Friday, December 18, 2009

Amazon, you are awesome!!

After having a problem to pick up an Amazon package because my local postal office is not smart enough, I send an email to Amazon asking how to proceed. Less than an hour later I received his answer:

"I'm sorry to hear that you're unable to pick your package at your post office and it's been returning to us.

I've placed a new order that's listed below. We'll ship it to the same address as soon as possible. I've also upgraded the shipping method to Expedited International Shipping at no additional charge.

Order Number: XXX-XXX-XXX
Estimated Delivery Date: January 4, 2010 - January 14, 2010

To help with customs clearance, you'll see a charge for the new order of $XXX.XX and a refund for the same amount for the lost order on your card within the next 2-3 business days.

I hope this solution is satisfactory. We look forward to your next visit.

It is our absolute commitment to provide you the best possible customer service. Should you need any further assistance with this issue, please click the link below to tell us when and where to get in touch with you, and a dedicated customer service representative will contact you by phone to provide resolution."

Thank you very much! I wish all the companies customer services would be like yours.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Guerra contra la ministra Sinde

Vaya por delante que me parece bien que multen, encarcelen, mutilen o crucifiquen a los que descargan contenidos de forma ilegal, pero no me parece bien que corten o filtren ningún tipo de acceso a Internet.

Si he entendido bien la nueva ley, a partir de ahora una comisión del gobierno decidirá que "webs" hay que cerrar. El problema es que la web no es suya :-D, y cerrarlas no va a ser tan fácil.

Si quieren cerrar una web en el territorio español, lo tendrán fácil, pero como no pueden cerrar una web extranjera lo que harán será pedir la Telefónica, Ono... que corten el acceso a esas webs. ¿Pero como van a hacer esto?

Según lo veo yo, esto lo convierte en una guerra. Ellos (el gobierno y las operadoras por obligación) intentarán detectar nuestro tráfico para ver cuando accedemos a webs externas y nosotros intentaremos que no nos puedan detectar.

Creo que tenemos las de ganar, hay suficientes armas como para ocultar, encriptar, reencaminar nuestro tráfico, y como en todas las guerras esta también impulsará que mejore nuestro armamento.

Why you shouldn't use Google Chrome

Despite the fact that Google Chrome is probably slightly better than Firefox on some key aspects (performance & design probably), I resist to betray Firefox and in my opinion everybody should do the same because of the following reasons:
  • Firefox depends on our support. If we want some competence in the browsers market we need to support Firefox.
  • We have to thank Firefox for freeing us from the previous situation in the browsers market where we were locked to IE with their associated problems (non standard working and zero innovation)
  • I'm very afraid of Google dominating the web (both client, servers and services) and imposing their rules. For example they are starting to propose big changes like a new protocol to replace HTTP (SPDY)
  • Firefox has been bringing huge innovations to the browsers (popularizing tabs, smart url bar, personas, prism, weave, operator)
  • Firefox is fully customizable with much more plugins/addons and possibilities for third parties
Hopefully Google won't be successful this time and will be celebrating 10 years of Firefox in 2014