Category: Uncategorized

Categories
Uncategorized

How to reset the display settings of the Xbox 360 console

This evening whilst trying to set up Dance Dance Revolution for our boys and their friends, we ran into a small problem: no video.

Hmmm… Could it be that I set the switch incorrectly on the Xbox 360 Component HD AV Cable?  The cable may be switched to either regular SDTV or HDTV output.) 

Nope, I don’t think that’s it. 

So I tried two different Xbox AV cables with the console and same result: no video. (The sound works fine as I hear the Xbox 360 boot sound on the speakers.)

So, I looked at a number of KB articles, including…

To reset the display settings of the Xbox 360 console to the default settings, follow these steps:

  1. Remove any discs from the disc tray.
  2. Turn the console off.
  3. Turn the console on. Note If you are using an Xbox 360 Wireless Controller, turn the console on by using the Xbox Guide button on the controller. Make sure that you use the player 1 controller when you do this. The player 1 controller will have the upper-left quadrant light illuminated.
  4. As the console starts, press and hold the Y button, and then pull the right trigger at the same time.
  5. The Xbox Dashboard resets the display settings to the default settings, and then automatically restarts the console.

I believe that it will be addressed by resetting the display. We’ll see in the morning. Just too tired to futz with it tonite.

Tags: Xbox 360, customer support.

Categories
Uncategorized

Of interest: a new blog on the perfect customer experience

Here’s an interesting new blog: The Perfect Customer Experience, by Dale Wolf of The Cx Institute, a publishing and consulting firm. It’s for “marketing leadership for those with courage to change the customer experience.”

OK, let’s give it a whirl.

I enjoyed walking through a number of posts, including several on good and bad customer experiences and changing the conversation with the customer. Today they also have a link to a new Frost & Sullivan Whitepaper: Hosted Contact Center Industry. The report includes an analysis on the costs of hosted vs. on-site centres.

And there’s this post of interest one on how “Corporate Gobbledygook Kills the Customer Experience Before it Even Begins.”

“David Meerman Scott, a friend of mine and a top-notch communications consultant and author of three books, has really put marketers and marketing writers on the spot. He did it in an article he wrote for Cincom’s Expert Access newsletter. Let me give you a taste of Scott’s challenge, which by the way, is backed by considerable research he did in preparing the article.

“David writes:

“Oh jeez, not another flexible, scalable, groundbreaking, industry-standard, cutting-edge product from a market-leading, well-positioned company! Ugh. I think I’m gonna puke! Just like with a teenager’s use of annoying catch phrases, I notice the same words cropping up again and again in websites and news releases so much so that the gobbledygook grates against my nerves and many other people’s, too. Well, duh. Like, companies just totally don’t communicate very well, you know?

“Then he cites his research into corporate gobbledygook. The words that came out of his research might surprise you. Hopefully you have not been using any of them. Once you read David’s article, you will place a lot more value on plain English that is centered around solving customer problems rather than your “next generation” product … Oh, I did not mean to let that word slip into my text. Shame on you, Dale!”

Can you say “buzzword bingo”? 😉

Of interest from the blog are links to a few white papers:

Tags: Loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service. t

Categories
Uncategorized

Windows Live SkyDrive open beta announced today

As noted in several places (by now 😉 an update to Windows Live Folders was announced, renamed Windows Live Skydrive. Now an open beta is available to all in the States, UK, and India. (Maybe Canada, too?)

Per the Skydrive team, this is a feature update, including the following:

  • An upgraded look and feel – new graphics to go along with your new features!
  • “Also on SkyDrive” – easily get back to the SkyDrives you’ve recently visited
  • Thumbnail images – we heard you loud and clear, and now you can see thumbnails of your image files
  • Drag and drop your files – sick of our five-at-a-time upload limit
  • Drag and drop your files right onto your SkyDrive
  • Embed your stuff anywhere – with just a few clicks, post your files and folders anywhere you can post html

Tags: Windows Live, Microsoft, beta, Live Folder, Skydrive

Categories
Uncategorized

You can grow or buy: Blockbuster is buying Movielink for digital movie downloads

Netflix chose to develop and offer video on demand (and even hired Anthony Wood, CEO of ReplayTV). 


Video rental chain Blockbuster is going the route of “buy.”


Blockbuster announced that they will acquire Movielink, the digital movie download service owned by several major Hollywood movie studios. Reuters said that this will give Blockbuster “the online foothold it has long sought to compete with rival Netflix.”


Consolidation… It’s getting interesting again.


Tags: , Blockbuster, Netflix,     

Categories
Uncategorized

Studios leaking torrents of an upcoming sitcom: what does Anne Sweeney think about this?

I like it when a meeting ends early and up pops an IM on Office Communicator from a friend in media and entertainment (with a link no less) on something just too strange that you have to ask: “what the heck were the thinking when they did that?” 

This is just too much.

I’ve noted previously how ABC distributed free ad-supported TV episodes via the web, and now this: Lifehacker linked to Smaran’s post on Torrentfreak.com, “an anonymous executive at Warner Bros. admitted to purposefully leaking torrents of the upcoming ABC sitcom Pushing Daises to create excitement about the show.”

“In a recent interview for the Seattle Post, I speculated that it seemed likely that TV executives and writers were purposefully leaking their yet-to-air shows to BitTorrent to build up hype and an audience. It looks like I wasn’t too far off.

“An anonymous Warner Brothers Television executive has admitted he helped leak the pilot of “Pushing Daisies“, an upcoming TV show. His reason? He wanted to make sure the show “got out there,” and wanted to “help the cause.” The executive didn’t upload it himself; he got his neighbour’s kid to do it. And the kid was delighted to, because it pushed up his ratio on some private network.

“You might think, as I did, that someone made this story up. Turns out, the executive used his work e-mail ID (yep, @warnerbros.com or whatever) when he contacted Rick Ellis of AllyourTV.com. When asked about what made him leak the pilot, he replied:

“I just thought it was a good idea. Even though […] I don’t have any direct stake in the show, it’s a really great project. It’s tough to describe, though, and while it makes great sense once you’ve seen it, it’s one of those shows that will only work if people do tune in at least once.

“Which, by the way, is one of the reasons that ABC and Warners are promoting the show in all sorts of venues. The pilot has been screened at everything from auditions for ABC reality shows to Comic-Con. We all believe in the show. And if I can do something that might in some small way help…I can live with that.

“One last thing…some of this is also about building pressure with the network. I don’t think anyone here involved with “Traveler” was exactly thrilled with the treatment ABC gave the show. But it didn’t really have any champions inside either company. And I suppose all of us are hoping that this show gets the support it deserves.”

Think about this statement: “… some of this is also about building pressure with the network…“

Amazing.

Is this marketing gone awry or an interesting way to get viewers to look at a new show?

And I wonder what Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks, thinks about this? Sure, viral marketing is one thing, but losing the draw to your portal (not to mention the advertising dollars that support free episodes) and potentially losing the support of advertisers and local affiliates are all together bigger issues. 

Back to work.

, , torrent, , , .