I’m still surprised at the number of companies that create websites that look fantastic but have no concept of the checkout process. Two companies that get it right are NewEgg and Amazon. Both sites are easy to navigate and find exactly what I’m looking for. Amazon has an uncanny way of presenting items I’m interested in purchasing. Both sites have an excellent tracking mechanism so I can trace my orders at any time. I used to save a few bucks bidding on items on eBay but it’s hardly worth the hassle anymore unless the item is rare or out of print. So many eBay merchants have no concept of customer service. Some won’t even reply to an email. I’m to the point of not giving internet merchants a second chance because there are so many companies that are willing to earn my business.

The same concept applies to grocery shopping. I used to shop at Albertsons until they began staggering rows of goods right near the checkout lines. If the store was busy and I needed to reach the cold medications I’d have to squeeze past a line full of shoppers and carts in order to reach the product I was after if it happened to be located off one of the shelves close to registers. What is the manager of Albertons thinking making such a boneheaded move? He certainly lost my business.

Robert Scoble and Shel Israel have posted the first chapter of their upcoming book on corporate blogging titled, “Blog or Die”. I read the chapter and found it to be very interesting and can’t wait to read the finished product. I especially enjoyed this passage:

Blogging is about to separate companies who have the vision to engage an uncontrolled and ongoing dialog with their constituencies and those who will adhere to all the traditional centralized, homogenized and adjectivized marketing tactics at a company’s disposal: press releases, print, Internet and TV ads, websites, PowerPoint Presentations, Yellow Page inserts, billboards, B-Rolls, e-newsletters, pop-ups, telemarketing, direct mail, spam.

Which of these do you enjoy having in front of you? Which do you believe? Listen to their language and style. Do you, or people you know, talk like that? Do you believe these messages. Do you really think your customers will?

I currently work for a company that does not blog, but it’s on the radar and this will be the year we start.

Google keeps the hits coming with the release of Google movies although you’d never know this service existed by checking out their homepage. But what a cool and useful service this is. Google has created a sort of movie aggregator by providing local movie times by zip code but goes a step further and displays movie reviews from multiple sources. I’ve wanted this feature for sometime and know other sites such as Yahoo have provide local movie listings for a while but never has it been easier. Just head over to Google and type ‘movies yourzipcode’ to try it out. Google continues to roll out handy features that keep it well ahead of everyone else. Yahoo and MSN have their work cut out.

Proof positive that Microsoft has a sense of humor. How else to explain this report from cNet detailing the $5 offer from Microsoft to users who experience problems with their Antispyware program deleting files it shouldn’t have. I feel a lot safer knowing that if Microsoft accidentally erases my mp3 or photo collection I’m $5 better off for the hassle. Sounds like a programmer decided to drop in an easter egg.

Now I’d really be rolling in the dough if Real or Winzip offered me $5 every time their products decided to litter my start menu, desktop, quick start menu, system tray, bookmarks, or context menu with references to their pushy products. Come to think of it, I want 5 bucks from every software company that changes my system without my permission. I want $10 from every company that can’t write a working uninstaller for their program. And I’d really like an apology from Valve for the horrific installation process for Half Life 2 brought on by their implementation of Steam. I’m still angry for having to authenticate my version of Windows Pro last week when I installed a new network card. Is there another industry that abuses its customers more than the software industry? I guess the record and movie industry are in the same boat.

If you’ve grown tired of MusicMatch trying to push its music store, or grown disgruntled at buggy WinAMP versions or confused by Windows Media Player I have the solution for you. Head over to Quinnware and download the latest version of Quintessential player. Although it does have quite a few nifty skins and plug-ins it excels at playing mp3s very well. It has the best skin and plug-in browser I’ve ever used. It doesn’t try to push a music store on you nor does it attempt to bully other programs while taking over media file types like Real Player. I’ve been using Quintessential for the past year and have been very pleased with it’s simplicity and elegance. And it’s free!

I don’t like Costco. There, I said it. Admitting I don’t like Costco is like saying I don’t like the Pope or Dr. Phil in some circles. I’m convinced the only people who enjoy shopping at Costco meet the following two criteria:

Their time is worth nothing

They relish the “adventure” of shopping

See, shopping at Costco isn’t just swinging by your favorite grocery store on the way home from work to pickup a couple of items you know exactly where to find and which haven’t swapped places with unrelated items the week before. People set aside a large chunk of their day to visit Costco. Preferably an entire afternoon if you plan to find anything of value.

Walking into a Costco is like walking into a new store each time. One week you’re greeted with iPods and Michelin tires. The next week it’s ceiling fans and gas powered scooters. And that’s my main beef with Costco. I never know where to find anything because they are constantly swapping locations. A few years ago I was looking to purchase a lawn mower. A friend suggested I check Costco. After the 10 minute hike in from the parking lot, I finally tracked down a Costco employee which is a massive undertaking in and of itself. I asked the guy where I would find the lawn mowers. His response: “We might still have a couple left but I don’t know where they are. Look near the back freezers” Can you imagine receiving that answer at any store other than Costco?

