**UPDATE**: It took roughly 14 hours for me to get my access back and I received NO responses other than the one that finally told me it had been restored.  Now I can do something else I couldn’t do with limited access, cancel my account.  Craigslist, fugly or not here I come.

I’ve now officially had it with PayPal’s lack of customer service. Last year I spent several hours on the phone with them trying to change my primary credit card because their website was too stupid to know how to do that (and their minimum wage customer service reps were no better). To any normal person that experience alone should have been enough to cancel their account, but like an idiot I kept using them to pay for purchases on ebay and several other websites that take PayPal.

Today I bought something on ebay and went to pay, but when I clicked ‘Confirm Payment’ I was sent to a screen that said ‘Unable to complete transaction’. What a great, detailed explanation! So I logged into my PayPal account directly and was met with a banner telling me I had ‘limited access’ which, translated, means I can’t use my account at all. Their reasoning is that they “have reason to believe a third party accessed my account”. That didn’t happen and they had no reason to believe that which is obvious by their failure to provide any further details. Even better is that it supposedly happened several days ago, but they didn’t bother to tell me until I tried to use my account. If it had really happened, it seems like that’s something I should know immediately.

But wait, it offers to let me correct that situation by going to their ‘Resolution Center’. Problem solved right? HELL NO. The Un-Resolution Center gives 3 steps that must be completed to remove the limitation. The first is to have them send an automated call to your phone and type in a number they provide to verify it’s you. Great, except they won’t call a cell phone which is all that the majority of people have. Luckily I was at work when this happened otherwise I would have had no way of accessing an ancient land line phone. Step 2 was to change my password. That’s the only step that makes any sense if any breach of security had really occurred (which it had not). Step 3 was to change my security questions. First of all, I didn’t have security questions before so there was no “change”. Secondly, don’t get me started on how ridiculous that whole process is. If somebody is able to get my password they can get those answers too, hence, no increased security. It’s a bullshit policy to make them appear more secure when they are not.

Ok, so no matter how ridiculous their resolution steps were, they were now completed. Now I can finally pay for my purchase right? Wrong. My account is still set as ‘Limited Access’ even though I jumped through all their fucking hoops. No problem, I’ll just call their customer support line and speak to a real live person about this. Well apparently PayPal has been taking lessons from their papa (eBay) about how to provide zero customer service. First, if you’re like me and your first inclination is to grab the phone number and head outside to have a cigarette while calling them, think again. You have to go to a hidden page and generate a magic ‘Web PIN’ to enter in your phone before you even get to a menu of options. Now that you’ve wasted time doing that, you are presented with a menu of worthless options (like ‘How Do I Log In?”) and your only way of navigating is to speak your choices. I don’t want to talk to fucking computerized voice. I want to talk to a REAL PERSON. On most systems like this you can start pressing zero until the computer gives up and transfers you to a person, but PayPal hangs up on you if you do that. Great customer service.

So the only remaining option of contacting these idiots is email, of which I have sent many, which they do not respond to. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with PayPal or who thought ANY of this was a good idea, but as soon as I pay for this one purchase (if that’s ever possible) I am DONE with PayPal and eBay. eBay sealed their fate with ridiculous fee increases and changes aimed at driving out small businesses. PayPal sealed theirs by customer service that has declined to the point of being non-existent. As far as I’m concerned, fuck both of them.

Last week I got an invite for a new service called Zenbe which provides web based email, calendar, file storage and Zen Pages. I’ve tried it out and here’s my take on it so far.

Email
The email piece of ZenBe will look and act very familiar for GMail users. It has much of the same functionality and structure with a few differences in how things are named (tags instead of labels, rules instead of filters). Start composing a new message and it will bring up a list of matching names from your address book as you type the To address. Overall a very solid webmail app that is pretty even with GMail and I’d say better than Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL and any other major webmail provider. Like GMail you can use ZenBe to check other pop accounts, but it only works with pop accounts and if you want to use that feature with Yahoo! then you have to have a Yahoo Plus account which charges for features nearly every other email provider gives for free. Obviously that’s Yahoo’s bad policy, not ZenBe’s.

