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February 26, 2006
Karl Wolf
Gotta give a nod to my man Karl Wolf from Montreal, Canada. I bought this album a couple of weeks ago and it's been in heavy rotation ever since. I'm totally stoked about doing some top-down driving in the convertible this summer to some De-sensitized and Butterfly. He's one of this producers-turned-artist (think Kanye West) who really do a good job of things.
I finally saw the first ad on Much Music last night for the album. Good to see some label support going on to get this going.
Go and pick it up on iTunes and check out the vidoes on his website:
Posted by Derek Leverington at 11:36 AM | Comments (2)
February 14, 2006
XBOX 360 - First Problem
Here we go. My XBOX 360 rewarded me with my first error.
So, here's the note I send in to Microsoft support:
I turned on my XBOX 360 yesterday and received an E67 error on startup. I shut it off and restarted it and it was fine after that. Does this XBOX need service? I searched and the XBOX support site didn't seem to provide any information on the error that I could find.
And here's the response I received . . .
Thank you for writing Xbox Customer Support!
We deeply apologize for the inconvenience. It sounds like this has been a very frustrating experience for you. After careful review of your issue, we have determined that it is best that you call the Xbox Customer Support number for better assistance; United States and Canada : 1-800-4MY-XBOX (1-800-469-9269) International direct dial to US : 1- 425-635-7180.
Our phone representatives will assist you 7 days a week from 9:00AM -12:00 MN CST (Central Standard Time). Thank you for understanding.
To expedite service, please provide Service Request Number <1009142766> when you call.
For more information about Xbox360, please visit http://www.xbox.com or http://www.xbox.com/360.
Sincerely,
Heidi
Xbox Customer Care Team
---------------
I don't think I sounded frustrated in my note, but I was after the robotic response - clearly designed to suggest they were being empathetic - and not really addressing my problem.
Sketchy product. Poor launch. Why wouldn't I expect lousy service to go with? Disappointing.
Posted by Derek Leverington at 8:33 AM | Comments (3)
February 8, 2006
Gillette Fusion - Marketing Slant
Great job on the esthetic of the designs of these razors to keep it looking like the product is advancing - but I think this category is well into the area of diminishing returns in terms of product performance vs. R & D investment. I really don't know how long Gilette is going to be able to get us all excited about the next "big innovation". It's like they are trying to find a more refined solution to a problem that isn't really a problem.
I think it's time to look for a more meaningful or pressing problem to solve ... I don't know ... how about something that makes it easier for me to floss daily, take my vitamins, eat less trans-fatty acids, etc.
If nothing else, let's get these Gillete product development people working on the lids on the Starbucks cups.
Posted by Derek Leverington at 9:07 PM | Comments (0)
Gillette Fusion - Product Review
So, I get all caught up on the whole Gillette Fusion thing and run down to the store and buy one. I'm a sucker for these kind of things for this reaaon - when I can get the latest technology in a category for ten or fifteen bucks - who can resist???
And I'm talking on the phone the whole time while I'm walking around WalMart shopping so I'm not really paying attention to what I'm doing but I figure since I'm going to give this thing a shake I might as well buy an extra set of blades with it and the Fusion-branded shaving gel and face balm stuff too.
So I get up to the till and here it's 48 bucks for all of it!!! What!!! By this point, I'm thinking this thing had better give me a glorious shave or I'm going to freak!!!
So, I let the growth go another day so I can give this thing a run for it's money.
Long and short:
- it looks really cool
- very close shave
- I find there's a little more resistance when shaving that the Mach 3 Power set up I was using - (overall the Mach 3 set seems to glide smoother and with less of that "tearing" sensation
- the little trimmer thing doesn't live up to the promise at all and it's only really necessary because the thing is so damn big now - you were okay trimming the top part of your lip with a smaller blade and didn't really even need an extra specialty blade for it - now you do just because of its sheer size
- the power button is better - it's not as liklely to get turn accidently on and off like the Mach 3
- I'm suspicious of the low-battery indicator - I suspect they're in bed with Duracell on it to make sure that the battery never goes anywhere near being low
Bottom line: marginal improvement in some respects and a step back in others. Net zero at best.
I'll go through the first blade and the replacement blades but don't be surprised if I go back to the Mach 3 Power when this is all done.
Posted by Derek Leverington at 11:22 AM | Comments (1)