Assignment 3, part 2, article 2

How not to tour Mont Blanc

Hikers under the Grandes Jorrasses, Italy. Author's photo

The Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB), a 160km loop hike through Switzerland, Italy and France, is almost too good to be true. Where else can you spend 10 days frolicking along the Alps‘ best valleys, hamlets and passes – interrupted only by the siren call of a daily dose of draft beer, fondue, a warm shower and a pillow? Hard-core hikers laugh at the idea. This is hardly roughing it!

Author and Mont Blanc

Each year, 10,000 hikers follow the loop around Mont Blanc - Europe’s highest mountain. I joined the masses last year. Hailing from Seattle, I was born with a love for the mountains, and years of hiking in the Pacific Northwest had prepared me well - but I still got a few things wrong. I hope my blunders will make yours a happier tour.

Mistake #1: I overpacked.

Big valley. Even bigger pack. Author's photo.

Being a prudent hiker, I packed a tent, water filter, cooking stove, matches, sleeping pad and head torch - and never used them. Not even once! On the TMB, you pass a water or food source every five kilometres, and accommodation every 10 km. The standard accommodation comes in the form of refuges: mountain huts that vary in quality, but most often are equipped with plumbing, warm beds and delicious home cooking. While, yes, it’s better to be safe than sorry, I lugged 15 unnecessary kilos around the mountain. But at the same time, it was fun watching the shock on children’s faces as I passed them along the trail. I was a Mont Blanc superhero.

Mistake #2: I went alone.

A typical trail marker. Author's photo.

Since I wasn’t able to convince any of my friends to walk around a mountain with me, I did it alone. Solo travel is a rewarding pursuit – but not in the woods. First of all, it’s dangerous, especially for a 20-something girl. It’s even more dangerous for a 20-something girl who has a terrible sense of direction and poor map-reading skills. Luckily, I wasn’t really alone all that often, as I passed fellow hikers (with, thankfully, better navigational skills) every 15 minutes or so. Plus, being a solo female traveller scored me extra cocoa powder on my cappuccinos and invitations to join in nightly card games.

Mistake #3: I thought I’d come home slimmer.

Another big eater on the tour. Author's photo

I assumed that a week and a half spent walking 7 hours a day along a very hilly trail (the total elevation gain is 8500m!) would burn a calorie or two. I optimistically thought I might even tone up a bit. Um, no.  Italy enticed me with cappuccinos, spaghetti alla bolognese and pistachio gelato. I couldn’t resist Switzerland’s huge mugs of hot chocolate and omelettes. I shamelessly indulged in France on pain au chocolat, metre-long ham and cheese sandwiches and fondue so good it brought tears to my eyes. Delicious, but no diet strategy.

Mistake #4: I didn’t summit.

No, not on foot! I mean I didn’t take the gondola to the summit of Mont Blanc after finishing the loop. You can take a cable car from France’s Chamonix or Italy’s Courmayeur to see the spectacular views from the top of the mountain you’ve just walked around. I regret not having done this as a reward for having finished the hike – I suppose I must have been too busy eating!

Watch a video of someone who documented their trip to the top:

Assignment 3, part 2, article 1

Tourist-dodging excursions from Florence

Florence. Photo by stevehdc, cc.

Florence: city of mile-high stilettos, romantic red-tiled rooftops, 3-inch tall bistecca alla fiorentina and Michelangelo’s David. Everyone should visit this place. Only problem? Everyone does.

Florence’s relatively small population of 400,000 is dwarfed by the millions of tourists who swarm to it annually. While the Florentines have a knack for ignoring the hoards, a visitor can feel like one of a herd. So, once you’ve had your fill of Florence’s amazing sights, get out! There’s so much to see outside of Florence’s city walls. Here’s a list of the best chilled-out trips in Tuscany:

Gorge on food and wine

Castello di Verrazzano. Author's photo.

Just an hour’s drive south of Florence is one of the Chianti Classico region’s best vineyards – Castello di Verrazzano. A booking will earn you an intimate tour of the castle’s cellar, vineyard and late-Renaissance gardens. After the tour, lap in the Tuscan scenery over an unforgettable lunch starring Verrazzano’s best homemade products: wine, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and vin santo e cantucci (biscotti dipped in a dessert wine – a Tuscan specialty).