Any webmail app relies heavily on a good address book or contact list. ZenBe’s address book resides on the right side of the screen (and can be hidden) and by itself is nice. It has all the functionality you would want or expect from an address book including picture, birthday, email, address and phone information with multiple entries allowed for all of those except birthday and picture. They even include an option to import contact information from GMail, Yahoo, Hotmail or an Outlook csv file which is nice. The problem (at least with the GMail import) is that it only imports the name and the primary email address. I have contacts in GMail that have 3 email addresses, 1 street address, 2 phone numbers and a picture, but nothing beyond their name and primary email got imported into ZenBe. Hopefully that’s a bug that will be fixed soon because an import is not very useful if it only pulls partial information.

Another problem is the apparent slow caching. If I send an email to my GMail address it shows up within seconds. When I send one to my ZenBe address it takes several minutes and several refreshes before it shows up. It only appears to be an issue when receiving email, however, because when I sent an email from ZenBe it showed up in GMail within a few seconds.

One final cool feature is that you can add tags to emails before you send them rather than having to send the email then go tag it later like in GMail. The problem is that it doesn’t appear to work right now. Clicking on the Add Tag button brings up a list of your tags (and lets you add a new tag), but after making your selection(s) clicking the Tag Message button brings up an error that says: “We’ve encountered an unxepected error. If it continues to happen, please click the refresh button in your browser.” If you try again the Tag Message button simply does nothing.

Calendar
The calendar is nicely done, again bearing a resemblance to Google Calendar, but with a couple of glaring omissions. First there is nowhere I can find to set a reminder. Adding events, especially those weeks or months in advance, is not nearly as useful if there is no mechanism for reminding you about them. Even an email reminder to your ZenBe address would be better than nothing. I can’t imagine it will be too long until this is resolved as even the most basic calendars have reminder functionality built in. Another missing feature is one that a lot of people have started taking for granted thanks to Google Maps and that’s the ability to map out the location of an event. Even the ZenPages includes a Google Maps module so ZenBe has the API, they just need to add the functionality to the calendar. Invites can be sent to any email address and show up with the event details and RSVP buttons of Yes, No and Maybe. The answer is then reflected in the calendar event to keep track of how everyone responded.

Files

One of the coolest features of ZenBe is the file storage. There are plenty of companies offering online storage these days, but none that I’m aware of that offer storage integrated with email, calendar, etc. There are hacks to use GMail’s extra space as file storage, but that’s sketchy at best and possible to be blocked at any time. Since ZenBe comes with 4GB of space (for everything) there’s plenty that can be used for storing files. They can be used as attachments in email, shared via ZenPages or just stored so you can access them later from anywhere with an internet connection. It will even detect what type of file it is and let you organize files by type in addition to user defined tags.

Tasks
One thing sorely missing from Google’s repertoire is a way to manage tasks, but ZenBe already has that feature. On the right side of the screen along with the address book there is a tab for Tasks. You can create separate task lists so for example you could have one for your shopping list, another for tasks you need to complete at work, etc. If you enter a task on the wrong list no problem, just drag it to the correct list. You can even have a task list from a ZenPage show up in that view with your other lists. With only a task name and a date it’s certainly not a full featured task list like RememberTheMilk.com, but still a nice feature along with all the other features in ZenBe.

ZenPages
This is the unique feature that really sets ZenBe apart from GMail, Yahoo and others. A ZenPage is a central location where a group of people can share a variety of things. Documents from your Files tab (or other documents) can be posted for all to view. A discussion board can be added. Flikr photos, YouTube videos, Google Maps, Picasa Photos, Links and a list of activity (what’s been added, changed, etc) on that page can all be added. Email can be added based on tags and anyone who is also a ZenBe user can add their own related email to the page. Any page with an RSS feed can be added, although it appears to be limited to just 1 site so you couldn’t add 3 separate rss feeds that are related to your page. Finally, one of the things I was going to put on my wish list, there is a Google Chat module that you can add to the page. True I’d rather that be supported on the main email screen like it is in GMail, and I don’t see the usefulness of having it on a ZenPage, but at least there is someway to waste time at work using ZenBe

