I've gotten some comment on my article of yesterday, Someone Needs To Put A Leash On Credit Card Issuers. Here is one:

Tracey;

Kudos! I just read your article, "Someone Needs To Put A Leash On Credit Card Issuers." You're right on target, of course, but there's even more!

Former CIS editor David Butcher spotted my article on the Netflix versus Blockbuster patent hoo-ha today, and sent me a wonderful tidbit of information...that someone has actually patented the childhood "string phone" concept. To think...how much money do our former seven-year-old selves own the patent holders?

United States Patent 4,195,707
Kupperman, et al. April 1, 1980

It's that time again...to begin economically dissecting the results from the 2005 holiday shopping season. From what I gather reading business news, the in-person retail results were a constant, "break even" level, and the online holiday shopping levels once again exceeded expectations...$30.1 billion according to Goldman, Sachs & Co., Nielsen//NetRatings and Harris Interactive.

The same survey detailed something very interesting...82 percent� of respondents said they would be less likely to return to a site where they had a frustrating shopping experience, and nearly a third said that a frustrating experience when shopping online would make them less likely to buy at that retailer’s physical store.� 

With numbers like that, you'd think companies would be falling over themselves to improve their online shopping experience.� But then, we all know that there's a big disconnect between what companies "ought" and what they do.