I guess by now it is taken for granted that candidates have websites. In fact, Obama has a website complete with a social network. I guess it is also taken for granted that both sites are best viewed on a high speed connection and include flash elements vital to viewing the site. McCains website begins with a very direct video from VP-hopeful Palin. But I guess the idea that technology does not need governmental aid and support to continue to thrive and (dare I say, advance) is also taken for granted. In watching the debate last week and in preparing for this weeks vice-presidential debate I can’t help but to ask, where do the candidates stand on these issues?

The ASSS (Advancing Science, Serving Society) has recently administered a series of science and technology questions aimed at the presidential hopefuls to help us better understand their positions on this seemingly overlooked category. Their responses to the most relative questions (in the computer fields) are as follows:

INNOVATION Mr. Obama calls for doubling federal budgets for basic research over a decade and supports broadband Internet connections “for all Americans.” Mr. McCain stresses policies to provide “broad pools of capital, low taxes and incentives for research in America,” as well as the streamlining of “burdensome regulations.” Mr. McCain also said Congress, “under my guiding hand,” adopted wireless policies that “spurred the rapid rise of mobile phones and WiFi technology.”

EDUCATION Both candidates advocate policies to develop a highly skilled workforce, partly with cash incentives for teachers. Mr. McCain would put $250 million into a program to help states expand online education.

So, there you have it. That is the full discussion to date on the future of computer and Internet technology as represented in the 2008 presidential election.

If you have heard something more or have other websites for us to read, please do let us know. I am beginning to wonder now if the candidates even understand how much of our nations economy and the burgeoning global community relies on computer and Internet tech.

So, here’s the big question. Who helps the helpers when they need help?

You may have noticed a problem yesterday with our site, our forums, etc. The issue was not with our business but rather with our server. To read the exact issued statement from DreamHost, you can visit this webpage.

I am not writing today just to acknowledge a “water under the bridge” problem but rather to point out that even through the problem DreamHost displayed great customer service. Before we could even alert them to our problem the following email was in our inbox.

It would appear that a network file server (which is mounted by your web
server) had an issue with a bad backplane.
This was causing the file server to fail drastically and cause issues for
customers across your cluster.  Please accept my most humble aplogies for
this problem.  Keeping your sites up and running is rather important to us.
Our admin team is cleaning up a few straggling servers and all previously
affected sites and services (including mail) should be up again for the most
part.

I am also sorry that we had to use an impersonal canned message to respond
to this matter, but the scale of what happened and the amount of support it
generated called for it.  If you are still running into issues, please
contact support by replying to this message and one of our representatives
will be happy to help you get things resolved as quickly as possible.

Thanks!
Jason C.

In my opinion, that is a company that cares. Thank you DreamHost for helping us when we needed help!

This morning I got a call of desperation from a friend whose mother is in her 60s but is still very smitten with the Internet for multiple reasons. This morning while trying to log on she kept getting “Invalid Password” messages. Now this was news to her as she has had the same password for the entire two years she has had Netscape as her ISP. Now, I am a bit skeptical anyway of Netscape through Wal-Mart as an ISP…but I digress. The point is that my friend’s mom contacted Netscape and was immediately put through to a customer service agent who barely spoke English, mispronounced her name each time she said it, and offered no real help.

Netscape is, of course, owned by AOL who is infamous for their lack of customer support. Their are forums and chatboards loaded with complaints.

So in the process of this conversation my friends mother was asked for her account number. She was not sure what account and accidentally gave the operator her bank account number which her monthly payment is directly withdrawn from. The customer support agent looked frantically for the account but could find nothing. She never once asked for any other information that might help locate the account in an effort to get the password issue taken care of. So, after about nine minutes of “conversation” the tech support person ended the call……..WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE.

My friend’s mother was left emotionally upset and feeling guilty that she had done something wrong and her account had been cancelled. My friend suggested calling me and we made a 3-way call to get the issue solved. I was appalled at the customer support I heard on the other end of the phone and I asked to speak to management. No better. So, you ask, why does it matter? It matters because these are real people we work with with real feelings and real issues.

This all makes me so much more proud of MinuteFix. We have an awesome team of really solid customer support technicians. Thank you.