Another problem with Costco is that few areas are marked with signs. If you’re a first time visitor and think you have a chance in hell finding the contact solution on your lunch break, you’re one sorry soul. Items also seem to come and go on a whim. One month you’re practically tackled by the massive Xbox display. The next month you’re lucky to find Xbox games that are two years old. There is no consistency to the items they carry.

I’ve been told that some people love the adventure of shopping at Costco. It’s a veritable treasure hunt for these people as they lurk around each isle hoping to discover an irresistible bargain on 5 gallons of soy sauce or that plastic bird feeder they had no idea they needed. It’s just a given you’ll purchase something on your visit to Costco, and when you get it home you’ll say to yourself, “What in the world was I smoking?” Some people have also told me about their liberal return policy similar to that of Nordstrom. I guess this gives them a certain peace of mind. Peace of mind to me means being able to speak to a person working on the floor. It means not having to go down every single isle in search of Ranch Dressing. It means not holding up the line while drawing a smiley face on my receipt as I leave the store with my kids.  I especially enjoy going through the checkout line with two carts full of items only to be asked, “Would you like this boxed?” At this point I’m thinking, “Was I supposed to bring my own bags or should I just toss a bunch of loose items in the back of the Subaru?”

I have no idea why I continue to pay $45/year for this experience. Maybe it’s the adventure? Let me get back to you once I finish off my Snickers “48 Pack”.

Mobile PC takes a trip down memory lane with a list of their Top 100 Gadgets of All-Time. I was surprised at the number I’ve owned over the years. I remember when I bought my Diamond Rio 300 mp3 player (#8 on the list) to work at Microsoft and nobody had a clue what it was or what it could do. I had pre-ordered the little Rio off their website and received one of the first batches of players that shipped. My manager stopped by my office to check out the Rio and we both marveled at how small it was. The amount of onboard memory was small as well at 32 MB. I’d carry the Rio with me on my travels around the US and it made an excellent companion even though I could fit only 8 or 9 songs on the player. Other gadgets on the list that bring back good memories are the Sony Walkman and Mattel Football 2.

We took the kids to Vegas this past weekend. I wanted to check out the new iMac Mini so we went to the Apple store located at Fashion Show Mall on the strip. The store was so crowded I couldn’t make it into the store with the stroller, so I handed the kids off to Kim and made my way into the store.

Although Apple has featured the iMac Mini on their website for some time, you’d never know this product existed if you just visited their store. I walked around the store twice before finally spotting the Mini hooked up to a Cinema Display near the front corner of the store. I walked over to take a look. I cannot believe how small and quiet this machine is. It’s really a work of art. I launched a few programs and surfed the web a bit to give me an idea of its performance which is adequate, although I’d want to load it with more memory than the standard 256 MB. When I started configuring the options, that $499 barebones price tag didn’t seem so enticing.

Apple might as well change the stores name to “The Apple iPod” store. It seemed like everyone in the store was listening or waiting to listen to the display iPods. The register was packed 10 customers deep, and I noticed quite a few people purchasing iPod Shuffles 3 or more at time. It’s as if the Shuffle has become the new pack of gum impulse buy stores place near the register.

It was fun to see a group of people so excited about a product although I just couldn’t justify spending $700+ to configure the Mini how I’d want it. For now I’ll stick with my PC but maybe next time.

I decided to take the plunge and update my blog from WordPress 1.2 to 1.5 tonight. I spent more time backing up my mySQL database and WP file than I did actually making the upgrade. I feel a lot better knowing my site and all posts have been backed up.

Been playing around a bit with BlogJet and will probably purchase the product. I’ve had a couple of problems going back to edit published content but the WYSIWYG functionality is worth it.

On a different subject, I’ve been listening to an acoustic guitar CD that the founder of the company I work for gave to me. The CD contains one song in particular that I’ve not been able to stop listening to. The song is called “Moutaineer Creek” from Chris Proctor and I notice Amazon has a free download of the song.

Like most people I run several applications that remove spyware and adware. Currently I run Spybot, Ad-Aware, Spyware Blaster and Microsoft Antispyware. I run each of these at least once a week and felt fairly safe until a couple of days ago when I came across a positive review of The Cleaner which is a tool focused on removing trojans, worms and keyloggers. I figured since I run four other programs that my machine would be very clean and I didn’t expect The Cleaner to find anything.

So I was shocked when I ran the Cleaner and it found 17 trojans, most of which were infested in my Windows/system32 directory. The program can take a while to scan your entire system especially if you have a large drive but it’s well worth installing in my opinion. It quickly removed all trojans on my system and I’ve noticed a slight increase in the speed of my system as well.