Netflix outdoes New Coke in turn around time

Netflix has abandoned plans to split off its DVD rental division into a separate business.

The US online movie company told subscribers in September that it was spinning off its disc delivery service and rebranding it as Qwikster.

Customers wishing to continue receiving DVDs by post would have needed two separate accounts.

However, the firm says it now accepts the move would have made things more difficult for its members.

Customers will now be able to continue renting discs and streaming online films using a single Netflix password.

To Netflix CEO Reed Hastings from all of Canada: A Hearty Sincere F*ck You

And a fuck you to Nick Carbone, for penning this dribble.

Netflix Canada was and is a joke. The selection resembled a bargin bin of crap DVDs.

We here still don't know who was behind its crappy choices and lack of selection. Netflix itself? The Canadian cable companies?

It's a hassle to have to deal with two separate companies, meaning double ratings, double queues, and most begrudgingly, double bills. Why not make the grieving process easy by just blaming our northern neighbors?

Canadians: they're lovely people. Seriously. And we bet they'd offer a hearty and sincere “Sooorry.” [you wish, you cretin of an American writer] But according to Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, we should blame them for the split between Netflix and the new DVD-by-mail service called Qwikster.

“It's all the Canadians' fault,” Hastings joked Thursday as he answered questions about the fracturing company while celebrating
Netflix's first anniversary of its Canadian launch. The Great White North got its first taste of Netflix last September, as a streaming-only endeavor.

“Is broadband good enough that streaming only, without DVD, is a good enough product to catch on?” Hastings wondered. Turns out, it certainly was. Good enough to become its own business, apparently.

The DVD-by-mail service, not even available in Canada, became unbundled from the streaming service in July. And this week
Netflix announced the postal program would become a separate company, now (laughably) known as Qwikster. We've never seen a better definition of “going postal.” The Netflix stock has tumbled more than 30 points this week in reaction to the name change.

Translation: Canada seems to be ok with our shitty service [note to Netflix: we're not], so let's offer this shitty service to Americans. If they don't fall for it, we'll make meaningless apologetic blog posts and blame Canada.

Netflix comes up with a terrible, pretentious new name: Qwikster

A new name, to help hide a blunder apparently..

Via the Netflix blog...

I messed up. I owe everyone an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming, and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. I’ll try to explain how this happened.

Read more here.

Japan's Kyushu Electric Company: Idiots of the Day

Dozens of workers at Japan's Kyushu Electric Company posed as citizens and lobbied for a power plant to be reopened, an internal inquiry says.

A whistleblower last week revealed that some 50 workers had sent e-mails to a televised debate backing a plan to restart Kyushu's Genkai plant.

But the firm's internal inquiry has found more than 100 employees may have been involved.

Read more here.

Twitter caves to some sniveling little town council in South Tyneside

Never ever trust your data to any organization online.

For the first time, the American social networking site has bowed to a court action brought by a British group complaining that they were libelled in messages.

The individuals who brought the legal action were councillors and officials at a local authority, South Tyneside.

They launched the case in an attempt to unmask an anonymous whistle-blower who calls himself Mr Monkey.

Read more here.

The National Hockey League: Idiots of the Day

No no, mustn't have fans show their love of the team...well, not without paying up first...

The lawyers behind this action are idiots of the highest order. Good luck cleaning up this PR disaster.

The National Hockey League is demanding $89,000 from a Montreal restaurant that displayed a Montreal Canadiens sweater and the words "Go Habs Go" on a sign.

The owner of a Basha franchise in downtown Montreal put an image on an outside wall showing the name of the restaurant and a man slicing shawarma while wearing a red Canadiens sweater.

But a lawyer working for the league sent a letter saying the sweater and the slogan are trademarks, and that the owner will have to pay the sum for copyright infringement.

Read more here.

Google says it's "almost absurd" (but not quite) they're f*cking with rival's search results

Google has defended recent changes to its search system that reduced the prominence of some popular websites.

One of the worst hit by the "Panda" update was Ciao.co.uk, a Microsoft-owned company that had been leading an EU competition case against Google.

Its web visibility fell by 94% according to analysis by Searchmetrics.

Google's head of search evaluation, Scott Huffman, said it was "almost absurd" to suggest that the results were rigged.

The company regularly changes the algorithms that determine what users sees when they search for something.

Read more here.

Corporate Stupidity: Videotron bans iPhone from its TV productions

Videotron bet on the Google phone, so doesn't provide service for the iPhone in Montreal.

Bad decision #1.

So now they are banning any appearance of the iPhone from any TV production made by TVA, its Quebec network.

A very Quebec thing, ban something you don't like from view. It's worked 101 times before.

Bad decision #2.

Now we all know.

Read more here.