Other Features
Also on the right hand side of the screen (with the address book and tasks) is a daily agenda that shows any events from your calendar for the current date which is pretty handy. The final feature is for Facebook users which I am not so I can’t really review that. According to the site it will let you change your facebook status message, see updates from your friends and get notified of new messages and friend requests. Personally I’d rather see a Twitter or FriendFeed tab instead of Facebook, but I think I’m one of the few people who refuses to signup. I hardly ever login to my MySpace page so why would I want a MySpace 2.0 page?

Final Verdict
Overall I’m very impressed with ZenBe. It boasts features that other newcomers took months or years to implement (or still don’t have) and does it in a nicely integrated package. The tab system for switching between Mail, ZenPages, Calendar and Files is much better than opening separate windows for everything Google related. Aside from the few bugs I mentioned above there’s not really anything negative I can say about ZenBe as far as it’s product.

The question is can it lure users away from GMail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc. With all of its features I’d say it has a better chance than any other site, but there are issues that could prevent that from happening. One thing that absolutely has to work seamlessly and perfectly is importing mail, contacts and calendar items from other sites. As I mentioned above the GMail contacts import needs some work before it will be completely useful. I haven’t tried to import calendar items yet, but at least there appears to be a way to do it.

The biggest problem converting people (especially GMail users) to ZenBe will be caused by 2 things. First, emails are not grouped into conversations in ZenBe. Yes we all got along just fine without that feature before GMail came along, but there are a lot of people (myself included) who are VERY used to that and don’t want to go back to the old way where every message is separate. Secondly (and probably the biggest reason), email accounts these days are tied to other services. My single Google login doesn’t just give me email, it’s my ticket to my calendar, IM client, RSS feed reader, Bookmarks, News, Finance, Photos and more. There is something to be said for how much easier it makes life to login 1 time and have access to most of the things you access online, not to mention that they usually play well together since they’re all from the same company.

Of course some people will not switch simply because they don’t want a new email address. Our email addresses are used for so many different online sites and services that changing that requires more updates than moving to a new physical address. There is 1 thing that ZenBe can do to make me switch immediately though. Add sync support for Windows Mobile (IMAP email, calendar, tasks and contacts). Hopefully they won’t listen to the fanbois online (or Google) who want you to believe that Apple has taken over the mobile phone market in less than a year. There are several (think double digits) million more Windows Mobile devices than there are iphones so please don’t buy into the hype and start with the smallest mobile market share when developing new features.

I heard about Hulu around the time it launched back in October, but it was and still is in private beta.  Unlike a Google beta the few lucky people with access don’t have any invitations to send out so I’ve had to patiently wait while reading countless reviews about how great it is.  A couple of days ago I left a comment on a story about Hulu at GigaOm,  basically saying it sounds great but when will we actually be able to see for ourselves.  Well I don’t know if it was coincidence or if I owe someone a huge thanks, but less than 24 hours later I had my private beta access.

What is Hulu?

Well in their own words:

Hulu’s ambitious and never-ending mission is to help you find and enjoy the world’s premium content when, where and how you want it. We hope to provide you with the web’s most comprehensive selection of premium programming across all genres and formats – television shows, feature films, clips, and more. Additionally, we want to give you more choices of when and where you can enjoy your favorite programming, while creating innovative experiences that let you watch and participate in online video in new and exciting ways.

To me it’s a one stop shop with all my favorite shows and one familiar interface.  Instead of going to NBC to watch the latest episode of Chuck, then over to Fox to catch up on Family Guy, etc. I can go to Hulu and watch it all.

What Content Exactly?

Bravo, E!, Fox, Fox Classics, Fox Reality, 20th Century Fox Television, FuelTV, FX, IGN, NBC, NBC Universal Digital Studios, Oxygen, SciFi, Style, Sundance, TVG, Universal (Movies) and USA.  For the most part it’s TV shows, but there are a few movies like The Jerk and The Blues Brothers.

