photo credit: Mel B.

A recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project suggests that young people have grown bored with blogging.

Meanwhile, the use of social networking applications (except Twitter) has been on the rise. Is this yet another indication of a fickle population with a very short attention span?

While blogging among adults as a whole has remained steady, the prevalence of blogging within specific age groups has changed dramatically in recent years. Specifically, a sharp decline in blogging by young adults has been tempered by a corresponding increase in blogging among older adults.

Sometimes I ask myself why I still maintain several blogs. These days, I’m so busy I rarely get the chance to regularly post even on my main blogs. I remember the time last year when I promised myself to write at least one substantial post here each day. For a time, I succeeded. I often took a few minutes each morning to clear my mind, and try to meditate on the events of the previous or recent days. Or sometimes, I try to plot the direction I’d like my day to have. And then I would write.

Due to one reason or another, I got tired. And now I only get to post one to two articles per month. Still, I tell myself, better to write something nice and well thought-out rather than some dull, inconsistent, babble not worthy of a read.

I don’t think I’ve grown bored with blogging. Every day I still write. It’s a different kind of writing–definitely different from blogging. I do consider blogging as a medium, but writing still remains the primary activity. And so, while I have moved my focus away from using my blogs as a medium, I have not moved away from writing at all.

Or, perhaps, the fact that I don’t consider myself losing interest in blogging means I’m getting old.

With the passing away of former Philippine President Cory Aquino, millions of people have been tuning in to televised reports, live coverages and even online streaming video. Some have probably been catching up on updates via blogs and microblogging services like Twitter, and a few thousands have put in their thoughts on chatboards, forums and other online exchanges. For the most part, we have been spectators. Even if some citizens have seen action in the fringes, it is the

For the immediate family of the departed, this must have really taken a toll on their energies and their resources. I should know, because only two years ago, we had to bury our own son. The circumstances might have been different, but perhaps the grieving process is similar in some respects when it’s an immediate family member who passes away.

I won’t get into the details of the stages of grief that one often feels at the loss of a loved one. But let’s take it from the perspective of the Filipino culture of lamay or the wake, which has its equivalents in other societies. In this activity, the departed usually lies in repose, and people from all over would visit, view the deceased, and condole with the family. With these messages of condolence, the family usually shares the grief. The burden is somewhat shared. You have relatives and friends around you who comfort you. You are usually in an unfamiliar environment, and you are busy with entertaining, planning and making arrangements.

And then the burial comes, and you lay your beloved to his or her final resting place. Then you go back home. Exhaustion finally sets in. You realize that you have your needs to fulfill. You need to eat. You need to freshen up. You need to sleep.

It’s usually these times that are the hardest. The difficulty here is that you realize you have to return to what is perhaps an empty home. It will never be the same–you return home and your loved one (whoever it is) is no longer there. His clothes, his things, his possessions are still there, but the person is not there anymore. That is a big change that you will dread.

Another big difference is that you’re usually alone. You may not be alone in the sense that you still have those close with you to go home with, but you are collectively alone. There will no longer be the relatives and friends who would accompany you. This is, I think, the more difficult part of losing someone. The emotional highs you experience up to the point of actually burying the dead will now subside and be replaced by the quiet loneliness and emptiness you feel when you realize you have actually lost someone, and it’s for keeps.

You try to live by with some coping mechanisms. Some would probably visit the cemetery every day (like what we did) for the first few months. Then the frequency would be reduced as time goes by. Then, perhaps, in time you learn to accept your loss, and you realize you have to continue living not only for the sake of your dear departed’s peace, but also for those other people who need you.

I guess the difference with the case of former President Cory Aquino is that her family is joined by the millions who mourn the loss of a great leader. For the better part of the foreseeable future we will still be mourning her, and perhaps we will pay tribute to her through certain acts and actions many of us will undertake in her honor. In a way, that is how a person lives on, even after he or she has physically left. In the loneliness of it all, those left behind continue living, but keep the memory of their dear departed through thoughts and actions that commemorate and keep someone alive.

In the case of my family, we had gone through a long grieving process. They say the pain never really goes away, but you learn to live with it over time. But in our everyday lives, we try to commemorate that one person dear to us whom we have lost by trying to be better people to one another and to others. We are trying to be more religious and spiritual. We are trying to be more loving and caring. We are trying to learn from past mistakes and thus do things differently.

