why no one should use hotmail,ever

Having worked with several online businesses that communicate with customers almost exclusively via email, I tend to be concerned about the reliability of the various email services.

The following is a true story, one that will hopefully teach others the futility of trying to work with Hotmail/MSN.

Part 1 - The Reasonable Request
I emailed Hotmail tech support, and explained that emails from my server were being placed in the Junk folder. This was in spite of

* the emails being sent only to customers that had placed an order, and
* the server only sending maybe 50 emails per month to the Hotmail domain.

I received a reply in fairly short order. It touched largely on two points:

* They recommended paying 100s of dollars per year to become a certified sender, which theoretically bypasses all spam filtering.
* They suggested that the emails were failing an SPF check (X-SID-Result: TempError), and that we should go to Microsoft's SenderID page for more details.

Part 2 - The Analysis
I had set up SPF for this domain YEARS ago, but of course was not certain that there wasn't something wrong with the configuration. Following the Microsoft advice, I went to the Port25 Solutions test page and performed some tests: Passed. Doubled checked with DNS Stuff to be sure: Another pass.

Part 3 - Please Sir, Help Me to Understand the Problem
Another email to tech support: "What can I do to fix my SPF problem? The tool you directed me to didn't have any suggestions."

Response: "Yes, your SPF record looks fine. We will ensure that the SPF record is up to date on our end and get back to you."

WTF?! You maintain a cache of stale SPF records? Don't ask, just be thankful they are helping...

Part 4 - A Week Passes, With No Improvement
Yet another email: "What's up guys?"

Rather Snarky Response (from someone different): "Representative X said he will look into it and he will reply when he replies. Further more, we make no guarantees of email delivery. And really, you should just be forking over the cash to SenderScore to ensure delivery."

Here and Now
I never received a response from Representative X, and all the emails are still junked, causing many customer service complaints.

Thanks Hotmail!

Consolidated List of Customer Support Contacts for Sony Ericsson

Here is a complete list of Sony Ericsson customer support numbers around the world. You'll never know when you'll need any of these numbers to reach for support.

Americas
United States : 1-866-766-9374
Brazil : 4001-0444
Canada : 1-866-766-9374
Chile : 123-0020-0656
Venezuela : 0-800-100-2250

Asia and Pacific
Australia : 1-300 650 050
China : 4008100000
Hong Kong : 8203 8863
India : Bangalore 080 - 57505555
India : Mumbai 022 - 56995555
India : General 39011111 (Any city)
Indonesia : 021-2701388
Malaysia : 03-78809800
New Zealand: 0800-100150
Philippines : 02-6351860
Singapore : 67440733
Taiwan : 02-25625511
Thailand : 02-2483030

Europe
Austria : 0810 200245
Belgium : 02-745 16 1
Croatia : 062 000 000
Czech Republic : 844 550 055
Denmark : 33 31 28 28
Finland : 09-299 2000
France : 0 825 383 383
Germany : 0180 534 2020
Greece : 801-11-810 810
Greece : (Mobile) 210-89 91 919
Hungary : 01 437 7300
Ireland : 1850 545 888
Italy : 6.48895206
Netherlands : 0900 899 8318
Norway : 815 00 840
Poland : 0 22 6916200
Portugal : 808 204 466
Romania : (+4021) 401 0401
Russia : 095 7870986
Slovakia : 02-5443 6443
Spain : 902 180 576
Sweden : 013-24 45 00
Switzerland : 0848 824 040
Turkey : 0212 473 77 77
United Kingdom : 08705 23 7237 Also -- 0208 7625800

Middle-East and Africa
Central Africa : +27 112589023
United Arab Emirates : 43 919880
South Africa : 0861 632222

Sony:
Sony Europe PR Office: press@eu.sony.com
Sony Europe Head of PR: Miss Maria Heavey
Sony UK general enquiry line: 08705111999
Sony UK Press Office: 01932816417
Sony UK Head of Press Office: Miss Emma Cross

Hope this rather extensive list helps you!

