Robots, Pills And Conflicts Of Interest

from the what-happened-to-the-human-touch dept

More and more, it seems, robots are filling the prescriptions you get through your mail-order pharmacy. And, as insurance firms encourage their customers to order from their mail order firms, the likelihood that your prescription is filled by a machine, rather than a person, is high. This raises several questions: do we really trust robots to get every single pill in the bottle? And the right pill, for that matter? Is there a conflict-of-interest in that large pharmaceutical companies often own a stake in the mail-order firms? Personally, I'll take the friendly neighborhood pharmacist over a robot for this particular job.

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Shoppers Spend More Online

from the why-is-this-a-surprise dept

Why is it that people are excited about the fact consumers are spending more online this year than in the past? Isn't that a natural phenomenon that we should expect? Call me cynical (and many people do), but this shouldn't be news, it should be expected.

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SonicBlue Gives Amazon Exclusive

from the this-only-makes-sense-when-you-can't-meet-demand dept

SonicBlue is giving Amazon.com exclusive rights to the new ReplayTV4000 unit. For two months buyers will only be able to order the unit through Amazon.com. While this sounds like a great win for Amazon.com (and it probably is), this type of exclusive promotion only makes sense if one of two things is happening: (1) Sonic can't make enough units to meet the demands of selling at a truly national level or (2) Sonic is expecting a lukewarm response to this product and is trying to generate buzz by limiting the availaiblity. I suspect that at a starting price of $700, it is the latter...

Orbitz Expects To Turn A Profit

from the strong-businesses-really-can-survive dept

While it's not standard to report on earnings here on Techdirt, I thought this was interesting. Orbitz, the new online travel site, is predicting profitability by the middle of next year. This goes to show that if you build a good site, based on a good business, you can survive. It has amazed me how fast Orbitz has caught on among the average consumer. I constantly hear from people I wouldn't expect that they are using Orbitz exclusively because of the low fares they can find there but nowhere else.

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Amazon Glitch Panics Game Buyers

from the the-world-isn't-coming-to-an-end dept

While this isn't exactly earth shattering news, it demonstrates how technology can cause irrational expectations and disappointments. Those that pre-ordered the new XBox from Amazon/Toysrus.com were notified of shipping delays. It was only a computer error - and it's not like this was for delivery of life-saving blood or anything - but we have come to expect (right or wrong) perfection from online resellers like Amazon.

NBCi signs off

from the it-was-only-a-matter-of-time dept

In a not no surprising move, NBC announced today that it is acquiring and subsequently shutting down most, if not all, of the NBCi properties. NBC said it will examine the various areas of the service to determine if they fit with the companies strategy, but my speculation is that they will sell off those areas that they can and shutter the rest. It's somewhat ironic, since every time I watch an NBC show these days they are promoting the NBCi Web site. I'm not sure it speaks so well for the entire industry that it ultimatley failed.

Internet In The Air

from the if-it-takes,-this'll-be-kick-ass dept

Dialing up to the Internet your airline seat may be easier in the near future. A company is testing out in-flight dialup through what they say is a much easier process than hooking into the in-flight phone - a process that is also very costly. The system was recently tested in Canada, and although the company admits it's not as easy as 1-2-3 yet, they are hoping it will be in the future. Of course, they can't do anything about the reclining seat in front of you that prevents you from opening your laptop altogether...

Software Fixes Go Unnoticed

from the the-fix-is-out-there dept

It's fairly common for software companies to release security patches and bug updates to their programs. It's also fairly common for the average user to have no clue that this ever happens. I've always been baffled by the fact that software companies do not build in auto-update programs that check for updates once a month, via an Internet connection, if available. This would make life so much easier on the average computer user who will never be able to navigate through some of the confusing support sites out there.

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Human Error Brings Microsoft Down

from the it'll-happen dept

The outage of most of Microsoft's worldwide network of Web sites was caused by human error. It was some sort of router misconfiguration. The interesting part, though, is the fact that it seems Microsoft has their servers set up in a rather stupid way, with no backup DNS servers located separately from the primary servers. This is a classic misconfiguration issue and it baffles me how they would let this happen.

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Microsoft And Starbucks Team Up

from the who-really-cares dept

Microsoft and Starbucks have announced they are working together to bring wireless Internet access to Starbuck locations around the country. The network will use the MobileStar wireless system and will allow Starbuck patrons to look up information on the arts and shop online. Am I missing something, or is this a non-event? My local McDonald's has Internet access now, so who cares that Starbucks will as well?

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Ecommerce Not All It's Cracked Up To Be

from the it's-the-same-story-every-year dept

Every year for the past couple of years the analysts and press have called that years holiday season the make or break year for ecommerce. The same thing happened this year. News.com is running a story that looks at last year's failures, this year's and looks forward to the next year as well. Kind of a pointless story, but you can bet that come holiday time 2001 we'll see less ecommerce players than this year.

Break-in At Egghead.com

from the its-happened-before----it-will-happen-again dept

Egghead.com executives have finally admitted that there was a break-in to their systems and that it is quite possible, and likely, that the intruders gained access to the over 3.7 million customer records, including credit card data. I find it interesting that the majority of the news stories are focusing on the credit card data. That, to me, is the least of the problems. If someone takes my credit card number, great, I'll just get a new one and although it's inconvenient, I'm not all that worse off than before. But, what I don't want is someone having access to my password, home address, various phone numbers, etc... That is far more alarming to me than the credit card theft angle.

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Barbie Strikes Out

from the who-the-hell-wants-a-barbie-computer-anyway dept

For some unknown reason a computer company in Canada thought it would be a slick idea to create a Barbie branded computer system. Well, they just filed for bankruptcy so now they know better...

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Program disables Web filters

from the you-want-laws----this-will-give-us-laws dept

This is one of the most idiotic software releases I have seen in a long time. The Peacefire group claims that their software disables the top seven leading Web filtering programs, such as Net Nanny. They say it is in response to a law that Congress passed requiring filtering programs on computers in schools and libraries. Come on folks! This is messed up. I'm all for free speech and porn on the Web, but what the hell is the point of specifically disabling programs designed to keep kids away from the stuff? Teachers can't be there every second and they shouldn't have to be. This will do nothing except push Congress to pass even more laws.

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Don't "Ask Jeeves" for a job

from the the-grinch-really-stole-christmas dept

Ask.com announced today that it is laying off 180 full-time employees. This was immediately following an earnings warning that they weren't going to meet the numbers forecast for Q4. I actually use the Ask.com service from time to time, but I'm not sure there is a front-end business there. They have a product, in my opinion, not a business.

Hitler on Yahoo

from the it's-the-internet----it's-gonna-happen dept

Rumors swirled that copies of Mein Kampf were being sold on Yahoo's German auction site. Since Germany has very strict laws against this type of thing, the Munich state prosecutor is investigating. I'm Jewish. I find this type of material to be revolting. But guess what? That's life. We learn from our past and that's what helps us avoid repeating it. I'm not saying this stuff should be in circulation, but whether it's on the Internet or some other means it will be out there.

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Amazon and eToys down

from the could-it-happen-at-a-worse-time dept

Amazon.com was down for two hours this morning and eToys is currently down with no estimated return. No offense to either of these sites, because they obviously have competent teams who are undoubtedly working their asses off to fix the problems, but of all the days in the year for both of these giants to have trouble, today was not the day.

United Offers Wireless Booking

from the start-with-the-basics dept

I should caveat this post with the statement that United used to be my airline of choice and now is the last airline I turn to for either business or personal. Today they announced you can book your flights and check your travel plans from your wireless phone. Now, I understand the Web department at United has nothing to do with the people who work to make the planes run on-time, but I have to say that I'd rather see United putting all of their resources behind fixing the very serious logistical problems they have, rather than expanding the options people have to book flights.

El Salvador Paper Jumps On The Net

from the ahead-of-their-time dept

The largest newspaper in El Salvador is now available on Web enabled phones and the Palm organizer. This may not seem like news, but only 1% of the population even has Web access, much less wireless Web access. I think it's great, however, that the newspaper has taken this step. They take a leadership role in bringing Net access to their country and also perhaps help bring their content to other Westerners who may find their content an interesting read while sitting on a bus or waiting for a plane.

Pets.com Coupon Arrives In The Mail

from the talk-about-adding-insult-to-injury dept

Today in the mail I received a Pets.com catalog with a $10 off coupon. I have to question why the executive team at Pets.com felt it was feasible to send out a catalog of their products when they must have been well aware that their company was on the brink of closure.

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