The Computer Next Door

Uh, oh! We're about to lose free access to Times Online!

Oh, NO! - just when I think I have a routine that works, something always crops up to spoil it.  This time, it's the New York Times - they're going to start charging for access to the online version of the paper.  The first shoe to drop was this article from CNET: Report: New York Times to charge online readers

For months (years, maybe?) I have had a routine as comfortable as an old shoe - I sit down at my desk in the morning, review iGoogle for top stories, and almost always click through to a New York Times story in today's  paper - the online paper, that is.

There's always something of interesting to read in the Times. The journalism is top-drawer, the arts, cultural, and technology reviews are insightful, and the photography and multimedia are engaging.

The only problem?  They're not making any money on people like me! I don't give them a nickel for all the articles I read online.  Now, in my defense, I did try to order a paper-based New York Times subscription recently (honest, I did), but because of where I live (upstate New York), it was delivered a day late, which is kind of ridiculous when you think about it.  I suppose it would be alright if I had no other news sources, but a day late? And so I became a devotee of online access.

Having tried and failed in recent years to make a go of online subscriptions, the Times has a very tough road ahead.  The big question is: will online viewers convert to online purchasers?  Will they go the pay-per-article route?  If so, will this business move succeed?

I am routing for them, but honestly don't know if I want to take out my micro-wallet of digital dollars every time I want to read an article (and will such articles pop up in iGoogle anymore, or will they be behind a digital fortress?)

I - along with millions of online readers - wait for the second shoe to drop.

Capturing a Life (in 6 Words or Less)

According to legend, Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a story in a mere six words. The result of his literary genius was reportedly, “ For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.”  Now, that’s a short short-story.

So began the tradition of the six-word memoir.  A compendium of 1,000 Six- Word Memoirs were collected in the volume, “Not Quite What I Was Planning”, which became a bestseller.

That amusing collection featured the work of the famous, the infamous and the merely clever.  So successful was that effort that a sequel was born, and in 2009 the book Six-Word Memoirs of Love & Heartache was published.

 Perhaps in the age of Twitter these are the new memoirs for the 21^st century.  In fact, Smith Magazine and Twitter originally teamed together for a contest in 2006, which received 11,000 submissions  and resulted in the book deal.

I loved reading “Not Quite What I Was Planning,” a book I stumbled upon from a review on the blog of Tiffany Shlain, (www.tiffanyshlain.com) the gifted filmmaker, of the short film “The Tribe.”

Never one to shirk a challenge, I‘ve tried my hand at  6  Six -Word Memoirs that might work for the Love and Heartache book.

 Moved in, cheated, married her instead.

 Positive I'm negative.  Call me tonight.

 Loved, lied, left.  Took him back.

 Black shoe missing mate.  Me too.

 Blue eyes,  black heart, saw red.

 Slept together Friday, married another Sunday.

I don’t know what Hemingway would have thought about my efforts, but I know I found my super short stories the perfect exercise for a writer short on time and long on imagination.

Anyone, amateur or pro, can try their hand  at writing their own memoirs by registering at http://www.smithmag.net,.

In addition to the memoirs  SMITH Magazine hosts a site where everyone with a story can be a storyteller.  Who knows, you might end up in one of their books.

And at the very least you can share your stories with family and friends. 

How to Contact Amazon When Things Go Wrong

We all get used to our vendors and suppliers, whether online or in-person. And we get used to a certain level of customer service, and come to expect it.

This is why I was shocked when Amazon.com fell down on their expected task of zipping my book order to me.  Don't get me wrong - they did get it to me in record time (I am an Amazon Prime customer, and am thus am entitled to free 2-day shipping.)  What they got wrong was the book itself.  This had never happened to me with any online order, and I simply didn't expect it from Amazon.

I had ordered Alexander McCall Smith's "The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency" as part of a "4-for-3" promotion (buy 4  paperbacks for the price of 3 paperbacks) which seemed like an attractive deal. When the box of box arrived from Amazon, "Ladies' Detective Agency" was simply not there, replaced by  "Across the Dark Islands: The War in the Pacific."  It was as if someone in Customer Service had decided I needed to change my reading habits.

