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Samsung sales reps are allegedly working without pay
Samsung online support crosses the stream with sales, and reps are getting screwed
Product pages on Samsung's US website have a "Chat with an Expert" button that allows potential buyers to ask questions about the product before purchasing. These queries are answered by sales reps contracted through staffing agency Ibbu, not through Samsung itself, and are meant to guide you through the purchase and make a commission for every deal they close. However, an explosive new report suggests that, with a 100% commission-based payment structure, these reps are now sending hours of unpaid time answering questions they don't have the expertise or training to handle properly.
Take a look behind Google's corporate curtain with a former employee's critical comics
Yeah, we're definitely saving a few of these for Android Police headers
Recently a Googler who went on to better (if not bigger) things shared a massive collection of comics and doodles that he'd created during his time at the Googleplex. His art has the feel of political cartoons, even if they're only ever on one broad topic. Taking a look at them can give us some humorous insight into the culture that's brewing just under Google's corporate surface. Manu Cornet worked for Google for over a decade as a software engineer on Search and Gmail. He quit earlier this year, telling The Information that Google's continuing slide into moral ambiguity left him feeling disillusioned with the company famous for its early "do no evil" years. During his tenure at Google, Cornet's frequent cartoons lampooning the company's culture and decisions became a notable part of his fellow employee's work lives, a sort of private in-joke in an employee population of more than 100,000.
Several of Cornet's comics made their way out into the internet at large, including his most famous doodle comparing the corporate structures of Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, and Facebook. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella even credited Cornet's cartoon on the first page of his book, crediting him with shifting up the CEO's thinking into a phenomenally successful restructure.
Cornet self-published a series of his comics as a book in 2018 as Goomics, with a second volume going out last month. You can buy both volumes on Amazon, or look at all of them for free on his site Goomics.net. They're an interesting look at the inside of one of the world's most powerful tech companies, albeit limited to a single critical perspective.Cornet accepted a job at Twitter. He's now starting up a new round of internal company comics, "Twittoons."
If you've got a friend or family member who works for Motorola Mobility, you might want to bug them for a free discount on a new phone. A Motorola representative detailed the "Friends with Moto" program to Android Police: basically, it allows any Motorola employee to offer a $50 off coupon on the Moto X, $40 off the 16GB Moto G, or $30 off the 8GB Moto G. bringing the basic off-contract prices down to $350, $160, and $150, respectively.
Whether it's a "moonshot" or not, Google seems to be dedicating considerable resources to its new robotics initiative, both financial and human. Almost three months ago Romain Guy, a highly-visible part of Google's internal Android software engineering team (and a pretty spiffy photographer to boot), announced that he was leaving Android for another internal Google position. He has since confirmed that he's moved to the new Google robotics team, currently headed by ex-Android head honcho Andy Rubin.
As with some previous Verizon flagship devices, employees are being given a customized version of the new Motorola DROID Ultra. Well, "given" may be too strong a word - they get a reduced $99 price ($100 off) with a two-year contract. Verizon will also throw in some DROID-branded accessories, namely a free case and some SOL Republic JAX earbuds. Droid-Life spotted the Employee Edition, presumably on an internal store, set to ship on August 20th with the other DROIDs.
[Updated x4: Official Word] OnLive May Be Closing Today—Or It Might Be Fine—As Conflicting Rumors Surface
Update 4: OnLive has finally issued the following statement: We can now confirm that the assets of OnLive, Inc. have been acquired into a newly-formed
Update 4: OnLive has finally issued the following statement: