Do I Sound Vexed?

BlackBerry Storm Travail

Back in December, when I received my Storm cellphone, I wrote a lengthy and what I felt was an objective RIKLReview^(TM).  Along with some nice features, I called out a lengthy list of bugs, and suggested that they could all be fixed in software, so I would cope for the nonce.  Four nonces later, I'm pretty tired of them.  Below is the email I sent to Verizon "support."  We'll see if there's any reply.

I have a BlackBerry storm. There has been no software update since December and the product is so "buggy" as to be almost unusable. I have now four times gone to a Verizon store and asked about when there will be an update. Your employees always look terribly sheepish and say "soon." They are just as embarrassed by the miserable performance of this device as Verizon and BlackBerry should be.

I'm writing for two reasons:

1: I would like a software update so that the product is usable instead of frustrating me on almost every occasion.
2: I would like a billing credit for the waste of time you have caused me with the fact that this product is in no way ready to be sold to customers. It should have been advertised as having beta (at best!) software and held off the market until it was ready and reliable. Alternatively, we testing volunteers should be paid for our time.

Kenneth Lewis Feels the Wrath of the Blog

Perhaps you'll remember my unhappiness with Mr. Lewis and his benighted Bank of America.

Ha!  Me and Major Major sure showed him!

Disk Jockey Redux

It has been my pleasure to be acquainted with some of the best traditional DJs in the business.  And many of those whom I never met I was able to hear on the AM radio back when AM radio still had music and clear channel stations could be heard clear across the country.  So it was disquieting that the term "disk jockey" came to be applied to the passel of amateurs who had some cheap speakers, turntables, and a modest collection of CDs or even "records."  How dare they usurp that august designation?

I have succumbed in this case to logic and literalism.  The true disk jockeys weren't:  They played cartridges, not disks, from beginning to end, and their skill and radio persona were their attractions.  Today's disk jockeys are literally disk jockeys.  They have actual disks which they manipulate to create whatever effect they desire.  (Which, in my cynical view, is to make it difficult to talk.  But never mind.)

The designation has migrated, and I've decided that it's OK.  So mote it be.

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NP:   "Do the Football" Isis

TotD Omnia makes processing products for broadcasting.  To take one tiny quote from their web site, "Omnia FM processors are designed to win any loudness war without ever sounding harsh or edgy. Rock stations love the amazing competitive loudness, thunderous bass and clear, open high end..."   "Competitive loudness and thunderous bass" are good things, in case you have any doubt.  I'm not so sure about the "war" aspect, however.  I get a lot of T-shirts at trade shows.

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