What’s cool is they don’t just have current shows, they have old shows that haven’t been on the air in years, like Miami Vice, Hill Street Blues, Doogie Howser and even The A-Team!  But where they really win me over is they cover most of my favorite shows (Chuck, Family Guy, The Office, House, Monk, Psych) with their current content and I’m sure their library will only grow as time goes on.

What About The Quality?

Let me try to paint this picture for you.  My TV downstairs was the cheapest 25″ that Walmart carried in 1999 which means it has 1 coaxial input and that’s it.  My VCR was a free gift after buying $100 in groceries at Kroger in 1995 (nope, I’m not making this up).  Luckily my computer was built in this century and has an S-video out jack.  So I have an S-video->Component Video cable running from the computer to the VCR.  I have an audio cable running from my computer to a piece that converts 2 RCA jacks into 1 RCA jack which then goes to the VCR.  The VCR is connected to the TV via coax of course.  With ancient equipment and cables running everywhere I was able to watch an episode of Family Guy on my TV and it looked exactly like it would if I was watching it on Fox.

So I’ve proved it works on a smaller, ancient TV, but what about modern equipment?  I took my laptop upstairs to test it on the 42″ Plasma HDTV.  Running the cables was obviously much easier and the quality was just as good.  Up to this point everything I had done was done over a 802.11g wireless network and without any lag.  I actually watched the latest episode of Chuck on NBC’s site earlier this week so I had something to accurately compare and it actually worked better on Hulu.  The quality was about the same, but the loading speed and the options were better than on NBC’s site.

The big test was the new HD content that Hulu recently announced.  For that I needed to plug directly into my cable connection via ethernet as the wireless would not load it fast enough.  They actually list some pretty lofty requirements for the HD on the site, but I did not have all of them (I had a 1.8Ghz processor where they “required” a 3Ghz) and it seemed to work just fine.  Right now they have 9 movie trailers in HD, but they’re great for testing the quality of this new streaming HD that uses the latest version of Adobe Flash.  The result - phenomenal.  On my laptop screen, my 19″ LCD, my roommate’s 20″ LCD and the 42″ plasma the picture was unbelievable.  I was worried maybe blowing it up to fit the 42″ screen would cause some loss in quality, but it sure didn’t appear to lose anything to me.

What Else Does Hulu Do?

Other than combining content from multiple networks/studios in one place, there are some other nice features that can convince you to use Hulu rather than other content providers.  The interface is very nice allowing quick access to embed the clip on a site, send a link to a friend, get details about what you’re watching, provide feedback if there’s some kind of problem with the clip, switch to full-screen mode, pop out the clip into a separate window, dim everything on the screen except the clip or rate it one scale of 1 to 5 stars.  All of that is around the video viewing area.  Below that you get details on when that show airs (if it’s a current running show), information about the clip, related clips, access to reviews written by other users and the option to write your own review.

There’s also a profile screen where you can set your own avatar, create playlists and look at a history of shows you’ve watched.  To create a playlist you click on the “+ playlist” link when browsing content.

What’s The Catch?

Well as with any content that doesn’t cost anything there are going to be advertisements involved.  On Hulu these are presented in a couple of ways.  When you start playing a clip that has ads in it you will hear an announcement that it’s being brought to you with limited commericals by ______.  Then depending on the length you will see a 30-second ad for that company a few times (usually 3 times for a 30 minute show) during it and those cannot be skipped.

Last night I found a bunch of SNL shorts, most 2-3 minutes in length, and added them to my playlist.  I told it to play all of them and away it went.  In between each clip I got a very small window with a commercial.  The window stayed up there for 30 seconds, but most of the commercials lasted about 20 seconds.  I don’t mind watching commercials in exchange for free content, but there’s no sense in 10 seconds of dead air.  If the commercial is done move on to the next clip.

What Does Hulu NOT Do?

