By Anonymous
May 21, 2004 -- Ten shops at the on-line antique mall, Ruby Lane, were closed suddenly, without warning, on May 6th, 2004. The shop owners, some of whom had been charter members at the site, were left to scramble for their files containing pictures and descriptions. Purchase orders that were in progress were deleted. Customers who visited the shops were shown pages stating only that the shop was no longer at Ruby Lane.
The shopowners were not given a satisfactory explanation for the closures. Some received an email stating, "Ruby Lane has decided it is not in our best interest to continue hosting your shops on our site." These letters were sent after the shops were already closed and files were deleted.
The owners of the closed shops had one thing in common. They were all participants on a public message board, called FreeBoard Forum. There they had voiced their displeasure with Ruby Lane's management, prior to the closure of their
shops.
Mary Lu Wason, of www.LobsterLu.com, who hosts the public FreeBoard message forum, stated, "In my opinion, Jim Wilcoxson, founder and President of Ruby Lane, has done a disservice to the entire on-line community, by introducing more distrust between buyers and sellers. A customer at an online antique mall needs to know that the shop will be there the next day, when they place an order. A shopowner needs the assurance that they will be given time to make copies of their inventory files and accounting information, before their shop is closed. Beyond this, I think the right of freedom to express your opinion, in an independant medium, without fear of losing your lease, has been violated."
The staff of TIAS.com, another online antique mall, rescued what they could for the shopowners. Late into the night, the Tias team downloaded files from search engine caches. They helped setup the shaken shopowners and most now have a shop at Tias. They all have praise for the customer service at Tias.
The on-line antique and artisan community came together to help the fellow dealers. Opinions about other on-line malls, directions to salvage files and encouragements were issued via several message boards and numerous private emails. Several Ruby Lane shopowners who were not closed without warning, closed their shops themselves in protest at the treatment of their friends. The affected shopowners were amazed at the help and support they received. They are all happy to once again be open for business.
The following shops are now located at Tias (www.tias.com); Aurora's Attic Treasures, Coldwater Collectibles, Hudson's Loft, Maiden's Memoirs, Maren Dunn Antique to Modern, North Fork Pets And Antiques and Tear Drop Memories. Designs by Gayle Marie and StormRising Designs are now at Earthling (www.earthling.com). Earthstoner's Gallery of Jewelry is now at The Artisan Mall (www.theartisanmall.com).
Some shopowners may pursue legal charges against Ruby Lane, Inc. Affected shopowners include U.S. and Canadian citizens.
Discussions about Ruby Lane, Tias and other on-line selling venues continues at FreeBoard Forum. This forum is located at www.lobsterlu.com/cgi-bin/webbbs_config.pl?
Contact Information:
Lobster Lu's Art and Antiques
info@lobsterlu.com
http://www.lobsterlu.com
FreeBoard Forum
http://www.lobsterlu.com/cgi-bin/webbbs_config.pl?
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By Anonymous
WASHINGTON, D.C. June 21, 2004 -- Eco-Artware.com is demonstrating how to put oldies but goodies to a new use. For music aficianados, album collectors or retro-minded fashion divas: one of a kind fashion statements made from classic long playing records.
These unique tote bags feature velcro-enclosed clear vinyl sides that hold two different authentic record jackets: a Beatles, Rolling Stones, or Bruce Springsteen album cover on one side, and a random rock favorite on the second side (http://www.eco-artware.com/catalog/bags.shtml). Created by designer Meg Musick-Makely, these bags are very cool because of their smooth lines and practicality. When a new look - or musical theme - is desired, the covers can be recycled with others in your collection. Two amplifier knobs (that actually turn) decorate the sides and the two-inch wide shoulder strap is adjustable.
See the Vintage Vinyl Record Bracelet by Meg Musick-Makely (http://www.eco-artware.com/catalog/jewelry.html). When her pre-teen daughter dropped and cracked a favorite 33-1/3 record, Meg cut out the label to preserve the wonderful associations she had with the record. As she sliced across the surface, she got the idea to transform the label into a bracelet. The rest is record-breaking history, and we're proud to feature these vinyl cuff bracelets featuring various artists.
