Another box ticked in my kid's (or young adult) dreams list...

Many years ago, when living in Paris and coding web pages by hand, I would never have hoped to ever attend a W3C meeting (the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web), let alone participate in a panel there...

Well, all I can say is done and done!

Mr Kervern, you were right!

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Total geek joke: Found in our NYC ABC office:
- a 56k modem (Still shrink wrapped)
- a brand new copy WordPerfect 6.0 for Windows 3.1
- an pre-ISA serial card
- a real phone (that rung once)
- a first or second gen iMac

Not only did we host our first Thanksgiving dinner this year, but I decided to take part for the first time in Black Friday's binge shopping madness!

I had my eyes set on a Samsung TV (UN46C8000 to be precise) that WalMart had announced for half of its real price... Too good to be true!

I then decided to try to pay a visit to Walmart at midnight (or shortly thereafter), after a quick power nap and see the crazy for myself.

Woke up at midnight, drove to the store, hoping to see a couple of cars on the parking lot. F that! The lot was full! There were more car at 12:15a there than I have ever seen on a Saturday afternoon!

The store was packed, filled with animals on a spending spree, hoping to catch a great deal (I was one of them).

Panic! Lines! More lines! Was I too late to get in line for my TV? Nope! I was actually first in that line... And very suspicious. I triple checked the TV reference and realized that a small typo had been added to the original commercial. The model of TV on offer wasn't a UN46C8000 but a UN46C5000. A small difference of one number. A huge difference in reality. Big effin' deal! Even Amazon had the bloody TV listed for $1 less than the price I was about to pay, once the check out would open... AT 5:00a.
No effin' way!!!

I then left and went back home to sleep, after a little detour by the Valencia Town Center mall and Best Buy.

Finally decided to go to sleep, around 3:00a, frustrated that I didn't get a cool TV, and even more frustrated by the fact that Walmart had the TV I initially wanted (Vizio connected TV), at a descent price (cheaper than all websites) and in stock!

Got up at 6:20a. Got dressed. Went back to Walmart. Bought the Vizio TV. Felt much better!

Just got my brand new Apple TV 2. Hooked to the Sony set in my office. Tried to play any of the free shows and voila!

Was greeted by a fantastic:
"This content requires HDCP for playback."

Come on Apple! What about some proper testing for once!?!?!?!

I am (and don’t deny it) an Apple Fan Boy! I have been one for years! Last week, our team went to Cupertino for various meetings around the infamous “Infinite Loop”. Sadly, while I have never been there and have been dying to be there for ages, I had to cancel my trip and focus on our house instead! No need to say that most of my peers mocked me! But thank to Mike “Argyle” Pusateri, I now have an Apple branded badge holder, straight from the Apple shop on their campus! Yes, total fan boy!

I know, once again I am running months behind updating this blog, but work, travels, our imminent move and my two little devil girls have once more taken most of my time. So, instead of waiting and thinking of posting one day, I should simply beat the iron whilst it's hot...

I have been a fervent DirecTV subscriber for well over 2 years (almost since we moved to the US) and a beta tester of most of their "cutting edge" services for almost as long. As you know, we are about to move to our brand new house and have decided to change provider and switch to AT&T U-Verse as their service is almost pre-plumbed in our house, so I have decided to try U-Verse and leave DirecTV.

First, I can't cancel my subscription online. They can take my money online, they can charge me online, I can upgrade my services but such a basic service, nope, please call us. No worries, I have plenty of time on my hands (not!).

The charming operator at first kindly offers me to match U-Verse price and is willing to give me a $20 a month discount for up to 12 months. Tempting, but no thank you, I have spent weeks reviewing my options, discussed it with both my colleagues from DirecTV and U-Verse and I have made up my mind. By next week, I want my service discontinued.

Seeing that I wasn't taking the bait, the tone changed. “Well Sir, I have to review your account and your receivers and you will have to send them back to us”. Fair game except that I have purchased two of my 3 receivers at Best Buy. “But Sir, even if you purchased these receivers, you didn’t really purchase them. You bought them at a discount at Best Buy and leased them with us since...”. You mean like AT&T does subsidize iPhone and lock you into a 2 years contract? Bollocks to that!!!

Well, it doesn’t make sense but hey, do I really care? I was hoping I could sell the ones I bought on eBay but I won’t make a profit here. No big deal. Actually, yes big deal! The lovely lady on the phone then explains to me that I bought my last HD Receiver less than 2 year ago and that there was a 2 years commitment attached to the device. A what? So...

• This is the first time I've heard of this, really. I would have remembered that definitely!
• You now turn the $20 discount per month into a $20 per month early termination fee for the next 7 months? ($140)

So basically, you first try to lure me into staying with you, then seeing that you can’t keep me, you spit in my face... I’ve known prostitute with more class than you DirecTV!

One thing that wasn’t specified to me is the state in which the Set Top Boxes have to reach DirecTV... I am wondering if any of my friends (@cruftbox, hint! hint!) would like to go for a shooting range session this weekend?!

Best in all of this is that at the end of the call, the lady in the phone declared that she was hoping I would change my mind and come back to DirecTV in the future... Really? Do you see that middle finger of mine? No? Look closer!

I then went on giving her my honest point of view and if anyone that works at DirecTV is reading this, I want to remind you that the calls can be recorded to training purposes so ENJOY!