 'Hannah Montana' Gift Went Wrong [CBS13] (Thanks, Adam!)
(Photo:CBS13)

There was just one problem with the ad. The photo they used was so old that the Chicago Sun-Times building (demolished a few years ago to make way for the Trump Tower), is conspicuously present in the skyline.

"We intend to have an impact on the Chicago banking landscape, but this was not what we had in mind," a Bank of America spokesman said. "We'll fix the ad."

Macy's, which bought Marshall Field's, mistakenly labeled Wabash Avenue as "Wabash Street," Randolph Street as "Randolph Avenue" and Washington Street as "Washington Avenue" on new backlighted directional signs posted throughout the State Street store near escalator banks.

Old picture taints Bank of America's new campaign to woo Chicago [Chicago Tribune]
(Photo:David Paul Ohmer)

A computer glich is causing every single Prius to fail the emissions test. It turns out that the computer that downloads the car's emissions history is incompatible with the hybrid, and the exhaust-testing system requires the car to be able to idle with the engine running— something the eco-friendly Pruis won't do.

From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Scott Merritt bought his low polluting Toyota Prius to help save the planet, conserve energy and encourage others to go green. He's also a big believer in keeping dirty polluters off the road.

So imagine his surprise and frustration when his electric hybrid failed Georgia emissions testing — not once, but three times.

"I spent a total of three full days getting this resolved," said Merritt, 34, a public relations executive. "I went to three different places, and nobody was able to do the test."

"The woman behind the counter looked at me like I had three heads," Merritt said. "She had never heard of this problem."

Earth-friendly Prius struggling to overcome Ga emissions glitch [Atlanta J-C] (Thanks, Gregg!)
(Photo:Ben Gray/AJC)

Reader John writes:

Would it be possible for you guys to cover the Guitar Hero 3 for Wii sound issue? Activision and Red Octane so far have not and will not acknowledge that there is a problem with the sound for the Wii version of the game(which they should have made a press release that they were going to fix this once it was known there was a problem). When you contact support they just tell you to set up your receiver correctly which is wrong. The sound when set correctly to Dolby Pro Logic only comes out of the center speaker when it should come out of all speakers. Furthermore, a user has proved that the sound coming from the game is not even stereo sound, it's Mono. This is absurd for a game that is completely based off of sound.

Seems like the sort of thing that should have been disclosed on the box, no?

Guitar Hero III audio issues (thread) [GPForums]
No surround sound? (thread) [Guitar Hero]

Stephanie told her that AT&T was experiencing "massive, massive outages." Jan is a journalist. Whoops.

From the Arkansas Business:

"Massive, massive outages" is a news story to me. I told Stephanie so and went into reporter mode. Stephanie said a media relations officer would call me at work "by the end of the day," while declining to give me that person's name or her own last name.

I called the Public Service Commission in my capacity as a reporter. The agency knew nothing of "massive, massive outages" but would check. The PSC a bit later: "We've had one outage complaint from North Little Rock on the 25th for AT&T but nothing from Little Rock."

Jan doesn't think that's fair:

More calling. Finally, Andy Morgan, a spokesman for AT&T in Oklahoma City, told me, "We're under a service emergency. The primary reason is the rain." But instead of "massive, massive outages," it was more like "several hundred," Andy said.

I assured Andy I didn't want special treatment, that I'd called as a journalist only because of Stephanie's explanation of "massive, massive outages," that I'd wait my turn. But when I got home from work that day, my phone was working.

It shouldn't be like this. You, Dear Reader, are probably not a journalist. But you deserve the same consideration. And if your utility is indeed experiencing "massive, massive outages," you'll probably try to be patient.

But you might not seek to verify the explanation. You might not have the time or energy to call the PSC or to keep going up the chain of command until you get a straight answer - or a solution. And that's not fair.

