What I hear you saying is...

Not having received a notice in the mail, I decided to give them a call and get the scoop. I figured I'd be put on hold for a good 30 minutes, but that is the glory of speaker phone. Or so I thought...

After informing me of a 50-minute wait, the PG&E phone system chirped that there is a new service that would prompt an operator to call me back in 50 minutes if I was willing to key in phone number and record my name.

Ok, I thought - it sure beats draining the batteries on my phone. But would they make good on the promise?

Sure enough, 50 minutes later I got a call back from a PG&E rep that was ready to answer my questions. Sadly, after several minutes, it turned out she also had no idea what the construction gear parked in our neighborhood is all about, and suggested I talk with the work crew tomorrow morning. Thanks for calling!

By and large, phone-tree systems have devolved into that realm of D-grade stand-up comedian material, right up there with mother-in-laws, airline food, and aging. And they deserve their reputation -- they've become a costly bane for corporations, and a liability for brand and reputation (e.g. just try getting a hold of a human at an otherwise trustworthy company like Amazon.com when your order goes south).

But this PG&E application kindled a spark of hope in my otherwise dark outlook on customer service in the US. Sure, the woman on the end of the line ultimately didn't have the answer to my question. But at least I wasn't left dangling in a flaccid wind of Kenny G tunes while awaiting my disappointment.

Injured perhaps, but no insults.

Hm. Them's fightin' words.

There's nothing we like more than a good beating -- especially when it turns out to be team Blekko on the receiving end. How bad did we beat Blekko? Now, now... I'm not one to talk trash... Oh, wait a minute. Yes I am!

Words defy description, but here's a clip from one of the games for those of you that missed it:

Can't wait for the re-match, guys!

Thar be treasure here...

But right or wrong, we all learned a lot about the difficulties of managing an online property each day. Or at least most of us...

I was surprised to learn that some of the founders had relaunched the original concept a few months back -- minus the pay-to-surf part -- as "Agloco". This time the pitch to users was that, instead of cash, they'd receive points that would one day translate as shares in the company once they reached solvency.

Back in 2000, there wasn't much of a blogosphere, but that didn't save poor AllAdvantage from receiving the moniker "The Dumbest DotCom" in the mainstream media. Most people likened it to a Ponzi scheme, or at best a mis-guided pyramid (neither accurate). But what most failed to notice is how close, at least conceptually, they were to a successful idea. That is, the real promise was to connect users with advertising content that was highly targeted. By tracking your behavior with the their "viewbar" application, they'd build a compelling profile of your interests based on your surfing habits, and then deliver ads that were tailored to your interest.

But advertisers were only just warming up to the concept, and the company was absolutely hemorrhaging cash to Russian fraud bots. There just wasn't enough runway and time to tweak the idea into something more compelling.

And I suspect this is what brought the founders back together again. Forget the thin veneer of empowering users to "own a piece of the internet". The real interest here was harnessing a massive, captive audience for ad display based on context and interest.

Too bad Google beat them to it.

Agloco, R.I.P. (please)

If you're one of those types that relates to TV that's "so bad it's good" then you are going to really enjoy these highlights:

Wow. Wow. Wow.

That is all.