Still not rockin' enough? One of eco-Artware's most popular items continues to be Jeff Davis' Vinyl Record Bowls - deocrative centerpiece bowls molded from genuine LPs (http://www.eco-artware.com/bowls-baskets.shtml). The labels are sealed with mylar so that nothing falls through the spindle hole and are great for holding non-liquid food items or display pieces. The bowls can be accented by a set of Vinyl Record Coasters (http://www.eco-artware.com/catalog.eating-drinking.shtml) or the very timely Vinyl Record Clock (http://www.eco-artware.com/catalog.walls-windows.shtml).
Everyone from aspiring lylricists to autograph seekers will love our one-of-a-kind Album Cover Notebooks (http://www.eco-artware.com/reading-writing.shtml). Each is designed using authentic vintage LP album covers. And if that alone isn't cool enough, the notebook's paper is made with 100 percent recovered cotton denim, harvested from denim clothing manufacturers in the U.S. (We don't know, however, how mucyh of the denim comes from bell-bottoms).
There's no doubt that rock and roll is here to stay-in more ways than one - at Eco-Artware.com.
ABOUT ECO-ARTWARE.COM - Eco-artware has something for every budget, for every taste and especially for a friendlier planet. Words don't do these products justice, visit http://www.eco-artware.com for photos and specifications. If your audience is looking for an ideal, unique gift that also promotes greener consumerism, or are looking for resources on creating their own gifts, book reviews, recycling tips, and access to our renown 'Recycling Rag' newsletter, send them this way.
If you need high resolution images of any of Eco-Artware.com's products, or have further questions, please contact Reena Kazmann at reena@eco-artware.com or toll free at 1-877-32602781.
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By Anonymous
AURORA, Ontario, October 27, 2003 -- Knowledge Probe Inc announces the availability of the first of a family of unique computerized Alarm Clocks for MS/Windows®. Two initial products, Free Cellular Alarm Clock and CellAlarm, are directed towards users with cellular phones. Without any predecessors in the software marketplace, these PC-based productivity tools allow users to virtually pre-program their cellular phones with appointments, wake-up calls and reminders. No matter where they are, cell phone users can receive their important alarms and reminders at the times needed.
Created out of the necessity of scheduling varied wake-up times, the Cellular Alarms are useful for more than just wake-up calls. The company's website lists a myriad of uses from existing users. One user is quoted as using a pre-programmed alarm as a way of getting out of a boring meeting early. Another corporate user is using the tool to automatically remind staff away from the office to submit reports.
This simple application has already been downloaded by thousands of users in places as remote as Mauritius in the Pacific Ocean. According to the company, all one needs is a cellular provider that supports text messaging. Over 250 cellular providers across the globe are listed as being able to support the cellular alarms.
"I created CellAlarm to give my teenage son a way of getting up for college at different times each weekday. Seems teenagers respond better to telephone calls than alarm clocks", said Mark Kolb, President of Knowledge Probe Inc. Mr. Kolb further adds "You only need to program CellAlarm once. That's better than changing your alarm clock each night for the next morning - day in-day out".
In an interest marketing strategy, the Free Cellular Alarm version is available to any corporate sponsor at no cost for the purpose of branding their logo and targetted message within the product.
The Free Cellular Alarm Clock allows a user to program a single alarm at a time for his/her cell phone, while CellAlarm allows a user to program up to five cell phones (family/friends/staff) with up to 99 alarms. CellAlarm retails for $10 (US). Both products are delivered via the Internet.
With CellAlarm, users have the convenience of a novel way of being reminded anywhere they are of the things they need to do - provided they keep their cell phones handy.
About Knowledge Probe:
Knowledge Probe Inc primarily develops educational software in the form of mathematical, language and word games for all ages. Its free hit game "Mixed-Up Math" is used by tens of thousands of parents, teachers and kids all over the world.
MS/Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
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