Get Me The Geeks!

How Tricky Technology Is Giving Rise To The Geeks

(CBS)  Norman says one of the problems is function creep, adding all sorts of features that people don’t want, don’t need, can’t use, and don’t even know they have. For every new feature, there has to be a new button. And they keep getting smaller and smaller, and harder to read.

"Forty-eight buttons on this remote," Kroft points out, looking at one model.

"Yeah, and 48 buttons all the same size and shape. Now, you're not a technology designer, but let me just ask you intuitively, which buttons on a DVD television should be the most important and large?" Pogue asks.

"Off and play," Kroft replies.

"Right," Pogue agrees. "And beyond off and play, perhaps channel and volume. Find the volume buttons on this remote. Go. It's blaring, your wife is screaming; find the volume buttons."

It turns out the volume buttons were buried on the remote.

You might get used to it if you only had one remote, but a collection is the standard. Pogue says, "This is I suspect the situation most people have on their coffee tables."

You can buy a universal remote now for a few hundred dollars, but you don’t even want to know how complicated it is to set up. Almost everything has a computer chip in it now, including toasters.

Then there’s iPod’s, cell phones and digital cameras, even dishwashers and refrigerators that need to be programmed.

"Why do I need a computer in my refrigerator?" Kroft asks.

"Well, you don't. But you bought one that does have a chip, so you're on the cutting-edge. Just be glad that you didn't get the one that requires an Internet connection. There are three of those now," Pogue says.

What do they do?

"It's absolutely amazing. When you run out of something, it knows, and it creates a list for you. A shopping list. So you can even hook it up to, let's say, one of the online grocery store delivery systems, and you're in business," Pogue says.

"So what's really gonna happen in 10 years is, all these things are getting smart," says Norman. "The kitchen appliances will talk to each other. Can you imagine, you go to the refrigerator and it says, ‘No. I've been talking to your scale - that's not on your diet?"

It’s enough to make you want get in your car and drive as far away as you can get from all this advancing technology, providing you’re not doing it in a Mercedes, Audi or BMW: all have elaborate onboard computer systems, that may require you to navigate a number of different menus just to turn up the temperature or to tune the radio, not something that is recommended while you are driving along at 65 miles an hour.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi, a.k.a. "Click and Clack the Tappet brothers," review automobiles on National Public Radio’s "Car Talk."

Asked why manufacturers have made these cars so complicated, Tom Magliozzi says, "Because the technology was there."

"Well, if you're buying a 50 or $60,000, or more, car, you don't want pedestrian-looking buttons. You want something sophisticated, and something that the average car thief maybe can't figure out,” Ray adds. “If have a seven-series BMW, you just can't hand someone the keys and say, ‘Oh, take my car.’ Well, they're not going anywhere with it. ‘Take my car. But, oh, you have to come to the tutorial first.’"

This of course is all great news for tech support people who teach, install, program or upgrade software and operating systems and make their living on crashing technology. Right now, there is plenty of job security - every two months something new comes out and their whole job changes. You could call it the revenge of the geeks.

"The geeks are ruling the universe," Kroft remarks.

"Yes," Stephens agrees. "But it's like the Greeks used to talk about the philosopher kings. Geeks have no interest in power. The only power we're interested in is low power consumption and longer battery life and low prices so we can stay up later at night. Geeks have no desire - geeks may inherit the earth, but they have no desire to rule it."

[search4truth-2009]

STWARS,

Go to MicroSoft and get the cd driver, save it to a directory (write down the location) uninstall the old drive, if there is one and install the newly downloaded one. Just choose the right operating system ( XP, Vista, whatever) for the driver you get.
Co a quick look I found all of them at http://www.cdrom-drivers.com/companies/667.htm
Good luck!

[search4truth-2009]

STWARS,

Sounds like you don''t have the driver installed. Can Windows "find it" in a search by drive letter?

[efajp]

I was appalled to see your "free ad" for the Geek Squad, with a positive spin. We called the Geek Squad last year, and were told they would fix anything that was wrong with our computer and guarantee it for 30 days for $229. The Geeks left our computer with MANY more problems than they cured, then refused to come back and repair their damage unless we paid an additional $249. We found this was not an isolated incident. Our State Atty. Gneral''s consumer division had a huge number of complaints, and friends and family across the country had only negative things to say about the Geek Squad. We learned that the best computer techs do not need to advertise, since they get referred by word of mouth from satisfied customers. The ones who advertise the most do the worst job and need a steady stream of new customers since they get almost n repeat business. I hope you will do a follow-up on this!

[michellem99-2009]

I heard nothing but bad about Best Buy and computers as they had a news article about them on the local news. Yer got conned dear..

[stwars]

My opinion of Geek Squad is not that high. I''ve experienced enough difficulty working with them to get the DVD-RW drive on my computer working again to last me a lifetime. My DVD-RW drive broke down, and I called Geek Squad to fix it. Since I bought the computer at Best Buy, along with a three-year service plan, the repair wouldn''t cost me anything. The agent replaced the broken drive with a brand new drive, and powered up the computer. But the new one isn''t working correctly either. Anytime a disk, any type of disk, is placed in the drive, nothing happens. The only way the drive works is as a way to "boot" the computer from a CD or DVD. Windows recognizes that the drive is thee, but for some unknown reason, can''t get the drive to work. Geek Squad said that the problem was with Windows, and a reformat of the hard drive and a re-install of the Windows software and device drivers would correct this issue. They wanted $129.00 to do the work (software problems are not coveed by the service contract, only hardware), with no guarantee that this would solve the problem. I did the work myself (only because they assured me that this would fix the problem), and the problem still exists. So, thanks alot Geek Squad. You''ve really helped. NOT!!!

