Psystar Banned From Installing Or Helping Others To Install OSX…. Game Over For Them

Psystar, your 15 minutes of fame infamy are over. The US District Court for the Northern District of California has just permanently forbidden these jokers from selling modified versions of OS X, providing any tools that enable users to bypass the OS X kernel encryption, and aiding anyone else from infringing Apple’s OS X copyrights in any way. From the way I read the injunction [Warning: PDF], this would seem to include their Rebel EFI device as well, but I guess that’s open to interpretation. You can bet that Psystar is going to try to argue that it’s not covered. Oh, the judge behind this isn’t giving these guys any slack by giving them until the end of the year to comply. Check out this quote:

“Defendant must immediately begin this process, and take the quickest path to compliance; thus, if compliance can be achieved within one hour after this order is filed, defendant shall reasonably see it done.”

That basically means that these guys are as done as Tiger Woods chances of picking up women not named Elin Nordegren. Of course Psystar can appeal, but one would think that their chances of succeeding are pretty low. Not to mention that it has to pay fines to Apple and they likely have legal bills to pay.

Oh, I checked their website. There’ s no mention of this anywhere. Read into that what you will.

Wind Mobile Launches…. Perhaps Not The Game Changer We’re Looking For…

For those of you waiting for Wind Mobile to go live, wait no longer. They’re live as of today and if you check out their website, they have all the details online finally. You can check their plan pricing here and it is very compelling. Their cheapest plan is $15 a month. Their most expensive plan is $45 a month and it gives you unlimited talk, text and voice mail according to them. It also gives you caller ID too. There’s some other features such as:

• no contracts on any services

• no system access fees

• no fees for enhanced 911 services

• no charge for incoming long distance

• no penalties for changing or cancelling a plan

• unlimited calling to another Wind Mobile customer across Canada

That will get the attention of Rogers, Bell, and Telus. What got my attention is the network coverage. They’re only live in Calgary and Toronto at the moment and their coverage doesn’t match the big three. I guess that as long as you stay in what they call their “home zone” you’re fine. Which means that Wind is going to be the choice for teenagers, and people who are only going between home and work within one of Wind’s  “home zones.” For someone like me who travels a fair bit all over the place, that’s a negative. Then there’s their phone selection. They have the requisite BlackBerry (a 9700 model), a couple other smart phones (one by HTC), a data stick, and a basic phone from Samsung. Not a huge selection, but I remember that Fido (before they were purchased by Rogers) didn’t have the biggest selection either when they first launched. So that shouldn’t bother you in the least.

Wind plans to be in other cities across Canada in 2010 so perhaps their coverage will expand at that time. When their network footprint does approach the size of the big three, they may pose a serious threat to them. That of course assumes the pricing stays the same. Until then, Wind Mobile’s ability to be a game changer is going to be somewhat limited I would suspect.

Another Reason To Back Up Your Notebook: Israeli Security Pump MacBook Full Of Lead

Right up front, I want to state that any comments that you leave regarding this story should be civil and thoughtful as I do NOT want this to turn into a “Bash Israel” circus. Are we clear on that? Good.

I know Israel is a place that has its challenges, and since I come from a place (England) that has had its brushes with terrorism I get the need for their security forces to be careful. But when I heard this story, I have to wonder if things were taken a bit too far. A woman goes to Israel to meet some friends, see the sights, and do everything a tourist would do. She comes across some security officers who ask her a bunch of questions. They didn’t like some of her answers and here’s what happened next in her own words:

Then they asked me to wait. Since they had asked for friends and families phone numbers I assumed they might be calling to verify my answers to questions or confirm I really had extended family in Tel Aviv.  An announcement played over the sound system, interrupting my break in the sunshine. First in Hebrew, then Arabic, then in English. It was something along the lines of, ” do not to be alarmed by gunshots because the Israeli security needs to blow up suspicious passanger luggage.”

I went inside to check on my bag. I had left it unattended, where they instructed. It was still there so I went back outside.

Moments later a man came outside and introduced himself as the manager on duty. And then, “I’m sorry but we had to blow up your laptop. “

Actually, they shot it up. Just take a look at the pictures. This seems a bit extreme to me. But I guess that given the situation that Israeli citizens live in, I guess that’s okay as it is better for security forces to assume the worst to protect citizens of the country. Although like I said, it seems a tad bit extreme to me. After all, wouldn’t a powering up of the laptop be a better option?

So, what are the take home messages:

1. Back up your data. Here’s a couple of articles on how to do so.
2. Always be co-operative with security people. Here’s an article that I wrote on how to deal with US Customs. This may help in other places as well.

