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Hey - Everyone - LOOK!  The new iPhone is set to hit the streets on July 11th.  3G capable, more overall features and a $199 price tag which is $200 less that the first generation phone.  WOOT!

But…and it seems with Apple there’s always a but… …there’s a catch.  Your shinny new iPhone will really cost you $160 more than the first generation phone.  That’s right, it’s $200 cheaper out the door, but Apple and AT&T have changed some of the rules with their voice/data plans.

So it was just over a week ago that I had a few words about Dell. Looks like the New York Attorney General felt much the same as I do. Well yesterday a New York state judge agreed. Finding Dell…

…has engaged in repeated misleading, deceptive and unlawful business conduct,including false and deceptive advertising of financing promotions and the terms of warranties, fraudulent, misleading and deceptive practices in credit financing and failure to provide warranty service and rebates.

You can read the full text of the decision here.

I could only wish we lived in New York state. Dell did much the same to us that the NY AG is complaining about. Bait and switch on the Dell Preferred Account - when we purchased my wife’s computer the interest rate was listed as 0% as a 18 month promotional rate - the first bill showed with the interest rate at a whopping 29% but Dell Financial was unwaivering on changing it. And of course since Dell’s return policy is 14 days we couldn’t return the computer because the bill was deferred for 60 days. We never received promised rebates after mailing the proper documentation to Dell’s rebate center numerous times. Even when we had to have my wife’s laptop serviced the problem wasn’t completely fixed. And by the time I contacted them about fixing the problem again we were two days past the service contract’s expiration. And I can only say if you want an enjoyable experience rivaling that of having your teeth pulled, try calling Dell on a service issue after your service contract has expired. Better yet, try the on-line chat.  And yet if you’re a small business or enterprise client of Dell they bend over backwards to satisfy your needs.  Too bad they have forgotten it was selling to the average Joe that put Dell on the map.

There are few things I can guarantee in life - but of the few I can, I’ve just added never owning another Dell to the list.

So reading this blog one could come to the conclusion that I am out to get Apple and Comcast. That couldn’t be further from the truth…when the need arises I consider myself equal opportunity to pointing out poor or abusive examples of how technology impacts our lives.

I had visions of my many attempts to get $300 in rebates from Dell for my wife’s laptop when I read this article on The Consumerist website. I really enjoyed the parting shot from this rather angry consumer:

But somehow, thanks to the power of corporate magic Dell is not really responsible for this. They owe me nothing for my time and my grief and while they are very sorry for the fact I am effectively up the creek without a paddle, AND while they pretty much admit that they pointed me to this particular creek and then stole my paddle, I’m really on my own here.

I’m a big proponent of truth in advertising - especially when those ads are related to technology. Advertisers will invariably push the limits on what defines ‘truth‘. For example, when DirecTV ads come on it’s only in the smallest of print that appears on the screen for maybe 5 seconds do they mention that every additional receiver you install requires a $5.00 fee. They’re by no means lying about it, but to hide that fact in the legalese the FCC and FTC requires for promotional and sales ads is arguably holding back part of the truth.

But when it comes to cable and satellite providers, Comcast is by far the biggest abuser of the Truth in Advertising laws I’ve seen in a long time. Truth in Advertising is fairly straight forward - an ad must be truthful and non-deceptive, there must be evidence to substantiate the claims of the ad, and the advertisements cannot be unfair. Comcast stretches those guidelines to the nth degree - at least with their ads here in Michigan.

Sometimes I wonder if the people at Apple get it. Do they really get it.

It seems Apple, in it’s ultimate wisdom has decided to register a federal challenge to a trademark request by New York City - you know, the place know as the Big Apple. It seems that Apple Inc. thinks that the new logo for the Big Apple’s new GreeNYC campaign is simply too similar to Apple’s logo.

According to Apple, the logos are similar enough to “seriously injure the reputation which [Apple] has established for its goods and services.” So Apple is basically saying that consumers are not smart enough to see the difference between a chromed apple with a bite out of it and a stylized apple with a leaf. Maybe a different look at the logos:

I’m still not seeing it. Even with the different GreeNYC logo, I’m still not seeing it. I’ll hand it to Apple - they certainly put a lot of trust in their customers to make a fight out of something like this to ensure that no Apple customer - current or future - will ever walk up to a GreeNYC promotion believing they’ll be able to purchase the latest and greatest Macbook Air Micro Touch Pro. And yes ladies and gentlemen, that was sarcasm.

Source: Wired

Not five minutes ago a friend of mine located me via Google Talk. Seems he was having difficulty with a computer he built and wondered if I had any ideas. Specifically his Creative Audigy2 soundcard wasn’t working in Windows Vista. Thinking I better blame Vista right off, I started searching for updated drivers from Creative. What I discovered was rather amazing. It seems Creative’s products - almost all their products - won’t work very well if at all with Windows Vista. But it seems owners of Creative soundcards have a savior of sorts - his name is Daniel_K and he’s a contributor in the user forums on Creative’s site. At least he was. It seems he discovered Creative had crippled the Windows Vista drivers from almost their entire product line (as you can see from this screen shot). So he decided to hack the Creative drivers to make them work properly in Windows Vista - as well as add additional functionality that was inherent within the Creative cards but was never implemented by Creative.