Google AdSense Referrals for New Zealand to be Dropped!

I noticed the following statement on my AdSense reports recently when checking up on earnings:

"At the end of January, we will no longer support referrals to the AdSense product in New Zealand. If you are displaying referral units directing visitors to use AdSense, you will need to update your pages."


There is a "Learn More" link on this text, but it doesn't take you anywhere, other then providing the following statement:

"We are sorry but the information that you have requested cannot be found. Please try searching or browsing the AdSense Help Centre for answers to your AdSense questions."

This is going to annoy a lot of New Zealand AdSense customers!

Update: Have a look at http://adsense.blogspot.com/2008/01/follow-up-to-our-referrals-announcement.html and you will see they have modified their decision.

It appears that Google are still yet to modify the notice in my AdSense reports!

Unsolicited Email from Microsoft

I received the following email recently, completely unsolicited. I don't know who this gentleman from MSN Video is:

-------- Original Message --------

Subject: Soapbox Player
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2008 23:39:03 -0800
From: David Cronshaw
To: hayden@nztechie.com

Hi!

David over at MSN Video. Just checking in to see if you are able to embed the Soapbox Player ok in your blog.

I was only seeing the link version.

Let me know if you have any problems with the player.

Thanks!

David Cronshaw
MSN Video

Margaret McHugh and Hayley Johnstone

Looks like Margaret McHugh from Gourmet Food Store is now famous due to an email response she allegedly sent to a customer who was enquiring about her catering services.

The story begins like this; Hayley Johnstone from Ray White Real Estate sent an email enquiry to Margaret at Gourmet Food Store to organise catering for the business. What ensued is a swag of emails back and forward between to two, with some strong words and what I can only term as a response which is not customer-orientated.

Margaret allegedly takes offence to Haley's querying of being quoted different prices to that which is shown on their website, and the customers lack of ability to respond to emails to confirm catering in the past.

If you would like to see an example of how not to respond to your customers in an email, check out a transcript of the whole email here

Google Account Speculation

I believe that you can't select a security question for your Google account unless you have signed-up to Gmail and set it within there. I haven't tried this because I don't need a Gmail account. Anyone tried this?

The Startlogic Helpdesk are Muppets!

Its been over a week and ive finally had Startlogic manage to correctly create a CNAME record for my subdomain blog.nztechie.com to point to ghs.google.com so I can use the custom domain feature on Blogger.

Im also hoping to get my replacement ADSL modem as soon as I can. The one im using as a backup at the moment wont work with my VoIP SIP adapter. It was the whole reason I got a new modem in the first place. My rant is over.

Microsoft Screws Up My Windows Live! Account

Hi, Hayden

I have investigated the account hayxxxxxx@xxxxx.net.nz and have sync the account. This may take up to 72hrs to re-populate.

Is this issue happening when you login to Web Messenger? http://webmessenger.msn.com

Thanks,
James
Microsoft Global Escalations



--- Original Message ---
From : "Hayden Tennent"
Sent : Wednesday, November 07, 2007 4:26:17 AM UTC
To : "Live_Messenger"
Subject : RE: SRX1048569898ID - MSN Messenger

Hi James,

As instructed I have upgraded my version of Live! Messenger, and as I
expected it has not resolved the problem.

Can you please investigate any corruption on my user account in your user
database and repair it as needed.

Thank you.

Hello, Hayden

My name is James and I am with the Microsoft Global Escalations team.
Iâ?Tm contacting you to let you know that we have a new build of Windows
Live Messenger available for download from the following URL
http://get.live.com/betas/messenger_config



If after installing the latest build you are still experiencing an issue
please reply with any updated information to continue the investigation
into your issue.



Thanks,
James
Microsoft Global Escalations


_____



--- Original Message ---
From : "Hayden Tennent"
Sent : Friday, November 02, 2007 12:56:17 AM UTC
To : "Microsoft Customer Support"
Subject : RE: SRX1048569898ID - MSN Messenger

Hi Carlos,

I have followed the provided instructions and this has not resolved the
issue.

May I repeat that this fault occurs regardless of the computer that I am
using to run MSN Messenger. I have connected via multiple machines to
the
service and the problem still exists.

I believe there may be some form of corruption in my user account on the
MSN servers. Could you please investigate to determine if there is a
corruption or fault on my account in your system.

Thank you.

Hello Hayden,

Thank you for contacting Windows Live Messenger Technical Support. My
name is Carlos, and I will be happy to help you with this issue. I
apologize that you have not been able to connect to Windows Live
Messenger and understand how important it is to stay in contact with
your friends and family.