Bliss out on Tuscany’s most unspoilt island

Isola del Giglio. Author's photo.

If crystal-clear turquoise water, amazing seafood and mellow beaches are your style, you have to check out Isola del Giglio. It’s worth the few hours it takes to get there. Go scuba diving in what many consider one of the best places in Italy – for its mild water temperature, wildlife and explorable wrecks and caves. The myriad of hiking trails will guide you to secluded beaches, gorgeous lookout points and perfectly uncrowded picnic spots. But for a real treat? Check out Giglio’s night sky – the stars and hush will mesmerise you.

Take a cooking class on an organic farm

Spannocchia. Author's photo.

Spannocchia is one of Tuscany’s best ecolodges – and located just 90 minutes from Florence. The estate comprises a 12th century castle surrounded by 1,100 acres filled with forests, olive orchards, vineyards, vegetable gardens and pastures. Visitors are encouraged to learn about the farm’s day-to-day operations, which utilise sustainable farming practices. Sign up for the four-hour cooking class, and the farm’s resident chef will teach you how to make a three-course Tuscan feast made from fresh organic products from the farm.

Take a drive in Florence’s backyard

Tuscan hills. Photo by teldridge+keldridge, cc.

If you haven’t got much time to spare but are in desperate need of a tourist time-out, head to Fiesole – just five miles from the centre of Florence. The town was made famous with the help of E. M. Forster’s ‘A Room with a View‘ whose characters chose the town for its unsurpassed views of Florence. While the town itself is charming, we’d recommend you continue driving into the countryside surrounding the town. Its green rolling hills, dotted with farms and villas, provides a much-needed repose from the chaos of the city.

All of the photos not taken by the author are protected by Creative Commons. Clicking on the linked captions under the photos will take you to the photographer’s flickr page, indicating their creative commons license.

Why buy when you can borrow?

As if publishers weren’t nervous enough about the growing popularity of e-books (and the trend’s subsequent business challenges), they’ve got an unlikely new nemesis: public libraries. For the last year, libraries across the globe have been adding e-books to their catalogs. The reader downloads the book onto their computer, cell phone or e-reader – where it stays for two weeks before automatically expiring from the user’s account. Borrowers have access to just one e-book at a time and are put in a waiting list if their desired title is not available – just like with physical books.

The company responsible is OverDrive, a digital media service providing libraries with the necessary infrastructure to lend e-books. To date, OverDrive partners with 8,500 libraries in the US, Canada, Australia, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey and the UK. The New York Public Library, for example, has about 18,300 e-book titles. Watch a short interview with OverDrive CEO Steve Potash:

Scholastic have their own personal platform: a subscription-based e-book collection called bookflix. Available in 500 libraries worldwide, it offers children their favourite titles in digital form – all supplemented with educational videos and interactive games.

While the increasing popularity of borrowing e-books bodes well for the health of literacy and reading worldwide (otherwise shown to be in decline), an article by the New York Times highlights the discontent expressed by publishers.

Publishers, inevitably, are nervous about allowing too much of their intellectual property to be offered free. Brian Murray, the chief executive of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, said [the library e-book] was “not a sustainable model for publishers or authors.”

Within the publishing world there’s a fear that consumers are becoming increasingly accustomed to receiving content for free. Macmillan chief executive John Sargent says this is the reason Macmillan’s books aren’t available in electronic form in public libraries. Publishers Simon & Schuster feel the same.

The wariness is understandable. Why would a reader pay for an e-book when they can get it for free through their local library? Borrowable e-books threaten an already burdened publishing industry and further undermine the value placed on books and authors. It becomes a question of what society values more: reading or publishing.

Giving credit when it’s due: attribution in blogs

Andrew Keen, author of the controversial “The cult of the amateur: how today’s internet is killing our culture“, dishes some pretty harsh criticism on non-professional content producers. To his mind, the current “cut-and-paste culture” undermines the hard work of artists, authors, musicians, filmmakers, editors and journalists. He argues:

“The problem is not just pirated movies and music. It’s become a broader quandary over who-owns-what in an age when anyone, with the click of a mouse, can cut and paste content and make it their own. Web 2.0 technology is confusing the very concept of ownership, creating a generation of plagiarists and copyright thieves with little respect for intellectual property.”

