Here in Illinois, we have some arcane law that restricts the sale of alcohol on Sundays until after 11 am. Not surprisingly, stores have placed signs near their wine aisles to let customers know about the restriction. This cuts down on repetitive questions, so the signage makes sense. But what if you’re shopping there, and […]

Whether it’s the weak economy or a more fundamental change in the way people do business, it seems like more and more companies are embracing telecommuting. In the process, these firms end up reducing the amount of office space they lease, since fewer employees are parked at a desk in some office building. Of course, […]

It’s hard to pick the most frustrating aspect of trying to fix the email functionality on my Dell printer/scanner. However, perhaps the most insulting thing was realizing that Dell spent lots of time and energy on all sorts of obscure features that I doubt many customers use. Meanwhile, the core features that a large portion […]

About halfway through a marathon troubleshooting session for my Dell printer, I decided to update the firmware. Sounds easy enough, right? I went to the Dell support site, located the model number, and clicked the button for downloads. I found the firmware link, which was supposed to contain a file with a specific name — […]

Last week, I had the misfortune of changing the email settings on my Dell multifunction printer/scanner. Long story short, I was forced to go through a bunch of different email accounts until I found one that worked. In total, the troubleshooting took me over 8 hours, which is just horrible. All that effort just to […]

As I wrote about yesterday, I had a less-than-stellar experience with the Moo online printing service. Once I managed to get through the design process, the website took me to the checkout and payment system. Everything looked normal until I went to enter the info for my Amex card. The drop-down menu had choices for […]

A few days ago, my wife decided to order some business card-sized prints from Moo. After we uploaded the photos and typed in the text, we realized that several of the photos were cropped wrong. So, we clicked the button at the top of the screen for “Step 1” or “Step 2” — whatever one […]

Many websites are quick to tell you how their system is “powered by” one company or another. The structure of these partnerships and supplier relationships surely vary a lot. But in general, showing that you’re associated with a larger firm can help a smaller website build credibility, while getting your logo placed on a well-known […]

While waiting to meet someone at a restaurant earlier this week, I noticed a curious scene being played out near the restaurant entrance. A decent-sized crowd of people, perhaps four or five, descended upon the area next to the door. Apparently, they were all trying to check out the wall-mounted menu and decide if they […]

I watched “Burn After Reading” the other day, and it was pretty entertaining. As the credits scrolled by, I noticed the usual list of companies who provided assistance or promotional consideration. One of these was a flooring manufacturer, which struck me as odd. But then I remembered that George Clooney’s character always mentioned people’s floors […]