The Good NET Guide

Posts Tagged ‘info’

From now on, any story about “hackers” or “hacking” will be accompanied by a link to the song “ Halcyon And On And On ,” as made famous by the movie Hackers . With that in mind: who made more money last year, Wall Street fat-cats or hackers?

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Hackers cost U.S. businesses $25 million in phishing-related scams in 2009

This year, instead of spending $20 million on SuperBowl ads, Pepsi decided to put the money into Pepsi Refresh, a social marketing campaign which solicits the best ideas from consumers and plans to dole out $20 million in grants to good causes and “great ideas” throughout the year. The site opened up about 10 hours ago to take ideas from people applying for grants. On February 1, voting will begin to determine the best ideas, which will receive grants ranging from $5,000 to $250,000 each.

It’s a bold experiment in social marketing, but it is also risky. Not helping matters is the fact that the Pepsi Refresh site isn’t working properly. An attempt to submit an idea resulted in a database error. But even worse, applicants’ personal information was compromised. Reports Rick Delashmit with Farmers4Good, who was trying to submit a proposal for a “Taste Buds” project to promote healthy eating habits of fruits and vegetables among school children, via an email to us:

There were also HUGE privacy problems last night as each time you tried to submit your plan, it would be linked to some other applicants personal information. This happened for everyone…..epic fail.

name, email address, city, state, zip and their entire plan that they were submitting along with how much $$ they were asking for. I was actually getting random emails last night from other folks who were trying to submit and they were getting my info attached to their plans….craziness.

The complaints are also piling up on the Pepsi Refresh Facebook Fan page, where the latest message from Pepsi acknowledges, “We are aware of site issues and are working towards getting everything resolved.” Some of the comments on that page echo what Delashmit experienced:

—Its all screwed up now when you press submit I actuall get a persons name and their info…

—Looks like the database records are corrupted – as I go through the pages, another person’s appliction is coming up.

The Pepsi Refresh site is similar in functionality to other crowdsourced idea generating efforts such as Dell’s IdeaStorm (which is run on top of Salesforce.com) and the type of sites created by UserVoice, although it is not clear who created the site on behalf of Pepsi. I have contacted Pepsi to find out and will update if I hear back from them.

Regardless, this is not a good way to launch a massive social marketing campaign aimed at fostering warm-and-fuzzy feelings towards Pepsi. Hopefully, it can fix things quickly and recover because it’s actually a pretty good idea if Pepsi can get past the technical and privacy snafus.

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It looks like Viliv has a lot planned for CES 2010 this week.

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Specs and pics of the Viliv N5, S10, HD5, and P3 surface pre CES 2010

This is what happens when there’s no competition in an industry. Best Buy was the subject of Consumerist/Consumer Reports investigation re: “optimization.” Best Buy tries to sell computers to an unsuspecting public that have been “optimized” by the Geek Squad

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Adventures in Best Buy ‘optimization’

The BlackBerry Storm 2 is no secret. We’ve known that a second generation touchscreen BlackBerry has been in the works for months. Actually it was probably RIM that “leaked” all the info in an effort to save face from the flop that is the original Storm

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Verizon’s CEO has been rocking the Storm 2 for weeks, demoing it to employees

Looks like Windows Media Center, that hub for video and audio which I’ve never used, is getting full Netflix streaming support. This is good news for those of you running HTPCs with Vista on them — no need for an extra layer or front-end, just open up WMC, enter your info and you’re on your way.

If you’re not a member, hit up some free trial action and you could be watching a movie in about two minutes without leaving your chair.

T-Mobile USA announced today a new campaign dedicated to helping people save money on their wireless service, and the carrier is not only using the lovely Catherine Zeta-Jones as the face of the campaign again, they’re also giving a huge vote of confidence and a heap of exposure to Redwood City, CA-based startup BillShrink.

BillShrink launched in April 2008 as a way for people to compare the value they are getting with their current wireless provider against other national carriers. It has since raised an additional $8 million on top of a $1 million round it secured back in 2007 and expanded its technology to other products and services, like helping you find the cheapest gas in your neighborhood or the ideal credit card based on your profile.

People can now visit the T-Mobile website or one of its retail stores for a so-called “Mobile Makeover”: free, unbiased and personalized savings recommendations for wireless plans, powered by BillShrink. That’s a big boost for the fledgling company, especially considering the first television spot featuring Zeta-Jones will air tonight during the American Idol season finale on FOX (that’s a lot of eyeballs). It’s also a bit of a risk for T-Mobile, although they seem pretty confident of the outcome of the comparison engine:

“Providing great wireless coverage at a great price is at the heart of what T-Mobile offers,” said Denny Marie Post, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA, Inc. “We’re so confident that T-Mobile provides the best overall experience for a majority of Americans, we’re willing to put our value to the test by pointing people to an independent source. And while we may not come out on top each and every time, we believe a majority of people will see T-Mobile offers them the value they want, and the best experience in wireless.”

Billshrink is headed by CEO Peter Pham, a former Photobucket executive who joined the company in February last year.

(Via Trading Markets)

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Hey, 2008! Microsoft is calling. They just released My Phone, a sync solution that backs up your info and keeps your appointments and contacts synced with a web app

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Microsoft’s My Phone now available

Is this a trick? IT FEELS LIKE A TRICK! I’m either dead or dreaming because not only did Comcast and NFL Network just reach an agreement to make NFL Network part of Comcast’s Digital Classic package, but Comcast subscribers will also get access to the Red Zone Channel that’s usually shown only on DirecTV as part of the insanely expensive Sunday Ticket package.

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I’ll be damned, Comcast and NFL Network finally worked things out