The real difficulty starts after burying someone. But I think that’s also where the real challenge lies. Do you let sorrow get the best of you, or do you make the best out of it?

Image credit: flickr/primalingeri

I was born in tough times. I was barely in preschool when Ninoy Aquino was assassinated. I had only stepped into elementary school at the heat of the 1986 People Power Revolution in EDSA and the subsequent installment of Ninoy’s widow, Cory, as president. And so Cory Aquino was the first president I ever knew. And while one usually studies Cory in history classes through schools, I must say it’s only now that she has passed on that I really got to know who she was and what she stood for.

Cory Aquino passed away this August 1st, which was a first Saturday, after several months’ battle with colon cancer. In a way, I must say I knew (as most most people probably feared) that sooner or later she would be passing on. No disrespect meant to those who have offered prayers for her recovery, but I believe that when it’s your time, it’s your time. I have experienced this firsthand, when my infant son, Michael, inexplicably died in the early morning of October 3rd, 2007. For that reason, I have come to view death not as the end of life, but as part of it, which everyone goes through, and should prepare for.

By preparing for death and dying, I do not mean living life as if it were moot and useless, because we all die anyway. Rather, I mean living every day as if it were your last, as if you don’t have another shot at things, as if you don’t have another opportunity to redo everything. Therefore one should live the best life you can live, by being the best you can be, and by trying to make sure everyone else is better off.

A tough core, steel will, and strong faith

When one learns about Cory Aquino from the history books and from the school curriculum, one would probably be taught how she was instrumental in reestablishing democracy and democratic institutions in the Philippines after several decades of dictatorial rule by Ferdinand Marcos. One would probably read how she was a reluctant figure in all of this. She didn’t want to be thrust into the limelight, but history has proved otherwise. In the few years after her husband was assassinated, she was viewed as the best champion for forwarding the fight against the tyranny of the Marcoses. She championed the cause of uniting the opposition, and ran head on against the strongman. She succeeded in driving away the dictator from power, with the aid of millions of people marching in the streets.

However, now reading and watching personal accounts of people close to Cory, I realize that she has accomplished these with two things. One is by having a very strong will and determination. Another is by having faith in God.

Cory Aquino’s administration was challenged by nine coups d’etat. Most of these were bloody, and I do have faint recollections of these events in my youth (at that time we lived near one former military base where rebels cooped up). Her administration was marred by human abuse complaints against the military. Her administration was eternally challenged with having to clean up the accumulated messes that her predecessor has ingrained into institutions of governance and even the very core of society. Cory’s administration had inherited a burgeoning national debt that she was even advised to repudiate. There were numerous other headaches she likely faced on a daily basis.

In all these, tough decisions had to be made. One would probably underestimate Mrs. Aquino, who has even proclaimed herself to be a simple housewife. But then, as her friends and former colleagues in government would say, she had a tough core. She had a will of steel. Being human, she probably wasn’t perfect. She probably made a few mistakes here and there. But she tried. And she was honest. And she was unwavering in her determination and commitment to a cause, once she has started it.

All this Cory did while being prayerful and trusting both in higher authority and in the common person. She probably felt fear in her heart whenever she faced insurmountable challenges (many of which probably meant physical harm to her and her loved ones), but the real courage is recognizing these fears, having faith that one can overcome these, and actually addressing fear straight-on.

Cory also recognized that the power she held was not earned or claimed by her own doing, but rather granted by higher power, and facilitated through ordinary human beings. Cory understood that she was given the reins of governing the country as a temporary and transitional measure, and that her real job was to effectively and successfully use the very democratic institutions she helped revitalize and reestablish to peacefully turn over power to the next set of leaders (deserving or not). She could have held on to power. Power, after all, is addicting. But she chose not to. She had faith in the people.

The essence of People Empowerment

Cory’s detractors, and those who have lost faith in the concept of People Power, have repeatedly claimed that the essence and the message of the People Power revolution have been lost in our population that is seemingly largely apathetic. Corruption is still widespread. Poverty is still a very serious problem. This is a looming issue, in light of the national elections due in May of 2010. That is if there will be an election at all, given talks of possible charter change, which might be instrumental in perpetuating the political hold of those in power.

