offline queuing moved ONLine..Michael Jackson tickets, concerts and tour dates. Official Ticketmaster site.

Michael Jackson tickets, concerts and tour dates. Official Ticketmaster site.

experience of purchasing (trying to) king of pop tickets

wow, I am not the type that complain nor go to concert much.


It proves to be a #bad# time to try to get tickets for such monumental conercert (might be my own monumental mistakes of trying)..

bright sparks of ticketmasters ticket purchase designed it so that it will put in 'waiting' time when one try to find a ticket (typically starting at 15minutes).. then as it counts down, then it will do another 'anti-bot' check, then

====

There was a problem processing your request.

We apologise for any inconvenience.

Your tickets are currently reserved in multiple windows or browsers. Please use only one window to continue processing your request.

====

It keeps on doing that for the plast 3 hours..

Well, I cannot find any answers (as banking systems, exchanges, or even billing system for mobile/fixed line operations has millions of transactions per seconds, or even amazon/ebay..) surely, it is not that difficult!??

possible reasons:

1.) ticketmaster conciously design the system to 'emulate' offline queuing,
2.) system really did get overwhelmed, but it does not justify the 'waiting' time system as the answers is simply, yes/no
3.) pure incompetence

possible solutions:

a) competition of ticketing solution providers (rather than monopoly)
b) in-source it/rather than outsource and use backend/hostings from likes of Amazon
c) don't do online sales, so that people just have to bear it and do it offline and queue..

of course, there are privilages of having all these concierge services of platinum/centurian Amex cards apparently, I tried using the code and even called up the concierge service.. no avail.

as "premium seats allocations" can only be accessed via online.. and "we can call you back monday" but most likely it will be via external ticketing services with extra surcharge.. wow, ticket touting heaven...

might be better to go to cinemas and or catchup on DVDs/Sky+

back to work and erm, venting on blog doesn't really help, punch bag, here I come.

My comments re: Dispatches: How They Squander Our Billions | Watch Online | Free Catch-Up on Channel 4 Shows

Dispatches: How They Squander Our Billions | Watch Online | Free Catch-Up on Channel 4 Shows: "Dispatches: How They Squander Our Billions�"

Well, it does cover key areas of how 'government' might have mis-used funds.. 

but surely, the producer/journalists could have asked these questions: 

1.) Why did the government do that? 

2.) why is there more government jobs vs. industry jobs in 08/09?

Could it be:

* Brown/government try to shift 'off balance sheet' invesments via PPP type investment structures.. 

* more power/admin passed on to 'psudeo' industries..

* more industry types moved into government and bring with them glamourous type of business practices.. 

Ashame that likes of The public has wasted a lot of public money, but knowing when to cut loses is key.. 

Look at how successful Millenium doom is now as O2..

Fact is that business would not move in unless it make business sense, generally not the otherway around.. 

just hope that we and our kids won't be paying too big a public bill which seems like it will be the case for the coming years.. 

Fotonotes.net - Image Annotation Standard and Scripts

Fotonotes.net - Image Annotation Standard and Scripts

Looks cool! 

wish I had time to integrate this and have a proper photo website to show off some of my photos. 

My comments re: Sky News appoints Twitter correspondent... |

Sky News appoints Twitter correspondent... |
Media |
guardian.co.uk

as an observer and now avid user of twitter in my own way (private feed), I still have great difficulty in explaining the benefits of twitter in a sentence .. is there not another view point where, it maybe good for even "news international", or god forbid 'news of the world'.. trying this new 'phenomenon'..? Seem to me there might be a 'this is my club' syndrome for any 'outsiders' to join the crowd.. don't forget, twitter might not be the be-all end-all.. the market might change dramatically in months/weeks, for example, if/when the mobile operators wakes up, and decide to start a 'twitter' like service (via an industry association, Gitter/Mitter?) with privacy, AND identifications (to a certain degree).. not only would early adopters use the service but also early adopters/followers.. and only then would there be true scale.. One thing is for sure, we might see the cusp of a sustainable service, hopefully it will be twitter. @GarethWong

news or viral sales advert?? Kingsway Tunnels: See inside one of London's most unusual property - Telegraph

Kingsway Tunnels: See inside one of London's most unusual property - Telegraph

This is brilliant, yes, a piece of news with a message: 

we are for sale..

this is a brilliant way to 'create' the PR/reach.. 

wish we can use it as a case study and see how much traction, click through and initial enquiries, serious ones and the ultimate sale.. 

more serious notes though, security could be a big issue.. perfect location for an 'unerground' club.. but sadly if anything goes wrong.. it could go very wrong.. don't think I want to be stuck 30meters down the ground!! 

v. interesting read. Hot or not: The rules of attraction -

Hot or not: The rules of attraction -
Attraction, Love & Sex - The Independent

I wonder however, how the plastic surgery, gene selection, social media, cross cultural and international issues affect it all.

would having the most followers on twitter (online social status?) or having a online/offline fan base within the industry (tech, fashion) means create a cult-following, hence more attractive to opposite sex? 

if so, would the stars on the present twitter world be more 'attractive' to their opposite sex audience? 

wonder if someone would/could do a survey.. 

very interesting indeed. 

@GarethWong

my comments re Dispatches - Channel 4 - Too Old to Work

Dispatches - Channel 4 - Too Old to Work

Just catching up this program on sky+ (all chores done)

Its very sad fact, government must do something, but sadly they have their hands full.. so, who else should/ can help? and are driven to help?

its the affected individuals.. gather together and do something about it.. this program highlights the potential problems.. not any likely solutions within sight.. 

the most powerful answers lies with the group themselves! 

:-) Twitter fever? : follow twittering news and tweets on hackers - Telegraph

Twitter: follow twittering news and tweets on hackers - Telegraph

Seems to me there is some 'twitter' fever going on..

is it good or bad thing? 

Could this be a senario where its better to "get out" of the stock when you hear the taxi drivers talking about 'buying that stock'? 

It certainly can be the forefather of 'micro-blogging', but certainly hope that it will not be the next betamax.. 

my comments re uktrains / Disruption alerts for UK train services by Twitter

uktrains /

Disruption alerts for UK train services by Twitter

Great idea!

However, it needs something more. 

at least the tweet need to become 'alerts', and delivered directly to people's mobile.

for that TFL's site's alert would be better, although much more involved to setup! 

it shows the pure potential for future services though!

My comments re: Cadbury Eyebrows

Don't watch advert these days, but this one caught my eye despite I use Sky+ to skip the adverts. 

Cute but wonder what effect it will have on the target audience..!?