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Loading ...Sounds like a smart idea to us
eBay was under fire this week by the people who come up with the IQ tests that assess the mental capacities of students and criminals for allowing tests to be sold over its auction site. Harcourt Assessment Inc. is reportedly worried that people will use the tests to coach people unfairly, but the online giant is letting the sale go ahead. And why not? If the execs at Harcourt are such geniuses, let them figure out a way to hack in. Besides, some of these tests are being sold at deep discounts. Why would you pay nearly US$1,000 for the adult test if you could get it on eBay for about US$250? That’s just stupid.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Facebook agrees: Explicit comments should come free of charge
The world’s most popular social networking site says it will adopt new measures to protect users after a woman named Lindsey Abrams of Patriot, Ind., sued over text messages she received with explicit comments and other upsetting content. Like all of us trapped in lifetime cell phone contracts, she had to pay US$0.10 for each nasty note, portions of which went to Facebook. Given Facebook’s recent attack against Canadian-made porn, this seems kind of unfair. We don’t mind if the cute guys behind Facebook talk dirty. They just shouldn’t play dirty.
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(1 votes, average: 9 out of 10) Loading ...There are probably some old fallout shelters that could be converted into BlackBerry stores, too
Unfortunately we don’t have the travel budget to check out Research In Motion’s first retail outlet, which it opened in partnership with Wireless Giant. It’s being called a “concept store,” and according to the pictures, the concept is “suburban outlet chic.”
Keeping in mind the importance of a good location, the BlackBerry Store has been strategically set up in the proudly Canadian, booming metropolis of Farmington Hills, Mich. Should have plenty of room for all the BlackBerry enthusiasts who love to camp outside overnight to get their hands on a . . . sorry, wrong electronics vendor.
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(3 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...An expensive way to download movies
Before you purchase something, read the entire agreement and not just the advertising slogan. Carefully.
Does this piece of advice insult your intelligence?
Well, not everyone seems to get this concept, especially Piotr Staniaszek, a Bell Mobility customer who was recently billed about $85,000 for using his data plan for less than two months. According to recent published reports (that’s our euphemism for plagiarizing the mainstream media), Mr. Staniaszek thought he was only paying $10 per month to use his cell phone as a modem for his PC, not realizing that maybe there was maybe some kind of a catch to it.
The Globe and Mail reports Bell Mobility reduced his bill to about $2,000, to match the best deal he could have gotten for the amount of content he downloaded.
The National Post quoted a Bell spokesperson as saying Staniaszek downloaded “the equivalent” of ten high-resolution movies during the month.
Will someone please send Staniaszek a few non-pirated DVDs in the mail, so he doesn’t keep racking up five-figure cell phone bills?
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...AMD’s just lucky the Canadian dollar wasn’t higher back then
AMD says it’s going to take a write-down thanks to its pricey $5.6 billion takeover of Canadian chipmaker ATI Graphics Inc. a year ago. According to an Associated Press story, the combined company has already lost US$1.6 billion since September. The sound of AMD CEO Hector Ruiz’s credibility with investors going down the toilet may be slightly drowned out by the sound of former ATI chief K.Y. Ho continuing to laugh all the way to the bank.
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Your lips say no, but your artificially intelligent brain says yes
According to a Reuters story, a Russian website called CyberLover.ru is advertising a software tool that can simulate flirtatious chatroom exchanges. It boasts that it can chat up as many as 10 women at the same time and persuade them to hand over phone numbers. Or, in other words, the system scores about 10 times as often in one night as the average IT manager does all year.
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(1 votes, average: 8 out of 10) Loading ...Re-start the presses: This whole online thing is so flavour-of-the-month
Taking a break from tracking server shipments and software licence sales, IDC has done a survey on behalf of ITAC that looks at Canadians’ attitudes towards traditional media (newspapers, TV, radio) vs. the Internet. ITAC notes that while online content is “creeping into the media mix” a large percentage believe it’s full of inaccuracy and bias.
Thanks, ITAC! Now we can drop this whole SEO and traffic monitoring nonsense and go increase our page counts to give Canadians what they really want. Don’t know if we can fit this particular survey into our next print issue, though. Being biased makes you funny that way.
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(1 votes, average: 10 out of 10) Loading ...All that IT talent, and they can’t stop the deadly peanut scourge
The best part of the holidays is that instead of having to go outside to get our daily chocolate fix, vendors send the chocolates to us! Many thanks to IBM for mailing out leftover Smarties from the recent celebration of its 90th birthday in Canada. Or were they Smarties? The small goodies came in only blue and white and had either “IBM” or “90″ stamped on them (We should show a picture of them but they are, alas, no more). Placed on the bag itself was a note in big letters: “WARNING: MAY HAVE COME IN CONTACT WITH NUTS.” Now, some of the big thinkers at Big Blue are a little on the wacky side, but we’d stop short of actually calling them nuts. After all, they buy a lot of ad space.
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(1 votes, average: 7 out of 10) Loading ...Don’t call me, I’ll call me
A Hyderabad, India-based firm, QTech Inc., has launched its reQall service, which is an 800 number that lets customers leave messages for themselves. Not only can customers dial in and get their reminder notices, but QTech also says it will send reminders by e-mail or text message free of charge. It can also send employees out to hunt you down like a dog and force you to keep up with your to-do list, but that’s more of a value-added consulting service, and will include a small fee (Okay, they don’t really do that, but if you are okay with the small fee part, we’ll do it).
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(1 votes, average: 9 out of 10) Loading ...Behind the geekery: Canadian celebrates Commodore anniversary
Yesterday in New York a group of IT veterans applauded dead technology with a party for the 25-year-old Commodore 64, a machine that most of us happily traded in for a better-performing IBM PC. ITAC, however, issued a press release on behalf of its member company Liquid Computing that points out a member of its board, Adam Choweniac, was involved in the Commodore’s development when he worked at Bell Northern Research in 1983. What this has to do with Liquid Computing is anyone’s guess, except that maybe it wants to be as successful as Commodore – a company whose product was eclipsed by all competitors, became cost-ineffective to manufacture and led to bankruptcy 12 years ago. Happy birthday!