But I think the relevance of Cory’s passing away and its timing is that it’s a wake up call to all of us. Perhaps she can only go so far in her life. Perhaps she has done all she could, and all in her power. In the last years of her life, she was said to be advocating micro-finance. With this advocacy, I see again her trust in the people. Who said the poor are helpless people who only needed dole-outs? I think Cory saw the need to empower people to help themselves. As it is said: Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day, but teach him to fish, and he will never be hungry for a day. People Power is not about running out in the streets in angry protest. Rather, people power is being empowered in every day of your life to be able to do something relevant and helpful both to yourself and your fellow citizens.

In my mind, Cory’s message is this: Yes, we can. And yes, we should.

In this regard, I think it’s time for me to be involved. For most of my life, I have been largely apolitical. I have never voted in my life. In fact, I am not a registered voter. I have served in government, but my experience with the bureaucracy (yes, even personally observing the incumbent president in action) has made me feels distasteful and hopeless about governance. Perhaps now is the time to start being really involved.

The concept of People Power has taught me that I am empowered, in whatever little way. As one in new media, I may not have a big a voice as those who own newspapers, or as those in elected positions. But in my own way, I can make a difference, and contribute to the betterment of society. I can start small, for instance, by being more green, such as reducing fuel consumption, and having a smaller carbon footprint. I can start by being a more responsible small business owner. I can start by actually registering and voting, and even campaigning for the people I think can make a bigger, better difference. And I can start by nudging those within my sphere of influence to also help spread the word about people empowerment.

Small things add up to more significant things, just like each and every one of those millions who had massed up in EDSA in 1986 to show support for the overthrow of the dictatorship. The same goes for each person among the tens of thousands who have shown up at Cory Aquino’s wake and procession from Greenhills to Manila Cathedral.

Cory’s life and death has taught me to more responsible. And I think this is what she would like to impart upon us. That is her legacy. I thank her for that.

Image credits: Cory Aquino: flickr/koronadal. Flowers at Aquino Residence on Times St.: Author’s own

Last night was supposed to be just like any old lazy Sunday evening. We just had dinner, had cleaned up, and were lounging about the house when the power died. Apparently, a transformer in our block blew up and a few houses lost electricity. It wasn’t a very warm night, but the humidity was hard to take. We found ourselves hustling the kids into the car for a drive to do some errands.

When things get shaken up like this, what can you do?

Oftentimes, we encounter an unexpected change, like a change in plans, a change in situations, or when something does not happen as originally planned. Do you allow yourself to get waylaid? Oftentimes, I find myself like this. I try to go with the flow. I try to adapt to the situation. You sometimes resign yourself into passiveness and just let things be.

But I think the better thing to do is try to take charge of the situation rather than let it control you. Or at least try to look at the bright side of things, and try to take advantage of it. You may not necessarily be able to charge at it head-on, but you can turn it around and use it to your advantage. It’s just like the concept in martial arts of using the momentum of your opponent’s attack against him, instead of directly opposing it.

When the power died, I was glad I was working on the laptop, and that I did not lose any unsaved work. I was glad I wasn’t working on mission-critical work where broadband connectivity was an absolute necessity (although I have backup connectivity with wireless). I was glad we had running water. It would surely be uncomfortable and inconvenient to lose both power and water service (which is sometimes the case during very bad weather). And in a way, I was glad I had some errands to run, and that I could do these even in the dead of the night.

In a way, I was trying to look at the bright side of things, and was trying to take the opportunity to make the better of the situation.

When things go differently, the first reaction one usually has would be to curse and be angry at the situation, especially if things go drastically different. But then after this has subsided, the best thing to do next is try to grab the situation by the balls, make the better of it, and hope things turn out right.

Sure, the hour-long drive last night was tiring. But we were able to accomplish something that could have been logistically difficult had it been done today (we expect heavy traffic due to the scheduled State of the Nation Address by the President). And one learns a lot from conversations and observations while on the road.

image source

I used to frequent the Mocha Blends cafe along Matalino Road in Quezon City. It’s just three minutes’ drive from my house, traffic permitting. And it used to offer free WiFi. In fact, one of the media interviews I had a couple of years ago was held there.

