What would I do if i was Jeff Jarvis? "Dell Hell" case

In first place, let me brief you about the subject of this post:

In 2005, a blogger called Jeff Jarvis posted in his blog Buzzmachine the purchase of a Dell laptop along with the most complete guarantee available for the item purchased. Right after receiving his laptop, it turned out to be a lemon: it didn't work, so he called to get the assistance he paid for, but they were unable to fix the problem at home and they had to take the laptop with them...this was just the beginning of the story: Dell service resulted to be completely incompetent to fix the problem, which was extended for months...and Jeff Jarvis started blogging about that: dozens, and then hundreds of comments in his blog transcended the blog sphere, and magazines like the Business Week started highlighting the case, the issue became so popular and powerful to the point that the stock price of Dell went significantly down when the news were spread in the magazines...

But the question to be answered here is what would i do if i had the same problem?

In first place, and knowing what happened to Jeff Jarvis, what I would have clear is that...I don't want a Hell's Dell!! So as soon as I started realizing things are not going better, I would definitely try to get my money back and buy the new Ipad!! (Yeah, I've just disclose my next purchase...)

But let's suppose that I have gone through Jeff's nightmare and I have to decide what to do Well, I am not a prominent blogger and the repercussion of this blog is almost zero, so I think i would start a bunch of initiatives to make my case known:

1) Create a Facebook group to gather attention of those who sympathize with my problem or those who has already suffered it (with a little bit of luck Mr. Jeff Jarvis will also join the group!).

2) If the group becomes popular I can probably create a page and maybe make some money enough to purchase my desired Ipad and give away my Dell!

3) Forward the case to the Spanish consumer's association OCU and be patient...

4 and not very probable...) This is Spain, what really makes people or news popular is the social repercussion in certain TV programs like El Diario when people -generally with low class and even lower education- expose their problems: maybe i had a chance, but i really have to be desperate to do it!

Anyhow, I have one notebook and one laptop, both HP, It's not like they are perfect, but i am relatively satisfied with them, and if something happens I'm afraid that the guarantees are already expired...

Again, although there are some posts where the subject is actually requested by our professor of Information Systems, Enrique Dans , this intends to be a personal blog, and what i promised at least is to upload a song which i may, for one reason or another, be identified with...

The sweetest song ever by My Bloody Valentine, and then a Carlos Berlanga song from "Indicios" from 1994. Have a good day!

Foursquare, what is it? How is its business model?

Foursquare is a(nother) social network based on the location of the user which allows you to register in different places such as museums, restaurants, bars, etc...so your friends, acquaintances or followers can know where you are and which are your preferred places. Using Foursquare in your Blackberry or i-Phone allows you know at any time a large number of entertainment options near your location, and be able to know about these options through other's tips. It is not the first one, actually Brightkite has this honor, combining location sharing and friends' connection.

For a more accurate definition, this is what the webpage of Foursquare says: Foursquare is a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you for doing interesting things. We aim to build things to not only help you keep up with the places your friends go, but that encourage you to discover new places and challenge you to explore your neighborhood in new ways"

As every social network, you only start benefiting from its features once you dive deeper into it and become a relatively frequent user.

When this application become really useful -and potentially addictive- is when it's downloaded to your Blackberry or i-phone and the updates of your preferred places can be done in real time. Features like the "mayor" (you get points according to the number of times you visit a certain place, becoming a "mayor" of the place) are definitely useful tools to make it more and more essential for the night-lovers, gourmets, music, theater and cinema fans...and in general everyone who likes to enjoy the amazing entertainment offer that a city like Madrid (in this case) has everyday.

The business model

Foursquare is conceived, from the business point of view, to understand and recognize the customers' preferences in what regards to their entertainment. This information is provided to the managers of the business (restaurants, cafes, etc) so they can understand the needs of the end-user and keep their attention based on offers, discounts through coupons or special promotions, in order to gain loyalty from their clients or reach to new clients. As you can see in Mashable, there are several ways where Foursquare can benefit retailers, Hoteliers, Tourist offices and of course their users. The idea is to make the client feel special by using these tool, accesing to extra features: Wynn and Encore hotels in Las Vegas offers to Foursquare clients enjoy a glass of champagne at the luxurious Blush Boutique nightclub.

Rodolfo Carpintier Santana describes it in his blog the new social networks business' models such as Foursquare as the business of geolocalization, and Enrique Dans in his blog is foreseeing the exponential increasing levels of acceptance this tool is achieving based on a game-like component in order to complement its social and funtional features.

The use of Foursquare in Spain - other alternatives.

For the spanish readers, most of you probably don't know about Foursquare (i actually did only two weeks ago, although i have to admit that i have become a frequent user nowadays!) but you may have heard about Tooio, (pronounced "tuyo" which means "yours" in English) an alternative to Foursquare for spanish users, run in association with Idealista, one of the most respected webs in Real Estate searching in Spain. You can know more about Tooio here.

As this blog is about music although it will be used from time to time to submit my Information Systems' assignments, I am not going to disappoint my readers and here are today's selected songs (let's go Japanese today...) one of them is protected by BMG - Ariola so I can't get the embed code, however here's the link: Mecano - Japón (1984)

Why a blog? Why now?

This blog is about songs and a daily life soundtrack which will be random and diverse. I don't expect you to follow my adventures or if I am out of time to read the 100 pages my marketing or finance classes, or if my workmates don't understand me...This blog is an experiment, although the music contained is not, and for me this is the important thing about this blog. I don't pretend to teach or impress or play easy roles of "today I feel blue and I am uploading this or that song..." no, it's not about that, as the name of this blog, by the way not at all original but taken from the album Transient Random Noise Burst with Announcements, by Stereolab, one of my favourite bands (I've just revealed today's group) this blog is random explosion of songs, probably linked to a thought (probably superficial) about something happened to me (or to you) during the day

I have never published any blog or any web before in my life, and to tell you the truth I may have continued like this if I wouldn't have been "forced" to do it this morning...

For those who don´t know it, I am currently studying (yes, studying again after...when was that? 2002 when I finished my Masters in Architecture, my goodness, I'm getting old...), I am studying an MBA program at IE Business School , and what has this to do with writing a blog? Well, a have a subject called Information systems, whose professor, Enrique Dans encouraged us in a very enthusiastic way to start our own blog, so me, traditionally obedient with profs after 12 years at HH. Maristas School....BORING!!...nobody cares about where i studied (at least me I would never waste time knowing where an acquaintance studied...) I said i was going to upload a song everyda...as many days as possible, and this song is for you, anonymous reader, random, transient...bursting sometimes.

The night outside my balcony looks amazing...you better go out and grab some beers and f*ck the crisis (yes, in Spain we still speak about that, actually today we just reached 20% unemployment...) No, seriously, go for that beer, It can be even worst!

Stereolab - Ping pong (Mars Audiac Quintet, 1994)

And the 2x1 promotional campaign of this blog:

Stereolab - Miss Modular (Dots and loops, 1997)