In 2010 I wrote a post titled "Fanboy or Hater" and it was written to take a look at the range of people's loyalties to various products and brands. It stil amazes me that if anyone writes favorably or often about a particular product or brand,  more than likely there will be a comment along the way to the effect of "You must be getting paid!" 

Why is it that if someone writes favorably about a product/service or brand that you don't like, then they must be getting paid? Yet if you like it then it's perfectly OK for the writer to like it too? At that point no one is getting paid because you and the writer agree. High fives all around.  Wow! Let me ask you something. Do you like anything, say a favorite movie, restaurant, car, etc.? Do you tell your friends about how much you like it? Are you getting paid to go on and on about it by the movie studio, chef, car manufacturer, etc.? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4

image compliments of iStockphoto.com

I'm sure that most of my readers here and certainly most of the tech world is always looking for ways to be more efficient. I'm always looking at ways of cutting out extra steps in my work and of course saving money on the things that I buy and do.  However, some times I run across a company's process that leaves me scratching my head. Here are three recent ones that come to mind…

A free drink from Starbucks

It's funny because many would argue that Starbucks is certainly a step in the wrong direction of saving money  However, this post is not so much about over priced coffee as it is about glaring inefficiencies in the use of technology. I recently reached Starbucks' Gold Status in their rewards program. There are a few perks such as free coffeee refills and drink add-ins. However, their biggest perk is that now after every 15 purchases/stars I get a Free Drink. Cool! I just hit my first Free Drink level and what I expected was that they would merely add the Free drink to my card electronically. That would make the most sense to me and certainly cut down on their costs. No no no. They are mailing me the "Free" drink coupon! They sent me an email to let me know that it's on the way!

Coinstar ran an iTunes eCertificate special

Coinstar allows you to turn your loose change (coins) into electronic certificates at several merchants such as Amazon.com, Borders, iTunes, The Gap, etc. Right before the Christmas Holiday they ran a special that if you cashed in at least $40 in coins for an iTunes credit they would give you the full amount (no fees/commissions) plus $10 more! Sweet. I rounded up my coins, took them to my closest Coinstar machine and walked out with a printed eCertificate for the full amount in iTunes credit. Great! What about my extra $10? Surely that code was printed on the receipt too. Nope, they mailed me a $10 iTunes Gift Card about 2 weeks later. sigh. By the way, once you scratch off the card, get the code and key it in, the card is pretty much useless at that point. While I'm sure that Coinstar had to buy these cards to use for their program, I'm wondering if it would have made more sense to have the same person that put the card into an envelope to just scratch it off and email me the code. This would have at least saved the paper and postage. 

My favorite one of them all – The Water Company

My local water company allows you to pay your bill via an automatic deduction from your bank account. Great! I pay most of my bills this way anyway. The first step in the process was of course to sign up for it. I went to the City's website in search of the form and to my surprise you actually have to (get this) call them and request it be mailed to you. Um, OK. Not really understanding why this couldn't just be a PDF on the website as there was nothing special about the form, I went ahead and made the call. I got the form, filled it out, mailed it back and thought all would be good from that point forward. The next month the amount of the bill was deducted from my checking account as planned. However, I noticed an envelope from them in the mail. I opened it and…..wait for it…..it was a bill with a zero balance. Each month they send me a bill to show me a zero balance.

It's 2011!

Whenever there is a popular brand it seems that people start to fall into different categories regarding that brand. Now that we're in this internet age where it's easier than ever to voice your opinion (anonymously), it comes out even more. When we hear the terms Fanboy, Apologist, Hater, and Troll, we already start to name various brands in our heads. Of course brands come to mind like Apple, Sony, Bose, Adobe, Microsoft, Google, etc. People are very passionate about brands. Unfortunately this usually means they either LOVE them or HATE them. There usually isn't much room in the middle. I pride myself on trying to stay in the middle as much as possible. Take Apple for example, I've been a long time fan of their products (over 20 years). I've never worked for the company and never been paid a single dime to endorse them. I have an appreciation for good design and products that work right, but I also have no problem pointing out when something doesn't work right or when a mistake has been made (and yes they make mistakes)! Look at any review I've ever done on their products and you will see where I mention the things I like and the things I DON'T LIKE. Neither a Fanboy nor a Hater. I realize that in all of the brands I mentioned above and the ones I didn't mention, at the end of the day these companies and their products are run/made by humans and humans are not perfect. So neither are their products!