Ok, so this is a bit harsh (but nothing compared to the rest of the book throughout which he kindly likens internet uploaders to “exuberant monkeys”). However, he does have a point. If bloggers want their medium to be taken seriously, there are certain standards that need to be adhered to regarding accuracy, linking and attribution. The latter is the topic I’m most interested in.

While The Blog Herald wrote an excellent post on this subject that I’d recommend you read, I want to focus mainly on photo attribution, since it’s an issue that bloggers tend to ignore. Naturally, including images in a blog post jazzes it up. It’s understandably tempting to insert images from the web from sources like Google Images, Flickr or Yahoo Images. While many bloggers do do this, it’s actually illegal if the image is protected by copyright – and most are. The choice then is to buy the rights to the image or find an image that isn’t protected by copyright, but instead protected by something very cool: a creative commons license.

The license works like copyright in the sense that it protects the rights of the artist – but leaves it up to them to name the terms. Creative Commons’s site says they “provide free licenses and other legal tools to mark creative work with the freedom the creator wants it to carry, so others can share, remix, use commercially, or any combination thereof.” To get a better understanding, watch Creative Common’s video below:

Convinced? So, now you need to actually find those creative commons-protected images, right? There are lots of options. In Yahoo Images, click on options>advanced search>creative common license. Another good option is searching with FlickrStorm. Follow advanced>search creative commons photos. 

So now that you’ve found your safe image, how do you attribute it? Scribd offers a very helpful, thorough description. In a nutshell, correct creative commons attribution requires bloggers to:

• credit the creator
• provide the title of the work
• provide the URL where the work is hosted
• indicate the type of creative commons license
• include any copyright notice associated with the work

There are lots of different ways for you to do this in your blog – the important thing is that all your bases are covered – to save your ass and show your appreciation to the person whose work is actually making yours better.

One more thing: if you’d rather skip all of this but still do things by the book, then your other option is to use Picapp – a copyright-free database of stock photos you can use in your blog. It’s a totally free service that is compatible with blog hosting sites like blogger, wordpress and others. There’s no need to attribute them per se. Here’s an example of one of the images:

 

Here’s their super-cute tutorial video:

Assignment 3, part 1, article 2

The best of Rome – in a cone

Gelato! Photo by stu_spivack, cc.

It’s a well-known fact that Rome is on the top of every stomach’s must-visit list. Afraid of filling up on bucatini alla amatriciana or carciofi alla Romana and not having room left for Rome’s not-to-be-missed gelato? Fear not! The human body is equipped with a secondary gelato stomach – the scientific explanation for “there’s always room for ice cream”.

With those fears quieted, check out what we think are the eternal city’s best gelaterie and our tips for finding – and devouring - your stomach’s gelato soul mate.

Gelato at Giolitti. Author’s photo.

Tucked in the heart of Rome’s centro storico, and just a few steps away from the Pantheon, lies the delectable gelateria Giolitti. Be prepared to fight for your place in the queue as Giolitti is perpetually packed with school children out for their daily fix, dapper politicians (the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament is down the street) and wide-eyed tourists. The dizzying variety of homemade gelato is overwhelming, so trust us on this one and choose a fruit flavour like pesca (peach), pera (pear) and fragola (strawberry).

Gelato worth queuing for. Photo by AleBonvini, cc.

Lovers of creamy and rich gelato should head to Old Bridge. This closet-sized gelateria is situated opposite Vatican City. Don’t be fooled by its English name – this is no tourist trap (although the dozens nearby definitely are!). Flavours like bacio (mix of hazelnut and chocolate), stracciatella (think vanilla with chocolate chips) and caffe make the customary long wait worth it.

If your love of gelato means you’re willing to risk being crushed among throngs of tourists at the Trevi Fountain, San Crispino will reward you for your courage. Try pistacchio, nocciola (hazelnut) or the adventurous zenzero e cannella (ginger and cinnamon). San Crispino’s gelato is so amazing it’ll drown out the tourist hubbub – just be sure to stay out of elbow’s reach before tucking in!