Failure to Communicate (Jan Cottingham Commentary) [Arkansas Business]
(Photo:Getty)

I moved from NY to SC, and had a t-mobile phone. and because there is no t-mobile here in sc, i called to cancel it, because the service here is very poor for t-mobile. On August 17 I paid my bill for July and August in full, and called t-mobile to cancel the phone, she said ok that she will cancel the service without the cancellation fee because of no service in sc, but told me to fax her a letter stating that I want to cancel the service, I got off the phone and faxed her the letter. Couple days latter I logged onto my account online and saw that my service was still not canceled. I called them to see what was going on, the guy told me that they see that I called on August 17th, but that they lost the letter, and told me that I have to send the fax again, so this time I told him to stay on the phone while I send the fax, I sent him the fax while he was on the phone, and he told me that he was holding the letter in his hand and that he will take care of it.

After I while I started getting calls from t-mobile telling me I had to pay my bill, so I called them again and the guy told me that my account was still not canceled and that I was being charged for some reinstatement fee for September and some unpaid dues from before, and some fees for October, even tho I have the bills from t-mobile stating that I paid my bills in full for all the months and the bill for July and August, and that I have no minutes used for September and October, actually my phone wasn't even working during September and October because someone stepped on it in my car and broke the screen, and I had already gotten a new service with verizon. The guy told me that it wasn't right and that he will take care of it. So I thought that he will, but after couple days I again got a call from t-mobile saying that I have to pay my bills or it will be passed on to collection agencie. So I called again on Wednesday October 31st, and told the guy everything, and he told me that he can see that I called on August 17th to cancel the account, that he doesn't have the letter, and that he will review my account and call me back Sunday November 4th to tell me whats going on before he does anything. I didn't get any call from anyone on Sunday, So I called Monday. again the representative said she could not do anything about it, and this time said that it was already passed on to collection agencies, so I told her to let me talk to someone else, she let me talk to some guy from support something. The guy from support Michael told me he couldn't do anything that it was passed on already to collection agencie. When I told him everything that happened he was like yea I do see all that but I cant do anything about it, and that I would have to deal with collection agencie now, when I asked him to give me the number to collection aggencie, he told me to wait that he came back and told me that they filled it on Nov 4th and that it takes 3 days for the collection agencies information to come back and that he couldn't give me their phone number. So I asked his name he told me it was Michael, I told him Michael I was recording this call is that ok with you, right away he was like actually sir you can't do that, I told him thanks and bye.

I wasn't actually recording him, but he did seem scared after I told him.

Is there anything I can do to find some answers????

(Photo: medalian1)

Bad WaMu. You let the criminals win.

Cease And Desist (PDF) [OTS] (Thanks, David!)
(Photo:Getty)

Instead of the home team call, they were forced to watch the game on MASN2, whatever that is. Lancaster Online explains, sort of:

The game, a 6-0 Phillies' win, was on MASN2, which is picked up on Comcast Lancaster on channel 65. The channel is normally reserved for CSPAN2, but is used when the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals are playing at the same time. MASN and MASN2 cover Orioles and Nationals games. Because Philadelphia was playing the Nationals, Phillies fans could see their first-place team as it competes for a National League division title and a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 1993.

The Phillies Web site — Phillies.com — had the game listed on Comcast Sportnet, further confusing and frustrating local fans. The team changed the listing to CW 57 at 5 p.m. Friday.

WLYH-TV CW 15 in Harrisburg often picks up Phillies games airing on CW 57, but, according to vice president and general manager Jim Berman, CW 15 could not preempt network programming Friday night

"If we knew the Phillies would come back in the race we'd plan things better," Berman said. "The Mets had this in the bag. It's unfortunate because we feel we've let Phillies fans down, but we have commitments to the network."

Word has it that armed Phillies fans have taken over the Comcast headquarters in Philadelphia and are pouring Cheez Whiz on Comcast's CEO, Brian Roberts.

