Thursday, November 10, 2005
You See It All Around You, Good Lunching Gone Bad!
Because a good business service is kinda like a good lover ["you've finally lost it" - staff psychologist], we at myl mourn when one of our favorite businesses goes under. Like Kozmo.com, the bike messenger delivery service that would bring you a videotape, food, sundries, and a magazine, in an hour (or anytime afterwards schedulable in-advance within a 30-minute time frame). The videos could be returned to any Starbucks(tm), including the ones downtown. Our theory is that this was a great idea that came too soon -- while many people were using the internet in the late 80's, they had dial-up service and weren't entirely comfortable yet with online purchases. Today we received an email that Infone(tm) would be closing at the end of the year. Infone cost a buck a call. They provided directory assistance as well directions and other "googlable" information (eg "What pizza places deliver to this neighborhood?"). They were quite helpful when the editors made this trip. But we were freaked out by their voice recognition system:
((sing-song infone tone))
"Hello Infone"
(pause)
"Hello Editor, how can I help you?"
Freaky. Well, without our trusty infone sidekick we'll just have to be sharp, like the cheddar cheese in Monz' return-to-tenderloin tortilla wrap!
Because a good business service is kinda like a good lover ["you've finally lost it" - staff psychologist], we at myl mourn when one of our favorite businesses goes under. Like Kozmo.com, the bike messenger delivery service that would bring you a videotape, food, sundries, and a magazine, in an hour (or anytime afterwards schedulable in-advance within a 30-minute time frame). The videos could be returned to any Starbucks(tm), including the ones downtown. Our theory is that this was a great idea that came too soon -- while many people were using the internet in the late 80's, they had dial-up service and weren't entirely comfortable yet with online purchases. Today we received an email that Infone(tm) would be closing at the end of the year. Infone cost a buck a call. They provided directory assistance as well directions and other "googlable" information (eg "What pizza places deliver to this neighborhood?"). They were quite helpful when the editors made this trip. But we were freaked out by their voice recognition system:
((sing-song infone tone))
"Hello Infone"
(pause)
"Hello Editor, how can I help you?"
Freaky. Well, without our trusty infone sidekick we'll just have to be sharp, like the cheddar cheese in Monz' return-to-tenderloin tortilla wrap!
Comments:
2 comments
While we stand corrected (we meant the 90's) actually there was incipient commercial netting back then via varous BBS plugins and as you would of course surmise, Monz was at the head of ze pack! Oh yes, Timex Sinclairs, Com 64's, Compucon modems, RRRRRRRusty!, and without a trace of geekiness (that was the science editors' role...)
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