Which one are you?

Fanboy – A Fanboy is someone that just loves the company and its products. These are typically positive people in general and even though they can see when something isn't quite right, they generally come back with lines like "Oh I'm sure they'll fix that." They are also usually pretty vocal about why they think the product is cool and would be the first in line to buy the new version. They also typically love telling their friends and anyone who will listen about the gadget they just got and how much it has changed their lives. If you didn't know better you would swear they're being paid. I actually don't have a problem with Fanboys. What's wrong with loving the tools you use and the companies that make them? Also Fanboys generally have a positive outlook on life in general and are usually pleasant to hang out with. The only problem here is that Fanboys often aren't open to even looking at another solution or product, so they may actually be missing out on something that may work better for them. Canon vs. Nikon comes to mind here

Apologist (a.k.a fanatic) - An Apologist and Fanboy are often looked at as being one in the same. They're not the same. While I don't have a problem with Fanboys, Apologists bug the crap out of me. The Apologist also loves the product and company. However, they are so blinded by their loyalty that if there is something wrong with a particular product, they tend to want to blame everyone else. They are the first to say things like: "Mine works great, you must just be using it wrong!" or "They designed it that way for a reason, you shouldn't want to do that?". They see the company's vision and you just don't get it! No matter what, the company and the products are perfect. There is no defect or flaw. You're the one with the problem. It's your fault! "So your arm fell off. How can you be so sure that the product caused that to happen? My arm didn't fall off. Why would you want to sue? Stop being a cry baby." There is no arguing with an Apologist. They will NEVER admit that there is something wrong. Don't waste your time, just smile and move on. 

Regular User - I like to live in this space. A regular user uses a product and they praise it for what it does well, but don't have a problem pointing out what it doesn't do well. They want good value for their money. They appreciate good design and products, but have no problem moving to something else if what they bought isn't working out. They usually don't comment on forums very often unless they are having an issue or they know the fix to someone else's issue. If the product that they are using is working well, they'll upgrade and recommend it to others. If not they have not problem telling you why. 

Hater/Troll – These are the people that love to hate a product or a brand. They are the first to post something like "LOL LOL LOL, loser, I can't believe you bought that" or "I told you it was screwed up, you should have bought ________", "Sucker!" "I'm smart, you're an idiot". These are also the people who are quick to tell you why they are NOT buying something.  Like the Apologist, these people also bug me. What I never understood about haters is, if you hate the product or brand so much then why are you hanging out on forums, blogs, etc. that are talking about that product you hate so much. I don't have any interest in Golf, but I don't seek out Golf forums to tell people how much I hate it. I walked past a GAP the other day. I saw a shirt in the window that I didn't like. Funny, I didn't feel compelled to stand in front of the store telling strangers that passed by why I wasn't going to buy the shirt. I didn't say "hey, you see this shirt I'm wearing? I like it much better than the one they have in the window. How could they even sell such a shirt? Mine has TWO pockets." Haters/Trolls are sometimes people that went against the popular choice and they don't like to feel like they bought the wrong thing. So therefore, they spend a great deal of time telling you how bad the popular choice is so they feel better about what they're using. The typical hater is a 14 year old kid in his parents basement with lots of time on his hands to be online. Not much of a social life and gets a kick out getting everyone worked up. Avoid the argument, it's not worth your time. You're never going to change a haters mind.

Consumer – I don't have a better word for these non-industry folks. Like the Regular User, these people bought a product and they use it. They don't go online to read about the latest advancements of that product. They aren't waiting for the next version. They really don't have any loyalties one way or the other. They just use it. If you ask them about it, they will tell you very honestly what they feel one way or the other. They have no vested interest or pride about the product or brand one way or the other. Ask me about my refrigerator. "It works fine. It keeps my food cold. I haven't really had any problems with it. Which brand is it? I forgot, let me go look." These are the people that go on about their lives and could care less about any of the above. They almost never buy a gadget the first day it comes out unless they just happened to be walking by the store and see a crowd. They would never stand in a line to get the new thing and in most cases they didn't even know the new one was coming until they saw all the people in line on the news. As much as you might not like to hear it, there are millions of these people and they probably buy the bulk of the products that you're so passionate about and could care less. I love these people too!