Some tips for a newbies in Rome:

• Be assertive. Romans are shameless queue-cutters – that is, of course, if you’re lucky enough to find any queue at all! Fight your way to the front of the mob by flashing a smile and repeating scusate (excuse me).
• Look for a sign saying “artigionale” or “produzione propria“, indicating the gelateria’s fare is homemade and therefore yummier.
• Never agree to go halvsies and share a gelato – you’ll only regret it.
• Bring a spoon. The miniature, neon-coloured spoons provided are no match for fast-dripping gelato.
• When in doubt, use the oft-used Italian justification for a gelato after eating a big meal: “Prendo un gelato per digerire“- the convenient excuse that gelato aids in digestion.

Wanna feel like you’re really there? Watch this video taken in Giolitti. Warning: you WILL drool.

All of the photos not taken by the author are protected by Creative Commons. Clicking on the linked captions under the photos will take you to the photographer’s flickr page, indicating their creative commons license.

Assignment 3, part 1, article 1

24 Hours in Seattle

 

Good Morning Seattle! Photo by bensonkua, cc.

As a Seattleite, let me tell you – it really does rain in Seattle as much as they tell you. But who cares? You’re in the most beautiful, caffeinated and culture-rich city of the USA. So, grab your umbrella and follow us on a 24-hour tour of the Emerald City. 

Elliott Bay Book Company. Photo by brewbooks, cc.

Start in Pioneer Square – the birthplace of Seattle. Take a stroll and enjoy the handsome facades, wide cobblestone squares and boutiques. Be sure to visit Occidental Square and Pioneer Square Park before seeking out some breakfast. Seattle’s literary caffeine addicts go to Elliott Bay Book Company for breakfast in the cosy cafe nestled between the stacks of books.

Spend the late morning exploring Seattle’s most visited attraction – Pike Place Market. Sure, it’s where all the tourists go – but it’s also the fastest way to fall in love with the city. It’s the oldest continuously operating market in the nation, and just fun. Browse stalls of flowers, local crafts, cheesy t-shirts, beautiful artwork and fresh fish (for a thrill, watch the fishmongers throwing fresh salmon).

Pike Place Market. Photo by Bjørn Giesenbauer, cc.

Time for mid-morning snack? A visit to The Daily Dozen Donut Co. is a must: watch the gorgeous little creations go through the magical doughnut-making process and pop out all hot and full of delicousness. Eat them there and then or – even better – in neighbouring Victor Steinbrueck Park overlooking the Elliott Bay and the majestic Mt Rainier.

Head down to the waterfront to take in the classic Seattle smells: a mix of saltwater, cotton candy and greasy fish and chips. Walk along the boardwalk and take in sites: barnacle-covered piers, tacky souvenir shops, aggressive fry-stealing seagulls and ferries cruising the bay. It’s lunchtime, so head to Ivar’s, a Seattle institution serving the best, and perhaps cheapest, clam chowder in the city.

It’s now time to explore Seattle’s coolest neighbourhood: the artsy Fremont – considered ‘the center of the universe’ by residents. Not-to-be-missed sites include the quirky Fremont Troll, Fremont Rocket and Statue of Lenin. A kilometre to the east lies Seattle’s picturesque Gas Works Park, built on the remains of the former Seattle Gas Light Company. Climb to the top of the grassy hill to enjoy the lovely view of Lake Union and the Space Needle.

The view from Alki. Photo by jennifer.tai, cc.

It’s almost sunset, so get yourself to Alki Beach. From here take in another breathtaking view of Seattle’s skyline as you walk along the shore. As the sun sets and your tummy starts rumbling for dinner, head to Salty’s for a seafood feast.

Ready for a night on the town? Seattle’s famous for its music scene, so be sure to catch a show. Into jazz? Go to Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley in Belltown. Crocodile Cafe, also in Belltown, is known as one of the country’s best rock clubs – the perfect ending to a perfect day in Seattle.

Need a second opinion? Check out this Seattleite’s idea of the best 24-hour itinerary in Seattle:

All of the photos not taken by the author are protected by Creative Commons. Clicking on the linked captions under the photos will take you to the photographer’s flickr page, indicating their creative commons license.

Digital discussions at the 2009 Frankfurt Book Fair

The biggest book fair in the world, Frankfurt Book Fair, is just days away. This year marks the fair’s 60th anniversary and runs 14-18 October. The fair is one of the most important publishing events of the year as it attracts 7,000 exhibitors from 100 nations who come to negotiate international publishing rights and licensing fees, market new titles, network and, naturally, drink beer.

