As more fan sites report on iPhone activation problems I'm having, I have to remind myself that I may be part of a small but vocal and well-placed minority of customers.
Fifteen hours and four phone calls later with no solution hasn't helped my mood. I've already snapped at my wife for trying to help. "Nick" in AT&T customer service (800-331-0500) has been the most helpful with the least amount of making up random numbers while fumbling about for a new screen to prompt him. He's on hold with Apple trying to see why the "porting" is done at AT&T but not Apple. At some magic point and email is supposed to arrive with a link. Clicking the link allegedly completes the activation and takes me to a fully functional phone (or mostly functional if my Verizon number isn't relinquished in time).
We'll see. Meanwhile, I'm trolling the web for highlights and low lights.
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Inactivation
Like many others, I cannot activate my new iPhone because of a "backlog" at AT&T and a "delay" from Verizon. Other people already with AT&T are having the same issues. Some report waiting for hours. (A lucky few seem to be able to load music, movies or other data.) The phone rep wouldn't say when the email to activate my phone would arrive, but she did say their backlog was two hours earlier today and four hours now. I didn't expect the phone to live up to all the hype, but I did hope AT&T might have planned better. I feel like Steven Colbert with his imaginary iPhone. Hundreds of thousands of people are getting their first taste of this new service, and for some it's starts bitter.
Update: In MacRumors' forum, several people are now stating AT&T reps are claiming that the backed up emails are Apple's fault as they need to generate a code for the iPhone to make it active. I've been waiting almost two-and-a-half hours. Others have waited twice as long. Some are even worse off. Poor iPhone. Just sitting there. Waiting.
Update 2: 9.5 hours and counting. Maybe a group of activations got hosed in transit from one system to another. Who knows? No emails from either AT&T or Apple stating, "We're sorry, but due to blah blah blah your new iPhone will remain a $648.42 paperweight for a while longer while we yadda yadda yadda. I'm losing my objectivity and patience.
Ben Franklin, 2007
Chris Jordan creates art that represent quantitative information visually. This is a small section of 125,000 one-hundred dollar bills, or $12.5 million, which the amount our government spends every hour on the war in Iraq.
They Didn't Study
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More creative answers to real test questions here.
Bloomberg's Bloom
Link: BusinessWeek calls him the CEO Mayor. Time calls him, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the New Action Hero. I'm sure there are more blemishes to his record than in either love letter, but the man certainly has my attention, especially with moves like this:
As daunting as it may sound in a city never shy about complaining, Bloomberg decided New York needed its own 24-hour customer-service line. Yes, other cities had deployed 311 numbers, but never on such a grand scale. The benefit, beyond giving the public a new outlet to vent, would be making city government more efficient. One month after being sworn in, Bloomberg proposed a 311 line that would allow New Yorkers to report everything from noise pollution to downed power lines. More important, 311 would give the mayor unprecedented access to what was on his constituents' minds. Bloomberg sees the weekly reports and gets a sense of the citizenry's angst—and whether problems are getting solved and how quickly.
In the Dark
The power consumed by common electric devices — even when they’re not in use — can quickly add up. One day, I'd like to see cheap, ubiquitous smart outlets that broadcast to your TV the power consumption of every item in your house. One glance could at the on-screen list could tell you what devices and appliances are consuming how much power. Just use your remote to click an item to turn it off immediately, at a preset time or when rates go too high. With permission, power companies could hook into the list to offer savings based on off-peak usage or rebates on more energy-efficient models. Homeowners could buy and trade carbon offsets. Consumers today are in the dark when it comes to their power bills. We don't know which electronics cost us the most. I'd be willing to pay a premium just to know and make more intelligent (or at least informed) choices.
