Tuesday, February 03, 2004

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I know some people who almost always buy Sony electronics. I have the opposite mind-set: I almost never even consider Sony. Sony is viewed as an innovator, and a quality leader. Consequently, they will always charge a premium. I have no doubt they are an innovator. However, in consumer electronics, the early adoption spot is not a place this consumer ever wants to occupy. Not when a few months, or at most, quarters, later, there will have been a couple of product revs, and prices will have dropped substantially. So I have zero interest in paying the innovator premium. As for quality leader, I am doubtful. My subjective opinion is that Sony quality (quality in this case meaning general reliability, and freedom from unpleasant surprises) is competitive, but not standout. Especially with leading edge products, quality is likely to improve with the second or third product rev. 7:53:17 PM    comment []

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Photoworks Sleazy Marketing I receved an email from Photoworks that said "You have print credits at PhotoWorks". Normally, I would have been skeptical of this, but I have done business with Photoworks before, though not recently, and I did in fact at one point return bad pictures for credit. I honestly had no recollection of whether that credit might be oustanding, so I actually believed the email. Silly me. After searching my Photoworks account high and low for any sign of a credit balance, and failing to find one, I email Photoworks with an inquiry. This is what they told me: "[The subject email] was a general reminder for Print Credit users who may have credits available on their account and was not a personal indication that you have credits on your account." May Wal-Mart (already my current preferred on-line developer, because they are cheaper) bury them. 7:53:16 PM    comment []

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An article I find unconvincing, trying to explain away the halftime indecency. Note that absence of any mention of the first performer's antics. Also, apparently several of the commercials 7:53:15 PM    comment []

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A thorough article on eMachines in general, and the acquisition by Gateway. 7:53:13 PM    comment []