Oh in case you’re wondering, the lady who had her laptop shot to pieces is promised compensation. I hope she gets it.

An Update On My Bell Customer Service Experience

Some things have happened in the last 24 hours in regards to this issue with Bell Canada that I’d like to update you on:

• My phone still works and I still have Internet.
• I traded e-mails with Rogers yesterday about a possible trial of their Home Phone service. I also sent them a list of concerns that I have about their product and I look forward to their answers. I’ll keep you posted on that front and I look forward to trying out Rogers Home Phone.
• My wife took the suggestion that was on the Bell Canada work order and went to http://www.bellcustomerservice.ca and wrote about our negative experience. We don’t think anything will come of it because Bell doesn’t strike her as the sort of organization that actually cares about its customers, but it gave her the opportunity to vent and perhaps they’ll surprise us.
• A reader pointed me to this posting on the blog of Toronto Star financial reporter Ellen Roseman who wonders why Bell can’t fix their customer service. This was posted on Oct. 19/09 and references a Toronto Star story on the same topic from two days earlier. The key quote from the article is this one:

“Bell Canada keeps me busy. It’s a rare day when I don’t receive complaints about unexpected charges, recurring billing errors and indifferent service.”

Lovely…..

More updates as they come.

Wind Mobile’s Price Plans Leaked…. Yet Again….

I really wish Wind Mobile would just step up to the table and show us what their price plans are. Because it seems that yet another “leak” has happened on Howardforums.com. I’ll hit the highlights below:

Chat: $15 per month
Unlimited WIND to WIND calling (Canada wide)
Unlimited incoming text
100 province-wide voice minutes
50 text messages

Always Talk: $35 per month
Unlimited WIND to WIND calling (Canada wide)
Unlimited province-wide calling
Unlimited incoming text
50 outgoing text messages

Always Shout: $45 per month
Unlimited Canada-wide calling
Unlimited incoming /outgoing text messages
Voicemail

Data Plans
Infinite Mobile: $35 per month (used with any voice plan)
Unlimited internet for phones (tethering too)

Infinite Laptop: $45 per month
Unlimited internet for USB data sticks

Possibly there will be a web on your phone only type data plan for $10/mn.

BlackBerry data plans
Social BlackBerry: $10 per month
Unlimited instant messaging, Facebook and MySpace.

Infinite BlackBerry: $35 per month (used with any voice plan)
Unlimited internet for BlackBerry

Addons:
Voice: 10c Per Minute with the $15 plan
SMS: 10c each
MMS: 20c each
Voicemail: $5

If these are even remotely accurate, Bell, Telus and Rogers have a lot to fear. Now I’ve said in the past that if Wind launches, I’d switch. But I’m waiting for their pricing plans to become public (rather than constantly being leaked) as well as what their coverage is going to be. That’s an important point as it doesn’t matter how affordable the phone and the plans are if you can’t use it where you need to use it.

So how about it Wind Mobile? Now that you’ve got the green light to go to work, how about coming out with your pricing and coverage? That way we can make a decision to go with you or not.

Bell Canada Customer Service = FAIL

Bell Canada for years has been my choice for home phone service. After all, if you’ve been doing telephone services for a century or so, you should be really good at it. Plus in the major blackouts of 2003 and the more recent blackout that I lived through, my phone service has always worked. So I really saw no reason to switch.

This weekend gave me a reason to switch from Bell Canada. Their customer service…. Or more accurately their total lack of customer service.

I got up on Friday morning and discovered that my DSL connection to the Internet was down. I rebooted my router and DSL modem and it came back. I didn’t really think anything of it and started about my day. About 2PM that day I had the need to get back to my computer from a customer’s location and discovered that the Internet was down again. My wife was home sick so I phoned home. When she picked up the phone it was nothing but static. Clearly the phone line had an issue, so I phoned her on her cell phone and tried to have a conversation with her as the reason why she was home was due to the fact that she lost her voice. We collectively phoned Bell and got their repair call center (that was clearly based in India). While we tried to get the problem resolved, the call Bell Canada call center rep accused us of having a bad phone on our line and our issue wasn’t their problem.

The first rule of customer service: Never accuse the customer of anything as it leaves a very bad taste in the customers mouth and sends the interaction between your customer and yourself downhill. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy with that accusation.

The next thing that the Bell Canada call center rep did is try to sell us WireCare which “protects” the wiring inside our residence. Because if they find that the problem is my fault, I’ll be charged $85.

The second rule of customer service: Never try to sell a customer anything until you solve their core issue. That really ticked me off.