Watch this short video from the 2008 Frankfurt Book Fair to get a sense of what it’s like:

The convention is the industry’s chance to debate pressing publishing issues and the hot topic this year is e-book prices. E-readers like the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader are becoming increasingly popular, as I mentioned in a previous post. Estimates predict that 3 million e-readers will be sold in the US this year and 10 million sold by the end of 2010. And now, with the Kindle just a week away from being available in 100 countries, e-reading will spread even more. Watch the video below which describes the new international version of Kindle.

Blog Future Perfect Publishing has compiled a helpful list of the factors publishers should consider when pricing a book:

Type of book – Non-fiction seems to command different price points than fiction.

Goals of the consumer in purchasing it – If the content of the book promises to deliver special value – e.g. increases productivity or convey a new skill – the consumer might be willing to pay more.

Quality of presentation – The more professional the design and marketing of the e-book, the better the odds are that a consumer might pay a higher price.

Perceived value relative to a print version (if a print version exists) – If the title or author is well known, and the book is available in print at a substantially higher price, a prospective buyer might pay more for the e-book version because the perception of getting good value is heightened.

Readers, too have jumped into the debate, with many refusing to pay more than $10 per book. Wired spoke with Connecticut librarian Crystal O’Brien. “You are not getting something you can lend out to other people, you are not getting a physical item,” says O’Brien. “So you shouldn’t have to pay so much for a digital copy.”

However, publishers have a different idea. The Frankfurt Book Fair conducted a survey of 840 book industry experts on the e-book debate. Their results were surprising: 39 per cent cited online bookselling as the most important development in publishing in the past 60 years. Twenty-five per cent predict that the retail bookseller will be obsolete in 60 years. Concerning pricing, 16 per cent said an e-book should cost at least 30 per cent less than a print book, 19 per cent thought it should cost the same or even more.

Earth Times reports editor of Buchreport Thomas Wilking saying, “The sector is still looking for strategies to make money out of digital content. They need business models that can complement and later replace the well-tried model of selling packages of printed paper for money.”

So what do you think? Do you believe that e-books should adopt the iTunes strategy ($.99 per song) of imposing a consistent price for all books, independent of their genre, quality, author and value of printed version?

The printed book’s new enemy: the “vook”

Just as the world is just starting to warm up to the idea of e-books, it appears there’s a new nemesis of the old-fashioned book: the “vook“. It’s a digital hybrid of book and video, offering supplemental videos alongside the book’s text, which can be accessed through the internet or on hand-held mobile devices. It’s the brainchild of US-based Vook, a start-up who believes that its product is the future of reading. Take a look at Vook’s promotional video:

The new medium has been adopted by Atria, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. Judith Curr, Executive VP and Publisher for Atria says in an interview that she thinks vooks represent an aspect of publishing for the 21st century. She says that “this is a wonderful way to be able to tell a new story without the huge expense of making a major movie.” Vooks offer the possibility to add atmospheric qualities, tell a back story, show photographs. They  The publishers already have four vooks ready for purchase: romance novel “Promises“, fitness book “The 90 Second Fitness Solution“, thriller “Embassy” and health book “Return to Beauty“. Here’s the trailer for “Embassy”:

The Week asked “Will anyone read vooks?” and quoted Dave Rosenthal from The Baltimore Sun as saying that Simon & Schuster “is moving in the right direction… Just as the Internet opened up sound and video for newspapers, vooks (or whatever else they get called) can broaden the dimensions of the printed page… [and] this is just the start of the book’s evolution, so let’s see where the technology can take us.”

Not convinced? You’re not alone. Last week, the New York Times ran a story entitled “Curling Up With Hybrid Books, Videos Included” which offered some insight into vooks. They quote Tufts University professor and author Maryanne Wolf:

“There is no question that these new media are going to be superb at engaging and interesting the reader, [but] can you any longer read Henry James or George Eliot? Do you have the patience?”

I agree with Wolf. Vooks cater to – and perhaps even encourage – attention-short reading. Whatever happened to using your imagination to envision characters in a book?  And those who prefer visual media would sooner watch a DVD than super-cheesy, low-budget video clips. Adding videos to books cheapens the whole experience of reading a novel.