According to your email, the issue is that most of the contacts from
your contact list in Windows Live Messenger have disappeared. We
apologize for all the inconveniences this issue has caused you. I
understand the importance to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

The following reasons may be causing your issue:
You may have deleted this contact by using another program that uses
the same address book.
A cache file in Windows Live Messenger may be corrupted.
Your contacts may not have signed in to their Windows Live Messenger,
MSN Hotmail, or MSN accounts in more than 60 days or 120 days in case
of
Windows Live Hotmail account.

To help resolve this issue, please follow these steps in the order
they
appear:

Each user who signs in to Windows Live Messenger has a contact list.
If the user is signed in with a Microsoft domain e-mail address, that
user's contact list is shared between Hotmail and Windows Live
Messenger.
If you delete a contact from the Hotmail address book, that contact
will also be deleted from the Windows Live Messenger contact list.
Alternatively, if you are using the MSN client program or Microsoft
Outlook Express to access your Hotmail Inbox, deleting the contacts in
Outlook Express can also delete the contacts from Windows Live
Messenger.
If your contact list is empty or incomplete after you upgrade to
Windows Live Messenger, the cached contact list may not have updated
correctly.

To update your contact list, follow these steps:
1. If you are using Windows Live Messenger, delete the Contacts Cache
folder. To do this, follow these steps:

For Windows Live Messenger on Windows XP:
a. Click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then press ENTER to open a
command window. Execute the following commands one at a time and hit
Enter after each command to execute each of them.
b. The following commands delete files that are used when you sign in
and files that are related to the Contacts Cache folders.
del "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\IdentityCRL"
del "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\IdentityCRL"
del "%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Windows
Live Contacts"
del "%USERPROFILE%\Contacts"

2. For Windows Live Messenger, try to sign in to Windows Live
Messenger
again.

To re-add a contact to your contact list
1. Sign in to Windows Live Messenger.
2. On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click Privacy.
3. Right-click each contact in the allow list, and then click Add to
Contacts. If the contact is not in your allow list, add the contact:
a. In the main Windows Live Messenger window, click Add a Contact on
the
Contacts menu.
b. Follow the steps in the wizard to add the contact.

Thanks again for contacting Windows Live Messenger Technical Support
and
for using Microsoft products. Have a great day!

For questions or self-help with Windows Live Messenger, at anytime you
may also visit: http://messenger.msn.com/help
or http://support.msn.com


Best Regards,

Carlos
Windows Live Messenger Technical Support

With Windows Live Messenger, you can now talk to your Yahoo! Messenger
friends. To learn more, paste this link in your browser:
http://get.live.com/messenger/addyahoo


Find out how easy all-in-one PC Care can be with the 90-day free trial
of Windows Live OneCare. To get started, paste this link in your
browser:
http://www.windowsonecare.com/purchase/trial.aspx?sc_cid=SPT_msgr



_____



--- Original Message ---
From : hayxxxxxx@xxxxx.net.nz
Sent : Thursday, November 01, 2007 8:21:32 AM UTC
To : mmssupport
Subject : MSN Messenger

Service :
MSN Messenger

What type of problem do you have?
Full Name:
Hayden Tennent

What e-mail address would you like a response sent to?
hayxxxxxx@xxxxx.net.nz

Primary e-mail address/member ID associated with the account you are
inquiring about:


Be specific when describing your problem. The details that you include
enable us to promptly send you the most likely solution to your issue.
I have at least 30 contacts. The majority of them have
disappeared.
I can re-add them, but they disappear again after I log out and back
in.
This occurs on 4 different PC's so I dont believe it is a problem with
my install.

What is the frequency of the problem?
Always present [Always present]

Where are you trying to connect from?
Home [Home]

Which Version of Messenger are you running? (Within Messenger, click
the
'Help' menu and then select 'About' to find the current version.)
Windows Live Messenger 8.1 [Windows Live Messenger 8.1]

If you have a firewall, which one?
ZoneAlarm Pro [ZoneAlarm Pro]

Who is Your ISP?
Other [Other]

What type of internet connection do you have?
DSL [DSL]

Where did you get Messenger?
Download from MSN [Download from MSN]



Which operating system are you using?Windows XP: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows;
U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8.1.8) Gecko/20071008 Firefox/2.0.0.8

Which browser are you using: Firefox2.0.0.8

Location: en-gb - English (United Kingdom)

Type of Support: E-mail Support

Browser Default Language: en-gb,en;q=0.5