Texas has a new law that makes it mandatory for computer repair technicians in the state to have private investigator licenses. This is being contested by at least one advocacy group that's suing, as many techs don't know they're being criminals by doing their jobs. The strange new law comes about because sometimes in the course of repairing a computer some investigation is needed, and in the great state of Texas that's a felony without a license. It can take up to three years to get one, so this whole thing is messed up. Hopefully no poor minimum wage Windows jockey will wind up in jail over this, but stranger things have happened in Texas. Looks like those Geek Squad guys will get real badges, though. [Gear Log]

Apparently, a Garden City family had a Comcast contractor fall asleep on their son's bed, and when woken up by the youngster, the guy just "proceeded to lay there and fall asleep again." Comcast of course apologized and said this:

Comcast has reached out to the customer to apologize for the unsatisfactory experience. We have been in direct contact with the customer and have restored his services to his satisfaction. We obvioously do not condone what was represented in the photograph. The individual involved is no longer performing work for Comcast.

– Jason Chen

Comcast Cable Worker Falls Asleep On The Job [Click On Detroit]

We can't say we didn't see this coming—the Comcast tech that fell asleep at a guy's house has been fired. There was a time when company reps/techs could pull this kind of stuff on a customer and only receive an angry phone call in return. Now, thanks to the power of the internet and our collective schadenfraude, no bad deed goes unpunished. It's as it should be.

We hope this guy finds another job (we don't have anything against him personally) and learns a lesson from this episode. – Jason Chen

Snakes on a Comcast Issue Resolved [Snakes on a Blog via Consumerist]

Everyone here shares Brian's disdain for cable internet companies, and we found just the video to express why.

A Comcast technician came over to a man's house to repair a faulty cable modem (one of two) after missing three appointments. The tech ten spent an hour on hold with Comcast's central office and then fell asleep on the guy's couch. Is there any more perfect scenario to highlight the unprofessionalism of both the repair guy and the central office? – Jason Chen

Thanks Patrick!