Only after I blew him off about buying WireCare did the Bell Canada call center rep book an appointment. Get this, a tech would show up on Saturday between 8AM and 5PM. So I would have to cancel all of my appointments (two of them) with my clients on Saturday so that I could wait all day for a Bell tech to show up. Now to be fair, their main competition Rogers books their appointments within a window. But the window is 4 hours to my recollection which is much fairer to the customer. But I was willing to work with that to get my phone fixed and to get Internet service again. Plus my wife was in no shape to really deal with them.

Too bad Bell didn’t show.

At 2:30 I called Bell to see where they were and I was assured that they would show by 5. So at 5 when they didn’t show I phoned them again to ask WTF? That’s when I was told that someone had shown up on site and there was “major trouble” with the line that fed my residence and they would have to replace it. Since Bell Canada techs don’t work past 5PM, it would be fixed tomorrow. It was also being escalated to different group because of that. That’s when I told the Bell Canada call center rep to type this into his customer relationship management tool. I wanted a working phone by Sunday at 5PM or Rogers was getting a phone call on Monday and I would be moving my telco services to Rogers. This was due to the fact that I had to phone THEM to find out this information rather than they phoning me to tell me the status of my repair request. All the call center rep could do is say “I’m sorry you feel that way.” In fact, every interaction I had with Bell Canada in terms of this issue, the call center rep that I was on the phone with would say some form of “I’m sorry.” Don’t be sorry, FIX MY ISSUE as your scripted apologies really aren’t doing much to make me feel better.

So you can imagine that I am not a happy camper at this point, so lets fast forward to Sunday. The Bell tech shows up at 11AM on Sunday determines that the problem isn’t in my home, which shoots down the bad phone theory that Bell Canada call center rep accused us of. I asked him about the “major trouble” with my line. The tech said he knew nothing about that.

That means that Bell Canada lied to me. You can imagine how I felt at that point.

But the the tech went down to the telephone room in our condo and got to work. It took him almost two hours, but he got everything working. Plus I got a slight increase in speed in terms of Internet access. That was due to the fact that according to the tech “my telco services weren’t hanging on by a thread” as the wiring in the telephone room was really old. So a big thanks to him for getting things working again.

But that doesn’t stop me from being really mad at Bell. My feeling is that Bell Canada failed in terms of customer service in the following areas:

• They accused me of causing the problem: FAIL
• The tried to sell me something without solving my core issue first: FAIL
• They didn’t show up as promised on Saturday after I waited all day and canceled customer appointments to do so. Which means I didn’t make any money on Saturday: FAIL
• Bell lied about why they didn’t show up: FAIL
• Bell wasn’t proactive about keeping me informed about my repair request: FAIL

So as a result of all of that, I am seriously considering moving to Rogers for my home phone service. I must admit that I have some concerns about Rogers Home Phone. The biggest one is that Rogers Home Phone has a battery backup for their services that lasts about 18 hours if power is cut. Seeing as my residence was without power for 36 hours earlier this year, that is a concern for me. There are others, but that is the main one. Perhaps “my best friends at Rogers” can make me feel better about that point and my other concerns which I can communicate to them by e-mail if they’re interested. Even better, perhaps “my best friends at Rogers” would be kind enough to let me test drive their Home Phone service against Bell’s for a month and have me write about it in this blog. How about it Rogers? Sound like a plan?

As for Bell, I really want Bell Canada to explain how this repair could have gone so badly and what you plan to do to make sure this never happens to anybody else. I know that Bell Canada employees read this blog, so I challenge you to contact me via e-mail and tell me what you have to say. But from prior experience, I’m reasonably sure that I’m not going to hear from them. Which won’t exactly help Bell Canada’s cause to retain me as a customer. Which is too bad because it’s not Bell Canada’s infrastructure that failed, it was their customer service.

Without customer service, you will have no customers. Bell should keep that in mind.

Apple Countersues Nokia…. Let The War Begin

Frequent readers might recall that Nokia slapped Apple with a patent infringement lawsuit not to long ago. Well “The Steve” has decided to send forth the iLawyers to fight this. And fight they will as this document [Warning: PDF] was filed this morning that announces that they will be suing Nokia for infringing upon 13 Apple patents. Oh, here’s a really cool quote from this document that sums up why Apple is doing this:

As Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia’s executive Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia, stated at Nokia’s GoPlay event in 2007 when asked about the similarities of Nokia’s new offerings to the already released iPhone:”[i]f there is something good in the world, we copy with pride.” True to this quote, Nokia has demonstrated its willingness to copy Apple’s iPhone ideas as well as Apple’s basic computing technologies, all while demanding Apple pay for access to Nokia’s purported standards essential patent.