According to the Association of Support Professionals the top 5 support sites for at least the past 5 years (making them uber-consistent) are:

This post is shamelessly stolen from “Make It Great! with Phil Gerbyshak.
September 13 was Happy Positive Thinking Day and in observance, Phil wrote up a blog post on 5 ways we can all make a more positive attitude. I really liked his suggestions and though I would, therefore, pass them off to you. Remember, all the words, anecdotes, and suggestions are his. They were quite relevant and compelling though so I have not altered a word. Enjoy!

• Reframe the situation. No matter how dire the situation is, unless you’re dead, it could always be worse. Trust me. This year, I’ve hit bottom in a lot of my life. Over half my team turned over. I’ve worked REALLY long hours. My best friend moved away. My bank account has been near zero. I gained 20 more pounds.

I’ve had to reframe most of my life.

I have new ideas from all my new people.

I learned a lot during the long hours.

I still talk to my best friend.

My bank account is slowly growing.

I’m doing a duathalon tomorrow to jump start my exercise program.

All depends on how I look at it.

It all depends on how YOU look at it.

• Count your blessings. I have a lot to be thankful for. You probably do too. Write the blessings down. Understand your abundance and be thankful for it.

• Give thanks to those who’ve helped you. Few people are self-made anymore, but few know how big of an impact they’ve had on your life. Give them a call, and say thanks. Or send a hand-written thank you note. Nobody does that anymore.

• Read or listen to something that makes you smile. Re-read a favorite book or article. Listen to some fun music. Maybe it’s the sound of a baby, or the sound of your brother. Call someone who’ll make you smile.

• Smile or make a silly face for no reason. Start small, and just smile. It won’t hurt anything. Just smile big and wide!

5. Shazam

More music. More music. More music. Already considered an industry standard, Shazam fully integrates with the iPhone’s native environment, allowing you to seamlessly discover, buy and share tunes simply by holding your iPhone to music for just a few seconds.

Key user features:

• Tag music: identify music anywhere - whether it’s on the radio, TV, in a movie or in a store.
• Build your own soundtrack: instantly create your favorite playlist.
• Get the music: go straight to iTunes to preview and buy.
• Music Videos: see related videos of the track on YouTube.
• Capture the moment: personalize the tag by taking a photo and adding it to ‘My Tags’.
• Share the moment: send track details to friends via integrated email.

The latest version of Shazam is available for free and can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store on iPhone or at iTunes in the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand.

4. Yelp!

Yelp.com is a data-intensive site bulging with user opinions and social-networking features. The iPhone app was clearly never intended as a replacement, but as a companion for the lost or weary to seek out a craft store, animal shop or grab bite to eat. That much is evident by the read-only quality, mobile-specific mapping and call functions, and the de-emphasis on social networking.

3. Pandora

Pandora Radio is your own FREE personalized radio now available to stream music on your iPhone. Just start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a “station” that plays their music and more music like it.”

Gone is the walkman. No need to lament the death of your favorite tunes though. Create your own radio station with Pandora.  The 3G iPhone benefits from this app more than previous generations, as the music can stream faster, so there’s little to no down time between tunes.

2. Wordpress for iPhone

Wordpress has redefined blogging on the Internet so why not redefine mobile blogging?  The fact that you can snap pictures where ever you are and enter them into your posts right from your phone is more than a little impressive.  Start with only a few sentences or write a full novel, there’s no post-limitations from the iPhone version to what you would get on your normal PC web-based version.

1. Facebook

Facebook is a key player in the game of life now. It has become the epicenter of mobile life and the Facebook app for iPhone gets you connected on the spot. The app fully integrates with your current Facebook account where you can see your wall, post on others walls, take pictures and immediately upload them to your Facebook’s “Mobile Uploads” gallery and best yet, can even use the Facebook’s “Chat Room” right from your phone and talk to your friends in real-time.They’ve already had a version update that added a bunch of features to the already feature rich application and undoubtedly is the best looking / coded  / functioning and practical application available. A solid choice for #1.

If only Delta had contacted MinuteFix. Perhaps then 150+ passengers wouldn’t have had to stare at the seatback video screens for over an hour trying to decipher what all that code rubbish was. We could have been watching a movie instead.

Photo taken with Treo 650 camera phone.

There is no reason that a technically advanced mind should have to suffer bad clothes. Not when web commerce favorite threadless is having such a great sale. It is there you can pick up this incredible tee (collared, no less) and show your heritage.