Why Comcast customers didn't get to see home broadcast of Phillies Friday night [Lancaster Online]
(Photo:Phillies)

Verizon had initially claimed that the text messages violated their policy against messages that were "highly controversial." From the WSJ:

In a statement Thursday, Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson said, "The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident."

He added, "Upon learning about this situation, senior Verizon Wireless executives immediately reviewed the decision and determined it was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy."

Verizon Wireless said Thursday its policy had been developed before text messaging protections such as spam filters "adequately protected customers from unwanted messages." It was designed, the company said, to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.

Verizon Wireless Ends Ban On Abortion-Rights Group [WSJ]
(Photo:meghannmarco)

Is breaking street date good customer service? Well, probably not, but Mr. pr0zac sure is happy about Dell's prompt shipping.

Many of the Gazette's readers did just that, but didn't receive their free flight. Now they're writing to the Gazette to complain about JetBlue.

What the Post-Gazette and that first JetBlue telephone representative failed to mention is that Ms. Clipper also needed to access a special Web address created strictly for the purpose of tracking the promotion. JetBlue included the temporary link (www.jetblue.com/pittsburgh) in a news release, but the Post-Gazette directed passengers to the company's main Web site — www.jetblue.com, which lacked any mention of the free-ticket promotion.

In the past month and a half, 16 passengers have contacted the Post-Gazette, via e-mail or phone, to complain about the offer. Some blame the Post-Gazette for not providing enough information. Some blame JetBlue for not living up to its promise of a free flight — regardless of how the details may have been misconstrued. Only one of the 16 angry passengers — Kelly O'Toole of Marshall — has thus far persuaded JetBlue to give her the free flight. Ms. O'Toole, like Ms. Clipper, said she talked to a JetBlue customer service worker before booking her flight and was never told about the existence of a separate Web site

JetBlue's spokesperson seems to agree:

"I certainly understand the frustration for people who thought they were doing everything right and it turns out they weren't," he said. But he argued that JetBlue did its best to communicate all details of the offer to the Post-Gazette.

"I'm sorry that you've received calls from individuals who didn't qualify for this promotion," he said in a prior e-mail. "While in the past your reporting has always been accurate, this time a critical point was missed."

Confusion over 2-for-1 offer frustrates JetBlue customers [Post-Gazette]
(Photo:Meghann Marco)

From the Journal-Sentinel:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has avoided millions of dollars in state taxes by paying rent on 87 Wisconsin properties in a way that the state Department of Revenue calls an "abuse and distortion of income."

As a result, state tax auditors say, Wal-Mart owes more than $17.7 million in back corporate income taxes, interest and penalties for 1998, 1999 and 2000. More could be due for later years.

Revenue Department lawyer Mark Zimmer argues that the world's largest retailer is not paying its fair share of taxes that support public schools, local police and fire departments and the highways it uses to transport what it sells in Wisconsin.

As a result, Wal-Mart shifts the burden of paying for those services "to individuals and small businesses who are unable to set up such elaborate mechanisms," Zimmer told the Tax Appeals Commission, which is considering the matter.

"Anything Wal-Mart can do to lawfully lower its costs allows the company to pass it along through lower prices," said company spokesman John Simley. "This is a lawful (tax) structure in Wisconsin."

Time to change your tax laws, Wisconsin. Walmart is too clever for you.

Wal-Mart owes back taxes, state says [Journal-Sentinel]
(Photo:Morton Fox)

We're happy to report that Google will now be offering full refunds. From the Official Google Blog:

* We're giving a full refund — as a credit card refund — to everyone who ever bought a video. We'll need you to make sure we have your most recent credit card information, but once we know where to send the money, you'll get it.

* You can still keep the Google Checkout credit that you've received already. Think of it as an additional 'we're sorry we goofed' credit.

* We're going to continue to support playing your videos for another six months. We won't be offering the ability to buy additional videos, but what you've already downloaded will remain playable on your computer.

An update on Google Video feedback [Official Google Blog]

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