On the other hand, I could see this medium extending itself well to fitness books, cookbooks and other instructional texts where accompanying video would help to communicate the books’ advice. But please, let’s draw the line there!

Attention all non-US e-book lovers: Amazon’s Kindle is releasing an international version, available 19 October for $279.

International users of the new Kindle will have a slightly smaller collection of around 200,000 English-language books to choose from, and their catalogs will be tailored to the country they purchased the device in. Amazon said it would sell books from a range of publishers including Bloomsbury, Hachette, HarperCollins, Lonely Planet and Simon & Schuster.

Planning on jumping on the e-book/vook bandwagon?

Is the Apple Tablet the future of magazines?

Rumours have been circulating about Apple’s soon-to-be-released product, tentatively called the Apple Tablet. A recent report claims the device will measure 10 inches diagonally – putting it somewhere between the pocket-sized iPhone and desktop iMac. There will be no mouse or external keyboard, and everything will be controlled through a touch screen. Apple is expected to release the Tablet by Jan. 19, 2010. 

The image above is an artist’s rendering of the fabled Tablet, provided by Gizmodo.

So what is unique about it? Ars Technica reports that the device could serve as a digital replacement for printed books and magazines. But from the sounds of it, the latter has the most potential, especially considering Steve Job’s opinion on e-readers. The NY Times, in ”The Passion of Steve Jobs“, records the CEO saying, “It doesn’t matter how good or bad the product is, the fact is that people don’t read anymore.” 

Apple is interested in collaborating with magazines, offering a standardised platform for magazine purchase and consumption, with multi-media content like iTunes LP and iTunes Extra. Gizmodo reports that:

The eventual goal is to have publishers create hybridised content that draws from audio, video, interactive graphics in books, magazines and newspapers, where paper layouts would be static. And with release dates for Microsoft’s Courier set to be quite far away and Kindle stuck with relatively static e-ink, it appears that Apple is moving towards a pole position in distribution of this next-generation print content.

The magazine industry, much like of the printed book and newspaper, knows that it must go digital in order to survive. However, they’re being very careful not to let Apple call all of the shots, like it did with the music industry. Magazines are seeking to maintain control over pricing and customer information (valuable for advertising sales). Advertising Age, in ”Magazine Industry Looks to Create ITunes for Print“, writes:

Music executives didn’t see much choice when Steve Jobs signed them up to sell songs and albums through iTunes, a newspaper executive recalled. “People put their hands out and let him put the handcuffs on them,” he said. “The same thing now is happening with the publishing industry. They are afraid to do anything, to say anything. At the same time, they’re saying, ‘Let’s see what other options we have.’” 

Would you use this product? Do you think its a viable replacement for magazines? If the beauty of the iPhone is its convenient size, and the beauty of the iMac is its huge screen…what perks would the Tablet actually offer? No one is 100% sure that Apple will actually release this product…I guess they must be asking themselves these same questions.

David’s now a blogger

In 2006 The Guardian published “The rise of the blogger”, an article marvelling at the number and influence of bloggers. A mere two years later, the blogosphere is believed to contain 200 million blogs, and be more powerful than ever. President Obama’s victory last November has barackobama.com to thank. Celebrity sites like Gawker and Perezhilton (now receiving more than 10 million visits a day!) mean that no celeb goes under the radar – making or breaking careers.

And it’s not just the popular bloggers that are shaking the boat. A few months ago, Dave Carroll, a relatively unknown Canadian musician, used his blog to cause a big stir around the world. He had taken a flight with United Airlines and watched as his guitar, which he had entrusted the airline to handle carefully, was mishandled and damaged. After being declined compensation numerous times by an unhelpful customer service, Carroll decided to take his revenge – in the form of a YouTube video which boasts of 5 1/2 million views. 

Little did United Airlines realise how influential this video would be. It became an instant success, snowballing as soon as the mainstream media caught whiff of the scandal. In the article “Revenge is best served cold – on YouTube“, the UK’s The Times says the United’s stock price dropped by 10 per cent, translating to a loss of $180 million to shareholders. 

I love this idea that the Davids now have a fighting chance against the Goliaths. Businesses keep honest and consumers are empowered. And it may even do away with automated, unhelpful customer service centres!