Rant

So after my last post, which autotwittered, I got a reply from a guy by the name of Frank Eliason, who goes by the handle “ComcastCares” on Twitter. And this is how the converation went:

mubix: Blogged Comcast: The start of a new series http://tinyurl.com/6jrvhe
5 days ago

comcastcares: @mubix I would like to help. Email me *********[snipped]@cable.comcast.com (new email: We_Can_Help@cable.comcast.com)
5 days ago

mubix: @comcastcares it shouldn’t come to the point where you need to help. I expect a certain level of service for the golf time I am paying for
about 3 hours later

comcastcares: @mubix The golf time?
2 minutes later

mubix: @comcastcares the premium that I pay monthly helps pay for Comcast execs trips to the golf course
about 1 hour later

comcastcares: @mubix Oh! I have not been golfing in a long time. Actually I do not know any golfers here. I guess I should make more friends

So after I’m done insulting the guy, he still goes out of his way to help me out. The very next day after this twitter conversation happens, a “gumbling” as my wife put it, contractor came to my house and put the cable in the ground. So I would like to give notice to Comcast: Frank Eliason is the best employee you have, if he every leaves or gets fired, I’m switching providers. To those who have problems with Comcast and their customer support, click the email link above and Frank will fix any problem you have, or at the very least he will know who to contact and with get things actually moving.

Thank you Frank.

mubix

I am truely getting tired of iPhone “Web Apps”. I created the title like I was going to give them a fair chance, but they truely have ZERO integration into the actual phone. They do have a pretty interface and I have to give props to some of the design developers, but does this seem more of a copout to anyone else?

I’ll give an example. I LOVE Remember the Milk. It is probably the best task system out there in my opinion. I have for the longest time tried to get tasks on my phone and have it integrate into my calendar. So I was very excited about the new iPhone and the possibility that there would be a killer app for calendar / todo syncing with the service I already love, RTM. To my shock I found they had a Web App. What does this do for me? I now can add tasks to my to do and RTM can email or text me when something comes up. I find this pointless, because I can simply add tasks with a full qwerty keyboard at the nearest computer with a internet connection. PLUS to add to it, RTM wants me to “Go Pro” in order to... use their WEBSITE? Hmm, pay 25 dollars and use their iPhone friendly web site, or just use their normal site from my iPhone.... I am not against paying for a product, and I am especially not against supporting a developer, but don’t make me pay for VISITING YOUR WEB SITE.

I feel that a lot of these “Web Apps” are a complete waste of developers time, instead give me an ACTUAL iPhone App! Now, if Apple is charging all kinds of money to be published to the App Store than I retract all I have said. If not, you are missing the boat people, charge 9.99 a pop and make an iPhone app that is worth downloading. I promise that I won’t be the only one pushing that “Purchase” button.

Now, I don’t like to publicly bad mouth companies, but at some point, Comcast’s lack of “service” has got to stop. Well, let me rephrase that: Comcast needs to be held accountable for their utter lack of due diligence. I have been a Comcast customer by default ever since they swallowed the portion of Adelphia that held my area. I say this because only recently, have I actually had a choice in the matter. So, without further ado, here is my latest Tales from Comcast Customer:

Having recently moved, I decided that even though I have a choice, incurring additional “setup” fees for switching services was not something I wanted. So they guy was there 5 days after I moved in, ran the line, and we were hot with both digital cable, and speedy internet service. I came home from work, ran some speed tests and was delighted to see that I had just almost tripled my speeds from my previous residence.

Weeks go by, and this line that the Comcast installer ran from the box to my house is still strung across my lawn. I call and they say they will send someone out to put it down as soon as possible.

2 months later, I call again; they cannot see in their system that a request to put a line in the ground was ever submitted. After 20 minutes of trying to ensure that the “Customer Service Representative” fully understood that there was actually, physically, an orange coaxial line, above ground, strung across my front lawn, that was Comcast’s responsibility, she submitted a new request.

1 week after the new request, I come home to a Comcast truck in the driveway. YIPEE!, nope, he was there to fill out the request for a contractor to come and put the line in the ground. So basically he had no purpose in life or in my driveway.

2 weeks after the new request, no contractor, but someone at some point came by my house and spray painted lines on my lawn where my line should be in the ground. (And no, I didn’t miss a call or the contractor coming)

3 weeks after the new request, the wife is fed up and she has me call Comcast after our TV goes out for no apparent reason. Guess what I got when I called? A busy signal. That just doesn’t compute in my head. How is Comcast going to present me with a busy signal for a 24 hour service line? Anyways, the next day I call and actually get through. Now guess what they told me? Nope, they had the request, but it was for September!? The “Customer Service Representative” was nice enough to move it up to this Saturday.

To Be Continued....

Once this event has run its course, it will be filed under “Stupid People” in the links menu, under “Tales of a Comcast Customer: EP1”

So, I have to apologize to the whole Security community for my idiocy. Yesterday I was made aware of a post about Backtrack 3 Final coming out. The link I received was a link to Mut’s blog. While reading the post it mentioned something about an early IRC release. Proceeding to IRC I found a direct link to the ISO in the topic. Excited about the release I failed to read the rest of the topic in IRC mentioning that they wanted it to stay within the IRC community. I then started sending out a link to Mut’s post, and the link to the ISO out to my friends and the Wifi Sec mailing list.
Today at some point the ISO was pulled offline, according to an email I received, due to my Wifi Sec posting.
I am sorry to everyone in the Remote Exploit community, and especially Mutts, Max, and MjM. So, if you read this and see me at one of the conferences. Mention this post’s title and I owe you a beer.

Recently I have been hearing a lot of innovators posting to their blogs that they are pursuing new employment with Microsoft, and I wonder if they are making sneaky power plays into the Open Source market. Taking it’s best projects and plucking their leads. For example:

KnoppMyth Creator:
http://mysettopbox.tv/index.html#News

EDIT: The above article seems to be an April Fools joke that I was late to the party on. Thanks to Mark for calling me out.

Castle Cops - Owner/Operator - Paul Laudanski

http://www.castlecops.com/t223152-Must_Read_Important_Announcement.html

Now, don’t get me wrong, everyone needs their family and Open Source is a thankless job sometimes. I am not trying to dog on them for going Microsoft. I am just wondering if they are doing this to give these gents a job and make their product better, or just get rid of supporting competition.

Just my rant on what I am seeing. Sounds a bit like dvorak.org/blog eh?

-- mubix