Ted Shelton's dashboard

Ted Shelton replied on November 03, 2009 15:48 to the problem "Technorati is not indexing my blog or responding to pings or tech support requests" in Technorati:

I have this issue as well - My blog has been in Technorati forever but is no longer indexed!

Ted Shelton started following the question "How do I become part of the LISTS beta?" in Twitter.

Ted Shelton shared an idea in Twitter on October 18, 2009 15:45:

Is there anyway to request being added to the Lists beta?

Hello wonderful people at Twitter! Have I mentioned how good you look today? Also how smart and wonderful :-) OK, maybe gratuitous compliments are not the right way to get on the beta for Twitter Lists -- but is there a way? Unmarked bills in suitcases delivered to Twitter HQ? Qualified user experience tester looking to help growing web services company... http://twitter.com/tshelton

Ted Shelton replied on February 12, 2009 07:43 to the problem "The most abysimal customer service experience regarding a very buggy software "app"" in Six Apart:

David - This is a terrible response. You actually haven't responded to the subject of the message -- Six Apart customer service STINKS. And Bloglink is not only buggy, but you don't adequately details its shortcomings anywhere. All you'd have to do on the product page is say "don't use this if you have more than a few hundred contacts" and you'd immediately delight your customers who are otherwise struggling!! It is amazing to me that you guys, who are otherwise quite good, are getting this SO wrong

Ted Shelton shared an idea in Craigslist on January 02, 2008 18:47:

How to improve "no recruiters" label on ads

Craigslist has a set of default settings when placing an ad -- whether or not a recruiter can contact you, for example. This morning a recruiter called and told me that she ignores this label because of the fact that it is a default setting -- so she figures a lot of companies don't care, and just didn't bother to set that field. So here is my suggestion:

Why not have no default fields on the forms -- if someone does check the field the posting can say something like "this poster has explicitly stated that the DO NOT (or do) wish to be contacted be recruiters.

And if the field is NOT selected as to whether the person wants to be contacted or not by recruiters, the posting could say something like:

"While the person posting has not explicitly stated a preference, in general please follow these guidelines..."

Ted Shelton started a conversation in SXSW on December 22, 2007 03:23:

Bloggers at SXSW Interactive

The Conversation Group will be at SXSW in force and we are hoping to connect with bloggers and feature them in a series of video interviews we are doing for the web. We want to create some great services for bloggers there so that they hear about our project -- what do you think we should do to serve bloggers and get them interested in our work?

Ted Shelton replied on December 22, 2007 03:20 to the problem "Tried to add a product description and got an error message" in Get Satisfaction:

Yes - I think I had pasted HTML as well - this may be what is triggering the bug... I was posting a product description from Nikon's own website into Satisfaction

Ted Shelton reported a problem in Get Satisfaction on December 21, 2007 02:16:

Tried to add a product description and got an error message

Added photo and description to Nikon Coolpix P5000 but got this message:

I'm sorry, but an unexpected error occured: ActionController::MissingTemplate

Using the latest Firefox on Windows XP

Ted Shelton reported a problem in Nikon on December 21, 2007 02:04:

I have a Coolpix P5000 which is suddenly failing to take pictures

Nothing bad (no falls, etc) has happened to my Nikon Coolpix P5000 but suddenly it takes pictures that are washed out and have lines across them! Movies are not affected (image is fine) but images look like this one:

Ted Shelton asked a question in Best Buy on December 20, 2007 20:27:

Should Best Buy sell musical instruments?

I was shopping at Best Buy with my children this weekend for some presents for their cousins when, unexpectedly, we discovered a section of the store that sold high end electronic pianos! It was in a strange place (hidden behind digital cameras) and they weren't set up in a way that made it easy to see or try the keyboards. It made me winder, is this even a good idea? Should they sell these things amongst the TVs, cameras and phones? And if so, should they have a very different layout for this? I want to be able to try out the instruments before buying them! Since the most popular display in the store seemed to be for Guitar Hero, there does seem to be an audience there that likes making music... albeit as a game!

Ted Shelton replied on December 16, 2007 05:46 to the problem "T-Mobile Shuts Down Twitter Service for Good?" in T-Mobile:

I am glad to hear that Twitter has worked hard to sort out the problem. But I'd call attention to two aspects of this event that companies like T-Mobile should pay attention to -- 1) their own customer service was woefully unprepared to deal with this issue and, at least according to reports, treated their own paying customers in a hostile fashion and 2) they were completely absent from the forums and the blogs as this story evolved.

