Make It Better

>> HP is in the process of slashing 27,000 29,000 jobs worldwide by 2014, as part of an ironically entitled “make it better” programme.

Yeah, maybe it should be called "make it less", but less HP is better for the rest of us, so maybe the programme has the right name after all.

(Nevertheless, my sympathy to the 29,000. And also to those condemned to remain at HP.)

They Understand Their Market

Future bosses will be needing Jag simulators to get to their teleconferences.

Never buy HP again

Before I buy anything (say product "X") I always find it educational to Google for "never buy X again" (in quotes) to see how many hits it gets. Current standings for the top laptop makers (from my version of Google anyhow) are:

Never buy HP again 108,000

Never buy Dell again 94,500

Never buy Apple again 33,700

Never buy Asus again 29,800

Never buy Toshiba again 26,600

Never buy Lenovo again 13,000

Obviously these hit-counts should be modified in proportion to their sales, but I'm a wee bit lazy to do that. (Plus I should be working.) But broadly speaking, there seems to be about 3 times more hate of HP (and Dell) out there than there is for Apple (and Asus). There has to be a reason for that.

Violent and dangerous cell phone thefts

I have a feeling that "violent and dangerous cell phone thefts" are likely to get a good deal more violent and dangerous in future as the cell phone thieves will have to extract the iTunes account and password details from their victims, in addition to their phones.

A Strange Way to Target Foreigners

We are to believe that Facebook has 1 in 7 of the World's population as users, but 1 in 2 of the US population. I imagine this imbalance is similar for the other services targetted by PRISM.

So, why are the US secret services targeting services that are so disproportionately used by US citizens?

Or are the FB/etc.-using foreigners so much more likely to be terrorists than their non-FB/etc.-using compatriots?

Where's the evidence to back this peculiar targeting of surveillance resources?

That GUI

That GUI is better than Unity

Who are we kidding?

Ah, the golden age of gaming!

(Still have my ZX Spectrum in a box somewhere.)

Tripods

Blimps are so passé. Google should've gone with Tripods. We all know this is where this is leading.

Well, thanks a lot for that!

Now I have Alan Parsons "Eye In The Sky" stuck in my head.

"I am the eye in the sky

Looking at you

I can read your mind

I am the maker of rules

Dealing with fools

I can cheat you blind

And I don't need to see any more

To know that

I can read your mind, I can read your mind"

Might be the Google company song.

Join the Club

Are we going to see Mozilla referred to as Foxconn-rebrander too now then?

Teens Behaving Increasingly Stupidly

So glad we've had a survey to tell us that.

How Could This Happen?

Weren't the organisers of WWII required to submit an Environmental Impact Statement?

Two Browsers Bad

Well, if the Wall Street Journal thinks that having two browsers on Android is "incoherent", then what will they think of the four I have on my iOS device? And there's plenty more in the app store.

When did choice become a bad thing?

Beware The Grim Reaper

Survivors of the wreckage left by Icahn at TWA, Blockbuster, Yahoo, Motorola, etc. etc. would advise Dell shareholders to lock their doors and bar their windows.

For whatever problems Dell (the company) has in the "post-PC era", Dell (the person) is a company builder, whereas Icahn is just an asset stripper.

Unlucky SMS Users

It sounds like the poor lambs didn't even have a chance to google "SMS search alternative" before it disappeared.

Hops

I thought the addition of hops was meant to provide beer with a long life - through their antibacterial effects. (Or, at least, that's what they told us at the Guiness factory.)

The final furlong

> wish me well for the final furlong

Well, that's an ambitious target for your imminent cable laying, but we know you have it in you!

That Ass. Principal

Just in case you want to see the face of the future ex-Assistant Principal of Bartow High School who called the cops, here he is.

I wonder if he's smiling so much now though.

Applied Placebo Effect?

I suspect they're trying to apply the placebo effect and if it really is evidence-based, as they claim, then it may well be working. Or at least it was until The Reg comes along and tells everyone it's nonsense.

It's nearly always wrong to say "it's just a placebo" since placebos demonstrably do work. (That's why it's called an "effect") In this case I think it's going something like this:

1) Ask applicants a long series of important sounding questions;

2) Ignore answers given;

3) Pay applicants a series of compliments which will boost their self-esteem and motivation by some small measure;

4) Applicants now have a slightly better chance of getting a job.

The results will be measurable - and are most probably in the claimed evidence. As such it is a Good Thing and doesn't really need being exposed to derision. (Or indeed potentially bubble-bursting explanations from myself.)

Sometimes we should just "Shush!", pretend to take it all very seriously, and let the magic of science (yes, even psychology!) do its thing.

Memo to Top Gear

> g-force meter to measure lateral acceleration

VW and Apple have just created the ultimate Angry Birds controller.

Streetmap.eu Ltd. v Google Inc

OK. Into browser; Enter "streetmap.eu"; Hit return; Result: "The DNS server returned: No DNS records".

I start to think their problems might start somewhat closer to home than at Google HQ.

My Prediction

There's going to be a lot of Spanish seasonal workers replaced by Rumanians in a big warehouse in Bad Hersfeld.