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WABAN, Mass., March 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- A new research report published by Temkin Group, 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings, rates the customer experience of 206 large companies across 18 industries. This is the second year that Temkin Group has released these ratings.

The research, which is based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers in January 2012, includes ratings of 11 Internet service providers - AOL, AT&T, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, EarthLink, MSN, Qwest, Road Runner, and Verizon - and 10 TV service providers: AT&T, Bright House Networks, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, DirecTV, Dish Network/EchoStar, Optimum (iO)/Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, and Verizon.

While the study rated 21 organizations across both the TV and Internet services space, only three companies received "okay" ratings: Bright House Networks (TV), Dish Network (TV), and Cablevision (Internet). Fifteen of the companies were rated "poor" and three received "very poor" ratings: Charter Communications (TV), Charter Communications (Internet), and EarthLink (Internet).

The average customer experience ratings for the TV services and Internet services industries placed them 16th and 17th, respectively, out of 18 industries in the study. The only companies to score lower were health plans. Out of all 206 companies in the 2012 Temkin Experience Ratings, EarthLink and Charter Communications were the two lowest-rated companies and eight of the bottom 19 companies came from these two industries.

"Terrible customer experience remains an epidemic within the Internet services and TV services industries," states Bruce Temkin, author of the report and Managing Partner of Temkin Group.

Temkin Group analyzed the changes between 2011 and 2012 and found that customer experience made a modest improvement in the TV services industry but had a slight decline with Internet service providers. Seven companies saw their Temkin Experience Ratings increase by more than five percentage points: Cablevision (Internet), Comcast (Internet), AOL (Internet), Dish Network (TV), Bright House Networks (TV), DirecTV (TV), and Comcast (TV). Only one company had a decline of more than five percentage points: Cox Communications (Internet).

The Temkin Experience Ratings evaluates three dimensions of customer experience:

This report can be accessed from the Temkin Group website at http://www.temkingroup.com or from the blog, Customer Experience Matters, at http://experiencematters.wordpress.com. The data can be accessed from the Temkin Ratings website, http://www.temkinratings.com.

For more information about Temkin Group, visit http://www.temkingroup.com.

About the author, Bruce Temkin

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Internet Service and TV Service Providers Earn Poor Customer Experience Ratings, According to New Temkin Group Research

15-03-2012 09:07 A Bradenton woman, hoping to work from home, signed up to be a secret shopper. She said she nearly lost $3000.

The rest is here:
Bradenton woman warns of internet secret shopping scam - Video

By Peter Bright, Ars Technica

Microsoft is continuing to show off new features coming in its Internet Explorer 10 web browser, with a couple of posts describing its touch-friendly Metro interface and its enhanced security.

The current trend in browser design, led by Google Chrome, is to scale back the browsers interface so that it takes less and less of the screen, devoting more room to the web content itself. Windows 8s Metro design similarly removes window chrome to put the focus on content.

Metro Internet Explorer 10 is the logical conclusion of this trend: Most of the time it has no visible interface at all, leaving only the webpage visible. Its app bar, displayed by swiping from the top or bottom of the screen or right clicking the mouse, contains tabs, the address bar, and so on.

The tab selector, replete with pretty thumbnails. Image from Microsoft

The Metro version of Internet Explorer feels slick and comfortable using both touch and mouse and keyboard interaction. Particular highlights are the tile-based favorites view and the tab thumbnails, both shown to good effect in Microsofts post.

Internet Explorer 9 introduced some particularly taskbar-oriented features: support for pinning sites to the taskbar, and the ability for those pinned sites to create custom options in the Jump list. In Windows 8, sites can be pinned to the Start screen to make them instantly accessible. Sites pinned this way can even update their tile to show status notifications much in the way that real apps can do. However, the Jump lists are tucked away, only available from within Internet Explorer.

Pinned websites, with one showing off a notification. Image from Microsoft

One concern that this chromeless look raises is that of differentiation; Metro-style versions of both Chrome and Firefox are being developed, and its hard to see how they might look any different.

