Online Shopping Return Policies and Dealing with Customer Service

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Now that Christmas has come and gone, and the excitement of all you, or your kid’s gifts have leveled off, is everything exactly what you or they wanted? Well, if you’re picky like me (so close Mom, love it anyway), then what do you? Many times things are bought online, and it’s hard to find out what to do with your unwanted gift. What are your options? What are the secrets to getting what you want? Andrew Schrage is just the man to ask.

Andrew Schrage is a co-owner of the Money Crashers Personal Finance site. He has an economics degree from Brown University, and previously worked at an investment fund based out of Chicago. He has a passion for all things financial and feels there is an educational void when it comes to personal finances.

Week In Review Links

• Cuomo Announces $785 Million NY State Grants, Meager Funds for Tech
• Apple’s Holiday Shutdown Puts Rush on App Developers
• Carrier IQ says “We Are Not Under Investigation”
• Intel’s emergency maneuver in mobile
• AT&T Brings 4G LTE To New York

Black-eyed peas to start the year off right

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This week, we bring you our 2010 GovTech coverage after a new Week In Review that includes a CES Kick-Off with Robin Raskin – find out more on the SHOW PAGE.  It’s our first show of the year, but we have luck on our side.

Most people from the south just accept black-eyed peas will be there at some point on New Year’s Day.  It is supposed to be lucky.  Sounds like a wiley turn of the century marketer with too many beans and snake oil.  But if finding out historical what-nottery is your thing, there are some links below with plenty of people telling you how it really started (ie what each read on Wikipedia).  I am sticking with the wiley marketer.  I am not sure how it started, but I can’t argue with tradition – especially when said tradition includes hog jowl for flavor.  If you don’t know what a jowl is…you probably do not want to know.  What does all of this have to do with anything?  Nothing much.  It just looks better when the boss clicks through to make sure the website is being updated if there are more words.  So, let’s all just keep real quiet and keep reading…you’ll get your tech fix. And that’s how the first World War really started. Thanks, Grampa.

Since 1967, The Consumer Electronics Show has wowed us and showed us the technology we would covet over the next year.  The show started in New York but migrated to Las Vegas after a period of two shows per year – one in the east and one in the west.  With whirlwind product cycles, the Internet, virtual conferences and shrinking T&E budgets, CES has done quite well to keep attracting the crowds.  A few notable debuts at CES include the VCR in 1970, the Laserdisc in 1974 (yes, SEVENTY FOUR!), HDTV in 1998 and many more… including a 10 year anniversary of the Xbox’s 2001 debut. Happy Birthday, Xbox!

Related Articles

• Vegetarian Black Eyed Pea Recipes for the New Year (eatdrinkbetter.com)
• Happy New Year, Almost: New Year’s Around The World (woot.com)
• Happy New Year! Here are some good luck tips for the New Year. (summitcounty.wordpress.com)
• Your best recipes for welcoming 2011 (salon.com)
• Fayetteville to host annual New Year’s Day dinner (charlotte.news14.com)

Always have a contingency

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Our conference coverage continues this week when we air Tom’s visit to the 2010 Contingency Planning and Management EAST show at NYC’s Javits Center.  Commissioner Bruno from the NYC OEM and Amy Herman took time to speak with Tom at the early November event.  Find out more about their work and other guest on the SHOW PAGE.

We are still taking suggestions and feedback for 2011.  What topics are important to you?  What topics can we dive into that are still alien to you?  We pride ourselves in devoting 3/4 of our show to in depth interviews with guests.  While most news outlets bring you tech appetizers, we cover a topic from soup to nuts.

