Sunday, June 5, 2011

Gri.pe about undesirable service with a free application

Occasionally, people depend on the Better Business Bureau when undesirable business happens. Nevertheless, dealing with the bureaucratic speed of a business like the BBB isn’t really necessarily the most efficient way to handle an issue, specifically in this age of online social networking. It makes cell users want to Gri.pe, using a new application that acts like a better edition of the BBB for the age of Twitter.

‘Word of mouth is powerful’

Consumers looking to lodge meaningful complaints against a business at the pace of Twitter need look no further than the free Gri.pe iPhone or Android application, reports the New York Times. Consumers realize the power they have to fight back since the “word of mouth is powerful,” the company explains. With a simple user interface, Gri.pe enables consumers to simultaneously post their complaints to Facebook and Twitter and directly to the company’s consumer service department. Just like Yelp works for businesses, Gri.pe then allows the company to respond and make an effort to fix the problem.

On the flip side, customers can send out optimistic notices, called “cheers.” They can talk with their friend over it. This is all available on the Gri.pe network.

Getting rid of fakers with a Facebook post requirement

The anticipated add-on is not the reason why Gri.pe requires posts to online websites such as Facebook. According to Gri.pe CEO Farhad Mohit, there is a good reason for this requirement. As it would be very easy for customers looking for a free payday to loan their voice to a chorus of boos, Gri.pe utilizes Facebook and Twitter as security devices to help discourage users from making frivolous posts (“social bullying”). Nobody wants to sound like a jerk in front of friends and family. Gri.pe is allowed to remove any offensive comments if the process doesn’t work as well as the company has planned.

Gri.pe: It was a very good year

Gri.pe was founded concerning a year ago by a six person team. When it comes to the users, the company is doing well. Mohit thinks that concerning 1.7 million people use the application already. It is just power. This is the “Online word-of-mouth power,” or “womp” as Mohit refers to it. With Gri.pe, there are over 100 million local companies that are interested. It must be as powerful as it claims.

Check out the griping concerning service on ‘The View’

Citations

Gri.pe

gri.pe/

New York Times

nytimes.com/2011/05/29/technology/29digi.html



Friday, June 3, 2011

Confirming a bill with an autopen causes controversy

President Obama recently signed a controversial bill. The bill renewed certain provisions of the Patriot Act that were going to end. Congress passed the bill recently, even though the President is really visiting Europe. He signed the bill with an autopen, a mechanical device which replicates signatures. The machine being used at all is causing a debate.

Still seeing government surveillance occurring

Unless a new bill was created and passed by Congress and finalized by the president, some Patriot Act provisions would have expired. Three provisions of the domestic security laws that allow for highly controversial surveillance procedures would have expired, according to the Christian Science Monitor, but Obama signed the bill at the last moment. Even though Senator Paul tried to rally against the bill, the government can still use the internet, business records and wiretaps without a warrant whenever they want. However, according to CNN, brouhaha in Congress has begun because the president used a robotic pen.

How the autopen works

An autopen was used to sign the document since the president is in France right now and the signature was needed. The autopen is a system that could be used. A person’s signature could be reproduced with it. The main difference between an autopen and genuine signature is almost extremely hard to tell. Some of the machines are extremely complex. Some aren’t complex at all though, states MSNBC. There are two corporations in the U.S. that make them, and a brief interview with Bob Olding, owner of one of those companies, is being reproduced on several news websites. Since the 1930s, the technology to do this hasn’t changed much, Olding said. ABS states that Olding owns Damillic Corp. He makes sure the goods are being used ethically by Damillic customers as part of company policy.

Nothing illegal about it

The Constitution says “he shall sign it” in reference to the president signing the bill. The signature is valid, the Department of Justice says. It simply has to be directed a document to be legal. The Justice Department told President Bush that an auto signature was legal in 2005 when looking into using an autopen for this same purpose. Donald Rumsfeld was found to have used an autopen to sign letters of condolences to the families of troops killed in action in 2004, and former V.P. Quayle admitted to using one in 1992. Signature and letter duplication machines were known as polygraphs in the 19th century, and Thomas Jefferson actually built one. Autopens are not that uncommon. They were used in the past by astronauts, business executives and government officials.

Citations

Christian Science Monitor

csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0527/Patriot-Act-three-controversial-provisions-that-Congress-voted-to-keep

CNN

whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/27/rise-of-the-machines-autopen-puts-bill-into-law/?hpt=T2

MSNBC

firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/27/6731197-the-great-presidential-autopen-hullabaloo

ABC

blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/robama-is-it-ok-for-a-president-to-autopen-a-bill-into-law.html

Damillic Inc

realsig.com/index.htm



Toyota Prius recall declared as a result of power steering problems

A Toyota Prius recall has been declared, involving the 1997 to 2003 Prius model years. Nuts in the power steering system can come loose and will trigger the vehicle’s steering to become unstable.

First time Prius has ever had an issue a recall had to take care of

MSNBC reports that Toyota Motor Business issued a recall for the Toyota Prius Hybrid due to some issues with the power steering system. In the past couple of years, Toyota has dealt with a ton of different recalls. All Prius automobiles made from 1997 to 2003 is being recalled. There are 48,000 cars affected from 1997 to 2003 in Japan. Since Toyota didn’t start selling the Prius in foreign markets until 2001, the worldwide impact is only vehicles from 2001 to 2003. There are 58,000 Prius cars affected from those years outside of Japan. About 800 of those automobiles are in Germany, 52,000 in the United States and 1,800 in the UK. There will be a total of about 106,000 cars recalled. That’s lots of cars that need fixing.

Recall means free fixes

According to AutoWeek, there are low-quality nuts in the power steering structure. This has caused the Prius recall. The steering and left turns can be very hard to do if the nuts get unfastened with wear that secure the pinion shaft to the steering gear box. This loosening occurs whenever the wheel is turned many times to the full lock position, states MotorTrend. This is likely to occur over the lifetime of an auto though. Toyota will fix the vehicles for free by simply putting in better nuts that don’t loosen, which will take about four hours. USA Today states that there was one minor accident that has happened due to this. In August 2007 in Japan, the first complaint was made. There were 28 more grievances in Japan and one in the United States This brought on the issue to be dealt with.

Production at Toyota to return to normal

Toyota has declared that it expects to be returning to full production capacity soon. Automakers in Japan, including Toyota, were devastated by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan earlier this year. This brought on the corporations to stop production for a while. After the March 11 catastrophe, Toyota is back to recuperate faster. Almost right away, Toyota’s Japan operations are expected to go back to 90 percent capacity. Global operations in Thailand, China and Europe are expected to be at 100 percent capacity this month. The recall is something Toyota is getting done. The company wants it finished as soon as it can. Over 14 million cars have been recalled in the past two years by Toyota which has the automaker excited to get back to normal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Su5V4I2kwQI

Information from

MSNBC

msnbc.msn.com/id/43235940/ns/business-autos/

Auto Week

autoweek.com/article/20110601/CARNEWS/110609999

MotorTrend

wot.motortrend.com/toyota-recalls-2001-2003-prius-steering-defect-82679.html

USA Today

content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2011/06/toyota-recalls-52000-prius-models-in-us-after-report-of-single-accident-/1?loc=interstitialskip