How to easily Add Dummy Text in Word Files?

Did you know that a simple programming language comes built into Microsoft Word. One Word Basic command can fill a page with dummy type.

Give this a try.

1. Open a new document, type =rand(x,y) in which x and y represent the number of paragraphs and sentences per paragraph respectively (valid for numbers between 0 and 200).

2. Press Enter, and you'll see the sentence "The quick brown fox jumped over the fence" repeated y times per paragraph in x number of paragraphs.

Some Cool Office Tips

WORD

Go Back to Where You Left Off in a Document
To return to the place where you last edited a Word document, press Shift+F5.

Quick Word Deletion
You can delete entire words with your keyboard. Just put your cursor at the beginning of the word and press Ctrl+Del together. This is very useful when editing.

Customize Line Spacing and Alignment
The Ctrl key is your best buddy when you want to experiment with line spacing and alignment variations. Ctrl+1 provides single spacing, Ctrl+2 provides double spacing and Ctrl+5 provides 1-1/2 line spacing. Ctrl+R right aligns a paragraph, Ctrl+L left aligns one, and Ctrl+E centers one.



EXCEL

Instant in-cell graphs
Use the repeat (REPT) function in Excel to create a bar graph inside cells. REPT looks like this: =REPT("text"; number_of_times). For instance, REPT("X"; 10) gives you "XXXXXXXXXX". For in-cell bar charts, the trick is to repeat a single bar "|". When formatted in 8 point Arial font, single bars look like bar graphs. Of course, number_of_times can also be substituted with a cell number.


POWERPOINT

Annotate during Presentations
While giving a slide show presentation, right-click in the active window then choose an annotation item from the Pointer Options submenu, such as Felt Tip Pen or Ballpoint Pen. You can write directly on the slides: underline words, draw a picture, whatever. To return to normal use, and move onto the next slide, select Arrow from the submenu.

The complete List of most commonly used Acronyms in Instant Messaging / Internet

Here are the most common abbreviations that you (U) might come across while IMing or simply Surfing the net. I have taken almost a week to come up with this list, please feel free to add other abbreviations / acronyms that I might have missed in the Comments section below. Most common ones are made bold.

AFAIC - As far as I'm concerned
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
AFK - Away From Keyboard
ASAP - As Soon As Possible
BBL - Be Back Later
BBN - Bye Bye Now
BBS - Be Back Soon
BF - Boyfriend
BRB - Be Right Back
BTW - By The Way
BWL - Bursting With Laughter
CID - Crying In Disgrace
CYA - See You (Seeya)
CYAL8R - See You Later (Seeyalata)
EMSG - Email Message
FC - Fingers Crossed
FTBOMH - From The Bottom Of My Heart
FYI - For Your Information
GAL - Get A Life
GF - Girlfriend
GFN - Gone For Now
GMTA - Great Minds Think Alike
GTSY - Glad To See You
H&K - Hug and Kiss
HAGN- Have A Good Night
HHIS - Hanging Head in Shame
IAE - In Any Event
IC - I See
IMNSHO - In My Not So Humble Opinion
IMO - In My Opinion
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
IOW - In Other Words
JMO - Just My Opinion
KIT - Keep In Touch
L8R - Later
LHM - Lord Help Me
LMAO - Laughing My A$$ Off
LOL - Laugh Out Loud
LTNS - Long Time No See
MTF - More To Follow
NRN - No Reply Necessary
OIC - Oh, I See
OTOH - On The Other Hand
PM - Private Message
ROFL - Rolling On Floor Laughing
SO - Significant Other
SOT - Short Of Time
SWL - Screaming with Laughter
SYS - See You Soon
TA - Thanks Again
TGIF - Thank God It's Friday
TCOY - Take Care Of Yourself
TNT - Till Next Time
TOY - Thinking Of You
TTFN - Ta Ta For Now
TTYL - Talk To You Later
YBS - You'll Be Sorry