Twitter, in a surprisingly stupid move, kills third party apps

In a statement issued today by Twitter on its official developer mailing list, the company informed third-party developers that they should no longer attempt to build conventional Twitter client applications. In a move to increase the "consistency" of the user experience, Twitter wants more control over how its service is presented to users in all contexts.

The announcement is a major blow to the third-party application developers who played a key role in popularizing Twitter's service. More significantly, it demonstrates the vulnerability of building a business on top of a Web platform that is controlled by a single vendor. The situation highlights the importance of decentralization in building sustainable infrastructure for communication.

Read more here.

Del Monte: Idiots of the Day

Mother Nature may have thought she came up with the perfect packaging for the banana, but the man from Del Monte has other ideas.

The company has taken the view the yellow skin is not quite enough, and will sell individually-wrapped bananas at petrol stations, convenience stores, leisure centres and gyms.

The Del Monte bananas will be marketed under the slogan ‘Natural Energy Snack on the Go’.

Although the move is clearly to sell more bananas, better to sell them one by one, the marketing reasoning behind this is pure corporate bullshit:

The company claims that the bag contains ‘Controlled Ripening Technology’ – which extends the shelf-life of the banana by up to six days.

The banana is put into the plastic bag when it is green and, according to the manufacturers, goes on to ripen more slowly than if it had been left in the open air.

The product is also being trialled in the U.S. where the wrapped bananas are selling for one dollar each...

Read more here.

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers: Greenpeace is mean to us. WAAAAAAAAA!

The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says Greenpeace has gone too far in its latest attack on the oilsands industry.

In an online contest posted on Facebook, Greenpeace is encouraging people to take aim at a CAPP ad campaign launched earlier this year that shows oilsands workers talking about land reclamation and environmental cleanup in the industry.

Greenpeace is encouraging people to create mash-ups or remixes, using videos from CAPP's campaign. One spoof video posted to the group's Facebook page depicts a biologist saying she will probably die of cancer and her family will be paid money to keep quiet.

CAPP spokesperson Janet Annesley said the ads go too far.

"We're certainly open to have our ideas or the point of the ads challenged," she said.

"If the activists don't believe our claims around environmental performance, let's talk about that … in our view, that just makes it personal, and it distracts from what, in fact, we should be talking about, which is solutions."

CAPP's website originally linked to the spoofs, but stopped when it decide the attacks had become objectionable.

Read more here.

Gold's Gym comes out as homophobic

Gold's Gym CEO Robert Rowling probably hoped his $2 million dollar homophobic donation would go unnoticed.

Way to alienate your customers Moron.

Boycott these motherfuckers. They won't listent to reason, so make 'em pay.

Gold's Gym is facing a backlash from LGBT activists over its CEO's $2 million donation to American Crossroads, the conservative political group affiliated with former Bush adviser Karl Rove, and its four franchises in the San Francisco Bay Area are now leaving the brand over the controversy.

On Monday, Don Dickerson, the director of operations for Gold's Gym Bay Area, distributed a message through its Facebook page saying that it will be leaving the Gold's Gym brand

Best bullshit:

Gold's Gym is a non-political organization and our member's dues are not used to fund political candidates. Bob Rowling, the CEO of our ownership group, TRT Holdings, made a private donation completely independent from (and not on behalf of) Gold's Gym.

So many business to boycott...Target, Gold's Gym...the list grows apace.

Read more here.

BP is just so upset that light was shone on their teeny weeny oil spill

If there's one thing BP is clued about (other than safety), it's PR...

Keep diggin' that hole deeper BP, it's a joy to watch you frail.

BP’s new chief executive said on Monday that its rivals and the media had helped cause a climate of fear during the summer when the oil giant’s blown-out Gulf of Mexico well caused the worst ever oil spill in the United States.

The comments by the chief executive, Bob Dudley, represented the latest volley in BP’s battle to rebuild its battered reputation by taking a harder line with those who had attributed the disaster to a safety culture at BP that, they said, put cost-saving before safety.

In an address to the annual conference of a British business lobbying group, the CBI, Mr. Dudley said there had been “a great rush to judgment by a fair number of observers before the full facts could possibly be known, even from some in our industry.

“I watched graphic projections of oil swirling around the gulf, around Florida, across and around Bermuda to England — these appeared authoritative and inevitable,” he said. “The public fear was everywhere.”

BP said in late July that Mr. Dudley would take over as chief executive on Oct. 1, succeeding Tony Hayward, who had come under fire for his handling of the oil spill.

Read more here.

Netflix Canada: Idiots of the Day

Netflix Inc. tried to bring a touch of Hollywood to its Canada debut Wednesday only to wind up apologizing for a botched publicity stunt.

Things backfired at a Toronto street celebration after reporters discovered that actors hired by the Netflix had been given written instructions to give media interviews gushing about the video subscription service's arrival in Canada.

The actors also were urged to fill a variety of stereotypical roles, including "mothers, film buffs, tech geeks, couch potatoes," according to the one-page handout given to them.