[kazablan13]

why spending fortune on these geeks when you can find a solution for any problem on Fixya?

That site is powered by an army of kees who are happy to assist free of charge, on many products the geeks have no knowledge on.

Check it out www.fixya.com

[jim727]

I think NBC''s ''Chuck'' (a ''nerd herd'' worker at ''Buy More'') is probably a much more realistic portrayal of ''Geek Squad''. A degrading dead end for people who could have been more

[jim727]

First of all, this is nothing but a thinly veiled advertisement for Best Buy, ie an infomercial. Not journalism.

Secondly, it''s a perfect example of how political correctness is not about treating people decently, it''s about promoting and demoting classes of people arbitrarily. Some offensive words will ruin your career, but others can be used with impunity. ''Geek'' is a perfect example of this.

Years ago, the model of a technology consultant was Arthur Andersen, Peat Marwick or Ernst & Young. It was based on the Big 8- 6- 4 image, conservative, well dressed and polished.

But the media created ''Geek'' image is very self serving, companies are ''letting'' their workers work for free on weekends.

Whereas CBS''s Leslie Stahl once did a story in the early 1990s about the truth of H-1b visas, not her peices just fawn all over India''s ''superior'' ITT in a ''Brand ITT'' that was full of borderline racist lies.

Another term has come into being in the last 10 years, ''Mainsteam media'', and the conotations are NOT ''Edward R Murrow''. More like corporate, politically correct propaganda.

This story being a perfect example.

[gadget08-2009]

We think Geeks are an unnecessary expense when you can sign up for Gadget Protection Plans from companies like Gadget Guardians in the U.S. and Gizmo Guard in the U.K.

[gadget08-2009]

We think Geeks are an unnecessary expense when you can sign up for Gadget Protection Plans from companies like Gadget Guardians in the U.S. and Gizmo Guard in the U.K.

[mxhdrm]

The funny thing about this segment is that they are showing errors on the screen during the tech support calls. Well the first error on the screen is an error normal people would never get. It''s an error that would only appear if your programming. It says that you missed a ";" on line thirty of your program. What normal non-geek would be programming? Sorry to say, they wouldn''t be getting that message. Next time put errors that non-geeks would actually get.

[mxhdrm]

The funny thing about this segment is that they are showing errors on the screen during the tech support calls. Well the first error on the screen is an error normal people would never get. It''s an error that would only appear if your programming. It says that you missed a ";" on line thirty of your program. What normal non-geek would be programming? Sorry to say, they wouldn''t be getting that message. Next time put errors that non-geeks would actually get.

[mxhdrm]

The funny thing about this segment is that they are showing errors on the screen during the tech support calls. Well the first error on the screen is an error normal people would never get. It''s an error that would only appear if your programming. It says that you missed a ";" on line thirty of your program. What normal non-geek would be programming? Sorry to say, they wouldn''t be getting that message. Next time put errors that non-geeks would actually get.

[mxhdrm]

The funny thing about this segment is that they are showing errors on the screen during the tech support calls. Well the first error on the screen is an error normal people would never get. It''s an error that would only appear if your programming. It says that you missed a ";" on line thirty of your program. What normal non-geek would be programming? Sorry to say, they wouldn''t be getting that message. Next time put errors that non-geeks would actually get.

[mxhdrm]

The funny thing about this segment is that they are showing errors on the screen during the tech support calls. Well the first error on the screen is an error normal people would never get. It''s an error that would only appear if your programming. It says that you missed a ";" on line thirty of your program. What normal non-geek would be programming? Sorry to say, they wouldn''t be getting that message. Next time put errors that non-geeks would actually get.

[brianbwb-2009]

...seems ridiculous to this geek.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by jackt21

I am a repair geek. I have seen just as many Macs needing repair, the difference being that because Macs are closed systems, you can only get parts from Apple, and often the cost is just a hundred or so less than buying a new machine, and the wait time for parts is two to six weeks.

Apple''s business model seems to be "pay twice as much for a Mac, if you have problems, trash it, and buy a new one, if you''re not rich enough for us, tough luck, buy a PC"

Which, now that Macs are "Intel inside" anyway, even emulating winblows systems in order to run Micro$oft on a system costing twice as much as a native PC.

[brianbwb-2009]

Posted by Traysea1

20 years worth? That data must exist somewhere else, because there is no way you have been using the same laptop for 20 years, methinks thou dost protest too big.

Even if it was true, you could probably backed it up to a few DVD+DLs (over 9 gb per disk), your failure to do this simple and often advised bit of maintenance is what lost your data, not the repairman.

HDDs crash, dude, they have at best three to five year warranties, as do the electronics, didn''t you RTFM and the warranty card?

[zebulum1]

well i am not a geek but i do know that very soon thers gona be a scvercale procesor cupoled along withe the fiber optic plasma indused dioed wich we now call spintronickes and ther will be know more grafiet or mettel composits we will use lastic glass composits and the speed of the two will bethat of a nuro transmitter not unlike the human mind but just a bit faster bayond light speed witch will then give us a new look into pure energy called teloportation ive exsperinced thes twice in my 40 years as a high school drop out and ive bilt the two pcs i use in my home windos xp sp2 230gig 1.70 mhz pntium 4 so readem and wep big money i geues u need people like us mentaly ill folkes so its not what u no but that god is your father alexander usa alaska

[Wookiee-1138]

"But there''s no sense crying
over every mistake.
You just keep on trying
till you run out of cake.
And the Science gets done"