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10 worst jobs

Tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs

Soon America's most bright-eyed graduates will enter the workforce and make their workaday homes in cubes at Google, MySpace, or Amazon.com. And they will suffer not just the indignity of having to work for a living, but also the dispiriting realization that a job at a cool company isn't always that hot. These employers, and the others hiring for tech's 10 worst entry-level jobs, listed below, will look spiffy on a resume someday, but for now the only good these jobs promise the world is the pleasant feeling you and I can share knowing we're not the ones stuck in them. More »

Feature

7:00 PM on Tue May 20 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
230,836 views, 64 comments

Latest by zabovo: Ooo Ooo I hope I not to late... Zou forgot working for ValleyRag.... more »

your privacy is an illusion

Facebook posts more driver's licenses from advertisers

The employee at Ping Pong Music who had his drivers' license inadvertently published by Facebook for all the world to see tells us he's discovered at least two more licenses exposed by the site. He found one on the Facebook page for music group Switchfoot and the other on the page for Ben Kweller. Facebook allows musicians and their labels to promote music through official Musician Pages, but before allowing them to upload music, Facebook requires the page administrators to submit identification in case of copyright .The Ping Pong Music employee tells us he's tried to contact Facebook about the problem — sending four emails and calling four times — but all he's gotten in response so far is the following brushoff via email: More »

12:40 PM on Mon May 5 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
7,744 views, 11 comments

Latest by BeccaThePromoMami: I'm in college and am an AVID Facebook user. I'm also in the entertainment industry and have many friends and associates who are musicians - some of whom have Facebook musician pages... I know first hand and through more »

lawsuits

eBay sues Craig Newmark as Craigslist tries to squeeze it out

Expect a rash of headlines accusing auction giant eBay of bullying saintly Craig Newmark. eBay has sued Newmark, his business partner Jim Buckmaster, and Craigslist. The charge? Craigslist has allegedly diluted eBay's 28.4 percent stake in the company, which the auction giant acquired from a former Craigslist employee. The part of the story Newmark and Buckmaster don't want anyone to hear: The pair made about $16 million in the process of letting eBay buy the stake in their company. The deal included a shareholder-rights agreement which ought to prevent Craigslist from diluting eBay's stake in the company, people familiar with the deal have told Valleywag. By squeezing out eBay, Newmark and Buckmaster appear to be having their cake and eating it too. Relations between the companies had already deteriorated: eBay had a seat on the Craigslist board, at one point occupied by founder Pierre Omidyar, until last year. More »

1:00 PM on Tue Apr 22 2008
By Owen Thomas
22,209 views, 44 comments

Latest by bgj: @mediawhoremeow: See my post above yours. more »

software as a disservice

Microsoft's absurd software subscription

Bill Gates has long dreamed of getting his customers to pay by the month, not by the shrinkwrapped box, for his software. As the Microsoft founder gets ready to depart, his company is just barely realizing his vision. But this is Microsoft, so they're doing it in the most asinine manner imaginable. Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft is testing a package of software and services, codenamed "Albany," for which consumers will pay a monthly fee. Sounds promising, until you dig into what Microsoft is actually offering. More »

8:40 AM on Fri Apr 18 2008
By Owen Thomas
32,781 views, 44 comments

Latest by masterofmonkeys: Great post. But for us California natives, Albany is a suburban enclave just north of Berkeley, and not a watchword for corruption. All most Californians know of Albany, New York is that it is the administrative capital of a more »

great moments in customer service

Can't get help from McAfee? Try Valleywag

A reader writes in to let us know that while using McAfee's online chat system for customer support, the company representative not only didn't help, but cut off the chat rather than admit they had no idea what they were talking about. I turned up links to just what the customer was looking for — information about a piece of McAfee hardware — with a quick search of Google. Here at Valleywag, we aim to please.

