Spam Journalism: The spurious use of sensational headlines to add spice to an otherwise pointless article. It’sages since I ran one of my spam journalism posts. I have been rather busy doing an ACC audit for my practice and studying for a couple of papers I am doing for a postgraduate diploma. Blogging has, therefore, been a bit sporadic. [...]
Flash died on the morning of 29 April, 2010. Steve Jobs killed it. And while we may not mourn its passing, we ought to be wary of its killer. So says Stephen Foley in the Herald today. He launches into a diatribe on the proprietary nature of Steve Jobs little iTunes/iPhone/iPod/iPad ecosystem. He is right [...]
I confess to a certain amount of snide amusement. The first of the inevitable iPad clones has emerged in Germany. Full marks to the manufacturer for the speed they have managed in putting together a rival. Impressive. Zero marks for any understanding of Apple’s marketing strategy. For a start – “WePad“? What kind of a [...]
An Australian court ruling has brought the entire basis of section 92a of the copyright act into doubt. In a dispute between Australian ISP iiNet and Australia’s copyright watchdog, AFACT (Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft), the judge has found in favour of the ISP saying, essentially that the ISP is not responsible for the copyright [...]
An article on Stuff asks the question “Are blogs for old people?” The article then goes on to say: The study, released Wednesday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, found that 14 per cent of internet youths in the US, ages 12 to 17, now say they blog, compared with just over a [...]
I noticed that Whale Oil was moaning about the short comings of the new iPad in a post the other day and a number of other people I have spoken to have decried it in a similar vein. No USB, no Camera, no 1080p playback, no flash etc. That’s OK, whale. You are not the [...]
Today is the big day when Apple reveals its least surprising, most-leaked product ever, the Newton Message Pad – whoops, sorry – I meant the iPad. It looks very pretty (note: the keyboard dock is an artists impression, I think): Seems like (non-surprise again) more than a large iPhone and less than a laptop. It’s [...]
The government is having another crack at amending the copyright act and the infamous section 92a in particular. The gist of the revamp is here. David Farrar over at Kiwiblog thinks the changes are “not bad”. I beg to differ. While the changes are certainly better than the original section 92a where people could have [...]
Ahhh, only the Japanese… Man marries virtual girlfriend In a bizarre story reminiscent of the film Lars and the Real Girl, the man, known by his nickname SAL9000, fell in love with a fictional character from the Nintendo DS “love simulator” Love Plus. Popular in Japan’s geek subculture, the game invites players to pick a [...]
One of the hallmarks of emergency departments is the unpredictable nature of the throughput. Accidents, in particular, are relatively unforeseeable although certain types do tend to cluster. Cuts with knives seem to congregate around mealtimes (for obvious reasons) and minor traffic-related injuries have an obviously predictable flurry at rush hour. I recall analysing the data from [...]
