A young man rang Charter Cable to cancel his cable TV connection and maintain his Internet connection. Why? Because cable TV is an anathema to this generation’s vision of media consumption and/or it sucks. So he calls Charter and Charter informs him that he has to pay a $10 no-cable fee and he is told that soon Charter and the rest of the cable companies will control all streaming, thereby rendering all streaming media unusable after “May 1.”

Consumerist has his note:

At this point, he said he would see what the cost of internet alone was, and said there would be a $10 “no cable TV” fee (sounds like b.s. to me), which would make it $49.95 a month for internet alone. Then he went on to say that he strongly suggested that I keep the tv service because come May 1, all of the online streaming services would be shut down because the cable TV providers are taking over, and that the FCC regulations are changing so that the cable companies will have total control over streaming video.

Total control, eh? Sounds fishy. Look: cable companies have cables that come into people’s homes. They can make lots of money offering fat pipes to people who want them. But they don’t. They want to stick to whatever consumption model appeals to them and that model is the the cable channel. Cable channels don’t cost them money to maintain, they don’t have to be up 24/7, and they can sell premium channels and services to rubes who don’t know any better. The Internet is like offering running water to the home. Cable TV is like offering a bottled water service with a special “shower package” for those who want to wash. Which one is more lucrative?

Hey, times are tough and if United Airlines has to advertise sex pills on Twitter to keep costs down, I’m all for it. Maybe the company needed the extra revenue and used Twitter instead of installing quarter meters on its plane’s bathrooms. Or the account was hacked. Either way, it makes for a fun, Friday morning post. [NYC Aviation via Consumerist]

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Wilson might be the only host on The 404 who watched the entire big game Sunday, so we don’t spend too much time talking about the actual game and instead stick to the commercials. Ads this year included Google’s first Super Bowl ad. Also, HomeAway revitalized the Griswold family from National Lampoon’s “Vacation”, and Motorola aired a commercial with Megan Fox selling something…we just don’t remember what it is.

We also have a story about Comcast changing its name to Xfinity. Starting next week, its cable television, telephone, and Internet services will feature the rebranded name in 11 markets. In what seems like an effort to give a sharper edge to the brand name, the change is taking heavy fire from sites like The Consumerist, which claim that the new Xfinity name has an X-rated/pornographic/stupid/energy drink connotation.

Finally, we run down a list of the 10 most needlessly perverted mainstream games. Follow along as we chat about some of the most revealing games in console history with titles like Dead or Alive, The Sims, and Bayonetta leading the scandal. Oh my. Speaking of which, we hate to be the ones to report it, but Microsoft is no longer offering online support for original Xbox games like Halo 2 and Counterstrike. Bummer!

EPISODE 514

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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast

It wasn’t too long ago that our own Nicholas Deleon was detained and manhandled at a Best Buy. Today, we hear reports of someone who, for the crime of having some trouble with gift cards, was handcuffed, frisked, and put in a holding cell at the station. The bright side of this story is that the person this happened to should feel free to sue the hell out of Best Buy and the NYPD. I kind of expect this sort of behavior in a suburban mall where the rent-a-cops get bored, but on Broadway in Manhattan?

You can read the full situation over at Consumerist, but the gist is this: there were some technical difficulties with some American Express gift cards with which this person was trying to pay for a Blu-ray player. There was some confusion about the numbers on the cards, and the customer was apparently assumed to be a master thief, detained by Best Buy, and then taken to the police station, where she was held until they figured it out. Outrageous, Best Buy.

Here’s what should have happened: any trouble with the cards, even if they are supposed with good reason to be counterfeit, should be referred to a manager. This isn’t a floor staff issue. The manager can spend 15 minutes figuring it out, and if that doesn’t bear fruit, he could apologize to the customer for the inconvenience and ask them to come again tomorrow when they’ve got it all figured out. A ten-dollar gift certificate would probably make the customer forget anything bad had happened. To do anything otherwise, and assume the problem is with the customer, should not even be considered.

Best Buy, in this case, is liable, and although I would not say that litigation was wise in Nicholas’ case, in this person’s case it seems necessary. This was a serious breach of civil rights and needs to be addressed. Best Buy needs to get this problem under control.

[via Reddit]

Apparently, during CES 2010, Toshiba and Best Buy spent on booth space to promote it’s consumer-friendly Satellite E205 laptop, oozing a “designed by consumers for consumers” vibe. And the marketing prose paints a good picture:

Made for consumers, by consumers: This device focuses on the customer, as it was designed purely based on direct feedback from Best Buy customers in regards to what they want most in a laptop, providing solutions that better enhance consumers’ lives (i.e. longer battery life, thin and lightweight design, LED-backlit keyboard, optimal screen size, improved service and support).

The laptop represents the second collaboration between Toshiba and Best Buy as part of the retailer’s Blue Label initiative.

This next-gen thin and light laptop is one of the first to feature Intel Wireless Display technology, providing one-click connection from the content on your laptop to your big screen HDTV.

It features Intel’s new Core i5 processor and is priced at an affordable $999.99.

Pretty good indeed. For $999 you get a 14.1″ display laptop with the following specs:

• Intel Core i5-430M processor
• 4GB DDR3 1066MHz memory
• Mobile Intel HD Graphics
• 500GB HDD (5400rpm)
• Slot-Loading DVD SuperMulti (+/- Double Layer) with Labelflash

Not to mention support from Best Buy’s Geek Squad. Even if the setup lacks dedicated graphics, and even if the hard disk doesn’t run at 7200 rpm, it’s a pretty capable machine. However, maybe Best Buy should’ve spent more marketing dollars on creating mroe favorable appearances on Consumerist?

In any case, more information on the E205 is available here.

Post from: The Gadget Blog

If you live in the New York City metropolitan area, as I do, and try to buy an iPhone from AT&T’s website, you will probably get the same message I did after I entered my zipcode: “Sorry this package is not available in your area.” Apparently, this is a big story. (Hey, it’s the tail end of a long holiday weekend, and there is nothing else going on). For instance, the Consumerist called some hapless AT&T customer service rep who confirmed that “the phone is not offered to you because New York is not ready for the iPhone.”