Happy Friday Everyone

New Apple Friend Bar Gives Customers Someone To Talk At About Mac Products

image above compliments of istockphoto.com

Recently two different people asked me about printing apps for the iPhone/iPod touch. Another person asked me about hooking up a multi-function printer to their Mac OS X Server. I get printing questions all the time. I have some really nice printers here at home. The printer that gets used the most is the Xerox Phaser. I have assorted Epson printers and a Dymo Twin Label Printer that I love for my one-off label needs. With that said, my printing volume has gone way way way down. I easily go for weeks without printing anything. While I'm not quite ready to head to eBay with my gear, I'm wondering is printing becoming obsolete?

What About Printing Photos?

I was never really that into printing photos at home to begin with. Sure I have an Epson Color Stylus Photo R1800 that does a fantastic job. When the R1900 came out I had no reason to upgrade. I'm always amazed by the quality I get when I do a photo print. However, I can probably count on one hand the number of photos I printed in 2009. I'm certainly taking tons of photos, but the reality is that I do most of my photo sharing online. If someone really needs/wants a print of a photo I've taken then I'll usually upload it to one of my favorite labs like Costcophotocenter.com, MPIX.com or Kodakgallery.com and have the print mailed directly to them. I just can't print my own prints cheaper than Costco's prices! So the only time I print a photo is I need it right then and there and can't wait or drive to pick it up. As you might imagine those times are far and few between.

What Do I Need To Print?

I started thinking about the things that I either print now or used to print. Certainly I used to print out my boarding pass before heading out to the airport, but now Delta/NWA provide electronic boarding passes. I still print my scripts/notes for presentations/lectures so that I have them next to me as I'm giving the presentation. Even then that's not an every day printing need.

When I ship stuff I use my Dymo Twin label printer all the time. However, I can go a week or two without shipping or mailing anything. So the only regular users of the printers here are my kids. They print reports for school and even that's not an every day need. I also imagine that sooner rather than later they will shift more and more to being able to upload their reports directly to their teachers. 

Speaking of obsolete check out this post on 12 things that became obsolete in the last decade. It's amusing.

With the cost of ink, toner and paper these days I don't miss printing at all. What about you?…

Do you still print?

The "5 Star" rating system is pretty standard when it comes to rating most products and services on most sites. The sites I frequent the most and look for these ratings are Amazon.com, Apple's App Store/iTunes and Netflix. However, ratings alone don't tell the whole story. 

Don't judge an App by its rating alone

I recommended an app to a friend and later found out that he didn't get it because it only had a 3 star rating. After we talked and I explained to him that you can't go by the rating alone. What I told him was that you have to consider the fact that not everyone uses the same criteria when rating something. For example, the App Store's rating system was severely flawed at first because back when it first started you could rate an App that you had never actually installed or tried. In many cases people were rating Apps "1 Star" because they didn't like the price or it wasn't compatible with the touch or for some other reason that really didn't tell you anything about the App itself. Apple did fix that and now you can't rate an App unless you have at least downloaded it. However, the App Store's rating system is still far from perfect. I'd give it a 3 star rating (just kidding). There are a couple of potential problems that still exist. There are ratings and there are reviews and ratings. If you look at an App that you downloaded in the App Store on your iPhone or iPod touch you can "Review it" and of course give it a rating. If you go to your computer and look at that same App in iTunes on the iTunes Store, you can EITHER Rate it or Review and Rate it. So this means that you can give an App a 1 Star rating with no explanation what so ever.

Let's go back to your iPhone or iPod touch for a moment. If you delete an App right on the device itself, a dialog pops up and gives you the chance to rate the App you've just deleted. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that Apps that are rated during a delete process probably rarely receive a 5 star rating. How often are you deleting Apps that work perfectly that you absolutely love? So this again only tells one side of the story. Also there is no opportunity here to say why you're giving it the rating you're giving it or why you're deleting it? The people that have apps installed that love them aren't prompted at any point with a "hey we notice that you use this app a lot, would you like to rate it?" message. People that are happy don't tend to seek out a way to tell anyone. However, people that are unhappy tend to want to tell EVERYONE! For this "Rate upon deletion" feature to be fair, their should be a parallel feature that pops up the same dialog box say after you've used an app 25 times. "We noticed that you use this app a lot. Would you like to rate it?" The user of course would have the option to turn the feature off, but turning it off would turn off BOTH popups. No longer would you see the dialog when you delete an app either.