So, I contacted Customer Service.  First, I tried to find the information about how to return a book that was incorrect, but the directions in both the "Help" and the "My Account" section were circuitous and unhelpful, and I was unable to find a service resolution, so I decided to call them instead. 

Now, in case you haven't noticed, IT IS NOT EASY TO FIND THE AMAZON CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER ON THE AMAZON.COM WEBSITE. They seem to live and breathe "automation," and really discourage phone calls (probably a cost issue).

Fortunately, I had the number on file a previous bout with Customer Service, and so was able to locate it.  For those who remain frustrated about contacting Amazon by phone, here it is:

Amazon.com Customer Service: 1-800-201-7575

When I reached Customer Service, I got a profuse apology by phone, and a promise to ship the "Ladies' Detective Agency" immediately.  I then printed a free shipping label for the wrong book, and waited another 2 days.  Friday came, and I got a package.  WRONG BOOK AGAIN!  I couldn't believe it.  Once again I called Customer Service to inquire about the mishap.

This time, they didn't even try to ship me the correct book. They agreed to give me a refund on the book when it came back, so I will probably never know what happens in Alexander McCall Smith's mystery.  It shall remain a mystery - as much a mystery as  Amazons' Customer Service phone number is for many Amazon customers.

More thoughts on Google the Great

Following all my troubles with the iGoogle application, ("Groaning Over Google Improvements"), I was pleasantly surprised one day to find...the problem simply resolved itself.  Was it something Google did?  I will never know.

But now, my iGoogle application is behaving again.  I can update my To-Do list!  Finally.

My iGoogle "To-Do List" updates again - at long last

About the same time this happened, as I was thinking warm and fuzzy thoughts again about my favorite Search Engine Giant, a very weird thing happened that was well-documented in the technical blogosphere (my to-do list issue was not, incidentally)...Google made a teeny tiny little (human, they think) error, and the result was that EVERY search result for EVERY keyword search was flagged as a site that "could harm your computer." 

Great Scott!  I was horrified.  Why would the Brooklyn Museum of Art (not known for their nefarious technical activity), and the other museum shops I was researching want to harm my computer?  It made NO SENSE.

Rather than deal with the bad consequences of clicking through to a nasty malware sige, I shut my laptop down, not sure what was happening.  It was Saturday morning, and I didn't really NEED to do any more searches. By the next day, of course, all was well, and I read the press about the search glitch on the technical news sites, such as PC Mag.com.

It just goes to show that you can't put all your trust in your technical tools.  So even though they do a lot of things very, very well, let us all remember (and repeat the following phrase if you dare): "Google is Not God. Google is Not God..."

Be a Student Forever Online

I like bargains, and there are some great ones out there in the area of online courses. These days, you can get entire degrees online, but I like the idea of taking a class online for free. But how good are free online courses?  Can you really learn something?

To answer that, I first went looking first for free online offerings from English language universities. Three interesting schools with three very different approaches to "open learning" are:

• Carnie Mellon's Open Learning Initiative
• MITCourseWare
• Stanford on iTunes U

Next, I decided to actually sample their offerings, and see what they consisted of.

Carnie Mellon's OLI has a very appealing format. Their non-credit, interactive courses are offered in a number of different subject areas at for limited periods of time.  I happened upon French Level I, and decided to sign up for it, as it is being offered January - June 2009.

The self-paced lessons include lots of multimedia, and a highly structured approach that is well thought out and well produced.  This appears to be part of a larger educational research project on how people learn through interactive methods.

CMU's well-produced online French course even allows me to record myself speaking in French.

The MIT courses I looked at are more like compilations of course material previously offered MIT students in traditional classroom settings.  The main takeaways here are the syllabi and the recommended readings. The class assignments didn't seem terribly compelling to me, because there is no feedback from the instructor, although I suppose if you're really motivated you might try them out and grade yourself.  I tried out a course on Romantic Poetry originally offered in the Spring of 2005.

The recommended reading list has links to Amazon where you can buy your books. 10% of the proceeds from any book purchases go to the support of the OpenCoursWare project, which makes sense.  If you want a good reading list on a subject matter of interest, check out MIOpenCourseWare.

The last place I tried for courses was Stanford on iTunes U.  You basically can get - free of charge - a large number of recorded lectures produced by Stanford as MP3 files. I downloaded a few in the Fine Arts category.  The problem I had with this arrangement is I don't really want all these files on my hard drive - I'd rather just listen to it. But that's just me.  Some of these lectures might be good fare for a long car drive or a frequent commute. But 10 minutes into most audio lectures, I tend to space out, so for me it wasn't as compelling as I had hoped.

So far, the only learning experience that has held my attention is the Carnie Mellon OLI coursework.  But I plan to keep looking...there is a larger list of schools experimenting in this space at: EducationPortal

Does Searching Make You Smarter?

Exalead is a new breed of search engines to explore

Good news for aging Baby Boomers and their aging brains!

Technology can help the old grey cells.  While many technophobes have been declaring for years that otechnology dulls your brain, there is evidence that navigating the Web and using online search tools can actually do the opposite and "boot up your brain."

The theory is that using the Internet through such activities as searching and doing online research stimulates the frontal lobe and improves brain function.

But why be boring? Try a few different kinds of search engines to stimulate the old grey cells even more!

Here are a few top choices for online Search tools (in alphabetical order, obviously):

• Ask.com. They have a nice feature for something called "related topics" on the right.
• Exalead.  They feature images of the site results, and interesting ways of narrowing your search on the right.
• Google. A classic approach to search. Some people never go anywhere else.
• Yahoo Search.  A little bit of a mimic of Google, but some slightly different results. Yahoo also has many related sites, such as: Yahoo Answers, which allows you to post a question and get answers from others in the know.

Happy searching...

Groaning over iGoogle "Improvements"

When Google updated their iGoogle application, it stopped working

I have been struggling in the past few weeks to try to adapt to iGoogle's new look and feel.  I had made iGoogle my start page on the Web, and so was a little startled when one day everything changed. The top tabs had scooted over to the left, to become left-hand navigation.

This wouldn't have upset me...had the application continued to work.  Unfortunately, it simply has stopped functioning.

On my laptop, the tabs don't take me anywhere.  I click and I click...to no avail.

And on my main computer, I find that I am now unable to update my to-do list (or, as a fail safe, even delete it). I can't add new widgets, and I can't delete them. The application, in short, has failed to function.  I can read the news stories, but that's about it.

What's going on here?  Has Google never heard of the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it?" Because they broke a perfectly good application.

This points to the disadvantage of relying on free Web services and free Web applications...there's nobody to complain to, because you aren't really a customer: You're just a user.  And in my case, this user has been left holding the bag.

The Magazine's Future is in Our Hands

I've been hearing the death knell of traditional magazine publishing for some time now.  Subscriptions and revenues are down.  Anxiety amongst management, reporters, and staff is high.  Many younger readers are getting their news and commentary almost exclusively online.  Is traditional magazine publishing going the way of the buggy whip?

Recently I traded in some airline miles for some magazines.  I hadn't been flying anywhere, and the airline (US Air) was quite insistent that I do something with the miles (I'm sure they benefited somehow, but oh, well).  And so, I obediently ticked off one magazine after another that I would have been unlikely to have ordered otherwise: titles like Dog Fancy, Budget Travel, and Martha Stewart Living.  10 in all. I sent in my little postcard and waited.

One by one, they started to arrive.  A mini-deluge of glossy reading to multi-task with while watching TV. Then, within the hour, destined for the recycling bin.

I have other magazines I care more for (The New Yorker, some art magazines), but for the most part, I find a magazine a quick "rifle" at best.  Something to take to the hairdresser.  Only occasionally to take to the bedside table. I am as much a magazine reader as the next person, but I'd have to say, they seem to have lost their sheen recently.

My question is, is magazine readership down because there are better (digital) versions or alternatives, because of the growth of other forms of news and entertainment, because of concern about the environment, or because magazines don't seem to give much bang for the buck?  (Some seem to be mostly ads).

I went online in search of answers.  I was wondering what I would do if I gave up traditional magazines permanently. Here's what I found:

1) The online version of a magazine is not necessarily better. I enjoy leafing through The New Yorker, for example, because I know I will discover a few cartoons to laugh at, find a review of interest, and possibly read a thought-provoking article. Everything is always in a certain order, so it's easy to page through.