Next week, we are going to close the year with our FLASH conference coverage.  We have a contingency if that doesn’t work out… like related news to keep you busy while we try to find that audio file…

Related Articles

• STEELE Executives Present “The Role of Security in the Continuity Planning Process” at CPM East Conference in New York City (prweb.com)
• Seevian Solutions Joins the National Retail Federation (prweb.com)
• 2011 Honda Contingency Program Announced (motocrosspress.blogspot.com)

We’ll never tell…

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Ok, we will tell.  2010 brought some great guests to TechTalk.  So many, we have some great conference coverage from the last couple of months bring the year to a close.

This week, we are excited to bring you a new Week In Review followed by our coverage of this year’s INTEROP NYC. Check out the SHOW PAGE for more info.

As for the rest of the year, we will air coverage from Contingency Planning and Management 2010 East, Federal Alliance of Safe Homes (or FLASH) and start 2011 the same way we started 2010 – with our NY Government Technology Forum coverage from the Brooklyn Marriott.

That’s all we can tell you for now.  We don’t want to spoil the surprise.

We’ll be on Sunday at 5pm EST and 3pm MST on 1100 KFNX.  Click the logo on the right of the page to visit KFNX and try out the live stream so you are ready to go.

Tis the season – to be Mary

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Mary!? That’s my name!

There are many classic holiday stories that mean different things to different people. Over the next weeks, we will have time to reflect on those cherished stories and traditions with friends and family.  First up on the list is Thanksgiving…

Along with Thanksgiving comes the holiday shopping season and Black Friday, so we have Keith Shaw on this week to talk about NetworkWorld’s gift guide, 2010 Cool Yule Tools.

For a link to the full guide and to find out what Tom and Keith will be covering, check out the SHOW PAGE.

Don’t forget that Santa is watching and that we will be on at 1pm EST this weekend on 1100 KFNX.

Related Articles

• Black Friday deals to draw 138 million shoppers (money.cnn.com)
• Tightwads and spendthrifts: A Black Friday tradition (esciencenews.com)
• More US shoppers at malls Black Friday weekend-NRF (reuters.com)
• ‘Tis the Season to Be Creative (hollabackhealth.com)
• More shoppers forecast for Black Friday weekend (reuters.com)
• UPDATE 1-More US shoppers forecast for Black Friday weekend (reuters.com)
• ‘Tis the season (advancedreporting.wordpress.com)

Brand Buzz, Holiday Head’s Up & Outlook Foundation

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Ever feel like your floating in brand purgatory?  Not sure what your customers want or how they really feel about your products and services?

One good way to get a brand buzz? Surveys.  Find out more about using surveys on this week’s show with Chelsea Bucoy from Zoomerang on the SHOW PAGE to generate buzz for your brand.

Head’s up – Next week is our annual show with Keith Shaw from NetworkWorld.  Just in time for the holiday shopping season to start on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we’ll have Keith on to help you satisfy all those technophiles on your list …or make your own list of what you have to have this year.

And finally, we also wanted to let you know about:

Computer Outlook Talk Show Announces Foundation to Repurpose Computers to Under-Resourced Children and Families of Deployed Service Personnel

Non-Profit Outlook Foundation’s mission to repurpose cast away technology into the hands of those who need them most

Computer Outlook Talk Show announced the launch of the Outlook Foundation, a non-profit organization created to refurbish and repurpose computers; providing them to children whose economic background prevents them from having equal educational opportunities, as well as to deployed US service personnel and their stateside families in an effort to help maintain communication with loved ones. Beyond helping children and our service families, Outlook Foundation will also use its resources to reduce the amount of hazardous technology waste in landfills by recycling remaining technology through certified organizations.

Take a load off & check-in

This week, our show with Chris Hulls on The Trend in Geolocation Applications will air on KFNX.  If you can’t get to your computer, go ahead and download the show from the [SHOW PAGE].  As you might remember, we had a little trouble getting the show on the radio when we first tried a couple of weeks back.

Tom is on vacation, so we will run a previous show next week.  Enjoy the show with Chris Hulls this Sunday and have a great Labor Day!  We’ll be back on September 19 with our good friend, Gabe Goldberg.