Al Jazeera disappears from American viewers

I learned tonight that part of Al Jazeera’s deal with what precious few cable companies that will carry it’s new Al Jazeera America channel involves completely removing its Al Jazeera English channel from American airwaves. My friend Doc Searls laments this change in a recent blog post:

On that last topic, I have to wonder what the calculus of the “deal” to kill the live AJE stream was. That was not only an awful lot to pay for very little in return; but it isn’t even clear who it was paid to. Comcast? Cox? AT&T? None of them carry @AJAM at all. And the others hardly seem to give a damn about the channel anyway. I can imagine this dialog between Al Jazeera and the U.S. cable companies:

AJ: We killed our firstborn so it would not offend you. Will you carry our channel now?

CABLE GIANTS: No.

CABLE SECOND-TIER PLAYERS: Um, okay, maybe on one of our high-priced tiers, in lo-def.

AJ: Okay.

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Tigo responds

It didn’t take long before I got a response from Tigo when I complained about needed a subscription to my data. I got emails from both the cofounder, Ron Hadar, and the VP of Professional Services, Scott McCalmont. Ron’s email came in around noon and Scott’s followed soon afterward.

I give points to both Ron and Scott for their quick, personal responses. Both of them acknowledged my viewpoint but emphasized their need to run a business. Scott’s response barely hid his contempt, however, which is not what I would expect from someone in a customer-facing role:

For example, we send an alert to customers when their Management Unit goes offline. You clearly don’t think this is useful or valuable, but many customers do.

On the other hand, I am an irritated, snarky customer and my type is not always fun to deal with, so touché.

Perusing the Tigo forums, I see other Tigo owners are also unhappy with the subscription aspect: Continue reading

Tigo bye bye

Tigo_Logo_small

Recently I posted how I’m irked that Tigo wants me to pay to access data that belongs to me. In disgust, I removed my Tigo from my network yesterday.

Lo and behold I got this dramatic email from Tigo’s datacenter early this morning:

PV System Alert

Turner, Mark – System ID: blahblah

Monitoring and Maximizer system not accessible

Details:

The monitoring and Maximizer system has not checked in to the Tigo Energy Data Center recently. This usually indicates a problem with the network connection, meaning that current data for the system will not be displayed on the Summary Page. However, it could also indicate a problem with the Tigo Energy Management Unit.

Troubleshooting Suggestions:
– Verify that the network is working properly (Network Troubleshooting Guide)
– Verify that the Management Unit is receiving power

Please visit the Summary Page to view system performance.

For additional help, please contact your installer or Tigo Energy Technical Support.

Since I couldn’t care less about Tigo not getting the data they want me to pay for, I send them this snarky response:
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Distracted driving

I had a scary moment this morning as I waited in my car at Hallie’s bus stop. I had just leaned over to the passenger window to hand Hallie her lunch box when I happened to look up in the rear-view mirror. A tricked-out grey Honda Civic was barrelling down on me, its driver jerking his car back into the lane mere feet from smashing into me.

What if my car hadn’t been between him and the three kids waiting at the bus stop, one of which was mine? What if he had smashed into me and sent me barrelling into the kids? What happens when I’m not there to witness or protect against these terrifying incidents?

We’re a family not accustomed to riding the bus, being within walking distance of Hallie’s last school (and Travis’s current one). Taking the bus avoids the long wait in the school’s carpool line, true, and perhaps I’m being a helicopter parent. Still, this morning’s near-disaster makes me wonder if putting a safe, steel box around my child during her school commute isn’t the way to go.

On a similar note, Kelly and the kids witnessed a scary car wreck on Sunday. They were in our old Windsor Forest neighborhood, taking a look at our old home, when a drunk driver came roaring around the corner, smashing into a car at the curb and bouncing off of it to smash into another neighbor’s car. He never hit the brakes and his bare wheel rim gouged a ten-foot hole in the pavement.

It was 10 AM and the guy could barely stand up.

Maybe as a society we need to better stress the responsibility that comes from being behind the wheel.