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Going to democamp Guelph Tonight

January 27, 2010 Filed in: Geeky

Tonight I’m heading out to democamp Guelph for a little geek networking, beer and to hear about the latest and greatest in new tech ideas in and around the Guelph area.

The event happens every 3 months or so and consists of a couple hours of 3 minute demos followed by a brief Q & A period. The demos usually consist of new startup ideas, web apps in development, new concepts and overall tech geekness.

But more important are the people who show up. If you’re just getting started in the tech sector, or have just recently had a great idea for a startup, there is no better place to start your networking.

If you want to keep up with what’s going on tonight at democamp Guelph, just follow the twitter hash tag: #dcg.

Tags: geek, twitter, web

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Flickr Quietly Backpedals out of Their PR Blunder

May 20, 2009 Filed in: Generally

When is an apology not an apology? When it comes in the form of a sheepish form letter and omits any explanation as to what went wrong. Late last week flickr/Yahoo! and Rogers seemingly dissolved a long standing relationship that gave Rogers Internet subscribers a free flickr Pro account for as long as they remained Rogers subscribers. Why this agreement is no more is a little unclear as the only source of the news came from flickr.com when I logged into my account and was presented with an AJAXIAN notification bubble informing me that my free Pro account would cease to be free and/or Pro by July 1, 2009. This information was additionally corroborated by my account FAQ page to which this notification directed me.

I have to admit I am fond of flickr and enjoy the service so I opted to renew then and there for another 2 years of service. Upon verbalizing my dismay to these recent events on Twitter I quickly learned that no all Rogers subscribers were reporting the same experience. Some were being told their accounts would expire on November 1st 2011, nearly a full 2 years and 4 months after the date which was originally given to me.

So I went back to check my account, and there is was, the same notification bubble now displaying November 2011, not July 2009! Oh the FAQ still said 2009, but the notice now said 2011. So armed with these discrepancies (and the screen shots to prove them) I sent flickr/Yahoo! a scathing support query:

This morning I get a notice from you (not Rogers) that my Flickr pro account that I enjoy as a Rogers customer will [no] longer be pro after July 1, 2009. This was confirmed but not elaborated on in the FAQ. After feeling I had no other choice I paid for the renewal. Shortly thereafter, and after hearing contradictory reports on the internet, I noticed the new warning that now says November 1, 2011. However the FAQ still says July 1, 2009.

This is a fairly sizable blunder on your part and I think it was handled very unprofessionally. As a company who is one of the corner stones on the internet I would expect that you of all companies would know not to publish anything to the net before making sure you’ve got it all right down to the letter.

I want my money back (or my in progress transaction canceled) if indeed my pro account is still valid until November 1, 2011. I expect a response of confirmation of action.

Thank you.

Adam Merrifield

To which I got the ineffectual and less then sympathetic response (pay close attention to the fourth paragraph about FAQ and discrepancies):

Hello,

Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Billing.

I understand that you are contacting us to request a refund for your Flickr Pro account that you recently purchased.

Any changes to your Flickr account pertaining to your Yahoo! Hi-Speed service package with Rogers are set to take place due to changes made by Rogers. Please contact Rogers regarding further details of this change.

As per the FAQ found on Flickr.com, the Flickr Pro account included with your Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed service will change to a free Flickr account on July 1, 2009. There is not other information from Yahoo! that would support a November 1, [2011] date. I understand that this situation may be frustrating and apologize for the inconvenience.

Unfortunately, as stated on the order page there are no refunds on pro accounts. If an account has been closed before the pro term is up it cannot be transferred to another account and the unused portion is non-refundable.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Billing. If we can provide you with any further information, please reply to this email.

Regards,

Unnamed Female Support Personnel

Yahoo! Billing

This just infuriated me! I proceeded to make a spectacle of them and myself by posting about there response in as many places as I could. I sent them a short and to the point letter and supporting screen shot:

Uhhh… you work there right? And you can’t see what EVERYONE ELSE ON THE INTERNET SEES? See attached and don’t insult the intelligence of your users. Thanks.

Adam Merrifield

Get it staight Flickr

I guess this sent the message in the tone required to get some action on the matter for today I got what I assume to be the last and finalizing letter in response to this whole fiasco:

Hello Adam,

Thank you for contacting Yahoo! Billing.

I understand you have contacted us regarding your Flickr Pro service on your Yahoo! ID: xxxxxx@xxxx.com.

After reviewing your account we have issued you a full refund for your Flickr order from 05/15/2009 for $47.99. Please allow 7 – 10 business days for the credit to post to your credit card.

To view your billing history, please visit:

https://billing.yahoo.com/

and sign in to your account. Once you’ve signed in, you will be able to view all billing details regarding this Yahoo! account.

We apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused you.

Thank you again for contacting Yahoo! Billing. If we can provide you with any further information, please reply to this email.

Regards,

Unnamed Male Support Personnel

Yahoo! Customer Care

What is the moral of the story? Don’t take it lying down! $50 is still $50 and I shouldn’t have to pay it because of a Yahoo! PR blunder and neither should you. Did you get burned by this? Does anyone know what the hell is going on yet? The notification still says November 2011 while the FAQ insists it’s July 2009. Will my account go dead in July? Who knows? We’ll fight that battle when the time comes.

[tags]flickr, Yahoo!, Rogers, internet[/tags]

Tags: design, flickr, internet, mac, photo, Rogers, seydoggy, son, twitter, web, yahoo!

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#canadianmusicfind May 3rd – May 10th

May 12, 2009 Filed in: Musically

Here is last weeks #canadianmusicfind wrap up.

[tags]Canadian, music, canadianmusicfind, twitter[/tags]

Tags: canadian, canadianmusicfind, music, twitter

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A whole bag o’ #canadianmusicfind

April 28, 2009 Filed in: Musically

I’ve been saving these ones up for a about a week or so. There is lots of great Canadian music here from #canadianmusicfind.

Tags: band, canadian, Canadian music, canadianmusicfind, mac, music, picture, pictures, twitter, web

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#canadianmusicfind weekend recap

April 20, 2009 Filed in: Musically

Here is a handful more Canadian musicians that you need to have a look at (from #canadianmusicfind).

[tags]canadianmusicfind, canadian, music, twitter[/tags]

Tags: canadian, canadianmusicfind, music, twitter

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A better way to CMS with RapidWeaver

April 15, 2009 Filed in: Generally

There are some tools that come along and everyone just sighs, “How did we ever get along without this?”

Stacks from YourHead Software is one of those tools that made RapidWeaver more complete then we ever knew it needed to be. What makes Stacks so amazing is that it is what ever it needs to be to whoever needs it. So far it’s been a power layout tool of endless shapes and sizes, an ExtraContent device, and RSS scraper, a Twitter badge, a media player… and now, thanks to Joe Workman, a CMS.

A Content Management System (CMS) allows clients to edit their content after their web design/development staff has published the site. So far there have been only a handful of attempts to bring CMS to the RapidWeaver platform; WebYep and PlusKit’s @gdoc(()) implementation. The former requires site licensing and the latter rely’s on Google ever changing Google Docs API.

Now there is a CushyCMS(free) implementation built into a Stacks Library item (or Stacks plugin) available from Joe Workman. By simple dragging a CushyCMS stack onto your stacks page, anything you drop into that CushyCMS stack will be editable on the client side.

Brilliant!

[tags]CushyCMS, Stacks, YourHead Software, RapidWeaver[/tags]

Tags: CushyCMS, design, develop, development, extracontent, media, plugin, rapidweaver, seydoggy, software, stacks, twitter, web, yourhead, YourHead Software