Just this evening, I had to rush to the place to help my dad get his laptop connected for a business meeting. The wife and I were surprised that it was no longer called Mocha Blends, but had rebranded to Eve Cafe. The staff explained to us that the franchise had expired, and the proprietor decided not to renew the franchise (or something to that effect). And so they are no longer able to use the brand, the product line, and other identifying marks.

One would notice that the setting was still the same. The furniture was still the same. The equipment was still the same. Even the staff was still the same. When you connect to their wireless network, it’s still named “Mocha Blends.” But you will notice something terribly amiss, and that is the identity that the original brand carried when the cafe first opened.

Mocha Blends isn’t the most popular coffee shop here in the Philippines, but having done my rounds of coffee places locally, I can say I’m quite familiar with its offerings. I usually order long black (espresso poured over hot water; this is different from Cafe Americano, which is hot water poured over espresso). Wife usually orders their flourless cake, and it’s usually iced tea for the kids. And while we load up on calories and caffeine, there’s that familiar ambiance that you grow with when you visit a place frequently.

I’m a brand conscious person. Not that I value products for the brand name, per se, but I have preferences because of the qualities that come with the brand. For instance, Starbucks’ Cafe Americano is different from Figaro’s Cafe Americano, which I prefer. Smart might have wider coverage, but I prefer the service and convenience offered by Globe. And have I mentioned how much I prefer seven up compared to other soda drinks?

When something rebrands, chances are it’s not only the name that changes. Sometimes, other things go along with the name change. Sometimes it’s good, like when Piltel was merged with Smart to form Talk and Text, which is their cheaper, mass-oriented brand. Piltel was an analog carrier, which was a dying technology, especially in a country ruled by GSM.

It was also good when Islacom was acquired by Globe. Both brands were able to expand their reach and bandwidth share (Islacom being first GSM provider had a big chunk of the licensed GSM bandwidth). Islacom turned into family-oriented Touch Mobile. But then it has more recently turned into mass-oriented TM. Somehow, along the way, the magic was lost, especially to more conservative clients like myself who preferred some premium image with their mobile phone provider.

Most of the time, the change is not bad in itself. But with brand comes marketing power and goodwill. And when you change brands, chances are you would have to rebuild that goodwill. You would need to reestablish your following. You would have to regain your customers. In some cases, you would have to convince customers to stay.

Before you consider rebranding, think hard. Will it benefit your business? Is it absolutely necessary? If you will overhaul your business into something really innovative and exciting, then go for it. Otherwise, if it will mean most costs than benefits, you might want to reconsider.

image source: flickr/bitzcelt

A couple days back, I bought the kids a copy of Plants vs Zombies, upon the urging of their uncle. I’ve heard about the game and how addicting it could be. And the kids have started having a fascination with zombies, as they’ve recently discovered the late Michael Jackson and his Thriller buddies.

The damage? Just PhP 199, or just about $4.25 or so. Reasonable enough. Checkout and download was quite easy, too. I just keyed in my PayPal username and password, and the system paid PopCap from my PayPal balance.

In my country, piracy rate is at about 90%. You still see a lot of stalls and even ambulant vendors selling warez and pirated DVDs. I think it’s ingrained in our culture that something that is not tangible like software or entertainment should be free.

I’m of the opinion that people are, by nature, good. We don’t necessarily want to steal stuff. It’s just that when things are inaccessible, inexpensive and inconvenient to acquire legally that people resort to other means, like buying pirated installers, DVDs, or downloading these off of the Internet. But if you make things cheap and accessible enough, then you should be able to expect some reduction in the incidence of piracy.

Take for instance locally-published or distributed DVDs. Stores like Astrovision sell these legally for about PhP 200 to PhP 300, or so (depending on the publisher and the popularity). Sure, it’s still a heftier price than, say, the PhP 60 you pay the neighborhood pirate stall for a “DVD quality” movie. But the piece of mind and the assurance of quality you get is a definite advantage for that small price to pay.

Or consider how local software stores that have reduced their prices just so softwares and games can be accessible to the common citizen without deep pockets. Last month I bought a copy of the Sims 3 for the wife and kids, and it cost me about PhP 1,400, which is a small amount compared to how much the old versions retailed a few years back.

