Bitmap News
Tonight @7pm: BKTK Meetup @Bitmapnyc
Wednesday, 23 March 2011 12:31
We're hosting this month's BKTK Meetup again - we had a good time (and turnout!) last month and figured why not offer up the space again? Good people, good discussion, and good networking opportunities abound for all.
Daily Crafton, Creative Director at livefrombklyn will be helping us get started with the discussion. Learn more about the event here.
Rant: The AT&T + T-Mobile Merger and You.
Monday, 21 March 2011 20:09
<rant>
My personal experience with AT&T has varied between absolutely terrible and outright horrifying. Real customer service - that is, customer service past a number to call, computers to speak to in an attempt to get to an actual, thinking human being, and the occasional human being I actually manage to get through to (they who deserve our pity more than our scorn) know very little about how to solve any actual problems, from billing issues to who provides minicell towers (local stores say to call customer service, customer service says to call local stores). It is next to impossible to get any real support, and the little available requires significant time, patience and the jumping through of many, many flaming hoops.
AT&T should be embarrased, but it's designed to be this way. It's cheaper to let customers suck wind, and they assume people don't have the time or don't care enough to do anything about it. They're usually right.
T-Mobile is much better (for a giant telecomm). Customer support seems to be informed on at least the basics of the hardware they sell to run on their network (or can at least search for web-based answers faster) and in most of the country T-Mobile coverage is just more reliable. If their service during my tenure in Texas had been as reliable as in the Northeast and out on the West Coast (at the time it was spotty in many areas surrounding Dallas; I'm under the impression it has since improved) I never would have left them.
After experiencing AT&T in the New York area, I wish I never did. Does your iPhone actually make phone calls? My 3GS hardly ever did, and on those comparatively few occasions when a call managed to connect it dropped shortly after. While AT&T's service is slightly better using other devices - my Android-based Galaxy Tab, which no major US carrier wanted making phone calls to begin with, has little trouble on their service - it's overpriced and 3G/what they refer to as 4G but isn't, and is still occasionally spotty in areas where it shouldn't be like Union Square or downtown Brooklyn. But it works. Mostly.
I could go on and on (and on) about the whole thing, or I could make a useful suggestion: support the startup wireless providers. Cancel your contracts, eating termination fees if you can't argue your way out, and go with someone like SimpleMobile. They're running on the same network as T-Mobile and $60/mo with no contract includes unlimited everything. Take your fancy iPhones and iPads and Xooms over there (that's where I'm going), or maybe Boost Mobile, which has coverage in all the areas where folks like us would need it. Talk with your money, tell your friends to do the same - it's the only direct way to make them listen.
Contact your state reps. Tell them the reality of another big telecomm monopoly isn't one you're interested in. Be fully informed on why this is bad for consumers, and go to them with that information. Don't lie down and take the degradation of our technology & communications infrastructure lightly. Paying more for less is never a good thing.
</rant>
- Nick
Event Reminder for Wednesday, March 23rd: BKTK Meetup, Staying Focused as a Business
Monday, 21 March 2011 16:04
BKTK Meetup is coming to Bitmap again! This time, they'll be discussed how to stay focused as a freelancer/small business. How do you choose what to work on? How do you best use your time to get work done? These questions and more will be discussed and brainstormed over. We had a great turnout last time, and look forward to another successful Meetup.
Learn more about the event here. We look forward to seeing you!
Wednesday, March 23rd BKTK Meetup @Bitmap: Staying Focused as a Business
Saturday, 12 March 2011 01:29
It seems hard to believe, but we're firmly into March and that means it's time to schedule our next Meetup. Big thanks to everyone who came out to the last Meetup to discuss Unity 3D and the ins and outs of freelance project management as a career path. I can truly say we had a fascinating discussion and am looking forward to hearing more from all of you in the BKTK community.
Our next Meetup will be on Wednesday, 3/23 and we'll get started at 7pm. We'll begin with some chitchat and networking (along with refreshments) and then we'll have Dailey Crafton present the evening's discussion topic.
Dailey is the Principal and Creative Director at livefrombrooklyn, a Brooklyn-based (obviously) design firm. What he'd like to discuss with the group is how to find and maintain the core focus of your business. Or, to put it more broadly, "how do we come up with a good paradigm by which we determine which ideas to pursue and bring to fruition and which ideas, though they may be great ideas, do we let die or at least lie dormant will we actually get something done; to combat the habit of starting in on a bunch of good ideas, but none of them having anything to do with one another, and all of them ending up half-baked?"
This should be a resonant question for almost all of us in our professional and creative lives, so I think it should be a good discussion.
Bitmap Creative Labs has again been kind enough to offer up their space for the March Meetup.
The details:
Bitmap Creative Labs
300 Graham Ave 1st Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11211
Let us know if you're coming so that we can buy the appropriate amount of snacks/beverages. Hope to see you for what promises to be a great Meetup!
Find more information on the event at its Meetup page.