Payton Place

For the very first time in dozens of prior transactions, the BestBuy In-Store Pickup promise finally came true. It was a painless and relatively fast experience after walking into the store and waiting in line for approximately five minutes. Hooray!!!

Ordering merchandise online at BestBuy.Com is always a piece of cake. I verified my desired items were in-stock locally, flagged the purchase for In-Store Pickup, and paid for them in the traditional online fashion. I even applied a coupon received from my BestBuy Reward Zone account successfully. But of course, visiting my local Best Buy store (we only have one) on a Sunday afternoon nearing 4pm was a dicey proposition. That store is typically packed with customers during that time of day.

Fortunately, while standing in line amongst a sea of others waiting to resolve customer service issues, a representative noticed my clearly visible In-Store receipt while I held it alongside my purchasing credit card and I.D. She asked me to move to a different line to retrieve my goods. No one was in that line! (shock of all shocks) Thereafter, I was limited only by the amount of time it took to scan the receipt, verify my identity, and sign the pickup receipt. Sixty seconds max! That’s the way this process should occur. Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the planned truth at my local BestBuy.

A sign above a customer service register used to indicate a dedicated location for transacting In-Store pickups. But before today, it didn’t seem to matter which time of day I appeared to collect my goods, no staff ever manned that register. So I’ve always been forced to wait for other “Customer Service” patrons to complete their transactions before advancing in line. The In-Store Pickup sign is no longer displayed at my local BestBuy. I wonder what’s up with that?

If you’ve ever been in a similar customer service line at such a retailer, you know that typical transactions in this area take lots of time. There I stand with receipt and I.D. in hand, only to wait for Ma & Pa Kettle to purchase and configure their first computer using an unapproved new account with a BestBuy credit card. They are clueless and the folks in line behind them are just as clueless about their surroundings.

This is just one example but I can quote many more. Most similar customer service transactions take an inordinate amount of time to complete. So to Place the In-Store Pickup sign in this area is fraught with issues from the get-go. The moral of the story is, BestBuy, please provide a method for your In-Store Pickup patrons to collect their goods without forcing them to wade through the endless sea of other Customer Service patrons first . . .

~SP

The prevalence of stupid marketing images on the internet is nothing new. But for the past year or so, I’ve noticed an upswing in the use of images depicting photos of people using their computers while lying flat on their stomach, feet held high, and having a great experience all at the same time. A perfect example of this approach is an image I snagged from Dish Network’s online account access page.

Who in their right mind lays prone, in business casual wear, with their laptop computer on an airport waiting bench? This is so ludicrous that I just cannot fathom an advertising agency that would ever consider this as a realistic scenario. But unrealistic scenarios are everywhere on the internet. The following image is a perfect example of this lack of realism.

Which responsible individual exposes their laptop computer to a harsh marine environment rife with wind, sea spray, and moist sand? Honestly, how good is the WiFi signal likely to be this close to the coast anyway? Of course, if this gent has a cellular data adapter then he’ll probably be just fine. But since when do computers and water go well together?

OK, let’s just leave the environmental conditions out of the equation for now. What about comfort? Have you ever spent a considerable amount of time working on a computer in a prone position? Take a look at this comfortable setup depicted by yet another stupid marketing photo.

This place looks like it has up-tempo decorating with lots of windows (rarely good for computer use) and open plan construction. The room colors are inviting and the subject is wearing contemporary clothing. Check out the operating position of the user. Once again, she is laying prone. But this time she is positioned on a hard wood floor with her computer, the epitome of comfort, right? Doing this frequently would probably build some serious callouses on your elbows!

Will someone please tell me from whence the motivation for developing photography like this comes? I suppose it is simply a way to show a computer used in familiar environments, and in a way that seems casual and inviting. From my perspective though, none of these images depict either a casual or comfortable computer experience. Heaven forbid we’d show machines used in situations that are even remotely realistic.

In conclusion to this morning’s marketing rant, I think it makes sense to show an image of a condition that actually makes sense to a guy like me. Here we have a maybe not-so-average-joe; considering the furniture, the environment, and the view. But the concept of a dude in a recliner with a laptop holds promise. Granted, this isn’t your average every day La-Z-Boy recliner, but at least this computing position is facing the right direction (laptop screen away from windows). This and the possibility of a mountain view from a reclining computer position, conjures all manner of good feelings in my mind. How about you?

~SP

Google and a host of net-savvy partners have opened up a free set of web tools to help anyone determine if their net connection is blocking or throttling BitTorrent or otherwise limits their bandwidth.

At the moment, three tools are available?when their servers aren’t jammed up, and they seem to be pretty popular at the moment. The Glasnost tool determines how your ISP is handling BitTorrent traffic and gives a readout on whether it’s being denied, throttled, or otherwise impaired. Network Diagnostic Tool covers other problems that might affect your upload or download speeds. And the Network Path and Application Diagnosis tries to reveal the routing, network tools, and other “last mile” issues that affect net performance.

The tests are fairly simple, and each seems to require a working Java plugin to run. The Glasnost test, for instance, creates a fake BitTorrent stream between your connection point and the test’s servers, then monitors what happens to the packets.

That’s one reassuring block of HTML.

It doesn’t take a senior analyst to see that Google is looking to shine some light on internet providers’ moves against net neutrality, such as Cox Communications’ “time sensitivity” throttling. In fact, the next two products due out of the “Measurement Lab” are DiffProbe and NANO, which will tell a user whether certain types of traffic, for specific applications or users, are getting priority over others. The side effect of the net giants’ tussle, though, are some handy tools that (should) tell the user exactly why they are or aren’t getting the speeds they paid for.