Geeking Out

Good customer service has become quite rare. That’s why I wanted to point out the excellent customer service I got from LinkedIn. They were incredibly helpful even though I wasn’t actually one of their customers. I used to have a LinkedIn account. It wasn’t something I used very much, and I had honestly forgotten that I had one. About a year ago, as you may recall, LinkedIn had a security breach and suggested that users change their passwords. When I went to do that, I realized that I used the service so infrequently that I had no idea what my password was. I managed to sort that out, and then cancelled my LinkedIn account. I just wasn’t using it. Since then, I’ve gotten email from LinkedIn that tells me that one of their current users wants to connect with me on LinkedIn. For a while, I just ignored them. This week, I got tired of it. Out of frustration, I sent a Tweet to @LinkedIn. I wasn’t expecting a response, but I got one. @LinkedInHelp replied with a link that I could click on to fill out a ticket that would stop the contact invites. Doing so would put me on their Do Not Contact list. I immediately filed a ticket. A few days later, I got yet another email from LinkedIn letting me know that one of their users wanted to connect with me. So, I sent another Tweet to @LinkedInHelp about it. The response was fast! @LinkedInHelp asked what my ticket number was, and followed me so I could sent them a direct message with the ticket number. Not long after that, I got an email from LinkedIn that said my email addresses had been placed on their Do Not Contact list. (I’d been getting contact requests at more than one address). This is impressive, especially considering that they knew that I wasn’t actually one of their customers anymore. Kudos to LinkedIn for great customer service!

DreamWorks has made a deal with Netflix to provide the streaming service with 300 hours of original TV series. A spin-off series to the upcoming animated movie Turbo has been confirmed, and other Netflix-original shows based on DreamWorks characters are to follow. Yeah, this is real life. Netflix is hoping that this deal will make up for a dearth of content, especially when it comes to children’s programming. Its streaming catalog lost the rights to stream 1,800 titles last month, including many kids’ shows such as Barney and Bob The Builder, and more recently let its deal for Viacom content expire, taking away Netflix subscribers’ access to Nickelodeon shows like SpongeBob SquarePants. Amazon quickly scooped up Nickelodeon content for its Prime service after Netflix lost it. The episodic series Turbo: F.A.S.T., based on the upcoming DreamWorks animated movie Turbo, will arrive on Netflix in December. Turbo is about a snail who wants to race in the Indianapolis 500, slavishly following the Mad Libs Animal Movie Formula of (Downtrodden [Animal] Attempts [Improbable Activity For Their Species] And Succeeds Thanks to Quirky Friends and Belief In Self) that has worked wonders since Babe. That’ll do, snail. That’ll do. DreamWorks could be aiming toward making shows based on its popular movies like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Madagascar, but the animation studio also has the rights to some older characters from the Classic Movie library, such as Casper the Friendly Ghost, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Bill Cosby’s Fat Albert. DreamWorks is already making a film based on the time-traveling Rocky and Bullwinkle characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman. Netflix original content is becoming an increasingly weighty part of its overall business strategy. However, the DreamWorks deal is just one more ‘original’ product that isn’t quite original. Netflix revived an established product in Arrested Development, House of Cards was based on a previous series, and Hemlock Grove was based on a novel. We’ll really see if Netflix can compete with broadcast and cable TV when it has the confidence to make more risky investments in original content. (via Engadget) Meanwhile in related links Netflix’s “Streampocalypse” drops 1,800 titles Thanks for Arrested Development, but stay away from these shows, Netflix Finding Nemo sequel will center around Dory

Hint: it's something Axel Braun claimed his Superman movie has but Zack Snyder's doesn't. I genuinely wonder if that was the thinking behind it. Get More: Geek: Event Coverage, Full Episodes

I’ve been thinking about getting the critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic game The Last of Us for a couple of days now, but now I know I’m getting it. Apparently all I need to be interested enough to buy a thing is for someone to explain it to me in Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World references. Luckily Reddit user philtomato is looking out for the Pilgrim-obsessed people like me and put out this spectacular “Joel and Ellie vs. The World” mashup poster. Yes. Yes, this pleases me. If you enjoy this image, philtomato already has it available on a T-shirt at Redbubble, along with  many other wonderful mashups and pop culture references. That House Targaryen t-shirt is calling out to me especially loudly. Woof. Momma (of dragons) like. (via Reddit) Meanwhile in related links Here is a Monsters Univsersity/Revenge of the Nerds mashup Here is a Breaking Bad/LEGO mashup And here is a Star Wars/Jurassic Park mashup

Google filed a legal challenge today against gag orders that come with the FISA court orders it receives from the FBI and NSA, on grounds that the silence orders impinge on the company's First Amendment rights to speak freely about the data requests it receives for user data.

