Worst online shopping experience ever ... FutureShop.ca Web-only Sales

What a way to spend Christmas Eve ... in an online queue waiting for the FutureShop.ca Web servers to allow me to conduct a checkout of an item I ordered during this pre-Boxing Day Web-only sale that started at 8 pm EST. I got through the checkout process once and the system was processing my credit card, then failed because it could not connect to another server for a credit card security check. Way to go FutureShop.ca! I phoned their Customer Service and spoke to a very nice young woman who basically could not tell me anything, not even if my credit card had been charged. Her suggestion, which was my conclusion, was to go through the whole process again. We wished each other a Merry Christmas.

On my second round, more errors and an even longer wait in the online queue. I finally get to the order page, put in a different credit card, and the system goes off to process the payment then finally comes back with another error page: "An error occurred while processing your request." Followed by a reference number that's part of the Checkout process URL.

The folks who programmed the system obviously didn't proofread or test the process very thoroughly. On the Queue Status page below the bar that measures your progress in terms of a meaningless percentage the first thing it says is "Once you reach the front of the queue, you'll automatically be taken to the checkout." Actually, that's not true, because when your progress bar reaches 100% a greyed out button turns red and you have to click "Continue Checkout" to go anywhere.

This reminds me of online computing in the 90s. Over 1.5 hours wasted. My first two attempts were in Internet Explorer 9. My third attempt, ongoing as I write, is in Google Chrome, which was noticeably faster up to the Queue Status page.

Success with Google Chrome! Let that be a lesson for me, never try to order anything online with Microsoft Windows' Internet Explorer.

Government of BC says "Canada Starts Here"

The Victoria Times Colonist newspaper reported on October 8, 2011 that the Government of BC "changed the province's international brand of 'Canada's Pacific Gateway' to 'Canada Starts Here'".... The slogan seems to have been unveiled in late September 2011 as part of a jobs plan announcement by Premier Christy Clark.

I wonder how the East Coast feels about that since they have more of a claim to that slogan than BC does.

A search of Google for "Canada Starts Here" reveals some interesting other uses by other parts of the country:

Canada Starts Here: The Great Waterway, a site promoting Ontario's 1000 Islands region

A Pro-Life Canada Starts Here, the tagline and motto of the Student Life Link site for high school students against abortion.

Your Fly-in Fishing Trip to Canada Starts Here! if you're into fly-in fishing trips in Ontario

And who's going to argue with Fodor's Travel Intelligence which clearly states in its Newfoundland and Labrador Travel Guide section "Canada starts here, from the east, on the island of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic. Known as Mile One, the province's capital of St. John's is North America's most easterly point and its oldest city."

Have you tried the new Gmail Motion?

That was a great April Fool's gag from Google: Gmail Motion (http://mail.google.com/mail/help/motion.html). I was intrigued when I saw the "New! Gamil Motion Beta". That exclamation mark gets me every time. And if it's from Google, it must be true. Well, it was truly an April Fool's experience, especially the part about Google Docs Motion, the next breakthrough in collaborative document management.

Six Apart's Vox blog publishing service closing September 30, 02010

Six Apart is closing its Vox blog publishing service effective September 30, 2010. A few migration paths are available. I was able to move The Fictional World of Archives, Art Galleries and Museums to Blogspot. Some additional work is required to prettify the site, but at least it will have a longer life and be easier for me to maintain at Blogspot.

Royal BC Museum gets bitten by the blogging bug at last

The Royal BC Museum Blog, hosted by Google's Blogger service, in case you had not yet heard, is out there on the blogosphere. The first post by Tim Willis was on March 10, 2010 and the most recent by archivist Ann ten Cate, all about a bathroom fetish, was on May 12, 2010. The RBCM is also on Facebook and YouTube.

Google Maps UK Street View, bloody good

Google Maps UK now offers almost comprehensive coverage through Street View of public thoroughfares and scenic areas such as Stonehenge.

Google Buzz for Information Today Newsbreaks published

Update for February 22, 2010

My short article on Google Buzz was published today as one of the Information Today Newsbreaks titled "Google Gets Stung by Its Own Buzz."

Original post: February 21, 2010

Google Buzz was launched by Google on February 9, 2010 and immediately generated a hornet's nest of buzzing, angered Gmail customers backed by a dark cloud of consumer privacy protection organizations. Who can resist these metaphors and puns? I was asked to write up the controversy surrounding Google Buzz for an Information Today Newsbreak that should appear on Monday, February 22, 2010. I completed and submitted it on time. This is my second Newsbreak in seven years almost to the day that I've written on Google, the first back in 2003 was on its purchase of Pyra Labs, the creators of Blogger and Blogspot.com. The title of that piece also had the word buzz in it: "Blooglelicious—the Buzz about Google Buying Pyra Labs."

Created OCLC WebJunction group Google Wave for Libraries

Update for August 5, 2010:

In the wake of Google's announcement that Google Wave has broken over the boulders of public apathy, I'll be investigating future support options for my OCLC WebJunction group.

I set up an OCLC WebJunction group called Google Wave for Libraries on January 21, 02010. Come join me and help your colleagues discover what all the Waving's about.

The Law of Unintended Consequences gobsmacks Google thanks to Android

This report from SearchEngineWatch.com strikes me as a prime example of the Law of Unintended Consequences: Apple and Microsoft are in talks about using Microsoft's search engine Bing as the default search provider for the Apple iPhone. Apple it seems doesn't want its phone competitor with its own Nexus One and Android operating system to have access to iPhone customer data. But hasn't there been talk of Microsoft bringing out its own smartphone codenamed Pink? So what then for poor Apple? Why can't it with all its creative talent develop its own search engine for its own products? And there's always Yahoo!