A Car Too Far

I mean honestly? How are we letting the RBS board hold the government to ransom over massive bonuses for the people that failed to do their jobs just a year ago? Just to be perfectly honest and up front, as anyone who knows me will tell you, I wont be writing an open and unbiased comment when it comes to bankers. I think they’re scum. SCUM. It’s not just because I’m an Engineer and I add value to the economy. Real value, but because I don’t think these guys and girls are doing a service that is worth paying for. Certainly not the amounts they expect to be paid.

I can’t really add much more to the situation, except to wait, until I know all the facts (or as many as we’ll ever know) before either throwing up, or leaving the country. I find it utterly despicable that these wasters have the gall to demand millions of pounds in “bonus” (try and remind yourself what a bonus is) and are prepared to walk out if they don’t get it. These are the same people who would not have had a company / job if Mr Tax payer hadn’t stepped in with a 70% stake yet they will turn their backs and demand a bonus! Remember here that there are millions of people out of a job now, and thousands of companies down the pan because of bad banking. Great job guys.

This could be a big test of the labor government. So much politician bluff has been spewed about cracking down on “Bankers Bonuses” but now it’s reckoning day. UKFI has the veto but will they use it? Will they be able to display any sense of control? Time will tell.

(p.s. apologies to the one RBS investment banker I know. You know it’s not just you I’m picking on!)

As is often sometimes the case, I miss something that happens on the old interweb and in this instance, I’ve been behind the curve on the battle between the iPhone and Droid.  It started in anger when the Droid camp released the following baiting video…

Which appears to have been deftly batted back by the iPhone camp…

Which ever way you look at it, it’s given us something good…. a beautiful song from (the aptely named) Mozella called Magic (Oh Oh Oh)

No sooner had I been moaning at the major software/OS houses (Microsoft and Apple) but the Social’s are keen to get in on the action. Twitter has recently asked people not to change their logins for fear of losing access to the system. In a statement they said:

“This seems to affect new users as well as long term users,”

Googgle… we’re still waiting….

Maybe it’s something in the air at the moment, or maybe it’s because the darkness is drawing in early but it appears that all that fumbling in the dark has caused a few data “blunders”. Just when you think there’s something pretty bad coming out of the Apple stable (there appears to be a bug in Snow Kitten that just deletes all your data) but Redmond comes bounding back on to the stage, re-affirming it’s position as the bumbling idiots of IT. Oh yes, Microsoft have managed to “almost certainly” loose all the data that customers paid them to look after.

… we (Microsoft) must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost

No official line yet on Apple doing similar, but we’re holding tight for Google.

Whilst I’m in the throws of trying to decide for myself whether or not to plump for a new iPhone when it finally comes onto Vodafone it’s painfull to hear that Windows Mobile 6.5 will arrive soon and it’s likely to suck.

I’ve loved my Windows Smartphones for many years now, mainly because of its fantastic integration with Exchange, but iPhone has that now too so what am I left with in Windows?

Decide amongst yourselves.

Some studies I come aacrossare pretty useless, some are very useful and some are between. This study which shoes that works out that people who own Macs, tend to have more money and buy other stuff too. I think the comments explain most of the sentient points and for once, it hasn’t dissolved completely (yet) into a “mac/pc is better than pc/mac”.

Large income households buy more stuff, which includes possibly a Mac. “Mac users have more money” is not necessarily true.

… quackadilly (in the comments)

amen.

There are some software developments that wont ever make a dent on the world, and there’s some that could change the way we do things…. FOREVER.  The chaps at TLA have set about changing the world with paradigm shifting technologies and their latest release is no exception.

The new PCalc software for the iPhone has a new “patent-worthy profanity filter” that filters out profanity created by typing in numbers such as “5318008″ into your calculator and turning it upside down.

Have you, or somebody close to you, ever turned your calculator upside down and accidentally seen a mildly suggestive word? Have you ever been in a maths class, and had to put up with groups of giggling boys performing elaborate calculations that are not part of the lesson?

Yes, it’s one of the main problems affecting the calculator industry today, the so-called “calculator words”. These otherwise harmless devices can be made to display smut at the press of a few buttons

Saving the world from mildy amusing words

Thank God for PCalc

Depending on your exposure to all things Geek, you may, or may not have yet come accross a new technology that is being touted as “the new e-mail”. Bold claims like this are nothing new, they just carry more weight when they’re carried by “the big G” (Google).

The new technology is called “Google Wave” and is a pseudo e-mail system that looks something like a constantly updated (dynamic) email. In essence it’s an attempt to solve the problem of ever expanding email messages that get bits added and added, then broken (when the message gets Forwarded to someone outside the original CC), and add some extra functionality. This video (attempts) to give a better description (judge for yourself!)

All clear? Excellent.

OK, so where is it now? Well Google has opened up a “Beta” (an initial implementation that allows them to fix bugs and make it good enough for full public release) and invited 100,000 users to give it a go. Will it catch on? Well who knows. It’s a bold move, and they’ve taken a good step in making it all open source so that others can have have a go making clients and integrating it into whatever system they’re running. Whilst they’re taking a “we’re just trying to make life better” stance, it does, to me, smack a bit of AOL’s attempt to privatise the internet.  We like GOOG but we know that they can be just as dangerous as AOL and Microsoft in their quest for world domination. The “Wave-Protocol” is not just the “Wave-Protocol”, it is the “Google Wave Federation Protocol”.

At least you can always “Opt-Out”

Google Opt Out Feature Lets Users Protect Privacy By Moving To Remote Village

Just a little bit of Friday fun. This one’s an oldie but a goodie.

Manufacturer Recalls Hollow Point Bullets That Fail To Explode Inside Targets

Favourite Line “…some of these defective bullets can leave an exit hole as small as a plum”

Has anyone done this? It’s not an easy thing to do with any degree of accuracy.

I’ve been working off my own homegrown financial models, based on a number of KPIs, namely:

• “Organic” Visitors (predicted)
• PPC traffic based on Google Adwords Estimator
• Average Order value (estimated on market knowdlege)
• Average conversion rate (based on data from here)
• Unit shipping costs
• Amortised Returns Factor (A % of gross order intake)
• Card processor margins
• Staff rates etc

Does anyone have any good models built, or some spreadsheets with a better starting point? Would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Matt