I’m a very cynical, devils-advocate type of person, but there’s not much I can really say is missing.  In my brief use so far I’ve thought of a few added features that would be nice, but none of them are really things I was expecting and couldn’t believe they weren’t there.  Just enhancements that would be nice.

• In the video playback window there is a timeline bar and a play/pause button, along with dots indicating when commercials will play (and no you can’t just skip past them).  It would be nice if there was a button that would take you back to the beginning of the clip as it’s hard to get to the exact beginning by just clicking on the timeline bar.
•  To add something to the playlist you have to be browsing the content.  It would be nice if the + playlist option was added to the actual content as well.  So if I started playing an episode of The Simpsons and then decided I wanted to finish it later I could add it to my playlist right from that screen instead of having to browse for it again.
• This is not something I care about so much as something advertisers might care about.  It seems to repeat the same commercials within a clip.  So if I’m watcing Family Guy and there are 3 commercials, it’s the same 3 each time.  I understand having 1 show sponsored by only 1 advertiser, but at least show some different ads for them.  If I have to watch ads I want to at least have a chance of it being something that interests me.  I can decide that after the first one so the other 2 repeats aren’t going to change my mind either way.  Also, as I mentioned above there is a dead-air issue with the commercials that play when you’re playing the items on your playlist.
• The given with any new service is to add more content.  Again, it’s not a complaint as I’m very impressed with how much is already there just in the beta and I hope to see that list continue to grow.  I’m most looking forward to the list of HD content moving beyond just movie trailers.

So overall I am more impressed with Hulu than I expected to be and happy to finally be writing a first-hand review of it instead of reading other reviews and wondering when it will be my turn!  A few people have compared this to YouTube and wondered how they will compete, which baffles me.  The idea behind Hulu and the content it provides is completely different and unless they start allowing users to submit grainy, crappy content like YouTube (please, please, please don’t ruin Hulu like that) then there really is no competition from either standpoint because they’re providing two different services.  If I want to see a video of a 12 year old singing worse than Sanjaya that was recorded on a camera phone or the Gem Sweater Lady, then I’ll go to YouTube.  If I want to see my favorite shows in stunning quality, I’ll go to Hulu.

It’s no secret (except to ignorant, brainwashed Apple fanboi’s) that Apple’s iPhone lacks features and capabilities that other phones have had for years. Arguably the most missed is 3G capability which was shocking, even for a company that consistently focuses on beauty over functionality.

Luckily for quasi-fanboi’s who do place at least some value in functionality, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson announced that the Apple iPhone will be 3G capable sometime next year. No word on when exactly that will be or when other missing features (A real keyboard, GPS, MMS, Instant Messaging, Custom ringtones, Video Recording, A2DP Bluetooth Profile, Non-browser based 3rd party apps, Office Document support, ActiveSync/Exchange support, External Storage, User-replaceable battery, Standard mini-usb connection instead of 30-pin proprietary) will be added, but at least they’re slowly moving in the right direction.

Why can’t anyone start a handset manufacturer that combines the advanced features of most companies (ex. HTC) with the “pretty” and smooth interface of Apple so we don’t have to choose which to sacrifice? Not that it’s a hard choice in my opinion, but still it would be nice to have my phone and eat it too

Google has released a new beta version (but then what Google product is not in beta?) of Google Maps for mobile phones.  For phones without built-in GPS the previous version was pretty nice.  I’ve used it on trips to get directions when I wasn’t in my car with the GPS.  Of course it only works when you have cell service so using it on trips to remote locations is sketchy, but still not bad for a free program.

Well the new version with “My Location” has taken a huge step forward and come as close to a GPS system as you can get without actually being GPS.

The My Location feature takes information broadcast from mobile towers near you to approximate your current location on the map - it’s not GPS, but it comes pretty close (approximately 1000m close, on average).

I tried it out at work and it put my location within 3 blocks of my office.  Not exact, but certainly better than the old version when I had to type a beginning location and sometimes wasn’t even sure what that location was.  GigaOm has more information and a better review.  Oh and surprise, surprise.. something else that doesn’t work on the iphone