Reviews on Amazon.com

Usually before I buy something that I don't know much about, I turn to Amazon.com to see what others are saying about it? Once again the ratings don't tell me everything. I'm more interested in the reviews. Also I usually go for the negative reviews first and here's why: I'm already prepared to like the item. If I've done any research at all, I've usually figured out that this is something that I'm going to want. So I'm really just trying to see if there are any major problems with it. Does it have a high failure rate? Does it not work as advertised? I tend to ignore rants about pricing, delivery times, etc. because again the people that didn't feel like it costs too much or got it in a timely manner aren't usually posting reviews to say that. I look at what people "don't like about it" and decide for myself if those things are of any concern to me or not? So even if something on Amazon has a 2.5" star rating that doesn't necessarily mean that I'm going to not buy it. However, if a ton of people say the same thing about it breaking easily or falling apart or some other bad thing and it seems consistent, then I will really think twice (or three times) before buying.

Unfortunately, people can rate things on Amazon without actually owning them. Even my on iPhone Book 3rd Edition got a 1 star rating a while back from a guy  who admitted that he didn't actually own the book and had not seen a single page of it. He rated the book 1 star solely because he didn't like the sample chapter that is automatically generated for Kindle users to download for free. A sample that the author (me) has no control over. He didn't like it because the sample didn't actually contain any of the content of the book. It was things like the acknowledgements, introduction, etc. However, someone looking to buy the book and judging it by the rating alone might think twice before buying it.

Another example here of a 2 star rating and review by someone who did NOT buy Joe McNally's "The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes" because he didn't like the cover. 

It's OK that he didn't like the cover and therefore exercised his right in not buying it, but to be able to rate and review something that you admittedly don't even own is just not right! By the way, Joe's book has an average rating of 4.5 stars with 110 5 star ratings!

Ratings on Netflix

In the case of a movie, I'm usually the opposite. That means that I could really care less about the reviews and honestly I take the rating a little more into account. Netflix seems to do a better job in comparing ratings of people with similar movie tastes. So chances are if I see a movie with a 3 star rating or less, I'm not going to like it. Sometimes I've ignored the 3 star rating and added the movie to my queue anyway only to be disappointed and kick myself after watching it. So unless it's something that I KNOW that I'm really going to like, I'll typically avoid movies with low ratings on Netflix.

In case you were wondering, yes I'd give Angels & Demons a 4! 

How do you rate?

So that brings me back to the whole star rating thing and I'm curious how do you rate? Before you sound off in the comments below, let me give my formula for each category:

5 Stars – It's as close to perfect as it can be. Nothing is perfect and no matter how much I love a product, I can usually and pretty easily give you a list of things that I would like to see it do or have or change. But If I give it 5 stars that is the ultimate compliment and I'm quite happy with it. In the case of a movie, it's the kind of movie that I could immediately watch again. I liked it that much! It's also a candidate for one I'd want to buy on Blu-ray.

4 Stars – It's a really good product and works as advertised (this will be the norm). However, it's missing one or more things that would really take it to the next level. Or perhaps if it had a slight interface tweak it would earn the 5th star.  Nonetheless I like it. In the case of a movie, I really enjoyed it. I was entertained. I'd recommend it to a friend, but it's probably a movie that I won't watch again. I'm good!

3 Stars – It's OK! It kinda works. There are several things that I would like to see added or changed, but it does work. In the case of a movie, it was barely OK. I'm not going to recommend it again and I wish it had ended sooner.

2 Stars – This product has several problems. I wouldn't review it here (unless I was asked to by the manufacturer)  because I wouldn't be able to say very many good things about it and I wouldn't want to waste your time. I'm probably looking to return it. The only reason I would keep it is because I need to do what it does and there was no other alternative. In the case of a movie, it sucked! I barely got through it and I was checking my email several times while it was playing. 

1 Star – The product should have never been shipped in its current state. The book should have never been written/printed. It's got MAJOR flaws and bugs and is pretty much unusable. It does NOT work as advertised. I'm demanding my money back. In the case of a movie, I walked out or turned it off. My time was more valuable to me than finishing it. I'm sorry that I paid to watch it or rented it. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comes to mind I can probably count on one hand the number of times that I've rated something 1 Star. 

The Bottom Line

While I've shared my way of rating with you, the problem is not everyone rates the same way. So you have to go beyond ratings and dig a little deeper. I've seen some of the silliest reasons for giving a product a 1 star or even a 5 star rating. When it comes to the App store, the 3 star rating has become the new 4 star rating as far as I'm concerned. So how do you rate?