8:00 AM on Thu Apr 10 2008
By Jackson West
5,222 views, 11 comments

Latest by technobee: bad grammar make chat bot barf more »

Best Buy urges customers to take a break (Screenshot via shifted)

13 comments

obituary

Best Buy's Geek Squad celebrates death of noted pedophile Arthur C. Clarke tonight

Best Buy's Geek Squad is holding a memorial tonight to honor Arthur C. Clarke. Alas. Everyone was far too polite to say this about the recently deceased sci-fi writer: Had he lived in the U.S. rather than Sri Lanka, he'd be a prime membership candidate for the North American Man-Boy Love Association. "Once they have reached the age of puberty, it is OK... It doesn't do any harm," Clarke told the U.K.'s Sunday Mirror in 1998. More or less exiled from Britain over his underage affairs, he continued to pursue them in the South Asian island nation. Authorities there turned a blind eye. This is all well known among the more sophisticated realms of fandom — but not, apparently, Best Buy headquarters in South Richfield, Minn. At 8:01 p.m., every Geek Squad repairman will pause to think reverently of a champion of child abuse. The press release: More »

4:00 PM on Wed Mar 19 2008
By Owen Thomas
8,045 views, 65 comments

Latest by jameth: PEDOPHILE DRAMA This is relevant to my interests. more »

exclusive

FCC contemplating do-over Comcast hearing at Stanford

The FCC is considering holding a fresh hearing on net neutrality, with Comcast and Verizon again in attendance — and this time it may be at Stanford. The do-over comes after a mini-scandal erupted over the first hearing, held at Harvard; Comcast flacks confessed they'd paid people off the street to act as seatwarmers. Let this be a lesson to you all: If you're going to meddle in politics, do it skillfully enough not to get caught. More »

12:45 PM on Wed Feb 27 2008
By Jordan Golson
8,659 views, 9 comments

Latest by Dweezil: @wordsmithy: I believe the accurate tag would either be Harvard: The Oxford of America, or Harvard: The less wordy University of Chicago of the East. more »

go daddy

Go Daddy defrauds customer, Google defrauds Go Daddy

After domain-name registrar Go Daddy charged him for an account he never opened, MessageCast CTO Dave Hodson looked into how it happened. He discovered Go Daddy doesn't ask customers for the three-digit code that appears on the back of their credit cards during the purchase process — a measure meant to assure customers has the original cards in their possession. So Hodson blogged about it to warn others that "Go Daddy is a fraudster's paradise." Really, Go Daddy security czar Neil Warner should stop futzing around with time zones and get his employer to add card-code verification. But that's not the best part of the story. More »

10:40 AM on Wed Feb 27 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
15,009 views, 13 comments

Latest by johnnypotatoes: @Mouser_UK: Is that gibberish? more »

format wars

Toshiba says "no refunds, suckers" to HD-DVD early adopters

Toshiba will not be giving any rebates to HD-DVD customers who feel burned by the platform's implosion. They're stuck with the near-useless product. A Toshiba flack's statement:
There is nothing wrong with the products so we aren't accepting returns from customers ... [Customers] understood that there were two competing formats and understood that one of them would probably prevail ... so they made the decision to go with HD-DVD... [Toshiba will] assist customers in understanding the benefits of the products.

9:08 PM on Tue Feb 19 2008
By Jordan Golson
8,943 views, 47 comments

Latest by CyberSkull: If the product is so beneficial, then why are there no more titles coming out for it? more »

road warrior

Southwest bringing Wi-Fi to the low-cost skies

Southwest Airlines is putting Wi-Fi on four planes starting this summer. Unlike JetBlue's crappy, restricted service, this will be the "full" Internet (save for VOIP, I'd bet) with "the highest bandwidth available to commercial airlines in the United States," according to Southwest. Southwest is partnering with Row 44, an inflight broadband provider. I fly Southwest a lot, so this is great news for me. I won't hold my breath for laptop power ports at my seat though. That would add way too much weight for the Greyhound of the sky. Catch the full press release after the jump. (Photo by AP/David Zalubowski) More »

2:40 PM on Wed Jan 23 2008
By Jordan Golson
4,828 views, 17 comments

Latest by n/a: @avargo: MCO (Orlando). Don't remember which gate but my flight out left at gate 126. I am wondering if maybe they need a bit more power since I later plugged the phone into another charger (generic AC-USB adapter) and it didn't more »

breakdowns

AT&T starts charging prepaid iPhone users by the kilobyte -- by mistake

Last week, after the Steve Jobs keynote at Macworld, my iPhone stopped downloading Web pages and sending text messages. I thought it was just a temporary glitch, but after two days, I realized there was a serious problem. I tracked down a thread on AT&T's help forums, and learned that the problem was my prepaid plan: More »

