Microsoft’s New Secret Weapon

if the dog was as smart as they think he is he would have bought dogfood instead of gaming points. :lol: cool post expat!

The fact that the dog was able to turn on the Xbox is the lest surprising thing about this. On an Xbox 360 controller, the largest button is the button used to bring up the dashboard, and holding that button down for a moment will turn the system on. It automatically logs in to the main account and brings up the menu, and from there all you have to do is bump the joystick a few times and press some buttons. The fact that a dog was able to do that part is more surprising, but not completely improbable.

Sorry, I meant least. The one time I don't proofread the entire comment...

that is the least of the many mistakes i've seen here. don't worry about it lest you feel bad unnecessarly sam. 😝

That's the point. If I start making mistakes in my comments, I will lose the ability to ridicule others for bad spelling and grammar...

i was just being an ass and using least and lest in the comment sam. i would be high up on the list of those who are ridicule worthy myself. 😊

i'm sure you are right mw. i bet they make millions from it too.

Another example of them making it harder on people is with the Xbox Live account itself. I'm not a "hardcore" gamer, but the ability to watch Netflix movies on my TV was enough to convince me to get Xbox Live account. The only problem is that there is only auto renewal. There is no way to set your account to revert to the free version when your subscription is up, the only way to leave the account is to deactivate before your subscription ends. Microsoft seems to love making things unnecessarily flawed, one of the many reasons I don't like them. But they do make a great game console, so I can't completely rid my life of them...

ah the age old marketing ploy. instead of the consumer making an effort by purchasing a product, the arrange it so the consumer must remember to make an effort to discontinue service. like those 'free' add ons to credit card or cell phone accounts. this will be free for 2 months and then if you don't cancel it we will automatically charge your account a monthly fee for the service. even if 99% of people cancel it, it only takes some or more likely most of those people to forget to cancel for 1 month and the company has made significant money for their trouble. just another way the3y screw the little guy.(without a kiss of course)

Speaking of which, I just got back from seeing the film A Serious Man, which takes place in 1967, and there is a scene where the main character gets a call from the Columbia Record Club, who tells him "to keep buying records, you don't need to do anything. You only have to call us if you want to cancel." Some things never change.

yep and book of the month too. and the title of the month they send is never anything you want to read either. 😊

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step right up! One thin dime, a tenth of a dollar! See the Chicken Man life and in person. Half chicken half man. Talk to him.....

Cain was the 1st murderer and Able was the first victim. But who was the first salesman and who the first mark?

the snake and eve?

Speak of the devil! I just got the following email from Microsoft today:

"Your subscription to Xbox Live is scheduled to be automatically renewed on Tuesday, December 01, 2009. If your account information is still accurate, there's no need to do a thing. Sit back, relax, your membership will automatically renew and we'll see you on Xbox LIVE!"

Of course, the only options they offer are to change the subscription length or cancel the membership...

so tell us sam what did you do?! :cheese:

Actually, after I got the email I went back to the Xbox Live site to try one more time to turn off automatic renewal, and sure enough I found it. In the account description there is a part that says "Auto Renew: ON" which originally made me wonder why you couldn't turn it off. It turns out that is a disguised link (with the same font color as the surrounding text), but when you click on it it just takes you to a page showing you everything you will miss if you stop your account. Click continue and there is another page of upcoming Xbox Live features. Click continue again and there is a page showing the various subscription lengths they offer. Finally, clicking continue a third time leads you to a simple on/off selector and an apply button, underneath which is a warning that if you ever renew your account, it will revert to automatic renewal. What made this even more frustrating is that there is no topic in the account FAQ to help disable automatic renewal. But I guess it isn't completely broken, just unnecessarily complicated and confusing.

As much as I despise Microsoft and their evil ways, I will still start up my account again later, but since I will be going home for the winter I don't see any point in paying for a service that requires a broadband connection (my parents still use AOL).

smart man! i hate automatic renewal. hey we will still be hearing from you and getting posts while you are at home right? winter is a long season and i'd miss ya! 😊

I'll only be gone about three or four weeks, during winter break at my college, but being home is the reason I wasn't able to post anything over the summer. As much as I love the internet, AOL, especially when a dialup connection is being shared by four family members, is too much of a hassle to bother with. I might figure something out, but I don't leave until the end of December, so it will be a while before I stop posting.

you are a young guy then sam. you come off as older.(meant as a compliment) we will take what we can get, your posts are enjoyable and appriciated.

Yes, I am a member of an increasingly rare group of college-aged people who know what vacuum tubes are, can't name any movie stars who only showed up in the past decade, and would rather listen to Perry Como than the Snoopy Dog or Teeth Pain. In fact, I'm listening to Perry Como right now...