Ted Shelton replied on December 15, 2007 19:23 to the problem "T-Mobile Shuts Down Twitter Service for Good?" in T-Mobile:

Did you see this from Bob Mertz? T-Mobile does seem to be blocking. Outrageous that they would say it is Twitter's problem!

Dear Mr. Mertz:

My name is Marianne Maestas and I am with the Executive Customer Relations department of T-Mobile. I am contacting you on behalf of Mr. Robert Dotson in regards to the email that you sent him yesterday evening.

In your email, you express concerns, as you are not able to use your service for Twitter. As you have been advised, Twitter is not an authorized third-party service provider, and therefore you are not able to utilize service from this provide any longer. You indicate your feeling that this is a violation of the Net Neutrality.

T-Mobile would like to bring to your attention that the Terms and Conditions of service, to which you agreed at activation, indicate "... some Services are not available on third-party networks or while roaming. We may impose credit, usage, or other limits to Service, cancel or suspend Service, or block certain types of calls, messages, or sessions (such as international, 900, or 976 calls) at our discretion." Therefore, T-Mobile is not in violation of any agreement by not providing service to Twitter. T-Mobile regrets any inconvenience, however please note that if you remain under contract and choose to cancel service, you will be responsible for the $200 early termination fee that would be assessed to the account at cancellation.

Should you have any further questions, please feel free to contact Customer Care at 800-937-8997. Thank you,

Marianne Maestas,
Executive Customer Relations Specialist,
Office of the President,

Ted Shelton started following the question "What do you think of the Homeland Security proposal that firefighters look for and report suspected terrorists?" in Los Angeles Fire Department.

Ted Shelton replied on December 15, 2007 00:32 to the problem "T-Mobile Shuts Down Twitter Service for Good?" in T-Mobile:

This is a really big mistake on T-Mobile's part! Good luck getting it sorted out with them

Ted Shelton started following the problem "T-Mobile Shuts Down Twitter Service for Good?" in T-Mobile.

Ted Shelton shared an idea in Get Satisfaction on December 03, 2007 21:17:

Satisfaction should have Service categories

Instead of just have "products" that relate to the companies in Satisfaction, you should also have "Services" -- some companies (like United) don't offer products at all. And EVERY company offers services -- even if it is just customer service and no one answers the phone :-)

Ted Shelton replied on December 03, 2007 21:13 to the question "How to apply for Global Services" in United Airlines:

I was a Unted Global Services cusotmer back when I flew way too much (and worked for a big company). There is only one way to become a United Global Service customer -- spend a lot of money on flights. Honest. This level of United's frequent traveler program is awarded based entirely on how much revenue (and probably profit) you generate for United.

I was certainly disappointed when I stopped qualifying for Global Services, but my wife reminded me that the reason I had stopped qualifying was that I was actually home with my family. That seemed like a fair trade once I thought it through!

Ted Shelton replied on December 03, 2007 20:46 to the question "Am I the only one disappointed by lack of MMS on the iPhone?" in Apple:

Not including MMS is lame, but there are a few other short-comings that are lamer... and this is from someone who loves his iPhone:

Lousy image quality for photos -- combination of low res and no flash

No ability to record video

no GPS

No integration with automotive phone systems

Cannot use bluetooth to transfer files -- cannot use storage to even store files

This list is from a friend in Europe who can use his phone to do all of those things and thus can't be bothered with the iPhone. This last one is especially intriguing to me, a backward US mobile user. In Europe, from the description I was given, people are now routinely swapping files via bluetooth -- imagine going to a meeting and having the person say "I don't have that document" and you say, "here, let me send it to you via bluetooth from my phone..." Now that is the replacement for the floppy disk :-)

Ted Shelton replied on December 02, 2007 22:10 to the problem "My Powershot S50 has Image problems, and video is broken." in Canon:

A great way to post pictures for others to see (and to link to in a post like this) is Flickr -- a service run by Yahoo: http://www.flickr.com. You can easily upload your picture and then use a link to the photo on flickr to show us the problem

Ted Shelton replied on December 02, 2007 19:46 to the question "so i am new to the whole messenger bag scene. what is the little yellow bit that came with my bag?" in Timbuk2:

Use for yellow triangle: organize the cables coming out of your pc!