1:00 PM on Mon Jan 21 2008
By Jordan Golson
10,062 views, 12 comments

breakdowns

DreamHost still overcharging customers

Web host DreamHost continues to overcharge customers, some of whose credit cards were already maxed out by the error, one of them tells us. And if DreamHost's initial apologies were bad, the company's communications are worse now. As of two days ago, they stopped altogether. Meanwhile, irate customers are piling on in the comments.
More »

1:20 PM on Fri Jan 18 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
2,328 views, 5 comments

ipod

Like it or not, Apple wants to save your ears

Is Steve jobs turning into an overprotective nanny in his old age? As Apple continues its attempt at world domination through well-designed products and heavy advertising — at one point I saw Apple ads on four TVs simultaneously at my local sports bar, thanks NFL Sunday Ticket! — it's good to know that the company is looking out for our eardrums. Apple has gotten a patent that illustrates a technology for an automatic volume control. Your next iPod could calculate how long you've been listening to music at high volume, and reduce the volume for a "quiet time" before allowing you to increase the sound to full volume again. More »

7:51 AM on Mon Dec 24 2007
By Jordan Golson
19,209 views, 24 comments

Latest by royal72: dear apple, fuck you! they're my god damned ears and i'll do what i want with 'em. if someone sues you, because they are simply stupid and blasted some high pitched sound in their ears with your ipod, then add more »

chris anderson

China trip nets Wired editor a $2,100 iPhone bill

Wired editor-in-chief Chris Anderson left his iPhone on during a recent trip to China. Because the device automatically checks for new email every 10 minutes, Anderson rang up more than $2,000 in data charges. AT&T eventually contacted Anderson in China to warn him about his bill. They offered to switch him to a $300-a-month plan. Anderson told MSNBC.com he agreed to the switch, but hasn't heard back from AT&T since. They way we see it, his only remaining option is to pull a Kevin Rose.

10:20 AM on Tue Dec 18 2007
By Nicholas Carlson
7,093 views, 45 comments

Latest by ShadowArmor: "If it *does*, why isn't it enabled by default?" It was the same with security being turned off in routers by default. Either it just got overlooked completely, or they decided that having it off by default would cause more more »

breakdowns

If a Vonage falls in the woods, does it make a sound?

Users of Vonage's internet telephone service have been reporting a major service failure, ongoing since Friday. The problems are varied, but it comes down to this: Vonage seems to be missing the "phone" and "service" parts of "phone service." In some cases, incoming calls are not connecting. Vonage is forwarding the attempted calls to subscriber landlines and cellphones, but repeatedly, and late. As a result, the call forwarding feature becomes a series of phantom calls clogging up the customer's only reliable phone service. Some are reporting no service at all. More »

1:07 PM on Mon Dec 17 2007
By Tim Faulkner
1,966 views, 11 comments

Latest by FLConsumer: I buy VoIP wholesale anymore and have my own VoIP PBX which runs several lawfirms around the state. I still do have two lines from Viatalk and am reasonably impressed with them. Can't beat the wholesale prices, but more »

breakdowns

Sears.com out on Black Friday

A reader reports Sears.com has been down for much of Black Friday, the most overhyped shopping day of the year. They never learn, do they? Last year, Macy's and Wal-Mart saw outages. The Sears site is currently displaying a "high traffic volume" excuse page. Anyone know what knocked the site offline? Nothing on this year's Black Friday list of specials strikes me as a must-click.

3:04 PM on Fri Nov 23 2007
By Owen Thomas
3,720 views, 21 comments

your privacy is an illusion

Apple tracks which stocks you follow on your iPhone

Apple tracks how iPhone owners use the "Stocks" and "Weather" widgets installed on each device, Uneasysilence claims. All mobile devices possess a unique International Mobile Equipment Identity number, and as the screenshot below indicates, the iPhone sends its user's unique IMEI to an Apple server each time the widgets perform a query. The data includes which stock ticker was queried. More »

9:59 AM on Mon Nov 19 2007
By Nicholas Carlson
2,274 views, 8 comments

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