Another BBC low…
Written by Richard on February 7th, 2010Under a headline that should have read “BBC journalist feels a little low after breaking leg skiing” we head off into the usual strange world of Paris as reported by the BBC.
Of course, Parisian taxis are a nightmare. However, did you ever see “reporting” as obviously made up as this?
Somewhat stupefied, I hailed the next cab in line and politely asked the driver if I could sit up front as it was easier for my leg.”I’m not arranging my whole damn cab to accommodate you,” he snapped. “I’ve got all my personal things piled on the front seat!”
I’m surprised that the helpful taxi driver didn’t shout out the window the numbers of the laws he was breaking. Just to make the story easier to write.
To anyone who’s lived here a while the best is saved till last. Bubble gum chewing fashion experts! Where was this shop? Kent?
2011 Budget Proposal
Written by Richard on February 6th, 2010Look how small the education budget is. They pay more just in net interest!
Obama’s 2011 Budget Proposal: How It’s Spent – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com
Amazon acquires touch-screen maker for future Kindle project
Written by Richard on February 6th, 2010“Amazon’s purchase of Touchco can be thought of as a direct response to Apple’s iPad, and the technology acquired could be included in the next iteration of its Kindle e-reader.”
AppleInsider | Amazon acquires touch-screen maker for future Kindle project.
I don’t understand. Everyone has been talking about Apple and their book ready for at least a year. Amazon did nothing during that whole period; then in the same week as the Apple launch they go to war with the publishers and start buying technology companies.
This must be too late now.
What’s gone wrong at Fon?
Written by Richard on February 5th, 2010A few years ago at LeWeb a man with a heavy accent that I couldn’t place got on stage and talked about starting a business in Europe. He was interesting and funny and talked about Fon. I think that Martin Varsavsky gives the same impression to a lot of people. Therefore, I got a Fon and loved it.
For many years since that date I’ve not used the WiFi in my ADSL box and relied on the Fon routers. I’ve given them to family and friends as presents and even stuck the Fon sticker on my office window (the only sticker that is there!).
Then last year I bought the latest and “greatest” router. The 2.0n. I kept it alive for a couple of months. It never worked; constant issues, poor performance, a real mess.
I was so convinced that Fon was perfect it took a few weeks for me to realize that the issue was with their machine. Today, the Fon router lies unplugged on a shelf. One Time Capsule purchase later and I don’t think that it’ll be ever used again.
What went wrong?
I believe that the clue is in here…
FON, the iPhone and Mobile Operators
Fon no longer relies on their own hardware. They rely on these partnerships where they live on someone else’s hardware. The focus of the company has moved on, I doubt that their latest boxes will ever live up to the standard of the original white ones.
And so ends an era. Onwards!
Amazing video…
Written by Richard on February 5th, 2010Kristol is an idiot…
Written by Richard on February 5th, 2010For someone paid for his an opinion; it’s amazing how uncomplicated his world view is…
“Wait, not only is he lobbying to make this change, but he also “believes” in it? What an awkward misuse of elected office!”
Talent vs. Experience
Written by Richard on February 4th, 2010So there is hope for me after all!!!
“Being an expert takes time, not talent.”
Expertise Requires Time over Talent, So Get Busy – Career – Lifehacker.
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building : The New Yorker
Written by Richard on February 3rd, 2010“The Burj Khalifa, like most super-tall skyscrapers, looks best from afar, and, certainly, it can’t do much to mitigate the real horror of Dubai, which isn’t the fact that most of the towers look gaudy on the sky line but that they are wretched at street level. This is a city that has grown with utter hostility to the idea of the street. The main commercial thoroughfare, Sheikh Zayed Road, lined with skyscrapers, is a twelve-lane highway. It’s impossible to get anywhere here without a car, and there is no place to walk except inside a mall. The city is completing a transit system, and there are some strikingly handsome, glass-enclosed elevated stations, but it is an idealized version of a Western-style metro, dropped onto an urban plan designed solely for the automobile; it’s hard to believe that it will make much difference.”
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building : The New Yorker.
Frankly I can think of other horrors in Dubai but anyway.
A city in the desert that requires a car and where you can only walk in a mall (ie. Private Space) says about all you need to know.
Calvin and Hobbes…
Written by Richard on February 1st, 2010“I’ve never regretted stopping when I did.”