The New Yorker's Website has no such appeal. Its long, scrolling Home Page seems to be mimicking that of the New York times, but the lack of color or imagination is at odds with the very nature of The New Yorker with its long tradition of artistic cover art. They seem to be trying to get on the bandwagon, but aren't sure how to go about it.

New Yorker online - just not the same

What's worse, I couldn't get my bearings on the site.  Some of their groupings of content seemed logical, but it simply isn't how I like to read the magazine - which is sequentially.  I like going from cover to cover.  It is reassuring in a way that newyorker.com is not.

2) Digital Editions are not the answer. These days, you can get "Digital Editions" of just about any magazine. For proof, check out Zinio.com, a virtual magazine store where you can buy access to digital versions of many magazines.  This would certainly solve the recycling issue, but is a digital edition interesting enough to consumers?

I have yet to see a fellow passenger reading a digital edition on his/her laptop on the train. Not to say it won't happen one day, but this just isn't a trend.

Zinio sets up a library where you can keep your magazines (not unlike the virtual library shelves Google allows on Google Books - see my previous blog entries on digital and virtual libraries).  Zinio.com is currently offering free complimentary issues so you can try the service out.  The digital editions load in Zinio's Online Reader.  It took a while for my March edition of Women's Health to obtain a clear focus (it was a bit blurry initially), but then it looked just like - well, the print edition. They are in fact identical - ads and all.

Zinio's Online Reader - too much work for a lot of ads

And that of course is the problem.  I didn't feel it was terribly much fun to page through the Web-based Online Reader of Women's Health.  It's certainly more work than the print version.  I had to keep squinting to make out the type, which varied in size.  On a regular Website, the type for articles tends to be all one size -and in print, the resolution is better so you can actually read it (Web resolution is far worse than print).

The digital edition of a magazine is the worse of both worlds: all the hard work of using computer software, with all the ads of the magazine. And none of the tactile experience.  Geez, I even missed the smelly perfume inserts, that's how nostalgic I was for traditional magazines after this experience.

3) There are many free substitutes for the kind of content magazines offer. This is probably what magazines are fearing.  Think about it.  There are so many ways to get your current news and information, no matter what the topic, including:

• The classic Web-only eZines (such as Salon)
• Website offered by TV stations (such as CNN.com), which have plenty of "magazine-style" reporting
• Blogs of every stripe and specialty (more specialist than magazines, often)
• Blog aggregators (such as Bloglines)
• Customized Home pages that aggregate news from global sources (such as iGoogle)

The list goes on.  Everybody has their favorite way of getting information, commentary, and entertainment, whether  specialized or general  Does anybody turn to printed magazines for the first word on anything anymore?

But after my foray online, I re-examined my pile of glossy printed matter.  What's the answer?  I will probably keep reading the magazines a little while longer.  At least until the Green Police come after me for contributing more than my share to the local landfill.

Eat, Drink, and Give the Gift of Merry

Don't get me wrong - I love consumer goods as much as the next red-blooded American.  After all, going to the mall (if you can avoid getting gunned down by some nut) helps keep the economy afloat.

But eventually, you can only accumulate so much "stuff," and start to see the wisdom in buying consumables - things to eat, drink, enjoy, and then be done with.  It's the experience, after all.

Here are a few sites I'm shopping at this holiday season that offer edible (or drinkable) gifts for the gourmet or gourmand on your list.

GIFTS OF TEA

Tea is so good for you.  It's good for the soul, good for the mind, and good for the body.

If you want to buy tea as gifts, try some of these sites:

Numi Teas

I really like Numi teas.  They're fragrant, beautiful, and definitely  unusual.  All good attributes for a holiday gift.

I have a little glass Numi teapot of my own (individual size), into which I put a flowering bud and hot water.  The bud blossoms into a wonderful flower that at the same times gives you - guess what, a flower tea.

The Numi website includes groupings of inexpensive teas and herbal "teasans", bamboo-packaged gift selections, loose tea, tea ware, and flowering teas.  Anything would be a treat for a tea lover, but I definitely recommend (unless they already have one) that interesting little glass teapot with which they can see their tea bloom.