Best bullshit:

Netflix never intended to mislead reporters, company spokesman Steve Swasey said. He attributed the mix-up to the bureaucratic hoops that Netflix had to jump through to get a permit to close an entire street for Wednesday's event.

Translation: We regret getting caught.

So far, their selection is poor btw...

Read more here.

The US Corn Refiners Association is hoping you're really stupid

Would high-fructose corn syrup, by any other name, have sweeter appeal?

The Corn Refiners Association, which represents firms that make the syrup, has been trying to improve the image of the much maligned sweetener with ad campaigns promoting it as a natural ingredient made from corn. Now, the group has petitioned the United States Food and Drug Administration to start calling the ingredient “corn sugar,” arguing that a name change is the only way to clear up consumer confusion about the product.

Here comes the bullshit:

“Clearly the name is confusing consumers,” said Audrae Erickson, president of the Washington-based group, in an interview. “Research shows that ‘corn sugar’ better communicates the amount of calories, the level of fructose and the sweetness in this ingredient.”

Read more here.

Sick Marketers: Verizon Droid X

Torture is never chic you assholes.

The Right in America outraged Target may not be *really* bigoted

The U.S. Supreme Court allows corporations to give directly to political candidates, corporation stands back surprised that said contribution may have consequences.

Idiots.

Conservative activists said Friday that Target Corp. won't quell the controversy over its corporate donations if the retailer gives in to demands from the left to renounce involvement in political campaigns or to help gay-friendly candidates.

Charlie Weaver, a leader of a political organization supporting a conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota, said the pressure from gays and liberal organizations on Target amounts to "thuggery."

"This is simply an attempt to intimidate companies from doing what the Supreme Court said they're entitled to do, exercise their free speech," said Weaver, treasurer of MN Forward, a campaign group that got $150,000 from Target last month.

A GOP state lawmaker said the controversy, including protests and calls for a boycott by gay leaders, has put Target in a bind.
"They're darned if they do something and they're darned if they don't," said Rep. Marty Seifert, a Republican from Marshall.

Contributors to a conservative Facebook page on the controversy also warned the company of a backlash from the right.
"I will not boycott Target unless they crater to the demand of the gay activists," said one writer.

Read more here.

Air Canada does the right thing, only after being publicly shamed into it

"We seemed to have broken a boy's wheelchair.

Oh boo hoo hoo.

It's being talked about on Twitter...

Fix it! Fix it immediately!"

Pressure from Twitter users has made Air Canada fix a terminally ill boy's wheelchair after it was damaged during a flight, his family has said.

Appeals for help from the aunt of 10-year-old Tanner Bawn went viral on the micro-blogging website.

An airline spokesman said they had acted as soon as they had heard about it. It has now promised to send the boy to Disney World.

Tanner has Duchenne muscular dystrophy and is immobile without the chair.

Tanner Bawn's $15,000 (£9,300) wheelchair arrived at New York's La Guardia Airport in pieces, during a trip to the city for a charity run.

Read more here.

Sunrise Propane: Cutting Corners Kills

The brother of a man killed in the Sunrise Propane explosion calls a report from the Ontario Fire Marshal about the blast a “light from God.”

“From the start of things we already knew many of them were negligent,” Vikramjit Singh Saini said. “Now it is out front of everybody. Me and my father, my mother, everybody, we are all now looking for justice.”

Almost two years after the tragedy, the Office of the Fire Marshal has concluded the deadly blast was caused by an illegal tank-to-tank transfer and a gas hose leak. Sunrise employee Parminder Singh Saini, 25, was killed in the explosion, and veteran firefighter Bob Leek died of a heart attack while battling the resulting inferno.

Alfred Kwinter, who represents the Saini family, said the report “affirms everything we allege.”

A lawyer in the class-action suit against Sunrise agrees. “It confirms our claim that these people allowed a dangerous operation,” Harvin Pitch said. “The truck to truck transfer was outlawed by TSSA (Technical Standards and Safety Authority), and it went on notwithstanding.”

Read more here.

Best Buy: Idiots of the Day

More corporate arrogance and epic stupidity. At least now the world knows it too:

A Best Buy employee has been suspended and may be fired after he created a satirical video and posted it on YouTube .

Brian Maupin of Kansas City, Missouri, created the cartoon video about the iPhone 4 versus the HTC EVO phone.

The video portrays an electronics store employee trying to convince a customer wanting an iPhone 4 to purchase an HTC EVO 4G phone instead.

The video became so popular, more than 1. 3 million views on YouTube as of Thursday, that someone at Best Buy saw it. While most people find the video funny, Best Buy corporate did not.

When they realized the creator worked for them, they asked him to take the video down.

When Maupin refused to take the video down because it didn't mention Best Buy, he was suspended.