You may have seen ''virtual assistant'' demos before.  I have never been impressed by them -- they are usually clumsy and childlike, and plagued by frequent ''I'm sorry I don't understand what you mean'' responses when you manage to say something they're not expecting. Jenn at Alaska Airlines changed all that for me. I was first turned on ...

So opened Robert Stephens, Founder and Chief Inspector, Geek Squad http://www.geeksquad.com/default.aspx at today's ''customer service is the new marketing'' http://csitnm.com/ conference in San Francisco. The Ramen reference was one most in the audience can relate to - the meal staple many programmers use to keep energy flowing as - as ...