For a broader selection of different kinds of teas, try:
Adagio

For the benefits of green tea, try:
Rishi Tea

CHOCOLATE GIFTS

Godiva is the gold standard in chocolate gifts, and they make the online ordering process for gifts quite easy. Every year they come out with something new in the gift area, although their truffles are always an exquisite classic. Be careful at Godiva, though - if you spend enough on gifts, they'll give you a box of the stuff for your own use.

If you want to branch out and try some other brands, you might also try:

Artisan Confection, with Joseph Schmidt, Scharffen Berger, and the organic Dagoba Chocolates

Candinas Chocolatier - Swiss made and preservative free

SPICES AND EVERYTHING NICES

A friend turned me on to Penzey's Spices a couple of years ago, and I've been buying their spices by mail ever since.  They have considerable depth and breadth to their offerings (this is more apparent if you actually order their catalog or go to one of their retail stores) and they have some really interesting spice samplers for anyone you know who loves to cook. Their Website is slightly retro, and takes some thought to find what you're looking for, but the quality of the spices is really worth it.

Oh, and the other great thing about buying things to eat and drink as gifts - you can be pretty sure they won't be returned!  Ho ho ho.

When Customer Service goes South

Online shopping is by no means a level playing field. You'd think that the newer online vendors would be savvy about how to handle customer service, but such is not the case.  Some are downright awful, especially in the areas of customer service. so you really have to be careful where you shop online.

I like to experiment and try new vendors, and every now and then this leads to an unhappy customer service experience.

Such was the case when I recently attempted to purchase some replacement china and tableware on the Web. I had made notes about a Website I previously used to purchase tableware, but the site was a little hard to use.  So, I thought I'd try another online vendor.

I tried a vendor who was sending me regular emails - Homeclick.com.  I must have purchased something there before, but I don't remember what it was, or in fact anything about the shopping experience.  But I will not soon forget this recent purchase.

I liked the china, but getting the order sorted out was a nightmare.

The Web transaction was smooth enough, even though I was told to expect my shipment in two packages.  Since most of the shipment was coming in the first package, I chose to pay for "expedited shipping" (via FedEx) for that part of the shipment, running me an extra $12.

The initial confirmation of my purchase was also fine.  But the 2nd email Homeclick sent about what was being shipped showed an incorrect number of items.  They appeared to have left out one of the sets of silverware.

I called customer service, who assured me that nothing was amiss, and that it had simply been back ordered. I requested a refund on that part of the "expedited shipping" and was told I would receive some of the money back.  When I received the first part of my shipment, it made no reference to the correct number of silverware settings, back ordered or not.  It appeared that part of my order had "disappeared" - into the bowels of Homeclick''s order placement system.  By this time, the entire charge had also been made to my credit card.

Irritated, I called HomeClick's customer service department. They seemed to not understand what was going on.  I cancelled the remaining parts of my order, and requested a refund for all items I had not yet received.  The service rep told I would receive a refund for $98. Shortly thereafter, I received an email telling me my refund would be $38.

This went on like this for the next few days.  I would call customer service, they would tell me one thing, then a day or two later, I would get a completely different story via e-mail.  It was bizarre - it was almost as if nobody in customer service was talking to anyone else, and the e-mail department was in its own little world.  I also was wondering if I would ever see my refund - or, in lieu of that, my china and silverware.

The upshot was that I finally received a set of silverware I had asked to be cancelled, and finally did get a credit back to my credit card for two items (totally about $60), but it simply wasn't what I had requested of the customer service department, and I felt misled. But they wore me down through the experience of making multiple calls to customer service, cross-checking their e-mails (which all contradicted each other), and continually checking my credit card's Website to check for a refund.

It could have been worse, I suppose (they could have failed to give me any credit back, or failed to ship the merchandise).  Nevertheless, the whole experience ticked me off.

What went wrong?

I'm guessing that Homeclick's back-office systems are simply not in synch with each other or with their Website transaction processing system. Their customer service process also lacks process (typos in their emails make me think they are hand-written, not automated).

The lesson is, I suppose, to make a note of these lousy customer experiences when you have them, and remember not to order from these sites again.  Also, you can let others know to "buyer beware." You can post opinions about online vendor on many consumer sites, including:

Epinions

RedPearl

Yahoo Shopping

Most require you to have a user ID of some sort.  It's worth a try.  My problem with all this is - it's just more time spent on something that should be very simple. And isn't that why we're online in the first place?