And then there’s the matter of convenience. Take for instance National Bookstore, which has recently started selling BitDefender at local, reasonable prices. Considering the number of National Bookstore branches around the country, that makes it easier for people without broadband Internet access or credit card/PayPal accounts to purchase software legally.

If you make it easy, convenient, and accessible enough for people to legally acquire something, then it makes no sense to steal. I understand that software authors, publishers and distributors have to make a living. But in some markets, it makes sense to find a balance. If you know your basic economics, then if you price something optimally, you would be at a point where profit is at a maximum. This is something that businesses should consider. Learn from the iTunes model. Learn from the Apple App store model. Sell everything for a dollar and you get millions of buyers, thus earning you your millions. Sell something for a few hundred bucks, and you might get a few buyers, and a handful of freely and illegally-distributed copies.

Again, there has to be balance.

Or sometimes you have to find an alternative business model. Free is the in thing nowadays, and people have been growing rich essentially giving away stuff for free. Companies have thrived on advertising as a business model. Some have succeeded in subsidizing free services from their other revenue-generating businesses.

I don’t think software piracy can be totally obliterated. The concept of distributing software freely–even though against the license–is as old as software itself, if not older. But it can definitely be reduced. It would require a change in mindset on the part of both a software user and a software maker or seller. In the end, everyone should be better off.

image credit: flickr/chrisjones

Every weekday, my wife and I watch the evening news while having dinner. If you’re familiar with how the six o’ clock news usually goes, it’s often full of sex, violence, and sensationalized accounts of otherwise mundane news.

This is especially true if you’re watching mass-oriented television networks. In my city, for instance, it’s either ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol or GMA’s 24 Oras. One would understand that they target a mass audience. And their advertisers pay their premium prices to reach this kind of wide audience.

Switch to other channels on cable or UHF and you get boring news programs with not so exciting news anchors. But undoubtedly, their reportage is more intelligent, well-written, and level-headed. They have a niche audience. These types of shows don’t necessarily have to cater to the masses. Rather, they address a narrower audience. A news program that features stock prices, business news and international events would probably have an audience consisting of folks who have higher purchasing power than, say, someone who enjoys watching local brawls and loudmouthed starlets on the mass-oriented news.

This is the same case with online content. Where traffic is king, unfortunately, a lot of people also resort to sensationalism in the aim of getting more readers. Sometimes it’s a simple as smart copywriting. Sometimes, it’s with linkbait. Sometimes, it’s a headline that shouts out loud. Sometimes, it’s with snarky writing. Sometimes, it’s with photos of scantily-clad women in compromising poses.

There’s nothing wrong with trying to attract an audience. I’m all for smart headlines. And I have written a handful of linkbait material in my life. But sometimes, trying to attract an audience might border on impropriety or even obscenity.

I’m of the opinion that the kind of promotional and marketing tactic you employ on your website has a bearing on the kind of people that you attract. In the end, it becomes a question of quantity vs. quality. Which would you prefer? Granted, we all want a big audience made up of great quality readership. In most cases, however, you can only have either a thousand zombies reading your blog, or just two or three really smart people reading your masterpieces.

I think I would rather build up my audience slowly, focusing on quality material, quality discussion and building up good rapport with readers. Would I resort to sensationalism? No, thank you.

image credit: flickr/floridapfe

My first netbook was an Asus Eee PC 701. And as with most netbooks that vintage, it came preloaded with Linux, particularly Xandros. While it wasn’t the best Linux distribution, it worked out of the box with the Eee PC. It was good enough for me, that is until I wanted more functionality out of the little computer.

Not that Linux was not functional enough. But it’s that different flavors of Linux have varying support in terms of the community discussion and help available online. And so I switched to Ubuntu. Not everything worked out of the box. But being the adventurous computer user I am, I hacked my way into perfection. Some add-on hardware did not work perfectly, like the bluetooth dongle I use to pair my phone with to connect to the Internet while on the move. The visual effects were not only stunning, but they helped a bit with productivity (for instance, with the ability to place different windows on different “faces” of a cube, with Compiz Fusion).