Oh Snap! I guess that proves that you have to be careful about what you say because someone might call you on it.

In any case now that a full-on war has broken out, you can fully expect this to get VERY ugly for years to come.

Globalive/Wind Mobile Given Green Light By Minister Clement… Rogers, Bell And Telus Crap Their Pants [UPDATED x2]

Today is a great day for the wireless industry in Canada. Industry Minister Tony Clement has overturned the CRTC decision that kept Globalive/Wind Mobile from starting and gave them the green light to to start up its service “without delay:”

“Consumers will vote with their feet and their pocketbooks and that’s the way the market works,” Clement told reporters after the announcement in Ottawa.

I suspect that a lot of them are about to start voting, starting with the stock markets. BCE, Telus, and Rogers stock are all down as I type this. I guess the impending completion has sent some investors to the exits.

Oh, what does Globalive/Wind Mobile have to say about this? Here’s an excerpt from a press release issued not too long ago:

“This is a new day for wireless in Canada. This holiday season we will start to provide Canadians with the competitive choice that they want and deserve,” said Anthony Lacavera, Chairman of Globalive and WIND Mobile. “We thank the Government of Canada for a decision that will serve the best interests of Canadian consumers.”

In its decision today, the Government of Canada concluded that Globalive is a Canadian company that meets the Canadian ownership and control requirements under the Telecommunications Act by varying an October 29 CRTC decision (Telecom Decision CRTC 2009-678).

“For too long, Canadians have suffered from higher prices and an underwhelming customer experience,” said Ken Campbell, CEO of WIND Mobile. “We look forward to offering the most unforgettably positive mobile experience in Canada. In return, we’re asking Canadians to make a new choice in wireless and sign up on WINDmobile.ca today.”

I’m guessing that there’s a lot of stressed out execs who work for Rogers, Bell, and Telus. For them, Santa brought them a lump of coal for Christmas.

UPDATE: I e-mailed Bell, Telus, and Rogers for their comments on this story. My “best friends at Rogers” have given me this reply:

As for the Globalive decision, we believe competition is good for Canadian consumers. We’ve always thrived in a competitive environment and we’re ready to meet the competition head on.

I have to say that I may not always be a fan of Rogers, but at least they respond to my e-mails. Even if it’s to give me a bolierplate answer or to say no-comment. That’s more than I can say for some other companies that I’ve tried to e-mail for comments for this blog. Score one for Rogers.

I’ll let you know if I get a response from Bell or Telus, but from past experience I’m not holding my breath.

UPDATE #2: Much to my surprise, Telus responded. Here’s what they said via Media Relations person Sean Hall:

December 11, 2009
TELUS disappointed with Globalive decision

Vancouver, B.C. – TELUS is disappointed the federal Cabinet has overturned a recent decision by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) regarding the application of Canada’s foreign ownership rules. The Cabinet decision to overturn the CRTC on this matter sets a new precedent for the interpretation of foreign ownership rules affecting a variety of sectors including telecom and broadcasting.

On October 29, the CRTC found that Globalive was controlled by Orascom Telecom, an Egyptian based carrier that owns more than 80 per cent of its capital structure, and that this unprecedented level of control does not meet Canada’s foreign ownership laws. Accordingly, the CRTC set out a path for Globalive to become compliant under the same rules all other companies in the industry are forced to abide by.

“We are disappointed with Cabinet’s decision to give one competitor a unique advantage, after bidders that spent $4 billion in the last auction were explicitly told that the rules prohibited foreign ownership and control,” said Michael Hennessy, TELUS senior vice-president of Regulatory and Government Affairs. “This decision has implications extending well beyond the telecommunications industry, given it creates a precedent on what constitutes compliance with foreign control restrictions.”

Hennessy added that it is clear Globalive should not have been allowed to participate in the June, 2009 Advanced Wireless Services (AWS) spectrum action and be licensed as a Canadian carrier to begin with, given it clearly was not complying with the laws governing Canada’s telecommunications industry.  Not only did the CRTC find that Globalive was not compliant after a comprehensive and open public review process, but that decision followed a number of changes in the corporate structure and governance of Globalive through negotiations with Industry Canada and the CRTC in order to reduce the foreign control by Orascom. The CRTC ruling suggests that Globalive participated in the AWS auction while in a non compliant state thereby affecting the outcome for all bidders, including new entrants that had played by the rules.

