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03 Dec 2011 20:23

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Tech: Electronic Arts attempts to nickel-and-dime die-hard Tetris fans

  • $30 per year to subscribe to a special Tetris club (?!?) source
  • » Wait, what?!? If you’re like us, you’re a huge fan of Tetris, one of the simplest, best video games ever created. However, Electronic Arts couldn’t leave well enough alone with its iOS edition, and rebooted it as a version of Farmville, essentially. Now, just to play the game (which you have to pay 99 cents for, by the way), you have to register for a special social network run by EA. And for the biggest fans, they’ve created a “T-Club” component, in which you pay $2.99 per month — or $30 per year for the die-hards — just for the right to get some extra power-ups. And the final kicker: The original iOS game, which was perfectly fine as-is, no longer exists on the App Store. For shame.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Aug 2010 15:02

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U.S.: Google Earth stakeout: Because illegal swimming pools are bad

  • See any pools down here, guys? They’re kinda like handing out parking tickets for Riverhead, N.Y., which forces pools to have inspections. But since not everyone does it, they’ve resorted to using Google Maps to find out who’s breaking the rules. It’s netted them $75,000 so far. Not a bad way to nickel-and-dime your residents. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Apr 2010 22:27

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Biz, Offbeat: Nudists better at public relations than Spirit Airlines

  • bad pr In an attempt to get people to
    stow more of their luggage, Spirit Airlines starts charging as much as $45 for carry-on items. Instead of, you know, not charging extra to stow luggage.
  • good pr Seeing a perfect opportunity,
    the American Association for Nude Recreation leaps on the news as a chance to promote nudism, because, hey, you’ll need less
    luggage! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Nov 2009 11:09

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Tech: Verizon nickels-and-dimes its customers even more

  • We cancel these unintended requests as fast as we can hit the End key, but it doesn’t matter; they’ve told me that ANY data–even one kilobyte–is billed as 1MB. The damage is done.
  • A Verizon customer writing to New York Times tech columnist David Pogue • Discussing how the company has price-gouged them at $1.99 a pop. Hit the wrong button, and it goes to a screen that starts downloading data. When you try downloading that data, Verizon rounds up to a full megabyte and charges you. Pogue is livid about these kind of charges – along with the company’s new $350 penalty for switching providers early. These nickel-and-dime schemes make the company millions of dollars each year. And it isn’t right. • source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

22 Feb 2009 22:51

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Biz: A charge too far: US Airways stops charging for drinks

  • $1 for coffee, $2 for soda or water? The airline, in a desire to cut costs and bring in new sources of revenue to fend off bankruptcy, did things that other airlines did – charge for checked baggage, premium seats and using frequent-flier miles to book tickets. But charging for a soda seemed a bit much to most people, so in a memo to employees, CEO W. Douglas Parker said they would back off of the policy starting March 1. Kudos to them for realizing that there’s a limit to nickel-and-diming customers. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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