I had an issue with my Mortgage company, they increased my escrow and didn't inform me until I shorted them on the monthly payment.

I attempted to make an additional payment online, but their online processing page was broken, so I had to fall back to using a telephone. (egregious, I know!)

After giving payment information over the phone, the customer care representative asked me if I would like the confirmation code. Normally I don't take note of such things, but I thought, "mortgage important, numbers important" and noted it in my notebook I carry.

A few days later I start getting phone calls and emails and letters, "you are late on your mortgage, pay now or die!"

I call and say, "WTF? I payed!"

They say, "STFU, you didn't!"

I say, "I have confirmation code, muthaeffas!"

They take the code, and tell me, "sorry, this code doesn't exist in our system". (I even gave them the name of the customer service rep that gave me the code! In addition, in their manual call log they show that a confirmation code was given to me...)

It's shocking that we go through all the motions while failing at understanding the purpose of the activity...

It always amazes me at the gap between smart watches that make it to market, and what a watch-wearer looks for in a watch. (tells time, isn't huge, battery lasts for years, isn't gaudy to the point you are surprised if someone DOESN'T notice it)

Until the day my smart watch can be mistaken for a 'dumb watch' I'll keep watching.

Speaking of watching, I have kept an eye on the Moto360. Apparently it doesn't keep time, since summer 2014 is here. Any Moto360 developers on slashdot care to comment?

"He was just a business guy and a code monkey" Sounds like a frightening proposition! What if business were run by people who understand computers? -Ryan

To me one of the 'hidden' returns on a gamble & investment like Tesla has made is a social one. I can't even imagine the pride the IT team at Tesla feels to go from resetting user passwords to bragging to their friends that they built from scratch an operating ERP system. In a podcast Jay Vijayan mentions that the upfront costs were similar in analysis, but the later savings in cost can be 're-invested' into the people and organization. To me it seems a no-brainer to embark on this investment, since the returned value is something that can't be reasonably purchased. (IMHO) podcast here: http://www.metisstrategy.com/interview/jay-vijayan/ -Ryan