Sep 24

Former Olympus executives plead guilty in accounting fraud trial

Posted in: Today's Chili

Former Olympus executives plead guilty in accounting fraud trial

Three executives from troubled imaging giant Olympus have pleaded guilty to artificially boosting the company’s true value in 2007 and 2008 by concealing losses in financial statements. Former chairman Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, ex-auditor Hideo Yamada and former VP Hisashi Mori were charged with fraud in the scandal, which was brought to light last year by ex-CEO Michael Woodford. He was fired by the Olympus board for blowing the whistle, but reportedly received a large settlement for his troubles. The company has since confessed to cooking the books as far back as the ’90s to hide investment losses, and revealed in 2011 that it had a billion dollars less in value than previously stated. That, along with the poor performance of its camera division, has forced Olympus to seek a partner or raise capital to survive.

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Former Olympus executives plead guilty in accounting fraud trial originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 01:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 24

The extremes of technology customer service: how common sense and empathy create unmatched loyalty

Posted in: Today's Chili

The extremes of technology customer service how common sense and empathy create unmatched loyalty

Allow me to explain how two discussions started off in very similar ways, and ended… shall we say, differently. This is me, attempting to muster any sort of pleasantness in my voice at some ungodly hour of the morning on a Google Voice connection from Dubai back to the US:

“Hey! I’m having to cut a trip short due to an emergency back home. I actually purchased a trip protection plan when I checked out online — would it be possible to provide a refund for this flight now that I need to cancel it?”

From here, I was told that this was too vague. That I would need medical proof of an injury or illness, and that if it were a pre-existing condition — something like reoccurring cancer — that simply wouldn’t do. Oh, and if it’s a home emergency, you’ll need proof from your home insurance company that your abode is “uninhabitable.”

“So… I’m basically hosed here? This trip protection plan doesn’t really protect very much, does it?”

“… Do you want to file the claim?”

“No. That’s okay. Thanks for your time.”

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Continue reading The extremes of technology customer service: how common sense and empathy create unmatched loyalty

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The extremes of technology customer service: how common sense and empathy create unmatched loyalty originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 26

Yep, Kickstarter Is Pretty Much a Scam for Useless Crap [Watch This]

Posted in: Today's Chili

The Onion, as only The Onion can, exposed the cesspool of faux-inventions of Kickstarter by calling the folks who start Kickstarter projects, Internet criminals who “bilk friends and families out of terrible, ill-conceived and unnecessary personal projects”. Yep, pretty much. More »

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