But with the small seven-inch screen of the 701 I was looking for an upgrade, which I found with the Eee PC 900, which, incidentally, turns one year old this month. My purchase came preloaded with Windows XP Home. And as with preloaded softwares go, I found it to work out of the box perfectly. I had to make a few tweaks and optimizations to make the machine run quicker, cooler, and with a longer battery life. But again, the adventurous user I was, I took some risks and considered some tradeoffs. For instance, I use a RAM disk to store all my temporary files, including the browser cache (which can be difficult to tweak when you use Chrome). I’ve also done all sorts of tweaks to remove unnecessary services and registry components.

And just recently I again ventured into the realm that was Ubuntu. I downloaded a copy of 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope a few weeks back, and it’s only now that I found the time (and curiosity) to try it. I installed it on an 8GB SDHC, so I wouldn’t have to break my current Windows installation. It worked well out of the box. No additional drivers needed.

But then there was a hitch. Jaunty Jackalope did not support CPU frequency scaling on the Celeron-M.

You see, Celeron-M variants of the Eee PC–paticularly the Eee PC 900–try to save on power and improve cooling by clocking down from 900 MHz to 630 MHz automatically when the computer is unplugged or when it runs on battery. Speed stepping is not a usual Celeron-M feature, but the folks at Asus were able to tweak the 900′s BIOS to achieve this effect, albeit on a limited level.

Suddenly, the prospect of using Linux again on my netbook didn’t sound too cool. Literally and figuratively!

But I’m not disheartened. I know that I’ll get around to finding a tweak or fix for this. These things usually involve much research and a lot of sleepless nights. Sometimes, it’s safe to say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But for some people, it’s better to say if it ain’t broke, then break it.

image source: flickr/ampersans

In 2005, MIT Media Labs’ Nick Negroponte touted the idea of a cheap, sturdy portable computer meant for educational use, and the OLPC project was born amid much buzz. One Laptop Per Child–a very interesting concept! They wanted to produce a small laptop that had long battery life, an easy to understand user interface, and can withstand wear and tear associated with kids’ use. The clincher: it would only cost $100.

Sounds impossible? Think again. Today, the most popular computer in terms of sales are tiny devices called netbooks. And these are not crippled, low-end laptops. Netbooks are essentially full-featured laptops. But the dimensions are miniaturized. Screen sizes (and form factors) are usually in the 10 or 9 inches diagonal. Netbooks usually weigh anywhere from two to three pounds. And not only are they easy on the back (because of the light weight), they’re also easy on the pocket.

Netbooks don’t come at $100 a pop, but they’re close enough. Some retail for as low as $250. Some go as high as $500 or even more, but that’s for the higher-end ones. And because new models come out every three months or so, you can expect older models to retail for $200 or less. Close enough to the $100 if you compare it with full-fledged laptops that can cost $600 for a barebones model to more than $2,000 for a high-end, high-performance rig.

And consider this: before netbooks became popular, ultraportables that size would cost $2,000 or more.

A paradigm shift

While the OLPC project did not directly cause the netbook revolution, perhaps established computer manufacturers were inspired by the idea that low cost mini notebooks could be marketable. Asus was first to market with the Eee PC in late 2008, and a host of other brands followed suit.

Chipmakers then grabbed the opportunity to be involved. While the first generation netbooks were powered by older-generation Intel Celeron-M and Via C7-M chips, Intel ramped up development of its low-power, low-cost Atom platform. Via had its own Nano. Even AMD, who previously derided the netbook market as not worth getting into, being a low-margin one, has recently joined in, with its own low-power, low-cost Athlon Neo.

And it’s not only the hardware manufacturers that have gone through drastic adjustments. Even software giant Microsoft has made concessions. While Windows XP was supposed to have reached end-of-life in June of 2008, Microsoft has extended XP’s life to support netbooks, cognizant of the fact that Windows Vista has such high system requirements that it would run poorly on the often low-spec’d netbooks. Some manufacturers even offered free XP “downgrade” (or upgrade, depending on your point of view) discs to netbooks that came bundled with Vista.

Now Windows 7 is just around the corner. Windows 7, the much awaited successor to Vista, is touted to run well even on low-spec’d computers, netbooks included. That’s a big change!