“Overturning the CRTC will not change the fact other bidders, including new entrants and incumbents, that were directed by the auction rules to comply with federal law and structured their affairs accordingly feel they were misled,” said Hennessy. “If one foreign carrier can control 80 per cent of the capital in a company and still be called Canadian, then the law is now rendered either effectively meaningless or a double standard has been created for the benefit of one carrier, Globalive.”

As it did prior to the 2008 AWS wireless auction, TELUS continues to recommend to the government that in order to avoid similar situations arising again, all bidders in future spectrum auctions should be pre-qualified as legitimate, Canadian owned and controlled entities.

Taking an aggressive interpretation and thereby making a special exemption and setting a precedent with respect to Globalive’s ownership was not necessary to increase competition. Globalive could have amended its corporate structure and governance to become compliant without any need for government intervention in allowing it to circumvent Canada’s foreign ownership laws.  Moreover, there are several new wireless companies entering the Canadian market, regardless of Globalive’s participation. TELUS welcomes healthy competition in the Canadian wireless industry but maintains that all industry entrants should all be required to adhere to Canadian laws that govern foreign ownership until Parliament debates and votes to change the law.
“TELUS has never been opposed to foreign ownership restrictions being lifted by Parliament,” said Hennessy. “All we have asked is simply that all communications companies in Canada operate under the same rules without an artificial and unfair advantage being handed to one company.”

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, T.A; NYSE: TU) is a leading national telecommunications company in Canada, with $9.6 billion of annual revenue and 11.9 million customer connections including 6.4 million wireless subscribers, 4.1 million wireline network access lines and 1.2 million Internet subscribers and more than 100,000 TELUS TV customers. Led since 2000 by President and CEO, Darren Entwistle, TELUS provides a wide range of communications products and services including data, Internet protocol (IP), voice, entertainment and video. In support of our philosophy to give where we live, TELUS, our team members and retirees have contributed $137 million to charitable and not-for-profit organizations and volunteered more than 2.6 million hours of service to local communities since 2000. Nine TELUS Community Boards across Canada lead our local philanthropic initiatives. For more information about TELUS, please visit TELUS.com.

No word from Bell yet. Not that I expect to hear anything from them. But given that two of the big three in the wireless market in Canada have sent me a comment, perhaps they’ll wake up and comment.

Rogers Introducing “Quick Start Menu” For Digital Cable Customers

My “best friends at Rogers” sent me an e-mail yesterday to let me know a new feature is coming to Rogers Digital Cable Customers early next year:

In mid-January, Rogers will be launching the new Quick Start Menu for Rogers Digital Cable customers in Ontario. Rogers’ latest evolution of the product will bring a new level of convenience and value to Rogers Cable customers.

The Quick Start Menu will allow customers to:

· View 6 channels at once on your TV screen with three different TV Mixes, including a Kids TV Mix for all Digital TV customers, and the Sports and News TV Mixes available to customers who subscribe to the Digital VIP package.

· Play up to 4 different pre-loaded games for free using your Rogers remote as a controller while you watch TV.

· Check local weather without interrupting the TV viewing experience

· Quickly resolve most technical issues you might experience with your TV service.

· Quickly access to On Demand channels to find movies, TV shows, kids’ shows, specialty programming and more

Note that The Quick Start Menu does not replace the current IPG used to navigate channels, which will still appear by hitting GUIDE a second time.

More details will be available closer to launch date but in the meantime, you can check out the attached screen shots and additional info here: http://www.rogersdiscover.com/quickstart

Here’s a couple of screen shots of the new Quick Start Menu:

I have to admit that this sounds intriguing and I’ll be interested in seeing what it looks like on my TV (as I have Rogers for cable) when they roll it out.

While I’m on the subject of Rogers, they’re due in court today to try and serve up a can of hurt on rivals Bell Canada over their claims having the “best” and the “most powerful network.” You might recall that Rogers gave me the 411 on that a few days ago. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top of that considering that they lost to Telus not to long ago over the same issue (although that matter is under appeal).

Google Chrome For Mac And LINUX Hits Beta

For those Mac Fanbois that have been lusting after a official Google Chrome browser for Mac, you can rejoice. Google Chrome for Mac has hit beta. Now it is a beta so there are likely to be bugs, but it is available for mere mortals so that’s progress. It requires Mac OS X Leopard or Snow Leopard, and is only compatible with Intel-based Macs, so PowerPC types need not apply.

Oh yeah, LINUX types need not feel left out by the way. There’s a beta version of Chrome for you too.

If you’ve tried either beta, please leave a comment and share your experiences.