Security-wise, Internet Explorer 10 will include a new Enhanced Protected Mode. Protected Mode is the name Microsoft gives to its sandboxing technique. The current version, introduced in Internet Explorer 7 on Windows Vista, creates a separate, low-privilege process for running JavaScript and rendering HTML. This low-privilege process has no write access to most of the file system. This means that even if there is a security flaw in the browser, the attacker cannot write malware to the hard disk.

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Internet Explorer 10: Touch-Friendly and Securely Sandboxed

RAMAT GAN, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Internet Gold Ltd. (NASDAQ Global Select Market and TASE: IGLD) today reported its financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011.

The financial results presented in this press release are preliminary un-audited financial results. The final and complete results for the fourth quarter and for the year ended December 31, 2011 will be published when the Company publishes its audited financial reports for 2011 and its annual report on Form 20-F for 2011.

Bezeq - On-Track Performance: The Bezeq Group reported another stable quarter, delivering revenues of NIS 2.7 billion (US$ 694 million) and operating profit of NIS 698 million (US$ 183 million) for the period. Bezeqs EBITDA for the fourth quarter totaled NIS 1.1 billion (US$ 276 million), representing an EBITDA margin of 39.7%. Net income for the period totaled NIS 521 million (US$ 136 million).

Dividend from Bezeq: On October 5, 2011, IGLDs subsidiary B Communications Ltd. ("BCOM") received a dividend from Bezeq totaling NIS 464 million (US$ 121 million). BCOM used this dividend for two purposes: (1) payment of NIS 238 million (US$ 62 million) of its current loan repayment commitment; and (2)pre-payment of an additional NIS 226 million (US$ 59 million) of debt to banks, thereby reducing the size of the final bullet repayment due in November 2016 and saving related future interest expenses.

BCOM's successful Placement of NIS 126 Million in Debentures: During January 2012, BCOM completed a private placement of additional Series B debentures with a total par value of NIS 126 million (US $33 million) to a number of Israeli institutional investors. The placement increased the total outstanding balance of the Series B debentures, which were first issued in September 2010, to par value of NIS 526 million (US $138 million).

Successful Placement of NIS 79 Million in Debentures: During December 2011 and January 2012, Internet Gold completed the private placement of additional Series C debentures with a total par value of NIS 79 million (US $21 million) to a number of Israeli institutional investors. The placement increased the total outstanding balance of the Series C debentures, which were first issued in October 2010, to par value of NIS 649 million (US $170 million).

Cash Position: As of December 31, 2011, Internet Gold's unconsolidated cash and cash equivalents totaled NIS 343 million (US$ 90 million) and its unconsolidated gross debt was NIS 1.1 billion (US$ 294 million).

Internet Gold's Unconsolidated Balance Sheet Data*

* Does not include the balance sheet of BCOM.

The rest is here:
Internet Gold Reports Fourth Quarter 2011 Financial Results

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A measure that allows existing gambling operations in Iowa to offer Internet poker passed the Senate on Tuesday night.

Supporters said residents already gamble online and the proposed bill would create oversight through new regulations. It also would bring in additional state tax revenue.

The Senate approved the measure on a 29 to 20 vote.

It would allow the state's casinos and racetracks to offer Internet poker. The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission would be in charge of the Internet gambling.

Projections show that legalizing Internet poker could generate between $3 million and $13 million in state tax revenue. The commission, which regulates gambling in the state, has issued a study outlining how Iowa could structure Internet poker.

The measure now goes to the House.

If approved by the House and signed by Gov. Terry Branstad, Iowa would become one of the first states to establish such a system.

Amendments that would have diverted the new revenue to the state's roads and another that would have banned smoking on casino floors did not pass.

Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls said the bill was a thoughtful solution that addresses the problem of unregulated online gambling.

"We want to protect Iowa consumers and we want to protect the investment Iowa has made up to this point." Danielson said.

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Iowa Senate approves Internet poker measure