Perhaps this was a response to the threat that Linux might finally gain ground over Windows in the consumer market. And at first, this was the case, with most netbooks being sold with customized flavors of Linux with user interfaces designed to be easy enough for beginners. Now, most netbooks come with XP pre-installed.

A commercial success

Even with razor thin profit margins, I suppose laptop manufacturers are making good money on netbooks because of volume. A lot of people who couldn’t afford to buy computers before are now able to. A lot of people who found computers very complicated now have simple, easy to use, durable devices that let them to just about anything that a bigger, more powerful computer can do.

What’s the lesson here? Commercial success is not necessarily only beneficial to big business, especially if it advocates ideas that are formerly only the realm of idealism. Nick Negroponte wanted to give kids an opportunity to use computers as a tool for learning. And the project has already been able to distribute OLPC laptops to students in develping countries, in partnership with their respective governments and some benefactors.

In a way, netbooks are espousing this ideal, too. For one, economies of scale can drive down the cost of manufacturing parts and peripherals for both commercial and non-profit applications. Also, schools are ordering netbooks for students’ use en masse. Some netbooks are also designed specifically for use in the education market. It’s great to see idealism enter the mainstream.

Now the question is whether the computers are, indeed, an effective tool for learning, especially in the developing world. That’s a topic that’s worthy of further debate and discussion.

image credit: flickr/snapeverything

In this day and age of lightning-fast email communication and instant messaging, you would expect companies to be able to provide fast customer service, too. Take for instance your telephone company, or your electricity distributor, or your cable TV company. Most of these utilities usually have a 24-hour helpdesk. This means I can call them up in the middle of the night when my water runs out while rinsing my hair, and someone would tell me when the water service would be back up.

Sadly, it’s not the case with most online companies these days.

Take for instance Skype. I’ve been a subscriber to their Unlimited World package for some time now. For only $12 or so, you get unlimited calling to the US, Canada, UK, Australia and other countries, and you also get three incoming numbers (from any country of your choice) with the package. Due to paypal issues, my account lapsed this month and I’ve had to renew manually. With the renewal, I thought my incoming numbers would be restored, but alas, I am now being charged individually for each number ($12 per three months each).

I tried looking for a way to get in touch with Skype, but apparently they don’t have online chat support. No email support. No telephone support. If you had an issue, you had to check their online help FAQ first, then submit your question if the solution is not found there.

And they only responded after about four days from my original inquiry. The response was less-than-satisfactory, so I replied with a follow-up question. To date, I have yet to receive a response.

Same goes with Twitter. I had problems logging in after I changed my password. As I was desperate to just get into my account, I tried to reach them. But similar to Skype, all one could do was read or search through their FAQ. They don’t even have an internal customer support desk. All inquiries are answered by “people powered customer service.”

No email support. No chat support. No 1-800 number to call when something screws up.

If you wanted more help on Twitter, you are asked to check the forums. I think people are taking the concept of community support too far. Sometimes you need action from someone from within a company. What if they need to change something on the database? What if money is involved? The community cannot always help you with that!

Where is the customer support?

I understand these are big companies, with millions and millions of users. Maintaining a customer support workforce would probably cost a bundle. But if you’re profiting from these millions of users (either from subscriptions, advertisements, or any other business model), then doesn’t it make sense to at least invest a little money in customer support? At least this could be the last line of defense for screw-ups. People can check the FAQs first, then community forums, and then if all else fails, call a 1-800 number, or chat online.

If you want to save on costs, why not outsource to less-expensive countries like India and the Philippines (like HP, Paypal, Dell, and a ton of others do)?

I have another idea: why not pay the community for support? For any web app or online service, there are a lot of expert or power users who are already providing help to regular users. Why not compensate these people by paying a small fee for every unique question satisfactorily answered, like how Mahalo Answers does it. This could potentially improve the quality of community support.

Or why not hire power users to accept support inquiries? Expert users are sometimes more knowledgeable about online services than paid customer service staff. But you should give these people more power than just answer inquiries. How about changing settings, or checking a user’s account from within the user database?

My point here is that companies and consumers both benefit from good customer support. It’s the least a service provider can do to make users feel that you care.

Image credit: flickr/liminalmike