| Dirty Pool -- When Bad Companies Go ... Badder? |
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As at least half of my readers (four) may know, I am a hardcore geek... er.. [H]ardcore geek, that is. Oh, and here* is the proof (images are large and thankfully safe for work). It takes a considerable amount of reading and research to attain this [H] standard and top of the list of sites I read daily is [H]ardOCP.com. [H]ardOCP is well known in the geekery community as a site that is no-holds-barred and the go-to site if you want an on-the-level review of a product without being forced to read through attempts at kiss-assery, because Kyle & Co don't do that. They tell it like it is and if the manufacturer doesn't like it, well, make a better product. Daniel Rutter over at Dan's Data is another member of the club and a fantastic site to read.. especially if you like: lasers, headphones, quacked out new age medicine written by an Australian psychopath The fun started in September of aught-three when Kyle and fellow henchman Steve Lynch posted an article about Infinium Labs and the company president, Tom Roberts. Many a geek will hiss at the mere mention of the name Infinium. The company is responsible for the non-existant Phantom gaming console that was to dethrone Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. It was also rumored to be a perpetual motion machine, but those claims have yet to be tested. The team were thorough as ever in exposing Roberts' various failed businesses in the past as well as revealing numerous other skeletons that Roberts & Co. would rather have been left in the closet, thank you very much. Fast forward to a couple years and a few other articles regarding Infinium and Kyle was hit with a nasty letter from none other than Infinium's hired hitmen. Kyle was to remove certain sections of the article that they claimed to be false, even though Kyle & Steve both offered Infinium and Roberts a chance to respond when the article first went up. The letter also made mention of the various impacts the article had on Infiniums financial situation. Also mentioned were copyright issues relating to [H]'s use of the Infinium trademark. In other words, it was a threat. You don't mess with Kyle or Steve. I mean, look at Steve. Not only that, but they reportedly have an army of rabid monkeys under their control. The only thing worse would be to call one Finnish operating system designer whose name rhymes with Linus Torvalds (oops) Bill Gates' secret lover. Fast forward some more. A lot more. January 4th, in fact, and to a victorious [H]ardOCP. Infinium Labs throws in the towel and relents on all of the defendants claims. Infinium also agrees to pay lawyers fees and other relief as they may be entitled. We saw it coming, but it was a great relief indeed. The crux of the case was Infinium claiming that Kyle and Steve were lying, even after the company ignored many chances to respond to the claims and to reveal what they felt was the truth. Even after rolling over and playing dead, Infinium is still at it. Observe the two following images recently posted on the [H]ardOCP website:
 
These images are of a t-shirt that employees of Infinium were allegedly wearing at the CES show and are used with permission. The part that irks me the most is in the second image: "Kyle Bennett is a liar." The t-shirt is purportedly brought to you by the "Freedom of Speech counsel" [sic] and not by Infinium. Google "freedom of speech counsel" (the quotes tell google to search for that phrase, not just those words) and tell me what you see. Not anything about a Freedom of Speech council! I'll let you come to your own conclusion. Are you there yet? Good. It is plain to me that Timothy Roberts and Infinium Labs have decided that since their attempt to scare [H]ardOCP failed and that they had no chance of winning their case that they would now just play dirty and start spreading their own Infinium brand of lies and complete bullshit. Their actions have pretty much doomed the company to failure by insulting the very geeks that would buy their product and by continuing on with this tactic they are only hurting themselves by making themselves appear childish and certainly not at all attractive to investors. Oh, and if you want to give them a piece of your mind, you can email them here: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Their phone number is (941) 556-8000. Please note that I've skipped over many things. I also make no claims that this article is completely factual. In fact, I'm almost certain I've gotten a couple of things wrong, but it's the thought that counts, right? For more information, please see WhereIsPhantom.com. AMD Athlon64 3000+ (Socket 754) Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          Add your comment
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