July 1st is coming up fast, and those of you out there that still rely on Google Reader are running out of time to find a new RSS reader. A lot of people have already jumped on the Feedly bandwagon, myself included, but it’s not the only game in town. Besides the readers that already exist, Digg is coming out with their own RSS reader, and it will be public for everyone by June 26th. Digg outlined some details of their reader offering and announced the June 26th date on their blog yesterday. They say they will be focusing on the group most put out by the shutdown of Google Reader — power users. Digg calls them, “the people who depend on the availability, stability, and speed of Reader every day.” To Digg’s benefit, the 18,000 power users they signed up to give them feedback on their own reader evidently came through. The major points they said the Digg Reader should hit are to, “Make it fast. Keep it simple. Let me import my feeds and folders from Google Reader.” Those may seem obvious, but as someone who has been trying out a number of Google Reader alternatives, it’s clearly not obvious to everyone. Digg won’t settle for the obvious though. They have plans for their reader over the next six months. Those plans include an Android app, faster performance, third-party integration for fans of things like Evernote, better sorting tools, and managing user feedback. The June 26th release date is cutting it a little close to the death of Google Reader, and I’d have to assume that by then most people will have found an alternative they’re happy with. Digg Reader will have to be pretty solid out of the gate to win people over enough to bother migrating their feeds and getting used to another new user experience. The fact that they’re touting this a “freemium” product also has me a little wary, and not just because “freemium” is a stupid neologism. They say all the features offered at launch will remain free. So will upcoming features to be named later, but with a number of solid and free alternatives out there, Digg is really going to have to impress the power users they’re courting if they expect us to shell out any cash. (via Digg, image via Jake Maheu) Meanwhile in related links Alas, poor Google Reader! I knew him, Horatio Don’t switch to FeedDemon, because it’s dying too Google wants Google+ to be your Reader alternative

In every game, Ryu’s Ultra Fireball takes longer and longer. Ain’t nobody got time for that! [ADHD]

After promising he wouldn’t be a jerk about Community‘s fourth season, the comedy’s once and future showrunner Dan Harmon spoke out on his Harmontown podcast about what he thought of the Harmon-less season. Spoiler alert: He wasn’t too happy with it, and wasn’t afraid to say it with some backhanded and profane responses. He’s since apologized, but the damage’s already been done. Mostly, Harmon expressed regret that the replacement showrunners David Guarascio and Moses Port tried and, in his opinion, failed to follow his lead. “It’s obviously not somebody doing what they do and trying very hard to make people happy,” he said. “It is very much like an impression, and an unflattering one. It’s just 13 episodes of ‘Oh, I’m Dan Harmon! Huh huuh! Die Hard! Duh huh huh huh!’” “They could have just done a sitcom set at a community college,” he said, and while he acknowledged that fans would have been disappointed, he thought that “then, five episodes later, regular people would have been like, ‘Oh, this is a pleasant little show set at a community college.’” One of Harmon’s major regrets was the introduction of Jeff’s dad, who he had always wanted to be played by Bill Murray. He explained that while watching the fourth season, he left Murray an awkward voicemail asking him to be on the show. He followed this up with a bizarre rape metaphor we won’t reproduce here, but sufficed to say it was pretty bad. Though he was negative about the replacement showrunners, he saved his hardest shots for the company that fired and rehired him. “Writers fighting other writers is the fucking American dream in the eyes of Sony. That is what they want. They want creative people rewriting each other. They want creative people replacing each other. They want us interchangeable.” He’s since apologized, which you can read in full here, but it pretty much boils down to him saying, “You know what, guys? This one’s on me. My bad.” (Splitsider via The AV Club, Dan Harmon Poops, image via Rex Hammock) Meanwhile in related links Harmon initially promised to not be a jerk We were real excited when he confirmed his return to the show Sony asked Harmon to return

Sorry it doesn't resemble these, but at least you don't suck like these Starbuck and Apollo knockoffs either, so you deserve better. It actually looks too wide for a road, with its VTOL propellers. But on your own property it could be fun indeed, and unless you can capture a botanically minded extra-terrestrial using Reese's Pieces, there aren't any simpler ways to reliably levitate your two-wheeled conveyance. via One Cool Thing a Day

AT&T is installing 25 solar-powered gadget charging station in the streets of New York. It’s partly billed as a response to the power outages of the Sandy storm, though at this stage the project is more of a demo than anything else. The project stems from the work of Pensa, a product design firm that previously produced devices as diverse as an avocado slicer and a digital version of the binoculars used atop tall tourist attractions. It’s been working on Street Charge, the idea of solar panel chargers in public places. After initial testing with umbrellas, the designers decided the simplest solution was a self-contained pole complete with solar panels at the top and a waist-high table for connecting gadgets for charging without needing to hold on to them. The poles also provide lighting so they can be used at nighttime (though that might be a beacon for crime in rougher neighborhoods.) AT&T has now paid for 25 of the poles to be installed around the city. They can each charge up to six devices through standard USB ports. There’ll also be three charging plugs (micro-USB, Apple 30 pin and Apple Lightning) for people without cables handy. The pole house a 168-watt-hour rechargeable battery, meaning it can provide power for a long time even during cloudy periods and night time. Pensa says charging time should be roughly the same as with a standard mains power supply, so you should be able to get your gadget up and running without having to wait around for too long. Much of the media coverage of the project has been based on the fact that many people in the New York/New Jersey area were without power for extended periods last fall and soon came to find they lost communications as mobile device batteries died. However, the Street Charge devices were already in development before the storm hit. The charging points will only be in place for 90 days as a temporary installation. In the long run Pensa hopes to bring permanent installations to multiple cities, assuming either the city government or a sponsor such as AT&T is willing to pick up the tab. One possibility is that the poles could be an enhancement to, or replacement for, the poles used for street signs. It’s also been suggested the poles could act as Wi-Fi hotspots.