Looking For A Few Big Brains

from the calling-all-experts... dept

If you're knowledgeable about technology, business or finance and aren't already a member of the Techdirt Insight Community, then you're missing out on plenty of chances to make serious cash for being smart. We've got a bunch of open cases looking for good analysis and there's plenty of money available to be earned. Just a few of the open cases, for example:

• Dow Jones wants to know about social media in the enterprise.
• An investment firm wants to know how WiMax's troubles are going to impact the wider technology ecosystem.
• Another firm is trying to understand how the subprime mortgage mess is going to impact the technology business.

There are a bunch more along those lines. We're always looking for more smart, insightful people, so if you think you've got something valuable to add, apply to be an expert today. Alternatively, if your company wants to tap into a community of really smart folks, who can provide you with some of the most useful insight and analysis you can get, check out the details and sign up.

Filed Under: experts, techdirt, techdirt insight community
Companies: techdirt

Techdirt In The Interview Hotseat

from the Q&A dept

It's apparently interview season, as two separate interviews that were done with me about Techdirt were just published. The first was conducted by Glyn Moody and appears in today's Guardian over in the UK. It covers a variety of things, from the Techdirt Insight Community, to this blog, to the economics I tend to write about. It was a fun interview and it's almost too bad that the limits of newsprint (and time) meant we couldn't go into more depth on some of the subjects.

The second interview was by Michael Banks, for his new book called Blogging Heroes. Banks went out and interviewed a bunch of bloggers to try to find out the history of their blogs, what makes them blog and what advice they have for other bloggers. The publisher is conducting a little marketing experiment as well, where they send each of the bloggers who was interviewed a copy of their own interview to post on their blogs. So you're starting to see a few different chapters available. It's yet another experiment in understanding how free content makes good sense, so I can't resist posting my interview here: One point that unfortunately doesn't come through clearly enough in either interview is how much we owe all the readers around here -- especially those who actively participate in the comments and the Insight Community. This wouldn't be worth doing without all of you. So, a big thank you from those of us at Techdirt!

Filed Under: blogging, interview, techdirt
Companies: techdirt

An Open Letter To Jeff Bezos: Please Stop Pissing Off People Over Amazon Prime

from the pretty-pretty-pretty-please dept

Dear Jeff Bezos,

Back in May, we tried to alert you to a serious customer service problem that your company is facing concerning the way you are marketing Amazon Prime. You have a promotion that offers to let people try the program for a month "for free." What's in the fine print is that at the conclusion of this month, if people do not specifically opt-out, then they will automatically be signed up and charged the yearly fee of $79. I'm sure it's a good deal. While I, personally, do not use Amazon Prime, I have some friends who do and they seem to like it just fine.

However, it's become quite clear that many people are not happy with this program -- and that's because it was never made clear to them that they had to opt-out of the program after trying it for a month. Those people receive credit card statements with a surprise charge for $79 for "AMZ*Prime." Many of the folks who receive this charge clearly do not recognize that it is for Amazon Prime. Instead, they go to Google and do a Google search for "AMZ*Prime". The first result happens to point to the story that I wrote in February of 2005 about the launch of Amazon Prime. In the comments to that post there are a number of people who are venting about how they don't remember signing up for Amazon Prime and are pissed off. Those comments keep coming in.

The real problem, though, is that too many people are doing this Google search and are then blaming us, the nice folks at Techdirt, for charging their credit cards for $79. We have been receiving a regular stream of emails and phone calls from people demanding that we refund them their $79, which we never charged them for in the first place. In the last month, despite our earlier pleas to Amazon, the pace of such complaints has only increased. It has become something of a nuisance. We feel bad for these people, though we don't have the time to respond to them all and point them to your own, quite difficult to find, phone number. I realize that you certainly shouldn't be held responsible for people's inability to understand the difference between a blog post about a program and the company running the program itself. However, is it really necessary to use such a scammy technique to sign up people? If you really are offering something of value (and, clearly, some people believe that you are), why not just let people opt-in to the program, rather than telling them you're giving them something for free and then forcing them to opt-out? I think we'd all be better off. I know it must be great to be able to show all those $79 charges to the folks on Wall Street -- but it would be a lot more convincing if it were from people who actually wanted to give you that money.

Thanks,
Mike Masnick
CEO, Techdirt, Inc.

Filed Under: amazon prime
Companies: amazon, techdirt

If You're So Smart... Why Don't You Prove It (And Make Some Money While You're At It)?

from the calling-all-experts... dept

It's been a little while since we've spoken about the Techdirt Insight Community service that we launched earlier this year. If you're not familiar with it, you can see a quick two minute video explaining what it is. It's been going great, as the experts in the community have been providing fantastic insight to all sorts of companies worldwide, helping those companies make important strategic decisions, filling in key knowledge gaps and or (in some cases) helping to validate certain ideas and plans. It's been a great way for some really smart folks to get companies to listen to their advice, to find out about the challenges facing companies in their space, to validate their insight... and also to make quite a bit of money for being smart.

Some of the open cases are displayed in a running ticker on the front page of Techdirt.com, but in case you haven't been watching, here are a few that recently opened where top insights can earn between $400 to $600 -- as well as validate your own insights into these areas. If you think you have the expertise to provide valuable insight to the companies presenting these cases, feel free to apply.

• Forecasting Trends In Digital Entertainment. Where is this important market heading? How will the economic trends play out? Who will be impacted and how?
• How To Index Multimedia Files For Fun And Profit. Help a company design its latest product by giving some advice on the current landscape for digital asset management offerings.
• Taking Jajah to the Next Level. Jajah's been getting plenty of attention this week for launching its Jajah buttons allowing any site to easily add a "click-to-call" option -- and for having that very same feature quickly banned on eBay who is apparently still grumpy over the Skype writedown. Now help Jajah continue to improve its product and marketing strategy.

There are a bunch more in the system, with even more on the way, so if you ever felt that companies should be paying your for all your smart ideas, why not prove it?

Filed Under: experts, techdirt, techdirt insight community
Companies: jajah, techdirt